The mission starts in Philippi

Acts 16:11-15

11 We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. 13 On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. 14 A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. 15 When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.’ And she prevailed upon us.

Notice the 1st person plurals in this passage – vs. 11 “we set sail”, vs. 13 “on the sabbath day we went”, vs. 15 “she prevailed upon us.” Luke the author of Acts had joined the team with Paul – the team was Paul, Silas, Timothy, and Luke and maybe others.

In the vision Paul saw a man dressed in traditional Macedonian clothing saying, “Come and help us.” Macedonia generally and Philippi specifically are not a strategic choice for advancing the gospel in Greece – Athens (the intellectual center) or Corinth (the trading center) would have been strategic choices. Philippi was out of the way and in a province (Macedonia) that the rest of Greece looked down on. (A commonly held view was that people from Macedonia were barbarians.)

On top of that there was no synagogue in Philippi. To have a synagogue required there be 10 Jewish heads of families in the community. If there were not 10 heads of families, the Jewish community would gather on Sabbath by a river near the town for prayers. And that was where Paul and Silas and the rest of the team found the small Jewish community, primarily women. And there was Lydia, a woman of financial means who sold high-end fashion (“a dealer in purple cloth”). She came to faith in Jesus, was baptized and invited the team to use her house as their base of operations in Philippi, offering them hospitality.

Jesus in Luke 10:1-8 told his disciples to go to the towns around them and join the people in what they were doing. Accepting the hospitality offered, eating what was set before them, and saying, “The kingdom of God is near you.” This story about Philippi is an example of that pattern being lived out by the team with Paul.

PRAYER:

O Lord, we rejoice that you do not do the strategic thing but rather you send people to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the outsiders and the overlooked, those looked down on and those considered lesser. May we join the overlooked and the lesser to show them your love made known to us in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.