The heart of God meets Philippi. Philippians 1.3

The heart of God is so full of love we have no way of comprehending it.   

The heart of God desires one thing—to love and be loved by humanity.

The heart of God shows no partiality; he is an equal opportunity lover. 

Paul told us he does not play ‘favorites’ in our just-finished study of Romans.  There is no partiality with God, he wrote.  Or as another translation of the same verse states it, God pays no attention to this world’s distinctions.1

The church at Philippi serves as a grand expression of God’s heart.  (captured in Acts chapter 16 ) The story of Paul’s stay in Philippi centers around three people—three very different people.  But before we discuss them, let’s consider Philippi herself.  Paul was quite strategic about the places he chose to preach, so why Philippi?  The city was a commercial center in the ancient world for several reasons: location, gold and silver mines, Philippi’s status as a Roman colony, and maybe most importantly, the main road that traveled through the town, which linked Rome with her eastern provinces.  All of which made it a prime location for the introduction of the good news of Jesus Christ.

Upon arriving in a new town, it was Paul’s custom to go first to the synagogue, but there was none in Philippi, which indicates there were few Jews in town.  And so the missionaries went to the river just outside of town to look for a place of prayer.2   At the river, Paul does indeed find a small group of the faithful.  Lydia, a successful businesswoman whose business was ‘purple’ was among this prayerful group. Purple??  She traded in purple garments—purple, in fact, came from her home town of Thyatira.3,4

The men sat down and told the group about the Savior; Lydia opened her heart to Jesus Christ, along with her household, and was baptized.  (That was quite handy to be next to a river!)  So grateful to Paul, Lydia insisted, ‘Come and stay at my house’.  And she persuaded us, Paul noted.

First convert in Philippi – Lydia. 

Day after day, as the new Christians and Paul made their way to the river for fellowship and prayer, a demon-possessed slave girl would shout their presence as they walked through town.  (Can you picture that?)  “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!”5  And it left . . . along with the money she made for her owners fortune-telling.  Utt-oh.

Her owners grabbed Paul and Silas and brought them before the authorities, who ordered them to be beaten with rods and thrown into prison.  The jailer was sternly warned to carefully guard them, so he put both battered men in stocks down in the inner prison.  But about midnight as Paul and Silas were praying and singing praise songs to God, there was a great earthquake which caused the jail doors to be opened, and chains to fall off.  (Look at God’s response to Paul and Silas’s prayerful praise!)  Sure that Paul and Silas had escaped, the jailer prepared to kill himself, until Paul shouted, ‘No…we are all here!  Do not harm yourself.’ 

The jailer yelled for someone to bring him a torch so he could see, and looked at Paul and then Silas, and realized that he wanted to know the God they served.  After all, these men were like no others he had ever encountered!  After being forcefully beaten, stretched out on stocks in the cold damp prison cell, they praised their God!  That was anything but normal---peace, joy even while they suffered?  And well, he reasoned with himself, ‘it had to be God who caused that earthquake!’  ‘Please tell me how I can be saved?’  he urgently pleaded.  To which Paul responded, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, and your household.”  The jailer and all of his family members put their trust in Christ that night, and were baptized, adding to the number of Christians in that town called Philippi. 

“I thank my God every time I remember you,” Paul wrote in his letter to the friends he had made there—three of whom we are now aware—the wealthy Asian businesswoman, Lydia, the set-free Greek slavegirl, and the Roman jailer.  Paul’s heart mirrors the heart of God, who loves and draws each and every one of us to himself . . . no partiality, no consideration of gender, race, or social status.  God just does not play favorites, and I for one, am glad!

Grace and peace,

Christine

PastorWoman.com

1   Romans 2.11

2  When there was no synagogue in town, or it was unsafe for Jews to openly worship God, it was customary to go outside the city and establish a ‘place of prayer’, often by a river.

3  Purple dye was derived from the shellfish in the waters of Thyatira

4 Thyatira is present day Akhisar, Turkey

5  Acts 16.18