Acts 16 | Taking Risks预览

God leads Paul and his companions to Philippi. This is a Roman colony, colonized by former legionnaires and their families, where they love to be Roman. Here they meet two women—a wealthy cloth merchant named Lydia (think first century Miuccia Prada, Vera Wang, or Coco Chanel). She readily receives the gospel and opens her home to the disciples. The other is a demonized slave girl who follows Paul and keeps shouting, “These men are slaves of the Most High God who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation.” Paul gets so annoyed by the whole thing that he turns around and heals her in the name of Jesus.

That stirred up a hornet’s nest.

When her slaveowners realized they just lost their future prospect of income, they drag Paul and Silas into the marketplace before the authorities. They’re stripped, beaten, flogged, and thrown in the deepest part of the jail under heavy guard.

It’s risky to follow God.

But God will not abandon you.

Paul and Silas respond to the whole situation by praying and praising God. Praising God! Can you imagine? And the other inmates took notice. Luke tells us that just like he did with Peter, God miraculously delivered Paul and Silas, this time by an earthquake. The doors flew open. The chains dropped loose.

What do Paul and Silas do? You’d think they’d make a break for it. Instead, they stay, and minister to the jailer.

Luke writes that when the jailer saw the prison doors open, he was about to commit suicide. This jailer knew he would have to answer before the authorities – and who would ever believe God broke these captives loose. He knew the law. He knew he was responsible for them, and that he would have to pay the penalty for any that escaped. He knew that his life was forfeit, that he would probably be tortured, and then executed.

In desperation the jailer cries out in despair, “What must I do to be saved!?” It probably had less to do with deeper questions of salvation from sin and the afterlife as it carried a sense of “Who’s going to get me out of this!?”

Paul and Silas, at risk to their own freedom and safety, risk their lives to save his. They speak the word of the Lord to him. They tell him of a deeper plight and deeper salvation. They point him to Jesus. And that very night, he and his household come to believe and are baptized, filled with joy.

Jesus says “Greater love no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). How much more for one’s enemies!

We don’t know what became of that jailer or his family. But we do know that whatever he faced, a deeper, far more important salvation became his. That salvation is worth everything and allows us to risk anything.

You won’t know what you’ll face. But you can face it courageously and securely in the knowledge that whatever comes your way, whatever the outcome, however it plays out, God is with you. A deeper destiny of resurrection hope is yours in Jesus’s name.