acts 16:6-16:10

acts 16:6-10

6. They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia;
7. and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them;
8. and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.
9. 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."
10. When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

restarted...

a. preaching in turkey, heading north and west

paul and (a now circumcised) timothy are working through turkey and are heading generally north and west of the terrain covered on paul's first journey.

b. forbidden in asia

luke mentions that they passed through phrygia and galatia since they had been 'forbidden by the holy spirit to speak the word in asia'.
huh? let's break it down, hip hop stylez.

asia:

the roman province, not the continent.
the province was on the far western edge of turkey; they'll come here later (it's where ephesus is), but they weren't allowed at this time.

not allowed?

luke doesn't say how they knew were not allowed; really, he doesn't tell us much.
if we're not told something in the bible, that means we probably don't need to know.

it's easy to get hung up about this piece. don't. move on, it's not important. what is important is that they weren't allowed.

c. forbidden in bithynia

mysia? bithynia? what is this crap?

mysia was the province in the north west, right near modern day istanbul/constantinople.
bithynia was the province directly east of there.
since they were in mysia, this puts our plucky heroes rather near the bosphurus.

the spirit of jesus...would not permit them into bithynia?

the spirit of jesus...pretty much everyone agrees this is the holy spirit.
please note that we have no idea how the holy spirit prohibited them from heading further east into bithynia.

so...rather than going east, they go west into troas.

the state is the main port to greece...
trivia...'troy', as in the illiad...was here.

note that v.10 marks the first use of 'we' in acts.

it is generally assumed that luke is from troas.
he switches to we after this until they swing back by to troas; he switches to we the next time paul comes through troas too...

d. called to europe (macedonia)

having been denied twice, paul receives a vision of a man from macedonia calling him to come and help them.
in the morning, they decide this is the call of god and go for it.

1. this is an example of how paul/timothy experienced working out the specific will of god.

2 prohibitions, followed by an opportunity.

2. a few things worth noting about their experience...

- they seem to have been trying things that made sense

paul and timothy had their way blocked twice
almost certainly, that means they were trying to go places without having been specifically 'led' there. (i.e. god didn't say go to bithynia and then denied them entrance.)

this is in contrast to feeling that you need to know a specific plan of god for you before you do anything.

- extrapolating into paul's other writings...there are times when he definitely knew the will of god and times when he didn't.

knowing the will of god:

acts 21:7-14 paul is told that he will be bound by the jews and delivered to the gentiles in jerusalem.

acts 21:11 "the jews at jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt [paul] and deliver him into the hands fo the gentiles"

also see christ's encouragement to him in corinth...

not knowing the will of god:

we are not promised foreknowledge of the will of god
scripture is full of examples and exhortations that show a lack of knowledge about the specific will of god in a situation.
rom 15:24...paul hopes to visit rome on his way to spain.
1 cor 4:19 "i will come to you if the lord wills"
1 cor 16:7 "i hope to remain with you for some time, if the lord permits"
and not paul, but great... james 4:13-17 "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."

- paul is definitely focused on acting within the will of god and encouraging others to do so.

god's will is for the gospel to be spread (paul was specifically called for a particular job, too).
god's will is for the church to grow and mature.
god's will is for believers to be christlike.
god's will be specifically revealed beyond this at times prior to it occuring.

1. desire the known will of god.

i.e. work to be christlike and to do christlike actions; participate in the spread of the gospel.

people often wish god would appear to them and declare what he wants them to do.
he already has, with quite a bit of specificity.

we don't usually like the answer though...
"live for others" is a lot better in the abstract.

- what do you worry about? this is what you want.

note: god does not want to hide his will from you.

we frequently believe that there is a specific will but that god wants to 'hide' it from us. there is no basis for believing that god hides his will from us or has any desire for us to not know what he desires for us.

2. don't believe that you should know the non-moral will of god for a situation before it occurs.

this does happen biblically. but it also doesn't happen all the time.
if you receive guidance from god, great. if not, don't fret.

3. 5 practical steps towards the will of god.

1. pray about the issue

matt. 6:10 'your kingdom come. your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
phil 4:6 be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

2. ensure that the action isn't sinful

(this is a carrying out of point 2 in the 'know section' concerning the action)
- does the action conflict with the known will of god?

(see point 2 in the things to know section)
if the action is sinful, it's safe to say that god doesn't want you to do it.

3. identify motives, analyze information

the goal here is to answer the question of 'why do i believe i should do this?"
- avoid negative motivation : does my motivation conflict with the known will of god?

- verify positive motivation : why do i desire to do this?

what are the reasons you want to do this? do they accord with the known will of god?
- if you have received direct revelation from god that this is his specific desire for you (a la jonah "go to ninevah"), then you can consider that a satisfactory answer to this question.
- if not...you need to look at why you desire the action

desire, that accords with what we know from the bible to be biblical desire, can be followed.
- christian desire should match the desires of god

rom 1:11 for I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;
phil 2:19 "but i hope in the lord jesus to send timothy to you shortly, so that i also may be encouraged when i learn of your condition"
1 cor 16:12 "but concerning apollos our brother, i encouraged him greatly to come to you with the bretheren; and it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity."

4. act in confidence

this is an encouragement to avoid unnecessary guilt and worry.
we often doubt and worry about our decisions; i am arguing that our worry should be restricted to the above 3 steps, and that if we have meet these criteria, then we shouldn't allow ourselves to worry.
see matt 6:25-34 prohibiting worry (specifically about the future and provision though)

the other half of this is a principle pulled from biblical example

5. evaluate : is it effective?

jesus' instruction to the 12 when they go out...enter a city...and if you're not received, move on. the instruction is to evaluate to see how effective the ministry is; if it is stay, if it isn't, leave.

matt 10:14 "and whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the cust of your feet."

don't panic! god is kind and loving. he is not trying to trick you. micah 6:6-8

8. He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?