Grace & Truth Church
Acts of Jesus through the Holy Spirit - wk 16
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  • Acts 16

    Several important people and major events happen in Acts 16, but they happen in a very subtle way. First, Timothy joins Paul and Silas. We also learn a little bit about his mother. The three of them continue the missionary journey until they hit a road block. For some reason God keeps them from from preaching the word in the province of Asia. While they are in Troas, Paul had a vision of a man begging him to “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
    Apparently at this point, Luke joins them and the Gospel makes its way into Europe! Next, the gang finds a small group of Jewish people in Philippi. One woman in particular named Lydia became an integral part of the church as her and her entire household responded to the Gospel. Her home became the center for Christian outreach and worship in Philippi. While in Philippi, Paul commands a demon to come out of a slave woman. This upset her owners so they stirred people up against Paul and Silas. At this, the magistrates tortured and imprisoned them.
    While in prison, they prayed and sang hymns to God, then an earthquake hit and opened the prison doors and freed the prisoners from their chains. However none of the prisoners left, and the guard was so moved by the event that he became a believer and brought Paul and Silas to his house to share the Gospel with his household.
    Next, the magistrates send word to release Paul and Silas, but they refuse to be ushered off quietly.
    There is plenty to talk about this morning, so let’s ask God for direction and dive in to chapter 16!
    Pray
    I’m anxious to get to the prison scene because there is a lot more to talk about than what I just mentioned, but I don’t want to miss the cool details in the first half of the chapter. As I said, there are some big things here, but they are very subtle. Nate Sala described one in particular as being a sort of “butterfly effect.”
    If you don’t know what that is, the “butterfly effect” is a poetic way of describing something seemingly insignificant and miniscule happening at one moment or in one place and then cascading and developing into something significant. The term was popularized by a meteorologist who simply rounded a decimal number from six decimal numbers to three and it produced dramatically different weather predictions. The idea behind the term “butterfly effect” is a metaphor of a butterfly flapping it’s wings in Brazil causing a tornado in Texas.
    That metaphor really stands out in this chapter. First of all, in the last chapter we discussed Paul and Barnabas going different directions. That lead to Paul also taking Silas. That is a key detail. If Paul and Barnabas stuck together, chapter 16 would have been dramatically different. Not only that, but we may have never seen letters to the Philippians, Corinthians, Thessalonians, Timothy, and so on! That is crazy to think about!
    So they started out on their journey delivering the decisions of the apostles and elders. One of the first things Paul does is sign Timothy up for this mission trip. Things seem to be going very well and the churches were growing every day. However, as they are traveling, they are being kept from going to Asia. At this point, I can’t help but wonder what Paul and the other disciples might have been thinking about. In my mind I am thinking, “God wants us to spread the Gospel to the world. Asia is right there! Why is it not working out to go right there and do what we were called to do?!?”
    Have you ever been in that situation? You know that God wants you to do something, but you keep getting stopped at every turn. I need to share with this person, but they are always busy. I need to start this bible study, but nobody can agree on a day. God, if You want me to do this, why are You not making a way?
    If that sounds all to familiar to you, don’t give up! Don’t stop praying for God to make a way. It is easy to lose heart and think, “maybe I’m just not supposed to do this.” It is possible that God is simply preparing a better way. In fact, you are probably going to run into far more “no’s” than “yes’s” because God is looking at the greater mission. In other words, God’s “no” is preparing you and setting you up for that greater mission, or that better moment.
    Let’s look at Paul again. He wanted to go to Asia. He had a bit of tunnel vision about it. Paul’s problem was that he wasn’t thinking big enough! If you are like Paul you might write this down…

    Paul’s plan was strategic, but God’s plan was global!

    That means the Holy Spirit’s “No” wasn’t rejection… It was redirection to Philippi. It was redirection to Europe. It was redirection to what was, at the time, the center of the entire world! Rome was the imperial head of the world!
    This story reminds me of Balaam and his donkey. They were traveling when suddenly the donkey stopped and wouldn’t move forward anymore. It kept stopping and turning around. Balaam was mad! This stinking donkey has been such a good donkey, now it wants to act like this! So he started beating the donkey. Finally, God gave the donkey the ability to speak and he says, “What’s gotten into you, Shrek?! In the mornin’ I’m makin’ waffles!”
    Come to find out, there was an angel blocking the path. The donkey could see it but Balaam couldn’t. The angel said, “Hey, it’s a good thing you have a good donkey because if you had have kept going I would have killed you!” What would have changed for Balaam if the donkey hadn’t stopped? It’s the butterfly effect. What would have changed if Paul had have made it to Asia instead of Europe?
    Paul may have never met Lydia or the jailer in Philippi.
    The first church in Europe may not have been established.
    Later church plants, like Thessalonica and Corinth.
    The letters to the European churches.
    The Gospel entering Greece and Rome.
    Over the centuries, Europe becoming the center of Christianity, exporting missions and theology globally may have never happened.
    It’s crazy to think about how different things would have been today if that one, seemingly insignificant “Y” in the road had have allowed them to turn right instead of going left. BUT, they do go left. They head into Europe. Paul has a vision one night and God gives them a new goal to pursue. Macedonia!
    Acts 16:9–10 NIV
    9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
    The rest of this chapter focuses on Philippi, which is in Macedonia. They show up and immediately look for a synagogue on the Sabbath, just as he always does. However, in this city the Jewish population is so small that there is no synagogue. So what they have to find is what is called a proseuche (pro-se-hee), which is a place of prayer under the open sky and near a river or the sea…
    Acts 16:13–15 NIV
    13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
    Lydia is an important person in Philippi. There is a lot of speculation as to just how important and prominent she was to Paul and the Christian church, but she was without a doubt important. Her home essentially becomes the center for Christian outreach and worship in Philippi. She was a “dealer in purple cloth” and she had room in her house for the disciples and to help start this church, so she was probably wealthy. In fact, purple was the color of royalty, so her clients probably afforded her a pretty decent living.
    One day, on their way to the place of prayer, the missionaries had an encounter with a slave woman that lands them in jail…
    Acts 16:16–18 NIV
    16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
    As you can imagine, with their source of income now rendered inert, the woman’s owners were not happy at all. They stirred up trouble for Paul and Silas over this issue and they end up getting stripped, beaten, and thrown into prison. What is amazing to me is that it has been almost two thousand years since this incident, and many people still serve evil to this day. I can’t help but think about people who are still slaves today. When people try to help them be set free, their slave owners stir up crowds of people against them, beat them, arrest them, and even kill anyone who would dare to help a person enslaved by evil.
    I think the lesson there is that it is not only the demon possessed and the enslaved who are slaves. Unknowingly, the slave owners are also slaves to evil. Even these slave owners aren’t the enemies, but the powers and principalities of this dark world who hold them in servitude are the real enemies.
    That is a bit of a side tangent, but I think it bring some color to the picture of what the Christians in Philippi are facing. Before we fall back on that, let’s look at what happens in the jail…
    Acts 16:25–31 NIV
    25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
    What a moment for this guy! Life had to be stressful for prison guards. Apparently, earthquakes were somewhat common in this area. According to historians, stories and legends of people escaping prisons were also apparently somewhat common. When a prisoner escaped under a guards watch, that guard would at minimum face the same punishment the prisoners were to face.
    Can you imagine seeing the open door and knowing what fait awaits you? Then to hear Paul yell for you to wait because every prisoner remained in the cell! For this guy, I imagine there had to be no denying that Paul and Silas were just who the possessed woman declared. Maybe he even got to see her before and after she was set free of the demon possession. Maybe that is why he ran into the cell trembling and asking how to be saved. In that split second, he probably heard her voice a hundred times… “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”
    If that is the case, it makes this story a little more interesting because that woman carried some clout in this city. For one thing, we know that her owners made a “great deal of money” from her ability. Luke describes her as having a “Python spirit,” which the NIV translates as a spirit by which she predicted the future. The Python was a mythical serpent or dragon that guarded the temple and oracle of Apollo. It was said to have eventually been killed by Apollo. Later the word “python” came to mean a demon-possessed person through whom the Python spoke. People who knew her would have known her for her ability to foretell the future.
    She declared that they serve the “Most High God.” The Jews used this title for Yahweh, but the Greeks also used it for Zeus. Today, if you talk about Jesus, some people will use it as an immediate divide, but to the Greek audience, the “Most High God” was a term that Greeks could understand and Paul could build on.
    The next morning, after the jailer and his family become believers, officers bring word from the magistrates that Paul and Silas are to be released. Good news! Right?
    Acts 16:37 NIV
    37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”
    This is interesting to me. This seems like a pretty big blessing. They are being released from prison, but instead of being happy about it Paul appears to be throwing a fit about his mistreatment as a Roman citizen. I appreciate Nate Sala’s notes on this, because I’m not sure I would have ever caught on to what Paul was doing.
    Before I talk about that, remember the environment that Paul and Silas are in. They are in this city where people are worshipping many false Gods. There are demon possessed people that apparently have good standing with the public. In fact, many people rely on and pay good money for their divine services. Prominent people are unknowingly serving the will of evil demonic forces by performing acts of evil that are antithetical to God’s ways. Whatever your flavor is, you can find it here. You can serve whatever God you want to.
    To me, that sounds very similar to the world we live in today. We still have slaves. People still have that self serving nature that entices them to seek out the services of these slaves. If you are a threat to the power and money that some have, you could face the same danger Paul and Silas faced for the same offense.
    Let’s think about the news for a second. Have you ever noticed how a single news article can change over time? It’s very difficult to find, but a fresh news article will often have a very negative sounding headline and possibly even a very negative body when it is initially released. This happens very very often in regards to our President. Sometimes it is subtle, but the headline might say something like, “Puppies in danger as guy moves into town.” Buried in the article might be a sentence like, “This guy says that he likes cats more than puppies. He invests in cat shelters, but has spend zero dollars on dog shelters.”
    Even though it is a baseless statement and there is no correlation between this guy spending money on cats but not dogs, the article intends to impugn the man’s reputation. I don’t know anything else about this guy and I already don’t like him. I mean, who likes cats more than dogs? That’s crazy!
    Now back to Nate’s point. That is exactly the kind of thing that Paul is trying to keep from happening to the Christian church. Paul’s actions here are not about his Roman citizenship, but instead are about the first church in Philippi! Let’s look at it…
    Acts 16:37 NIV
    37 But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”
    In other words, “They made the public perception of us, our God, and the Christian church negative! To the public eye, they made us into law breaking criminals! Now they want to quietly kick us out. Yesterday the papers read, ‘Criminal Christians thrown in jail.’ Today they will print a retraction on page 5 in small print under the knitting club announcements. I don’t think so!”
    Acts 16:38–40 NIV
    38 The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 39 They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.
    Here are some more butterfly effect stats… Remember how Paul and Silas were Roman citizens? They get to claim the benefits of this citizenship here. This made the magistrates nervous because this made the two subject to Roman law, not local law. As Roman citizens, they were not to be killed, tortured, or even put in bonds! These guys messed up bad by publicly torturing and humiliating them, and Paul was going to make things right.
    Another curious question… Where was Luke and Timothy? Apparently, this city was also a little anti-Semitic. Paul and Silas were Jews and apparently more Jewish in appearance than the half-Jewish Timothy and fully Gentile Luke. Interestingly, all of these random factors worked together to create a sort of protective bubble around this new church.
    Now, because of the more public apology, the public perception would have to be completely different for the Philippian church. The magistrates initially set the perception that these Christian leaders were trouble makers and criminals. The very next day, they had to transform the public perception by publicly admitting they falsely and wrongly punished them for doing no wrong.
    Nate summarizes the encounter this way…
    “Paul wasn’t seeking to uphold his own reputation by making a fuss in jail! He was seeking to ensure that Christ’s church — meeting at Lydia’s house — would continue to fellowship with no trouble from the city… As those bearing the name of Christ, disciples are called to live and speak in ways that protect His Church and uphold the honor of His Gospel.”
    The concept of upholding God’s name is an important part of being a follower of Christ. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul would later say that we are representatives or ambassadors for Christ…
    2 Corinthians 5:18–20 NLT
    18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
    We are called to uphold the message of the Gospel through with our speech and with our lives! When Jesus taught this concept He said, “People don’t light a lamp and hide it under a bowl. They put in on a lampstand so everyone can have light!”
    Matthew 5:16 NIV
    16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
    I am consistently amazed by the boldness of the first disciples. The early church faced much much more persecution and danger than I probably ever will, yet they prayed for and exhibited boldness. Even in the tiny and subtle details like that of Paul declaring his Roman citizenship. If I were there I probably would have slipped out quietly. I think I would have been bold enough to go back to the church and say goodbye, but I don’t think I would have been bold and shrewd enough to demand a public apology that would help protect the new church.
    This chapter really makes me think about the small things that I do. The tiny changes that I can make that would turn into huge transformations in my life. “Big beautiful transformations. That are gonna be huge!” The “butterfly effect” things. Am I bold enough to gently flap my tiny wings knowing that it could stir a tornado down the road? As a representative of Christ, are my wings breathing His Gospel or my own hot air?
    To close, I want to leave you all with the question that I believe God has put on my heart from this chapter…
    How can I be a tiny but bold spark that God turns into a flame that proclaims His Gospel for others to have light?
    Pray

      • Acts 16:9–10ESV

      • Acts 16:13–15ESV

      • Acts 16:16–18ESV

      • Acts 16:25–31ESV

      • Acts 16:37ESV

      • Acts 16:37ESV

      • Acts 16:38–40ESV

      • 2 Corinthians 5:18–20ESV

      • Matthew 5:16ESV

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