The God of the Open Door
The Spread of the Gospel • Sermon • Submitted
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Please take your Bibles and turn with me to Acts 15:36 as we continue with our series on the Spread of the Gospel. Today we will be looking at The God of the Open Door.
Over the past several weeks we have seen obedience of the disciples to the command to spread the gospel message. This message focuses on man’s sin against his Creator, on the separation between God and man as a result of sin, and the sending of God’s Son, Jesus of Nazareth, to save His people from their sins. He saved them by dying on the cross in their place.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Though Jesus died and was buried, He rose triumphantly from the grave, and by virtue of His resurrection He has proved that He was indeed whom He claimed. The long awaited Messiah. The Son of God. The Savior of His people. And to be counted among His people one simply has to believe the message of the gospel and rely on Christ for their salvation.
This message first began to spread throughout Jerusalem. Then it spread from Jerusalem to all Judea and Samaria. Then it spread to Antioch in Syria. From there it spread further and further west.
Today we will begin to look at Paul’s second missionary journey. The unifying theme in this text is that God is in control. What He has ordained will be accomplished. We will focus on God’s opening doors for new recruits to ministry, His opening doors to strengthen the church, His closing doors so others can be opened, His opening doors to new regions, to hearts, and to prisons.
The first thing we see is how
God Opens Doors for New Recruits
God Opens Doors for New Recruits
Look with me at Acts 15:36-40.
And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
God intended to expand the amount of missionaries who would be active in the work of making disciples. And He used the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas to accomplish His purpose.
It seems that Barnabas and Paul had different perspectives on missions work. There is a reason why the apostles started calling Barnabas the Son of Encouragement. He was an encouraging individual in so many ways. He seems to have been one who would see the value in a person that others could not see. It was Barnabas that convinced the church leadership in Jerusalem to give Paul a chance — after all they had known him as the one who was wreaking havoc on the church, and wanted nothing to do with him after his conversion.
It has always seemed to me, on the other hand that Paul was less tolerant of the short-comings of others. He was a man with a tunnel vision — completely focused on the mission. And he was not going to allow anything to keep him from his God-appointed mission.
I believe that Barnabas performed an important work — a work to which God had called him to do — when he took Mark with him on this second missionary adventure. Even Paul acknowledged his worth towards the end of his life. Writing to Timothy he stated:
Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
Would Mark have ever become useful to both Paul and to Peter if Barnabas had not invested in his life.
Lest I paint a wrong picture of Paul, understand that he, time and time again, invested in the lives of other young and future ministers as well. On this second missionary adventure we find him investing in the lives of men such as:
Silas
Timothy
Luke
Priscilla and Aquila
I personally think that the division between Paul and Barnabas was a God-thing, for it allowed them to divided and conquer.
Let’s move on how
God Opens Doors to Strengthen the Church
God Opens Doors to Strengthen the Church
As we move into chapter 16 we see that initial purpose of this trip was to announce the decision of the Jerusalem Council. Look at
As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.
These churches were not all that distant from Antioch of Syria, and they probably had heard about the intense dispute that arose over the message of free grace which Paul and Barnabas had delivered to them. They may have been waiting to hear the results of the consultation with the church in Jerusalem. And so Paul and Silas visited each of these churches, in reverse order, and brought them the news. Not only that but the strengthened them in their newfound faith.
Perhaps the most important thing that occurred during the first leg of this adventure was in regards to Timothy joining the mission. There is a whole lot more we could say about this, but for the sake of this message we will move on. If we ever get to an exposition of the epistles to Timothy then we will look in more detail at that time.
Let’s turn our attention to one of God’s methods of accomplishing His purpose.
God Closes Some Doors so Others may be Opened
God Closes Some Doors so Others may be Opened
First, let’s look at the temporary closing of a door. Look at
And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.
Look again at the map.
Why the Spirit chose to close the door to ministries in Asia and Bithynia remains a mystery. We do know that churches were planted in these areas, and it seems that since Peter addressed his first epistle to them that he may have been the one who planted them. So, perhaps part of God’s mysterious purpose was for Peter to cover these regions, while Paul was to cover other regions.
I, for one, am content to leave the mysterious ways of God as a mystery.
Not only do we not know why God closed the door for Paul to minister in these places at this specific time, we also don’t know how he closed the door. But as the old adage says, when God closes one door He often opens another. And that is exactly what we find here. Let’s look at how
God Opens Doors to New Regions
God Opens Doors to New Regions
Look at verses 9-10.
And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Look again at the map. Macedonia is one of the provinces of Greece. Up to this point in time the gospel had not spread into Europe, but that was about to change. And since we are all of European descent we should be so grateful that it did.
There is something very important that takes place textually speaking in verse 10. Luke, the writer of both the Gospel of Luke and of Acts, inserts himself into the biblical narrative for the first time. Look again at verse 10 (on the screen this time):
And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately WE sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called US to preach the gospel to them.
Many of commentators have speculated that Luke was the man who appeared to Paul in a vision, asking him to come to Macedonia with the message of the gospel. Some have even surmised that Luke may have been a citizen of the first city in which they ministered in this region — Philippi.
Luke spend quite a bit of time on the ministry in Philippi. This is described as being a leading city in Macedonia and a Roman colony. Being a Roman colony it would be a cosmopolitan place, with folks from all over the Roman empire settling there.
Since there was no synagogue in this city, Paul and company went in search of a place where Jewish folks and God-fearing Gentiles would meet for prayer. Notice verses 13-14. Acts 16.13-14
And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
While ministering to the women who were meeting for prayer they encountered a Gentile woman named Lydia. She was a merchant from Thyatira. Look again at the map.
Thyatira was a part of the region in which Paul was not permitted by the Holy Spirit to minister at. And yet we know from the Book of the Revelation that by the end of the first century there was an active church there, since Christ addressed a letter to them. Jesus praised them for their love and faithful, patient service. But He rebuked them for tolerating false teachers.
By means of casual conversation, as opposed to preaching, this woman from Thyatira was led to Christ. Many believe that Lydia was the one who brought the message of the gospel to her home city. Note next that
God Opens Doors to the Heart
God Opens Doors to the Heart
This is such an important point:
God, in His sovereign wisdom, not only opens doors for ministry, He also opens hearts to receive the message of the Gospel of Christ.
This is what Paul refers to in Ephesians 2:4-5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
While our passage in Acts certainly speaks of divine election to salvation, it does not negate the responsibility of man.
Man is responsible to share the message of the gospel so that others might embrace it and be saved.
And man is also responsible to believe the message that is presented.
And those who have embraced the message of the gospel are responsible to live their lives in such a way as to reflect that they belong to King Jesus.
Things were not all rosy for Paul and company in Philippi. In this instance, however, the persecution did not start with the Jews.
Look at verses 16-18.
As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
Much like Christ who was not willing for demons to testify about Him, neither was Paul willing for them to testify about his Lord. So he commanded the demon to depart from her. Though the text does not mention it, some commentators believe that she became a believer in Jesus Christ.
In the gospels, there was always joy when demons were cast out of those whom they possessed. Here, in a land far away from Israel, there was anger. Look at verse 19.
But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
These people obviously did not have a high opinion of Jews, period. Notice the charge that they brought against Paul and Silas in verses 20-21.
And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.”
They charged them with disturbing the peace, suborning illegal activity. Without a trial they were ordered by the magistrates to be beaten with a rod. Then they were thrown into prison where they fastened their feet in the stocks. Let’s look next at how
God Opens Doors to Prisons
God Opens Doors to Prisons
When we were studying the death of Christ we saw how God used an earthquake to open various tombs at the moment of Jesus’ death. And then He used another earthquake to open Jesus’ tomb so the witnesses could verify that the tomb was empty and that Jesus had been raised from the dead.
Now we see God using another earthquake to open the doors of the prison were Paul and Silas were being held.
But before the earthquake there was a midnight worship service going on. Being one that likes to go bed well before midnight, if I had been a prisoner in this place I probably wouldn’t have appreciated the timing of this worship service — at least initially. Being that I love music, I probably would have eventually tried to join in with the singing.
When a church does what a church is supposed to do, it can be a powerful witness to the community around them.
The jail keeper was convinced that all of the prisoners had fled after the earthquake opened the prison doors. So he was going to take his own life, knowing that he would be held accountable. But Paul stopped him by assuring him that no one had left — they were all still in their cells.
It would appear that it wasn’t just the prisoners who heard the worship service, because the jailer asked Paul and Silas then and there how he could be saved. And their response is found in verse 31.
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
The result of this midnight worship service was that the jailer and his entire household came to place their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Of course this isn’t the whole story.
The jailer took them into his home and washed their wounds
This would be in keeping with what John the Baptist referred to in
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
The magistrates order that the jailer release Paul and Silas the next day
Paul objected since they had unlawfully beaten Roman citizens
The magistrates feared reprisal from Rome
They then apologized before asking them to leave the city
Before leaving, Paul and company visit the new believers and encourage them in their faith
It would appear that Paul left both Luke and Timothy to held lead this infant church
Today we have been looking at The God of the Open Door. We’ve seen Him open doors for training new recruits for the mission field. We’ve seen Him open doors for ministry in new regions. W’eve seen Him open the doors of people’s hearts so that could embrace the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Before coming to Christ we were all imprisoned in slavery to sin. But then some faithful servant stepped through an open door and shared the message of the gospel with us. And God opened our hearts to pay attention to the message, and embrace Jesus as our Savior. He is truly the God of the open door.
As believer’s He has placed an open door for ministry before us. Will we boldly step through that open door and share the living giving message of the gospel with others? Will we be like Barnabas and encourage those who need encouragement?
Let’s pray.
Closing Song: 654
Change My Heart, O God