Passing the Torch, Part 4

review of where we’ve been a
little more brief today. I promise you there is not going
to be a part five to this series. Not exactly, but you’ll have
to bear with me when we get there. Basically, what we’re doing is
preparing ourselves for a more thorough study of the book of
Philippians. And what we’re doing is looking
at how the Philippian church came into existence. And so we’ve
titled this section, Church Planting 101, kind of in response to that
attitude that I received from a number of people upon considering
to come here to Fort Collins to plant that urged me to have
a model. I had to have a model before
I could come into Fort Collins to plant a church. And well,
I told them at the time that I believe that there were some
awfully good models there in Scripture. And the model in Acts
chapter 15 and 16 was foremost in my mind because I told this
critic that rather than attending to all the church growth strategies
that are out there, that I purpose to kind of lean towards my brother,
Apostle Paul’s method. who basically planted the Philippian
church by conversing with a number of women by the riverside. And as I said that and I purpose
to study Acts 15 and 16 a little bit more in depth, I had already
preached at that point Philippians a number of times, and so I knew
just how important it was to have an understanding of these
chapters. chapters 15 and 16 in order to really understand
a ministry mindset. But the more I’ve studied them,
the more I believe that to be true. And so it has been, again,
a great encouragement for me to go back through these things
and to even more carefully principalize some of the things written in
here so that we can benefit from them. Toward that end, I want
to go all the way back to verse 33 of chapter 15, and we’re going
to read a portion of this that kind of
launches us into this review. And then I’ll tell you, I promise
when we get into new material this morning, we pick up in verse
33 on church planting 101, the components of a church planting
ministry and what we’re looking for and what I’ll review as we
go is lessons learned at the planting of the Philippian church.
Verse 33, after they had spent time there, they were sent away
from the brethren in peace to those who had sent them out.
But it seemed good to Silas to remain there. But Paul and Barnabas
stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching with many others also
the word of the Lord. Essentially, what you have beginning
in verse 36 is List of lessons from this section. The first lesson of church planting
is that establishing churches is ministry that is born out
of a heart of shepherding the flock on hand. Look at verse
36, where Paul said, After some days, Paul said to Barnabas,
Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed
the word of the Lord. There was this intent to go and
take care of the sheep. And you will see that repeatedly,
not just in this section, but in the major sections that follow. Point two, establishing churches
is ministry advanced by a pluralized effort. We spent some time on
that, that there is an us-ness to ministry. There is an often
seen in the pages of Scripture, both implicitly and explicitly,
the instruction about plurality in ministry. Paul and Barnabas,
Paul and Silas, those partnerships, but also then advanced more formally
in Paul’s epistles to Titus and to Timothy, the idea of a plurality
in the eldership. Thirdly, Establishing churches
is legitimized by the commissioning of the local church. And we saw
here the thought from verse 33, they were sent away. That being
a good thing, they weren’t kicked out of the community. They were
sent away for good purpose, but they were commissioned by a local
church. And then again, in verse 40,
being committed by the brethren to the grace of the Lord. I take
that to mean a formal commissioning, a formal sending. And you will
see throughout the book of Acts as we press on, you will see
that constant sending and commissioning of the local church. Point four.
Am I going faster than we did last? Yeah, I think so. Hang
on. The fourth. point here. Establishing churches is ministry
that is characterized by serving with a constant view to discipleship. Really, wherever Paul went, he
was seeking to not just make converts, but make disciples
and not just make disciples, but raise up faithful men who
would be able to take the torch and to take the gospel and to
pass it on to others as well. We saw in chapter 16, verse 1,
that Paul came to Derbe and the Lystra and a disciple was there
named Timothy. That wasn’t just happenstance.
Paul didn’t just happen to bump into Timothy. During the first
visit there, Paul had established a local fellowship there. He
very likely knew Timothy by name and went back and I believe had
Timothy in mind when he went to this town to see how he was
faring in the cause for Christ. Establishing churches, churches
today as well, need to be constantly watchful of young men in their
midst. for the purpose of imparting
to them the key truths and principles of ministry, so that they too
can be raised up, so that they too can minister and serve the
Lord wherever it is they go, so that they too can look for
other young men also. Remember the principle that we
gleaned from Titus, that we are always to be reaching down and
at the same time reaching up, being discipled and discipling
at all times. Point five. We’re flying through
this review. Church planning 101 components
of a church planning ministry. The fifth lesson that we learn
from the founding of the church in Philippi is that establishing
churches is ministry that is conducted by actively awaiting
God’s direction. I’ve criticized before too many
people sit around and if they can’t do exactly what they want
to do, they do nothing. That wasn’t the case with Paul.
Paul knew that he was sent out in some kind of general ministry,
going and ministering to churches. He was doing what God had called
him, being faithful to serve the Lord in whatever capacity
he could. Look at verse four. While they
were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees. I can tell you just, you know,
you read about Paul for 10 minutes and you know that this is not
what Paul was about. Paul didn’t want to go on throughout
the rest of his ministry days handing out the decrees, essentially
reviewing the Constitution week in and week out. I can remember
one church that we served in. Once a year, the pulpit was given
to the reading of the Constitution. Do you see what mercy God has
on you people? He weaned me of that really quick.
I got up there and I said, are you kidding me? You want me to
set aside my preaching time so that we can read through the
Constitution? And that’s what they expected and that’s what
we did one time. And then I changed the Constitution. Establishing churches is ministry
that is conducted by actively awaiting God’s direction. Paul
wasn’t about to go about his entire life of ministry And I
believe that he knew that this must be a temporary thing, that
he was saddled with communicating the decision of the council,
essentially passing on the rule, the official position of the
church. Paul knew that wasn’t going to be his life’s work,
but he was faithful in it at the moment. Number six. Do I need to slow down? Because
I will. Point number six, establishing
churches is ministry that is guided by God’s sovereign direction. And I can imagine Paul passing
on these decrees was as excited as I was the day that we decided
not to read the Constitution any longer. When Paul got a direction
from the Lord, a sovereign redirection, Paul was as excited about that
as anybody. Look at verse 6. They pass through
the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the
Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. Again, I was just astounded
at all the offerings, all the suggestions of what the Holy
Spirit used to thwart Paul’s efforts to preach in Asia. Maybe
that these were barbarians and beyond the scope of the gospel,
which is just a foolish idea. And all kinds of other possible
ideas that Paul was too sick to go, that they ran out of money.
God uses all those things and we have no idea what. The Holy
Spirit could also have given Paul a vision or an audible voice. God could do whatever God wanted
here, but we’re left not knowing at all what God used for this
sovereign redirection. And it wasn’t done yet. Essentially,
he refused to let him take a left turn. So his purpose is to take
a right turn. After they came to Mycenae, they
were trying to go to Bithynia and the Spirit of Jesus did not
permit them. Again, we don’t know exactly
what. We don’t even really know why yet. But Paul was faithful. Paul’s not going to give up on
the mission. Paul’s not going to scrub it just because, you
know, God doesn’t let him do exactly what he wants to do.
Certainly was a noble plan to take the gospel into these communities
and the gospel would spread there eventually. So it wasn’t that
it was objectively a bad idea. It’s just that at this point
in time, God had a better idea, a better plan. And passing by
Mysia, verse 8, they came down to Troas and a vision appeared
to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing
and appealing to him and saying, come over to Macedonia and help
us. And there is that sovereign guidance
for which Paul was waiting, for which he rejoiced. Come take
the gospel to Europe so that it can spread through Europe
so that even as you and I sit here this morning, that is largely due to Paul’s heeding God’s sovereign
direction there. Point number seven. Church planning 101, the components
of a church planning ministry, the seventh lesson that we learn
or observe from the founding of the church in Philippi is
that number seven, establishing churches as ministry that is
begun by watching for the spiritually sensitive. And again, as we’ll
see this morning, The point is not that only the spiritually
sensitive in the community are ultimately going to come to Christ
and, you know, be the foundation of the church. But Paul’s approach
was, when he went into a city, was to go into the synagogue.
There they at least claimed to believe in God, a God. They claimed to believe in the
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were there in the synagogue
going through all the steps of worship as prescribed. And so Paul went always to those
who were somewhat spiritually sensitive. He didn’t go to the
heathen. He didn’t go to those First and foremost, that didn’t
even lay claim to any faith in God that didn’t even believe
in any kind of higher being. Paul went to the spiritually
sensitive. And he did so here, there was no synagogue, but in
verse 13, it records on the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate
to the riverside where we were supposing that there would be
a place of prayer. And we sat down and began to
speak to the women who had assembled. Paul’s purpose there was to take
the gospel. And he knew that those for whom
he could presuppose a number of key ideas. And this is why I suggested last
week that I still believe that a good entry into conversation
with an unbeliever is, do you have a place of worship? Do you
have a place of worship? That presumes a lot of things.
And that’s essentially what Paul did here. He presumed a lot of
things. He presumed that they believed
in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He presumed that they
were there for the purpose of worship. He presumed that they
were interested in knowing God and learning about God and growing
in God. And that’s exactly what that
question, do you have a place of worship, presumes. If you
don’t believe me, try it. Because immediately upon asking
that question, you will get a wealth of information. Either I don’t
believe in God or yes, I believe in God, but I don’t believe that
he has to be worshipped in a building or I, you know, worship this
yak statue or whatever. Point eight. Point eight. Establishing churches is also
a ministry that is limited by the sovereign work of God in
the response to ministry. And boy, would churches do well
to remember that. That we can’t make a Christian,
we can’t coerce someone into becoming a Christian, we can’t
manipulate their emotions enough that they become a Christian.
Look at what happens to one of these women, a woman named Lydia,
verse 14 of chapter 16. A woman named Lydia from the
city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshipper
of God, was listening and the Lord opened her heart to respond
to the things spoken by Paul. The Lord opened her heart and
we spent no little time on that one point. That God is sovereign
in the response. God in his great might, goes
forward and does the unlocking of the closed heart. Lydia’s
heart wasn’t just exceptional in this. She wasn’t exceptionally
spiritually dull. She was typical. In fact, she
was characteristic of every one of us. Every one of us, every
person who has ever come to Christ has done so only because God
did the same exact work in their heart. God opened your heart
to respond to the things that were spoken in his word. God
opened my heart. God opens sinners hearts. Lydia’s heart was closed and
it took the Lord to open her heart. And you can call it whatever
you will, total depravity, whatever. She was inherently sinful and
she was spiritually dead. And she was no different than
any other person that’s ever been born on the face of the
earth. And what it took was a divine work, it took irresistible grace,
it took God to open her heart and open her eyes to the gospel. Samuel Davies in this regard. One of the great greatest American
preachers, almost unknown anymore, but Samuel Davies characterized
the human heart in these terms. He said men are estranged from
God and engaged in rebellion against him, and they love to
continue so. They will not submit nor return
to their duty and allegiance. Hence, there is a need of superior
power to subdue their stubborn hearts and sweetly constrain
them to subjection. To inspire them with the love
of God and an implacable detestation of all sin. That isn’t something
that we catch. That isn’t something you can
teach. It takes God to make you a hater of sin, to inspire them with the love
of God and an implacable detestation of all sin. And for this purpose,
the Holy Spirit of God is sent into the world. For this purpose,
he is at work from age to age upon the hearts of men. Essentially,
what’s being referred to here is the doctrine of regeneration. First Peter, you might remember
that little epistle. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy,
has caused us to be born again. Now, that is the expression of
the form of the verb there. But that is a great characterization
of the way that that verb is expressed there. That there is
nothing in us. We don’t birth ourselves. God
caused the rebirth. And he illustrates it perfectly
here with Lydia. I alluded to this passage last
week. You know the facts. Paul lays it out clearly for
us in Ephesians 2. You were dead in your trespasses
and sins, verse 1. And if you want, like I always
do, the simple sentence, just read the simple sentence in Ephesians
2. It reads like this. You were
dead, but God. You were dead, but God made you
alive. There is no Christian There is
no one that names the name of Christ that didn’t have that
precise, exact experience that Lydia had. The Lord opened your
heart. The Lord always has to open the
heart. Point number nine. The ninth lesson,
by way of review still, is that establishing churches is nightly
encouraged by the hope of a sovereign sweep of ministry. When the Lord opened Lydia’s
heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul, the Holy Spirit
didn’t fly back to heaven and wrap up a good day’s work. The
work really with Lydia was just beginning. And we don’t know
what her household was composed of, whether it included children
or adults or husbands or slaves, what have you. That’s the beauty
of this whole passage, is that it’s perfectly silent, except
for the fact that it says that she and her whole household were
baptized, which means that they had to respond to the things
spoken of by these men. That sovereign sweep that we
can hope for when one person comes to Christ, we have no idea
who else they might influence. Perhaps it’s their mother. Perhaps
it’s their family. Perhaps it’s their co-workers.
What about their team? What about their friends? What
about all the people that they know? It’s an amazing thing to
watch the gospel at work, isn’t it? Isn’t the fact that there
are entire families here and couples? I can’t even tell you
how many times during the course of reading through these testimonies
and hearing people’s testimonies that the Lord used, and I’m not
advocating necessarily missionary dating, but I can’t even tell. I mean, we have a church full
of people that know Christ because of the faithfulness of their
eventual spouse, sharing Christ with them. Lydia went home. She brought
the men home. We know that she cooked a meal,
insisted that they come home. And the gospel came home with
her and the gospel ran its course and many came to Christ. We don’t
even know how many. But we know that it was enough
to establish a church between her household and the Philippian
jailer’s household. That was enough. And it may have
been as few as four people. Or it could have been 40. We
have no idea. But people, when you share Christ
with an individual, realize what you’re doing. In a very real
sense, you’re setting a spark to tinder dry brush. And who knows how far that Gospel
fire can spread. Don’t give up. Don’t rejoice. Don’t put a notch in your belt
just because one person seems to respond. Begin to pray for
their friends and their family and their co-workers and their
loved ones. Don’t let it stop there. And Paul wasn’t finished. And
so we move to new material. Still looking at church planning
101 to the lessons learned from the founding of the Philippian
church, we move to point number 10. Point number 10. And for this, I want to look
at verse 16 of chapter 16. We’re going to take it in several
sections, but I want to pick up in verse 16 there. It happened that as we were going
to the place of prayer, A slave girl, having a spirit of divination,
met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune
telling. Following after Paul and us,
she kept crying out, saying, these men are bondservants of
the Most High God and who are proclaiming to you the way of
salvation. She continued doing this for
many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed and 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 moment. But when her masters saw that
their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and
dragged them out into the marketplace before the authorities. And when
they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said,
these men are throwing our city into confusion being Jews, and
they are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us
to accept or to observe being Romans. The crowd rose up together
against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and
proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had
struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison,
commanding the jailer to guard them securely. And he, having
received such a command, threw them in to the inner prison and
fastened their feet in the stocks. Establishing churches. Number
10 is a ministry that is conducted with a compassionate concern
for the spiritually insensitive. It isn’t just that we look for
the God fearers like Lydia. We must look for those people.
We must look for people that articulate some belief in a God
or a higher being. Paul basically says that you’re
without excuse if you don’t at least have that. But we also
have to minister and conduct ourselves, being constantly aware
of those that are completely spiritually ignorant, completely
insensitive, spiritually speaking. Lydia was one who was spiritually
sensitive. The jailer. The jailer presents
to us an image of one who is spiritually insensitive, debased,
degraded. Those are always around us and
always need the gospel, and we have to minister with a compassionate
concern for them. Let me tell you about some of
the characters in this situation. The demon-possessed girl, for
one, crying out. That’s not the kind of advertising
that Paul needed or certainly was prepared to endorse. And
so he drove the demon from her. Some say that she was part of
the Philippian church. And while it’s certainly possible,
it never says that. It never says that she really
came to Christ. She acknowledged that these men
were servants of the Most High God purely because the demon
was within her. And so there’s no point in speculating
that she became a part of the church without any kind of assent
for Christ. These chief magistrates, we know that the owners of the
demon possessed girl, when I say owner, they were the ones that
stood to profit as she told people’s fortunes. They hold them before
the chief magistrates and their attendants who carried these
rods. They carried these basically clubs, whips with an
axe on one side and this whip on the other. And basically what
it was meant to indicate to them, to everyone around them, is that
they had authority. They had authority not only to
inflict corporal punishment with the whip, but they carried this
axe as a symbol that they had ultimately capital punishment
as a means of punishment. And so it was with these rods,
fortunately, that the missionaries were beaten. In fact, you know
well that it wasn’t even the only time that Paul was beaten. Second Corinthians 11, 25. says
that he had been beaten with rods three times. And to do this
was to literally bring a person right up to the point of death.
And many people expired because of it. But that wasn’t the design
of the punishment. The design of the punishment
was just to inflict as much human pain upon an individual as was
humanly possible. To beat them so severely that
they never forgot it. And that their behavior subsequently
would likely be altered. What they wanted to do is beat
these missionaries out of their calling. But it didn’t work. They took them to the jailer
and it says that they threw them in what was called the inner
prison. Let me tell you about the inner prison. One characterized
it very very clearly when he said that
these two chambers were connected with a series of large chambers
separated by an alley from the prison where Peter was kept. The opening into the passage
leading to these was discovered into the lower dungeon. And under
this passage ran a drain which formed a branch of the main sewer. And so essentially, Paul is taken
down into this, as was Peter on another occasion, dropped
into this hole, covered over where it was completely blank.
And at one edge of his room is the city sewer. I told you it was graphic. The
prisoners who were confined to these cells had the benefit of
air. Pardon me. The prisoners who were confined
to these cells had no benefit of air and light, which the hall
admitted. From the vestibule, there was
a passage into the interior prisoner. It had no window or outlet except
this door, which when closed, absolutely shut out light and
air. The utter darkness, the heat,
the stench of this miserable place in which the inmates were
confined day and night is often dwelt upon by even the martyrs
and biographers. In fact, what he says is like
in Fox’s Book of Martyrs. This is the worst of the worst.
that no matter what other martyrs experienced, they look to Paul
and what Paul experienced in this place as being the worst. Beaten, bloodied, and then fastened
in stocks. I know that we’ve all seen pictures
of it and we kind of, you know, there were stocks that were placed
in the marketplace that were more for mocking prisoners than
they were for essentially torture. And we’ve all seen the picture,
you know, with people’s hands sticking through and they throw
tomatoes at them and their head is locked in the stocks. That’s
not the kind of stocks at all that Paul was placed in. One pastor characterized these stocks quite well, when
handed over to the jailer’s custody, who intercepted his instructions
strictly. And in other words, this was
part of the orders that he was carrying out. But he did it with
pleasure. He interpreted his instructions
strictly and he fastened their legs in the stocks. These stocks
had more than two holes for the legs. So in other words, it had
holes for the arms and legs and the head. And it would stretch
the prisoner apart. Having been beaten with rods,
bloodied and bruised, now fastened in a way that your body would
begin to cramp. Their legs were forced apart
in such a way as to cause the utmost discomfort in cramping. It was not the jailer’s business
to take any thought for his prisoner’s comfort. And that much is obvious
because he didn’t. He did exactly what was prescribed
to him. This is a man who was so spiritually
insensitive, so careless about the pain that these men were
going through. This is a man who so desperately
needed the Gospel. It’s obvious. And we have those
kinds of people around us everywhere. But about midnight, verse 25,
Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. And the prisoners were listening
to them. Remember, the prisoners are one
floor above them. Just one floor. Perhaps just
that wooden door separating them. And all of a sudden, they hear
this sound of praying and singing. And the
prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there came a great
earthquake so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken.
And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains
were unfastened. When a jailer awoke and saw the
prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill
himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out
with a loud voice, Do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And he called for lights and
rushed in. And trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul
and Silas. And afterward brought them out
and he said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They said,
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus and
you will be saved, you and your household. They spoke the word
of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. And so here are these servants
of God, bruised and bleeding, stretched out in these impossible
stocks, in this dark, smelly room. And all they can think
of to do is praise God. This set the tone for ministries
or martyrs and missionaries for decades and hundreds of years
to come, who would look to Paul here for an example, when harshly
treated, confined to this inner dungeon, they sang songs until
God responded. And God rejoiced with them and
shook the prison with a great earthquake. And it really is a lesson to
us too, isn’t it? When we face opposition, when
we face difficult times, even persecution, to remember that
if we’re on the side of Christ and Christ is on our side, what
cause or what need is there to despair? Why should we get frustrated? Paul can experience and be the
benefactor of a great earthquake that essentially sets him free. Our situation is not as bad as
his and we wouldn’t even need an earthquake. But God, God can
minister to us in those moments. But look at the prisoners, look
at the scene and look at the jailer. Why didn’t all those prisoners
make their escape? Why didn’t they flee when they
had the opportunity? I think they were so stunned,
so much in awe and deep and reverent curiosity. They wanted to know
what these men were about, that how on earth they could sing
and pray to God in that condition. I think they were in absolute
stunned amazement. They weren’t speechless because
of a mere earthquake. They were so stunned by it. They
didn’t dare leave. They wanted to stick around and
find out what was going to happen. They wanted to know more about
these. I believe that these very well could be part of the jailer’s
household. Technically, they could be. If
he took them all back to his house, immediately this jailer went
to investigate. what was taking place. The worst,
and according to him, according to a Roman jailer, the worst
had happened. These doors were suddenly flung
open. The prisoners certainly had departed. And for him as a Roman soldier,
the noble thing to do would be to commit suicide. He knew that
he would be put to death. He knew there was a completely
dishonorable thing to lose prisoners. And so the noble thing for him
to do would be to commit suicide to save his fellow. It was a
way of saying, I know I blew it to save his fellow prisoners
from fellow soldiers from having to do the dirty work for him. He purposed to kill himself because
he was just certain all the prisoners were gone. that his life essentially
was over. But note the compassion of Paul. Paul could have watched this
soldier do himself in right before his eyes. The doors were all
open. He could have watched him kill himself and walk away scot-free. But Paul was more concerned about
his freedom. Paul was more concerned about
everybody in the prison being released, himself included. And
he called out verse 28 with a loud voice. I take that to mean that
in no uncertain terms did he want the jailer to mistake his
intentions. He cried out with a loud voice,
do not harm yourselves. Do not harm yourself, for we
are all here. Look. None of your prisoners
have escaped. There’s no reason to do yourself
harm. To me, this is such a mark of compassion. And so absent
from how we conduct ourselves on a day-to-day basis, so careless
of the difficulties of the world, so caught up in our own suffering
and difficulties, Paul’s only concern was this man and his
life and his soul. And he begins to proclaim Christ
to him. This question that he raises,
what must I do to be saved? There were some commentators
that reduced this almost to the point of absurd. They reduced
it to the point of how can I be saved from my fellow Roman soldiers
who will surely do me in for the condition of this prison
and the loss of prisoners. What must I do to be saved? Is
that what he was asking? So ridiculous, it’s hardly worth
even saying. I believe the man watched Paul. He watched him beaten. He watched
these missionaries bloodied and beaten, placed in the worst place
imaginable and still rejoicing and still singing. And now this
divinely sent earthquake I believe the man knew that he was on seriously
shaky ground. I believe God opened his heart
too to respond to the things that Paul was to say. And he
pleaded with them, what must I do to be saved? Such a wretched
sinner like me. Godless in every way. A hater
of man. A jailer. What must I do to be
saved? And Paul’s answer was so simple.
Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. You and your
household. It doesn’t mean that his household,
all of his family, perhaps fellow guards, perhaps his wife, perhaps
children, perhaps even prisoners. It doesn’t mean that they’re
saved automatically. What Paul said is the Gospel
knows no bounds. The fact that the Lord was proclaimed
to the whole household shows that faith, belief that was required
of the jailer was also required of those in the household. The
whole household was preached to and the whole household believed. We don’t even know how many. It’s a beautiful story of compassion
where Paul had more concern for the soul of this hard-hearted,
godless jailer than he did for even his own circumstances. And
point 11 will wrap us up. The 11th observation or lesson
from the founding of the Philippian church, we take from verse 33 and following. Verse 33, He took them at that
very hour of the night and washed their wounds. And immediately,
He was baptized. He washed their physical wounds. They washed His spiritual wounds. He and all His household. And He brought them into His
house and set food before them and rejoiced greatly, having
believed with God with His whole household. Everyone came to faith
that night. Now, when day came, the chief
magistrates sent their policemen saying, release those men. And
the whole thing kind of starts back over again with them. But
the point I want to focus on, by way of transitioning into
our study of the book of Philippians, is point number 11. Establishing
churches is ministry, finally, that is attended with the joy
of the Lord. Where Christ is, there is joy.
And the beautiful thing, as you begin to read the Philippian
church, it has been called the epistle of joy. And you will
see, I’ll quote the facts for you when we get there, that repeatedly
that word joy or rejoicing is used over and over and over again
in the epistle. And just like Lydia, remember
Lydia, who immediately upon her salvation showed hospitality. And that too, that magnanimity
of spirit became a characteristic of the church of Philippi. So
too, so too with the Philippian jailer. The characteristic that
is mentioned here that he rejoiced greatly is one of the chief characteristics
of the Philippian church. Am I saying to you that one woman,
Lydia, could influence a church? She could and she did. Am I saying
to you that one godless jailer converted and now rejoicing could
influence the church? He could and he did. Interesting thing about the jailer,
said one, is that he immediately confirmed and proved his conversion
by his deeds. No sooner had he turned to Christ
than he washed the wounds upon the prisoners backs, set a meal
before him. His Christianity issued there
and then in the most practical act of kindness. Unless a man’s
Christianity makes him kind, it is not Christianity at all.
Unless a man’s change of heart is guaranteed by his change of
deeds, it is a spurious and counterfeit thing.” We see a changed life
in the Philippian jailer. I don’t know what he did after
this. He was out of work because he couldn’t go back to that.
Not in the way that he did it. And so, in a sense, We wrap up
our preparation for the church of Philippi. We wrap up Church
Planting 101. Perhaps the parting thought,
the transitional thought, is that only two households of believers,
that’s it? There are some church growth
mentality that would say, you know, two households of believers. That’s a failure of a church
planting ministry. A dozen families after nine years. That’s failure in the church
planting. I remember David Brainerd considered
by many to be one of the perhaps some of you have read his biographies.
David Brainerd considered one of the greatest missionaries
that America has ever known. He had a missionary to American
Indians, Native Americans in New England. And at the apex,
his church had 27 people, 27 people. God says, take care of the depth
of ministry. and I’ll take care of the breadth
of it. God determines how many people. But we have a great opportunity
now to advance into our consideration of the Philippian epistle. You’ll
see, you’ll never hear Lydia mentioned again. You’ll never
hear the Philippian jailer mentioned again. But you’ll see their influence
is heavy and abundant upon this precious church. Let’s pray. Father God, we rejoice in the
depth of Your Word. We rejoice in the possession
of it, that You superintended the Scriptures down through the
ages to us. Lord, that You have given the
Scriptures to us in our language. Father, we pray that You would
be glorified as we continue to consider these things. We thank
you for the consideration of how the Philippian church came
into existence. We thank you for the principles
gleaned from this section. Father, we pray that you would
examine our own hearts. Are we people that rejoice in
difficulty? Father, grant us the grace as
we purpose now to consider your great epistle to the Philippian
church. It’s in Christ’s name that we pray. Amen.