Say something stupid. It just might happen. Acts chapter 16, we're starting at verse 6, page 925 in your pew Bibles, and we'll be reading to the end of the chapter.
All right.
And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
We remained in this city some days.
And on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods who was a worshiper of God.
The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
And after she was baptized in her household as well, she urged us, saying,
If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.
And she prevailed upon us.
As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.
She followed Paul and us, crying out,
These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.
And this she kept doing for many days.
Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit,
I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her.
And it came out that very hour.
But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone,
they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said,
These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city.
They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.
The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.
And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison,
ordering the jailer to keep them safely.
Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,
and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake,
so that the foundations of the prison were shaken.
And immediately all of the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened.
When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open,
he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul cried with a loud voice,
Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.
And the jailer called for lights and rushed in,
and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas.
Then he brought them out and said,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And 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 and to all who were in his house.
And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds,
and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.
Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them,
and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
But when it was day, the magistrate sent the police, saying,
Let those men go.
And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying,
The magistrates have sent to let you go, therefore come out now and go in peace.
But Paul said to them,
They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens,
and have thrown us into prison, and do they now throw us out secretly?
No.
Let them come themselves and take us out.
The police reported these words to the magistrates,
and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens,
so they came and apologized to them,
and they took them out and asked them to leave the city.
So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia.
And when they had seen the brothers,
they encouraged them and departed.
When I graduated from college,
I joined the staff of InterVarsity, a campus ministry,
and I was assigned to work half-time here in New Haven
and half-time at Wesleyan University in Middletown.
Now, if you're not familiar with Wesleyan,
Wesleyan is somewhere between a hippie commune,
an elite private college,
and a testing ground for unconventional ideas.
Students are quite intelligent and thoughtful.
At the same time, popular activities, at least among some students,
included protesting for all kinds of reasons,
throwing naked parties,
and smoking pot on the hill on 420.
Wesleyan had long since abandoned its Methodist heritage,
and it ranked at that time number one
on the U.S. News and World Report listings
for schools where students ignore God on a regular basis.
Occasionally, a Christian international student,
usually from somewhere in Southeast Asia or something,
would arrive on campus
under the impression that Wesleyan was a Christian university
because of its name.
Their misconceptions did not last long.
When I arrived,
the Christian fellowship was a group of about 25 students.
They met on Friday nights
in the basement of an administrative building.
In other words,
they met where no one would ever find them.
The administrators don't work on Friday nights,
and students don't go there.
Then they weren't intentionally trying to hide.
In fact, they really wanted to be engaged
with the broader campus.
And over time, the group did grow.
But they struggled with questions like this.
Does Christianity really belong here,
in a place like Wesleyan?
As a Christian,
can I be deeply committed to Jesus Christ
and deeply engaged in the life of my college?
What does that even look like?
Now, I wonder whether you've had similar questions yourself
in the place where you live or work or study.
Does Christianity have a place
in my research lab
where people assume that science
will one day explain everything?
Does Christianity have a place
in my suburban neighborhood
where everyone's life seems just perfect?
Does Christianity make a difference
to someone who has suffered,
who's been wounded a lot?
Is the Christian message really good news
for my happy pagan neighbors
or my committed Muslim and Hindu and Buddhist friends?
In an increasingly pluralistic society,
can a church that's committed to the authority of the Bible
and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ
truly flourish?
Or does Christianity really belong somewhere else?
If you're not a Christian,
perhaps you've wondered,
why would I think that Christianity
is good news for me?
You know, I sort of feel like
most Christians aren't like me.
Some parts of Christianity feel foreign.
Historical relics of a bygone era.
Well, this morning's text from the book of Acts
addresses exactly these questions.
What we see this morning in Acts 16
is the gospel of Jesus arriving,
taking root and growing
in the midst of a proud, pagan,
privileged and diverse city,
namely Philippi.
So far in the book of Acts,
we've seen the gospel of Jesus
expanding from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria
and more recently throughout Syria and Galatia,
which is modern Turkey.
I've included an outline of the book of Acts
in the center of your bulletin
that shows this progression.
We put it in about six weeks ago,
but we're at the beginning of a new section.
And there's also a map,
so you can see where some of the places are.
And in this new section,
the gospel of Jesus is proclaimed
for the first time in Eastern Europe.
It sort of crosses another barrier
into Macedonia and Greece.
Now, compared to other cities,
Luke's account of Paul's visit to Philippi
is unusually detailed,
indicating its special importance.
It's also a time when Luke was present with Paul.
Did you notice in verse 10,
the pronouns change from they to we
for most of the chapter?
Some scholars have even wondered
whether Philippi was Luke's hometown.
But regardless,
we'll see two main things this morning.
First, that Christianity belongs
in cities like Philippi.
And second, that Christianity flourishes
in cities like Philippi.
So first, Christianity belongs
in cities like Philippi.
We see this in verses 6 through 10.
In these verses, we see it's not an accident
that Paul and his companions
came to Philippi.
Rather, it was part of God's providential design.
Paul and his companions
were twice prevented by the Holy Spirit
from going to other places in verse 6 and verse 7.
But then finally in verse 9,
Paul had a vision of a man from Macedonia
saying, come over and help us.
And they conclude,
God has called us to preach the gospel to them.
Now, you might wonder,
what exactly do we take away from this?
Is it possible for me
to have that kind of confidence
that God has specifically called me
to be here in New Haven
as his ambassador?
Should we seek out or wait for
this kind of direct supernatural divine guidance
before making major life decisions?
You know, I find that some Christians
are hesitant to accept a new job
or get married or move far away
without feeling some kind of supernatural guidance
or at least an unusual coincidence
that seems like confirmation.
Some Christian ministries
make a practice of not making
any new ministry initiatives
unless someone feels specifically led
by the Holy Spirit.
And so some people actually start each day
in listening prayer,
waiting for God to impress on someone's heart
what the group should do.
Now, while there is a value
to spending extended periods of time
with God in prayer
and surrendering and laying before him
our decisions and our questions
and our priorities,
it's actually not Paul's pattern
to wait for special supernatural guidance
before moving ahead.
That's not Paul's pattern here at all.
Paul's default mode was not
do nothing unless specifically directed
by the Holy Spirit.
Rather, his default was
actively obey the command
of Jesus Christ,
which has already been given to us.
In his case,
the command to go and make disciples
of all nations
and to trust that God would redirect
his path if necessary.
So chapter 15, verse 36,
Paul said to Barnabas,
let us return and visit the brothers
in every city where we proclaim
the word of the Lord
to see how they are.
There was no dream,
no vision,
no prophetic word,
just a thoughtful initiative
to care for fellow believers
in Jesus Christ.
You know, and there's much
that God has already called us to
in his word.
Most broadly,
to love the Lord your God
with all our heart
and soul and mind and strength,
to love our neighbors as ourselves,
to do anything that fits
under those two headings,
broadly speaking.
More specifically,
seek first the kingdom of God
or work in order to earn
our daily bread
and to share with those in need.
Love and support and encourage
our fellow believers.
Pay our bills and taxes
and honor the authorities,
to do good to all
as we have opportunity
to live at peace with all
as far as it depends on us
and to bear witness
to the gospel of Jesus Christ
in season and out of season.
These are just a few
of the exhortations
that are broadly given
to Christians in the New Testament.
from Jesus and the apostles.
And so, you know,
the God of the Bible
is not like a GPS.
You know, I find GPS
is actually quite annoying.
I mean, you know,
it tells you in an annoying voice
every time you need to turn right
or turn left
or the road is changing name
and you need to keep going straight.
But really, a GPS
is for someone
who lacks a clear sense of direction.
Now, you know,
some of us do lack
a clear sense of direction
and a GPS is a blessing.
But God is far better
than a mechanical device.
God is our Father in heaven.
And what He wants to do
is not tell us
in an annoying voice,
go left, go right,
go straight.
But He wants to reveal
our ultimate destination.
And He has.
That we be conformed
to the image
of Jesus Christ, His Son.
And on the way
to that destination,
He desires that we walk
in the wisdom
that He's given us.
In other words,
He's sort of shown us
the lay of the land,
the big picture,
and calls us
to use our wisdom
in making choices
to pursue
that long-term goal.
So has God called you
to be His ambassador
here in New Haven?
I think you can be confident,
yes,
as long as you are here
and as you seek to walk
in obedience
to His commands.
You can be confident
that He has put you here
for a reason.
And if He sees fit to do so,
He can redirect you.
Now it's interesting,
we don't know exactly
how the Holy Spirit
redirected Paul.
Was it a prophetic word?
Was it a strong
internal conviction?
Was it a circumstance
that made it simply
impossible to proceed?
I don't think
we can be sure,
but the redirect
was clear enough.
There does seem
to have been
a period of some uncertainty.
First God says no
to preaching in Asia.
That was to the west
if you look at the map.
Then they try to go north
into Bithynia
and there's no there.
And then only after
trekking through the mountains,
people can't even figure out
what roads they took
because there weren't
good roads
through the mountains.
They were sort of going
through the middle of nowhere
for two or three hundred miles
all the way to Troas.
Only once they get
to Troas,
does the way forward
become clear?
And sometimes,
maybe you can identify
with this,
sometimes there are seasons
where God seems to say
no to one thing
and no to another
and we wonder
what God's up to.
And sometimes all we can do
is keep going
in the one direction
that's not completely
closed off to us.
But the encouragement
from this passage
is that God's hindrances
are not in vain.
By hindering them
from preaching in Asia,
Asia Minor,
the Roman province,
and by hindering them
from going into Bithynia,
the Holy Spirit
launched them across the sea
into a whole new region
and brought them
all the way to Philippi.
So we see that
in God's providence,
Christianity belongs
in cities like Philippi,
but we also see
that Christianity flourishes
in cities like Philippi.
And this is the major theme
in the passage.
Now, as I said earlier,
Philippi was a proud city.
Verse 12,
it was a leading city
of the district of Macedonia.
It was also a privileged city.
As a Roman colony,
its citizens enjoyed
special benefits,
special perks.
Its economy had also been boosted
by nearby gold mines,
so it was prosperous.
It was also a diverse city.
It was located
on the main east-west road
called the Via Ignatia,
and Philippi attracted
a wide range of people,
including a large number
of military veterans
from the Roman army.
So it was proud,
it was privileged,
it was diverse,
it was also pagan.
Most people in Philippi
had no background
in the Bible.
There was no Jewish synagogue
inside the city.
There was only a small group
of women who gathered
outside the city gate
by the river
to pray on the Sabbath.
So biblical faith
was seen as a foreign religion,
as something not to be trusted,
as something that was
not included
within the city limits.
And in fact,
that's a substance
of the accusation
that's made against Paul
in verse 20 and 21.
What do they say?
These men are Jews.
They're disturbing our city.
They advocate customs
that are not lawful
for us Romans
to accept or practice.
In other words,
they're saying,
you guys don't belong here,
go back where you came from.
But what Luke wants us to see
is that this accusation
is completely unfair
and completely baseless.
That Christianity belongs
and flourishes
not just in Jerusalem,
the historic center
of biblical faith,
not only among Jews
in the diaspora,
where there was a large number
of people who had moved
from Jerusalem,
enough to form a synagogue,
but also in a proud,
privileged,
pagan city like Philippi.
And that Paul himself,
Paul himself was
a faithful Jew
who believed
in the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.
But he was also
a Roman citizen
who sought
the good
of the Roman cities.
Now what we see
in Luke's detailed account
is that the gospel
of Jesus took root
among all kinds
of people
in Philippi.
People from across
the social spectrum.
People from all kinds
of different backgrounds.
And in particular,
Luke introduces us
to three people,
three very different people
in whom the gospel
of Jesus took root
to make this point
that the gospel
of Jesus flourishes
in cities like Philippi.
So first,
we're introduced
to Lydia,
verse 14 and 15.
Lydia was a successful
independent businesswoman,
a seller of purple goods,
that meant she would
have been catering
to high-end clients.
Purple clothes
signified wealth
and royalty.
She had a house
and a household.
But while she was successful,
she was also,
in some ways,
an outsider in Philippi.
She was a foreigner.
She herself was from
the city of Thyatira.
Now, I think it's
quite interesting
that her hometown
was smack in the middle
of, guess where,
the Roman province
of Asia,
the exact place
where the Holy Spirit
had just hindered,
prevented Paul from going.
Because, perhaps,
because he didn't want him
to stay there,
he wanted him to go further.
And yet,
in his sovereignty,
God prevented Paul
from preaching
in the Roman province
of Asia,
but then led him
to a woman
from that very province
just in the city
of Philippi.
Perhaps on her next
business trip home,
she also brought with her
the good news of Christ.
But verse 14 tells us
Lydia was not only
a foreigner,
she was also
a worshiper of God.
And that was a term
used for Gentiles
who had rejected
pagan polytheism,
who had become
very interested in
the one God
revealed in the Bible,
who had started attending
Sabbath prayer services,
joining with
the Jewish community
that read from
the Old Testament,
but hadn't formally
converted to Judaism.
She hadn't yet been
received into
the covenant family
of God.
And in verse 14 and 15,
we see three ways
that the gospel
took root in Lydia.
This successful
businesswoman
who was yet,
in some ways,
an outsider.
So first,
she listened
to God's word.
Verse 14 says,
the Lord opened her heart
to pay attention
to what was said
by Paul.
Her attention
was gripped.
Her mind
was persuaded.
Her heart
was strangely warmed.
And she said,
yes,
this is what
I have been searching for.
This God
who came in
Jesus Christ,
who has sent
his Holy Spirit,
he's the one
who has been
searching for me.
So,
she was baptized.
She didn't hold back.
She took the plunge.
Not only her,
but her household as well.
And third,
she started treating
other Christians
like family.
God had opened her heart,
so she opened her home.
Through Jesus,
God had included her
in his family,
so she included others
in hers.
One commentator said,
Lydia's generosity
of spirit
showed the genuineness
of her faith.
You know,
it's no small thing
to invite four grown men,
Paul,
Silas,
Timothy,
and Luke,
into your home
on an indefinite basis.
And,
you know,
one of the ways
you can tell
when someone genuinely
becomes a Christian
is that their attitude
toward family
and toward possessions
dramatically changes.
Family is no longer
just blood relatives.
Family is also,
in an even more
enduring sense,
brothers and sisters
in Christ,
in the family of God.
And possessions
are no longer
things to grasp onto
and take pride in.
They become resources
to be used creatively
by God,
used creatively
to advance God's purposes
and to serve
other people.
And so we see
that happening
right away
in Lydia.
At the end
of the chapter,
it seems that
Lydia's house
becomes the gathering place
for the Christian community
in Philippi.
And Lydia's generosity
left an enduring legacy
in the Philippian church.
You know,
the church in Philippi
became well known
for its sacrificial generosity.
Paul writes
in his letter
to the Philippians,
he says,
in the beginning
of the gospel
when I left Macedonia,
no church entered
into partnership
with me
in giving and receiving
except you only.
He says,
you sent me help
for my needs
time and again.
Philippians 4,
he writes that.
And so this generosity
fueled by
the gospel
of Jesus Christ
became a defining
mark of this church.
So that's Lydia,
the first person
who is affected
by the gospel
of Jesus.
But we also see
another person
in verse 16
through 18,
we see a slave girl.
Now this slave girl
was almost
the exact opposite
of Lydia,
socially speaking.
Lydia was an independent
business owner.
She was a head
of her household.
This girl
was absolutely dependent.
She owned nothing.
She was a slave.
She was at the mercy
of her owners
who exploited her
for financial gain.
Lydia was a worshiper
of the one true God.
This girl was deeply entrenched
in pagan practices.
She had a spirit
of divination,
was engaged
in fortune telling.
The same word
was used
to describe
the priestesses
in the temple
of Apollo
at Delphi
who would allegedly
be thrown
into a frenzy
and then supposedly
have special insight
into the future.
Lydia listened
attentively
to Paul's words.
This girl
followed Paul around,
interrupting him
day after day,
crying out,
these men are servants
of the Most High God
who proclaim to you
a way of salvation.
Now in one sense,
what she said
sounds true.
Paul was a servant
of the Most High God.
But you know,
most people in Philippi,
if they heard that,
he's a servant
of the Most High God,
you know who they
would have thought of?
They would have thought
of Zeus,
one of the greatest
of the Greek gods,
not of Yahweh,
the God of the Bible.
And Paul was proclaiming
the way of salvation.
Actually,
it's a little more
ambiguous in the Greek.
It says,
not,
it literally just says,
who proclaim to you
way of salvation.
So it could be
the way of salvation,
but it could be
just a way of salvation.
And that word salvation
had a very broad meaning.
It could have simply,
sometimes it was used
simply to mean health
or well-being.
So some people
might have thought,
huh,
Paul's giving us
some new advice
about how to be healthy,
how to live a better life,
a new way of living.
So verse 18 says,
eventually Paul became annoyed.
And I don't think that means
he just got really impatient.
It's more like Paul
was indignant,
deeply troubled,
like Jesus was at times
in the Gospels.
This girl's loud declarations
were misleading
and distracting.
But Paul, I think,
was also troubled
by seeing the bondage
that she was in.
The bondage to her owners
who were exploiting her.
The bondage to the evil spirit
who controlled her.
And so he turned
and said to the spirit,
I command you
in the name of Jesus Christ
to come out of her.
And after years of enslavement,
this girl was finally free.
You know,
in every privileged,
prosperous city,
there's a dark underside.
Prostitution,
slavery,
drug addiction,
physical abuse,
self-harm,
bondage to evil spirits,
all kinds of things.
And you know,
the Christian Gospel
is good news
for all who are lost,
for all who are enslaved,
for all who are exploited.
Jesus Christ has come
to set the captives free.
You know,
we don't hear what happened,
the rest of what happened
to the slave girl,
because her owners
were immediately furious.
They stirred up a riot,
had Paul and Silas beaten
and thrown in prison.
The slave girl was set free,
but Paul and Silas
paid the price.
They were imprisoned.
And yet,
even in the prison,
the Gospel of Jesus
flourished.
Verse 25,
Paul and Silas
were praying
and singing hymns
to God at midnight.
The other prisoners
were listening.
What a picture of joy
in the midst of opposition.
Later on,
during another imprisonment,
Paul would write
in his letter
to the Philippians,
he said,
what has happened to me
has really served
to advance the Gospel.
Because he says,
now everyone knows
that my imprisonment
is for Christ.
And he says,
as a result,
most of the brothers
and sisters
are much more bold
to speak the Word of God
without fear.
So Paul's writing
from prison
and he says,
you know,
the fact that I'm in prison,
God's actually using this
for the good of his kingdom,
for the good news
of Jesus to go forth.
So the Gospel of Jesus
speaks to Lydia
and opens her,
her heart is opened.
The slave girl is liberated
and third,
we meet a jailer.
Verse 25 through 34,
now compared to Lydia
and the slave girl,
the jailer would have been
somewhere in between
on the social ladder.
He worked for the state.
Perhaps like many others
in Philippi,
he was an army veteran.
Regardless,
as a corrections officer,
we can assume
he was a tough guy.
He saw human beings
at their worst
and every day
he had to lock people up.
But what we see
is that God broke through,
even to this hardened jailer.
First,
God displayed his majesty
by sending
a powerful earthquake.
Earthquakes happened
occasionally in that area
and people often
interpreted them
as a sign of coming
divine judgment.
The jailer's initial instinct
was to take his own life.
Because if his prisoners
had escaped,
he was liable
to the same punishment
that they would have
all received.
And who knows,
some of them may
have been,
it's possible
that he would have
been executed.
But you know,
God didn't just display
his majesty
to the jailer
in this powerful earthquake
that opened all the doors
of the prison.
God also displayed
his mercy.
Verse 28,
Paul cried
with a loud voice,
don't harm yourself.
We are all here.
And interestingly,
the result was
he was even more afraid.
Trembling with fear,
it says,
he fell down
before Paul and Silas.
You could have escaped,
but you didn't.
You've saved my life.
Why in the world
would you do that
for me?
Sirs,
what must I do
to be saved?
What must I do
to be rescued
from the judgment
of this God
who sent the earthquake?
What must I do
to receive
this saving mercy
that you have
extended to me?
And Paul and Silas
said,
verse 31,
believe in the Lord Jesus
and you will be saved.
You and your household.
It's that simple.
You see,
the Bible speaks
of a majestic God,
a holy and righteous God
who will one day
judge the world.
It says,
no creature
is hidden
from his sight,
but all are exposed
to the eyes of him
to whom we must
give account.
But the Bible
also speaks
of a merciful Savior,
Jesus Christ,
who willingly shared
in our own flesh
and blood,
who endured
God's judgment
on our behalf
so that we might live
by believing in him,
by trusting his work
on our behalf.
And the circumstances
of the jailer's conversion
and of Lydia's conversion
were as different
as they could be.
God opened Lydia's heart
on a peaceful Saturday
afternoon
by a riverside
while she was listening
to Paul speak.
God saved the jailer
after rudely awakening him
in the middle of the night
and barely preventing him
from killing himself.
But the results
were the same.
Do you see
these same three results?
of the gospel
coming to Lydia's heart
are expressed
by the jailer.
Like Lydia,
he listened attentively
to God's word.
Verse 32.
Like Lydia,
he and his household
believed
and were baptized.
Verse 33.
And like Lydia,
he immediately treated
his brothers in Christ
like family.
Verse 34.
He washed their wounds,
he brought them
into his house,
he fed them a meal.
not typical behavior
for a corrections officer
then or now
to do with his inmates.
Now it would be
absolutely prohibited
by the law.
But do you see
how the gospel
transforms people's lives?
Makes us attentive
to his word,
makes us committed
to his people,
makes us loving each other
like family.
Have you experienced
this transforming power
of the gospel
in your life?
Verse 34 says,
the jailer rejoiced
along with his entire
household
that he had believed
in God.
You know,
I don't know
what your experience
is like here
in New Haven,
but I don't find
New Haven
to be a particularly
joyful place.
Many people
in New Haven
are busy,
driven,
and ambitious.
Others are bored,
weary of life,
seeking pleasure
in order to fill
a deep emptiness.
But you know,
the gospel of Jesus Christ
creates a community
characterized by joy.
Deep and lasting joy
that penetrates
the heart of even
the most cynical,
hardened,
world-weary people.
And this was the witness
of the church
at Philippi,
beginning with the jailer
and his family.
The theme of joy
appears over and over
in Paul's letter
to the Philippians.
I make my prayer
for you with joy.
He says,
my brothers and sisters
whom I love
and long for,
you are my joy
and crown.
And he reminds them,
rejoice.
Rejoice in the Lord
always.
And again I say,
rejoice.
Brothers and sisters,
this is what
the gospel has called us
to here in New Haven.
To be a community
of people who find joy
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not in our circumstances,
not simply in pleasure,
not simply in
always smiling
and pretending,
but enduring joy
of knowing that
God is for us,
that Christ has died for us,
that his spirit is with us,
and that he will come again
in glory one day.
This is what the gospel does.
In a proud,
privileged,
pagan city,
the gospel of Jesus
opens the heart
of a successful businesswoman,
sets free
an oppressed slave girl,
and brings joy
to a hardened
corrections officer,
and it brings them
all together
in the family
of God.
One commentator
put it like this.
He says,
what we see in this chapter
is that the gospel triumphs
in the Jewish meeting place
outside the walls
of the city,
and in the Roman stronghold,
inside the city,
even inside the prison.
It triumphs over
magistrates
and their jails,
and it triumphs
over demons.
Luke shows
that the gospel
and its followers
can exist
within the place
of Roman authority
by creating
its own space
in-house.
Thus he shows
that the Christian faith
is neither subservient
to Rome,
nor is it fundamentally
at odds
with Rome.
In other words,
he's saying Christianity
belongs
in cities like Philippi.
Christianity flourishes
in cities like Philippi,
and Christianity
will endure
in cities like Philippi.
Verse 40,
before Paul leaves town,
it says,
he went to visit Lydia
and to encourage
the brothers.
Once again,
a reminder
that God had brought
these different people
together into
his one family
as brothers and sisters
in Christ.
The gospel of Jesus Christ
is good news.
It's good news
for all kinds of people.
It satisfies
the inquiring mind
of thoughtful
spiritual seekers.
It brings profound meaning
and purposeful generosity
to successful business people.
It brings liberation
and healing
to the poor,
the downtrodden,
and the oppressed.
It brings joy
to hardened police officers
and weary social workers
who have seen it all.
And it brings us together
into one family of God.
Let's pray
that we would be changed
by this good news.
Lord, we pray
in the words of Paul's prayer
for the Philippians
that our love
may abound more and more
with knowledge
and all discernment
so that we may approve
what is excellent
and be pure
and blameless
for the day of Christ.
Filled with the fruit
of righteousness
that comes through
Jesus Christ
to the glory
and praise of God.
We pray that you would
make us a joyful people.
We pray that you would
give us confidence
as we go forth
into the different places
where you have put us
with this saving message
of the gospel,
with this healing
reality of Christ
in us.
And Lord, we pray
that you would
make us a people
who reflect
the glory of this gospel
of Jesus Christ.
We pray in his name.
Amen.
Well, let's stand
and let's praise
the one
whose rain
brings joy
even in the most
unlikely places.
Amen.
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does its successive journeys run. His kingdom spread from shore to shore till