Acts 21-16:16 NIVUK
[16] Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. [17] She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’ [18] She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned round and said to the spirit, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ At that moment the spirit left her. [19] When her owners realised that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place to face the authorities. [20] They brought them before the magistrates and said, ‘These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar [21] by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practise.’
‘I’m not an addict. I can stop any time I want. I just don’t want to stop now.’
I have never heard a more ironic statement . Usually it’s spoken by someone who is in the process of smoking or getting drunk on cheap wine or taking dependency-forming narcotics. I lost count of the number of times I heard it said – often completely unprompted – by someone sliding down the slippery path to addiction.
Yet Christians are free. We are the most free people there have ever been:
John 8:36 NIVUK
[36] So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. https://bible.com/bible/113/jhn.8.36.NIVUK
And we must ensure that we remain free:
Galatians 5:1 NIVUK
[1] It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
We live in times where there are companies, and yes, sometimes governments, who make money from our addictions and dependencies. For example, a recent report into the vaping industry in the UK highlighted that the largest players are a tobacco giant and companies associated with the Chinese government. They are actively making money on a knowingly dependency-forming product with aspects of its marketing that appeal directly to children.
But why should we be at all surprised by that?
It’s not just the backstreet drug dealers who make money from addictions and dependencies. We know that. Porn companies and even some pharmaceutical companies have done precisely the same.
As Christians, we believe in freedom: freedom to not be dependent or addicted to anything at all. Ever.
But here in this passage we see other addictions, none of them chemical based, that can easily ensnare us, and we see Paul’s – and the Gospel’s – somewhat controversial response to them.
The first is an addiction to Money:
Acts 16:16 NIVUK
[16] Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.
And this is a proper obsession. These slave owners have found a slave seemingly possessed by a spirit of fortune-telling or divination – a kind of oracle. The Greek for her type of spirit is literally ‘python’ – after a snake said to have guarded the oracle of Delphi. These slave owners have no second thoughts at all at exploiting this slave for their own selfish gain.
They see her and they do not see a person – they see drachma signs.
So we see a girl who is doubly enslaved: to a demonic spirit of deception and the materialistic spirit of exploitation.
This is a truly dreadful state to be in.
We might wonder how this is relevant to us. After all, very few people nowadays would claim to be possessed by a spirit that allows them to predict the future.
And yet we are surrounded by cruel, avaricious people who willingly exploit others for financial gain. Just access the website of organisations like IJM. What do you see?
Human trafficking.
Prostitution.
Scamming.
Modern Slavery.
It’s all there.
And at the heart of it is a heartless slavery to money:
Ecclesiastes 11-5:10 NIVUK
[10] Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. [11] As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? https://bible.com/bible/113/ecc.5.11.NIVUK
1 Timothy 6:10 NIVUK
[10] For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. https://bible.com/bible/113/1ti.6.10.NIVUK
Luke 16:13 NIVUK
[13] ‘No-one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.’ https://bible.com/bible/113/luk.16.13.NIVUK
The desire to have enough to support yourself and your family is not wrong. The desire to get money at the cost of everything else definitely is.
Philippi was a comparatively wealthy city. These slave owners were not poor people trying to be rich; they were likely rich people trying to be richer, and caring little for whoever they trampled on in the process.
There is a core truth here that we must understand: this slave girl meant nothing to them as a person. Zero. Nada. Zilch. She was simply a means to an end.
Our culture actively promotes achieving wealth by permitting yourself to be exploited, and sexually in particular. Do not be fooled. If you give yourself to that heinous industry you will be nothing more than a means to an end. You will become nothing more than an object, an asset, a commodity. A means of entertainment. You will not be more valued or esteemed as a person. Quite the opposite.
This is where Christianity stands one hundred percent in opposition to materialistic values.
Do not misinterpret or twist Biblical teaching: it stands squarely against exploitation.
Proverbs 23-22:22 NIVUK
[22] Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, [23] for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life. https://bible.com/bible/113/pro.22.22.NIVUK
Jeremiah 22:3 NIVUK
[3] This is what the Lord says: do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. https://bible.com/bible/113/jer.22.3.NIVUK
Zechariah 7:10 NIVUK
[10] Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.”
As we saw earlier, the Gospel is all about freedom. It is ironic here that the oppressors who enslave this girl are also themselves enslaved, but by money.
The call of the Gospel for both this slave girl and her owners is that they can be free.
The second addiction isn’t immediately obvious. It is the addiction to Manipulation – that is, the desire, need and practice of being in control.
We see it here:
Acts 16:17 NIVUK
[17] She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’ https://bible.com/bible/113/act.16.17.NIVUK
Now, this is where we can easily become confused. After all, this demon-possessed slave girl was actually telling the truth!
So why would Paul silence her?
Here is where we must understand the context. As a colony of retired Roman soldiers, and a place where its citizens also held Roman citizenship, with all its rights and privileges, many of the people in Philippi had intense loyalty to Caesar. Paul, Silas and their entourage would have known that – hence they headed outside the city to witness, and to the small Jewish minority, not in the city streets and squares. They are seeking to spread the Gospel sensitively, not brashly or disrespectfully.
In doing so, they are aligned with Peter’s later writings to the Early Church (1 Peter 3:14-16).
By making this public declaration, the slave girl is actually pitting Jesus against Caesar: it stands to reason that if the Jesus they preach is the Most High God, then Caesar is not. So her declaration, while truthful, was actually mischief-making. The demon was counting on the idea that Paul would not free the slave girl from its clutches while the slave girl was declaring the truth.
In modern terms, the demon is seeking to ‘control the narrative’: to be in charge of the way the Gospel spreads to the city, to chafe and irritate, with the clear purpose or inciting the city against Paul and Silas.
From the outside, this would seem to be like a clever plan: masquerade as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), stir the people up against Paul and Silas, then have them expelled, or even killed.
There are many who act like that demon: who are addicted to the power that comes through their clever wiles and schemes. They live off their wits constantly. They don’t care who they harm along the way – provided they end up on top.
Let’s not think for a second that God likes this. Quite the opposite:
Proverbs 19-6:16 NIVUK
[16] There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: [17] haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, [18] a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, [19] a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
James 16-4:13 NIVUK
[13] Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ [14] Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. [15] Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ [16] As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. https://bible.com/bible/113/jas.4.13.NIVUK
1 Corinthians 1:25 NIVUK
[25] For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
It might seem like this demon, this spirit is in control, but that is not the case. It is a different spirit – the Holy Spirit of Jesus – that sent Paul and his companions to Philippi (Acts 16:7-10). It was the Holy Spirit that was in control, the whole time.
And it is by the power of God that this happens:
Acts 16:18 NIVUK
[18] She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned round and said to the spirit, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!’ At that moment the spirit left her.
She is free.
As well as addiction to money and manipulation, lastly we see an addiction to Means:
Acts 20-16:19 NIVUK
[19] When her owners realised that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place to face the authorities. [20] They brought them before the magistrates and said, ‘These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar
Their means in these verses are, of course, their financial means – their ways of making money from the abilities of this poor slave girl. That is their addiction. That is their dependency.
But there is a second ‘means’ here, and its presence is very, very challenging. You see, the people in Philippi had a unique privilege. They were a former Roman colony in the Greek territory of Macedonia, largely populated by retired Roman soldiers. These soldiers would not have been entirely Italian – Roman soldiers came from across their Empire – and some may even have been slaves or prisoners of war who had gained their freedom through military service. Because of this, citizens of Philippi, regardless of their provenance, were also honorary citizens of Rome.
This meant that the citizens of Philippi were exempt from paying taxes to the Emperor, and therefore could become very wealthy. It was, in effect, a tax haven.
Now there is no doubt at all that the slave owners’ main issue with Paul and Silas is the fact that they can no longer make money from the slave girl as the demon who told fortunes has now been cast out. But the criminal charge they bring before the magistrate has nothing to do with the slave girl.
No, this charge is much more insidious. This is a charge of seeking to undermine Philippi’s status: of putting them in a position where they could lose their honorary citizenship, with all its privileges. To use modern terminology, they want Paul and Silas punished because they are ‘undermining our values’.
And look how the magistrate responds:
Acts 24-16:22 NIVUK
[22] The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. [23] After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. [24] When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. https://bible.com/bible/113/act.16.22.NIVUK
All this happens without a trial: without Paul and Silas being given the chance to defend themselves in court.
Very un-Roman.
Their seemingly irrational fears about Paul and Silas are so great that all due legal process is set aside and they are punished immediately, without any fairness or right of appeal.
Does this ring any bells?
Here is a difficult question for you: were those fears so irrational? Or was the Gospel message they were preaching really so undermining?
The answer may surprise you.
The Gospel is so undermining. It may have affected their lifestyle. No, their fears were not so irrational. Yes, they had some basis.
Why?
Because the Gospel message can, and must, disturb and challenge lifestyles that are not founded on Jesus Christ.
Remember: this city was largely populated by people who venerated Caesar.
Remember what the Jewish leaders shouted during Jesus’ trial before Pilate when He was presented as their king:
John 19:15 NIVUK
[15] But they shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!’ ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the chief priests answered. https://bible.com/bible/113/jhn.19.15.NIVUK
And that is the problem. These Philippians had no king but Caesar. Paul and Silas had another king – Jesus. And so to avoid offending their human king, these Philippians rushed to punish the offenders even if it was against the law.
They are absolutely addicted and dependent on their position before their king and they will let nothing stand in its way. Caesar might be their king, but their means is their god.
This leaves us with a significant, and somewhat painful, challenge. These Philippians clung so tightly to their status because their lifestyle depended on it. Their income depended on it. Their comfort depended on it. They saw the Gospel as a direct threat to all three.
And do you know what? It is!
And that is where problems lie.
So many people who call themselves Christians simply want God to rubber stamp and approve their lifestyle – to hand them an eternal assurance policy and get out of their lives.
But Biblical Christianity is not like that.
If we are really following Jesus, then He must have the right to disrupt our lifestyle, to disrupt our income streams, to challenge our ethics, our philosophies and our thinking. Of course He must! We are sinners. We get stuff wrong. The call of the Gospel is one of confession and repentance, not of a God who will bless any old way of life.
Those who want a Christianity that blindly approves their way of life are like puppies chasing their tail: it might look cute, but it leads them to nowhere but exhaustion.
But those who know that to follow Jesus means that He must be allowed to be disruptive, they are the ones who are truly blessed. After all, only a passive reading of both Old and New Testaments will show that God is a God of neither order nor disorder, but of His order, and His order is not always our order:
Isaiah 9-55:8 NIVUK
[8] ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. [9] ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. https://bible.com/bible/113/isa.55.8.NIVUK
The Philippians couldn’t handle it. That is why Paul and Silas were beaten and jailed.
Can you?
My wife once got irritated with my daughter’s boyfriend. We were in the Swiss Alps, in some of the most stunning scenery in the world, but he wasn’t looking out the window in awe. Instead, the view he was enjoying the most was of his own mobile phone.
This is a Bible passage like that view. We often pass through it, ignore it like it was nothing, and speed on to the next, more exciting verses.
But yet here there are beautiful vistas of what the Gospel can do for us.
It sets us free.
It sets up free from slavery to money. It sets up free from manipulation – from feeling the pressure and stress of living on our own wits. It sets us free from slavery to our means – on making a god out of our own position in life.
And what does it replace it with?
Faith in God to provide, if we seek His kingdom first (Matthew 6:33).
And yes, this teaching is highly subversive. It is controversial. It really does annoy. It put Paul and Silas in jail and could easily have cost them more than their freedom.
Why?
Because now, as then, it directly contradicts the culture around us and sets us at odds with modern values and thinking.
But I don’t believe Paul and Silas were at all distracted, or even bothered by that. Their focus was on the Gospel and the Gospel alone.
By the power of that Gospel the slave girl was freed, while her masters remained bound.
Because they did not accept the message of the Gospel.
That alone is the greatest of ironies.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, it is so easy for me to allow myself to be captivated and addicted to the values of the world around me. Set me free, I pray, from slavery to money, manipulation and means. Help me to replace them with faith in You. Amen.
Questions
1. What did the slave girl’s owners do that was so wrong? What does this tell us about the morality of people who are addicted to money?
2. Why did Paul silence the demon that told the truth? What does this tell us about how we should communicate the Gospel?
3. What is more important to you: your lifestyle or being obedient to Jesus?
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