Acts 16:9-15
Lesson Focus:
We must always work together to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit for our church.
Lesson Outcomes:
Through this lesson students should:
Understand that Paul submitted his vision to the discernment of the group he was with.
Seek to work together to discern the will of God for our church.
Identify specific ways we might seek discernment in matters regarding the mission of our church.
Catching up on the story:
The Christian leaders in Jerusalem have been dealing with a growing conflict in the church throughout the known world. The constant struggle has been to answer the simple question, “who constitutes the people of God?” Is it Israel, Jews, and Jewish converts? Has Christ come specifically for them, and should those who convert to Christianity have to conform to the entire Jewish law?
There are some within this new Jewish sect called Christianity that believe Christ has come first and foremost for the Jews. Therefore, anyone who wants to become a Christian must conform to all Jewish laws, ways of life, and regulations. Males should be circumcised, and dietary laws should be followed. At the same time, however, Paul and some others believe that Christ has brought a new freedom and the people of God, followers of Christ, do not need to conform to all of the old Jewish laws.
The church leaders in Jerusalem have come together to make a definitive statement concerning how Christians are to live as a result of Christ. They sent out a letter stating that believers should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what has been strangled, and from fornication. The church leaders believed that if they stayed away from these things they would do well.
This of course isn’t a comprehensive list of things one should do or not do. It is, however, an important reminder that Christianity is not a list of do’s and don’ts, but that it is primarily a relationship through which we are guided on how to behave.
The Text:
Paul and his companions have been eagerly traveling around the known world proclaiming this new freedom in Christ to all the churches as well as planting new churches. Paul has, in his eagerness to spread the message, tried to visit several places and cities, but for whatever reason, has been blocked by the Holy Spirit. Seemingly blocked at every turn, Paul and his companions are spending the night at Troas, trying to discern where they might go next. That night, Paul has a vision while sleeping. He sees a man from Macedonia urgently calling him to come to Macedonia to help them. Paul is convinced that this dream is a word from God telling them where they are to go. The next morning Paul and his companions get up and immediately make way for the region of Macedonia.
You will notice that at the beginning of verse 10 the language shifts from “they” to “we.” There has been much debate on this shift to “we.” It would be unwise to engage in a debate about this shift here. Either Luke has joined Paul and his companions or he is using this as a literary device. For us it does not matter. What does matter to us is the way in which Luke describes the group’s decision to go straight to Macedonia.
While Paul is the undisputed leader of this mission, and the vision appeared to him alone, the vision and its meaning was put to the discernment of the group. Notice at verse 10 that Luke reports that “we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us…” We do not know what the conversation between Paul and his companions was like, but we can assume that Paul related his vision to the group and that they talked about it and came to an agreement on a course of action.
This is instructive for us as we engage in God’s mission in our own neighborhoods and around the world. Perhaps one of us has a vision for what that mission should look like. Maybe it’s like Paul’s and maybe it’s just an idea about what the church should do next. What is best, however, is that the future plans for God’s church not be made by individuals who have claimed to have a vision, but through the discernment of the church body. God’s mission is never an individual task; it is always a “we” and “us” task.
Within a few days they were in Macedonia at the city of Philippi. Philippi was a leading city of the region of Macedonia; it was also a Roman colony. Philippi is the only city mentioned in Acts that gets that designation. As a Roman colony it has special privileges and rights that provincial Greek towns did not. Philippi was as Roman as Roman could get outside of Italy. It was also located on a main east/west road that connected Rome to the eastern provinces. The gospel planted here would have easy roads to both the east and the west. (Witherington III, 488).
They stayed in the city for a few days. We are not told how long they stayed before the Sabbath. Here the pace of the narrative has slowed. Previously in the chapter, Paul and his companions were busily moving from place to place trying to discern their next move. Now they have direction and are immediately obedient only to have to sit and wait until anything happens. How many times have we had a clear vision of what to do only to see results slow in coming?
Eventually the Sabbath comes and Paul and his companions head outside of the city walls. There are two reasons why they might have done this. First, it is likely this city did not have a synagogue, indicating that there were not even 10 Jewish men living there. A minimum of 10 Jewish men were needed to form a synagogue. Second, in some Roman cities foreign religions were not permitted to meet within the city. This was especially true if the religions had only a small following (Witherington, III, 490). Their hunch that there would be a gathering of Jewish persons outside the city proved to be correct.
While outside the city for prayer they were met by a woman named Lydia. Lydia was a worshiper of God (not a Jew by birth or perhaps even conversion). She was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. Due to the fact that she was a seller of purple cloth, she is most likely a wealthy individual. Purple was a royal color and the region she was from was known for its purple dye. Thyatira is not in the region of Macedonia.
Paul finds himself speaking to this group of women, foreign women at that. Lydia listens to all that Paul has to say about this man named Jesus and God opens her heart and she begins to believe. This seems to be more of a function of the Holy Spirit than anything that Paul and his companions have done. There is no cult of personality here; the text gives us no hint that Paul convinced her to believe, rather it was “the Lord” who opened her heart. Paul and his companions merely were available and willing to go wherever they were instructed to go, or not to go.
The story concludes with Lydia and her entire family being baptized. Most likely this means that her husband, if she had one, and all of her employees who might have been traveling with her were also baptized. Once again, baptism and conversion go hand in hand. Paul, and the early church, would have believed that for one to truly be Christian, to truly have begun a relationship with Christ, one had to be baptized. Lydia’s conversion leads her to offer to provide lodging for Paul and his companions. Paul and his companions agree to go with her.
So What…?
The church and its God-given mission are never an “I” thing. It is never the case that God will reveal his will to one individual and not to the fellowship as a whole. The church and its mission is always a “we” and an “us” type of thing.
Of course, popular Christianity is full of celebrity pastors who claim to receive special revelation from God. Often times the things that they direct their followers to do on behalf of God are rather self-serving for the preacher. For instance, Creflo Dollar asked his followers to donate money so that he could purchase a 53 million-dollar private jet.
I image that Paul could have been an abusive Christian leader. He certainly had received a vision from God which gave him direction. Not just here in Acts, but through the rest of the narrative, we find that Paul is constantly submitting himself to the discernment of the whole Christian fellowship. It is always in consultation with others that Paul moves forward with the mission that God has given him. Recall how Paul met with the apostles in Jerusalem after his conversion (Acts 9:26-30). And God’s mission moves forward in amazing ways because of it.
Certainly we do not belong to a church that constantly claims unrealistic visions from God. Our Pastor, thankfully, submits himself to the discerning body of our denomination as well as to the various elected bodies within our church. We work together to discern the movement of the Spirit among us. When we do so, we show our obedience to the Spirit and we are then used, like Paul and his companions were, to take the gospel into new and exciting places. As we approach Pentecost, may we pray that the Spirit would speak to us, that we would discern its direction together and then move forward in obedience.
Critical Discussion Questions:
What does God look like in this text/Who is God in this text/What is God doing in this text?
God is directing his mission through Paul and his companions. He has not left his followers alone to discern where they should go next, but has given them his Spirit so that they might discern together where they are next to go.
What does holiness/salvation look like in this text?
As the Spirit works in us we must submit ourselves to him and to the discernment of the body of believers. The Spirit may speak to us personally, but never privately or in isolation. The Spirit calls us to work with our brothers and sisters in the faith for our own growth, and our own growth is always for the purpose of carrying forth the evangelizing mission of God.
How does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?
This passage calls us to work together to discern the movement of the Spirit in our midst. We are never to make decisions about the direction of the church in isolation from others. The work of the church is never solely an “I” endeavor, it is always a “we” and “us” work.
Specific Discussion Questions:
Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.
Why would God’s Spirit forbid Paul and his companions from going to certain places?
Paul has a vision of a man begging him to come over to the region of Macedonia. How does Paul respond? How would you respond if you had a similar vision?
Why do Paul and his companions end up in Philippi? What is important about that city?
As Paul and his companions gather outside the city for prayer, they meet a certain woman named Lydia. What do we know about Lydia?
Paul does not give an eloquent sermon like he does in other places, yet Lydia and those with her respond. Why do they respond? What does this say about the nature of how God’s often works?
Have you ever known anyone in the church, ours or another, who claims to have had a God-given vision? What was the vision and how did the church respond?
What must we do if someone comes to the church and says God is calling us to go in a certain direction?
What is discernment and how do we discern together the will of God concerning our church’s mission?
Works Cited:
Ben Witherington III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998).
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