Journey Through Acts (Part 9) Series

The Journey: Following Jesus through Acts (9)

Scott Bayles, pastor

Scripture: Acts 16:22-34

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 8/20/2017

As most of you know, we’re nine weeks into this ten-week journey through the book of Acts. While the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—tell the story of Jesus and his journeys, Acts tells the story of Jesus’ followers—the first folks ever to be called Christians.

Folks like Peter, Paul and the other apostles committed their lives to following Jesus and their journey continues in the book of Acts. As I’ve said before, Acts has it all—supernatural intervention, astounding miracles, powerful preaching, breathtaking escapes, harrowing voyages, life-and-death decisions, courtroom dramas, thrilling rescues, action, mystery, and adventure! And… it’s all true.

Last Sunday, we read about Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary journey, which brought them to the city of Lystra, where Paul healed a man crippled from birth. This miracle, however, led the pagan people of Lystra to mistake Paul and Barnabas for “gods in human form,” specifically, Zeus and Hermes. Paul pleaded with the people not to worship or bow down to them and instead put their faith in the one true God. But suddenly the fickle mod turned murderous due to the influence of some angry Jews from Iconium. They stoned Paul seemingly to death and dragged his body outside of the city. Miraculously, Paul got up, dusted himself off and went right back to work!

Meanwhile, conflict and confusion was brewing within the church. As the church continued to expand through the Greco-Roman world, racial and cultural tensions escalated between Jewish and Gentile believers. In Acts 15, Paul returned to Jerusalem, where the apostles and elders convened to consider the relationship between Jewish and Gentile Christians and between the law of Moses and the love of Christ. All agreed that salvation depended solely on simple faith in Jesus, not on keeping the law of Moses. So letters were sent and guidelines established to help create harmony and brotherhood between these two conflicting cultures.

Following the counsel, Paul returned to the mission field, this time taking a young man named Silas as his partner. While in Philippi, Paul’s team encountered a demon-possessed slave girl who continually attempted to disrupt their ministry. When an exasperated Paul cast the evil spirit out, the girl lost her fortune telling ability. This infuriated her masters who had Paul and Silas dragged before the city authorities and thrown in prison. While the circumstances that got them thrown into prison are intriguing, what happens in prison is absolutely amazing.

If you have a Bible or an app on your phone, open it up to Act 16:20-40. Like last week, this story unfolds in four parts, beginning with the singing.

• THE SINGING

Like I said, Paul and Silas were dragged before the city officials in the marketplace, where their accusers shouted, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice” (Act 16:20-21 NIV).

Highlighting their Jewish nationality was likely intended to arouse anti-Semitic prejudices and claiming that they were causing an uproar would have put the city officials on edge since their primary job was to keep the peace. So without any sort of hearing or trial, the Bible says, “the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks” (Acts 16:22-24 NLT).

Clearly, Paul and Silas were having a bad day. They’re barely into the first stop of what promised to be an effective and exciting missionary journey and, already, they find themselves the victims of false and prejudicial charges, brutally beaten, locked up in the depths of a Roman jail, in stocks! So what do they do? Moan? Whine? Blame God? Give up? No. The Bible says, “Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening” (Acts 16:25 NLT).

Despite their dismal situation, Paul and Silas chose to praise God! Did they feel like worshipping? Probably not. They were likely aching, tired, and scared. But they knew that God was with them in the midst of their struggles and they trusted that he was in control of their situation. The same is true for you and me.

Let’s face it—bad days happen to everyone. They come more often that we think we deserve, and they sometimes last much longer than we think we can stand.

ILL. A man came home after a rough day at work. It was one of those days where it seemed like everything that can go wrong, did go wrong. As he walks through the door, he says to his wife, “I’ve had a bad day. Please! If you have any bad news tonight, just save it for another day." To which she replied, "Okay, no bad news. Now for the good news. Remember our four children? Well, three of them didn’t break an arm today."