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Acts 18 "Do Not Be Afraid"
When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, "Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. (Acts 18: 5-7)
Once Paul set his course to preach the gospel in Corinth, sure enough he was faced by opposition from the Jews. It is a familiar pattern that we have seen all through Paul's ministry. He preaches first in the synagogue, gaining few converts and many enemies, and then concentrates on the Gentiles. But then something happened...
Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized. (Acts 18:8)
A miracle happens! Who should come over to Paul's side, but the ruler of the synagogue himself and his family. The results are immediate. "Many of the Corinthians hearing, believe and are baptized." The unexpected happened, Crispus, well respected in the city, turns to Jesus Christ and it has the effect of bringing the gospel to the ears of the whole city. But then Paul receives a vision in the night.
Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city." And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. (Acts 18:9-11)
The Lord says to Paul, "Do not be afraid, but speak." Wait a minute. I thought Paul was enjoying success, many Corinthians were coming to Christ. Why this word from the Lord, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent." You see Paul was afraid! He was afraid of the envy of the Jews that he had seen in so many other places. He was afraid that if the gospel really took off here, that once again he would be persecuted, whipped, stoned or worse. He was starting to become cautious, holding back, and the Lord had to urge him forward. "Do not be afraid."
1915, the German and Allied armies were bogged down in trench warfare. Each side had dug fortified lines from which they shot at each other with machine guns. The loss of life was immense. The gain of a mere hundred meters was a major victory. A daring plan was made back in London. If the British Navy and Army could force their way through the Turkish held straits near Constantinople they could cut Germany off from its allies and help the Russians in the East. If successful it would end the trench war in the West and save thousands of lives. The key to taking the straits was to knock out the forts on the Gallipoli peninsula. The British Army landed, and because the Turks were not yet in position, were able to advance inland easily. But then the Army stopped. They got nervous. It wasn't supposed to be this easy. They started to think how wonderful their accomplishments already were. The heroes of the trenches gained a hundred meters and they had gained kilometers! Surely they could stop and enjoy their victory. But while they were hesitating, the Turks reinforced the next ridge. The British were never able to advance any further and the war continued on for another three heartbreaking years.
The problem that the British Army had was that they judged their victory by the wrong standard. Looking at their past experiences, they considered their victory spectacular. But in the context of Turkey, it was meaningless. Perhaps this is what happened to Paul as well in Corinth. Compared with other cities in Greece, where mere handfuls of people came to Jesus Christ. Suddenly in this city, "many" were receiving the gospel, influential people, what a success! Paul started to think, "Now is a good time to work on quality instead of quantity" I will spend more time teaching the Christians we have, instead of preaching to the city." But the Lord said "Do not be afraid, but speak!"
Many people would point to Tokyo Horizon Chapel as a successful church. We are ten times as large as the average church in Japan. In five years we have been able to plant 7 congregations. We are involved in missions and evangelism and have a good teaching ministry. Surely we have a right to be satisfied with what we have achieved! Surely we can relax and settle down into a routine. Surely we need to be careful lest we provoke others to envy or criticism. But what are we judging our church by? Are we looking back at the others, feeling good that we are out ahead, or do we have our eyes on the finish line. Are we to be satisfied with a few kilometers, when the Lord would have us advance all the way to the gates of the enemy!
It is a funny thing that we oftentimes fear success almost as much as we fear failure. The Japanese have a proverb that the nail that is sticking up is the one that gets hammered. When we first started this church in another location, we praised the Lord that He gave us success. The room that we were meeting in was packed. But then other churches in the area started to complain, because even though they had been ministering in that neighborhood for decades, we had more members than them in a couple of months of ministry. Success does provoke envy and criticism. It also requires a lot of work. If the church is full we have to think about what to do with the children, how to get seats for everybody, cleaning up after and how to find extra parking. The more people who come the more everybody has to make sacrifices, walking farther from your car to the building, not being able to spend as much time with the pastor. It also involves some risk. If the church is successful then there are always new people to meet. It is always easier to stick with the people that you know, rather than opening up your life to somebody new. In short a small victory is much more comfortable than a large victory. It is safer and easier for us to handle.
The Lord said to Paul, "Do not be afraid" Then He gave Paul three reasons why. First, He said "Do not be afraid, for I am with you." I am always amazed at how my son can sleep absolutely anywhere, as long as I am holding him. We can be in the train, walking through a crowded station, in a restaraunt, anywhere! And my son can fall asleep if he is in Daddy's arms. Father God, makes this promise to us as well. "Do not be afraid, for I am with you." Once in a while when I am holding my son a loud noise might startle him. He picks up his sleepy head, "Oh,oh,oh" But I nuzzle him with my cheek and whisper in his ear, "It's alright, Daddys here." Do not be afraid, for God is with you. He is right beside you.
David wrote in Psalm 16:8 “I have set the Lord always
before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.”
I cannot think of anything safer to hold onto than God. He is a sure
and steadfast anchor for the soul.
One hundred and twenty years ago in a small town in North Carolina the
Methodists were planning to build a church. So they started to search
for a piece of land on which to build. But the asking prices for the
land that they wanted was too high. They approached a businessman about
a lot in a good location but the man turned them down. Undaunted the
Methodists continued their search and finally ended up with a piece
of land that nobody else wanted. It was close to the river and prone
to flooding but the Methodists built anyway. They finished building
their little white church and had just dedicated it, when the rain began
to fall. A terrible storm came and with it large amounts of rain. When
the rain finally stopped the whole town was flooded. And as people came
out of their houses one by one to survey the damage they got the biggest
shock of their lives, for there was the little Methodist church, floating
down the middle of the street. The Methodists saw all their hard work,
all their hopes and dreams for their church floating away, and so they
ran to get ropes and chains to hold back the building. But in that flooded
town they could not find anything strong enough to hold back the floating
church. They tried to tie it to a post or a tree but the church would
pull it up out of the soft ground. Indeed the only anchor strong enough,
was the mighty hand of God. For suddenly the church, inexplicably, made
a left turn and continued floating down this new street, until it came
to rest in a vacant lot, the very same vacant lot that the businessman
had originally refused to sell to the Methodists. And on the next day
that businessman, came and gave the church the deed to the land, free
of charge. Do not be afraid! I am with you.
The second reason that the Lord gave Paul not to fear was a promise,
"no one will attack you to hurt you." But in the very next
passage we find that the Jews have again dragged Paul in front of the
Roman ruler, to accuse him. But notice that the promise is not that
no one will attack you. But that no one will succeed in their attack.
No one will hurt you. How can I be so confident. Surely, Christians
are often hurt, persecuted, and even martyred. How can I believe that
no one will hurt me? I can if I trust that God works all things together
for good for those who love Him and are called according to his purpose.
(Ro 8:28) Another way to translate the same verse, would be to say that
"no one will be able to make evil triumph over you". God is
not promising a life free of troubles, but he is promising a life of
victory. His promise brings hope into any situation, no matter how dark
it might seem because we are assured of the outcome. There is no defeat,
only victory.
The Lord gave to Paul one more reason not to fear. He said to Paul,
"I have many people in this city." Paul, the need is great.
There are many here who need to hear the gospel and be saved. So do
not be afraid. Press on! You see we have the promises of God. "I
am with you!" "No one will attack you to hurt you." But
we also have become coworkers toward the purpose of God. We are with
Jesus Christ searching out the lost sheep. There are many who will hear
and believe if we do not give up. The task of evangelism is too important
for fear to hold back. We must take courage, in the strength of the
Lord, in His protection, and press on.
Why did the British soldiers in Galipoli fail? Why were
they afraid? They were not afraid of imminent death. There were no machine
guns in front of them. In fact there was no one in front of them. Instead
there was this vague fear, that somehow they were risking too much,
or had gone too far. And so they stopped. Perhaps this fear overtook
them because they did not understand the importance of their mission.
If they had truly understood how vital their mission was to the ending
of the war, they surely would have pressed forward to complete the task.
What is our mission as a church? What is the task that we have been
called to fulfill? Our mission is to show the love of Jesus Christ to
all. The Lord is speaking to us now, "I have many people in this
city." Do not be afraid! Press on! Don't stop!
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