Changed Plans: background to the book of Philippians

Have you ever made plans that didn’t work out, only to find out God had bigger plans for you?

 

It’s difficult when plans don’t work out the way you thought they would. There is feelings of discouragement and disappointments to work through. There is having to walk back promises and expectations. It is a process, but if you persevere through it and wait on the Lord, you may see what He was planning all along.

 

Sometimes you see what God was doing right away, other times it might take years. I was planning on enlisting in the Marines right out of High School. However, on a missions trip to Trinidad, God changed my plans and instead I went to Word of Life Bible Institute. Within a couple of months, my life plan changed drastically, and looking back on it, I am so thankful.

 

Proverbs 16:9

The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

 

This is truly the situation for the back story of the book of Philippians. In the coming weeks we will be walking through the book of Philippians, but tonight we will be in Acts 16, Paul’s first encounter with the city of Philippi.

 

Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke were journeying together, and it was Paul’s plan to head into Asia. Yet we see that God prevented him from going to Asia (v6) and from going to Bythnia (v7). This must have been frustrating for them on this trip.

 

But God revealed His plan to Paul in a vision. A Macedonian man cried out “come over and help us.” Paul took this as a direct word from the Lord and immediately they headed out and landed in Philippi.

 

Philippi was a Roman colony, and though it wasn’t a large city, it was an important city due to its strategic location near an important port and connected by the Roman Road “the Egnatian Way.”

 

Philippi had little or no Jewish presence at the time Paul arrived. We can surmise this from v 13 as they went to the riverside to pray rather than a synagogue. It took 10 Jewish males to form a synagogue in a city, and it seems there was none in Philippi. This leads us to understand that this Roman city was lost and in desperate need of a Gospel presence.

 

It was at the riverside that Paul began talking with the women who were gathered and preached the Gospel. A Gentile woman named Lydia’s eyes were open by God to hear the message and responded to follow Jesus in baptism. Not only that, but her whole household came to faith. Later we see that she hosted the church of Philippi in her home.

 

One thing I think is amazing here is that Lydia was from Thyatira, a city in Asia. Paul was prevented from going to Asia. Why? because God had an appointment set in Philippi for Paul to preach the Gospel to an Asian woman.

 

Although Paul’s plan didn’t come to fruition, God honored his desire by allowing him to speak to a woman from the area he wanted to go. Sometimes we make plans that will never happen the way we intended them, but God has something in store for us.

 

Next we see that Paul and Silas were imprisoned there for “disturbing the peace,” that is, casting out a demon. It’s not hard to imagine a crowd in a city arresting someone for doing the right thing.

 

Rather than being discouraged, Paul and Silas stayed up late singing hymns and praying. God sent an earthquake that set them and the other prisoners free. Paul somehow persuades the prisoners to stay in order to preserve the jailors life.

 

This act of kindness not only saves the jailors life, but also changes his eternity. The jailor took Paul and Silas home, gathered people to hear their message. God opened their eyes to the Gospel and they received it with joy and were baptized.

 

You can’t make this stuff up! God is so good. When a disruption to our plans comes up, maybe God is setting you up to receive a greater blessing by giving you the opportunity to demonstrate the Gospel through your inconvenience.

 

On that missions trip to Trinidad, my plans were to go on a construction crew and build a medical center. God sent an unusual amount of rain that year that prevented our construction from happening. This led our leader to take us out to do street evangelism and door to door evangelism. This pushed me out of my comfort zone and I dreaded it. Yet through it, God provided and opportunity for me to share the Gospel with a lady who received Jesus. My life was changed and her eternity was changed because God changed my plans.