Acts 16 God’s power at work
Let’s suppose you hear God speaking to you, telling you to do something. You do what God tells you. But then, within a short time, the situation looks a complete mess. What would you think? Did you hear wrong? Has God let you down?
Let’s suppose God calls you to go somewhere and share the gospel. It’s scary! It’s such a big and difficult task. What would encourage you?
Or let’s suppose God shows himself to you. You see him in a way you’ve never seen him before. At that moment, what is the key question you need to ask?
We’re on our fourth week in our short series in Acts, looking at some episodes from Paul’s life. Our passage today shows us answers to those three questions.
There are three words in today’s story I’d like us to think about. They are PRISON, EARTHQUAKE and SAVED.
My first word is PRISON.
Paul has already been on one mission trip. In Acts 15, Paul decides to head out on a second mission trip, this time with someone called Silas. Shortly afterwards, they’re joined by Timothy, and Luke also joined them at about this time. The men travel through what is now Turkey. Then Paul gets a vision of a man of Macedonia – Greece, in other words – calling out ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us’ [Acts 16:9]. The men respond to the Holy Spirit’s leading and head off to Macedonia. This is the start of Paul’s mission to Europe. They land in Neapolis and then travel on a further ten miles or so to the large town of Philippi.
In Philippi they are bothered by a slave girl who has a spirit of divination. She follows Paul and the others, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.’ Eventually Paul gets so annoyed that he says to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ The spirit comes out of her. The owners of the slave girl aren’t happy. They won’t be able to make any money out of her. One thing leads to another. Paul and the others are brought before the magistrates, beaten with rods and thrown into prison.
This is the scenario from my first question. Paul had heard God speaking to him, telling him to go to Macedonia. He and his companions do exactly what God told them to and go to Macedonia. But almost as soon as they arrive the situation looks a complete mess. They were beaten and thrown into prison!
What did THEY think? Had they heard wrong? Had God let them down? They might have thought to themselves, ‘Nice guidance God!’ God is wise and loving so surely he won’t lead us in paths that involve being beaten and thrown into prison!
But a moment’s reflection on some of the stories in the Bible show us that it doesn’t work like that.
God told Satan that his servant Job was blameless and upright. But Job suffered in every way imaginable.
Moses obeyed God and went to Pharaoh. But when he did, Pharaoh just increased the pressure on the Israelites!
Daniel was one of three men who were especially noted for their righteousness – the others are Noah and Job. But Daniel’s righteousness didn’t keep him from being thrown to the lions!
The angel Gabriel came to Mary and said, ‘Greetings, O favoured one.’ Mary might have been favoured. But being pregnant when she wasn’t married was definitely awkward!
So, it’s clear that it’s entirely possible to be righteous, to be doing God’s will, and to end up in what LOOKS LIKE a mess. But I emphasise, ‘What LOOKS LIKE a mess.’ In the stories of Job, Moses, Daniel and Mary, God totally turned those situations around. God worked out his purpose and brought glory to himself. Those situations weren’t REALLY messes. In each of those cases, God was in control and he knew what he was doing.
Paul and his companions weren’t moping in prison. They were praising God. I think they believed that God was in control.
So, next time you find yourself in what seems like a messy situation, if you don’t believe you’ve strayed outside God’s will, then remember Paul and his companions in jail in Philippi. Remember that God sometimes takes his people through what LOOK LIKE messy situations. If he does, he has a purpose, as he had in Paul and his companions’ case. Don’t get depressed. Trust in God and wait for him to work his purpose out.
My second word is EARTHQUAKE.
In our Bibles, ‘Acts’ is sometimes called ‘Acts’ and it’s sometimes called ‘The Acts of the Apostles.’ That name has been around since about A.D. 150-180 A.D. But I wonder if Luke would have been happy with the title ‘The Acts of the Apostles.’
Let’s look at the very first verse in Acts, Acts 1:1. Before I read it, remember that Luke also wrote the Gospel of Luke. That’s his first book that he refers to. Luke starts Acts as follows:
‘In the first book, O Theophilus I have dealt with all that Jesus BEGAN to do and teach.’ When we read that opening sentence, we expect Luke to now deal with what Jesus WENT ON to do and teach. So, Acts is primarily about what JESUS did and taught. It isn’t appropriate to call it ‘The Acts of the Apostles’ when the main character is Jesus! Perhaps we should call it ‘The continuing acts of Jesus.’ It’s true that Jesus wasn’t PHYSICALLY present in Acts as he was in the gospels. But he was still very much present and still very much at work – as we shall see.
Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, has sent Paul and Silas out on a mission trip. Their task is to witness to him and especially to ‘Gentiles’ rather than to Jews. But, as we’ve seen, Paul and Silas are in prison! I don't know where Timothy and Luke were. Maybe they were there too. There isn’t much opportunity to witness there although they are no doubt doing their best by singing.
But that’s without Jesus. Jesus is the man with the plan. He is the God with the prod.
Then, there’s an earthquake. The earthquake shakes the prison’s foundations but it doesn’t knock it down. It causes all the doors to come open and everyone’s bonds to come unfastened. That is a remarkable earthquake! And it comes along just when Paul and his companions have been brought into prison. Luke doesn’t say that God caused the earthquake. But the precision and timing and precision of this earthquake seem too remarkable to be a coincidence.
God is giving the jailer a prod. Greeks believed that the god Poseidon was in charge of earthquakes and he might send an earthquake if he was offended or ignored. In Jewish and Christian thought too, earthquakes can be a sign of God’s anger. I don’t know what was going through the jailer’s mind but somehow, he realises that God is present and he needs to do something.
After the earthquake has passed and the jailer realises that everyone is still there, he comes to Paul and Silas and asks, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’
The point is this. The Book of Acts isn’t primarily The Acts of the APOSTLES. It is The Continuing Acts of JESUS. I believe it was Jesus’ will that his servants should be in that prison and I believe that it was Jesus who sent the earthquake. Jesus is the man with the plan, the God with the prod.
A South African theologian called David Bosch wrote: ‘If there is a missionary in the Old Testament, it is God Himself’. The same is true in the New Testament. Mission is God’s mission. It’s our job to discern what HE is doing and how we fit in. That was what Paul and his companions did in that prison cell.
My third word is SAVED. The jailer asked Paul and his companions ‘Sirs, what must I do to be SAVED?’ I listened to a couple of sermons on this passage. One of the speakers called this question ‘The great question.’ The other called it ‘The only really important question there is.’ I agree 100%. This is the only question in life that we MUST get right.
What does it mean to be saved? We are saved from the wrath of God [Romans 5:9]. When God’s anger is satisfied, we can be in relationship with God and Jesus. Christians often talk and witness as though the great gain in being a Christian is eternal life. And people sometimes ask, ‘Do I really want eternal life?’ Paul wrote, ‘I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’ [Philippians 3:8]. If any of us are in a really good marriage we know how good a good relationship is. That’s a comparison the Bible makes. Jesus is the groom and the church is the bride. Three chapters from the end of the Bible there is the wedding supper of the lamb. Paul found that his relationship with Jesus was worth more than anything. I would second that. It’s not something to miss out on! With that relationship comes eternal life. Jesus said, ‘Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent’ [John 17:3]. We start with knowing God.
The jailer asked ‘Sirs, what must I do to be SAVED?’ So, what’s the answer? Be a good person? Be kind? Go to church? It isn’t any of those. Paul and his companions told the jailer, ‘BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ Actually, they said more to him than that. We read that ‘…they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house’ [Acts 16:32]. Paul and his companions explained the gospel to the jailer. Then we read, ‘And he was baptized at once.’ This jailer was a man of decision! In the New Testament baptism is the standard way for someone to say clearly and unequivocally that they have decided to follow Jesus. It’s the standard way for us too.
What about us? Have we asked the great question, the only really important question there is: what must I do to be saved?
If God is giving you a prod today, then be like the jailer. Do something about it. Choosing to follow Jesus is the most important and the best step anyone can make. If you haven’t yet done so, take that step! If you have questions then please have a chat with me after the service.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, we’ve thought about the PRISON, the EARTHQUAKE and the jailer’s question, ‘What must I do to be SAVED?’
The PRISON reminds us that we, your servants, can be right in the centre of your will and yet our situation LOOK like a mess. Help us please to take encouragement from that. Our story today reminds us that a situation can look like a mess when it really isn’t.
The EARTHQUAKE reminds us that mission is YOUR mission. Acts is The Continuing Acts of Jesus. You, O Lord, have the strategy and the power. Help us please to grasp what you are doing and play our part.
Finally, we thought about the jailer’s question, ‘What must I do to be SAVED?’ If we haven’t yet asked – and answered – that question, please help us to do so.
We ask this in your name, Amen
Sermon at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 17 September 2023, 10.30 a.m. service.
