Scriptures Every Day

Acts 17:1-15

Good morning!  Today we are starting chapter 17 in the book of Acts.  At the beginning of chapter 16, Paul added Timothy to his mission team.  And then, they crossed over from Asia Minor or modern-day Turkey into Macedonia or modern-day northern Greece.  In other words, they have moved from Asia to Europe.  The gospel is continuing to spread out.

Last week, we studied the events in Philippi.  How Paul cast out a demon from a woman and then ended up getting arrested because of it.  Then, how God miraculously delivered them in the middle of the night by way of an earthquake.  And, not only that, God drew the jailer and his entire household to salvation as a result.

And so, there is now a church in Philippi.  We know of two believers there.  Lydia and the Philippian jailer.  Lydia was a business woman, a seller of purple cloth.  Purple cloth was super expensive, a high-end exotic material.  That was the world that Lydia moved in.  Additionally, she was a devout woman who gathered with others to worship God on the Sabbath.  The Lord opened Lydia’s heart to respond to Paul’s teaching (Acts 16:14), and she and the members of her household were baptized.

The jailer on the other hand was about to kill himself before he came to Christ.  He was not a worshiper of God before his miraculous encounter with Paul and Silas.  He had likely been a brutal man or at least a hard man.  His conversion was genuine, and his life was transformed.  Acts 16:34 tells us, “He was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God; he and his whole family.”

What a strange and wonderful church?  God draws people from any and every walk of life, and every tribe and tongue and nation.  Perhaps even the slave girl from whom Paul cast out the demon would place her faith in Christ and join them as well.

And yet, God is not only about bringing people to Himself individually, a la carte.  God is building His church, the body of Christ, a community of Christ-followers.  In the beginning of chapter 16, we noted that that Luke described the mission team with “we” instead of “they.”  The explanation being that Luke had joined them on their journey.  At the end of chapter 16, it says of Paul and Silas that “they departed.”  This indicated Luke and likely Timothy stayed in Philippi to strengthen and build up these new believers and the church.  I find that encouraging and wise.  God knows what he’s doing.  We can trust Him, together.

With that, let’s pray and get into chapter 17.

Father God, thank You for how You build Your church, Your kingdom.  We love You Lord.  Teach us from Your Word.  We pray in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue. - Acts 17:1-2

Let’s have a look at a map of their journey so far.  Starting from Antioch, they had visited many of the places Paul had previously visited on his first missionary journey together with Barnabas.  Reaching Troas, they had sailed first to the island of Samothrace and then across to Neapolis.  From Neapolis, they journeyed over land to Philippi.  From Philippi, they made their way to Thessalonica.  It mentions that they passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia.  This journey was a typical one.  The distance from Philippi to Thessalonica is about 100 miles.  Amphipolis and Apollonia are each situated about a third of the way which made it possible to make the journey from Philippi to Thessalonica in three days, spending a night each in Amphipolis and Apollonia.  (They will go on to Berea too, and Paul will go as far as Athens in today’s passage.)

The means of travel from Neapolis to Thessalonica was a Roman road called the Via Egnatian or the Egnatian Way.   The road was built in the second century before Christ.  And yet, there are places where that road is still visible today, and that is what you see in the picture in the lower right.  Looking at the map, you see that the Egnatian Way runs east to west across the north of modern-day Greece, Macedonia, and Albania.  You could even get a ship and sail across to Brundisium (or now Brindisi) and then journey by land on the Appian Way (an even more famous and also in places still visible Roman road) up to Rome.

We’re not provided with the planning or decision-making through this portion of the journey, but it seems like they were moving on through both Amphipolis and Apollonia without any long stops.  However, when they reached Thessalonica, they found a Jewish synagogue, so …

As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah," he said. - Acts 17:2-3

It would take quite some time to dive into what Paul could have shared.  After all, he reasoned with them from the Scriptures on three Sabbath days.  Let’s look at a few verses from Isaiah 53 which show that Messiah would suffer.

He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. … The LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. ... For the transgression of my people He was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, … the LORD makes His life an offering for sin, … my righteous servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. … He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. - Isaiah 53:5-6, 8-12

That he would rise from the dead, let’s look at a couple of verses.  This comes from some of the verses that I skipped in Isaiah 53.  

He will … prolong His days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand. After He has suffered, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. - Isaiah 53:10-11

And, Psalm 16 which has been quoted more than once in Acts already says …

You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful [Holy] One see decay.  You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. - Psalm 16:10-11

The result of Paul’s explanations …

Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. -  Acts 17:4

I know this is a rather slender verse to set apart on a slide, but I wanted to emphasize the result of Paul and Silas’ and the team’s efforts in Thessalonica.  Some of the Jews were persuaded and a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women also joined Paul and Silas.  Again, we have the formation of a church!  That is to be celebrated, and I don’t want to us to miss this important victory.

I’m not sure what I should say about prominent women and their receptivity of the gospel.  Are they softer toward the gospel message than the men?  I mentioned Lydia in the introduction who was a prominent woman of Philippi.  Among Jesus’ followers were a few prominent women, Joanna was the wife of a court official and she helped support Jesus with her resources.  In verse 12, we will see that in Berea prominent women are mentioned specifically among the new believers, too.  At the very least, it is clear that women are important in the kingdom of God and have been from the very beginning.

But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” - Acts 17:5-7

Some Jews believe, but others were jealous.  Déjà vu.  This is at least the fourth time a similar sequence of events has occurred.  It happened at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:45, 50), at Iconium (Acts 14:2, 5), and at Lystra (Acts 14:19).  And, it’s going to happen in Berea in today’s passage, too.

It’s interesting how this opposition responds to the message of the gospel.  It’s remarkably similar to how our current culture responds to ideas they disagree with.  Not always with a riot in the streets, but definitely with an attitude of accusation and “shouting” in the public square without giving any clear evidence.

Contrast that with what Paul did in the synagogue of Thessalonica.  He reasoned and explained and proved to his listeners that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God.  It was the opposite of rioting.

Jason must have been hosting Paul and Silas.  It’s not clear where Paul and Silas were at this moment.  However, the early believers repeated protected the missionaries who brought them the gospel.  Jason and other believers are brought to the city rulers.

In Rome, disloyalty to Caesar was a crime worse than blasphemy.  This accusation that is made against Paul and Silas that they were saying there is another king who is in opposition to Caesar is deadly serious.  There was no worse crime in the Roman empire, so …

When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go. - Acts 17:8-9

The local officials within the Roman empire had to guarantee a peaceful quiet community.  Thessalonica was no small town either.  It was the capital of Macedonia and a trading port situated on a major road.  Estimates go as high as 200,000 inhabitants.  When public order was disrupted by riots in a major city, the officials were in a dangerous situation. If things really got out of hand, it was only a matter of time until the emperor dispatched the Roman legions to restore order by force.  No city leaders wanted that.

It was unfair that the opposition could simply raise a mob and then the city leaders would come down on whoever they were told were the reason the mob formed.  In this case, it was a financial penalty.  Jason and the others had to post a bond, pay a deposit guaranteeing they would not contribute to any further disruption of the peaceful working of the city.  Doesn’t that also sound familiar to modern-day persecutions?

Let me briefly mentioned a significant archaeological find supporting Biblical accuracy.  The word for city officials here in Acts 17:9 and earlier in verse 6 is not found in other Greek sources.  Some writers used this to challenge biblical accuracy.  Interestingly, in 1835, an inscription was found which used the word that Luke uses.  Subsequently, 16 or more additional inscriptions have been found in this Macedonian area using this term.  Since Luke is using such a specific local term to describe these officials, that takes the authorship timing down not just to Luke’s lifetime, but even to his first record coming from his visit there in the year 50 AD. 

As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. - Acts 17:10-11

It was quite the journey, another 50 miles from Thessalonica, and not on the nice Egnatian Way we talked about earlier.  Some writers surmise that Paul went or was sent to Berea because it wasn’t on the main highway and it would be less likely anyone would look for him there, at least not at first.  Berea though even described in Roman times as “out of the way” or “off the beaten track” does have a Jewish synagogue, and we see that the Berean Jews were different from and  more noble than those in Thessalonica.

Now, there were obviously Thessalonian Jews who had come to faith in Christ, but they Berean Jews as a group were collectively more serious about the message of the gospel and what Scriptures had to say about it.  They are so eager and serious that they are reviewing the Scriptures every day.

They want to know if what Paul has said is true!

As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. - Acts 17:12

What did they find?  Again, the Bereans studied day after day, and it was not in vain.  As a result of their study, many were convinced.  Here is a link to a nice collection of 55 Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah.  

55 Old Testament Prophecies about Jesus - Jesus Film Project

Their humility in searching the Scriptures daily seems to make a difference in many Jews being saved in Berea rather than some Jews in Thessolinca.

But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. - Acts 17:13-14

Ugh, here we go again.  It’s not apparent that the Berean Jews joined in any of the crowds stirred up by the Thessalonian Jews, so that is encouraging.  These Thessalonian Jews were determined to oppose Paul.  Remember it’s 50 miles and not on the nice road to get to Berea, and yet, here they are.  That’s sad.  Their hearts are set against the gospel.  Thankfully, it seems that the believers were ready, and they got Paul out again before he could be detained.

Timothy pops up here again.  Like I mentioned earlier, since there was no mention of Timothy while they were in Thessalonica, it seems like he may have stayed in Philippi for a while, but now he has come down to Berea.  While Paul has to leave again, Silas and Timothy stay to strengthen the church there.  Again, it’s not “just Paul.”  There is a group, a team, working together.

Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. - Acts 17:15

Paul is not alone on the journey to Athens.  He does have escorts all that way.  Why did they bring him to Athens?  It’s not clear.  We can say that Athens is not in Macedonia, and so hopefully, out of reach of the opposition there.  It’s in another region in the southern part of Greece called Achaia.

Those who did travel with Paul to Athens did not stay with him though.  As they return to Berea, Paul sends the message that Silas and Timothy should join him there as soon as they can.

There is one more difference that stands out in today’s passage compared to many of the earlier ones.  There are no miracles in this passage, but there are many who put their faith in Christ.  I didn’t try to count them, and in some ways you can’t really.  There are times when many miracle happen, and they don’t get recorded individually.  But it is safe to say that miracles are more prevalent in chapters 1-16 than in chapters 17-28.

I only mention it because God works differently in different times and in different places.  Miracles do happen.  They still happen today.  But miracles don’t always happen, and that’s okay.  God is still God.  He is still drawing people to Himself in a variety of ways.  And, He is using His church, His people, His children, to carry His message.  May we be attentive and faithful to carry it wherever we go.

Let’s pray.

Father God, thank You for teaching us.  Help us to see what we need to see and to understand what we need to understand.  Let us glorify You.  Grow Your church we pray in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Freedom in a Jail

Acts 16:16-40

Good morning! Today we continue our study of the Book of Acts, focusing on the second half of chapter 16. As part of a brief review, I want to go back to Acts 15. Already at this point we have many Gentile people coming to faith in Jesus. At the beginning of this chapter, our location is Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas are teaching and strengthening a large group of believers. Some people from Judea come down to say that all believers need to be circumcised in order to be saved, a claim that also presumably meant that they thought that all believers, even Gentile ones, needed to completely keep the Law of Moses. Paul and Barnabas disagreed with this claim, and so they were appointed along with some other believers to go to Jerusalem and get a definitive answer to this question. They did so, and in light of the fact that God Himself was clearly revealing Himself to Gentiles and giving them the Holy Spirit, the Jerusalem elders agreed with Paul and Barnabas that they should not make it unnecessarily difficult for the Gentile people that were turning to God. Only a minimal number of basic rules were given. Some of them returned with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch to relay this news, which was received gladly. And Paul and Barnabas then remained in Antioch, continuing to build up the believers there.

We are told that eventually Paul and Barnabas desired to revisit the cities they had previously visited in their first missionary journey, to see how they were doing and encourage them in the Lord. We then read that Paul and Barnabas had a significant disagreement about whether to bring along a certain believer named John who also went by Mark. Barnabas wanted to bring him, but Paul did not, because he had left them in a city previously and had not continued the work. For any Bible skeptics you meet, these verses at the end of Acts 15 are but one of many examples of the honesty – I would say brutal honesty – of the Scriptures. It’s hard to imagine any people in the Bible more “heroic” than Paul and Barnabas, and yet, Scripture tells us, they were not able to overcome their differences in opinion and decided to part ways, each going to different areas that they had visited before, as well as potentially new areas. I believe that God used this disagreement for good, as it meant that, going in two different parties, they were able to spread the gospel at effectively twice as many areas. 

I find this oddly encouraging – it is a potent reminder that we do not have to be perfect in order for God to use us, not on this side of heaven. Be sure that God will, however, finish his work in us, and we will be perfected. This is necessary so that we can spend eternity with a perfectly holy God. This does not mean that we should not continually seek after God, asking Him to show us our failures and sins so that we can repent of them and grow in Him. But it does mean that perfection is not a prerequisite for serving Him in this life.

And so Barnabas went with John Mark by ship for Cyprus, while Paul went with Silas through Syria and Silicia, strengthening the believers they visited along the way. Although Acts does not mention Paul and Silas visiting Tarsus, the place that Paul was from, it was along the way. They then came to Derbe and Lystra. Recall that it was in Lystra, in Paul and Barnabas’s first missionary journey, that Paul had healed a man who had been lame from birth. Rather than leading to an immediate abandoning of their false gods, the people prepared to offer sacrifices to them, believing that they were their gods Hermes and Zeus in human form. On top of this, Jews who came from Iconium and Antioch stirred the people up so much that they stoned Paul outside the city, leaving him for dead. But in that first journey people put their faith in Christ even in Lystra.  

After spending time in Derbe, they went back to Lystra to further encourage the believers there, and they also visited a young disciple named Timothy, who was well-spoken of by the believers there and in Iconium. Paul wanted to take him along. Even though his mother was Jewish, his father was Greek, and for this reason, Paul circumcised him so that he could be more effective reaching out to the Jews along the way. In each location, one of the things they did was pass along the decision from the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. Now with Timothy, their continued travels took them through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia and on to the coastal city of Troas, located on the Aegean Sea. 

Paul then had a vision of a man of Macedonia begging them to come and help them, so they left Troas and went by sea to Neapolis and then they went on to Philippi in Macedonia, taking the Ignatian Way, a prominent Roman road. As we read last week, after arriving in Philippi, they spoke to woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth and a God worshiper – meaning that, although she was not Jewish, she still worshiped the true God. They shared the gospel with her, and she became a believer in Christ, and had them stay in her home. Note that the gospel has now spread even farther, for the first time into what we call the continent of Europe. This brings us to today’s passage.     

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. – Acts 16:16-18

This place of prayer in Philippi was mentioned in the message last week – it is outside the city gate by the river. This river was likely the Krenides river, about a mile outside the city. Let me mention as well that earlier in this chapter we switched from “they” to “we.” This likely means that Luke, the author of Acts, is also here, likely joining Paul, Silas, and Timothy at Troas and coming with them to Philippi. 

Let’s talk about this woman, a woman who is about as different from Lydia as you could possibly be. We need to look into the Greek a bit here to understand what is being said about her. She is first defined as a paidiske, a young female slave or servant, and then she is described with the verb echo, which is a pretty general verb, but I think is well translated with “attached to”. A few examples of this word: It is used in Matt. 1:18 to describe the pregnant Mary “with” child; that is, she and the child are attached to one another. Jesus is described with this word in Matt. 7:29, in saying that Jesus was one who taught “with” authority, that is, authority was an integral, inseparable part of His teachings. In Luke 5:24, Jesus is likewise described as “having” power, the power to forgive sins, a power specifically and even uniquely attached to Jesus. 

And so this female slave is likewise attached to something, or something is attached to her. What is it? In the Greek, it is not one word, but two: pneuma pythonos. Now you may already know that pneuma means breath, and also, spirit. The Holy Spirit is pneumatos hagios, where hagios means holy. But here we have pneuma pythonos. The root word of pythonos is python. 

Now, I’m not sure why I keep getting the passages that are best explained by going deep into Greek mythology, but here we go again. In Greek mythology, you may have heard of the oracles of Delphi. The oracles of Delphi were priestesses who conjured up demons and gave out information given to them from these demons. Now, there was a dragon who guarded these oracles, and his name was Python. According to this mythology, the god Apollo slew Python so that he could take over the location and establish his own temple at Delphi, having access to the oracles for himself, especially the high priestess, who was named Pythia. 

Now beginning about 8 centuries before Christ and continuing well past the time of Acts, a succession of real women was treated as this high priestess. This “oracle” had real power in Greece, and beyond, and indeed she was one of the most powerful women of the world at that time. In addition to the high priestess, the temple had a group of additional women who served in lesser roles, and at the death of the high priestess, one of them would be chosen to be her successor. 

Now the distance between Delphi and Philippi was pretty significant, about 200 miles on land. And although the land of Macedonia is Greece, the time of Greek rule was long over – like pretty much everywhere else, Macedonia was under the control of Rome. The Greeks were allowed to continue to worship their gods, and, indeed, the Romans had incorporated their gods deeply into their own worship structures, but the power of Greece – including that of the high priestess, the oracle of Delphi, was long gone. 

Now let’s turn back to this woman. Attached to her, according to this passage, was a spirit of python. What does this mean? Well, it certainly means that her owners, her handlers, were using this woman to make a great deal of money. She was like a small version of the long-lost oracle of Delphi. People in Philippi would pay her handlers well to give out oracles for them – what will happen if they take this business dealing? Should they marry this person? And so on. 

You may think this was entirely an elaborate hoax, a fraud, but something more was going on here. You see, she was actually controlled by a demon. As we see throughout the gospels, demons are real, and so is demon possession. Now we don’t know exactly what this possession looked like, what this demon could do through this woman, but it was enough to convince the people of the city to give great sums of money for access to her and her demon. 

What about the actual oracles of Delphi, from centuries earlier? Where they controlled by demons too? Most likely, yes, because something they were doing had to equally well convince the people that their information was worth vast sums of money. 

Now when Scripture says that she was controlled by a spirit of Python, does that mean that the Greek legends were true? Certainly not. I believe that we are being given the description “a spirit of Python” because that is exactly what her handlers called her. But was this spirit a centuries old spirit, the very same one who controlled the oracles? I suppose it is possible, but there is no reason to think so. I presume there were people like this in cities throughout Macedonia, that a whole host of demons were controlling them. Why did they do this? For the same reason demons control any person – because they hate God and want people to turn from Him. They hate people because God loves people, and they hate what God loves. 

One more point about the term python. Today the word python refers to a serpent. Both serpent and dragon are names for Satan, the great deceiver, going all the way back to the garden with Adam and Eve. And I think this is not lost on Luke – indeed, I think he is using wordplay here, as yes, the sales pitch, so to speak, was that she spoke the words of Python, meaning the spirits behind the oracle of Delphi. But on another level, she was speaking the words of another python, that great serpent who has deceived mankind since the beginning.

Now, personally, I do not think demons have the ability to predict the future, certainly not perfectly, but I do think demons have access to information through observation and communication with other demons. So could they have secret knowledge about another person that is correct? Yes. And we see this in the gospels, when the demons reveal that they know something of who Jesus was. And the demon is also correct in its description of Paul and his group.

Now why was this demon-controlled woman doing what she was doing? I have seen two theories. Theory number one: She was disrupting. She was shouting continually, making it impossible for Paul and his companions to share the gospel. Now the fact that what she was saying was in fact correct was I’m sure something her demon thought was terribly funny. Imagine someone trying to disrupt a street preacher (a good one, not a person just shouting that everyone is going to hell) by blasting hymns through a PA system and you get the idea. I’m sure they would think that was funny, too. 

Theory number two: The demon is looking to ingratiate itself within the Christian movement in Philippi. Much like Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8, the demon knows that if it can make the woman seem like a promoter of the group, then it can later take over and lead the group. It knows that Paul and company will oppose this, but it also knows that their presence in the city is temporary. Once they are gone, they can take over and it will return to business as usual, if not even better than before, because many Jews will now be with him.

In any case, this goes on and on, day after day. Finally, Paul commands the demon to leave her, and it does! We aren’t told anything more about the woman. You might assume she is happy that the demon is gone. But at the same time, she is no longer “special.” And she is still a slave, now a slave without any unusual value. And so how she feels afterward is by no means certain. But one thing is certain: how her owners must have felt about it. Let’s continue in the passage.

When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” – Acts 16:19-21

Notice how the owners don’t tell the real story. What they are really upset about is their lack of revenue source and their loss of high honor status in the city. They then resort to antisemitism, casting aspersion on the men because of their Jewishness. Now, antisemitism was rising steadily in the Roman empire. In fact, in Acts 18:2, just a few chapters from where we are now, we see in passing that Claudius had expelled all Jews from Rome. We don’t know whether the edict of Claudius had already happened, or if it had, whether the news of this had made its way to Philippi, but even if not, it is clear that antisemitism was increasingly becoming a popular and acceptable position to take. 

Now, were they correct about Christianity being unlawful? Technically, yes. The Romans did have a law that no Roman could practice a religion that had not yet been approved by the senate. But this is an example of a law that was enforced only when it served some secondary purpose. The same kind of thing goes on in many countries today. There are lots of laws against various religious practices that are not enforced until it is desired to punish the people who perform these practices. 

And so the owners were very clever in their accusations, both being technically correct and appealing to an “us-versus-them” mentality in which the owners were part of the “us”, the Romans. 

Note also that there is a false dichotomy here – by saying these people are Jews, and they are Romans, they are implying that one can be one or the other, never both, and that is patently untrue. Although Jewish Roman citizens were uncommon, they did exist, and, well, we will see more about this further in the passage.     

The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. – Acts 16:22-24

And so they were beaten severely with rods. The people who did this were called lictors, and they were like policemen. The rods they used were called fasces, a word from which we get our words fascism and fascist. The root word behind fasces is fascis which means bundle. The fasces were a bundle of rods with an axe in the middle. The axe was reserved for capital punishment.  We know that three separate times Paul was beaten with rods from 2 Cor. 11:23. 

I do not want to get too graphic, but people often died after being given the rods. Now, from archaeology we know that the stocks they used were designed to inflict more pain, as they had a series of holes and the prisoners’ legs were stretched so that they were put in holes as wide as possible. And they were in the inner cell, farthest from the fresh air, most likely to have rats, biting bugs, and conditions so unsanitary that contracting a disease was likely. 

How would you feel in that situation? Let’s see how Paul and his companions felt.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” – Acts 16:25-28

Let’s be clear – Paul and Silas were in tremendous pain. They were facing possible, if not likely, execution. And they are singing. And they are praying. And the other prisoners are listening, no doubt amazed. How could they do this? 

Now let me be honest and say that I don’t know if I could begin to do what they did. But it is clear that their focus was not on their pain, their present circumstances – their awful living conditions, or their uncertain but very negative-looking future. It was midnight, and they weren’t sleeping, probably because they were in too much pain to sleep. But their focus was on God, His goodness, His love, how He had died for them because He loved them, and how they had a certain long-term future in which there would be no more suffering or pain, a future where God Himself would wipe away every tear. It was looking like they might be with Him in that future quite soon – but if so, hallelujah!

How did they do it? I am reminded of what Paul wrote in Hebrews 12:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. – Hebr. 12:1-3 

They fixed their eyes on Jesus. They remembered what He went through for them. And surely this is an application for us. We can lose sight of Jesus in minor annoyances. As I was writing this message, I found myself being distracted and annoyed by mosquito bites. Let us learn how to fix our eyes on Jesus in the minor annoyances as preparation for when we will face greater challenges. We may never have to go through what Paul went through – but then again, we may. We don’t know. But certainly we will go through significant challenges in life – let us learn now how to take our eyes off of our circumstances and fix them on our Savior. 

Returning to our passage, we see that God delivers them with an earthquake. This earthquake shakes the prison to its core, nearly knocking it to the ground, and not coincidentally, knocking all the doors open and releasing everyone’s chains. If you are thinking, yeah, right – that’s totally unrealistic, even impossible, than I reply, yes, exactly. Impossible is exactly what this is. That’s what miracles are. Impossible with man, but all things are possible with God. 

Now, the jailor’s life, literally, depended on his ability to keep the prisoners locked up. The Romans had very little tolerance for incompetence, and that is exactly what the Romans would see when they saw this man’s empty jail. “Well, you see, there was this earthquake, see, and it exactly opened every door, see, and it also removed everyone’s bonds, see. No, there was no other damage. What did you say? The earthquake didn’t affect any other buildings? Oh, I see.” That story was not going to cut it. 

And so the jailor, perhaps thinking about how he was about to be tortured for what had happened, or perhaps because of the severe dishonor he felt in utterly failing in his job, prepared to kill himself with the small sword he had. But Paul heard him, and called out to him that they were all still here, that nobody had escaped.

Now, why didn’t Paul and Silas escape? Perhaps because they were in too much pain, or more likely, because the sensed the Lord telling them not to do so. What about the other prisoners? Why didn’t they escape? Perhaps they were simply so amazed at what was happening with these weirdly happy people singing to God that they wanted to see what would happen. Or perhaps they were too weak to attempt to run away.  

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household. – Acts 16:29-34

Here is a hard lesson. If Paul and Silas had not gone through the horrific things they had gone through, the jailor and his family would not have been saved. Does God sometimes let his beloved suffer, even suffer a lot, so that others will come to Him? Yes. 

These events caused the jailor to believe in God. He saw how miraculous the earthquake was. He saw the testimony of joy in these people who had suffered so much. The Spirit was testifying to his innermost being. All these things came together into understanding when Paul and Silas explained the gospel to him and his family – and they all became believers in the Lord Jesus. 

Paul and Silas had joy despite their pain in that jail. And now the jailor had joy. I am reminded of Paul’s exhortation to the Philippi church later in his life:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Phil. 4:4-7

Both Paul and that jailor experienced that peace of God which transcends all understanding. And you can experience it too. Let’s look at the final part of this account:

When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.” But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.” The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left. – Acts 16:35-40

Why did Paul make such a deal about being a citizen? Well, this meant that the magistrates had broken the Roman law. One of the rights of citizenship was that a trial was required before you could inflict any kind of physical punishment. The less obvious implication of this is that Paul now had the upper hand with regards to the antisemitism and anti-Christian sentiment in that city. Even though he and Silas were leaving, the magistrates knew that the new believers in Philippi could always send a note to Paul if they were persecuted. And if they did so, Paul might go ahead and report how the magistrates had broken the law to Rome, likely leading to severe punishment if not death for the magistrates. Basically, what Paul had done was ensure that the burgeoning church in Philippi was now protected, at least for a while. 

So at this point Paul and Silas were leaving behind an interesting collection of believers including a hospitable woman who dealt in purple cloth the local jailor and his family. The work of God was continuing to spread, now into Europe. This growth came at a price – the price of intense suffering upon Paul and Silas. May we learn from their example of joy in the Lord in the face of suffering, ever fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, and with our eyes on Him, may He use us to further the spread of the gospel.

Purple Cloth

Acts 15:36-16:15

Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. – Acts 15:36-41

 

When we think of Paul, we usually think of him as the evangelist, missionary and church planter. But he did more than those types of things. He also did things to show care for the believers. As a matter of fact, caring for the believers was the first part of his second missionary journey. They eventually went beyond those regions in order to share the gospel in new places.

 

Why would they go back to see how the disciples were doing? First, because Paul was close to Jesus, he gained a desire for the things that Jesus desired. Paul told the Philippians, “For God is my witness how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:8). Second, he was obeying Jesus’ command to make disciples. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus commanded them to “make disciples” (verse 19). He described what making disciples meant when He said,

 

 …baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you… – Matthew 28:19-20

 

If they hadn’t been baptized already, then they needed to be. Paul and his team needed to teach them to obey what Jesus had commanded them as well. Whatever Paul and his team didn’t have time to do on the first trip they could do on the second. Third, multiplication was key in fulfilling God’s desire to see the whole world hear the gospel. In II Timothy 2:2, Paul told Timothy,

 

The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. – II Timothy 2:2, NASB 1995

 

As you read through Acts and the rest of the New Testament, you will see the apostles and other church leaders doing varying activities at different seasons. In other words, Paul wasn’t always sharing the gospel every day. He was building up the believers and training them to do the work. From around 2018 to 2021, I was spending most of my time on campus sharing the gospel. But, as we started connecting with people who wanted to be trained and wanted to be in fellowship, more of my time is being spent training them to do the work. I’m still sharing the gospel quite a bit, but I’m training a lot more. Now that these disciples are sharing the gospel with family, friends, and roommates, they’re starting groups of their own. I disciple others in order to fulfill the goal of reaching the whole campus, not as something to do in addition to reaching the whole campus. Paul was doing the same thing.

 

Fourth, Paul was establishing churches and leaders of those churches. In Acts 14, it says that during their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas went to Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. They were preaching the gospel. Luke then says in verse 21 that they went back to Lystra and Iconium. Some maps of that first journey don’t show them going back to those places. But they did. According to Acts 14:23, why did they go back? They appointed elders (or pastors) in all the churches in those towns. The churches were already in existence because of the work Paul and Barnabas did as they passed through the first time. Jesus taught about the church as well as the importance of godly, servant-leaders. That brings me to my next point.

 

Fifth, they were following what Jesus demonstrated. Jesus said to His disciples, “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). He invested His life in His disciples. He shared His life with them, not just information about God. Paul told the Thessalonians,

 

We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. – I Thessalonians 2:8

 

I’ve tried to gather people to help with the outreach to the students. I'm not interested in gathering people who want to just give information about God, the gospel, or apologetics. I'm interested in gathering people who will give themselves. Jesus didn't just give information, and Paul didn't just give information. They both gave themselves.

 

Sixth, Paul wanted to help them have a more thorough understanding of the gospel. The letter to the Galatians was the first letter written in the New Testament. In that letter, Paul is clearing up confusion about salvation. A false gospel was being circulated in the region of Galatia. Paul said,

 

As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! – Galatians 1:9

 

I’m sure there are other reasons why Paul wanted to go back to the brothers to see how they were doing, but I wanted to highlight a handful of reasons.

 

In Acts 15, we read that Paul and Barnabas had a sharp disagreement about taking John Mark. Apparently, John Mark had deserted them on a previous trip. Who was right: Paul or Barnabas? Those who say that mission is of the utmost importance would say that Paul was right. Those who say that the restoration of a disciple is of the utmost importance would say that Barnabas was right. Some would say that Barnabas should have submitted to Paul’s apostleship by not taking John Mark along. It’s possible that Paul was right, but we have to remember that he was human just like the rest of us. Maybe he acted too harshly out of frustration or out of a feeling of being hurt. No leader in the history of the church has ever been perfect.

 

He came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. – Acts 16:1-5

 

It’s possible that Paul met Timothy’s mother and grandmother during his first trip. In I Timothy 1:2, Paul calls Timothy his “true son in the faith.” So either he led Timothy to Christ directly, or he led his mom and/or grandmother to Christ and they, in turn, led Timothy to Christ. In II Timothy 1:5,

 

I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. – II Timothy 1:5

 

Either way, Paul had something to do with Timothy being a child of God. I’ve been able to lead people to Christ and disciple them. These people led others to Christ and discipled them as well. I began to wonder if we could see something like this happen within a year, not just years. This is one reason that I train people the way I do, with consistency and clarity.

 

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. – Acts 16:6-10

 

 God had closed the door to Asia. We have the advantage of reading the story from the future. They didn’t have this privilege. We can see how God was going to work in this situation. It would be nice if we could do this in our own lives when we hit a wall. We lived in Wilmington, North Carolina, for four years. I was leading a church that met on the campus of UNC-Wilmington. For a variety of reasons, I began wondering at year three if we were supposed to be there anymore. At first, I experienced the feeling of failure. But God helped me to eventually be at peace. I was able to get my worth out of my identity in Christ rather than ministry success. It’s one thing to share the gospel and serve the church in your extra time. I had invested so much of myself every day in a mission. I gave God everything I had: my time, my energy, my money, and my career. I didn’t just give up some spare time outside of my job and family responsibilities. I laid it all on the line.

 

Paul and his companions laid it all on the line as well. They didn’t hold anything back. They left it all behind and left it in the hands of God. They were human just like us. I’m sure they had doubts and questions. Rarely does anyone enjoy being at the front end of a change of direction. But they’ll find out shortly why God re-directed their path. If their faith were weak, then they would have given up. I appreciate people who have courage. I find a special camaraderie with those who are willing to take a risk for Christ. I love the body of Christ, but my close friends have been those who are willing to lay it on the line. These are my co-laborers. Not everyone in Paul’s life was a Silas, or a Barnabas, or a Timothy, or a Luke. He told the Philippian church about Timothy,

 

I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. – Philippians 2:20-21

 

I feel like I’m a real part of a community when we’re on the frontlines together. What happened between Paul, Barnabas and John Mark had to do with this same sense of community that Paul had. Whether or not Paul was right, he felt that John Mark was playing a different game than what he was playing.

 

Paul and his team dealt with numerous setbacks and discouragements. In one instance Paul had an illness while he was in Galatia. There were certain people who took care of him. In the process, these people came to Christ. Paul says to the Galatian church,

 

As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself. – Galatians 4:13-14

 

In 2001, I was at a leadership training project in Orlando, Florida, along with our other churches. My aunt had a heart attack and went into a coma. I left the project early to be with her and my family. The doctors weren’t sure if she would survive. While I was there, my uncle and his granddaughter, my cousin, were visiting from California. I shared the gospel with her, and she came to Christ. It was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to her. Now we’ll find out why God redirected their path.

 

From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

 

On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us. – Acts 16:11-15

 

As I studied this, there were several things that stood out to me. First, they went to a place, and on a day, where and when they could find someone who was open to the gospel. It’s possible that there were not enough committed Jewish men in that area to have a synagogue. There needed to be at least 10 men in order to start a synagogue. So they went to a place where they thought Jewish people would be on the Sabbath: A river. Whether or not they really knew God, these people did have experience with the one true God. When I share the gospel, I’m not just trying to give information about the gospel. I’m finding who is a green-light type of person like Lydia. This would be someone who is open to learning more about the gospel and Jesus.  If they’re willing to meet back within a couple of days with me to start reading the Bible and they are reading the Bible themselves, then they are more than likely a green-light type of person. As I’m laboring in the gospel, I’m not just handing them something and then not being involved with them anymore. I’m completely for getting the gospel out to large numbers of people, but one of my main goals is to interact with them and find out who wants to know more. That was Jesus’ pattern.

 

In Luke 19, Jesus was passing through Jericho. We don’t read about the mass amount of people who heard, although I’m guessing He did share with numerous people. We don’t know exactly what happened. What do we read about? He stopped and talked with a person who was open, a green-light person, if you want to use such a term. I’ll give you a hint who he was: He was short, he climbed up a tree, and I’m not talking about an arborist. Immediately, Jesus aimed to be involved with Zaccheus and his family. He said, “I must stay at your house” (Luke 19:5). Later, we read that Zaccheus’s family had found salvation. In Matthew 8, Jesus was in Peter’s home. In Matthew 9, He was in Matthew’s home talking with “tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 9:10, 11). Who do you think Matthew hung out with? It probably wasn’t most of the Jewish population because they hated tax collectors. He was a Jew, working for the Romans, collecting money from Jews. It dawned on me this week that he probably hung out with tax collectors. I imagine that the guests in the home were invited by Matthew. In this situation, Jesus could talk more personally with those who wanted to know more. In Luke 5, we see how Jesus defined those who were “sinners.” This is the same story as Matthew 9. It says,

 

And Jesus answered and said to them [the Pharisees], “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” – Luke 5:31-32 [emphasis added]

 

The “righteous” were the Pharisees. Jesus wasn’t saying that they were righteous in God’s eyes. He was saying that they thought of themselves as “righteous” in God’s eyes. But they weren’t. If a doctor is offering a pill to cure someone of their disease, who would accept the pill along with whatever instructions the doctor gave? It would be the one who realizes that they are sick. They’re in need of a cure. The Pharisees were in denial. They didn’t think they were sick; therefore, they rejected any cure that Jesus was offering. They were a red-light type of person. The “sinners,” on the other hand, understood how sick they were and how desperately they needed a cure. Many would be a green-light, or maybe a yellow-light, type of person. It doesn’t mean that a red-light person will always be red or a yellow-light will always be yellow. But Jesus did invest Himself with those who were open. In Matthew 10, as Jesus sent His disciples on a mission, do you remember what He told His disciples to search for? It was the main part of their mission. He said,

 

Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. – Matthew 10:11 [emphasis added]

 

Their goal in mission, in evangelism, was to search for the open person and to be involved with them. So how does Jesus define this “worthy person”? Later on, Jesus gives the definition when He says,

 

As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. – Matthew 10:12-14

 

Jesus also said,

 

Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

 

He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me. – Matthew 10:37-40

 

This is the green-light person: the person who responds with peace; who listens to your words; the one who loves Jesus above all else and anyone else; the one who takes up their cross and follows Jesus; the one who loses his life for the sake of Christ; and the one who not only receives the message, but also receives the messenger. I think Lydia fits the definition of a “worthy person.” She was peaceful. God had opened her heart to respond. In Acts 16:14, it says that she was “listening.” She was in a culture of idols. She risked being mistreated for believing in one, true God, nevertheless Jesus Christ, who claimed to be “the way, the truth and the life…” (John 14:6). It appears that Lydia was probably willing to take her cross, to follow Jesus and to lose her life for the sake of Christ. She laid it all on the line. She also welcomed not only the message but the messengers. She urged them to come into her house to stay. Paul and his companions were doing exactly what Jesus said. They searched for the open person. They didn’t just give information about the gospel and then leave. They were following Jesus’ pattern and His command.

 

When I’m with our team doing outreach, one of my main goals is to find the “worthy person.” I will find that person who is open. I will talk to strangers and knock on doors if I have to. I will find the person of peace with the same intensity as my daughter, Sarah, looks for chocolate. I know as humans, even those who are open will have ups and downs. They’re usually not open to taking up their cross and following Jesus right away. Over a short period of time, I not only clarify the gospel with them, but I also help them understand what it means to follow Christ. They don’t have to understand everything that’s in all the gospels. They will understand more as time passes. But I will go through a certain set of stories so that they’ll understand enough about who God is and what it means to believe and repent. Because I am invested in them, we will have more time later to read more of the scripture.

 

God had opened Lydia’s heart. In Romans 3, it says that “no one … seeks … God” (Romans 3:11). God was doing the seeking. God sought after us in the same way. If someone is open to God’s truth, then He’ll find a way to get the gospel to that person. The same thing happened to Paul, the Ethiopian eunuch, and with Cornelius. He’s still seeking people today.

 

During these days in Acts 16, the color purple was worn by those with prestige or royalty. Thyatira was a place that was known for its purple dye production. Lydia would have been one of many people involved in this trade. But there’s a difference between the one who makes cloth with purple dye and the one wearing it. One process reserved for the finer clothes was made from sea snails. The other process reserved for common clothes was made with the root of a plant. In order to extract the dye from the snail, the shell had to be broken. In talking about the Messiah, Isaiah prophecies,

 

But He was pierced for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,

And by His wounds we are healed. – Isaiah 53:5

 

Jesus was crushed so that Lydia could wear the color of royalty, the color purple. She was now a child of the King. She once labored to make purple cloth, but now she was wearing it.