Acts  Sermon Series

Wheelersburg Baptist Church 3/16/03 Brad Brandt

Acts 16:16-24 "The Ups and Downs of Front Line Ministry" **

We’re going to talk about front line ministry today. I’m going to show you what happens in front line ministry.

The frontlines, yes, that’s where the action is. Things happen there. That’s where the army of Christ advances. That’s also where the enemy unleashes his heaviest arsenal.

Which is why many prefer the safety of the barracks. In other words, they hang out around the church where there are people "like us," good, clean, safe people. Typically, the enemy doesn’t attack the barracks.

Please know this. If you choose to serve Christ on the frontlines, life will not be boring! Things will happen, you can be sure of it.

Like what? Like what Paul and his missionary team faced in Acts 16. Let me speak frankly. We need you on the front line. We need front line workers in the ministry of the gospel, people who will lay personal comfort aside and make reaching lost people the priority that God wants it to be in our lives.

But let there be no misunderstanding. There are both ups and downs in front line ministry. If you choose to serve Christ on the frontlines, you can expect two results, both of which are illustrated for us in Acts 16:16-24.

In our last study we watched as the missionary team of Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke moved into Europe and began to evangelize the city of Philippi. God opened the eyes of a woman named Lydia, but that was just the beginning. Great opportunities abounded. They always do on the frontlines.

Let’s look at the narrative. Luke tells us three events occurred in this phase of opportunity.

A. Paul and his team met a slave girl (16). "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." We learn a couple of details about this girl from the text.

1. She had demonic power. She had a "spirit," literally a "python spirit" in the Greek text. One commentary explains, "The English words, a spirit by which she predicted the future, translate two Greek words, ‘a spirit, a python.’ This concept goes back to the Greek city of Delphi [not far from Philippi] where the god Apollo was believed to be embodied in a python snake. The original priestess at Delphi was purported to be possessed by Apollo and thereby able to predict the future; therefore anyone possessed by the python spirit could foretell coming events. No doubt an actual demon gave such a person predictive powers. Demons took advantage of people’s worship of false gods ( cf. 17:23 ; 1 Cor. 10:20 )."

So here’s a girl who was under the control of a spirit, a demon. Notice a second detail about this girl.

2. She made a lot of money as a fortune-teller. Of course, she didn’t keep the money. She was a slave. There were some 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire, some two-thirds of the population.

If Lydia came from the top end of the social scale, this slave girl came from the bottom. As Barclay notes, "She was what was called a Pytho, that is, a person who could give oracles to guide men about the future. She was mad and the ancient world had a strange respect for mad people because, they said, the gods had taken away their wits in order to put the mind of the gods into them."

Isaiah asked a good question in Isaiah 8:19, "When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?" Yet people do just that. Instead of seeking God they seek guidance from other sources, including demonic ones.

It’s really a pitiful sight, when you think about it. Here is a young girl at the whims of both the demon who possessed her and the masters who used her. She merely existed for the folly of others. Yet the Lord was about to intervene.

Here’s event #2…

B. Paul and his team encountered a potential distraction (17). "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.’"

We might expect a demon-possessed girl to get as far away as she can from messengers of the Lord Jesus Christ. But this girl didn’t. She hung around the team. In fact, she did more than just follow. She made a spectacle by shouting two things.

1. The girl shouted their identity. "These men are servants of the Most High God," she said. Notice her reference to "the Most High God." That’s no coincidental title. In Isaiah 14, a text that seems to describe the thoughts of Satan before he was kicked out of heaven, Satan is quoted as saying, "I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High (Isa 14:14)." Satan knows that God is the Most High, there’s none greater, and he wanted to usurp that position.

In Acts 16 we see one of Satan’s associates using a slave girl to acknowledge the same about God. He is the "Most High God." Don’t misunderstand. The demon says this, not out of worship, but because that’s what he and the rest of the hosts of hell want to be, like the Most High. As James Boice comments, "They want to possess heaven and earth. But they cannot. In fact, the opposite is the case. What was happening here was that God through the word of the missionaries had come to challenge them and begin to take away from them even that tiny bit of earthly domain they had."

So the girl shouted the missionaries’ identity. They are servants of the Most High.

2. The girl shouted their purpose. These servants of the Most High "are telling you the way to be saved." Or as the KJV puts it, they "show unto us the way of salvation."

Is that a true statement? It is, isn’t it? Paul and his associates had come to town to tell people how to be saved. Indeed, what she said was true.

You say, "Why would a demon help the missionaries by proclaiming the truth?" The answer is, he’s not helping, a matter that will prompt Paul to take action momentarily.

Think about it. The fact that the girl was controlled by a "spirit," and everybody in town knew it, would damage rather than help the cause of the missionaries. This isn’t the kind of publicity you want if you are proclaiming the truth about the One who is the truth. After all, though Satan may speak the truth one minute he’s liable to spew forth a vicious lie the next, and the listening, unregenerate audience wouldn’t even know the difference.

Jesus faced similar situations. Matthew 8:28-29 tells of one, "When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. "What do you want with us, Son of God?" they shouted. "Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?" Jesus quickly silenced the demons by casting them into a herd of swine.

Something similar happened to the Lord at Capernaum, as described in Mark 1:23-24, "Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!" At that point, Jesus said sternly, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" As far as I know, every time a demon confirmed that Christ was the Son of God, Jesus rebuked it—every time.

Know this. Satan’s forces are never interested in helping the cause of Christ. No way. Don’t miss Satan’s strategy here. It hasn’t changed. If he can’t prevent the advance of the gospel, he’ll try to infiltrate it. He’ll try to join ranks and thereby derail the gospel ministry from the inside. In other words, he’ll put on our army uniform and try to look like a soldier of Christ.

Kent Hughes elaborates, "This approach is difficult to resist. The missionary team could easily have reasoned, ‘She’s telling the truth. Why not let her speak? We would never get crowds like this on our own. Besides, maybe as she associates with us, she will see the light.’ Whatever their initial inclinations, they did not fall for the devil’s bait."

This may surprise you, but it’s true. Satan’s ministers will preach the truth at times. They’ll sing it, too. They’ll write it in their best-sellers in Christian bookstores. You’ll also hear them giving some truth on their "Christian" television and radio programs. Satan knows that no one would listen if his messengers didn’t speak truth once in awhile.

My friend, there’s a vital lesson here for us. Please exercise discernment in who you listen to. Just because a musician or an author or a preacher says a few true things doesn’t mean he is a Christian musician, author, or preacher. He may talk about God and salvation. She may sing beautiful words about Jesus. We’re so quick to join teams with anybody who seems to be saying the same thing we’re saying.

I’m all for Christian unity, but to use Paul’s question in 2 Corinthians 6:14, "What fellowship can light have with darkness?" Paul didn’t make this girl part of his team, no matter how true her present words were. He knew she wasn’t the real thing.

So he took action, event #3.

C. Paul set the slave girl free (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."

It went on for several days, Luke says. Why Paul didn’t take action sooner, we’re not told. Perhaps he knew the price he would pay for it. But for sake of the ministry and for the good of this young girl, he knew drastic action was needed. So he addressed the python spirit and said, not in his own authority but in the name of Jesus Christ, "I command you to come out of her." And immediately, the spirit departed.

This is a good time to talk about three potential responses to demonic activity.

1. Some today ignore satanic forces. They don’t believe in anything they can’t measure by their five senses. To them, Satan is like the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny, a fictitious character that only fools believe to exist. I must hasten to say that although some today exhibit this response, the following is far more common.

2. Others are enamored with them. This is true in the Christian world as in the non-Christian world. Some seem to think there’s a demon behind every problem, whether the problem is the flu or financial strains. They also think the solution is to confront the demons to eliminate the problems, and use a text like this to support such activity.

Should we try to cast out demons? I don’t think so. That was an activity the Lord told His first followers to do when He was on the earth. It was a messianic activity, that is, one designed to draw attention to the Messiah. And Jesus enabled them to do it to substantiate His authority.

For instance, notice an event in Luke 10:17-19, "The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name." He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you."

Should we seek to exorcise demons? I don’t believe so. That’s not our assignment. It was for the apostles, yes. The ability to cast out demons identified Christ’s apostles. It confirmed that they were God’s spokesmen. It also ceased when the apostles passed from the scene. Paul was an apostle. We are not.

What’s our task? It’s not to confront and cast out demons. Rather…

3. We must proclaim and stand in Christ. As Ephesians 6:10-18 teaches. There Paul tells us to "be strong in the Lord" and to "put on the full armor of God so we can stand against the devil’s schemes." Paul says our objective is to stand against demonic attacks, not to cast the demons out.

So the Philippian church is growing. First, God opened Lydia’s heart, and then He set a slave girl free from demonic control and we would assume she became a believer in the Savior. These two women became the first building blocks in what would turn out to be one of the churches that brought the most joy to the heart of Paul.

Yes, there are ups in front line ministry. If you are on the frontlines, you can expect great opportunity to see God work through you to change lives. But that’s not all. Be ready for a second result.

In our story the opposition came quickly. Not everybody is pleased when God saves people.

A. Here’s what the slave owners did (19-21). Three things…

1. They exposed their self-seeking hearts (19a). Verse 19, "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."

People will do lots of things for money, including disobey God’s law and take advantage of others. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

It’s sad but true. The owners of this slave could care less about the girl. So what if she’s free from oppression. What mattered to them was their wallet. And when someone touched their wallet they showed their true colors.

It’s no different today. People are willing to tolerate Christianity, at least the watered down version. But not the real thing, not the type of Christianity that changes the way we do business. And true Christianity does that, you know. True Christianity affects how we make our money and spend it.

2. They attacked God’s servants (19b). They "seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities." They didn’t talk. They just reacted and did so violently.

3. They used pretense to cover up their real motive (20-21). "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.’"

Now remember what upset the slave owners in the first place. It wasn’t Jewish customs. It was the loss of money. But when they came before the court, they hid their covetousness and offered a cover-up excuse, a pious "concern for the good of the city."

In Roman colonies it was legal to worship as you pleased. It was illegal, however, to try to proselytize a Roman citizen. That’s what these greedy men used to get their way with Paul and Silas.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary mentions another important historical fact, "Shortly before this incident the Emperor Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome (18:2). Philippi, a Roman colony, would have caught this flavor of anti-Semitism. This also helps explain why Timothy and Luke were not taken before the authorities. Timothy was a half-Gentile (16:1) and Luke was probably a Gentile."

Don’t miss the overstatement in verse 20, "These men are throwing our city into an uproar." What? Setting one girl free in a city of thousands classifies as an uproar? That’s surely a twisting of the facts.

B. Here’s what Paul and Silas experienced (22-24). Three things happened.

1. They were misrepresented (22). "The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas…." Think about it objectively. Paul and Silas didn’t promote lawlessness, as accused. Paul insisted on good citizenship and law-keeping (see his teaching in Rom 13:1ff). And Paul certainly didn’t promote anti-Roman sentiment. After all, he himself was a Roman citizen. No, for the critics these were just smokescreen accusations.

Think of what we’re hearing these days: "Christians are bigoted and homophobic, a radical danger to society." Is that based on evidence? No more evidence than they brought against Paul and Silas.

There’s no escaping this fact. If you seek to do something for the Lord, you can expect verbal abuse from some people. Winston Churchill had the following words of Abe Lincoln framed on the wall of his office: "I do the very best I can, I mean to keep going. If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against me won't matter. If I'm wrong, ten angels swearing I was right won't make a difference." 

2. They were physically abused (23). Verse 22 concludes, "And the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten." The verb means "to beat with rods." In 2 Corinthians 11:25 Paul says he was beaten with rods three times. Apparently, this is one of the times.

The physical abuse continued in verse 23, "After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully."

This flies in the face of the message that says, "Come to Jesus and you’ll be healthy and prosperous." That’s not true. Paul faced physical suffering almost everywhere he went. Consider the record in Acts:

Acts 9:16 "I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

Acts 14:19 "Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead."

Acts 18:12 "While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him into court."

Acts 21:30 "The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut."

Paul himself commented on the hardships in 2 Corinthians 6:4-5, "Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger."

A missionary in Africa was once asked if he really liked what he was doing. His response was shocking. "Do I like this work?" he said. "No. My wife and I do not like dirt. We have reasonable refined sensibilities. We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat refuse...But is a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like? God pity him, if not. Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it. We have orders to 'Go,' and we go. Love constrains us."

3. They were treated as vicious criminals (24). "Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks."

F. F. Bruce suggests this jailor may have been a retired Roman soldier. His orders were to guard the prisoners carefully, so he did. He put them in the inner cell, the one that’s the hardest to escape from, and he secured their beaten and bloodied bodies in stocks.

True gospel ministry always upsets people eventually. When we engage in frontline ministry, some will be saved and some will be furious. Historian Richard Collier explains how this was the case with the Salvation Army:

"Persecution was great from the beginning… Gangs frequently hurled mud and stones through the windows at the preaching and the crowd. The liquor dealers worked hard to have Booth kicked out of East London. The police were no help; in fact, they often broke up outdoor meetings and accused Booth’s followers of being the cause of all the trouble… Beating were not uncommon: in 1889, at least 669 Salvation Army members were assaulted—some were killed and many were maimed. Even children were not immune; ruffians threw lime in the eyes of a child of a Salvation Army member. The newspapers ridiculed Booth. PUNCH referred to him as ‘Field Marshal von Booth.’"

We’ve taken great care to notice what happened to Paul in Philippi. How does this apply to our lives?

Here are five convictions you must possess in a life-changing way.

1. God is in control even when it may appear otherwise. And there will be plenty of times when it will appear otherwise!

Young William Wilberforce was discouraged one night in the early 1790s after another defeat in his 10 year battle against the slave trade in England. Tired and frustrated, he opened his Bible and began to leaf through it. A small piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the floor. It was a letter written by John Wesley shortly before his death. Wilberforce read it again: "Unless the divine power has raised you up... I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that (abominable practice of slavery), which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Oh, be not weary of well-doing. Go on in the name of God, and in the power of His might." 

2. God’s work is accomplished God’s way. Think of how Paul must have felt in that prison cell. He could have muttered, "Lord, you told me in the vision to come here. You said there were people here who would welcome our message. How are we going to reach them from this miserable jail? We can’t spread the Word if we’re locked away? What went wrong, Lord?"

Nothing went wrong, and Paul knew it. That’s why, as the very next verse says, Paul and Silas could pray and sing hymns to God after being wrongfully beaten and thrown into custody. They knew that God’s work is accomplished God’s way.

A ship wrecked off the New England coast many years ago. A young member of the coast guard rescue crew said, "We can't go out. We'll never get back." The grizzled old captain replied, "We have to go out. We don't have to come back."

3. God uses the world’s opposition to advance the church’s mission. The injustice Paul endured at Philippi would have knocked many off track, but not Paul. He later wrote about this experience in his letter to the Thessalonian church (1 Thes 2:2). "We had previously suffered and been insulted in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition." The verbal abuse, the unjust beating, and the ill-founded imprisonment didn’t rob Paul of his joy.

When he was later in prison in Rome he wrote these words back to his friends in Philippi, "Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel (Phil 1:12)."

The world can oppose us, but it can’t stop God’s work. God uses even the world’s opposition to advance the church’s mission.

4. God wants us to view every obstacle as an opportunity to spread the Word. That’s right, every obstacle. At the end of his life, just before his execution, Paul wrote these words to his friend Timothy (2 Timothy 2:8-9), "Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained."

Right there we see the answer to an important question. If the danger is so real on the front lines, what will motivate us to go? The answer is to remember Jesus Christ. Specifically, remember what Jesus did. He left the comfort of heaven to come to earth. The Son of God clothed Himself with the rags of humanity for the purpose of rescuing sinners. He allowed wicked men to abuse Him and nail Him to the Cross, for it was there He would become a sin offering to reconcile lost people to God. He went to the front lines for us.

That’s why there’s hope today. If you desire to become a part of God’s eternal family, you can do so today, by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

There’s our motivation, fellow Christian. He went to the front lines for you. Will you not be willing to do the same for Him? One more conviction…

5. God wants us to remember the story isn’t over until it’s over. Paul’s story didn’t end in this jail cell. Hardships aren’t the end of the story for the Christian, as we’ll see next time. Until then I challenge you, get on the frontlines. Serve the Lord with all you’ve got.

Acts  Sermon Series