16 November 2014
I. Introduction
-- turn in
Bibles to Acts 16:25-34
-- before
we turn to this passage this morning, I wanted to take an opportunity to share
with you a thought about God's word -- as we turned to this passage, you may
have noticed that we've been here before -- I preached a sermon from this passage
a couple of years ago
-- I try my
best not to repeat passages when I preach, but I know it does happen -- I'm
sure you remember a few months ago when I preached two sermons almost
back-to-back using the same passage of Scripture -- and here we are again
repeating a passage we looked at a couple of years ago -- I thought this might
be a good opportunity to explain why that sometimes happens
-- I have
found God rarely gives me a message that is just for the church -- I begin
every week with this prayer, "God, show me what You want me to share with
the church this week -- give me Your message for Your church" -- and I
have learned that God rarely does that -- God rarely gives me a message for a
Sunday morning that is not meant, first and foremost, for me
-- that
doesn't mean it doesn't apply to the church and that doesn't mean you can't get
anything out of it when you hear what God's been saying to me -- but it means
that when God speaks to me through His word, He seems to do so with the intent
to first change me -- and, really, that is the purpose of Scripture -- to let
us hear the Word of God and to let God's word work in us to change us and make
us into the men and women He has called us to be -- in other words, God has not
given us His Bible simply to be a source of messages for other people -- God
has not given us His Bible for others, but for us
-- I think
that's something we are sorely missing in our churches today -- if you look at
the historical New Testament church and compare it to what we have today, we
are an anomaly -- the early church didn't have one person who got up and gave a
prepared message every Sunday -- no, the early church was more communal -- more
relational -- everyone shared what they had -- whether that was food or money
or time or a message from God
-- and when
the church gathered, the people would go around the room and talk about what
God had told them that week -- they would all share the message God had given
them -- whether it was an interpretation of Scripture or a song or a Psalm or
whatever -- knowing it was for them, first and foremost, but that others might
benefit as well -- we've lost that in our churches -- people don't feel free to
share what God's spoken to them but instead come to hear a prepared sermon from
a professional minister -- but that's a different subject and maybe we'll talk
about that one day
-- so, to
get back to the long point I'm trying to make about why we sometimes repeat passages
in sermons -- when it does happen, especially if it happens really close to the
last time I preached on a subject, I think it's my fault -- I think it means
that I missed what God wanted me to get out of His word -- I may have been
faithful and said the words and given the message that He wanted me to give,
but maybe I just didn't understand it or apply it to myself -- and, so I think
God leads me back to that passage over and over until I do get it -- until I do
understand and, more importantly, do something with what He has told me -- now
that doesn't mean you need to hear it multiple times in a Sunday morning sermon,
but sometimes it happens, and I just ask for your grace and understanding when
it does
-- but
there is another reason we sometimes repeat passages -- Paul wrote to Timothy
in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in all righteousness" -- and
in Hebrews 4:12 we read, "For the word of God is alive and active."--
these verses remind us that God's word is living and active and dynamic -- and
there are times, like this morning, when God leads us back to a familiar
passage to reveal to us some new truth about this passage that we need at this
moment
-- and I
think it's important for us to remember this as we move into the holiday season
because there are very few passages about Christmas -- and I guarantee you that
you've heard all of them -- the stories and the passages and the themes of
Christmas are so very familiar to us, we know them by heart
-- but
knowing them by heart can make us deaf to God's voice -- we think to ourselves,
"Been there, done that, read that passage, heard that sermon before,"
and we can miss what God wants us to get out of it -- so we've got to be
careful to not ignore God when He does lead us back to a passage we have
already studied -- especially a passage we may know very well, because if He's
doing that, there's a reason -- and if you will listen for His voice over these
holidays as you hear the old familiar stories of the birth of Christ and the
visit of the Magi, maybe, just maybe, you will learn something new
II. Scripture Lesson (Acts 16:25-34)
-- okay,
I've beaten a dead horse that has nothing to do with what God wanted me to say
this morning, so let's move on and see what new insight God has for us from
this passage in the Book of Acts
-- Acts
16:25-34
Acts 16:25-34 (NIV)
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing
hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the
foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open,
and everybody's chains came loose.
27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors
open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the
prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all
here!"
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell
trembling before Paul and Silas.
30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must
I do to be saved?"
31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you
will be saved--you and your household."
32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all
the others in his house.
33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed
their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.
34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal
before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God--he
and his whole family.
-- as
everyone knows, I spent last weekend at Valdosta State Prison on a Kairos
Ministry Team -- the theme of Kairos is simple and is summed up in the phrase,
"Listen, listen, love, love" -- we don't try to spend our time
preaching to the inmates -- heck, many of them know the Bible better than we do
-- but instead we spend our time listening to what they have to say and loving
them with the love of Christ
--
at the closing of the weekend, the inmates are given the opportunity to reflect
on the weekend and on any changes that might have happened in their lives since
they first walked into the gym on Thursday night -- one common thought I heard
from the prisoners that spoke at the closing was this -- "Though I may
never see freedom again, I am freer now than ever before in my life."
--
that got me to thinking -- you know, here's these guys sitting in prison-- some
of them serving life sentences -- knowing they will never get out into the real
world again -- but yet they can say they are freer now sitting behind bars than
they've ever been before in their lives
--
Jesus said in John 8:36, "if the Son sets you free, you are free
indeed." -- and that is exactly the spiritual truth these men were
expressing -- freedom isn't dependent on your circumstances or your physical
location -- freedom is a matter of the heart -- if you have been freed from sin
and death by the blood of Jesus Christ, then you can be sitting in a cell in
Valdosta State Prison -- you can literally be locked behind bars and razor wire
-- but you can be freer than someone outside the walls
--
look back at verse 25
Acts
16:25 (NIV)
25
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the
other prisoners were listening to them.
--
in this familiar passage, we see Paul and Silas in prison -- just like the men
at the Valdosta State Prison, they were behind bars, chained to the wall --
certainly not a place of freedom -- certainly not a place where you would
expect a worship service
-- but here we see them at midnight, praying
and singing hymns to God -- you see, for Paul and Silas, it didn't matter where
they were, they were still free -- and they knew they were free -- even though
it appeared to all the world as if Paul and Silas were in chains, they knew
they were free -- so they couldn't help but praise God
--
this reminds me of a little boy and his father who were on a long car trip --
the little boy was in the back seat, and he kept standing up -- his father kept
telling him to sit down -- the little boy would sit down for a few seconds but
then he'd stand back up -- this went on time and time again -- finally, the
father said, "If you don't sit down, I'm going to stop this car and give
you a spanking and make you sit down."
-- the little boy sat down and was quiet for a few minutes and then
announced, "I may be sitting down, but I'm standing up in my heart."
--
freedom isn't about circumstances -- it's not about your physical condition -- it's
about having Christ in your heart -- as Paul and Silas show us in this verse,
you can be bound in chains in a filthy prison and still be freer than the rest
of the world
--
but, you know, the opposite is true as well -- you can be walking around free
in this world, but you can still be bound up spiritually -- prisons don't just
exist behind bars and razor wire -- prisons exist in the heart as well
--
think about the last time you were around a lot of people -- maybe at the store
or in a restaurant or at a football game -- did you ever stop to wonder how
many of those people around you were in prison -- not a physical prison -- but
a spiritual prison?
--
that cashier that was so rude to you -- that waitress who never brought you a
refill of tea -- that grumpy old man who cut you off in the parking lot -- could
it be they acted that way because they were living in bondage? -- could it be
they acted that way because they were still chained with sin and death?
--
look at verse 26
Acts 16:26-34 (NIV)
26 Suddenly there was such a violent
earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the
prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.
27 The jailer woke up, and when he
saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself
because he thought the prisoners had escaped.
28 But Paul shouted, "Don't
harm yourself! We are all here!"
29 The jailer called for lights,
rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.
30 He then brought them out and
asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 They replied, "Believe in
the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household."
32 Then they spoke the word of the
Lord to him and to all the others in his house.
33 At that hour of the night the
jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his
family were baptized.
34 The jailer brought them into his
house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to
believe in God--he and his whole family.
--
in Luke 4:18, Jesus said the Father "has sent Me to proclaim freedom to
the prisoners"
--
Jesus wasn't talking about people in jail -- he was talking about people in the
world -- people who were held in spiritual bondage -- I think it's important to
note Jesus said He came to proclaim freedom -- He came to announce it's
availability to those who would listen
--
through Jesus, freedom from sin and death had arrived -- it was available as a
free gift from God -- you are saved by grace -- but the prisoners Jesus was
talking about had to act on His proclamation -- that's why the verse in
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "you are saved by grace through faith" -- it
takes faith -- it takes repentance -- it takes a change of mind about Jesus and
an acceptance of the free gift of God to open the locks of our spiritual
prisons
--
it reminds me of the Andy Griffith show -- remember Otis, the town drunk? -- Barney
would always lock Otis up in the jail, but the key was sitting there on a nail
right outside the door -- Otis could get his freedom any time he wanted -- all
had to do was reach out through the bars and grab the key and open the door --
it's the same way with the prisoners in our world today -- all they need to do
is take the key
--
after the earthquake shook the prison walls in response to Paul and Silas'
worship, we read that the doors of the prison sprang open and the chains came
loose -- the Philippian jailer was about to kill himself, but Paul called out
to not do that -- that no one had escaped
--
the jailer called for lights and came before Paul and Silas in fear and trembling
and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" -- it was that moment
he first realized he was the one who was actually in chains
--
Paul told him, "Take the key -- reach through the bars and grab the key of
salvation Jesus put there -- believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be
saved -- you will be free"
--
have we ever talked in here about Juneteenth? -- do you know what that is?
--
Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated by African-Americans here in the south -- as
we all know, when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and when
the Civil War ended and the 13th Amendment was adopted, slavery was abolished
and the slaves were freed once and for all -- but, some of them didn't get the
word or they didn't believe the word and so they didn't act on the truth that
was proclaimed to them
--
some slaves in Texas
and in other parts of the south continued to live and work as slaves for
another 2-1/2 years -- they were free, but they continued to live as slaves
--
Juneteenth commemorates the day in June when the former slaves finally began to
believe and live in their freedom
--
what's funny about this holiday is that the opportunity for them to be free was
always there -- they just didn't act on it -- just like all the unbelievers
around you who continue to live in prison walls of sin and death because they
haven't acted on the free gift of salvation offered by Christ and reached
outside their bars and taken hold of the key that's hanging right there to let
them free
--
but, you know, unbelievers aren't the only ones who continue to live in a
prison of their own making -- there are many Christians out there -- maybe some
of you -- who are still held in chains of some type or the other
--
unbelievers may be living in a spiritual maximum security prison with bars and
razor wire, but there are many Christians living is other prisons -- let's
picture them as minimum security prison with open gates -- and sure, the bars
are gone and the razor wire is gone and all that separates them from complete
freedom in Christ is for them to walk through the gate into the free world, but
they won't
--
Let me explain what I mean -- when Christ went to the cross as an atonement for
our sins, He not only purchased for us freedom from our past sins -- but He purchased
for us freedom from our present and our future sins and from everything that is
keeping us from becoming more and more like Him
--
but what happens in the life of a lot of Christians, when we get saved, we don't
let Jesus remove all our chains -- we keep a few wrapped around us and don't
let Him take them off -- these chains are the things that are hindering us in
our walk with Christ -- these are the things that are keeping us from growing
in grace
--
for some of us, it's a sin in our lives that is really difficult to get rid of
-- maybe it's an addiction to pornography or drugs or alcohol or an impure
thought life -- maybe it's pride or arrogance -- maybe it's gossip or anger or
hatred -- whatever it is, it's still there in our heart holding us in bondage
--
maybe we're in bondage to our past sins -- maybe we know that they have been
forgiven, but we just can't let them go, and Satan is using them to hold us
back
--
maybe we're in bondage to legalism -- maybe we think that we have to come to church
to be saved -- that we have to belong to a certain church to be saved -- that
we have to do this good work or that good work or follow this church law to be
saved
--
maybe we're in bondage to the future -- our lives are filled with worry and
anxiety and we just can't let it go and move on in faith in Christ
--
maybe we're in bondage to another person -- maybe someone in our life is
controlling what we say or what we do -- maybe we have unforgiveness in our
heart towards another -- or maybe we need to ask forgiveness of another
--
whatever it may be, it's obvious that most Christians have not totally accepted
the freedom that Christ has to offer
--
once again, it parallels what happened to African Americans following their
freedom from slavery -- as Martin Luther King, Jr., pointed out in his "I
Have a Dream" speech in 1963, President Lincoln proclaimed freedom for the
slaves in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation, but 100 years later, the
blacks still had not accepted all the rights and privileges that went along
with that freedom
--
in other words, although they were free in name, they had never walked through
that last gate and left all their chains behind -- freedom was theirs for the
taking, but they just wouldn't accept it -- the same is true for many
Christians today
III. Closing
--
I heard the story one time about a group of commandos who went into Vietnam
to rescue some of our POWs -- the men had been in this prison for so long,
subjected to physical and mental torture, that they were in very poor condition
--
in a daring operation, the commandos infiltrated the prison and opened the
doors to the cells, expecting the prisoners to rush out into freedom -- but,
instead, they wouldn't budge -- they were afraid to leave -- they couldn't
accept the freedom they were being offered was real -- and they feared what
might happen if they left -- so the commandos had to go in and lead each man
out into freedom
--
in Galatians 5:1 we read, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of
slavery."
--
freedom -- true, spiritual freedom -- is ours for the taking -- the same
spiritual freedom that caused the prisoners on this Kairos to proclaim,
"Even though we may never walk outside these prison walls again, we are
freer now than we've ever been"
--
when you don't shake off all the chains and walk through the open gate of your
spiritual prison into the freedom that Christ has given, you allow yourself to
be burdened again by things which hinder your walk with Christ -- you are
keeping yourself in a prison of your own making even though the proclamation of
emancipation resounded from the empty tomb three days after Jesus' death on the
cross at Calvary
--
it is time for all of us to reach through the bars of our cells and take hold
of the key of salvation and sanctification and step into the freedom Jesus is
proclaiming
--
for some of us, that might mean accepting for the first time the freedom of
salvation Jesus is offering, just as the Philippian jailer did in this passage
--
for others it might mean receiving and living in the freedom from sin Jesus
offers -- putting aside the sins that are holding us back and walking in the
freedom that comes through Jesus' power in our lives
--
whatever it is -- wherever you are -- I ask that you respond to God's word this
morning as you feel led
--
let us pray