The Gospel is Taken into Europe

Acts 16:6.15

GOLDEN TEXT: “Come over into Macedonia, and help us.”—Acts 16:9

OUR lesson opens with the account of a very interesting incident in the life of St. Paul, showing the Lord’s overruling providence and direction in his service of the truth. And when we remember that our God changes not, that He is the same yesterday, today and forever, it gives us assurance that He is still careful and interested as ever in His work, and in the affairs of all His servants.

What a comfort there is in this for the Lord’s people! How completely overwhelmed we would be if we were to lose sight of this fact, and feel the weight and burden of the responsibility of the Lord’s work pressing us down. In proportion as we are able to exercise faith, trust in the Lord in regard to His work, in that same proportion are we enabled to joy in the Lord and to have the peace of God which passeth all understanding; and to have it ruling in our hearts, controlling our lives and keeping us balanced, not only regarding the things of this present time, but also concerning the glorious outcome.

This faith is largely a matter of education, too; for instance, as we observe the providential care, as taught us in this lesson and other lessons from His Word, we are more and more enabled to apply the same care and the same promises to ourselves. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

The apostle’s confidence in the Lord’s supervision of his work enabled him to read the lessons of his time, and to act accordingly with full faith respecting the results. The Lord could have directed him otherwise, and could direct us also otherwise than He does—could speak to us audibly, if He chose. We are, therefore, to presume that it is for some wise purpose as concerns the development of our faith that He requires His followers to walk by faith—not by sight, now.

When the missionaries reached Macedonia it appears that they went directly to Philippi, the principal city of that vicinity. Apparently they found no Jewish synagogue there, but outside the town they found a spot on the riverbank where services were customarily held. They evidently made no effort to seek out, and preach to the most degraded people of the city, but on the contrary sought and found some who already knew God, and reverenced and worshiped Him.

We also recognize that the present is not the time for reforming the world, but that during he Gospel age God has been seeking and gathering a little flock of faithful footstep followers of the Master. Whatever others may do, let us follow the Scriptural precedent—let us be laborers together with God in His work; the results will justify this course, when this age shall have fully ended and its accomplishments are revealed.

The text of the apostle’s discourse is not given. We may feel sure, however, that he gave a message which reminded his hearers of God’s promises made to Abraham and pointed out that they were beginning to be fulfilled; that Messiah had come and in His death had provided the ransom price for the world, and that now forgiveness, reconciliation to God, and the privilege of membership in His Kingdom were being offered, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile; and that whoever accepted the call in honesty of heart, and was faithful to it, would have not only the joy and peace of the Lord’s spirit and blessing in the present time, but also a share in the glory to follow by and by.

In the audience was a woman from Thyatira, of the very district (Asia Minor) into which the apostle was not permitted to enter and preach. It is presumed that Lydia was well to do in this world’s goods, as well as being rich in faith toward God. Like the apostle she had sought out a place of prayer, and now the Lord had rewarded her and answered her prayers by sending her the truth for which she had been hungering and thirsting. She and some of her household believed and were promptly baptized in confession of their faith—possibly on this very Sabbath day in which they first heard.

The attitude of Lydia’s heart is noted in the lesson, in the words, “whose heart the Lord opened.” We are not to suppose a miracle was wrought in her case, to open her heart to the truth; but rather to suppose that it was in her case as it is in the case of all the Lord’s people, that no one is ready for the truth unless the Lord has prepared his heart. And how often this preparation of heart means trials, disappointments, difficulties, etc., processes by which the Lord breaks up and mellows and makes the soil of our hearts fit for the reception of His truth and grace.

Having received the truth and some of its joy, Lydia not only confessed the Lord, but sought means to serve Him. She could not join the apostle’s party of evangelists of the good tidings, but she could entertain the Apostle Paul and his associates, and did so. Apparently her sole desire was to serve the Lord, and she saw the opportunity for this in rendering service to His representatives.

QUESTIONS:

What is the secret of peace and joy in the Lord which passes human understanding?

Is it God’s plan that the world should be converted during this age?

What may we reasonably suppose was the subject matter of the Apostle Paul’s sermon at Philippi?

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