It is Wednesday, the middle of the
week, and we come to our reading thru the New Testament - in a year - with Acts
15:36 - 16:15. After you finish the Scripture reading come back and we’ll look
at it together.
The Jerusalem council settled the
most important issue of how the Gospel was to be presented, and therefore
understood. The message of the Gospel was that Salvation was by grace through
faith in Jesus Christ - without works, including the former practice Jewish
circumcision. So, it’s interesting to note how this next part develops.
Paul and Barnabas are back in
Antioch as a part of a teaching group of leaders in this now large, but mixed
church. It is probably in the Spring of the next year that Paul approaches
Barnabas with the idea of going back to the churches they had established - now
probably 4-5 years ago. It must have been a welcomed idea because Barnabas
wanted to take his cousin, John Mark with him. Barnabas was an encourager, one
who believed in second chances, but Paul had little patience for someone who
had deserted them on the first missionary journey and so rejected John Mark’s
coming along.
“They had a sharp disagreement”
(NIV). The conflict was heated and led them to split up and go separate ways.
One has to admire Luke’s willingness to share the truth, warts and all.
Scripture is a record of the Spirit at work through the humanity of the Saints
in the early church and reminds us that their humanity was real - there were no
super-Christians then as there are none now. In a sovereign way, it turned out
to be a good thing. Barnabas took his cousin and went to Cyprus, but church
history records they eventually made it to Alexandria, Egypt where the Gospel
flourished as the Church there grew into a great center for Christianity in
North Africa.
Paul took Silas, who’s proper name
is Silvanus, and they went north through the mountain passes to arrive at the
last churches Paul had established on the first journey - Derbe and Lystra. It
was in Lystra that two things converge to make a huge change in the future of
Paul and the first century church. In Lystra, Paul discovers Timothy, who is
probably in his late teens, but has a strong faith that has come from his
mother, Eunice. Timothy has the endorsement of the church’s leaders and Paul
asks if Timothy would come along - a decision that would make Timothy Paul’s
closest companion and most effective leader to carry on when Paul’s life is
done.
Timothy is half-Jew...his mother
was a Jewess, but his father was a Greek. After the council of Jerusalem’s
decision that Gentiles need not be circumcised, Timothy must have presented a
bit of a dilemma to Paul. In the end, Paul decided that Timothy needed to be
circumcised, probably because being half-Jewish he would have been judged by
Jews to have rejected his Jewishness as an uncircumcised Gentile. Circumcision
wasn’t the issue - the issue was not putting something of a road-block in the
way of their missionary endeavors. Timothy now joined the team of Paul and
Silas and in their journeys - journeys which Luke describes as successful as
the churches “were strengthened in the Faith and grew in numbers” (16:5).
I previously mentioned two things
of significance occurred in this section. The second thing was the change of
direction - something that must have made Paul and the others at first
confused. They had made the decision (vs 6) to travel southwest along the main
highway to a new section of Galatia. As they traveled - somehow - it became
apparent to them that God was not permitting them to complete their plan. They
turned north towards an area called Mysia, but again it became clear to them
that this was not their destination.
All of this must have made Paul
wonder why God was continuing to close the door to his missionary plans. We
don’t know how they determined God was not opening the doors to these places,
other than the “Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to”. It is something that
many a Christian has come across in seeking to live their life for Christ. They
discover a - seemingly - open door, but then it shuts, and the obvious question
begins with “I thought...but...now what?"
Paul, Silas and Timothy came to
Troas. Troas was a port city on the northwest coast, just south of the ancient
city of Troy. Here two significant events occur. First Paul had a vision of a
man who is Macedonian - a man from the mainland across the Aegean Sea in a
Greek colony. Rome ruled all of this area. We know that Paul had traveled
hundreds of miles across what is modern Turkey today - from the southeast
corner to the northwest corner to arrive at Troas, only to discover that he was
being called to cross the sea to Macedonia, which is Europe today. The second
thing that happened in Troas was Luke joined the team. If you notice, all of
Luke’s comments in the verses we’ve just read said “they”, until vss 9 &
10, when Luke begins to say “we”. Luke is a physician so there has been
speculation all along that Paul’s condition - whatever it was and which began
on his first missionary journey - was the reason Luke joined them on this
second missionary journey.
From Troas they sailed across the Aegean Sea across to the northern part of Greece, called Macedonia and traveled to Philippi, the Roman capitol of the region. There is no Synagogue in Macedonia - they are now firmly in Greek country where Jews are a decided minority. Yet on the Jewish Sabbath Paul looked for a gathering spot for Jews who might seek to get together and pray. He discovers a business woman - Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth which would have been both expensive and much sought for by wealthy citizens.
Lydia was from Thyatira, a detail Luke includes because it was considered to be the center of the Roman rule in all of northern Greece. In other words, Lydia was a well-connected important link in the door opening to Europe.
“The Lord opened her heart to
believe the message Paul preached”. God sovereignly makes it clear to Lydia -
who is described as a “worshiper of God” - that the message of the Gospel is
truth, and she believes, and those in her household also believe, and together
they are all baptized. It is the first converts in Europe and the door is
opened for the Gospel to go west, all the way through Rome to France (Gaul).
Lydia insists that Paul and his companions come to her home - which was large
enough to hold them all and soon becomes the meeting house for the church that
was to develop in Philippi. She must have been a good business woman for Luke
ends with the words - “she persuaded us”.
This reading reminds us of so many
lessons. God uses the disagreement to open a new door. No one likes
disagreements that split people up, but sometimes those sorts of things can
actually be a benefit to everyone. Then we see that as one door closes, another
opens. It’s important to realize that as we get sidelined by disappointment
when our plans don’t seem to work out. We can either get frustrated or we can
believe that God has another door for us to discover and walk through.
Then lastly, we see that God’s way
of opening up an area happened in the most improbable ways - a woman, not a man
would be the means for the Gospel to be established in Europe. Paul must have
wondered as he and his companions sought out the Jewish place of prayer, only
to discover there were no men there, only a woman, and her household servants.
Paul didn’t back away from sharing the Gospel to her and she believed...and was
baptized, along with her household. Great things happen sometimes when we can
be flexible and allow for God to show us what is occurring even though we
didn’t expect it to.
Peace,
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