Let’s talk about when the gospel entered Europe. Last week we saw how when Paul and his entourage tried to enter Asia Minor (Western Turkey), the Holy Spirit “forbid them" and “did not allow him” (Acts 16:6-7). In the grander scheme of redemption, it wasn't that Asia didn't need to hear the gospel, or wasn't quite ready, or was unworthy. It wasn't that Paul had some fatal flaw, preventing him from being used of God. Quite the opposite.
The Holy Spirit would send Peter, John, and many others to preach the gospel to Asia soon enough. “It is God's will that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” The Spirit had an assignment even greater in mind for Paul. God intended to use Paul's brilliant mind…his intellectual genius…to preach the mystery, that's Christ Jesus, to the greatest religious and philosophical minds of his day.
A century earlier, in the tiny locale of Greece, the philosophical genius of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, and countless others emerged. If you've ever studied philosophy (and everyone should be acquainted with its questions), brilliant minds probed the mysteries of universe, of life and death, human purpose, meaning, value, the nature of reality, the plausibility of a higher power or intelligence, the origin and utility of all things. Where are we? What are we? Who are we? Are we a soul, spirit, or a mere body? What's gone wrong—why is there cruelty and evil—human suffering and pain? What is the solution? Is there hope in this life or after this life?
These great philosophers kicked up all this suffocating dust—they fomented this colossal existential crisis in the minds of men—but couldn't resolve the storm they stirred up. After Paul is forbidden from entering Asia, Acts 16:9-10 says, “9 During the night Paul had a vision in which a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, “Cross over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 After he had seen the vision, we immediately made efforts to set out for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” The Macedonian Man is standing on the continent of Europe flailing his arms, pleading “Help Us!" The Macedonians, the Greeks, were the people who’d been left picking up the pieces of their intellectual curiosity.
The cry of the Macedonian Man is still heard today in the corridors of our universities, of our political, scientific, and technology centers. The Macedonian man is modern man, searching for answers. He is the Ecclesiastes writer, coming up short on meaning. “Meaningless, meaningless, meaningless – everything is meaningless!” He is this generation of young people—your children and grandchildren who believe they’re all alone--without hope, God, or purpose in this life. They believe the answers they most seek, in words of Bob Dylan, are lost, “blowing in the wind."
From Troas, the gospel leaps across Aegean sea to Europe. In Acts 16, in spectacular fashion, the gospel gets a foothold in Philippi. Then Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, then back across the Aegean sea to Ephesus. Google for a map of Paul's Missionary Journeys. He traveled further by foot and boat than most modern people travel in a lifetime! Do we still hear the cry of the Macedonian Man today? Like Paul, are we willing to obey the Spirit, and go help?
How did the gospel gain a foothold in Europe, with the Macedonian man? That’s really our focus these next several weeks. In Acts 16, Luke records four short stories of how the gospel begins. Each story demonstrates the power of God's Holy Spirit to draw people unto Christ, to give them a new heart and mind, to cause them to respond… to redeem, to save, to sanctify, to sustain people in this new life!
The first story in Acts 16, is of a young, and timid man from a fractured family.
The second is of a worldly successful, self-made, middle-aged woman.
The third is of a teenage girl, hopelessly doomed, enslaved to a satanic enterprise. The fourth is that of a formidable, battle-worn, sword-wielding, military man. *You'd be hard pressed to find a more disparate group of people (socially, racially, politically, economically, spiritually, psychologically…or physically) squeezed together in one chapter as in any other place of scripture!
First, there is Timothy, whom we read about in Acts 16:1-5. Technically, not a Philippian, yet still, newly minted to be a missionary and minister to Philippi. Timothy came to know Jesus from his mother, grandmother. Acts 16:1: His mother was “Jewish”; His Father had been a “Gentile”, and judging from this verse, had passed on.
Like many fatherless boys, Timothy had been caught in a bit of an identity crisis all his life. His ethnicity—whether Jew or Gentile was unresolved. Like many young people, absent a father figure, he's tender, and impressionable, he struggles with fear, insecurity, and timidity. He doesn't know his place or purpose in the world. He's been overly nurtured and under-challenged.
But then his family comes to know Christ, and he comes under the tutelage of the Apostle Paul. Paul becomes a spiritual father to Timothy, and Timothy a true son. As a young adult he is circumcised—clearly not for salvation—but to put an exclamation mark on his ethnicity as a Jewish man. No longer just a boy, but now a respectable man, Timothy is be heard, trusted, and followed now especially by Jews but also Gentiles. He was circumcised so as to not let himself, his ethnic identity, be any kind of issue, distraction, hindrance in preaching gospel to Jews.
The Spirit of God emboldens Timothy to preach. As you read the book of 1 and 2 Timothy, Philippians… he's continually commended as servant of Christ Jesus, who has poured himself out in sacrificial service to the saints! The Holy Spirit orchestrates the mission of Jesus—our constant prayer ought to be for God to raise up and equip Timothy's to respond to need of their “Macedonian” generation!
Second, there is Lydia, whom we read about in Acts 16:12-15. Lydia was a worldly successful, self-made, middle-aged woman—a dealer of rare purple dye, and choice purple clothing—the strong preference of kings, authorities, and anyone of significant influence in the ancient world. She was a self-made woman in need of no man, connected to the network of power brokers in her day. But there was one man she realized she couldn't live without—In Acts 16 we read how, “the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” She needed Lord!
In an instant the Spirit opened her eyes not only to her need for Jesus, but to her true eternal purpose. God didn't endow her with great material wealth and worldly influence to merely clothe people in fine purple linen! God had endowed her with extraordinary means to see people clothed in Christ’s righteousness!
She catches a vision for stewardship. Lydia opens her home immediately as a gathering space for believers. She uses her great wealth to financially supply all that was needed by missionaries like Paul and Timothy. She supplies the needs of her brothers and sisters in Christ at Philippi. We don't know the name of the widow that gave her last mite in the temple in Jesus’ presence… but will forever know the name of Lydia, who used every material blessing she’d earned to ensure people received every spiritual blessing in Christ.
The Holy Spirit orchestrates the mission of Jesus—our constant prayer ought to be for God to raise up Lydias to respond, to catch a vision of stewardship, to rise up and supply all that's needed. YES! to financially fund the mission of Jesus to this Macedonian generation! She used wealth to make space happen, to make mission trips happen, to plant the next several churches, to bless and help those in need. One generous Lydia (or Larry) can be such a force for God's Kingdom. It’s in Philippians 4:15 that Paul says, “…when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone.” Philippians 4:16, “For even in Thessalonica you sent gifts for my need several times.” And in Philippians 4:18, “But I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance. I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided—a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” She used her wealth not to acquire more pleasure or luxury for herself, but to give her Macedonian world, the “One” whom it most needed!
Third, in Acts 16:12-22 we read about this slave girl, hopelessly doomed, enslaved to a satanic enterprise. Acts 16:16-19, “Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling. As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.” She did this for many days. Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away. When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities…”
If you're not moved by the cry of the Macedonian Man, what about the Macedonian children? The pretext of a child's exploitation by powerful men ought be little concerning to us. There are more children enslaved, being exploited and trafficked in this generation than any other. All such bondage and cruelty at its core is Satanic. Notice how she wasn't just an economic tool of men, but now worse, a tool of Satan, opposing the work of the Lord. In the Greek it says she literally had a “python spirit." In classical mythology the Python Spirit guarded the temple of Apollo. The Python Spirit was a spirit of ventriloquism—whereby Satan could embody an earthly creature, like a snake, and speak. She was like a puppet on Satan's hand, his mouthpiece. When Paul cast out her “Python Spirit” it shook the religious and economic foundations of Philippi.
The Holy Spirit orchestrates the mission of Jesus—our constant prayer ought to be for God to fill this Macedonian generation with his Holy Spirit. To deliver the very soul (and the lips) of our children from the Python Spirit of Satan, by which this generation parrots, propagates, tweets, speaks, produces Tik-Toks of every impure and corrupt thing that’s opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our prayer ought to be for God to bankrupt evil men who‘d dare exploit our youth—it is better a millstone be tied around their neck than to go on corrupting, exploiting, or enslaving.
Fourth, in Acts 16:19-40, we encounter that unsuspecting, war-hardened, sword-wielding Roman Jailer. The city now in an uproar, Acts 16:22-23, “. . . they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities… the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully.” Paul and Silas were profoundly humiliated, severely beaten. To add insult to injury, the calloused guard thrusts them into the inner prison and puts their feet in stocks. Calloused because the guard puts Paul and Silas into stress-torture, and then goes about his business as usual, and heads off for a good night’s sleep.
I just have to read Luke's Acts 16:25-34, “25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!” 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house. 33 He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized. 34 He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.
Friends, the Holy Spirit orchestrates the mission of Jesus. A once young, and timid man from a fractured family. A once worldly successful, self-made, middle-aged woman. A teenage girl, once hopelessly doomed, enslaved to a satanic enterprise. A once formidable, battle-worn, sword-wielding, military man. There is no heart too hard for the Holy Spirit to save. There are no two people, or whatever diversity, or inequity, or unjustly abused … there are no two people of any social, racial, political, economic, or power status that God's Spirit cannot bring together to become ONE in Christ, and ONE together as Christ's church.
I wonder, how many of you have a testimony of God's power to change your very life and your story? How many of you are feeling the Lord moving, the Spirit of God stirring in your heart? Have you given your life to Jesus? Have you believed and been baptized? Have you availed yourself to be of service to this Macedonian generation?