Acts 16:25-34: HOPE AND STRENGTH IN THE MIDST OF TROUBLE AND ADVERSITY
One of the most common questions asked, when it comes to God and Christianity, is "Why does God allow evil to take place?" Some people call this the number one objection to Christianity - if God is so powerful, and if God is so loving, then why does he let bad things happen to nice people? Terrorists attack innocent people. Starvation. Disease. Hardworking people going bankrupt. Why does God let evil happen?
You've probably wondered this too, when you have problems, or when you see others go through difficult situations - why God? You're powerful enough to prevent this, and I know you love me, you love the world - so why?
I'm sure Paul and Silas were wondering what God was thinking. There story in Acts chapter 16 is one of the most amazing stories in the Bible. It really helps us to answer the question - why does God allow evil to take place in the lives of good people? These two guys, Paul and Silas, were basically placed onto a roller coaster by God. They experienced some very low moments, and some very high moments, and there were unexpected and violent twists and turns in this story that they could never have anticipated. Today, we're going to look at what happened in Acts 16. Really, it's not the story of Paul and Silas, and it's not the story of the jailer at Philippi being converted - it's the story of God, showing his grace and mercy to all the people in this story, using their trials for a greater good, an eternal good - something no one could ever have anticipated.
I want you to put yourself into the shoes of the Apostle Paul this morning. Earlier in this chapter of the Bible, he and Silas were told by God to go to the city of Philippi. They had tried to go to other places, but the Bible says that God had stopped them. God spoke to them through a vision at night, and told them - go to Macedonia. So Paul did - he obeyed God, and I’m sure that's what you would have done as well if you were in Paul's shoes. If God tells you to go somewhere, you go.
And when Paul and Silas listened to God, and their lives got harder. They arrived in the city of Philippi, and that's when their troubles began. There was a slave girl there who was demon possessed. She was being used by her owners to do some fortune telling, and she was making her owners a lot of money. When the demon possessed girl wasn't fortune telling, she was following around the Apostle Paul, screaming and shouting that Paul was a servant of the most high God - he's teaching you the way to be saved! (I'm reading from the Bible here). Would you like someone like that following you around everywhere you went? How can you get anything accomplished? I can picture Paul, trying to avoid her - the Bible says that he found it to be very annoying. "Why did God send me here," Paul must have thought. "For this?"
Finally, the Bible says that Paul couldn't take it anymore - this had been going on for many days. He turned to the girl and said to the Demon, "In the name of Jesus, come out of her," and the demon did. Finally, no more girl following her around and screaming. Did Paul's life get better? No, the Bible says his life got worse. The owners of the slave girl were mad at Paul - they couldn't make any more money with her fortune telling. So they went as a group and dragged Paul and Silas before the authorities. They made up all these false accusations that Paul was causing riots. "Why did God send me here?" Paul must have thought. "For this?"
And then things went from bad to worse. It was eerily similar to Jesus' trial before Pontius Pilate. A big crowd gathered and started screaming. The Roman authorities decided to have Paul and Silas stripped and beaten - severely flogged, the Bible says, just like Jesus. I don't want to get into all the gory details of a Roman flogging - but they experienced some very brutal treatment - the skin on their backs was torn off, there was a lot of blood, a lot of pain, open wounds. "Why did God send me here, of all places," Paul must have thought. "For this?"
After he was flogged, he and Silas were thrown into a Roman prison. Do you know what a first century middle eastern prison was like? There were different levels in the prison - at the least bad level, you could see sunlight. The jailer at Philippi placed Paul and Silas into the deepest and darkest part of the prison - the dungeon, a very dirty place. The air was hard to breathe, very damp and musty - like a bad smelling basement in an old house - typically all kinds of bugs were down there, along with rats and the mice, eating the left over prison food. This is where Paul and Silas were to spend the night. "Why in the world did God send me here?" Paul might have thought. "For this?"
And then it got worse. The jailer fastened their feet into the stocks - big pieces of wood with holes for the feet. The holes were placed way farther apart then they should have been, so that the prisoners couldn't run away. There they lay - with the dirt from the floor stuck to the open wounds on their backs, their legs forced into an awkward position for a long time - and then the leg cramps would start - terrible muscle cramps from being in the stocks- so bad you would have to scream. Typically Roman prisons would be filled with the sound of suffering prisoners agonizing through the night because of the pain. Remember, this is where God sent Paul and Silas.
What would you do? Would you complain in your mind? Would you complain out loud? Would you question the love of God? Or would you just scream?
Paul and Silas decided to sing. Let's not complain. Let's not yell at God or yell at the government. Let's sing. And what did they sing about? The Bible says they sang hymns, probably Psalms. They sang about the God who used his power to free Israel from Egypt. They sang about the God whose love endures forever. They sang about Jesus, who was mentioned many times in the Psalms. There at midnight, in the pitch blackness, in the dungeon, trying not to think about the pain in their legs and the wounds on their backs, they sang at the top of their lungs about the power and love of the Almighty God. And all the prisoners were intently listening, the Bible says.
Why did God allow this to happen to them? We have the luxury of knowing how the story ends. At the time, they didn't. But then it happened, very suddenly - at midnight, there was the earthquake, the freedom from the stocks and the chains. The jailer wakes up, and is about to kill himself, because he thinks all the prisoners have escaped. He asks one of the most famous and most important questions ever asked in the history of the world: "What must I do to be saved?" Paul and Silas share with him the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The rest of this story makes it clear to us, why God allowed bad things to happen to Paul and Silas. There was the obvious blessing of the jailer and his family being converted to Christianity - they were baptized with the same baptism used on you. But what about the other blessings. The other prisoners that were there heard the Word of God and witnessed the power of God. After it was all over, Paul said he was stronger - he talked about it in his writings. And how many Christians in that first century were encouraged through this story? How many millions of Christians throughout history up to today have received encouragement through this story? God caused many blessings to come out of all the bad things that happened to Paul and Silas. "God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
Do you see the lesson to be learned here? Troubles come to those who believe in Jesus - this is true. Jesus once said, "In this world, you will have trouble." The Apostle Paul once said, "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God." Sometimes God even sends you into a situation where he knows you will have trouble - that's what happened to Paul. But the lesson we have learned here this morning is that God is in charge, and there are a many blessings that God can make happen, out of your troubles.
Who knows - maybe the bad thing that happens to you will result in someone else being saved from the fires of hell - would you be willing to experience some trouble in your life so that someone else could go to heaven forever? The same God who gave Paul and Silas the strength to endure these problems, to even sing in prison, can give you the strength you need to endure your problems. "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me," Paul once said. And God can use trouble in your life to make you stronger too, just as he did for Paul.
Why was Paul willing to do go through all of this? He did it because of what Jesus went through for him. Even though Paul was the worst of sinners, as he called himself, Jesus still died for him. Jesus still appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and forgave him, and baptized him, and made him into a Christian. Because of Jesus and his mercy and love and forgiveness, Paul was willing to go through all of this trouble. Christ's love compels us, Paul said. He gladly shared the message of the Savior with that jailer and his family at Philippi because Christ's love compelled him.
It's because of Jesus that we are willing to go through troubles too. What an amazing Savior we have, our God who took on human flesh and blood that first Christmas, our God who gave his flesh and blood as a sacrifice on that first Good Friday. And just when it looked like evil had won, and good had lost, then Jesus rose from the dead, showing that he had overcome sin and death and the Devil, as our Savior. That same Jesus who is now with us always, and he promises never to leave us or forsake us. Yes, it's because of his love that we are willing to go through whatever difficulties God allows into our lives. It's because of him that we can have confidence that God will always cause good to come out of the problems in our lives.
We are told that the jailer "brought Paul and Silas 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." May God bless you with faith and hope and strength as you endure problems in your life. Call upon God in the day of trouble. He will deliver you. And you will honor him. As Paul once said,"Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." Amen.
