The Cost of a Changed Life

Introduction:

We all need and want, at least on some level, to change. We see others with traits we admire, and think - I wish I were more like that. There are tendencies and habits that we don’t like, but cannot seem to break. Patterns of thought and behavior that show up in cycles like a never-ending roller-coaster we are unable to get off of.

In our text today, we see a girl in desperate need for change, the power that transforms even the worst of cases, and consider the cost of such drastic transformation. Finally we will look at how we, as Christians, can rightly weigh such costs in light of eternity.

Read Acts 16:16-23

Desperate Need for Change

v.16

She was a slave girl - as in the common practice during Roman rule.

She was demon-possessed. In this case, what is called a “Spirit of divination”.

literally ‘a spirit, a Python’. The latter word originally meant a snake, and in particular the snake which guarded the celebrated oracle at Delphi and which was said to have been slain by Apollo. The word was also used to mean a ventriloquist (1)

One one hand this is a condition that is seemingly rare. (Most of us have never known what it is to be physically enslaved to human masters and further enslaved by demon possession.) However, her desperate situation is not completely unknown to us:

She was in circumstances she had no power to change.

(The child in the abusive home; Or whose parents are addicts, etc.).

Often we feel we have no power to change, when in fact we do. But even that feeling of powerlessness is debilitating.

She was controlled by strong inner forces. In this case, it was demonic influence but we often feel like we are being driven this way and that way by forces we cannot, or don’t know how to control.

When anger takes over and you’re being that person you hate

When that intense desire hits and you must satisfy it, no matter how wrong, sinful or unhealthy it is.

When I want to act boldly, but out of fear and shame I simply shrink back and do nothing.

We often feel driven and out of control. There are many others in our lives that live this way every day - Like the slave girl in our text, there is a desperate need of change!

Power to Change

v.18

Tension of transformation

When a person is confronted with Christ, or with the Gospel - there is an inherent tension that manifests itself

It’s the annoyance of Paul as the demon-possessed girls continues her proclamation, or the cry of the demons as they recognize Jesus’s authority - see also Luke 8:28

You see it in a funeral when Jesus’s name is mentioned and people get up and walk out, or they avert their eyes in annoyance and frustration

or in the awkward silence or looks at the lunch table when you pray

For Paul it was the blinding light, for many of us it was the sting of guilt as we were convicted of our own sin.

Here’s the thing. The gospel doesn’t just try and guilt us into change, but provides in Christ Jesus the power to act!

We must recognize that there is reward in facing the tension.

Ex. It is through the labor that the baby comes

It is through the heat of the fire that the gold is purified

So God uses the conflict, the tension, to bring us to a point where He can manifest His power.

v.18 - Authority and power of Jesus Christ

In the name of = by the authority of

Paul and Silas couldn’t do this

Acts 14:15 NASB95

and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

not saying this passage teaches she was saved, but there can be no doubt Jesus powerfully changed her.

Drastic, analogous picture of Jesus’s transforming power and the impact it has in a persons life.

He saves instantly and starts to transform a person from the inside out. While it may not be immediate, and He may take you on a longer path to freedom, there is power for transformation in Jesus. All of it comes at a cost.

The Cost of Supernatural Change

v.19-21

Impacted her - What was the impact?

She was set free. She was no longer controlled by the evil spirit. She had changed.

Part of that change was that she could/would no longer do what she used to do (fortune-telling).

When it comes to regeneration, God changes the desires of the heart, what Jonathan Edwards calls “the affections.”

That means things you used to do, are now distasteful.

Sometimes it means the job you have is no longer something you can do with a clear conscience, or that you have to make some real changes in order to do the right thing.

This continues after salvation as the Spirit of God sanctifies you and you grow in your walk with God. But it takes work. It takes commitment. It takes sacrifice.

Have you been supernaturally changed? If so, what is it that needs to change today so you can move forward and grow in your walk with Christ? Jesus has power to help. But are you willing to do what it takes?

Jesus had certainly impacted this slave girl, but it didn’t just affect her...

Impacted those around her - Her owners who profited from her former practice of divination made a good income from her dark art. Now that was gone and they knew it.

People are fine if we want to gather on Sunday in a place and do whatever it is we do, as long as it doesn’t affect them.

As soon as the change in us leaves that church building and affects business, or politics or the idols around us - then they get angry.

It isn’t usually the preaching of the gospel that incurs persecution, but the impact of it.

Ex. Acts 19:24-27

Most people are fine with a Savior that sacrificed for me. But if that Savior is also Lord, and desires that we sacrifice for Him and for others, there is conflict.

Not only that, but change in and of itself is hard. Consider Al Anon...

As believers, we must be a people who seek change to the glory of God - in our own lives and the lives of others - no matter the cost.

We need to be sensitive to the struggles of others, and be sympathetic - not causing unnecessary suffering. But we speak the truth and walk in the truth so that God get’s the glory He deserves and that men and women can be saved and helped, and changed for the better.

We must be willing to sacrifice in order to bring this about!

Consider the cost to Paul and Silas (v.22-23)

But they were more focused on what and who they had, rather than on what they could lose.

For us, the sacrifice often simply means taking action. Taking a step.

“Rome was not conquered in a day” - nor without a step! Do something in the name of Jesus for change!

What if it costs us our money? Our time?

What if it means admitting our faults to others and making amends? (Repentance)

It certainly requires a change of mind - a renewal

Romans 12:1–2 NASB95

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

They knew the treasure they possessed - Matthew 13:44-46

They knew the glory to come - Romans 8:18, Phil 1:21-26

They knew the King who died for them!

Conclusion:

What is my Faith costing me? What impact is it making? (If my life is a pool, and my faith is a splash, what are the ripple effects towards others and myself?). Does it affect my morality? My time? My money? Shouldn’t it? Remember what it cost our Lord!

Repentance and a desperate willingness to do whatever it takes!

Patient, loving Father ready to receive! (He’s not like me!) To support! To lift up! To repeat Himself for the thousandth time! Not despair, seek Him! (after all these aren’t just truths we believe, but a real relationship with the three persons of our Triune, Most High God!

1 Marshall, I. H. (1980). Acts: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 5, p. 285). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.