Cultural Christianity- Pray You Are Genuine in Your Faith (Matthew 7:21-23)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel; Sunday, September 28, 2025

In 1990, Garth Brooks released a song, which goes like this:

… Just the other night, at a hometown football game
My wife and I, ran into my old high school flame
And as I introduced them, the past came back to me
And I couldn’t help but think, of the way things used to be

… She was the one, that I’d wanted for all times
Each night I’d spend prayin’, that God would make her mine
And if he’d only grant me this wish, I wished back then
I’d never ask for anything, again

… Sometimes, I thank God, for unanswered prayers
Remember, when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs
And just because, he doesn’t answer, doesn’t mean he don’t care
Some of God’s greatest gifts, are unanswered prayers

… She wasn’t quite the angel, that I remembered in my dreams
And I could tell, that time had changed me
In her eyes too, it seemed
We tried to talk about the old days
There wasn’t much, we could recall
I guess the Lord knows what he’s doin’, after all

… And as she walked away, and I looked at my wife
And then and there, I thanked the good Lord
For the gifts, in my life

… Sometimes, I thank God, for unanswered prayers
Remember, when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs
That just because he may not answer, doesn’t mean he don’t care
Some of God’s greatest gifts, are unanswered

… Some of God’s greatest gifts, are all too often unanswered
Some of God’s greatest gifts, are unanswered prayers

Does that song mean that Garth Brooks is a Christian? Only God knows.

When I was in high school, I began to deepen my faith. At that time, I listened to country music, as well as other genres. I really liked “LeAnn Rimes.” I remember talking with a co-worker, and I said, LeAnn Rimes is a Christian. She responded, “Everybody is a Christian, Steve.”  During that time, many singers, especially country singers, talked about God and their faith. Garth Brooks would talk about God,[1] but the next moment, sing a song about a teenager having an affair with an older woman.[2] Alan Jackson is still known for singing songs about God.  In 2000, he released a song called “Where I Come From.” Some key words in that song are: “Workin’ hard to get to heaven…” Is that Christian theology? Do we earn our way to heaven?

Furthermore, athletes, politicians, and actors often discuss their faith. It is common for politicians to talk about their faith. We all know that. Of course, many of them will say whatever people want to hear. For years, athletes have pointed to heaven after scoring a touchdown. Remember the movie, “Angels in the Outfield”?

I do not think any of the things that I mentioned mean they are Christians. Only God knows one’s heart. I am sure some are genuine. But these are signs of the remnants of “cultural Christianity.” Some would say “cultural Christianity” is dead, but I think it remains in parts of our world.

My theme today is- pray that you are a genuine believer in Jesus.

1. What is a cultural Christian?
   1. Cultural Christianity is more about the social aspects of the Christian faith than the genuine life of commitment to Jesus.
   2. Many will identify as Christian because of family history, or even the values they like.
   3. In April 2024, Richard Dawkins identified as a cultural Christian. He said he liked Christmas Carols and old churches. He was one of the most militant atheists.[3]
   4. One source writes, Cultural Christianity is religion that superficially identifies itself as “Christianity” but does not truly adhere to the faith. A “cultural Christian” is a nominal believer—he wears the label “Christian,” but the label has more to do with his family background and upbringing than any personal conviction that Jesus is Lord.^[4]
   5. In American history, we clearly had a culture with Christian values. Therefore, it isn’t easy to parse through the writings of Washington, or Lincoln, or Jefferson, or Adams, or Eisenhower, or Roosevelt, or Nixon, or anyone else to know the genuineness of their faith.
   6. We can discuss the founding fathers further later.
   7. Most people in eighteenth-century America held a commitment to the Scriptures. However, many of our founders were impacted by rationalism. But if we read quotes from them, we think they are committed Christians. However, it was common to say the things they said.
2. How does Jesus address this (Matthew 7:21-23)?
   1. Matthew 7:21–23 (ESV)
   2. ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
   3. First, we see that doctrine alone does not save us.
   4. Now, where are we in the Bible? This is a section at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has been talking about knowing false teachers. In the previous verse, Jesus says that we will know them [false teachers] by their fruits.
   5. We see in that passage that they had the right doctrine. Jesus says they come to Him with “Lord,” “Lord,” implying they see Him as Lord.
   6. There are many people who may have correct doctrine but do not know Jesus.
   7. Don’t get me wrong, doctrine is very important. Sometimes, wrong doctrine shows that one is NOT saved, but that is another sermon. Let’s get back to the text. If you keep reading, they do not submit to Him as Lord. They do not do His Father’s will.
   8. Emotions do not save us.
   9. In the passage, the people who approach Jesus are quite serious. They seem very emotional. They seem very persistent. They seem like they really care. They are saying, “Lord,” twice.
   10. Still, that does not save them.
   11. We can have the correct doctrine and be passionate about it, yet not be saved.
   12. At the end of verse 21, Jesus says the one is saved who does the will of His Father. We will come back to that.
   13. Then we see that actions do not save us, but right actions are important.
   14. They say to Jesus, “Did we not prophesy in Your Name?” Stop right there. We could easily think, “They did a miracle, they prophesied.” But even the demons can do counterfeit miracles. We see this in Rev. 13:13-14, which is a key passage about this. Prophesy could mean preaching the Word, or it could mean rebuking sin, or it could mean calling out the future. These false believers could do that naturally without God, or they could do it by demonic forces. Jesus says they are not saved.
   15. They say to Jesus, “Did we not cast out demons in Your name?” Again, they are not saved. In Acts 19:13-16, we see false teachers, non-Christians, trying to cast out demons. They may cast out demons, but maybe the demons do not stay out. Of course, they could be lying; maybe they never did any of these things.
   16. Lastly, we see that miracles do not save us. These people claim that they performed miracles in Jesus’ name. They could be lying, or perhaps they performed the miracles through demonic power. Again, I refer you to Rev. 13:13-14.
   17. So, how do you know if you are saved?
   18. We will come back to that in a minute, but firstly, right here, Jesus says, “Do the will of His Father.” This would be following His Word.
   19. John 15:14–15 (ESV)
   20. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
   21. James 2:18–20 (ESV)
   22. ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
   23. We interpret Scripture with Scripture; this means that, based on Ephesians 2:8-9, we know we are saved by grace. We know based on the theology of salvation that we cannot earn our way to God. But our works validate our faith.
3. Apply this to your spiritual life:
   1. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, Paul writes that we should examine ourselves. How can we examine ourselves?
   2. Are we repentant of sin?
   3. Does sin in our life grieve us (Acts 2:38; Romans 7- Paul did not like the sin in his life)?
   4. Do certain sins grieve us, and others do not?
   5. Does sin grieve us because it grieves God or because of selfish reasons?
   6. Do we desire to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31)?
   7. Is Jesus our Lord? Do we follow Him (Luke 9:23)?
   8. Here is a breakdown of 5 things to look for:
   9. Penitence towards sin (Psalm 32; 51).
   10. Pursue righteousness (1 Tim. 6:11).
   11. Willing and joyful submission to Christ (James 4:7; Eph. 5:21) and others.
   12. Longing to obey the Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Psalm 119:9-11).
   13. Love for God and others (Matthew 22:37-39).

I have shared this before, but it is so good that it merits sharing again.

I read about an atheist who had the correct doctrine. Listen to this debate between an atheist and a liberal, supposed Christian:

Marilyn Sewell

Unitarian Universalist  Minister and Christopher Hitchens Author, God is NOT Good: How Religion Poisons Everything

Sewell: The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe in the doctrine of the atonement (that Jesus died for our sins, for example). Do you make any distinction between fundamentalist faith and liberal religion?

Hitchens:

Only in this respect: I would say that if you don’t believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, in other words, the Messiah, and that he rose again from the dead and by his sacrifice our sins are forgiven, you’re really not in any meaningful sense a Christian.

Sewell:

I disagree with that. I consider myself a Christian. I believe in the Jesus story as story, as narrative, and Jesus as a person whose life is exemplary that I want to follow. But I do not believe in all that stuff that I just outlined.
Hitchens:

I simply have to tell you that every major Christian, including theologians, has said that without the resurrection and without the forgiveness of sins, what I call the vicarious redemption, it’s meaningless. In fact, without that, it isn’t even a nice story – even if it’s true . . .

Sewell:

It doesn’t really matter to me if it’s true literally. It matters to me whether the story has efficacy for my life.

Hitchens:

Well, that’s what I meant to say. When C.S. Lewis, for example, says, . .  ‘if this man was not the son of God, then his teachings were evil’ because if you don’t believe that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and you can get to it by the way, the truth, and the life, offered by the gospel, then there’s no excuse for telling people to take no thought for the morrow, for example, as he did. . . It would be an evil nonsense.

Pray You Are Genuine in Your Faith (Matthew 7:21-23)

Believe, confess, trust, commit to Him: Firmly make the decision to be with Him in order to become like Him and to learn and do all that He says and then arrange your affairs around Him.

[1] Song, “Unanswered prayer.”

[2] That Summer

[3] Breakpoint; Richard Dawkins, a “Cultural Christian”

You can’t have Christianity’s fruit without its root. April, 09, 2024; accessed on 08.24.2025.

https://www.breakpoint.org/richard-dawkins-a-cultural-christian/

^[4] Got Questions Ministries, Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered, vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2014–2021).

Paul Is Encouraged by Jesus (Acts 18:1–23)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, September 21, 2025

I have been encouraged many times and in many ways, but often I receive encouragement through a note or something someone says. I know of pastors who have an encouragement file. If they are ever discouraged, they go to that file and find the encouragement they need. We need encouragement, I do. Many times, my encouragement comes from an email, a text message, or a phone call. Sometimes I do not realize how encouraging it is until later. Sometimes someone will text me a Scripture verse. A few times, I have been praying, and the Holy Spirit reminds me of something.

Today, we talk about Jesus encouraging Paul, and the Holy Spirit encouraging us. As we start this subject, it should encourage us, but also challenge us. Living by the Holy Spirit is not easy.

Francis Chan writes in Forgotten God:

CHRISTLIKENESS: A PAINFUL PROCESS

The truth is that the Spirit of the living God is guaranteed to ask you to go somewhere or do something you wouldn’t normally want or choose to do. The Spirit will lead you to the way of the cross, as He led Jesus to the cross, and that is definitely not a safe or pretty or comfortable place to be. The Holy Spirit of God will mold you into the person you were made to be. This often incredibly painful process strips you of selfishness, pride, and fear.
For a powerful example of this, read in C. S. Lewis’ book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader about the boy, Eustace, who becomes a dragon. In order to become a little boy again, he must undergo a tremendous amount of pain as the dragon skin is peeled away and torn from him. Only after he endures this painful process is he truly transformed from a dragon back into a boy. Sometimes the sin we take on becomes such a part of us that it requires this same kind of ripping and tearing to free us. The Holy Spirit does not seek to hurt us, but He does seek to make us Christlike, and this can be painful.[1]

In today’s passage, we see that Jesus encouraged Paul, BUT, notice first that Paul was stepping outside of his comfort zone following the Holy Spirit’s will. He was sharing the Gospel, despite resistance.

Today, my theme is Jesus encourages Paul.

1. Overview of Acts 18:1-23
   1. First, I want to summarize Acts 18:1-23. Then, we will focus on Acts 18:5-11.
   2. In Acts 18:1-3, we meet Paul’s friends (Acts 18:1-3).
   3. Paul meets Aquilla and Priscilla.
   4. We are also introduced to Paul’s stay in Corinth and his work as a tentmaker. Paul was reasoning with people in the synagogue.
   5. In Acts 18:6-11 Paul is opposed but the Holy Spirit encourages him. We will come back to that section.
   6. In Acts 18:12-17, he faces more opposition, but this time he doesn’t need to flee. He stays.
   7. He stays in Corinth for at least 18 months. The only place he stayed longer would be Ephesus.
   8. Paul in Cenchrea (18:18): Here he shaves his head and takes a vow.
   9. Paul in Ephesus (18:19–21): The apostle’s stay here is short, for he plans to observe a special feast soon to be celebrated in Jerusalem.
   10. Paul in Antioch of Syria (18:22): No doubt he gives a report here at his home church.
   11. Paul in Galatia (18:23): He begins his third missionary journey.^[2]
2. Paul is opposed, but the Lord encourages him (Acts 18:6-11).
   1. Now, let’s focus on one section of this passage.
   2. Acts 18:6–11 (ESV)
   3. ⁶ And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” ⁷ And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. ⁸ Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. ⁹ And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, ¹⁰ for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” ¹¹ And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
   4. Why is he opposed?
   5. He had been reasoning with them in the synagoes.
   6. What does he do?
   7. Paul shook out his clothes, this is similar to shaking the dust off of your feet.
   8. Paul said that he was innocent.
   9. Verse 7: Paul goes to a man’s house next to the synagogue.
   10. In verse 8, we see the synagogue leaders receive Jesus.
   11. He believed. That is a major event when a synagogue leader accepts Christ. This is like reaching a Jehovah’s Witness leader. Not a common person.
   12. Remember, when we share the Gospel, Jesus is in charge of the results.
   13. Many of the Corinthians were being saved.
   14. They were being baptized as well.
   15. 1 Cor. 1:14 Crispus is one that Paul baptized.
   16. Baptism follows salvation. We are baptized to follow Jesus’s footsteps. We are baptized to make a public profession of our faith in Christ. We are baptized to symbolize dying with Christ and rising again. We are baptized, as that is symbolic of washing away our sins.
   17. This must mean water baptism.
   18. Verse 9: This verse begins a message from Jesus. Do not be afraid…
   19. Jesus says to go on speaking and not be silent.
   20. Verse 10: Jesus says that He is with Paul.
   21. Jesus says that no man will attack him to harm him.
   22. Sometimes we feel like we are alone, but we are never alone as a Christ follower. God has other witnesses, and the Holy Spirit is with us.
   23. Verse 11: Paul stayed a year and six months (eighteen months).
   24. Paul settled. He made his home around them.
   25. ESV Study Note:
   26. Up to this point, opposition to his ministry had usually forced Paul to leave a place of witness. But the Lord in a vision assured him that he would have a successful ministry in Corinth and would suffer no further harm. In obedience Paul remained there for 18 months (c. d. 49–51, during which time he wrote 1–2 Thessalonians).^[3]
   27. Paul was teaching God’s Word.

• What about us?
  1. It was Jesus Who encouraged Paul.
  2. The direct application is that when we are doing what God calls us to do we can keep at it. God is with us. We are never alone.
  3. Seek the Lord.
  4. Stay in His will.
  5. Look for Him to encourage you as you follow His will.
  6. God is with us. Immanuel. Matthew 1:23 says that Jesus’ name shall be called Immanuel, which means “God with us.” Matthew 28:20 says that the Lord is with us in the great commission.
• Be an encourager and look for Jesus to encourage you.
  1. 1. An indirect application. Remember this is indirect, not a direct application, is that we all need encouragement.
     2. Get up every morning and pray that you are encouraged and an encourager.
     3. I was reviewing a message I previously delivered on this passage, and I wrote this in 2014.
     4. We had a childcare and preschool at my church, and the children would walk by my office.
     5. My children attended there.
     6. I shared:
     7. We need encouragement, and the Holy Spirit may encourage you through circumstances. You know how encouraging it is for me to be sitting in my office when Mercedes walks by and says, “Hi Daddy, that’s my daddy, that’s my daddy.” That is exactly what she said a few weeks ago [remember in 2014]. That brightens my day, and I hope I never forget it [I am glad I read the reminder]. You know how encouraging it is when I walk in the door only to slammed by Mercedes with a hug. A few weeks ago, Mercedes was up in the night coughing, so I got her up and gave her a drink and some crackers. She was wide awake. She sits down at the table and says, “Daddy, I’ll sit here and you sit here.” She pointed next to her. I wanted to unload the dishwasher, oh, but she wanted me with her. She wanted presence.
     8. While serving as the pastor, I would read to the children at the childcare.
     9. One year, just after Christmas, I was at Wal-Mart and heard a child say, “There is Jesus.” The mom looked around, and so did I. We heard him say the same thing again. He pointed directly at me. He associated me with Jesus since I work at the church and read stories about Jesus to him.
     10. Are those encouraging words from God? Not directly, but God can use them. Mercedes and Abigail encourage me by being my loving daughters and being proud to say, “That’s my daddy!”
     11. Jesus may encourage through the church. Jesus may encourage you through a kind letter from a friend. Jesus may encourage you through the Scriptures.
     12. Have you ever read the right Scripture at just the right time? Jesus may encourage you through circumstance. Jesus may encourage you in prayer. You may be praying, and you feel this presence. Jesus may speak to you that way.
     13. In Acts 18:10: Jesus said that He had others in the city.
     14. Remember the church.
     15. You are not alone.

I read:

Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.  (William Arthur Ward)

Prayer

[1] Francis Chan. Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit (pp. 50-51). Kindle Edition.

^[2] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ac 18:18–23.

1. about, approximately

^[3] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2123.

Special Topic: Love Is the Greatest Gift (1 Cor. 13:8-13)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, September 14, 2025

Tony Evans writes:

At many amusement parks and museums, they have 3-D movies. When you walk into the theater, you receive a pair of glasses. If you try to watch the movie without the glasses, you see a distorted picture. No matter how hard you strain and look and twist to try to make sense of what is happening on the screen, there is still a distortion because of the dimension through which you are looking. By handing you a pair of glasses when you walk into the theater, they give you the tool you need to see the screen without distortions.

One of the problems many of us have is that we have a distorted view. We see what we see, but we don’t see all that there is to be seen. If all you see is the physical, visible scenario, then you are looking at your situation without your glasses. We need to have a divine frame of reference in order to see what is really going on.^905,[1]

In the passage we are going to look at Paul shares that in Heaven we will have a better picture of things.

We are in a short sermon series on love.

My theme today is:

Strive for self-sacrificial love. This love will last into eternity.

1. Context:
   1. As we reach 1 Corinthians 13, we are in the third of three chapters in which Paul writes about spiritual gifts.
   2. 1 Corinthians 12 is written about the theology of spiritual gifts.
   3. 1 Corinthians 13 is written about the motivation behind spiritual gifts.
   4. 1 Corinthians 14 is written about the practice of spiritual gifts.
   5. The Corinthian church was a divided church.
   6. I remember sitting in a New Testament class at Indiana Wesleyan University. The professor shared how, when he was a pastor, he would hear people say, “We want to be like the New Testament church.” He would say, “Really, do you want to be like the church in Corinth that was divided over communion [see 1 Cor. 11:18]?”
   7. The thesis of 1 Corinthians is in 1 Corinthians 1:10:
   8. 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NASB95)
   9. Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
   10. By the time we get to 1 Corinthians 13, Paul has already written about many subjects, among them, but not limited to: marriage (1 Cor. 7); food sacrificed to idols (1 Cor. 8-10); the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11); and now spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12-14).
   11. Now, we get into the motivation behind spiritual gifts.
   12. Last week, we looked at the adjectives that describe love. In the English they are adjectives, but in the Greek they are verbs.
2. The greatest gift is love.
   1. Paul began with this idea, and now he returns to this.
   2. Verse 8 says literally that love never “falls to the ground,” which likely means that it is never defeated or that it never fails. Other good gifts that are quite valuable, such as prophecy or knowledge, are specifically meant to equip the believer to endure in this age. In due course they will be brought to nothing. Tongues will cease when the Lord returns and completes his plan for Christians. Partial knowledge such as the Corinthian Christians now have will be brought to nought. Paul stresses “we know now but in part, but one day the completion of our knowledge of and relationship with God will happen.” Then believers will know as they are known by God. Then they will see face to face.
   3. The Corinthians are childish because, unlike Paul, they have mistaken the part for the whole and the partial for the final and in particular have overlooked the fact that while love already has finality here and now, knowledge is only in part. These verses are part of the larger rhetorical strategy to demonstrate the childish nature of the Corinthians’ behavior and thinking throughout this letter (cf. 3:1ff.; 14:20).^35,[3]
   4. Look at the passage:
   5. 1 Corinthians 13:8–13 (ESV)
   6. ⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
   7. ¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
   8. Love never ends… He is making the case that the various gifts will no longer be necessary, but love will always remain.
   9. Prophesies- no more needed.
   10. The gift of tongues- they will cease.
   11. The gift of knowledge will pass away. I believe he is referring to a special spiritual gift, rather than knowledge itself.
   12. Verses 9-10: We all know partially; we only prophesy partially, but eventually the perfect will come. He is referring to the time when God makes all things new. Then, the partial will be done away.
   13. “Perfect,” or some translations read, “complete”: The Greek for this word can mean “end,” “fulfillment,” “completeness” or “maturity.” In this context the contrast is between the partial and the complete. Verse 12 seems to indicate that Paul is here speaking of either Christ’s second coming or a believer’s death, when they will see Christ “face to face” (v. 12)^[4]
   14. Paul is building a case about how when we are in heaven, or the New Heavens and the New Earth, we will no longer need these gifts.
   15. In verse 11 he gives this illustration of going from being a child to being an adult.
   16. Witherington III helps us: Verses 11f. should probably not be understood as saying that it is childish to speak in tongues or to prophesy, since Paul himself still does such things. He is saying that there is an age appropriate to such things and that now is that age. When the completion of the age finally comes, then it will be time to set aside what was appropriate and needful in that age. Only later will one know as one is known by God.
   17. For now, Christians, even the most mature,³⁶ see through a glass or mirror en ainigmati, which can be transliterated as “enigmatically.” The phrase may mean “obscurely,” but its literal meaning is “in a riddle.” Paul’s point is not to castigate mirror-making, which was a trade practiced in Corinth. Nor were ancient bronze mirrors necessarily all that bad. His point is, rather, that as a mere image of the truth a mirror only partially tells the tale of what we look like. What we know of Christ, self, others, or salvation through the Spirit is not necessarily inaccurate, just incomplete. Some scholars have suggested plausibly that vv. 12a and 9b should be coordinated, in which case Paul would be referring in this image to the partial or fragmentary nature of prophecy. One may see a vision, but it is enigmatic and incomplete. This makes sense in light of what follows in ch. 14.^37,[5]
   18. This does not mean we will be omniscient or know all things, but that we will have a fuller grasp of things. Furthermore, I believe he is referring to the spiritual gifts of knowledge, prophecy, and tongues. They will not be needed anymore.
   19. These gifts are about the upbuilding of the church.
   20. Now, verse 12: Paul uses an image of a mirror to show that we do not see perfectly. He will see “face to face.” Face to face suggests a reference to Christ’s second coming (the OT uses this phrase to refer to seeing God personally; cf. Gen. 32:30; Ex. 33:11; Deut. 5:4; 34:10; Judg. 6:22; Ezek. 20:35). Then, the spiritual gifts of this present age will no longer be needed.^[6]
   21. Now, the image of what we see is not complete, but then we will fully know, even as we are fully known.
   22. IVP BBC NT: Mirrors (13:12) were often made of bronze, and given the worldwide renown of Corinthian bronze, would perhaps strike the Corinthians as a local product (also 2 Cor 3:18). But even the best mirrors reflected images imperfectly (some philosophers thus used mirrors as an analogy to describe mortals’ searching for the deity); contrast the more open revelation of Exodus 33:11, Numbers 12:8 and Deuteronomy 34:10.^[7]
   23. Verse 13: So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
   24. Faith and hope will not be needed in eternity. Love will remain.
   25. CSB SB: Of faith, hope, and love, love is the greatest because it continues into the next age. Both faith and hope will be fulfilled in eternity, and so will not remain. This statement concludes a semantic bracket that began in v. 8—“Love never ends.”^[8]
   26. ESV SB: The relationship of these three Christian qualities is a frequent theme in Paul’s letters. See Rom. 5:1–5; Gal. 5:5–6; Eph. 4:2–5; Col. 1:4–5; 1 Thess. 1:3; 5:8.^[9]
   27. Love is the greatest of the gifts.

Haddon Anderson writes on Desiring God on December 14, 2021:

In 1738, Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon entitled “Heaven Is a World of Love.” He pointed out that since heaven is God’s dwelling place, “this renders heaven a world of love; for God is the fountain of love, as the sun is the fountain of light. And therefore the glorious presence of God in heaven fills heaven with love, as the sun placed in the midst of the hemisphere in a clear day fills the world with light” (Works, 8:369). Furthermore, “love reigns in every heart” in heaven, as the saints abound in love for God and for one another (8:373).[10]

Prayer

^[1] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 302–303.

³³ J. Weiss, Der erste Korintherbrief (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1925), p. 311.

^[2] Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 270.

³⁴ Holladay, “1 Cor. 13,” p. 97.

³⁵ Ibid.

^[3] Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 270–271.

1. verse (in the chapter being commented on)

^[4] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 2022.

³⁶ Notice the emphasis on “we” in this final section of ch. 13, where Paul places himself in the same eschatological situation as his converts.

³⁷ Cf. below and R. E. Heine, “The Structure and Meaning of 1 Corinthians 13:8–13,” in Increase of Learning, ed. R. J. Owens, et al. (Manhattan: Manhattan Christian College, 1979), pp. 63–72.

^[5] Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 271.

^[6] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2211.

^[7] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 1 Co 13:8–13.

1. verse

^[8] F. Alan Tomlinson, “1 Corinthians,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1830.

^[9] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2211.

[10] Haddon Anderson, Desiring God, December 14, 2021. Accessed on August 10, 2025:

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/faith-hope-and-heaven-on-earth?utm_campaign=Daily%20Email&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=193678078&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Hq89Nf9vROO45JZ7prjkb6VsKPEADHktRyYNhoDgJZIEmpNpPFGEEUv1ymRAChW7yVUZXQ2F7LfJg8eJLvz3Ya_zwbg&utm_content=193678078&utm_source=hs_email

Special Topic: Paul Exhorts Us in Christian Love (1 Cor. 13:4-7)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, September 7, 2025

In his book The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis writes:

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

I believe that the most lawless and inordinate loves are less contrary to God’s will than a self-invited and self-protective lovelessness. It is like hiding the talent in a napkin and for much the same reason ‘I knew thee that thou wert a hard man.’ Christ did not teach and suffer that we might become, even in the natural loves, more careful of our own happiness. If a man is not uncalculating towards the earthly beloveds whom he has seen, he is none the more likely to be so towards God whom he has not. We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it.[1]

My theme today is:

Paul exhorts us in Christian love:

1. Context:
   1. As we reach 1 Corinthians 13, we are in the third of three chapters in which Paul writes about spiritual gifts.
   2. 1 Corinthians 12 is written about the theology of spiritual gifts.
   3. 1 Corinthians 13 is written about the motivation behind spiritual gifts.
   4. 1 Corinthians 14 is written about the practice of spiritual gifts.
   5. The Corinthian church was a divided church.
   6. I remember sitting in a New Testament class at Indiana Wesleyan University. The professor shared how when he was a pastor he would hear people say, “We want to be like the New Testament church.” He would say, “Really, do you want to be like the church in Corinth that was divided over communion [see 1 Cor. 11:18]?”
   7. The thesis of 1 Corinthians is in 1 Corinthians 1:10:
   8. 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NASB95)
   9. Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
   10. By the time we get to 1 Corinthians 13, Paul has already written about many subjects, among them, but not limited to: marriage (1 Cor. 7); food sacrificed to idols (1 Cor. 8-10); the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11); and now spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12-14).
   11. Now, we get into the motivation behind spiritual gifts.
   12. This is the character of Christian agapē. The word agapē is not uniquely Christian. Christians likely derived it from the Septuagint, where it is often used of God’s love, not ordinary human love. It is a unique privilege to be a bearer, by means of the Spirit, of God’s love. This love differs from both natural human affection (philia, so-called brotherly love) and erōs (desiring love, usually related to physical attraction).^29,[2]
2. Love is:
   1. One source shares: The point of Paul’s rhetorically polished description of love is its contrast to what he has earlier said about the attitudes of the Corinthians. ^[3] Remember, earlier Paul wrote about how the Corinthians were divided. But now, look how he describes love:
   2. 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 (ESV)
   3. ⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
   4. Again from Dr. Witherington III:
   5. The setting of ch. 13 makes evident that Paul is not talking about “natural” human love, but of a sort of love that a human being can only express and share when he or she has been touched by God’s grace and enabled by God’s Spirit. It goes quite against natural human inclinations to love the unlovely or those who do not love in return. Agapē love, as V. P. Furnish has aptly said, is not the sort of love that is dispatched like a heat-seeking missile due to something inherently attractive in the “target.”⁴⁰
   6. Now, Paul starts to define love.
   7. In Greek, these are verbs, but in English, they are adjectives.
   8. Verbs are action statements. For example, running, walking, etc. Adjectives modify something. The color is red. Or, Jane is patient.
   9. Love is patient and kind:
      1. These are a pair.
      2. Tim Keller makes this come alive:
   10. Patient means, literally, suffers a long time. In fact, as we’ll see in a minute, one of the essential characteristics of love is that you stay vulnerable. When you’re getting beaten, you don’t immediately retreat. Being patient is an amazing thing.
   11. By the way, this is just a story that has always meant so much to me. Edwin Stanton was Abraham Lincoln’s political opponent. When Abraham Lincoln was running for office … You have to remember Abraham Lincoln was a Midwesterner. He was considered a hick, and he was called a hick by Edwin Stanton. He was called a gorilla. Have you ever noticed that? Abraham Lincoln does look a bit like a gorilla. He does. He called him a gorilla. He called him a monstrosity. He called him a hick. He called him all kinds of things.
   12. When Abraham Lincoln won the election and he looked around to find the most able person possible to be his Secretary of War or Secretary of the Military, he chose Edwin Stanton. He chose him and put him in his Cabinet. He put up with an amazing amount of stuff and turned him into his friend because he said, “I know this man is great.” When Abraham Lincoln lay dead, at his funeral Stanton was there. He got up in tears and said, “Here lies the greatest ruler among men in the earth.” Just amazing. Patience was the way in which Abraham Lincoln loved him.^[4]
   13. If we look at Gal. 5:22-23, we see patience is a fruit of the Spirit.
   14. How are we doing with patience? We can be patient because the Holy Spirit is within us.
   15. Do we snap at others when they ask for something? What about traffic? Are we patient when waiting in traffic? I struggle with this. Most recently, driving through Chicago on the way to Wisconsin was a test of my patience. Driving on the Indiana Turnpike on the way home was a test of my patience. How are you doing with this? I want to do better.
   16. [Love] does not envy or boast: Again, these are pairs, and they are reflective of problems in Corinth. Do we envy what others have and that leads to boasting? Are we boastful? Why do we say the things we say? Are we trying to “one-up” someone else? In other words, if someone claims to have done something, do we feel compelled to say, “Well, yes, I did that too”? Or do we always feel like we need to defend ourselves? Why? Why not let someone else have the credit?
   17. [Love] is not arrogant or rude: These pairs go along with the previous. Love is humble. We are not trying to look better than someone else. How are we doing?
   18. [Love] does not insist on its own way: Perhaps an indirect reference to their unruly and dishonorable conduct in worship (11:18–22).^[5] This is a real gut check. Do we insist on our own way? Someone once told me that he did not agree with something but he would not make an issue of it. That is more of the Christian way.
   19. [Love] is not irritable or resentful: Are we irritable? Do we express bitterness?
   20. [Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. One source shares: does not delight in evil- As they were doing in [1 Cor. 5].^[6] This is one in which I have heard it could be translated “thin-skinned.” Let’s do a gut check. How are we doing?
   21. One person writes: It is reported that when the Moravian missionaries first went to the Eskimos, they couldn’t find a word in their language for forgiveness. They had to combine a series of shorter words into one compound word: Issumagijoujungnainermik. Although the word appears formidable, its meaning is beautiful, being translated: “Not-being-able-to-think-about-it-anymore.”
   22. You’ve probably noticed that unforgiving people usually have good memories. Some can hold a grudge for a lifetime. But love never keeps a record of wrongs committed against it. It forgives and is unable to think about them anymore.
   23. That’s what Paul had in mind when he said that love “does not take into account a wrong suffered” (1 Cor. 13:5). The Greek word translated “take into account” was used of the entries in a bookkeeper’s ledger. Those entries helped the bookkeeper remember the nature of each financial transaction. In contrast, love never keeps a record or holds others accountable for the wrongs they’ve committed against it.
   24. The greatest example of that kind of love is God Himself. Romans 4:8 says, “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” Second Corinthians 5:19 adds, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them.”
   25. Every sin we commit as believers is an offense against God, but He never charges them to our account. We are in Christ, who bore our penalty on the cross. When we sin, we are immediately forgiven.[7]
   26. [Love] bears all things, believes all things, endures all things
   27. [Love] hopes all things: MacArthur shares: Hope is illustrated in the true story of a dog who was abandoned at the airport of a large city. He stayed there for over five years, waiting for his master to return. People at the airport fed and cared for him, but he refused to leave the spot where he last saw his master. If a dog’s love for his master can produce that kind of hope, how much more should your love for God produce abiding hope?[8]

Let’s go back to C.S. Lewis as Tim Keller quotes and shares:

“[C.S. Lewis shares] Though natural likings should normally be encouraged, it would be quite wrong to think that the way to become charitable is to sit trying to manufacture affectionate feelings … Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did.” Do you see what he is saying? He says, “It doesn’t matter whether you like your neighbor or not. Do for him. Help him. Serve him. As soon as you do this you will find one of the great secrets. When you’re behaving as if you love someone, you will presently come to love him.”

Now there is an exception. “If you do him a good turn, not to please God and obey the law of charity, but to show him what a fine forgiving chap you are, and to put him in your debt, and then sit down to wait for his ‘gratitude’, you will probably be disappointed … Christian charity … is quite distinct from affection, yet it leads to affection.” Oh my, have I seen that, and you have, too.

I don’t know how many times I have sat with people who have been married for about 20 years. They say, “There is no love left in the marriage, and I want out.” I can tell you exactly what happened. They had children. When you have a child, what happens is you have a person who needs to be served. The essence of love is to serve somebody else’s needs regardless of what you want to do.

Your child is up in the middle of the night screaming and wailing. He is 3 weeks old. What do you do? Do you say, “Hey, this is no good. I’m tired. I’m going to bed?” You get up. You feed him. You do whatever you have to do, and you get nothing from that kid for a long time. After several weeks the kid might actually reach up, grab your finger, and smile at you. Wow. You get so little and so little. The fact is, as time goes on you’re giving and you’re giving and you’re giving, and you’re getting just very little back. As a result of you giving and giving, and in spite of your feelings, what happens is your love for that kid grows incredibly strong.

Meanwhile, what happens when your spouse acts like a baby? What happens when your spouse is acting in a way that’s immature, silly, and awful, and you’re called upon to continue to be loving to her or him in spite of how that person is acting? What do you do? You say, “Well if she is not going to be the wife she used to be, why the heck do I have to be the husband I used to be?” You immediately start to say, “Since I don’t like him, I don’t have to love him.”

Then what happens is the less you love him the less you like him. The less you like him the less you love him and so on. So after 20 years here you are doing the biblical kind of love to your kid even though the kid is giving you nothing. After 20 years your kid could be an absolute jerk, and you love him. In those same 20 years you are operating in a completely selfish way with your spouse. Instead of continuing to serve even when you don’t like, you follow your feelings.

In other words, your love for your kids is biblical because it leads to affection. It’s not affection; essentially it’s service. You think of your love for your spouse as basically as an affection, and if the affection and the erotic feeling is not there, there’s no reason to give. As a result, the opposite thing is happening. Here, the more you love, the more you like. Here, the less you love, the less you like, and the less you like, the less you love.

After 20 years of no love between the spouses and lots of love between the parents and kids, even when the kids are rebellious and a mess and so on, they look at me and they say, “There is no love left in the marriage.” No kidding, because the way they define love isn’t biblical. Love is meeting the needs and concerns of others before or instead of your own.^[9]

[1] Lewis, C.S. The Four Loves. (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1960), 169-170

²⁹ On this whole subject one should see the classic studies by C. Spicq, Agape dans le nouveau testament (Paris: Gabalda, 1958–59), and A. Nygren, Agape and Eros (London, 1932 and 1939). There is some obvious overlap between agapē and philia; cf. John 21:15–19.

^[2] Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 269.

^[3] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 1 Co 13:4–7.

⁴⁰ On this whole subject, cf. V. P. Furnish, The Love Command in the NT (Nashville: Abingdon, 1972).

^[4] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[5] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 2021–2022.

^[6] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 2022.

[7] John MacArthur devotional, the link is no longer accurate

[8] John MacArthur devotional, the link is no longer accurate

^[9] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

Special Topic: Love Is a More Excellent Way (1 Cor. 13:1-3)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, August 31, 2025

Timothy Keller shares:

I was just reading a book by a wife of a man who is now gone (Norman Mailer). She was his last wife, and she has written a biography.

Of course, Norman Mailer was a brilliant author. Everybody came out to listen to him. He ran for mayor. Okay, so he stabbed one of his wives with a knife. You know, he is a colorful character. See, what really matters is he has the gifts. He has the talent, you see. Paul totally reverses that, and he says, “No, it’s the other way around. If you’re brilliant, if you’re gifted, if you’re talented, even in God’s service, even doing all this for God, but in your heart you’re filled with envy and pride and anger and insecurity, you are nothing. That is of no value to God at all.”^[1]

We will examine this from 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.

My theme today is:

Love Is a More Excellent Way

1. What is going on in 1 Corinthians 13?
   1. As we reach 1 Corinthians 13, we are in the third of three chapters in which Paul writes about spiritual gifts.
   2. 1 Corinthians 12 is written about the theology of spiritual gifts.
   3. 1 Corinthians 13 is written about the motivation behind spiritual gifts.
   4. 1 Corinthians 14 is written about the practice of spiritual gifts.
   5. The Corinthian church was a divided church.
   6. I remember sitting in a New Testament class at Indiana Wesleyan University. The professor shared how when he was a pastor he would hear people say, “We want to be like the New Testament church.” He would say, “Really, do you want to be like the church in Corinth that was divided over communion [see 1 Cor. 11:18]?”
   7. The thesis of 1 Corinthians is in 1 Corinthians 1:10:
   8. 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NASB95)
   9. Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
   10. By the time we get to 1 Corinthians 13, Paul has already written about many subjects, among them, but not limited to: marriage (1 Cor. 7); food sacrificed to idols (1 Cor. 8-10); the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11); and now spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12-14).
   11. Now, we get into the motivation behind spiritual gifts.
2. The importance of love.
   1. 1 Cor. 13:1-3 is written regarding the importance of love.
   2. The gift of tongues is useless without it (1 Cor. 13:1).
   3. Look at 1 Cor. 13:1
   4. 1 Corinthians 13:1 (ESV)
   5. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
   6. What does this mean?
   7. First, notice that Paul is using the first-person pronoun, “I.” He is using himself as an example. In 1 Cor. 12:31 he was writing using the second person pronoun “you.”
   8. Remember that the Corinthian church was divided over spiritual gifts, and it appears they were also divided over the issue of tongues.
   9. Now, this gets complicated. Why? I am glad you asked.
   10. Paul ends 1 Cor. 12:31 with, And I will show you a still more excellent way.
   11. So, it seems that he was telling them to desire “higher” gifts, and he will show them a more “excellent way.”
   12. Right off the bat, I think in 1 Cor. 13 Paul is saying “love” is a more excellent way. Furthermore, some would argue that “love” is the highest gift, or one of the highest gifts.
   13. Some would argue “love” is not a spiritual gift.
   14. Paul says even with the spiritual gift of tongues, if he does not have love, “he is nothing more than a noisy gong or clanging cymbal,” huh?
   15. Keller: That verse makes no sense unless, as the commentators say, it’s referring to the worship of the various temples of those Greco-Roman cities. Like in Corinth, they had all the various gods. They had all the various pagan temples. The way worship was done was a great processional in which there were gongs and there were cymbals. You were wearing your finery. It was a parade. The purpose of it was to honor the god, to get the god’s attention, to get the god’s approval. “Look how much we venerate you. Look at it!”^[2]
   16. IVP BBC NT:
   17. Although cymbals were used in some pagan worship (as well as in Jewish worship), the point of Paul’s comparison is undoubtedly simply that, though loud, by themselves they communicate nothing (like some rhetoricians in his day). Corinth was famous for its “bronze,” and bronze vases (not “gongs,” as in most translations) were often used for amplifiers in the outdoor theaters of this period.^[3]
   18. Witherington III shares: In vv. 1–3 tongues and prophecy are shown to be potentially divisive while love unites.⁸ Then love is said to be not the very things that Paul has already said that the Corinthians are: jealous (cf. 3:3), self-promoting, puffed up (cf. 4:6), shameful (cf. 5:2; 11:4), each one a seeker of his or her own advantage (cf. chs. 8–10), easily provoked, and reckoners of wrongdoing (cf. ch. 6).^9,[4]
   19. We will examine 1 Cor. 13:4-7 next week, but Paul will contrast the way of love with the way of the Corinthians.
   20. Further, Dr. Witherington III shares: Paul is not calling love the supreme gift, but rather the way of life for Christ’s agent. ^12,[5]
   21. Still in verse 1 (1 Cor. 13:1), Paul writes that he could speak in tongues, or of angels. What does he mean by “angels”? Some think he is writing about an angelic language. I think he is writing in hyperbole.
   22. Some also think he is writing about those masters in rhetoric likening them to angels.
   23. The gift of prophecy is useless without it (1 Cor. 13:2a).
   24. Look at 1 Cor. 13:2: 1 Corinthians 13:2 (ESV) ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
   25. I like what Timothy Keller shares: Paul shockingly says, “It’s possible to even have miraculous gifts like prophecy, it’s possible to have tremendous leadership gifts, tremendous preaching and teaching gifts, without love. It’s possible to be doing all of this not out of love.”^[6]
   26. Further, in verse 2 Paul references knowledge. If he has all knowledge to understand all mysteries, it is nothing without love.
   27. Paul then references the gift of faith. “Faith” (1 Cor. 12:9) and “knowledge” (1 Cor. 12:8) are spiritual gifts. Yet, he is nothing without love.
   28. The gift of giving is useless without it (1 Cor. 13:3).^[7]
   29. Look at 1 Cor. 13:3:
   30. 1 Corinthians 13:3 (ESV) ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
   31. Witherington III writes: For Paul the essence of true spirituality is self-sacrificial love, not gifts, knowledge, or miraculous power. At least some Corinthians were focused on power and ego and had a different view of the real heart of Christianity. Paul’s point is that such egocentric behavior hurts not only others but also self. One has no profit without love. The argument here about “profit” or “benefit” points to a deliberative function of this otherwise epideictic chapter.^[8]
   32. This idea of delivering up his body to be burned likely refers to the “standard Jewish tradition of martyrs, some of whom threw themselves into the fire to avoid being forcibly defiled.”^[9]
   33. What is Paul saying? Without love, he is nothing.
3.  Applications:
   1. I am increasingly convicted that the Christian witness is the strongest when we are pursuing a loving way in all things.
   2. This does not mean condoning sin, no, just the opposite.
   3. It is not loving to condone sin.
   4. It does mean we really pray, really discern, really think about how to be loving in all situations.
   5. We need to pray before we talk to someone about something that offended us.
   6. We must ask, “Am I being too thin-skinned?” Or, “did they sin against me, or is it a preference thing?”
   7. We must think, “Am I in a place to confront this?”
   8. We must ask the Lord to exchange our critical attitude for an attitude of grace.
   9. Grace towards everyone (1 Cor. 13:7).
   10. We must ask the Lord to replace our critical attitude with an attitude of gratitude (1 Thess. 5:16).
   11. We must ask the Lord to make us swift to hear, slow to become angry (James 1:19).
   12. We must pray and discern-
   13. When do I really need to defend myself?
   14. Am I just wanting to be right?
   15. Dallas Willard writes:
   16. One of our finest Christian-college presidents recently devoted his periodic mail-out to the question “Why are Christians so mean to one another so often?” He quotes numerous well-known Christian leaders on this theme…
   17. Later, Willard writes:
   18. Well, there actually is an answer to that question. And we must face this answer and effectively deal with it or Satan will sustain his stranglehold on spiritual transformation in local congregations. Christians are routinely taught by example and word that it is more important to be right (always in terms of their beloved vessel, or tradition) than it is to be Christlike. In fact, being right licenses you to be mean, and, indeed, requires you to be mean—righteously mean, of course. You must be hard on people who are wrong, and especially if they are in positions of Christian leadership. They deserve nothing better. This is a part of what I have elsewhere called the practice of “condemnation engineering.”[10]
   19. Grace towards everyone.
   20. Faith towards God.
   21. Biblical wisdom in all things.

Timothy Keller shares:

See, almost all of us have parts of our lives we really want to see changed, but change is really hard. If you take a Coke can and you crush it with your hand so now it’s taking up less space (it’s smaller) and then you take your hand away, it stays where you put it. If you take a rubber ball and squeeze it with your hand so it takes up less space and then you take your hand away, it snaps right back to where it was. Why?

Because you restrained the rubber ball temporarily, but you didn’t really change it. You changed the Coke can, see, but you didn’t really change the rubber ball. You just restrained it, and it snaps back. Almost all of us have that experience (the rubber ball experience, I mean). We go out to try to change parts of our lives, and we put a lot of willpower behind it. We put a lot of pressure on certain parts of our lives. We say, “I think I got it” Then as soon as you let up or circumstances change, it snaps right back.^[11]

Prayer

^[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[2] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[3] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 1 Co 13:1.

⁸ This also prepares for the argument in 14:2–5, 29–32.

⁹ Rightly Mitchell, Rhetoric of Reconciliation, pp. 169f. I agree with Mitchell that factionalism is perhaps the main thing Paul is combating throughout this letter. “Enthusiasm” is most definitely one cause of this divisive behavior, so it is not an either-or matter.

^[4] Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 265.

¹² The chapter may have existed before Paul put it to use here, but in view of its specific targeting of the Corinthian vices and its use of Paul as an example, this seems most unlikely.

^[5] Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 265–266.

^[6] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[7] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), 1 Co 13:1–3.

^[8] Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 268.

^[9] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 1 Co 13:2–3.

[10] Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ (p. 238). (Function). Kindle Edition.

^[11] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

Paul Witnesses in Athens (Acts 17:16–34)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, August 24, 2025

Last week, the sermon was about learning and studying the Scriptures. I focused on the Bereans and how, when there was a new idea, they went back to God’s Word. They checked the Scriptures to see what the Scriptures had to say about this new teaching that the Apostle Paul taught. Then they found out that this teaching did not contradict the Scriptures. They discovered the Scriptures prophesied about Christ, and they became Christians.

Tim Keller writes, this was in 2003:

Let me give you an example from popular culture. I didn’t see this show. I read about this in an interesting article. This article talks about when Howard Stern was on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show. Howard Stern had written a book about his life, and he was on there hawking the book. Interestingly enough, the article says Howard Stern repeatedly provoked Leno with language and behavior that pushed way past the rules of live network television.

Of course, Leno could get in terrific trouble if things are said and done on his show that go way past the boundaries of propriety. We all know there are certain boundaries for live network television. Of course, Howard Stern was blowing right by them and just trying like crazy, daring Jay Leno to make a moral judgment and say, “Stop that. You shouldn’t be saying that.”

The writer says something like, “Stern repeatedly dared him to play the role of the moralist who presumes to tell others how to live. The usually unflappable Leno was visibly disturbed. Wanting to avoid having to make any moral judgments, he tried to change the subject and started sorting through a bag of best-selling books that included Stern’s autobiography. Refusing to be silenced, Stern praised his own book but degraded and trashed every other book Leno retrieved and resolutely persisted in challenging Leno to make some moral judgment.

What Stern did not see was the inordinate amount of moral zeal with which he did this. He was extremely self-righteous in his denunciation of everyone else’s self-righteousness. He was absolutely moralistic in his insistence that no one else could make moral pronouncements. It was wrong.

In short, Stern embodied the contradiction of our culture in living and vivid color. We publicly declare all values to be constructed. We profess, therefore, a morality that is thin and lightweight, but daily experience itself retains a moral thickness and weight that contradicts the logic of the culture. The truly significant moment came as the show was going to a commercial break.

Exasperated with Stern, Leno reached into the bag one more time and pulled out one more book. It turned out to be a Bible. For one brief moment, Leno became a prophet. Holding it up and looking into the camera, Leno said simply, ‘Suddenly, everything in this book makes perfect sense.’ ”

What you deny, though, with the mouth you will always affirm. You might say, “No one should make any moral judgments.” What would be wrong with that if there were no such thing as a moral judge? You can’t not know there’s something wrong. It’s not just, “This feels to be wrong,” it is wrong. It’s not just that we have moral feelings. “Well, I feel this is wrong, and I feel that is wrong.” (Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).)

So, what is our standard? Do we go back to the Bible for truth? On one end of the spectrum, we must be sure that we are not corrupted by culture, which means that we know the faith and we go back to God’s Word. On the other end of the spectrum, we must be prepared to be a witness. How can you cross cultural barriers to be a witness? The Apostle Paul did this. Do you know culture?

1 Chronicles 12:32:

…from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command…

Everyone has a worldview, which concerns the way that we view the world. Most of the time, these are under the surface, and we do not think about them. The Bible gives us a Christian worldview. But we also must know where others are coming from. The Apostle Paul did. Sometimes we are afraid of culture. Sometimes we are offended by culture, and we withdraw. Or we are delighted by culture, and we assimilate. The Apostle Paul was distressed by the culture, and so he engaged the culture through the Gospel.

I want to look at Acts 17:16-34 and make the case that he knew the culture and he was ready to engage the culture.

[I am deeply indebted to Dr. Bill Brown, former President of Cedarville University, for some of my information]

1. Now, let’s look at the passage. How does Paul engage culture?
   1. There certainly is a lot in this passage.
   2. When we understand where the culture is coming from and where their thinking is, we are better equipped to engage the culture.
   3. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot ever fence it out.” (J. R. Tolkein; Gildor Inglorion of the House of Finrod; Fellowship of the Ring)
   4. There are three approaches to culture, and we’ll see Paul’s approach:
      1. We can be offended by culture, which leads to withdraw.
      2. We can be delighted by culture, and we assimilate.
      3. We can be distressed by culture, and so we engage culture.
   5. The latter is what the Bible calls us to do. . . . Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—2 Peter 2:7-8
   6. James 4:4: You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
   7. This is what the Apostle Paul did.
   8. Verse 16 says that Paul was distressed by what he saw:
   9. Acts 17:16 (NASB95) Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.
   10. Are we distressed by the sinful culture?
   11. But Paul did not get distressed so much that he buried his head in the sand. He did not assimilate with the culture either. He engaged the culture. Later, we see that Paul reasoned in the synagogue. He talked to the people.
       1. Acts 17:17–21 (NASB95) 17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.  18  And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? “For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)
       2. Could he do that if he did not know the culture? No. Could he reason with them if he did not know Christianity and the Scriptures? No. Could he reason with them if he were not seeking the Lord? Not really. If we are not seeking the Lord, we can win an argument but lose the person.
       3. REMEMBER, WE ARE NOT SEEKING TO WIN ARGUMENTS BUT REACH PEOPLE WITH THE GOSPEL.
2. Paul’s method:
   1. 1. 1. Acts 17:22–34 (NASB95) 22     So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.  23   “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24      “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26      and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28    for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29    “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30   “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31    because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” 32        Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.” 33 So Paul went out of their midst. 34    But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
         2. We saw that Paul was greatly distressed by the culture (verse 16);
         3. We see Paul sought to understand the culture (verse 23)- he was passing through and examining… He saw an alter to an unknown God. That was also His bridge to connect to the gospel.
         4. He started where they were (verses 22-23), he quotes two of their own poets. That is like us quoting a rock band.
         5. Paul begins with a positive about the truth he found (verse 22);
         6. Paul knew culture. He knew and quoted sources (verses 22 and 28);
         7. Lastly, he communicated the Gospel (verses 18 and 30-31).

The Gospel changes society.

Tim Keller shares:

Nicholas Kristof, who writes an op-ed column for the New York Times editorial page twice a week usually, is a very influential, very smart guy. He went to Africa. Just six weeks ago he wrote this column. In Africa one of the things he saw, which is something that is getting more publicity now, is in large parts of the world born-again Christianity, if you will, is spreading like wildfire. Millions of people are becoming Christians.

When he went there and he looked at so many of the social problems in Africa, he saw Christians dealing with them. He saw orphanages, hospitals, places that cared for AIDS sufferers all being run by, pushed by, supported by Christians. Here’s the most interesting part. This is a quote from his column.

“Pentecostalists, who make up one of the fastest-growing sects, preach faith healing and raising from the dead, but they also give a substantial voice in church to ordinary village women. And that in turn empowers women in the home and community. ‘In our Mozambican culture, women don’t have an active voice in the family,’ explained Ana Zaida, who teaches Bible school. ‘But in Christian life, we discover that not just the husband but also the wife can have a role.… So the wives fight to transform their husbands.’ ”

This is the last line in the column, believe it or not. The New York Times says, “Yet while it sounds strange to say so, evangelicals may be Africa’s most important feminist influence today.” What is he seeing? I’m not sure he knows what he’s seeing, but I’ll tell you what he’s seeing. When you tell a poor African woman the gospel … What is the gospel? Everybody in the world is equally lost. It doesn’t matter your pedigree. It doesn’t matter your race, male and female, rich and poor. Everyone is lost. (Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).)

We live in a culture that is considered post-Christian, or we could call it pre-Christian, which means that we are ripe for revival. We are ripe for an evangelical movement. I want to be part of that movement. I want to be used of God. We see that Paul engaged the culture. I hope you will as well.

There was a music professor at a European school. He grew old, and he could not take care of himself. He had no one, so the school adopted him, and he lived in a men’s dorm. Every day, one of the men would come and say, “Professor, what is the weather like?” The professor would respond, “It is changing; the weather always changes.” He would then strike his tuning fork against his wheelchair and say, “This is middle C, it never changed, it is constant. The weather can change, but middle C does not change.”

What is your middle C? I hope it is the Scriptures, as it was for the Bereans. Cling to the Scriptures because culture will change. But don’t run away from culture. Study culture, be a student of the culture like the men of Issachar of 1 Chronicles 12:32, and then be like Paul and engage the culture with the heart and the mind of Christ.

1 Cor. 9:23

 I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

Remember, you are never alone; the Holy Spirit is with you.

Do you know Jesus? Maybe today you realize that you are assimilated into the culture. It is time to commit to Christ.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

Paul Witnesses in Berea (Acts 17:10–15)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, August 17, 2025

I read the following:

WHAT ARE YOU FEEDING ON? I really enjoy visiting Yellowstone. In fact, one of these days, when Jesus comes back, I’ve got dubs on Yellowstone! Come and visit me for a while! Once when I was visiting the greatest national park in America, I heard a story about bears that was amazing. In the 1950s and 60’s, tourists could drive right up to a bear, roll down their window, and feed their McDonald’s hamburger to the hungry animal. He would gladly take the burger along with the hand of the tourist! The bears were changing their feeding habits and endangering visitors. As a result, the National Park Service removed the bears and took them to higher country where God had already provided for them a natural diet of luscious berries. However, because the bears had changed their feeding patterns, many of them refused to eat the berries, and some actually died.  This story is an incredible picture of the lives of many believers in Christ. Sadly, many of us have been delivered out of spiritual Egypt and bondage to sin, but we have not been brought into the Promised Land of victory. It is interesting that God told the Israelites to eat the roasted lamb they had sacrificed (Exodus 12). The Passover lamb is a picture of the death of Christ. But feeding on the lamb is a picture of how we grow in Christ once we have been saved. What are you feeding on in your personal life? Are you spending time alone with Christ in the Word of God? Are you allowing the junk food of this world’s values to destroy your spiritual appetite for the Word of God? Feed on the Lamb of God and don’t allow the Enemy to feed you a lie.

Everyone pick up a Bible, hold it. This book tells you how to attain eternal life. This book gives you wisdom for life.

So, you are going on a trip, you choose the destination, wherever you want.

Where would you go? Shout out some places, just shout them out…

Okay, how are you going to get there?

What will you do once you arrive?

Do you think you may check out AAA or something? What if they don’t have food, indoor plumbing, or gas stations? Do you want to learn about a place before you visit it?

Why don’t we do that with our eternal life? We are going there; we are going to spend eternity in that place. Don’t you want to invest as much in eternity, or hopefully more, than you would in a vacation? Don’t we want to study Heaven? The Bible has a great deal to say about Heaven. Don’t we want to get to know God and Jesus better? He gave us eternal life.

The music director at the church I served in Cincinnati shared with me how every morning she would see her father studying the Bible. He would have his commentary, his Bible dictionary, and his study Bible. He would study the Bible before his job at the factory. Get this, he got up at something like 4:30 am to study the Bible.

He must have been like the Bereans.

In Acts 17:10-15, Paul comes to Berea and presents the Gospel. These people searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul shared was true. Many were saved. Let’s study that passage, and I challenge you to be like a Berean.

The great idea today is that the Bereans were studious, learners; they were not ignorant.

The application: emulate their example.

Acts 17:10–15 (NASB95)

10     The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

11     Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

12     Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.

13     But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds.

14     Then immediately the brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and Silas and Timothy remained there.

15     Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.

1. Context:
   1. Paul is chased from Thessalonica to Berea, and in verse 10, he arrives in Berea. This is Paul’s second nighttime escape. In Acts 9:25, Paul had to escape by night as well.
   2. What was that like for Paul? I wonder what it was like for the early Christians?
   3. What was it like to flee from one place under threat of death?
   4. Are you out much after dark? I like to run early in the morning because of time commitments. I enjoy gazing at the stars and marveling at God’s beauty. But sometimes I’ll go down a street and something will scare me. I’ll see an animal or hear something. For Paul, there was no time for noticing the beauty of creation. He traveled at night because of the threat. There was much danger traveling during that time period, and especially after dark. I once read a book called Night in Times Past. The book was about the great fear and dangers of the night prior to the advent of electric lighting. Paul did a lot of traveling and faced numerous dangers.
   5. This case is no different. Paul and Silas traveled 50 miles southwest from their last location. Can you imagine 50 miles? By the way, Berea is situated on the side of a mountain, and traveling there was not easy.
   6. Paul arrives in Berea and goes to the synagogue to start preaching. That has been his modus operandi. Verse 11 says that the Bereans were more noble-minded than the people of Thessalonica. The Bereans examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul was teaching was true.
   7. Verse 11 contrasts with the people in Thessalonica. The people of Thessalonica chased Paul out.
   8. A lot of times we hold up the Bereans as a standard, and probably right to do so. But the reality is that they were more noble than where Paul had just come from.
   9. They were ready to learn.
   10. The Bible states that they discovered Paul’s words to be true.
   11. You know what, they were going to the Old Testament to confirm this. Do you realize that the Old Testament has enough information to confirm who Jesus is?
   12. Many were saved. Jewish people were saved. Greek men and women were saved.
   13. Then the people from Thessalonica come to Berea and stir up a riot chasing Paul out.
   14. Now, Paul goes to Athens.
2. Let me encourage you to be like the Bereans.
   1. The Bereans did study the Scriptures.
   2. Where do we get wisdom? Where are we receiving our wisdom? You see, everywhere we go, we have messages being fed to us. Where is the wisdom though?
   3. The wisdom is in the Bible. Moreover, as the Bereans discovered, eternal life is a central theme in the Bible. You see, Paul came declaring this Truth that they had not been taught, and they did not know what to think of it. So, what did they do? Did they turn on Home Shopping Channel to see what to think? Did they turn on ESPN to see what to think? Did they go to CNN, FOX News, or the Newspaper to see what to think? No, they went to the Bible.
   4. Okay, so two applications: The Bible is eternal life, and the Bible is wisdom to shape our worldview.
   5. You see, first, you must know Jesus for eternal life. Without Jesus, you are disconnected from God and all eternity. You need eternity. Search the Scriptures, they are all about ways to freely receive eternal life.
   6. Once you know Jesus, you get fed True, Heavenly, Spirit-filled wisdom from the Bible.

A woman was driving home one night. The weather was really nasty. Rain was coming down in buckets and visibility was very poor. Seeing taillights ahead of her, she followed the car in front. Not being able to see, the car in front seemed to be going in the right direction. So she stuck with it. All of a sudden the car in front of her came to a stop. She began to wonder what had happened; perhaps the car in front had hit a deer or something like that. She began to feel uncomfortable; thinking being stopped in the middle of the road can often lead to accidents. Much to her alarm the car in front of her turned off their lights. Her concern was now growing as well as her anger, and she was then startled by a knocking on her window. She looked up, and there was a man standing in the pouring rain, wanting to speak to her. She cracked the window open and asked the man what the problem was. The man replied by stating that that was the question he was going to ask her. She retorted that she wasn’t the one who had stopped in the middle of the road and then turned off the car lights. The man’s reply was that they were not in the middle of the road, but in his driveway. Obviously, this woman had chosen the wrong leader to follow. She had chosen a leader who would not take her to where she wanted and needed to go. She had chosen the wrong leader and the wrong road.

We follow information, we follow Truth, what is your source?

About 12 years ago, I heard about a book, which I read part of, The Smartest Kids in the World and How they Got that Way. Part of the studies showed that children that rank highest in the world on test scores see their parents reading at home.

The challenge: Be like the Noble Bereans, who search the Scriptures and study them.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

Christian- pursue spiritual, mental, and emotional depth.

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, August 10, 2025

Charles Swindoll writes:

Our image-conscious, hurry-up culture celebrates people with broad appeal and shallow character. Just look at the proliferation of reality shows featuring people who are famous for being famous. They do nothing, contribute nothing, stand for nothing, and accomplish nothing, yet television and tabloids can’t get enough of them. This is nothing new, of course. Every generation raises a bumper crop of superficial image builders. Standing in their midst, however, like oaks among scrub bushes, men and women of strength and dignity rise above their peers. They reject superficiality in favor of depth. They shrug off broad appeal and choose instead to be transparent and authentic. Rather than cut a wide, yet shallow, swath through life, they focus on what they deem important for the sake of deep, lasting impact. They waste no time polishing their image; their interest lies in deepening their character.

Compare, for example, the careers of two American writers—best friends, schoolmates, and neighbors as children—Harper Lee and Truman Capote.

Truman was a lonely, eccentric child with a natural gift for writing. After his parents’ divorce at age four, he lived with relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. While other children played, he pursued his obsession with words, grammar, narrative, and stories. The notoriously foppish boy and the tomboyish Harper became fast friends, sharing a great love of writing and literature.

By the age of twelve, Truman returned to New York to live with his mother and stepfather. While in high school, he worked as a copyboy in the art department of the New Yorker and continued to hone his craft. Not long after graduation, he completed several award-winning short stories and published his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms. While the book spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, it was his controversial portrait on the dust jacket that catapulted him to fame and earned him the public fascination he had always craved. He relished the attention he received from New York society, but he still could not gain access to the rarified company of the “jet set” elite he so envied.

In 1959, he enlisted the help of childhood friend Harper Lee to help him with the research for his “nonfiction novel” In Cold Blood. A few years earlier, Harper had moved to New York to become a writer. She supported herself as an airline ticket clerk until friends gave her a priceless gift. On Christmas, she opened a note that read, “You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.” They supported her financially throughout 1958, allowing her to complete the first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird. Over the next year, she honed and perfected the manuscript, completing it in 1959. As her manuscript went to press, she helped her friend research his book.

In 1960, Harper’s novel debuted and became an instant classic, winning virtually every literary honor in existence, including the Pulitzer Prize. More importantly, however, her book became the most influential literary work in the black civil-rights movement since Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. But rather than seek glory for herself, she retreated from public view and gave her last interview in 1964. When asked about writing another novel, she declared, “I have said what I wanted to say, and I will not say it again.”

Capote, on the other hand, rode In Cold Blood into the stratosphere of fame. He finally achieved his goal, which was not to create a definitive literary work as much as to become celebrated and enshrined as a great author. In the seventies and early eighties, virtually everyone in America not only knew the name Truman Capote but also recognized the flamboyant image of an author who hadn’t written anything noteworthy since 1966. Meanwhile, alcohol, drugs, and celebrity consumed the man Norman Mailer once called “the most perfect writer of my generation.”¹ In the end, however, Gore Vidal, Capote’s lifelong rival, called the author’s death “a good career move.”²

Two uncommonly gifted writers, two completely different approaches to writing. Lee wrote one world-changing story for its own sake and then chose to avoid public praise. Capote wrote for the sake of fame. Interestingly, To Kill a Mockingbird is still required reading in most schools.^[1]

What are we focused on? What consumes us?

Today, my theme and application are:

Christian, be a person of depth. Pursue spiritual, mental, and emotional depth.

1. Pursue spiritual depth.
   1. In reality, this whole message is about spiritual depth. The Christian mind relates to our spiritual condition. The corollary is true. The Christian’s spiritual state is linked with their mental state.
   2. But specifically, we have a problem. Christians are quite content to be shallow.
   3. I read a Gospel Coalition article titled: “Is There a Future for Church Grandpas and Grandmas?”[2]
   4. The article is about how we used to expect to have older people in the church with well-worn Bibles quoting Scripture.
   5. 1 Timothy 4:6–8 (NASB95)
   6. 6 In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.
   7. 7 But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;
   8. 8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
   9. Paul wrote this letter to Timothy.
   10. It is one of the Pastoral Epistles.
   11. Verses 6-11 (of 1 Timothy 4) are about discipline: discipline for godliness as opposed to this false asceticism and false regulations that are in 1 Timothy 4:1-5. A key verse in this section is verse 7- But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness…
   12. Paul was writing against this asceticism. Asceticism has to do with strict self-denial. Paul is now contrasting their self-denial. He was saying that the self-denial they were doing— it’s not even in the Bible. It is all from these godless myths.
   13. One writer says: the idea of myths: fit only for old women, this was a common saying denoting something fit only for the uneducated and philosophically unsophisticated.
   14. Then, Paul writes: But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness…
   15. The word “discipline” or “train” is an athletic term: this denotes rigorous self-sacrificing training. So now Paul says that spiritual discipline is the key to godly living.
   16. Instead of being stuck in ascetic practices, we are disciplining ourselves for godliness.
   17. We are not simply denying food and drink as ascetic practices, no, we are disciplining ourselves to grow in Christ.
   18. Look at verse 8 again: for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
   19. 1 Timothy 4:1-5 was about mere bodily discipline.
   20. But Paul is saying that it is of little value. Godliness is valuable for this life and for eternal life.
   21. We are a fast-paced, instant-everything society. But there is no instant godliness.
   22. We must disciplines ourselves to grow in Christ.
   23. This requires an ongoing relationship with the Lord.
   24. Are we spending time in His Word?
   25. Are we spending time in prayer?
   26. Are we spending time with our church family- Sunday School, small groups, preaching?
   27. I urge you to pursue spiritual depth.
2. Pursue mental depth.
   1. These all go together.
   2. If we are spending time in the Bible, meditating on Scripture, we are also focusing on mental depth, but I want to go further.
   3. Many years ago Neil Postman wrote a book called “Amusing Ourselves to Death.”
   4. One author writes regarding the book:
   5. With the introduction of the television, Postman observed, entertainment did not merely become a bigger and bigger part of our lives — it became our lives. And everything else in our lives — news, politics, education, even religion — was increasingly forced to perform on its stage. Suddenly, everythinghad to be entertaining. Newspapers gave way to “the nightly news”; classroom lessons made their way to Sesame Street; worship services transformed into televised concerts with TED talks.
   6. The television slowly taught us that nothing was worth our time unless it was entertaining. And anything entertaining, almost by definition, requires less of us — less thinking, less study, less work. Entertainment, after all, isn’t meant to be taken seriously. But when everything is entertainment, doesn’t that mean little, if anything, can be taken seriously?
   7. For those who take the glory of God seriously, and our joy in him seriously, that becomes a very serious question.
   8. Postman warned about this devolution long before others noticed what was happening. He writes,
   9. [George] Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in [Aldous] Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity, and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. . . . In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right. (Amusing Ourselves to Death, xix)
   10. Postman is comparing Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” and George Orwell’s book “1984.”
   11. Further, the same writer shares:
   12. As he attempts to summarize his warning to the ever-entertained, he says, “Our Ministry of Culture is Huxleyan, not Orwellian. It does everything possible to encourage us to watch continuously. But what we watch is a medium which presented information in a form that renders it simplistic, nonsubstantive, nonhistorical, and noncontextual; That is to say, information packaged as entertainment. In America, we are never denied the opportunity to amuse ourselves” (141).[3]
   13. So, are we deeper mentally than we used to be?
   14. I don’t think so.
   15. I encourage you to think deeply in two ways.
   16. 1) First, think deeply about “Special Revelation.” Special Revelation is the Bible. Get into the Bible. The Bible is God’s revealed Word to us.
   17. 2) Second, think deeply through “General Revelation.” Observe all truth. All truth is God’s truth. Study creation.
   18. “General Revelation” would be God revealed through creation.
   19. For example, the book, “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” shares this:
   20. When he was still in his teens, the young Jonathan Edwards wrote down an extensive description of the shape, construction, and purpose of a spider’s web. There are many true things we can say about the physical character of the web, but according to Edwards, the ultimate thing shown by the spider in its spinning is “the exuberant goodness of the Creator, who hath not only provided for all the necessities, but also for the pleasure and recreation of all sorts of creatures, even the insects.”[4]
   21. How often do we allow ourselves to think deeply about subjects?
   22. Some people tell me they do not like to read. I used to be that way. I encourage you to stretch your thinking.
   23. The ability to read is an amazing gift.
   24. Maybe you have problems reading. Then, try audiobooks. Come to Sunday School. Listen to podcasts. Get a tutor.
   25. Pursue depth mentally.
   26. Pursue depth spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
3. Pursue emotional depth.
   1. Again, these all go together.
   2. As we grow spiritually and mentally, we will be better emotionally.
   3. Are we emotionally available for our friends and family?
   4. What if our spouse wants to share their feelings with us? Are we there for her?
   5. I was raised to respect the older generation.
   6. I have now served in pastoral roles at three older congregations, two of which were as senior pastor.
   7. With respect, I do not think many in our churches are healthy emotionally.
   8. We can do better.
   9. We must do better.
   10. Just because you are older does not mean you are healthier emotionally.
   11. There is a book and a ministry called “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.” I recommend it.
   12. We are not healthy spiritually if we are glossing over our lack of emotional depth.
   13. Notice I said, “glossing over.” I am NOT saying that we have to be emotionally healthy to be spiritually healthy. The problem is when we ignore things.
   14. Are we glossing over anger?
   15. What about anxiety?
   16. What about depression?
   17. I bet your children, spouse, or close friends can point these out- as long as you let them in.
   18. But how?
   19. We must be humble.
   20. I have repeatedly said this.
   21. We must transform our schedule so that we have more quiet time.
   22. Some of us are so busy that we do not have time to think.
   23. We are so busy.
   24. We need time to reflect.
   25. We need time to listen to the Lord.
   26. We need to be active in the daily offices that I spoke about several months ago. We need to spend time journaling.
   27. We must spend time in prayer.
   28. We must have people holding us accountable whom we can ask, “Am I teachable?”
   29. We must be teachable to receive that instruction.

Pete Scazzero writes:

The term Daily Office (also called fixed-hour prayer, Divine Office, or liturgy of the hours) differs from what we label today as quiet time or devotions. When I listen carefully to most people describe their devotional life, the emphasis tends to be on “getting filled up for the day” or “interceding for the needs around me.” The root of the Daily Office is not so much a turning to God to get something but to be with Someone. The word Office comes from the Latin word opus, or “work.” For the early church, the Daily Office was always the “work of God.” Nothing was to the Creator … prayers of praise offered as a sacrifice of thanksgiving and faith to God and as sweet-smelling incense … before the throne of God.”

David practiced set times of prayer seven times a day (Psalm 119:164). Daniel prayed three times a day (Daniel 6:10). Devout Jews in Jesus’ time prayed two to three times a day. Jesus himself probably followed the Jewish custom of praying at set times during the day. After Jesus’ resurrection, his disciples continued to pray at certain hours of the day (Acts 3:1 and 10:9ff).

About AD 525, a good man named Benedict structured these prayer times around eight Daily Offices, including one in the middle of the night for monks. The Rule of St. Benedict became one of the most powerful documents in shaping Western civilization. At one point in his Rule, Benedict wrote: “On hearing the signal for an hour of the divine office, the monk will immediately set aside what he has in hand and go with utmost speed. … Indeed, nothing is to be preferred to the Work of God [that is, the Daily Office].”[5]

The daily office includes stopping, centering, silence, and Scripture.

1. This may be for 20 minutes a day, or maybe only a week at this point, but it is important.
2. Scazzero shares: At each Office I give up control and trust God to run his world without me.[6]
3. We center on God: Scripture commands us: “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7).
4. We practice silence: Dallas Willard called silence and solitude the two most radical disciplines of the Christian life. Solitude is the practice of being absent from people and things to attend to God. Silence is the practice of quieting every inner and outer voice to attend to God. Henri Nouwen said that “without solitude it is almost impossible to live a spiritual life.”[7]

Christian, be a person of depth. Pursue spiritual, mental, and emotional depth.

Pray

¹ Norman Mailer, Advertisements for Myself (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1992), 465.

² Deborah Davis, Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and His Black and White Ball (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006), 256.

^[1] Charles R. Swindoll, Living the Proverbs: Insights for the Daily Grind (New York, NY: Worthy Books, 2012), 27–29.

[2] See an article: Is There a Future for Church Grandpas and Grandmas?

Trevin Wax  |  May 20, 2025

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/future-church-grandpas-grandmas/

[3] Desiring God article on Feb 27, 2022 by Marshall Segall:

The Blissful and Trivial Life, How Entertainment Deprives a Soul

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-blissful-and-trivial-life

[4] Noll, Mark A.. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (p. 50). (Function). Kindle Edition.

[5] Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It’s Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature (pp. 143-146). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

[6] Ibid, 147.

[7] Ibid, 148.

Paul Witnesses in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1–9)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, July 27, 2025

Jesus loves Jews and Gentiles

In his autobiography, Col. Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame says that he was always a God-fearing man. In every venture he gave God a tenth of the profits. Yet he knew that if he died, God probably wouldn’t take him to heaven.

Worried, he traveled to Australia to a special church convention for the answer. He didn’t find it.

One day, Sanders was walking down a street in Louisville, Kentucky, when Rev. Waymon Rodgers of Louisville’s Evangel Tabernacle invited him to some evangelistic services. Several days later, Sanders went. At age 79, he claimed the promises of Rom. 10:9. “When I walked out of that church that night, I knew I was a different man. All my tithing and good deeds had never given me the sense of God’s presence that I knew then,” he says.

I found that to be a very interesting story. However, as I am sure most of you know, the Gospel would have never reached the United States without Paul the Apostle and his mission to the Gentiles.  You see all of Jesus’ disciples were Jewish. The early spread of the Gospel was to Jews. Acts 2 shares how the Gospel spread at Pentecost to mostly Jews. But as you read through the book of Acts, you can see how things change to spread the Gospel to Gentiles and Jews.  Then we see in Paul’s second missionary journey that he preaches to Jews and Gentiles. A little way through Paul’s second journey, we find him speaking to the Thessalonians and the Bereans.  

Two things of importance in this passage:

1. God loves all cultures: Paul speaks to the Jews and the Gentiles
2. Evangelism: Paul preaches the Gospel wherever he goes. Despite being beaten and persecuted for the Gospel, Paul still preaches the Gospel.

1. Context:
   1. Paul and Silas have been traveling from city to city preaching the gospel.
   2. At the end of Acts 16, Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned. Through miraculous events, they shared the Gospel with the jailer, and he and his family were saved.
   3. They now head to Thessalonica.
   4. Philippi, Amphipolis, Apollonia, and Thessalonica were all cities on the main east-west Roman highway called the “Egnatian Way.” These cities were separated from each other by about a day’s journey by foot.^[1]
2. Paul in Thessalonica:
   1. Look at Acts 17:1: Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
   2. Let me start by telling you a little about the culture of the Thessalonians.
   3. The Thessalonians had an array of cults. Zeus, Asclepius, Aphrodite, and Demeter were popular among the people. Archaeologists have discovered a sanctuary in the sacred cult area in the area of the city devoted to the Egyptian God Sarapis. This deity was worshipped as one who healed the sick, worked miracles, broke the powers of astral fate, and could speak to his followers in dreams. Many of the inscriptions at this site also point to the worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis.[2]
   4. There was a cult to Cabirus that was very pagan, being bloody and sexually perverse. In a similar way, the cult of Dionysus gave prominence to Phallic symbolism in addition to the drunken revelry that went along with the celebration of the god. These two cults certainly had a powerfully negative impact on the social ethics of the city. Converts from these cults had a long way to go in appropriating a distinctively Christian lifestyle.[3]
   5. I want to emphasize this because when we read the New Testament, we are reading through the text into a culture that we really don’t understand. It should be helpful to understand the culture. The text is God’s Word and has many applications for us; however, we can understand the text more holistically by understanding the culture in which it was written.
   6. The Thessalonians also revered the Roman rulers as divine. During the reign of Caesar Augustus, a temple was built for the ruler to honor Augustus and his successors.[4]
   7. From the letters of 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians, it does seem evident that the Thessalonians were passionate about the Gospel and spread the Gospel around the area. Also, Thessalonica was the most populous city in Macedonia.
   8. As an aside, Acts gives us a brief overview of Paul’s time in Thessalonica. After leaving, Paul wrote two letters to the Thessalonians called 1st and 2nd. We can learn more about Paul’s time and teaching in Thessalonica from these two letters.
3. Paul shared the gospel with them.
   1. Look at verses 2-4: ² And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, ³ explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” ⁴ And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.
   2. The text in Acts 17:2 says that Paul “reasoned with them for three Sabbath days.” This could lead us to conclude that Paul was only in Thessalonica for a period of three weeks.
   3. Three Sabbath days may have only been how long he was welcome in the synagogues.
   4. We do know that he stayed long enough to receive a gift from the Philippians (Phi 4:16) and he spends time working (1Thess 2:9). He was probably there a couple of months.[5]
   5. Now we see Paul preach to the Jews and the Gentiles. What did he teach them?
   6. Notice how verses 2-3 share that he was explaining and proving that the Christ must suffer and rise from the dead. He was sharing that this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.
   7. He probably told them Isaiah 52:13-53:12: this was the servant song. In this song, Isaiah, hundreds of years before Christ, wrote about how the Messiah had to die. Paul’s argument had three parts: a rhetorical form of syllogism. Usually, two parts or three with the third implied:
      1. The Christ must suffer and rise again,
      2. Jesus died on the cross and rose again,
      3. Therefore, this Jesus must be the Messiah.[6]
4. Paul considered them intelligent and spoke from a source they both understood: the Scriptures. This may be why there were converts, including Jews and prominent men and women.
5. Then we see that Jews and Gentiles receive Christ. Notice the text says, along with a number of God-fearing Greeks. These are Greek Jews. The text also says “leading women” received Christ. It is worth noting here that women of high status were present in Thessalonica.
6.  Opposition:
   1. Look at verses 5-9:
   2. ⁵ But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. ⁶ And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, ⁷ and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” ⁸ And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. ⁹ And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
   3. Then, Paul is chased out of Thessalonica. Look what happens, some Jews became jealous and stirred up a mob. Why? Caesar issued decrees (dogma) warning anyone about predicting a change in rulership. Caesar Augustus issued a decree in AD 11 explicitly forbidding the use of astrology to predict his or anyone else’s death. Tiberius reaffirms this by putting to death those who ignore it.
   4. Some cities pledged their allegiance to Caesar by offering oaths of loyalty. An example of one comes from the city of Paphlagonia in Asia Minor (dated to 3 BC):
   5. “I swear… that I will support Caesar Augustus, his children and descendants, throughout my life, in word, deed and thought… that in whatsoever concerns them I will spare neither body nor soul nor life nor children…. That whenever I see or hear of anything being said, planned or done against them I will report it.. and whomsoever they regard as enemies I will attack and pursue with arms and the sword by land and by sea…”[7]
   6. Paul teaches that Jesus is Lord, and the “Day of the Lord” suggests thoughts of a change in rulership. Given the above quote, we can see how they went against him.
   7. Paul taught that there was another Lord, and he, in an indirect way, taught that this Caesar wasn’t a Lord.
   8. Verse 6 reads that they attack the house of Jason. Who is Jason?
   9. Jason was the host for Paul and Silas.
   10. The people who wanted to persecute Paul and Silas could not find them, so they dragged Jason out of the house.
   11. Notice what is shared in verse 7: they, Paul and Silas, are acting against the decrees of Caesar.
   12. They are saying there is another king, Jesus.
   13. Jason and others posted bond and were let go.
   14. Jason may have been a convert from verses 2-3 of this chapter.
   15. One source reads: Jason may have been prosperous since he could offer hospitality to Paul and Silas and apparently host as well the house church they had begun. Once the missionaries had left Thessalonica, Jason probably was locally recognized as the leader of the church. It has generally been assumed that he and the brethren were arrested in Paul’s stead and that the security they supplied functioned as a promise to the authorities to keep Paul from returning. Yet it is quite probable that Jason was in trouble not merely by default, but in his own right. Evidence for this is that the bond he posted seems related not directly to Paul’s activities but rather to actions by the church members themselves (Jewett 1986: 117; cf. Gillman fc.). Whatever these actions were, they resulted in ongoing suffering for the Thessalonian Christians at the hands of their “countrymen” after Paul had left (1 Thess 2:14). A further argument that Jason’s bond did not relate to Paul is the latter’s remark in 1 Thess 2:18 that he had attempted to return to Thessalonica “again and again—but Satan hindered us.”^[8]

The Gospel is God’s love for Jews, Greeks, and everyone. How important is the Gospel to us? Do we share the Gospel?

George Whitefield at the age of 16 became deeply convicted of sin. He tried everything possible to erase his guilt through religious activity. He wrote, “I fasted for 36 hours twice a week. I prayed formal prayers several times a day and almost starved myself to death during Lent, but only felt more miserable. Then by God’s grace I met Charles Wesley who put a book in my hand which showed me from the Scriptures that I must be “born again” or be eternally lost.”

Finally, by the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart, Whitefield came to understand Jesus’ words in John 3. He believed and was gloriously saved. After he became a preacher, he spoke at least a thousand times on the subject, “Ye must be born again.” He fervently desired that all who heard him might experience the transforming power of God’s grace.

—Our Daily Bread

Prayer

^[1] Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 2120.

[2] Arnold, Clinton E.  Acts.  Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. P. 162.

[3] Arnold, Clinton E.  Acts.  Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. P. 162.

[4] Arnold, Clinton E.  Acts.  Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. P. 162.

[5] Arnold, Clinton E.  Acts.  Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. P. 163

[6] Witherington III, Ben.  The Acts of the Apostles : A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary.  Grand Rapids, MI:  Eerdmans, 1997.  ISBN 0802845010. P. 505.

[7] Arnold, Clinton E.  Acts.  Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. P. 165.

1. forthcoming (publication)

^[8] Florence Morgan Gillman, “Jason (Person),” in The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 649.

Paul Witnesses in Philippi (Acts 16:11–40)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, July 20, 2025

Tim Keller shares:

There is an ancient prayer Jewish men prayed in the morning. It’s a very controversial prayer. You can go on the websites and see all the different debates about it. I’m not here to defend it or criticize it either, but we do know Paul would have used it. It’s a very famous prayer Jewish men often prayed first thing in the morning.

“Oh Lord God, I thank thee that you did not make me …” What? “… a woman, a slave, or a Gentile,” which means, here is Paul who, as a Pharisee, would have gotten up for days and days and years and years every morning, saying, “Oh Lord, I’m so grateful I’m not like those women. I’m not like those slaves. I’m not like those Gentiles.” The first three conversions of his new church in Philippi are a woman, a slave, and a Gentile. Now they’re his family. What changed Paul? What power could bring people like that together?^[1]

This passage begins and ends with a prominent woman. The bulk of this passage is about the gospel going to women.

Additionally, we see people from different cultural backgrounds saved.

My Theme:

The Gospel is for everyone.

The conversions at Philippi. The gospel team wins two key people to Jesus and frees one person from a demon.^[2]

[My outline, and only the outline, is adapted from: The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), H. L. Willmington.]

1. A businesswoman is saved. (Acts 16:11-15).
   1. Context, let’s start with the context.
   2. In the previous few verses, Timothy joined Paul’s team, and then Paul received a vision telling him to come to Macedonia.
   3. Macedonia was a vast region that encompassed numerous cities, including Philippi.
   4. Acts 16:11–15 (ESV)
   5. ¹¹ So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, ¹² and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. ¹³ And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. ¹⁴ One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. ¹⁵ And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
   6. This passage begins with a travel log.
   7. Notice in verse 11, Luke writes, “We made a direct voyage…”
   8. Notice Paul is with Silas now.
   9. Luke is now with the Apostle Paul. The “we” section began in verse 10.
   10. The total distance from Troas to Neapolis was some 156 miles, and while this trip took only two days, the return trip mentioned in 20:5 took five.^[3]
   11. In verse 11 we see the travel log.
   12. It would be easy to gloss over these, but they demonstrate the authenticity of the Book of Acts.
   13. Verse 12 gives us some interesting details about Philippi.
   14. Philippi is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
   15. Luke writes that they remained there some days.
   16. In verses 13-14, they meet this businesswoman. They go down and they talk with women by the river. They are talking about the gospel.
   17. She is Lydia, a merchant of expensive purple cloth.
   18. By the way, Keller shares: [The gospel is for everyone] Lydia was from Thyatira. She was probably Middle Eastern. To our eyes, she would have looked Middle Eastern or Indian. The slave girl could have been anybody, because she was a slave. She could have been from anywhere. The jailer was a Roman. [we will get to him in a moment] He would have been European.^[4]
   19. Additionally, they are sharing the gospel with women.
   20. Notice Luke tells us that she was a worshipper of God.
   21. The Lord opened her heart and notice it says that she paid attention.
   22. Salvation always comes from the conviction of the Holy Spirit (Jonah 2:9; John 6:44, 16:8).
   23. The proof (16:15): Lydia is baptized as a testimony of her newfound faith.^[5]
   24. I like what Tim Keller shares: You know, the way C.S. Lewis puts it in his famous place in Reflections on the Psalms is when you hear a piece of music or you see a beautiful sight, you feel like you have to grab somebody else and praise it with them. You grab your friend, and you say, “Look at this. Isn’t this great?” Why are you praising it? Because it’s beautiful. The more you praise it, the more you enjoy it. Isn’t that right? The more you praise it, the more you enjoy it.
   25. You say, “Look at this. Isn’t this great? Look at the lines. Look at the colors. Look at this and that.” The more you praise it, the more you’re enjoying it, the more the other person is enjoying it. Right? Why are you praising it? Does it need it? It doesn’t. It’s beautiful. It’s an end in itself. Lydia had a God who was useful, but that day, she received a God who was beautiful. Before that, she was not bearing false witness, not committing adultery, honoring her father and mother, observing the Sabbath.^[6]
   26. Notice that her family is also baptized. Notice also her hospitality. She invited them to stay with her.
   27. This does not mean that they were saved because she was saved. I believe that in Middle Eastern culture, the family unit holds more significance. This may be a testament to Lydia’s spiritual leadership.
   28. Tim Keller shares:
   29. What we have in the book of Acts are more case studies of conversion than you really have anywhere else in the Bible.[7]
2. A slave girl is delivered from a demon (Acts 16:16-21).
   1. Acts 16:16–18 (ESV)
   2. ¹⁶ As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
   3. The demon in this girl (16:16-17): Notice that they are going to a place of prayer, and they are meeting this demonized slave girl.
   4. She brought her owners great gain by fortune-telling.
   5. Do demons know the future?
   6. No, they do not.
   7. However, the demons may be able to use deductive reasoning and figure things out better than we can.
   8. The message it proclaims through her (16:17): The demon pretends to agree with the message preached by Paul.
   9. The deliverance of this girl (16:18–23)
   10. The girl is set free (16:18): Paul commands the demon to leave her.
3. The apostles are set upon (16:19–23): Paul and Silas are arrested, beaten, and imprisoned.^[8]
   1. Acts 16:19-23: ¹⁹ But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. ²⁰ And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. ²¹ They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” ²² The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. ²³ And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. ²⁴ Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
   2. It was all about money.
   3. Tony Evans writes:
   4. On a hot summer day, here in Dallas, Texas, what good does a flashlight do? At high noon when the sun is at its peak, it is shining bright. To turn on a flashlight when you have sunlight is to depend on the inferior rather than the superior.
   5. To go to a palm reader when you’ve got access to the heavenly Father is to go to the inferior rather than the superior. To call the psychic network, or to have a tarot card reading, is to turn on a flashlight when you’re under the sunlight. It is to pay money for something you can have for free.^650,[9]
   6. Paul and Silas are dragged before the rulers in the marketplace. They are accused, stripped, and beaten.
   7. Sproul shares: We do not know to what degree they were stripped. They may have been stripped completely naked; such was part of prisoners’ punishment in the ancient world in order to impose utter humiliation. This was also often done in combat. When one force defeated another and took prisoners, the victors would march the prisoners naked to humiliate them. Perhaps Paul and Silas were stripped only to the waist. The main desire here was to bare skin for a beating, which was administered with sticks or rods, like caning. Here, no limit was set for how many blows could be applied, such as there was in Jewish law, so we have no idea how many stripes were inflicted upon Paul and Silas. In any case, they were badly beaten.^[10]
   8. They are in stocks.
   9. Luke is making it clear that they are securely in prison.
4. A prison guard is saved.
   1. Acts 16:25–34 (ESV)
   2. ²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, ²⁶ and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. ²⁷ When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” ²⁹ And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹ And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³² And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. ³³ And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. ³⁴ Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
   3. Do we notice this? It is about midnight, they have been beaten and yet they are singing hymns.
   4. They likely can hardly move, but they are singing hymns.
   5. What do we do when we are in pain or anxious?
   6. I believe there is an indirect application here. It is indirect, but can we learn from the example of Paul and Silas? Go to the Lord.
   7. Sing to the Lord (Col. 3:16-17).
   8. Notice that other prisoners are listening to them.
   9. God sends an earthquake that frees all the inmates. Notice that all of the prisoners are freed.
   10. Believing the prisoners have escaped, the guard prepares to kill himself.
   11. Being assured by Paul that no one has left the prison, the guard asks how to be saved!
   12. Responding to Paul’s answer, the jailer and his family are saved and baptized.
   13. Again, we see a whole family saved.
   14. Rydelnic shares:
   15. The influence of the jailer led to the family to want to be saved. In some cultures, people believe based on the tribal leader, a core leader, or a family leader. In the US, it is not usually that way. That is why in 1 Corinthians 7, Paul says the unbelieving spouse is sanctified by the believing spouse. God has no grandchildren: just because you are born in a bakery does not make you a bagel. So, you believe that “if your family believes, your household will be saved.” There is no such thing as household salvation. Sometimes a tribe will follow a tribal chief, but everyone has to make their own decision. [11]
   16. His celebration (16:34): With great joy the new convert washes the wounds of the disciples and feeds them.^[12]
5. The aftermath (Acts 16:35-40).
   1. Acts 16:35–40 (ESV)
   2. ³⁵ But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” ³⁶ And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” ³⁷ But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” ³⁸ The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. ³⁹ So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.
   3. The authorities’ fear (16:35–39): Upon learning that the men they have beaten and imprisoned are Roman citizens, the city officials apologize to Paul and Silas and beg them to leave the city.
   4. Notice that this is a time in which Paul and Silas appeal to their citizenship.
   5. The Julian law forbade binding or beating Roman citizens without trial. Falsely claiming citizenship was a capital offense.^[13]
   6. Cicero and Quintilian tell of a Roman citizen who cried out that he was a citizen during a scourging, thereby humiliating his oppressors, who had not properly recognized his high status. By waiting until after the beating (cf. 22:29) to inform the authorities that they were citizens, the missionaries had placed the magistrates themselves in an awkward legal position: now the magistrates, not the missionaries, are forced to negotiate. Reports of their deed could even disqualify them from office and (in theory, at least) deprive Philippi of its status as a Roman colony. This strategy would help secure the future safety of the fledgling Christian community.^[14]
   7. The apostles’ freedom (16:40): Paul and Silas return to the home of Lydia to meet with other believers before leaving town.^[15]

We have examined a passage in which we see the gospel spreading to various cultures. They share the gospel with women in Philippi. Lydia is saved. They deliver a servant girl from a demon. They share the gospel with a Philippian jailer.

We see examples of the gospel crossing cultural barriers.

Acts 1:8 (ESV)

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

This is what is happening, the gospel is spreading out.

Meagan and I were raised in Dayton. However, our first pastoral position was in Cincinnati. We quickly learned that Cincinnati has a strong German heritage. I have my Flying Pig marathon T-shirt here. Why is it called “Flying Pig”? That is because, with their German heritage, came a tradition of hog farming. They have some food called Goette, look it up. It is a German-American breakfast sausage. Eventually, our family made it to Youngstown. Here we have people with an Italian heritage. Not just that. We have met people from many different cultural backgrounds. I think it is because people migrated here for work at the steel mills. So, we can have people in one church from many different cultural backgrounds. How awesome is that?

The gospel is for everyone.

Be encouraged by that.

Tim Keller shares:

Christianity is the only religion, friends (listen carefully), that has never been dominated by one part of the world. Islam’s demographic and geographic center has always been the Middle East and Arabia. Hinduism’s demographic and geographic center has always been India. Confucianism … China. Buddhism … Asia. Christianity started as a Middle Eastern religion. That was its center. Jerusalem … the Jews.

Then it migrated, and its demographic and geographic center was the Mediterranean Hellenistic world. Then it migrated to Northern Europe as the center of it. Then North America. Now as we know, I hope, there are more African Christians, there are more Latin American and Asian Christians, Korean and Chinese Christians, for example, then there are in all of Western Europe and North America put together, even if you count the people who just say they’re Christians, even the ones who are just nominal Christians. Why?

Because Christianity is one religion there is no type. There is no culture it’s native to. There is no type of person. There is no personality. It’s not for the rich. It’s not for the poor. It’s not for men. It’s not for women. It’s not for wimps. It’s not for the ambitious. It’s not for the moral types. It’s not for the immoral types. Because it’s not based on any one human factor, it mustn’t be based on a human factor.^[16]

The gospel is about Jesus saving us by grace!

Worship King Jesus!

Prayer

^[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[2] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), Ac 16:11–34.

^[3] Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998).

^[4] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[5] Ibid., Ac 16:11–15.

^[6] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

[7] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[8] Ibid., Ac 16:16–23.

^[9] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 215.

^[10] R. C. Sproul, Acts, St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 295.

[11] Open Line on Moody Radio: 07.16.2022

^[12] Ibid., Ac 16:24–34.

^[13] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Ac 16:37.

^[14] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Ac 16:38.

^[15] Ibid., Ac 16:35–40.

^[16] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).