Paul and his companions have been on a journey through modern-day Turkey encouraging and strengthening the churches that they had planted there. Having finished that objective, our text today begins by saying that they were “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.” Then, in verse 7, we are told that “they attempted to go into Bithynia,” but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. We don’t know why the travelers were unable to go to certain places. All we know is that they ended up at Troas where Paul had a dream.

He had a dream of a Macedonian man urgently saying to him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” The next morning, as Paul told his traveling companions about this, they concluded that God had called them to go to Macedonia and “preach the gospel to them.”

So, immediately, they made plans to go into Macedonia. And even as we are held in suspense for a moment about what is going to happen, we might be wishing to say to the man in the dream, “Hang on buddy! Help is on its way!”

Help? What kind of help might the Macedonian man be looking for? And how is it that Paul and his companions think that “preaching the gospel” would provide the help wanted?

In the story that follows, Paul and his companions arrive in Philippi. From there they go to Thessalonica and then to Berea, before Paul ends up in Athens. They are on a mission. They have not gone there on vacation or to sightsee. They have gone to help. They have gone with good news, the gospel, and this good news is ultimately about what we are celebrating today: the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead. It is the announcement of the resurrection that answers every cry for help.

Why can the resurrection be the help that is needed? How does the resurrection help? And for whom can it provide help? Let’s begin at the end of our passage this morning. Let’s go with Paul to Athens.

Athens: Why the Resurrection Can Help

It is here in Athens that we see most clearly why the resurrection provides the help we need.

The Gospel and Philosophy

We’ll take a deeper look at what happens to Paul in Athens next week. Today, we simply touch on the passage, glancing at the first three verses (vv. 16-18). We are told that Paul was irked by the fact that this city was full idols. Consequently, he began to dialogue with anyone and everyone, whether in the synagogue with the Jews or in the marketplace with the Gentiles.

The picture we might have in our mind is Paul engaging in a religious argument, an argument about gods and idols, about altars and worship and sacrifices. These things come up, but only because they are part of a larger conversation, a conversation about philosophy.

Philosophy, especially in the ancient Greco-Roman world, was all about everyday life. [1] It was all about the art of living, and ancient Athens was one place where the various philosophers argued and debated about the best way to live this normal, everyday life. Paul seems to think that the gospel has something to add to that conversation.

Epicureans and Stoics

Verse 18 tells us that what Paul had to say caught the attention of “some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers” who began to converse with him.

You’ve probably heard about these two ancient philosophies. They had places in which they overlapped, but they were also competing philosophies. They both had to do with how one should go about living his or her life in the best way possible. And they are still prevalent today.

In fact, Epicureanism is probably the default philosophical position of people living in the modern Western world. Epicureans might believe that “the gods” exist, but they don’t have much to do with us here on earth. The best way to live one’s life, says a good Epicurean, is to live like these gods—happily detached from the concerns of life and enjoying relative happiness and tranquility.[2]

Stoicism, on the other hand, was essentially pantheistic: the divine could be found in everything, and the best way to live was to live in continuity with the divine that was to be found everywhere in the natural world. And Stoicism is making a comeback of sorts in the Western world. What is it all about? According to one modern-day Stoic, it’s about being “more resilient, happier, more virtuous and more wise–and as a result, better people, better parents and better professionals.”[3]

In other words, Stocism is about living life “in the real world” better. So, also, of course, is Epicureanism.

So also is Christianity. At least, Paul seemed to think so. But only because of the resurrection. As Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, Christianity would have nothing to offer to this conversation were it not for the resurrection. “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’”

Jesus and the Resurrection

So, on and on he went, talking about Jesus and the resurrection, verse 18 tells us. Some of the Athenians identified him as a “babbler,” someone who picks up scraps of ideas here and there.[4]

Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities,” which is quite a serious charge. More on that later, but for now we note that the reason this charge was made was because Paul kept going on and on about “Jesus and the resurrection,” something that the Athenians had not heard before, and evidently something they took to be “foreign divinities.” Divinities in the plural: Paul talked so much about Jesus and the resurrection that they thought he was talking about both as some kind of divine male and female pair: Jesus and Anastasia.[5]

Of course they had that wrong, but the point I’m making is how they got that idea. They got it because Paul kept talking about it and talking about it as a better answer to the question that the Stoics and Epicureans were trying to answer.

And so the question for us: are we being heard this way? Are we known for going on and on about Jesus and the resurrection, not as the answer to the question about what happens to us when we die, but as the answer to the question about what is life all about, and how can we go about living it in the best possible way?

Easter Sunday is not simply proof that what Jesus accomplished on the cross was a success, nor simply some demonstration that God can do amazing things. It is the beginning of a new creation, and the whole basis for the good news we have to share with the world. That is why the resurrection of Jesus can help.

Thessalonica and Berea: How the Resurrection Can Help

But let’s go back to where Paul had been before he got to Athens, to Thessalonica and Berea, and see there how the resurrection can help. What does the resurrection do?

The Necessity of Death and Resurrection

In Thessalonica, Paul found a Jewish synagogue and, as was his custom, he went there to reason with the people there from the Scriptures, that is, from the Old Testament, from the story of Israel.

Verse 3 tells us that Paul was at pains to explain and to prove from the Scriptures “that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead.” Necessary, not simply because the scriptures predicted it, but because the scriptures demanded it. This was how it had to happen if help would be given.

Paul would want us to see that this is how the God of Israel had acted to help, to save and to rescue, but taking the message to the larger Gentile world, this was a competing force in the real world. The “gods” that the pagan world believed in were the forces that everyone recognizes even today: the sun and the moon, but also money and sex and power and war. Jesus and the resurrection, the cross and the empty tomb had to happen for the true God to upstage them all.

Turning the World Upside Down

See what happens next? Some of the people in the synagogue were persuaded by this message, both Jews and non-Jews. But the unbelieving Jews were jealous—not envious, but zealous. They detected in this message a threat.

So, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. They brought an accusation to the governmental authorities: “These men who have turned the world upside down” are now trying to do the same thing here in Thessalonica.

The accusation is, of course, true. The message of Jesus, of the cross and the resurrection, is a revolutionary message. It aims to turn the world upside down.

Or, perhaps by doing so the message actually turns the world right-side up. In any case, this is a revolutionary message.

There Is Another King

Something is wrong if the Christian message is no longer heard this way, as the disturbing force that aims to set the world right again. As one Christian minister has said, “Everywhere Paul went there was a riot; everywhere I go, they serve tea.”

When Paul and Silas got chased out of Thessalonica, they arrived at Berea where they again proclaimed their message in the Jewish synagogue there. Mercifully, they found the Jews there more noble than those in Thessalonica, receiving the word he preached with eagerness, carefully studying the Scriptures to see that the point they were making was indeed in line with what God had said.

This message of Jesus, crucified and resurrected, as another king, threatening the supremacy of Caesar and of every other power in the world, is revolutionary. Some today, sensing this revolutionary aim, are eager to make Christianity do just that, but forgetting that it does so not by an extra dose of human power and might but by the power of the cross and the empty tomb, by death and resurrection.

Philippi: Who the Resurrection Helps

So, let’s go back with Paul and his companions to Philippi, that first city in Macedonia that they came to, and see who this message of resurrection helps. Luke tells us about three people who are helped by this message of Jesus and the resurrection.

Lydia

There was no Jewish synagogue in Philipp, but verse 13 says that down by the river they found a group of people who they assumed had gathered for prayer and likely the other aspects typical in synagogue worship, such as reading from the Law and the Prophets, and some teaching and discussion on its meaning.[6] Paul would take this opportunity to share his message, and one of the women there, named Lydia, believed the message and was baptized.

Lydia is portrayed as a woman of means, sincere in her faith, and the answer to the Macedonian call. The first person that received help from them in Macedonia was this woman, who no doubt was instrumental in the founding of one of Paul’s favorite churches. He speaks in Philippians about how the Philippians had partnered with him in this gospel business from the very beginning. No doubt he had Lydia in mind.

This message of the kingdom of God breaking in on the world today needs your devotion, needs your commitment, needs your partnership. I'm talking about all of you. Are you a person of means like Lydia was? God will use it. He wants you to partner in the work of his kingdom, but it is you who need this partnership more. The resurrection of Jesus, and the kingdom of God that has come through it, is the true “business” that will last forever, and investing in it above everything else will keep you from wasting your life.

Or perhaps you are overlooked, as so many women were in the ancient world. Lydia tells us that God sees you too and will take everything you have to offer for his kingdom and make you a partner in his work.

The Slave Girl

All is going well so far in Philippi, but in verse 16 we read about another occasion when they were gathering for worship at the place of prayer and they encountered “a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.”

The girl had this to say about Paul and his companions: “These men are servants of the Mot High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” She was announcing this over several days until Paul cast the evil spirit out of her.

It is important to understand how this girl’s advertisement would have been heard in a place like Philippi. Outside of places heavily influenced by Judaism, the term “Highest God” would have been misleading; it would have caused people to think of any deity which he or she considered to be supreme.[7] Furthermore her message was that these men were proclaiming not necessarily the way of salvation, but merely a way of salvation. Paul was not simply annoyed by what she was saying, like having to watch the same commercial over and over again. He was disturbed by the message, even angered by it.

Why? The answer must be seen on different levels. Not only is her message misleading, as we have seen. But also, her situation is unjust. She was a “slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.” She was being exploited, by evil and by evil people. The good news had arrived in Macedonia to set her free. Help had come.

The powers of darkness that are still at work in our world today are more than willing to make concessions with the good news of Jesus, so long as the power of light will leave them alone. “Go ahead and proclaim Jesus. Go on and talk about him and gather for worship in your church buildings. Go on and on about Jesus and the resurrection, but don’t you dare touch those places where injustice is found. Leave us alone. Go ahead and talk about your way of salvation. We’ll even give you advertising space. In exchange, we demand your vote in the next election, and your silence when we do things that keep people enslaved.”

The Jailer

Paul will have none of it. He casts out he evil spirit, and with it the source of income for some powerful people in Philippi. They throw Paul in jail. If you go around turning the world upside down, don’t be surprised if this gets you into trouble.

The powers of darkness will not go down without a fight. And here we see one of those powers, Mammon, the god of money, under threat with the gospel. The good news of Jesus and resurrection sets people free from the enslaving power of money. Don’t think that the gods will go down easily. Paul and Silas are beaten and thrown into prison, with their feet fastened in the stocks.

They sing hymns at midnight. And then, an earthquake, hinting that there is a supernatural power here. Everyone’s bonds are unfastened and the jailer rushes in. We remember what Herod did to the jailers after Peter escaped from prison (Acts 12:19). The jailer prepares to kill himself.

“Stop! Don’t do it!” Paul says. “We are all here.”

When the jailer asks, “What must I do to be saved?” we have to understand the word salvation in the robust way it is used in the Bible. Rescue is another way to translated it. “What must I do to be rescued?” The jailer could be asking about spiritual rescue, rescue from the anger and wrath of the God he believes is responsible for the earthquake. But he also might be thinking of the kind of person he is and the kind of system he’s in, and seeing in these men who sing songs at midnight after being mercilessly beaten some other way of life. What kind of persons, having gone through something like that, don’t run for their lives? What is their secret? Resurrection, and the help it brings.

The jailer can have that hope too. “Believe in Jesus,” and you’ll be rescued, saved, delivered—in all the ways in which you need it. The jailer does believe, he is baptized, he is now publicly identified with God’s new family, with God’s church.

***

The next day, when the authorities order Paul and Silas to be released, we are surprised to hear what Paul says. “Nope, I’m not leaving without an apology. I’ve been treated unjustly. After all, I’m a Roman citizen!”

Well, now, Paul, why didn’t you say so in the first place?

I think it is at least worth our consideration that for Paul, the real power he knew he had was not his Roman citizenship. As he would write to the Philippian church later, “Never forget, your citizenship is in heaven (Phil 3:20). You are a citizen of the kingdom of God. Nothing else can compare with that.”

You and I can have this citizenship, too. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection.” And it is yours.

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[1] N. T. Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013), 232.

[2] Wright, Paul and the Faithfulness of God, 212.

[3] Ryan Holiday, “What Is Stoicism? A Definition & 9 Stoic Exercises To Get You Started,” Daily Stoic, March 8, 2022, https://dailystoic.com/what-is-stoicism-a-definition-3-stoic-exercises-to-get-you-started/.

[4] Walter Bauer et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 937.

[5] Ben Witherington, III, The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1998), 515.

[6] Witherington, Acts of the Apostles, 491.

[7] Witherington, Acts of the Apostles, 494.