Imagine: SERMON: TRUE FREEDOM

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)