Preacher’s Study Notes 1993
The brethren have been very explicit concerning what they expected from this part of the study. So let me go over that very briefly, so that we may have some guidelines to go by.
- 1. What The Book Of Acts Says About Choosing Locations For Foreign Work And Choosing Evangelists To Do The Work. I think this has been touched on.
- • We are asked to tell what signs tell us to shake the dust off our feet.
• We have been asked for information concerning how much success is enough to continue.
• Guidelines are requested concerning the length of time an evangelist stays in a place, either at home or abroad.
• It is asked whether long years of involvement by an evangelist violates autonomy, perhaps even hindering growth and leadership development.
• We have been asked concerning evangelists’ support both here and abroad.
- • The matter of how evangelists make decisions is to be considered.
Neither Edwin, Johnny, nor I, with the chapters we have been assigned, can give answers to all of these questions. But hopefully we will touch upon all of them, and some of them two or three times.
I want to say a little bit to begin with about the book of Acts. Acts was written by the only Gentile writer in the New Testament, as far as we can determine, and that was Luke. It was written sometime between 60-63 A.D. The theme verse of the book of Acts has been touched on: “... you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8)
The book of Acts can be divided into sections, but the thing I want to notice here just briefly, is how Luke gave what I would call progress reports. You will read over there in Acts 6 where the Grecian question arose. Then the Bible says, “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). So that was one of those progress reports.
We go a little further over into Acts 9, and you will find that the disciples were scattered after the death of Stephen and the persecution of the church. Then Luke says, “Then the churches throughout all Judaea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, they were multiplied” (Acts 9:31). It’s not just Jerusalem now, the Jews and the Grecian Jews, it is “all Judaea, and Galilee and Samaria.”
I could read several more of these progress reports. I was a little bit intrigued by these reports, and how the gospel kept moving on, despite all the obstacles they came in contact with. But what was (this is an important question) — what was Luke’s purpose or intent in shaping the material of the book of Acts like he did? What is the reason it was designed like it was? It was not to describe the lives of the apostles — it was not “Acts of the Apostles,” because most of the lives of the apostles are not described in any detail in the book of Acts. We know that it was not a history of the day, because Paul preached in some places that are not even mentioned in the book of Acts.
What is the purpose of the book of Acts? I believe that the purpose of the book of Acts was to show how the Great Commission was fulfilled. When Luke wrote his friend Theophilus in the book of Luke, he concluded by mentioning the words of Jesus, where He says “ ... that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). And we know that that is the way it developed. By the time the book of Acts was concluded, it had been preached all the way to the great city of Rome. So Acts was written to show how the Great Commission was to be fulfilled.
One of the things that the Great Commission also said, was that they were to go teach and baptize, and then they were to teach “ ... them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). There are commands in the book of Acts, if I am correct in saying that it shows how the Great Commission was to be fulfilled. Remember that Jesus said “You go, teach, baptize, and they are to keep everything I have commanded you.” So that answers some of the things that we were asked concerning our study in the book of Acts.
I might remind you that every sentence does not contain a command in the book of Acts. Every sentence contributes to the whole. Something is not a command simply because it is recorded. What we have to do is rightly divide the word of truth. We all understand that point. One thing — I can’t dwell on this — we don’t need to — but I just point it out: There is always a consistency in the teaching of the apostles and prophets in the book of Acts. There is a consistency all the way through. They did not teach one thing in one city and another thing in another. Paul did not contradict Peter, and vice versa. The Apostle Paul, when he wrote the Corinthians, said that what he was teaching them, he taught everywhere in every church (1 Corinthians 4:17).
You remember that when Paul went to Corinth he was destitute. He went over there from Athens and found work with these two Jews, the man and his wife, Aquila and Priscilla. What did Paul do? Well, he discipled them. Now we know that he formed a friendship and that friendship developed into a relationship. Whether or not they were members of the church, we are not certain, they probably were not. Anyhow, he lived with them, he taught them, and since they were Jews, they surely heard him in the synagogue. He trained them in spiritual matters, publicly and privately, but what I think we need to remember is that his teaching was clothed in real life. When Jesus chose the twelve from the disciples in Mark 3:14-19, you remember that they accompanied Him all the time that He was in His earthly ministry. We have learned something about discipleship. Here’s the reason that I want to remember this: after eighteen months Paul left Corinth. He wanted to get back to Jerusalem in time for the Passover. He went over to Ephesus and taught in the synagogue. When he did, the Jews wanted him to stay longer. However, the Apostle Paul
said (I am paraphrasing, and I am sure he was saying this in effect): “I can’t stay any longer, but don’t worry, you have Priscilla and Aquila.”
Then the Apostle Paul went on his way. Priscilla and Aquila found a Jew, lately come from Alexandria, and that was Apollos. He was eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, knowing only the baptism of John the Baptist (Acts 18:24-26). Priscilla and Aquila (Paul was gone now), through the doctrinal grid that Paul had given them, taught him the way of the Lord more perfectly. They taught him the truth. And then what happened? Well, Apollos immediately determined that he would go over to Corinth. Now you have the complete circle. First it was Paul, then you have Priscilla and Aquila, and then they taught Apollos, and he ended up right over there where they all came from. Now here is what we need to remember — it is me, you, faithful men, then others. I do not believe that we can scripturally leave a work until this discipling process is complete. What I am saying is, in a new work, if it is unable to reproduce itself before we leave, or if we do not leave someone in charge that can teach and train these people, then it will die. You want to know where to start and where to end? Well, you do not end until it is able to reproduce itself. Then we can go on to another work.
Notice something else here in Acts 19:8. It says that Paul went into the synagogue. Paul always started with those with whom he was the closest to religiously. He went into the synagogue, and in every new work that I have ever been in, we go to those that we are the closest to religiously. That is what Paul did. Now, why did Paul go into the synagogue when he was supposed to be an apostle to the Gentiles? Well, this was the right place to begin. We must remember that the Christian religion was not a contradiction of the old, but rather, complimented and fulfilled it. This was the right place to begin The problem was that the Jews did not believe their own law. If they had believed their own law, of course they would have readily accepted Jesus.
The Jews wanted the Romans to believe that Christianity was a new religion, and was contrary to God and the Old Law. In short, in rejecting Christ they were rejecting God and their own law. But why was Paul in the Jews synagogue? Remember that there were both Jews and Greeks, who were not idolatrous Gentiles, in that synagogue. They were Gentile proselytes. This shows that Paul went to those that he was the closest to religiously. If he were living today, he wouldn’t shoot off over to the Moslem world, or among the Hindus, or somewhere way off in Timbuktoo. The Apostle Paul began his work this way. I know it works. I did it in the work that I will talk about tomorrow. I did it in work that I did in the world beginning from ground zero—no members there at all, no one with whom to work What are we going to do? Well, this is one of the things to remember. Remember the conversion of Cornelius — he was a believer in God (Acts 10).
There is something else I want to notice in Acts 19:8-9:
“And he went into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened, and did not believe, but spake evil of tht Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.”
We need to re-emphasize that it is both scriptural and right, under some circum-stances, to pull out. The Apostle Paul knew that it would be counter-productive for him to remain in that situation. To say it another way, there is a time to leave. I met a man in Australia who was a Disciples of Christ preacher who attended the services where we were. He was one of these we would call tongue in cheek “Love everybody.” He did not like the idea that we would not accept all those denominational people around Boulder or Kalgoorlie where we lived. But you know one of the things that he could not gainsay was this verse right here. When these people opposed themselves, and opposed Paul and the truth, then Paul separated himself and took the disciples with him, and went into the school of one called “a tyrant” and began to preach the gospel. I repeat, it is right and it is scriptural, under some circumstances, to divide off, take the disciples with us, in order for the work to be saved. I think that that would say some things to the unity in diversity people also.
Now one thing, this is just a minor point in the passage, but he did go into the school of Tyrannus, and we know that over in Acts 28, he met in a rented facility there, his own hired house. We also know that in the first century church, when there was all that tremendous growth — (I might be meddling here, but I don’t think so) — when there was all that tremendous growth, they did not have any church buildings, as far as the history of the church is concerned. I want to say something about this. It is sort of like the subject of recreation, and other things that we talked about --- church buildings do not save people. They are necessary sometimes. They are a necessary convenience. But let us not ever get the idea that it is going to save someone. Now here is one of the hazards in a church building — we are locked in. You are locked into this community. You are not going to be able to easily get out of this community, if you need to. But if we are in rented facilities, or some other kind of environment, and we see it is not the best place, we can easily move. One of the things that I have done in the work abroad, is generally we are not bothered with church buildings. We are not locked in. We can easily move to a new location and try there if we are not doing well in the first place. But whenever we then decide that we are going to build a building, then we are set for the duration, you might say. I am not saying that I am opposed to them, because I am not, and would have one myself, if it were possible. We do have to keep this in mind.
We also notice in Acts 19:21, it seems that Paul, after these things were ended, Paul purposed in the Spirit that after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, and had gone to Jerusalem, he would “ . . also see Rome.” It has been emphasized that Paul has been working out of Antioch and it has been emphasized that they sent him, and we know all of that is true. But notice, the Apostle Paul did not wait for word from home before he decided to go to Macedonia Achaja, and Jerusalem and even to Rome. I want to say something here that I think is very important today. I do not want you to Jump ahead of me, because if you do I will be in trouble and I may be anyway. But when the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 4:1, he said, “Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.” These were his critics he was writing to; brethren in the church. One of the things that we preachers had better learn, and learn well, is that we are primarily ministers of Jesus Christ. The word “minister” here is not the same root word from which we get “deacon,” but the root word had to do with an “under-rower” It can mean “a servant.” By an “under-rower” it had to do with the men that rowed the huge Roman galleys. They were not the masters of the ship, but they were the servants of the master. But later the word came to mean “a helper” or “an assistant,” to the king, or judge, or someone like that. The Apostle Paul told these brethren, and we all have to be reminded, that preachers are ministers of Jesus Christ. We are brethren. You have the responsibility of doing something. I have the responsibility of doing something. But we are still ministers of Christ.
Paul was not in some way saying, “I am above being examined; I am above the law” When he went into the next chapter, 1 Corinthians 5, there was a man in the church that he commanded them to pass judgment on. (We have a point here that we are going to have to stress a little bit.) We do not judge people’s motives though; we judge people’s conduct. That is what he was talking about in 1 Corinthians 5. Jesus talked about motives in Matthew 7. But what are we trying to say? Here’s the point — if you read the sixth verse, he said:
“And these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that you may learn in us [by us or through us or by our example — jc] not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other” (1 Corinthians 4:6).
We are not to think of men beyond that which is written. The Apostle Paul said, “You are not going to be able to judge me by your biases and prejudices.” He said, “If you are going to judge me, judge me by what is written.” We are ministers of Christ. The only way we can examine the preacher, and the only way the preacher can examine a wayward member, is by what is written. My first responsibility, I am telling you, is to Jesus Christ. And even though the church says, “But we don’t want you to preach Christ,” I am not responsible to the church when that is asked — I am a minister of Christ! I have got to preach in season and out of season, or as someone has said, that is when they like it and when they do not like it. In his preaching, the Apostle Paul did not even wait for orders from Antioch in Syria before he said, “I am going to Macedonia and I am going to Rome.” Later, he said he was going to some other places, and indeed he did. So we are obligated to the church, but the first of all our obligations is to the Lord Jesus Christ. We are His ministers.
Something else here in 19:34-37:
“But when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for about two hours, ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians!’ And when the city clerk had quieted the croud, he said, ‘Men of Ephesus, what man is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guiardian of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Zues? Therefore, sense these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly. For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples, nor blasphemers of your goddess.’ ”
You remember there was a riot there at Ephesus, and they carried on and acted like beasts. Finally, things settled down, and the town clerk got up and said, “Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly. For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.” This is an outsider talking to outsiders. What about it? So what?
There is a lot there! This outsider this town clerk said, “You people know two things. Number one, they did not rob our temples. They did not gain financially from what they preached.” I believe, to the everlasting credit of the preachers in the Lord’s church, it can be said that we do not gain from those to whom we preach to around the world. You brethren have made that possible We do not gain materially. And even if you did not, we still would not. But it is the second part that I am interested in. He said, “And they were not blasphemers of our goddess Diana.” Do you think that Paul spent all of that time over at Ephesus where he was centered, and not say anything about idolatry? We know that he preached against idolatry to such a degree that this riot actually took place. But the town clerk said, “I’m going to tell you something and it cannot be gainsaid --- these men did not blaspheme our goddess.”
What we sometimes view as hard preaching is nothing but rude preaching. If a number of our religious enemies could comment concerning our Preaching, could they say that we did not blaspheme them? Could they say, if a Catholic were to hear us, could he honestly say to his friend, “Well, they preached against Catholicism, but they did not blaspheme Catholicism.” If one were to hear us that was a Baptist or a Methodist, could they honestly say, “Those people did not blaspheme our religion”? We are going to tell them they are wrong, but I wonder if we are following this pattern. The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 10, said “I was with you in meekness and gentleness.”
Can we say that when we teach we are meek and gentle — what those words mean in that particular instance? Paul was perceived as being reasonable, logical, and kind in refuting error and in Preaching Christ. That looks like just a little simple point there, but it was not put in there just to fill up a little space. They were able to preach Jesus Christ in such a way that not even the outsiders could say that they gained financially by what they Preached, and they did not preach it in such a way that they could be accused of blasphemy. I think we had better be careful how we present ourselves
these missions, he sometimes would lay the foundation, preach Christ, and go on his way, but he never worked alone. I’ll pick up on this perhaps in “Setting Up and Operating A Foreign Work.”
In Acts 20:1-3, we read:
“After the uproar was ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go into Macedonia. Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece and stayed three months. And when the Jews plotted against him, as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.”
We are looking for some patterns here. Paul “came into Greece.” In other words, he came to Corinth. We know that he had already told them in his letter that he wanted to winter with them (1 Corinthians 16:6). So he did; he stayed there three months (Acts 20:3). But what is the point in this? Well, it was during those three months that scholars believe, and I agree, that Paul wrote the great book of Romans. Now brethren, there is a little lesson here too. There may have been those who may have said, “Don’t you think Paul should be out doing a little more around town?” In reality when this is said, it is usually said by brethren who should have been out doing the very thing they thought the preacher ought to have been doing. But Paul spent that time, a great part of it, in writing the book of Romans. We do not need to think that we need to be out spinning our wheels and knocking on every door in town to be doing something for the Lord.
It looks to me like the Lord had to absolutely incarcerate Paul to get Paul to settle down and do most of his writing. Anyway, there is more to this preaching than zipping around the country and the world. But I would like to say this on the other hand: we preachers have to be careful that we do not get so tied down with the world that we no longer do the Lord’s work. We have a great amount of talent in the brotherhood. Have you ever wondered where the church would be, the church of Christ, if all of the talent in our brotherhood had been utilized one hundred percent in the last forty years? You would not know the world! So we preachers had better be very, very careful.
Well, what did Paul expect of the Romans? He asked for and expected the Roman brethren, whom he had never visited, to assist him in his work. It is right and scriptural for preachers to write and ask for help, and expect to be helped, in their work. They may not get it, but it is not unscriptural I’ll tell you what he said in Romans 15:24: “Whenever I Journey to Spain, I will come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while.” The NW says, “I hope to visit you while passing through, and have you assist me on my journey there.” It is scriptural and right for preachers to ask for support and expect it, whether they get it or not. You know, as Paul would have told the Corinthians, he planted, but others, in a sense, furnished the seed.
Whenever brethren support the preaching of the gospel they are helping the preacher plant that seed. We are all working for Jesus Christ. We all have a responsibility — some to go and some to help the going. I would like to say also that there is no correlation in the Scripture between preaching and money. We have already mentioned that. Paul fully expected, whether they helped him or not, to go to Spain. I do not know when the right time to say this is, but you know, if we had waited for the brethren to ask us to go, most of the work in the world would never have been done. Now I say that very kindly, my friends. Most of the great works in the world would have never been done, if we preachers had stood back and waited for the church to send us.
But, you say, “I don’t know about that.” Well, I do! Just ask James Orten or me. When we went in 1964 to Nyasaland, there was not a church in the brother-hood that wanted us to go. In fact, we nearly caused a revolution in the brotherhood. People were going to start new papers. Brethren were very excited. If we had waited and said “We’ll go if some church says, ‘You brethren go to Nyasaland’,” one of the greatest works among churches of Christ in all of the world would have never transpired, and there would be no work in Zimbabwe or Zambia, as it developed.
A preacher was complaining to me about someone not sending him. He said, “The brethren won’t send me.” I said, “Well, if you wait for them to send you, you may wait a long time.” I did not mean any harm to him or the brethren. But you know when an opportunity arises, we have got to preach the gospel. We are ministers of Christ. The brethren will, if we show we are sincere and really mean it, help us. They have every time. Sometimes not enough, but they will help us. But I am edging over into something that comes up a little later.
The Apostle Paul did not preach for money (Acts 20:33). He said, “I have coveted no man’s silver and gold.” But incidentally, he expected the Corinthians to help him, though he would not take support from them. He certainly did. In 1 Corinthians 16:6 — “Perhaps I will stay with you awhile [He did for three months — jc], or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go.” That was to the Corinthians that he refused to take financial support from to preach.
Just another little thing, as we’re talking about patterns and divine examples. In this same case, in Acts 23:6-10, when Paul looked at that audience, he discovered that there was a division in the audience. Part of them were Pharisees and part of them were Sadducees; when Paul perceived that, he pitted them one against the other. Then they got into a big squabble, and he got out, you might say. We are to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
When the ship finally ran aground, the soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners, because they were afraid they would escape. Did you ever notice why they were not killed? The centurion wanted to spare Paul. You say, "Well, that’s an interesting story” It’s a lot more than an interesting story to me. I will tell you something. Though they never realize it --- many people outside of the church have been spared physical destruction because of a faithful servant of God. A ship load of people was spared because of one righteous man. How many families, communities, cities and nations have been spared because of the faithful found in them. Remember that even ten faithful souls would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18 and 19. Here’s the point: Faithful Christians, you may be doing more for the world than you ever realized. Because if there were no more faithful Christians in the world, there would be no reason for the world to go on.
In Acts 28:14-15, there is something here that I want to pass along. They got off of the island — onto the mainland — they went up through the country and finally arrived at Puteoli, and here’s what is said: “... where we found brethren, and were invited to stay with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome. And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum, and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God, and took courage.”
I can not hardly read this without being deeply moved. Brethren can either encourage you or discourage you. Paul was greatly encouraged. We need to be encouraged. Paul knew his fate might be sealed when he got up to Rome. In 2 Corinthians 7:6, Paul said he was “comforted. . . by the coming of Titus.” Now either we are comforting one another, or we are discouraging one another. Paul was so thankful to see the brethren, and they were so thankful to see him, that he thanked God and he took courage.
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Please Contact me, Dennis Crawford, at BibleTruthsToU@gmail.com or 253-396-0290 (cell)for comments, questions, further Bible information, or for the location of a congregation belonging to Jesus Christ near you.
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