August 08, 2023 | Be On Mission
Paul Stays in Ephesus for Two Years
Scripture: Acts 19:1-10(NIV)
1 While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
3 So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve men in all.
8 Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
Devotional
It’s easy to miss the commitment people like Paul had to spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Verse one is easy enough to read: “Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus.” But do the math. That’s over a six hundred mile walk, with stops along the way “throughout the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples” (Acts 18:23). Six hundred miles. And sometimes we complain when we can’t find a close parking spot at The Cheesecake Factory.
Finally, Paul arrived in Ephesus, where he would stay for a long time. As usual, Paul began with the Christian disciples and in the Jewish synagogue. Though Ephesus was a completely Roman city with a thoroughly Greek culture, Paul spent his first three months among his Jewish kinfolk, hoping to persuade them about the kingdom of God in Jesus. And, as usual, he had mixed results. Twelve men received baptism in the name of Jesus and were filled with the Holy Spirit. But others dug in their heels and ran Paul out of the synagogue.
Undeterred, Paul and his team took their message of Jesus into the Roman public square to minister to the Gentiles. For the next two years he continued to do so, until “all the Jews and Greeks” who lived in the region had heard the message of Jesus. One Greek manuscript says that Paul taught there for five hours daily during the heat of the day, when people would be on their afternoon work break during the hottest hours. By then, most of the quarter of a million residents of Ephesus, and many more travelers who visited that popular city, had heard the gospel of Christ. What an influence!
Thomas Edison once said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Paul would have agreed. Six hundred miles over rough terrain on foot. Three months in a Jewish synagogue only to be rejected. Five hours a day in the blazing heat for two years among a different crowd every day. Working as a tentmaker during his off hours to support himself.
What can you learn from the life of Paul? How is God calling you to greater effort in how you live your life? How would this impact your family, school, work, community, or world?
Poem
Into What Were You Baptized?
Were you baptized as an infant
Upon your parents’ faith?
A covenantal child of God
Confirmed at later date?
Were you baptized, full immersion,
After an altar call?
Were you baptized in a private space?
Or in the sight of all?
Was water on you sprinkled?
Or was it on you poured?
Did you get re-baptized to join
A church, in their accord?
Did you bawl in true repentance?
Was God’s grace full and free?
What words were said over your head?
Salvation guaranteed?
Did you receive the Spirit?
Did tongues come from your mouth?
Baptism of repentance?
A change within, without?
These questions often keep us
From the real truth to see:
Baptism’s source and action--
From God’s grace or from me?
Into what grace were you baptized?
A method, church or mode?
Or in the name of Triune God
Eternal life bestowed?
