Freedom in Jesus' Name

Intro

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” Benjamin Franklin once wrote that. Many might suppose that the founding fathers of America knew a great deal about freedom. There is, however, more than one type of freedom.

Though he is not nearly as well known to most of us as Benjamin Franklin, I think the Church Father John Chrysostom knew a great deal more about freedom than did any of the founding fathers. In one sermon, he says, “…if you are a slave of sin, I tell you that even if you are free ten thousand times over, it is of no advantage to you. Can you tell me what advantage a man has who, although not in bondage to another man, is in constant subjection to his own passions? At least men are merciful from time to time, but the passions- they won’t be satisfied until they have destroyed you!”

In other words: It matters a great deal what you are freed from and what you are freed to. This is the reason that freedom in the name of Jesus Christ is so much sweeter than the freedom offered by America, or any other human institution for that matter.

So as we pick back up in Acts 16 today, Luke begins to show us the many ways that, in the name of Jesus Christ, Paul and his companions brought freedom to two people who heard the gospel.

Lydia- Opened to Hospitality

The first of these, of course, is Lydia. Paul, along with Silas and Timothy, came to the city of Phillipi (the same city Paul would later write a letter to while imprisoned in Rome). Apparently they picked up Luke, the author of Acts, somewhere along the way, since he begins to talk about how “we” went somewhere.

It may seem ironic that a passage I chose to preach on freedom from begins with Paul and co. being forbidden by God to go to Asia. But such is the freedom of God: Freedom to do not as I will, but as you will, Lord. So, after receiving a vision from God, Paul and co. find themselves in the land of Macedonia, a whopping 700 miles from where Paul split with Barnabas in Antioch.

This is where they met Lydia, the famous seller of purple cloth. I have been taught before, and perhaps you have as well, that Lydia was immensely rich. Purple dye in those days was, after all, immensely valuable. Just one pound of the finest purple wool could be sold for over a thousand denarii, and even cheap low quality purple would fetch a price of 300 denarii. A denarii was one day’s wage for the average worker, so that’s 1-3 years salary for just one pound of purple cloth.

So yes, Lydia was wealthy. But she wasn’t rich. In fact, even a merchant of luxurious purple cloth would be looked down upon by the truly wealthy elite. Regardless, Lydia had much more money than the average person in her day, a feat especially impressive for a woman at the time!

A fact often overlooked, however, is that Lydia was likely a freedwoman. In other words, Lydia most likely would have been a slave at some point in her life, and had later been released by her master. It was perhaps the connections she made serving in her master’s home that had allowed her to get into the purple selling business.

What freedom, then, did Jesus have to offer Lydia? She had already recieved her freedom from slavery, and the purple business certainly offered Lydia much more financial freedom than most other lower class people in her time. At first glance, we might miss the kind of freedom offered by Christ here. Jesus freedom becomes a lot clearer, however, when we see it right next to Worldly freedom.

Jesus’ Power Over Demons

It is no coincidence, then, that Luke has chosen to tell us of Lydia right before telling us of the spirit-possessed girl. It may seem odd that anyone would want a servant in their home possessed by a spirit, but this was actually a good thing for many Greeks at the time. Most likely her masters would have thought that she was possessed by a pythian spirit, that is, a spirit that serves the god Apollos. We may wonder, then, why her masters would not have freed someone blessed by the gods in this way, but of course it was because they saw the opportunity to make a profit.

In many ways, this set up wouldn’t be much different than the phony fortune tellers still around to this day. On our drive back to Mississippi, Allison and I often pass a trailer advertising, “T-shirts and palm readings”. People would come to this girl to hear when they would get married, whether they’d ever strike it rich, or what bad omens to watch out for. But now the girl was prophesying to Paul for free, he didn’t even have to buy a T-shirt first!

For days she followed them around shouting, “These men are slaves of the most high God! They proclaim to you a way of salvation!” It is unclear why Paul took offense to this message. It is possible that the prophetess was attempting to make the “highest God” just one more god the Philippians could worship among many. It’s possible that, though what the spirit prophesied was true, it was really just mocking Paul and his companions. It may have been the case that what the girl kept shouting could have endangered Paul and the missionaries. And perhaps Paul did not exorcise the spirit sooner because he was concerned for what might happen to the slave girl once she could no longer make her masters money. Or maybe he just wasn’t that good at performing exorcisms yet.

We just don’t know for sure, but what is clear is that it finally got on Paul’s last nerve. So, in the name of Jesus Christ, Paul commanded the spirit to leave, and it left right then.

Freedom from the demonic is a very real gift that Christ offers his people. The slave-girl is a slave no more to evil spirits. But this freedom from the enslavement to evil spirits is only an invitation to become a slave to the most high God. Christ frees us from the chains of demonic oppression, but then invites us to serve him instead. As the slave-girl prophesied, Paul and the other missionaries were indeed “slaves of the most high God”, a title Paul himself happily takes on in his letters.

And so if you or someone you know is oppressed by demons, know that the power of Jesus’ name can set you free. But also know that this freedom is really an invitation to slavery of a different sort: slavery to a master of love rather than a master of cruelty.

Was this the kind of freedom, then, that Lydia recieved? Perhaps, but Luke does not mention any spiritual possession or oppression of Lydia. She certainly would not have needed to fear such things any more because of Jesus, but there was more freedom than this that was given through the gospel.

Losing Profits

The slave-girl’s owners, like Lydia, were likely wealthy. They made a good profit off of their slave’s spiritual possession, and they would have had to have money to purchase a slave in the first place. Ironically, however, they don’t seem to believe in their own prophetess! They have charged money for others to hear the girl’s prophecy, but won’t listen to it themselves for free! The girl prophesied that Paul and his companions were servants of God come to bring salvation, and this prophecy was proven true right in front of their eyes when Paul, in the name of Jesus, commanded the spirit to leave.

Yet, the girl’s masters were so concerned about the loss of money from the spirit’s prophecy that they ignored the prophecy it had given to them! Though the girl was the one in slavery to both them and the spirit, her masters were slaves of something worse: the vice of greed. And as Chrysostom tells us, at least men are merciful from time to time, but greed won’t stop until it has destroyed you.

This is the power of such sin: it always promises more than it can deliver. Sin, whether it come in the form of greed, lust, or anything else, never satisfies. The girl’s owners already had plenty of money, but that wasn’t enough for them. They wanted more. All that they had was not enough to satisfy. Their enslavement to sin lead them not only to be greedy, but also to be liars and even attempted murderers.

They drag Paul before the city leaders and use the same tactics so often used to protect money. “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” Notice that they appeal first to nationalism: These men are foreigners, they’re threatening our city! They appeal also to race: These men are Jews, and we all know what Jews are like! And they appeal also to tradition: we’ve always done it this way, and they’re trying to change that!

When money is in danger, people will go to great lengths to protect it. These three things, Nationalism, racism, and traditionalism, however, seem to be used very often to protect the wealthy. The name of Jesus, however, has the power to free us from greed. This is, perhaps, one of the greater freedoms Lydia recieved from Christ. Though both she and the slave masters were wealthy, Lydia was not enslaved to her money. She offered her home and her resources freely to Paul and to God.

This is one of the great dangers, however, of Christ’s freedom: it frees us from things we don’t wish to be freed from! St. Augustine once prayed, “Lord grant me chastity and self control, but not yet!” The exorcism of the slave-girl should have been a cause of rejoicing, but the problem was that her masters didn’t want the freedom of Christ. As Jesus himself tells us, “You cannot serve God and money,” and the slave-owners were quite happy to keep serving money.

The Jailer’s Fear

Fear of Shame

Fear of death outside my control

Ultimate Freedom

freed from shame

freed from death

freed from all worldly things

freed from spirits

freed to be slaves