If I were to ask the question: why do we worship God? What answer would you give? Do we do it because He is good? Do we do it because He has blessed us? Do we do it only when the sun is out and we’re happy? This type of Christian thinking falls apart when things don’t go well. When you are feeling sad, confused, frustrated or lost can you still worship? This morning I want to tackle this question. We need to explore what it is that we bring to God and whether it should be driven by a choice or by emotions and circumstances.
We pick-up our story here in Acts 16 when Paul had set out on his second missionary journey. He was now travelling with Silas having been sent out by the church to Syria and Cilicia. We catch up with them in this story in Philippi, which was a major city in Macedonia. They were doing the work of the Lord spreading the Gospel message. They weren’t doing anything wrong or sinning against the Lord, yet they end up beaten and imprisoned. They found themselves in circumstances that would have been painful, dark, frustrating, and disheartening.
Beaten and bound (vs.19-23a)
It is interesting that Paul and Silas are thrown into prison because they did something that most people would have seen as a miracle. How great would you be feeling just after freeing a woman from the bondage of demon possession? They were doing the work of the Lord, successfully I might add, and where does it get them? Beaten, locked up and thrown into a prison which would have had a constant guard. The girl they freed was making lots of money for her owner as a fortune teller and he was furious. A mob formed, and after the beating of their lifetime they were thrown into the inner prison, which would have been open on every as to prevent any chance of escape. To add to the impossibility of the situation they were shackled and their feet were placed in stocks. Imagine how feared they must have been to be given such royal prison treatment. Did God abandon them in their hour of need?
Ever felt like you have been giving God your best and something terrible comes from out of nowhere? Maybe you have been having a great week and you finally shared your faith with that co-worker. It could be that you have been having a great month of ministry and things are really going well. Then it happens, something that leaves you feeling beaten, bruised, and all tied up. Has that ever happened to anyone here this morning? It knocks the wind out of you and you are left trying to catch your breath. Let me tell you something this morning, God has not forgotten or abandoned you, but He is testing you. It is in times like this that our faith is tested in a God that is supposed to be in control and good all the time, right? Most would say forget about worshipping, I have too many questions! God would say do you live for me because of what you get out of it or because of who I am?
Forgetting our Focus (vs.23b-24)
If sit back and think about it Paul and Silas had an opportunity to really give it to God. This would have been one of those ministry defining moments for some people and they might have thrown in the towel. “How could you let this happen God? After all we’ve been through and the travelling and preaching and staying in that last home where the wife was a terrible cook and the cot was uncomfortable; this isn’t fair!” Most people would think that they had every right to be in this frame of mind. Paul and Silas deserved better than a dirty dungeon and a beating to boot. It would have been so easy to take stock of their current condition and completely loose focus on the God that had saved them and called them to this mission.
No where in all of scripture does it say life will be perfect and we will understand everything that happens to us. In the tough times that we don’t understand we often forget our focus. When things are uncomplicated it is easy to serve God and focus on Him, but what about when things get complicated and uncomfortable? The saying, “you can’t see the forest for the trees,” comes to mind. We have the tendency to get so focussed on the problem directly in front of us that we forget that, although your circumstances have changed, God has not. We must learn worship God, not because He is good, but because He is God; even in the darkest of circumstances. God is unchanging, always faithful, and sovereign, worthy, gracious, loving and deserving of all honour and glory. That is more important than any circumstance that you will ever find yourself in. He is more important than your troubles, worries, and situations.
Concentrating on Christ (vs.25)
What happens next seems almost humanly impossible. To be in this type of state and for everything to look so grim some people would be thinking, “God, if you get me out of this then I will praise you.” That would fit the ‘worship when things are good’ policy, but that is not what happens here. I try and imagine Paul and Silas having this conversation.
“You have broken ribs too Silas?”
“Yeah, at least 3 or 4 Paul, but it’s not as bad as the throbbing in my head from that last kick in the head”
“I certainly wasn’t expecting this Silas, I think my arm is dislocated, but at least we’re still breathing.”
“Looks like we have some time to ourselves Paul?”
“How about we pray and sing a little, let’s spend a little time focusing on God.”
So around midnight they begin to pray and lift up a song of worship to God. Out of the darkness of their situation and of the cell a chorus is sung to the awesome and wonderful God that they knew so well. What was happening to them didn’t matter, focusing on God did.
A Pastor named Andrew Murray once found himself and the church facing a terrible crisis. He sought out the solitude of his study and sat there a long while quietly, prayerfully, and thoughtfully. He wrote this in his journal:
1. I am here by God’s appointment; in that fact I will rest.
2. He will keep me here in His love and give me grace to behave as His child.
3. He will teach me the lessons He intends me to learn.
4. In His good time He can bring me out again.
It is important to recall scriptures like, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6” It doesn’t say he will make everything easy or even make your paths known to you, just that He, all-powerful and all-knowing God, will make your paths straight, according to Him offcourse. We have got to learn, like Paul and Silas, to concentrate on Christ and not our problems. If we choose to worship then the things of this earth will grow strangely dim because when things don’t make sense He does. Remember this:
“When you are down to nothing, God is up to something.” –Anon
Conclusion
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. He eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. After all this poor man had gone through this was the straw the broke the camels back. He couldn’t take it anymore. He was stunned with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me?"
Angrily he piled a few leaves together and curled up next to the blaze grumbling until he fell asleep.
The next day, he woke to the sound of a ship approaching the island to rescue him.
"How did you know I was here?" he asked in wonder.
"We saw your smoke signal," they replied.
We will not always understand, but we can always trust, that God is working on something!
We will never know, until we look back on life, what God is up to. He is never doing nothing; that you can be sure of. Paul and Silas couldn’t have known what was going to happen next, but they weren’t worshiping God because He was going to break them out. They were worshipping Him because they chose to focus on Him, not their bruises, chains or problems. You don’t know what God is going to do with your tough situation, but no matter what He does and when He does you need to stop looking at the problem this morning and look up. Don’t make your relationship with God based on emotions, doing it only when you feel like it or when He’s been good. Choose to worship Him this morning and trust Him for the rest because He is God. Don’t throw in the towel, don’t get lost in your problem, turn your eyes upon Jesus…
