Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this Wednesday,
What has been the most direct and forceful opposition YOU have ever faced to Christianity, especially YOUR relationship with Jesus and your conviction the Bible is God’s truth for our world? Pause and think about that for a few seconds. Let’s join the apostle Paul, Silas, Timothy and Dr. Luke as they are spending their first days in Philippi, Macedonia.
For Dr. Luke this is fairly familiar territory since he was a Greek physician, perhaps from Macedonia!! But for the other three, we can presume this Roman city is quite different from what was familiar to them, especially Jerusalem. When’s the last time you traveled into a culture VERY different from what was familiar to you? How did you feel there?
The record of this experience is in Acts 16 and let’s join them as Dr Luke describes what he saw that day: “Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.” (Acts 16:16) I see two significant things here, do you?
First, evidently this gathering for prayer outside the city had developed into a regular pattern and a specific place had become known to many other people.
I presume Paul was also teaching the people about Jesus and His Gospel of salvation. We might say a little church was starting outside town!
Second, slavery has been an important part of many societies for thousands of years.
Benevolent slavery has been helpful to millions of people over the centuries who were destitute but then cared for by their slave masters providing food, lodging, clothing and often an education or skills training as part of their servitude. But in many ways slavery has also been despicable. In this case this young female slave’s value was not in her back breaking work, nor in sex slavery, but it was her occult involvement. She was regularly under the strong influence of a demonic spirit similar to how occult practices function in our day with tarot cards or seances or Ouija boards.
I find it interesting that WHAT this slave girl announced, as she followed Paul and his team, was true, but I presume the manner in which she shouted it was mocking and offensive. Luke reports she shouted: “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” (Acts 16:17) After several days, Paul had reached his limit and turned to face the girl saying to the spirit influencing her: “In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her.” There is no evidence Paul screamed those words, nor that he became violent. He simply spoke in the name of Jesus to a dark spirit which was controlling this girl. Luke describes the result this way: “At that moment the spirit left her.” (Acts 16:18)
I see no evidence of the drama that is reported with other deliverances from dark, controlling spirits, when they sometimes screamed (Mark 1:25,26) or threw people into convulsions. (Mark 9:25-27) Why not? This dark spirit, while manipulating this young girl, was not harming her nor harming her masters. This spirit was, in the view of many people, helpful to this girl, her masters and those who sought her services in helping them gain a glimpse of their future, even if it was not accurate.
Watch this my friends. Years later the apostle Paul wrote about the dark kingdom deceiving people, enticing people, but sometimes doing so with what may appear to be helpful deception. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) Paul wrote “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” Do you see such deception, enticing schemes, being used in your city to draw people into bondage in the dark kingdom?
For this slave girls’ owners, this was a crisis, for evidently, she lost her abilities with the occult practices she had been using. Luke writes: “They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.” (Acts 16:19) Remember this city Philippi was a major provincial city in Macedonia with a Roman military contingent, courts and high-ranking officials. The accusation was made that “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into an uproar…” (Acts 16:20)
No public defendant was awarded to them, nor does it appear they were given any opportunity to address the crowd or the officials in their own defense. Quickly the roar of the crowd moved the magistrates to issue their judgment: “Paul and Silas were stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison and the jailor commanded to guard them carefully.” (Acts 16:22,23) What does this tell us my friends about the challenges Paul and his companions would face in bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ into the Roman, Greek and Gentile world? This beating was horrific and done publicly as a warning to anyone else who might think about being a rabble rouser or breaking Roman laws. You’ve perhaps heard the phrase, ‘the iron fist of Rome’? This is one example and it was very effective in keeping the people living in fear.
The jailor was also fearful when he received orders to guard them carefully and Dr. Luke tells us, “he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in stocks.” (Acts 16:24) We don’t know why Dr Luke and Timothy were not also arrested, beaten and thrown in prison? But we can assume they were all giving serious thought that night, to this violent persecution they may be facing in Macedonia and the price they might have to pay to share the Gospel there.
There was no one other than Jesus to whom they could appeal and I’m sure they were, perhaps with Lydia, praying and trying to discern a plan of action for the next day. Paul and Silas however were doing something shocking. The record says: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” (Acts 16:25)
Now I can’t fully explain that, can you? Where does that courage and joy come from when your back is bleeding, your feet are in stocks and you’re in a dark, probably rat infested, dungeon? It calls us to ask ourselves how we handle disappointment, frustration, conflict, injustice, unfairness and even persecution in our lives, no matter where you live in the world and no matter WHO is persecuting you?
Let’s pause right here. Tomorrow we’ll see how God responded to Paul and Silas actually worshiping in their pain. It’s amazing, but of course in the darkness and pain that night they had no idea God was planning something spectacular! Can you and I face the challenges of our days confident that God, in His sovereignty, knows all about whatever is causing your pain, and are you willing to trust Him in it all?
The lessons learned notes will help you dig much more deeply into key Scriptures which will encourage and strengthen you in the face of adversity. This powerful Jewish song built on Psalm 121 and filmed in Israel; may have been the type of song Paul and Silas were singing that night! Tomorrow, we’ll rejoin them in that dungeon to see what God does next.
Today’s Scripture: Acts 16:16-24.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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