Early Converts in Europe

Transcript

GR 1618
10/23/2011
Early Converts in Europe
Acts 16:19-40
Gil Rugh

We’re in Acts Chapter 16 on Paul’s second missionary journey and it’s a trip that started out with some difficulty because he and Barnabas had a disagreement over whether John Mark could be their traveling companion on this second trip. You remember their disagreement was so strong that they ended up parting company. Barnabas took John Mark and journeyed to Cyprus. A place that he and Paul had visited on the first missionary journey. That was the intention of Paul and Barnabas as they talked about a second trip to visit the areas they had visited on their first trip and encourage and further establish those who had become believers and the churches that had been established. So Barnabas and Mark go to Cyprus and Paul takes Silas as his traveling companion and goes around the land route and crosses over into the region of Galatia where they had visited on their first missionary journey as well. They continue to travel west and Paul’s intention was to go into Asia Minor. And it was a good plan because as we know from what will happen at a future time; there are some significant churches that will be established in Asia Minor. There is a receptiveness to the gospel but at this time the Lord closes the door to Paul and Silas and prevents them from going in to Asia Minor to minister the word. So the next best plan is to go north of that to the region of Bithynia up toward the Black Sea. The Spirit of God closes the door on that.

It is interesting that Paul and Silas seem to have the confidence from the Lord they are to continue to the journey west. And we can’t turn into this region we can’t turn into this region we keep going. They ended up at Troas and there Paul had a vision and man from Greece asks for them to come over and to help them. And they took that, that that was the indication of God that He intended them to go into Greece. Now we might have assumed that having traveled all the way from Antioch and Syria and come through the region of Galatia and ministered to believers there and then be prevented from a fertile region like Asia Minor or the possibility of ministering in a region like Bithynia that God specifically calling them into Greece that He had some great ministry for him there. And it’s going to be a great ministry but it’s not spectacular from human perspective. When Paul gets there whey do you start? And he goes and finds a group of women meeting by the river for prayer. Lydia being the one mentioned by name. A Gentile who was a believer in the God of Israel and joined with Jewish women in praying. Evidently there were not enough Jewish men to have a synagogue at this time in Philippi where Paul often started his ministry. The result is the first convert is this Gentile woman and we noted she is from Asia Minor where Paul was prevented from going from the city of Thyatira and there will eventually be a church in Thyatira. In the opening chapters of Revelation Jesus Christ will address a letter to the church at Thyatira. But God’s intention was for Paul to go into Greece and the city of Philippi and there the gospel is presented to this woman. The end of verse 14 of Chapter 16 says, “The Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” The sovereignty of God in salvation. Paul’s responsibility is to present the gospel and then the Lord takes that gospel and graciously opens Lydia’s heart to believe it. Members of her household joined with her in believing the message and then Paul and Silas stay with her as a result of her gracious invitation.


The second person impacted by the ministry of Paul and Silas is a demon possessed girl who kept following them around and under the influence of the demon declaring in verse 17, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” We noted that’s similar to what the demons did early in the ministry of Christ. What they are saying is true but to have testimony from demons is not acceptable. It wasn’t acceptable to Christ. He silenced them. It is not acceptable to Paul so he casts the demon out. Both of these cases God has done a powerful work. It doesn’t say anything about the salvation of this demon possessed girl. We like to assume that she probably was saved as a result of this confrontation with Paul. This deliverance from the demon but Luke doesn’t see fit to say anything more about her. They think well wow what an impact. This girl was well known in Philippi. She was a slave girl. She had masters who had become wealthy because her ability to carry out supernatural activity, telling the future and so on made her masters rich. So we think well now the Lord is opening a door. Thus far we have two women from those associated with Lydia and her household that have been impacted by Paul’s ministry as Luke records it. But this could open the door of influence now because these owners of this slave girl will have to be impacted by the power that could have a demon removed from this girl and they will be men of influence. Now I begin to understand how God is going to work. Except things are going to go from bad to worse because rather than opening a door this is going to seem to shut down the opportunities Paul has. Because the response of the masters of this slave girl are negative and we pick up with verse 19.

But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities, and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are proclaiming customs which is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.” Now the marketplace was not just the place where you went to buy produce or meat or something like that but this was the hub of the activity of the city. It was also where the civil rulers, magistrates would hear cases and meet our justice because it was a public forum. Within the marketplace there was the place where these magistrates administered justice. You’ll note the motivation to the master. There is nothing said about a response. You would think these men would be impacted. If Paul could cast this demon out of their slave, the power of the One that he represents is greater than the power that was operative through this slave girl. Nothing about that is mentioned. They manifest no curiosity or interest in what has taken place. We sometimes think, boy if we could do miracles what would it do? It would cause us more problems than we have.

What happens here? There is nothing said about any interest, any question, any discussion. When they see that their means of gaining wealth is lost they latch on to Paul and Silas and have them dragged into the marketplace and before the magistrates. Look at Acts 16:20, 21 and how they word it. And when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion being Jews,” This is a Roman city. The Jews were tolerated and were allowed to practice their religion but antisemitism was never far below the surface because they were always out of step with the Roman life, the Roman ways, the Roman gods, the Roman practices. And remember Philippi is a Roman colony. This becomes important in what is going to transpire. So they don’t say anything about casting out the spirit from the slave girl. They have ruined our livelihood. Nothing like that is mentioned. They are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews. See the antisemitism. Jews are always a problem and here they are being a problem again. There is a second charge. And they are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or observe being Romans. So we’re going to get them from both sides. They’re troublemakers because they are Jews and they’re proclaiming a message that is contrary to the customs that we have as Romans. We’re opposed to them for two reasons. They’re troublemaking Jews and they preach a message that goes contrary to what we are suppose to accept or observe as Romans. So those two statements: being Jews are the end of verse 20, being Romans. Nothing said about the deliverance. So you’ve got everybody worked up in the marketplace. People are there, they hear the charges, and they are familiar with what’s gone on to one degree or another. But like a lot of crowds they just like to be part of the crowd and they are joining in with what is going on. We have seen this on our news. Well why are you here? Everybody else is here. It’s the place to be and if these leading men in our city, these people who are influential are upset, we’re upset. And if these are trouble making Jews, we’re upset with them and if they are saying we should observe things contrary to Roman custom, we are upset with them. That appeals to the Roman side of this city because being a Roman Colony put them in a special privileged position. Being tax exempt and getting special honors like that means you don’t want anything coming up that is going to unsettle your position as a Roman colony. So the crowd rose up together against them. The chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. Wait a minute. What about Roman justice? What about Paul or Silas having opportunity to present their case, their defense. They have none. The magistrates have heard, the crowds are worked up, and the only thing to do is to punish these troublemakers. They make no attempt to sort out what the issues are or if these are true charges or not. So they have them tear the robes off of Paul and Silas and proceed to order them to be beaten with rods; one of the ways that punishment was administered. In fact the title for these individuals is rod-bearers. They carried a rod around with them that was representative of the punishment that they were qualified to meet out. It was like caning. Different than lashing like the Jews would use. Here they would use a rod or a cane to beat them. Acts 16:23 shows this was serious. ‘When they had struck them with many blows,’ I mean this wasn’t just a few slaps. This was a severe beating. They cast them into prison commanding the jailer to guard them securely. Wow, they’ve been taken seriously and there has been no hearing the other side. They are beaten, they’re imprisoned. It would be easy to be thinking, ‘Wow, what’s gone wrong here?” This is not the only time that Paul was beaten like this.

Come over to 2 Corinthians 11. Here he is beaten with rods. In 2 Corinthians 11:25 we find out this is one of three times Paul experiences this kind of punishment. Three times I was beaten with rods. So we know when one of those was. It was at Philippi. You note the preceding verses. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. The punishment the Jews meted out using lashes. Boy what did Paul’s back look like? That’s five times with lashes from the Jews three times with rods, the Roman form of punishment. Then you add to that stoning and the other stuff going on. Any wonder he could tell the Galatians I bear in my body what he called brand marks that identify me with Jesus Christ. Not something Paul was embarrassed about. Their brands put on me identifying me with Jesus Christ. Come back to Acts 16 and Paul was getting his beating with Silas. We’re not told what happens to Luke who is joined. He drops out of the picture here. We go back to the singular or the third person, not including himself. He won’t be picked up again until later in connection with Philippi. So whether he left the party we don’t know. Paul and Silas are the key figures. They’re the ones that get arrested. They’re the ones that get dragged before the magistrates. They’re the ones beaten. They’re the ones imprisoned. And the authorities are serious about this because these are serious charges. To cause disruption in the city, confusion in the city, to be going contrary to what Rome wanted. These are serious charges and so they are going to teach these troublemakers a lesson. Give them a good beating and throw them in prison. We’re going to find out they throw them in prison for the night. Then they are going to try to run them out of town. They tell the jailer to secure them, to guard them securely at the end of verse 23. He having received such a command threw them in the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. You get that kind of instruction it’s a serious thing to lose a prisoner. All he knows is these have serious charges. I’m charged with guarding them securely. They go to the most secure part of the prison and not only do I lock them in there but I put their feet in the stocks. So they are not going to move, they are not going anywhere. So they can have their feet in the stocks, try to get comfortable with their backs having been beaten and there they are. They travel all the way from Antioch in Syria, forbidden by God to go into Asia, forbidden by God to go into Bithynia, specifically called by God to come to Philippi. Now they can sit in prison and look at what they have accomplished. Well there has been a Gentile woman from Asia Minor. Maybe we could have impacted her and her family just by being in Asia Minor for a while if I’d have come back. We delivered a demon possessed girl but that’s not opened any doors in the city. Now here we are in prison. What are we going to do here? You know what, I think we should have stayed home. Maybe I shouldn’t have parted ways with Barnabas? Maybe we should have gone to Cyprus? Maybe we have no business being here? But that’s not what they are doing.

About midnight, verse 25 Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. What’s wrong with these guys? It’s midnight. Well maybe they can’t get any sleep. Their backs are probably pretty sore. And then you’ve got sore backs from being beaten and your feet are in the stocks. You know the jailer has no concern about their comfort. He’s been given one charge. Guard the securely. There has been nobody to take care of their wounds on their back. We will know that from later in the account. There is no sympathy shown to them. Drag them into prison. You secure them down and their locked up for the night. And Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. And amazing, the prisoners were listening to them. I mean they have to be wondering what in the world do we have here. Their singing praises to God, their praying but their prayer obviously was not a complaining prayer because if their singing hymns of praise to God and praying to God then there is no second guessing here. So we’ve done what? We have come where God has told us, we have given the message God has given us and we’re in prison. Praise the Lord. Let’s give Him glory, give Him honor, and praise Him.

So that is what they are doing and the prisoners are listening to them. But about midnight, verse 25, jump to verse 26, suddenly there came a great earthquake. So here we are in the middle of the night and there is an earthquake. Oh no, not an earthquake, what else can go wrong? This is a good earthquake. It’s a supernatural earthquake. It is an earthquake that has one intension. It shakes the foundations of the prison house. Verse 26 and immediately all the doors fly open and everyone’s chains fall off, come loose. Now that’s a supernatural earthquake. I can understand maybe the doors open but the chains come unfastened. You think the concern would be the walls of the prison might fall on them. That’s what people do in an earthquake right, they try to get out. Paul and Silas aren’t even leaving. The doors open, the chains fall off and they don’t go anywhere. Now Luke leaves out a lot of details.

We wonder, what did they do here? If I was there, spiritual giant that I am, I would have would have assumed the Lord opened the gates and loosened the chains so I could take off on the run and I’d have been on the other side of Philippi looking for a ship back to Troas quickly. Evidently Paul and Silas remain for a bit because there’s time here for the jailer. He awakens. Evidently with the sound of the earthquake and that. He looks out and sees the doors of the prison open and he has one thought. The prisoners are gone and he is going to fall on his sword. Why? What happens to a Roman jailer? A position like this might be held I told you in a Roman colony. It was a place where they would settle retiring Roman soldiers. Of course that gave them a powerful influence in the city and men who would be loyal to Rome. This man would know what happens to a Roman jailer whose charge was guarding the prisoners. He is going to suffer and unpleasant death. The best thing for me to do is to fall on my sword and be done. So he saw the prison doors open and he drew his sword and was about to kill himself supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, “Do not harm yourself for we are all here.” Go ahead and fall on your sword you miserable guy. Serves you right for how you’ve treated us. You know, amazing. Don’t don’t do that. Don’t harm yourself. We’re all here.

This is a strange account. So the jailer calls for lights and rushed in and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas and after he had brought them out he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” We say well how did he even know to ask? He has some idea what’s gone on. Maybe others have told him what happened, why they have been there. We don’t know. Luke doesn’t give us any details. But the Spirit of God has prepared him enough that he knows that there is a supernatural power here and again perhaps he has heard something of the message that Paul and Silas have been preaching. We don’t know anything about this but he asks that famous question. “What must I do to be saved?” They said, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together will all who were in house. And we have examples earlier in his history, Luke has given examples of the kind of message Paul would give in explaining the gospel. It was the same kind of message Peter gave so, “What must you do to be saved? You must believe in the Lord Jesus and they explain. I take it this and he’s got his household there and everybody is awake. This is serious business. Serious enough that he almost took his life over what happened. So you have got the household servants and family members and Paul and Silas are explaining the gospel to them. Remarkable. And he took them that very hour of the night, washed their wounds, immediately he was baptized and with all his household. He brought them into his house and set food before them. Rejoiced greatly having believed in God with his whole household. Again another of those occasions similar to Lydia, earlier, verse 14, 15 where her and the members of her household respond.

So the Lord had prepared the way and prepared hearts. Amazing we’ve got Lydia the merchant woman, perhaps of some wealth, but from Thyatira. So she’s not even a resident here in a permanent setting. Evidently a merchant kind of woman. You have a demon processed girl, now you have the jailer in this family. They respond in faith and they are immediately baptized. The response. The gospel has to be believed. The response to the gospel is their baptized once they have believed. So you believe, he believes with his household, their baptized. The package goes together. Remember we talked about this as we went through the gospel in Romans. The emphasis is to believe. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son in order that whosoever believes in Him should not perish. That’s the simple fact. We as believers lose our grip on this foundational truth. We are to present the gospel. Oh I don’t think they will want to hear it. This Philippian jailer didn’t either. He didn’t know that it was the night of his salvation. God works. I get concerned about what God is going to do. No that’s God’s work. My work is what? Paul and Silas, sitting here thinking they have done something wrong, our approach is wrong, maybe we shouldn’t have cast out that demon from that girl. Because look, it has closed the door of ministry for that work. No it didn’t. It resulted in them being imprisoned so they could continue to present the gospel.

The beautiful thing about Paul and Silas. What made them effective? Wherever they were, wherever God put them they do what they are suppose to do. Present the gospel. Present the gospel. I wonder what Paul would do if he came to Lincoln. Let’s go present the gospel. Let’s go tell people the gospel. What are we going to tell them? Let’s tell them that they need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Their lost. Their sinners. Jesus Christ God’s Son came to be the Savior. You must believe in Him to be saved. The simple plan that’s being carried out here. What a strategy! I shared with you a page I clipped out of a book in our previous study about the plan of one church well known for outreach and the kind of person they are targeting. What’s Paul’s target audience? Wherever he is. That’s my target audience. Lydia the women at prayer, the demon possessed girl, the Philippian jailer. I don’t know. I am targeting every unbeliever that the Lord brings before me so there is the salvation of the Philippian jailer and his family.

You know there is an emphasis here as well in this message in verse 31. Believe in the Lord Jesus. We sometimes just casually run the titles that are given to the Lord. The Lord Jesus or the Lord Jesus Christ and we fail to appreciate the significance and impact. He is the Lord Jehovah Savior, the Messiah, and the Anointed One. That emphasis on Him as Lord. Come back to Acts 4. Acts 2 then we will come back to Acts 4.

Acts 2:36. This is Peter on the day of Pentecost. Verse 36. Let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ this Jesus whom you crucified. He’s the Lord Christ. He’s Lord and he’s Christ. He is the sovereign One before whom we must bow. The One to whom we must submit. He’s Lord. Jesus asks those who profess to follow Him, “Why do you call me Lord Lord and don’t do what I tell you?” I mean, He’s the LORD. We present the Lord. The Lord the One who is Christ. He is the message. He is the person. Come over to Chapter 4:33. And with great power the Apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The Lord, the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter 8:16. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Chapter 11:17. Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. That emphasis on who He is. We are not presenting someone where you take it or leave. We’re here to tell you about the One who is Lord and if you do not bow before Him in faith the consequences are more horrible direr than anything you can conceive of. He is the sovereign One. He demands that we bow before Him. Every knee will bow ultimately Philippians 2 says, and acknowledge that He is Lord. So this constant emphasis here. Still in Chapter 11:20 but there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus, the sovereign majesty of this One. Chapter 15:11. But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they are also. Peter talking about the way Jews are saved and Gentiles. Down in verse 26 talking about Paul and Barnabas. Men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Come into Chapter 16. We could go on. We could have picked up other references to “Lord” earlier. It will continue on. We could list another dozen verses here as we go on from Chapter 16 through the rest of Acts. He is the Lord, He is the Lord Jesus and He is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not just a title like Gilbert Warren Rugh. This is the Lord. That can stand alone. He is Lord. He is Jesus. Jehovah Savior. He is Christ, the anointed One the Messiah of Israel. So they are commanded to believe in the Lord Jesus. He supersedes all other authority, all other allegiances.

And you will be saved and you’re household. After he and his household believe they’re baptized and that’s a pattern. We’re still at night and their baptized. Find a pattern in Acts that people who placed their faith in Christ testify to that faith by being baptized. Their salvation is complete with their faith but now they are to stand in identification with the One who is their Lord, the One in whom they have believed. And baptism identifies them with Jesus Christ in a public way. No secret disciples. No well you know I am a Roman jailer here. I don’t know how this will go and the city is already in an uproar against you and the message you are preaching. Maybe we will keep this secret. No, this man doesn’t have an opportunity to keep this a secret because you know that the word is going to come out. He was baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One that these men we beat and imprisoned are teaching about. Come back to Acts 2 the day of Pentecost following on Peter’s preaching. And they hear that message we just read in verse 36. They are pierced to the heart. What shall we do? Peter said repent and each of you be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins. You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So as many as received His word were baptized. Salvation comes with their repentance. They are immediately baptized. If they wouldn’t step forward to be baptized, then there was no acceptance that your claim to have believed was genuine. This idea that we can take it easy and be covert about it is not in the word of God. Immediately they are baptized.

Come to Chapter 8. I know we were just in these chapters because we are looking at the message being preached about Jesus Christ. In Acts 8:12 we are with the Samaritans. When they had believed Phillips preaching the Good News about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ they were being baptized, men and woman alike. Those who believed publically identified with Him openly declaring we are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. That puts them right out there with their testimony. In Acts 10:47 after Peter preaches the gospel at the house of Cornelius and the Holy Spirit falls upon them. Acts 10:47 surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did. He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. I mean, here we are. You’ve believed in Jesus Christ, you have placed your faith in Him. Now you must step forward publically and be identified with Him. That is what baptism did. This is a serious matter in a world opposed to the message of the gospel. Then we come to Chapter 16, the Philippian jailer. The night is not over. He’s heard the message of the gospel. He’s placed his faith in Christ. He and his household who have also believed, they are baptized. Wow. It’s out there. Your testimony already hits the street. How am I going to break this to my family? It will be news already.

Down to verse 33 back in Chapter 16 he took them that very hour of the night, he took them and washed their wounds. The change that is brought about immediately. The man who couldn’t have cared less about them. They are just prisoners. My concern is that there is no trouble in my prison and nobody escapes. Now he is washing their wounds. You can see how Paul and Silas have been treated. No one cared for their wounds. They leave scars and their wounds need to be washed. This just isn’t a red welt, this needs to be washed and taken care of. Then he feeds them and he rejoiced greatly. This Roman jailer, perhaps a retired Roman soldier, this is not one of the nice home style guys and here he is treating them with such kindness. He now wants them to eat and he is rejoicing greatly. We talk about the gospel changes a life. I mean what a radical change. The nights not over and his life is different. He is already functioning differently. He is rejoicing greatly. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. Well we think maybe someday their life will change. Yea it changes when they trust Christ and here he is rejoicing greatly. He’s got a lot to learn but he knows he’s experienced the salvation of God.

Alright, the next day. Now when they came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying “Release those men.” They think they have taught them enough of a lesson. They gave them a good beating, they had them secured in prison for the night now they can go. They think there won’t be anymore trouble from them. The jailer reported these words to Paul. I take it their back in jail. When day comes, the chief magistrates have sent to release you. Come out now and go in peace. Even the jailer thinks, oh this is wonderful. Now they can be released and he tells them, ‘Come out, go in peace.’ Well the Lord has worked and there is no more trouble. Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now they are going to send us away secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and bring us out.” Paul is a tough character. You know, I think I’d just let well enough alone. Not Paul. I’m a Roman citizen. Silas is a Roman citizen. And you can see the hand of the Lord in Silas becoming Paul’s traveling companion because he is a Roman and has a Roman citizenship as Paul does. Now this is a really serious turn of events for the city. Paul knows when to assert his Roman citizenship. He didn’t do it earlier. We are not told why. Why didn’t he cry out, “We’re Roman citizens or Romans”, that would have put an end before the beating took place. He uses that on another occasion but here he doesn’t. I take it this is the way the Lord directed him. It will provide some protection for awhile at least for those who have become believers because he’s not going to leave anybody to hang out to dry here. We will see this as we move along. Their Roman citizens. You weren’t allowed to meet out this kind of punishment to a Roman citizen. And furthermore you did it without even giving them a trial. You imprisoned them without a trial. This is such a serious offense these magistrates could immediately be removed from office and Philippi could be demoted from being a Roman colony.

This is how serious mistreating a Roman citizen like this. I mean for Philippi to lose its status as a Roman colony. That’s a catastrophe for the whole city. That changes the whole tax code for everybody in the city. That changes the privileges and rights that their given that other cities aren’t given so this when Paul sends this message, they have beaten us in public without a trial, men who are Romans, have thrown us into prison. Now they are going to send us away secretly? Not on your life. They can come and bring us out. The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates and they were afraid when they heard they were Romans. Now the table has turned. Now there the ones on the hot seat and they came and appealed to them. Please come out. When they had brought them out they kept begging them to leave the city. Please leave. We’re sorry for what we did. They want to get them out of here. Get them removed so there is no issue that comes up here. Because now you know what they have to do? They have to protect these men because they are Roman citizens. They have to give them good protection so that they don’t charge the magistrates in the city with mistreating Roman citizens and giving them unlawful beatings and so on. So they would just like them to leave. Well Paul will leave when he is good and ready. So they went out of the prison, entered the house of Lydia. When they saw the brethren they encouraged them and they did depart. What a great ministry they have had. It’s going to be a difficult life for believers in Philippi. Paul’s given them some cover because these magistrates are going to have to be careful for a little while. We just don’t go all out and persecute the believers that are left behind because always the danger that it will come up is that what they really did was mistreat Romans and all we were doing was listening to the Roman citizens and the message they were proclaiming. So there might be come cover provided here because Paul goes into the house of Lydia, takes time to encourage them, minister there and then depart.

Come over to Philippians 1 just to note that later Paul will write the letter to the Philippians. Later when he is imprisoned in Rome he will write a letter to the Philippians and in Philippians 1:29 he talks about verse 28. He said they are to be in no way alarmed by your opponents which is a sign of destruction for them. That’s what happens to those who oppose the Lord and His followers. It is a sign of their destruction but of salvation for you and that too from God. The fact that you are being opposed by those who oppose the gospel. They oppose our Lord. That is a sign that you belong to Him. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same kind of conflict which you saw in me and now hear to be in me. He encourages them that this is not unusual, this is a blessing that you should be so identified with Christ that you should be persecuted. That is the same conflict you saw happening in my life when I was in Philippi and you hear about that same conflict going on because now I am a prisoner in Rome so you’ve had two privileges given to you. Not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for His sake.

So Paul moved on from Philippi and you know what? We have a church established. It doesn’t sound like its got great potential. A Gentile woman Lydia and her household. Were not told anything about the makeup of it. Perhaps a slave girl who was delivered from a demon, were not told anything more about her but we may assume that at least that is a possibility. She’s part of this new group of believers and a Roman jailer with his household. That’s the church at Philippi at this point. As far as we know, nobody else recorded here. Paul’s traveled all the way from Antioch and Syria through Galatia where he had established churches on a previous trip, been forbidden to go in to Asia Minor, forbidden to go in to Bithynia, comes all the way across to Philippi. Now he is leaving Philippi having been beaten, had some scars to show for the ministry there, been imprisoned and what’s the fruit of the labor? Lydia and her house, maybe a slave girl and the Philippian jailer and his house and were on to the next city.

It is not going to get any better because suffering and persecution. What did God tell Ananias when he told him to go and restore Saul’s sight? I will show him what? All the blessings that will be his in serving me. How much he must suffer for My name’s sake. It seems to go together for that kind of powerful ministry representing the Lord that difficulties come with it. There is a reason John Mark went home on the first trip. It’s not easy to be on the front lines with the gospel but in the hands of these servants the gospel proved to be powerful. Later we will have the great letter to the Philippians and there is a solid church established there and others have been joined to the church and it becomes a church in that part of Macedonia with a testimony for Christ. We don’t know what God’s doing. It may seem like we are doing little and the people we’re sharing with are not of great importance but we are entrusted with the gospel. He puts us where he wants us using various means to get us there and puts us in contact with those who need to hear the gospel because how will they hear without someone to tell them, someone to share with them as we saw in Romans 10. And they can’t believe if they don’t hear. So we become the people of beautiful feet. Why? Because we carry the gospel and so what Paul’s doing 2000 years ago as Luke records in the history we are to be doing today. What? Carrying the gospel wherever we go. People won’t want to hear it. No they won’t. That’s what we see in Acts. They didn’t want to hear it. But by the grace of God not everybody rejected it. There were a few here and they become a significant few that will grow into the church at Philippi. And we trust that God will use our testimony to bring many more to know Him as well. Let’s pray together.

Thank you Lord for the history of the establishing of the church in Philippi. Lord it seems like a long trip. It seems like a difficult ministry. It seems like a lot of suffering. It seems like meager results. But Lord nothing is meager when you are at work. Thank you for Paul and Silas, the testimony of their lives, their suffering that continued to have impact down to today. As Luke has recorded this history. Thank you for the power of the gospel. Thank you for the Lord that we represent, that we serve. The One that we tell others about. Lord may we not be afraid, not be ashamed not be embarrassed. May we have a boldness to tell others the simple truth of the gospel so that in you’re sovereign plan they might hear and believe and be saved. May that be true as we serve you in the days of the week before us? We pray in Christ’s name. Amen .

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