May 12, 2003
LifeWay Family Bible Series for May 25
Families can impact their communities for God
___ Acts 18:1-4, 24-28
___By Tim Owens
___First Baptist Church, Bryan
___In Acts 18:1-4, the Apostle Paul left Athens on his second missionary journey and traveled to Corinth. While he waited for Silas and Timothy to join him from Macedonia, Paul worked as a tentmaker with Priscilla and Aquila and witnessed to both Jews and Greeks.
___This Jewish couple was a source of encouragement to Paul. It is likely Priscilla and Aquila had already become Christians before they met Paul. They also shared the same vocation of tent-making as Paul. This family provided Paul a place to stay, allowed him to support himself by sharing in their work, enjoyed Christian fellowship with him and assisted him in his missionary work. Both Paul and Luke always referred to Priscilla and Aquila as a family unit, never separately. They are an example of how a family can labor together with God's people for the cause of Christ.
___Try to imagine the impact on neighborhoods and communities if Christian families were committed first to
Christ and to his cause. What would it be like if the work of Christ was being conducted not just by a few "professionals" but by well-equipped families? What would it be like if Christian families were identifying this as their primary purpose: To go out into this world with a consuming desire to know Christ and to make him known to others? The results would be staggering.
___The reality is that many Christian families are spending time on many good activities while leaving the very best activity undone. God is inviting Christian families to elevate the Great Commission to the place of primary importance.
___In Acts 18:24-28, Paul, along with Priscilla and Aquila, had journeyed from Corinth to Ephesus, where he left the couple. While Priscilla and Aquila were in Ephesus, a Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. It was in this context that Priscilla and Aquila served God together as a family by providing a ministry of spiritual mentoring to Apollos. This ministry was effective as evidenced by the Christians in Ephesus being happy to write a letter of recommendation for Apollos when he went to Achaia.
___What an incredible opportunity Christian families have to mentor other believers in the Christian faith! Mentoring is the process whereby Christian families are letting other people be a close friend, being their friend and allowing them to draw out things God is teaching them. Here are some actions that Priscilla and Aquila probably took in mentoring Apollos--actions any Christian family can take in passing the Christian faith to others:
___ They were willing to spend the time it took to build a close, spiritual relationship with Apollos.
___ They believed in the potential and future of Apollos. They verbalized the possibilities they saw in Apollos' life.
___ They were willing to be open and transparent with Apollos. They were willing to share not only their strengths and victories, but also their weaknesses and failures.
___ They were willing to be honest yet affirming in confronting Apollos' errors, faults and areas of immaturity.
___ They stood by Apollos through trials, even trials brought on by his own mistakes.
___ They helped Apollos set some goals for his spiritual growth and ministry.
___ They were willing to evaluate objectively Apollos' progress toward his spiritual goals.
___ They were committed to live out faithfully everything they were teaching Apollos.
___These principles provide an excellent description of how Christian families can mentor other believers in their Christian growth.
___In Romans 16:3-5, one reads: "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me. Not only I, but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. Greet also the church that meets at their home." Priscilla and Aquila were so committed to the spread of the Gospel that they risked their lives for Paul. One such occasion on which the couple possibly demonstrated self-sacrifice may have been during the riot in Ephesus (Acts 19:23-41).
___These Scriptures not only reflect the high regard Paul had for this Christian couple but also the widespread nature of this couple's influence for Christ.
___It is interesting to track the movement of Priscilla and Aquila. They first met Paul in Corinth (Acts 18:1-3). They had come to Corinth from Rome, because the emperor Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. After meeting Paul in Corinth, this Christian couple accompanied him to Ephesus, where they mentored Apollos and where they had a church meeting in their home when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians (Acts 18:18-26; 1 Corinthians 16:19). Later they apparently returned to Rome where they had another church meeting in their home (Romans 16:3-5).
___Here was a Christian couple who traveled extensively, and in the various places to which they traveled, they always opened up their home and their lives for the purposes of Christian fellowship and gospel witness. They provide an incredible model for Christian families to follow in serving the Lord together.
___Questions for discussion
___ What things keep families from ministering together?
___ How would you respond to the assertion that family members ministering separately multiplies their effectiveness?
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