Another Journey
Acts 15:36 – 16:15
Jeff Hughes – October 12, 2003
Calvary Chapel Aggieland
I. Introduction
a. Paul and Barnabas had returned from Jerusalem with Silas, and ministered there a while in their home church. But one day, Paul felt led by the Spirit to go on another journey, to visit the churches that they had planted before, and encourage them, but also to expand the gospel.
b. Today, we are going to get a look at what is called Paul’s Second Missionary Journey, as we continue through the Book of Acts. But first, let’s pray, and ask the Lord to come and bless the study of His Word this morning.
II. PRAYER
III. Illustration
a. A rock hound named Rob Cutshaw owns a little roadside shop outside Andrews, North Carolina. Like many in the trade, he hunts for rocks, and then sells them to collectors or jewelry makers. He knows enough about rocks to decide which to pick up and sell, but he’s no expert. He leaves the appraising of his rocks to other people. As much as he enjoys the work, it doesn’t always pay the bills. He occasionally moonlights, cutting wood to help put bread on the table.
While on a dig twenty years ago, Rob found a rock he described as "purdy and big." He tried unsuccessfully to sell the specimen, and according to the local paper, kept the rock under his bed or in his closet.
b. He guessed the blue chunk could bring as much as $500 dollars, but he would have taken less if something urgent came up like paying his power bill. That’s how close Rob came to hawking for a few hundred dollars what turned out to be the largest, most valuable sapphire ever found. The blue rock that Rob had abandoned to the darkness of a closet two decades ago -- now known as "The Star of David" sapphire -- weighs nearly a pound, and could easily sell for $2.75 million.
c. You know, the truth is, that there are a lot of people who have something just as valuable in their closet, on their bookshelf, in their chest-of-drawers, or maybe even lying on their coffee table.
d. That treasure is the Bible, and as I study and read the Word each week, I might have a tendency to miss the big gemstones, but the passage we are going to look at this week, I didn’t miss.
e. You see, this week, we get some insight into just how God makes His will for us known to us. People ask this question all the time – maybe some of you here are asking this question – How will I know what’s God’s will is for me? Maybe you’re here and you’re wondering if you should marry this person or that one, or what kind of career path should I choose? Hopefully, by the end of this message, you will get some insight into just how God will let you know.
f. I’m excited this morning! How about you? Our study this morning comes from Acts chapter 15, verse 36, all the way to Acts chapter 16, verse 15. If you don’t have your Bible, just raise your hand, and we can get one to you. Let’s read God Word. Acts chapter 15, starting in verse 36 -
IV. Study
a. Intro
i. 36 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.
ii. 1 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. 6 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. 9 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. 11 Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. 14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." So she persuaded us.
iii. Well, we have twenty-one verses to cover this morning, and we are going to look at the beginning of Paul’s second missionary journey.
iv. Their first journey ran into many difficulties and Paul even wound up getting stoned on their last stop, before returning to their home base at Antioch.
v. The second journey starts with trials and tribulation, and really, this is really the tone of just about any spiritual endeavor that we get into, that any ministry will have trials and tribulation, and I have had to learn this from personal experience.
vi. We are going to look at six points in our text today, Planning the Journey, Parting Company, Paul’s New Assistant, The Proclamation from Jerusalem, The Pleading Vision, and last, we will look at the Phillipian Church, as we finish up Acts chapter 15 today, and start on chapter 16.
b. Planning the Journey (Acts 15:36 - 38)
i. There’s an old saying that goes – “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Really, anything big we do in life should be carefully decided on, with prayer and direction from God, and the decision made by Paul and Barnabas to leave on another journey was definitely made this way. We see what their plan was in verses 36 through 38.
ii. 36 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.
iii. As we see from verse 36, it was their plan to go and visit the people that they had ministered to during their first journey. We can surmise that there were really three reasons why they endeavored to take this journey.
iv. First, they felt led by God to go. As we will see later on in our passage, Paul is a man who was led by the Lord explicitly; he went where God wanted him to go, when God wanted him to go, even at his own peril, as we will see in the coming chapters.
v. The second reason is that they felt a burden to do and check on these small churches they had helped to plant all along the way. If you remember back a few weeks, when Paul and Barnabas were finishing up in Galatia, they appointed leaders in these churches, and in many cases, these leaders would not have been Christians for more than a month or two. They wanted to go and check on the leaders of these churches, to encourage them, and also to minister to them.
vi. The third real reason why they went was that they wanted to deliver the letter from the leaders of the church at Jerusalem concerning circumcision and becoming Jews to the outlying churches. The thought is, that the Judaizers were probably making their way to these smaller churches by now, and that Paul and Barnabas needed to combat this.
vii. So, we’ve looked at why they went on the journey, so let’s look at the timing of the journey. We aren’t told the timing of the trip here in scripture, but we are told that Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch for some days.
viii. Many scholars believe that Paul and Barnabas spent the winter months of a year sometime around 50 AD there at Antioch. There was really no travel during the winter, by boat or by land, so most people stayed put for the winters.
ix. Paul and Barnabas could have enjoyed this down time, as it were, probably tired from their first journey, and their trip to Jerusalem. But, as the winter passed, and spring came, they felt led to go.
x. It was at this point that some trouble arose. Barnabas wanted to bring his younger cousin, John Mark on the journey with them. He had probably spoken to Mark several times, and thought that Mark would not leave them like he did in Pamphilia on their first journey, that he would stick it out with them this time.
xi. Barnabas saw potential and God’s calling on Mark’s life, and he wanted to do everything he could to help him along in that process. He was determined to help Mark reach his potential, that’s why we see here in verse 38 that Barnabas was determined to take him. But, Barnabas’ partner, Paul had different ideas.
xii. Paul did not want Mark coming along with them on this journey because he had left them last time. Paul did not want to bring someone along whom they would not count on.
xiii. Paul’s reasoning was – “What can Mark do for God’s ministry?” Barnabas’ reasoning was – “What can God’s ministry do for Mark? The problem was one of perspective.
xiv. One thing I want us to note here is this - Even people who are endowed with all these spiritual gifts and wisdom have problems reconciling perspectives on a particular situation.
xv. Which one was right? I think of them were. Paul would later call for Mark to visit him in prison, while he was waiting for his execution. We find this in 2nd Timothy chapter 4, verse 11.
xvi. But at this point, Paul had people to take the gospel to, and his thought was that if he were to bring Mark along a second time, and he left a second time, it would discourage the whole group. Paul knew that it was going to be hard enough on the road without Mark taking off at the most inopportune time.
c. Parting Company (Acts 15:39 – 41)
i. So, Paul and Barnabas agree to disagree on this point, and Paul’s companion from the first journey and he decide to part company as far as ministry goes, we see this in verses 39 through 41.
ii. 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.
iii. The question comes, “Was it God’s will for Paul and Barnabas to part company at this point?” My thought is yes. We have seen God use other rather unusual means to spread the gospel and move the church out, and I think that this is no different. The end result of the conflict was that two missionary journeys were sent out, rather than one.
iv. I think that if we look at what happens in the future to Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and Mark, we see that no one comes out the worse for wear. God used Paul to go back to Galatia and beyond. God used Barnabas to journey with Mark, and to strengthen him in the faith.
v. Barnabas takes Mark and sails back to Cyprus, his home country. We don’t hear what happens to Barnabas and Mark along this journey. But, Paul’s later commendation of Mark in Colossians 4:10, shows us that they journey of Barnabas and Mark was one that bore some fruit.
vi. Paul chose Silas though, and left for Galatia. Silas was there at Antioch on loan from the church at Jerusalem, he ministered there for a while after being sent up by the church at Jerusalem to deliver their letter.
vii. When his party left, Silas felt like staying on in Antioch, so he did. He had connections to the church at Jerusalem, and he was able to teach. He was also a Roman citizen, as we will learn from out text today.
viii. These two things made him a very good candidate for his new role as a missionary. These two were sent off with the blessing of the church there at Antioch, and they set out over land north to Galatia.
ix. They traveled through Syria and Cilicia along the way, along the Mediterranean Sea, and stopped at the churches along the way, strengthening and encouraging each one.
d. Paul’s New Assistant (Acts 16:1 - 3)
i. As Paul and Silas travel up through Asia Minor to Galatia, they must pass through a mountain pass known as the Gates of Cilicia, as they pass this way, they come into the area of Paul’s first missionary journey, which is south Galatia, but they are coming from a different direction this time, and so the order in which they visit the cities is reversed – in the first journey, they went West to East, but this time, they are traveling East to West. We see this in verses 1 through 3, of chapter 16.
ii. 1 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.
iii. It is here in verse 1 that we are first introduced to Timothy. Since Lystra is the last place mentioned, general Greek grammar presumes that Timothy is from the city of Lystra rather than Derbe.
iv. Now there is some debate over just how much time had passed between Paul being here in Galatia the first time with Barnabas and this trip. Many believe five years. Personally, I don’t think it really matters whether it was five or two.
v. What was important is that the church there in Galatia began to grow and thrive. Paul returns to the city in which he was hailed as a god, and then later stoned back in chapter 14 – Lystra.
vi. It was here in Lystra that Paul first meets Timothy. Timothy is short for Timotheus – which means honored of God. Paul had probably thought that his ministry at Lystra didn’t do much good, but apparently, his message quote unquote “took” with this young man Timothy.
vii. Sometimes, we will never know what effect our ministry would have on one person or another. It is always neat to see when God does give us the opportunity to see Him at work though.
viii. Three years ago I worked with a man names James. Now, James was doing okay, he had a good job, a big house, a wife and kids. But, he was missing something in his life. He tried to fill that missing spot with drugs and alcohol.
ix. I worked with James, and had told him about the Lord several times. About a year after I had met him, he lost his great job, and it was at this point we lost contact.
x. I prayed for James over these years off and on, that he would find the Lord, and true peace in his life. About six months ago, I met up with James again, and turns out, he remembered all of the times that I had counseled him, he went to church, and he got saved, he found the Lord, and what a difference it made in his life.
xi. Something similar happened to Paul here. Paul got to meet Timothy, who was influenced by his first trip to Galatia.
xii. Timothy was the product of a mixed marriage. His mother was Jewish, but his father was Greek. We know from 2nd Timothy chapter 1 that Timothy’s mom was a Christian lady named Eunice, and his grandmother was a Christian lady named Lois.
xiii. Now, Timothy was a young man with a good reputation that felt God’s calling on his life. Paul must have seen this too, and Paul’s desire was to have Timothy accompany him on this missionary journey, as an assistant of sorts to him.
xiv. Timothy’s mixed heritage was a problem though. Since he was half-Jewish, he was considered a Jew, but as we can see from this passage, he was not circumcised as a child.
xv. Now, Paul knew at this point this would be a problem, because the first thing Paul did when he got into an area with a synagogue, was to go and teach there on the Sabbath.
xvi. The Jews of the area knew that Timothy wasn’t circumcised; so Paul takes the step of circumcising Timothy. This step has caused a lot of controversy in theology circles for ages.
xvii. Some think that Paul was wrong in circumcising Timothy, because as we have just seen last week, the gentiles were free to not be circumcised.
xviii. But, the reason for Timothy’s circumcision was not one of salvation. It was one of necessity, to give Timothy a good standing among the Jews that he was going to minister to.
xix. Paul’s heart was that Timothy not be a stumbling block to other Jews that Paul wanted to present the gospel to. Because Timothy was a Jew, Paul chose to circumcise him.
xx. We see some reasoning for this in another passage of scripture – 1st Corinthians chapter 9, verses 19 through 22 – it tells us this:
xxi. 19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; 20 and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; 22 to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
xxii. Timothy was learning to become all thing to all men, right from the start. On the other hand, in Galatians 2, when the Judaizers wanted to circumcise Titus, Paul absolutely forbade it. Why? Because Titus was a Gentile.
e. The Proclamation from Jerusalem (Acts 16:4 - 8)
i. So, the end result is that Timothy signs on with Paul and Silas to minister along with them, to learn from Paul. Paul has work to do though, and he moves on, with Timothy alongside him. We see what he was up to in verses 4 through 8.
ii. 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. 6 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.
iii. The decrees that they were delivering were the ones that we saw last time - to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.
iv. These gentiles would not have to be circumcised, and keep the whole law, just these four things. These would have been well received by the people in these gentile churches, and we see this in verse 5.
v. The churches in the area were strengthened by hearing this, and God added to their number daily. No programs, no hype, just faith. Paul would write to the churches in Galatia this – 1 Oh foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
vi. I think if Paul would have written the letter to the churches in America, he would have written – Oh, foolish American churches! Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by programs and hype?
vii. When Paul finished up in Galatia, he was determined to go to Asia, which is modern day Turkey, but as we see from the scripture here, he was forbidden by the Holy Spirit from going.
viii. The question that instantly comes to mind is – How? How did the Holy Spirit restrain Paul from going into Asia?
ix. Most Bible scholars believe Paul was struck at this time with a brutal infirmity, a sickness, with a fever so severe that his eyesight would be permanently damaged.
x. I also believe that this is what happened, because of a very subtle clue, if you aren’t looking for it, you will miss it. Notice here in verses 4, 6, and 8, the pronouns used to describe Paul’s part is an impersonal one – they.
xi. But, look down at verse 10, the pronouns change. The pronoun to describe Paul’s party changes to we. It was at this point that Luke, the physician joined the missionary journey at this point. Luke was a gentile physician from Antioch, where Paul’s home base was at.
xii. The thinking is, and I tend to agree, is that Paul got very sick when he tried to journey into Asia, and he got so sick that his companions sent for Luke in Antioch.
xiii. When Luke arrives, he nurses Paul back to health somewhat, and they move on to Mysia, also in Galatia, and attempted to go across to Asia by sea, to Bithynia. Paul got sick again, and God closed that door. It would seem that God was directing the missionary journey by Paul’s infirmities, and this was the case.
xiv. God didn’t want them to go into Asia, but into Europe, to Greece. They journeyed on to Troas, which was across the Aegean Sea from Greece, which by the way was much better for Paul’s sickness, as it was on the coast.
f. The Pleading Vision (Acts 16:9 – 11)
i. So, when God had Paul just where He wanted him to be, God gave Paul the vision for this missionary journey, he gave him the direction that he should go, and we see this in verses 9 through 11.
ii. 9 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. 11 Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis,
iii. You know, when Paul was sitting there in Troas, he was probably wondering what went wrong. He set out from Antioch, and met up with Timothy, and spread the word among the churches.
iv. But then, he got sick and the evangelistic part of the journey up until this point had been not near as effective as it was on his last trip. I can see Paul there in Troas, pouring his heart out to the Lord, and God gave Paul a vision for his ministry there.
v. We see the vision in verse 9, a man of Macedonia was pleading with him to come and help them. Here we see God guiding Paul through a supernatural vision.
vi. So, to recap, we have seen God guide His people several ways in this message, first through a burden placed on the heart. Paul and Barnabas felt a burden to go to the churches they helped plant.
vii. We also saw God guiding them through interpersonal difficulties – between Paul and Barnabas; they split company. Third, we saw God guiding through physical infirmity. Paul simply could not go to Asia. And last, here, we see God guiding through a vision.
viii. These are just a few of the ways that God guides His people. Most of the time, I get guidance through His Word, but sometimes, God can and does choose different ways to motivate us.
ix. So, when Paul sees this vision, he understands where God wants him to go, and he sets his sights for Macedonia. At this point, the journey becomes easier, because he fell in with God’s will.
x. They had smooth sailing from there on out, and came across the Aegean sea to Macedonia, which in modern day Greece, on the European mainland. They sailed to the small Greek island of Samothrace, and on to Neapolis, which is in Greece itself.
g. The Phillipian Church (Acts 16:12 - 15)
i. From Neapolis, the party journeyed to the city of Philippi, and we pick up the journey here, and we will conclude here in verse 15 today.
ii. 12 and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. 14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." So she persuaded us.
iii. No doubt that when Paul and his party arrived in Philippi, they started looking around for a synagogue, and they did not find one. But, they knew that in cities that had no synagogue, the people sometimes went to the river to pray.
iv. So, on the next Sabbath day, Paul and his companions head down to the river, and find a group of women meeting there, praying and seeking God.
v. They sat down and spoke with the women there, they met one of the women, who was not from Philippi, she was from Thyatira in Asia Minor. Her name was Lydia. This was most likely her surname, or her last name, because the area that she was from, the area around Thyatira, was called Lydia.
vi. She sold goods made with the purple dye, for which the area of Lydia was famous. It was either in Thyatira, or somewhere else her journeys carried her, that Lydia became a Jew.
vii. She listened to what Paul had to say, and her heart was opened by the Lord, she made a decision to follow Jesus that day. This gives us a little insight here.
viii. When we share the gospel with someone, we simply need to be faithful to do it. We don’t need to be concerned with results, because it is ultimately God who moves on people’s hearts, and nothing that we can say will make them believe.
ix. But, Lydia and her family did believe, and they got baptized. Maybe it was right there in the river. We simply aren’t told, but I would lean that way, since she persuaded Paul and his party to stay there in Philippi with her family.
x. We also see that Lydia was a good salesman, because she did persuade the party to stay there with her family.
xi. Point Summary – But, there are two main things that I want us to get out of this message. Two things, that if you don’t take anything else away from here, get these.
xii. Number one is that God uses a variety of means to make His Will known to us.
xiii. Number two is that sometimes, hardships are necessary in order for a ministry to advance.
xiv. I‘d like to close with a short story.
h. Conclusion
i. A young man was learning to be a paratrooper. Before his first jump, he was given these instructions: Jump when you are told. Count to ten and pull the rip cord. In the unlikely event your parachute doesn’t open, pull the emergency rip cord. When you get down, a truck will be there to take you back to the airport.
ii. The young man memorized these instructions and climbed aboard the plane. The plane climbed to ten thousand feet and the paratroopers began to jump. When the young man was told to jump, he jumped. He then counted to ten and pulled the rip cord. Nothing happened. His chute failed to open. So he pulled the emergency rip cord. Still, nothing happened. No parachute.
iii. "Oh great," said the young man. "And I guess the truck won’t be there when I get down either!"
iv. Paul’s Second Missionary Journey started out much like this young man’s parachute jump, nothing was going right. But, God made his Will known to Paul, and things started turning around.
v. Maybe you’re here this morning, and nothing has been going right in your life. Maybe you’ve never accepted Jesus as your Savior, in a minute, we’re going to pray, and I’m going to give you the opportunity to make that decision. Maybe if nothing has been going right though, and you are a Christian, and you need prayer, I’d ask you to come up after church, and we can pray. So, with that -
i. Let’s Pray.
