Have you ever been in the situation where you felt trapped? Not as much physical as mental. Some of us felt trapped in Jobs, others maybe a marriage, sometimes people feel trapped in a neighborhood because the area changed.
There are people that get trapped by the choices they make, and sometimes we have absolutely no control over what is holding us down.
In our scripture today we have several situations of bondage or people trapped. For some the situations are not so bad, and others it is horrible.
The setting is Philippi, the capitol of Macedonia, It is in today’s Grease.
The colony was setup as a retirement community for Roman solders with full Citizenship and rights. Lots of wealthy people. Lots of retired or disable military. The Jewish population was evidentially very low primarily because of the heavy Roman influence. The proof is that they did not have a synagogue. A synagogue is less of a building and more a count of Jewish men coming together for worship.
Paul and Silas ended up going out to the river to find a place of prayer. When no synagogue existed, the Jews would go out to a stream or river, because they had to ceremonially wash themselves then move to a time of prayer. They met Lydia and other women there worshiping and taught them.
So the Three men (Don’t forget the writer Luke) went back and forth to public places to share the Good news and each Sabbath the went down to the river to pray.
Since there were not many Jews obviously they would be teaching gentiles. This Slave girl is following them around and shouting “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”
That sounds like free advertising. This girl is described as being a soothsayer, a fortune teller. For her to declare who these men were and that they know how to be saved was a pretty big deal. Like a church having constant radio and TV ads. Except a little better, because the people in town knew the young lady, knew about her gift. If she is telling you something it must be true. It was big business to consult a fortune teller about your life, business and any problems in your life. This was how this girl earned a living, not for her self but for her owners. She was the bread winner for her owners.
This slave girl is in bondage in at least two ways. First is pretty obvious, she is a slave. This was not uncommon in this day especially for young girls. A large percentage of people in cities were servants and slaves which was the bottom of the barrel socially. No rights and limited freedom, definitely not citizens of the empire.
This girl is identified as having a gift of prophesy, or perhaps could read emotions and tell what people were feeling, fears, anger. Her owners were being paid for this girl to tell their future, to have their fortunes read.
Her second form of bondage was that this gift. It was caused by some kind of spirit. It is not described as good or bad. For the girl it might have been a blessing, she could earn a lot of money for her owners, which meant that they would want to take care of her. However, that talent seems to have had a side affect. She seems to have acted a little compulsive, for days she has been following the men and shouting over and over.
“These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”
“These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”
“These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”
It appears that her “gift” was related to, insanity some other power controlling her words and actions. Pagans believed that mentally ill people had been touched by the God’s .
I imaging that the connection she saw or felt drew her to the men like a moth to a flame. She could not help herself. Shouting the same thing over and over. She was not asking to be healed or to have the spirit removed. She may not have even known that something else was controlling her.
It was not compassion that caused Paul to heal her. Aggravation of having this person chanting and shouting this everyday started to get on Paul’s nerves.
He was annoyed with how she acted, the noise she made maybe even how she lived. His reaction is “Hush girl we are trying to talk here.”
"In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!"
Paul frees the girl from one of her two traps. We don’t hear about her any further, so we can only guess what happens to her. She goes from having a special freedom to wander around, perhaps special treatment in the owner’s home. Suddenly the best she will ever be is a common household slave. Something she has probably never done before.
But she gets something she would have never had before being released. The ability to make choices for herself, not bout her Philippi citizenship - slave or free. But her eternal life situation, she can now hear and understand the good news and how to be saved. She can now have the opportunity for spiritual freedom.
Now as a result of Paul getting fed up and dispatching the spirit the owners of the girl get angry and drag Paul, Silas and Luke to the town square. The second event of bondage comes as the accusers tell the magistrate not what happened and their losses, but about how these Jews from out of town that are disrupting the city and suggesting illegal activities.
What happened to the real problem?
The owners have a bondage of their own. They just had to get even with Paul at all cost, which is having to be in control, When they controlled the slave girl they had important influence in town and that was gone. They were not going to let him come into their town at change the way things have always been! Their bondage is one of control and power at all cost. Including the cost of their integrity as they bend the truth to get what they want.
They bind themselves to their old lives and ways and close off listening to the offer of a better future. We don’t know what happened to these people either. They believed they got what they wanted. But with the twisting of the truth and all the potential trouble that might come from lying about a roman citizen, might change their influence with the magistrate in the future. When Control and power are your motives you are always bond and caught up and can’t get free. Character and motives would always be something to be questioned. Consider how you view politicians for example.
They got what they wanted. Paul and Silas were whipped and thrown in jail. That will teach them. I bet they will never go around messing with people’s lives.
Slide Jail
Jail as not a nice place, in those days. The prison in Philippi was basically a whole dug into the side of a hill. All walled up and only 1 way in or out.
There were no windows to skylights.
SLIDE Cell (roof collaps)
Tiny space, with who knows how many people stuck inside. We know there were other prisoners in the jail so we don’t know how crowded it was. Silas and Paul’s feet we in stocks, perhaps the other prisoners were also. No food or water, Pitch black, and probably smelled petty bad. And our scripture tells us that at about Midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing.
These two men had a physical form of bondage. The two men are literally locked up. (It won’t be the last time.) This is a physical torment, yet they pray and sing hymns.
For most of us, when we fall into a physical form of bondage we will do the praying part. But it is hard to sing the hymns. We have a hard time finding joy when we are locked away. Today we suffer physical bondage that is no fault of our own when illness, accidents and death come into our lives. As far a we are concerned we are locked up any elements in our lives are beyond our control. It is easy to pray, plan, cry and a number of other responses. But being thankful for our suffering and trouble is rarely something we can express.
I wonder if their singing and praying irritated the prisoners and the jailer. All that racket late at night.
Then something happens that is historically associated with God. The earth moves, there is an earth quake and the foundation for the prison shakes and the doors come open and the chains come loose.
Scripture does not tell us that they prayed for release. It does not tell us that they asked for a sign that God was with them.
Evidentially the jailer had dozed off , was hit by debris, or fell and wakes up expectant that the prisoners must have run off. He starts to use his dagger and commit suicide. There was this rule that if a guard let a prisoner escape that he had to receive the punishment of the missing prisoners. That was quiet an incentive the keep prisoners where they belonged.
From the hole of the cell, Paul called out Don’t Do it! We are all here.
Either no time had passed since the earth quake or the prisoners were content to just stay put. Something about the physical prison was not bad enough t make a break for it, the first change they got.
The jailer had his own prison, not just the one he watched after.
Even thought he had physical freedom and authority over the prisoners, he was a prisoner to fear. There was the fear if he failed to do his job. But he had a bigger fear, the fear of needing to be saved. When he sees that the prisoners had the opportunity to run, the fear of failure went away. But he realizes that his real fear was what would happen to him at the end of his life. He understood that the pagan gods had never really done anything for him. He saw how these Jews had a faith and confidence that let them feel like praying and singing in the middle of the night, sitting in chains. Still suffering from the abuse earlier in the day, singing and praying in when most would moan and cry.
"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" What must I do to be released from the fear of death!
-- How many people living in our community, within let’s say ½ mile of this spot are in any of the types of bondage I have mentioned this morning.
I would dare to venture to answer that nearly everyone that we can think of has at least some form of bondage, something keeping them in chains. That includes everyone in thins room.
Paul and Silas were going from town to town sharing the good news and they were oppressed and chained.
But they don’t just sit in that cell crying woe is me, and if we get outta here I am going Home. They demonstrated something that the guard saw, waned and received. They had the ability to sing when no one would blame them if they cried.
Are you able to do that? Sing a praise to God after you get whipped. When you are trapped and chained.
When life is uncomfortable we are shown over and over in scripture to be in prayer. But not just woe is me prayer, but prayer that demonstrates your faith. Prayer that says out loud, that it hurts but you know that God is with you will get you through.
Sometimes we will find we suffer when our community suffers. When we look at the village and see people that are trapped. We may get an attitude of Get a Job, or some other emotion that make us do something. Wither we get angry or we feel love and compassion if it makes us do something it will be turned into good because God is in control.
Folks as we move into the summer doldrums it is a great time for us to focus our prayer life on listening. I hope you are already taking tine in your prayer time to write down what God puts on your heart. Later we will share what we are praying about and see if He is suggesting some action. Some plan to free his children from the traps of this world.
As Christians you have the knowledge that you can still sing and pray because you are always free from the bondage to sin and death. You are free because of the actions of Jesus Christ to set the captives free from Sin and Death
All Glory be to God!
