Acts 18:19-22; Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
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Paul’s second mission trip comes to an end with a brief but eventful layover in Ephesus followed by a boat ride back to Caesarea, Jerusalem and Antioch of Syria.
Acts 18:19-22; Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
As the doorway opens, a flood of synagogue members rush around a single man trying to make his way towards the outside. Aquila’s jaw drops as he witnesses the reaction of those amassing around Paul. He ribs Silas and asks a question.
“What?” Silas yells out. He looks over at Aquila, shakes his head, and replies, “I can’t hear you.” He then points out the doors and mouths, “Outside.”
Once through the doorway’s bottleneck, the two head off to a quieter spot and marvel at the growing group on the other side of the courtyard.
“What is happening?” Aquila says. “Usually they are throwing rocks at him to stay away. But this! This is… well… not that.”
Silas shrugs and says, “Yeah, you never know how people respond to this.”
…
“Calm yourselves. Settle down!” An elder yells out while motioning to those around him to quiet themselves. He then faces Paul and continues: “What you have said…about the heir to King David’s throne… who would purposefully assume the role of Isaiah’s suffering servant. The one who, as Jeremiah and Ezekiel both prophesied, would offer a final sacrifice, once and for all, to fully remedy the corrupt human condition. The one promised by Moses to correct the hearts of Israel and begin the regathering of God’s people. You say, ‘he has arrived?’”
“Yes.” Paul responds. “To commence the work of a New Covenant as promised by the prophets.”
The crowd erupts with excitement and a flurry of comments and questions.
“Calm yourselves!” The elder circles around to address the group.
He then eyes Paul once again. “As you can see, you have struck a nerve here. But, your sharing today has given us more questions than answers.”
Paul chuckles with understanding. “Yes. I suppose it has.” He says.
For one, the idea of Isaiah’s suffering servant being one and the same as the Heir to David’s throne strikes me as lunacy. How do you marry the two? How can they possibly be the same person?”
Staring at the ground while listening intently, Paul lifts his head to see if the elder finishes.
He doesn’t. Finding the right words, he finally says: “Messiah’s role is to collect our people and to establish His Kingdom on earth. How is it then possible that Messiah would offer his own life as a sacrificial lamb?”
“A King needs subjects to rule, yes?” Paul interrupts.
“Yes, Israel.” The elder responds. “We are the light to the world.”
“And, what does the King require of his subjects?” Paul counters.
“Righteousness.” The elder replies. “You shall love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.”
Paul nods his affirmation. “Yes… though if we honestly evaluated our attitudes towards God, could we really say that we love the Lord with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength? Furthermore, we understand that loving our neighbor is a tangible way to express our love of God. True?”
“Of course.” The elder responds.
“Yet, we struggle with treating them in the same way we may treat a family member.” Paul pushes back. “We give preference to those closest to us. We might even lie… or steal… or cheat… to benefit ourselves, yes? Or even to benefit a family member. Even if the lying, cheating, or stealing, or coveting, or harming others, is done on a very small level. Heck, we might not even realize how we’ve hurt our neighbors… and in doing so, nothing registers with us that we may be neglecting God’s commands. Isn’t it possible that any of these self-serving acts could be done unintentionally?
The elder laughs. “We are human beings. We are far from perfection.”
“Yet.” Paul fires back. “It’s perfection that God demands of us. Our ability to enter into the Kingdom of God requires our perfect righteousness.”
“Who could possibly enter then?” The elder objects. “Who can live up to perfection?”
“Now you see God’s problem.” Paul counters. “Here’s a King with no perfect subjects to govern. Unless a man is reborn as a new creation, with a new heart, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
A look of confusion crosses the elder’s face.
Paul laughs at the way his face contorts. “And, here you are a respected teacher of the Law.” He teases. “You know I’m saying this tongue and cheek. You know that the human heart needs to change. Without such change, humanity will fail God over and over and over–never to enter into his Kingdom. Jeremiah described the human heart as being inherently deceitful and woefully corrupt. Isaiah lamented about God’s chosen people… His very own… whose hands are defiled with sinful dealings, whose lips have spoken mistruths, whose tongues have uttered harmful intent. We grope around blindly for hope or peace, never to find it because we are intent on serving ourselves first.” Letting this sink in, Paul finally shares. “The law can’t change a heart bent on selfishness. Something else is needed.”
The elder quietly mouths. “A suffering servant.”
Smiling, Paul affirms. “A suffering servant.”
The elder’s eyes widen as he contemplates the exchange. Finally, he blurts out for all to hear: “This is fascinating to us. What you have said inside that hall and now here among us has stirred a response that I haven’t witnessed for some time now.” Placing a hand on Paul’s shoulder, the elder shares, “We need to hear more from you. When will you return to share with us? Next Sabbath?”
Smirking, Paul apologizes. “I’m sorry, men. I’m just passing through and need to get back to Syria and Jerusalem.”
As more people join in on the conversation, a number of them share their disappointment.
“Quiet down. Quiet down.” The elder responds. He looks back at Paul and replies. “Please. You must come and help us work through what you’ve awakened in us today. Do not be the arsonist who ignites a fire and flees the scene.”
Smiling at this turn of phrase, Paul concedes. “Look, I’m sorry for stoking the fire, but I must go. If the Lord wills it, I will return and share more with you. Is that agreeable?”
The elder grimaces and replies. “If the Lord wills it, we will hear from you again. Do not forget about us here.”
…
As the sun makes its way overhead, the marine layer burns away from the sea and reveals the coastline close by.
Looking out over the oneraria’s port side, Silas points out the enormous harbor jettisoned out from the coast. “Caesarea.” He calls out to Paul who joins him at the ship’s rails.
Paul smiles.
“We’re home!” Silas says with excitement. “It’s been so long.”
Paul nods and wonders. “Yes, it has. I wonder what we’ll find upon our return?”
“Will we see Philip?” Silas asks with anticipation. “Do you figure he still lives here?”
“I believe so.” Paul replies. “He and his family, especially his daughters, have been very busy seeing to the development of their church here.”
Thinking about this, Silas asks. “Do you think Aquila and Priscilla do something similar?”
“In Ephesus?” Paul looks over at a nodding Silas. “I think so. I hope so.” He replies.
“The people there seemed hungry enough, didn’t they.” Silas comments.
“Yeah… they did.” Paul ponders aloud. “They sure did!”
Reading his face, Silas squares off with Paul and quips: “What gives me the impression that you won’t stick around here for long?”
Paul smiles.
…
We’re going to stop here for today.
Paul wraps up his second missionary tour which has lasted for around three years (from around AD 50-52). His return to Caesarea, Jerusalem and Antioch of Syria is short lived before he’s back out on the road again, in less than a year’s time, revisiting cities such as Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica, Philippi and others.
Hindsight always allows us to see with greater clarity, right? Hindsight allows us to see what God has done in the past and how those experiences have shaped us as ministers. It’s this hindsight that likely shaped Paul’s ministry as well. Paul is aiming not only to return to the Jewish community in Ephesus to provide further explanation about Messiah, but as we’ll see that by the end of Paul’s third tour, he has amassed a large group of disciples who have been commissioned to care over the various church efforts happening in each city.
While scripture does not emphasize Paul’s activity in this light, outside of two letters to Timothy, a letter to Titus, and another one to Philemon, one doesn’t need to look far to discover a huge list of names of those Paul has discipled. For example, a quick glance over Romans 16:1-16 reveals a long list of those of whom Paul sends his regards.
But on further discovery, many, if not all, of these people have been personally taught and discipled by Paul. You’ll come across the names of some of his key disciples in passing. For example, we’ll see the name Sosthanes again in 1 Corinthians. We’ll see the names of Gaius and Erastus as well. Tertius, who helps Paul pen Romans. Aristobulus, Aristarchus, and Sopater also show up more than once, as do a number of others.
While Paul definitely made a beachhead in a number of cities throughout modern day Turkey and Greece, his primary long-range ministry goal was disciple making. We know this by tracking several of his followers who had raised their own disciples who would write about them.
For example, take Gaius, who likely met Paul in Derbe, a small town just over the mountain range from Paul’s hometown of Tarsus. Traveling to Durbe, initially with the hopes of making it back to Tarsus and Antioch of Syria, Paul and Barnabas met Gaius during Paul’s first mission trip. Gaius likely followed Paul to Philippi during his second mission trip and, along with Aristarchus, later traveled with Paul around Macedonia and Greece during his third trip (Acts 19:29; 20:4; 1 Cor 1:14).
Later, Gaius is regarded as Paul’s hospitality guy for the church as a whole, which implies that Gaius was a gregarious people-person who just knew how to make people feel at home around him (Romans 16:23). It was likely that Gaius welcomed visiting teachers from other cities and provided for their needs while they were in town. If this Gaius is the same person John addresses in one of his letters–which I suspect it is–then he would have made his way from residing in Corinth for a time over to Ephesus (3 John 1).
Gaius is just one of many examples of those disciples Paul poured himself into.
The question that lingers with me is this: How many disciples are we talking about? Well, we’re not totally sure, but there were at least thirty or more individuals who saw to building the church in a number of cities and regions throughout this part of the world–ever seeing to the current needs of the day and doing what was needed to see the local church thrive.
I think we’ve lost sight of this approach to ministry. Maybe we’ve heard that Paul had a Timothy and Timothy had his one or two disciples. Yes that happened, but there were many, many more than that. Paul had many disciples that he poured into, and so did Timothy.
There’s a reason why Jesus emphasized a movement based upon his investment in people and not organizations or their buildings. As history shows, organizations and their buildings, last for a season, but inevitably their seasons pass and impact fade. For sure, both have their place and serve as wonderful tools to accomplish a larger purpose. However, even in Matthew 28:18-20, the resurrected Jesus emphasized the importance of making disciples above all else.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them (his own disciples), saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. As you are going out (into the world), make disciples of all the nations–by baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to follow all that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
— Matthew 28:18-20
Without getting lost in the specifics of this particular passage, I need to point a few things out. The word, “Go” is not an imperative or a command as it’s typically found in English translations. Rather, since “Go” is a passive participle in the original language, it is better rendered as “Having gone” which nuances this passage differently than how it’s normally used. The imperative used here is “Make Disciples” and not “Go”. “Having gone” speaks to the idea of “Wherever you may find yourselves out in the world… or… having gone out into the world… or… as you are going…” make disciples.
The passage then continues with how to do it. The “how” of making disciples is by baptizing and by teaching others to follow what Jesus commanded. In essence, we’re called to make followers of Jesus by baptizing and teaching them.
There’s a lot more to this, but I think Jesus brings us to the most important point of his ministry–making new followers of Jesus. After all, a disciple is simply a follower.
Hopefully, we’re seeing a fascinating glimpse into Paul’s primary ministry of disciple making, as he wraps up his second missionary trip. We will see it become even more clearly defined as he ends his third trip. Personally, I’m encouraged to know that at the end of the day, Paul’s success in life is based upon what his followers accomplish in the faith.
Paul even said it this way to the Jesus followers in Thessalonica:
After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you! Yes, you are our pride and joy.
— 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
As you are going about in your lives, invest in people and teach them about Jesus. God will reward you as you stand before Jesus who calls you to give an account. May you make whatever adjustments needed to make disciple making a priority. If needed, I’m personally happy to help you accomplish this. With that, let’s move forward together.