Paul's Macedonian Call

INTRO

There’s a lot going on in the book of Acts—for a really good reason. Everything that was happening was new to the disciples! They had spent three years learning from Jesus. They had seen His crucifixion and witnessed His resurrection and ascension. They received the Holy Spirit and then began walking this thing out. Then Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and had a radical life change as a follower and apostle of Jesus. In Acts 15, the church leaders gathered in Jerusalem to determine how the church would move forward with new pagan converts. At the end of the chapter, there was a split between Paul and Barnabas as partners. Paul left to travel with Silas while Barnabas took John Mark (Acts 15:36–41). This was not a fight or a division but a difference in opinion that actually doubled the number of missionary teams. The church was stronger because of it.

TEACHING

Acts 16:1–5: Paul journeyed to Derbe and Lystra, going north from Jerusalem, and met Timothy. Timothy was a young man in his late teens or early twenties with a Greek father and Jewish mother (v. 1).¹Paul described Timothy as his “true son in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2). Timothy became Paul’s student and eventually Paul’s trusted colleague (1 Corinthians 4:17; 1 Thessalonians 3:2; Philippians 2:19). After Timothy was commissioned by the church elders (1 Timothy 4:14), he joined Paul and Silas (2 Timothy 1:6). Eventually Timothy took Silas’s place as Paul’s missionary partner. As a child of both Greek and Jewish parents, Timothy had access to both worlds. Paul took Timothy with him after he circumcised him to meet the Jewish acceptance (vv. 2–3). Timothy’s circumcision also gave him “full access to the synagogues he would be visiting with Paul and Silas.”²Without circumcision, Jews could have inferred that Timothy had left his Jewish roots.³As Paul, Silas, and Timothy traveled, they delivered the Jerusalem Council’s decisions, strengthening churches in both faith and new converts (vv. 4–5).

Acts 16:6–10: Paul’s plan was to preach in Asia, but the Holy Spirit prevented him from going there (v. 6), and the Spirit prevented them from going to Bithynia (v. 7). While in Troas, which was a seaport on the Aegean Sea, Paul was given a new vision—his call to preach in Macedonia (vv. 8–9). This was the second of Paul’s six visions (Acts 4:36; 18:9–10; 22:17–18; 23:11; 27:23–24). Macedonia was a province of Greece and located on the mainland. It became the next step for “taking the Gospel from Asia into Europe.”⁴Paul, Silas, and Timothy immediately set out for Macedonia (v. 10). This is the beginning of the first “we” section of the journeys and includes Luke as one of the travelers.

Acts 16:11–15: Their journey took the most direct course—from Troas to the island of Samothrace. Then, on the second day to Neapolis, the main Macedonia port, and from there they went directly to Philippi, the leading city of Macedonia located inland from Neapolis (vv. 11–12). Paul and his companions knew nothing about Macedonia or the city of Philippi! They just walked it out . . . under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They stayed there for a number of days, and on the Sabbath, they went outside the city to the river to find a place of prayer (v. 13a). There was no synagogue in Philippi for them to worship in because there were fewer than ten Jewish men in the city. There at the river, they spoke with a group of women and met a woman named Lydia, a Gentile from Thyatira, which was located in Asia, who worshipped God and was listening to the men’s worship (v. 13b). Lydia was a wealthy dealer of expensive purple cloth. And God opened her heart to what Paul was saying (v. 14). Lydia and her household immediately embraced the gospel and were baptized. Lydia then persuaded Paul and his companions to stay at her house (v. 15).

CLOSING

God used a female in a different way so that her whole family came to faith. Notice everything in Acts 16 happened because of God’s timing—Paul being prevented from entering Asia, leading Paul to Timothy as a new laborer, and leading Paul to a woman from Asia who was ready to become a follower of Jesus Christ and who led her entire household to do the same thing. Interestingly, not only did Lydia open her home to Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke, but she also opened it to the church in Philippi (v. 40). Paul—and Lydia—listened to God’s Spirit and were obedient.