Sermon Tone Analysis

Conviction, confinement, conversion, and community

Conviction, Confinement, Conversion, and Community

“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.”

What does the Bible say about injustice?

The Bible has a lot to say on the subject of injustice.

We know that God is in favor of justice; we know that He is against injustice, even in the most basic terms.

The writer of Proverbs mentions this: “The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him” ().

Justice is foundational to God’s throne it tells us in , and God does not approve of partiality, whether we are talking about a weighted scale or an unjust legal system ().

There are many other verses, in both Old and New Testaments, that give us an idea of God’s distaste for injustice , [7] “Now then, let the fear of the LORD be upon you.

Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the LORD our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”

, [14], If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents.

The prophet Isaiah lived in a time when Judah was struggling under the weight of injustice: “Justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.

Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice” ().

God’s message for them was simple: “Learn to do right; seek justice.

Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow” ().

Later on, God tells them to “loose the chains of injustice,” indicating that injustice is a form of bondage and oppression.

In the book of James, we see more deeply into the heart of God regarding injustice.

God is not petty or obsessive.

He does not value justice simply for the sake of having order.

There are deeper issues at stake.

In , we see a discussion about partiality.

James speaks to a group of believers who have been judging the people in their gathering according to their social status.

In the human heart, injustice is a sign of partiality, judgmentalism, and a lack of love.

When we strive to be righteous by our own human measurements, we invariably forget God’s measurement: perfection.

Anything less than perfection is to God, a scale out of balance.

Every human is, because of the fall, unjust.

We do a lot of incongruent things.

We make mistakes, we blow hot and cold, we do and say things that are totally contradictory.

As James says, “We all stumble in many ways” ().

As a matter of fact injustice permeates our lives, as we judge unfairly and we constantly hold others to a different standard than we are willing to abide by ourselves.

The only way to truly escape injustice is to first accept that God is perfectly just and humans are inherently unjust, i.e., less than perfect, and then to accept God’s righteousness.

Only when we are no longer concerned with making ourselves righteous can we trust the One who justifies the ungodly.

Then, as God’s children, we can see clearly to combat the injustice around us with a merciful attitude.

Jesus is totally just; there is no injustice in Him at all.

Because of His perfection, Jesus can provide true justice.

In fact, the Bible teaches us “the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son” ().

We look forward to the time when righteousness and justice will be the order of the day and injustice will be banished forever: “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this” ().

When left Paul and Silas last week the two were being dragged off to prison.

Caught up in the mob’s anti-Semitic frenzy, the chief magistrates failed miserably to uphold the highly prized standards of Roman justice instead they meander down the path of injustice.

They did not bother to investigate the charges brought against Paul and Silas; they did not conduct a through hearing.

They did not ask and or allow Paul and Silas to defend themselves; which would have revealed that they were Roman citizens.

So what did that do right pastor?

Absolutely nothing!

Instead, these authorities tore the robes off of them, order them to be beaten with rods and dragged into prison and placed in the inner prison which was the most secure.

They even took additional precautions by placing their feet into stocks.

But all their efforts proved to be futile, they had to learn the hard way that no prison can hold those whom God wants released.

This morning the scripture leads us to a story of conviction, confinement, conversion, and community.

It is a story of God’s remarkable intervention in the lives for those who serve Him with all their heart in their most desperate times.

It is a story of how the miracles of God lead people to conform to His will and conclude that above all things that God can be trusted.

It is a story of finding a new and larger family in the body of Christ, a family of warmth, a family with the willingness to believe in God and a family who longs to worship Him.

Let us pray…

As in and 12, imprisonment is an attempt by the authorities to control the proclamation of the gospel to bind it if your were in chains, but as Paul says in

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal.

But God’s word is not chained.

Look can lock up the missionaries but you cannot lock up the mission of God’s Word.

, [10] “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, [11] so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

In our text today, God sends an earthquake instead of an angel to transform the situation.

Compared to the apostles’ rather passive role in their other prison breaks, particularly exemplified in Peter’s slumber until awakened by the angel (12:6–7).

After being stripped naked, beaten with rods, and dragged into prison Paul and Silas respond as true Christians would by organizing a worship service.

This is the normal response to being stripped naked, beaten with rods and dragged into prison, isn’t it?

They are busy praying and singing to God at the midnight hour (16:25).’

Then suddenly there is an earthquake!

After the earthquake instead of escaping, they remain to rescue the jailer from killing himself and to share the gospel with him (16:26–31).

Whatever the jailer meant by his question about being saved, Paul took the opportunity to point him to the Lord Jesus.

The prisoners then instructed the jailer and his family, while their wounds were washed and they received his hospitality.

Once again, Luke records the baptism of the chief character and his household (16:32–34; cf.

v. 15), and portrays the emergence of Christian community as the gospel is proclaimed and received (cf.

2:40–47).

‘These events vividly illustrate Paul’s own claim in his Philippian letter that imprisonment, far from being an obstacle to his mission, poses a unique opportunity to spread the gospel boldly to Roman guards and others who come his way.

(1) Conviction and confinement

Because of the fact that God had heal the woman with an unclean spirit through Paul and caused the owners to lose their income.

These owners then lied on Paul and Silas and took them before the authorities and rulers and then the magistrates, saying that they were stirring up trouble and unrest in Rome.

Though Paul and Silas never faced trial and were never convicted of any wrongdoing, they still received confinement in prison.

You see my brothers and sisters it was Paul convictions to do God’s will which brought on his confinement in this Philippian prison.

These actions here are not unlike the choice given to Peter and John after the healing in , “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished.

And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men?

For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”

So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.

For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.”

You see even when your Godly convictions threaten you with confinement, you must rejoice always, as Paul said, rejoice in the Lord always, I say rejoice!