They Were Tentmakers

Scripture: Acts 18:1-17

1 Then Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome. 3 Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was. 4 Each Sabbath found Paul at the synagogue, trying to convince the Jews and Greeks alike. 5 And after Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul spent all his time preaching the word. He testified to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. (Acts 18:1-5 NLT)

I love to think through the details of the story. When Paul got to Corinth, he was nearly broke, so he went to the tentmaking section of town, found the little shop of Aquila and Priscilla, a  couple of Jewish tentmakers recently arrived from Rome, and got a full-time job sewing tents and sails. On his day off he preached. When Silas and Timothy got to town, bringing money the churches in Macedonia had contributed, he was able to preach full-time. And stir up a lot more trouble!

Priscilla and Aquila were Christ-followers and proved to be good teachers of God’s word, so when Paul decided to travel back to his home church in Syrian Antioch, they accompanied him. Paul dropped them off in Ephesus to teach and organize and help strengthen the church there and he went on to Antioch. Priscilla and Aquila met Apollos in Ephesus, helped him get a clear understanding of the Good News about Jesus. Then Apollos headed out, evangelizing and strengthening the churches he visited.

The Mission:  Reach seekers and build believers.  The Method:  Preach to all who will listen, then teach those who believed.  It was all done through a network of relationships that connected and separated, grew and spread, ebbed and flowed.  Paths crossed, teams developed, friends said “Goodbye” and the Good News spread.

Words that come to mind as I think about these stories in Acts are:

Friendships, Teamwork, Flexibility, Flow, Respect, Determination, Cooperation, Simplicity, Organic, Support.

Prayer:

Father, I am so thankful for the stories in the Bible of real people living real lives! I often wish you had given us a lot more detail, but I realize it’s your book and you know what you’re doing. So thanks for the stories. Help me to see in the stories what I need to see to think the right thoughts and reach the right conclusions about life and purpose and mission and ministry. Amen.