1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,400 Hi everyone. Thanks. I was on sabbatical for those of you who are like, where'd you come from? 2 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:16,400 Where'd you, where'd you, we don't know, we don't know you. You're dead to us. 3 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:26,400 I was on sabbatical the last six weeks and I am grateful for a church that lets us do that. 4 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:32,800 Let's our leadership take some time to have like a drawn out rest. 5 00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:38,400 Sabbatical is related to the word Sabbath and I'm really thankful for that time off. 6 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:48,000 So yeah, I won't get into that a whole lot today but yeah, anyway, thank you for that. 7 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:52,400 We are getting close to wrapping up our topographical series. 8 00:00:52,400 --> 00:01:02,400 I'm doing today and next week on the series and I actually haven't, I have all lined up the messages of the last few weeks 9 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,400 so I really wanted to hear them and have not done that yet. 10 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:12,400 Not like you guys were holding me to it but I feel like I need to confess it. I don't know. What is that? 11 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:18,400 Guys, sorry for something you're not indicting me for. 12 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:26,400 But we're going to continue on our summer road trip as I like to think of it in the next two weeks 13 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:38,400 and today we are spending time on, adjacent with the letters of Paul and narrowing in on his journeys. 14 00:01:38,400 --> 00:01:47,400 So some of the work that I do in my life is I get to travel far to do it and last summer I was in Greece 15 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:55,400 and I organized conferences for families and kids, specifically for kids. 16 00:01:55,400 --> 00:02:01,400 And so it took me to Greece and I usually try to build in a few extra days when I am someplace 17 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:09,400 and I wanted to do some visiting of some places in Greece because it's old and I really love old things. 18 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:18,400 So, like so much. And I know that when people go on vacation they think about like beaches or relaxing 19 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:27,400 and I will chase down Roman roads and ancient cities as much as I can. 20 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:36,400 Give me a 2000 plus year old arched colonnade or a mosaic floor or a Greek amphitheater 21 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,400 or a bronze age city of Agamemnon and Clytemastra. 22 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:46,400 That's the stuff that gets me really excited and friends that have traveled with me can attest to this. 23 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:51,400 This is what I want to do with my time off. But I am at least upfront about it. 24 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:53,400 We're going to see old stuff. 25 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:58,400 One of the places I really wanted to get while I was in Greece was the city of Corinth. 26 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:07,400 Yes, I do realize that there are actually beaches in Greece that people write about in the travel blogs. 27 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:14,400 I did not go to those beaches other than the one at the retreat center that we were at. 28 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:19,400 But have you seen the pedimental sculptures of the Parthenon, you guys? 29 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,400 That's the stuff I want to see. 30 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:29,400 So when I got to the Corinth, I had the place largely to myself, which may not be surprising to anybody, 31 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,400 but I can't believe I beat the crowds. 32 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:37,400 I walked around for a few hours and while I was there, I did, I tried to imagine, 33 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:43,400 Paul, I love to go to these places and try to imagine what life would have been like. 34 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:49,400 I think that's part of the fun is the reconstructing of these places in my head. 35 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:54,400 I stood in the marketplace and I tried to imagine Paul meeting Priscilla and Aquila for the first time 36 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:59,400 and what the early days versus the late days of his, he spent 18 months there. 37 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:06,400 And I wonder if that was unexpected as the time just drew on, but he was there for a year and a half. 38 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:11,400 And what were the first days like compared to the last days and how he got to know the city and the people in it, 39 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:17,400 what were the roads that he got used to walking down and the bakeries that he stopped at regularly 40 00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:21,400 and the shop people that he spent the most time with? 41 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,400 I wanted to imagine that stuff. 42 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:30,400 And after a few hours, I got in my car and I pulled up 1 Corinthians on my phone 43 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:38,400 and I sat there thinking about how within my gaze was this city that was thousands of years old. 44 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:44,400 It was centuries upon centuries of years old and the buildings, they're no longer there, 45 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:56,400 but here I am in my car, a vehicle not even conceived of, you know, when these original, when the letters were written. 46 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:03,400 I'm sitting in my car reading these words in the 21st century on a phone, you know, 47 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:10,400 like the intersection of all these pieces was so fascinating to me. 48 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:18,400 But these words that were written to those people are reaching me in the 21st century. 49 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:24,400 That is, it felt like an actual miracle and I thanked God for it. 50 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:32,400 I thanked God for the life I had because of people in this town that no longer exists. 51 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:36,400 So let's just take a minute to quiet our hearts for the word that God has for us 52 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:42,400 and to consider the things that God has done over time in history and the places that he's done it 53 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:47,400 to get the gospel message to us here today. 54 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:56,400 God, thank you so much for moving heaven and earth, for your message, for your gospel, for your good news, 55 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:05,400 for the truth of Jesus and the life of Christ to reach humanity in spite of itself. 56 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:12,400 Throughout all the centuries, it is unbelievable that we get to have your word 57 00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:19,400 and your spirit alive in us here today and we are really grateful for it. 58 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:27,400 So continue to enliven your spirit in us, continue to build our hearts bigger in you and in your shape, God. 59 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:31,400 Inform us more into your likeness that we can help build the church forward 60 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:36,400 and send your gospel forward just like the people of the first century church did as well. 61 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:40,400 We pray this in your name, amen. 62 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:45,400 Kathy, go ahead and put up first the first slide. 63 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:53,400 Paul, who we first meet early on in the book of Acts as a really terrible person, 64 00:06:53,400 --> 00:07:01,400 overseeing the stoning of Stephen and being pleased with the work against the early church, 65 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:06,400 was one of the destructive people against the early church, 66 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:11,400 was one of the people that was trying to dismantle this early movement. 67 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:16,400 He had a dynamic and dramatic conversion and after that, 68 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:25,400 he became one of the most prevalent and foremost carriers of the gospel forward 69 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:32,400 and builders and exorters of the church as it was growing in the first century. 70 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:40,400 So this is a tough picture to really get a grasp on, but it shows you the range of Paul's journeys. 71 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:46,400 So on the far right is sort of the starting point along that coastline. 72 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:51,400 On the far end of the far east of the Mediterranean Sea, that's what you're looking at there. 73 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:56,400 You see that far right side is where Israel is, Syria. 74 00:07:56,400 --> 00:08:02,400 Then just sort of to the left of it is where modern day Turkey is. 75 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:07,400 Go about to the middle, it's modern day Greece, and then far to the left is modern day Italy. 76 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:14,400 And you can see all these dotted arrow lines that show the travels of Paul. 77 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:18,400 Between the later 40s up until the late 50s of the first century, 78 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:23,400 Paul is thought to have made four major journeys with the objective of connecting with the believers 79 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:30,400 that have spread out from Jerusalem after things got difficult for the Christians there, partially because of him. 80 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:34,400 He wanted to also see others come to hear and know about Jesus. 81 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:42,400 So when it was time to go, Paul chose Silas and left and was commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 82 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:46,400 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches there. 83 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:51,400 Going on to Acts 16, Paul and his companions traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, 84 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:57,400 still in Turkey, still kind of close, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia, 85 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:02,400 which is kind of north like, if you can imagine where Istanbul is in that area. 86 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:09,400 When they came to the border of Messia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 87 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:11,400 That's interesting, isn't it? 88 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,400 So they passed by Messia and went down to Troas. 89 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:19,400 During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, 90 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,400 come over to Macedonia and help us. 91 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:27,400 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, 92 00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:31,400 concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. 93 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:34,400 Kathy, go back one slide to the first one. 94 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,400 That'll be context for us. Thank you. 95 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:45,400 So you can see where those places are. Messia, Asia, Bithynia is all mapped out there, Troas. 96 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:48,400 So it doesn't sound like Macedonia was a part of the original plan, 97 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:53,400 the original plan being let's go back to the churches we've already visited and see how they're doing. 98 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:59,400 As I said, I think for Paul, a native of Tarsus, Cilicia and Galatia would have made some sense. 99 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:04,400 But I think that this vision needed to happen to prompt them to take it further. 100 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:06,400 It wasn't in their original idea. 101 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:09,400 So moving from Asia into Macedonia and Greece, I think, well, 102 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:15,400 so I imagine it a little bit like in Lord of the Rings. 103 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:20,400 You know, if you've seen the movie, it's Sam in the movie who says it, not in the book. 104 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:23,400 So this is really making me a nerd. 105 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:26,400 In the book, they say. 106 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:31,400 But Sam gets to a point, I think it's like they get to this gate and he's like, I've never been this far before. 107 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:36,400 This is the farthest I've ever been in the Shire. 108 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:40,400 And they're about to go so much farther than they've ever gone before. 109 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:45,400 And I wonder if Paul or any of his companions ever had that feeling or thought when moving forward on these journeys, 110 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:51,400 the realization that the call of God, that God was taking them further than they might have thought to go on their own, 111 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:57,400 to places different than what they knew, to cultures and people groups that they didn't even consider 112 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:02,400 as being a part of the message of the gospel to reach, which checks out. 113 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:08,400 I find that this is how God works with all of us frequently, actually, isn't it? 114 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:13,400 And so but for obedience to the call and the love of the gospel, they wouldn't have gone. 115 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:18,400 So they find themselves because of this vision, moving off into territory outside of their first journey. 116 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:22,400 The vision gets them to Macedonia and then Paul moves forward onto Athens and Corinth. 117 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:28,400 So for context, by car, the drive from Athens to Corinth is about an hour. 118 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:32,400 And Kathy, you can put on that other map three. 119 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,400 So if you're looking at this map, you can see on the right side where it says to Athens. 120 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:39,400 So it's about an hour that way. 121 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:41,400 Who studied Greece in school? 122 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:43,400 I mean, that should be just about any of us, right? 123 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:47,400 Like it's early civilization type of stuff that we study. 124 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:50,400 So you might remember the phrase city states. 125 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,400 We would have known Athens and Sparta. 126 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:55,400 Those were the ones that come to mind. 127 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:57,400 But truthfully, Corinth should be in there with it. 128 00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:01,400 It was just as important, just as formidable. 129 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:03,400 Corinth as a city was strategically placed. 130 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:05,400 Corinth had access to two ports. 131 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:09,400 So you can see where Corinth is the red dot. 132 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:10,400 Look above. 133 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:11,400 There's a square. 134 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:18,400 And if you look to the right where it says Sankreae, both of those spots were ports. 135 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:20,400 And they were just within a few miles. 136 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:22,400 Sankreae was about 15 miles. 137 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,400 Lacheon was like two. 138 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:26,400 But they had access to them. 139 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:29,400 They ruled those ports. 140 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:36,400 In fact, they had created even a unique kind of road that would allow boats to portage from one port to the other 141 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:38,400 so that they could avoid going around the south of the Peloponnese, 142 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:42,400 which was notorious for having brutal waters. 143 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:49,400 This saved ships time, money, potential danger, and increased their ability to monetize everything. 144 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:54,400 It brought all kinds of people to Corinth in extraordinary numbers. 145 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:58,400 It was also the city right on the edge of the Isthmus. 146 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:03,400 So you can see Isthmus of Corinth, that thin strip of land that connects the Peloponnese to central Greece. 147 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:07,400 And they were the gatekeepers for all kinds of people passing through. 148 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:14,400 Most notably, they were the gatekeepers for a militant people to the southwest of them known as the Spartans, 149 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,400 who pretty regularly like to wage war on Athens. 150 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:20,400 Like they had a yearly schedule. 151 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:21,400 I'm not kidding. 152 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:24,400 Every year, Athens could plan on Sparta showing up and being like, 153 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,400 we're here to wage war again. 154 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:29,400 It's May. 155 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:36,400 So anyway, they had to pass through Corinth and the region of Corinth and the city-state of Corinth to get there. 156 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:40,400 And so Corinth's placement gave them great power. 157 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:47,400 It would be no surprise that eventually when a little group in the west started growing into an empire known as the Roman Empire, 158 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:50,400 their attention might fall to this area. 159 00:13:50,400 --> 00:13:56,400 So Corinth was a city of about 90,000 native residents. 160 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:59,400 But then you imagine all the people visiting on a regular basis, 161 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:04,400 and you were in the multiple hundreds of thousands at its height. 162 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:07,400 Slide four. 163 00:14:07,400 --> 00:14:12,400 This is what it is, you know, a reimagination of what it could have looked like. 164 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:16,400 It had a lot of influence and power, and Rome was pretty uncomfortable about that. 165 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:20,400 So Corinth stood at the center of what was known as the Achaean League, 166 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:23,400 and it was a pretty tight federation of towns. 167 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:31,400 When Rome couldn't break through it, they decided to break it, as Rome does. 168 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:35,400 And when Rome decided to move against Corinth, it didn't merely defeat it. 169 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:41,400 They raised it to the ground, which we've seen them do with Jerusalem and other defiant cities. 170 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,400 But they certainly did it to send a message. 171 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:49,400 The Achaean League not only altered the geopolitical landscape to the Mediterranean, 172 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:54,400 but it also marked a significant turning point in Greco-Roman relations. 173 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:58,400 So Corinth, once the vibrant heart of the region, it lay in ruins. 174 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:03,400 Kathy, go to the next slide, and the land was divided among the settlers. 175 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:08,400 So this is what Corinth looks like now, but when Rome raised it to the ground, 176 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:13,400 it might as well have been the same thing. 177 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:20,400 Despite Rome's efforts to redirect things, they realized in the end about a hundred years later 178 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,400 that Corinth was far too important to them. 179 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,400 And so Julius Caesar was like, hey, we're going to rebuild you, 180 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:30,400 and you're now going to be the capital of this region. 181 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:37,400 And that kind of leaves you being like Corinth's relationship with Rome pretty complicated 182 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:39,400 by the time Paul arrives. It was chaotic. 183 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:45,400 And it's like, hey, can we join your team? No? Okay, we're going to destroy you, 184 00:15:45,400 --> 00:15:50,400 but we're going to rebuild you because we love you and we need you. 185 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:53,400 There's a lot of toxicity in that. 186 00:15:53,400 --> 00:16:03,400 So on top of that, just before Paul arrives in Corinth, Claudius the emperor expels every Jew 187 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:06,400 because they're too problematic. He expels them all from Rome. 188 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:09,400 And Corinth is where a lot of them ended up. 189 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:19,400 And that's how we meet Priscilla and Aquila, who became Paul's greatest partners at this time in ministry. 190 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:22,400 So Acts 18, 1 through 3 says, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 191 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:28,400 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontius, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla 192 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:30,400 because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. 193 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:36,400 They were refugees, and Corinth was where they had ended up. 194 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:42,400 And so Paul arrived in a very culturally Greek city as a Jewish Roman freeborn citizen. 195 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:46,400 There would have been some complications with his arrival in those early days for those living in Corinth, 196 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:47,400 especially for the Jews. 197 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:55,400 Paul had his own issues with Rome, but they were far from what the Jews' issues in Corinth with Rome looked like. 198 00:16:55,400 --> 00:17:00,400 And so for more than a few reasons, Paul's normal protocols of preaching Christ in the synagogues 199 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:02,400 and to the Jews needed to end. 200 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:07,400 And as a result, Paul turned to the Gentiles there in Corinth. 201 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:09,400 This was a distinct shift in the broader ministry of the church. 202 00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:13,400 Peter had come to see a vision from the spirit of God in Acts 10. 203 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:19,400 This is Peter, the one that Jesus basically handed over the early leadership of the church to. 204 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:24,400 And Peter had come to see a vision from the spirit of God in Acts 10, saying that the gospel was now open to the Gentiles. 205 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,400 Do not call unclean what I have made clean. 206 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:31,400 But Paul was making that a far-reaching message now here in Corinth. 207 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:37,400 Oh, no. Really? The Gentiles are actually allowed in now? 208 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:41,400 And in a town like Corinth, people coming and going as they were back to the west, back to the north, 209 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:47,400 back to the south, through the ports, through the land roads, the message would have significantly spread from here. 210 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:54,400 In fact, it may have been because of Paul's preaching here that it began itching the ears of Rome more than ever. 211 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:58,400 If it's reached Corinth, it will reach the world. 212 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:04,400 But because of where it was and the amount of people that came through, Corinth was also known for its excessive moral decay. 213 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:10,400 The word Corinthian was used by the Romans for someone who was immoral and excessive in that morality. 214 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:16,400 Corinth was the sin city of the Roman Empire. And sin makes money. 215 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:26,400 And so this was a big shift. If the Gentiles were allowed to have the message of Christ, what was that going to do to society? 216 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:34,400 So in Paul's time in Corinth, he came to deeply love and become connected to the church there. 217 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:38,400 And helping them get off the ground was such an act of love. 218 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:49,400 We see through Paul's letters, we have two, but we believe that there were possibly four and maybe three or four is kind of attached to our second Corinthians. 219 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:58,400 We see letters that have gone back to the Corinthians that are very specifically urging them to love one another, do not be divided. 220 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:08,400 He addresses superiority in the church and those who wielded presumed entitlements and abused the practices of worship. 221 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:17,400 And there was so much division that when Paul pled with them to love one another and to be patient and grow with each other and work out their differences, 222 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:24,400 just as Christ had commanded us, when he says to them in first Corinthians 16, do everything in love, 223 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:31,400 this last word to them was not a suggestion that was sort of this broad generalization that worshiped, oh, do everything in love. 224 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:39,400 It was a directive to them. Find the love that you have among each other as children of God and work from there. 225 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:50,400 Find your level ground. When Paul's time was done in Corinth, he and Priscilla and Aquila, go to picture six next, 226 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:57,400 when he had left from there, they went to the port of Sancrae, which this was my picture from last year. 227 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:04,400 That port is still there and you can look at that bay and think, oh, my gosh, that that looks like what it could have looked like. 228 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:10,400 It's fascinating to see that. And from here, they go to Ephesus. 229 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:17,400 And I was able to build able to visit Ephesus this last February. And I was not prepared. 230 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:22,400 Andy and I have geeked out about Ephesus a little bit. It is it's remarkable. 231 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:28,400 It was not hard to imagine how glittering of a city this once was. 232 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:38,400 I spent five hours lingering through the streets, me and my audio guide hitting play three times standing in front of like fountains and marble columns. 233 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:50,400 It's very excited by those. Go ahead to picture seven. This is a view from one far end of Ephesus down to kind of a central point. 234 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:54,400 But then there's a whole other section of Ephesus to the right of that. 235 00:20:54,400 --> 00:21:05,400 It is huge. And where that grassland is in the background, that's all backfill from a river that used to be a huge port. 236 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:15,400 And so it was a significant a significant place in the ancient world. Go ahead to picture eight. 237 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:22,400 You can see that the journey from Athens to Ephesus is not far, but they were worlds away from each other. 238 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:31,400 Go ahead to nine. Because it was a major port, it was going to see a lot of people like Corinth did. 239 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:37,400 But it was also sort of the center of the cult of Artemis. 240 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:43,400 So the Temple of Artemis, which you can see on the right side, it's a little bit of it's a square there. 241 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:48,400 The Temple of Artemis was not only a tourist attraction, but it had become known as its own bank. 242 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:53,400 It had become full on a bank, the treasury. People would make deposits to it. 243 00:21:53,400 --> 00:22:03,400 And then they would store their money there because it was known to be incredibly safe and even Rome attested to its importance financially. 244 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:10,400 Rome even went as far as to permit festivals to the Temple or excuse me, to the goddess Artemis, 245 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:16,400 permitted them to go on for months beyond what they were originally scheduled for because it made money. 246 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,400 The Greeks also loved their festivals. 247 00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:24,400 And so to extend an extra month because it was essentially more beneficial for Rome, you can see how Rome functions, right? 248 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,400 The cult of Artemis in Ephesus was beneficial to Rome. 249 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:35,400 So Paul's arrival and the preaching of the gospel was going to be contentious and we see it in Acts 19. 250 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:39,400 About that time, there arose a great disturbance about the Way, which is what Christians were called. 251 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:46,400 A silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis brought in a lot of business to the craftsmen there. 252 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:54,400 He called them together along with the workers in related trades and said, you know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. 253 00:22:54,400 --> 00:23:03,400 And you see how here, how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray a large number of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. 254 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:07,400 He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. 255 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:15,400 There is danger that not only our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited. 256 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:23,400 The goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty. 257 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,400 Significant, right? 258 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,400 And so there was a riot for two hours. 259 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:36,400 It says in for two hours, they all shouted in unison, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. 260 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:42,400 They dragged Paul's friends into this theater and kept shouting this for two hours. 261 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,400 It was a frenzy. 262 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:49,400 It created some tension. 263 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:57,400 The people of Ephesus, because of the cult of Artemis, had been granted some special privileges by the empire, had puffed up in power and had grown in greed. 264 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:04,400 This was the cultural bedrock of the community that the church of this Ephesus was trying to grow out of. 265 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:08,400 How is tough? 266 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:15,400 The letter that Paul writes back to them later in the opening greeting says in Ephesians 1, 18 through 23, 267 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:23,400 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, 268 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:29,400 the riches of his glorious inheritance and his holy people and his incomparably great power for those of us who believe. 269 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:37,400 The power is the same as the might strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at the right hand of the heavenly realms. 270 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:42,400 Paul's words were specific to the church in Ephesus here. 271 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:47,400 Don't get waylaid by what you see around you, the culture around you. 272 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:51,400 If you want power, let's talk about where that power comes from. 273 00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:56,400 If you want riches, let's talk about the riches of Christ's glorious inheritance. 274 00:24:56,400 --> 00:25:03,400 It was directly in response to what the Ephesians were experiencing. 275 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:11,400 When Paul checked back with these communities wherever he had gone to, when he wrote these letters, the where of them mattered. 276 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:17,400 It gives rich insight into why certain words were chosen, why certain directives were given. 277 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:22,400 And though Paul's words are useful, instructive, and encouraging, when Paul wrote them, 278 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:28,400 they were meant to be specific exhortations and instructions to specific people in specific contexts. 279 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,400 We need to keep that in mind. 280 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:39,400 When Paul wrote these letters, he was not writing them to all of Christendom because it didn't exist. 281 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:49,400 He was writing them to people he loved and prayed for, whose heart he broke for. 282 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:55,400 And in fact, the early church believed Jesus was coming in days to decades. 283 00:25:55,400 --> 00:26:07,400 They could not conceive that words, Paul would not have conceived that words he wrote would reach an audience 2,000 years later. 284 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:11,400 And so this is useful to keep in mind, but it's also worth celebrating too. 285 00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:15,400 It's extraordinary that we have these words. 286 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:22,400 It's not, what we get from them is that it's not just where the gospel went, 287 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:27,400 but what it meant that it grew where it did because of where it was. 288 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:36,400 That's amazing that the gospel took root in Ephesus, that the gospel took root in Corinth. 289 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:46,400 That is a miracle, and it happened in spite of humanity because all of the odds were against it, right? 290 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:52,400 All the odds were against that the gospel would not only get off the ground, but then grow and then thrive 291 00:26:52,400 --> 00:27:04,400 and last for another 300 years until it became a recognized and accepted religion 292 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:08,400 and is available to us here and now. 293 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:11,400 I'm encouraged by that. 294 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:18,400 I'm grateful for those who believed for the work of the Spirit in spite of the context, in spite of the empire, 295 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:23,400 in spite of the violence, the trials, the danger. 296 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:30,400 I'm so encouraged that in spite of all of that, I get to know Jesus today. 297 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:38,400 I'm grateful for those that met in homes, in marketplaces, hidden places. 298 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:45,400 I'm grateful for people who traveled really dangerous routes, far and wide. 299 00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:50,400 When I was in Greece, I was astounded by the landscape. 300 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:55,400 I did not understand how big the mountains in Greece were. 301 00:27:55,400 --> 00:28:04,400 And when you think about the people that traveled over them during dry periods, during terrible weather, 302 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:10,400 during whatever, because the gospel needed to go, that is unbelievable. 303 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:15,400 And I'm encouraged by that and I'm challenged by it, too. 304 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,400 Our lives are so comfortable, aren't they? 305 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,400 Our lives are so comfortable. 306 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:26,400 But it makes me wonder, too, like, can the words that I offer to build the church today, 307 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:32,400 will they have lasting effects 2,000 years from now? 308 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:34,400 I don't know, but I'm hopeful that they are. 309 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:40,400 I'm hopeful that the work we get to do together and the community that we build here, 310 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:45,400 as we encourage each other, admonish each other, support each other, 311 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:50,400 remind each other of the story of God, we are building. 312 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:56,400 We are building church for the next day. 313 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,400 We're sending the gospel forward. 314 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,400 That's unbelievable. 315 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:04,400 And so I'm challenged. 316 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:07,400 I'm challenged by that and I'm encouraged by that. 317 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:11,400 So for you in your life, whatever that looks like for you right now, I don't know. 318 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,400 I mean, has God given you a vision to go to Macedonia? 319 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:16,400 I don't know, maybe. 320 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:20,400 Is he telling you to get on a boat and go farther afield than you expected to go, 321 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,400 or a plane or a car or a train, whatever? 322 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:25,400 Sounds like a Dr. Seuss book. 323 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:29,400 Like a what? 324 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,400 John Cane, yeah, yeah, the planes, trains and automobiles. 325 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,400 Yes. 326 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:42,400 And so I want to encourage us to just be listening well to God's Spirit 327 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:49,400 and that if there is a go attached to whatever he is putting in our hearts, 328 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:54,400 that we would be brave and we would be encouraged 329 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,400 and that we would know that we would be supported by this community 330 00:29:58,400 --> 00:30:02,400 and that we would be a part of that to support and help in any way. 331 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,400 And I'm not talking about like going far for missions work. 332 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:09,400 I'm talking about like maybe you just need to go talk to your neighbor 333 00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,400 or we talk about Greenbush, you know, 334 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:17,400 or spend more time at a certain business or a friend or whatever, 335 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:22,400 whatever that go looks like, let's be faithful to that. 336 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:27,400 Because God has gone before us and in spite of the conditions, 337 00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:32,400 he will bring the gospel forward when we do go. 338 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,400 What an amazing thing. 339 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:37,400 Let's pray. 340 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,400 Jesus, help us be faithful to your go. 341 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,400 When you say go, help us be faithful to your Spirit 342 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:49,400 when we are in the places you've asked us to stay for 18 months. 343 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:54,400 Whatever that looks like, whatever the go and the related time looks like, 344 00:30:54,400 --> 00:31:00,400 help us be faithful with it, help us be open to it, help us be brave. 345 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:05,400 Help us listen to that together as a community. 346 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:09,400 Help us support each other and speak truth to each other 347 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,400 and do what we can to help your gospel move forward. 348 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,400 We want to work with the work you're already doing. 349 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,400 We want to work with your Spirit that's already moving. 350 00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:23,400 So help us be brave and faithful, God, in these things. 351 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:47,400 We pray this in your name. Amen.