Acts 16:6-15; Listening to Life/Listening to the Spirit

"6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; 8 so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ 10 When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

11 We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. 13 On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14 A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. 15 When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.’ And she prevailed upon us."

Introduction

Luke's engaging narrative of the beginning of the Christian Church continues here, with Paul's "Macedonian call," which leads to the founding of the Church in Europe. Recall that Luke's interest is to narrate the development of Christianity according to the scheme he has laid out in Acts 1:8--the message spreads from Jerusalem, throughout Judea, to Samaria and then to the ends of the earth (Rome, in this instance). Along the way, Luke has one major theological objective: to show also that this new Christian message went from Jews to Gentiles with the approval of both the Holy Spirit and the Jerusalem elders. Luke also wants to emphasize the relative unity of the early Church in adopting this mission plan. One of the ways he does this is to show Paul as imitating Peter in his words and actions. Paul's message is very similar to Peter's; Peter is convinced of the rightness of the Gentile mission (Acts 11:1-18), a mission which Paul will initiate; Paul even is able to heal people (Acts 14:8-11), just as Peter did. This last point is significant because I don't recall Paul ever mentioning his healing abilities in his letters.

In any case, the passage quoted above (I have added a few verses at the beginning of the Common Lectionary reading for clarity) is significant in the flow of Luke's narrative for a few reasons. First, it comes in the wake of the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 as the first instantiation, if you will, of the decision reached there. The Council had approved a mission to the Gentiles; now, in ch. 16, it spreads rapidly. Second, Luke shifts in this passage from the "they" to the "we" in 16:11. The author seems to have joined Paul's missionary group at this point, though his style and attention to detail doesn't seem to be much more marked because of this. Third, we have the beginnings of Christianity in Greece, the cradle of Classical Civilization. Once Christianity crosses the Aegean, it will begin one of the most interesting theological and missiological periods of our history. The message spreads/the concepts multiply. It all starts here.

But there are also a few points we can extract from the passage quoted above regarding Paul's style and our style in ministry and in life. Three that are apparent to me are: (1) When stymied, listen to the Spirit/your life; (2) Start in a new location with what you would reasonably do; and (3) Look for opportunities when you have reasonably acted. A word on each is appropriate.

I. Listening to Life/Listening to the Spirit

Paul's ministry in Turkey (Asia Minor) had not been unsuccessful, but he had faced significant opposition from a group that Luke calls "the Jews"--no doubt a group of more vocal extremists, since many Jews received the message with respect or even conviction. He twice tried to go to other locations in Asia Minor, but he was "forbidden by the Holy Spirit" to do so. In other words, he was stymied in what he wanted to do. What do you do when you are stymied or even miffed by life? How you answer this question tells us a lot about you. I think the general advice we receive from the culture "out there" is to press forward with determination. After all, we can't let little obstacles get in our path, can we? We know that those who achieve most are often the most determined and focused, and so the "lesson" seems to be that when obstacles arise, keep going. Make those stumbling blocks into stepping stones. I think I have probably even said that a time or two!

But the message we get from this passage is that when stymied, stop. You might try one more time, but if stymied again, listen. Spend more time listening to life than trying to be an "overcomer." It is rather difficult to listen to the Spirit/life because the new message of what we ought to do or how we should live our lives comes to us of its own accord, when we probably aren't really expecting it. In this instance it came through a night vision, where Paul saw a man beckoning him to come to Macedonia.

We don't spend much time listening to life/to the Spirit because we are afraid. Fears come in all shapes and sizes, but I think we are primarily afraid because of economic reasons. We think, 'if I really took some time to listen to where life is leading me, I might lose my job, end up impoverished, destroy my family, and die in utter penury and humiliation.' These are the kinds of tricks our mind plays on us, but the net effect is the same: we become people who have not taken the time to listen to life's lessons. Take Paul here as a guide and spend more time listening than proclaiming; more time in developing ears that hear.

II. Start with What You Would Reasonably Do

Let's assume, then, that you take the rather radical step of listening to life/listening to the Spirit. What should you do once you think you have "heard" something? Paul saw and heard a person beckoning him to come over to the European side of the Hellespont. When he reached that side he began with the central city, Phillipi and not at a local fishing hamlet. You begin something new, and you go to a place where you can reasonably flourish. Just because you listen to the Spirit in making your decision doesn't mean that you don't baptize your thinking with a lot of practical wisdom.

When people are branching into new areas of life, I often say to them, 'See what kinds of continuities there are between this new area and the old areas.' It isn't always the case that there will be continuities. For example, I once had a colleague in law whose first career was as a classics professor. He wanted to practice intellectual property litigation. Very little connection. But usually there is a connection with one's past. If so, try to do some new things that are reasonably related to intelligent decisions you have always made. For Paul that meant to go to a city to preach the Gospel. In addition, he knew that there was a tradition of gathering at the riverside on a sabbath day (was this a general custom pursued by Jewish people or by Gentile "god fearers" or spiritual people?), and so he honored that tradition by looking there to find his hearers. Build natural connections even as you are led by supernatural means.

III. Look for Opportunities

Paul not only was smart enough to go to the major urban center in the area (Philippi), and to do the reasonable thing by seeing if people gathered by the river on the sabbath day, but he looked for opportunites to spread the Gospel to those who were there. Any person who does "cold calls" in sales (as this is for Paul) knows that even if you are forced to do these kinds of calls, you try to go to people that have a statistically greater chance of being responsive. So he found Lydia, a person from another city (Thyatira), who responded to their message. Perhaps she was a traveling merchant looking for business as well as religious connections in this far-off city.

Paul's experience in beginning the European mission illustrates for us how useful it is not only to be spiritually attuned to the forces around us but also to be practically-minded. And we find, as in this case, that God opens a way where we only thought there was opposition. There really is no reason not to spend some time today, each day, listening to the lessons that life, and the Spirit, are speaking to you.

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