When God opens hearts he comes into them to dwell. Acts 16 gives us the history of how the gospel was planted in Philippi, how God opened their hearts to hear and obey the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This lesson continues our introduction to the letter of Philippians. Let's read Acts 16 and meet some of our early Christian brothers and sisters from that time and place. These are people we will spend eternity with some day, whose names are in the book of life Phil. 4:3.
I wonder what stands out in this passage to you? Who are these Philippians?
First, we meet Lydia, a European merchant with a household. Lydia is a spiritual seeker, Acts calls her a worshipper of God. She is probably not Jewish, but seems to have found God through the Jewish teachings she has heard. There is no synagogue mentioned. That means that there are probably fewer than 10 Jewish men in this town. Instead of a synagogue, there is a place down by the river to meet for prayer services on the Sabbath. Who goes to this prayer service? A women's prayer group! One of the women there is Lydia. She is the only one mentioned by name. Look at verses 13-15 again.
Galatians 3:24 says, The Law is our school master to lead us to Christ.
Lydia has been learning the Law of God and God opened her heart to respond to the gospel of Christ Jesus.
This is a good order for us to lead our own children and friends to Christ. The Old Testament law is God's word too, given to teach and instruct us so that we are lead to Christ. Skipping over the law and running straight to the New Testament to bring someone to Christ is not the way Paul and the other apostles did it. If you read the sermons of Peter and Paul they will always refer to the Old Testament first to lead us to Christ. I've been reading Isaiah and Jeremiah this week in our 90 day Bible reading. Wow! We need a Savior! God's word in the prophets indicts us and judges our sins, then it instructs us and calls us to repent and obey God.
Lydia has probably been instructed in the Old Testament for some time now. She wants to know God. She worships God. So God gave a vision to Paul and his mission team and brought them to that place of prayer by the river near Philippi so she could come to know Christ and obey the gospel.
Lydia's example is a good one for us to learn from. We need to know the word of God and be seeking Him through prayerful worship. We need to listen to the gospel afresh and pray that God will open our hearts and the hearts of our family and friends.
How do you know if God has opened your heart? Look at Lydia. It says she responded to the message. She obeyed the word of God. She wanted to be faithful.
The next Philippian we meet is another woman. A slave girl who is possessed by a spirit of divination. Look again at verses 16-18.
This slave girl may have become a Christian too. The text never mentions it, but many commentators think that she is healed by the name of Christ in part for that reason. Hard to say. This is the only mention of her in the Bible, so it is anyone's best guess. But what we do know about her is what she advertised. She followed Paul and us, says Luke, and kept crying out, "These men are servants of the most high God, and are telling you the way to be saved!"
She was right about who they were and what they were doing. But she was also an irritant to Paul. Verse 18 says that after many days of this Paul was greatly annoyed. What are we to make of that? Was Paul tired of listening to her or was he aggravated at her condition under the influence of this spirit... or perhaps both? She never seems to ask for anything from them. She just follows them around yelling out who they are and what they are doing to everyone in sight.
Some commentators think she was referring to Zeus as the most high god. But there is nothing in the text to support that. She could have simply been correct. One thing about this is that her cries were probably heard by many of the towns people and word tends to spread. I think the jailor must have heard her say this, or at least he heard about her saying this, otherwise why would he ask Paul and Silas what he needed to do to be saved? He is the third Philippian person that Acts focuses on.
Paul finally turns to the slave girl and casts out the spirit by the name of Jesus Christ. It is a real event. She is freed from the spirit of divination, but she is also now unable to make a profit for her masters by fortune telling. That makes them very angry. Now we see what happens when the work of ministry clashes with the business of money making or the dominant culture without Christ. When God's word is preached and the name of Jesus Christ is honored sooner or later there will be a clash that brings out anger and persecution.
Proclaiming Christ can be dangerous business. When the gospel is preached and practiced the business of sin is disrupted. The word of God and the name of Jesus Christ clash with the culture. When a church starts confronting business or education or entertainment industries with the name of Jesus Christ and his teachings, some will not like it. The problem with us today is that we have become conditioned to our culture and desire to remain friendly with it so that we do not face conflict and persecution for the name of Jesus Christ.
Listen to this reading from 1904 written by David Lipscomb and think about the changes in our priorities and position since that time. (Read from: Earl West Search for the Ancient Order vol. 2: 368-9).
Lipscomb wrote: "We have always believed in Bible schools, Bible academies, and Bible colleges. We have believed it the duty of every Christian who teaches to teach the Bible, to teach it thoroughly and systematically as it can be taught to pupils...
There has never been a question with me as to whether a Bible school is right or not. The question that has troubled me is: Can a Christian teach or support a school that is not a Bible school? "Whatever you do in word or deed do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. (Col. 3:17). To do it in his name is to do as he would do if he were in our places. Does anyone believe, if Jesus were here as we are, he would teach a school in which he was not permitted to teach the Bible as the most important consideration of life? If he would not, his servants should not. Does anyone believe he would send children to a school in which the Bible was not the chiefest text-book? ...
Children ought to study the New Testament, especially, daily, as they study the spelling book or the reader. The lessons of the New Testament ought to be stamped indelibly upon the impressible minds of the chidren, before they are filled with other things."
Lipscomb's words here were common thinking for that day. It was the driving force behind or Christian educational institutions that are still with us. But today such talk makes some uncomfortable. We know that were we to take to heart those ideas in today's world it would cost us.
Paul spoke the message of Jesus Christ even when it clashed with his audience and caused him to suffer persecution.
Here we see that it did. But because Paul and Silas were persecuted in this case, God worked it out so that the tables were turned in the end.
Verses 19-34 form the next section with two parts. First, Paul and Silas are falsely accused, beaten and thrown in jail verses 19-24, and Second Paul and Silas are freed from the jail by an earthquake and the jailor and his family are taught about Jesus Christ and become Christians verses 25-34.
So now we have met at least two households that are part of the new Christian movement in Philippi. I'm sure there were others that go unmentioned in Acts but are mentioned in the letter to the Philippians.
These new Christians were almost all Gentiles. When Paul leaves Philippi, Luke, who is also a Gentile Christian stays behind with the new Church.
