From Phrygia to Philippi, or
~ From the National to the Personal ~
~ From Closed Doors to Opened Hearts ~
The Sovereignty of God in Action
Acts 16:6-15
6 Now
when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were
forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, 7 After they
were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered
them not. 8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. 9
And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and
prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. 10 And
after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia,
assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto
them. 11 Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight
course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; 12 And from
thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a
colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days. 13 And on the
sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be
made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. 14
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira,
which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended
unto the things which were spoken of Paul. 15 And when she was
baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to
be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she
constrained us.
Introduction:
The focus of Scripture does not just move across the
timeline of history, it moves in very specific and discernable patterns such as
from one individual to the cosmic, then back to another individual, and on to a
nation, etc. Over and over again certain eras and days, nations and persons are
focused on with a narrative expansion and contraction as if the shift were back
and forth from a telescope to a microscope. This movement from the macro to the
micro, from the national to the personal is found in a compressed expression in
the verses we are to consider this day, as we pick up “The Trail of the Spirit”
once again on Paul’s Second Missionary Journey. Perhaps if we imagine that we
are following this journey using Google Maps with its zoom feature and “Street
View” function it would give us an idea of what we are confronted with here.
Outline:
I. The Redirection of the Mission (16:6-10)
II. The First Sabbath in Macedonia (16:11-13)
III. The Conversion of Lydia (16:14-15)
Transition: “The whole account is related
at breathtaking speed, to convey some impression of the irresistible sweep of
events that took Paul to Macedonia.” [1]
I. The Redirection of the Mission (16:6-10)
-
Subtitle 1: From Phrygia to Philippi
6 Now
when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were
forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, 7 After they
were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered
them not. 8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. 9
And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and
prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. 10 And
after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia,
assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto
them.
1. The Forbidden Attempt for Plan A in Asia (16:6)
2. The Blocked Detour for Plan B in Bithynia (16:7)
3. The Envisioned Call for Plan C in Macedonia (16:8-10)
The place names to be mapped out in this part of the 2nd
journey:
1) Phrygia
2) the region of Galatia
3) Asia
4) Mysia
5) Bithynia
6) Troas
7) Macedonia
The significant verbs expressing what did and did not
happen in this part of the 2nd journey:
1)
forbidden
(Holy Spirit)
2) assayed
3) suffered not (Spirit) [2]
4) endeavoured
5) gathering
6)
called
(Lord)
1. The Forbidden Attempt for Plan A in Asia (16:6)
Now when they had gone
throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy
Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
Does this mean that the people in Asia where the team
wanted to minister would not hear the Gospel? No! The seven churches addressed
in Christ’s letters in Revelation 2-3 were planted there in the interim, undoubtedly
involving the ministry of the Apostle John.
2. The Blocked Detour for Plan B in Bithynia (16:7)
After they were come to Mysia,
they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.
Again, does this mean that Bithynia would be devoid of
the Gospel, as if God had something against them in no allowing the team to
have success in this attempt? No! Peter mentions believers being at Bithynia in
1 Pet. 1:1. Also, two of the places that
the members of the team might have had
in mind as centers of ministry were Nicea and Chalcedon. Both of these will
figure prominently in the centuries following as centers for dealing with
heresies and composing creedal affirmations in the face of false teaching
(Nicea in 325, and Chalcedon in 451). [3]
2 Pet. 1:1-2 - 1 Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto
you, and peace, be multiplied.
the
Spirit - there is a textual issue here, and many texts and modern
translations that follow the eclectic approach to textual criticism read here
“the Spirit of Jesus” [4].
The Byzantine and Majority texts do not include the word for “Jesus”.
3. The Envisioned Call for Plan C in Macedonia
(16:8-10)
8 And
they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to
Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come
over into Macedonia, and help us. 10 And after he had seen the
vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering
that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
1) The Place of the Vision - Troas is a port city
on the Aegean Sea.
2) The Plea in the Vision - “Come over into
Macedonia, and help us.”[5]
3) The Plan from the Vision - attempt to go to
Macedonia based on the firm assurance of the Lord’s call to preach to the
people there
we - 16:10-17;
20:5-21:18; and 27:1-28:16 [6]
II. The First Sabbath in Macedonia (16:11-13)
-
Subtitle 2: From the National to the
Personal
11 Therefore loosing from Troas, we
came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; 12
And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia,
and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days. 13 And
on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont
to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
1. The remaining legs of this portion of the 2nd journey
to Philippi (16:11-12)
2. The first meeting in Philippi (16:13)
1. The remaining legs of this portion of the 2nd
journey to Philippi (16:11-12)
1)
Troas to Samothracia - They overnight on an
island in the Aegean Sea (69 sq. mi., 11 mi. long, incl. a mt. over 12 mi.
high, but no natural harbor)
2)
Samothracia to Neapolis - This is a Macedonian
port city
3)
Neapolis to Philippi - Scrolling the mouse and
rolling the zoom in on the map we now focus on one particular city
2. The first meeting in Philippi (16:13)
If you were using Google Maps to follow this journey you
would now be accessing “Street View”! This place was named for Philip of
Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great.
1)
on the sabbath - Finding rest for their souls in
the true “Sabbath”, the Lord of the Sabbath
2)
outside of the city
3)
on the side of a river
4)
where corporate prayer was conducted
5)
women gathered there
Why were
they meeting outside of the city on a river side?
Why no synagogue?
Why
women?
III. The Conversion of Lydia (16:14-15)
-
Subtitle 3: From Closed Doors to Opened
Hearts
14 And a certain woman named Lydia,
a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us:
whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were
spoken of Paul. 15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she
besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into
my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
1. The Identification of Lydia (16:14a-b)
2. The Response of Lydia (16:14c-15b)
3. The Hospitality of Lydia (16:15c-g)
1. The Identification of Lydia (16:14a-b)
a seller of purple
- a businesswoman
of the city of
Thyatira - houses and business interests in both Thyatira and Philippi?
which worshipped
God - Was Lydia an Old Testament saint like Cornelius and others?
2. The Response of Lydia (16:14c-15b)
opened - an
opened heart is the opposite of a closed heart
cp. Lk. 1:66; Acts 5:31; 11:18, 21; 13:48; and 14:27.
Also, cp. Lk. 24:45; 2 Cor. 4:4; and 1 Th. 1:5-6. Also,
Eph. 6:17; Tit. 3:5.
Minds are closed, eyes are blind, ears are deaf, and
hearts are hardened until the Spirit of God heals, illumines and softens. We
are utterly dependent upon God to deliver us from the devastating effects of
the Fall, and the debilitating consequences of sin. It is folly to assume or
imagine otherwise. The boast of the believer is, “Behold, what wondrous works
my God has wrought!” [7]
attended - An
open heart does not just pay attention and receive the things of God, but
welcomes them!
Rom. 10:17 - So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God.
3. The Hospitality of Lydia (16:15c-g)
Might this verse be in the minds of Paul, Silas, and
Timothy?
Gen. 24:27 - And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left
destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's
brethren.
Conclusion:
Remember that the focus of Scripture does not just move
across the timeline of history, it moves in very specific and discernable
patterns such as from one individual to the cosmic, then on to another
individual, and then to a nation, etc. Over and over again certain eras and
days, nations and persons are focused on with a narrative expansion and
contraction as if the shift were back and forth from a telescope to a
microscope. This movement from the macro to the micro, from the national to the
personal is found in a compressed expression in the verses we considered today,
and “The Trail of the Spirit” was once again evident in Paul’s Second
Missionary Journey as it is in our lives. If we grasp the significance of what
happened here, as elsewhere in the Biblical history we can keep ourselves and
our times in perspective.
God must be
viewed just as much the “Sovereign of the Nations” as the “Sovereign of the
Human Heart”! He is the opener and the closer of the many and the one, the
corporate entities and the individual.
I. The Redirection of the Mission (16:6-10)
1. The Forbidden Attempt for
Plan A in Asia (16:6)
2. The Blocked Detour for Plan B
in Bithynia (16:7)
3. The Envisioned Call for Plan
C in Macedonia (16:8-10)
II. The First Sabbath in Macedonia (16:11-13)
1. The remaining legs of this
portion of the 2nd journey to Philippi (16:11-12)
2. The first meeting in Philippi
(16:13)
III. The Conversion of Lydia (16:14-15)
1. The Identification of Lydia
(16:14a-b)
2. The Response of Lydia
(16:14c-15b)
3. The Hospitality of Lydia
(16:15c-g)
[Sermon preached 27
JUL 2014 by Pastor John T. “Jack” Jeffery at Wayside Gospel Chapel, Greentown,
PA.]
Resources on Acts:
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Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), pp. 513-606.
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(Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2005).
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Yarbrough and Robert H. Stein (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007).
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ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1951, 1952).
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Commentary, Vol. 5 in Tyndale New
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Resources on Paul:
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[1] I. Howard Marshall, Acts: An Introduction And Commentary, Vol. 5 in Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, gen.
ed. Leon Morris (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1980; 2008 reprint),
pg. 277.
[2] Due to a textual issue involving a difference between
the Byzantine/Majority text and the modern Critical/Eclectic texts most modern
translations read “Spirit of Jesus” here.
[3] “Sometimes the Spirit guided messengers not to go
into a certain area (16:6-7), showing again that the Spirit was steering the
church in its mission.” Thomas R. Schreiner, The King In His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New
Testaments (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), pg. 490.
[4] “…the resurrected Christ’s sending of his Spirit on people,
not only in Acts 2 but also in subsequent chapters, identifies them with the
resurrected Jesus and thus as resurrected people. Thus, all the various
functions later in Acts are functions of the Spirit of the resurrected Jesus.” G.
K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical
Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New (Grand Rapids:
Baker Academic, 2011), pg. 577. Beale
then cites Eduard Schweizer’s linkage of Lk. 12:12/21:15; Acts 10:14/19; 16:7
as demonstrating that “the Spirit becomes parallel to the Risen Lord…” on Lk.
24:49 and Acts 2:33. Ibid., note
63, citing Schweizer’s article on πνεῦμα in TDNT 6:405-6.
[5] John Owen took this verse
as his text when he preached 29 APR 1646 before the House of Commons at the end
of the first civil war following the defeat of Charles I: “Sermon I. A Vision
of Unchangeable, Free Mercy, in Sending the Means of Grace to Undeserving
Sinners.” in The Works of John Owen,
ed. William H. Goold, 16 vols. (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, n.d.;
1976 reprint of ed. by Johnstone & Hunter, 1850-1853), 8:5-41; on Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL)
at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/owen/sermons.ii.i.v.html
[accessed 31 JUL 2014]. The information on the occasion for this first sermon
of Owen’s before the House of Commons see ibid., pg. 2; on Christian Classics Ethereal Library at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/owen/sermons.ii.i.ii.html
[accessed 31 JUL 2014].
[6] “Since the text states that “we got ready,” the first
certain occurrence of the narrative first-person speech in Acts, the most
likely assumption is that Luke joined the missionary party at this time.” Polhill, J. B. (1995). Vol. 26: Acts. The New
American Commentary (346). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. Polhill’s
footnote 17 at this place: “For the significance of the “we” passages, see the
discussion on authorship in the introduction. Recently V. K. Robbins has argued
that the “we” is a literary device associated with sea narratives (“By Land and
By Sea: The We-Passages and Ancient Sea Voyages,” Luke-Acts: New Perspectives from the SBL Seminar, ed. C. Talbert
[New York: Crossroad, 1984]), 215–42. The difficulty with this is that the “we”
extends into the narrative far beyond the voyage (cf. 16:17) and only occurs in
three of the ten or twelve voyages in Acts. See G. Krodel, Acts, PC (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981), 303.”
[7] “Luke emphasizes God’s sovereign purpose not only in
the events of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, but also in the way in
which people receive salvation through Jesus….Acts underscores the decision of
God not only in Jesus’ redemptive work, but also in people’s reception of its
benefits.” Dennis E. Johnson, The Message of Acts in the History of
Redemption (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1997), pg. 151. See also James M. Hamilton Jr.’s “Table 5.26. God’s Sovereignty
in Salvation in Acts”, in God’s Glory In Salvation Through Judgment
(Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), pg. 434.
