BLESSED BEGINNINGS

Acts 16:11-40
Bob Bonner
December 9, 2007

This week Becky and I were blessed with the birth of our fourth grandchild. Both mother and baby are presently doing well. Previously, our daughter had problems with her first birth, but this child’s life was blessed with a relatively good beginning. We are filled with tremendous excitement and anticipation for what God will do in and through our grandson’s life in the years ahead.

Similarly, this morning we begin a new series, a study of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians. This little church at Philippi was the first church birthed in Europe. It too was blessed with good beginnings. This little four-chapter book speaks uniquely to the church in the USA today, more than any other New Testament Epistle. As a church family, if we really are passionate about being all we can be for the Lord, we need to understand and be 100% committed to applying the truths of this book to our individual and corporate lives as followers of Jesus Christ.

In order to correctly understand, interpret and apply what the Spirit of God wants us to, from this book, it is really important that we understand the history of the city of Philippi, into which this church was birthed. In my research of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, I discovered an unusual amount of interpretive errors by various reliable Bible commentators and pastors that came as a result of not fully grasping the historical context surrounding this letter. 

Hence, our first two studies will focus mostly on the historical backdrop to this letter so that we can better understand and apply it to our present situation. In these two studies, we will be covering the history of the birth of the church at Philippi, based on a study of Acts 16, and finally, next week, we will look at answering the question, “What happened to the church during the 10 years following its birth, and its blessed beginnings that caused Paul to write this letter? 

Philippi was located in the northeast section of the Roman province of Macedonia, in a large valley between two rivers, Strymon and Nestos. It was 800 miles from Rome and about 9 miles from the closest sea port, Neapolis. The area contained extensive gold mines on the Hill of Dionysus not far from town. These gold mines attracted the early settlers and prepared the city as a capital of the Greek armies. The most imposing geographical feature was a 750 foot high rock cliff which overlooked the city. Many reliefs depicting the religious cults popular in the day were sculptured on it. Everyone who entered the city was immediately confronted with the religious symbolism of the area.

The city of Philippi was situated on the famous “Ignatian Way”, the main overland route connecting Rome with the East, stretching from the Adriatic Coast to Byzantium. Situated on a mountain top, Philippi provided an excellent military outpost, and later became such under Rome’s rule.

The city rose to prominence when it became the capital of the Greek empire in 359 B.C.. The father of Alexander the Great, Philip II of Macedon gained control of the city after the residents appealed to him for help against the neighboring Thracians. He renamed the city after himself, Philippi, the first time a city had been named for its benefactor! With all of the gold and timber in this area, Philip dreamed of reuniting Greece and conquering the world.About 200 years later, Roman soldiers conquered the city in 168 B.C. They then divided Macedonia into four districts. Philippi, at that time diminished in its importance, until 40 B.C., when, following Julius Caesar’s death, a Roman civil war broke out and was fought in the area. At the end of the war, the generals disbanded their armies and settled their soldiers in Philippi. The winning side, grateful for what the citizens of Philippi had endured and did to help the winning side, established Philippi as a Roman colony.  Because of the strong influence of retired Roman soldiers, this city, different than many other Roman colonies had a very predominant Roman flavor to it.

Even with its great history, Philippi never gained the prominence of its sister city, Thessalonica, the principal city of the Macedonia, about 100 miles away.

The Philippians were proud of their city and to be formally designated a colony of Rome. As a “colony” of Rome, a distinction that not all Roman cities could claim, they enjoyed and valued the full citizenship of Rome. As such, they had the privilege of being able to own and transfer land, tax exemption, local administration and law, the right to vote, the same as if they actually lived in Rome. As Roman citizens they also enjoyed freedom from scourging and arrest with the right of appeal to Caesar. Because the Apostle Paul was a Roman, he also enjoyed these very same rights, although he was not always granted them, as we will see in our study, this morning.

There were many religions in the city which had been granted permission by Rome, to exist. Although Jews were permitted to worship their faith there, they were not liked. Because of the Pro-Rome flavor in Philippi, and the fact that Rome had expelled Jews from Rome in 49 B.C., not many Jews chose to settle in Philippi. However, in nearby Thessalonica, there were many Jews. So few were the Jews in Philippi that they didn’t even have the required 10 Jewish men, needed to establish a synagogue there. That’s why we will see in our study of Acts 16, that Paul on his second missionary journey in 51 A.D., did not first go to a synagogue in Philippi to meet with the Jews. Instead, he found what few Jews who were worshiping in Philippi meeting outside the city down by the river to pray and hold services.

For these new believers in this young church at Philippi, the Philippians’ love for Rome and their pride in their Roman citizenship and their previous worship of Caesar presented a problem. They soon discovered as followers of Jesus Christ that they now possessed a “dual citizenship” (an expression used throughout Paul’s letter to the Philippians). They were citizens of Rome and heaven. The problem the Christians faced in Philippi, was that Rome had one lord and savior, Caesar. Those exact terms for “lord and savior” that we typically use for Jesus Christ were used commonly of Caesar. Hence, all of the loyal Philippians literally worshiped Caesar as a god. Anyone who did not worship Caesar was considered treasonous. Hence, shortly after the church in Philippi is birthed, pressure was put upon the Philippians to renounce Jesus as their lord and savior. But these new believers stood their ground for awhile. This is part of the opposition that these believers were feeling, when Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians 12 years, encouraging them to continue to stand their ground. 

Part of Paul’s mission in this letter is to charge his beloved disciples to keep their eyes looking toward their future heavenly home and citizenship, not this earthly world. Not to fear or fold under this opposition, and not to live like other selfish Roman citizens of this world who see it as their final home, but to live selflessly for Jesus Christ and for one another.

With that as a historical backdrop, let’s take our first look at what the Scriptures have to say about the occasion that lead to the planting of the first church in Europe, the church at Philippi, in Acts 16:11.

As we read these verses, note the pronoun “we”. Dr. Luke tells us earlier that this “we” represents a team of four missionaries: Paul, Silas, Timothy and himself. We also learn in the previous verses, that Paul was following the instructions given in a vision to head over to Macedonia to preach the word. We read, “So putting out to sea from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and on the day following to Neapolis; and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and we were staying in this city for some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.”

Our four missionaries traveled by sailboat 150 miles in two days. Normally, that trip takes five or more days because of the need to tack back and forth to catch the wind, as it did when they sailed back. But they had the wind at their backs the whole way, requiring no tacking and they arrived at Philippi rather quickly. This detail must have affirmed this missionary team that God had a truly special mission ahead for them.

Presumably, after having been in the city of Philippi a few days, Paul learned that there were very few Jewish believers, not even 10 male Jews, the minimum requirement for the establishment of a synagogue. Furthermore, because the Jews were allowed to worship but not made to feel welcomed in Philippi, these few Jews had to meet outside the city on the Sabbath. So, when the Sabbath came, the four missionaries, Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke went to the river. The first people they ran into were women worshipers. In typical rabbinical fashion, Paul sits down in the normal posture for teaching from the word of God. No doubt, to be taught by a traveling rabbi would have been a rare privilege for these women.

One woman in particular took quick note of Paul’s teaching. “A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.’ And she prevailed upon us.”

It is possible that this woman’s name, “Lydia,” was not her real name. It is believed by many that because she was from Thyatira, which was located in the province of Lydia, that Lydia was not so much this woman’s personal name as it was her business name, the “Lydian lady.”

Her home town of Thyatira was known for its manufacture of purple dye and dyed goods, which were prohibitively expensive. Only the well to do, such as the highly paid retired Roman soldiers could afford such expensive goods. Hence, this gentile business woman came to Philippi, sensing a profit to be made there, and became wealthy enough to own her own home, big enough to house the four man missionary team and to have the church meet there.

Notice that the text does not say that she was a converted Jew, but a “worshiper of God.” More than likely, this bright business woman had not yet become a full proselyte to Judaism, but was truly seeking to know God. And as she “listened” to Paul and heard the truth about Christ, she got saved and as the river was conveniently right there, was baptized. Not only her, but those in her household who also heard the gospel and put their trust in Christ.

Apparently, this was not the only time Paul had gone to the river, this place of prayer and worship. He returned there often to teach these women and anyone else who would listen. A few days later, on one of those returned trips, we read the following: “It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.” The expression “a spirit of divination” literally in the Greek reads, “a python spirit”. The Python was a snake that guarded the famous oracle at Delphi. According to Greek mythology, this snake was killed by Apollo, the Greek god of prophecy. Because of the snake’s connection with this Greek god of prophecy, this expression came to refer to anyone in contact with this Greek god, Apollo. In modern terms, we would have called her a medium or spiritist who is in contact with demons.

This slave-girl became a real concern for Paul, for Luke tells us that she was, “Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, ‘These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.’ She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!’ And it came out at that very moment.”

In my opinion, the translators could have chosen a better word than “annoyed” as describing what moved Paul to cast the demon out of this slave girl. “Annoyed” connotes the idea that Paul was irritated by this woman, and just wanted her out of the way. When really the word describes one as being “deeply disturbed.” After days of contact with this woman, Paul was not so much irritated as he was disturbed by two things involving this woman. First, that she was lost and he wanted to see her saved. Second, that if he allowed her to affirm his being sent from God to bring the truth, he could possibly open up this fledgling church to associate with or think that they should welcome the gifts of demon possessed people in their ministry. He didn’t want evil to be joined with good in any fashion, so he resolved the matter. Removed her demonic capability and in turn, she got saved!

Allow me a side note: In many of our liberal colleges, and even in some of our Christian groups on our Oregon college campuses, there are women teaching that Paul was a chauvinist, and therefore reject what Paul says in God’s word concerning the role of women in the church and in marriage. However, this passage reveals a sharp contrast in Paul’s presumed chauvinistic attitude toward women in comparison to the other Jewish Pharisees of his day. In Paul’s day, the Pharisees every morning would pray a rote prayer thanking God that they were neither Gentiles, slaves nor women. Yet, to whom does Paul direct his attention first at Philippi? Women. Furthermore, who were the first two people saved in Philippi? Women, and both were Gentiles and one was a slave. 

Furthermore, the Pharisees of Paul’s day would not deem it worthy of themselves to even teach women. In addition, men teaching women also ran counter to the Greco-Roman society. Does that sound like a chauvinistic prejudiced apostle? No, just the opposite. Paul is violating all the standards of his day to reach out in love these women, eager to share with them the good news of Christ. Scripture also demonstrates elsewhere that Paul valued the ministry of women like Phoebe. 

So, ladies, don’t buy into the lie that because certain modern women don’t like what Paul writes concerning God’s directives for women’s role in the church and in the home, that he was a male chauvinist. History proves just the opposite. History proves that Jesus Christ and Paul were the first liberators of women, showing them what it really means to be a woman, and especially a woman after God’s own heart

What we might see, from God’s perspective, as a great victory and positive thing, this gal getting freed from a demon and saved, the world may not see as positive; especially if you were this girl’s greedy owner. We read of their response to Paul’s ministry in this girl’s life in verse 19. “But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities,...”

The “market place” in most Roman cities of the world at that time was the central public square where not only goods were exchanged, but also it was the social center of the city. It was here that a worker would go, waiting for an employer looking for a day laborer to hire him. It was the place you would find a doctor if you were sick. Likewise, if you were in need of having an injustice tried, this is where you would hold court. 

Because this was a Roman colony, Rome provided two “chief magistrates” for the purpose of trying disputes. These are “the authorities” to which Luke refers, for he explains in verse 20, “and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, ‘These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.’”

Notice that this slave-girl’s owners presented two charges, both of which were false. Furthermore, neither were the real reason for these men wanting Paul and Silas thrown in jail. Their real anger against Paul and Silas was founded in their greed. Paul and Silas had shut down their prophecy business by casting the demon out of her. 

The first charge of these men being Jews throwing the city into confusion reveals that these men were anti-Semitic and explains why not all four missionaries were not arrested. Paul and Silas were obviously Jews, but Timothy and Luke were not. Although the Jews were still legally allowed to worship, the charge that they were throwing the city into confusion was false. And had Paul been given the chance to speak up, which was his right as a Roman citizen, but one not awarded him, he could have proven himself innocent. 

The second charge, that Paul was encouraging unlawful customs was also false. But because these slave owners were able to stir up and manipulate a very pro-Roman, prejudiced anti-Semitic crowd, mob mentality took over and they persuaded the Roman magistrates to rule as they did. For we read, “The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.”

It’s ironic that those who prized and were held responsible to hold up Roman law, this Roman magistrates failed so miserably to do so. They didn’t bother to investigate the charges, conduct a proper hearing or give Paul or Silas their right to defend themselves. Instead, they ordered them to be beaten and thrown in jail. And it wasn’t just any jail. They were thrown into the inner prison, the maximum security ward, with the added insult of having their feet uncomfortably fastened in stocks.

If that had happened to you, how would you have responded? There you were, giving of your time, willing to be inconvenienced for the Lord by being sent far from home, and now, for no legal or right reason, you end up getting beaten and thrown in jail! What’s with that? You’ve been lied about, beaten, thrown in a dungeon, locked in stocks. Every breath you breathe painfully reminds you of the beating you have just received. Your back aches; your leg muscles cramp; you hear the rats scurrying across the floor in the dark. How would you handle that?

Today, the “happiness cult” preachers would have told Paul and Silas, “Hey men. You deserve to be happy. So, stop obeying God, and do what comes easier. Bail out on your calling and commitment to follow the Lord and go back home where you are loved. The people don’t like you at your church, your job or in your house? Forget ‘em. Find someone else to love. You deserve to be happy and comfortable. So what if you clearly disobey God’s word.” 

Well, look how Paul and Silas respond. “But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;...” Man, there is no whining going on there! Obviously, they aren’t happy about the previous hours events, but they are still joyful. How can that be? Instead of allowing their circumstances to determine their joy, they look to God and praise Him before an audience of other prisoners, that He is with them, and they believe He has a purpose for this, even though they don’t know what it is. 

More on this later. Let’s continue reading, “and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains [not just Paul’s and Silas] were unfastened. When the jailer awoke [from the shaking of his house which was probably right next door to the jail] and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.” According to Roman Law, if he was on watch, and for any reason a prisoner escaped, the jailer would have been executed in a humil-iating and painful way. Hence, he would rather fall on his own sword, and die quickly than suffer execution.

Realizing this, “But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!’ And he [the jailer] called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.” Fantastic! This Roman guard gets saved! 

What a sign of true salvation and repentance. This jailer humbles himself before Paul and Silas, takes them next door to his home, cleans up their wounds suffered from their beating, gets baptized, feeds them, introduces them to his family, they hear the gospel and get saved. Wow! What a night. A lot happened during those twelve hours: beaten, jailed, praise and worship, supernaturally caused earthquake that didn’t kill anybody, but temporarily released them from their prison, getting a bath, meal, and leading a bunch of people to Christ!!! Not a bad day of ministry. Unusual, but not bad!

Realizing that they can’t remain in his protective custody, the jailer returns them to the prison, ready to put in a good word for them, presumably learning that both of them were Roman citizens and had no business being beaten and thrown in jail. Luke tells us, “Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, ‘Release those men.’ And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, ‘The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace.’ But Paul said to them, ‘They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.’ The policemen [probably the very same one’s that had beaten the previous day] reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.”

Paul and Silas’ refusal to leave immediately was not about wanting revenge. Rather, they did not want to set a precedent that might lead to future mistreatment for the church in Philippi. The violations of the magistrates could have been cause for serious discipline against them, maybe even death and possibly the emperor rescinding Philippi’s status of being a colony. These magistrates and everyone else now knew this and just wanted their problem to go away. By Paul and Silas handling the situation this way, these magistrates knew they owed Paul and Silas one, and would be sure that nobody bothered this fledgling group of believers in the near future.

Paul and Silas do leave, but on their own terms. They did not go immediately, as was wished. Instead, they went back to Lydia’s house, encouraged the church by being a testimony of the power and working of God toward those who put their trust in Christ. When this missionary team left Philippi, these new believers, this fledgling church was excited, unified in one mind to reach those in their town for Christ. They were bold in their stand for Christ. They looked after one another and made sure everyone was encouraged in their faith. They even began to be missionary minded...they looked beyond Philippi to the rest of the lost world and supported missionary endeavors. This church truly had a blessed beginning. Like all birthing labor, they had some pain at first, but they had learned from it that difficult times, confusing times would come, and sometimes God’s ways are not always explainable. His ways are not always going to be our ways, but they are always best in the end.

This birthing of the church at Philippi illustrates for us how God allows and takes bad circumstances and turns them into spiritual victories for His purposes. Through persecution and hardship, the church is enlarged and strengthened for its work in the days ahead.

Likewise, the pressures, set-backs and challenges we face in life, in our marriages, in our local social situations, political referendums and even in our own church plans are used by God to bring about His purposes in our lives, as confusing as it may seem at the time. We learn this not just from what Acts teaches us about the church in Philippi, but we see this boldly taught by Paul in his letter to the church at Philippi.

I’m not going to further explain this truth this morning, for there will be more ample opportunities in our study of Philippians in the months to come to see how this point can be more specifically applied to our lives. But for now, I would like to challenge you for the next few weeks, to read through the book of Philippians at least once a week, in one sitting until we begin examining this book in detail right after New Years.

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