Salvation

Perfectly According to God’s Plan

1.10.21 [Acts 16:25-34] River of Life (1st Sunday after Epiphany)

It’s a little thing. At least it starts that way. Do you remember making plans to go places with your family? It’s been a while, I know. But you remember what it was like. You and your family had a place you needed to be and a certain time in mind. Maybe it was written down somewhere, but in some way it was clearly communicated. We’re leaving at 9am and it’s going to take 3 hours to get there. When we arrive we’re going to eat lunch and then have some fun.

Only at 8:58, the house is still scrambling. It’s clear the original goal won’t be met. But no one is dawdling and, eventually, everyone is in the car and ready to go by 9:07. The carload makes its way toward their destination for twenty or so minutes. And everything is smooth sailing. Everyone is in a good mood. Minds and smiles are clear. And then it happens. Someone remembers they forgot something important. Critical, even. Medicine. Glasses. Their phone. A kids’ favorite stuffed animal. The driver sighs a deeps sigh and begins scanning for the fastest place to turn around. Now they’re going to be an hour late. 20 minutes to get home; 2 minutes to find that important item, and the crew is on the road again. But this time, it isn’t smooth sailing. Traffic snarls and grinds to a halt hardly 10 minutes from the house. All the other passengers begin to silently fume. The driver stares daggers at their forgetful rider. Lunch and fun will have to be delayed indefinitely. A little thing quickly spirals into a big thing and becomes a big problem.

When you have plans and someone else forces you to change your plans and then you run into obstacles or hardships it’s hard to be happy with that individual. Maybe you don’t silently fume or stare daggers, but you certainly blame them for the trouble that’s now come your way because of them.

Which makes Acts 16 all the more amazing. Our text for today is like the second part of a larger story. The scene opens with (Acts 16:25) Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns to God with other prisoners listening to them. And maybe that doesn’t cause any of us to pause, because we know Paul was not unfamiliar with life behind bars. During his ministry and life Paul was arrested and imprisoned on three different occasions. But this was the first time. Paul had been arrested because he exorcised a demon from a fortune-telling slave girl. Her owners made a lot of money off of her, and were none-too-pleased to see her psychic abilities uprooted. So they whipped up a frenzied crowd at the marketplace in Philippi. They pressed some hot buttons, too, while they did it. (Acts 16:20) These men are Jews, they said to their fellow Philippians who were very proud of the Roman citizenship. Philippi was a popular spot for Romans soldiers to retire. So strike one. (Acts 16:20-21) They are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice. Strikes two and three in rapid succession. These men are causing problems. And they are advocating illegal activity. It’s no wonder that Paul and Silas (Acts 16:23-24) were stripped and severely beaten with rods and thrown into prison before they could even explain themselves. The prison guard received strict orders to (Acts 16:24) guard them carefully. So the jailer put them in the inner cell of his prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. The inner cell was the darkest and dirtiest of all the cells in the prison. And the stocks added insult to injury. Imagine being hunched over all night, unable to move, when your back has just been severely flogged.

It would be normal, in a moment like this, for Paul and Silas wonder why this was all happening to them. But they knew. God had funneled them there. Paul and Silas were in the region of Galatia and wanted to go to the province of Asia to preach, but Luke tells us in Acts 16:7 that the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to enter Bithynia. How exactly that happened or was communicated to them is unknown, but Paul and his companions knew they weren’t supposed to go that way. So they went down to Troas. And that night, Paul had a vision of a Macedonian man standing and begging Paul (Acts 16:9) Come over to Macedonia and help us! At once, the whole group got ready to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called them to preach the Gospel to the Macedonians. So God prevented Paul and his companions from going where they wanted to preach the Gospel and called them Macedonia, whose leading city was Philippi, and look it where it landed them. Philippi was such an unbelieving city they didn’t even have a single synagogue. So when Paul and Silas go there to start preaching, they find only a few who will even listen—Lydia and her household. The rest see Paul and his friends as threats or criminals. Their time in Philippi seemed to be a total dead end.

Maybe there are times and places we feel like that. Like we’ve been led to a total dead end. Sometimes it seems like the places we find ourselves are no good for us and we’re not doing any good for anyone else. There might even be a part of us wondering why God is limiting us from really doing something big or important. Maybe the past 10 months have felt that way for you. At this point, it would be surprising if COVID-19 had not upended some plan you made, or prevented you from going and doing something you really wanted to do. There were a number of good things we wanted to do as a church and we weren’t able to because we were stuck here in this holding pattern.

But it isn’t just a COVD, thing, either. It doesn’t take a pandemic to make you feel stuck, like you’re in some situation that is limiting your ability to serve God. There are at least four circumstances that can leave you feeling like you’re stuck in stocks in the inner cell of life, even if you’re not really behind bars. 1) It could be your health. Perhaps you don’t have the energy that you once had and now you’re feeling frustrated that you cannot go and do all the things you used to, or all the things you would like to. You want to serve at your church or serve your neighbor 2) Maybe it’s a money thing. You have dreams of things you would like to do for the needy and your neighbors, or maybe ministry efforts—but you feel handcuffed by the limited resources you have at your disposal. You want to be generous, but you’re scraping to make ends meet. 3) It could be a time thing. Maybe you have a demanding job, or multiple jobs—perhaps you’re under a lot of pressure at your company, or maybe you have the high calling of raising kids. Your time for study and sharing the good news is far more limited than you would like it to be. 4) It could be a connections thing. You know the truths of God but you don’t think you have anyone who will listen. Or you have a desire to grow in your faith, but you’re frustrated because you don’t have a lot of Christian friends you like to spend time with.

It’s very rare that we don’t have any of these things. But it’s very common that we fixate on the one that we don’t have. It’s amazing how easily we carp and complain because we don’t have the exact circumstances we think we need to do the work that we think God should have us doing. And yet we find ourselves far less restricted than Paul or Silas. If anyone had a reason to carp and complain it was them!

But you wouldn’t know it from hearing Paul and Silas. We might think that if we were Paul and Silas we would be a little frustrated that doing the right thing landed them in the wrong place—but we don’t catch that spirit as they’re praying and singing hymns to God. We might assume that Paul and Silas would be praying for their quick release, but I doubt it. The next morning, after all this, Paul and Silas would identify themselves as Romans citizens, too, and the Philippians magistrates were alarmed by their revelation! It would be strange to be praying at midnight to get out of jail when you have a get out of jail free card sitting in your back pocket. So what were they praying for? Why were they praising God? I can’t help but wonder if they didn’t still have that vision that brought them to Philippi on their minds. The man standing and begging them Come to Macedonia and help us!

Paul and Silas were confident that everything was going according to God’s plan, because they knew his power and they knew his track record. They knew that (Gal. 4:4) God sent his Son when the set time had fully come. They knew that God had guided the events of history to perfectly prepare the world for the coming of Christ. God used a Roman ruler—Caesar Augustus—to move Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, so that his promises might be fulfilled. In the moment, that likely seemed like the last thing a pregnant mother would want to do.

Paul and Silas also recognized how Jesus redeemed sinners with very little resources at his disposal. Jesus was not fabulously wealthy or powerful. The length of his ministry, three years, was remarkably short. His connections were nearly non-existent. Yet, look at what God did through his powerless, penniless Prince in such a short period of time. He saved the world. And don’t forget how he accomplished this. 1 Cor. 1:27ff God chose the foolish and weak and lowly and despised things of this world. He chose the shameful cross as the place to reveal his greatest glory. Everything Jesus said and did and endured happened perfectly according to plan. And yet, in the moment, it seemed like anything but that. Think about how many times the crowds or his family or his disciples or his enemies had problems with the way Jesus was doing thing or his timing! But God made sure that not one prophecy was unfulfilled. God’s own Son even was in the grave for three days—and not nearly a moment longer—so that he could fulfill the sign of Jonah. God has always been in control of all things, even down to the most minute detail. And he has always used that power to call, enlighten, redeem, sanctify and equip his people for works of good service which he has prepared in advance for us to do.

That is exactly what he did for Paul and Silas. Their journey to Philippi wasn’t a waste of time. Their arrest wasn’t an accident. That midnight earthquake wasn’t an unfortunate incident. It was the hand of God. That’s why this particular earthquake didn’t destroy the jail, but only set the prisoners free and brought that frightened jailer to Paul and Silas with an important question: What must I do to be saved? This was the man that God had given Paul a vision of. This was the man who was begging for help. And Paul and Silas knew exactly where to point him and his family. To Jesus. Believe in Jesus and you will be saved. You and your whole household.

What an incredible moment! Perhaps we look at moments like these and have a kind of envy. We wish we would be able to do something so big, so moving, so powerful. Maybe someday you will. But let God decide that, let God create that opportunity for you.

In the meantime, don’t discount what God has already decided and prepared you to do. You may want to serve the Lord in big and bold ways, but you don’t have the health or physical stamina to do so. Don’t discount how God uses your limitations and even your maladies to meet the right people. It could be that God has allowed you to face a particular sickness or deal with a difficult diagnosis because that thing will be the way he brings you near to some other people he loves. If you are battling cancer, you may be able to encourage someone else who is in the same boat. You may want to be extraordinarily financial generous to someone. Most people who have those opportunities, do so after a long period of hard work and careful savings. If you want to be generous later, be a good steward today. And look for attainable ways that you can be generous in the meantime. You may feel very busy with work or home responsibilities. Don’t forget to make time to pray and praise God and study his Word. Busy, stressful moments are exactly the situations when our new man should shine. Christians should walk by faith at all times, but especially in times of darkness and sadness. It could be that your work responsibilities allow you to let your light shine in a corporate environment where lawlessness has increased and love has grown cold. What a powerful place to pursue righteousness for Christ’s name sake and fan into flame the love that God has shown to you! It could be that you’re running this way and that trying to raise up kids. What a powerful place of influence the Lord has blessed you with. Your kids love you and listen to you. they are learning from you. So give them lots of Jesus. Not just his morals, but his mercy and his grace. Not just his life as a perfect example, but his love and his patience in how you train and discipline them. It could be that you feel like you are disconnected from the world around you. You likely have more people to talk to and influence than you realize, but you also have God’s ear. He listens to your prayers for people and things that the rest of us are foolishly overlooking. Be bold in prayer and joyful in your praise.

All these things are little things. At least they start that way. But look at how they bloom and grow. What Paul and Silas did here was plant the seeds for the Philippian congregation. It started with just a few souls. Lydia and her household. Maybe that slave girl. And this jailer and his family. It grew into a congregation that Paul would later boast and rejoice in—a congregation with overseers and deacons and many other of God’s holy people. But it began small. We so easily aggrandize big things that seem important in our eyes. Big moments to let our light shine, seldom come. Maybe once in a lifetime. But God surrounds and equips us for much smaller things, day in and day out. And our God will meet all our needs, according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Amen.