ACTS | Christ Must Increase | Acts 18:18-28

Our sermon text this morning comes from Acts, as we're making our way through Acts. We are in Acts chapter 18, I'll begin in

Acts 18 · chapter mention

18, and I'll read to the end of the chapter before we read, let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Our heavenly Father, again we thank you for the opportunity to look into your word that we can have your word printed and before us, it is certainly a privilege, and Lord, I pray that you will help us to be Bereans like the Bereans scouring. The word is it true? Is it fair? And if so, Lord help us to submit our hearts humbly and wholly to you, Lord, even as we just read about faith, we pray that you would gift us faith. Strengthen our faith this morning, open up our eyes to behold the glory and beauty and power of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and humbly rest upon him. And it's in Jesus's name we pray, Amen.

People of God, hear God's word for us this morning from Acts 18, beginning in verse 18.

[18] After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair for he was under a vow. [19] And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. [20] When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined.

[21] But on taking leave of them he said, "I will return to you if God wills," and he set sail from Ephesus.

[22] When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. [23] After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

[24] Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures.

[25] He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in the Spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. [26] He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately. [27] And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, [28] for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

He who has ears, let him hear the Word of God. Please be seated.

One of the things the Apostle Paul will write to his son in the faith, Timothy in second.

2 Timothy 3:16

Timothy 3:16, he will say, All scripture is breathed out, God breathed and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, in the training and righteousness. And that is what we confess to be true, that all of scripture is profitable. All of it. Remember Jesus says, not even a jot or tittle will pass away. All of scripture is profitable. But have you ever had it occur as you are reading the scriptures for yourself, you come to a portion in Scripture and you think to yourself, maybe this isn't really that important. I'll just skip over that, right? Genealogies, details about things being built in the temple, we can just skip over those parts, right? No. And if I'm honest with you, when I came to this passage, I was very tempted to just kind of skim or pass over it. I mean, what difference does it make if Paul has a haircut or not? Why is that here? How does that affect our lives? What's the application here, Paul gets a haircut. Why does Dr. Luke, who is often so precise and so accurate, give us such what seems to us an unnecessary or frivolous detail? But I think this is also one of the benefits as a church of why it's helpful to work. Through a book from beginning to end, because if we just skip around the different topics and other things like that all the time, we would never deal with something like this. But working through a book forces us to wrestle with the question, why is it here, and what difference does this make to not just ignore it? And I think as we will work through the text, and as we sit with the text a little bit, I think it will become clearer what this text is about. It'll be what Paul will write even later to the church in Corinth that I planted Apollo's watered. But it is God who gives the increase that this passage, again, is not about Paul. It's not really about Apollos or Priscilla and Aquila again and again. It's about Christ, Christ building his church. This text reminds us that our lives, Paul's life is not ultimately lived for himself. It is lived for the glory of God that He must increase and that we must decrease. We must be used for the glory of God and to be grateful, to be thankful for his mercy that he has given toward us. Now Paul remained, as the text reminds us he was in Corinth. If you were here last week, we talked about the city of Corinth, and he was remained there many days, Galileo.

Galileo, yet the the ruler. He refused to try Paul, if you remember, that's how it ends.

And so Paul is allowed to stay longer in Corinth. He stays there about 18 months, and after that, he sets sail with Priscilla and Aquila. Now Luke then gives this odd statement at centacree, he cut his hair for he was under a vowel. Some have said this is a statement actually about Aquila, but most likely this is about Paul. Paul cutting his hair. And as much as we would like to throw this detail away, what's happening here is Paul is taking something like a Nazarite vow. The Nazarite vow, if you want to look to what that used to look like was in Numbers, chapter six, and when the Nazarite would take this vow, this person, a person was setting themselves for a particular period of time to be particularly devoted to the Lord in number six, that looked like abstaining from wine or anything from the grapevine, and it also meant they didn't cut their hair until the vow was completed. And then also normally that after the hair was cut, it would be taken to the temple and put in the fire as a peace offering. Now Paul is a Jewish man, and he takes something like this vow here as a reminder to himself and a declaration to all who see him that I belong to the Lord. I'm God's man. I'm Jesus's man. Now, why? Why does Paul do this now?

Why wouldn't even Paul, if he is going to take a vow, why not at the beginning of His ministry?

Why here in our text, or is this detail given to us? Why does Paul do it now? Well, if you remember from last week, Paul was afraid.

Paul is not a robotic man. He's a real human with real emotions and feelings like us, and he is afraid. He comes to Corinth and he tells the people in Corinth, he comes to them with fear and trembling. He has been discouraged in the ministry, not a lot of fruit, not a lot of evidence, especially compared to when he might reflect upon the fruit of the work of Peter and John. And thousands of people are coming. And you remember that Paul is able probably to count more lashes on his back than he is converts. And he comes to this city of Corinth in fear, because he remembers and he knows it's what it's known for, that it is a sexually immoral city that is the very culture of Corinth, living and breathing and celebrating sexual immorality, and also the worship of the sports God. And those were the things he was coming into. He's going to preach the gospel, and he has every expectation, more lashes, more whips as soon as he opens his mouth to proclaim Christ. And yet, in Corinth, if you remember again, God encourages him. He gives him fellow laborers and Priscilla and Aquila. He provides for Paul, and he also reminds Paul of his promise.

Remember, he tells Paul not to be afraid. Afraid not because you're the most eloquent man, not even because you're the most prepared or smartest man. You don't have to be afraid, Paul, because I'm with you. I'm with you, Paul, and God actually protects Paul in Corinth, remember, he goes to the trial and things are dismissed, and he's able to live there without fear of being punished and being whipped, and he's able to sustain his work there longer.

And what Paul does is not just casually just move on. He shows gratitude and renewed devotion of himself to God. I think this is something for us to think about too in our own lives, is how many times and how many days has God worked wonders for us, but we are often, frequently not thanking God. Are we a thankless people when God is so merciful and gracious to us? You remember Paul writes to the church in Romans, For although they knew God, they did not honor Him or give thanks to Him. A refusal to give thanks to God is a serious sin, and that is Israel's sin, wasn't it? If you look back in the Old Testament, you think about all the wonderful things God would do for the people of Israel and the way he would provide for them over and over and over again, the ways that God would protect the people of Israel over and over and over again. And then, what do the people of Israel do? Grumble, complain. Grumble, complain.

Stiff necked, hard hearts and again, is that not our sin as well? God provides for us so abundantly given us our daily bread. He protects and sustains us in Him, we live and we move and to have our being, he has provided for many of you in many particular ways, but yet we forget, and we move on the next day. Grumble, complain. Grumble, complain. You know, it's interesting. You know, we find that Nazarite vow in Numbers, chapter six. But right before that Nazarite vow, there's some there's other instructions that are given, and those instructions are given through how to handle what you should do to an unfaithful wife. And what's interesting there, back in numbers, you have these, these two pictures of people right next to each other. You have this picture of this unfaithful wife, and then you have a picture of someone who is wholly devoted to the Lord. And you know what? The other interesting thing what follows immediately after these two pictures is the Aaronic benediction. Now, if you've been here at Bay Haven, you should know what that is. By now the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord's face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. You've heard that right now, which picture is more like Israel, and maybe even which is more of a picture of us, the unfaithful woman, the unfaithful spouse, or the people wholly devoted to the Lord, when we're honest with ourselves, we are much more like the unfaithful women, but the Nazarite vow is ultimately pointing us to Jesus, who would be wholly set apart for Christ, who would not have simply have his hair cut off, but his whole body would be cut off and sacrificed that God might speak peace and blessing to his people, Christ would be the peace offering given. Now, why would Paul take the vow if the vow was pointing to Christ and it is fulfilled? I think it's important to know what's not happening here. Paul is not trying to earn God's favor, or manipulate God in any way, Paul isn't offering a renewed sacrifice of His hair on an altar. I think for Paul as just as a Jewish man, it was a culturally familiar way to express gratitude and gratitude of the grace of God that that has God has shown towards Paul.

And so I think we we even ask is, well, should, should we do this? Should we just let our hair grow out just as expression of gratitude and the set ourselves aside as a church in that way? How are we to respond in gratitude towards the mercy of God? How should we do it? We?

How should we respond? Well, I don't think that we need to reenact or act out the things that are given in the Nazarite vow, but I do think that we still need to imitate what is at the heart of the Nazarite vow.

And Paul will actually later on in as he writes. To the church in Romans, tell us what is an appropriate way to respond to the grace of God in our lives.

How should we respond? He will say to the church in Rome, I appeal to you, Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as living sacrifices. Paul says, you know, actually, not a vow, not not even a ritual, but a life that our lives give your life daily as an offering to God, all of your time, all of it is God's time, not your time. God's time your body is not your body, it is God's body. Your money is not your money, it is God's money, your words and your work, all of it, give it to the Lord. And daily we are to be grateful, grateful for his saving grace towards us. Paul is not doing this is I'll do this, Lord. So you will, you know, bless me, and I'll get this or that he's because I've been so blessed by God, I'm going to give myself gladly. So I think that's what's happening there. There's a lot more that could be said, and a lot of people have written a lot, but I think that's what's going on with the hair thing. So now Paul arrives in Ephesus and he goes to the synagogue. We know that's what he was going to do, right? You knew that because he goes to town, to town, if there's a synagogue there, that's where he goes. He goes to the synagogue and he reasons, he reasons from the scriptures that the Messiah would die, that the Messiah would rise, and that the Messiah is Jesus. That's his.

That's what he does. And so we see him doing that again, but the response that Paul typically gets when he goes to the synagogue the reasons, is pushback, rioting, Stripes anger, but we see something almost dramatically different here in Ephesus, the people want him to stay. The ministry is welcomed. And what is almost surprising Next we see Paul leaves. Why doesn't he stay?

Paul leaves is because he's heading back to Antioch to report he's accountable to the church. He's heading back to his home church to not only report, but probably also to rest. And he says, I will return to you if God wills, if it's the Lord's will, I will, and ultimately he will. We'll see that next week.

In fact, I think Paul so recognizes that this is not Paul's ministry again. This is Christ's ministry. We aren't following Paul's story through Acts. We're following Christ's story through Acts. It's his story. And Paul leaves, and Paul won't be the central figure Christ will be. Paul is making room for others to minister, preparing others to minister.

And Ephesus doesn't complain or worrying like, what are we going to do without Paul?

And I think sometimes we feel that men are indispensable in ministry. At times, you know, how could God ever accomplish His work without Pastor Paul?

Pastor Paul has brought us the word, and he's helped establish the church here and now. Pastor Paul leaves. Well, we are doomed. And you know what the work becomes about, Pastor Paul.

But Pastor Paul leaves because the work is not about him, it's about Christ. And so often, again, we like to worship the creature rather than the Creator. We so often put our hope in men and figures who have written books and who are good speakers, rather than putting our focus on Christ. So I think God even takes Paul away here that he is not the central figure in Ephesus. Paul decreases, and Christ increases.

And Paul heads to Antioch, Syria, and then he's off again.

He goes and reports to the church. And then his third missionary journey starts. He'll go to Galatia and Phrygia, and he'll go back to Ephesus, as we'll see next week. Now, Aquila and Priscilla, they have traveled with Paul to Ephesus.

If you remember, that was a couple. They were in Rome. They were kicked out of Rome because they were Jewish, and they were then displaced in living in Corinth. And they meet Paul there. They're encouraged together, but now they travel with Paul as a companion to Ephesus. Now Paul leaves Ephesus Aquila and Priscilla's day, but we are then introduced to someone new, Apollos. He's a Jewish man from Alexandria.

Alexandria was the intellectual center of the Jewish world 200 years earlier, it was in Alexandria that the Septuagint was written. That is the Greek translation of the Old Testament Paul himself. We even refer to that at times. We're told that he is mighty in the Scriptures.

This is a man who was grounded in the Word of God in the Old Testament. And also he's fervent in the spirit. He's fiery, right? He's not the humdrum. He is fervent in the Spirit, and He knows the word, and he's preaching that Jesus is the Christ Apollos is probably one of the best preachers that's ever recorded in the in the in the Bible, maybe even ever. I mean, later on, we'll talk about Apollos and other books, or he'll be talked about. We won't maybe get to him all that much in Acts, but his preaching is talked about. He's fervent and he's grounded in the Word, and he's speaking accurately about the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet it says something's absent. He only knows the baptism of John.

And what's the baptism of John compared to the baptism that we know, or the baptism of Christ?

Well, if you remember, John's baptism was a baptism of repentance and preparation, primarily for the Jewish people, calling them to turn from your sin. The Messiah is coming. Make way. Prepare the path. Make way.

The curves of the road of your heart have to be straightened.

The hills of pride have to come down. The valleys of self deprecation need to be filled, and you need to make yourself ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a baptism of repentance and preparation.

Now, what John's baptism, though, was lacking, is what the Messiah would do, that the Messiah has come, that the Messiah has died for your sins, that the Messiah has risen from the dead and is sitting at the right hand of the Father and has given us His Spirit, that We believe that baptism is the washing with water in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit, and it signifies and seals our engrafting into Christ and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace and our engagement to be the Lord's John's baptism didn't have all that. It was more of a preparatory preparing your hearts. And so Apollos didn't know this. He didn't know the baptism of Christ. He didn't know that the baptism as Christ gave it to his disciples.

Apollos knows repentance, he knows preparation, but he doesn't grasp the fullness of Christ's finished work yet. And so Aquila and Priscilla, they've been hearing Paul preach for the last year and a half in Corinth, and now they hear Apollos preach, and he's gifted and he's graced for the ministry, but he doesn't yet have the whole picture. Is a young man doesn't have all the training yet that he needs. So what do they do?

Well, they don't embarrass the guy. There's no harsh correction. They don't confront him in public and show everyone else how well they know the Scriptures, but Apollos doesn't.

But they also aren't silent either. They don't just say, you know, I just hope he figures it out. Someone should talk to him, but it's not going to be me.

They invite him, most likely, here to their home, not to ambush him, but they're going to lovingly encourage this young man in the ministry, encourage him in his gospel ministry and explain the way of God more accurately. And some of us, when we correct people, we correct without love. We just correct.

And sometimes we don't correct at all, and we think we'll just overlook it in love, and there is a place for that. But sometimes we actually need to correct, but we don't. And so some, sometimes we either correct too harshly, we don't correct at all when we need to.

But here, I think there's a truth in love. They invest in this man for the furtherance of the gospel, and we see him doing that later on in here in the text, he goes in and he's showing the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. He's powerfully refuting all who would deny it, and they help him. And he listens to when he's corrected, he's not defensive.

He doesn't say, Well, you know, I'm the pastor here in Ephesus, and it's my job to teach you.

You don't teach me. I teach you.

He doesn't say that, does He?

He? He willingly learns and listens. And how sad it is if no one's sharing the sharing with the pastor Jesus, how sad it is if no one's sharing with me, Jesus, you know I can think of.

Of my earlier sermons, people were so gracious to me, and maybe even some of my more recent sermons, and you are so gracious to me, and I'm thankful for that. And you know sometimes after my sermons that I preach, some of you will point out different things to me that I didn't see that, how that particular passage directs to another passage. I didn't understand it. I didn't catch it, I didn't see it. But I'm grateful to hear that. I'm grateful to see the scriptures are greater and grander than I've ever even realized. And you saw something, you brought something to me that I shouldn't or that I didn't see earlier.

Now, Lord willing, I won't get defensive. Maybe I would at times, but that's on me, not on you. But our attitude towards one another, and even for ourselves is, Lord help me grow.

Show me more of Christ. And you know how God's going to do that often is not simply here. Yes, God uses primarily the teaching and preaching of His Word to show us Christ, but he's going to use each other, that the people in this room. God is going to use in your life to show you more of Christ, and we should be prepared for that and ready to receive that. God's going to use the people around you to make Christ more real and obvious and visible to you. So help us to humbly receive correction and receive Christ more and and humbly share Christ with people more. The other thing here too, with Priscilla and Aquila is some people will note there's a switch in the order the name, that Priscilla's name comes now first before Aquila, where, if you look in the previous chapter, aquila's name came before Priscilla. And I think maybe what's happening here again, there's a lot of different views, but that Priscilla might have been someone who was actually more grounded in the Scriptures than Aquila. She was more prominent in the church, or well known in the church, or maybe even more helpful in the church than than Aquila. Not that she was ordained to any office, but she's helpful to the church.

She's useful to the church.

She's useful to this young minister to help him understand the word. And I think that's an encouragement to our women, not that the Lord's calling you to ordained ministry, but here, it's not just Aquila who's speaking Christ to Apollos. It's Priscilla, and that's an encouragement to all of you women, that you you should be speaking of Christ as well, to not be silent, but to speak, to speak of Christ to others. So what difference does it make if Paul gets a haircut right?

At first, it seems like a detail we could skip, but I think Luke has shown us that it's something essential, that the story is not about Paul. This has all been about Christ. Christ is building his church. But Christ isn't building his church primarily just through spectacular moments and history. He's building his church through people who he's worked grateful hearts in gratitude and thankfulness and and it bubbles over. And it spills over to then share Christ with others, to speak of Christ to others. Christ doesn't primarily build his Church through through big, strong personalities, but actually primarily through humble servants and not through flawless leaders, but even through patient correction, Christ, The one who gave himself fully for us, thankless prideful, incomplete people like us, the Lord Jesus Christ came why we were yet sinners and died for us, and he lives for us and is sitting at the right hand of the Father for us. He will one day come again for us. Let us be thankful. Let us be grateful.

Let us renew our devotion, to repent of our sin, to turn from our idolatry, of our hearts, of our ingratitude and our fears, and put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, let's pray.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us your word. And Lord, I confess that there are so often things in scriptures I rather pass over. Some things are more plain and easily understood than others, but we're. Um, Lord you you call us to difficult passages because often they make us be more like Bereans. Help us, Lord, to understand by the power of your spirit, open up our our eyes, to be strong in the scriptures, to be competent in the scriptures, even as we're told Apollos was we want to be competent. Lord, give us understanding. Give us a humility. Give us faith. Lord, be merciful to your people in Jesus' name, amen.