COME OVER…AND HELP US
ACTS 16: 6-15 NOVEMBER 24, 2002
ACTS 16:6-15
6Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
11From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. 12From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
13On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Help! Help! Those words very often call us to attention. If we’re willing and able, we are often anxious to help as much as we can. We would even help strangers whom we’ve never met before if they are in dire need. Now, why would you and I help anyone (especially people we might not even know)? Simply because, as scripture reminds us, it is the Lord who has helped us first. So, in our entire life, even though we may not think about it, all the things that we do and say, we do because of the Lord’s help for us.
The psalm-writer describes it this way. He says, "I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me. The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation"(PSALM 118:13,14). Because of that, you and I are changed. We are different than the unbelievers in this world who are not anxious to help anyone at all except themselves. When you and I hear, ‘Help! Help!’, we are anxious to come to help them. It reminds us of our text where the man from Macedonia says, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." We’re going to use that as our theme today as we look at the inspired words that God has placed before us.
COME OVER…AND HELP US
I. A gospel call from God Himself
II. A gospel call for souls to be saved
I. A gospel call from God Himself
Paul and his friends were on their second missionary journey. They were re-visiting some of the congregations that they had made on their first journey. When they were coming to the end of seeing those congregations and the believers there, Paul wanted to expand his trip. He wanted to go north into Asia. We’re told, 6Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. So Paul had made plans, plans to visit the congregations that he had been at before, and then plans to go north into Asia. What do we see here? They were not God’s plans, were they? The Spirit prevented him from going there. But what are we told again? When they came to the border of Mysia they tried to enter Bithyneia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. They passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. Again, this region was a little north, so they continuing on to the coast. Troas was on the coast. If you picture in your mind, Paul traveled west, hoping to go into what is now Greece and Italy. Paul wanted to go and preach the gospel. The Holy Spirit said, ‘Not yet. Now is not the time to go north.’ The time would come soon, wouldn’t it?
We find in the next verse of our text, 9During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." Here they were on the coast of Asia Minor (on today’s map). Looking across the sea was Macedonia. The man said, ‘Come over and help us.’ What do you think? Paul hears this ‘come help us’ and he’s like any other believer, he’s going to try his best to come help those who have called for help. 10After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. It was true. The Lord used a vision at times to direct His people, especially in the Old Testament and in the early New Testament. The vision directed them as to what they should do. When this man from Macedonia called, ‘Come over, help us!’ Paul realized this was a gospel call from God. We’re told they got ready at once. The next day, after a nights rest, Paul and his friends went to Macedonia to preach the gospel because someone had said, ‘Come over and help us.’
The Lord throughout the scriptures reminds us very clearly of His gospel call to go out and preach to men. When He visited with the disciples when they were in Jerusalem, He said they would be witnesses in Jerusalem and Samaria, even unto the ends of the earth. In the gospel of Mark, He told His disciples as He reminds us today: "Jesus said to them, ’Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation’"(MARK 16:15). So you and I have received that gospel call from God Himself, to declare the praises of Him to the ends of the earth. Now we realize that we can’t do that on our own. Probably very few of us if any, will ever go overseas to preach the gospel. Yet how well we know of people who have gone in our place. As a group of people who have joined together as a congregation, then as congregations have joined together to form a synod, we are able to pool our resources and send people in our place to share that message of salvation because the gospel call is from God Himself.
This gospel call from God Himself also came to us. We don’t want to forget that. It’s already the reason why we would help anyone—because we are believers. Why would the Lord call us instead of someone else? It is God’s decision, His choice is upon us. So you and I have been called by the gospel from very early on when we were baptized. The Lord changed our hearts so we could understand the gospel and rejoice in the fact that we are His children, children of light rather than children of darkness. Paul puts it this way. He says, "He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ"(2 THESSALONIANS 2:14). You and I no longer sit in the darkness, but we sit in the light. We share in God’s glory and His glory is heaven itself. Because we have received that gospel call from God Himself, it makes us believers.
He tells us why. We may not understand why He has chosen us and not someone else, but He tells us why we are chosen to preach the gospel. Those familiar words from 1 Peter 2:9 where He gives us a description of what you and I are called as believers…all different kinds of titles as believers and then he tells us why at the end: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light"(1 PETER 2:9).
As you and I have received the gospel call, we have received it, not to hide it in our hearts, not to hide it in our homes, but to share it with others who still sit in darkness. Imagine that! Again, the Lord gives us our motivation. Scripture reminds us because now, you are God’s people, you are His children, you belong to Him. What a joy it is to let others know that they belong to Him also. There are those in this world who say, ‘Come over…and help us.’ We can do that because that is a gospel call from God Himself! It is a gospel call for souls to be saved.
II. A gospel call for souls to be saved
You can imagine the excitement of Paul when he got up the next day after seeing that vision, realized that the Lord had said, ‘Now you can go east. You can go over to Macedonia.’ We’re told that once they got up and got ready---From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. The winds were favorable, they didn’t hit any storms. They sailed straight toward Samothrace. God was guiding that ship. They went to the next town Neapolis. And they continued…From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. Now here, Paul and his companions were going to do some gospel work, some preaching and teaching. We find that later on a congregation was established there as he writes a letter to the Philippians.
The city of Philippi was not the biggest town in Macedonia, but it was an important town. It was called the gateway to the east because the trade route went through that city. Many travelers stopped in there before going on to their destination in the east. Many travelers stopped in on the way back too. What do we find here? We find a city that doesn’t have many believers—it is a Roman colony. On the Sabbath Paul and his companions cannot find a synagogue to worship in. We’re told: 13On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. They didn’t go to the synagogue because there wasn’t any synagogue there. It took only ten Jewish men to establish a synagogue, so there weren’t even ten Jewish men in the city. If there were, they hadn’t gotten together to establish a synagogue. Instead, Paul and his companions went outside the city to the river where there often was a place of prayer. We’re told they sat down and visited with the women that were there. Many of the women had come on this Sabbath day, not recognizing it as the Sabbath day because they were unbelievers, came there to do their wash and to gather water. They came there to visit. We find when Paul and his companions are there, they don’t talk about the weather, they don’t talk about their chores, but they talk about the gospel. They talk about Christ. 14One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. Already, she knew who God was. Now, Paul told her the rest of the story, and the Lord opened her heart. Again, describing God’s grace, it wasn’t Paul who had done anything. He was just talking with her, just telling her what he knew and what the scriptures revealed about the Son of God. We’re told: The Lord opened her heart.
It’s always important to remember God’s grace. His choice is upon His people. Not only was she saved, but we’re told: 15When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." She was baptized, she gathered the members of her household together. They heard the message and were baptized. The Lord opened their hearts so that they would believe. We see that she practices her first fruit of Christian faith; she shows Christian charity and hospitality when she invites Paul and his companions to come into the house to stay with them. Of course Paul wasn’t expecting that. He was expecting that they would have to find their own lodging. The Lord had opened her heart to believe; the Lord had opened her heart to show a gift of love to these men. At the end of our text, we’re told these words: " And she persuaded us.” Paul listened to this invitation and went to her house. They enjoyed Christian fellowship because the gospel call from God (which Paul had received and had now extended to Lydia and her household) had borne fruit.
Today we’re at the end of the Sundays of the church year. As we listen to the readings we realize the urgency that the church faces every year at the end of the church year…in essence, the Lord is coming and He’s coming soon. Every day that passes by means we are a day closer to Judgement Day. Every day we are reminded that time grows shorter for us to shine like lights in this sin-darkened world. The Lord reminds us that He is on our side to strengthen us, to help us. He is on our side so that we might share that good news with others. We don’t always share it with our words, but very often we share it with our actions. Just like when we hear the call to help. We help people without stopping to think that we’re doing it because the Lord has helped us. We help people without stopping to think, ‘What am I going to get in return for this?’ We help them because of unselfish love which the Lord has shown to each one of us. As we help our fellow man, whether we know them or not, whether we’re friends with them or not, we’re reminded that we’re doing these deeds of kindness as unto God Himself. When Jesus returns and divides His sheep from the goats will say: ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me’"(MATTHEW 25:40). We probably don’t stop to think of that very often do we? As we help our fellow man, it is as if we are helping Jesus, Himself because we are doing for the sake of our Savior, Christ, the Lord.
We’ve grown so accustomed to having faith and of believing, that we do all of these things-- not looking for a reward, not looking for repayment, not thinking ‘what a good person I am.’ We do them as part of our second nature, our Christian nature…called by God to share the gospel with others. There are also times that we need to share the gospel with words too, isn’t there? We have to tell people, when it seems like there is no hope left for them, that there is hope. We tell people when it seems like everything comes crashing down around them, that there still is One who cares for them. The hard part today is that people today aren’t going to be like this man from Macedonia saying, ‘Come over and help us.’ We have to look very carefully sometimes for people that need our help. They may never ask for help, but by their other words and by their actions, we can see if they are in need of the help of the gospel. You and I and every believer are on the front lines as we share that gospel with others. We run into people from time to time, and maybe day after day, who need that encouragement that God has forgiven their sins. You and I are entrusted with that message. Paul says in Romans: "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"(ROMANS 10:14). We could say how could they hear without someone telling them. They can’t. We need to pay attention to those who say, ‘Come over and help us.’ We can do that on a personal level.
We also do that as members of a Christian congregation and as congregations formed together in a synod. We send out missionaries to Japan, Russia, Africa, and throughout the entire world. The Lord reminds us, sometimes very vividly, how that fruit is seen in the preaching of the gospel. A little more than fifty years ago we started our work in Africa. At the place where it was started, there are now forty thousand believers centered around that area in our African church because the gospel call was heard. Thankfully we have men who are willing to go there to serve these people. Thankfully we have people who are anxious to hear—who say, ‘Come over and help us’ because they too, desire the gospel message. Sometimes we feel a long ways away from all of those things—the glamour of mission work in foreign fields, if we would call it that. You and I realize the closeness that you and I have with every offering that we bring to the Lord, with every prayer that we pray on their behalf. This brings us closer to our brothers and sisters in Christ though they might be half a world away. That too, is something you and I can do. The Lord tells us: ’The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field’"(LUKE 10:2). He says, ‘Ask…pray.’ Pray fervently that the gospel would continue to be preached to the ends of the world. Pray fervently that the gospel would not be outlawed, or banned in governments unlike our government. Pray fervently for missionaries to be strengthened in their gospel call to call others with the gospel!
It all started very simply with Paul having a vision as he slept at night. The man from Macedonia said, ‘Come on over and help us.’ Paul did and the church began to spread onto another continent. From time to time, you and I may hear people say to us, ‘Come over and help us.’ We may see people who would like to say, ‘Come over and help us.’ We’re anxious and willing to go just as we would help anyone in trouble, because it is a gospel call from God Himself. It is a gospel call for lost souls to be saved.
The Lord reminds us to be like Isaiah. Isaiah was questioned by the Lord…"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ’Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ’Here am I. Send me!’"(ISAIAH 6:8). ‘Come over and help us!’ Here am I. Send me! Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
