Scripture: Acts 16:6-15
Video Link: https://youtu.be/Yuu1LtQLwQk
Structure:
- Introduction
- An open window
- A small beginning
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
The expression God never closes a door without opening a window has become a bit of a cliché. But that does not make it any less true. To say that God never closes a door without opening a window implies that God is exercising a guiding hand over our lives for good.
A door represents the usual means of entry. While climbing through a window is not the usual (or expected) way of getting in. Gaining access through a window requires us to think differently, to look for alternatives and to be prepared to make ourselves a bit uncomfortable.
During the month of August, we have been focusing on a series of passages from the book of Acts in support of Arotahi, our New Zealand Baptist mission organization.
The book of Acts tells how the Holy Spirit worked through men and women to spread the message about Jesus. Last week we heard how the Spirit involved Stephen, Ananias and Barnabas in the call and conversion of Saul.
This week we jump ahead in time around 15 or 16 years. By this stage, Saul is now the apostle Paul, about to embark on his second missionary journey.
But, as we shall see, this journey takes an unexpected turn when the Holy Spirit closes a door and opens a window. From Acts 16, verse 6, we read…
6 Paul and his companions travelled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 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. 11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we travelled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that districtof Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
An open window:
Can you think of a time when God closed a door and opened a window in your life? Such that your life took a whole different path.
Perhaps you thought you would be an accountant or an artist, but you became a social worker or a teacher instead. Or maybe you thought you would live somewhere sunny and warm, but you ended up in Tawa.
Sometimes we think we are headed in a certain direction, only to encounter a roadblock before reaching our destination. Then, when we least expect it, another way is opened to us; a window to a world of possibility quite different from what we first imagined.
The Holy Spirit closes doors and opens windows quite a bit in the Bible.
David thought he was going to be a shepherd of sheep, playing his harp in the field. But God made him the shepherd and king of all Israel and the author of many psalms.
Peter thought he was going to be a fisherman following in his father’s footsteps, but God made Peter a fisher of men following in Jesus’ footsteps.
Paul thought he was going to be a Jewish religious leader, a guardian of the law. But Jesus made Paul an apostle, a guardian of the gospel of Christ.
What doors has God closed in your life. What windows has he opened?
In the verses we just read from Acts 16, the Holy Spirit shut the door to Asia and opened a window to Europe.
We don’t know why or how the Spirit prevented Paul and his mates from entering Asia, but we don’t need to know. The point is, the Spirit of Jesus was directing the Christian mission with a bigger picture in mind.
The book of Acts isn’t primarily about the acts of the apostles. It’s more about the acts of the Holy Spirit, working through the apostles.
Verse 6 of Acts 16 says that Paul travelled with his companions. This tells us Paul was not a one-man band. Paul worked as part of a team. Not a large team, just 3 or 4 highly committed people.
When it comes to Christian mission it is best not to go it alone. We need the encouragement, support and accountability of other believers. Paul’s team on this occasion included Silas, Timothy and Luke.
Silas was a respected leader in the early church and recognised as a good speaker, someone who would assist Paul in preaching the gospel.
Timothy was an emerging leader, Paul’s apprentice. The missionary journey was good experience for Timothy. Paul had an eye to the future, hoping that Timothy would carry on the work after he was gone, which Timothy did.
Luke was a physician and historian. Having a doctor travelling with them was a good health & safety measure. But Luke did more than take care of blisters. Luke took notes. He documented Paul’s work and wrote one of the gospels about Jesus, as well as the book of Acts. We (today) owe a great deal to Luke.
Verse 9 says, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When Paul shared his vision with his companions, they all concluded Macedonia must be where God wanted them to go.
This shows us at least two things. Firstly, discerning God’s will is best done in community with other believers. Paul had the vision, but Silas, Timothy and Luke helped him to interpret it.
Secondly, Paul and his team held their plans loosely. They were open to God. God’s ways are not our ways. God has his own plan and we need to be flexible enough to adjust our sails to the wind of his Spirit. If we push a door and it doesn’t open, we don’t force our way in. We look for a window.
Verses 11 & 12 of Acts 16 tell us how Paul and his team obeyed the prompting of the Holy Spirit, travelling from Troas to Philippi, a leading city in Macedonia. The open window from Troas to Phillipi involved sailing across the sea and walking inland for a bit.
Macedonia is one of the largest regions of Greece. It is the place Alexander the Great came from. When the Romans took over from the Greeks, Philippi was populated with Roman army veterans. Consequently, Philippi was a city that was very loyal to Rome, quite different from Jerusalem.
Verse 12 says that once they had arrived in Phillipi, Paul and his friends stayed there several days. This is interesting. Paul doesn’t dive into preaching the gospel straight away. He simply observes for a while. He walks around, taking in the culture and getting a feel for the place.
The first job of a missionary is to listen. Before we can communicate effectively, we must get to know the people and their culture.
A small beginning:
So what happened next? From verse 13 of Acts 16 we read about Philippi’s first Christian convert…
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. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God.
The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
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.
Life starts small. Biological life doesn’t come much smaller than a cell.
Cell size is measured in microns. A micron is a millionth of a meter, which is tiny. Your average human cell is about 25 microns in diameter, so you can’t see a human cell with the naked eye. You need a microscope.
As small as they are, cells are the basic building blocks of all living things.
The human body is composed of trillions of cells. Cells are essential to our physical functioning.
Life starts small but it grows. Last week we saw a video about the work in India. In 1938 Malcolm and Catherine Eade went to Tripura. Gwen told me the Eades worked as missionaries for ten years before seeing their first convert. Now, more than 85 years later, there are thousands of Christians and hundreds of churches in Tripura.
In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
The kingdom of heaven starts small, but it grows big enough to fill the whole earth.
Paul’s standard mission strategy, when going to a new city, was to begin by preaching in the local synagogue, because this is where the common ground was. As a Jew, Paul was usually welcome in the synagogue, at least at first.
Also, the Jews were more likely to understand what Paul was saying about Jesus being the Messiah of God. They already believed in the one true God and they had a concept of the Messiah through the Hebrew Scriptures.
However, there weren’t enough Jews in Philippi to warrant having a synagogue so that door wasn’t just closed, it did not exist.
Undeterred, Paul and his friends looked for a window. They went down to the river on a Sabbath where they expected to find people at prayer. The idea was to start sharing the message about Jesus with those who were most likely to receive it.
When Paul and his companions arrived at the river, they found a group of women gathered there. Before coming to Phillipi, Paul had seen a vision of a man from Macedonia. But on arriving they were faced with women.
Now I imagine Paul and Silas probably felt a bit uncomfortable because, in their culture, it just wasn’t done for Jewish men to talk with women they didn’t know, especially Gentile women.
But that’s the thing about Jesus. He is for everybody, including those who are different from us. In Acts 8, the Spirit sent Philip to help an Ethiopian eunuch, who then came to faith in Jesus. And in Acts 10, the Spirit sent Peter to Cornelius, a Roman Centurion.
Verse 14 says, one of those listening was a woman named Lydia.
We don’t know Lydia’s origin story, only that she was a dealer in purple cloth, which in today’s terms equates to a business woman in the fashion industry.
The most likely scenario is that Lydia was a widow who took over running the business and the household after her husband died. She appears to be very capable, a woman of means.
Verse 14 notes that Lydia was a worshiper of God. In other words, she was a Gentile who converted to the Jewish faith at some point in the past. Therefore, she believed in Yahweh and was familiar with the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament) but she did not yet know that Jesus is the Messiah.
Who is the Lydia in your life? Who do you know who is open to hearing about Jesus? Pray for them. Speak with them. Be friends with them.
Verse 14 goes on to say, The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
The heart, in Scripture, generally refers to a person’s inner life. The heart is more than one’s feelings. The heart is the core of your being, including the mind, emotions and will. The heart is where desire and longing and decision making come from.
I imagine that Paul gave Lydia some wonderful rationale for believing in Jesus, but I don’t expect it was solely logic that convinced Lydia. I believe the door to Lydia’s heart was opened by the love of Jesus. As she heard about Jesus’ sacrifice, Lydia was moved from within to respond to God’s love
In Romans 5, Paul writes, “And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of love and truth. The Holy Spirit is the key which unlocks genuine heart understanding. We can’t really put our trust in Jesus without the help of the Holy Spirit. So how does Lydia respond?
Well, she and her household are baptized with water. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward reality. By being baptized, Lydia is sealing her commitment to Jesus and bearing witness to the work of the Spirit within her.
After Lydia and her household have been baptized, she opens her home to Paul and his friends, saying: “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And the apostle Paul and his friends show their acceptance of her as a true believer in the Lord (like them) by staying in her home.
We are not told if anyone else listening to Paul that day became a Christian.
Unlike the church in Jerusalem, which started with 3000 converts on the day of Pentecost, it appears the church in Europe started small, with just one household.
But life often starts small, with only a single cell. Lydia’s home became the first house church for believers in Phillipi. Since that humble start, 2000 years ago, literally millions of people have become followers of Jesus throughout Europe.
Conclusion:
The thing I like about today’s reading is that there is nothing spectacular or dramatic about it. The opening verses of Acts 16 are like a jam sandwich, sweet but ordinary.
So often in the book of Acts we encounter miracle after miracle. The apostles speak in foreign languages, they heal people and cast out demons, they confound their critics with wisdom from heaven, the doors of prisons fly open for them, they see the Spirit manifest God’s power in supernatural ways, they are bitten by scorpions and live. The miraculous is common place in Acts.
And while that is all wonderful and true (and irritating), it seems a long way from our own experience.
I like that Paul and his companions stumbled their way into Europe. They had intended to go to Asia but the way was blocked. For a few days there they didn’t know where the Spirit was leading them. That’s how it is for us most of the time. More often than not we only see God’s guidance with the benefit of hindsight.
I like the way Lydia and her household came to faith in Jesus. There was no walking on water, no healing of the blind or deaf. No tongues of fire or any other drama. The Spirit did something within Lydia, something deeply personal, which unlocked her understanding and communicated the love of Christ.
This is a work of God for introverts. How precious is that inner change, that almost goes unnoticed.
And I like way Lydia responded with a simple obedience of faith, no grand gestures. She was baptised in water and offered the apostles hospitality.
Miracles are great but they are not the destination. They are merely sign posts along the way pointing to an even greater reality. The reality of God’s love for us in Christ.
So, this is my prayer today…
May Jesus be real for you in the ordinary things of life.
May Jesus be real for you whether you are vacuuming or making the dinner.
May Jesus be real for you whether you at the supermarket or at work.
May Jesus be real for you whether you are reading your Bible or watching TV.
May Jesus be real for you whether you are feeling happy or sad, angry or calm.
May Jesus be real for you whether the door is open or closed.
May Jesus be real for you whether the beginning is small or large.
May Jesus be real for you in all of life. Amen.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
- What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- Can you think of a time in your life when God changed the direction of your life, when he closed a door and opened a window? What happened?
- Who does Paul take with him on his second missionary journey in Acts 16? Why does Paul take these companions? Who are your companions on the journey of faith and mission?
- What is the first thing Paul does when he arrives in Phillipi? Why does he do this?
- Why did Lydia respond to Paul’s message as she did?
- Do you know anyone like Lydia? Who are the people in your life who are most open to hearing about Jesus?
- What small (Spirit inspired) beginnings are you aware of?
Tawa Baptist 