Acts 16:1-10 Circumcision and the Will of God
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 16:1-10, page 924 in the pew Bibles. This morning we are going to look at the beginning of Paul’s second missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas had decided to separate, Barnabas took John Mark and sailed along the coast to Cyprus, and Paul took Silas and headed inland toward Syria and Cilicia.
Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” I think you’ll see that principle at work as we look at our text this morning.
Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.
6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Let’s pray.
I want to put up a map of Paul’s second missionary journey so we can get a better handle on what was going on.
When Paul and Barnabas went together, they sailed to Cyprus first, then went as far as Lystra and Derbe, and back again to Antioch by Sea from Attalia, which is just southwest of Lystra on this map.
So, when Paul and Silas set out, they went inland to Derbe as you can see, and Barnabas sailed to Cyprus with John Mark and then we lose track of Barnabas. That was the last time he gets mentioned in Scripture.
In Lystra they meet a young disciple named Timothy. Timothy was probably around sixteen years old. He most likely came to Christ through the ministry of Paul on his first trip there when Timothy would have been twelve or thirteen.
Timothy’s mother was a Jewish believer, as was his grandmother, but his father was a pagan Greek, not a believer in Jesus. Paul mentions Timothy’s mother and grandmother by name in 2 Timothy 1:15, Lois was his grandmother, and Eunice was his mother.
Timothy was well known in Lystra and was well spoken of by the brothers there. He was a solid kid and Paul wanted to take him with them in place of John Mark.
All cool, but here comes the question mark. Look at verses 1-3.
Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
Anything stick out to you? Paul had Timothy circumcised. Wasn’t chapter fifteen of Acts all about how you don’t have to be circumcised to be a Christian? What happened to being saved by faith alone? Paul refused to circumcise Titus, who was a Gentile, when he brought him to Jerusalem according to Galatians 2.
So that’s the big question here, why did Paul circumcise Timothy?
Timothy’s mother was Jewish but his father was a Greek, a Gentile. Because his father was a Greek, he would not have had his son circumcised, but because his mother was Jewish the people around him considered him to be Jewish too. This was the traditional view, that if the mother was Jewish the child was too. And what I read was that the reason for this was very simple and pragmatic: you can prove who the child’s mother was when they were born, the father… not so much.
Paul did not circumcise Timothy in order for him to be saved, nor to strictly adhere to the Law of Moses. It was much more practical than that. As it says in verse 3, the Jews in those places knew Timothy, they knew his mother was Jewish, and they knew his father was a Greek, which meant, they knew he wasn’t circumcised and they would not have anything to do with him. The uncircumcised were an offense to the Jewish people at the time, and an uncircumcised Jew would have been even worse.
This was an example of the principle that Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22,
19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
By the mercy of God, Timothy did the same, to put the need of salvation of the unsaved before his own comfort.
4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.
This was what they intended to do when they set out from Antioch, to visit the churches that they had planted and to encourage them in their faith in Jesus. That was their plan, but the Lord established their steps…
6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
I just want to point out a cool tidbit and then I’ll tell you a story.
Do you remember who wrote the book of Acts? Luke. Do you know where Luke was from? Troas. Do you know how we know that? Verse ten.
8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Luke switches back to saying “they,” in chapter 17, and back to, “we,” in chapter 20 to the end of the book. Just an interesting tidbit.
So getting back to the story. He we see the way planned in the heart of Paul got a couple of, “No’s,” from the Holy Spirit. He wanted to preach in Asia and the Spirit said, “NO.” He wanted to go and preach in Bithynia and the Spirit again said, “NO.” So they continued on to Troas where they met Luke and Paul receives a vision of a man from Macedonia begging for his help.
George MacDonald wrote, “Nothing makes a man strong like a call for help.”
I thought it might be encouraging for you at this point to hear my own story of a Macedonian call and how the Holy Spirit uses, “NO’s,” to accomplish His will in our lives.
As you may know, I served in a church in Maine for five years before moving to Ossipee fourteen years ago, but what you may not know is that Ossipee was not on my radar at all. In fact it was just the opposite. I knew about the church here and had driven by a few times over the years, and I knew that they were looking for a pastor. But I had been counselled by those I trusted and who knew the situation in the church at the time to stay away, that there were problems in the church that I didn’t want to get involved in. So I stayed away, I didn’t think about it again.
My heart’s desire at the time was to serve the Lord Jesus in His church somewhere. My time had run out in the church that I had been serving, and it was clearly time for us to move on, much to my wife’s chagrin.
I had been offered several other opportunities in other churches to serve, in my parent’s church as youth pastor, a church on the coast of Maine had invited me to consider serving as pastor there. I had an opportunity to work in a replanting effort in one town, and a new planting effort in another. I didn’t get fired from the church I was serving as associate pastor at so I could have stayed there too though I really didn’t want to.
So late one night, while staying at our camp, the Lord woke me up with rain splashing through the bedroom window onto my face. I got up and closed the window and tried to go back to sleep. No luck. I tossed and turned for what felt like hours.
Finally I figured the Lord wanted to talk to me so I simply said, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”
Immediately I felt a weight on my chest like someone was sitting on me. I knew that the Lord had something to say. Of course the question that was constantly on my heart at the time was, “Where do we go next?” And the Lord answered my question.
I could see in my mind’s eye, as clearly as I see you now, a picture of this very church building, looking up from the entrance to the parking lot. I knew it was West Ossipee. I also knew that I was told to stay away from here.
At this point I offered other suggestions to the Lord, “What about Bethel, what about Port Clyde, what about Bridgton, what about Center Harbor, what about Oxford?” They each got their own, “NO,” from the Lord.
Finally, I relented and said, “Ossipee? Ok…” and immediately fell back to sleep.
This was fifteen years ago now as there were a bunch of hurdles to jump over. But the point of the story is how the Lord Jesus used those, “NO’s,” to establish my steps even though my heart had planned my way, just like He did with the apostle Paul.
The secret to discerning the Lord’s will is, above all else, to seek His kingdom first, His righteousness, and He will make your paths straight. If your desire is for His glory and not your own, by His mercy, He will set you on the right path every time.
Amen.
