I’m old enough to remember the 1973 debut of “The Exorcist”, starring Linda Blair as a demon-possessed girl delivered from her haunting by a pair of priests. The film earned 10 Academy Award nominations, and the image of the possessed girl with her head turned backwards on her body has undoubtedly stayed in the minds of many a moviegoer. Looks scary to me, and I’ve never seen the film!
But in Philippi, Paul and Silas and their friends encountered a real-life demon-possessed girl, the first of five encounters we’ll consider today.
5 Encounters
Encounter 1: A Slave Girl
She received deliverance, but did she ever receive Christ?
:16-18
This girl was demon-possessed; in the original language, Luke describes her as “pneuma pythona”, or having the “spirit of the Python”. In mythology, the Python guarded the temple and oracle of Apollo, and for our practical purposes, the term that describes her is “demon-possessed”. Those who knew her regarded her, not as a fraud nor a lunatic, but as one who had a real power to foretell the future, a power granted her by demons. But curiously enough, she employs her “skill” to herald, day after day, the fact that Paul and the missionaries are preaching the truth of the gospel. Strike you as a little odd? Me too.
Table Talk
Why do you think Paul got annoyed with the slave girl? Was she not speaking the truth, and providing “free publicity” for the gospel message?
Why would Paul not welcome the free publicity? Because when it comes to the gospel, not all publicity is good publicity. This girl was unconverted, known to be possessed, and these superstitious people could easily confuse the means by which the gospel was coming to them. Why would a demon cooperate in evangelism, if not for the purpose of distorting or hindering the gospel in some way? Further, the gospel takes center stage, not some sideshow, no matter how entertaining. So, an “annoyed” Paul casts out the demon—wouldn’t you think that this miracle of God would have been a relief to Paul, so that he could get on with the work? But the end of that scenario is beating and imprisonment. What they get for their trouble is more grief than they’d have imagined!
We are left to only imagine what happened to the poor little slave girl afterward.
She received deliverance, but did she ever receive Christ?
She was delivered from one bondage, to a demon spirit, but did she ever receive her freedom from her owners? And more importantly, did she ever receive deliverance from sin? We can only speculate on these points. But we should be sure of this: to be delivered from demon possession would pale in comparison with being delivered from sin!
Encounter 2: The Slave Girl’s Owners
They were within the hearing of the gospel, but their only concern was money.
:19-24
This was, from the perspective of the slave-owners, an attack on their property rights, and on their ability to profit. No one easily suffers the loss of his livelihood, regardless of how sordid the affair might be, and so these men were livid.
The charge laid against the missionaries was that they were teaching and advocating on behalf of an illegal religious faith, and such was a threat to the Pax Romana, the “Roman peace”. And with the words, “these men are Jews”, the fuel was added to the fire. There was a latent bigotry against Jews that lay just below the surface of Roman society, and the slave-girl’s owners, furious that their source of income had been neutralized, played upon this hatred of Jews in order to turn the crowd quickly against Paul and Silas. Remember: to us, these guys are the founders of the early church, heroes of the faith; to these men, these were just some Jewish vagabonds hawking their own peculiar brand of religion, and were no heroes at all. FF Bruce says, “There was great indignation that Roman citizens should be molested by strolling peddlers of an outlandish religion”, and that’s exactly what the crowd must have come to think of Paul and Silas.
What followed was an illegal display of punishment, incited by the frenzied mob and inflicted on Paul and Silas by the magistrates. I say “illegal” because, as Roman citizens, Paul and Silas were exempt from such rough treatment, but here the crowd’s wicked zeal won the day, and the missionaries, after being whipped, were placed in the innermost prison and bound with stocks. Some might wonder how Timothy and Luke escaped this persecution, but remember that Timothy was half-Gentile and Luke full, while Paul and Silas both looked Jewish.
Think about the owners of the slave girl:
They were within the hearing of the gospel, but their only concern was money.
Their meal ticket was gone, but in its place, they could have come to know Jesus and the peace He offers. How many people, with their eyes fully focused on this world, have had contact with the gospel of Christ, only to determine not to turn away from their sin and their self, and turn to Him for the peace and forgiveness He alone offers?
Encounter 3: God and the Missionaries
When the missionaries worshiped, God worked.
:25-26
The second miracle of this passage involves the imprisonment of Paul and Silas, and God’s work to free them. Likely a retired Roman soldier, the jailer would have been trained in some noble qualities, but compassion for prisoners would not have been among them! As Brian Rapske says, “The stocks normally caused extreme discomfort as the prisoner had to sleep either in a sitting position or lying down on the floor.” It’s not surprising, given the uncomfortable nature of their setting, to find these men awake at midnight—but it is a little odd to find them singing hymns. Paul and the missionaries are worshiping God at midnight, on the heels of an unlawful and unjustified beating and imprisonment. Let that sink in…”God, look at my circumstances! How can I possibly cope? We overcome by gaining perspective, and we gain perspective by worshiping God.
When the missionaries worshiped, God worked.
Mark Batterson refers to work done by Vicki Medvec, a professor at Northwestern University, a study of Olympic medalists, and the study focused on the mental and emotional states of these athletes. She found, much to her surprise, that bronze medalists were, on average, happier people than silver medalists. Better to finish third than second, in other words. Why do you suppose that was? It had to do with their focus. The silver medalists were focused on the fact that, had they done just a little better, it would have been them who would have received the gold, and what they set their minds on produced regret. Bronze medalists, the third-place finishers, on the other hand, tended to be more grateful; had they done just a little worse, they’d have finished fourth or worse, and not received any medal at all, not stood on the podium with their nation’s flag displayed behind them. Their names would have been a mere footnote in history, and thus their entire perspective was conditioned by gratitude that they’d at least achieved medals.
In her book, Mindfulness, Ellen Langer says that all of us have “premeditated cognitive commitments.” In other words, we tend to see what we’re looking for. Karen and I have found this to be true: as most of you know, I made an emergency trip to Pennsylvania this week to make sure that our house would be ready to sell—thank you for praying, because we received a contract offer this week. I told Karen when I got back that I felt like I’d stepped right into the script of the movie Groundhog Day. Perhaps you remember how the main character of the film, a weatherman sent on a mission to cover the emerging of the groundhog on Groundhog Day, ended up reliving Groundhog Day over and over and over again until he learned some life lessons. I felt like I was living Groundhog Day, because nothing had changed in that little town in the 15 months since I’d last been there; everything looked the same (and the weather was overcast and snowy, just like the weather in the film, by the way). By contrast, between my home and Macland Road, no less than 7 areas have been cleared in preparation for strip malls and new housing, all in the few months we’ve lived here. And yet, here’s something we’ve found as we’ve lived in several different parts of the country: you can be about as happy in any place as you choose to be. We’ve lived in small towns and metropolitan areas and cities of different sizes in between, and we’ve basically been as happy in each place as we’ve decided to be. As Ms. Langer says, we tend to see what we’re looking for; those “premeditated cognitive commitments” make the difference.
Paul, this same fellow singing in the jail cell, later wrote, in his letter to the Philippian church that was being founded, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil. 4:8). Premeditated cognitive commitments: I will choose, in whatever situation I find myself in, to think about these kinds of things! Paul and Silas focused, not on the circumstances, but on the God of the circumstances. They worshipped God, not as some kind of “escape”, but rather to get in touch with realities that are not seen, but which are more real than the visible. And when they did, God worked in a miraculous way, and though they weren’t singing “Jailhouse Rock”, that’s exactly what happened.
Mark Batterson concludes with this perspective: “…worship…restores spiritual equilibrium. It helps you regain your perspective. It enables you to find something right to praise God about even when everything seems to be going wrong. Worship is zooming out and refocusing on the big picture.”
When the missionaries worshiped, God worked.
Encounter 4: The Jailer and His Family
He went from suicidal to saved in an instant..
:27-34
Under Roman law, a guard who allowed prisoners to escape would fall under the same penalty that would have been accorded the prisoners, and thus rather than face the shame of having to face the scorn of a tribunal, the jailer prepared to do himself in. Think about it: if your life depended on your keeping prisoners in prison, you probably wouldn’t be all that concerned about things like their comfort and well-being, but rather that you had secured them with no possibility that they’d escape. And yet, because God sent an earthquake, that’s exactly what this crusty Roman veteran assumed.
But instead of escaping, Paul spoke for the prisoners and said, “we’re all here!” What would have kept other prisoners in their places? Is it possible that the godly character of men who could sing in the face of such extreme treatment produced such a profound impact upon the other prisoners? And if so, what kind of impact would this produce in the heart of an old Roman soldier?
Having heard from others who these men were—though likely not fully understanding their identity—the jailer with a note of reverence recognizes his own spiritual lack and cries out for deliverance, and what they preached to him was the same gospel message that has been preached for 2000 years: “believe, and you will be saved”. The missionaries took their time in explaining the incredible message of salvation by grace through faith to not only the jailer, but his household as well. This wasn’t merely one man’s conversion; it resounded throughout his whole house.
He went from suicidal to saved in an instant..
And he brought the men home, doubtless convinced they’d not try to escape.
Encounter 5: The Magistrates
In fear, they sent away the greatest blessing their town had ever known.
:35-40
Feeling that the beating and the night in jail would likely be enough to get these men to shut up and move on, in the morning, the magistrates sent to release Paul and Silas. But Paul would have none of this quiet dismissal; he rather insisted, based upon the prerogatives of his Roman citizenship, that the magistrates come down to prison and escort them out themselves. Being a Roman citizen legally protected Paul from such treatment, and yet in this case, the magistrates had ignored their own law. If word of this had gotten back to Rome, these men could have been dealt with severely. There is nothing wrong with standing up for our rights if in doing so we do not sacrifice our principles.
Why does Paul’s Roman citizenship come to light now, and not earlier? Perhaps they tried but were shouted down by an angry mob. Or perhaps they had not, but then realized during the night the importance of protection for Lydia and those who would worship in her home. At any rate, Paul, who took pride in his Roman citizenship, invoked it here. And so fearful that the scene might somehow be repeated and prove damaging to them, the magistrates pleaded with Paul and Silas to leave. They didn’t want to be responsible for the safety of these unpopular men, and therefore begged them to get out of town, which Paul and Silas determine to graciously do.
In fear, they sent away the greatest blessing their town had ever known.
And leave they did, to go toward Thessalonica and plant a church there, leaving behind, apparently, Luke to meet with the church that had now been founded at Philippi.
Five encounters:
• A slave girl, delivered from a demon, but did she ever trust Christ? It depended upon the state of her heart.
• Slave owners, who in the girl’s deliverance saw only money. So close to the gospel, but blinded by their greed and their ties to what they could see, they missed God.
• God encountering the missionaries as they worshipped Him, working to not only perform the miracle of the rocking jailhouse, but the miracle of salvation in the heart of a jailer, whose heart had been opened.
• The magistrates of Philippi, so close to the gospel, but out of fear, determining to take a pass.
Same gospel. Same messengers. Very different effects, based upon the different conditions of the hearts of the different people. Which leads us to our TableTalk questions today:
Table Talk
• Why is joy such a critical element to living the Christian life?
• This passage demonstrates the differences in the “soils” of people’s hearts (Luke 8:4-15). Proverbs 4:23 tells us to “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life”. Why is it important to pay careful attention to the “state of your heart”, and how might you practically do this?
