Acts 16- Lydia and Philippi

Who Are The Christians?

Only show the second map

Acts 16:6–10 “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”

Paul plans the second missionary journey with 2 goals in mind- one is to deliver the verdict of the first church council in history- which is that salvation through Christ has nothing to do with following the Jewish laws or customs, that grace is given as a gift to those who humbly, freely, and with repentance, receive it. And his second goal, which, of course, is related, is to strengthen the churches that he and Barnabas planted on their first missionary journey.

The third goal is unstated because it is the consistent goal of Paul and his companions at all times which is to preach the Gospel and to plant churches. And in that light, yes, he is also planning on going to some new cities to share the Word, probably all in that area as well because there are many cities in Asia that have not yet heard the Word of God.

But that is not what is going to happen. It is not what is going to happen because that is not where the Spirit is going to lead them, and that is not where the Spirit is going to bless them.

What is of interest to me today about that is this: sometimes (usually, perhaps) the Lord keeps His plans to Himself until the very moment that decisions need to be made and even then He does not reveal His full plan- He only gives them what they need in that moment to know what the NEXT thing to do is. God is in control but the future is unknown to us and that can cause anxiety or fear in us because WE want to be in control of the future.

Paul and Timothy don’t quit. They don’t turn around and go back to Antioch. They don’t rail against God about it. Now, we don’t know exactly what they said and did and since they ARE human we can presume that they were confused and frustrated. But Paul in particular is a mature Christian by now. Being a mature Christian does not mean that you never make mistakes or that you have it all figured out. But being a mature Christian does mean that you have gotten used to hearing ‘no’ from God and you have a comfort level with His leading even when it is not making sense to YOU.

Paul’s first attempts at ministry, if you remember, did not go well. He was only successful at creating conflict and he was sent home from Jerusalem to Tarsus. He has had many failures by this point, as well as significant successes and victories in the Lord. He has been at this for years now, and he has had his ups and downs and he has seen the Lord stay faithful to him through all of them. So I imagine he was frustrated, yes. But I also imagine he didn’t let it rattle him too much. This is life when God is God and you are not God.

So they just keep going. The Lord doesn’t tell them the plan. He only tells them when they veer from it. They want to preach the Gospel in other towns in Asia. The Lord says no. They want to go north into Bithynia and the Lord says no. So they just keep walking. It is a 1,200 mile walk from Antioch to Troas. They just keep walking. Doing, at this point, pretty much nothing for the Kingdom other than moving forward.

Sometimes following the Lord just means moving forward. It just means getting out of bed and doing the work that the Lord has for you that day that might feel meaningless to you but it’s moving forward. The mature Christian does not always need to be involved in dramatic powerful things that feel momentous. The mature Christian is always working on deepening their relationship with God, growing in obedience, and keeping their eyes and ears open to whatever the Lord might tell them to do at any time, no matter how small or how big. The mature Christian doesn’t say to God give me the big important tasks and make my life big and important. The mature Christian simply says “Here I am Lord.” Do with me what you will I am your servant.

1 Thessalonians 4:11 “and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,”

So they reach Troas, and it is there that Paul has his vision of the man of Macedonia calling for help, and they head to Samothrace, which is in Macedonia. Now they know, now they understand where the Spirit has been leading them, and they focus on preaching the Gospel in Macedonia.

Something else of significance happens in Troas by the way. Does anyone know what that is? In between verses 8 and 9 there is a subtle shift. (They —-> We)

Luke. Luke happens in Troas. The change in pronouns makes it explicit. So here is a good lesson in humility. You know, we wouldn’t even know Luke’s name but for Paul mentioning it 3 times in his letters. Luke’s name is not in Acts or even in the foreword to his gospel. It’s Paul who tells us who Luke is.

Luke was not interested in any kind of focus on himself whatsoever. He didn’t want to make himself look brave or holy or faithful or anything, he just wanted the focus to be on Christ and what Jesus had done and was doing in the world through the Holy Spirit, whom He, Jesus was sending to do these things.

Don’t make yourself the star of the story. Of any story. Make yourself by nature a servant, grasping at nothing, demanding nothing, and making recognition of yourself unimportant. If you are a good and faithful servant others may at times recognize your service and give you recognition, even as Paul did of Luke. Accept that, be grateful for it that the Lord has given you such honor through His people, and give all that glory right back to God who has given you such gifts and blessings that you are able to be of service to others. All glory to God is not just a pious saying, it is also how we ought to live.

Psalm 115:1 “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”

I love Luke’s humility here. We don’t know how Luke came to be in Troas (he is originally from Antioch) or how he met Paul there or anything. Someone not reading carefully might not even notice the shift from ‘them’ to ‘us’ and just keep reading not aware that Luke has joined the group.

Be that as it may, the group arrives eventually in Philippi. And this is where things get interesting.

3 people and their communities are discussed in the remainder of this chapter. And there are several ways that we can think about the next 3 stories but the theme that keeps coming to my mind is a popular theme of our times, of our generation here in America. And that is the theme of diversity.

There were many people in Philippi that Paul and Timothy and Luke and the others reached with the Gospel. There are many untold stories. The book of Acts spans many years and touches upon literally thousands of people. Luke, like any historian, has to make choices about where he will focus his narrative, and it is the Holy Spirit within him drawing his focus and attention to certain peoples. In this case, it is a wealthy woman of some influence and power who is Gentile by birth, but has come to believe in and worship YHWH the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Then it is a demon possessed slave girl who is exploited by her owners.

Then it is an even more unlikely convert, a jailer who is charged with keeping Paul and Silas in prison. A pagan Gentile with the power of violence in his hands.

To sum up, a wealthy merchant woman, a poor possessed slave girl, and a prison warden, who is likely a retired legionnaire. It would be hard to conceive of 3 more different people all living in the same city of Philippi at this time, and because of this many commentators believe that the Holy Spirit is inspiring Luke to pick THESE stories in order to make a point about the range of people who are finding Jesus and giving their lives to Him. It is all people of all types and all backgrounds.

LYDIA

Acts 16:11–15 “So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.”

We know very little about Lydia. She is not mentioned again in the New Testament, but that is not unusual. In Acts 13 the proconsul of all of Cyprus, a man of power and wealth, gives his life to Jesus. What happens after that? We don’t know. The story never returns there.

Lydia, it can be presumed, is wealthy. She is likely a widow, a common state that women found themselves in back then and she runs a business dealing with purple cloth and goods. It can’t be said HOW wealthy she was, moderately so or excessively, but wealthy enough to invite several guests into her home. This meant, in that culture, that you would be responsible not just for housing them, but also for feeding them, and what is more, that you would protect their honor and safety. It was no small thing to invite guests into your home.

And from this home base they continued to go to the place of prayer by the river to preach the Gospel. This must have been an enjoyable time for Paul and Timothy and Luke and whomever else was with them. A comfortable home, good food, good company surrounded by other new Christians who are full of joy at their newfound relationship with Jesus.

Lydia is a Christian. And she is part of the system, it should be noted. She benefits from the culture and power of the Roman Empire and is what we would call today, privileged. But she humbles herself and makes herself a servant and uses her resources to build God’s Kingdom, not her own Kingdom. There is no inherent sin in being a person of means and wealth. There is temptation, as wealth appeals to us as it gives the illusion of security and safety, and there are plenty of warnings about this with regard to wealth in the Bible, but it is not a sin to be wealthy, Biblically speaking. Lydia has resources that many people do not have, and she puts them in service to God, with gratitude.

SLAVE GIRL

Acts 16:16–18 “As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.”

Then we have the slave girl. She and Lydia could not be further apart- all they have in common is their gender. This poor girl is not just a slave, but the text reveals that there is no warmth, respect or affection between her and her owners, who are simply using her to make money. Again, as a reminder, slavery in those days was of a different flavor than American chattel slavery. It was not race based, but it was also possible for a slave and their owners to have a close and even affectionate relationship, and it was possible for slaves to even have some power and influence in society. It was a complex institution is my point.

But in this instance this poor girls was experiencing slavery in a manner similar to what Africans brought to America experienced for centuries- abuse and exploitation for profit. However, she is not just being abused economically. She is also spiritually enslaved and in darkness. She has a demon - a snake demon (pneuma pythoma) which gave her prophetic powers and was associated with the oracle at Delphi.

And it is often the case that people who have been abused and traumatized and hated can internalize that sin and that darkness and become more open to evil spirits that can create some bizarre situations. (story of Janessa at our house) (Jason Milton, Jena’s boyfriend)

Luke relates the story of the slave girl to show one thing and one thing clearly, that Jesus freed her from her demonic oppression. What happened to her after that in terms of her human oppressors or her relationship to Christ, if any, is never spoken of. Luke does not tell her continued story. She is possessed, and she is not in charge of her own life. But somehow she finds herself following Paul and his companions, shouting true things at them. What she is shouting at them is that they are also slaves. Slaves of God, and that they are proclaiming true things, just like she does, but the true things that they say lead to salvation. It almost sounds like jealousy.

It is not known what happened to the slave girl. But she was important enough for Luke to include her here, to highlight the freedom that Jesus gave her. But her name is not shared and her story ends abruptly at this point.

It’s possible she just continued as a slave but without her prophetic abilities. But did she become a Christian? It’s odd that Luke doesn’t share what she did or said or believed after the exorcism.

I think there are 2 possible reasons for that. One, having been freed of this spirit, perhaps this slave girl just took to flight and ran away, such that neither Luke nor his companions know the end of her story, it is only in God’s hands. This might be supported too by the fact that the owners “saw their hope of gain was gone” and there is no mention of her being abused again by her owners.

The second possibility is a happier one. She may have truly become a Christian in that moment, as many did after experiencing a healing, physical or spiritual. And she may have joined the believers at Lydia’s house. Keep in mind that when Luke wrote these narratives most of the people he was writing about were still alive. This narrative was not written hundreds of years later it was written by an eyewitness. And an escaped slave in a Roman colony was at risk of death. You wouldn’t want her name to be known or where she was or even that she had become a Christian because that would give clues as to where she was. Whereas Lydia was a respected free member of society and she could make the free choice to let people know she was a believer in Jesus Christ. That might still entail some risk, but nothing like what the slave girl might experience if Luke revealed more about her. I prefer this possibility. But the truth is we cannot know. What we DO know, is that Jesus gave her freedom from an oppressive and demonic spirit, and He is still capable today to provide such freedom.

Now of course, this story is the instigating event that leads to Paul and Silas’ imprisonment. Where Timothy and Luke are in this moment is unknown, but clearly they were not with Paul and Silas.

Acts 16:19–24 “But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.”

The owners who brought these charges are motivated by greed and the anger at the loss of a money making slave, but that is not what they bring before the magistrates. They know they won’t get much sympathy in that arena. Instead, they emphasize that they are Jews (the Jews were tolerated in the Roman Empire, but they had a reputation for being stubborn and obstinate as they would not worship other gods and were frequently rebelling against Rome) and they are disturbing the peace of the city and are advocating for customs and rituals that are not legal. Here they are clearly referring to the worship of Jesus Christ. Politics and religion were not separate in the ancient world, they were flip sides of the same coin. To advocate for new practices of worship was not technically legal until approved by Rome.

The crowd gets angry, they are beaten with rods, a common judicial punishment, and they are imprisoned, probably with the intent to give them a more formal trial later that will likely end in their death.

If you were reading the book of Acts up to this point you would probably expect God to do what He did for Peter before, to send an angel to free them and bring them back to Lydia’s house, the center of the church.

But unexpectedly the focus shifts to a most unlikely character- the head jailer. The guy who was in charge of the facilities where they were imprisoned. A little Roman architecture would be helpful here for the story. (SLIDE)

It was common practice at the time for the jail to be either right next to or in some cases directly underneath the home of the jailer. This helps to make some sense of the narrative.

Acts 16:25–30 “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?””

I just want to pause here to ask the question...how many times in the jailer’s life do you think HE had been asked that question? How can I be saved?

There’s another interesting question here. Why didn’t they escape? Why didn’t they run away? We aren’t told, but Paul’s words to the jailer sound compassionate, don’t they? Don’t harm yourself? Why would anyone in Paul’s situation CARE if the jailer harms himself?

When Paul is at his best, then he is fully given over to loving his enemies. He doesn’t always do this perfectly, by the way. Paul has pride, and he has a temper. We will have occasion to see that literally in the next few verses, but here he exhibits Christ like love for his literal jailer.

And this selfless act of love breaks open the heart of the jailer, who I am sure in his line of work has a hardened heart in every sense, but something in him breaks free, and as he probably already knows that Paul is preaching about salvation and healing, he asks Paul, how can I be saved?

And what happens next is that Paul and Silas preach the Gospel, in the middle of the night, to the jailer and his household. And the jailer and his family give their lives to God, and are baptized.

Now, consider again these three. Lydia, the wealthy merchant widow. The unnamed possessed slave girl, and the Roman chief jailer of Philippi.

Assuming for the moment that the slave girl also gave her life to Christ, these 3 people are now all in the same church together. And all I want to say about that is this: They have nothing holding them together except their shared salvation before the Cross and their love for Jesus Christ. Nothing worldly ties these people together.

And there aren’t a bunch of denominations in Philippi that you can choose from- there is just this handful of new believers from all walks of life. And they are now a community. “Once you were not a people, now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

The jailer is intriguing to me. How did his story unfold? Imagine you are saved and you go to church at Lydia’s house and there is the jailer. That man may very well have someone you know or love in his prison. He may have killed or tortured people that you know. And there he is. In church!

Is the escaped slave girl there? What does that mean for a member of law enforcement? How will they navigate that? So many questions, and of course they all have different views on society and on the Emperor and on the politics of the day- vastly different views. And now they are in church together.

And what this means in practice for Paul and Timothy and Silas is that they are now hearing a lot of “No”. They don’t know why. They don’t have the benefit of the book of Acts spread out before them showing them what the Lord is going to do. All they know is that they came to preach the Gospel and the Lord is telling them, telling these gifted prophets and preachers, telling them NOT to do so.

They were most certainly frustrated and confused. Luke does not relate what they were feeling because it’s not the point of the passage- the point is that the Lord is guiding them, ultimately to Macedonia where they will reap a tremendous harvest in Philippi and Thessalonika and Berea and Athens and so forth. That is the point. But any Christian who is trying to serve Christ and keeps attempting to do so and keeps being told ‘no’ is going to feel some frustration.