“But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities” Acts 16:19

Economic Impact

Gone – Paul’s first trip to Philippi met with unexpected consequences.  When Paul cast the demon out of the girl who followed them around the city, he did something that revealed the true god of the marketplace.  No one paid any attention to the implications of Paul’s message until his actions disturbed the economic status quo.  But as soon as money was on the line, they took action to stop the message.  This wasn’t the first time the gospel message altered the economic landscape.  There was Ephesus.  There was Jesus in the temple.  There was Solomon and David.  There was Joseph.  When God comes to town, the usual ways of doing business have to change.

The Greek verb translated “gone” literally means, “to go out” or “to come out”.  Something went out of these merchants, but it was more than money.  Read the verse again.  What went out is their hope of money.  It’s one thing to lose cash.  It’s quite another to lose the hope of cash.  I can recover from the loss of a few dollars.  But when I see that my hope of profit has evaporated from the business, my life must change or I won’t survive.

These merchants ran into God in the marketplace.  God asked them to make a choice.  They could leave behind the past economic pattern and follow God in the marketplace or they could stick with the past patterns and try to recover a lost world.  These men chose the second way.  The question is just as real for us.  When God arrives in our world, are we making a choice to change our economic pattern or are we trying to hang on to the old ways?  Does God’s presence affect business as usual for you?

God shows up and give us a new hope.  The old hope has gone out of us.  But many times we try to hang on to that old hope.  We try to force the world to give it back to us.  It never works.  Once God arrives, the economy must change if hope is to continue.