TROUBLE AT PHILIPPI.
Acts 16:16-34.
One of the hazards of church planting is a problem of space: where and when to gather for worship. Of course, small groups can meet in our homes: but the very beginning of gospel work might, in suitable climates, take place outdoors (cf. Acts 16:13). But what happens when others try to encroach upon our space for meetings of a different kind?
A nervous middle-aged preacher was on a missionary tour in a foreign land. In the second village in which he preached, on a weekday, a rival Christian group scheduled a simultaneous service, and began to broadcast it over loudspeakers. After delays and negotiations, a compromise was reached, and the visitor was able to continue without further interruption.
For the Apostle Paul in Philippi, the interruptions were a daily occurrence, coming from a diabolical source. The Greek tells us that this young woman had “a spirit of Python” (Acts 16:16), who made money for her masters by divination, sooth-saying, or fortune telling. A snake-woman then, enslaved both by a demon, and by human masters.
The spirit within the young woman was in fact accusing the preachers of being, literally, “slaves” of God. Paul and his companions were indeed “servants of the most high God, who show unto us the way of salvation” (Acts 16:17). But salvation from what to whom? Jews and Greeks would have different ideas as to who “the most high God” might be.
Paul was “grieved” by these daily occurrences (Acts 16:18). The Apostle was no doubt disturbed by the constant interruptions, but also sympathetic to the woman herself. Paul did not turn on the young woman, but upon the spirit within her, commanding it “in the name of Jesus Christ” to depart, “and it came out that same hour.”
We do not hear of the young woman again as the ensuing narrative concentrates on what happened to two of the missionaries. The masters of the young woman were infuriated at their loss of income, but the reason they gave for dragging Paul and Silas to the magistrates was that “these men being Jews teach customs which it is not lawful for us to receive, being Romans” (Acts 16:19-21). A crowd rose against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates had them beaten “with many stripes” and threw them in the deepest darkest dungeon, where the jailer made their feet fast in the stocks (Acts 16:22-24).
At midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God (Acts 16:25), in keeping with Paul’s own teaching: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say Rejoice’ (Philippians 4:4). The other prisoners listened.
Suddenly, there was an earth tremor, and the doors of the prison flew open. Their chains came lose, and the prisoners might have all walked free, but they did not (Acts 16:26). God the Holy Spirit restrained them from taking this opportunity to escape: He had a much more important work to do, right there in the prison!
We can imagine the fear of the jailer when he awoke finding that the doors were open, and thinking that the prisoners had all fled. Rather than face his superiors, he drew his sword and was on the verge of taking his life - a thing a person should never do - when Paul cried out, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here” (Acts 16:27-28).
The jailer called for lights, and rushed in, trembling, falling at the feet of his Christian prisoners. That man asked the question which countless millions have asked ever since: “What must I do to be saved?” To which the answer came, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:29-31).
Paul and Silas preached to the jailer and his household. The jailer, having been washed from his sins, took Paul and Silas, and washed their wounds, and he and his household were baptised. When he had brought them into his house, he fed them, and rejoiced “believing in God with all his household” (Acts 16:32-34).
Application:
‘If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
‘For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16).
Twinned with our belief, our faith, we must have a sense of our own unworthiness, of our inability to get ourselves right with God, and of our need for forgiveness and cleansing from Him. We must turn from our sins, and accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour. When we do that, amazing things will happen in our life, in the church, and in the world.
