Evangelism in a Hostile Culture

I would like to thank the church for allowing me to preach this evening. I really appreciate all the support that the church has shown my family as we peruse where God wants us to minister. Tonight especially has personal meaning for me and it is exciting to have the opportunity to preach tonight. You see, 21 years ago today I boarded my first airplane and shipped off to Lackland AFB for basic training. I never dreamed at that time that I would serve 21 years, through 2 wars, and find myself working to transition to the ministry, but God has His own plans that are not the same as ours.

opening prayer

When Pastor Kaleb ask me to preach tonight I started thinking about what I wanted to preach on. As I thought and prayed about it I felt that the Lord was leading me to this passage we have tonight. It is a familiar passage about Paul leading the Philippian jailor to Christ. This passage has some very good applications to our ministry in America today, so I thought it would be appropriate to look at this passage just before we start our Sunday School outreach. While I’m praying that our Sunday School outreach does not encounter hostility, I think there is much for us to learn in this passage tonight.

There are three things I want to pull out,

proper behavior in the face of hostility,

message and methods of evangelism,

the proper response to hostility.

Acts 16:16–24 NKJV

16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” 18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour. 19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. 20 And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; 21 and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” 22 Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. 23 And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

We see here the reason that Paul and Silas meet hostility. It comes down to money. This poor slave girl was being held in physical and spiritual bondage so that some owner could make money off of her. After Paul casts out the demon her owners were angry and stirred up a riot against Paul.

It is note worthy that they only grabbed Paul and Silas. Timothy and Luke were also with them, but they were not grabbed. It is likely that this was driven by some prejudges. This was shortly after the Jews had been expelled from Rome and now we have a Roman city where 2 Jews are preaching. Note that Paul and Silas do not mount much of a defence. They are accused of being Jews who are proselytizing (that was illegal). The local authorities have Paul and Silas beaten and thrown in jail.

What does this tell us about how we should respond in our culture today? We need to not compromise our faith, but we also need to recognize that when we have angry reactions we need to turn the other cheek. If there are others watching us this may give us an opportunity to minister to those who see us.

It should be noted that Paul and Silas did not scream in people’s faces or demand their rights in the moment. They instead remained calm and showed peace. As we will see in the next part they remained joyful as well.

Acts 16:25–34 NKJV

25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” 29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.

They do not complain about it, but rather they sing and pray aloud. Then at midnight a God takes off their chains and opens the doors. They don’t run, instead they recognize the need of the jailer. Paul calls out to him so that he doesn’t kill himself. He was about to kill himself because he assumed everyone escaped while he slept, and the Romans would have him killed for letting them. Paul saves his physical life by calling out to him, but he also recognizes his need for eternal salvation as well at this point. The jailer asks them what he must do to be saved, and in verse 31 we see Paul’s gospel presentation.

Acts 16:31 NKJV

31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Let us compare this to Jesus’ simplified answer to Nicodemus.

John 3:16 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

As we can see they are basically the same. The only changes are “happy to glad” type changes. Paul knows that the jailer needs to be saved from eternal death, so he gives him the news of eternal life that Jesus taught.

Acts 16:31 NKJV

31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

This presentation by Paul is an example of how we should spread the gospel. We meet people where they are and we give them the simple truth. All that is necessary for salvation into eternal life is to believe on Jesus for eternal life. Paul doesn’t take time to explain anything about Christ except that He was the one who saves those who believe on Him.

The second half has 2 points that are worth remembering. First is that in their culture the family would follow in faith with the father. But second is the relationship to being saved. They would be saved based on their belief as well. No works required. The jailer takes them home, cleans them up, has them share the gospel with his family, and then gets baptized.

When we evangelize we don’t want to stop there. If one puts their faith in Christ we need to also disciple them. That is where the baptism comes in.

But let me also ask this, have you been the jailer? If you are hearing me and you have never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ to give you eternal life I would encourage you to do that today. There are no works require, just belief. But if you are hearing me and you have believed but haven’t progressed in your relationship with Christ I would encourage you to do that as well. Get plugged in with a good Bible study or church and learn more. Get baptized as an outward sign of your faith. Getting baptized doesn’t save you, but it is a public admission of your faith and it is the first step in obedience to God.

Acts 16:35–40 NKJV

35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those men go.” 36 So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.” 38 And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. 39 Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city. 40 So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

After they had been cleaned up, fed, and allowed to evangelize and baptize the jailer and his family Paul and Silas were taken back to the jail. After the sun came up the magistrates sent officers to the jail to tell them to be released. Only at this point do we see Paul pulling his citizen card. At first glance it may seem a bit vindictive, but at a closer look Paul is providing political protection for all the believers in the city. The magistrates had violated Roman law and Paul could have complained to their superiors. Knowing this the magistrates would be more careful in their dealings with the church in the future. They made the magistrates come get them from jail, which also gave a public show of their innocents in order to keep others from attacking the church.

When we are persecuted there is a time, a place, and a way that it is appropriate to respond to persecution. We as Americans have the first amendment that affords us rights. When those rights are violated we need to make sure that we are loving in our response, but also we need to make sure that we respond with a reminder and enforcement of our rights as American citizens. Let me give you an illustration. While we were stationed in California they passed a law that said it was illegal to speak against man-made global clement change. If a Christian is ticketed for breaking that law they should not respond by insulting the officer or being angry or unloving. However, they should go and get appropriate legal representation to sue and have the law repealed as it is a flagrant violation of the first amendment. The reason a Christian should respond this way is not to get justice for themselves, God will do that just as he did for Paul, but in order to lesson the persecution on the others believers.

behavior in the face of hostility,

be humble and turn the other cheek.

message and methods of evangelism,

Keep it simple

Same as John 3:16, believe and receive

proper response to hostility.

Take appropriate action to make sure that legal precedent is set to protect other believers.