When opposition to the gospel shuts one door, the Lord opens another one. Having rejected the gospel, God shifts the focus of Paul’s missionary effort from the Jewish people in Corinth to the gentiles notorious for their idolatrous and immoral ways. The story of the church in Corinth is yet another example of how God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.
Jealous, hungry, and haughty. These tree words capture the response to the gospel of the cities of Thessalonica, Berea and Athens of the cities in Acts 17. Each one of these reactions sees the gospel differently and each one of these requires a different approach. The first one, Jealousy is an emotional response where the gospel is perceived as a threat. The second one is a spiritual response where the gospel is shown to be the fulfillment of the Scriptures. The third response is an intellectual response where the gospel is disdained as unworthy of serious consideration.
The light of the gospel shines in the darkest and most unexpected corners of this world bringing salvation to those who are in bondage. In this passage, we see the unlikely divine appointment that turned a dark day of suffering into the seed of one of the most joyful relationships in the New Testament, the church at Philippi.
The aftermath of a natural disaster is oftentimes as devastating as the disaster itself. In God’s grace, however, some disasters can be redeemed and even used to promote new growth and new life to sprout. Like new vegetation sprouting from the ashes after a fire, we see a new generation of leaders and ministry initiatives sprouting out of the difficult circumstances in the previous chapter.
Our unity in the church is constantly tested both doctrinally and practically. Church history is full of schisms and divisions, some of which were necessary and others that showed the underbelly of our communities of faith. In this chapter, we will see how the early church managed the doctrinal and practical challenges to their unity to further the gospel and resist the temptation to cave to the pressures of the journey.
Our faith will be tested by fire. When we enter the mission field, we enter the battlefield. None of us will be immune to the tribulations that will come with the mission. God uses the fire of tribulations to refine our witness and make us more like Christ, but the enemy will seek to use the same trials to tempt us and pull us away from our commitment to Christ. What ends up happening will reveal the nature of our faith and maturity.
