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Divine Guidance

Acts 15:36-16:15
Pastor Mike O’Brien

God’s providence is evident in all our lives. We should be so grateful for God’s providence. When I speak of God’s providence I mean that characteristic of God whereby He sovereignly oversees our lives. The word providence, itself, has the idea of both “foresight” and “forethought”. Only an all knowing omniscient God could have such providence. And since God is all knowing and ultimately controls the Christians’ life we should follow His Divine Guidance throughout our lives. This morning we will see God’s Divine Guidance in action!

I. Divine Disagreement – 15:36-41

15:36

Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing."

Here we see, once again, Paul’s love and concern for the brethren. Paul was always desiring to encourage and disciple other believers. We need to be like this. You might remember that they did this just prior to chapter 15. You do not know how much you can encourage other believers. Now the words “and see how they are doing” are literally “see how they have it.” In other words these believers were living in tough times and Paul wanted to see how they were holding up in such precarious circumstances. You will never know how much you can mean to other believers.

I have failed many times to be an encouragement, but by God’s grace I have encouraged a few believers.

15:37

Now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark.

15:38

But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work.

The way this is written in the original displays that Paul felt an ongoing sense that John Mark should not go with them. It was not just some “off the cuff emotional” feeling Paul had. It shows that he had thought about it for a while and “kept on insisting” that they should not take John Mark.

John Mark was not able to fulfill his responsibility when Mark was with them in Perga (Acts 13:13).

15:39

Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus;

Now this word for sharp was used of a sharp blade. Here it refers to the strong feelings that each had. These were not dull feelings, but sharp feelings. John Mark was related to Barnabas, so you can see why Barnabas would defend him so vigorously.

15:40

but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.

15:41

And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

This is ironic, isn’t it? A big problem was just resolved and it seems as if yet another problem has arisen. Now I have heard many people try to decipher whether Paul or Barnabas was right. Many people claim that Paul was wrong because John Mark turned out to be helpful.

I want to present to you another view: That God sovereignly orchestrated this for His glory. In which case, both of these men were right. In fact, for all we know the fact that Paul did want to take John Mark may have helped make John Mark realize his past failures and determine not to repeat them. The point I am trying to make is that it is foolish to think that someone was right or that someone was wrong in this situation.

The fact that Paul had an ongoing feeling about not taking John Mark could have well been the Holy Spirit prodding him in that way.

I also want to say that this incident should teach us that though at times we may have a “sharp” disagreement with other believers, it does not mean that we have to be at odds with each other. These men had no hard feelings towards each other, at least not according to Scripture. In fact, we know from 1Cor. 9:6, that they did indeed minister together again (What’s more is that John Mark ministered with Paul later on.) Some conclude that they patched things up. But the Bible does not say that. I don’t think that Paul & Barnabas had to patch anything up. They went there separate ways for a time because God divinely put that in their hearts.

And notice what God did here. Paul and Barnabas were two well equipped, well experienced, godly leaders. They each were able to reproduce themselves. Barnabas poured himself into John Mark, and Paul did the same with Silas.

And notice they were being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. They were committed to the spreading the gospel, which is the grace of God.

*So we see the DIVINE DISAGREEMENT &:

II. Divine Discipleship – 16:1-5

16:1

Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek.

16:2

He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium.

Here we have Timothy appearing on the scene in the NT. He was the very epitome of the early church, in that he was Jewish and Greek! His father was likely dead based on the way this is written in the original. Plus we know that Timothy was reared by his grandmother and mother. But notice he had a good reputation. Timothy had become saved most likely during Paul’s last tour there.

16:3

Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.

Now this may appear strange at first. I mean, the Jerusalem council had concluded that a Gentile did not have to be circumcised to be saved. And Timothy was already saved and part Gentile. So why did Paul do this? Well, as always context is the key.

The context is not one of salvation, but of ministry. Paul knew that Timothy’s not being circumcised might be a stumbling block in Timothy’s ministry. So he had Timothy circumcised. Paul was willing to do anything that did not go against Scripture for the sake of the gospel. The important point there that I want to stress is that Paul would not do anything against Scripture. He later says that he would become all things to all men for the sake of the gospel.

Now this is an important point and I want us to apply this to our day. If Paul were here and he went to a church that was King James only, what version would he preach out of? He would preach out of the KJV. He would not let that issue get in the way of the gospel message. If Paul went into a region where they only sang hymns, that is what he would do. If they sang praise music, that is what he would do. That is the attitude we must have. If the great apostle Paul showed such humility on smaller issues, then what should we do? Now again Paul would never hesitate to confront false doctrine and sin.

In fact, we read in the book of 1 Corinthians that Paul “would become all things to all men to save some,” yet we also read that Paul confronted their many serious doctrinal errors.

(Now I admit I have not always had that attitude. In fact, several years ago I would probably go to a KJV only church, preach from another version and tell them why they are wrong! That is not the way we should go about things. We should not separate over smaller issues. That is true for anything in the church.)

16:4

And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.

They are still communicating what happened at the Jerusalem council. This is very important.

16:5

So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.

Now what happened as a result of their ministry? The churches were strengthened in the faith. That is the first step. Then they grew in number. A church needs to grow in faith in order to get God’s increase.

So to summarize this point, Paul had Timothy, who was half Jewish circumcised—and by the way that was no small act of obedience on Timothy’s part! But he did so as not to have an unnecessary stumbling block for the gospel.

And lastly, I want to nail this point down: If the apostle Paul humbled himself in his ministry, we all must do like-wise. And notice again the result in v. 5! If we are going to be a church that is strengthened in faith and increasing in number we have to have that attitude.

This is the correct order: 1. strengthened in the faith; 2. and increased in number daily. A church can grow in number without strengthening in faith, that is not good. God’s order is best!

*So we have seen the DIVINE DISAGREEMENT (which God used to send Paul and Barnabas there separate ways, and the DIVINE DISCIPLESHIP (where Paul picks up Timothy and disciples him in the ministry), now notice the:

III. Divine Direction – vv. 6-10

Many of us are not sure where God is leading us. In most cases in our lives, however, I want to say that it is better to let God put a stop sign up then to be stalled. In other words be active in doing some sort of ministry. If you are at OFRBC then serve God here. If God leads you to another church, town, or country then serve God there. Where ever God has you serve Him.

I love Lynchburg and I don’t really want to live anywhere else right now. And I have the opportunity to serve God here in Lynchburg. But if God moves me to Miami or Seattle or Dallas, I’ll go. But where ever I go I will serve Him, by His grace. That is how we have to approach life.

We can’t say well, “I’ll start serving God when He puts me where He wants me to serve.” We need to say as Paul did, “I’ll serve God where I am and if He puts me elsewhere I will serve Him there.”

Let’s observe this attitude put into practice:

16:6

Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.

Why did the Holy Spirit forbid them to preach the word? We don’t know. I love their reaction though. They didn’t give up. They didn’t stand still. Look at what they did:

16:7

After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.

16:8

So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.

They just kept going to minister. Now the Spirit has stopped them from going North. So now they go South to Troas.

16:9

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

God uses a vision here. Will He do that for you? Don’t count on it, but on the mission field many things happen where they don’t have God’s Word as we do. This particular area is Europe. Some believe that Paul saw Luke in this vision since the two had conversed about conditions in Macedonia. Most likely Luke is in view. Notice the plural “us.” In v. 10 we will see the plural “we.” This means that Luke was including himself here. In fact, in chapter 17 when Paul goes to Philippi, the plural “we” is dropped and used again in 20:5, when Paul and Luke are together again.

Now in a moment we will see exactly why God did this.

*Now not only have we seen DIVINE DISAGREEMENT, DIVINE DISCIPLESHIP, & DIVINE DIRECTION, but lastly notice the: