Acts 16:13-24 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Acts 16:13-24. Let’s go!
Acts 16:13-24 (NIV)
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.
14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.
17 This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”
18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.
19 When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.
20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar
21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten.
23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.
24 Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
On verses 13-24: Paul, Silas and their team are now in the city of Philippi. Here Luke describes two incidents where, while on the way to pray, Paul, Silas and their team have memorable encounters with different people. The two encounters Luke describes in these verses show us two very different approaches to God and money.
First they meet Lydia, a new convert to Christianity. Lydia was probably a wealthy businesswoman. The fact that she specialized in selling purple cloth suggests that her clients may have been members of royalty. When Lydia receives Jesus Christ into her life, her first inclination is to use the resources she has to serve the church and its leaders. She opens up her home to them (v15) as well as to other Christians (see v40).
Next they meet a slave girl who was influenced by an evil spirit. This slave girl’s owners used her as a fortune teller to make money for them. We see the power of Jesus’ name to set this slave girl free from an evil spirit. Unfortunately the girl’s masters are not happy to see her set free because it disrupted their fortune telling business. They were so distracted by greed that they could not see that they were abusing this girl and could not appreciate the power of God when it was right in front of them. They complain to the government about what Paul and Silas are doing. They claim that Paul and Silas are “advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice” (21), when in fact their real concern is about losing the chance to make money from their own unjust business practices. The magistrates flog, beat and imprison Paul and Silas, the very people whose message was the only thing that could give them true life and true riches.
What can we learn from this? These two encounters – one with Lydia and one with the slave girl’s owners – illustrate two opposite approaches to God and money. Let’s pray that we would be like Lydia and not like the slave owners. Like Lydia, may we welcome Christ’s work in our lives and generously offer what we have materially to serve Him and His church. May we not be so distracted by worldly wealth like the slave girl’s masters that we use and abuse people, at the same time pushing Christ and His church away and missing the real purpose of our lives.
Holy Spirit, may the Word of God renew and transform the way I think about money, that I wouldn’t be controlled by greed and thus abuse the people in my life. Instead like Lydia may I give generously from what I have to equip Your church, knowing that it’s one of the biggest reasons why You bless me with anything at all. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
