Focal Passage: Acts 18:1-11, 18-21
Over the years serving in ministry, I wish I had a dime for every time I heard the excuse, “I don’t have to be in church on Sunday to worship God. I can worship God anywhere.” While this is true because we can worship God anywhere, there is something that we miss in practice.
There is something special in being with other believers and worshiping together. The same can be said in our service to God as well. After being on many mission endeavors, I can testify that working alongside other believers makes the work and the blessing more satisfying. We also can do more together than we can do alone, thus magnifying the impact of our service for God.
Along these same lines, I have also had people say that they cannot be very effective in serving God in the church because they do not have certain skills or abilities, so they shy away from teaching Bible study class or becoming a deacon. But the simple fact is, everyone can, and should, do something in service to God and His Kingdom. God has gifted everyone, through the Holy Spirit, with something that will serve Him and build up the Church.
In this week’s lesson, we will see both as we look at the lives of Paul, Silas and Timothy and Aquila and Priscilla.
Our passage picks up with Paul leaving Athens to journey to Corinth. There Paul meets with a Jewish couple named Aquila and Priscilla from Rome. They had been driven out of Rome by Emperor Claudius. Because of the persecution of Jews, they left Italy and went to Corinth the Roman province of Achaia.
They were tentmakers by trade and since Corinth was a large city between two major ports, it was a good place to establish a place for commerce whereby one could make a living.
Luke does not tell us how they and Paul met. They were strong believers and perhaps they had heard Paul preach. At any rate Paul, being a tentmaker himself, stays with them and joins them in their work. Paul did this because he did not want to be a burden on the churches to provide for his sustenance. You can only imagine the conversations between these three as they worked together. Later, when Silas and Timothy return from Macedonia, Paul devotes himself completely to preaching and teaching, leaving his trade behind.
Here we see a wonderful picture of how working and serving together can have a tremendous influence in our service to God. While Paul was preaching in Corinth aided by Aquila and Priscilla, Silas and Timothy were ministering to the churches in Macedonia.
We later learn that this couple would make a strong impact on the early church, especially in Ephesus where they made their home available for worship in starting the church there. We also see they were instrumental in providing instruction to a young evangelist named Apollos.
Little things, like giving a missionary a place to stay, helping another believer get through a tough time or providing encouragement and counsel to a young man seeking to follow God’s will can have a powerful impact for the Kingdom. Never underestimate what God can do with the little things we give to Him or the impact of working together for the glory of God and His Kingdom. Together we can make a difference. B&R


