Our devotion for tonight is entitled, "NO PLACE I'D RATHER BE", and our scripture is found in the book of Acts 16:25-34.
The Book of Acts is a written record on account of the pioneering Christian Church that sprang after Jesus ascended to heaven and the disciples received the power of the Holy Spirit. The author if this book is the disciple Luke and He wrote this as a continuation of the Gospel book that He wrote, the Gospel of Luke.
So... the early Church, being led by the Holy Spirit experienced a lot of resistances, persecutions and threats from many aspects of the community such as the teachers of the Law, the government, the common people, and even some Church members who were supposed to be walking with them.
However, in God's amazing ways, these resistances, persecutions and threats have been the reasons why the Gospel continued to spread beyond Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
The scripture that we will be discussing tonight is an account of how God used these resistances for the salvation of the people in the ugly places the early disciples were put into by their persecutors.
Let's start reading Acts 16:25-34
"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and 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 bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God." (Acts 16:25-34 ESV)
The Book of Acts is an account and a narrative of how God powerfully worked through the early Church. The author intended for us to relate our current circumstances to the situations that happened in the past. And so in every devotions and meditations of the Word that we do, we always try to relate to the Scriptures that we read.
So how can we relate to the Bible Scripture that we've just read?
Let us identify the key persons, places and events in the Scripture.
A little background for what we've just read, (Acts 16:16-24) Paul and Silas met a slave girl who had a spiritual divination, and her owners had much gain from her by fortune-telling. The slave girl continued to follow and annoy Paul and Silas to the point that Paul eventually got to remove the spirit from the slave girl. When the owners found out that their slave girl no longer had the power for fortune-telling (thus no hope of income), they dragged Paul and Silas into the marketplace before the public and the rulers, and accused them of disturbing the city and their Roman customs. Paul and Silas ended up being beaten up with rods naked by the people before being thrown into the inner prison. Inner prisons somewhat means they were kept with tighter security than the usual prisoners. Bible scholars even described the Roman prison cell they were thrown into as foul, damp and dark cell below the ground. And they were together with the most disgusting and worst criminals in the city.
So... for the sake of the Gospel, Paul and Silas were falsely accused and publicly shamed by being beaten up and wounded with rods while naked, and then thrown into a dungeon-like Roman prison. Verse 33 shows that their wounds were not even attended first as they were thrown into prison. So being thrown in the inner prison that we have just described, there is a high possibility of acquiring infectious diseases through their wounds.
Similar things actually happens especially to us believers in the present time. For the sake of the Gospel, we pursue to live a righteous life by the power of the Holy Spirit. And living a righteous life in this world filled with brokenness and injustice is somehow very difficult.
If you have an option to cheat in exams, you have to resist and take the risk of failing the exam.
In our workplace especially onboard ships, you may have opportunities to earn great amounts of money for doing something illegal; but since you live for Christ, you reject these opportunities despite needing money to send back home. But the problem is, you might end up being persecuted and being reviled for doing so. Your life might even be threatened for you might be considered a threat or a whistleblower against those who participate in these illegal activities.
A lot more related scenarios can happen, and it often leaves us unfavored. Those who chose to compromise receive their temporary earthly rewards. But for those who chose not to compromise, they often receive the undeserved punishment. That is how broken and unjust the world is.
Or let's make it simple. In the workplace you may have done a big mistake, and confessing about it could cause you a great deduction from your salary, or even losing the job itself. So you are tempted to hide it and cheat or lie about it. What would you do in response to the Gospel??
Living the righteous life in this broken world can be difficult and painful and can leave us nothing left for us.
But the good thing is, we believe in Jesus Christ and we are sure that in doing right with God, we have our eternal reward from Him.
So what happened next to Paul and Silas in the inner prison?? What they did next was what made them different from every other people in the prison. They prayed and they sang hymns to God. Verse 25 "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God."
Brothers and sisters, that is also what makes us different in this broken world. We have God. We believe in God. And whatever problems, sufferings, tribulations, and persecutions we are to face. We will always have the reason to praise and worship God. We will always have the way to find peace and comfort in Him. For while the world is continuously changing for the worse, our God is never ever changing.
Our God will always be good.
Our God will always be faithful.
Our God will always be loving, kind, merciful and gracious.
Our God will always be righteous and just.
That's who our God is, and wherever place the devil and the world bring us, we shall never ever be afraid. We shall never ever lose hope. AMEN!
The next events inside the prison is amazing.
Let's read verse 26-28
"and 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 bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." (Acts 16:26-28 ESV)
Yes, the earthquake is amazing... The idea that the prison doors were opened and their chains were unfastened is amazing BUT...
what's more amazing is what Paul and Silas and the rest of the prisoners did. What did they do??
They did nothing. They had the chance to escape the ugly and dark inner prison, and yet they did nothing.
Why is that??? Because before the earthquake happened, Paul and Silas were there, worshipping God and the rest of the prisoners were listening. They knew that God was there. They knew that the earthquake and losing of their chains were done by God who was with them. They so loved the presence of God that they eventually forgot how ugly their prison was and they never wanted to leave. Wow.
Brothers and sisters, the year 2020 has been a tough year for us. And we can never be promised that the year 2021 will be a better year either. It can actually be even worse. Who knows?? Only God knows. But what we should know is, where God is, there's no other place we'd rather be. And what did God say? "I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU." (Hebrews 13:5) So wherever we go, wherever life brings us to, we can be so sure that God is with us, and there's no place we'd rather be. Wow.. Praise God.
I don't really know about you listening right now but many of us might be having some struggles and difficulties for a long period time now. You might have been earnestly praying for God to take you out of that place, but God is still not taking you out of it. In some cases it might be because of a recurring and unconfessed sin that you have been doing. But in some cases, God may have not taken you out of that place for a great purpose He has for you. Maybe God wants you to do the way Paul and Silas did. Worship God in the sufferings. Stay in the prison and wait for the people to see that God is there. Be the channel of God's light for other people in need of it.
What Paul and Silas did through the grace of God inside the prison greatly affected and influenced the people around them; particularly the prisoners. But it's not just for the prisoners that time.. but it was greatly for the jailer who was there with them in the prison.
Anyway, what was the jailer's attitude towards them during that midnight?? The jailer actually didn't care about them at first. We can see that when Paul and Silas were worshiping God, all the prisoners were listening to them. But the jailer was not. Why?
Let's read again in verse 27: "When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped."
(Acts 16:27 ESV)
He was actually asleep. He just woke up, I don't know when. Maybe in the morning?? Or maybe because of the earthquake? But the scripture shows that the jailer never really cared about them and what they were doing.
So when did he start to care?
Let's continue reading verses 28-34:
"But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God." (Acts 16:27-34 ESV)
Wow.
The jailer had never really witnessed the great earthquake nor the opening of the prison doors and unfastening of the chains because of the earthquake, but He witnessed the acts of Paul and Silas, as well as the acts of the rest of the prisoners. The jailer was in the act of killing himself after seeing the prison doors were opened and thinking that the prisoners have escaped. This behavior must have meant that losing the prisoners had a capital or death punishment for the jailer, especially that he was in charge of the inner cell, where the worst criminals in the city were kept. The jailer was very hopeless to the point of killing himself. But realizing that Paul and Silas, as well as the rest of the prisoners, were still there, he found new hope and realized he never had to kill himself. It's like having a second chance from the big mistake that he had done. Because he was the guard of the worst criminals in the city, and he's not supposed to be sleeping during his watch in the first place, right? So he received the second chance to live because of what Paul and Silas did.
And so what's the best thing he can do with that second life that he had??
From being indifferent towards Paul and Silas, the jailer eventually opened his heart to the Gospel, not because of the earthquake and stuff, but because he found new hope in the life of Paul and Silas. God used Paul and Silas to send the message of salvation to the prisoners, and even to the jailer and his whole family.
Brothers and sisters, the blessing of the Gospel is not just for us. It is also for all the people around us. Not just for our family but also for our friends, co-workers, and even strangers. We cannot be promised that our situation tomorrow will be better than today or yesterday. But in dark and hopeless times, we can always turn to God and worship Him.
Thank Him in abundance and in lack.
Praise Him in comfort and in suffering.
Depend on Him in strength and in weakness.
Glorify him through life and though death.
In doing so, God's light will naturally shine in our lives for others to see the Gospel and turn to God as well in their darkest hours and hopeless times.
Maybe you see yourself in the place of Paul and Silas... maybe you see yourself in the place of the prisoners.. or maybe in the place of the jailer. Whatever is happening to us right now.. Wherever place life takes us to.. we can always be sure of Jesus Christ.. Emmanuel... that God is with us, and there's no place we'd rather be. Amen.
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