God Opens Doors to Opportunity and Trials for His Glory

Acts 16:6-40

As Christians, our lives are not our own. We belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ. And that’s why, Christ leads us. Yes, we may have our plans, but we don’t determine what happens. There are times when he shuts doors and leads us into trials. We don’t always know why and we can get frustrated and angry. We forget our loving God is in control. But Proverbs 19:21 says, “There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.” In times of shut doors, we must carry the cross and live out the gospel. But there’ll also be open doors. This is also the case with church. As a church, we may have our own plans. We think in our wisdom how we should go; what’s best. But Christ, our king, directs his church and her direction. This is what we see today. Paul had plans - but he was directed differently, even persecuted. Jesus does it for his glory. When we’re led by him, knowing his love despite our trials, we can rejoice.

We see four scenarios in this account that convey certain truths to us. Firstly, God shuts a door to open a heart. Secondly, God liberates a soul to lock up his saints. Thirdly, God locks up his saints to liberate a soul. Fourthly, God traps his enemies to free his ministers.

Firstly, God shuts a door to open a heart. In other words, God removes our opportunities to bring about good. Paul was on his second missionary journey. He and Silas picked up Timothy in Lystra. From there, in verse 6, they wanted to head to the coast to province of Asia - that’s where Ephesus was. But the Holy Spirit forbad them. God shut the door. So they went northwest to Mysia, verse 7. And from there, they wanted to go west to the Black Sea region of Bithynia. Again, the Holy Spirit forbad them. Jesus prevented them. There were 2 shut doors. And since they couldn’t go east or northeast, they continued northwest until they came to Troas, verse 8. We’re not really sure how the Spirit shut the door. It could’ve been circumstances like the weather or natural disasters. It could’ve been through a word of prophecy. But clearly the Spirit prevented them from going to preach the Word. Yes, this was Paul’s calling, but it may not have been God’s timing for him to preach in those areas. In Troas, verse 9 says, “a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.” The shut door was God’s way of leading them to Macedonia. And verse 10 says Paul went because “the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel to them.” Now, we find something remarkable in the details. Notice the pronoun change. In verse 8, they went to Troas. After the vision, verse 10 says, “immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia.” From they to we, indicates that this is where Luke joined. He heard the gospel and believed. This means Paul still preached wherever he went. God never said don’t preach - God merely led him to places he wanted him to go. Now, Paul eventually went to Ephesus - but later. There are many things God’s people want to do for his glory, but God’s timing may not be ours. As Christians, we may have certain divergent desires - but we let God lead - through prayer, through his Word, and through circumstance. You see, while Asia and Bythinia were Paul’s intentions, but Troas and Macedonia were God’s. Why? Luke!

And we see why else, besides Luke. God wanted wanted to open the heart of the first European convert. Guided by God, Paul went to Macedonia and reached Philippi, verse 12. It was a Roman colony, governed by Roman law, with Roman citizens. On the Sabbath, he went to the river. Why? Likely, there wasn’t a synagogue, so Jews would go to the river to wash ceremonially and pray. And there, he met some women. He spoke to them about Jesus. One of them heard and believed. Verse 14 says, “And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.” Lydia was a Gentile God-fearer and a merchant of purple cloth from Thyatira. This was expensive cloth. Many shells of a certain sea snail were painstakingly crushed to extract the color. That’s why purple was the color of royalty - only they could afford it. So she had a very niche market to a select group of clientele. Now, we see the terminology used in verse 14. She wasn’t said to have just believed - Luke describes how her heart was opened by God. She was given a new heart - that stony heart was taken from her, and given a heart of flesh. This was Old Testament language - what God promised to do to Israel, he was doing for the Gentiles. He had intended to save them in his good time. And a result of her conversion was the conversion of her entire household - they now identified as Christian. And as a result, she showed hospitality. She was a well-to-do lady who opened her home to Paul and the rest. Verse 15 - “If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.” As Jesus said, to receive the servant of Christ is to receive Christ himself. To love those who belong to Christ is to love Christ. Her home was eventually used as the meeting place for the Philippian church. God closed a door to open a heart.

But we see secondly, God liberated a soul to lock up his saints. In other words, sometimes a good deed may turn out for the worse. As Paul preached one day to the Jews, verses 16-17 say a certain slave-girl possessed by a spirit of fortune telling came to them. She was imprisoned but then freed. She body was owned by people for their own greed, but her soul was enslaved by a spirit of divination; literally, a spirit of the python. The python was the mythical snake that guarded the Oracle of Delphi, which was famous for its accurate fortune telling and prophecy. So this slave girl had made lots of money for her owners. She came and shouted at them - “These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.” Verse 18 says she did this for several days. Now, Paul was greatly annoyed. Why? I thought there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right? Not quite. You see, the Romans worshiped Jupiter as the high God. They only knew salvation by good works. So while the demon in her was saying true things, it meant something else to the Romans. The pagans saw this as a warning, since she had the spirit of the python. So instead of listening to Paul, they’d have stayed away. So Paul cast this demon out of her and it made her masters very angry. He had just done a good deed! But they who were enslaved to money were furious their slave-girl was freed.

Out of revenge they dragged him to the city officials and brought 2 charges against them to get them imprisoned. They said he was teaching customs illegal for Romans to hold. Philippi was a Roman colony and it was illegal for Romans to practice any religion but Roman religion. Yes, no one enforced this - people like Lydia worshiped God, and these fortune-tellers promoted the Oracle of Delphi. But no one cared. But when their wallet was hit, they cared. They also said that Paul was disturbing the peace. And this was a more serious charge. City officials had to deal with civil disturbances. Otherwise Rome will have to handle it. And this charge riled up the magistrates. They rounded Paul and company and had them beaten. People imprisoned by love of money or honor will be vindictive if their idols are destroyed. Very vindictive. As a result, Paul and Silas were beaten and locked up. Verse 24 says their feet were put in stocks. Their angles were pressed between 2 pieces of wood - it was mean to torture them. They were publicly beaten, mocked, thrown in jail, locked in a painful position - all without fair trial - because of vindictiveness. It’s the same when Jesus cast out the legion of demons into the pigs. The people were not happy that the poor man was delivered - only angry their pigs died. They were imprisoned by their greed. Many are imprisoned by pride. Others by their legalism. When you break these idol, they will break you. But this seemed like such a bad turn for such a good work! But God allows this. God has a plan. He shut doors to open others.

Thirdly, God locks up his saints to liberate a soul. In other words, sometimes our obstacles are very great - but they serve a purpose. Why did God imprison Paul and Silas? Why did he allow them the pain of the stocks? Why wasn’t there a fair trial? Why was there mob justice? Because God had other plans. Now, we see their imprisonment in verse 25. They had been stripped, whipped, feet placed in stocks, and thrown into the inner prison - meaning maximum security. But they were not behaving like imprisoned men. “At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” Now, these weren’t judgment psalms asking God for vindication nor laments, but psalms of praise. They could praise because they knew God was in control. He had already led them by opening and shutting doors. And here, they also prayed. We’re not sure what they prayed for - but likely for God to show his will, to help them be joyful, for their wounds to heal, for their injuries not to hinder the gospel, to forgive their tormentors who didn’t know what they were doing, for their lives to display the gospel, etc. Paul desired that Christ be magnified in his body - whether in life or in death. He said in Philippians 1:21 - to live is Christ, to die is gain. They may have also prayed for deliverance - but not for their sakes, but for the sake of the gospel and the glory of Christ. This was even the prayer of Christ - that the cup would pass from him, but not as he willed, but as God willed. Their bodies were in prison, but they were spiritually free. They prayed and sang so loudly, that the other prisoners could hear them. But so could God. Verse 26 says, “And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.” This is how God answered - by sending an earthquake to rock the prison foundations. Immediately, their chains fell off. They were freed. But they didn’t escape. We know this because in verse 27, the prison guard awoke and was alarmed, thinking the prisoners escaped. He took his sword and was about to kill himself. If any prisoners escaped, the prison guard on watch would have to take their punishment. And these were political prisoners - they’d have been crucified. And knowing the pain and shame of crucifixion, he was about to fall on his sword, until Paul yelled out - “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.” Paul assured him, they hadn’t escaped. They remained behind for this man.

You see, they were imprisoned for this reason. That this man’s soul might be liberated. What Paul did had an effect on the jailor. When he saw their mercy - that they didn’t leave - their appeal touched him. Don’t kill yourself! Now, as a jailor, you’d think he’d have put them back behind bars - at least to spare his life. But what did he do? He got a torch, went into the prison and fell down on his knees in front of Paul and Silas. And in verse 30, he appealed to them - “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Now, his question was not about salvation from punishment - he could’ve locked them back up. But he asked because of what he now knew about the gospel. He would’ve heard their preaching; the deliverance of the demon-possessed girl, their singing and prayers. All gospel saturated. And though he was spared from earthly penalty, he knew there was an eternal one coming. For this were they imprisoned. And they told him how he could be saved - “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” And he did - and his entire family. The result was a changed man. He now had a different appeal to him. Verses 33-34 that in the middle of the night, he washed their wounds, took them back home, and fed them. He once tortured them and put their feet in stocks. Now he healed them. This was the power of the gospel - just as Lydia showed her conversion by care and hospitality, this guard showed his repentance the same way. And while he washed their wounds, they washed him with the waters of baptism, to symbolize his salvation. We see here the phrase in verse 33 - “was baptized, he and all his, straightway.” This is an interesting phrase. Luke wants us to show the importance of deliverance. The word straightway is often used to point to immediate effects of miracles in the Bible. But Luke used it with baptism. Paul’s imprisonment and deliverance led to a greater deliverance of this man. All that happened glorified God in his eternal wisdom.

Fourthly, God traps his enemies to free his ministers. In other words, sometimes God frees up the way in our lives in a wonderful way. The next day, the magistrates instructed the jailor to release Paul and Silas. Maybe they decided that the beating served its purpose. Maybe they’d no longer preach. So now, they were officially free. But when Paul heard this news, he refused to go. Rather, he appealed to the officials in verse 37 - “They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.” He protested - “we’ve been beaten and shown no justice. And you want to release us secretly? We have rights! We can’t be treated this way! We have the right to a fair trial as Roman citizens!” Now, why did Paul have this attitude? Couldn’t he just take it and leave and thank God for the answer to prayer? Why invoke your rights? Now, to be clear, what the officials had done was illegal. They assumed he wasn’t a citizen and beat him to solve an issue. But after hearing they were Romans, the magistrates were now afraid. They were trapped. Verses 38-39 say, “And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city.” They came, tail between legs, fearful they could lose their jobs. And they apologized - besought them - and they escorted them out of prison, and pleaded with them, not commanded, but requested they leave the city. No longer were they the high and mighty magistrates, but they now sheepishly made request to Paul and Silas. Not leave the city! But please leave the city!

And Paul and Silas were freed. They didn’t leave immediately. They had freedom. They continued to stay and appeared in Philippi until it was God’s time for them to go. Verse 40 - “And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.” They were strengthened despite the great adversity. This was a defeat for man and a victory for Christ. Closed doors led to Lydia’s salvation, the slave girl’s deliverance, the prison guard’s freedom from bondage. And even the magistrates apologized. Christ was in control. He opens and closes doors and hearts. When God trapped the officials in their deeds, he revealed the kind of citizens Christians should be. Paul was respectful and law-abiding. He even returned to prison after he ate at the prison guard’s house. He allowed himself to be imprisoned because he was a citizen of God’s kingdom. He was willing to suffer for Christ’s kingdom. He let go of his rights for himself to go where he wanted to go. Now, the important question is this - as a Roman citizen, why didn’t he make the appeal earlier? Possibly this - if we wasn’t willing to suffer, what message would that send Lydia and the rest? If he invoked his Roman citizenship, what about those who weren’t Roman citizens? So he let go of his rights as a Roman citizen for Christ. And only when the kingdom was at stake, Paul revealed his earthly citizenship. And only for the sake of the kingdom, did he make use of his earthly citizenship - so his ministry would have liberty.

Dearly beloved, what are some ways we can apply the message here? I believe primarily, it has to do with our submission to God in his plans. Submission, faith, and joy. Paul wanted to go to places like Asia and Bythinia. He wanted to do a good thing, but he was prevented. But he was happy to submit to God - where God would lead him. God has his own timing to things. His perspective and will are better. And we must thank God for rescuing us from our own agendas to serve Christ. He must be preeminent in all things. We must also thank God that he does not work for the good of our felt needs or bring to pass our best conceived plans. But he works for the kingdom of his Son what is best. That’s why there are long journeys, obstacles, shut doors. Sometimes they are really painful - we do a good work for God like rescuing that enslaved girl - but in response, God sends us to prison. Would be controlled by our disappointment? Are we controlled by our wallet, our ego, our children’s future, our job, even our Christian service? If God were to shut the door, or allow trouble to come to you, would that prison you have been locked in cause you grief? You can react in the flesh. The owners of the slave-girl were enslaved by their greed - we may be enslaved by our anger. They reacted out of vindictiveness. But what greater joy than disappointment Paul had when the prison guard was saved. But even before he witnessed it, he praised God - because he knew. Paul reacted with praise and prayer. The Lord Jesus asked God to take away that cup of suffering, but not as he willed, but as God willed. Oh that God would give us such eyes of faith to see his working, even in times of darkness, where feet are shackled - that we would rejoice. May we have those eyes of faith, dearly beloved, to see under whose control we are.