Acts 18: What If The Person You Avoid Is Your Assignment

Welcome to the City Life Church podcast.

We hope it encourages you.

If you'd like to learn more about City Life or our mission, connect with us online at CityLifeSandiego.org.

And while podcasts and Sunday mornings are helpful, they are no substitute for deeper personal relationships in the church.

Amen.

Amen.

Thanks, Ruben.

I know he's fighting his voice a little bit this morning, and uh he loves you enough to just go at it anyway.

So, yeah, thank you.

Today we're gonna be in the book of Acts for one more week, and we're gonna be in Acts chapter 18.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

Uh, if you recall, we were in Acts chapter 17 last week, and when we um wanted to pick which text we were using uh to introduce uh our series in Corinth, it just so happened to be Acts chapter 18.

Acts 17 · chapter mention Acts 18 · chapter mention

God is weird like that, he's awesome, he's got the whole thing rigged for his glory.

So we're gonna be in Acts chapter 18.

Acts 18 · chapter mention

Um if you don't have a nice Bible, we would love to give you one.

We have them on both sides of the room.

Um we have them in English, Spanish, uh Haitian crayol as well.

Um costado de Solomon Bonjumensatim canta nueva vecila, no hay que creo, I see, Puno gratis, no some son of crayon.

Well, next week we start our new series in the letters to the Corinthians.

And um I wanted to kind of get us started by giving you the background.

So today is the background for uh our series in Corinthians, but it's the word of God, so it's gonna be okay.

It's gonna bless you.

It's not just background.

Um to help understand these people, you have to know their story.

And one big thing I want you to take note of too, as I'm reading from you the text to you this morning, is how many times different places are mentioned, and how many times different cultures are mentioned, okay?

So I want you to be aware of that.

Um you may not know this, but a diverse church that chooses to fight against assimilation and tokenism, it's gonna feel a little different, isn't it?

Right?

Um, like everyone constantly feels left out of a multi-ethnic church.

And um the thing is, is uh it's gonna feel that way.

You're never going to feel like you fully fit in in a church like that.

Like, where are all my people?

And it's like your people are the people in Jesus, they're not the people that look like you, that talk like you, or that come from the same background as you as you.

There's always gonna be that pull though, that pull towards easy, towards easier people who look and talk like you, which is not necessarily easier, but you think it is.

But when we seek unity above difference, we tell the world that our God is bigger than our differences.

That's important, friends.

He's bigger than the USA, he's bigger than Haiti, he's bigger than Mexico, he's bigger than El Salvador, he's bigger than the Philippines, he's bigger than our divisions, and Corinth, Corinth had a lot of division.

Today you're gonna get the background and see a little bit as to why um they had so much division.

So we're gonna be in Acts 18.

And if you recall from last week, Paul had just finished speaking to the Athenians about an unknown God.

Now, the Athenians um were worshiping this unknown God along a pantheon of other gods.

Now, what he did is he used their theology to tell them why they needed Jesus, and he did it in a kind, loving, respectful way.

Now, what I want to try something today.

Um, so today when I read uh uh the text in verses one through five, what I want to do is can can we try to like clap, stomp your feet, or make a noise?

Is that okay?

Can we do that?

Like I'm gonna make a noise because I gotta hold a mic.

But every time you hear a location, like a like a place, a city, a country, something like that, I want to hear some kind of noise.

Can I hear an example of the noise right now?

One, two, three.

All right.

Um, and anytime you hear a culture, Jewish, Gentile, mentioned, I want to hear that noise again.

Can I hear it?

One, two, three.

All right, so let's um let's go.

Let's be in the text, and just one through five, we're gonna do this.

It continues to be mentioned, but as I tried to work through it, I was like, this is gonna get annoying real fast.

So, one through five.

Uh, you with me?

You got your Bibles?

We there?

All right.

You're like, I can't hold up a Bible, I'm clapping now.

Um, okay, verse one.

Paul, who's from Tarsus, left Athens and went to Corinth, where he found a Jew named Achila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.

Paul came to them, and since they were of the same occupation, tent makers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.

He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

So crazy guys, did you not see how many different places, how many different cultures are mentioned in five sentences?

And then, and then somehow these people are supposed to come together and be a church.

So you heard Tarsus, Athens, Corinth, Jew, Pontus, Italy, Jews, Rome, Jews, Greeks, Macedonia, Jews.

So there's so many differences already present in our text before we even get to what I'm gonna be teaching on today.

So I want you aware of this, okay?

People are gonna have differences in the church if we're doing it right.

Okay?

So we're in verse 6 now.

Don't be making noises.

I know it's gonna keep coming up.

We're in verse 6.

Let's focus on the word of God.

Let's continue.

When they resisted, and blah, you know, you gotta go back so you remember where we are.

So Paul devoted himself to preaching the word and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and he told them, Your blood is on your own heads.

I am innocent.

From now on, I will go to the Gentiles, meaning the non-Jews.

I knew it.

So he left there, and he went to the house of a man named Titius, who Justice, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household.

Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

So, yes, people are coming to faith here, aren't they?

You see it happening, but clearly Paul was feeling some kind of way.

Okay?

Like, have you ever looked at the reviews of a book you love dearly?

Uh and like you got people like just trashing it, right?

Like, like everybody loves it, but then there's that person that's like, man, the cover art on this, the shipping was so bad, one star.

Like it happens all the time.

I'm a musician.

I have recorded probably over 20 albums, okay?

And we call them albums because I'm old.

And and I've played over half the country.

And if I have a thousand positive reviews of something I worked really hard on, and some dude who's never left his mom's basement leaves a bad review for me.

Which one is gonna live rent-free in my head for years?

It's the bad one.

It's the bad one.

So there's good stuff happening, but what is Paul focusing on?

What is I I mean, you don't know yet, because uh we haven't got there yet.

But here's the thing the world is full of haters, guys.

And there are people getting saved in this church, but like Paul, I will often focus on the ones who leave.

Paul was kicked out by his own people, his church was small.

Most of his fellow Jews hated him and what had him killed, but then God.

But then God spoke up to him.

In verse 9, um, the Lord said to Paul in a night vision, Don't be afraid.

Keep on speaking, don't be silent, for I am with you, and no one will lay a hand on you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city.

He stayed there a year and a half, teaching the word of God among them.

Verse 12.

While Gallio was proconsul of Achaea, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the tribunal.

That's not good.

This this man, they said, is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.

As Paul was about to open his mouth and defend himself, uh, Gallio said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrongdoing or like a serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.

Okay, yes, he sounds a little racist.

But if these are questions about words and names and your own law, man, see to it yourself.

I refuse to be a judge of such things.

So he drove them from the tribunal, and they all seized Sophanes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal.

But none of these things mattered to Galileo.

So the the head of the temple gets beat, and the guy's like, Can we just move this along?

I'm like, I'm a bureaucrat, I don't want to be here, can we go?

Guys, sometimes people will attack our faith in secular ways.

They'll go to leadership of our country, they'll go to leadership of our city or anywhere else.

They may challenge us as work or they may want to label us as hateful, but we know exactly what God has called us to and what he's told us not to accept.

That's gonna happen.

See, people who attack our faith, though, they often end up attacking each other.

Have you noticed?

I've seen it happen.

It happens in the church too.

When people are mad, they usually end up fighting against the church, and they don't always end up in the same church.

They usually end up fighting each other and splitting even more.

See, Paul, though, chose faithfulness in the face of his anger, in the face of the anger he was receiving.

He spoke to whomever would listen, and God encouraged him for this.

And so I'm gonna ask that we would pray together and seek that God would continue to teach us through his word.

Father, I'd like to think that we're more spiritually evolved than the people who denied you 2,000 years ago.

But I think it's clear we we're a lot like them.

We're easily swayed by our desires and friends.

We listen to excuses so we don't have to honestly follow you.

We justify ourselves and we condemn others, and in the face of all of our crazy, you love us, you pursue us, you chase after us, you patiently call us to repentance, you show us a better way.

Because no matter who speaks to us, only you have purest motives.

Only you promise us truth and a love that transcends our understanding.

Father, would you help us to love your imperfect church?

Not just this little piece of it here in Mount Hope, but your whole body spread throughout the world.

Help us.

We love you.

Now, would you please also speak to us through your word?

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our hearts be pleasing to you.

We pray this all in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.

And if you don't know what amen means, basically, it means yes.

It means truth.

It means I agree.

So today I'm going to give you two surprising ways God uses his church to disrupt the world around us.

And if you think that, because it's two points, it'll be shorter, then you've not learned anything yet.

My first point is this God specializes in sending us to unexpected people.

God specializes in sending us to unexpected people.

So our first surprising way God uses his church to disrupt the world around us is that God specializes in sending us to unexpected people.

Verse 6, when they resisted and blasphemed, I'm guessing blaspheming would be they would be saying things about Jesus not being true, not being God.

He shook out his clothes and he told them, Your blood is on your heads.

I am innocent.

From now on, I will go to the non-Jews.

Now, Paul, as we know in the Bible, felt an immense burden for his own people.

If you've not known this, they were his people and he believed, and so he wanted to go to them.

He wanted them to know the truth.

If you recall last week in our text that we were reading, an extra text, Paul actually said, I would be willing to go to hell if it would save my fellow Jewish believers.

Can you imagine that?

I would not pray that.

I don't really want to go to hell.

But it's a beautiful prayer.

He says, I want the Jewish people to be saved, and if you send me to hell and save them, I would be cool with it.

That's true love, isn't it?

And like Jesus, he went to them first, which is what Jesus did.

But Paul was rejected.

So Paul shook off his clothes.

This was a sign of I am done with you.

Much like when Jesus said to wipe the dust off your sandals if people reject you.

Paul did what he was supposed to do.

Paul did what he thought he was supposed to do, and then he shook off his clothes because when haters are gonna hate, Paul had to shake it off.

Shake it off.

Now, guys, here's this here's a secret, church.

The world is full of haters.

They're gonna push back against God's great rescue plan, his plan of grace and redemption, but we don't respond the way they attack.

Verse 7, so he left there.

And he went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.

It's actually Titius, I'm sorry, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.

Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household.

Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

So, yes, the world is full of haters, but if we keep speaking up, friends, many will be saved.

Just not who we always expect.

So Paul went to the temple to teach, but he was rejected, so he faithfully went next door, and God continued to encourage him.

Friends, be faithful, don't stop, don't be silent, but be asking God what he wants.

Sometimes he's gonna want you to put in more time to keep grinding, but sometimes there are people all around you who you don't expect who want hope.

People you didn't plan on that want hope.

Sometimes they are next door and they have nowhere else to turn.

And they are praying for someone to be sent to them for help.

Guys, when we seek God and He gives us eyes to see the people around us from His perspective, things start to change for His glory.

So I ask you, who around you is invisible right now?

God may want you to speak truth to them.

That may not be the person you're thinking about.

It's always funny to me that like everybody wants like Kanye and Tim Tebow to get saved, but like they don't really care as much about their neighbor.

I don't know why we think that our neighbor can't do something amazing.

Why does it have to be somebody who could throw a football or someone as gifted as Kanye and crazy gifted as Kanye?

Why do we have to do that?

Why do we care so much about this person, but not the other person who's right there?

Not the person who's struggling to eat, not the person who's working with us that can be a little annoying sometimes.

Why don't we think about the people who are all around us?

So who is invisible around you right now?

There are some people who need you to speak up for Jesus today.

And there are others that need you to earn the right to speak to them.

Notice the difference.

They might listen and they might mock you, but no matter where you are going, God will be with you.

That's what he promises to us.

If you're seeking to live out his desires for your life, he is with you and his Holy Spirit lives in you, the Bible says.

And he might want to encourage you today, like he did Paul in verse 9.

Now, I can't promise you that you won't be hurt.

I can't promise you because I'm not God, and this was not written specifically to your situation.

Matter of fact, uh when he left Corinth, God's like, oh yeah, you're gonna die over there.

Like God told him.

God took his belt and tied him up and said, This is what's gonna happen to you.

Verse 9, the Lord said to Paul, Don't be afraid, but keep on speaking.

Don't be silent, for I'm with you.

No one will lay a hand on you or hurt you because I have many people in this city.

See, some of you um have difficult people around you, and God is still sending you to them.

People who want nothing more than just to destroy your faith.

And you've tried your best to be faithful, and I tell you, don't be afraid of them.

They cannot hurt your soul.

But I also tell you to be smart.

If God is calling you to something, he will accomplish it.

If he is telling you to speak up, do not be silent when they tease and threaten you, because he told you to.

When I felt called to plant this church 12 years ago, we prayed and we fasted and we went to people I trusted, and and we got a ton of counsel from people.

And that felt clear to us that God was sending us.

Guys, there will be days here when we are small, there will be days when we are large.

But if God has called us to this work, he will make it happen and we can trust that he is good.

Now I'm very sure Paul was tired at this point.

You want to know how?

I know he was tired.

They already tried to kill him in Damascus and Jerusalem and Antioch.

And Iconium in Lystra.

They actually thought that they had stoned him to death and they left him for dead.

They dragged his body outside the city and said, Yeah, he's not gonna make it.

He had also been in beaten and imprisoned in Philippi.

He and his friend Silas were forcefully removed from Thessalonica and Berea.

It's crazy.

He needed some encouragement, didn't he?

In Galatians 6, Paul even said, I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

And I remember when I was 16 and I got saved, I was like, Can I get tattoos?

Everybody like quoted this one.

I was like, that's probably not what it what it's about.

Actually, what he's saying is, because I have spoken up for Jesus, I have been beaten again and again and again.

And my bruises reveal my faithfulness to God.

My bruises reveal my faithfulness to God.

The many scars and bruises on my body show I am faithful to Jesus.

Um do we wonder why he continued?

I mean, don't you wonder a little bit why somebody would continue after that?

Now, uh Rita May Brown, she once said this.

She said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result.

Now, with all due respect to Ms.

Brown, a life of faith often looks like that.

It's just faithfulness.

We're called to faithfulness and hopefulness and nothing more.

Now, we're not we're not trying to be stupid.

Now, I'm not like walking in the middle of the street into like oncoming traffic being like, I'm just faithful to God.

No, no, no, I'm faithful to what God has called us to do.

And faithfulness often means failure and struggle and pain, and people won't like you.

Paul loved Jesus, but he also loved people, and he didn't want them to go to hell, and he wanted their lives to improve by living lives with God now and his church.

Friends, don't be so quick to say God is closing a door when things get hard.

Man, I'm so sick of that.

Like, he might not.

You don't think that the devil opposes true ministry?

Sometimes when things are hard, it's because God is doing something, and it's not uh universally light.

And then don't be so quick to say God is opening a window with something that's easier.

You don't think the devil wants you to be successful?

He loves when you're successful because when you're successful, you turn your back on God.

Let me rephrase that.

When I'm successful, I turn my back on God.

When I'm successful, I did it.

But when things are hard, I go to God, I'm like, why did you do this?

See, that's what we do.

So when you're getting open doors everywhere, just be aware.

The devil can be behind that too.

Okay?

So be careful.

And when things are hard and when you're being faithful and you're doing the right thing, and it just feels like you're hitting your head against the wall, God can be in that too, okay?

One of my favorite attributes of God in the Bible is long suffering.

God endures.

You know this by now.

It says God is long of face, and uh most Jews of the time would say this means he's got a big nose, because a big nose means it doesn't get read very quickly.

It takes too long.

And I'm blessed as a big-nosed person to be able to say, like, what a beautiful idea.

Long suffering.

That's our God.

And if God is long-suffering, there might be a chance that you and I should also be big-nosed.

God does the right thing, not because it's easy, but because it's right.

Because he is patient, long-suffering, and he is loving.

Galatians 6 9 says, Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will harvest at the proper time if we do not give up.

Now, some of you will get into it with someone in our church, and um, God will suddenly call you someplace else.

And I'm like, Okay, all right, fine, that's fine.

But what if instead God put you, uh God put that person in your life to help you?

Maybe to help you learn boundaries, maybe to help you learn resilience.

Maybe God is allowing you to see their bad behavior because it's holding up a mirror to your own sin.

I remember someone teaching me that my spouse is not supposed to complete me.

Instead, she is like sandpaper.

That we're supposed to be like sandpaper to each other.

Okay?

Now, now that's not really completion.

That's irritating towards holiness.

That's irritating towards holiness, friends.

Now remember, um, those difficult people in your life can be sandpaper too.

In your work, in your church, in your family.

Don't look at them, don't look down, look at your feet.

But remember, like God could have them in your life because they're teaching you something.

And remember, I'm not saying this about abuse, okay?

Never about abuse.

No one should have to stay in an abusive situation, okay?

But friends, boundaries are good, but God may be calling you to proximity to people who are different from you.

Because you got some blind spots.

Because we have some blind spots people who talk differently than you, people who vote differently than you, people who sin differently from you.

Friends.

God may be calling you to that.

God may be calling you to better understand the beauty of his people who put raisins in the potato salad.

You may need to learn something good about those people.

And maybe, just maybe, you'll be in their life and you can home with some blind spots.

Okay?

You know, I don't know what those are, but God may be calling you to love people who voted for Obama very happily.

God may be calling you to love people who voted for Donald Trump very happily.

And learn from them.

And when you see their blind spots, they can show you your yours.

Here's the thing, guys.

God may be calling you to understand and love someone who grew up in a grew up as a neighborhood crypto as a coaster, as a brim.

But Paul started where he always started.

He went to the temple first.

He was born a Hebrew in Tarsus, don't clap.

He was trained under a famous rabbi, so he went to the believers of Yahweh first, because that's just it just made sense.

But a certain kind of believer, we've learned this, right?

A certain kind of believer can do a lot of damage, right?

I actually don't think non-believers are quite as dangerous as uh some believers.

Let me just say this uh it's not even close.

The Christians around you who sow division, um, that's a problem.

Those are the most dangerous.

The devil is given a title for similar actions.

He's called the accuser of the brethren.

So watch out for Christians who want to sow division.

In his book, The Unsaved Christian, my friend Dean and Sarah, he says, self-proclaimed Christians who worship a God that requires no self-sacrifice, no obedience, no submission, no surrender are not worshiping the God of the Bible.

No matter how much they claim they love Jesus.

Who are they worshiping, friends?

Themselves.

Let me say it again.

Who am I worshiping?

Myself.

So Paul understood he could waste all his time trying to convince religious people, or he could go to the rest of the Corinthians.

The people who actually seemed hungry for the truth.

Now he could have just left Corinth.

There was plenty of people in need everywhere, but instead he booked an Airbnb next door to the temple, and he started to preach the gospel to the people who would listen.

And who got saved?

Ironically, it was someone from the temple that got saved.

Crispus, the leader of the synagogue.

How cool is that?

You're like, okay, God, I guess you're closing this door.

I'm gonna go here, I'm gonna stay close, I'm gonna do my thing, and then Crispus gets saved.

Perhaps even more crazy, something else happened.

Looking back at verse 16.

So he drove them from the tribunal and they seized Sothenes.

I don't know how to say his name.

Sophenes, the leader of the synagogue, and they beat him in front of the tribunal.

So uh Crispus gets saved, then you get a new dude, and then he's fighting against Paul.

But next week we're gonna start in Corinthians, and you're gonna see something amazing, friends.

Paul is writing to the Corinthians with a brother in Christ on his side, Sophanes.

That dude who got beat became a Christian.

How cool was that?

Two dudes leading the temple got saved.

Paul was rejected by his Jewish people, but he remained faithful.

He spoke to whomever would listen, and somehow God saved two leaders from the synagogue.

Tell me he doesn't have the whole thing rigged.

The world is full of haters who push back against God's rescue plan, friends.

But if we keep speaking up, many will be saved, just not who you expect.

Friends, if you want to share the gospel or if you want to live out your faith, go to people who are interested.

I'm not talking about Christians again.

Go to people who are interested that don't know Jesus.

Go to the people who have an open mind.

Just don't stop, okay?

It takes more energy to argue with someone than to disciple someone.

When you take someone through the Bible who is interested, did you know that gives you energy?

It's so good.

Um, Titius, Justice, was a good companion.

He clearly encouraged Paul, and he wasn't the only one.

Paul was getting some of his encouragement from these other people.

Also, you may notice Paul stayed with Akeelah and Priscilla and worked on his craft with them.

Literally, he built tents.

And surely they learned from him.

Discipleship was happening in his life, in their lives, and they worked on making tents.

They interacted, they talked about the gospel.

Surely Akeelah and Priscilla, they sharpened Paul too, right?

It's not just a one-sided thing.

I've never discipled anyone who didn't strengthen and grow me uh just as much.

Now I've heard this quote often: show me your friends and I'll show you your future.

If there are people you want to be like, if you want to become a discipler, you're gonna need some help at the same time.

So if you want to be like, uh, if there are people that you want to be like in faith, in marriage, in parenting, in schoolwork, you go to them.

You get their help so you can do this.

Because if you're gonna faithfully do what God has called you to, it's hard on these streets, isn't it?

You'll need some people who can encourage you to live out your faith.

Spend time learning from them.

Ask them questions.

You know, I love questions about the Bible.

Maybe not always at midnight, but I love questions about the Bible.

I love meeting with you and talking about the Bible and make it easy for people to help you too.

Um, do what they encourage you to do.

That's a good idea.

Consider bringing them food, help them with chores around the house, drive to them so they're not gonna come to you.

Now, right now, there's a gentleman in our church who is meeting with me uh and asking me about the Bible every other week.

He's a believer.

He drives to meet with me, he studies his Bible, and he comes with a list of questions.

And then he tries not to take up too much of my time.

I'm like, oh, dude, we can keep going.

He's like, No, I'm leaving, giving you time.

I love our time together.

So I could easily go longer, but he he chooses to protect my time.

See, that's a blessing.

So you find people who can help and encourage you in places you need to grow.

Now, there's also a young man from out of state.

He works at another church nearby, um, but he has come to me to help help him grow.

I consider him a part of my family.

When he's lonely, he calls and he says, Hey, can I come hang out with your family sometime soon?

And then he gives me options of days.

Would any of these days work?

He makes it easy for me to pour into him so he can go to others and not be discouraged.

He wants to learn from me and he tells me and he seeks to make it easy.

He doesn't make demands of me, he blesses me.

He once wanted to spend time with our family and he suggested that this time he come over, um, he's Salvadorian, and teach us how to make Salvadoran papoosas, and they were fire, and also they burned my mouth.

So, uh, you know.

He asked to join us uh this Thanksgiving at our house, and of course he's like, I already know what I'm gonna bring.

Man, he's bringing the sweet potatoes.

Like, come on.

See, this is this is what it's about, friends.

God has called us to witness to those who are far from Jesus, but but he sends us help and he sends us encouragers while he sends us to the oppressed and the addicted.

God wants us to grieve with those who grieve and weep with those who who weep, but if you're gonna do this for any amount of time, any amount of time, you need help.

You're gonna need a few things.

You have to lean heavy on the Spirit of God, the Word of God, and His church.

If you're gonna care for a lot of people in tough places, you must spend a lot of time with people who encourage you, people who give you hope.

Paul spent his time with Priscilla and Ocula, Titius, Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, and he's speaking truth.

He's had uh he has people pray with him to encourage him.

See, God doesn't want you to pour out yourself and become a bitter person or even a bitter poison.

No, no, no, no.

He wants you to overflow to other people, but that means stuff has to, you know, flow into you.

You cannot do it alone.

You need God and you need his people to encourage you.

So when you find those people, I just gotta be honest, there's gonna be some sandpaper moments though.

They might rub you the wrong way, they might sin or they might point out some problems or some blind spots in your life, but the godly ones will seek to do it in compassion.

And that's our second point.

God uses honest and correctable leaders.

God uses honest and correctable leaders.

And I'm actually continuing on to verse 24.

God uses honest and correctable leaders.

It's not on the thing, so if you have a Bible or a phone or whatever.

Verse 24.

Now a Jew named Apollos, a native Alexandrian, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of the scriptures, arrived in Ephesus.

He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately about Jesus, although he knew only John's baptism.

Okay, so first off, you gotta you gotta read some things in the Bible that Apollos, Apollos is a cool dude, okay?

He is.

Everything we know about Apollo says that he was awesome, an eloquent man who was competent in the use of scripture.

First off, he is a gifted Jewish Egyptian from Alexandria.

Alexandria is already a cool melting pot of Jewish, Macedonian, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian culture.

That is a cool place.

He's basically from London or New York, okay?

Now Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great.

It was established by his general and mentor Ptolemy.

It was famous for its great lighthouse, and it was especially famous for having the largest, most comprehensive, most beautiful library in the whole world.

Like learning.

So the biggest library in the world was in Africa at this time, okay?

Um, now it it was set ablaze by um people from from uh Rome, uh, from a general from Rome.

Uh uh, let me see, uh, not Augustus, Octavian, sorry.

But the thing is, when this was set ablaze, uh, it set the world back a thousand years.

It was that influential.

The science, the philosophy, the literature available there was lost to the ages.

Uh, here's another thing about Alexandria, if you want to see how influential it was.

Cleopatra ruled from Alexandria only 30 years before the birth of Jesus.

So at that time, it was still a pretty cool place.

Now, like Athens, the people of Alexandria were known for debate, and Apollos, man, he was gifted.

And since the people of Corinth and most Greeks greatly valued strength and ability, Apollos would have been a dude.

Okay?

If they liked him, my guess is he was probably tall and strong looking as well.

Uh they prize, they prized the skills that paid the bills.

Yeah, but but gifting and learning without humility is unsafe and unstable.

And he was gifted and he had learned some things, but there was holes, right?

Praise God that Apollos wasn't dangerous, he was teachable.

Now, as Christians grow more mature and bold in our faith, we should become teachable and humble.

When our church is looking for a leader, there are several things we look for: someone who thirsts for the word and for prayer, someone seeking to live by the Spirit, someone who's consistent and positive, and someone who is teachable.

Notice I left out good looking.

Notice I left out married.

Notice I left out charismatic.

Notice I left out great speaker.

God cares a whole lot less about those things than Instagram does.

Did you know that?

He does.

He looks at the heart.

Proverbs 17, 3 says, A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold.

The Lord is the tester of the hearts.

And the heart of Apollos was teachable.

Let me show you where.

Verse 26.

He began to speak boldly in the synagogue.

After Priscilla and Ocula heard him, they took him aside and explained the ways of God to him more accurately.

Dang.

Now, Pastor Willie James Jennings, he says, this is by far the best working definition of a Christian couple.

Luke shows us what a couple can do joined to Jesus.

They can speak truth to power and instruct the powerful.

It's also pretty rad that Apollos was willing to listen to a woman, isn't it?

It's Greco-Roman, in Greco-Roman history, the majority of women at this point were still not afforded the stature given to men.

We know this.

But Apollos, he was learned.

He listened to her still.

Even though he was smart, even though he was educated, he was smart.

So he knew he should listen to her.

That's what was happening.

This is what leadership looks like, not just from them, but from him.

Nigerian pastor Godwin Ekutumana once pointed this out.

He said it's worth noting, he said, that Priscilla was one of those who instructed him.

She was a woman who could teach a pastor.

She should uh we should also note that for all his learning, Apollos was not a proud man.

He was willing to learn from others even if they lacked his academic qualifications.

See, you will never know someone's character until somebody tries to teach them something.

Until they are told that they are wrong, until they are told they are in sin.

But Apollos responded with what?

Humility.

I put that dude in charge of anything, man.

Now there are many godly women in our church whom I know I can trust.

My wife is one of them, for real.

She's not here, but she's awesome.

Guys, every city group in our church has those ladies.

Um, but have you ever checked out the Spring Valley Citroup?

Does anyone know about Phyllis and Cheryl?

When Phyllis and Cheryl come to me and they say uh they got a problem, although they rarely do, when they come to me and they say, hey, you're doing something wrong, or I should say, at least if they did come to me, I have to say, like they've put in the time, they've put in the effort, they've shown love, they've taken care of other people.

Man, I'm gonna listen to them.

And if I don't listen to them, I'm really being foolish, aren't I?

I need to follow the example here of our friend Apollos.

He listened, he grew, and God gave him more chances to lead, because in verse 27 it said he wanted to cross over to Achaea.

The brothers and sisters wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

After he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed.

For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.

See, the people of Achaea were blessed by the teaching of Apollos because he had people who were brave enough to teach him.

Because he was teachable and because they spoke up for him.

But it's not just leaders who need to be teachable, is it?

It's all of us.

I have plenty of leaders who speak into my life constantly, ones who challenge me and who tell me I'm wrong.

Guys, if I have no one speaking into my life, there's a serious problem.

I specifically called Pastor Roland Slade in El Cahone this week.

And while I won't tell you what I was calling him about, um, I can uh tell you, I made sure that he knew that I wanted to know where I was wrong and where I needed to receive correction.

Okay?

That's me trying to be the man of God that I want to be, that I want you uh men and women to be.

Now, I've not always been like this, and I'm not always gonna be like this, okay?

Um, I have so much to learn still, and sometimes I won't know I have stuff to learn.

But here's the thing.

I hope that if your leaders are constantly asking um how they uh I'm sorry, I hope if your leaders are constantly telling you how you're getting something wrong that you're maybe willing to consider that maybe this is good for you.

If Apollos was wrong, you and I can be wrong too, friends.

It's a thing.

Um, God is constantly reminding me that my ego is not as important as the work he's called me to.

Also, who wants to be around a negative, unteachable person?

Who wants that to be their pastor either?

I'm working on it, friends.

Apollos was teachable, and that's what made him a great teacher.

But friends, not only was Apollos a great teacher because of his humility and his teachability, he was a great teacher because there were people around him who spoke directly to him in kindness.

He was a great teacher of the gospel because people loved him enough to pull him aside, pull him aside, pull him aside, don't be doing it in front of everybody.

And spoke truth to him.

Now, there's three different ways to tackle accountability in the church.

Um, uh I got three extra ones for you, okay?

So three different ways to tackle accountability in the church.

I don't know if it got up on there.

I I sent it, but you know, I didn't tell you about it, so it's not there.

Okay.

Uh you just gotta listen.

I'm gonna give you three different ways to tackle accountability in the church.

Don't worry, it's gonna go fast.

The first way is this destructive.

Where you talk about someone.

Hey, you know, we need to be praying for that person.

You know, I I just saw what they were up to.

I saw on their their their Instagram what they were doing.

No, no, no, no.

That's that's destructive.

Um, let me just tell you do you know where the most destructive conversations happen in a church building?

In the church building.

Not in the church building, in the parking lot.

It's always in the parking lot, friends.

People always talk trash in the parking lot, and it's sinful.

It's sinful.

Destructive is where you talk about people.

This is the most dangerous one, I think.

It's crazy.

It's a bit like a cancer cluster.

Division is a disease.

I see people who love the church, who are happy to be in the church, and then someone or someone online plants a negative idea in their heads, and all of a sudden it just starts to fester.

They can't look away from it.

Now they see it everywhere, they can't forget about it.

Unless they fully take the thought captive and refute it, they will grow disenchanted with a very messed up church, that's us, and they will leave, but it will be everywhere else too.

But friends, anyone can point out problems.

It's easy, it's cheap seats.

If you are voicing problems with the church, but you are not actively serving or seeking to make it better, or you are inconsistent, you could actually be the bigger problem.

Yikes.

Okay, here's the second way to tackle accountability: passivity.

Passivity.

Um, pretend there's no problem.

Keep your mouth shut.

Let me just say this is me often.

Um, so back in the day when I lived in Kansas, okay, um, that they had this thing called rain.

It was wild, okay?

It rained there a lot.

And we would get thunderstorms and we get hail storms, knock out our roof.

It was crazy, uh, tornadoes.

And I remember one day we were sitting down watching a movie, it was maleficent, didn't particularly like that movie, but we were watching it, and all of a sudden it was pouring rain, and then we had like one of those uh recessed lights, and water started to come through the recessed light that was on.

And my wife goes, Oh my gosh, stop the movie.

We gotta take care of this.

And I'm like, Oh, it'll be fine.

It'll it'll it'll it'll fix itself, you know.

Like, I'm guessing it was this like thing where I was passive and I was lying to myself.

Like, no, no, no, it'll be alright.

We don't gotta worry about it.

It'll be fine.

We can finish this movie that I'm clearly into.

No, I'm just lazy, laying on my back.

But you know, I have this problem that when there's a big problem like that, sometimes I just want to be honest.

I want to be passive, I want to ignore it.

Uh, I want to be like the ostrich who puts his head in the sand.

That's the problem.

Now, uh last week uh we were uh watching a Padre game, and it's like just about bedtime, and I hear, honey, can you come in here?

I'm like, hey, it's 9 30.

Yes, it's time for sleep.

And she says, I need you to check out the floor, and I'm like, mmm, nah, I'm okay.

I'm good.

No, honey, come on, come on in here.

Does it feel like higher in here?

And I just remember too, like, I like, does the floor seem like it's buckled here or something?

And I'm like, Nope.

Like stepping up like real high.

No, that seems fine.

Let's go to sleep.

It's fine.

I have a problem, okay?

There is passivity in my life.

I still ignore serious problems at times, okay?

That's a problem.

Intentional ignorance doesn't help the problem go away, does it?

It causes it to fester.

Guys, the owners of the house right there across from us, um, before us, they got some mold and then they just try to like cover it up in ways that were not actually helping the mold to go away.

And we've had to remove all the walls now.

They're all gone in there.

Almost every single wall is gone, and we're having to treat the whole thing because a little bit of mold got in, and then they just let it go out of hand because you know, if you can't see it, it's not there.

That's a problem, guys.

That's passivity.

Here's the thing: whenever I see someone in the news has been molested, um, often more people will come forward eventually.

Guys, I I cannot tell you that I know those boys at Cornell are guilty because I'm not studying it.

Okay?

So I'm not telling you that.

That's not my job, but here's what I can tell you.

There was probably some guys at that party that knew what was happening that were not involved, but they saw it.

There was probably some dude sitting nearby that saw what was happening.

He knew it, he heard the jokes, he was in on the text thread.

I don't know.

They probably had butterflies on their stomach, like, man, somebody should do something about this.

And then they didn't.

Instead of defending a young woman and standing up to frat bros, they chose passive cowardice.

And so, likely more and more, men took advantage of the young woman and ruined her life.

Guys, when you leave a dangerous problem alone, it doesn't get better, it gets worse.

It's true with cancer, it's true with the dentist, as much as I like to deny it and flossy.

It's true with mold and it's true with rust.

So stop thinking someone else is gonna speak up.

Passivity is not the answer.

But if talking about people is wrong and staying silent is wrong, what is right?

And that's active accountability, friends.

We speak directly to someone in a way that they can hear in love.

Matthew 18, if your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault.

Between you and him alone, if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

And then Jesus goes on to say how to include more and more people to get it right.

There has to be a relationship though, right?

Like Proverbs 27, 6 says, the wounds of a friend are trustworthy, but the kisses of an enemy are excessive.

Now, with Priscilla and Aquila or Akilah, there had to be some respect.

They approached him rightly and lovingly, but for my men, for my men in the room, uh, men, are you here?

Can you hear me, men?

I don't want you talking to women about their clothing.

Okay?

I don't want you talking to women about their relationships.

A trusted woman needs to be bold to speak into the other women's life.

They don't need you to do that, okay?

Men, if their clothing has caught your attention, this is a great opportunity for you to go to God and ask him if your eyes might be the real problem.

Except for dads.

Dads, we get a pass on our daughters.

But I don't know.

Now I'm still learning how to even do this with my own children, okay?

But guys, there has to be tact, right?

Like not everyone can handle the truth in the way that you dish it out.

And and you are responsible for the way you dish it out, okay?

People can only hear things in their language.

If you attack somebody immediately, they will likely Become defensive and they will never be able to hear you.

Tim Keller says, a quote I always use: build bridges that can withstand the weight of truth.

Build relational bridges that can withstand the weight of truth.

Friends, truth is heavy and it's costly.

It means you have to tread lightly.

It means you have to constantly sow into your relationship.

Don't text negative things.

Text only positive things, okay?

If a conversation is getting heated, stop and apologize where you need to apologize.

Don't level up.

And I suggest talking to that person if it's a negative conversation in person or on the phone.

They may not say yes, but you're responsible to try.

Also, don't confront someone in front of others, right?

Like I've gotten this wrong so many times, not gonna lie, especially during COVID.

I was on all these Zooms with like 80 people, and I'd be like, hey, it's a problem.

I'm learning, I'm growing, okay?

But look at what Priscilla and Aquila did, or Aquila.

They took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.

It says even more accurately, right?

Like this leads me to believe that they pointed out all that Apollos was getting right, too.

Like I can hear them talking, hey, Apollos, you're getting so much right here.

And you are such a gifted speaker.

It's clear you have a great love for God.

But while uh while all you have taught is correct, there's more to the story.

Jesus died and was resurrected.

Jesus sent his son to aid us now, his Holy Spirit to aid us now.

Yes, John wanted repentance.

He was right.

That is correct, but now we repent and we find forgiveness, not in animal sacrifice, but in the sacrifice of Jesus.

That's a beautiful way to speak to someone.

Friends, they shared the gospel with their friend, with Apollos.

And I hope you'll let me do the same thing today.

This idea, guys, that we have such a debt with God that we've been trying to fix it.

I just want to be a good person.

If I'm just a good person, I can just fix it.

I can just fix it.

But you can't fix it by being a good person because I'm just gonna tell you this no one is perfect.

No one is good in the eyes of God.

That's what the Bible says.

So every time you try to do something nice for somebody, you're like, well, God likes me now.

Well, guess what?

You're gonna do something else real soon.

And in your imperfection, you can't have the kind of relationship you need to be in eternity with God.

So there has to be something that bridges the gap.

And it's Jesus who came to this earth willingly died on the cross for our sins to make a way so that we might have a good relationship with God.

To make a way so we might have an infinite relationship with God.

But we can't reject Him.

We have to choose Him.

We have to say yes to God.

We have to repent of our sins, repent of the times that we said we know best, and say, God, you know best.

I'm gonna follow your way now.

So if you give your life to Jesus, and I hope you will, um, it's a it's a new journey and it's beautiful.

And then you'll have people who come alongside you and they help you.

You can be baptized, but that's the beginning.

That's page one of the book.

From then on, discipleship, friendship begins.

You have a relationship like Akeelah, uh, you have a relationship like Priscilla, you have a relationship like Crispus, like a relationship like Paul.

All these people gathering together, encouraging each other, hurting each other, and then apologizing to each other.

Guys, baptism is page one.

When you are baptized, you don't just move forward as if you took a bath.

You live your life for Jesus, friends.

We have a baptism scheduled for November 15th because we want you to be cold.

But El Nino's coming.

But friends, God's church is messy, and we will still get it wrong.

We will still hurt each other, but it's always worth it.

Sharing the gospel is messy.

You will be rejected, but it's always worth it.

So I say this City Life Church and guess.

The world is full of all kinds of haters who will push back against God's great rescue plan of grace and redemption.

But if we keep on speaking up, many will be saved.

Which is not always who you're gonna expect.

And as we grow more mature and bold in our faith, we too will have to become teachable and humble if we want to live out this life in Christ.

Let's pray.

Father, we're grateful for the opportunity that we have to come together today.

God, I'm grateful, like I'm grateful for for people like Priscilla and Akilah, who just uh they're kind, they're gentle, and they're honest.

And God, we want to be like that.

I want to be more like them.

Help us to be more like them.

But God, we know there are many ways that they would have failed you, and there are many ways that we have failed you.

And so it's in this moment that we come to you and we bring to you our sins and we confess them in the silence of our hearts.

Father, we thank you that uh we've got a uh a long list.

And yet we can find forgiveness when we truly repent.

And so for all those in the room who have repented today, Lord, we are grateful that you forgive us.

Lord, help us never to run back to those sins, but to understand them as they truly are destructive ways to hurt our relationship with you, our relationship with each other, and our relationship with ourselves.

God, we thank you that as far as the east is from the west, so our sin is from your sight.

God, we thank you that when you look upon us, Father, you see the righteousness of your Son Jesus.

Thank you for being a good and loving God.

Who would seek us out, who would chase us down with love.

We love you, and we pray this all in Jesus' name.

How God's people said.

Amen.