1 Corinthians 2:1 (ESV)
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you
the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
Paul
wrote that when he came to Corinth he, “did not come . . . with lofty speech or
wisdom. For” he said, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ
and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much
trembling,” (1Cor 2:1-2 ESV)
What
was it that prompted Paul to come to Corinth in fear and trembling? Paul
started his 2nd missionary journey by revisiting some of the first
churches he had established at Derbe and Lystra. His goal was to continue on in
the areas Asia adjacent to where he had begun preaching, but the Holy Spirit
would not give him freedom to preach in that area. Rather, he received a vision
in which he was called to cross the Aegean Sea over to Macedonia.
The
gospel was exported from Asia to Europe and in Philippi Lydia became the first European believer. After
casting a demon out of a slave girl Paul and Silas ended up in jail, in
Philippi, where the jailer became a believer. When they were released from jail
the officials begged them to leave the city without giving them time to really
establish the church.
From
there Paul moved to Thessalonica
where a riot broke out in response to his preaching. Several new believers were
beaten and jailed for their conversion and Paul had to slip out of town after
dark. He traveled to Berea
where there was an outstanding response to the gospel until Jews from
Thessalonica showed up and again Paul had to flee. Again he was unable to
effectively establish and ground the church.
From
there he traveled to Athens
where he clearly and powerfully argued the truth of the gospel to the
Areopagus, a gathering of philosophers, teachers and intellectuals. It is there
that he used what he would call, “plausible words of wisdom,” The kind of
teaching that he did not use in Corinth. Unfortunately, in response to his
preaching at the Areopagus in Athens there was curiosity regarding his
teaching, but very little real positive response. Few people were saved.
By
the time Paul arrived in Corinth he has been hounded by antagonistic Jews from
Thessalonica; he had been beaten and jailed for his testimony; he had argued
strongly for the gospel with little results. He was beginning to question the
wisdom of this trip to Macedonia. He was fearful of again being chased out of
town. He was beginning to lose confidence in his ability to persuade people of
the truth of the gospel. He had, in fact, become so insecure in his ministry and
so unsure of what to do next that the Lord finally spoke to him in a night
vision and said, "Do not be afraid any
longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no
man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this
city." (Acts 18:9-10
NAS)
Ministry
can be discouraging. It is easy to lose sight of the call of God in view of the
frustrations of what appears to be failure. It is easy to begin thinking that
there is no point to our work, no value in our ministry, and no one really
cares. It is easy to begin thinking that maybe even God doesn’t really care.
But that is the Enemy talking, not our Lord. When that kind of thinking invades
our minds we need to go back to our calling by God. That’s why Paul started this
first letter to the Corinthians with these words. “Paul, called by the will of
God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus” (1 Cor 1:1 (ESV), and then he went on to
remind the Corinthian believers that they too were called (1 Cor 1:2). In fact,
Paul emphasized God’s calling on his people more in this letter than in any
other.
Are
you discouraged? Remember, you are called. It is that call of God that will sustain
you in your darkest times, for those God calls he never abandons. He is there in
the darkness. He has a purpose, and you are part of his plan.
Comments
Post a Comment