Shoe...Meet Other Foot

Intro - One of the most telling moments in life is if you ever come by the power to punish those who mistreated you. I remember reading how many Afrikaners (white South Africans) feared relinquishing power because of retaliation. Nelson Mandela, no matter your thoughts on him, called for reconciliation during the transition, not retaliation....that took some character. Paul and Silas find themselves in a similar situation...

TR: The first test of character they faced is when they were found to be unbound...

Unbound

After Paul and Silas were unjustly beaten and imprisoned they find themselves in a Philippian jail wounded and shamed.

The beating was public and no doubt shook some of the newer believers that they had witnessed to.

Luke, who is writing this to Theophilus, states that are the end of a terrible day, Paul and Silas are in the jail.....singing and praying

Literally it’s that they had a mindset that this was important and was the best use of their time…to sing and pray, not complain, not rest up, not yell about the injustice of it all…but to pray and sing.

And it says that the prisoners were listening to them. Now to be clear this is clearly in the Greek but they were listening to them intensely…to every word of the pray and song

What amazing testimonies those men were forming based on their response to their suffering.

I believe wholeheartedly that there is a distinct power in song. The scriptures seem to agree with me cf. 2 Chronicles 20:19-22

Israel paraded out a praise team into battle and won.

Yet here they are singing and praying and all of a sudden an earthquake came, opened doors and loosened everyone’s bonds....they were free!! UNBOUND!

Was this some miracle or a freak occurrence who knows but either way the result was the same…freedom was within their grasp

What would you have done? So often we see open doors that come after unjust or unfair treatment as a right, valid opportunity, etc.

I mean think of all of the things that you have had to endure on your job, with that loved one, in that situation, in that marriage, friendship, whatever.

And now by a stroke of God’s providence there is a way out that no one would blame you for. Matter of fact most people would call you foolish for not taking it…it’s an open door from a jail cell you should’ve never been in in the first place....

What governs those decisions in your life?

See there is a power that takes hold of us when we suffer. We turn inward and think about self.

Now we might dress it up with fancy Christian language, maybe some podcasts, books, voices that echo our true desires but in the end it is self that we advance.

So it naturally follows then that when we’ve entrusted “self” with being god then when that self gets power it uses it in selfish ways.

The beauty in what God did in Paul and Silas though is this. When you praise in the midst of persecution God can turn your subjugation to a demonstration OF HOW YOU PERCEIVE GOD & WHAT IS TRUE FREEDOM!!

Paul and Silas had the wherewithal to focus their attention, not on circumstance, but on prayer and praise.

"You may think it far-fetched, but I have an idea that if there were more joy in tribulation, more triumphing in trouble in our own day, we would see more shaking by the power of God. The unsaved people of the world are watching Christians, and when they see Christians shaken by circumstances, they conclude that after all there is very little to Christianity. But when they find Christians rising above circumstances and glorying in the Lord even in deepest trial, then the unsaved realize the Christian has a comfort to which they are strangers.

WHEN YOU PRAISE IN THE MIDST OF PERSECUTION AND DON’T ALLOW PERSECUTION TO DIRECT YOUR PERCEPTION…YOU HAVE POWER!!!

We were looking at God before but now that obstacles, struggle, injustice, discomfort have struck we look elsewhere…don’t, because as we’ll see it’s VITAL to stay focused!!!

TR: When we stay focused on how we are unbound through Jesus…we have the power through the Gospel to help others feel unburdened...

Unburdened

In rushes the jailer, thinking that the prisoners had escaped and ready to take his own life.

This was common because as a Roman given charge to watch prisoners it was a rule that if that prisoner escaped you suffered the fate that they would have suffered.

So it stands to reason that some of them were bound for death.

Yet here Paul yells and stops him...”don’t take your life…we’re all here!!”

What an amazing turn of events. Not just Paul but ALL the prisoners!!! Somehow, these men had convinced other people, some doomed to die, to forego their own physical salvation.

The life of the captor was now in the hands of the captured.

The jailer, aware of what Paul and Silas had done, fell down and asked to be saved. He was then baptized, took the men to his home, got his family saved, washed the men’s wounds, fed them and rejoiced...

Be aware family…some of us have allowed the chains of life and the bars of circumstance to imprison us when all the while it’s our captors who actually need freedom!

See while Paul and Silas were locked up it was really the jailer who was bound!!

And although Paul and Silas were wounded, bleeding, and physically broken it was them who loved the most

What an amazing thing for us to learn how to be wounded lovers of people....

There are people in your life, systems at work in this world, that are actually unjust yet behave as though they are free, yet they are bound.

These men valued the life of the jailer, more than they valued their own freedom, and more than the jailer valued his OWN LIFE!!!

Witness the amazing testimony of God, that when you keep your focus on the Lord, and not let pain to change your perception, you begin to see people for the value EVEN THEY DON’T THINK THEY POSSESS!!!

And when the power is delivered into your hands, and the shoe is on the other foot, instead of punishment you seek their prosperity!!!

I remember years ago I was in a Christian play. Offered to be director. Would be paid well. Wanted to take Jesus out. Friend and I agreed to decline. He changed. Later needed money.

Here’s a point I want to draw out…ALL OF YOUR FREEDOMS AREN’T FOR YOU....

Paul and Silas were FREE to go…it was offered to them. But the path there would’ve led to the destruction of someone else…even though that someone else represented injustice…they were more valuable than their freedom....may the Lord help us.

The jailer subsequently was baptized…be aware…this is occurring sometime between midnight and daybreak....

In addition, the purity of the jailer’s heart was seen in that he was now tending to the wounds of their unjust treatment!

Here’s the beauty of a pure heart…even if the jailer didn’t cause the wounds…he tended to them, fed them and REJOICED WITH THEM!!!!

Literally it’s a jumping for joy!!!

See it wasn’t just about his repentance it was the manifestation of his heart seen in his willingness to try to make it right!

When salvation truly invades a heart and the Spirit is allowed to consume it…reconciliation takes place....internally and externally.

TR: However, just as freedoms are used for others so are rights…and there were some things that were unsettled that needed to be fixed...

Unsettled

The magistrates unaware of all that transpired possibly, come morning, sent the police and told Paul and Silas to go and to “go in peace”

Pump da brakes…remember I said last Sunday all peace ain’t God’s peace…here you have it.

So Paul unloads on them and they’re shook....

They were beaten publicly, untried in a court, are Roman citizens, incarcerated and then let go out the back door without any vindication of their reputation…and that is peace???

Yet here you have it…Paul had not only the freedom to escape from jail, had the jailers life in his hands, but also could condemn these men.

If he had wanted to make a fuss, he could’ve gotten these men condemn and punished because it was COMPLETELY unlawful for them to execute judgment without a trial, much less humiliate a Roman citizen.

This is extremely telling. Why did Paul do it this way? Why didn’t he complain in the jail?

Paul didn’t pursue retribution for his mistreatment

If Paul had walked through those doors, he would’ve been an escaped prisoner rather than a vindicated disciple.

Here’s why I think that was Paul’s motivation…because just like Jesus, the only time he clung to his rights was to advance the Gospel.

I remember being in law enforcement. It was different because there was so much power we had. We literally had the power to infringe on your rights if we chose to. I saw officers use that to help people flourish. I saw officers use it to demoralize someone simply because they annoyed them. It was a terrible thing to see.

Listen family, there is always a fight for what is owed to us, what we deserve, and here’s the thing we have RIGHTS and FREEDOMS TO TAKE IT!!

However, our rights, freedoms, and moments AREN’T FOR US!!! Jesus set aside His rights…set aside His freedom…so that he could serve others.

He only leveraged them to benefit others!!!

LAND IT LOUD

Yet we live in a nation, that has set personal liberty as the chief end of all and while a great tool....WHAT GOVERNS YOUR RIGHTS AND YOUR FREEDOMS???

FREEDOMS AND RIGHTS ARE TOOLS TO LEVERAGE NOT WEAPONS TO LORD!!

There is a higher ethic at work than just freedom and rights!

Wisdom & Love stand above it all. How do I engage in the opportunities, freedoms, privileges, rights that have been given to me…to ADVANCE THE WELL BEING OF OTHERS IN THE GOSPEL!

Yet we fear that if I don’t get mine now than I’ll lose out!

Yet if we look at Jesus, he like Paul didn’t dismiss injustice but engaged it in an effort to advance the Gospel message and vindicate His bride. He exercised his freedom of power, not to punish but to save, revive, and make whole!!!

Even those who would betray Him and hand him over!

There is POWER when we meditate on what the Gospel means for us...

It means were are ETERNALLY FREE!!! We don’t HAVE TO cling to anything in this world…and that which we do cling to should be purposeful.

That doesn’t mean you have to settle! Paul made them brothers JUMP when he flexed…YET IT WAS FOR A REASON

LAY ASIDE YOUR RIGHTS, FREEDOMS, AND ONLY PICK THEM UP IF YOU CAN JUSTIFY HOW THEY’LL DRAW ATTENTION TO THE GLORY OF JESUS

Let us, as the Body of Christ, only use our freedoms, our rights, to correct injustice against others, to secure godly peace, and to lead people to redemption of life!