Liberated Women
Acts 16:11-24
If you were around in the late 60’s and through the 70’s no doubt you remember the Women’s Liberation Movement that was operating in full force during that time period. In the beginning there was not a formal leader or alliance, but rather groups and meetings and protests began popping up all over the country. The apparent goal of the movement was to erase and remove what was seen as societal oppression by men upon women. So women’s liberators would organize things like bra burning demonstrations; they would protest beauty pageants because the protestors felt the pageants promoted a sense of worth in women that revolved solely around physical attraction. The heart of the movement was to erase any societal construct of patriarchy, gender roles, or any perceived inequality. Why? Because only then - it was believed - could women truly experience ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction in their lives.
Well, like all other social movements, however, the women’s liberation movement ultimately fell short of those dreams. Here’s why: no movement that simply rearranges people’s social status while leaving their hearts untransformed is going to be truly liberating. There is only one way to experience genuine liberation and ultimate freedom. It comes from having your heart set free from the bondage of sin and death through the power of the gospel. There’s no amount of demonstrating, or protesting, or political maneuvering that will bring freedom and fulfillment. No human effort can effect true liberation.
The prophet Jeremiah put it this way: Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil. Jeremiah 13:23 The radical transformation from spiritual death to eternal life, from darkness to light, from Satan’s kingdom to the kingdom of the beloved Son comes only to those who are supernaturally born of God, those who are born from above. We are powerless to effect spiritual transformation.
As we continue in our ongoing series through the book of Acts, we come upon an account of two different women who were truly liberated. Not necessarily liberated from the social constructs of their culture, but liberated from the bondage of sin and spiritual slavery.
If you weren't with us last week, let me bring you up to speed in our ongoing chronicle of the early church. Last week we saw the dynamic duo - Barnabas and Paul - had a sharp disagreement. That led them to go their separate ways, but God used it to multiply their missionary efforts.
Paul took Silas with him to travel back through the cities where they had planted churches on the first missionary journey. When they get to Lystra they picked up a young man named Timothy to join them on their journey. They attempted to go toward Asia and they were prevented by the Holy Spirit. Next they tried to go to Bythinia, and the Holy Spirit blocked them there. Paul then has a vision of a man in Macedonia saying, "Come over and help us." And we saw last week in verse 10, immediately they sought to go to Macedonia. Joining their mission team at that point was Luke.
Let's pick up the account this morning in verse 11 of chapter 16: 11So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, That phrase "made a direct voyage" is actually a nautical expression that means they had the wind at their back. So perfect were the winds that they made the 156 mile journey by boat in just 2 days. As a point of context, in chapter 20 when they return it takes them 5 days. So they are cruising quite quickly to their next place of missionary venture. They must be conscious of the fact that the God who controls the forces of nature was propelling them forward with the message of grace.
12and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. The city of Philippi was an 8-mile walk inland from the port city of Neapolis. Philippi had great significance in the Roman Empire. The city became a Roman possession in 167 BC. But it's greatest fame came from the fact that it happened to be the place Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius in the second Roman Civil War of 42 BC. If you remember reading Shakespeare's "Julias Caesar" in high school, this battle served as the background for much of that story.
It was from the battle of Philippi that the city derived it's status in Paul's day. Luke said it was "a leading city of the district" which again shows Luke's historical accuracy. Philippi was not just a Roman occupation, but it was a Roman colony that answered directly to the Emperor in Rome. The Emperor was unaware, however, that the flag of Christianity was unfurled in the Empire that day as the king of Kings was about to win many to himself in Philippi!
We'll be with this missionary quartet in Philippi for 2 Sundays. This week we'll see that their influence in the city begins through the spiritual liberation of two prominent women. Now these women are prominent for completely different reasons. The first prominent woman liberated by the power of God was...
I. A PROSPEROUS Seeker
13And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer,
We know from previous studies that Paul's normal missionary pattern when arriving at a new city was to go to the synagogue. Because of his credentials as a highly educated Jewish Pharisee, he would often be given an opportunity to speak before the congregation in that synagogue. As they arrive at Philippi apparently there was no synagogue. Jewish tradition held that in order to establish a synagogue there had to be a quorum of at least 10 Jewish male heads of households. Philippi did not meet that requirement. So in a city where there was no synagogue the custom was for Jews to find an outdoor venue, usually by a body of water, where they would have open-air prayer times. This time would include quoting the Shema and other OT Scriptures, and praying together on the Sabbath day.
Well it is at this place of prayer by the riverside that they meet this first prominent woman in Philippi - whom I'm calling "A prosperous seeker." As they engage with her and the others, there are a couple points of application for us as we seek to be missionaries to where God has called us.
A. Look for the divine OPPORTUNITY
The end of verse 13 says...and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. They found the place of prayer, and apparently it was made up of only women. Now just an aside here - because of Paul's clear instruction about gender roles in marriage and in church leadership, secular feminists have concluded that the apostle Paul was somehow anti-woman, a chauvinist. But nothing could be further from the truth. When arriving at the place of prayer and finding only women there, he doesn't say, "I'm only speaking to men, I'm not going to waste time on a bunch of women." No! He knows God has called him to Philippi and upon landing there the first group he speaks with is a group of women.
Now among this group of women was someone named Lydia: 14One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. Now there are three distinct things we know about Lydia from that sentence: We know her city of origin - Thyatira. That city was over 400 miles away from Philippi. We know she was likely a woman of considerable financial means. She was a seller of purple goods, so she was a high-end fashionista in her day. If she was from Thyatira but was residing in Philippia 400 miles away, she probably had homes in both locations. We learn later her whole household is involved in this conversion - a household that included not only family but employees and servants.
But most importantly we learn that she was a worshiper of God. We've seen several times in Acts terms like "God-fearer" and "worshiper of God." These terms describe not Jewish converts, but Gentile seekers of the God of Israel. These are Gentiles who have investigated the monotheistic God of Israel and found Him to be the one true God - in stark contrast with the false gods of pagan, Roman idolatry. However, they have not become full-fledged Jewish converts; they haven't adopted the Mosaic Law. But she is pious, a God fearer and worshiper of God. That's why I referred to Lydia as a prosperous seeker. She's well-to-do and she's pious. We would consider her to be a good person. She lived by a traditional Judeo-Christian ethic; sympathetic to a Christian worldview. But do good people need Jesus? Absolutely they do. A God-fearing woman without a relationship with Jesus.
But the point is this - look for the divine opportunity. Paul didn't concern himself with the fact that this was just a group of women - no heads of household seem to be present. He didn't say, "This group of women doesn't fit the demographic that we've designed our ministry to reach." Or "We feel God's called us to this social niche so we're going to wait to share until we come into contact with people that meet that criteria." No, they took advantage of the divine opportunity that God had placed before them.
In Henry Blackaby's bestselling Bible study, "Experiencing God," he formulated a simple statement based on passages like this that succinctly communicates how to know and do God's will. He said, "Find out where God is working and join him there." God was working on the riverside of Philippi among a group of women who were worshipers of God. The missionary quartet found God working there, and joined him in that work.
So that's the first applicable truth we learn from Lydia's liberation - look for the divine opportunity. Here's the second one:
B. Trust in the divine OPENING
Look at the end of verse 14: The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
Circle that phrase on your outline. Who opened Lydia's heart to pay attention? The LORD did it. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. This is nothing less than what is known in theology as effective or effectual calling. Theologian Wayne Grudem defines effective calling like this: “Effective calling is an act of God the Father, speaking through the human proclamation of the gospel, in which he summons people to himself in such a way that they respond in saving faith.”
This is why we believe so strongly that conversion does not happen through a preacher’s manipulation of human emotions; surrender to Christ does not happen by winning a debate with clever arguments. Biblical conversion means being born again; it means being regenerated by the Spirit; it means having your heart opened by God to receive the truth. It means being drawn to Christ by the Father, as Jesus said in John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
If you’re a believer in Jesus this morning – like Lydia – you had your heart opened by the Lord to pay attention to the gospel word. Now Luke doesn’t record what Paul said specifically here, but we can be certain that it was very similar to the other messages that are recorded in Acts. A message that included the truth that Jesus is the Messiah of God, the fulfillment of the OT prophecies that they were quoting on the riverside prayer gathering. His message no doubt included what he told the Corinthians, that he determined to know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and him crucified. A message that told of the dark condition of the human soul, that because of sin we are all separated from God. But God, being rich in love and mercy, sent forth his only son, born of a woman, who came to take upon his body the punishment for sin. And after being resurrected from the dead on the third day, he ascended to heaven. That's the message.
Do you remember when your heart was opened to that gospel message? Do you remember when the Lord gave you the ability to pay attention to the truth? Perhaps you’re here this morning and today is the day of salvation; today is the day when like Lydia the Lord is opening your heart through his effectual calling; God is summoning you to himself. Your response – repent and believe. Repent – turn from your sin; believe – trust in Jesus’ life death and resurrection for your eternal salvation.
Paul would later write to the Corinthians, “I planted, Apollos water, but God provided the growth.” We are just seed scatterers and fertilizer spreaders. But God is the one who does the work of spiritual germination and growth in someone’s heart. Notice what she did after she believed Paul’s message once her heart was opened to the gospel: 15And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
The first thing she did - no doubt by the missionaries instruction - was to be baptized. This is the first step of Christian obedience. It is to identify with Christ's death, burial and resurrection. If you've been here for any length of time, you know we take communion monthly. Typically every 3rd Sunday.
At our communion celebration I always do what's called "fencing the table." By that, I give parameters for who should and should not take communion. I do that on the basis of 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 which says do NOT eat the bread or drink the cup in an unworthy manner, but rather we are to examine ourselves before we eat - otherwise we bring judgment upon ourselves. I use the language of the Great Commission to frame that fence so that each of us can personally examine our own lives before partaking. I say, "This meal is open to anyone who is a baptized follower of Jesus, seeking to obey all that he's commanded you."
Believing that baptism is the first step of Christian obedience as apparently Paul instructed Lydia, to claim to be a Christian and not be baptized is to be walking in disobedience to God. And the last thing you need to do if you're walking in disobedience to God is take communion.
The next thing she does after she is baptized is invites them all over to her house. She must have been a woman of considerable financial means by the fact that she had a household of people, employees, servants; and she invited this missionary team to come and not only visit – but to stay. And she prevailed upon us. She immediately is showing the gift of hospitality, which is just one of many that are so crucial for an effective church reaching its city with the gospel.
So that’s the first liberated woman we find in Philippi. A prosperous seeker. But here’s the second liberated woman in Philippi…
II. A POSSESSED Slave
Look at verse 16: 16As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.
This second woman is much different than the first woman we looked at. She is a young girl. Paidiske in Greek - the prefix from which we get pediatrics. She is a young girl. But not only is she in a different age category than Lydia, she is also in a different social category. Lydia was a successful businesswoman, this girl is a slave; a piece of human property who is seen as only a financial commodity to her owners. We know they made money off of her through fortune telling, we don't know if they made money off of her in other ways too - the text doesn't say.
But not only is she a different age category from Lydia, and a different social category from Lydia - she's also in a completely different place spiritually. Lydia was a worshiper of God - this girl is possessed by an evil spirit; she's demonically controlled.
The text says she has a "spirit of divination." In the Greek it says she had a pneuma pythona. Pneuma means spirit, air, wind. Pythona is where we get our English word python. She had a python spirit. You may think that's strange - she had a snake spirit? This reaches back into Greek mythology.
In Greek mythology Python was a she-dragon, depicted as a serpent, who stood guard over a place called Delphi. Her great enemy was Apollo. Apollo killed Python at Delphi and renamed her home the Delphi Oracle. There were priestesses at Delphi and they were called pythia, and they were said to be overcome by the spirit of Python who enabled them to tell the future. So when it says she had a pneuma pythona, it means she had a spirit they imagined to be some kind of mythological power. Of course Paul understands it to be demonic possession - which it was.
She was a fortune teller, a psychic, or as the ESV puts it she had a "spirit of divination." This young girl had some kind of demonic power that gave her insight into people's lives and to predict the future. Whether or not she was accurate is immaterial. People supposed she was, and paid her owners handsomely for those predictions.
As we continue reading through this account of Paul's interaction with her, there are some important points of application for us as well. If we are a church on mission, or if you're going to be a Christian on mission, here are some things you can count on, things to expect and anticipate.
A. Count on demonic AGGRESSION
17She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” She knew enough to know that they were servants of the Most High God. We see this kind of thing happening to Jesus in the gospels as he encountered demon-possessed people. The demons would recognize Jesus and even had a fear of him. Now if a young slave girl, possessed with a demon, says this once or twice you can ignore it. But look at verse 18:
18And this she kept doing for many days. They're going around, trying to minister, trying to preach, trying to share the good news of the gospel, and this possessed slave girl keeps following them and crying out. We don't know how she was speaking, but we can imagine it was with a strange, devilish tone. She probably had an odd and disturbing appearance. Some could have gathered, "Well she's part of the show. She's following them around, pronouncing that they are servants of God, she must be part of the show."
No wonder after many days of this constant crying out, the next phrase in verse 18 says, Paul, having become greatly annoyed, Now I know Paul had a very legitimate reason but I take satisfaction in the fact that the apostle Paul became greatly annoyed. I have many of those moments each week but not for so holy a reason as this. Here's Paul GREATLY ANNOYED.
This is demonic aggression. Although the demon-empowered girl is speaking truth, she is not speaking it to enhance or bring credit to the ministry. This is a subtle way in which Satan still works. There can be people who say the right things, who give affirmation to right doctrine, but are nothing more than tools of the enemy to bring discredit and disharmony to the work of God. Do you suppose Satan was happy that this missionary quartet had established an offensive beachhead in Philippi? Do you think Satan was pleased to be giving up some territory that he had held a firm grip on for thousands of years? Of course not!
And we can count on the same thing as we live on mission. If we begin to influence our world with the gospel of Jesus, you can count on the fact that there will be spiritual warfare, demonic aggression that will happen. You can count on the fact that Satan will subtly slither in seeking to oppose the work of God in our midst.
I had to deal with some spiritual warfare just this week. I had to recognize the source of the conflict otherwise I could get caught up in the moment and be knocked off course. I had to remember what Paul said in Ephesians 6:12: We do not wrestle against flesh and blood... Our struggle, our battle, our warfare is not with other people.
But that's the realm in which we operate, that's the theater of the conflict -people. It's so easy to think and believe that other people are the enemy; that other people are who we must defeat. Absolutely not! We wage our warfare against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
So what does Paul do here? Does he yell at the girl because she's so annoying? Does he tell her to shut up? No, he speaks to the spirit - he recognizes the source of the aggression against him: Paul, having become greatly annoyed turned and said to the spirit, he speaks to the spirit “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
She experiences a radical liberation from demonic possession in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I've told you this before but it bears repeating. As we continually seek to realign our purpose, our ministry, our vision as a church to be more and more on mission for God, we can expect that Satan will realign some of his demonic forces to be positioned against us. We can expect that warfare to come against us in a multitude of ways from things like simple distraction from the mission to outright division and fractures among our fellowship of believers. So Count On Demonic Aggression. Here's the second thing...
B. Expect personal ANIMOSITY
The people who owned this slave girl, according to verse 16, made much gain from her powers of divination. They're furious - you have just ruined our source of income; you have upset the norm; you have toppled the apple cart. It's a good reminder for us. That while the gospel is good news, it will not be perceived as good news by everyone.
Ill. I heard this week that in North Korea a law has been established that forbids public gatherings of more than 5 people. This law is aimed right at secret churches that gather in people's homes for clandestine worship services. Even though the gospel is good news, the North Korean government does not receive it as such. Why? Because when the gospel takes hold of a population it turns the culture upside down; the gospel transforms societies. And they do not want to lose their stranglehold on the people.
Though the gospel is good news it will not be perceived as good news by everybody. Therefore, we can expect some personal animosity. Let's keep reading: 19But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”
Though this slave girl was liberated from demonic possession, her owners did not receive that gospel as good news. The gospel is not good news for those who make millions in the pornography industry. The gospel is not good news for the abortion industry that profits from the selling of human body parts. The gospel is not good news for businesses that exploit and take advantage of the poor. The gospel is not good news for those who profit from the sex slave industry.
Make no mistake about it - even though slavery is illegal in our country, slavery is still alive and well in the United States. There are an estimated 17,000 sex slaves trafficked in the US each year. The average age when one enters the sex slave industry is 13 years old.
There are approximately 30 million sex slaves worldwide. The average cost of a slave worldwide is $90. The total worldwide industry is $32 billion/year. The gospel is good news, but not for those who profit from the abuse and prostitution of children.
When we tell people, "Jesus is Lord," that's good news if you know him as Lord. But if you are his enemy, Jesus is Lord is not good news. It is a scary proposition. So a church on mission can count on demonic aggression; can expect personal animosity - Jesus said you will be hated by men on my account. But thirdly, the church on mission can...
C. Anticipate public ATTACK
The public perception, the public's view of Christians, of the church, is changing before our very eyes. And here's the danger that I see churches tending toward. Because the cultural climate is changing, the tendency for some churches is to whitewash over those things that cause public disapproval. You see, the culture is happy with the church so long as the church does things the culture approves of. Are you feeding the poor? Good, we like that. Are you providing educational assistance and tutoring to failing students? Good, we like that. Are you adopting a highway and picking up litter? Good, we like that. Are you providing disaster relief. Good, we like that too.
But don't tell people they're sinners. Don't tell people they need a savior. Don't use those good works as a platform to declare salvation in Jesus alone. You'll be blacklisted as a church if you do that. So what happens is churches begin to delete those things that the culture disapproves of and what you're left with is not gospel-centered, gospel-preaching churches but non-profit public assistance organizations. And can I tell you that Lookout Valley Baptist Church is not a public assistance org. We are a church!
Notice how Paul and Silas experienced the public attack because of their liberation ministry: 22The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
What a brutal, public response to a demon-possessed girl being liberated. You know it can be easy to become very discouraged when looking at the world; when considering our changing culture. Even to look at your own heart you can become very discouraged when you see the darkness there.
But we should be encouraged by the pattern we see week in and week out as we’ve been going through the book of Acts. The pattern is this: the gospel goes out and God brings people in. The gospel goes out, and God brings people in. And sometimes the process of taking the gospel out involves difficulties and hardships for those who are proclaiming liberation in Jesus' name – like Paul and Silas here.
But it is through this hardship - and I would say as a direct result of this hardship - that the first church was established on the European continent.
Consider what Paul would later write to the converts who were gathered here in the church in Philippi. Sometime later, from a Roman prison, Paul would pen an epistle to this church. A church that no doubt included Lydia and members of her household; a church that likely included this delivered slave girl or at least those who came to faith because of her deliverance from demonic possession. A church that as we'll see next week included the Philippian jailer that put Paul in the stocks. Paul wrote to them from another Roman prison, encouraging them to keep an eternal perspective when they go through struggles too:
12I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.14And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Philippians 1:12-14
God uses the public attack, the personal animosity and demonic aggression to actually serve to advance the gospel. It encourages others to be more faithful in their witness. It emboldens people to be on mission with their lives. To be on mission like Paul was here in the lives of two liberated women. Two women that couldn't be more different.
Lydia was wealthy... the slave girl was poor.
Lydia was high society…the slave girl was led around like a dog.
Lydia was very pious…the slave girl, demon possessed
Lydia was part of the up and coming…the slave girl was down and out.
There’s a great lesson for us in these two liberated women - and it's my...
Last Thought: There’s no one so good they don’t NEED salvation, and there’s no one so bad they can’t RECEIVE salvation.
