These two sermons are about 2 ladies, Paul, Sials, Timothy, and Luke encounter two women. one of these ladies is liberated, the other is enslaved, one is transfigured, the other is disfigured. One of these ladies is lifted up by God, the other is cast aside by men.
How to be a liberated woman. Now this is not just about women, all people are either slaves of sin, or liberated by Christ.
Acts 16 3 forces of liberation
Led by the Spirit
11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district[a] of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God.
The fear of God
The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Following Jesus Christ
This is the Trinity at work.
Paul and Silas in Prison
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.
How to be a liberated woman—now, as I said, this is not just about women. But it seems today that many women are especially seeking liberation. It used to be that women were seeking real liberation. There were laws limiting women’s vote, limiting what jobs they could do, and those laws have changed. But it’s still not enough. Why? Because no matter how much freedom we get, it doesn’t settle the longing in our soul.
I was looking up a definition of “liberated woman” online.
“A liberated woman refers to a feminist who pushes for more equality for women.” I don’t know how you push for more equality, Women should be more equal, I thought we just need equality. Of course, by my saying that, I’ll be accused of mansplaining.
Some never feel liberated. The limits of yesterday are gone. Women can vote, they have job freedoms, job possibilities. But because of the ache in their hearts, they thought somebody was limiting them, keeping them from happiness. So they sought freedom from the social mores.
"A liberated woman is the one which has sex before marriage and a job after."Gloria Steinem
That summarized the limits—they wanted to be free. Give me birth control, abortion on demand, I want society not to condemn my promiscuity.
And guess what, they got it.
But even after they got everything they wanted, it wasn’t enough. Because this world’s freedom is never enough to satisfy the soul. Only God can do that.
Now today we will complete the story of Lydia, then look at the other woman. And she was a slave in every way that a person can be a slave. She was a slave of men, a slave to Satan, and a slave to the world.
We were looking last week at Lydia, the liberated lady. We were talking about what it means to be liberated. The only true liberation comes in service to God. We are all born slaves, to sin, self, Satan, the system. Only in Christ are we free.
John 8:36
Therefore if the Son makes you free,
you shall be free indeed. (free for real)
The very fact that he added “for real” after, “free” means that it’s possible to think you are free, but to be a slave. Lydia was free for real. she was a worshiper of God—a God fearer. Surrendering to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the liberation of Christianity begins where Lydia started, not by asserting her rights, but by seeking to know God, and fearing and worshipping Him.
There are only two ways. This story is a constant battle over ownership—a battle between God and Satan.
Of all the details about Lydia’s life, the one that makes her a liberated woman is not that “she didn’t need a man.’ Or that she was an independently wealthy business woman. It was her relationship to God.
Look at what it says…
Verse 14 The Lord opened her heart to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul.
The Lord opened her heart. She, like the Philippian jailor, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, so she could be saved. She submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
She passed from death to life, from slavery to freedom in Christ.
Now I want to conclude with a final thought about Lydia, and women’s liberation
And do you know what’s great about Lydia? She was converted, and immediately sought a way to serve these men, and Christ.
she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.
Come to stay in my house! This is remarkable evidence that she came to faith. She was taking in 3 men, and providing for their needs while they continued to share the gospel in Philippi. She is going to feed them, house them, wash their feet. She became the woman behind these men. Some will say, “that’s not liberation!” She is a great example. The first thing she does is seek to take the role of a servant.
Now this is the part of the story that some may get upset about. She becomes a Christian, then immediately invites these men to stay at her house. Her first act is one of service in her home. Some will say, “well there you go, that’s what Christians think of women, stay home, clean the house, raise kids, put on your Donna Reed dress and bake some cookies. Well I have two thoughts on that. First, service isn’t just a woman thing. Do you know what men are called to do after they come to Christ, be servants. Jesus told His disciples, if you want to be great in the kingdom, become the servant of all. Just as He washed the disciple’s feet…I think of our church. We have deacons. You might say, well the deacons are the power brokers in the church, no, do you know what the word deacon means? “Dust-walker” They are servants of the church.
And really nothing glorious about the position. Do you know what most Deacon’s meetings are comprised of? A whole bunch of service jobs. Which of our members has a need that we can help meet? What needs to be fixed on the building? Endless plumbing. It’s all service.
Now, we believe that pastors should be men because that’s what the Bible teaches. But even the job of a pastor is a work of service. It’s just centered around the Word of God and prayer. So the first point is that service is not just a woman thing, it’s an everybody thing.
But number two, and this is a pet peeve of mine, “Lydia lowered herself to house wife.” some people denigrate the role of “homemaker,” as though it’s a demeaning title, when in fact, the role of “homemaker” has historically been one of the most influential titles.
William Ross Wallace wrote in 1865, “The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world.” What did he mean by that? He meant that those who take on the role of raising and influencing the next generation, end up dominating what the world will be.
We’ve lost that as a society.
And we have diminished that role, we have cast it aside in order to pursue individualism. And do you know what happens if we all seek to be fulfilled individually? We each become our own little worlds, exclude children, and Christianity dies in one generation. And that’s what we have today, a nation full of individuals who can’t be bothered to even raise their own kids.
Lydia came to Christ, opened her home, served these men, the church and her family. Then…
15 When she and her household were baptized,
Did you notice that her influence was so great in her home that they all turned to faith in Christ?
Did she give up her business? No, but she was liberated from her own sinfulness to enter into the service of the kingdom.
So that’s Lydia, the liberated woman. Now we are going to look at another woman who is not liberated. She is enslaved. And we again ask the question; How to be a liberated woman. Except now we have a counter-example—what not to do.
She is enslaved in every possible way that a person can be enslaved.
1. Enslaved by men 2. Enslaved by Satan. 3. Enslaved by the world
I. Enslaved by men
16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” 18 And this she did for many days.
But Paul, greatly [a]annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.
Notice that they met this woman while they were on their way to the place of prayer where the met Lydia. It says that they were met by this female slave. It’s almost as though she saw them, and approached them, or started interacting with them. I picture her has a brash woman. And on the surface, she would seem to be “liberated” by today’s definition. We will discover in a moment that she had a “talent.” She was vocal, she was forward, she spoke her mind. She was famous. And she had a place of honor in the community.
But before we ever get to those things about her, we’re told something interesting. She was a slave to men. She was owned by some who were profiting handsomely from her exploits. Now, to be honest, there were many slaves in that world. It has been estimated that 90% of the people in the city of Rome were slaves. So, in that, she is not unusual.
But I couldn’t help but draw a parallel here. She’s enslaved to men. You see, many people today are like this woman. They think they are free, prosperous, But somebody owns them. I think in particular of those in Hollywood. On the surface, they are beautiful. They are well-dressed. They are well-spoken and loved. They are very forward and confident. Admired and free. But most are in the same sort of slavery as this woman was. They are slaves to men, and women. The movie studios, the TV and cable networks own them, they compromise themselves to get to the top, to become famous. and they dare not step out of line, state a non-acceptable political opinion, even gain weight, or their career can end with the stroke of a pen.
And this woman was a slave, not only to men, but to Satan.
II. Enslaved by Satan
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 had a spirit by which she predicted the future. The phrase here is an interesting one; it says, she had a spirit, a python. A python spirit. Well what is that? Well, in Greek mythology, there was a location called Pytho. It was at the base of Mt. Parnassus. In the myth, this place was guarded by a dragon named python. Now the story gets complicated here, but in short, this dragon guarded the oracles of Delphi. He was guarding a place where cultic priests and priestesses consulted with demonic spirits, and handed out other-worldly information to people for a price. Fortune telling, telling the future.
Consult gods and spirits
Back then, this was big business. There were huge temples where people came to get supernatural information. The closest example I could give today, would be if you combined fortune-telling, tarot card reading, psychic reading, and if it became so big that it was housed in a luxurious Las Vegas Casino.
Well, back to the dragon, the dragon had the power of the oracles of Delphi. Well, the god Apollo, came and slew the dragon, and by doing so, got all the power of the oracles on himself. Now he can tell the future, consult the dead, etc. Well Apollo took the name Pythias.
So when it says that this woman had a python spirit, it means that she was receiving demonic oracles from a spirit who was ostensibly the god Apollo. People were paying money to get a word from the god Apollo, his power of fortune-telling, through this medium, this woman. There were many of these priestesses. But who were they really consulting? Satan.
This woman was possessed, a slave of the devil. You know that people don’t believe they are the slaves of men, they surely don’t believe they are the slaves of Satan. Anyone not in Christ belongs to Satan. Of course, most people are not professional fortunetellers, psychics, or mediums. But all those who do not belong to this world, also belong to Satan. Remember Jesus words,
John 8:43-44
43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.
Who was Jesus talking to?
Now was Jesus saying this to a witchcraft coven? Was He speaking to a prison population of murderers? No, He was speaking to the Pharisees, the most moral, religious group of orthodox Jews in that world. Monotheistic, believed Scripture, the 10 commandments, high moral code, without Christ—enslaved. And He said that their father was not God, but the devil.
III. Enslaved by the world
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.
This woman would have been honored by the world.
I noticed here a couple of the world’s values. “She earned a great deal of money.” “She predicted the future.” Again, by the world’s standards, she was successful. We don’t know how much of that money she received, but I suspect she was cared for. From external appearances, she probably ate well, dressed well, lived well. Because she had an ability that everyone seems to covet. She predicted the future. Of all the things that people have on their fantasy wish list, money and telling the future.
That would get you to some high places of honor in our society today. And people spend their lives pursuing those values.
Seeking the world’s values enslaves—wealth, fame, worldly honor
She was a slave in every way that she could be a slave. Reminds me of something Ron has talked about. When he went to Omaha to be principal, they would visit student’s homes. Poor people invited them in, those who were better off, didn’t let them in. Why? Because there was no furniture in the house. They spent so much on the house, they couldn’t afford furniture. They are quite an illustration of this world’s enslavement, externally successful on the outside, empty on the inside.
What are God’s values?
IV. Our response to this enslavement
What happens with this story? So, they run into this woman, or she runs into them, on their way to the place of prayer. So, the relationship started on the Sabbath day, and this is how it went.
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.
There is a constant battle over ownership. God or Satan. Was this woman saved after the demon was cast out? It never says she was, so I would have to say, no, she wasn’t saved. If she had been saved, I think the narrative would have said so.
She continued in her enslavement.