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Acts 18:9-10
Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.
Corinth
Corinth was an ancient city founded on a natural trade route with a good harbor for ship traffic. It was destroyed by the Romans about 147 BC but rebuilt by Julius Caesar a century later. The revived, rebuilt Corinth exceeded all the cities of the world, for its splendor, magnificence and opulence. Its public buildings and baths were embellished with beautiful columns that gave birth to the Corinthian Order in Architecture. According to history, Corinth became a leading city of Greece and the seat of the Roman proconsul for the Roman province of Achaia.
Corinth was known for its wealth and luxury with a bustling commercial and industrial center boasting a population of almost 700,000. However, Corinth was also renowned for its drunkenness and immorality. It was a vile city that epitomized the decadence of the Greek world. The city was the site of a great temple of Aphrodite, whose priestesses, known as sacred prostitutes, freely roamed the streets while plying their trade. So notorious was this city for its lewd conduct that the verb “corinthize” came to signify the act of being a prostitute and the phrase “a Corinthian girl” was synonymous with the term harlot.
In Acts 16:9-10 Paul responded to a vision from God calling him to Macedonia. The fulfillment of that calling would lead Paul to found churches in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, and possibly Athens before finally turning his attention to Corinth. Corinth proved to be a testing ground. Here, Paul experienced obstacles and opposition, but it was also here that Paul had his greatest breakthrough in his first missionary journey.
In the narrative of Acts 18 we find Paul in the process of endeavoring to evangelize Corinth. We catch small glimpses into his ministry there. We know from the witness of scripture that he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. We also know that they opposed and reviled him, to the extent that he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent.”
Up to this point in the Acts account, in every city that Paul visits opposition to his ministry normally results in him being forced to leave a place of ministry and move on. It is likely that, as we come to verse 9, Paul was discouraged by the violent opposition of the Jews and probably was in danger of his life. He was likely entertaining thoughts of moving on and ministering elsewhere. He references his mindset and condition in 1 Corinthians 3:20 (ESV) when he says “And a I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling…” However, as his moral dipped low, God stepped in with a vision.
“Be not Afraid,” the Lord said. Though his enemies plotted his demise the spirit informed him, “No man will be permitted to lay hands on you.” But God didn’t stop with a promise of protection. He provided an incredible glimpse into his plan and purpose for Paul in Corinth. “Speak and hold not thy peace,” the Lord declares, “for I have much people in this city.”
I have much people!
The Lord looked at the teaming masses of immoral people in Corinth and said to Paul, “I have many in this city who are my people.” What a phenomenal statement! God wasn’t talking about a church that was already established. He was talking about people that were still lost, people that hadn’t yet heard the gospel message, people that were desperate, hurting and bound in sin.
What he was saying to Paul was that there were many in Corinth that had not resisted his Spirit. There were many, in the midst of the sin and vice of Corinth, that God looked at and said, their heart is tender towards me. They haven’t spurned my advances and they are ready to embrace my Gospel as soon as you declare it to them. Speak! Hold not thy peace. There are many that are ready to hear the gospel. Speak! Tell somebody because there are people here that are ready! They are mine, God said, and I’m commissioning you to reach out to them.
How many?
When I recently read this passage I was stirred in my spirit. I began to recognize the fact that when the Lord looks down at Lake City he sees more than a small apostolic church struggling to survive. He sees the multitude of people that are bound in sin and mired in the immorality and vices of this world. As he gazed upon those people he marks out those among that number that are sensitive to him, those that are hungry, those that haven’t rejected his advances. And of them he says to the church, “Speak. Hold not thy peace. I have many people in this city!”
I have come to the realization that God has people in our city that are his. People that don't know truth. People that haven't ever visited our church. People that are hungry for a change and are ready for someone to sahre with them the wonderful truth that we have.
There are those within this city that live within blocks of this church that have not rejected the spirit of God but have hungered after him. They've made mistakes, they are bound in sin and tradition. They don't know the truth but they are ungry, they are sensitive to God and God is commissioning us to reach out to them! It’s our job to reach them. It’s our job to speak to them. It’s our job to hold not our peace but proclaim the saving message of God’s love and forgiveness. Its our job to lead them to the cross of Calvary, to take them to an alter of repentance and bury them in the waters of baptism that they might receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. They are HIS people and they are our commission.
I have pondered the question for several weeks now. How many are there? I've come to the conclusion that there are more than we have even begun to imagine. I believe there are more than our church can contain. I believe that God has MANY in our city.
I've also come to the conclusion that we will never know how many there are until we reach out to them. Unless we reach them, they will never come. Unless we invite them the will never enter the church. Unless we tell them they will never hear. Unless we show them they will never see.
Paul stayed in Corinth and ministered for 18 months. It became the greatest revival of his ministry to that point. All because he heard the voice of the Lord and answered the call. The greatest revival the church has ever experienced is before us. I believe that the Lord is sending a message to the church that isn't much different from the message He sent to Paul. Don't stop now. I have many people in this city.
I think its time we endeavored to discover just how many there are...
Monday, February 16, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Greatest Treasure
An Exposition of Psalm 139
David is well known as a “man after God’s own heart.” It is a title that was bestowed upon him by God, no less. But, even as a man that loved and worshiped God with all his heart, David was not without his faults. He made mistakes, demonstrated bad judgment and failed miserably from time to time. Perhaps the greatest failure of his life was when he chose to send his armies to battle as he, their king and leader, remained home in the safety and luxury of his palace. Out of that bad decision and poor demonstration of leadership arises one of the most sordid chapters of David’s life.
While his armies were at war David was lounging on the rooftop of his palace, watching another man's wife bathe. Eventually David committed adultery with Bathsheba. And, when she conceived a child, he had her husband killed to cover up his sin. When all was said and done David felt like his secret was safe. His darkest secret was hidden from everyone. His throne was secure. However, while David had successfully concealed his sin from those around him, God knew what David did.
Eventually David learned a powerful lesson. God wasn’t content to let David continue to drift further and further from him. Instead, God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David with his sin. And, by exposing his wrong and convicting him, God led David to a place of repentance where, although the consequences of his sin were not erased, the sin itself was forgiven. It was some time after this that David composed the beautiful words of Psalm 139.
At a casual glance the song would seem to be all about the knowledge of God. However, the Psalm is set in motion by the first verse which proclaims more than just the incredible knowledge of God. The Psalmist says, Lord, you have searched ME and known ME! While the Psalm is an incredible testimony to the inexhaustible knowledge of God, it is more then that. It is a personal statement of the fact that God sees and knows You as an individual
God knows everything that there is to know about you. You can’t hide anything from him. He sees the secrets of your heart. He looks upon the innermost part. He knows what no one else knows. Those things that you have hidden away deep within the recesses of your heart that nobody else knows about, God knows. That thing you thought you got away with, that incident you thought was concealed, God knows about that too.
The Psalmist begins in verse one by saying that the Lord has “searched me” and “known me.” The Hebrew word for “searched” originally means to dig, and is applied to the search for precious metals. The Psalmist said, Lord you have dug around in my life and have exposed everything that is there. I may have buried some things in hopes of concealing them, but you, O Lord, have searched them out. You know everything about me.
Not only do you know what is inside me, the Psalmist shares, but you are constantly aware of where I am and what I’m doing. You know when I sit down and you see me when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. Lord, you even know what I’m thinking. From far away from me, you hear the secret thoughts of my heart. That’s getting pretty intimate my friend.
You see, the Psalm isn’t just about the vast knowledge of God, it makes that knowledge personal. David said, in verse three, "You searched out my path and my lying down. You, Lord, are acquainted with all my ways." He said, "Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. Not only do you know what I’m thinking, but Lord you know what I’m going to say even before I say it."
The tongue, according to James, is the most difficult member of our body to control but it possesses great power. With the tongue you can speak life or even death, you can build up or tear down. The tongue is this unruly member of the body that is difficult to contain. But it is of the tongue that David now speaks. He says, "Lord I have trouble controlling my tongue. I don’t always know what I’m going to say next, but Lord you know even before I do!" This is how well God knows you. He knows what you are going to say even before you say it.
David said in verse five, you have hemmed me in. You go before me and follow up behind me. You have laid your hand upon me. It boggles the human mind to think of this kind of personal involvement on the part of God in the life of every human being. With over 6 Billion people in the world today, this kind of knowledge would simply overpower our minds. There is no way we could ever be consciously aware of 6 billion people and know every thing about them all of the time. But, to God this is no problem. God, without confusion, beholds as distinctly the actions of every man, as if that man were the only one alive.
When David contemplates the wonder of that truth, he declares, in verse six, that "such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it." There is simply no way that you can even begin to grasp the absolute fullness of God’s knowledge of you. You may have convinced yourself that you don’t really matter, that no one is really that concerned with you. But God, knows you intimately. He know you in a way that I can’t even begin to describe to you.
Not only that, but he knows where you are. The Psalmist said, "Where shall I go from your Spirit. Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Hell, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me." You can’t escape the presence of God. You can’t conceal yourself from his all-seeing eye.
The Psalmist goes on in verse eleven, "If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you." Men love darkness, because they believe the can hide their deeds there. But David said, even the darkness doesn’t hide me from you. You see me even when I hide myself from view. When I conceal myself behind closed doors and turn out all the lights, still yet the darkness is light to you and you see me and know me. There is nothing I can do, nowhere I can go, no hiding place I can find that will conceal me from you.
David said, in verse fourteen, "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them."
And then he comes to the reason for the Psalm. Finally in verse seventeen we find the point of this entire song. David said, "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!" This is the point of the Psalm. David treasures the knowledge of God. David said I delight in your thoughts O Lord. I’m glad that you know me. I count it among my greatest treasures that you have such vast knowledge of my life.
Not many men would welcome an in-depth look into all their affairs and dealings. Not many men would be comfortable with someone else looking in upon their innermost feelings. However the Psalmist says, in reference to God’s incredible knowledge of his life, your thoughts are precious to me! I delight in the fact that you know me. I am comforted by your vast knowledge of my life.
The key to David’s delight is found in the final phrase of the Psalm. This vast knowledge of God, David says, leads me into the way everlasting. I treasure your knowledge, O Lord, because without it I will never make heaven my home.
As he Remembers the time when he was caught in the web of his own deceit, when he had convinced himself that he had hidden his sin and that somehow he would escape its consequences, David is now thankful for the man of God that confronted him with God's knowledge of his life. Because David now realizes that, without the conviction that was brought upon him by the probing eyes of God, he might have never repented for his sin.
As he looks back at that dark chapter of his life he sees the hand of God leading him back to the way everlasting. And he takes great delight in the fact that he can’t hide anything from God. As a matter of fact, in light of God’s incredible knowledge the Psalmist comes to this powerful conclusion in verse twenty-three. "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!"
This is the conclusion of the matter. David invites the Lord to search him anew. Dig through my heart and my life. Search mo, O God, and know my heart! Find everything that is within me, reveal every secret sin that might be hidden, don’t let anything escape your gaze. Because, above everything else, I want to stay in that way everlasting.
"Try me," David says. The terminology comes from the forging of metal. David invites the Lord, “Try me. Test me. Put me through the trial.” Do what ever you have to do to me, O Lord, to secure my soul for eternity. Know my thoughts, know my intentions. Judge my inner heart. Know everything there is to know about me. Because I understand that by that knowledge of me you will lead me to everlasting life. If there’s anything in me that’s not like you Lord, I can trust you to reveal it to me.
This, my friend, is the message of Psalm 139. If you will humble yourself before God, if you will surrender control of your life to him, he, by virtue of his vast knowledge of your life, will lead you to eternal life. His convicting spirit will reveal flaws and faults in your life. His penetrating gaze will make sin uncomfortable in his presence. If you will invite the searching of the Lord, he will lead you in his perfect way. This is what we need, more than anything else. We need God to search our lives and make us right.
David is well known as a “man after God’s own heart.” It is a title that was bestowed upon him by God, no less. But, even as a man that loved and worshiped God with all his heart, David was not without his faults. He made mistakes, demonstrated bad judgment and failed miserably from time to time. Perhaps the greatest failure of his life was when he chose to send his armies to battle as he, their king and leader, remained home in the safety and luxury of his palace. Out of that bad decision and poor demonstration of leadership arises one of the most sordid chapters of David’s life.
While his armies were at war David was lounging on the rooftop of his palace, watching another man's wife bathe. Eventually David committed adultery with Bathsheba. And, when she conceived a child, he had her husband killed to cover up his sin. When all was said and done David felt like his secret was safe. His darkest secret was hidden from everyone. His throne was secure. However, while David had successfully concealed his sin from those around him, God knew what David did.
Eventually David learned a powerful lesson. God wasn’t content to let David continue to drift further and further from him. Instead, God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David with his sin. And, by exposing his wrong and convicting him, God led David to a place of repentance where, although the consequences of his sin were not erased, the sin itself was forgiven. It was some time after this that David composed the beautiful words of Psalm 139.
At a casual glance the song would seem to be all about the knowledge of God. However, the Psalm is set in motion by the first verse which proclaims more than just the incredible knowledge of God. The Psalmist says, Lord, you have searched ME and known ME! While the Psalm is an incredible testimony to the inexhaustible knowledge of God, it is more then that. It is a personal statement of the fact that God sees and knows You as an individual
God knows everything that there is to know about you. You can’t hide anything from him. He sees the secrets of your heart. He looks upon the innermost part. He knows what no one else knows. Those things that you have hidden away deep within the recesses of your heart that nobody else knows about, God knows. That thing you thought you got away with, that incident you thought was concealed, God knows about that too.
The Psalmist begins in verse one by saying that the Lord has “searched me” and “known me.” The Hebrew word for “searched” originally means to dig, and is applied to the search for precious metals. The Psalmist said, Lord you have dug around in my life and have exposed everything that is there. I may have buried some things in hopes of concealing them, but you, O Lord, have searched them out. You know everything about me.
Not only do you know what is inside me, the Psalmist shares, but you are constantly aware of where I am and what I’m doing. You know when I sit down and you see me when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. Lord, you even know what I’m thinking. From far away from me, you hear the secret thoughts of my heart. That’s getting pretty intimate my friend.
You see, the Psalm isn’t just about the vast knowledge of God, it makes that knowledge personal. David said, in verse three, "You searched out my path and my lying down. You, Lord, are acquainted with all my ways." He said, "Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. Not only do you know what I’m thinking, but Lord you know what I’m going to say even before I say it."
The tongue, according to James, is the most difficult member of our body to control but it possesses great power. With the tongue you can speak life or even death, you can build up or tear down. The tongue is this unruly member of the body that is difficult to contain. But it is of the tongue that David now speaks. He says, "Lord I have trouble controlling my tongue. I don’t always know what I’m going to say next, but Lord you know even before I do!" This is how well God knows you. He knows what you are going to say even before you say it.
David said in verse five, you have hemmed me in. You go before me and follow up behind me. You have laid your hand upon me. It boggles the human mind to think of this kind of personal involvement on the part of God in the life of every human being. With over 6 Billion people in the world today, this kind of knowledge would simply overpower our minds. There is no way we could ever be consciously aware of 6 billion people and know every thing about them all of the time. But, to God this is no problem. God, without confusion, beholds as distinctly the actions of every man, as if that man were the only one alive.
When David contemplates the wonder of that truth, he declares, in verse six, that "such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it." There is simply no way that you can even begin to grasp the absolute fullness of God’s knowledge of you. You may have convinced yourself that you don’t really matter, that no one is really that concerned with you. But God, knows you intimately. He know you in a way that I can’t even begin to describe to you.
Not only that, but he knows where you are. The Psalmist said, "Where shall I go from your Spirit. Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Hell, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me." You can’t escape the presence of God. You can’t conceal yourself from his all-seeing eye.
The Psalmist goes on in verse eleven, "If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you." Men love darkness, because they believe the can hide their deeds there. But David said, even the darkness doesn’t hide me from you. You see me even when I hide myself from view. When I conceal myself behind closed doors and turn out all the lights, still yet the darkness is light to you and you see me and know me. There is nothing I can do, nowhere I can go, no hiding place I can find that will conceal me from you.
David said, in verse fourteen, "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them."
And then he comes to the reason for the Psalm. Finally in verse seventeen we find the point of this entire song. David said, "How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!" This is the point of the Psalm. David treasures the knowledge of God. David said I delight in your thoughts O Lord. I’m glad that you know me. I count it among my greatest treasures that you have such vast knowledge of my life.
Not many men would welcome an in-depth look into all their affairs and dealings. Not many men would be comfortable with someone else looking in upon their innermost feelings. However the Psalmist says, in reference to God’s incredible knowledge of his life, your thoughts are precious to me! I delight in the fact that you know me. I am comforted by your vast knowledge of my life.
The key to David’s delight is found in the final phrase of the Psalm. This vast knowledge of God, David says, leads me into the way everlasting. I treasure your knowledge, O Lord, because without it I will never make heaven my home.
As he Remembers the time when he was caught in the web of his own deceit, when he had convinced himself that he had hidden his sin and that somehow he would escape its consequences, David is now thankful for the man of God that confronted him with God's knowledge of his life. Because David now realizes that, without the conviction that was brought upon him by the probing eyes of God, he might have never repented for his sin.
As he looks back at that dark chapter of his life he sees the hand of God leading him back to the way everlasting. And he takes great delight in the fact that he can’t hide anything from God. As a matter of fact, in light of God’s incredible knowledge the Psalmist comes to this powerful conclusion in verse twenty-three. "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!"
This is the conclusion of the matter. David invites the Lord to search him anew. Dig through my heart and my life. Search mo, O God, and know my heart! Find everything that is within me, reveal every secret sin that might be hidden, don’t let anything escape your gaze. Because, above everything else, I want to stay in that way everlasting.
"Try me," David says. The terminology comes from the forging of metal. David invites the Lord, “Try me. Test me. Put me through the trial.” Do what ever you have to do to me, O Lord, to secure my soul for eternity. Know my thoughts, know my intentions. Judge my inner heart. Know everything there is to know about me. Because I understand that by that knowledge of me you will lead me to everlasting life. If there’s anything in me that’s not like you Lord, I can trust you to reveal it to me.
This, my friend, is the message of Psalm 139. If you will humble yourself before God, if you will surrender control of your life to him, he, by virtue of his vast knowledge of your life, will lead you to eternal life. His convicting spirit will reveal flaws and faults in your life. His penetrating gaze will make sin uncomfortable in his presence. If you will invite the searching of the Lord, he will lead you in his perfect way. This is what we need, more than anything else. We need God to search our lives and make us right.
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