A Study of the Book of Acts
Sermon # 23
“Discerning God’s Guiding Hand”
Acts 15:36 – 16:10
Wouldn’t it be nice to have direct daily divine direction. You know something like Israel had in the wilderness, they had a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, that what I want! You never have to wonder if you have it right. If the cloud moved you moved, no question about it.
I believe that every true believer wants to be guided by God’s will. But often, we have a difficult time discerning what God’s will is. Sometimes the decisions we make have very little to do with God’s will. “A preacher received a call from a church that offered him a salary four times what he was getting at his present church. Since he was a very devout and spiritual man, he spent much time in prayer trying to determine what God wanted him to do. One day a friend was talking to the preacher’s son and asked him, ‘Do you know what your father is going to do?’ ‘Well,’ replied the youngster, ‘Dad is praying but MOM IS PACKING.” Unfortunately for some people sometimes money speaks louder than God.
Every Christian should want to know God’s will for their lives. To be in the center of God’s will is always the best place to be. It’s the place to be blessed by God, cared for by God, protected by God and provided for by God.
Let look at the four ways in which God gave guidance to Paul in the beginning of the second missionary journey.
I. Direction from Failure and Conflict (15:36-41)
“Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” (37) Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark. (38) But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work. (39) Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; (40) but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. (41) And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.” (NKJV)
You will no doubt remember that Paul and Barnabas have just returned from Jerusalem, where they have defended the gospel against those who would have forced Gentile Christians to first become Jews, adding circumcision as a necessity of salvation.
Paul wanted to make another journey (the beginning of the second missionary journey) to visit the churches that had been established on their first missionary trip. Barnabas, great encourager that he was, wanted to take along John Mark who abandoned the team on their first trip. Paul said, “No Way Hosea.” Barnabas was just as insistent that his cousin John Mark be given another chance. Both men kept insisting vehemently that they were right and such angry feeling arose that they finally parted company. So who was right? Scripture does not tell us. What does this tell us about Paul and Barnabas? Simply that they were human. John Mark is ultimately restored and even Paul recognized such when he asked Timothy to bring Mark with him because “he was useful for ministry.” (2 Tim. 4:11).
But for now Barnabas and Paul parted ways. Barnabas took Mark and left for Cyprus, while Paul took Silas and began his second missionary journey. Silas was well suited for work with Paul, he was a prophet, a member of the Jerusalem church, a Jew and a Roman citizen.
This split between Paul and Barnabas seemed to be on the surface tragic but God in his infinite wisdom, produced a miracle of grace out of this conflict. For now rather than one missionary team there were two. Sometimes the workmen change but the work goes right on.
II. Direction from the Addition Of New Workers
(16: 1-5)
“Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. (2)He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium. (3) Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek. (4) And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. (5) So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.”
Paul and Silas went on to Derbe and then to Lystra, the town where Timothy grew up. It seems especially fitting that we are introduced to Timothy on Mother’s Day. Timothy’s mother Eunice is a model of the kind of Mother that I spoke about who had the faced alone the responsibility for the spiritual upbringing of her son. In 2 Timothy 1:5 Paul reflects on Timothy’s home, “when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.” (NKJV). And later in 2 Timothy 4:15 he notes that Timothy had become a lover of scripture because he had been taught it by his mother and grandmother.
Timothy’s mother was a Jew but his father was a Greek. John MacArthur in his commentary on Acts suggests that the use of an imperfect tense verb in describing his father rather than a present tense suggest that Timothy’s father was dead. [John MacArthur. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary
: Acts 13-28. (Chicago: Moody, 1996) p. 83] Timothy had been brought up in the Jewish traditions by a Jewish mother. Even today Jews accept a person as a Jew if his mother is Jewish.
Some commentaries are very critical of Paul for circumcising Timothy on the heels of the decision of the Jerusalem Council. Paul had steadfastly refused to allow Titus to be circumcised. But Titus was a Gentile, and for him to be circumcised meant to add circumcision as a requirement of salvation. But Paul did not circumcise Timothy so that he could be saved, but rather to help him to minister more effectively to others. Paul still went to the Jew first in every new city that he visited. For him to take an uncircumcised Jew into a synagogue would be terribly offensive. His circumcision would remove an unnecessary area of offense when ministering to Jews.
III. Direction Through Closed Doors (vv. 6-8)
“Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. (7) After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. (8) So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.”
After strengthening the churches established in his first missionary journey, Paul desired to travel southwest to preach in Ephesus, which the leading city of Asia at the time. We learned in verse six that desire to go to Asia and preach at Ephesus was vetoed by the spirit of God. How did Paul know that his plan had been vetoed? We are never told. Was it simply a lack of peace? Was it difficult circumstances or transportation problems, perhaps? Personally, I believe that it is interesting to consider that it may have been illness, because Luke the physician joins then right after this time. But whatever the means Paul then began to plan to go north to preach the gospel in Bithynia, however, the spirit of Jesus prevented him from doing that also. After receiving the negative directions to refrain from preaching in Asia and Bithynia, the missionaries moved westward until they arrived at Troas. And he they waited for God’s direction, perhaps for months.
“Closed doors” keep us from getting into a work to which we are not called in order that we might be saved for a work to which we are called.
IV. Direction Through Revelation (vv. 8-10)
“And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (10) Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (NKJV)
Finally as Paul and Silas waited on God at Troas, they received the guidance they were seeking. In verse nine, it says that during the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia begging him, “Come over and help us.” The words translated “come over” are an imperative this is not a suggestion, or merely an invitation, it was a command.
The word translated “concluding” is an old Greek verb which means “to bring together.” When Paul and his associates considered the vision in the context of all that had happened, it all came together and they knew God was calling them to Europe.
Notice us of “we” in verse ten, up to this point in the book of Acts the word “they” has been used to refer to Paul and his party, the use of “we” is an indication that Luke himself joined Paul and his party here.
I want to close with signs that we can use to know it we are in the channel of God’s will.
1. Is it in accord with Scripture. God’s will, never contradict God’s word.
2. Are the doors opening up? Or do you have to pry them open?
3. Is in line with your talents, ability and inclinations?
4. God can lead us in many ways but we are more likely to be lead if we are actively serving and commuting with him.
5. God’s will is not something we find out in advance, and then carry then out. God’s will is progressive revealed as we need to know.
