The Disruptive Power of the Word of God

Intro -

Matthew 10:34 ESV

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

What does it look like when the power of God’s word takes hold…if Acts is any indication it doesn’t lead to world peace…instead it leads to a disruption of the status quo…this is what we see in today’s passage with Paul preaching. The world has to interact with this reality and follows a familiar pattern…

TR: First, the world tries to exploit the message of God for it’s own ends....

The Exploitation of the Darkness

Paul and his companions are in Philippi, a Roman colony, and prior to the previous section with Lydia, apparantly had an encounter with a demon possessed slave girl

After interacting with Lydia, they continued preaching and teaching in Philippi and this slave girl persisted in following them.

The slave girl is described as first having a “spirit of divination”…the literal term here is where we get the term “python” from.

The Greek myth was was told of Apollo who would sometimes use a serpent, a python, to speak his oracles. The actual term used for “divination” is “pythia” and was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo and served as an oracle.

This slave girl brought her masters a lot of money by fortune telling.

And now, her being demonically possessed, is following Paul around advocating for them and their message, which is quite strange.

She was “crying out” which is depicted as a maniacal raving that was no doubt distracting.

It doesn’t give the reason why Paul waited as long as he did but eventually he got so annoyed he cast the demon out and she subsequently lost her ability to fortune tell.

This is a fascinating look into the human condition and the lengths we will go to in order to exploit each other.

First we have the dynamic of the slave masters, who saw no only in this young girl a person of servitude but also as a tool to be used to gain them riches.

Even more interesting to me is the role that both the demonic spirit and the masters had in relation to Paul’s message.

Initially they had no issue with it…why? Because it was bringing them notoriety and riches.

This is where we as believers must be careful. There are numerous times when what we are advocating will be echoed by those who wish to exploit us for their own credibility.

When did we get so desperate to have people echo our sentiments that we were willing to bypass all of the other issues that people stand for?

See here we had an enemy of God…championing the same message as Paul…all in an effort to ride on his coat-tail.

One of my favorite people in history is Frederick Douglas. Escaping slavery and eventually joined the abolitionist movement which sought first and foremost to abolish slavery. He was a powerful voice and symbol of their movement. However, we the movement got to the point of wanting to overthrow the government and start afresh he wasn’t for it. See people were on board with him and his message but they had their own agenda on how to utilize his persona. He was quoted as saying “to dissolve the union to abolish slavery is about as wise as it is to say let’s burn up this city to get the thieves out of it”

I wish believers could be as discerning. Family there are people out there now, liberal, conservative, progressive, traditional, that seek to win your heart by using the same language as you but having a different agenda.

There are friends and people in your life that are riding on the coat tail of your morals, gassing you up in particular directions, and they ain’t nothing but the devil.

Don’t be exploited by the ravings of those around you…instead peer past their words and see their madness and the lunacy that lies within.

I’m finishing up reading a book about how a guy by the name of Deitrich Bonhoffer navigated Nazi Germany and Hitler and one of the most telling items in it is how duped the church was into going along with Hitler simply because he used familiar language to them.

I would challenge us all to examine ourselves, ask critical questions of those that you agree with, what does success look like to them?

I’ve seen advocacy against abortion turn into women shaming, the very same people that will fight for the family also do nothing against the mass incarceration that destroys it in so many communities of color, people that lobby for black lives also supporting abortion that happens disproptionately to those very same black lives, people that support law enforcement reject the rule of law, etc.

All because someone co-opted their message and used it to advance their own means!!! We heep unto ourselves an audience through social media that affirms us all the while seeking destruction of our marriages, our friendships, our faith, our very identities…

Be careful of the exploitation of the darkness…Paul was...and had enough of it and cast out the demon, which ultimately lead to some issues...

TR: Not only will the disruption of the Gospel lead to attempts at exploitations but also manipulations...

The Manipulation of the Deceived

Her owners did not approve of this.

They now have lost a substantial amount of income. We see later that these people take them before the magistrates and seek to prosecute them.

To prosecute was no cheap matter so we can surmise that these “owners” were people that were somewhat well-off.

Their accusations against Paul and his companions are:

“these men are Jews”

Around this time we read elsewhere that the Emperor Claudius expelled the Jews from Rome, which may explain the limited number of people there referenced in the last sermon.

Therefore, the statement that Paul and his companions were Jews, was meant to conjure up racial, ethnic, or social animosities.

These guys are FOREIGNERS...

Romans only saw two people groups…Romans and strangers.

Paul and his companions were the latter.

“they are disturbing our city”

Interestingly the message that the slave girl previously agreed with, that brought them money, now is a source of disruption.

“They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans”

Lastly, that message is not only Jewish but it is UNLAWFUL for us…why? BECAUSE WE’RE ROMANS!!!

So follow along here…what started out as a spiritual matter, that disrupted an economic system, now is presented as A RACIAL ISSUE…with underpinnings of unrest and disorderly conduct.

Seems like I’ve read this story a time or two.

Let me make it plain…the word of God is disruptive such that it will impact finances and economies. However, to say that it “messed up my money” isn’t okay. So in order to make it an “us” problem…let me make it about race…oh PLEASE HEAR ME!!

When the owners grabbed Paul and his companions they manipulated the narrative!!!

They painted a completely different picture to the authorities…basically when the cops showed up they said “the problem is THESE PEOPLE!!!”....”THEY’RE BEING DISRUPTIVE, ADVOCATING LAWLESSNESS AND WE ROMANS ARE A PEOPLE OF LAW AND ORDER!!!”

Yet the real issue is that what Paul was preaching was messing with their money, not their laws. Mind you this is the same guy that wrote Romans 13 advocating to submit to governing authorities!!!

Listen family, when you advocate for truth, there will be a manipulation and distortion of your message by the powers that be because when they can’t exploit you, they’ll manipulate the story.

They were so manipulative that even the masses were persuaded!!

I used to have a supervisor who I butted heads with. I tried all I could to get along with her. Apologized even when I didn’t know what I had did, fell on my sword, tried to start afresh, etc. I was consistently getting word that she was spreading a narative about me that was false. Yet I persisted on and eventually she was muted by the VP. All because I continued to operate with integrity no matter my situation. I must’ve moon walked out of that office I was feeling myself so much lol

I can imagine Theophilus reading this recognizing that when you stand for God’s truth…those who were once for you will be against you, people will lie on you, and even the government itself may not be on your side.

TR: Once the deception has taken place then the castigation starts...

The Castigation of the Devoted

We see in these last verses that after the slave girls masters convince the magistrates, who would be equivalent to our law enforcement and judges, of Paul and his companion’s guilt, they are attacked, clothes torn off and they’re essentially thrown into the Hole in jail...

So let’s follow the pattern…the spiritual message, disrupts the economic situation, is twisted into a racial issue with a full fledged propaganda campaign, and now we see it evolves into a police brutality and unjust incarceration issue...

It says they were beat with many blows with rods all on the word of some well off business men who all the while had ulterior motives.

Rather than falling on their faces before the power of God, all they saw was their loss of income.

My hope in identifying these issues is that when we encounter someone that is accused, that echoes our sentiments a little too quickly, that hastens to judgment or punishment that we be wise and know that all of these things happened to Paul and his companions.

LAND IT LOUD

Yet here’s the beauty…God prevails. The power of God is at work even in this unjust suffering.

In the magnificent wisdom of God, He frequently makes use of fallen man to achieve his righteous goals.

If you end up getting thrown into a stockade/jail because you’ve preached the truth…then it has been a good day!

See the beauty in all of this, is that it should be clear that our hope isn’t in those who agree with us, those who seize us, those who lie on us, in the government, the jailer, the businessman, or whoever…because ALL OF THEM WILL FAIL!!

We are called to a higher love for humanity than at times they even have for themselves!!! We are called to a prudence, a wisdom, a boldness, and a patience that is foreign to this world!!!

You know why? Because God wants to free the slave girl!!! JUST LIKE HE DID US!!! Because he wants to open the heart of a Lydia! JUST LIKE HE DID US!!!…because he wants to reach the jailer....

And the only way to do that was to GO TO JAIL!!!

This is NO SAFE PLACE FOR GOD ORDAINED MINISTRY!!! There is no bunker that you can hide in and yell out Gospel truths and be effective!!!

When you stand for the Word in this world you will be castigated when attempts of exploitation and manipulation don’t work.

And if we aren’t disrupting the systems in place that enslave those around us then what are we preaching????

If it’s that person that is excusing their adultery, their unforgiveness, their gossiping, their manipulation, whatever it is…DISRUPT IT WITH THE WORD OF GOD

If it’s ungodly systems, mistreatment of people, false narratives, whatever....DISRUPT IT WITH THE WORD OF GOD!!!

Family we are called to preach the Word WHICH WILL DISRUPT THIS WORLD…ALL PEACE AIN’T GOD’S PEACE!!!