“And The Prisoners Heard Them”
Acts 16
8 And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
11 Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis;
12 And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.
13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: AND THE PRISONERS HEARD 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 every one's bands were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
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When we got saved (repented of our sin and accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour) we became the property of another. As it says in 1 Corinthians 6:
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
At that precise moment in time we began our new journey of faith. And as we would come to find out, this journey is like non-other we had experienced before. For the first time in our life, we were under the direct guidance of the One who purchased us with His blood on Calvary.
And so, because of our new status in Christ …
We no longer hold supreme ownership over our lives. We willingly released that ownership into the hands of our new Master. As such, we became His to do with as He sees fit and deems necessary.
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The path each believer embarks upon is the same and yet different. There are many similarities and yet there are many variables. Each journey is unique having been planned and designed by our new Master-Owner.
The only thing we have to do is …
Get out of the way and let God do in-and-through us what brings the most glory to Him.
Easier said then done, right?
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My thoughts and where I’m going with this ——
It appears that God may, in our life of service for Him, allow us to experience less then ideal situations. In the case of Paul and Silas it was jail time after having been severely mistreated.
It also appears that Paul and Silas weren’t surprised and taken back by what happened to them. Interestingly, we read of no complaints being uttered by them. What we’re lead to conclude is that, having accepted their lot, Paul and Silas had no fear of praying and singing within earshot of the other prisoners … at midnight no less.
So …
When I read about Paul and Silas boldly making a possible nuisance of themselves to the hardened prisons incarcerated with them, I wonder if I would have been as bold as they.
But then …
I’m led to wonder if I would have been thrown into prison in the first place. In other words, is my life goal to safely traverse this journey OR to unequivocally live an in-your-face kind of Christian life that would cause authorities to become so incensed that I’d be mishandled and thrown Into jail?
Honestly … ??? Honestly, I don’t know. And … I don’t like that about me.
I talk big. I preach big. I put on a big show of bravado. And not nefariously mind you. I really do want to think my big talk, preaching and bravado is who I really am but … is it, really?
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Speaking for myself:
This COVID thing that we lived through, and are still living in, has done something to me. Ultimately, I believe it’s for the good.
What it’s done is force me to look deep within to see what it is I’m really made of. So I’ve decided to begin self-testing myself.
Why?
Because I need to know in advance who and what I am so I can determine if I will stand or crumble ——
*Will I stand or not when push comes to shove?
*Will my faith be as as big as my mouth says it is?
*Will my actions, when the time comes, prove what I’m hoping to NOT be true?
Candidly:
When I place the grid of my life on top of the likes of Paul and Silas, I just don’t know.
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I hear believers say (and I do too) that God gives strength and ability during difficult and trying times. I do believe that. But I also believe God needs something to work with. We cannot live the Christian life in a slovenly manner and then expect God to step in at that last moment and make us dynamos for Him.
If in fact that’s what we’re thinking …
Hopefully COVID, masks and vaccines revealed to us our strengths and weaknesses while giving us a good kick in the seat of the pants as an added bonus. Each of us needs to start our own personal investigative journey to examine and test our mettle.
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The prisoners heard from the mouths of Paul and Silas an audible expression of their faith. Prior to being put in jail, Paul and Silas had already been outspoken for their faith. That’s what put them in jail in the first place. But while in jail, they continued to be outspoken for their faith. In fact, it might have been potentially more dangerous for them to do so then. I’m not sure I’d want to agitate a bunch of hardened criminals … no matter how righteous my motivations.
But Paul and Silas took advantage of the close quarters and proceeded, through prayers and song, to get out the truth of God’s Word. And it had an impact. Their bold prison actions ended up bringing about the salvation of the jailer and his family.
And that begs the question:
If Paul and Silas hadn’t ended up in jail, would the jailer and his family ever gotten saved? Now, that’s not a question for us to wrangle over. But it is a question that we need to reflect upon in light of our own willingness to be placed by God in situations and circumstance that we would normally bristle against.
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I honestly do think there’s a real possibility that difficult days lay ahead for believers. If that is to be the case, the story of Paul, Silas and the jailer is a good window into what it will take to stand and speak our faith.
Though salvation is free to the recipients, it often does come with a cost to those that bring the life saving truth of Christ. That’s how it’s always been and that’s how it will always be.
The only variable is …
When the time comes, will others in need of the Gospel hear from us as clearly as ——
“The Prisoners Heard Them”