Day 339 – Paul – Journey #2 (Lystra, Philippi)

• Paul’s second journey continues on in today’s action-packed readings. Who directed Paul and his companions on their way?
• When they got to Philippi, an important city linked with Rome, who did they meet on the Sabbath? Lydia was listed as a “seller of purple cloth”, an expensive and rare thing, so she was likely a wealthy woman. This wealth, encouragingly, didn’t stop her from hearing and believing about Jesus. Lydia, therefore, is the first listed convert to Christianity in Europe found in the Bible.
• Who did they meet in Acts 16:16? What did the spirit in the girl allow her to do? What did she repeatedly do whilst Paul tried to do his work?
• The slave girl was technically telling the truth, so you may be surprised that Paul became annoyed with her. It may have been that she made it difficult for Paul to talk to people, or maybe he worried that people might think she was a partner to him. In whose name did Paul command the spirit out of the girl? What was the response of her owners? What was the reaction of the leaders in the city to Paul and Silas?
• Paul and Silas might have been beaten and imprisoned, but their spirit never died, did it? What did they do in the middle of the night whilst chained up?
• The story of the escape from jail is encouraging, I think. The jailer would have attempted to kill himself because he would have been killed anyway for allowing the prisoners to escape (that was the Roman law). What, instead, did Paul and Silas do? How did they use the situation to share the gospel with the jailer?
• Some Christians use Acts 16:33 to argue that infant baptism should be encouraged. Others disagree. I personally prefer adult baptism, on the understanding that repenting and believing comes before baptism, but it’s an area of Christian theology that we can agree to disagree on. What do you think?
• What do you think Paul’s reasoning was for making their treatment in Philippi known publicly? It wasn’t because he wanted to humiliate the leaders, so what reasons can you think for his actions?
• Paul referenced his time in Phillipi as he wrote his letter to the Thessalonians. How does Paul model the way to share the gospel amongst unbelieving people, despite the shoddy treatment he received there?

Paul continued this theme in his letter to the Corinthians. Look at some of the persecutions he had. It’s a long list! How do they match up to those that you’ve had in your life up to now as a Christian? In 2 Corinthians 11:30, he says that “if he must boast, he will boast in his weakness”. Jesus triumphed in (what seemed to be) weakness, and God will work through us, despite our weaknesses, fear and sin. I hope that’s encouraging to you!

In today’s passage we saw many different people come to faith. The jailer saw the amazing events around him and turned to Christ after having the events explained to him. His testimony then brought all his family to faith too. You could argue, perhaps, that the guy had nothing to lose as he had been close to killing himself just hours earlier. You couldn’t say that about Lydia though, could you? Here was a wealthy independent lady. She may have thought she didn’t need anything else in life, as she may well have had the money to buy all the good things she could desire. Of course, the gospel promises something very different; something that money could never buy. Money can sometimes make us blind to that, but not Lydia, who saw the good news of Jesus and believed.