Acts 16:6-12: What does God want me to do?

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Intro

1) These are, practically, some very hard questions:

A)   Where does God want me to go?

B) What am I supposed to do with my life?

C) What is my purpose?

D)   Should I move? What career should I pursue? What job should I accept?

E) This is for people who WANT to do what God wants, but how can I KNOW what that is?

2) If would be nice if life was like Google Maps where we can just stay on the blue line and every once in a while, get a notification about a slowdown up ahead and then eventually just end up at our location.

3) In our text today I’m not going to be able to answer all these questions for you, but God has given us some great principles and examples of how he works in our lives in this text.

Where am I supposed to go, and what am I supposed to do?

1) Move. It’s easier to steer a moving car than a parked one.

A)   vv. 4-5 – Paul, Silas and Timothy were out there working.

B) Here is what I DO know: This is my paradigm to answer all questions in every situations, and it is the umbrella under which everything else falls: How can I best do God’s work and take care of his stuff?

1) How can I serve God the best?

2) Is this career going to help me shine Jesus’ light to the world?

3) How can I be the kind of husband or wife God wants me to be?

4) How can I raise the kind of kids God wants me to raise?

5) How can I best serve God’s people and be a part of God’s family?

C) Under that umbrella, do what you want (Ecc. 11:9). Use your brain and your gifts and your passions that God gave you to serve him however you want.

D)   BUT you have to do something. Sitting around just waiting for a sign or for something to happen is not a good option. You have to move.

2) Sometimes God says no (or not yet).

A)   v. 6 – “having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.”

1) Paul really wanted to go to Ephesus. This was like Antioch as a hub for commerce, religion and culture. It was a major port city with lots of travelers. This is where Paul wanted to be.

2) “Forbidden”

(a)   L/N – “to cause something not to happen”

(b)   MSG – “Their plan was to turn west into Asia province, but the Holy Spirit blocked that route.”

3) cf.

(a)   Prov. 16:9 – “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes [NASU/NKJV – directs / CSB  - determines] his steps.”

(b)   James 4:13-16 – My life is for Jesus, but I am not so arrogant to believe that I have all the answers or that I can see the big picture and know what’s best.

4) Jump ahead. In Acts 19 Paul is finally going to make it to Ephesus, but in Acts 16 it wasn’t time for him to be there yet, so God said no.

B) v. 7 – “And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.”

1) They kept moving. God said they couldn’t go west, so they went north.  

2) I don’t know why God said no, but Peter seems to have had some contact with Bithynia (1 Pet. 1:1). God has the situation under control.

3) “The spirit of Jesus” – Remember, Acts is the Acts of Jesus and what Jesus is doing in the world.

C) QUESTION: How did Jesus say no to them? The text doesn’t say.

1) Circumstantial obstacles? Physical roadblock? Earthquake? Sickness? Bridge is washed out?

2) Prophetic word from Silas? (Paul was told he would go to Jerusalem later.)

3) Just a feeling. Pay attention to the voice in the back of your head.

4) 1 Thess. 2:18 – Paul wanted to go see the Thessalonians, but Satan hindered him.

D)   POINT: I think a huge amount of our stress comes from worrying about whether or not I’m moving in a direction that God doesn’t want me to go. Listen – God knows how to say no. So long as you are working for him, go for it, and if that’s not his plan he’s perfectly capable of letting you know and closing doors.

3) Your path may not always be clear.

A)   v. 8 – “So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.”

1) So, here there are at the very edge of the continent staring at the ocean wondering what comes next.

2) Can you imagine how frustrating it must have been to just pass by all these towns and not stop to teach the Gospel and establish churches? No new converts. No new churches. Just aimless walking.

3) What did the nighttime conversations sound like? Hey Paul, where are we going tomorrow? I don’t know. Are we going to stop and preach? I don’t know. Ok, but what’s the end goal here? I don’t know.

B) Here’s what we DO know: God was funneling them right where he wanted them to be.

1) Let’s go west to Ephesus. No. Ok. Let’s go north to Bithynia. No. Ok. We really only have one option left.  

2) The key is to keep moving. If you turn your car off and stay in your garage, you’ll never get out of the driveway.

4) Decisions should not be made in isolation.

A)   vv. 9-10

1) It might seem pretty clear to us what they were supposed to do now since God gave them the Macedonian vision, but visions aren’t always as clear as we might think. Peter didn’t immediately understand what his vision meant in Acts 10.

B) If you look closely, there are a couple good lessons for us in this text.

1) cf.

(a)   v. 8 - “they”

(b)   vv. 10-11 – “we”

(c)   Luke joined the group here. Maybe this is one reason why God funneled Paul up here.

2) v. 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.”

(a)   TDNTA – Outside the Bible. This word means “to bring together,” “to reconcile,” and in philosophy “to compare,” “to infer,” “to show,” and finally “to expound.”

(b)   L/N – “to come to a solution or a decision, implying a proves of putting together different aspects of related information.”

3) Deciding where to go and what to do was a group project.

(a)   Paul did not have a private vision / dream and unilaterally tell everybody what was next. They came to the conclusion together that this was God’s will for them.

(b)   cf. 1 Cor. 12:10; 14:29; 1 Jn. 4:1; Matt. 18:20

(c)   Sometimes we need others to help us see if we are being driven either by ego or anxiety, or if this is truly the wise and Godly move to make.

4) POINT: If you have something in mind for your life, and all the people around you who love you the most and care ultimately about your soul the most are telling you that this isn’t a good idea, then maybe you should pay attention to that.

(a)   This is why it is extremely important to not be a compromiser or a yes man.

(b)   There are a lot of Proverbs about this:

(i) 27:6 – “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”

(ii)  27:9 – “Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.”

(iii)          28:23 – “Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with his tongue.”

5) Move (again).

A)   vv. 11-12 – When you have a direction…GO! Don’t sit around second guessing it, and don’t look back. It’s very frustrating when people sit around wondering about what God wants from them, and then they just sit still and do absolutely nothing about it. This is not how anything in life works.

B) cf.

1) v. 11 – It took 2 days to sail across the Aegean Sea.

(a)   “we made a direct voyage to Samothrace” = 1 day

(b)   “and the following day to Neapolis” = 1 day

2) Later, in Acts 20:6, they made the same trip in reverse and it took 5 days.

3) POINT: The wind was at their backs. God’s timing and the weather lined up perfectly to move Paul right where God wanted him. In the same way that God can close doors and say no, he can also put the wind at your back to put you where he wants you.

Summary

1) Commit to doing God’s work and taking care of his things. That is our purpose in life. Now, do what you want and get going.

2) Sometimes God says no (or not yet), and he is perfectly capable of closing doors and funneling us where he wants us. Keep moving.

3) Your path many not always be clear or obvious, Keep moving.

4) What do those around you have to say about it? Paul needed Silas, Timothy and Luke.

5) When you have a direction, GO! Don’t sit around waiting for something to happen.

6) Prov. 3:5-7 – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”