Be ready for mission by living with an expectant mindset

Acts 16:23-40

Scene 1: God wants us to be ready for anything!

Because we never know what is just around the corner!

Now what is around the corner could be very bad, like a major health crisis.

Something like that can radically change your outlook on life.

A few years ago when we had a house in a semi rural area I did a little online research on land restoration, how to take degraded land and turn it back into productive land.

Having lived in rural areas, I enjoy watching Landline and 4WD touring is my hobby so I just liked finding out about this area and thinking what we might be able to do with the 4 acres of land we owned.

A story I was watching spoke of a man that had renal failure, he was clinically dead.

But somehow he survived.

All of a sudden he was faced with what can only be described as an existential crisis.

What was the purpose of his life, what was he doing that really made any meaningful difference.

He came to the conclusion that there was something more for him to do, something that would make a significant difference to the world.

This man developed a passion for the preservation of the American Redwood trees of California.

Now what is remarkable about his story is that he didn’t appear to have any previous interest on knowledge of this area apart from the fact that he lived in the rural communities where the last stands of these trees are.

He discovered that 96% of these trees have been cut down.

These trees covered large parts of that region of North America before European settlement and their loss is a major contributor to a dramatic decline in the productivity of the local area.

Just as we have discovered in Australia, extensive forest cover is actually a trigger for rainfall to occur and less tree cover increases temperatures and when it does rain allows erosion to destroy lots of farmland.

Years ago farmers were told to clear the land as trees competed with crops and pasture for water.

Now they are told to replant along creek and gully lines and even in belts through the midst of large paddocks to stop erosion and to provide shade.

To also cool the ground and in large enough reforesting projects actually serve as a catalyst for rainfall.

This man discovered that the Redwood is under threat and because so many of the oldest and largest trees had been lost there was a concern that there wasn’t enough genetic material left to ensure the survival of these magnificent trees.

Over several years this man discovered that they can clone the dead stumps of the largest oldest trees that were cut down.

Nearby young trees were in fact shoots from the root system of the tree that was felled.

This enabling them to replant significant areas using the strongest rootstock and along with many other projects start to rehabilitate land that is degraded and no longer productive.

In Genesis 2:15 Adam was commanded to tend the garden, this man has found a purpose, one which brings him great joy and contributes much to good stewardship of creation.

But the question remains are you ready for anything.

Hopefully you are and the thing that you encounter isn’t some major crisis.

Hopefully it is something positive, something like the experience of the apostle Paul when he visited the city of Philippi.

Philippi was a Roman colony.

God had specifically lead Paul & his companions to this city and things had started well.

Finding that there was no Synagogue where Paul could preach the Gospel message they went outside the city and found the place where those who were seeking after God met to pray. (Acts 16:13-15)

Lydia a successful businesswoman from Thyatira, a city renowned for its purple dye was one of those who gathered in this traditional spot to pray.

She was “a worshiper of God,” a Gentile who openly worshiped with the Jews.

She was seeking truth.

Paul shared the message of salvation.

God opened Lydia’s heart to the truth, and she believed and was saved.

The message was shared with others in her house and they too believed.

Scene 2: But no sooner are lost people saved than Satan begins to hinder the work!

In this case, he used a demonized girl who had made her masters wealthy by telling fortunes.

As Paul and his “team” went regularly to the place of prayer, to witness to the lost, this girl repeatedly shouted after them,

“These men are the servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way of salvation!”

Paul did not want either the Gospel or the name of God to be “promoted” by one of Satan’s slaves, so he cast out the demon.

After all, Satan may speak the truth one minute and the next minute tells a lie; and the unsaved would not know the difference.

The owners had no concern for the girl; they were interested only in the income she provided, and now that income was gone.

Their only recourse was the Roman law, and they thought they had a pretty good case because the missionaries were Jewish and were propagating a religion not approved by Rome.

Moved by both religious and racial prejudices, the magistrates acted rashly and did not investigate the matter fully.

Paul and Silas were stripped and beaten and put in the city prison.

It looked like the end of their witness in Philippi.

Scene 3: God wants us to be ready for anything.

We can learn something about being ready to see God work by looking at the attitude of Paul & his friend Silas in this situation.

Instead of complaining or calling on God to judge their enemies, the two men prayed and praised God.

When you are in pain, the midnight hour is not the easiest time for a sacred concert.

But that is exactly what these two men did.

The famous old time preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon said;

“Any fool can sing in the day, it is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but the skilful singer is he who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by.... Songs in the night come only from God; they are not in the power of men.”

You see in the midst of our pain we are called to follow the example of those who have lost everything and yet still praised God (Job 35:10; also see Ps. 42:8).

Because prayer and praise are powerful weapons!

2 Chron. 20:1–22; Acts 4:23–37)

God responded by shaking the foundations of the prison, opening all the doors, and loosening the prisoners’ shackles.

They could have fled to freedom, but instead they remained right where they were.

Paul immediately took command.

The prisoners must have realized that there was something very special about those two Jewish preachers!

No doubt, the earthquake and the open doors bought the fear of God on these prisoners because none of them ran away.

Paul’s attention was fixed on the jailer, the man he really wanted to win to Christ.

It was Roman law that if a guard lost a prisoner, he was given the same punishment the prisoner would have received.

There must have been some men in the prison who had committed capital crimes.

Because the jailer would rather commit suicide than face shame, torture and execution.

A hard-hearted person seeking vengeance would have let the cruel jailer kill himself, but Paul was not that kind of a man.

The jailer was confronted with the scene of two prisoners praising God, being released by a miraculous earthquake and not running away.

He quickly realised that he better get things right with God before the next miracle was a lightning bolt aimed at him.

He fell at Paul & Silas’ feet and asked them, what must I do to be saved?”

Scene 4: When people ask us “What must I do to be saved?”

We had better be able to give them the right answer.

Paul knew the right answer; faith in Jesus Christ alone.

There is only one path to eternal life and that is through faith in Jesus.

Now don’t sit there and think that it can never happen to you.

People are watching; they want to know if you have something they haven’t.

And when they see and hear your testimony of how God has been at work in your life.

Wether it is in the little things or the big things.

Then there will be opportunities to quietly and simply share with them how much it means to you to know that you have God in your life.

The key is to have the attitude of Paul & Silas.

They thought nothing of their own pains as they rejoiced in what God did in that Philippian jail!

Their focus was on simply looking to see what God would do and then grabbing the opportunity that came along.

The attitude of the jailer as he washed the wounds of these two prisoners who were now his brothers in Christ is another example to us.

One of the evidences of true repentance is a loving desire to make restitution and reparation wherever we have hurt others.

We should not only wash one another’s feet (John 13:14–15), but we should also cleanse the wounds we have given to others.

Luke doesn’t give us the details, but it is possible that some of the other prisoners were also born again through the witness of Paul and Silas and the jailer.

Can you imagine the challenge it was to these prisoners to see the events of that night.

Their jailer, now caring for men he had recently locked up.

Listening to their message and rejoicing at what he heard.

Some of these prisoners may have been waiting for execution, so imagine their joy at hearing a message of salvation!

Scene 5: No matter what the situation we need to be ready

Wether it is sharing with someone how God has been at work in our life.

Or proclaiming to them the way of salvation through faith in Jesus.

Or grabbing an opportunity to simply serve and do good in the local community.

We need to be ready for whatever God brings our way.

It may be an opportunity where you can speak about your relationship with God, or it may be an opportunity to simply serve in love and be one step in the person’s journey to faith in Christ.

Look at the situation for Paul & Silas the next morning when the city officials sent word to the jailer to release them.

They knew that they had no convincing case against Paul and Silas, so they were happy to rough them up and scare them off.

Paul, however, was unwilling to “sneak out of town,” for that kind of exit would have left the new church under a cloud of suspicion.

People would have asked, “Who were those men?

Were they guilty of some crime? Why did they leave so quickly?

What do their followers believe?”

Paul and his associates wanted to leave behind a strong witness of their own integrity as well as a good testimony for the infant church in Philippi.

It was then that Paul made use of his Roman citizenship and boldly challenged the officials on the legality of their treatment.

This was not personal revenge but a desire to give protection and respect for the church.

While the record does not say that the magistrates officially and publicly apologized, it does state that they respectfully came to Paul and Silas, escorted them out of the prison, and politely asked them to leave town.

Paul and Silas remained in Philippi long enough to visit the new believers and encourage them in the Lord.

The work of the Lord progresses through difficulties and challenges.

Different people with different experiences, and yet all of them changed by the grace of God.

Others just like them are waiting to be told God’s simple plan of salvation.

Will you help them hear?

It might be by serving the community through some local project, joining in with what the community is doing and through your presence looking for the opportunity to share the good things Christ is doing in your life or the life of your church.

You could help in some way at the local school, planting trees in the park, clean up Australia Day

Or it could be by being a bit bold and sharing the need for salvation with someone you already know.

In your own witness for Christ, will you be ready to see where God is at work and daringly join in?

Because if you are, you need to be ready for anything!

Source: Wiersbe, W. W. 1996, c1989. The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. Victor Books: Wheaton, Ill.