Let Down

Yesterday I had one of my most creative teachings yet at SRC. I had a number of comments on it. But alas, our recording technology didn't show. Drew was away, and Matt's car broke down in PA, so we had no recording Technology available. So I'm going to post the quasi-manuscript for you if you'd like to see it. I especially like Scene 4 title:

The Story:

Scene 1: Freak-show

Paul and Silas are being followed by a Demon Possessed Girl.

Modern Day Equivalent

Acts 16:16 - 21 (NIV) ¹⁶Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. ¹⁷This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” ¹⁸She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. ¹⁹When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. ²⁰They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar ²¹by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

Was verse 20-21 just false allegations? No, They were at fault for a doctrine called “exclusivity”. That means that they were teaching that people should only worship God through a relationship with Jesus Christ. The Roman Empire had religious law. It was a polytheistic culture, but required in addition to whatever God you wanted to serve that you always include worship to the Emperor. Christianity is an exclusive religion. It excludes all other God’s but the one true God, and He doesn’t permit worship to any other. This gave the pimps the legal standing to have them arrested. This doctrine would cause problems for many Christians throughout the persecutions. In fact it still is affecting us today in America. We live in a pluralistic society, so everyone can believe what they want. Hurray for the USA! But our culture has become inclusive of all religions and despises the doctrine of Exclusivity. However God hasn’t changed, therefore though in Christ’s love we love everyone, Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to receive eternal life with God.

Scene 2: Arrested Development

Isn’t it interesting the role that crowds played in the Bible. It seems like crowds popped up all the time in the ancient world. Perhaps because they didn’t have transportation, they were always “around”. Just hanging out for the next Gospel Bash…I don’t know.

I love how specific it gets referring to how the Guard was instructed on how closely Paul needed to be guarded. He ends up in Maximum Security in the middle of the jail. Lock, stock and Bible. (cheese. I know)

No he didn’t have his Bible, but he started singing and most of the singing we do is scripture based, and I imagine his probably was too.

Acts 16:22 - 24 (NIV) ²²The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. ²³After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. ²⁴Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

I can’t imagine that it was very comfortable to be beaten till your bones hurt, and then be locked in stocks. Did you ever get locked up in the stocks at Ocean City on the boardwalk at a Bar? You know which ones I’m talking about? I loved those. I would get locked in them every time we walked the boardwalk. The difference is that I wasn’t bleeding to death, nor could the stocks really keep me there since the holes were purposefully cut extra large.

Scene 3: Rockin’ Out

Locked up, bleeding Paul and Silas have a midnight worship service and start singing hymnals…oops, I mean hymns to God. I don’t have much experience with prison, which is probably good, because I would be crying in the corner wetting myself if I was ever stuck in a cell with a guy named Tiny. Prison doesn’t seem to be a happy place. In fact if we were to start the Glee Club choir in prison when we’re the new guys, I’d be fearing for my life. But Paul and Silas start singing and “Other prisoners were listening to them.”

Then God does something awesome. Worship can do some amazing things. An earthquake shakes the prison so much that the chains fell off of the prisoners. What a miracle. But the greatest miracle as I see it is listed last when Paul shouts that all the prisoners were there. It was probably the biggest miracle to the jailor too, because he’s got his sword out, and he’s going to commit suicide. Those prisoners were his responsibility, and if they escaped his life was on the line, and his families too. I wonder if he was going to stage a death so that his family would be taken care of? I wonder if he was thinking “well, if it looks like the prisoners killed me in a prison break…”

I’m not sure, but what I know is that miracle of all miracles a bunch of convicts stayed put when there was nothing holding them there. There is something powerful about worshipping God even when everything seems hopeless.

Acts 16:25 - 28 (NIV) ²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. ²⁷The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

Scene 4: What do you do with a Dunkin’ Jailer

Wow, it’s different to think about a society with no electric lights. The incandescent friend of all of us, was nowhere to be found. This is within 90 years of the time turn to Anno Domini. Edison hadn’t shown up yet, so…

Lights, Camera, Action. The jailer comes in and comes right to Paul and Silas, and says, “what must I do to be saved?” What is the essence of this question? Is he really asking for “salvation”? Salvation is a word that Christians use to describe what happens when they receive God’s gift of eternal life. I think he’s asking how he can be saved from his supervisor, because surely someone is going to escape.

Paul answers his question though on a different level. It’s our memory verse for this week. Acts 16:21, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved – you and your household.”

Things change right then. Paul and Silas tell them about Jesus, and they get saved alright. Then he brings them out of maximum security, and right into his house and clean their wounds, and give them food. And this is the most exciting thing, They got Baptized. I think Baptism is one of the most exciting things that happens in churches. I watched a video this week of a church in D.C. that did a Baptism in the Bay. I didn’t just watch it, I watched it about 7 times on Wednesday. And I cried every time. Why did I cry, because there’s nothing more moving to me than people who choose to follow Christ, and then obey him by being baptized. It’s kind of a “No Going Back” statement, that this is for real in my life. It takes people from pretenders to contenders. They’re the real deal, they don’t just talk a good game, they walk it. See there’s nothing holy or mystical about going under the water and coming back out. It’s totally physical and emotional, and it’s about telling the whole world, that they can love you or hate you, but you’ve given your life to Christ. It’s why I sat on the couch, holding my daughter Sydney on my lap as we watched the video together for my 7^th time that day, and I watched her watch it. And I said to her, “One day, you can love Jesus with all your heart. And you can be baptized and tell Him and the whole world that you are totally His.”

That’s what happened to the jailer. Think about what happened. The jailer jailed Paul and Silas for following Christ exclusively. Now the jailer has decided to break the law as well. Wow!

Acts 16:29 - 34 (NIV) ²⁹The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” ³²Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. ³³At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. ³⁴The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.

Scene 5: Peace Out.

The next morning they decide to release them, so they get to go. In Peace. Paul requires that he be excorted out because they were unjustly beaten. He was a roman citizen and they had a different set of laws than the other people Rome had conquered. The magistrates actually come and escort them out so that they can travel out of the city safely. Probably because those guys who had their demon girl exorcised were waiting to enact vigilante justice on them. They go back to the church plant. They say good bye, and off they go.

Acts 16:35 - 36 (NIV) ³⁵When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” ³⁶The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”

Memory Verse: Acts 16:21, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved – you and your household.”