Wisdom; Problem Solving;
RMA; 1 Cor. 16:5-11
In verses 5-12 there is an
under girding doctrine here that we need to address, the doctrine of decision
making and the will of God. But before we do we have to first understand what is
going on in the text. As we read through this we see that Paul has a lot of
decisions that he has to make due to certain circumstances that are arising and
changing in terms of the circumstances in Corinth, and how does he make these decisions?
A summary read: 1
Corinthians 16:5 NASB “But I will come to you after I go through
Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia; [6] and perhaps I
will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way
wherever I may go. [7] For I do not wish to see you now {just} in
passing; for I hope to remain with you for some time, if the Lord permits.
[8] But I will remain in Ephesus
until Pentecost; [9] for a wide door for effective {service} has
opened to me, and there are many adversaries. [10] Now if Timothy
comes, see that he is with you without cause to be afraid, for he is doing the
Lord’s work, as I also am. [11] So let no one despise him. But
send him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me; for I expect him with
the brethren. [12] Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed
the churches of Galatia, so do you also.”
What under girds this is
the whole concept of decision making. Paul has a problem that he has been
dealing with in this whole epistle with the Corinthians believers. He has been
facing a number of problems, not the least of which is the problem of his own
authority in relation to that church. He has answered that question and now he
has other decisions to make. As we go through life we, too, are faced with numerous
decisions. Some of these decisions appear to be rather inconsequential
decisions and some are actually are inconsequential decisions, they seem to
have no impact. There are other times when we make what appear to be
inconsequential decisions and yet something happens and it turns out they are
consequential decisions.
How does Paul make
decisions? He is faced with a crisis situation with the congregation in Corinth. It probably would take seven or eight days, maybe a
little more at that time, to sail from Ephesus over to Corinth. Right now it is not his plan to come to Corinth. He says that he will come to them. He wants to come
to them despite the fact that they are antagonistic to him, they have
challenged his authority, they have problems with divisions there, but he will
still come. Paul also addresses this problem in 1 Corinthians 4:17-21. One of
the major issues in understanding the verses in 1 Corinthians 16 has to do with
chronology. Paul has already sent Timothy, but Timothy hasn’t arrived yet. NASB
“For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful
child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just
as I teach everywhere in every church. [18] Now some have become arrogant, as
though I were not coming to you. [19] But I will come to you soon,
if the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are
arrogant but their power. [20] For the kingdom of God
does not consist in words but in power. [21] What do you desire?
Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?”
Paul uses the phrase “If
the Lord wills.” He is making plans; he doesn’t have any direction from God. He
faced the same situation that we have, that is, God is not giving us a direct
divine guidance on most decisions. We have to pray about it, we have to apply
doctrine, we have to understand what the principles are, and then we make a
wise decision. The underlying attitude is: I will make this decision if the
Lord wills. This allows us to carry it out, recognizing that sometimes we may
go through the whole decision-making process and choose option B, and God says,
Okay, the test was how you would make the decision but I don’t want you to go
through option B, I’m shutting that door and you are going to have to take
option C which is where I wanted you all along. So we always make decisions “if
the Lord wills.”
Back in chapter 16 Paul
says he will come to them when he has passed through Macedonia. That is the plan he has now. He says he is going to
stay in Ephesus until Pentecost. Pentecost occurs 50 days after
Passover which occurs sometime in March or April; it is determined by the new
moon. So Pentecost is usually the latter part of May or the first part of June.
He is merely using that as a calendar reference. He wants to wait until early summer
before he gets starts making his travels when the weather is more conducive to
travel. But notice the phrase there, it is the present
active indicative of the Greek verb thelo
[qelw] which is an assertion of will. He is making a
decision; this is what he has decided to do. So Paul, on what basis have you made this decision to stay in Ephesus? He is simply making a wisdom decision. He knows that
he has a ministry in which he wants to fulfil certain objectives in Ephesus but
he also understands the dynamics of travel and what is involved, he wants to
wait until he is out of the rainy season and into the dry season, and then he
wants to make sure his journey concludes in Corinth before the onset of winter
so that he can then winter in Corinth. He is making these decisions based on
what we might call just common sense principles.
But one of the reasons Paul
wants to stay in Ephesus is given in verse 9: “for a wide door for effective
{service} has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” In
other words, there is great opportunity to spread the gospel there is Ephesus, but nevertheless there are some great adversaries,
difficulties. Doing the will of God is not without opposition.
Acts 15:37 NASB “Acts 15:37 Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with
them also. [38] But Paul kept insisting that they should not take
him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had
not gone with them to the work. [39] And there occurred such a
sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark
with him and sailed away to Cyprus.” Paul isn’t saying: “Okay Lord, what is you r will here?” Paul is just applying doctrine to the
situation. Mark bailed on him, he needs somebody reliable. So Paul says that in
his view that is not the best thing for him. So Barnabas says he wants Mark to
go. He sees a lot of potential in Mark but obviously Paul thinks he is going to
slow him down, so instead of Barnabas going with Paul he will go back to Cyprus. It is not a matter necessarily of right or wrong. A
lot of time we get into situations where somebody wants to do one thing and another
person wants to do another and we want to polarize the situation and say, You
are right and I am wrong, or visa versa. But here we see that Paul and Barnabas
agreed that for the best part it is not a wise decision for Mark to go with
Paul, so Barnabas and Mark go their way and Paul looks over the congregation
and takes Silas.
In Acts 16:1 Paul picks up
Timothy. Note verse 6 NASB “They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit
to speak the word in Asia.” Up to this point they had been making decisions in
a wisdom framework of decision-making, there is no direct divine guidance. But
all of a sudden they get into this province of Asia
and there is direct divine guidance. God does not always have a specific thing
for you to do in terms of geographical will, but sometime He does. When He does
God is going to make it clear to you. [7] and after
they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.” We don’t
know how the Holy Spirit communicated this but it was clear that he wasn’t to
witness or do anything in Asia. It wasn’t the time. [8] and
passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
[9] A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, ‘Come
over to Macedonia and help us’.” This is God’s revealing
what His will is, so it is very clear now as to the direction he wanted them to
go. God had a specific geographical will, and that was Europe.
Where? Well, wherever. This is where wisdom operates within the framework of a specific
will. Sometimes there is a general area where God may want us to be but how we
operate within that general area is determined by our own decision making and
application of doctrine.
Acts
19:1 NASB “It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper
country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples.” This was at the beginning of his third missionary
journey. Apollos at this time was pasturing that carnal crowd over in Corinth. [8] “And he entered the synagogue and continued
speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading {them} about the
kingdom of God.
[9] But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the
Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples,
reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. [10] This took place for two years, so that all who
lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” Three
years earlier Paul went through there and God said not to speak to anybody in Asia.
Why? It was too big a task, Paul couldn’t have done it, it
would have slowed him down. God had something else for him to do. It was a
matter of timing. Now he is back in Ephesus teaching Bible classes, and
as a result of this the men and women that are coming are getting the Word and
they are evangelising others. During this two-year period of time the churches
in Colosse, Hierapolis, Laodicea, Pergamum, Thyatira, Smyrna, Sardis,
etc. were all founded. So he has a base of operations in Ephesus and they are sending out teams doing evangelism and
starting churches all over Asia. So it was a matter of timing. God closed the door at
one point but later on He opened the door.
So when that comes back to
the issue of decision making in our lives we have to recognize that sometimes
we may truly want to do something but God may be saying the timing is not right
and He has something else to do right now, and eventually you will get there.
Acts 19:21 NASB “Now after
these things were finished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, ‘After I have
been there, I must also see Rome’.” What this is saying is that Paul is in the
decision-making process again. [22] “And having sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia
for a while.” That is what he refers to in 1 Corinthians: he sent Timothy. But
in 1 Corinthians 16 he knows Timothy hasn’t arrived yet. Then he faces
opposition. [24] For a man named Demetrius, a
silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little
business to the craftsmen; [25] these he gathered together with
the workmen of similar {trades,} and said, ‘Men, you know that our prosperity
depends upon this business. You
see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia,
this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying
that gods made with hands are no gods {at all.}.”