Acts 16
We believe (chorus)
Call To Worship:
Pastor Bobby Owens
Psalm 67
Song:
O church arise
Historical Reading:
Pastor Andrew Loginow
Apostles Creed
Song:
Nothing But The Blood
Confession & Pardon:
Pastor Zachary McGuire
Song:
Doxology
Song: Christ The Sure & Steady Anchor
Sermon:
Dr. Alex loginow
acts 16
Introduction
In January 2013 The Huffington Post published an article entitled, “From Facebook to Pixar: Ten Conversations That Changed Our World.” The article chronicles 10 conversations that led to major innovations that affect everyone in the modern world. From the conversation that led to the first tech startup eventually growing into what we now call Silicon Valley, to Mark Zuckerberg’s conversation with a friend that convinced him to quit working on the dating website he was developing and to launch Facebook instead, to the conversation between Steve Jobs and Ed Catmull, the lead graphics designer of a small division of Lucas film known as Pixar, which led to Jobs’ acquisition of Pixar. This article rehearses 10 stories of how these major technological developments, developments that are mindlessly consumed by everyone in the modern world, these major technological developments all started with a conversation – conversations that changed the world.
I was thinking about that article this week preparing this sermon on Acts 16 because that’s exactly what’s happening in this chapter. As St. Paul inaugurates his 2nd missionary journey these 40 verses reveal 3 conversations that changed the world. In these words and these paragraphs the Holy Spirit tells us of Paul’s introduction to Timothy, Lydia, and the Philippian jailer. And if we read intentionally, and listen carefully, and reflect thoughtfully we might just see that these 3 conversations changed the world.
Timothy
The 1st conversation that changed the world is Paul’s conversation with Timothy. On his 2nd missionary journey St. Paul set out to visit some of the churches he planted on his 1st missionary journey (Acts 13-14). Paul returns to Lystra (modern day Turkey) a year or 2 after his 1st visit that we looked at 2 weeks ago in Acts 14. The 1st time Paul was there he healed a crippled man, the crowd worshipped him and Barnabas because they thought the missionaries were Zeus and Hermes, and then the Jews stoned him. But a group of Christians believed Paul’s preaching, and planted a church, and Timothy was part of that church. That’s what verse 2 means when it says Timothy was well spoken of by the brothers; the brothers means the church there – the brothers in Christ.
Paul meets Timothy he makes Timothy Get circumcised. What’s up with that? It’s interesting – verse 3 tells us that Paul circumcised Timothy because of the Jews who were in those places. It’s interesting because Paul was one of the Apostles and Elders who ruled that circumcision was not required for salvation (if you weren't here last week, listen to Pastor Kevin’s sermon on Acts 15). Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Then why here does Paul circumcise Timothy?
The only answer the text gives us is because of the Jews who were in those places. Commentators say that it was because Timothy was Jewish (from his mom) that Paul had him circumcised. The Jerusalem council ruled that gentiles didn’t need to be circumcised for salvation. Apparently it was assumed the Jews would carry on their traditions in honor of their covenant heritage.
So Paul circumcised Timothy not because it was required for salvation but so as not to offend the Jews to whom he was preaching the gospel. Timothy’s circumcision was not theological or ethical but pragmatic. It still seems strange to me but smart men like RC Sproul and NT Wright both said the same thing. You can do your own research and judge for yourself because all Scripture says is he was circumcised because of the Jews in those places.
Paul’s introduction to Timothy changed the world. Timothy became a son in the faith to Paul (Phil 2.22). Timothy travelled with Paul, preached in Thessalonica, and eventually ended up as the bishop of Ephesus. Paul wrote 2 letters to Timothy as he pastored (1st & 2nd Timothy) and Timothy co-wrote 6 letters with Paul (2 Cor 1.1; Phil 1.1; Col 1.1; 1 Thess 1.1; 2 Thess 1.1; Phlm 1). Church tradition records that Timothy was martyred in old age while preaching the gospel – he was beaten, dragged through the street, and stoned to death.
Think for a minute about all of the glorious theology we have because of Paul’s relationship to Timothy – the magnificent doctrines of election, salvation by grace through faith, and racial reconciliation in Ephesians; the qualifications for Elders and Deacons and the unqualified exhortation to preach the Word in the pastoral epistles; all of the faith and practice in all of the other letters they co-wrote – Paul and Timothy’s relationship changed the world.
I would also be remised if I don’t note how Paul’s relationship to Timothy gives me language to describe a special relationship in my life. I’m not exactly like Timothy because I have a godly father that a look up to in the faith; Timothy’s father did not believe. But Paul became a spiritual father to Timothy. In terms of pastoral ministry, Pastor Kevin is the Paul to my Timothy. If my dad is 1a as my spiritual hero, Pastor Kevin is 1b. He is a 2nd father to me, a father in the faith, a pastoral mentor, a best friend. If you’ve ever wondered what the relationship is like between Kev and Al; if you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like, how do we really feel – I can only speak for myself and say that Pastor Kevin is the Paul to my Timothy.
Lydia
The 1st conversation that changed the world was Paul’s conversation with Timothy. The 2nd conversation in Acts 16 that changed the world was Paul’s conversation with Lydia. Starting in verse 6 we see that the Holy Spirit forbids the missionaries to go east to Asia. This is a healthy reminder to us that even though we want to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth and to preach the gospel to everyone who will listen, God is the only one who saves. God saves whom he wills to save when he wills to save them. They gospel eventually did go east to Asia but it wasn’t time yet.
At that point in time the Spirit of Jesus was sending them to Philippi, which is modern day Europe. We should note it is in this pericope that the narrative voice shifts in the book of Acts. In verse 8 the narrator describes our protagonists in the 3rd person plural (they went down), but in verse 10 the narrative voice shifts to 1st person plural (we sought to go). It’s possible that this transition is arbitrary, but it seems more likely that the author of the book of Acts, Luke, joined Paul, Timothy, and Silas at this point – they turns to we. So there is also a sense in which these conversations produced for us the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, as well.
While in Philippi our missionaries met Lydia with a group of women praying on the Sabbath and the Scripture says that the Lord opened her heart and she was baptized. And once again we see that Paul’s conversation with Lydia changed the world. Lydia was a wealthy woman – the text says that she was a seller of purple. The purple ink she sold was extracted from sea snails, it was very difficult to ascertain, and so those who sold it were very wealthy. The purple ink was used for clothing only the uber wealthy could afford, mostly royalty. Contrary to instinct, the purple ink would not fade in the sunlight, but would only get deeper and richer and so many coveted it.
Because of Lydia’s wealth she had a large home. Twice in Acts 16 do our missionaries stay at Lydia’s home. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Lydia hosted the church at Philippi at her home and so as a result of this conversation the church at Philippi was started and we got the book of Philippians. It’s even more breathtaking when you consider the global scope of Paul’s conversation with Lydia. Lydia is the very 1st recorded European convert to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The western expansion of Christianity – Augustine, the Protestant Reformation, the puritan pilgrimage to America; every bit of European influence on Christianity started with Lydia. Humanly speaking, the reason we’re all here, the reason Christ Community Church is gathered this morning to worship the resurrected Jesus, is because of the conversation between Paul and Lydia. This conversation changed the world.
The Philippian Jailer
First we saw that Paul’s conversation with Timothy changed the world. Second we saw that Paul’s conversation with Lydia changed the world. The 3rd conversation in Acts 16 that changed the world was Paul’s conversation with the Philippian jailer. Paul ends up in jail because he exorcizes a demon-possessed girl who is enslaved and financially prostituted, as the demon is fortune telling through her. After Paul exorcizes her demon, the owners of the girl are incensed and lobby for them to be thrown in prison. This is a healthy reminder to us (1) that demons are real and spiritual warfare is what we’re engaged in; (2) the world hated Jesus, they hated his Apostles, and they will hate the church.
In prison Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns – can we pause for a moment and note that that is never wrong from Christians to do, at church, in the hospital, in our homes, in good times, in bad times, we can always pray and sing hymns. One of the sweetest memories I have of my mom’s last days was Thanksgiving 2022 – she was laying in her hospital bed in my dad’s living room, we call it the green room, Andrew had his guitar and we all sang hymns together. My mom wasn’t talking as much but she sang every word to every hymn. That’s what Paul and Silas were doing; they were in jail praying and singing hymns.
Then there was a great earthquake and all of the doors of the prison were opened. Assuming all of the prisoners had escaped the jailer drew his sword preparing to commit suicide but Paul called out to let him know that everyone was still there. It is at this point that Paul and the Philippian jailer had a conversation that changed the world. The jailer asks Paul a question and Paul answers and the Holy Spirit graciously canonized the conversation for us in verses 30-31. The Philippian jailer asks, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
This is one of the clearest, if not the clearest, explanation of the gospel in all of Scripture and it is because of the conversation between Paul and the Philippian jailer. The Philippian jailer rightly understands that he needs to be saved. That is what everyone needs, to be saved. What does that mean? What does it mean to be saved?
We need to be saved because we are condemned because of our sin. God is our holy creator and we are born in sin because our federal head Adam sinned. Because we are born in sin we commit sin. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned (Rom 5.12). We sin in thought, word, and deed; we sin by what we do and we sin by what we leave undone. We do not love God with our whole heart; we do not love our neighbor as ourselves.
We break God’s Law, the 10 commandments. Every single sin that anyone ever commits is in one way or another breaking 1 of the 10 commandments. Because of our sin we deserve eternal conscious punishment in hell. We need to be saved from God’s just wrath against our sin.
How can we be saved? Verse 31 says, believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. This is the gospel. What does believe mean? It refers to faith. The Reformed tradition defines faith in terms of 3 facets – knowledge, assent, and trust.
To believe in Jesus 1st means to have the right knowledge. It means to know that God is holy, that you are a sinner, and that the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead is your only hope. There is not salvation apart from this knowledge but this knowledge is not enough to save you. Salvation is not less than this knowledge but it is more.
Second, faith includes assent. That means you cannot merely know that God is holy, you are a sinner, and that the person and work of Jesus is God’s only way, you must also assent to the validity of these truth claims. You must affirm and not deny this knowledge. You can’t merely know, you must accept, you must affirm, you must believe. If you do not acknowledge that this message is true, you are not saved.
Both knowledge and assent are indispensible elements of saving faith, but on their own they fall short of saving faith. Faith not only includes knowledge and assent but finally and most importantly, faith includes trust. You must transfer your trust to the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. You must rest, body and soul, in who Jesus is and what Jesus did. Like a deer that approaches the stream with nothing to offer it other than the reality that without the water the deer is dead, you too must approach Jesus knowing that you have nothing to offer him other than the fact that without his life, death, and resurrection you are going to hell and you deserve it. That’s what grace means and it is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that we are saved.
Do you believe that? Do you have faith? If you do, you will repent of your sin. To repent of your sin means 2 steps – (1) you confess your sin; you acknowledge that you are guilty before God. (2) You turn from your sin. Repentance is a result of faith; repentance is not faith but is the fruit of faith. Faith is a free gift from God. If God has given you the gift of faith you will take the knowledge, assent to it, and trust in Jesus and then you will repent of your sin. If you have not done so yet I pray you will today.
We must also note that with both Lydia and the Philippian jailer Scripture informs us that after they believe they are baptized, along with their household. Baptism is 1 of the 2 sacraments (the other being the Holy Eucharist). Reformed Christians have held 2 different views of baptism over the last 500 years. The 1st view is called paedobaptism, or infant baptism.
Reformed Christians who hold the paedobaptism view see passages like Acts 16 teaching that these household baptisms probably would have included children. They also have a theological and hermeneutical structure that views old covenant circumcision being replaced by baptism in the new covenant. So Reformed paedobaptists argue that 1st generation Christians are to be baptized and then with each subsequent generation, their children are to be baptized. Reformed Christians who practice infant baptism also note that baptizing babies of believers also emphasizes the sovereignty of God in salvation. Just as we are passive in salvation, infants are passive in baptism, right giving the glory to God.
The 2nd view Reformed Christians have held since the Reformation is credobaptism or believers’ baptism. This is what we practice here at Christ Community Church. Credo baptism teaches that like Lydia, the jailer, Christians are baptized after they profess faith in Jesus Christ. This has been the minority view in church history but there is evidence that believer’s baptism was practiced in the early church. It was recovered after the Reformation. It is interesting to note that the Greek word βαπτίζω does literally mean “immersion,” and so our Greek Orthodox brothers actually practice immersion with their infants.
While we practice credobaptism here we’re not made at our Reformed paedobaptism brothers because when we consider the sacraments we must remember that the meaning is more important than the mode. The meaning of the sacraments is that they are the visible representations of the gospel and the signs and seals of the new covenant. To do otherwise would be pretty hypocritical of us considering we emphasize meaning over mode when it comes to the Lord’s Supper. It is silly to me how many Baptists and other Low Church evangelicals hoot and holler over the non-negotiable nature of regenerate immersion while using grape juice for communion.
If we believe the mode of immersion is imperative for one sacrament, it must be so for the other. If immersion is non-negotiable, then wine is too and to say otherwise is dishonest and ignorant. If you’re cool with grape juice, then I can’t take you seriously when you get worked up about Reformed infant baptism. But the meaning is more important than the mode, so while we practice believer’s baptism here at Christ Community Church, we’re cool with our Presbyterian, Lutheran, Anglican, and Reformed brothers and sisters who practice Reformed infant baptism.
We get a little literary foreshadowing at the end of this chapter as Paul reveals to the Philippian magistrates his Roman citizenship. Nothing much comes of it at this point but later in the book of Acts Paul will use his Roman citizenship to request an audience with Caesar. This will bring Paul to Rome and with him the gospel and we will see by the end of Acts that Jesus’ declaration that the good news will go to the ends of the earth was fulfilled. Rome was considered the ends of the earth to these 1st century 2nd temple Jews and so the point of the book of Acts is that through the Apostles Jesus fulfilled Acts 1.8 and Jesus’ promises are always true. Church tradition also tells us that it is not only an audience with the emperor that awaits St. Paul in Rome, but also his martyrdom. We’re not there yet, but we get a shadow of it here half way through the book.
Conclusion
Acts 16 reveals 3 conversations that changed the world. These conversations produced a healthy portion of the New Testament. These conversations produced the 1st European converts to the gospel of Jesus. These conversations gave us maybe the clearest explanation of the gospel in human history.
And through the providence of God, and the gospel of Jesus, and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, we are still having conversations today that change the world. When a sinner asks, “what must I do to be saved?” And you say, “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved;” that conversation is changing the world. When Luke, or Acts, or Ephesians, or Philippians, or 1st or 2nd Timothy are preached, or read, God’s Spirit applies them to the hearts of his people and that conversation between the Word and the Spirit and you is changing the world.
Don’t you see, Christ Community Church? This is what we’re doing here – we’re having conversations that change the world. And it may not feel like it, but this is bigger than Pixar, and Facebook, and Silicon Valley. These conversations will last into the new world. And on that day we’ll look back on these sermons, and these prayers, and these gospel conversations, and times of catechizing children, and family worship, and Sunday school, and flocks, these times and conversations that seem mundane and insignificant, we’ll look back on them and see that these are the conversations that changed the world.