Seventh Sunday of Easter:
“What Must I Do?”
20 May 2007

Text: Psalm 97:1 The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! 2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. 4 His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. 7 All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! 8 Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O LORD. 9 For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. 10 O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 11 Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. 12 Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

Sermon text: Acts 16:16-34: 16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command 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 gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

Introduction

How do you act toward injustices in life? We frequently hear of people released from prison after DNA evidence cleared them of crimes they didn’t commit. The men released lost many years of their lives before they were finally vindicated. However, we also hear of stories of forgiveness and redemption as these men come to find Jesus in prison.

Paul and Silas would have empathized. Neither of them did any crime to warrant a Roman beating and imprisonment. However, both of them came to see God’s control of the situation when the situation resolved. Both of them would have said that their unjust punishment was worth the salvation of an ordinary guard and his family. In the end, both of them saw God spread His Gospel through Greece, a process that began by a riverbank in Philippi.

Sermon

Phliippi had a long and storied history. The town was founded by Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great. However, the town was later abandoned in the second century B.C. The Philippi  of Paul’s time was a Roman colony founded by former soldiers from Octavian and Marc Antony’s legions in 42 B.C. Therefore, the people of Philippi were fiercely loyal to Rome and its state religion.

Few Jews lived in Philippi, too few for the community to have its own synagogue. Instead, the few Jewish believers there met by a nearby river for weekly worship. Paul and Silas had recently arrived in Macedonia to spread the gospel of Jesus into Europe. Their first convert, Lydia, came from the group that met on the riverbank.

On their way to the riverbank, Paul and Silas passed a girl they had noticed before. This girl was demon-possessed. Like the demon possessed people in the Gospels, this girl recognized Paul and Silas for “servants of the Most High God.” Unfortunately, her owners had found a way to exploit her possession.

Paul responded to this demon as he responded in other instances: He called on the name of His Lord, Jesus Christ. This time, Paul’s work in Jesus’ name brought major trouble with the authorities.

We don’t know why Paul didn’t pull his trump card: His Roman citizenship. For some reason, Paul took his beating with Silas. The authorities then threw them into the innermost part of the prison. For someone who committed no violent crime, the missionaries were shackled like violent criminals.

How would Paul and Silas respond?

However we think they’d act, I somehow doubt anyone would imagine they’d launch a praise service in the maximum security part of a Roman prison. This praise service changed life in Philippi.

Everyone in the prison, including the guard on duty that night, heard their singing. Suddenly, the praise service suffered a serious interruption: an earthquake rocked the city! This wasn’t very unusual; Greece is geologically active, with several major earthquakes occurring throughout its history. The miracle wasn’t that an earthquake happened; the miracle happened when all the cells were shaken open —  and no one left the prison. This act saved the guard’s life; had anyone left the prison, the guard would have been executed.

Could anything good happen in this situation? Apparently, the guard had heard the singing; the guard may have heard about Paul’s miraculous act of casting out a demon. The guard, finding himself facing another day instead of an execution, asked the question of the ages: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul’s respond changed the guard forever: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Remember what I said about the Roman loyalty to the state? In the Roman state religion, a Roman citizen put a pinch of incense on an altar and proclaimed, “Caesar is lord.” Paul told this man to believe in a lord other than Caesar. This man — a loyal Roman citizen and soldier — could no longer take part in this ritual. He could no longer fit in with the soldiers of his unit; he could no longer partake in the rituals of citizenship. This man, however, thought that believing in Jesus was worth the sacrifice.

Does this passage apply to us?

First, this passage applies to believers today. We face trials every day, some more severe than others. Regardless of the trials we face, we need to realize that everyone around us is watching our reactions to the trials we face. If Paul and Silas had claimed Roman citizenship, a man and his household would never have found eternal life. God cared enough about this guard to keep everyone in the prison. Even better, God cared enough about this man’s eternal life to put Paul and Silas in the prison under his care so they could tell him how to find eternal life.

This passage also applies to nonbelievers. This man faced the worst situation possible when he faced execution. His life was forfeit if anyone left that prison. You may think you’re unlike the guard; you don’t face death, you say. Actually, you do face death, at some point in your life. You need a “lord” that can take you beyond this life, beyond death. You need a lord that loves you enough to die for you. Jesus is that Lord!

Like Paul and Silas, Jesus could have claimed exemption from the punishment He faced for you. Jesus could have called angels to save Him from His crucifixion, but He didn’t. Instead, He took the punishment for your sins. Jesus also rose from the dead to save you from the penalty of sin. Jesus conquered death for you. He deserves your loyalty.

Paul and Silas didn’t deserve a night in prison, but someone needed them there. Christian, someone needs you in their lives. Will you be the someone that can bring Jesus into their lives?