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MESSAGE SERIES: “CHURCH ON THE MOVE”
Acts 16:11–21

INTRODUCTION: Our message series is called Church on the Move, and we are currently tracking how the gospel moved from Asia to Europe. We’ve seen how Paul began his second missionary trip with a desire to revisit the churches previously established on the first trip. But after visiting the churches in the Galatian area, Paul and Silas kept moving, with Timothy joining the team in Lystra and Luke joining them in Troas.

We saw last time how God redirected them from Asia to Europe, where they will establish churches in Philippi, Thessalonica and Corinth, stopping in Ephesus on the way home. In today’s passage we see the missionary team make their way to Philippi — their first major stop in Europe. (Read Acts 16:11–12 and pray.)

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You will experience both success and opposition when sharing the gospel. The Bible tells us: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). There you go. Success and opposition. The same gospel, but two different responses.

Later Paul would write to the Corinthians: “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?” (2 Cor. 2:15–16). It’s a good question. Are you equal to the task? Are you willing to be both the fragrance of life and the smell of death to other people? Are you ready for both success and opposition when you share the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Paul and his missionary companions understood this well, and it is particularly illustrated for us by their trip to Philippi. Philippi is where the gospel first crossed over from Asia to Europe. Anytime the gospel enters new territory, it is an advance against the enemy. The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, and so we should not be surprised when it meets with both success and opposition.

I. Smooth sailing (11–12)

Our passage today begins with smooth sailing. We last left Paul and his companions in Troas where Paul received the vision of the man in Macedonia. God had been steering them all this way, closing doors and opening doors. But now that he has given them a clear and specific direction, the doors swing wide open and they have smooth sailing all the way. Look at verses 11–12 now as we get started:

From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. (Acts 16:11–12)

   A. Troas → Samothrace → Neapolis (11)

First, we get a brief account of their journey from Troas to Samothrace to Neapolis. Once again, they are responding to God’s direct leading to Europe. As soon as Paul received the vision, they got themselves ready to leave. [Put map up and leave up until next slide titled Gospel Success]

Troas was on one side of the Aegean Sea and Europe on the other, so this meant crossing the sea by ship. They left Troas and sailed first to Samothrace. Samothrace is a rocky island with mountains reaching 5,000 feet in elevation. This was their stopover place for the night.

The next day they sailed straight to Neapolis. Sailing from Troas to Neapolis in just two days is making really good time. It means God blessed them with both favorable wind and weather. It will take Paul five days to make this same journey during the return trip on his third missionary journey (see Acts 20:6). But this time around, it was all smooth sailing.

   B. The Egnatian Way (12)

Neapolis was the port city for Philippi. From Neapolis they would have walked the ten miles to Philippi along the Egnatian Way (also called the Via Egnatia). The Egnatian Way was a major highway the Romans built in the second century before Christ. It was nearly 700 miles long, stretching from the Adriatic Sea to the Aegean Sea, passing through modern-day Albania, Greece and Turkey.

This was no simple footpath. It was 20 feet wide, paved with large slabs of stone covered over with a hard layer of sand. During times of war, entire armies marched along this road, so this was easy walking for Paul and his companions. Today only portions of the road still exist as walking trails through Greece and Albania, but most of the road has either disappeared or been paved over with modern highways.

Philippi was a major Roman colony and the leading city of that area. Luke says they stayed several days, which is a looser phrase in the original language than how we use it in English. As we continue the narrative, it is clear they were in Philippi for at least several weeks if not longer. It is probably better to interpret this as Luke saying, “We arrived in Philippi and then spent some time there.” Alternatively, it could also refer to the time between when they first arrived and the Sabbath day when they first shared the gospel.

II. Gospel success (13–15)

Either way, their first experience in sharing the gospel at Philippi was one of gospel success.

   A. Down to the river to pray (13)

In this case, they went down to the river to pray. Look at verse 13:

On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. (Acts 16:13)

Normally they would go to the synagogue, following Paul’s standard missionary strategy of bringing the gospel first to the Jews. However, Philippi did not have a large Jewish population, and there was no synagogue. It took ten men to form a synagogue, and we only read of women at the place of prayer.

So Paul goes to where he expects to find the Jews gathered. They go down to the river where they find a group of women and sit down to talk with them. Sitting was the normal posture for teaching in those days (see Luke 4:20).

What did Paul teach them? He would have shared what he always shared. He would tell them how Jesus came as the Messiah in fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures. He would tell them of his death and resurrection and how everyone who puts their faith in him receives life in his name.

   B. Opened hearts (14)

Whenever you share the gospel, you can expect God to be moving, and here we see an example of God opening hearts. Look at verse 14 next:

One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. (Acts 16:14)

Lydia is singled out for attention here. She was a dealer in purple cloth, which means she was wealthy; purple dye was hard to make and very expensive. She was originally from the city of Thyatira, which was located about 90 miles north of Ephesus in modern-day Turkey. It’s interesting, we are tracing the movement of the gospel from Asia to Europe, and in God’s providence, Lydia had also moved from Asia to Europe, where she was now hearing the gospel for the first time in Philippi.

Luke tells us she was a worshiper of God, which means she was a Gentile who followed the Jewish God but never converted to Judaism, similar to Cornelius back in Acts 10. She was likely single or a widow, as her husband is not mentioned and she owned her own business.

Luke tells us, “The Lord opened her heart to respond.” Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17), yet it still takes an action of God for the person to respond. As Jesus said in the gospel of John: “No one comes to me unless the Father draws him” (John 6:44). It takes both the sharing of the gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit to bring someone to Christ. God works with the word shared in order to produce faith so the person may be saved.

And so Lydia becomes the first recorded convert to Christ in all of Europe. There were probably some Christians in Rome at this time who had been in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and believed, but Lydia is the first person to respond to the gospel after Paul crosses over from Asia to Europe. What an amazing distinction for her to hold!

   C. Baptisms and hospitality (15)

Next, we move from opened hearts to baptisms and hospitality. Look at verse 15:

When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us. (Acts 16:15)

Lydia not only responded to the gospel, but she was also baptized, along with other members of her household. Her household would have included both relatives and servants. Baptism always follows belief in the New Testament. Over and over, you find the same pattern in the book of Acts: “They believed, and they were baptized.”

Lydia not only believed and was baptized, but she also invited Paul and his team to stay at her house. The Lord opened her heart, and she opened her home. This was a natural result of God changing her heart. Lydia connected her conversion with hospitality: “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” She connected the two together. When God saves you, you become open to serving others. This is one of the signs of your salvation. You no longer want to serve self; you want to serve God, you want to serve the church, and you want to serve others.

Lydia opening her home is another indication that Lydia was quite wealthy. She clearly had a large home, big enough to host Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke, along with all the members of her household. We learn later that her house became a meeting place for the believers (Acts 16:40).

III. Double trouble (16–21)

So far all has been smooth sailing for the gospel. They literally had smooth sailing over the Aegean Sea on their way from Troas to Neapolis. They had smooth walking over the Egnatian Way from Neapolis to Philippi. They found a warm reception for the gospel in Philippi when they went down to the river to pray. They found their first convert to Christ in Lydia. Then, more people from Lydia’s household believed and were baptized. And now, they enjoyed Lydia’s hospitality as she allowed them to stay at her home.

But as we said at the beginning of the message, you will experience both success and opposition when you share the gospel. So far it has all been success for Paul and his team, but now they were about to meet opposition, and it was a case of double trouble.

   A. Slave girl with a spirit (16–17)

The first incident of double trouble arose when they met a slave girl with a spirit. Look at verses 16–17 next:

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” (Acts 16:16–17)

The fact that they were going to a place of prayer implies that it was the Sabbath again. The slave girl was demon-possessed. She had a spirit by which she predicted the future, literally a “python spirit.” The python was a symbol of Apollo, who was worshiped in the city. This poor girl was being used. The owners took advantage of her condition to make money. In fact, Luke says she made them a great deal of money.

She started following Paul and the rest of them around, shouting: “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” Now that was actually true, and it sounds like a good thing, but apparently it was more of a hindrance than a help. It would have been very distracting being followed around by a shouting python-spirit when you’re trying to share the gospel with people.

We find a similar situation in the gospels with Jesus. In the gospels, the demons seem compelled to tell the truth about him (Mark 1:24, 34, 3:11–12, 5:7), but the situation here is a little different. These words would have been confusing to pagan Gentiles in Philippi. For them, the Most High God would likely refer to Zeus. The way of salvation could mean belief in any number of gods.

   B. The name of Jesus (18)

Paul finally has enough, and he commands the spirit to leave in the name of Jesus. Look at verse 18:

She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. (Acts 16:18)

Paul let it slide at first. He was probably hoping she would just go away. But this girl following them around shouting all the time became more and more troubling to him. He finally commands the spirit to leave in the name of Jesus, and the spirit immediately leaves her.

We learned earlier in the book of Acts how the name of Jesus has the power to heal and to save, but it also seems to stir up further opposition. As we are about to see, things were no different this time around.

   C. Dragged before the authorities (19–21)

Their troubles increase when they are dragged before the authorities. Look at verses 19–21 next:

When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” (Acts 16:19–21)

When the spirit left, so did the owners’ ability to make money, and they were not happy. So now, Paul and his companions experience double trouble. They experienced spiritual opposition when they met the slave girl with the spirit, and now they experience physical opposition as they are dragged before the authorities.

The slave girl’s owners accuse them of stirring up trouble and teaching unlawful customs. They weren’t completely wrong in this accusation. Philippi was a Roman colony, and its citizens enjoyed the full benefits of Roman citizenship. Although Rome allowed its conquered subjects to continue practicing their own religions, it was illegal to proselytize or convert a Roman citizen to a new or unauthorized religion. Of course, this wasn’t the real reason the owners were upset. They were just mad about losing their income stream, but I’m sure they figured they’d get more mileage out of the “defying Rome” accusations instead.

We are not told if the slave girl became a believer following this incident, but many believe she did, especially since her story is sandwiched between two other conversion stories — the conversion of Lydia and the conversion of the Philippian jailor (which we will look at next week). I like to think that she came to know Christ through this incident.

CONCLUSION: Let me close by sharing three applications with you from our message today.

1) We must share the gospel if we want to see conversions. The agricultural principle is also a spiritual principle: no seed, no plant. You wouldn’t expect to grow a plant without first planting the seed. You could prepare the soil carefully, remove all the weeds, water it every day, and give it plenty of sunshine, but if you don’t plant the seed, you are not going to get the plant. It’s the same with the gospel. You must share the gospel if you want to see conversions.

2) God must be active for a person to respond. The gospel has the power of salvation because God has chosen to work through the gospel to bring people to himself. Therefore, we must not only share the gospel, but we must also pray that people will respond. This is a second principle when it comes to sharing the gospel: no prayer, no conversion. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). God is the one who opens hearts to respond. Just as you can’t grow the plant without the seed, you can’t grow the seed without first watering it with prayer. God must be active for a person to respond.

3) The gospel will bring both success and opposition, so you need to be ready for both. You should expect success when sharing the gospel. A young preacher once asked Charles Spurgeon why he didn’t see more conversions when he preached. Spurgeon asked him, “Do you expect the Lord to save souls every time you open your mouth?” The young man answered, “Oh no, sir.” Spurgeon replied, “Then that is just the reason why you have not had conversions. According to your faith be it unto you.” The gospel is the power of salvation for everyone who believes. Therefore, we should expect success when sharing the gospel, because God is the one who opens people’s hearts.

But we should also expect opposition. In fact, success breeds opposition. If you aren’t doing anything for the kingdom of God, the enemy has no reason to oppose you, but once you start moving out in ministry, you can expect opposition. The reverse is also true. When you encounter opposition, that means you are having success. The enemy wouldn’t be attacking unless you were doing something right.

Paul’s ministry in Philippi is a perfect example of success and opposition when sharing the gospel. The same is going to be true for you. You will experience success, so share the gospel, because people need to be saved. You will also experience opposition. Share the gospel anyway, because people need to be saved.

You can expect both success and opposition in ministry. Enjoy the successes when they come and give all the glory to God. Be ready for the opposition, because when the church is on the move, the enemy is on the move as well. Be ready for the opposition, but don’t be afraid of the opposition and don’t get discouraged by the opposition. Opposition simply means you are having success, and the church on the move beats the enemy on the move every time.

© Ray Fowler

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