The True Nature of Freedom

Sunday, May 26th, 2024

Followup from Last Lesson

Last week’s question: What is something you learned today that you can put into action this week? How will you do that? [Give people an opportunity to share what they did and how it went.]

Introductory information

Paul is on his second missionary journey, traveling with Silas, Timothy and Luke

They had just started having success planting a new church community in Philippi (a Roman colony city in Macedonia)

READ

Question to consider as we read:

What makes us free?

Acts 16:16–40 CSB

16 Once, as we were on our way to prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 As she followed Paul and us she cried out, “These men, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation, are the servants of the Most High God.” 18 She did this for many days. Paul was greatly annoyed. Turning to the spirit, he said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out right away. 19 When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. 20 Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews 21 and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the chief magistrates stripped off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had severely flogged them, they threw them in jail, ordering the jailer to guard them carefully. 24 Receiving such an order, he put them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the jail were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was going to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!” 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him along with everyone in his house. 33 He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. Right away he and all his family were baptized. 34 He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household. 35 When daylight came, the chief magistrates sent the police to say, “Release those men.” 36 The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They beat us in public without a trial, although we are Roman citizens, and threw us in jail. And now are they going to send us away secretly? Certainly not! On the contrary, let them come themselves and escort us out.” 38 The police reported these words to the magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. 39 So they came to appease them, and escorting them from prison, they urged them to leave town. 40 After leaving the jail, they came to Lydia’s house, where they saw and encouraged the brothers and sisters, and departed.

EXAMINE

What are the key points in this passage?

#1 | There is a theme of freedom that runs through this passage

The slave girl is set free from demonic possession and the exploitation of her masters - Acts 16:18-19

She is in double-bondage - Bondage to a demon and bondage to men who are enslaving her to exploit her demonic powers

The jailer is set free - Acts 16:31-34

Consider the paradigm flip - we’re going to come back to this

Paul and Silas are not sitting in the cell like people who are imprisoned - they are worshipping God like free people

Through the Gospel, they bring freedom to the man whose job it was to keep them in bondage

Paul and Silas use their “freedom” as Roman citizens for the benefit of the new Christian community they had founded - Acts 16:37-39

As Roman citizens, their involvement in this new church would help legitimize it and take the pressure off from the city leadership (2)

Paul and Silas seem to have little personal concern for their own rights and privileges - this is the mark of people who are truly free

#2 | The symbolism of the jailer being set free

When separated from Christ, people can’t distinguish between freedom and bondage

Sin warps people’s perspective, making freedom look like bondage

Consider 2 Corinthians 4:3–4 “...if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

As a result, people actually live in bondage to sin while thinking they are free

When God sets you free, no one and nothing can ever imprison you

This is the implication of Paul and Silas’ attitude in the jail cell

They weren’t worshipping God so He would break their chains, they were worshipping Him because He had already broken their chains long ago

Romans 8:33–34 “Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. 34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.”

John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.”

We are called to bring freedom to people who cannot see their chains

To do this we must first understand the freedom we have in Christ

Galatians 5:1 “For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

Second, we must see people with spiritual eyes - as the Lord sees them, not as the world sees them

2 Corinthians 5:14–16 “For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised. 16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective...”

And third, we must let our compassion for people create a passion to see them be free

2 Corinthians 5:18–21 “Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

APPLY

Explore and apply the passage with these questions:

[These questions must be focused, yet very open-ended. Allow the conversation to go where people take it - we want to encourage everyone to share and explore the topics of the passage. You don’t have to ask all these questions. Sometimes a group may only get through one or two questions. Select the questions you think are right for the conversation. Then, as it comes time to wrap up, refocus the conversation to “land the plane.”]

What are some ways that freedom can look like bondage?

What are some ways that bondage can look like freedom?

What will you do this week, to shift the way you look at people and their situation?

Where we want to “land the plane”

We want people to get a sense of “waking up” to the reality of true freedom - where it comes from and who has it - so that we can have compassion for the bondage people are suffering under, and find the passion to do something about it by boldly sharing the gospel.

REFLECT

Prayer Points for Today

Ask the Lord to teach us to recognize freedom, to live in it, and to spread it wherever we go.

Devotional Question for the Week

In what areas of your life are you allowing your circumstances to convince you that you are not free?

FOOTNOTES

Philippi, originally named Crenides (“Fountains”), was taken by Philip of Macedon and renamed after him. In 168 B.C. Philippi became a Roman possession. After Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Julius Caesar, near Philippi in 42 B.C., the city was made into a Roman colony. This gave it special privileges (e.g, fewer taxes) but more importantly it became like a “transplanted” Rome (cf. comments on Philippi in the Introduction to Phil.). The primary purpose of colonies was military, for the Roman leaders felt it wise to have Roman citizens and sympathizers settled in strategic locations. So Octavian (who became Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor, in 27 B.C.) settled more colonists (primarily former soldiers) at Philippi after his defeat of Antony at Actium, on Greece’s west coast, in 31 B.C. Stanley D. Toussaint, “Acts,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 399.

Roman Citizenship - Paul’s demand that the magistrates escort him and Silas out of prison appears to be vindictive. But it probably was designed to spare the young church in Philippi from further harassment. It certainly would place the believers in a far more secure position before the officials. But why did Paul wait so long to mention his Roman citizenship? Perhaps the uproar at the trial (vv. 19–22) kept him from being heard. Or maybe Paul purposely waited till the most propitious time to give out this information. Born a Roman citizen (22:28), Paul had certain rights, including a public hearing. And no Roman citizen was supposed to be scourged. In only two places in Acts was Paul harmed or threatened by Gentiles—in Philippi and in Ephesus (19:23–41). In both instances people were losing money in vested interests and in each case Paul was vindicated by a Roman official. Stanley D. Toussaint, “Acts,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 400–401.