Wednesday
Wednesday
Mission in Macedonia
During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
Acts 16:9
The most notable feature of Paul’s second missionary expedition is that for the first time the good seed of the gospel was planted in European soil. Luke tells us of Paul’s vision or dream, in which a Macedonian stood begging for help. Some have conjectured that he was none other than Luke himself, whom Paul had just met and whose presence is affirmed by the first of his “we” sections.
During the mission in Philippi, Luke tells us of three interesting converts. The first was Lydia, a wealthy businesswoman from Thyatira, in whose house the church later met. The second was an anonymous slave girl who made money for her masters by fortune-telling. And the third was the Roman jailer who asked what he must do to be saved. It would be hard to imagine three more different people. Racially, socially, and psychologically, they were worlds apart. Yet they were united in Christ, even if Paul’s exhortations to unity in his Letter to the Philippians may betray some tensions in the church.
From Philippi the missionaries moved on south to Thessalonica, the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. For three Sabbaths running, Paul reasoned with people out of the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. Next, he proclaimed Jesus, telling the story of his birth, life, death, and resurrection. Then he put two and two together, identifying the Jesus of history with the Christ of Scripture, saying, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ” (17:3). Unbelieving Jews soon started a riot, and the missionaries had to be smuggled out of the city by night. They then journeyed to Berea. Luke immediately tells us that the Bereans were more open-minded than the Thessalonians in that they examined the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul was saying was true.
One particular aspect of both the Thessalonian and the Berean missions was people’s serious attitude to the Scriptures. For example, Paul in Thessalonica reasoned, explained, proved, proclaimed, and persuaded, while in Berea the Jews diligently examined the Scriptures. As Bengel wrote, “A characteristic of the true religion is that it suffers itself to be examined into.”
For further reading: Acts 17:1–4, 10–11