The Second Missionary Journey - Paul Returned to Antioch

Alright, let's take our Bible. Let's turn to Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18 we will be in verses 18 to 23 tonight. Now if you look at your copy of God's Word you may see a heading above verse 18. It may say Paul returns to Antioch. I looked at my John MacArthur study Bible. It has that heading above verse 18. My English Standard Bibles have that heading as well. It may say Third Missionary Journey. I looked at my New American Standard Bibles and that was the headings, the heading that I found there. Now this is the point I'm trying to make here.

Here in this section of Scripture that's before us we will see that Luke tells us quite a lot but he is primarily showing us two things about Paul. First, Paul was returning to Antioch which was his sending church, his home church, his home church. Second, Paul was concluding his Second Missionary Journey and he was beginning his Third Missionary Journey and there's quite a lot that goes on in between. Now before we dive off into the verses I do want to make two observations. One will help us in our study of the book in its entirety. The other observation will help us as we try to understand Paul as a missionary and as an Apostle.

We will see this tonight but notice how there's not a strong distinction made between the Second Missionary Journey and the Third. We will see that the Second Missionary Journey ended at verse 22 when Paul returned finally arrived to Antioch and then the third began when he set out again in verse 23 but Luke did not write like he did when he wrote of the first and the second missions journeys. Let me explain what I mean. The first missionary journey was very easy to see. In chapter 13 Luke makes a very big deal about how the church at Antioch sent out Paul and Barnabas.

And in chapter 14 Luke made a big deal when they returned to Antioch to give a report and it was a very very big deal when Paul and Barnabas separated and Paul started his second missionary journey. We know he took Silas along on the second. But at the end of the second and the beginning of the third was much different. Luke just does not emphasize the details like he did before. This may not seem like a big deal but it will help us to ask what Luke was doing. Why he kinda changes the way he writes. One of my favorite Bible commentators is Jim Boyce. I refer to him often. He has an opinion here and it helped me.

He says that Luke shifts from making a big deal about the journeys themselves to making a big deal about establishing solid churches. Let me restate that. Boyce says Luke shifts from making a big deal about the missions journeys to making a big deal about establishing solid churches. I agree. As I have thought about it this week and kinda meditated on it, I explained it this way. Luke is showing us the evolution of the work of evangelizing the lost and establishing churches when this work was and is in its infancy. We're seeing the church being born and growing up. Think about it.

And we should be able to get this from our study of the book of Acts if we've really paid attention. At first the emphasis was on pioneer missions. The emphasis was on Paul and whoever was with him. He always had associates most of the time going from city to city, evangelizing the lost and planning churches. But now Paul's emphasis shifts some. Of course he was always evangelizing the lost but Paul shifts to strengthening the newly found churches, building up those churches and those disciples and as all along he had many different men and we're seeing women helping him in the work.

And we will see all that shift and how Luke writes and explains these things. We'll see it more and more. Another point to remember that will help us here. We are in two different biblical genres between Sunday morning and Wednesday night. The book of Hebrews is a theological and doctrinal epistle. We know it was written to a church so it has a very practical side, a practical nature. But Hebrews is one big high level theological argument. We've been seeing that. But the book of Acts is a historical account of the birth, establishment and development of the New Testament church and churches.

This is the beginning of what we would call church history. Church history. So in his explaining and telling and writing of these things Luke evolves and changes in what he shares as the work changes and evolves. So tonight we have Paul living Corinth and he's headed back to Antioch to give a report and as we will see he made a few steps along the way. Now this is the title of the message tonight. This is still the second missionary journey. Paul returns to Antioch. The second missionary journey Paul returns to Antioch. So let's read our verses and then I'll explain how we will approach them. Verse 18.

After this Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Sentria he had cut his hair for he was under a vow and they came to Ephesus and he left them there. That would be Priscilla and Aquila and he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. We've seen that before. When they asked him to stay for a longer period he declined but on taking leave of them he said I will return to you if God wills and he set sail from Ephesus.

When he had landed in Caesarea he went up and greeted the church then he went down to Antioch and after spending some time there he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Fergia, strengthening the disciples. That would be strengthening the churches. Now I want us to make quite a few observations here. Some are longer than others. This is how we'll break down the verses. First in verse 18 we're gonna see that Paul leaves Corinth for Antioch. Second we're gonna see that Paul stopped over in Ephesus. This was a short visit we've seen verses 19 to 21.

Then third Paul made his way up to Jerusalem verse 22 and then Paul made his way down to Antioch verses 22 to 23 and then verse 23. Paul started out again. This is the beginning of the third missionary journey. We'll get to that. So let's dive right in. Number one Paul leaves for Antioch. Paul leaves for Antioch. Now here Luke mentions that Paul stayed in Corinth a while longer. We saw last week Galio's ruling and how he simply dodged the issue. In verses 12 to 17 Galio refused to rule on the accusations of the Jews that they were bringing against Paul. Of course he turned his back when the Jews beat up Sosseines, the ruler of the synagogue.

I thought that was rather interesting. But on another note chapter 18 does not tell us if this Sosseines was a believer. We would assume that he was because of the Jews and how they abused him. They persecuted him. But we know that he was because he is listed as a believer in 1st Corinthians 1 but what we see right here is this because Galio refused to get involved in a matter pertaining to the Jews that limited their ability to persecute Paul in the church. So Paul had some freedom there to stay in Corinth. We know he stayed there a year and a half and that was a long time for Paul. But I do want us to see a few details here.

First we may not see it at first but we see the strength of the church in Corinth. Luke tells us that some of the brothers and sisters along with Priscilla and Aquila left Corinth to go with Paul. Some have suggested that Aquila and Priscilla were financially well off and that they paid for Paul's expenses in this trip. We may not realize it but it did cost money to travel. It is safe to assume that they weren't wealthy because having a leather goods, a tent making business could have produced a good deal of income for them and they certainly could have paid Paul's way.

But this tells us that Paul stayed in Corinth long enough to raise up leaders in the church. In other situations when he did not stay as long he would leave others behind to help. Silas and Timothy stayed behind in Macedonia to help those churches. We've seen that. Then he caught up with them in Corinth. If we do some reading we will see that some of those leaders were named. Men like Gaius, Sassanese, Stephanus, and Crispus were leaders in the church at Corinth. And there's another thing here. Some say that Priscilla and Aquila going along with Paul points out their commitment to Paul and his gospel work, his missions work.

I believe it does. We've seen that and we'll come back to that. But the point I'm making right here is this. The Corinthian church was strong enough that Aquila and Priscilla could leave with Paul. The text does not mention Silas and Timothy. There's some debate as to where they were. But it is safe to assume that they were with Paul as well. We would assume that they would have been with Paul when he went back to the church at Antioch. I kind of find it hard to believe that Silas wasn't there because remember he went with Paul at the beginning of the second missionary journey. Now there's a lesson here you might not see.

Paul stayed in Corinth for a year and a half. He stayed there for a while. And the lesson I'm pulling out of that is this. It takes time for church leadership to be developed. Of course Paul was an apostle. God used him in a supernatural way. We know that. And you know we want things to be our way rather quick. But it takes time to develop spiritual leaders. It takes time to grow leaders. And it certainly takes time to develop leaders in the life of the church. And when we fast forward that, that usually gets us in trouble. But second Paul's vow. Now here we have some strange things going on. Seems strange to us.

Luke tells us that at Sentria he, that's Paul, had cut his hair for he was under a vow. Now what is all this about? Your Bible may footnote some information that gives you an indication. But most people believe that this pertains to the Old Testament Nazarite vow that is seen in Numbers chapter 6. So if that is the case, that would mean that Paul took some kind of a Nazarite vow. There is really no way to tell for sure because the information Luke gives us is limited. But I think this was a Nazarite vow of some kind. And you will see the different options if you do some study. But this leads me to ask a few questions.

First of all, what was a Nazarite vow? Now there were some who were Nazarites for life. Samson was. Samuel was. John the Baptist. They were all Nazarites for life. Go study their life and see that. But usually a Nazarite vow was temporary. In number six God instituted the vow and he gave it to Moses. We see this in number six verse two to five. But simply the Nazarite vow was simple. This was when a Jew would consecrate himself or herself and take a vow of separation unto God and abstinence for the purpose of some special service or some special need. Usually it involves some type of distress, a burden, or a problem.

Sometimes this was physical. Sometimes this was spiritual. Sometimes it was both. But the vow was made for an allotted period of time, usually about a month or so. And there was a special ceremony at the end of the vow. Again we see this listed and explained in number six. But second, what did this mean for Paul? First of all, we must remember that Paul was a Jew and he held on to being a Jew and he held on to many of those Jewish traditions. But this does not mean that he held on to any kind of unhealthy view of the law or some unhealthy view of the old covenant. Simply Paul knew of the Nazarite vow and the Nazarite tradition.

And it seems that he and it seems that he voluntarily took a Nazarite vow for the purpose of consecrating himself and his circumstances more to God and burdening his situation to God. Here Paul shaved his head. It was a part of that vow the text says. And he allowed his hair to grow for a particular length of time. Then he shaved it when the vow and consecration was completed. But third, why did Paul take the vow? We are not told. Maybe this was part of his renewed consecration to God and his great difficulties when he arrived in Corinth. We've seen that he was down and depressed and very much in need of encouragement.

Maybe this was a vow of thankfulness and gratitude and praise for all that God had done for him, in him, and through him. Many make those kinds of suggestions and others. But we do know that for the vow to be completed it was to be done in Jerusalem with an offering of the proper sacrifices. But the last question here. Fourth, was Paul going back to the old covenant in some kind of an unhealthy way? No. Paul was making a vow as a part of his personal devotion to God and love for God.

Paul certainly knew the worthlessness of all of the efforts of trying to gain one's salvation by Jewish rituals, Jewish traditions, Jewish laws, legalisms, even Jewish sincerity, and even external goodness. But Paul certainly had a genuine love for God's law. We see that in Scripture. And he was still influenced by his Jewish heritage immensely.

And when he wanted to show his deep thanks to God for meeting his needs during his difficult times before and in Corinth, when he wanted to burden these problems and these difficulties to God, he naturally thought of the normal Jewish way of doing these things, the Nazarite vow, the Nazarite tradition, the Nazarite consecration. Now, how does this relate to us? Do we do something like this? Today, we may engage in a time of prayer and fasting. Fasting would be abstaining from food for a period of time so as to pray, study the Scriptures, and to seek the Lord. Fasting is simply denying self, denying the flesh to seek God.

Sometimes when one prays and fasts, they not only abstain from food, but they dedicate an unusual amount of time to seek God. Usually this takes place when one has some kind of a great burden. This may take place when some has some kind of a great spiritual need. And this could take place when one is wanting to show great thanks and gratitude to God. Now for me, there have been times in my spiritual journey where I have prayed and fasted. Usually it was around either a great difficulty or burden in my life or questions about my ministry call and vocation where the Lord wanted me to serve.

And in those circumstances, I would deny my flesh and seek God. I would consecrate myself in an unusual way. I would deny my flesh to seek God, be in the Scripture, and I would spend an unusual amount of time with God. Question first a ponder here. Should we pray and fast today? Should we pray and fast for the lost? Me, if you have lost family that you're really burdened for, should you pray and fast for them? Should we pray and fast when we have a significant need, a physical need, or a spiritual need? I may have stirred up more questions than I have answered. So here we see that Paul leaves Corinth and he ultimately he is bound for Antioch.

But as we see with this vow he was bound to Jerusalem as well. Next, number two. Paul stopped over in Ephesus. Paul stopped over in Ephesus. Look back at verse 19 and 21. And they came to Ephesus and he left them there. But he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. And when they asked him to stay for a longer period he declined. But on taking leave of them he said, "I will return to you if God wills." And he set sail from Ephesus. We know he was headed to Jerusalem in ultimately Antioch.

Now I said that Paul stopped over at Ephesus but I really should say they, the text says they, because we see that Priscilla and Aquila were there and others as well. That's obvious in the text. But here we have quite a lot going on. And these events pertain to Paul's mission to get to Jerusalem and these events pertain to the first major stop on his third missionary journey. We'll get there next week. But notice first the text says Paul left Priscilla and Aquila at Ephesus. Now this does not seem like much but it is very significant. Paul left them in Ephesus for more than one reason.

First off he left them there to establish their business as tent makers. They were leather workers, tent makers. We've already seen that. And from what we see in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 they stayed for quite a few years. And verse 19 says that a church met in their home and this points to the second reason they stayed in Ephesus. They were a part of Paul's gospel church planning evangelizing work in Ephesus just like they were in Corinth. Simply they were partners with Paul. While in Corinth they partnered with Paul in tent making and gospel work in the city. Here we see that Paul planted them in Ephesus to engage in gospel work.

Romans 16 says that they even risked their lives for Paul. And as I said before in 1 Corinthians 16 19 the Ephesian church seems to have met in their home. Jim Boyce describes this husband and wife couple saying, "So we have an indication that this remarkable couple were not only co-workers with Paul but also hosted the church and were thus serviceable in the ministry." Now I know I mentioned this last week but I've got to say it again. I am very thankful for the Aquillas and Priscillas in our church. Husbands and wives who serve. Husbands who serve. Who serve. Wives who serve. Husbands and wives who serve. We can't have just men who serve.

We can't have just women who serve. We have to have both. And as our church grows we need more. Maybe on your prayer list you need to pray for more Aquillas and Priscillas. Husband and wife teams. Second, Paul went to the synagogue. Here we see that Paul did what he always did when he went to a new town. He went to the synagogue to share the gospel and the fact that Jesus was the promised Messiah of God that the Jews were yearning for and looking for. But look at how they received Paul in this message. Verse 20 says they ask him to stay. They did not seem to reject Paul but it seems they received him.

It seems they obviously received his teaching. One commentator pointed out the Ephesians were very Berean. They were very Berean. They received Paul. They received his teaching and reasoning like the Bereans until they didn't and we'll see next week that ultimately they didn't. So Paul notice had an open door to stay and teach God's Word like he did in Berea. This is the kind of situation that Paul dreamed of. But did he stay? No. No. Third, Paul did not stay. Even with an open door, even though this was Paul's dream of taking the gospel to his fellow Jews, he did not stay. And here we would probably think what in the world was Paul thinking?

Because this does not make sense. This is really simple. He did not stay and he left quickly because he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem to fulfill that Nazarite vow. That took priority because that was a prior spiritual commitment. And some scholars point out that some Greek manuscripts say that Paul was in a hurry so that he could get to Jerusalem in time for the Jewish Passover. Remember now, it was not that Paul was reverting back to Judaism, back to the Old Covenant. He was deeply Jewish. He loved and respected the traditions of Judaism.

And if he did get to Jerusalem for the Passover so as to fulfill his vow, there is no doubt he would have worshipped Jesus as the true Passover lamb. That Passover celebration would have meant more because he understood what Passover meant, what Passover pointed to. So Paul, Aquila and Priscilla and others stopped at Ephesus. Paul went to the synagogue and he had great receptivity. But he was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem to fulfill that vow, so he did not stay long. He said if God's will permits he would come back and he did. But he did not leave the city and these inquiring Jews without a witness and without direction.

He left Aquila and Priscilla behind to take up where he left off. No doubt he trusted them. Now again, I know I keep repeating myself here, but church even pioneer gospel work need men and women like Aquila and Priscilla. Think about that. They weren't just helpers. They were on the front lines of pioneer gospel work. I thought about it like this. Paul gets all the attention, but we need to share some love with Aquila and Priscilla. Next, number three. Paul went up to Jerusalem, verse 22. Paul went up to Jerusalem. Here we see that Paul made it to one of his major destinations here. Now this is kind of hard to see because of the language.

The text says that he landed in Caesarea, which was on the coast, and he went up and he greeted the church. But notice the text does not say which church, but here is why we know this destination was and is Jerusalem, really for two reasons. First of all, this phrase went up from Caesarea. One went up to Jerusalem about 65 miles from the coast. Remember, Jerusalem was up on a mountain, so one always had to go up to Jerusalem no matter where they came from. Maybe it would do us some good to look back at those maps. And again, it was common and understood that when one said they went up, they were referring to Jerusalem.

It was just understood when one said we went up, they went up, it referred to Jerusalem. But second, Jerusalem was the only place, Jerusalem was the only place Paul could fulfill that vow. Simply for a Jew to fulfill that Nazarite vow, they had to break that vow in Jerusalem, so it is easy to see that that is where he was going and why he was in a hurry. That is why the Amplified says when he landed in Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church at Jerusalem, and then he went down. That would be geographically down to Antioch. So we see that Paul went up to Jerusalem, but there is more here than at first glance.

The church at Jerusalem was truly the mother church. All the New Testament churches came out of that original church there in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is where the great apostle Peter was headquartered, so in fellowshiping with the Jerusalem church, Paul would have been in a sense going home. In another sense, Paul would have been fellowshiping with church leaders who were church leaders before him, and no doubt he gave them a report about his missions, travels, experiences, and successes in the Gentile world. No doubt they had a great missions, conference, and celebration. It is not a stretch to say that.

I mean do you think they had a celebration? I think they did. Next number four, Paul went down to Antioch, verse 22 to the beginning of verse 23. Paul went down to Antioch. Here we see that Paul finally made it to his ultimate destination. He had traveled hundreds. If I remember right, one scholar pointed out about 1500 miles, and Antioch was his home church. Remember this was his sending church, and in verse 23 or the beginning of verse 23, Luke tells us he stayed some time in Antioch. Now think about this.

This certainly would have been a great homecoming and gospel success celebration, and this celebration would have been greater, even more personal, than the one in Jerusalem because Antioch was his sending church. Think about this. The church at Antioch is where all of this great gospel, missionary success began. They have been sending him for years. Paul and his first missionary trip started in ending, and Antioch, his second missions trip started at Antioch, and now Paul is returning to give them a report, and I believe that Timothy and Silas were there too. I love what Warren Wiersby says here. It's real simple, but it resonated with me.

He had been gone from Antioch perhaps two years or more, and the saints were no doubt overjoyed to see him and hear about the work of God among the Gentiles. Wiersby goes on to say, "There's no proof, but likely Paul kept reminding the believers in Antioch it's always too soon to quit." I would put it like this, no doubt, no doubt Paul was telling the church at Antioch, "Just keep on keeping on. Just keep on keeping on in your work." One more thing. This is purely speculation on my part. Verse 23 says that Paul stayed in Antioch sometime. I believe this was a much needed, much deserved time of rest and vacation.

You might say, "Pastor, are you stretching it?" Think about all that Paul had been through. Think about all of the suffering. Think about all of the trials. Think about all of the loneliness. We saw last week that he wrote and said that he battled discouragement, fear. Paul was a human. Paul was a man. Again, he had just traveled a great distance from Corinth, going through Ephesus to Jerusalem and down to Antioch. I believe he was tired, worn out, beat up, and he needed rest. He needed rest. We forget sometimes that some of these Bible heroes were actually human. Human. And the lesson for us here is this, we need rest too.

But let's make sure our rest does not impede or hinder our service to God. Last number five, and I'll be short here. Paul started out again. The third missionary trip begins. Look at the end of verse 23. I know it's a rather short verse, but I want us to see it. Verse 23, "After spending some time there," that's Antioch, "he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia, Fergia, strengthening all the disciples." That would be the churches. Now, I will be short here for two reasons. First of all, for the second time, we're kind of out of time, or we'll be soon.

And second, we will pick up here next week because this last part of verse 3 is really the beginning of Paul's third great missionary journey. And next week, we will start with the third missionary journey, and we'll get into some specifics here. But look at what we have here, a big picture. Paul rested in Antioch. He reconnected with his home church. He was rejuvenated, revived, and renewed. And in time, in God's time, he was ready to hit the road again. I guess Paul was singing Willie Nelson on the road again. But instead of going to a bar, he was evangelizing the lost and strengthening the churches. He was on the road again.

But notice what we have here. Luke is showing us the evolution of Paul's work and the growth and the development of the church. Let me unpack that a little. Early on, Luke emphasized Paul's pioneer evangelistic work, and he was correct. That is mostly what Paul did early on, but now those churches have been planted and they have needs. So Luke showed Paul's pastoral heart, his pastoral work, and he was correct. Those churches had different needs, some great, some small, and Paul sought to meet those needs. So Paul was the apostle who pastored these churches, these new believers, these new leaders.

He went to them, strengthening them according to their needs, and now we're seeing that he wrote different letters to them. Again, I will come back to some of the details here next week, but we do see the beginning of his third missionary journey. Now I want to close in two ways. First of all, looking at the tide of the message. I've already given it. This is all about the second missionary journey, Paul's return to Antioch, but I have a habit of changing titles. We could say it like this. This is all about Paul's return to Antioch. We know that.

When he left Corinth, he had Antioch in view, but this is all about the end of his second missionary journey. He's winding that down, and that one part of verse 23 tells us this is the beginning of the third missionary journey. But notice what else we see here. New Testament church partnerships and association in evangelism, church planning, and church help. Let me say that again. Big picture now where we are. This is about New Testament church partnerships. We see partnerships, associations. We see association in evangelism, church planning, and church health. And I want to offer three short lessons here.

Number one, Lone Ranger Christians in churches are not biblical. Lone Ranger Christians in churches are not biblical. That is far into the New Testament. You do not find it in the New Testament. Now we've got a ways to go, but we've made pretty good pace in the book of Acts. A question, was Paul a Lone Ranger? No. He's going from church to church to church. Was the church in Jerusalem a Lone Ranger church? No. Were any of these other churches Lone Ranger churches? No. Number two, church partnerships and associations that are not striving to evangelize the lost, plant churches, and work to develop and keep healthy local churches.

That's not biblical. Let me restate that. Church partnerships and associations that are not striving to evangelize the lost, plant churches, and work to develop and keep healthy local churches. That is not biblical. What was Paul doing all along? Abaginalizing the lost, planting churches, working to develop and keep local churches healthy. What was Silas and Timothy doing all along? What was Aquila and Priscilla doing all along? What were the churches at Jerusalem doing all along? What was Antioch doing all along? What were all of these other churches doing all along?

And all of those people that we see in those churches, they were all striving and partnering to evangelize the lost, plant churches, and working to develop and keep healthy local churches. Were they doing this perfectly? No. But they were striving to. Number three, church partnerships and associations that are striving to evangelize the lost, plant churches, and work to develop and keep healthy local churches are biblical. I don't know about you, but I would like to be like Paul. You might say, "Pastor, he was an apostle. We can't be like Paul." Well, I don't know about you. I'd like to be like Aquila and Priscilla.

I'd like to be like Silas and Timothy. I would like to be about these, like these other people, that we just hear their names. We don't know much about them, but they were right in the mix with everything with Paul. I'd like to be like these other churches. I'd like to be like Antioch, a sending church. I'd like to be like Philippi, who made great sacrifices to help people like Paul. Church partnerships and associations that are striving to evangelize the lost, plant churches, and work to develop and keep healthy local churches are biblical. We'll never do it perfectly, but we should strive. Now, I want to say something, and then I'll close.

By no means do we have it all figured out. By no means do we have God in the box, but I'm thankful that that is our heartbeat within Anchor and Truth. I'm thankful. I'm thankful.