Paul and the Macedonian call
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Text: Acts 16.6-10
Putting together a crack squad. In chapter 15&16 we see the ministry team put together Titus comes from chapter 15 then 16 we find Timothy in 1-5; Then Luke joins in (we) vs 11.
1) Paul determined to go to proclaim Christ in Asia Minor (Ephesus).
Evidently, on this missionary journey (his second), his intent was to go to Asia Minor and to proclaim Christ there, after he revisited the churches in Galatia (Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Pisidian Antioch). In obedience to the Great Commission, he decided to head to a place that needed to hear the gospel – likely to the city of Ephesus. It was a good and godly thing he was doing, completely in line with the Great Commission and his personal call to be God’s emissary to the Gentiles.
2) Paul was “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.”
Evidently, the timing was not right. Paul was not convicted of sin or corrected for wrong attitudes. The Spirit simply told him that he was forbidden to go to Asia Minor to proclaim Christ (at this time).
3) Paul traveled to Mysia and determined to go north to Bithynia.
He continued his journey, but turned north, away from Asia Minor (he obeyed the Spirit’s direction here) and he again made a determination. He was going to Bithynia to proclaim Christ. Bithynia was a Roman province on the southwestern corner of the Black Sea and which would later become a significant place in church history (Nicea was in Bithynia). Paul had a noble intent here, to proclaim Christ in Bithynia.
4) But again, “the Spirit of Christ did not allow him” to go to Bithynia.
Once again, somehow, the Spirit of God communicated to Paul that Bithynia was not (at this time) the place for him to minister.
5) In the night, Paul had a vision calling him to Macedonia.
He traveled along the southern edge of Bithynia until he came to Troas. There, he had a nocturnal vision of a man from Macedonia who invited him to come and help them in that pagan city.
6) Paul and his fellow travelers agreed together that this was the call of God to preach in Macedonia.
Evidently, they discussed it and discerned that this was, indeed, of God.
7) Paul and friends headed out to Macedonia to proclaim Christ.
When they were convinced of the leading of God, they immediately obeyed.
The facts of the story are pretty clear, it seems. But what can we glean from them?
Observations on the Macedonian Call
1) Paul was actively engaged in obeying the revealed will of God when the Spirit spoke to him.
Paul was not sitting in Lystra waiting for God to give him a detailed plan for his life. God had given the Great Commission to the church and had revealed the gospel’s glory to Paul. God had called him in Acts 13:1 to be his emissary to the nations. Paul was living in accordance with the revelation God had already given him. We are not promoting some kind of quietistic, navel-gazing form of Christianity. Paul was actively obedient when the Spirit spoke to him.
2) God’s Spirit guided Paul in the details and specific directions that are not part of the revelation of Scripture.
That Paul should proclaim Christ was authoritatively revealed. But here, God’s Spirit had specific directions as to WHERE Paul should do that proclamation. Not Asia. Not Bithynia. Go to Macedonia. You could memorize the entire Old Testament and all of the NT that was extant at that moment and there would be no way Paul could know that the time was not right in Asia or Bithynia, but that Philippi was the place to go! So, God’s Spirit gave him directions.
It was revealed by Jesus in Acts 1:8 that the gospel would go to the ends of the earth. But in Acts 13:1, God told the worshiping church of Antioch exactly who was supposed to spearhead that movement. It was Barnabas and Saul that God had specifically chosen – details beyond the scope of the authoritative revelation.
3) God spoke clearly and directly, but we do not know HOW he spoke.
We know that the call to Macedonia came in the form of a vision at night, perhaps some sort of dream. But we are not told how God’s Spirit forbade Paul from going to Asia or how he communicated that Paul was not allowed to go to Bithynia. Audible voice? Strong spiritual impression “in Paul’s heart?” A prophetic word from someone else. We simply do not know. We know that God’s Spirit spoke and that his negative direction was absolutely clear to Paul. But beyond that, we really know little.
There is a genuine danger here; that people would hear their own emotions or preferences as the voice of God, or even that people would be deceived in some way by demonic spirits. No question about it – the danger is real. But it also seems to be a pattern in Scripture that God speaks in such a way that it is clear to the hearers THAT God spoke and WHAT God said.
4) Paul and his friends conferred and concluded that this was of God.
This was different than the authoritative revelation of Scripture. Here, Paul shared his vision with his compatriots and they somehow came to the conclusion that this was, in fact, the will of God for them. The word there carries the idea of conferring together to reach a conclusion. They discussed it, perhaps prayed over it, and reached the determination that God had indeed spoken and revealed his specific plan for their lives.
5) Having been convinced, they obeyed.
This personal leading compelled them to obey. They did not make a universal principle out of it, but it was a personal and specific guidance. Go here, not here or there. God spoke and they listened.
6) God did not see Pauls planning and moving as an offense.
Does this tell us something about Paul - I don’t believe so.
Yet there are those that want us to look at this passage as if it is about us.
They say things like…
THIS IS NOT A DEAD END, THIS IS YOUR MACEDONIAN CALL! - Nate Johnston
Frustrations are proof that God is going to do something better.
But if we want to understand this passage we need to see it in its - CONTEXT
Is the point of this passage about the frustrations of Paul… NO it was about God’s incredible sovereignty over the affairs of the world. More specifically the spread of the Gospel.
Let me remind you that the key verse of the whole book is Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
This is a geographical book and it describes the historical and therefore supernatural empowering of the spread of the Gospel.
Here is what is interesting to me. Is that many christians have a vested interest not in what the bible says but what the bible says about them. We want to be Paul. We want to know what to do when we don’t know what to do. So someone comes along with Acts 16 and says its okay - you are frustrated with the affairs of your life…God is getting ready to call you to better.
Couple of things…
I’m not an Apostle.
This is a particular man in a particular time. He had at best 39 books of the Bible that we know today because he hasn’t written the bulk of the others yet.
He is hearing from God as a source of his roll in the kingdom.
That’s what Apostles did.
Illustration: We are to imagine that because God gave directions to Paul to not go certain places and to go other places then we should expect the same voice in our ear treatment that Paul got. - But there is not indicator he was doing the same to John or Peter. IF this is supposed to be instructional for us to expect the spirit to hand lead our lives then where is the mass use of this revelation? Its not there not even in the text.
Just because God did lead this way does not give you or I the right to say this is how he always will.
The take away then…
God in his great power and sovereignty controlled the flow of the Gospel so that the lost world could rejoice in the salvation of Jesus. This is the same Gospel we share.
You can lean on the perfect leadership of God’s Word. It worked for Paul it will work for you. Read his word love it follow it. It still works.
What if I feel like God is closing doors or I don’t know what to do next… Then listen to that still small voice… Wait no,
Many will say wait what about Jeremiah 33.3
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
God will do some revealing…
Right he is telling the Jewish people that during the time of Jacob’s trouble or the Tribulation - His Promises that Jeremiah has already recorded in otherwords- the Bible.
So What do I do when I am frustrated and don’t know what to do next???
Look at how active the Holy Spirit is in directing the movements of the missionary team
For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
There are many devices in a man’s heart;
Nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.
A man’s heart deviseth his way:
But the Lord directeth his steps.
Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
Paul learned this lesson in Chapter 16 so that by 18:
But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.
Important to make plans … but with the humility that God is in charge and will direct; we can’t be stubborn and insistent on our agenda and itinerary
Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.
My Conclusion
1) God reveals his authoritative truth concerning doctrine, life and practice in his sufficient, perfect and complete Word.
2) God, by his Spirit, guides believers in the details of life, at times through the closing of opportunities.
3) Believers live by Word of God, walking in obedience to it. Lead them in a specific direction or guide them in a task.
Phil Spencer told me when I came to SKBC…
Read the Word
Seek Counsel
Then do what you want.
His advice was based on
Delight thyself also in the Lord;
And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Commit thy way unto the Lord;
Trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.