In chapter 16 we join Paul on his second missionary journey. Paul’s plans for this journey were to visit the Christians in the towns where he and Barnabus had preached, and see how they were doing. Paul had parted company with Barnabus, on this journey his partner was Silas, a church leader from Jerusalem. There was also a second purpose for this journey.

There had been a major debate in the church over whether or not non-Jewish believers should be required to be circumcised. Many Jewish believers felt they should be, and leaders from the main gentile church in Antioch had travelled to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles on the matter.

As the church considered the matter together in Jerusalem, they discerned that God had led them to welcome believers of all races, without burdening them with all the detailed rules of Judaism. A letter was written to all the churches affirming this ruling, and as Paul and Silas visited the different churches they deliver the verdict of the church to all the different churches.

Travelling overland through Syria, they eventually came to Derbe, and then they went on to Lystra. That was the town where Paul had been stoned on his previous journey. There is now a church there. There is also a young believer named Timothy. Paul sees in him someone who can help in the missionary work, he was well thought of by the believers there.

But then Paul does something that initially seems quite inconsistent with the way that God was leading the church. Paul circumcises Timothy. There had just been the decision of the church that circumcision was unnecessary for Christians. Why then does Paul do this? It says that he does it because of the Jews who were in that area who knew that Timothy’s father was Greek.

Although Timothy didn’t need to be circumcised to become a Christian, as a fellow worker with Paul he would be involved in going into the Jewish synagogues to share the gospel. Because of this, he needed to be accepted as Jewish, and the mark of being Jewish was circumcision. By circumcising Timothy, with the full knowledge of the Jewish community was the way of removing an unnecessary obstacle to Jewish people coming to faith in Jesus.

So Timothy joins Paul and Silas on their travels. The three of them travel on, giving the ruling of the apostles in Jerusalem to all the churches; circumcision is not required; neither is keeping the Jewish regulations regarding eating of only ‘clean’ food. They are expected to live lives free from sexual immorality and distinct from paganism. They encourage the churches, and we are told that the churches were strengthened in faith and grew daily in numbers. The church was alive and growing.

Neither did the missionaries stop when they had visited the places that Paul and Barnabus had been to before. They went on into Phrygia and Galatia. But it says that they had been ‘kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.’ What does that mean? We do have a bit of a clue to that from the letter that Paul wrote to the Galatians. In Galatians 4 v13 Paul tells us that the reason he actually went to preach the gospel in Galatia was because of an illness he had. It seems that the way that the Holy Spirit kept Paul from preaching in the province of Asia was through an illness; for health reasons, Paul went to preach in Galatia instead. It reminds us that the Holy Spirit guides in different ways and by different means.

It seems that although we get no mention of opposition or persecution so far on this journey; it was by no means plain sailing for the missionaries. Another obstacle then seems to have arisen. They tried to enter Bithynia, ‘but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to’. They thought it was right, they wanted to preach there, but somehow or other the Spirit did not allow them to. It possibly seemed frustrating for them at the time, but writing the account of the events, Luke recognises that God’s hand was at work, guiding by his Holy Spirit.

So Paul, Silas and Timothy move on to Troas. Troas is the area of the ancient city of Troy. It is an important port, the point at which ships travelling between what is today Europe and Asia would make land. It is here that Paul gets some very clear guidance. In the night he has a vision. A man from Macedonia begs Paul to ‘come over and help us’. Now they realise where God is leading them.

They straightaway make plans to sail across to Europe. God doesn’t always give us advanced notice of his plans and purposes for us when we don’t need to know them; sometimes he guides a step at a time. Paul had started with plans to visit where he had been before; now God guides him to move on to a new continent. We find here though, that another person joins the team. At this point the storyteller begins to say ‘we’, as he continues with the story. We don’t know where he arrives from, but it seems that Luke joins them here, and together they sail across to Macedonia.

The gospel has come to Europe. The party make their way to Philippi, which is the leading city of that district where they stay for several days. Paul’s usual method when coming to a new town is to first take his message to the synagogue on the Sabbath. It seems there is not much of a Jewish community in Philippi, it is a Roman colony, and there is no synagogue.

But apparently, across the ancient world where there was a small Jewish community they would establish a place of prayer by the local river. So on the Sabbath, Paul and company go out to the river, expecting to find a place of prayer. They find a group of women who have met to worship. Now, as a Pharisee, Paul would have had a very low view of women. Yet as a Christian believer he has come to understand that in Christ that old distinction that regarded women as second-class citizens is gone.

So they talk to the women, Lydia responds; and she and members of her household are baptized. She has given her life to the Lord in reality. As a result she insists on inviting Paul and friends to stay at her home. The infant church now has a base to operate from. We know from Paul’s letter to the Philippians how significant this was. Right from the start there was a place of fellowship, Paul had a real affection for the Christians there at Philippi.

The were also a missionary church, they wanted to share with others the good news they had found, and from the point at which Paul moved on to continue to spread the gospel, they continued to send money to help. So the church was established. No opposition from the Jewish community is apparent in Philippi, but opposition comes from another source. There is demonic opposition. A slave girl who is possessed by an evil spirit follows the missionaries around, shouting that they are servants of the most high God. Of course the devil is aware of God’s activity in the world. In reality he is opposed to the gospel, but what he is doing here, and this is the most dangerous of the devil’s strategies is the pretence of an alliance with the gospel message.

Where the gospel is preached, the appropriate response is one of repentance surrender to Christ. The devil in his strategy of alliance with the gospel is not submitting to Christ, rather he is just patronising. When Jesus confronted the demons, and they cried out ‘you are the son of God’, Jesus forbade them to speak. Instead he cast them out of those who were possessed.

That’s what Paul does here. He cast’s out the evil Spirit. The gospel is about people being freed from the power of the evil one. Notice this is not Paul’s priority, his priority is to preach the Gospel and teach. But when confronted by demonic powers, in the name of Jesus he casts out the powers of darkness. The church still sometimes falls for the devils temptation to form alliances with him. We sometimes welcome those who would seek to join as patrons, rather than in humble submission making Jesus their Lord.

Just as when Jesus drove out the demons and they went into the Gadarine swine there are financial implications when the slave girl is delivered from the spirit that had possessed her. The men who own the slave girl had been making a lot of money from her demonic abilities. That source of income has now completely dried up for them. They are furious with Paul, they drag him and Silas before the authorities making false accusations against them. They stirred up the crowd, and in an effort to pacify them the magistrates have Paul and Silas severely beaten and thrown in jail.

They are securely locked in an inner cell with their feet in the stocks. The jailor goes to bed for the night, but Paul and Silas do not sleep. About midnight they are praying and singing hymns. That is remarkable for men who have just had a severe flogging. Dr Campbell Morgan remarks that if he had been chained beside Paul, Paul would have had to sing a solo.

But you see, their secret, was that they trusted that God was still in control. That he had allowed this misfortune to befall them, and would yet make it work out for good. Paul wrote to the church at Philippi years later when he was suffering a far longer imprisonment, he told them that what had happened to him had really served to advance the gospel, and that in that he could rejoice.

On this occasion however, God stepped in. an earthquake rocked the prison. The prisoners chains came loose, the doors burst open. The jailor wakes up. He hadn’t lost any sleep over the suffering of his prisoners, but he knew if any escaped it would be execution for him. It was a brutal world, and he knew the best course for him was to put an end to his own life and he draws his sword to kill himself.

Yet amazingly, a voice called out ‘do not harm yourself, we are all here.’ It was incredible that someone should care for the welfare of a callous brutal jailor, especially when that person had been a victim of his brutality. The jailor was amazed. ‘What must I do to be saved?’ he cries. ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved,’ Paul and Silas reply.

The jailor takes them into his home and dresses their wounds. Paul and Silas tell the jailor and his family about Jesus, they accept Jesus as their Lord. In the early hours a baptismal service takes place. The gospel was already beginning its transforming work on the continent of Europe.

That transforming power of the gospel continues today, as men and women’s hearts are opened, to receive Jesus, as his people; his body demonstrate the reality of his presence in their lives and his love for all.

Amen.

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