Acts 16: Four Marks of an Ambition for the Kingdom

Introduction

On a scorching Sunday in Paris, Jason Procopio, pastor of Église Connexion, opens his message with a straightforward prayer: "Father, we need you this morning." Then he takes time for an announcement. The 2026-2027 year will be, God willing, a year of transition for Connexion: he and his family hope, together with a team of church members, to gradually leave their ministry and plant a new church in eastern Paris. Over the course of the year, he will step back little by little from his role as lead pastor, and Joe, the other full-time elder, will take it on. The person the church hires will not replace him but will share the load, just as the two pastors share it today.

This announcement sheds light on the series preached before the summer, titled "Ambitious." The project for the year, a new church plant, is ambitious, "to say the least." It offers incredible opportunities, but it has a cost: for the pastor's family, for the extended family, for those who will join the project, and for the whole of Église Connexion. When you undertake a project like this, he says, you always have to hold it up to the mirror of Scripture to see whether it is really the kind of thing we should be doing.

So the question of the day is this: how can you tell whether a person's or a church's ambition is truly an ambition for God's Kingdom? How can you tell whether it is driven by the desire to obey Christ's command, and not by the desire to serve yourself? Many highly ambitious people build ministries that serve so-called pastors rather than the Church, and even without falling into what is called the prosperity gospel, a self-centered ministry is still very easy to slip into. In Acts 16:1-15, the preacher identifies four marks of an ambition that does not seek to serve itself, but aims at God's Kingdom.

Outline of the message

1. Going to people where they are

• At the start of Acts 16, Paul begins his ministry among non-Jews. He goes from city to city, strengthens the churches, passes on the instructions of the apostles in Jerusalem and announces the Gospel to those who have never heard it. The region he is in is still a mix of Jewish and non-Jewish believers.
• In verses 1 to 3, Paul meets a young disciple in Lystra, Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish mother and a Greek father. The brothers in Lystra and Iconium speak well of him. Paul sees great potential in him and wants to take him along so that he becomes, in a way, his protégé in ministry.
• There is a problem: the people in the regions they are going to know Timothy and know that he is only half Jewish. Under the law of Moses, to take part in Jewish social life and synagogue life, one has to be circumcised. Timothy is not. So there are many places he cannot go, and many discussions he cannot take part in.
• The preacher points to 1 Corinthians 9:22, studied a few weeks earlier: "I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some." Paul never does what God forbids, but he does many things he is not obliged to do when they serve the Gospel. In 1 Corinthians 9, the example is his refusal to be paid. Here the example is even stronger: Timothy is not a baby, he is a grown man, and he is circumcised as an adult so that he can accompany Paul wherever Paul needs to go. If you need an image of the extremes a Christian may be called to in order to "become all things to all people," this is surely it.
• Thankfully, we are not always asked to go that far. But an ambition oriented toward the Kingdom will always go toward people and do everything it can to break down the barriers that keep us from reaching them, geographical ones, but also relational and cultural ones.
• In practical terms, this can mean listening to someone tell stories that do not interest us and investing in them anyway, "not because the story fascinates us, but because the person in front of us interests us." Joining associations and clubs, serving in local organizations, not to proselytize through the back door, but because the ministry of the Kingdom is, at its core, a ministry turned toward others.
• An important detail: the text does not mention a single Jew who came to faith because Timothy was circumcised and could enter the synagogue. It probably happened, but Luke does not say so, because that is not his purpose. We love people, we go to meet them and we serve them where they are, whether or not they come to faith. "The result belongs to God. Our job is to go to people where they are."

2. Persevering in faithful teaching, even when it is hard

• Verse 4 says that as they go from city to city, Paul and Timothy pass on the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, and verse 5 adds that the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew in number daily.
• Nothing in these verses shows why this is hard. You have to read chapter 15 to understand it. In it, Paul met with the apostles in Jerusalem to agree on what should be taught in mixed territories. Do non-Jewish believers have to follow the law of Moses to be saved? Does a Christian, in practice, have to become Jewish? Does he have to be circumcised?
• Everyone's answer is no. It is not necessary to follow the law of Moses to be saved. The apostles give a few specific requirements, to abstain from idolatry and sexual immorality, along with some guidance on what would have been cultural obstacles, which incidentally matches what Paul writes to the Corinthians. But the headline is clear: non-Jews do not need to become Jews to follow Jesus Christ.
• Excellent news for non-Jews, but very hard to accept for many Jewish believers who resisted this new Christian religion out of fear of losing their way of life and their cultural identity. They loved the idea of the Christ, they believed in Jesus. But would the Christ, who was Jewish, really want them to withdraw from Judaism?
• The apostles and Paul knew that these instructions would meet opposition in some circles. And yet they communicated them faithfully. They said what they had to say, even though it was hard. Paul faithfully passed on the decisions of the elders in Jerusalem and announced the Gospel courageously in the face of this opposition.
• These are the first two marks of an ambition for the Kingdom: teaching that is faithful to God's Word, even in the face of opposition, even when it is not what we want to hear; and a willingness to adapt to the people we are trying to reach, even when that adaptation is difficult and costly.
• One question remains: why would Paul and Timothy be ready to do such difficult things? The preacher points to the conversations you may have had with a missionary about to leave to serve the Gospel in a truly difficult context: they are humbling, in the best sense of the word, because you always wonder: what happened inside them? What makes people ready to make courageous choices, take bold risks and accept painful sacrifices, literally for the Gospel? The answer is found in the second half of the passage: they know and fully believe that God is wise, that God is good, and that God is leading them where they need to go.

3. Submitting to God's direction

• Verses 6 to 10: prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the word in Asia, Paul and his companions travel through Phrygia and Galatia. Arriving at the borders of Mysia, they want to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit does not allow it. They go down to Troas. There, during the night, Paul has a vision: a Macedonian pleads with him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us!" They conclude that the Lord is calling them to announce the good news there.
• While preparing this passage, the preacher says he immediately thought of everything people say about this kind of verse. He gives an example. Around age 17, the mother of a friend from his church came to see him: "You know, I had a dream last night and I believe it came from the Lord. In that dream, God said you were going to marry my daughter." At first he thought it was a joke. She was completely serious and came back to it several times. "Obviously, and thank the Lord," that dream was not from God, who already had a wife for him.
• The example is extreme, but people often talk this way: "I felt God telling me not to go to that place, not to take that job, to marry that person." The preacher does not say this never happens. God sometimes gives strong convictions, and it would be hasty to brush these things aside simply because the idea that God might speak to us this way makes us uncomfortable.
• Two remarks, however. First, you need to be very careful before making decisions based on these impressions, because sometimes they are only impressions. Even the apostles left open the possibility of being wrong, and they often sought counsel. That is why Paul went to consult the apostles in Jerusalem before leaving: he was convinced, but he wanted to check anyway.
• Next, and this is the main point: the way God speaks to us by his Spirit is not the goal of these verses. Luke does not say how the Holy Spirit prevented the team from going to Asia or Bithynia. And the fact that Paul had a dream that led him to Macedonia does not mean that everyone will have that kind of dream, nor that every dream is a word from God.
• What, then, is Luke's message? "God is the one who builds his Church." Not the apostles first. Paul and his companions want to go to one place, and God stops them. They want to go somewhere else, and God stops them. Then God brings them where they are meant to be. God often leads his Church to places it had never imagined, through circumstances, through conviction, or both.
• A few years ago, Connexion wanted to buy a cultural center in the 10th arrondissement. It seemed perfect, and the church was fairly convinced that this was the right direction. But God prevented the purchase: the circumstances did not line up. Where will he lead Connexion in the coming years? "I have no idea. But he knows."
• In the same way, no one had envisioned a church plant in eastern Paris just a few months ago. When the opportunity arose, they had to ask themselves: is this perhaps how God is leading us? They prayed, sought counsel, examined the matter with great care, and over time circumstances and conviction lined up.
• Many church projects never come to pass, and many things a church had never planned fall into place. A church with an authentic ambition for the Kingdom will go where God leads it, and it will do so with joy, because it knows that where God leads us is exactly where we need to be.

4. Keeping your eyes open to open doors

• Verse 11: Luke now writes "we," because he joins the team at this point. They sail to Samothrace, Neapolis, then Philippi, the leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. They spend a few days there. On the Sabbath, they go outside the city to the river, where they expect to find a place of prayer, and speak to the women gathered there.
• Philippi is full of people who could very well have been the man in Paul's vision. But nothing in the passage indicates a plan once they arrive: they know where God has led them, but they have no contacts in the city, and there does not seem to be a strong Jewish presence. The first step of any new ministry or church plant, once you know where you are going, is simply to spend time on the ground, study the place, and see what is happening there and what can be done.
• Anyone who has done this, going out and sharing the Gospel with the people who are there, knows that you never know what will happen. You may run into pleasant, curious people, ready to chat but no more. People who do not want to talk to us at all. People who want to talk to us and who accept the Gospel. "We cannot know until we try."
• Every time you step outside in your city, there are people, and each person is potentially an open door. You can never know until you have said something to them, until you have knocked on the door. That is what Paul does: he begins speaking to the people present.
• Among these women is Lydia, a woman "who worshiped God." That does not mean she was a Christian, but that she knew the God of the Jews and had at least some attachment to Jewish religious life. A seller of purple from Thyatira, she probably had some means and some standing in the city.
• Then comes that incredible sentence in verse 14: "The Lord opened her heart to listen to the things that were spoken by Paul." The preacher confides that when he began reading his Bible seriously, he struggled a great deal with the absolute sovereignty of God. This truth is everywhere in the Bible: God does what he wants, he acts sovereignly, and without God's direct intervention, no one comes to faith. Faith is a gift from God, it does not come from us (Ephesians 2). He did not like this idea, because of all the questions it raises about those who do not have faith. But Acts 16:14 was one of those verses he did not know what to do with, since it is so clear.
• Lydia listens to what Paul says about Jesus. Yes, but that happens often: many people listen to the Gospel without really hearing it. What makes the difference here? God did not open her mind or her ears, he opened her heart. "He acted in a realm far deeper than the intellect." And for every person who comes to faith, there is always a moment when you see what you see.
• C.S. Lewis described his conversion this way, in paraphrase: one morning, he got on an atheist bus and got off a Christian, without knowing how or why, but he could not deny it. Another person went to church because he liked a girl; in the end, he was no longer interested in the girl, because he had heard about Jesus, had believed and desperately wanted to know him. For the preacher, it happened much more gradually, but he remembers the day he realized that, despite all his efforts not to be a Christian, he could no longer say that he did not believe.
• We meet people, we start talking to them without knowing how it will go. It can end badly: a clumsy word, a question with no answer, even the loss of a close friend. So why do it? "We do it because God is sovereign." When God decides to save someone, that person is saved: God opens the heart, the person pays attention to the Gospel, and they believe. This possibility is too real and too beautiful to ignore.
• Even if Lydia had been the only person in Philippi to meet Christ, the end of the story would have been beautiful. But in verse 15, Lydia believes, she is baptized, then her whole household, which probably includes her servants. She invites Paul and his coworkers to stay at her home, and her home becomes, as we see later in the book, the first gathering place for the Christians of Philippi, the church to which Paul will write the letter to the Philippians.
• "A conversation by a river leads to the creation of a new church where there was none." And as you keep reading, you see that this church will radically transform the socio-economic life of the city. All of this because, from the start, Paul and his companions knew that God is sovereign, good and wise, and they kept their eyes open to every door God might open for them. "God knew what he was doing, and he did it very well."

5. Uncertainty is not a bad thing

• The preacher acknowledges that Connexion's current situation may give the impression that things are a bit uncertain. The church planted last year will launch weekly services in a little over two months. Then comes this other church plant, which will involve losing one pastor and moving on to another. The team wants to make the transition as smooth as possible, and there is more than a year left to give all the details.
• But none of these things, which can cause anxiety, a bit of fear or simply uncertainty, is bad. Entering situations that force us out of our comfort zone is not bad: that is how we grow. Taking risks for God's Kingdom is not bad: that is how the Kingdom advances. Facing uncertainty is not bad: it forces us to trust the power, wisdom and sovereignty of God to lead us where he wants.
• An ambition for the Kingdom demands that we go. It demands sacrifices and that we go to meet people where they are. It demands the humility to accept a change of plan, to accept that God sometimes says: "No, that is not where I want you." It demands a well-tuned radar to spot opportunities, and eyes open to every door God may place on our path.
• All of this is true for the Church, and for each of us individually. Perhaps God is asking you, or will ask you, to prioritize an opportunity for the Kingdom over your comfort or your preferences, to submit to his Word even when it goes against what you want to do, to humbly accept that he knows better than you where you should go. He will ask you to keep your eyes open to the people around you, neighbors, colleagues, friends, family, and to seize every chance to serve them, to love them well, to show them Jesus and to tell them about Jesus.
• Is this life risky? Yes, of course. Does it sometimes bring pain and fear? Absolutely. Is it good? If the Bible is true, and if God's Kingdom is truly the ultimate goal and the ultimate blessing of the world God created, then this life is better than anything you could imagine: the life for which he created us, for his glory and for our joy, now and forever. "An ambition for the Kingdom will never disappoint. It is risky, but it brings far more blessing than any risk or any cost."

Key takeaways

• An ambition for the Kingdom goes to people where they are and tears down the barriers, geographical, relational or cultural, that keep us from reaching them. The result belongs to God.
• It stays faithful to God's Word even when the teaching meets opposition or is not what we want to hear.
• It submits to God's direction: God is the one who builds his Church, and he often leads it where it never imagined going, sometimes by closing doors.
• It keeps its eyes open to open doors: each person is potentially a door, and God is the one who opens hearts. You cannot know until you have spoken.
• Uncertainty, risk and stepping out of your comfort zone are not bad things: that is how we grow and how the Kingdom advances.

Personal application

1. What barrier, relational or cultural, keeps you today from reaching out to a specific person? What could you do this week to tear it down?
2. Is there a truth from God's Word that you avoid saying or teaching because it meets opposition or because it makes you uncomfortable yourself?
3. Has God recently closed a door that you thought was the right direction? How do you respond to that "no": with joy, or with resistance?
4. Among your neighbors, colleagues, friends or loved ones, who could be an open door you have not yet knocked on?
5. What opportunity for the Kingdom is asking you right now to prefer it over your comfort or your preferences?

Verses cited

• Acts 16:1-15
• 1 Corinthians 9:22
• Matthew 28:18-20
• Acts 15:1-29
• Acts 16:14
• Ephesians 2:8-9

Frequently asked questions

How can you tell whether an ambition is for God's Kingdom or for yourself?

Jason Procopio identifies four marks in Acts 16:1-15: a willingness to go to people where they are instead of demanding that they come to us, perseverance in faithful teaching even when it is hard to hear, submission to God's direction when he closes a door, and eyes open to the doors God opens.

Why does Paul have Timothy circumcised in Acts 16?

Timothy is half Jewish: his mother is Jewish, his father Greek, and everyone in the region knows it. Without circumcision, he cannot take part in synagogue life or accompany Paul everywhere. The preacher sees in this the extreme example of the principle in 1 Corinthians 9:22: Paul becomes all things to all people to save some, without ever doing what God forbids.

What does "the Lord opened her heart" mean about Lydia?

Many people listen to the Gospel without really hearing it. For Lydia to pay attention, God did not open her mind or her ears but her heart: he acted far more deeply than the intellect. The preacher sees in this God's sovereignty in salvation: faith is a gift from God, and that is why we can go and talk to people without knowing how it will end.