Sustaining Gospel Community, Part 1

Acts 16:11–40 recounts the history of the church in Philippi. Here we find the conversion stories of the church’s first three members. Although it’s unlikely that a modern church planter would pick these three people to be the core of their “launch team,” Scripture shows us that the Lord used them as the building blocks of His church in Philippi.

First, we see conversion of Lydia (16:14–15). She was an ethnically Asian, economically wealthy, God-fearer who was searching for a deeper relationship with God. Next, we see the conversion of a native Greek slave girl whose life is marked by spiritual turmoil and financial exploitation (16:16–18). Finally, we read the story of a blue collar, Roman jailer who was initially indifferent to spiritual things (16:25–24).

This account in Acts shows us the supernatural community that is created when the Spirit works to redeem an unlikely and diverse group of people. We see that the Gospel reconciles seemingly incompatible people to each other and binds them together in a community of love. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ could create such a family.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be looking at some biblical principles for sustaining Gospel community here at CBC.

Derrick Haskins, Elder