Acts 16:11-15

Please take out your copy of God's Word and turn to the book of Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

While you're getting there, as we open up the only infallible book that exists,

! Let me speak a bit of a caution to you, which is probably not a caution so much for you as it may be for those that you know.

The Scriptures are the only infallible text we have in any book or any language.

It's only true in that it's consistent with the Scriptures.

There are many books produced these days, Christian literature, that is not true and is not consistent with the book, the good book.

One such book is a book called The Shack.

It sold 20 million copies, written by a man named William Paul Young.

And you all may know that a movie was just produced based on the book.

And whether you think that The Shack is just a bit of allegory that tells a good story, speaks of some of the good quality about God,

or whether you find it to be an altogether heretical departure from orthodoxy,

some of the unintended consequence of people who claim to follow Jesus buying and going to see such material,

is that it gives a guy like William Paul Young a voice in our culture.

He recently released a book called Lies We Believe About God,

where he says this of Christ's death.

Who originated the cross?

If God did, then we worship a cosmic abuser,

who in divine wisdom created a means to torture human beings in the most painful and abhorrent manner.

Frankly, it is often this very cruel and monstrous God that the atheist refuses to acknowledge

or grant credibility in any sense.

And rightly so.

Better know God at all than this one.

And so, we must be careful,

both about what we consume and about what others around us consume.

Because a Christianity without the cross is a Christianity without Christ.

And there's no Christianity at all.

Atheists reject the God of the Bible

because the Spirit of God has not illuminated Him to them.

Not because it's untrue.

And so with that in mind, we come to our text today,

which has nothing to do with the shack at all.

But it's the truth.

And our text, as I said, is Acts chapter 16, verses 11 through 15.

Acts 16:11–15

We're blessed, beloved, this morning to continue our study of Luke's second account of Jesus' ministry.

The book of Acts is a record of Jesus' ascended ministry

through the agency of the Holy Spirit in the lives of His church.

This morning, we find ourselves observing a portion of Paul's second missionary journey.

Last week, we saw that Paul and Silas and Timothy and now Luke

were guided by the Spirit of Jesus.

That's verse 7 of chapter 16.

Guided by the Spirit of Jesus in no uncertain terms to depart from Macedonia.

Luke states in verse 10 of chapter 16 that immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia,

concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

And it is with this intention of theirs that we come to our text for today.

Beloved, this is God's Word to us.

It was written for His glory and our good.

We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

I begin reading in verse 11.

So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace,

and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi,

which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.

We remained in this city some days.

And on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside,

where we supposed there was a place of prayer.

And we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia,

from the city of Thyatira,

a seller of purple goods,

who was a worshiper of God.

The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

And after she was baptized, and her household as well,

she urged us, saying,

If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord,

come to my house and stay.

And she prevailed upon us.

After Jesus' resurrection, before His ascension,

He stated the following to the disciples in Matthew 28, verses 18-20.

Matthew 28:18–20

He said,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

In similar form, Jesus stated in Acts 1, verse 8,

Acts 1:8

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

You will be My witnesses in Jerusalem,

and in all Judea and Samaria,

and to the end of the earth.

From these two texts,

we can see that Jesus' promise of presence from Matthew 28-20,

I am with you always,

is fulfilled by the Holy Spirit,

and is accompanied by power,

which is the all authority in heaven and on earth

that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 28-18.

And the aim of Jesus' presence and power

in the lives of His disciples

is the making of disciples

by being His witnesses

to all nations,

to the end of the earth,

and everywhere in between.

So the scene in today's text

is a picture of this work,

the presence and the power of the Spirit of Jesus

aimed at gospel mission.

That's why I will arrange our study

of Acts 16, verses 11-15

Acts 16:11–15

on the following three points.

And of course, I'll come back to these,

but this will be the outline today.

Number one,

the Spirit of Jesus' mission strategy.

The Spirit of Jesus' mission strategy.

Number two,

the Spirit of Jesus' mission power.

And number three,

the Spirit of Jesus' mission result.

Well, before we consider the text

arranged on those three points,

let's understand the geography

and the anthropology of the text.

That is to say,

the where and the who of the text.

And this is in verse 11 and verse 12.

They set sail from Troas.

They make a voyage to Samothrace,

the following day to Neopolis,

then to Philippi,

which is a district of Macedonia

and a Roman colony.

I don't know if it helps you.

I like knowing where in the world

we are talking about.

So I don't know if that map is still,

hey, it's up there already.

That's fantastic.

I was told last week

that this got a little bit confusing,

and so I apologize if it is.

I don't have a laser pointer.

I need to get one.

If you'll note the region labeled here Asia,

recall that the Spirit of God

has moved this missionary company across Asia

to not preach the gospel there.

They're pressing on in this Macedonian call.

And so from the port city of Troas

up in the northwest corner there of Asia,

from the port city of Troas,

they sail to a little island

right up in the now northeast corner

of the Aegean Sea called Samothrace.

It's in weird gray all-cap letters there.

Little island of Samothrace.

They stay there overnight,

likely to avoid the danger of sailing at nighttime.

We're not really sure.

And the next day they sail on.

Again, we're moving up

in this northwestern fashion to Neopolis,

Neopolis,

and then just ten miles inland

to Philippi.

Now, Philippi was a leading city

of the district of Macedonia,

and it was a Roman colony.

It was named after Philip II of Macedon,

which was Alexander the Great's father.

It was the far eastern terminus,

the end of the great Roman highway

known as the Via Ignatia,

or the Ignatian Highway.

So Philippi was an important hub

for the spread of the gospel westward.

And this is where they've been taken to, right?

We see them speeding their way along

to the city of Philippi.

And it's here in Philippi

that they remained for some days

and where we can learn something

of the spirit of Jesus' mission strategy,

which is our first point.

You can take that map down

if you'd like, Natalie.

Verse 13,

we read that on the Sabbath day,

they go outside the gate

to the riverside

where they supposed

there was a place of prayer.

And they sit down

and they speak to the women

who had come together.

We have observed

that it was Paul's habit

to visit the local synagogue

on the Sabbath

in order to persuade the Jews

that the promise of a Messiah

had been fulfilled in Jesus.

Now recall,

there are still Jews

scattered all over the place

back from Babylonian captivity.

Not every Jew had returned.

Right now,

we have descendants of those Jews

living all over the place.

And in many cities,

there was a synagogue.

And it was a strategic place to go

because these are people

who worshipped

the God of the Old Testament.

Right?

They knew about the promise

of a coming Messiah.

So it was a wonderful starting place

for Paul to preach the gospel.

But we see here,

in Philippi,

there's a very small

Jewish population

and no synagogue.

We can know this

because in order to establish

a synagogue,

a city had to have

ten Jewish men

who were the heads

of households.

That doesn't seem to exist here.

In the city of Philippi,

there is no synagogue.

When a synagogue

could not be established,

a place of prayer

would be formed

outside,

near a sea,

or a river.

So when able to find

a synagogue within the city,

this is why we see

Paul and his companions

heading outside the gate

to the riverside

where we supposed

there was a place of prayer.

This is why.

They couldn't find a synagogue,

so it made sense

that they would go

outside the gate

along the river

to find this place.

of prayer.

Now when speaking

of the spirit

of Jesus' mission strategy,

let me be clear here,

I do not mean to speak

to his strategy

in its entirety.

You can get very lost

if you think

this is the entirety

of Jesus' mission strategy

on earth.

But simply to show you this,

the spirit of Jesus

exalts the person

and work of Jesus Christ

in unexpected places

to unexpected people.

So this is part

of his mission strategy.

Unexpected places

to unexpected people.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1,

1 Corinthians 1:27

verse 27,

God chose what is foolish

in the world

to shame the wise.

God chose what is weak

in the world

to shame the strong.

Paul and his companions

shared the gospel

of Jesus Christ

with women.

Not only was the Jewish community

too small

for a synagogue

to exist,

but the only people

in attendance

at the place of prayer

were women

who in this day

were considered

second class citizens.

Let this text serve you

if anybody ever makes a claim

that Christianity

is oppressive to women.

Let this text serve you.

Here we see Paul

having seen a vision

of a Macedonian man

asking for help,

sharing instead

with anyone

who would listen.

The Pharisees of Paul's day

would have found this

atrocious.

The Pharisees of Paul's day

would not teach women

and in their prayers

they would regularly

thank God

that they were neither

Gentiles,

slaves,

or women.

Very oppressive.

Now Paul never denied

the uniqueness

of God's good creation

of the genders.

In fact,

he makes much defense

of that

in other texts.

But stated in Galatians 3,

Galatians 3:28

verse 28,

Paul says this,

there is neither Jew

nor Greek,

there is neither slave

nor free,

there is no male

and female.

For you are all one

in Christ Jesus.

Paul affirms

that while male

and female

are different

in design,

before God

we are positionally

the same.

in Christ

we are Christians.

Christianity,

properly applied,

lifts women up

and maximizes

their God-ordered

femininity.

Beloved females,

!

I think

feminism

is never

your servant.

A God-ordered

gender equality,

God-ordered,

found positionally

in Christ

before God

the same

but meant

to serve

different roles

and be fulfilled

in those roles

is

to your benefit.

So we see

Paul and his companions

sit down

and speak to the women

who had come together.

But what

do they say?

What do they say?

Luke's very brief account

just says

that they spoke

to the women.

As evidenced later

in the text

by Lydia's

belief,

they shared

the good news

of Jesus

with them.

This is the content

of their

conversation.

They spoke

to the women

of the Creator God

and His good

law,

which they were

likely aware of

as they were

gathering in a place

of prayer.

They spoke to them

of their failure

to keep the law

and the punishment

due them

accordingly.

They spoke to them

of Jesus'

perfect keeping

of that law

and of His

atoning sacrifice

on the cross.

They spoke to them

of Jesus'

resurrection

and His

subsequent ascension

and of their

need for repentance

and belief.

They shared

the good news

of Jesus

Christ

in an unexpected

place

to unexpected

people.

people.

So we see,

number one,

the Spirit

of Jesus'

mission

strategy,

the gospel

spoken

in unexpected

places

to unexpected

people.

Now let's look

at the second

point,

the Spirit

of Jesus'

mission

power.

The Spirit

of Jesus'

mission

power.

Verse 14,

we see that

one who

heard us

was a woman

named Lydia

from the city

of Thyatira,

a seller of

purple goods

who was a

worshiper of

God.

The Lord

opened her

heart to pay

attention to

what was said

by Paul.

Luke records

for us the

conversion

of the first

European

Christian,

a woman

called

Lydia

who was

from the

city of

Thyatira

which was

in the

province

of

Lydia.

It's likely

that she

is called

Lydia

for that

reason.

She was

probably

the woman

from Lydia

is the way

she would

have been

known

in Philippi

and so

she was

called

Lydia

probably

for that

reason

unless

her

parents

were

clever.

I'm

glad

my

parents

didn't

name

me

Gwinnett.

She

was a

seller

of

purple

goods

and this

is

significant.

Purple

dye

was made

from

the

glands

of

a

very

particular

shellfish

or

from

the

roots

of

a

plant

called

the

matter

plant

both

which

were

very

rare

and

therefore

cloth

that was

purple

was

very

expensive

and

as

such

purple

garments

were

only

worn

by

the

extremely

wealthy

and

this

was

likely

a

very

lucrative

business

that

Lydia

was

engaged

in.

She

was

doing

well

for

herself.

Verse 15

tells us

that she

had a

house

large

enough

to

host

the

missionary

team.

She

invited

them

to

host

them

and

she

prevailed

upon

them

convinced

them

to

come

and

likely

the

church

that

develops

in

Philippi

met

at

her

home

which

we

get

some

hint

of

in

verse

40

of

the

same

chapter

chapter

16

so

Lydia

was

doing

well

for

herself

and

was

able

to

turn

that

into

service

of

the

church

so

the

spirit

of

Jesus

mission

power

is

the

power

of

conversion

some

of

the

greatest

miracles

recorded

in

the

pages

of

scripture

are

the

records

of

dead

souls

coming

to

life

greater

than

the

burning

bush

or

the

water

of

the

Nile

being

turned

into

blood

or

the

parting

of

the

Red

Sea

or

any

other

of

the

Exodus

miracles

greater

than

Jesus

turning

water

into

wine

or

calming

the

storm

on

the

sea

of

Galilee

greater

than

all

of

these

is

the

acceptance

of

Jesus

as

the

Christ

repentance

and

faith

is a

work

of

God

by

his

spirit

God

bends

the

wills

of

men

like

water

in

his

hand

Luke's

record

states

the

Lord

opened

her

heart

to

pay

attention

to

what

was

said

by

Paul

do

not

make

the

mistake

of

giving

yourself

too

much

credit

in

the

saving

of

your

soul

Luke

is

careful

here

to

emphasize

that

it

was

the

work

of

the

Lord

to

open

her

heart

Paul

said

the

following

in

Ephesians

Ephesians 2:8

chapter

2

verses

8

and

9

for

by

grace

you

have

been

saved

through

faith

and

this

referring

to

faith

is

not

your

own

doing

it

is

the

gift

of

God

not

a

result

of

works

so

that

no

one

may

boast

and

let

me

add

my

commentary

to

that

so

that

no

one

may

boast

in

themselves

but

they

certainly

can

boast

in

God

understand

that

the

salvation

of

Lydia

and

your

salvation

is

the

work

of

God

and

it

is

proper

for

us

to

understand

this

to

give

him

the

proper

praise

that

is

due

him

to

express

this

point

to

you

in

an

artistic

way

let

me

share

with

you

a

poem

by

an

anonymous

author

not

by

God

just

an

author

but

it

makes

this

point

if

you've

been

here

a

while

you've

heard

me

read

this

before

oh

long

and

dark

the

stairs

I

trod

with

trembling

feet

to

find

my

God

gaining

a

foothold

bit

by

bit

then

slipping

back

and

losing

it

never

progressing

striving

still

with

weakening

grasp

and

faltering

will

bleeding

to

climb

to

God

while

he

serenely

smiled

not

noting

me

then

came

a

certain

time

when

I

loosened

my

hold

and

fell

thereby

down

to

the

lowest

step

my

fall

as

if

I

had

not

climbed

at

all

now

when

I

lay

despairing

there

listen

a

footfall

on

the

stair

on

that

same

stair

where

I

afraid

faltered

and fell

and lay

dismayed

and low

when hope

had ceased

!

to be

my

God

came down

the

stairs

to

me

and

there

is

a

picture

of

the

gospel

us

helpless

not

drowning

and being

thrown

a

life

preserver

but

dead

at

the

bottom

of

the

sea

and

Jesus

dives

in

and

he

pulls

our

dead

bodies

to

the

surface

and

he

breathes

life

into

us

and

we

believe

in

our

text

Luke

states

that

the

Lord

opened

her

heart

to

pay

attention

to

what

was

said

by

Paul

the

Greek

word

for

the

phrase

to

pay

attention

carries

a bit

more

weight

than

our

English

translations

allow

for

it

means

to

listen

to

but

it

also

means

to

take

heed

of

it

means

to

pay

attention

in

a

way

that

spurns

on

obedience

so

the

Lord

opened

her

heart

to

take

heed

of

what

was

said

by

Paul

so

if

you'll

allow

I

think

it's

proper

to

see

in

this

phrase

to

pay

attention

that

we

find

the

record

of

her

conversion

see

her

come

to

faith

in

Jesus

and

the

Lord

opening

her

heart

to

pay

attention

to

take

heed

to

what

was

being

said

by

Paul

to

the

gospel

message

that

he

was

preaching

the

spirit

of

God

converts

us

he

causes

us

to

believe

it

is in

her

subsequent

obedience

once

she's

converted

it

is in

her

subsequent

obedience

that

we

see

thirdly

the

spirit

of

Jesus

mission

result

in

verse

15

we

see

and

after

she

was

baptized

and

her

household

as

well

she

urged

us

saying

if

you

judge

me

faithful

to

the

Lord

come

to

my

house

and

stay

and

she

prevailed

upon

us

Luke

records

for us

immediately

that

she

was

baptized

and

her

household

as

well

now

the

Greek

word

here

translated

baptized

is

the

word

baptizo

!

It's

not

far

away

from

the

Greek

word

baptizo

which

is

most

often

defined

in

extra

biblical

Greek

writing

as

immerse

or

dunk

repeatedly

so

Bible

translators

often

go to

extra

biblical

writing

to

understand

how

was

the

language

of

the

day

used

they

look

at

broader

context

to

try

to

grasp

what

was

meant

by

these

Greek

words

which

are

complex

but

in

many

places

that's

what

the

word

means

to

immerse

or

to

dunk

repeatedly

I've

seen

one

translator

suggest

that

it

means

to

hold

under

to

drown

baptizo

it's

a

strong

word

in

that

regard

so

Lydia

and

her

household

which

was

probably

with

her

were

likely

immersed

in

the

river

dunked

under

in

the

river

now

it

is

texts

like

this

in

Acts

of

which

there

are

two

others

where

we

see

household

baptisms

that

are

most

often

used

by

our

brothers

who

are

paedo

baptists

this is a

fancy

word

paedo

baptists

are

those

who

baptize

infants

we

at

Christ

family

church

are

not

paedo

but

rather

credo

baptists

that's

our

fancy

word

we

get

to

own

which

means

that

we

only

baptize

people

who

have

professed

faith

in

Jesus

Christ

professed

faith

in

Jesus

Christ

now

I

don't

have

time

this

morning

or

likely

the

energy

for

a

large

treatment

of

the

topic

of

baptism

but

I

do

believe

that

it

is

important

that

you

hold

a

conviction

on

the

matter

and

understand

why

you

hold

said

conviction

it's

a

wonderful

thing

that

we

have

the

resource

of

Bible

translation

and

study

tools

at

our

disposal

I

commend

you

to

go

and

search

the

scriptures

right

believe

what you

believe

and

understand

what you

believe

don't

just

do it

because

you

know

that

I

think

that

credo

baptism

is the

proper

way

to go

I

also

want

you

to

understand

that

I

do

not

want

you

to

mistake

my

conviction

on

this

subject

or

any

other

as a

spirit

of

controversy

I

know

that

when

I

hold

beliefs

sometimes

I

am

passionate

about

the

beliefs

I

hold

it

is

never

my

intention

to

cause

controversy

in

our

community

I

know

many

pedo

baptists

who

are

faithful

brothers

and

friends

I

have

learned

much

from

pedo

baptist

scholars

I

have

a

great

commentary

on

the

book

of

acts

written

by

R.C.

Sproul

which

I

had

to

pretty

much

entirely

ignore

for

this

section

but

I

have

learned

much

from

his

writing

very

much

appreciate

the

contribution

of

pedo

baptist

scholars

to

Christianity

and

while

I

believe

that

my

understanding

my

case

my

belief

in

credo

baptism

is

biblical

and

that

it's

clear

and

nowhere

expressly

commands

in the

Bible

that

infant

baptism

should

be

practiced

nor

does

it

anywhere

expressly

forbid

it

so

the

point

is

we

should

be

charitable

we

should

be

charitable

I

don't

find

it

to

be

a

particularly

great

thing

but

some

people

do

is

what

I'm

suggesting

so

let's

hold

our

convictions

and

let's

contend

for the

truth

while

appreciating

the

truths

that

we

hold

in

common

with

our

paedo-baptist

brothers

right

more

central

truths

that

we

hold

in

common

particularly

and

probably

especially

Presbyterians

of the

conservative

kind

PCA

if

somebody

says

they're

Presbyterian

ask

them

PCA

or

PCUSA

PCA

Presbyterians

are much

like us

in our

beliefs

we have

a wonderful

PCA

congregation

here in

Dahlonega

which I

am

very

thankful

exists

and I'm

glad to

partner

with them

in this

community

for the

gospel

we can

unite

in

salvation

by grace

alone

through

faith

alone

in

Christ

alone

we

can

unite

in

the

fact

that

baptism

does

not

save

you

some

hesitate

to call

them

even

denominations

non-Christian

denominations

believe that

baptism

does

save

you

not

most

of

the

people

we

know

that

practice

pedo-baptism

baptism

does

not

save

you

but