Table of Contents
Introduction
Disagreement, Diversion, and Dreams (Acts 15:36-16:10)
1)The Split (Acts 15:36-41)
2)Timothy (Acts 16:1-5)
3)The Call to Macedonia (Acts 16:6-10)
4)Principle
Disagreements can be good.
5)Applications
In a disagreement, how quick are you to check your motive?
Who do you need to forgive (or ask forgiveness from) due to anger or bitterness over a disagreement?
How has God used your passion for Him and a disagreement with a brother to lead you in a new direction?
Preaching, Prison, and Persecution (Acts 16:11-17:15)
1)In Philippi (Acts 16:11-40)
Lydia Believes
Paul's Prison Ministry
Beaten and Imprisoned
In Prison (25-40)
2)In Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9)
Line of Reasoning
Jealousy
3)In Berea (Acts 17:10-15)
4)Principle
Both opposition and acceptance should be expected in any gospel ministry.
5)Applications
How has God used a painful experience in your life as an opportunity to give God glory?
How can you turn your past failures to glorify God into a renewed resolve to not be a repeat offender?
How is past opposition to the gospel effecting your current determination to share it with others?
Idols, Ignorance, and Inroads (Acts 17:16-18:22)
1)In Athens (17:16-21)
All the Idols
Synagogue and Market – Jew and Philosopher
Apologetic
2)In Corinth (18:1-17)
Aquila and Priscilla
Opposed in Synagogue
The Lord's Vision to Paul
3)Return to Antioch (18:18-22)
4)Principle
One of man's biggest barriers to faith is faith in his own ability to reason.
5)Applications
How could Paul's example in Athens help you reason with your unsaved friends, family, and co-workers?
What opposition are you facing for the sake of Christ? Might that be a sign that you are right where God wants you to be?
Conclusion
Introduction
Friction is the force that resists motion between two surfaces. One of the results is kinetic energy being converted into heat.
There are negative consequences due to friction in that it can cause the degradation of the materials in contact. The excessive buildup of heat can cause unwanted structural changes and even fusing of surfaces.
But friction is not always bad. Consider the tires on your car. If it were not for friction, when you turn a sharp corner on the road, you might end up in the ditch. Also, consider a sander. As the sandpaper is moved across a rough surface, friction is responsible for smoothing out otherwise rough surfaces.
In a fallen world, such as ours, it is only natural that we will encounter friction as we seek to do God's work. And as we will see, it is often that very resistance that God uses to move and direct his workers.
Disagreement, Diversion, and Dreams (Acts 15:36-16:10)
1)The Split (Acts 15:36-41)
Both men fully committed to God's call in ministry – Christ-centered; the glory of God was a high priority
Intention was to visit and see how the churches they had established were faring – an unselfish motive
18:36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”
John Mark is the subject of disagreement
Barnabas wanted to bring Mark.
Paul was determined to have a solid missionary team.
Both men had correct motives in wanting and not wanting to bring John Mark
They both saw the value in mentoring younger (less mature) Christians. Barnabas, the son of encouragement, would have wanted to give his nephew Mark another shot.
The sharp disagreement was not necessarily a point of anger (or bitterness as a result), but merely a difference in direction with the same goal in mind
It was wise for them to part company. I wonder what would have happened had they decided to stick it out and go together in spite of their differences of opinion?
This separation was part of God's plan to cover more territory, mentor more missionaries, forge new inroads into the pagan world
2)Timothy (Acts 16:1-5)
Young, Jewish – Greek, uncircumcised, believer.
Paul had him circumcised.
Seems like a contradiction to the decision brought down from Jerusalem council. Seems like it contradicted Paul's own conviction that circumcision was of no value.
But it was not a contradiction at all, but a loving move on his part in order not to offend (or turn off) any potential Jewish audience he might have.
Paul had him circumcised for the sake of the unbelieving Jews and never had the salvation of Timothy in mind.
3)The Call to Macedonia (Acts 16:6-10)
The missionary team tried to move into places, Asia and Bithynia, that seemed like logical next steps in their travels. They were stopped by the Holy Spirit.
We are not told how the Holy Spirit stopped them, only that it happened.
We are also not told how Paul knew the man in his vision was a Macedonian man. But he did, and that is where God was leading them.
They were not sitting around waiting for God to lead them. They had the main objective of sharing the gospel in mind. They were moving ahead with where they thought people needed to hear. They were sensitive to where God was stopping them and also open to new places where God was leading them.
4)Principle
Disagreements can be good.
5)Applications
In a disagreement, how quick are you to check your motive?
Who do you need to forgive (or ask forgiveness from) due to anger or bitterness over a disagreement?
How has God used your passion for Him and a disagreement with a brother to lead you in a new direction?
Preaching, Prison, and Persecution (Acts 16:11-17:15)
Paul, Silas, and Timothy were where they were due to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the providential hand of God at work to make them aware of a need in Macedonia. The very fact that they were a team is due to God using a difference of opinion to point out a difference in direction for Paul as opposed to Barnabas. And God was accomplishing His perfect plan through two teams rather than one.
1)In Philippi (Acts 16:11-40)
Philippi was a leading city in the district of Macedonia. But it was also a city without a synagogue for the Jews to gather for worship. Jewish law required that at least 10 men were required in order to establish a synagogue. Apart from a synagogue, prayers could be established outdoors, preferably near water. And so that is where Paul and his companions find themselves, outside Philippi and near the river.
Lydia Believes
Paul spoke to the women there and note what Luke records:
16:14 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.
15 And after she was baptized, and 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.
Note that God prepared a receptive heart for the gospel message outside the city on a riverbank. There was no resistance recorded as we will see happens later in Thessalonica.
Paul's Prison Ministry
God had others in Philippi who He was going to call. He had a plan for Paul to witness in a prison to some people who may have otherwise never heard the gospel And God has a very unusual way of bringing this about. Rather than some outsider coming to the gates of a prison, God was going to make this an inside job.
Beaten and Imprisoned
The opposition they faced seemed like a positive spin by an unlikely preacher – a demon-possessed fortune telling slave girl.
Magistrates were unjust.
If Paul and Silas had been a threat, the magistrates actions did little to detract them.
If the accusations were not warranted or unfounded, then Paul and Silas were unjustly accused, regardless of nationality.
What they did was illegal and unethical.
But this was also part of God's plan to grow His church in Philippi.
In Prison (25-40)
You can miss an opportunity God has for you if your attitude is not right. If anyone had reason to complain in their circumstances, Paul and Silas did (from a fallen human perspective).
16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,
They took full advantage of this opportunity. They realized that wherever they were, it was due to their obedience to God and part of His will.
So they used the opportunity to offer up praise to God in prayer and song.
What an impact that must have had on their fellow prisoners. Rather than bemoaning their unfair treatment an innocence and unjust treatment as Roman citizens, instead they glorified God in their pain and suffering.
What an impact they had on the jailer. Not only did they stay behind, the other captives did as well. If anyone had the right to bolt it was Paul and Silas.
16:28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”
29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.
30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
33 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.
Years later, when Paul writes his letter to the Philippian church, I wonder if this jailer had a special understanding of Paul's situation since this church was instrumental in serving Paul through financial giving. Who better would understand the plight of a prisoner than a man who ran a prison?
2)In Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9)
Line of Reasoning
In the Thessalonian synagogue.
Started with the Scriptures to point out that suffering and resurrection were necessary for the Christ.
Jesus it the Christ.
Some Jews, great many Greeks, and many leading women believed.
Jealousy
The Jewish leaders are jealous. Would not have been so if many had not been saved. They probably enjoyed a theological debate.
But with many converts to Christianity, their power and authority was now in jeopardy.
They ally with wicked men of the rabble in order to propagate their hate speech about Paul and Silas.
3)In Berea (Acts 17:10-15)
Same scenario in Berea, but rather than rejecting Paul's words, carte blanch, they go to the Scriptures to see if what he is saying lines up. And it does.
The same message in Thessalonica and Berea, but a different heart. A heart that was honestly seeking the truth and willing to test everything they heard in light of God's revealed truth to mankind.
In both Berea and Thessalonica, there were those who heard and believed.
17:4,12:
4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.
12 Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.
But sadly, both passages are followed by statement, but when the Jews.
Paul's own people, the ones he went out of his way to talk with, were the very ones to put up such a resistance to the gospel that they would travel over land and sea to silence this apostle.
4)Principle
Both opposition and acceptance should be expected in any gospel ministry.
5)Applications
How has God used a painful experience in your life as an opportunity to give God glory?
How can you turn your past failures to glorify God into a renewed resolve to not be a repeat offender?
How is past opposition to the gospel effecting your current determination to share it with others?
Idols, Ignorance, and Inroads (Acts 17:16-18:22)
Sometimes God leads us to share His truth with those who seem to have no clue about the true and living God. Sadly, that is becoming more and more the norm in our own country.
Paul found himself driven out of Berea by unbelieving Jews only to find himself in the pit of pagan culture and human religious pursuit.
1)In Athens (17:16-21)
All the Idols
Filled with idols or full of idolatry.
This was the center of higher education, art, and religion.
Paul was not overwhelmed by the artistic beauty or by the stunning architecture or by the human wisdom that abounded in Athens.
He was overcome by the realization of the lost condition of humanity. This city had everything the world could offer, but it was nothing.
It was the epitome of human pursuit apart from God.
And Paul was moved, troubled, his spirit was provoked (NIV: he was greatly distressed).
How often do you and I get more impressed with the accomplishments of man and forget to be overcome by the lost condition of man?
We live in a society that is becoming more and more pluralistic. There is good and bad in pluralism. And often we get caught up in the notion that diversity is good with no regard for the idea that much of what accompanies pluralism is un-Christian. Pagan. Antithetical to what the Scripture teaches.
Synagogue and Market – Jew and Philosopher
And so Paul takes this feeling of distress and puts it to good use in both the synagogue (with the Jews an proselytes) and also in the market place.
He goes where the lost people are in order to share the hope that is obviously lacking in all of the Athenian pursuits.
We are not told of anything coming from Paul's talks in the synagogue, but outward results are never a motivating factor for Paul. He seeks to do God's will in spite of man's response.
In the market he gets an audience, and he gets labeled a babbler. In other words, your talk seems to be nonsense. It was the message of Jesus and the resurrection that evoked such a response.
Isn't it ironic that those who call Paul a babbler are in fact those who are peddling all forms of sophistry without a desire to know truth only to know knowledge and new ideas. Those who hungered for the new ideas would call one bringing them the truth a babbler. What an irony.
He was invited to the Areopagus, not because those who listened believed what he was saying, but because they wanted to hear new ideas. They liked to spend their days sharing the latest ideas and views. Not necessarily in a pursuit of truth but in a pursuit of ideas that they may or may not adopt as their belief system.
Apologetic
Paul begins to talk with those at the Areopagus by using their own words and objects of worship to reason about the true God.
He points out what was very obvious to them. They were religious in every way. Their whole society revolved around the gods that they had made.
And it seems that they even wanted to make sure that they covered all the bases by making an alter to an unknown god. Just in case there was another one out there that needed to be appeased.
Paul uses this as his jumping off point. He was not trying to say that the god they call unknown is in fact the true God. But he does point out that their worship as the unknown God is unacceptable to the true God.
They are worshiping in ignorance, but that ignorance is not a valid excuse when it comes time for God to judge.
Jesus puts man's dillema in these words:
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;
26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
2)In Corinth (18:1-17)
Aquila and Priscilla
Opposed in Synagogue
This opposition in the synagogue looks to be the last straw for Paul. He has been opposed almost every time he has entered a synagogue. These are people who are supposedly interested in seeking God. But they are rejecting the truth of God because it doesn't suit their flawed understanding of the Scriptures. They are too stubborn and proud to acknowledge that they are wrong and God is right.
And so they lose out and the Gentiles gain.
The Lord's Vision to Paul
18:9 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent,
10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”
11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
He stays in Corinth 1 ½ years teaching. This city so filled with immorality becomes a place God chooses to reveal himself and grow His church.
3)Return to Antioch (18:18-22)
4)Principle
One of man's biggest barriers to faith is faith in his own ability to reason.
5)Applications
How could Paul's example in Athens help you reason with your unsaved friends, family, and co-workers?
What opposition are you facing for the sake of Christ? Might that be a sign that you are right where God wants you to be?
Conclusion
What friction are you facing in your Christian life? Just remember, this is a natural result of our fallen world. Will you allow that friction to be used by God to refine you, to direct you, and to aid in accomplishing God's will through you?
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