How Missions is Supposed to Work – part 2
Acts 16:6-40 (19-40)
February 3, 2013
I realize our studies in Acts have been scattered and spread out lately,
And that makes it difficult to stay in the flow.
I do apologize for that, but hopefully things will settle in a little more
Now that Christmas and missions month is behind us.
Presently in our study we have just began Paul’s 2nd missionary journey.
Paul was preaching and teaching in Antioch
And had that familiar old fire ignite inside of his heart.
He wanted to return.
He told Barnabas, and they began to plan the trip.
• That is when the problem began.
• Barnabas wanted to take Mark, but Paul refused because Mark had deserted them on their first journey.
• The end result was that the two parted company.
• Barnabas sailed for Cyprus, and Paul set out on foot with Silas.
• Paul did pick up Timothy and eventually returned to all of those former places of ministry.
But then Paul sought to expand their territory a little,
And this is where we picked up a couple of weeks ago.
As we studied this second trip,
I was thoroughly impressed with the obvious balance that occurs.
And we said then that balance is necessary.
• You have some who are totally and thoroughly enamored with the
sovereignty of God, even to a point where human involvement
becomes unnecessary.
• You have others who are so enamored with the free will of man
that the work of the Holy Spirit is often overlooked completely.
And as we said then, both of those in their extreme are wrong.
If you take an approach that God simply does it all and remove all responsibility from man, you are following a practice that is not Scriptural.
We are commanded to go, baptize, and teach.
We are commanded to be His witnesses.
Furthermore to take such a view clearly overlooks
The obvious passions of the men of Scripture.
Take Paul’s statement to the Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 5:20 “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
If Paul had only a “sovereign” view of missions where God does it all,
Then why would Paul “beg” anyone?
Listen to him talk to Agrippa:
Acts 26:28-29 “Agrippa replied to Paul, “In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian.” And Paul said, ” I would wish to God, that whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these chains.”
If Paul believed God did it apart from any human effort, then why persuade this man, furthermore why even reveal what he wanted for him?
Paul even told the Corinthians:
2 Corinthians 5:11 “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.”
So it is obvious that Paul understood that God wasn’t the only One
Required to work for the salvation of the lost.
Or listen to Paul’s famous treatise:
1 Corinthians 9:22 “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some.”
Paul traveled, Paul preached, Paul pleaded, Paul begged, Paul persuaded.
He did not have some sort of sovereign only approach
Where God had to do it completely void of any effort on his part.
ON THE OTHER HAND That approach where it is all up for grabs and dependant solely on you, then you have fallen into a very dangerous form of arrogance.
To assume that you can resurrect a dead soul…
To assume that you can persuade a lustful sinner who only wants sin…
To assume that you can impart conviction of sin…
Is a dangerous arrogance.
And indeed many have such a view today.
This has been the basis for the well-crafted altar calls of our day.
Set the mood, set the music, set the lighting.
Such manipulative tricks are meant for the very purpose of
Soliciting a response from those who aren’t under conviction.
And not only is that not Scriptural,
But it isn’t the practice of the men of old either.
Yes Paul preached and begged and persuaded,
But don’t assume that he ever wanted a response apart from work of God.
Listen to what else Paul said to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”
There is obviously a statement from Paul saying, I preached,
But in no way did I want to be the convicter. I wanted God to do it.
The last thing Paul wanted was to solicit a response
From someone whom God was not drawing.
Why?
Because that person will never last.
Matthew 15:13 “But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted.”
Furthermore, this was clearly the theology of Jesus.
• Did Jesus labor? Yes.
• Did Jesus preach? Yes.
• Did Jesus plead and persuade sinners? Yes
But Jesus also understood that the last thing He wanted was to solicit some superficial response according to His own ability to persuade.
This is why you have Jesus preaching in parables,
Purposely hiding truth from those who weren’t being drawn.
But really, the greatest example of this is John 6.
• In John 6 Jesus feeds the 5,000 and then hides from the crowd.
• He walks on water
But He knows the crowd is responding to Him,
Not the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
And one could easily argue that the remainder of the chapter is
A sermon by Jesus meant to drive away any superficial followers.
It is this chapter where Jesus made this statement:
John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
The chapter concludes with Jesus giving a call for them to eat His flesh and drink His blood and believe that He descended from heaven.
The crowds agreed that this was a difficult statement few could listen to.
To which Jesus responded:
John 6:65-70 “And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”
By the end of the chapter, Jesus had weeded out all superficial followers,
And only those who had been chosen remained.
(And we could say much more about this)
The point is the way missions is supposed to work is with both:
DIVINE POWER & DEDICATED PEOPLE
No missionary, void of the Spirit of God, will accomplish anything.
And no missionary too lazy to participate will accomplish anything either.
We need Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, dedicated missionaries.
And this is just the balance that Scripture reveals.
Now as we have been studying Acts 16,
We have been looking at that balance.
We already saw three phases of this trip and how that balance was obvious.
1) THE ARRIVAL IN MACEDONIA
In that we clearly saw God’s hand guiding the trip.
• First it was the Holy Spirit who forbid Paul from speaking in Asia.
• Then it was the Spirit of Jesus who did not permit them to enter Bithynia.
• Finally Paul received a vision of the Macedonian call and set out for Europe.
Obviously God was guiding and directing that trip,
And we never want anything but that. That was the Divine side.
The human side was that Paul didn’t quit,
• He kept trying to go,
• He kept trying to speak,
• He kept pushing and seeking until God finally made the path clear.
If God hadn’t been involved, Paul would have been in Asia.
If Paul hadn’t been involved, there would’ve been no missionary to send.
2) THE SALVATION OF LYDIA
When Paul arrived in Philippi he found no synagogue
So he went outside the city looking for a place of prayer.
He found a group of women and as he spoke,
God opened Lydia’s heart to respond to the gospel.
Obviously God did this, for who of us can communicate with the dead?
But again someone had to preach the gospel to this resurrected heart.
So God had to be at work, and so did Paul.
3) THE DELIVERANCE OF THE SLAVE GIRL
This was the spirit medium that was following Paul
Revealing that he was a servant of the most-high God.
And we saw Paul command the demon to come out
And this girl was delivered.
But where did Paul get such power?
IT WAS DIVINE POWER AND DEDICATED PEOPLE.
Tonight let’s continue and still see how God is at work
In and through a dedicated missionary.
#4 PAUL’S FAITHFULNESS IN PRISON
Acts 16:19-25
This once again would seem to focus more on
The human commitment side of the spectrum.
And this is truly one of those stories that we love,
Even if we are blown away by it.
Paul has just cast a demon out of a slave girl.
She was purchased because her demonic ability
Was very profitable for those who owned her.
But now that the demon was gone, so was this girl’s supernatural power.
And that didn’t set well with her owners.
(19-21) “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, 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.”
I told you last time that Philippi was a very Roman sympathetic town,
And the fact that there was no synagogue
Indicated that it was not a Jewish friendly town.
It may be that they tolerated Paul for a time,
But when he threatened their pocketbooks, something had to be done.
The accusation was that of causing riots and creating unrest.
You should know that this was a pretty serious offense.
Each of these Roman magistrates
Was given his authority from one in command above him.
If they were unable to stop a riot, their own position was threatened.
(This was the same motivation that caused Pilot to consent to Jesus’ crucifixion)
So Paul and Silas are in danger here.
(22-24) “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.”
I don’t care who you are,
There is nothing about those verses that is easy to read.
“struck” “many blows” “prison” “inner prison” “stocks”
Those are all dreadful words.
And so if we take inventory here, Paul has done nothing
But serve God with every ounce of his being
It has caused him to be beaten, imprisoned, and put in the stocks.
And yet what we see next literally blows us away.
(25) “But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them;”
I can think of several pretty serious requests I would have for God
But I’m not sure of any praise songs that would instantly come to mind.
Now you aren’t going to yet see the full effect of this,
But let’s just stop for a second and take it for what it is.
We have men suffering for the gospel
And yet praising God in the midst of their hardship.
We would all sing when released, they are singing while in the stocks.
We could really at this point preach an entire sermon
About attitude and self-denial, and focus, and gratitude.
James says:
James 1:2-4 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Peter says:
1 Peter 4:12-13 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”
Those are really easy verses to memorize, but incredibly difficult to obey.
But the reality is a missionary’s only witness
Is not just what he says in his sermon.
• A missionary also witnesses with his actions…
• A missionary also witnesses with his attitude…
• A missionary also witnesses with his response to adversity…
We have Paul and Silas here keeping focus on the mission.
And certainly that is what we ask from all missionaries.
When you face hardships, and dilemmas, and difficulties,
Be mindful of the fact that you are being watched.
Paul wrote to the Philippians:
Philippians 2:14-15 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,”
He was definitely doing that here.
Allowing himself to be a very literal light in darkness.
So we have here two very dedicated missionaries.
WHERE IS THE DIVINE ELEMENT HERE?
• Well, let me ask you, where did they get such joy?
• Where did they get such perspective?
Joy is a fruit of the Spirit.
Grace is a gift from God.
No man, can in his own strength, maintain such joy, praise, and focus.
There was a strength in Paul and Silas’ inner man
That allowed them to do this.
You can see the dedicated men, but you can also see the divine hand.
This is important, because it is setting the stage for what happens next.
#5 THE SALVATION OF THE JAILER
Acts 16:25-34
Here is where Paul and Silas’ joy really begins to pay off.
I really think this, (apart from the cross), may be the most amazing example of self-denial and Christian focus recorded in the Scriptures.
• Here we have two men, unjustly beaten and now in prison.
• They have already shown tremendous focus by resisting bitterness and praising God.
And now something truly amazing occurs.
(26-27) “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 were unfastened. When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.”
Boy, if all you want is to escape from prison,
Just keep your mouth shut and it will be accomplished in just a second.
It would have been tremendously easy to see this
As God’s answer to your prayer and mistreatment.
God is literally opening doors for you.
But here is the question.
WHICH DOOR IS GOD OPENING?
We would have been tempted to see the open prison door,
Paul saw that the door to the jailer’s heart was open.
(28) “But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”
If you just heard a groan there, it was from all the other prisoners who couldn’t believe Paul would ruin their chance at freedom.
But you have a perspective here from Paul which is unparalleled.
Where I would have been tempted to see only my freedom,
Paul saw a soul about to spend eternity in hell.
And of course we see that it pays off.
(29-34) “And he 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.”
That has to be one of the greatest “feel good” stories in the book of Acts.
One minute this jailer is about to kill himself, fearing an escape.
The next minute that same jailer breaks them out of prison.
And now we see again how awesome and beautiful and exciting
This venture of missions can be!
And we also see how these missions worked.
Do you see the Divine Element?
• Of course you do, Paul didn’t open that jail cell.
• Paul didn’t cause that earthquake.
• Paul didn’t open that jailer’s heart.
And we also see the human element.
• We see men committed to praise even in dyer circumstances.
• We see men willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of another.
• We see men willing to share the gospel with an entire household.
And all you have to do in order to see the necessity of both is
IMAGINE THE STORY WITHOUT ONE OR THE OTHER.
NO DIVINE HELP.
No earthquake, no freedom, no reason for the guard to worry.
NO DEDICATED MISSIONARIES.
The jail cell opens and Paul and Silas let the jailer die so they can be free.
It really did require both.
Now let me show you one more incident on this journey
And we’ll bring this thing to a close.
#6 THE ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE CHURCH
Acts 16:35-40
So apparently after this man and his household were saved, Paul and Silas were taken back to jail. (I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if this was their idea)
And the authorities think they are doing Paul and Silas a favor
By letting them leave town.
But then a twist to the story develops that was not previously known.
(37-39) “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 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.”
It was not lawful to beat a Roman without a trial
And yet that is what happened.
I don’t know why Paul didn’t disclose that information before the beating.
It’s not like he never avoided a beating in his ministry.
Later in the book of Acts, Paul will use just such a tactic.
Acts 23:6-10 “But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!” As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. And there occurred a great uproar; and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, “We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” And as a great dissension was developing, the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks.”
Paul used this tactic to avoid hardship.
I’m not going to just say that Paul knew they shouldn’t have beaten him,
But he took it anyway hoping for an opportunity to witness in prison.
More than likely, the crowd was so furious
He did not have a chance to disclose the information.
But he has a chance now,
And those who have beaten him are afraid,
And they actually throw themselves upon the mercy of Paul,
Asking him to leave the city.
And Paul grants their request after he does something else first.
(40) “They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.”
So Paul first makes a trip to visit this new church.
The end result here is that this young church is encouraged,
But they are also now sort of protected.
There is no way the city magistrates want to mess with this church
Because they are already at Paul’s mercy.
This new young church now finds itself in a very good situation
All because of the circumstances.
That doesn’t mean they will never face opposition.
They will.
Paul’s letter to them makes it clear that they have opponents.
But at least at the beginning this church
Is getting a chance to become grounded before they face it.
The question again is what caused that?
• Well certainly we have a dedicated missionary who instead of skipping town made sure to first go and encourage this church.
• But we also have a divine hand that orchestrated events by which this protection would be possible.
Without either, the result is not the same.
Without the divine hand:
• Paul stays in Asia
• Lydia’s heart is never opened
• Paul has no power to remove the demon
• Paul has no inner joy to maintain hope in prison
• The earthquake never occurs
• And the church in Philippi is never solidified.
Without the dedication of the missionary
• They give up and never travel to Macedonia
• They leave Philippi because there is no synagogue
• They never witness to Lydia
• They don’t confront the slave girl
• They don’t sing in prison
• They don’t care about the soon to be deceased jailer
• They have no interest in encouraging the church
And so I hope you are getting the point
And that the application to your life is obvious.
If we are to be a faithful effective church, that reaches the lost
And sees God’s kingdom grow, we need two main things.
1) DEDICATION
2) DEPENDANCE
If you think God is going to bring in the lost
Apart from your dedicated involvement, you are wrong.
We must go and share the gospel with our world.
But on the flip side, you had better go in divine power
And trust His Spirit to work in and through you.
He must convict sinners
He must open doors
He must draw the lost
We will never reach them in the power of our own gimmicks and tricks
Or with our tactics.
So tonight if you have tended to lean to the human effort side, let me encourage you to seek the Spirit of God.
Zechariah 4:6 “Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
Submit yourself to God.
Pray to Him for lost souls.
Follow His leadership.
Count on Him to open doors.
And tonight if you have tended to be apathetic and lazy, expecting God to just do it all without you. Let me encourage you to get off the pew and start being obedient to the command of God.
“Go, baptize, and teach”
“You are His witnesses”
How will they hear without a preacher?
It is the divine balance, and it is how missions is supposed to work.
If we lose sight of one or the other, we will flounder.
Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
