Teaching Summary: What Now? (Acts) Presence and Perspective

Acts 18:1-11

Acts 18 opens with a simple sentence: "After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth." That sentence doesn't tell the whole story. In the months before, Paul had been beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, smuggled out of Thessalonica at night, chased out of Berea, and sneered at in Athens. Later he would tell the Corinthians, "I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling." We haven't seen this version of Paul. This is the man who got up after being stoned in Lystra and walked back into the city, who sang hymns at midnight in a Philippian jail. But Paul is a human being, and it's all catching up to him. He's beaten down, and he's broke.

So for the first time since his journeys began, Paul has to step away from preaching to earn a living. He makes tents with Aquila and Priscilla, two Jewish refugees expelled from Rome. He doesn't know whether the young church in Thessalonica survived. He writes that he "could stand it no longer" and sent Timothy to find out. He is tired, anxious, and living in a hostile city.

Then things begin to turn around. Silas and Timothy arrive from Macedonia, and they don't come empty-handed. The church in Philippi, the same city where Paul was beaten, sends money, and Paul is free to preach full time. Timothy brings word that the Thessalonians are still standing. When the synagogue opposes Paul, Luke uses the word we get blaspheme from. They aren't only attacking Paul; they're cursing the name of Jesus. Paul shakes out his robe, a sign that he's done his part, and walks next door to the house of Titius Justus. Then Crispus, the leader of the synagogue that threw Paul out, believes along with his whole household, and many Corinthians are baptized.

You'd think Paul would feel better. A lot of us believe success will fix us. If the business turns around, if the diagnosis comes back clean, if the bills get paid, then I'll be okay. Psychologists call this the arrival fallacy. We get there, and we're still tired. Paul is winning, and he's still weary.

When we're weary, the world offers two options. Go harder. Or give up and quit giving, because all they'll do is take. Christina Maslach, who has spent decades studying burnout, names exhaustion and cynicism as two of its core marks. Pushing harder leads to exhaustion. Giving up leads to cynicism. The world has it wrong. In the kingdom of God, our peace doesn't depend on whether we're in a season of winning or losing. It depends on the presence and perspective of Jesus.

One night the Lord speaks to Paul: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city." There's no rebuke. Jesus comes close to a tired, frightened servant and gives him two things. Presence: "I am with you," the words God spoke to Joshua, to Jeremiah, and to the disciples on a mountain in Galilee. And perspective: "I have many people in this city." Paul had already met them. Aquila and Priscilla. Silas and Timothy. The Philippians. Titius Justus. Crispus. Jesus points Paul to evidence he already has.

Researchers once asked people to estimate the steepness of a hill. Those standing beside a friend saw it as less steep, and so did those who simply pictured a supportive friend. Paul's hill was just as steep. He just knew who was standing with him. When you're afraid and worn out, Jesus offers you his presence and his perspective: he is with you, and he is working through his people in ways you can't see.

So Paul stayed a year and a half, the longest he'd stayed anywhere on his journeys. A church took root. Gaius hosted the whole church in his home. Erastus, the city's director of public works, followed Jesus. Another church grew in Cenchreae, where Phoebe served.

If you're weary, remember that Jesus never rebukes weary people. When Elijah sat under a bush and prayed to die, God's first response was food and sleep. Twice. Hear Jesus say it to you: do not be afraid, I am with you, I have people here.

If you're refreshed, God's servants need you. From Corinth, Paul wrote, "warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone." From the outside these people often look the same, but they need different things. Warn the busybody. Encourage the disheartened. Help the weak with a meal, rent money, or a phone call made on their behalf. And be patient with everyone. Ask the Spirit to show you one weary person this week, give you insight into what they need, and then show up for them.

Trying harder and giving up aren't our only options. There's a third way. Jesus is with us, and he has people everywhere.