Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19980614.htm

ACTS: THE LOCAL CHURCH AS GOD'S AGENCY FOR DISCIPLING MEN
Part XLIV: Knowing When To Be PATIENT And When To WITHDRAW As A Wise Discipler
(Acts 19:1-7, 8-10)
  1. Introduction
    1. There is a fine line the discipling believer must walk when relating with others of his faith. On the one hand, he must have nothing to do with abusive people as Paul commands in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. On the other hand, Paul himself commands Timothy to be very patient in his pulpit ministry, 4:2. The question comes, "When do we know when to be patient and where to give up on patience with the hardened disciple?!"
    2. Acts 19:1-10 shows Paul dealing with two such parties, and how he dealt differently for our insight:
  2. Knowing When To Be PATIENT And When To WITHDRAW As A Wise Discipler, Acts 19:1-10.
    1. Paul exercised great patience with disciples of John because they were open to his message, Acts 19:1-7:
      1. When Paul met up with some disciples in Ephesus, and asked if they had received the Holy Spirit, they reported that they had never heard whether there existed any Holy Spirit, Acts 19:1-2.
      2. He then asked about their religious background, finding that they had been baptized unto John the baptizer's baptism of repentance, cf. Acts 19:3 with Matthew 3:1-2, 5.
      3. These disciples' claim that they didn't know of the Holy Spirit is inexcusable: John the Baptizer openly, candidly witnessed about the coming Messiah and His baptism of the Holy Spirit, for all three synoptic gospels say as much, in Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:7-8 and Luke 3:16. Thus, somehow these men had spiritually languished in spiritual ignorance due to their o wn faults!
      4. However, since these men were not antagonistic, but open, Paul patiently clarified John's forerunner ministry of Messiah, Jesus who had come, Acts 19:4.
      5. Since these men were open to Paul, they accepted this teaching and submitted to faith in Christ, being baptized to witness of that faith, Acts 19:5.
      6. Paul then laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit predicted long ago by John, 19:6-7.
    2. Conversely, Paul withdrew from Scripturally knowledgeable men who were closed to hearing his words:
      1. When Paul entered the synagogue to testify of Christ and His kingdom to knowledgeable Jews, he met up with some who were hardened where patience would not have produced any progress, 19:8-9a.
        1. Paul spoke for a three month period of time in the synagogue of the gospel of Christ, 19:8.
        2. However some of the hearers did not believe his message, were hardened, and even attacked Paul's beliefs in front of his hearers, Acts 19:9a. The Greek text uses the word kakologeo, meaning "insulting abuse" that was performed before the multitude by these opponents against what Paul was teaching, cf. UBS Greek N.T., p. 492; Moulton & Milligan, The Vocab. of the Grk. N.T., p. 316.
      2. Since his opponents' attitudes were abusively antagonistic, and that in an aggressive way that sought to detract others from Paul's message, he gave up using any more patience and withdrew from them:
        1. Paul withdrew from these opponents, separating his disciples from their influence, and went into another location, the rhetorical school of Tyrannus, to continue his ministry, Acts 19:9b.
        2. He stayed at this ministry for two years, disputing daily in the rhetorical school to those who gave him an ear so as to offset the works of his detractors in the synagogue, Acts 19:9c-10a.
      3. Accordingly, since Ephesus was a center of commerce and trade, people traveling to and from the city heard Paul speak, and took the gospel with them as they traveled away from Ephesus , Acts 19:10b.
Lesson: Knowing with whom we should be patient and from whom we must withdraw in the discipling process is a matter of discerning the hearer's ATTITUDE: (a) Though the disciple is INEXCUSABLY ignorant but is STILL OPEN to what we present, it is WORTHWHILE continuing to tell him the truth. (b) However, if one opposes our efforts with ((a)) abusive insults ((b)) before others to keep us from influencing THEM also with the truth, we are better off withdrawing contacts with such folk.

Application: God wants us to be patient with any disciple who shows evidence at least of hearing us. Once the hearer shuts off our speech so far as to stop hearing, and even seeks to undermine our teaching to other hearers, we are to withd raw. The ACID test is whether the disciple still HEARS!