Corinth and Paul's first prayer for the church there

We learn significant things in the first verses of Acts 18. Paul didn't wait for Timothy and Silas to arrive to become active. He found a couple, Aquila and Priscilla, Jews who had been ordered to leave Rome. Because they had a common trade as well as a common faith, he stayed with and worked with them. And as was his custom, "he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks" (Acts 18:4; ESV).

This is what Silas and Timothy found Paul engaged in when they came. This time when opposed and reviled, Paul, "shook out his garments and said to them, 'Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles" (Acts 18:6; ESV).

But that was not the end of Paul's ministry to the Jews. Acts 18:7-8 reveals this: "And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized."

Paul must have been somewhat apprehensive to have needed this: "And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, 'Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people'" (Acts 18:9-10; ESV). Encouraged and confirmed, Paul remained in the city for 18 months, teaching the word of God.

When trouble arose here, Gallio the proconsul would not get involved, even driving the complaining Jews from the tribunal. And instead of taking their anger out on Paul, the stymied Jews seized and beat Sosthenes in front of the tribunal. Even this did not get the attention of Gallio. (Paul would later include Sosthenes in his greeting in the first letter to the Corinthian believers.)

Paul left Corinth eventually, traveling to Syria, now including Priscilla and Aquila in his entourage. After stopping at Cenchreae, they came to Ephesus.

The church Paul was instrumental in founding at Corinth would eventually receive two letters which are included in Scripture. While he dealt with many issues in this church, his love and pastoral concern come through in the prayers recorded in those letters.

In his first letter, Paul writes first of his thanksgiving: "I give thanks to my God for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and knowledge--even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you--so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:4-9; ESV).
 
What are the keys here? Paul directs his thanks to his God always for them. Why? Because of the grace of God that was given them? Where? In Christ Jesus, that in every way they were enriched. Where? In him. With what? In all speech and all knowledge. Proof? Even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among them. Why? So that they were not lacking in any gift. For how long? How? As they waited for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who would sustain them to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's faithfulness was the basis, God who called them into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Consider these seven terms: To God. Always. In Christ Jesus. Testimony about Christ. The revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Called by God into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ out Lord.

Do you see a pattern here? Paul's thanksgiving is all about God and his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. That needs to be the same for us.