Jailhouse Rock

Series: -- Preacher: Date: May 22, 2011 Scripture Reference: Acts 16:16-34

One of my favorite movies is the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and one of my favorite scenes is in the first film—when the remaining eight members of the fellowship of the ring exit the mines of Moria and enter the forest of Lothlorien.  Do you remember that part of the story—either from the film or from Tolkien’s books? The travelers had just come out of that dark mountain—fleeing hordes of goblins and orcs and mountain trolls….barely escaping with their lives. In fact, the “Christ-figure” in this story, Gandalf, sacrificed his life there so the rest of the group could escape. Understandably then, at this point the four Hobbits and their companions are grieving. Plus—they are exhausted physically and emotionally as they cross the border into the safety of this forested elven kingdom. In spite of the fact that they have a dwarf in their party, the elves welcome them and as the fellowship prepares to sleep that first night they hear their elven hosts singing. All around them the elves sing beautiful SONGS about Gandalf and his brave deeds. During their stay in Lothlorien they learn that singing in times like this is part of the elven culture. Well, somehow those songs have the power to lift their spirits and give Frodo and his companions the strength to continue their vital quest.

Now—I think the reason that scene stands out for me is because as a Christ-follower I have experienced a similar effect from singing. Over and over again in my own life whenever I’ve endured a sad time—a fearful time—or a  struggle of some sort—it has been the songs of my faith that has enabled me to carry on. I suppose this is proof of the fact that, as someone once put it, ours is a faith that sings.

One of the unique things about church life here at Redland is the fact that God has filled our “musical cups” to over-flowing, so to speak. In every service we are blessing with powerful, moving, equipping, encouraging music. PLUS at special services like last Sunday God blesses us even more! I think I speak for all who were present last week when I say that the singing of our teens encouraged me. Their music contributed to another powerful experience of worship for which I am so very grateful.

Well, tonight we are in for another time of musical empowerment as our children’s choirs come to share their musical, Jailhouse Rock. The title comes from the fact that the songs we will hear are based on three Scriptural stories about people breaking out of an imprisonment.

  • One is found in Acts 12, when God got Peter out of prison.
  • Another is found four chapters later in Acts 16, when Paul and Silas are freed…
  • …and the third is Jesus’ resurrection, when our Lord broke out of His borrowed tomb.

Of course we don’t have time to look at all three of these Scriptural accounts this morning, so to help prepare our hearts to receive the message of tonight’s musical, I want to use my sermon time to focus on just the middle example—the story of Paul and Silas, when God sent an earthquake to literally “rock” the Jailhouse that held these two first century missionaries.

In our study we’ll see that Paul and Silas responded to their imprisonment by SINGING…and God used THEIR vocal praise in a very powerful way. Okay, open your Bibles to Acts 16. We’ll be looking at verses 11-34—but let’s begin by reading verse 11-22. Remember, this is Dr. Luke’s account. He writes:

11 – From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis.

12 – From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

13 – On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.

14 – One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.

15 – When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

16 – Once 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.

17 – This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you a way to be saved.”

18 – She 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.

19 – When 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.

20 – They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar

21 – by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

22 – The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten.

Okay—before we go any further, let me remind you of what has happened up until this point. You may remember that on his 2nd missionary journey, Paul and his fellow mission trip team members had wanted to share the Gospel in parts of the Asian continent—but God had closed the doors. Then, prompted by a vision of a man from Macedonia, they went through the only door open to them and set sail for the European continent. As verse 11 says, when they put out to sea in the Aegean they, “ran a straight course” and the Greek here is a nautical term for “sailing before the wind.” In other words there was no tacking back and forth required. The wind blew them straight toward Europe and the people of Macedonia. So, God not only opened the door; He gently “blew” them through it! This is a reminder that if God calls us to do something, He will providentially open all the necessary doors.  He’ll always “grease the wheels” and “fill the sails” to make it possible for us to do His will.

Well with the Lord’s help these four missionaries sailed quickly to the port city of Neapolis and then walked ten miles inland to the city of Philippi—a very important Roman town in Macedonia. In fact, Philippi was a very loyal Roman colony.  You see, the townspeople had earned their citizenship by helping Caesar Augustus defeat his enemies—Brutus and Cassius— in 42 B.C. Since then it had evolved into a very “Roman” city populated with retired Roman soldiers and their families who brought with them many of the customs and even architecture of Rome itself. Because of this Romans back then thought of Philippi as sort of a “Rome away from Rome!” In any case, it’s citizens were proud Romans and they were also thankful for their Roman roots because Augustus had rewarded the residents of Philippi by exempting them forever from taxes.  Think what this did to property values! Surely everyone wanted to move to Philippi! Well, Paul and his three companions walked into this very proud Roman city—as the first followers of Jesus Christ ever seen by anyone in that part of the world.

Now, as you may know, Paul’s usual church-starting tactic was to go to the synagogue. So, when they arrived in Philippi he inquired and discovered this city had none. This indicates there were not many Jews living there because to have a synagogue you had to have at least ten men. Well, that didn’t stop Saul because as a Jew he knew that any Jews who DID live there would customarily gather near a river for prayer on the Sabbath. So he went down to the banks of the nearby Gangites river and found several women gathered for this purpose. Their leader was named Lydia and she earned her living by selling purple cloth. This color of cloth was very expensive to make but she apparently had no shortage of customers because Lydia was wealthy enough to have a good sized house…a house big enough to provide space for the new church start—which she did.

Verse 16 says that one day as Paul and his friends were on their way to the river to pray they were met by a slave girl. In the text, Dr. Luke diagnosed this slave girl as being demon-possessed. This demon gave the girl the power to predict the future—for a fee of course—and she was known for the accuracy of her predictions which brought her owners a steady source of income because everyone back then was willing to pay to discover their future.

And, at this point, I think we should all note that not everything in fortune-telling is inaccurate.

In fact, if you’ve seen someone who gets it right when it comes to talking to the dead or a psychic astrologer who accurately predicts the future—then you can be sure this is a demon-empowered thing—and therefore something you should stay far away from. As this text shows, satan is powerful enough to be right. This is how he attracts many people. Merrill Unger writes,

“The girl told the truth, receiving her knowledge from demons…The incident shows how satan frequently parades as an angel of light, especially under the guise of alleged religiosity.”

Well, this demon inspired the slave girl to say that Paul and his companions were servants of the most high God—something that also repeatedly happened during Jesus’ earthly ministry. Remember? People possessed with demons would follow Him…and the demons within would shout out Who Jesus was. This girl proclaimed her statements about Paul day after day and finally, annoyed by her incessant ploy to poison the ministry he turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” and according to verse 18,  “…it came out at that very moment.”

Be sure to note a couple things here. First this girl was not a Christian, and I point that out to remind you that the Bible teaches Christians can NOT be possessed by demons. There are no examples in Scripture of Christians being indwelt by the devil or his minions. There ARE examples of Christians sinning—yielding to the devil’s temptations—but not being possessed—because as Christians, we are already “possessed.”  We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God Himself—and as 1 John 4:4b says, “Greater is He Who is in you than he who is in the world.”No demon can abide the omnipotent presence of the Holy Spirit of God—so Christians cannot be possessed by satan’s minions!

I also want you to note Paul’s METHOD in casting out this demon.

  • First, he was not intimidated but in full control. He knew that as a Christian he had nothing to fear.
  • Second, He spoke directly to the demon, not the girl. 
  • Third, he didn’t ask—rather he COMMANDED it to come out of her—and in an instant it did.

No ifs ands or buts about it. He spoke and the demon fled. It didn’t take hours or multiple deliverance sessions. There was no lengthy “spiritual warfare” involved. The battle had already been won because it was done in the Lord’s strength and not man’s. Well, her healing was of course a wonderful thing!  Imagine how she felt to be freed from the filth of demonic control! But that was just the beginning. This slave girl then put her faith in Christ and was welcomed into membership in the new church as its second recorded member and Paul and the others rejoiced over her decision!

However, not everyone shared their joy. Verses 19-21 tell us that, angered by their sudden economic downfall, the slave girl’s greedy masters roused the crowd to riot. These “proud Romans” wrongfully accused Paul and Silas of throwing the city into an uproar and in their accusation they acted as if this was typical behavior for any Jew. Paul and Silas were immediately seized, viciously beaten with rods and thrown deep into a Roman dungeon with their feet fastened in stocks.

And—this beating was no little thing.  

The Scripture infers that they received the same kind of flogging, that Jesus did—so remember that scene from The Passion where it depicted the first part of Jesus’ beating, when those two cruel Roman lictors beat Him with long limber rods and you have the idea. With all this in mind, let’s LOOK at what happened next. Follow along as I read verse 23-34.

23 – After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully.

24 – Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 – About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and SINGING hymns to God, and the other prisoners were LISTENING to them.

26 – Suddenly 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.

27 – The 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.

28 – But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

29 – The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.

30 – He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 – They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

32 – Then they spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.

33 – At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.

34 – The 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.

Now—as far as I know, none of us have been behind bars or barbed wire but I know we ALL have FELT imprisoned at times. I mean, we’ve all endured heartache in one form or other—tough times not of our own making that we could not escape or avoid. I know this is true because I know you. As your pastor, I’m well-acquainted with some of the burdens you have borne or even now are bearing. We’ve wept together a great deal over the years. And I also know that the Bible teaches that Christians are not exempt from the trials of life. You can’t escape this fact. As Job 5:7 says, “Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.” I mean, like people who want to get out of prison but can’t—so many times we want to be freed from hardship in the form of health problems or money troubles…or persistent anxiety or relational breakdowns…but we can’t.  It’s part and parcel of being a sinner living in a fallen world.

I say this to help you realize there is truth here in this ancient text that we need to understand.  The record of Paul and Silas’ response to their imprisonment can teach us things we need to know as we face the inevitable heartaches and tribulations of life. So, let’s get to it. What can we learn from this example of SINGING in prison? What can this particular instance of “jailhouse rock” teach us?

(1) Well, first, this text shows that in order to sing in hard times we must be able to SEE things other “prisoners” don’t.

Think of it. Paul and Silas were wrongfully accused. They were beaten within an inch of their lives and then they were thrown into a dark, dank prison cell. As they sat with their legs in the stocks I’m sure their muscles cramped and every breath reminded them of their cracked ribs and bruised kidneys. I imagine the blood was still flowing freely down their backs since their wounds had not been treated—so they were weak and growing weaker. Then as the cold began to seep into their bones they must have listened to the rats that always plague places like that scurry across the floor in the dark. But instead of cursing their guards and groaning about their treatment—like the rest of the prison population—these two began TO PRAY out loud. Understand—the Greek here would not be translated as “prayers of petition”—you know, “Get me out of here God!”  No—this word should be translated as prayers of praise to God, like, “God You are so good to us!  Thank You God for Your great faithfulness!”

Can you imagine praying like that in a situation like that? Probably not—because the truth is, so many of our prayers are ONLY selfish petitions with little or no praise on our lips. Most of the time, all we do is tell God how bad things are. And if this is all we pray then it is no wonder that many times we feel worse after we pray than when we began. I mean, too often our prayer life is just one long pity party where we remind ourselves of how hard life is, so it just reinforces our fears, grief, and sorrow.

LISTEN! Prayer is only complete and meaningful when it includes PRAISE to God.  Remember—when Jesus gave His followers a prayer “template” to follow it BEGAN and ENDED with praise. Jesus said, we should begin by saying something like,“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name! Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!”  And He said it should end with our saying something like,“For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever…” Well, we can see here that Paul and Silas followed Jesus’ teaching because, in spite of the situation, their prayers were filled with praise. And as they did this—as they praised God—He did the same thing He did for King David. He  “…put a new song” in their mouths… “a hymn of praise to God.” (Psalm 40:3) So these two began to SING—not sad songs but joyful songs—SONGS of praise—and in this way they turned their dank, dark cell into a sanctuary!

Okay—how could they do this?  How were they able to sing songs of praise under those CIRCUMSTANCES? 

Well, first we must note that these two were mature enough to know that when a Christian is in the center of God’s will, he or she is never UNDER the circumstances. We have a loving Heavenly Father Who is sovereign OVER every circumstance of life—the good and the bad. These two had enough confidence in God to know that He was still in control—that He could and would use even this painful, dark situation for their good and His glory. This reminds me of a quote from Charles Haddon Spurgeon who once said, “It is easy to sing when we can read the notes by daylight; but the skillful singer is he who can sing when there is not a ray of light to read by. Songs in the night come only from God; they are not in the power of men.”

Paul expressed this same confidence in God later in his life as he was imprisoned in Rome.  He wrote young Timothy and said that even in the midst of that time of suffering, “I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12) Paul believed that God’s sovereign power and knowledge was absolute.  He also had faith that God’s love for Him was infinite and unconditional. And these beliefs enabled Paul and Silas to “see” wonderful things—even in the dark.

Whenever I go home to Dover as I did this week I always go through my dad’s sermon files. It’s good to “visit” with my late father in that way—and to continue to learn from his example. On one such “visit” I came across a sermon my dad preached on this text.  In his message dad said that Paul and Silas had “SEEING HEARTS.” In other words, they looked at their situation not just through PHYSICAL eyes—but through the “eyes” of their hearts…which is a way of saying they looked at their beating and imprisonment through the eyes of faith. They made a conscious CHOICE to trust God—to praise God—to have faith in God and His attributes no matter how bad things appeared to be. And if we are to “sing” in those times when we feel imprisoned by hardship, we must make the same wise choice.  This is further proof of what A.W. Tozer once wisely said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Well Paul and Silas thought the right things bout God.  They decided to look at their situation through the eyes of faith. They weren’t being immature or naive. No—just the opposite. You see, maturing believers like Paul and his companions, embraced a faith in WHO God is.  Their’s was a conscious decision to look at life from the perspective that confidence in God provides.  It was a commitment to put their trust not in the ever-changing circumstances of life, but rather in our God, Who, as James 1:17 says, “…does not change like shifting shadows.” And, as I have inferred, one of the benefits of deciding to put our who faith in God—is that in enables us to notice…to SEE…things that other people miss. Paul referred to this in 2 Corinthians 10:7 when he said that people who don’t put their confidence in Christ, “…are looking only on the surface of things.” Well my Dad was right. Paul and Silas had a HEARTS that could “see.”  They saw that in the midst of all their present difficulties, they were still in the presence of God and that He was at work even in their current painful situation. They believed that as Paul put it in later years, “In all things God works for the good of them who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

One of my favorite TV shows aired many years ago. How many of you remember Gomer Pyle, USMC? Well for you people too young to have been viewers…I’ll tell you that Gomer was a very naive country boy from the hills of North Carolina and his drill Sergeant in boot camp, Sergeant Carter, constantly yelled at him and put him through all kinds of tough times. However, when others would say things like, “Gomer, Sergeant Carter is so mean to you!  He’s so unfair!  Don’t you hate him for the way he’s treating you?!” Gomer would reply, “Oh no, Sergeant Carter is the wisest man I know.  He knows everything there is to know about being a marine. He’s just doing this for my good.  You’ll see.” Gomer, had confidence in his sergeant so in the midst of countless pushups and midnight marathon runs in full gear—and even one time when Sgt Carter ordered Gomer to move a huge pile of sand from one place to another and then back again—in all this Gomer SAW something his peers missed.  He “saw” that His superior had his best interests in mind—that all this was for his good. Well, we must have the same kind of faith-filled confidence in our Superior, if we are to sing in tough times—confidence that opens our eyes so that we can SEE His loving hand at work…even in times filled with heartache and pain.

Let me ask you—are you being treated unfairly this morning?  Does your life seem like a prison? 

Then, hear me—trust God—He will never leave us or forsake us. He is truly LORD of all—this includes school troubles or marital problems or work stress or sickness—or even death itself…and if we are committed to furthering His purposes, He will work all things—even these “prison times of life” to our good.  So open the eyes of your heart and SING!

(2) Now—there’s one other thing we can learn from this particular prison music. When we sing in times like this the world NOTICES—and wants to learn to SING along.

Verse 25 says that as Paul and Silas were singing, the other prisoners were listening. This was something new for the Philippian Correctional Facility. They’d never heard this kind of response to their situation before. So, as the Greek here literally says, “They listened attentively” to Paul and Silas as they prayed and sang. Then when God miraculously responded by sending an earthquake that opened the doors and released the chains and locks around their stocks, well, they knew this had indeed been very SPECIAL singing. So they didn’t take advantage of the situation and run away. They went to Paul and Silas to ask them about their singing, such that when the jailer thought they had all run away and was about to take his own life in desperation, Paul was able to say, “Don’t harm yourself. We are all here.” Well that particular “lyric” made the jailer want to “sing along” as well and so he asked life’s most profitable question, “What must I do to be saved?” In other words, he said, “Teach me to sing too! Tell me what I need to do to be like you?” Ironically he was no longer the captor but captive to what his prisoners had to offer. They were so serene and calm in the midst of tragedy that he knew he had to have what they had.

I wonder—if you found yourself in that situation—would you be able to answer this question? Would you be able to tell someone what they must do to be saved?

During WWI, Bishop John Taylor Smith was the chaplain general of the British Army.  He always asked candidates for the military chaplaincy this question. He would say, “Suppose I am a soldier who has been wounded on the field of battle. I have 3 minutes to live and I am afraid to die, because I do not know Christ.  Tell me, how can I know I am saved and then die with the assurance that all is well?” If the applicant could not answer that question, he could not become a chaplain in the British Army. Well, could you pass this test? Would you be ready? Are you “…prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have?” (1 Peter 3:15)

Paul was ready and the jailor listened to his response to this question and became a Christian and then apparently urged Paul and Silas to share the gospel with his family as well, because verse 34 says that his entire family was baptized. The jailer invited them into his home and the same man who had inflicted their wounds washed and bandaged them. Then he fed them. Think of it—God truly prepared a table for Paul and Silas in the presence of their enemies. But I don’t think any of this surprised Paul and the others. Remember, the fact that they had chosen to have faith in God no matter what enabled them to SEE things others missed.  They knew that they served a God Who worked miracles like this.

Listen fellow Redlander—the world is listening for our “song!” They are listening to hear how we respond to the unfairness of life. So, we must realize that in the darkest times of our lives we need to be at our BEST as Christians. There must be SINGING instead of SIGHING. You see, if we respond as Paul did, then those around us will be asking us the same question the jailer asked Paul. I mean, if you “sing” even in the midst of heartache, you’ll find people drawn to you. And then you can lead them to the cross.

This morning I invite you right now to pray with the Psalmist and say, “God, open my eyes that I may SEE wonderful things in Your law.” (Psalm 119:18) “Open my eyes wide enough that I can see Your great faithfulness.” Let’s all ask God to give us “seeing hearts.” And, if you are here today and are not a Christian, then I hope and pray that today’s worship has opened your eyes to see your need to follow Jesus as Savior and Lord. God promised way back in Deuteronomy 4:29 that, “If you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him if you LOOK for Him with all your heart and all your soul.” If you have never made the commitment to follow Jesus I urge you to seek Him today. There may be other decisions that other see the need to make public today…to join this church…to rededicate your life to God in some way. And we invite you to make share those decisions with us now by walking an aisle to speak with me or one of the other pastors as we stand now and sing.

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