Philippians (Part 2)
Bible Study Time 4-22-07
Church links:
Bible Study Time 4-22-07
After hearing in a vision the call of the man from Macedonia, the Apostle Paul knew that God was calling him to take the message of God’s grace to the people of Macedonia. As he crossed the Aegean Sea on his way to Philippi, he could not have imagined, apart from divine revelation, the impact that he was about to have on western civilization. It took over three hundred years, but ultimately the Christian religion became the dominant force in the Roman Empire. Even after the barbarians destroyed the Roman Empire, the influence of the Christian religion lived on.
Christ was crucified in 33 A.D., and then for nearly three hundred years, believers suffered under terrible persecution. The citizens of the Roman Empire were astonished and deeply moved when they saw the confident joy of those believers who steadfastly declared their faith even as they were thrown to the lions or burned at the stake. As time went on, more and more people joined the ranks of those who were willing to die for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Constantine became the Emperor of the Roman Empire in 306 A.D, and in 313 he issued the Edict of Milan, which guaranteed freedom of worship for Christians. This opened the door for the gospel to spread freely throughout the empire.
Well, this spreading of the gospel can be traced right back to the time when the Apostle Paul first went to Philippi. Lydia was the first to believe Paul’s message, and she did so at a prayer meeting down by the riverside.
Lydia was a Gentile business woman who had converted to the Jewish religion. She had no doubt been attracted to the one God of the Jews and to the moral teachings of the Law, but when she heard that she could receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life by simply believing in Jesus’ work upon the cross, she believed.
Paul also came into contact with a slave girl who could predict the future through the power of a demon. We can probably assume that she became a believer after she was set free from her this demon. Her masters, however, were not too pleased when she lost her power to predict the future so they brought Paul and Silas before the local magistrates, and Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in jail. That night at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing praises to God when all of a sudden there was a great earthquake which shook open the prison doors.
The jailer was apparently rendered unconscious by the earthquake because the Bible says that when he woke up, he saw the prison doors standing wide open. Naturally, He assumed that the prisoners had escaped so he drew his sword to kill himself. Just as he was about to end his life, he heard a voice calling out from inside the cell. It was the voice of the Apostle Paul, saying, “Do not harm yourself. We are all here.” The jailer was so moved when he heard these words that he ran into the cell, fell down trembling, and asked, “What must I do to be saved?”
Paul’s answer was one which was so simple and so direct. There was no laundry list of things to do in order to be saved. He didn’t have to join the church, or be baptized in water, or take communion, or speak in tongues. Paul simply said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
These three people were set free by the grace of God. Jesus said:
Luke 4:18 (NKJ)
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;
Paul said:
2 Corinthians 3:17 (NKJ)
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Lydia was set free from the bondage of the Law. As a proselyte she must have recognized the beauty of the Law, but after trying to live by the Law, she could probably identify with Paul’s frustration with the Law. In Romans 7, Paul said:
Romans 7:8-10
8 . . . sin (took) opportunity by the commandment, (to produce) in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.
9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.
Romans 7:18-19
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I do.
Romans 7:22-23 (NKJ)
22 . . . I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Paul told Lydia that she could be set free from the bondage of the Law, for:
Romans 8:1-4 (NKJ)
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The Bible says that when Lydia heard the good news of Jesus Christ:
Acts 16:14 (NKJ)
14 . . . The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
Only the Holy Spirit can open our hearts to the truth of God’s word. By nature, we resist the gospel, but the Lord is able to open our hearts and prepare us to receive the liberty that is ours in Jesus Christ.
Lydia was set free from the bondage of the Law, but the slave girl was set free from the bondage of a demonic spirit. The record of Acts 16:16 says:
Acts 16:16-18 (NKJ)
16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation."
18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour.
The other day, I was talking to a couple of boys who were in junior high. They were very impressed with the movie, Constantine. One of the boys started talking about the movie and the other one said, “Oh yeah, man, that’s a really cool movie.”
Well, I had watched a little bit of the movie because I thought it might be about the Emperor Constantine, but I was surprised to see that it was all about a man who had the power to cast out demons.
One of the boys described the scene in the movie where Constantine forced a demon into a mirror, and then threw the mirror out the window of a high rise building. When the mirror hit the ground, it was smashed into a million pieces and the demon was trapped forever in another dimension.
I was amazed at the influence this movie had on their thinking, but I was able to share with them what the Bible says about God’s way of dealing with demons today. If you look at Paul’s description of spiritual warfare in Ephesians, Chapter 6, it’s evident that every piece of armor for the believer is based on the truth of God’s word.
The boys agreed that demons can’t stand the truth because their power is based in the lies they tell. The devil is the father of all lies, and his schemes are all based on lies. His lies are often very subtle as we see in this account of the slave girl. The Bible says that the slave girl followed Paul around, saying:
Acts 16:17 (NKJ)
17 . . . "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation."
Now, that was the truth, wasn’t it? So where’s the lie? The lie is in the subtle message that one can serve the Lord and serve the devil at the same time. Fortune telling was strictly forbidden by God in the Law, and because Paul knew the truth of God’s word, he knew that this girl was telling fortunes by the power of the devil.
Paul wanted everyone to know that no one can serve two masters, and he knew that this girl was going to have to be set free from her demonic influences if she was going to truly worship the Lord.
Based on Paul’s teaching concerning spiritual warfare in Ephesians, Chapter 6, I think we can safely assume that Paul’s preaching of the gospel would have ultimately silenced this demon, but the Holy Spirit told Paul to cast out this demon to confirm Paul’s message through a bold demonstration of God’s power. The Bible says that Paul turned and said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” So, the demon came out, and all the people could see that Paul was truly a man of God.
Today, we don’t have to go around casting out demons because we have the completed word of God. Hebrews says that:
Hebrews 4:12-13 (NKJ)
12 . . . the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Now notice.)
13 . . . there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
No demon can hide in the light of the word of God, and no demon wants to be exposed by the word of God, so they flee when the word of God is exalted. No demon wants to be around the word of God.
Now, there are two ways that God uses His word to deal with demons. First, God has given us pastors and teachers to teach us the word of God. They are the ones that God uses to help us interpret the Bible correctly. Through them we learn to rightly divide the word of truth. This drives out a lot of demons right there because many of the lies of the devil are based on misinterpretations of the word of God.
Secondly, once we have a good foundation in rightly dividing the word of truth, we can truly open our hearts up to the Holy Spirit as we study the word of God on our own. This personal time of Bible study is critical because it’s during that time that the Holy Spirit can tear down our own false assumptions and misconceptions. There is no creature that is hidden from God’s sight, and when we open our hearts to the word of God, we won’t have to worry about casting out demons.
So, Lydia was set free from the bondage of the Law, and the slave girl was set free from the bondage of a demon, but the jailer needed to be set free from the influence of the world. The jailer was guarding Paul and Silas as they were praying and singing hymns to God, but then at midnight:
Acts 16:26-34 (NKJ)
26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.
28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here."
29 Then (the jailer) called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
30 . . . he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.
34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
This jailer was obviously a man who was very dedicated to his job. He could not stand the thought of being seen as a failure in the eyes of this world. But when he put his faith in Christ, he was set free from that burden. All of a sudden, he realized that what God thinks is really the only thing that matters.
Paul instructs us to obey those who are in authority, but he says that we should do all things heartily as to the Lord and not as unto men for we know that the reward of the inheritance will come from the Lord.
God never wants any of us to do anything half-heartedly. Moses said:
Deuteronomy 6:5 (KJV)
5 . . . thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
When we put the Lord first and serve Him whole heartedly, we know that He will bless our efforts, and He will give us the reward of the inheritance.
As the Apostle Paul crossed over into Europe, he took with him the message that sets people free. In these three converts at Philippi, we see freedom from the Law, freedom from demonic oppression, and freedom from the world.
We hear a lot about freedom in America, but there is no real freedom apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hopefully, as we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those around us, more and more people will learn the truth of Jesus’ words:
John 8:36
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’s been a pleasure studying with you, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Christ was crucified in 33 A.D., and then for nearly three hundred years, believers suffered under terrible persecution. The citizens of the Roman Empire were astonished and deeply moved when they saw the confident joy of those believers who steadfastly declared their faith even as they were thrown to the lions or burned at the stake. As time went on, more and more people joined the ranks of those who were willing to die for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Constantine became the Emperor of the Roman Empire in 306 A.D, and in 313 he issued the Edict of Milan, which guaranteed freedom of worship for Christians. This opened the door for the gospel to spread freely throughout the empire.
Well, this spreading of the gospel can be traced right back to the time when the Apostle Paul first went to Philippi. Lydia was the first to believe Paul’s message, and she did so at a prayer meeting down by the riverside.
Lydia was a Gentile business woman who had converted to the Jewish religion. She had no doubt been attracted to the one God of the Jews and to the moral teachings of the Law, but when she heard that she could receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life by simply believing in Jesus’ work upon the cross, she believed.
Paul also came into contact with a slave girl who could predict the future through the power of a demon. We can probably assume that she became a believer after she was set free from her this demon. Her masters, however, were not too pleased when she lost her power to predict the future so they brought Paul and Silas before the local magistrates, and Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in jail. That night at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing praises to God when all of a sudden there was a great earthquake which shook open the prison doors.
The jailer was apparently rendered unconscious by the earthquake because the Bible says that when he woke up, he saw the prison doors standing wide open. Naturally, He assumed that the prisoners had escaped so he drew his sword to kill himself. Just as he was about to end his life, he heard a voice calling out from inside the cell. It was the voice of the Apostle Paul, saying, “Do not harm yourself. We are all here.” The jailer was so moved when he heard these words that he ran into the cell, fell down trembling, and asked, “What must I do to be saved?”
Paul’s answer was one which was so simple and so direct. There was no laundry list of things to do in order to be saved. He didn’t have to join the church, or be baptized in water, or take communion, or speak in tongues. Paul simply said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
These three people were set free by the grace of God. Jesus said:
Luke 4:18 (NKJ)
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;
Paul said:
2 Corinthians 3:17 (NKJ)
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Lydia was set free from the bondage of the Law. As a proselyte she must have recognized the beauty of the Law, but after trying to live by the Law, she could probably identify with Paul’s frustration with the Law. In Romans 7, Paul said:
Romans 7:8-10
8 . . . sin (took) opportunity by the commandment, (to produce) in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.
9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.
10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.
Romans 7:18-19
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I do.
Romans 7:22-23 (NKJ)
22 . . . I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Paul told Lydia that she could be set free from the bondage of the Law, for:
Romans 8:1-4 (NKJ)
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The Bible says that when Lydia heard the good news of Jesus Christ:
Acts 16:14 (NKJ)
14 . . . The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
Only the Holy Spirit can open our hearts to the truth of God’s word. By nature, we resist the gospel, but the Lord is able to open our hearts and prepare us to receive the liberty that is ours in Jesus Christ.
Lydia was set free from the bondage of the Law, but the slave girl was set free from the bondage of a demonic spirit. The record of Acts 16:16 says:
Acts 16:16-18 (NKJ)
16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation."
18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour.
The other day, I was talking to a couple of boys who were in junior high. They were very impressed with the movie, Constantine. One of the boys started talking about the movie and the other one said, “Oh yeah, man, that’s a really cool movie.”
Well, I had watched a little bit of the movie because I thought it might be about the Emperor Constantine, but I was surprised to see that it was all about a man who had the power to cast out demons.
One of the boys described the scene in the movie where Constantine forced a demon into a mirror, and then threw the mirror out the window of a high rise building. When the mirror hit the ground, it was smashed into a million pieces and the demon was trapped forever in another dimension.
I was amazed at the influence this movie had on their thinking, but I was able to share with them what the Bible says about God’s way of dealing with demons today. If you look at Paul’s description of spiritual warfare in Ephesians, Chapter 6, it’s evident that every piece of armor for the believer is based on the truth of God’s word.
The boys agreed that demons can’t stand the truth because their power is based in the lies they tell. The devil is the father of all lies, and his schemes are all based on lies. His lies are often very subtle as we see in this account of the slave girl. The Bible says that the slave girl followed Paul around, saying:
Acts 16:17 (NKJ)
17 . . . "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation."
Now, that was the truth, wasn’t it? So where’s the lie? The lie is in the subtle message that one can serve the Lord and serve the devil at the same time. Fortune telling was strictly forbidden by God in the Law, and because Paul knew the truth of God’s word, he knew that this girl was telling fortunes by the power of the devil.
Paul wanted everyone to know that no one can serve two masters, and he knew that this girl was going to have to be set free from her demonic influences if she was going to truly worship the Lord.
Based on Paul’s teaching concerning spiritual warfare in Ephesians, Chapter 6, I think we can safely assume that Paul’s preaching of the gospel would have ultimately silenced this demon, but the Holy Spirit told Paul to cast out this demon to confirm Paul’s message through a bold demonstration of God’s power. The Bible says that Paul turned and said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” So, the demon came out, and all the people could see that Paul was truly a man of God.
Today, we don’t have to go around casting out demons because we have the completed word of God. Hebrews says that:
Hebrews 4:12-13 (NKJ)
12 . . . the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Now notice.)
13 . . . there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
No demon can hide in the light of the word of God, and no demon wants to be exposed by the word of God, so they flee when the word of God is exalted. No demon wants to be around the word of God.
Now, there are two ways that God uses His word to deal with demons. First, God has given us pastors and teachers to teach us the word of God. They are the ones that God uses to help us interpret the Bible correctly. Through them we learn to rightly divide the word of truth. This drives out a lot of demons right there because many of the lies of the devil are based on misinterpretations of the word of God.
Secondly, once we have a good foundation in rightly dividing the word of truth, we can truly open our hearts up to the Holy Spirit as we study the word of God on our own. This personal time of Bible study is critical because it’s during that time that the Holy Spirit can tear down our own false assumptions and misconceptions. There is no creature that is hidden from God’s sight, and when we open our hearts to the word of God, we won’t have to worry about casting out demons.
So, Lydia was set free from the bondage of the Law, and the slave girl was set free from the bondage of a demon, but the jailer needed to be set free from the influence of the world. The jailer was guarding Paul and Silas as they were praying and singing hymns to God, but then at midnight:
Acts 16:26-34 (NKJ)
26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself.
28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here."
29 Then (the jailer) called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
30 . . . he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household."
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized.
34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.
This jailer was obviously a man who was very dedicated to his job. He could not stand the thought of being seen as a failure in the eyes of this world. But when he put his faith in Christ, he was set free from that burden. All of a sudden, he realized that what God thinks is really the only thing that matters.
Paul instructs us to obey those who are in authority, but he says that we should do all things heartily as to the Lord and not as unto men for we know that the reward of the inheritance will come from the Lord.
God never wants any of us to do anything half-heartedly. Moses said:
Deuteronomy 6:5 (KJV)
5 . . . thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
When we put the Lord first and serve Him whole heartedly, we know that He will bless our efforts, and He will give us the reward of the inheritance.
As the Apostle Paul crossed over into Europe, he took with him the message that sets people free. In these three converts at Philippi, we see freedom from the Law, freedom from demonic oppression, and freedom from the world.
We hear a lot about freedom in America, but there is no real freedom apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hopefully, as we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those around us, more and more people will learn the truth of Jesus’ words:
John 8:36
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time. It’s been a pleasure studying with you, and I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Church links:
3 comments:
You stated in your article that Lydia was a proselyte. I am just wondering if maybe she was a Jewess who was a part of the dispersion. I know that most commentators state that she is a proselyte, but I know nothing that would prove that. That she was from Thyatira would not necessarily mean that she was a Gentile. Just wondering!! Don't think that it can be prove either way. Very good article!
That is a very interesting observation. If Lydia was actually born into the Jewish religion instead of being a proselyte, she might have been even more aware of the bondage of the Law, and would have therefore had a great appreciation for the liberty in Christ which Paul was preaching.
I did receive an e-mail which pointed out the fact that when Luke refered to Lydia as one "who worshiped God," he might have been referring to her as one who was merely interested in the Jewish religion but had not yet converted to Judaism, like Cornelius.
There is some evidence that Luke simply called Jews Jews and proselytes proselytes. (Acts 2:5; Acts 2:10; Acts 6:5; Acts 13:43; etc.)
I guess that if Lydia was not even a proselyte but was merely a person who was interested in Judaism, that might weaken my argument that she would be aware of the bondage of the Law, but then again, maybe not.
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