Sermon Transcript
Amen. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles. Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.
Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord, and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized. When Gallio, that was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. This man, they charged, is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to them, if you Jews were making a complaint about some misdemeanor or serious crime, it would be reasonable for me to listen to you. But since it involves questions about words and names and your own law, settle the matter yourselves. I will not be judge of such things.
So he drove them off. Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man with thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.
He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.
The title of this sermon is Government, Gatherings, and Women. Government, Gatherings, and Women. I thought one controversial topic wasn’t enough, so let’s just have 3. No, of course, that’s not how we choose our sermons. All 3 of these topics show up in the chapter of Acts that we are studying today, and we don’t study Scripture for the sake of being controversial.
Of course, we study Scripture to find life. As Christians, we believe goodness, wholeness, beauty is found in the pages of God’s Word. We believe God is revealed through these texts, and that is why we study it. There is never a motivation to be controversial. There is always a motivation to learn and apply what God teaches us through His Word.
Our job is just to present what appears in His Word. So, today you kind of get 3 sermons in one because these topics don’t really link together, they just all show up in the same chapter of Acts. So, government, gatherings, and women. How did the earliest church interact with the government? What kind of gatherings did they have?
And what was the role of women? So, first, government. Christians over the last 2,000 years have not had consistent interactions with the various governments around the world. Some Christians were persecuted. Sometimes Christians used the government to persecute others.
Sometimes there was relative indifference on the part of the government regarding what Christians were up to. A couple of case studies: the Pilgrims and the Puritans came to the American colonies. Why? It was to escape religious persecution they were facing. Puritans and Pilgrims were Christians and they were fleeing from other Christians, actually.
The governments of England and Europe were forcing certain religious practices, and the Puritans and the Pilgrims disagreed with those practices, so they left and they came here in search of freedom. But when they got here, they set up governments that were just as restrictive as the ones that they had left, initially anyway. Massachusetts Bay Company, which was a local government, a settlement of primarily Puritans, And within the Massachusetts Bay Company’s jurisdiction, the only churches that were allowed to form were churches that were in line with their doctrine. You needed to be a member of their churches to participate in their society. They established punishments for things like sleeping during church.
That was against the law, not just like your spouse will elbow you, but Like, it was a crime. Also, using profanity, using tobacco, dancing, all of that was prohibited. They established their government to enforce their faith practices, and they punished those who didn’t comply, just like the Church of England and the churches of Europe had done to them previously. That’s just one instance of Christian involvement with the government in Europe and North America. The rest of the world has its own stories.
When missionaries originally went to Japan, first evidence of that’s 1549, it was slow progress at first, but the missionaries were tolerated by the various governments and lords over the different regions. Eventually, over the next 50 years, Christianity spread until there is about 300,000 Christians in Japan. But then a new ruler came to power, so there is going to be a new government and persecution began and Christianity was all but squashed out, not completely but almost, and Christianity was not allowed in Japan again until over 200 years later. The story between Christianity and the government is not consistent over the last 2,000 years. And each group of Christians in each area at each time period dealing with different types of government have all debated different questions like, should we use government to make our faith practices law for everyone?
Should we be silent even if we are getting persecuted in some way? Way. Should there be any interaction between faith and government, and if so, what? What we’re looking at today is how did the earliest church interact with government? Answer, it seems most of the time, not all the time, the earliest church saw interactions with the government as an opportunity to share or spread their faith.
I’ll say that again. It seems most of the time, not all the time, the earliest church saw interactions with the government as an opportunity to share or spread their faith. Verse 2, Priscilla and Aquila were forced to leave their home in Rome and they came to Corinth. They left Rome because, and we know when this happened, it was AD 49, Emperor Claudius had issued an an edict to expel all the Jews out of Rome. Jews and Christians kept squabbling in Rome, and from the Roman point of view, it looked like an internal religious debate.
Rome couldn’t tell the difference between Jews and Christians, so Claudius says, I’m tired of governing all these skirmishes. I don’t care what you’re fighting about, but all of you need to leave. So he kicks them all out, not as violently as Christians were kicked out of Japan, but same idea. The government says, we’re done with Christians, you need to go. So many of them fled.
Priscilla and Aquila were among those who left. But back to the topic at hand, how did the earliest church understand that type of thing? When the government squashed Christians and they were forced to flee or stay and face persecution, What were their thoughts? Did they think, this isn’t fair, you can’t treat me this way, you shouldn’t prevent my free exercise of religion? Did they take up arms against the government?
Did they march in protest? What did they do? It appears the earliest church thought, when the government squashes us, it is an opportunity to spread the gospel. Further. Earlier in the book of Acts when persecution began, Acts chapter 8, we will take a look at this on the screen.
It says, and there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. Those who were scattered, verse 4, those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Those who were scattered didn’t go about and organize rallies to complain about the persecution they faced.
They didn’t riot. They didn’t march in protest against what was happening to them. They thought, oh, if I am kicked out of one place, okay, wherever I land, I will just preach the Word there. I will tell people about Jesus. It was an opportunity It’s one reason Christianity spread so quickly across the Roman Empire.
They kept getting forced to new places and they were like, great. There’s no real evidence that they complained about being forced to flee. They just got up, went to the next place, and told the people living there about Jesus. But what about the people who didn’t flee, the people who didn’t leave, the people who stayed and then were brought to trial? What did they say when they were before the court?
How did they interact with the government then? I mean, surely they defended themselves and demanded freedom to proclaim their message, right? Well, let’s find out. Here in Acts 18, Paul is brought into court by some religious leaders. He is before the proconsul Gallio.
Paul is about to speak in verse 14. So, here we go, we are going to find out how Paul reacts in such situations. But before Paul can say anything, he gets cut off. Gallio speaks and says essentially the same thing Claudio had been saying in Rome, this is an internal religious matter, leave me alone. And he kicks Paul out of the court and Paul goes on his way.
So, we don’t know what Paul would have said when he was on trial in Acts 18, but we do know what happened many other times throughout the book of Acts and it is very consistent. Acts 4, Acts 5, Acts 7, when Peter and John are before tribunals. Acts 16, when Paul is talking to the jailer. Acts 22, when Paul is arrested. Acts 23, when Paul is before the Sanhedrin.
Acts 24, when Paul is on trial before Felix. Acts 28, when Paul is in prison in Rome. When the earliest church was pulled into court, when they were in prison and a microphone was shoved in their face, they are given an opportunity to speak to the judge, to the crowd, to the jailer, they had a very consistent reaction. Acts 24:24, Paul, he is talking to Felix and he says, and it says, Paul spoke about his faith in Christ Jesus.
That’s what they talked about. They said other things too, you can read those, but very consistently they were like, if you’re going to put a microphone in my face, if you give me a chance to speak, I’m going to speak about Jesus. I’m going to tell you how Jesus paid my debt, how He rose from the dead, how He conquered death, how He came to liberate us from the darkness and the bondage of sin. That’s what I’m going to spend my time time talking about. You’re giving me a platform to speak?
Great, I’m going to tell you about Jesus, not so much my rights, not so much, not so much trying to get off the hook or gain freedom to proclaim Christianity in the future. I mean, a little bit of that, they did a little bit of that, but really the main thing, if I have a chance, I’m going to tell you about Jesus.
That’s convicting for us, right? Because what do we say when a microphone is shoved in our face? Let’s say you’re going to speak to some tribunal about what is being taught in public schools. Maybe you’ve been protesting, you’ve been out somewhere, you’ve been protesting what is being taught in public schools that’s contrary to what Christianity teaches. Sure, it’s upsetting, you want to do something about it, but now you’re given you are given a chance to give a presentation to some board who is going to make a decision about what happens in public schools.
What do you say? What do you say? Or you are representing a Christian club on a college campus who is being forced to include non-Christians into the leadership of the Christian organization. The school has said the Christian club can’t require Christian faith as a prerequisite to serve in leadership of the club. And so, now you are going to represent the club before some school campus judiciary committee.
What do you say? Do you fight for the rights of the club or is this an opportunity to share your faith?
It would be okay Paul did this kind of thing too. It would be okay. There is nothing wrong with this. It would be okay to say, you know, if you need to be a mechanic in order to be the president of the mechanic club, I think it is okay to require the president of the Christian club to be a Christian. It would be okay to say that before the committee.
But Paul wouldn’t stop there. Paul would say, Here is a chance for me to tell this tribunal about Jesus. People, it is amazing, people have stopped to listen to me. So, let me use this moment to tell them why I am a Christian. Like, while I have the mic, let me tell you about Jesus who rescued me from my hopeless life and substituted himself for me by dying the death I deserve to die.
I pray, like this, and Paul said this kind of thing before judges and tribunals. Paul said, I pray every single person on this panel comes to faith in Christ. That’s what Paul did. It didn’t really seem to bother him if he was on trial. Just like Peter and John.
Being on trial, having rights, not having rights, largely irrelevant. They took whatever situation they were in and they used that as an opportunity to share or spread their faith.
That’s how they interacted with the government.
Okay, sermon number 2, Gatherings. We still have debates about gatherings today, don’t we? There are people who think you can be a faithful Christian without going to any church. There are people who think some churches are too big. There are people who think it’s not really church unless everyone is in the same worship service.
No way we could be a unified church if we have multiple worship services. There are people who think church is much more real or intimate or genuine if it is just you and a few friends and that is their church.
We have different ideas about all these things even today, right? So, is it just a matter of preference or is there a right way?
Well, what did the earliest church do? How big were their gatherings? Did they even need to gather, or could you just worship God by yourself on top of a hill? Did they have multiple services, or did everyone need to be together in the same one service? Here’s what they did.
Gatherings were both large and small, separate and yet united. Large and small, separate and yet united. We will start in Acts 18 here, but then see how this chapter connects to other places in Scripture. In verse 7 and in verse 8, when it mentions the house of Titius and the house of Crispus, many scholars believe those to be small house churches, like the church that meets at the house of Titius and the church that meets at the house of Crispus. But regardless of whether the church met in the houses of Titius and Crispus, the church certainly met, undoubtedly met at the house of Priscilla and Aquila.
Down in verse 26, when Priscilla and Aquila invite Apollos to their house in order to teach him correct theology, it is almost certain, they brought him to the church that met at their house. We know from Romans 16:5 and 1 Corinthians 16:19 that Priscilla and Aquila hosted the church in their house. And this is how the earliest church often met, as small gatherings in various homes throughout a city separated from each other. So, people hear that today and think, oh, so that is how we should do it. We should not have these large gatherings with hundreds or thousands of people.
We should have tiny gatherings in people’s living rooms or garages and backyards, and if we did that, if we did that, we would be getting back to something authentic. We would be getting back to how the church originally organized itself in the beginning.
Ah, okay, but not so fast. There were times when the whole church would get together. The various smaller representations of the church would come together for what seems to be worship and teaching, or at least that is what 1 Corinthians 14:23 makes it sound like when it says, the whole church. But we see the dual nature of gatherings being both large and small kind of from day one. Acts chapter 2, Peter preaches and 3,000 people put their faith in Christ.
So, now we have 3,000 Christians in one city who need to meet somewhere. So, did they meet all together or did they divide out and only meet in small little groups? The answer appears to be be both. Acts chapter 2, verse 42 and 46, we’ll see this up on the screen as well. This is talking about the 3,000 people and what they did.
They, the 3,000 people, devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Okay, great, that’s what they did. Where did they meet when they were doing those things? Verse 46, every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts, that’s one location, and they broke bread in their homes, that’s more than one location, and they ate together with glad and sincere hearts. They had both a large gathering and small gatherings.
Now, the 3,000 people faced persecution and were scattered everywhere, we already talked about that, so we don’t how many remained in Jerusalem, but the small representations of the church that met in various separate locations were all united as one church because collectively they had one group of elders and one group of deacons. It’s not like each church was its own church with its own set of elders. They were all, all these various locations were under the same leadership but meeting at different times in different places. So, today, if a church has multiple services on a weekend, for example, that church could still be united as one church because they would all be under one common group of elders and served by one common group of deacons, deaconesses. And then occasionally, these various smaller gatherings would all come together as one large gathering as one church.
Okay, nice history lesson, I know, but what does that mean for us? Here’s what it means. We need, need both large and small gatherings of our church. If we only come to a corporate service and just try to stay anonymous, right, I just come, sit in a pew, and leave. If that’s all we do, we are missing an important element of participating in a smaller group.
And if we think church can just be me and my 2 buddies on the golf course and we pray together, great, but that’s missing an important aspect of the whole church gathering corporately.
We need both. Gatherings are both large and small. And even if they are meeting separate places, they are still united. We can’t neglect any of that or we are missing something critical. Okay, that is government and gatherings.
What about women? What was the role of women in the earliest church? If I am not in trouble already, I am sure this will put me over the top one way or the other, or perhaps both, but here we go. Prominent.
Women were prominent in the earliest church. In our text today, we meet Priscilla. Her husband is Aquila. They are mentioned together with their names right next to each other 6 times in Paul’s letters. And out of those 6 times where their names are right next to each other, Paul lists Priscilla’s name first 5 of those instances, which was not the custom of the day.
Typically, the husband’s name would be listed first. Now, we don’t know why Paul diverted from the custom of the day by listing the wife’s name first. Some commentators suggest it was because Priscilla came from a family with more money than Aquila did. Some commentators believe it was because Priscilla took more of an active role in Paul’s ministry than Aquila did. But whatever the reason, what we can know for sure is that Priscilla wasn’t just along for the ride.
It’s not like it was really Aquila who partnered with Paul and Priscilla was just there making sandwiches or something. That’s not it. She was doing the work Paul was doing alongside of Paul. Romans 16:3, Paul says, Priscilla and Aquila, again, Priscilla is listed first, Paul says they are his co-laborers in Christ. They are doing Paul’s work alongside of him, with him.
In our text for today, Priscilla and Aquila accompany Paul, verse 18, as he conducts pioneering missionary work in Ephesus, and then they stay in Ephesus and continue the work after Paul leaves. It is both Priscilla and Aquila who teach Apollos, verse 26, in their home, which as we have already said was likely in the church that met in their home. So Priscilla is teaching a man, Apollos, correct theology, likely in church.
Women were prominent in the early church. That doesn’t mean that they served in every role within the church. If you remember from our 1 Timothy series, 1 Timothy 2:12, women did not serve in the role of elder ever, which is why we don’t have women elders here. But it is hard, if not impossible, to find another role other than elder in which women did not serve. They were prominent.
They were integral to the life of the earliest church. They were visible, they were esteemed, needed, and they served in key leadership and even teaching positions, as is the case with Priscilla. This is especially significant if you consider how women were regarded at the time in the culture at large outside of the church. Women had very little rights, They had very little, if any, respect in the culture outside the church. 2nd-century philosopher Celsus, who was a huge critic of Christianity, he wrote a whole treatise trying to disprove Christianity.
But one of the reasons he discredited Christianity was because women, and specifically Mary Magdalene, but women were some of the first people to witness Jesus’ resurrection. And Celsus said, how can you believe in the resurrection when it was reported by women? Specifically, this is his direct quote. He’s not a Christian, he’s not in the church, this is secular 2nd century philosopher Celsus. He said, quote, how could anyone expect rational men to listen to the testimony of a hysterical female.
How could anyone expect rational men to listen to the testimony of a hysterical female regarding the resurrection? That’s how the culture at large in the 1st and 2nd century regarded women. But Christianity, in contrast, radical for the day, said, we will listen to their testimony And not only that, but women will occasionally teach, like Priscilla. Women will pray and prophesy in church, 1 Corinthians 11:5. Like, we want to know what they have to say.
The church took marginalized groups, like women, who had very little status, and treated them with immense value and respect.
That’s actually how the earliest church treated everyone who was marginalized by the surrounding culture. Orphan, widow, babies who were abandoned and left to die because they weren’t wanted, the church said, you have a place with us. We will include you. We value you. We will treat you with dignity and respect.
Now, why would they do that? Why would they be so bizarrely different than the culture around them?
It’s because they understood what Jesus had done for them. Jesus had treated them with dignity when they deserved shame. Jesus had included them when they deserved to be outcasts. On the cross, the one with supreme worth and honor gave up his status in order to elevate us, us who had lost our honor, us who had squandered our value. And Jesus gave up his value to elevate us.
The church, the earliest church understood if Jesus is going to elevate us, then we are going to turn and elevate everyone else, no matter how society views them.
Bridges, may the same be said about us. Let’s pray.
Father, we thank you for giving us an account of the earliest church that can help us navigate our questions today, how we can interact with our government, how we can structure our gatherings, and how we can promote and elevate the role of women in our church and in the world, Lord. Lord, help us see next steps in all of these areas. And as we reflect on how you elevated us, may we also elevate everyone around us, Lord. We pray those things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
