The One or the Few
Sometimes our labor feels out of proportion to the harvest we reap.
Paul and Silas would know about that. In Acts 16, they had big plans to take the Gospel from present day Turkey to Asia. But when they asked the Holy Spirit, He said no. He wouldn’t, in fact, allow them to continue preaching anywhere in the Turkish peninsula for the time being.
As they awaited instructions in the coastal city of Troas, “a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us’” (verse 9).
At last! Clear direction from the Lord. They were going west instead of east. Surely divine appointments with lots of important and influential people awaited them. Surely, crowds of converts were in their future, right? Well . . .
They caught a boat in Troas and bumped from port to port around the edge of the Aegean Sea. Landing in Neapolis, they trekked inland to Macedonia’s largest city, Philippi.
The fruits of their labors
Now, after all the closed doors in Asia, after a compelling vision and this tremendous trouble, what happened? Within days of their arrival, Paul and Silas had a fateful encounter with a demon possessed slave girl and bam, the jail doors slammed shut behind them.
True, an earthquake soon shook their shackles off and that gave the pair an opportunity to bring the jailor and his family to the Lord. But wouldn’t you think that, after God put them to so much trouble, He’d springboard them into a citywide crusade? Nope. “They went out of the prison . . . and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed” (verse 40).
They departed. They left. Their work in Philippi was done and they were off to Thessalonica.
The results of this tremendous expenditure of miraculous energy? One slave girl was set free of demons and a jailor and his family turned to the Lord. I’m sure plenty of spectators benefited from seeing the wonders Paul and Silas performed and hearing their teachings. But observable, measurable consequences were limited to a handful of people who hardly rated on the social scale and were never mentioned again in the Bible.
The fruits of our labors
From a human perspective, input and output seemed out of proportion. Yet God deemed the salvation of these few worth all the time and effort He put his servants through.
Isaiah 43 beautifully describes how much God’s willing to “spend” to see His home filled with children. “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.” (This was just verse 3. If you really want to feel loved, read the whole chapter).
It’s almost as if the wellbeing of an individual weighs as heavily on His heart as that of a nation. In pursuit of saving souls, Romans 8:32 says God refused to spare even His only begotten Son. It shouldn’t be surprising that He might also ask His adopted sons and daughters to deliver themselves up to inconvenience, trouble, even tribulation. All for the sake of those for whom His heart yearns.
We may never see the full return on our labors this side of heaven but, when the final harvest comes, we can be sure our efforts will match the result—even when He only sends us to the one or the few.
Hi, Terry.
I wrote on this chapter recently, including this idea that they bypassed all kinds of people to get to Philippi. Truly, His ways are beyond our ways. Love it!
But you forgot one thing: Before Paul and Silas were imprisoned, they met Lydia and her friends on the shores of a river. Lydia’s home became “home base” for the church in Philippi. Between Lydia’s circle and the jailer’s family, that seems like a pretty good start on a new church.
This line rang true for me: “It shouldn’t be surprising that He might also ask His adopted sons and daughters to deliver themselves up to inconvenience, trouble, even tribulation.” It’s an honest but challenging perspective on our lives here on earth. Thanks for sharing this post.
Hi Carole,
Thanks for your comments. I didn’t say much about Lydia because, though connecting with her made things easier for Paul and Silas by giving them a place to lodge and preach, Acts 16:14 labels her as already being a God worshipper when they met. The only conversion story was that of the jailer and his family, and the only dramatic life change mentioned was that of the demonized girl. While I’m sure many people were drawn into the Kingdom through Paul’s and Silas’ efforts, they weren’t quantified, so I called it an “immeasurable” effect. Maybe that was a bit nit-picky of me, but I think we often miss the forest for the trees when we don’t see how our efforts have affected specific individuals.
I so appreciate your carful reading and thoughtful comments. Thanks for taking time to do both.