Good Friday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Do you like to travel? If so, do you like the slow-motion way of taking your time going from one place to another and enjoying the sites and people along the route, or are you a destination traveler, often taking the fastest means on the shortest route?
In this past week we’ve been traveling with the apostle Paul and Silas on Paul’s second missionary journey. As with his first journey, they departed from the multicultural, exciting city of Syrian Antioch, sent off by the Christians there. Paul’s first journey with Barnabas as his partner headed south to the island of Cyprus, Barnabas’ home.
On this Paul’s second journey, this time with Silas as his partner, Paul headed north and then west to revisit the towns in which Paul and Barnabas had spent time proclaiming the news of Jesus, more than 3 years ago.
Dr. Luke is the author of the book of Acts, and he gives us the log of both journeys. Yesterday I left you walking out of the city of Lystra with Paul, Silas and the newest member of this traveling team, Timothy. Luke only gives us this brief description of WHERE they went next: “Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia having been kept by the Holy Spirit FROM preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.” (Acts 16:6,7).
This may be one of the most interesting, even stunning two sentences in the whole Bible! God had clearly sent Paul out on this second missionary journey. God has raised up both Silas and now Timothy to join Paul. Their mission was clear: re-visit the towns Paul and Barnabas had previously visited years before, for three purposes…
* First, encourage the Christians in those towns! Some of these people had been the first Christians in their towns when they had believed the Gospel of Jesus, as Paul and Barnabas had explained it to them.
* Second, clarify any confusion and heresy which might be rising up as these new Christians seek to grow in their relationship with Jesus. Remember, as of that time (late 49ad) very little of what we know as the New Testament had yet been written, copied and circulated. Therefore, most all the information about Jesus that these new Christians knew had been shared with them verbally by those who might have known Jesus or one of His disciples.
* Third, teach more truth about Jesus for a deeper understanding of Him and His Gospel. Paul, of course, was the premiere person to do this since the Holy Spirit was teaching Paul the deep truths which he would soon be writing in his letters to the churches.
We don’t know how long Paul stayed in each town, but I presume his days and evenings were filled with meetings in small and large groups, teaching, answering questions, from morning till late at night. I would guess both Silas and Timothy were in those gatherings listening, watching Paul very carefully, learning how to accomplish this remarkable mission God had entrusted to them.
I’m sure it was with great reluctance that Paul, Silas and Timothy packed up and left each town. Thus far in our journey with them, we have visited Derbe and Lystra. (Acts 16:1-3) From there Luke is not specific, but I presume next was Iconium and then on to Pisidian Antioch. Why? Because these two towns were key in the previous trip of Paul and Barnabas described in considerable detail in Acts 13:14-14:7.
I believe it was from Pisidian Antioch that Paul and his traveling troupe would have headed north toward the province of Galatia as described in Acts 16:6. I don’t know what towns, but I read ‘between the lines’ that Paul was somewhat frustrated that he could not continue west from Pisidian Antioch into the region called Asia and the many towns there where he had never visited.
I suspect with each new town going north Paul attempted to turn west again, but according to the record, God was actually preventing Paul from going into Asia! Acts 16:7 says: “When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.” (Acts 16:7) Now that raises lots of questions, doesn’t it? Since we believe God had sent Paul on this journey to take the Gospel to places it had not yet been preached, then WHY would God prevent them taking the Gospel into this unreached area, and HOW did God block their efforts to travel west into Asia?
I find no specific answers in Scripture to the HOW question, my friends. Both Paul and Silas were Roman citizens which meant they should have no restrictions in traveling anywhere in the Roman empire, as long as they remained on the main Roman roads and could give some proof of their Roman citizenship.
With regard to the question WHY, may I ask if you have wrestled with God’s timing in His guidance of you, His answers to your prayers or His provision of something you need? Have you noticed God is rarely early and very often it’s at what we think to be the last minute, just before a deadline, that God provides what is needed?
We do know that eventually Paul and his companions ended up in Troas, the seaside town which became very strategic for them, for it was in that town God finally answered the questions and opened the door for them to head west. Come with me, let’s look at how that happened and what we can learn from it.
Acts 16:9,10 says: “So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, WE got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called US to preach the Gospel to them.” Do you see it my friends? What’s the difference between what the Bible calls a “vision” and a “dream”?
Do you remember Peter, praying on a rooftop in Joppa, and he had a vision of a sheet being lowered from heaven and a voice from heaven teaching Peter that he should “not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15) The result of that experience was instructions from the Holy Spirit for Peter to go Caesarea to visit a Roman centurion named Cornelius and there present the Gospel to Gentiles! Do you remember what happened? Dreams are normally what you and I have at night, visions are something God gives us while wide awake.
Do you remember Peter was visited by an angel who freed him from shackles in prison, yet these words tell us what Peter thought: “Peter followed the angel out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening, he thought he was seeing a vision.“ (Acts 12:9) So while Paul had his vision experience at night, his experience is described as a vision not a dream.
That tells me Paul was wide awake, while he had this vision and he knew without question it was not a dream, not a hallucination, but it was God sending Paul clear instructions through an invitation. The door to Asia was finally opened to Paul, Silas and Timothy.
But wait, do you notice one other important thing in this vision? As Acts 16:10 records what happened, do you see the words WE and US are used!? That means the author of the book of Acts joined the traveling team of Paul, Silas and Timothy here in Troas after Paul’s vision! Who is that author? Dr. Luke, the Greek physician who also wrote the book which bears his name. We know it as the Gospel of Luke. Could it be the delay Paul and his team experienced was for THIS very reason?
God was preparing a Greek, educated, experienced physician, Dr. Luke, to join this missionary team, both as Paul’s personal traveling physician, but also as a record keeper who years later, after interviewing the apostles, friends and family of Jesus, would write two of the most important books of the New Testament… Luke & Acts!? (Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1,2)
Now ponder that for a moment friends. Do you believe Almighty God is Sovereign over all things at all times? Do you believe God is all knowing, all powerful? Do you believe God is fully capable of accomplishing His purposes in our world? Then are you and I willing to let God handle the details of when, where, how and be patient and teachable and available as God chooses to involve us in what He is doing for His glory?
Do we understand how our impatience can complicate God’s plans and His managing of the details of the accomplishment of His plans? Can we learn from Paul and his team, that when the time is right God will do what only God can do to accomplish God’s purposes, and God will involve those people who will fully yield to HIM being Lord over all the details.
Let’s reflect on the danger of our reluctance to allow God to lead us and our instance that God do things the way we want them done!! And here’s a song to help us think about that…
Today’s Scripture is Acts 16:6-10.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“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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