Praying for Sosthenes

Dear friends, 

Sosthenes was a synagogue ruler. He was in charge of the building, the activities that went on inside it and it was his job to ensure that all the arrangements for worship were made ahead of time. He was the manager or in Anglican speak, the verger.

Synagogue rulers were tough nuts. They had to be disciplined in their management of affairs and often discipline others who were not following the rules or compromising Jewish worship. They were exactly the sort of people who (you would expect) would not become Christians.

Sosthenes predecessor became a Christian. 

You can imagine that the teachers and elders of the synagogue would have been outraged at this and may have been determined to appoint a new ruler who had greater conviction in Jewish belief. History does not tell us exactly what sort of man Sosthenes was but we might imagine he was a man of greater conviction. 

One day a Christian preacher came to his town and began calling on people to worship God through Jesus Christ. This upset the Jews in that town and they tried to have the preacher charged on the grounds of preaching false religion and encouraging false worship. But their legal challenge failed and in the process of looking for someone to blame, they turned on Sosthenes. Perhaps they expected he would have kept this preacher away or perhaps he was the one who lead the failed charge against the preacher. Either way, Sosthenes was beaten and the government did nothing about it. 

You might know some hard nuts like Sosthenes; people who you think might never become Christians. Your mum or dad? A neighbour? The Muslim man down the road? It is hard to pray for people like Sosthenes but you should. For God is faithful to his word, he breaks hard hearts through his Spirit and he opens the eyes of unbelievers that they may see the Glory of Christ. 

History only tells us one more thing about Sosthenes. He became a Christian. More than that, he co-authored a book with that same Christian preacher. The book is called 1 Corinthians. 

How wonderful and powerful is the grace of God!
How low are our expectations of God? 

How easily do our hearts think negatively about the likelihood of hard nuts becoming Christians?
And yet God is more powerful than their unbelief and our lack of faith. 

Sosthenes was the sort of person you would expect would never become a follower of Jesus but he did.

Is there a Sosthenes in your life you should be praying for? 

In Christ
Nigel