Paul and Silas in the Slammer
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
David C. Wright
Acts 16:16 - 40
August 30, 2009

          This morning we continue our series in the book of Acts.  This morning’s story features the work of Paul and Silas, a famous early missionary team.  Their ministry literally changed the course of human history.  How did they do that?  And what did they actually do in their mission to make it so effective?  This story focuses on three of their ministries, activities in which Jesus is still involved today.
          The story takes place during Paul’s first journey into Europe, in the city of Philippi, Greece.  Philippi was a Roman colony, giving it special status and wealth.  When Paul arrived in Philippi there was no church, so he began the congregation with some God-fearing Gentiles who met along a riverbank, led by a businesswoman named Lydia.  That’s when things got very interesting!  We’ll begin in Acts 16:16.
          16  One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.
          17  While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, "These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation."
          18  She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour.
          19  But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.
          20  When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, "These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews
          21  and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe."
          22  The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
          23  After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.
          24  Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. (Acts 16:16-24)
          First, let’s talk about the girl whose healing caused all the trouble.  She was probably mentally ill, and in ancient times people believed that those whose minds were weak could serve as oracles for the gods to tell the future or give sage advice.  That’s what this girl did.  She also was a slave, manipulated and used by her owners for their benefit.  This was a pathetic, exploited young woman.  She dogged Paul and Silas through the streets shouting to everyone about their power and mission.  Out of annoyance, Paul then performed a miracle of deliverance!  (Sometimes God’s work gets done even when our motives aren’t exactly right!)  At any rate, the slave girl was healed, delivered from her illness, and restored to her right mind.  This should have been a cause for great rejoicing, but it wasn’t.
          Her owners were enraged that their money-making “property” had been damaged, and their ticket to wealth cancelled.  Greed caused them to haul Paul and Silas to court, and, playing on anti-semitic feelings, induced the authorities to have them severely beaten and thrown in jail without a trial or even an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges.  The church has always been about the ministry of delivering people from that which enslaves them.  Today we might think about ministries which help people in bondage to alcohol or drugs, or even sexual addictions or prostitution.  GPC supports two shelters that help people with addictions. The “Survivors” ministry helps deliver women and children from abusive relationships.  And it’s not uncommon for people to just walk in off the street desperate for deliverance from various afflictions.  We try to assist them as best we can.  These are ministries of deliverance.   
          But there are other less-obvious things that can also enslave us.  Some of us are driven by greed or a compulsion to succeed at any cost.  Others are driven by a need for acceptance, or are enslaved by feelings of guilt or failure.  You can be enslaved by whatever it is that dominates your thoughts and actions and keeps you from becoming all that God intends you to be.  Acts 16 reminds us that Jesus wants to deliver you from those things.  You can talk directly to him and ask for that deliverance.  And you can ask others in the church to support you and pray for you.  The ministry of deliverance continues today!
          Our story continues in verse 25.
          25  About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
          26  Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened.
          27  When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.
          28  But Paul shouted in a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here."
          29  The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
          30  Then he brought them outside and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
          31  They answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
          32  They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
          33  At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.
          34  He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
 (Acts 16:25-34)
Here, Paul and Silas engage in the ministry of evangelism.  (SLIDE #4  Foundational Ministries of the Church:  Deliverance, Evangelism) Their witness begins as they are recovering from their beatings while in the stocks- an instrument of torture designed to inflict further pain upon them through the use of a stress position.  Their response is to sing hymns and pray aloud!  Most of us would regard a beating and imprisonment as a real set-back to our ministry!  “Uh, maybe we should get into another line of work,” we might say.  “I hear they’re hiring down at Kennie’s!”  We would be understandably discouraged.  Not Paul and Silas.  They see it as an opportunity for the power of God to be displayed!  And is it ever!
          An earthquake rocks the place and shakes the prisoners right out of their chains.  The jailer prepares to commit a kind of honor-suicide, but Paul intervenes.  He sees this jailer not as his enemy, but as a potential brother in Christ.  The jailer asks a seemingly strange question, “What must I do to be saved?”  But remember, everyone in town heard the slave girl say that Paul and Silas were “servants of the Most High God who were bringing a way of salvation.”  So the jailer probably regarded the earthquake as divine judgment on the city for punishing Paul.  “How can I be saved from this judgment?” he wonders.
          It’s hard to imagine a better opening for a Christian witness than the question, “What must I do to be saved?”  Imagine if the guy at the desk next to yours at work came up to you tomorrow and simply asked, “What must I do to be saved?”  Would you be ready?  Paul was ready.  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,” he says.  That’s the essence of Christian belief.  He does not say, “Join your local church and give it lots of money.”  He doesn’t say, “You must subscribe to this or that doctrine.”  He does not say, “Live according to the golden rule,” or even “Follow the ten commandments.”  Those things are good, but none of them has the power to save.  Instead he says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”  That word “believe” can better be translated as “trust.”  Don’t trust in your own goodness.  Don’t trust in other gods.  Don’t trust in your own ability to become a better person.  Trust in Jesus to make you right with God, for he has paid the penalty for your sin and can cleanse you and make you new. 
That’s how you can be saved.
          That’s enough of a witness for the jailer to want to hear more, so Paul and Silas continue to speak God’s Word to him.  He and his family are converted and are baptized as a sign of that conversion.  He then takes Paul and Silas home and cares for them as further evidence of his changed heart.
          The ministry of evangelism is often a matter of our willingness and God’s timing.  We don’t have to force our message on anyone, nor should we.  We simply ask God to bring us opportunities to begin spiritual conversations with others, and then watch expectantly for God to do so.  We respectfully share our faith as best we can, trusting that God is already at work.
          Former Ohio Congressman, Tony Hall, became a Christian while in office through the ministry of the National Prayer Breakfast.  He became very open about his new-found faith.  On a trip to an Islamic country, he was greeted at the airport by the U.S. ambassador who reminded him that he was in a Muslim country and that he should refrain from talking about his religion.
          Tony nodded politely.  When he arrived at the office of the Muslim leader, he was asked why he had come.  Tony replied, “I would like to be your friend.  I would like our countries to be friends.  And I would like to invite you to the National Prayer Breakfast, in the name of Jesus.”  The ambassador blanched.
          But the Muslim leader became very excited.  He slapped his knee and said, “This is remarkable.  You have come all this way to be my friend and to talk about Jesus.  My mother used to talk to me a lot about Jesus when I was a child.  We should talk about Jesus more often.”  Then he turned to the ambassador and said, “Why don’t you talk about Jesus?”
          That’s a good question for all of us to consider.  “Why don’t you talk about Jesus to others?”  God is preparing people (even unlikely ones!) for your witness.
          So far we’ve seen ministries of deliverance and evangelism.  There’s one more.  35  When morning came, the magistrates sent the police, saying, "Let those men go."
          36  And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying, "The magistrates sent word to let you go; therefore come out now and go in peace."
          37  But Paul replied, "They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves."
          38  The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens;
          39  so they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.
          40  After leaving the prison they went to Lydia's home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.
 (Acts16:35-40)
          This is an unexpected development, isn’t it?  Paul kind of turns the tables on the officials of Philippi.  It feels as though he and Silas are in charge now!  Apparently the magistrates hadn’t given them a chance to say anything before sentencing them to the beating and a night in jail.  Now the magistrates find out that they have beaten and jailed Roman citizens without even a trial, something that was strictly forbidden.  And Paul wouldn’t let it go.
          Paul is engaged in the ministry of justice.  Paul isn’t just insisting on his own rights.  His action here is designed to ensure the rights of others, especially those new Christians he is leaving behind in Philippi.  God’s people have a long history of advocating for justice, particularly for those who are powerless and defenseless.
          Back in the Old Testament the prophets cried out for justice.  Micah says that God requires only three things of us.  The first is to do justice, then to love mercy, and finally to walk humbly with God.  (Micah 6:8) The  prophet Amos quotes God as saying,  “Take away from me the noise of your songs;(He’s talking about their worship!) I will not listen to the melody of your harps.  But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”  (Amos 5:23,24) Jesus insisted upon justice when the woman was taken in adultery.  Later, many in the church were involved in the abolition of slavery and insistence on civil rights for everyone.  As we look back on the life of Teddy Kennedy this week, whether we agree with his politics or not, we should note how his Christian faith led him to be an advocate for justice for the poor.
          Today, we are called to other ministries of justice, especially for those who are poor and without power.  Justice for victims of crime, for immigrants, people in Appalachia whose homes and land are threatened by commercial interests, for victims of the pornography industry, for people of color, for gay and lesbian people when they are denied their civil rights, for minorities in Sudan and other parts of the world.  And we have an opportunity right now to call on our leaders in Harrisburg to demand that they restore funding for services to our neediest citizens.  Christians have a responsibility to speak out against injustice and work for better and fairer ways of treating all people.
          Thirty years ago Millard Fuller noticed that home ownership was one of the best ways to help people out of poverty.  However, because of the high cost of interest, few poor people could ever afford to own their own home.  So Fuller began Habitat for Humanity, which builds low-cost homes for working poor people using volunteer labor.  The people pay for their homes, but are charged no interest on the loans, making the houses affordable to the poor.  Habitat for Humanity is now one of the largest home-builders in the U.S.!  This is a contemporary ministry of justice.  There are many others.
          Paul and Silas remind us that God is at work in ministries of deliverance, evangelism, and justice.  As you consider these ministries  to which do you feel most called?  Which do you tend to ignore?  Let us work to continue all these ministries upon which the church was built.

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