Sermon: How Did the Early Church Grow?

Julius: Our first reading, which will serve as the sermon text this morning from Acts chapter 16. After we put out to sea from Troas, we sailed straight to Samathrace and the next day to Neapolis. From there we went to Philippi, which is a leading city in that part of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for a number of days. On the Sabbath day, we went outside the city gate alongside the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer. We sat down and began to talk to the women who had gathered there. A woman named Lydia, who worshipped God, was listening. She was a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira. The Lord opened her heart to pay close attention to what Paul was saying. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house. And she persuaded us. Once when we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us. She had a spirit that foretold the future and she made a large profit for her owners by fortune telling. As she followed Paul and us, she kept crying out, These men are servants of the Most High God who are proclaiming to you the way to be saved." When she kept doing this for many days, Paul became so annoyed that he turned to the Spirit and said, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out at that very moment. When her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. They had brought them to the magistrates and said, these men are throwing our city into a state of confusion. They are Jews and they are teaching customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice since we are Romans. When the crowd also joined in the attack against them, the magistrates tore off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had beaten them severely, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to guard them securely. Because he received such a command, the jailer threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Instantly all the doors were opened and everyone's chains came loose. When the jailer woke up and saw that the prison doors were opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted with a loud voice, Don't harm yourself because we are all here. The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell down trembling in front of Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and asked, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his home. At that same hour of the night, he took them and washed their wounds. Without delay, he and all his family were baptized. Then he brought Paul and Silas into his house and set food before them. He rejoiced because he and his whole household had come to believe in God. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Sometimes when we picture the early church, we picture it spreading like wildfire. After the Holy Spirit descended like fire on Pentecost, then the gospel went out to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Which can make us wonder, when it doesn't seem the church is spreading as quickly in our day, what's the difference? Was the gospel spreading then in a society that was more open to it? Did they at least have less opposition to it? Or did they have some kind of message that we've forgotten, some really good message that really gets to the heart of things and converts people instantly? Well, as we look through Acts chapter 16, we'll get answers to those questions. And first of all, we'll look at what kind of society was the apostle Paul sharing the gospel in in Acts chapter 16? Just before our reading in Acts 16, The apostle Paul had been specifically directed by the Holy Spirit to go that-a-way, to go into the continent of Europe for the very first time. Before he went there, he even had a vision, a dream, of a man from Macedonia saying, come, help us. And so you could imagine the potential, at least, disappointment of the apostle Paul when he steps foot, when the gospel steps foot in Europe for the very first time. And there's nobody there to greet him. Where's the guy from the vision? Where are the crowds ready to hear the word of God? Where are the empty churches waiting to be filled? Nobody is there to meet him. Not only that, but the culture there seems opposed to him. Later when the apostle Paul starts talking about the Old Testament, the Philippians, they lump Paul together with the Jews and he says, and they say, we don't need you here. Your customs, your teaching, that kind of Old Testament stuff doesn't belong here in Philippi. We're a newer city, a prosperous city filled with business. We are Roman citizens. We don't need what you have to offer. So was it a society that was particularly open to the gospel? A couple weeks ago, the Wisconsin Synod released a little video from one of our missionaries, not in Philippi, but in the Philippines, in the city of Manila. And he says, I am in the most densely populated city in the world. And I couldn't help but notice that as he's surrounded by people and skyscrapers, his Bible studies aren't that full. They don't even really have true congregations. In other words, people there in that culture think, we're too busy, we've got too much going on, we really don't need what you have to offer. And is it really any different today? On the other end of the world, here in Lincoln, we're so prosperous. We've got a lot going on, we've got a lot of business, we've got skyscrapers, we've got stadiums, we've got marathons, we've got all sorts of things going on, and that can make it a society that's a little bit too busy, a little bit too prosperous for what Jesus has to offer. And that's not just a city thing, that's a heart thing. You think of Jesus' parable of the sower spreading the word of God into different hearts, and our hearts can also be like that soil that is just crowded with so many things. James in our epistle reading did not speak well of our sinful heart by nature. He said, it's filled with overflowing wickedness and moral filthiness. Wow, it's gonna be hard for the gospel to plant itself there. And not only that, but our lives are filled with busyness and things to do, lots of wonderful blessings that can crowd out the word of God. So, in other words, our society is pretty similar to Paul's society. And how then? How did the early church spread in a place like that? Well, we read about it. On the Sabbath day, we went outside, that's Luke, the writer of this text, including himself with Paul. We went outside the city gate alongside the river. where we thought there was a place of prayer. We sat down and began to talk to the women who had gathered there. A woman named Lydia, who worshiped God, was listening. She was a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira. The Lord opened her heart to pay close attention to what Paul was saying. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, if you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house. And she persuaded us. Paul did not find a church in Philippi. He didn't even find a synagogue, which normally he would go looking for, but he heard maybe there's a rumor of maybe a few women who are interested in the Bible gathering down by the river on their worship day on the Sabbath. And so Paul goes down to the river to pray, and what does he find there? He finds a group of women, among them a woman named Lydia. And what do we know about her? Well, if anyone was busy and prosperous, it was her. It says she was a dealer in purple cloth from Thyatira. In other words, she was basically the CEO of Lydia's Fabrics. And you could tell later when she comes to the Lord, her whole household is baptized. That's not just family members. That's workers, that's servants, maybe even slaves. She is a corporation. And so if anybody's busy, if anybody's prosperous, it's her. And if anybody had an excuse not to be there, down by the river at this non-church to listen to some stranger named Paul. It was her. She had things to do, things to sell, places to be. And yet, she is there. And what happens? It says she listens to Paul talking and as she's doing so, the Lord opened her heart. The Lord opened her heart. That word of truth had the power to plant itself even in that heart, in that society, and give her new birth, spiritual rebirth, and not just her. It says that after she comes to faith, she brings her whole household with her. She's like the head of the household, and she leads everybody with her, and all of them believe and are baptized. What a miracle. And how did it happen? The word of God was shared, and through it, the Lord opened her heart. And she came to faith. And you can tell immediately because it completely changes her life. What happens right after she comes to faith? It says she urges Paul and Silas, you have to stay at my house. Violent hospitality. She opens up her home, probably a big home with a big courtyard. She says, you don't have a church? My house is your church now. Stay here. Bring everybody. Worship at my home. The gospel changes her life. How can the gospel work? In our society today, like it did in the early church, well it's just like this. The Lord working through His words to open hearts. And He does it to us. Before I do a Bible reading, I often pray hymn 632, and the start of the first verse goes like this, Lord, open now my heart to hear, and through your word to me draw near. Lord, open now my heart to hear. And how is he going to do that? Through your word to me draw near. As you hear the word of God, that's your prayer. Lord, work through the word of God because he does. and open my heart. That's not just our prayer for people like Lydia who didn't believe. It's the prayer of those who do believe. In fact, if Lydia paid close attention to the word of God and the Lord brought her to faith, how much more should we pay close attention to the word of God when the Lord has already opened our hearts and given us new birth? And so this is our prayer. Don't let me become so busy and prosperous and blessed that I forget to take time to listen to the word of God in church, to open up my Bible and really read and listen and take it to heart because this is how the Lord works. Now, just like then, through his word, opening our hearts and strengthening our faith. And he does that despite opposition. despite opposition, which the apostle Paul faced a lot of. You know, after this visit to Philippi, Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians. So he's writing to the believers there. It's a letter that you love because it has the words, rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice. And he says that to people who were suffering, just like Paul suffered when he was in Philippi. He wrote this to the Philippians. He said, have come to know, I've come to know Jesus and the power of his resurrection. and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death. Paul says, I've come to know what it's like to suffer with and suffer like Jesus, even to be conformed to his death in a way. When did that happen? It actually did happen to him in a way in Philippi. So what's happening there? The apostle Paul has Lydia's home now as his home base and he's sharing the word of God for a few weeks. But as he's doing that, as he's walking to go share God's word there, someone starts chasing him. It's this little girl possessed by a demon who can tell the future for her owners and she's pursuing them and she says over and over again, these men are servants of the most high God who are proclaiming to you the way to be saved. At first glance, that sounds okay. Men of the Most High God proclaiming the way to be saved. What's the big deal here? But it's kind of like, well, on the way to church, we always pass that little trailer that says, Hypnosis. And that's one of those things, like, I don't know about that. Well, imagine if that trailer had a nice big banner on it that said, to Mount Olive. Do we like when people say, to Mount Olive? Yeah. Do we necessarily want that poster on that trailer? No, not really. We don't want them to associate us with things like that. And so that's what's going on here. The demon is saying, hey, listen to these guys. And people say, well, if the demons want us to listen to them, that's not a very good endorsement. And so the apostle Paul says he becomes annoyed and it's not just that he loses his temper. It's that this demon is standing in the way of the gospel. And so finally he turns around and says, in the name of Jesus, I drive you out. And the demon leaves this little girl. And what happens? He's not surrounded by a crowd of people who say, ⁓ Paul, good job. We're so glad that you freed that girl and they're not exploiting her for money anymore. No. The owners get really upset because they were making a lot of money and now they're not. And so they get a whole crowd. The whole city says, yeah, we got to take out these people. And they beat Paul and Silas severely, ripped their clothes and throw them in prison, the inner prison for the worst criminals and lock their feet in the stocks. more than they had to do. Wow, that's the suffering we're talking about. And so how would the gospel spread in a place like this with such opposition to the word of God? Well, it would have to happen through a miracle, but not the miracle that you might think when you read the next verses. We read, about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was such a violent earthquake, that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Instantly all the doors were open and everyone's chains came loose. When the jailer woke up and saw that the prison doors were opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted with a loud voice, don't harm yourself because we're all here. The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell down trembling in front of Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and asked, sirs, what must I do to be saved? The greatest miracle here isn't the earthquake. That prison-specific earthquake that opened jail cells and loosed chains and let them out of the stocks. That's not the greatest miracle here. The greatest miracle is actually what happens to the jailer. When the earthquake happens, jailer wakes up, he sees all the doors open, he assumes that the prisoners are gone and his life is forfeit. So he draws his sword to kill himself. And Paul shouts, don't do it. We're all still here. And the jailer isn't relieved. You notice that? His earthly life is now saved. But he's not relieved. Why? Because he came that close to meeting his maker. And he knew that that meeting wasn't going to go well. That he was a wicked, sinful man and that he was due for eternal punishment. And so instead, he runs to Paul and Silas, these men of God that he persecuted, and he falls on his knees and he's trembling and he says, What must I do to be saved? Not from physical death. What must I do to be saved from eternal death? And here's the miracle. They said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house. At the same hour of the night, he took them and washed their wounds. Without delay, he and all his family were baptized. Then he brought Paul and Silas into his house and set food before them. He rejoiced because he and his whole household had come to believe in God. What's the miracle? Well, it's that this jailer came to faith. One moment he was a wicked man, despairing of his salvation on the road to hell. The next, just like that, he's a kind, rejoicing man with his whole household, believing in Jesus the way and the truth and the life and on the path to heaven. How does that miracle happen? just through the law and gospel, just through the word of the Lord that Paul shared. What's the law in the gospel? First, that terror, that trembling, that I am a sinner and I deserve hell and I need a Savior. And then the gospel, that Jesus has saved you. That's exactly what Paul says, right? The man says, must I do to be saved? And Paul doesn't say, oof, with someone like you, it's going to take a while. You're going to turn your life around. You've to do plenty of good works. We'll see. if you're able to make up for it. No! What must I do to be saved? And Paul's instant response is, don't have to do anything. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. In other words, don't do anything, just trust that Jesus has done everything for you, that Jesus took the punishment you deserve, and that you can be to heaven right now receiving that salvation through faith in him. And that message gives the man the miracle of faith. And not just him. Just like with Lydia. He and his entire household come to faith and they are baptized, their sins washed away for the forgiveness of their sins. And so, what's it going to take in a society like ours for the gospel to continue to spread when people are opposed to it? The very same thing. There's a reason the apostle Paul says in Romans chapter one verse 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel. because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Don't think you need some super secret strategy or message to share with people to bring them to faith. This is all you need. The law in their conscience and in the Bible that says something's not right, you need help before you meet your maker. And the gospel that says Jesus has done everything. Believe in Jesus and be saved. And it's all about Jesus because he's the one at work through his message. You know, when Jesus sent out his disciples with this message, Matthew chapter 28, he said, and gather disciples by baptizing and by teaching. And that's exactly what happens here. But he sends them with a promise. He says, and surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age. I will be with you. And that's really the key. How do we know the church is going to spread today like it did back then? Because Jesus is with us. And you can really see that in Paul and Silas' ministry when you compare it to Jesus' own ministry when He was walking on earth. That's the last thing I want to leave you with. Did you notice as we went through Acts chapter 16 any parallels between what was happening to them and what happened to Jesus when He was on earth? It's uncanny. What happens first? It's actually a group of women who believe in Him. ⁓ that's just like Jesus' ministry. Women were the first to believe in the resurrection. Women were the ones who supported Jesus' ministry. And what happens when they share the word of God with Lydia? Her heart is opened and she urges them to stay. Just like Jesus on the road to Emmaus with those two disciples, when he opened up the scriptures to them and opened up their hearts and then they urged him, stay with us. What happened when Jesus was walking around? Demons would come. and oppose him and say, this is the son of the most high God. And he would drive them out with a word, just like happened with Paul. And then what happened to Jesus? Just like Paul and Silas were grabbed and beaten and put in stocks, literally the Greek word for stocks there is wood, which is the same word for cross, same word for cross. And what happens to Jesus? He's put on trial and beaten and put on wood, put on the cross. What happens with Paul and Silas? They're saved through an earthquake. And the prison doors open and prisoners are freed. What happens when Jesus dies on the cross to accomplish our salvation? An earthquake that opens up tombs and people walk out alive. Paul and Silas speak to a jailer who's trembling and terrified and they share the peace of Jesus. Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, goes to his terrified disciples and says, In other words, Paul and Silas' ministry looked exactly like Jesus' ministry because Jesus was with them, with the Word of God, working with them. Whoever accepts you accepts me, Jesus says. So how did the early church grow so much? Jesus was at work through the word of God, through his means of grace. How can the church grow today? the very same way. Amen.

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