Proclaim 6: Witnesses in Crisis
Notes
Transcript
Bookmarks & Needs:
Bookmarks & Needs:
B: Acts 16:25-34
N:
Opening
Opening
Good morning, everyone! I am Bill Connors, and I have the blessing of getting to pastor this wonderful group of people: the Eastern Hills Baptist Church family. For those of you who are here in the room, it is great to see all of you. For those of you who are watching online, thank you for joining us this morning for worship and praise. If you’re visiting with us for the first time today, whether online or in-person, thanks for checking out Eastern Hills, and I hope you’ll reach out with any questions you might have about the church or about our faith.
Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Tomorrow, we recognize Memorial Day, which we have been given as a day to celebrate our freedoms in the U.S.—freedoms bought at a great price. A friend of mine who served in the U.S. Air Force posted something this week that really got my attention. It said: “This Memorial Day, don’t thank me. That’s what Armed Forces Day and Veteran’s Day are for. Memorial Day is for remembering those who put on the uniform, but never took it off.” So this morning, I would like us to join in a moment of silence, followed by a prayer of thanksgiving to God for those who have paid the ultimate price in defending our freedom, our nation, and our lives.
PRAYER
Thank you for joining me in this time of remembrance.
I only have a couple of things to announce before we get into the Scripture this morning:
Devo Wall and Rack in Crosscourts
Devo Wall and Rack in Crosscourts
I just wanted to make sure that everyone knew about some resources that we have available here in the building now that we can more easily set things out for people to come and take. We have a wall of magazines and other devotionals that is a little bit hidden, especially if you don’t travel much further down the foyer than the doors into the sanctuary. Just around the corner by the Prayer room is a wall with various information. There is also a black wire rack with magazines and devotionals on it in what we call the “Crosscourts” (the place where the very straight educational section of the building crosses with this portion) through the grey doors at the end of the foyer. Please swing by and if there is something that might be helpful to you, feel free to grab a copy.
Larry’s Thing
Larry’s Thing
Next Sunday morning, June 6, we will have a special time or recognition during our Family Worship service. My predecessor, Pastor Emeritus Larry Miller has retired from his position here at the church, and with the end of the school year, his wife Camille has retired from her position with our school, Eastern Hills Christian Academy. They both served in their respective positions for over two decades, and we are excited as a church family to be able to celebrate their years of dedicated service to the Lord and to the school. Larry will be sharing his heart from the Scriptures in this pulpit one more time, and we will be presenting them with a gifts from the church and school as a thank you for their faithfulness to the calling of God in this place. Please plan to be here next Sunday morning for this very special service and recognition of God’s work through Larry and Camille Miller, next Sunday morning at our normal service time (10:30 am). I know I’m really looking forward to next Sunday morning!
Intro
Intro
This morning, we are on our second-to-last message in our “Proclaim” series, in which we followed right on the heels of looking at the Gospel of Mark by going into the book of Acts. So far we’ve looked at five times that the early church proclaimed the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, how they served as witnesses of the resurrection, witnesses of power, witnesses to the distant, witnesses of hope, and last week, witnesses of grace. And we are called to be witnesses in and of the same things as the followers of Christ today. We will finish up this series in two weeks. This morning, we will look at the role of Paul and Silas as “Witnesses in Crisis,” and study about their proclamation of the Gospel to the jailer in Philippi in Acts 16. Let’s stand in honor of God’s Word as we read our focal passage together, verses 25-34 of Acts 16:
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.
PRAYER
Before we dive in this morning, we need to set the stage a little bit. Several things happen before this in Acts 16 that are important for how this whole thing plays out. Since what we looked at last week, Paul and Barnabas decided to each go their separate ways for ministering, and Paul had taken Silas along in Barnabas’ place as he went back through Galatia to visit the churches that God had founded there on Paul’s first missionary journey, telling them about the decision regarding the grace of God that we looked at last Sunday.
Paul receives a vision to enter a new mission field: Macedonia, and sails to Philippi. Philippi was a fairly important Roman colony on the northern coast of the Aegean Sea. There is a still a village there called “Filoppoi”, and the archaeological site of ancient Philippi is just outside the modern village. Scripture makes it apparent that there was not a synagogue in Philippi, as the location they find for a Jewish “place of prayer” was outside the city gate near the river. At least ten Hebrew adult males were required in a city to form a synagogue, and since Paul and SIlas found only women at this place of prayer, there apparently were not enough Hebrew men in the city to found a synagogue, if any at all (given that Lydia, the first convert in Philippi, was a Gentile name, so she must have been a God-fearing Gentile).
Paul and Silas continued to go to this place for prayer, and they are met with a slave girl who was possessed by an evil spirit which allowed her to be used as kind of an oracle in a money-making scheme for her owners. By this spirit, she followed Paul and Silas making a pronouncement about them for several days. Paul commanded the spirit to come out in the name of Jesus, and it did so, but her owners then realized that they would not be making any more money from her “talent.” They got the city magistrates involved, which led to a mob attacking Paul and Silas. After they had been beaten by order of the magistrate, they were thrown into jail. Paul and Silas find themselves in a time of crisis.
And the first way in which they are witnesses in this passage is how they face their own crisis.
1) We are witnesses in crisis by how we face our own crises.
1) We are witnesses in crisis by how we face our own crises.
We all go through times of crisis. None of us are immune. Since the world is flawed and broken, and we are flawed and broken, and everyone else is flawed and broken, times of crisis are going to come. Jesus even said, “You will have suffering in this world,” in John 16:33 (more on that verse in a minute). But notice what Paul and Silas’ perspective was in the midst of this difficult moment for them:
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
They’re praying and singing. They have just been beaten and arrested, they have their feet in the stocks (which were used for torture, not just for securing a prisoner), and are shackled to a wall, and they are choosing to pray and sing. This is something that we can learn from. I’m not saying that praying and singing will fix everything when we’re in a crisis. But what I am saying is that their situation didn’t determine what their relationship with God looked like.
Can I just be gut-level transparent here? I would be lying if I stood up here and said that I don’t experience crises in my own life, and especially in my position as pastor. In fact, I have often joked in the past year that if this year had been my first year, it may have also been my last year, because at times I felt as if I couldn’t hear one more press conference, read one more article, evaluate one more statistic, or make one more decision. I’d say that the crisis in my own heart started sometime in the fall, and then pressure slowly built up over time, until sometime in the beginning of January, when I really hit kind of a wall.
I was frustrated and tired. I was still blessed to be in this position and to be a part of this church which I love dearly. But some mornings, I would wake up, turn and sit on the edge of the bed, and almost have to force myself to get up and start the day. I called it “decision fatigue,” and without a great deal of time in God’s Word and prayer and through the encouragement of His Spirit, that time could have done me in, ministerially speaking.
I won’t say that I handled this crisis in my own life particularly well. I didn’t really handle it much like Paul and Silas, actually. You could ask the staff: I was, well, kind of crabby. I had honestly started to take my focus off of who Jesus is and put it on who I am. I allowed my circumstances, at least for a time, determine what my outlook was and what my relationship to God looked like. In short, I was in sin. Here’s something I wrote in my journal during that time, after reading this very passage:
Sometimes my attitude stinks. Sometimes I’m so “woe is me” because of busyness or stress or weariness... but I’m not in prison! My feet are not in stocks. I haven’t just been beaten for my faith. So I have to make decisions and lead... why should that take my focus off of Jesus? It shouldn’t. Lord, help me to remember this lesson that You’ve taught me, and let my attitude truly be like Christ (or at least like Paul and Silas).
This is no easy thing to confess to the congregation this morning, and I pray you will forgive me.
But there is a point: Being a witness in a time of crisis isn’t about how rock solid we are. I’m not saying that we should put on a happy face and walk down the hall wearing some silly “mask” talking about how blessed we feel in that moment. We are human, and therefore, weak. As soon as we put the power of our witness in our own hands, we’re in trouble.
So the question isn’t how solid we are. The real question is: how rock solid do we believe God is? Do we run to Him for shelter in the storm, or do we try to navigate the trials of life on our own? This is what David did when he was in the crisis of being pursued by King Saul:
1 Be gracious to me, God, be gracious to me, for I take refuge in you. I will seek refuge in the shadow of your wings until danger passes.
Times of crisis can be really painful. They can be long. They can be tiring. And I don’t want to over-simplify this, but brothers and sisters: Jesus gets it. He faced a time of crisis that we can’t even imagine. And how did He face it? He faced it decidedly clinging to the Father in the midst of it:
36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he told the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 He said to them, “I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.” 39 Going a little farther, he fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
See, when we are followers of Jesus, trials… times of crisis in our lives are sure to come, as I said earlier. But we can cling to the Lord in the midst of those trials and find exactly what we see that Paul and Silas had: peace. Earlier, I mentioned just a tiny portion of John 16:33. Look at it in context with verse 32 ahead of it:
32 Indeed, an hour is coming, and has come, when each of you will be scattered to his own home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
Jesus told His disciples that a trial was coming, and that they would falter during it. But their success in getting through that crisis wasn’t based on their strength, but on His: their peace in the crisis, their courage in the face of trials, was to be found in Christ!
And when we hold on to Jesus through trials, we become witnesses in crisis of the hope of Christ in the Gospel. I’m not sure there is a better passage for illuminating this fact than the last half of 2 Corinthians 4:
7 Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. 8 We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; 9 we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. 10 We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life in you. 13 And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak. 14 For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you. 15 Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. 18 So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
We have hope in Jesus. And when we cling to that hope, when we keep our eyes on the eternal, even in the midst of trials that we feel might do us in, we become witnesses of the power of God and the hope of the Gospel, because we show that the power that is within us isn’t from us: it’s from God. We’re just the clay jars that this treasure is stored in. And then, as we grow through clinging to Jesus in our trials, we give testimony to others of the grace of God. And as we do that, we will have opportunity to minister to others who are in crisis. And that connects us to our second point this morning:
2) We are witnesses in crisis by how we care for others in crisis.
2) We are witnesses in crisis by how we care for others in crisis.
Immediately following verse 25, in which we find Paul and Silas singing and praying, we read that there was a violent earthquake, and that the jail in which Paul and Silas were being kept was shaken. The doors, which were likely fastened by bars, were shaken open, and all of the prisoners’ chains came loose. Since we just read through Acts together as a church, the reader at this point might expect this earthquake is a miraculous deliverance for Paul and Silas, along the lines of the apostles’ miraculous delivery from prison back in Acts 5 or Peter’s miraculous release in Acts 12. And something along those lines is what the jailer thought was happening as well, so he finds himself in a time of deep crisis, even to the point of despairing of his own life:
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.
This jailer was faced with the great failure of losing a jail full of prisoners, and not only was this a disgrace to him in an honor/shame culture, but was punishable by death if he was found to be negligent in any way. Either way, he thought his life was over.
But this wasn’t a moment of miraculous escape. It was a moment of opportunity for Paul and Silas to minister to this man in what was likely the greatest crisis of his life, because they didn’t leave:
28 But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Don’t harm yourself, because we’re all here!”
In this way, Paul and Silas become witnesses in crisis not through a crisis of their own, but through the jailer’s crisis. And they do so in two ways:
A) Practically.
A) Practically.
First, the ministry that they provide to the Philippian jailer is decidedly practical. They may even have been the ones to keep the other prisoners from leaving. They called out and stopped the jailer from killing himself. You really don’t get more practical that this. It was exactly what the jailer needed at the very moment he needed it.
There are needs that we can meet for others in crisis that are physically practical: Someone might not have enough to eat, or appropriate clothes to wear. If we have the ability and means to help, especially a brother or sister in Christ, then we should strive to do so. Look at what Paul said in Galatians 6:
10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.
Our assistance in a time of crisis can also be emotionally practical. Maybe someone needs a listening ear, a word of encouragement, or godly counsel. Perhaps they have a situation in their life that you have the ability or expertise to give advice in.
When I had my personal crisis that I spoke of earlier, God provided great practical counsel through a godly wife who walked through that time with me faithfully and with much encouragement and prayer, a couple of godly friends who listened and prayed with me and for me, and a church staff that came alongside me and encouraged me, prayed for me, and supported me (and yes, spoke truth to me in love about my attitude). God used them as witnesses of His faithfulness in my life during a time of crisis.
But sometimes, the simplest and most practical way to be a witness in crisis is just to be present and join in the mourning over the crisis:
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
Sometimes (maybe even most of the time) we don’t really have to “do” a whole lot. Just be there in the storm, weeping with those who are struggling.
But Paul and Silas had an opportunity with the jailer to be witnesses in crisis in another way as well:
B) Spiritually.
B) Spiritually.
I believe it would be safe to say that the jailer knew why Paul and Silas were in prison: about the deliverance of the slave girl from her demonic possession. He knew that they had endured the beating. He likely knew that they were singing and praying, even with their feet in the stocks, before he went to bed. He probably heard them. He knew how they had responded to their own personal crisis. The jailer could see that something amazing had occurred in the earthquake and the fact that the prisoners were all still there afterward. And as a result of that witness, he knew that Paul and Silas had the answer to the question that he now asked:
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?”
The jailer asks the right question, because he’s faced with seeing the power and provision of God in his life. He sees the reality of Jesus in Paul and Silas’ life, and needs to know the answer to the question of why they have such a hope, even in the midst of a major trial. He has had his deepest need revealed to him—the need for salvation. Paul answers with a simple proclamation of the Gospel:
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.
The Gospel isn’t complicated. It’s beautifully simple. We are separated from God because we sin against Him: meaning that we choose to disobey His will for our lives. And because of His perfection, sin must be punished. But even in our sinfulness, God loves us, so Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came and lived a perfect life in our place. And then He took the punishment that we deserve for our sin, dying on a cross. If we surrender our lives to Him as Savior and Lord, trusting in what He did to save us, God takes our sin and puts it on Jesus’ ledger, and He takes Jesus’ perfection and puts it on our ledger, and we are set free from our sin. Jesus also defeated death and rose again so that if we trust in His work for our salvation, we also receive eternal life from Him as well, and He comes and lives within us by His Holy Spirit, and He’ll never leave us.
This is what the Philippian jailer and his whole household experienced that night. They all believed the message of the Gospel and were saved:
Acts 16:33b–34 (CSB)
33 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.
Surrender your life to Jesus’ Lordship right now, wherever you are. Believe the Gospel and trust in Christ. He is the only way to be made right with God and have eternal life. It doesn’t matter what crisis you face: if you don’t have Jesus, the crisis of being lost and separated from God is worse. Give up going your own way, and submit to Christ.
Paul and Silas witnessed to the truth and simplicity of the Gospel in that time of crisis, and God saved the jailer and his whole household. We are also called, church, to be witnesses in times of crisis in other’s lives, because we have the hope that so many are searching for during times of stress and trial. We have the message of the Gospel. Let’s be willing and ready to share it.
Closing
Closing
I want to share one last thought on this passage as we close. Interestingly enough, we see in verse 33 that the crisis care didn’t stop because the crisis was over. Instead, the jailer—a new believer—gives back very practical care in the midst of Paul and Silas’ continuing trial of being prisoners:
Acts 16:33a (CSB)
33 He took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds.
We also saw that he set a meal before them in verse 34. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a believer, or how mature of a believer you are. You can care for someone in the midst of a difficult time in their life and be a witness in crisis. Just be available to follow and obey, and give God the glory.
This morning, you’ve heard the message of the Gospel, and maybe you’ve believed that Jesus died for your sins and rose again, and today, you’ve surrendered your life to His lordship and trusted Him for your salvation. During our invitation song, if you’re in the room, come and tell me, or Joe, or Kerry about that decision. If you’re watching online, please send me an email and let me know about that decision. bill@ehbc.org. We just want to be able to celebrate with you and help you as you start on this new journey of faith with Christ. If you have questions about the Gospel, we’d love to answer those as well.
If you are already a follower of Christ, and if you believe that Eastern Hills is a church family that you can be a part of where God can use you minister to others, or where you can be ministered to in your own time of crisis, and you would like to join with this church family in formal membership, we would love to talk to you about that as well. Come and share with one of us, and we will be happy to set a time to sit down to get to know one another better, to talk about church membership, and to answer any questions you might have about Eastern Hills. If you’re watching online, and you live in the Albuquerque area and would like to discuss church membership, please send me an email as well.
I’m going to invite the band to come down for our invitation song, and as they come, I’d like to remind you that you can use this time to give online if you would like, or if you’d rather give in person this morning, you can use the plates by the doors as we leave at the end of service this morning.
PRAYER
Commissioning
Commissioning
ASK THE AV GUYS TO CUT THE STREAM AGAIN
After commissioning Alisa last week, I was informed that we have one other church member going on an overseas mission this summer. We would like to commission him for his service as well.
Call Andrew down.
This is Andrew Barndt, and he is also going to be serving with the Christian Challenge summer missions program in partnership with the International Mission Board in the U.K. this summer. I want to challenge Andrew with this passage from Romans 10:
14 How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.
Andrew, we are commissioning you to go and have beautiful feet: to bring the good news of the Gospel to those that you have been assigned to share with, and give God the glory in all that you do.
PRAY
RESTART THE STREAM
Closing Remarks
Closing Remarks
Bible reading: Psalm 21
Reminder go vote on Tuesday if you haven’t yet.
Benediction:
1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so that you also won’t be tempted. 2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.