"Occupied" with the Word

“Occupied” with the Word

Acts 18:1-5: After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. (ESV)

As I was reading this chapter, those 4 words jumped off the page at me—“occupied with the Word.” I had never seen that particular wording before, but this year I’m doing my daily reading from the ESV and there it was. I began to think about that word “occupied.” It conjured up many mental images, but the first one to come to mind happened to be the sign I’ve often seen near the latch on a bathroom. Paul was occupied by the Word, by the Gospel. It was on his mind night and day and he spent many of his waking hours reasoning, persuading, testifying, defending and proclaiming it. That’s exactly what he was doing when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia.

I decided to look up the word “occupy” in Webster’s 1828 Dictionary. Here’s a summary of what I found:

1. To take possession. To keep in possession; to possess; to hold or keep for use. To take up; to possess; to cover or fill. Paul took possession of the Gospel, it was very personal to him. He made it his own. In fact, in Romans 16:25-27, he actually calls it “my gospel.”

   “Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith--to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen”

   Don’t be confused here, he was not preaching a gospel about himself or a gospel he invented, Romans 1:1-6 makes this very clear,

   “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

   It was God’s Word—the Gospel—that Paul possessed and that possessed him.
   
   
2. To employ; to use, to busy one's self. Paul busied himself with the Gospel. It was what he did. Paul is first introduced in Acts while present at the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7) In chapter 9 of Acts, he is confronted by the very Jesus he was persecuting. Upon his conversion, within a matter of a few days, he is in the synagogue proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God.
   
   

   “For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.” (Acts 9:19b-22)

   Paul busied himself, kept himself employed, by proclaiming God’s Word—the Gospel.

Is there really anything better that we can occupy ourselves with than the Word? There are many good and noble things that are begging that we be occupied with them, but they are not the best, we MUST be occupied by the Word. Why?

It is God breathed. The Word is actually the Words of God, as if He is speaking them to us Himself. He breathed them upon the inspired writers and we need to read them as if He were speaking them directly to us, as if they were coming from His mouth.

It is our Weapon. Ephesians 6 tells us to “Take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” It is our best and surest defense. But to use it effectively, it must occupy us and we must know it.

It is Truth. In this world of relativism and pragmatism, His Word stands alone as truth. It is Truth that can be lived by, stood on, fought for, lived for and maybe even defended for....to death.

It Sanctifies us. The same passage that tells us God’s Word is Truth, tells us it sanctifies us. His Word purifies us, but as we read it and apply it to our lives, one of its wonderful benefits is that it brings healing to our brokenness.

Are you, like Paul, “occupied” with the Word?