How to Sing in Prison

Cody Hale

Durable Joy • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Introduction

In his book the Insanity of God, Nik Ripkin tells the story of a Russian pastor named Dmitri. He was arrested for leading an illegal house church in communist Russia. In prison, he was the only professing Christian among a prison population of more than 1500 inmates. And for 17 years, every morning at daybreak, Dmitri would sing alone a hymn of praise to God with the other inmates banging metal pots on the bars and shouting in protest to his song. One day, during his 17th year, Dmitri found a piece of scrap paper and a pencil in the prison yard. He wrote down every Bible verse and song that he could think of, and he posted it on a damp pipe in his cell as an offering to God. When the jailers discovered it, they began to beat him mercilessly. They grabbed him by the arm and began to escort him out, presumably for execution, when suddenly all of the other inmates faced the east just as Dmitri had done every morning, and began to sing in unison a hymn to God. His jailers were stunned and asked him who he was. Dmitri answered, “I am the son of the Living God, and his name is Jesus.” Soon, he was released back to his family.

When Paul was in Philippi, he has virtually the same experience. He had cast a demon out of a slave girl, causing he and Silas to both be imprisoned. And, at midnight, they were singing hymns of praise to God. While singing, the miraculous happened, an earthquake shook the prison, unshackled them, and opened the door. But, they did not escape. They remained in the prison, though untied, and used it as an opportunity to testify to the power of Jesus to deliver this jailer from his sin. 10 years later, and now Paul is in a Roman prison. And, though he is still in prison, he is still singing. He is still praising God. This morning, as we go deeper into Philippians, I want us to ask: How can a person sing in prison? (headline) That’s what this book is really about. How can a person sing with cancer or after a stillbirth or through bullying? How can a person face the very worst of the world and still sing about the best of God?

God’s Word

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He Isn’t “Alone”

v. 3-4 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all” So, how can a person sing while facing the hardest moments of his life? How can a person sing during trials that have no apparent end and are in every way unjust? The first thing that Paul knows is that He isn’t “alone”. This is the main thrust of what Paul is really saying here. You’ll notice how personally Paul refers to God in his thanksgiving here. After all, thanksgiving assumes a giver in the first place. So, he thanks ‘my God.’ He says, ‘God is my witness’. It would be really easy to be overcome with loneliness laying on the floor of a prison and not for the first time, just like it’s easy for so many of us to be overcome when another year goes by unmarried or we still aren’t feeling better or our marriage still feels cold. Loneliness is one of life’s most painful experiences, and nobody appears better positioned to bear its full weight than Paul. But, he’s strangely, unnaturally, supernaturally accompanied. And, it starts with the fact that Paul isn’t just talking to the ceiling or speaking into the air when he prays. God is with him. God is present. He says, “I thank my God!” Rome had abandoned him. The Jews had abandoned him. But, God was with him, and God had given him reason to praise. God was personal. He says calls him ‘my God’ not so much because he possessed God, rather it was just the very best way he could describe how God possessed him. Paul was not alone, and he knew it. He had someone to talk to, someone to be with, someone that would sustain him every second of every day.

APPLICATION: You are not alone. “One man with God is always a majority.” (Martin Luther)

Partners in the Gospel

v. 5 “because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now” And, this gets to the why behind his thankfulness for the Church at Philippi. They were his partners in the gospel. He says virtually the same thing twice. In verse 5, he calls them ‘partners in the gospel’, and in verse 7 he says, ‘you are all partakers with me of grace.’ Both words, ‘partners’ and ‘partakers’, are forms of the same root word, which means to be brought together in common with a common interest and a common goal. Paul knew that God cared for him “personally” because they church cared for him “practically.” When Paul was hungry, he prayed, and God answered his prayer through Philippi. When Paul prayed for the money to sustain his missionary travels, God answered his prayer through Philippi. When Paul prayed that God would encourage him and make himself known to him, God sent him Philippi. The Philippians were the tangible proof to Paul that God was with him and God was hearing him and God was providing for him. God used them to answer Paul’s prayers, and now, Paul praises God for using them as his partners in the gospel.

Called to the Impossible (Together)

This is the very essence of the who the church is. We are to live together as the tangible proof of God’s kindness to each other. God uses the church to answer the prayers of the church . God often calls us to the impossible, doesn’t he? I can think of examples of this around the room today. And, there’s a part of us that wants to take the impossible call of God on in our lives completely alive so that we can show how much we love God. But, God rarely accomplishes the impossible through isolation. God has engineered his work to be accomplished through partnership in the gospel, partaking together of his grace. Too often, we think of God calling us to the impossible so that we can show him how tough we are or how faithful we are. But, what we see in Paul here is that God doesn’t call you to the impossible, call you the prison, call you to adoption, call you to missions so that you can show your goodness and your faithfulness. God calls you to the “impossible” so that He can show you his “goodness” and his “faithfulness”, not yours. And, the primary way that God supplies his people for the impossible is through his people. God answers our prayers through Gospel partners. Not all of you are called to adopt, and that’s okay. But, all of you are called to God’s global mission of orphan-care. As God raises up families to adopt and foster, He is at the same time raising us up to support them. Not all of you are called to leave our church and plant another one. But, as God raises up church planters and missionaries, He is at the same time raising us up to partner with them. They’re praying that God will provide, and God is planning to use us as the answer to their prayers. Can you even imagine a plan more wonderful? For every man or woman of God that is raised up, God is, at the same time, raising up partners to support them and encourage them and supply them.

APPLICATION: Living out the gospel is “impossible” — alone. Singing in prison is impossible — alone. Facing an empty house with joy is impossible — alone. Facing cancer with peace is impossible — alone. Moving to another continent for the gospel is impossible — alone. But, you are not alone. God possesses you and has you and will supply you. God isn’t just calling you to do the impossible; God is calling us all with you. Living out the gospel requires partnership. God is going to use us and his global Church to answer your prayers in ways that feel you with praise, no matter what it looks like around you. What would change in your life today if you were certain that you weren’t alone?

His Case is “Airtight”

we’re never alone

v. 7 “you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.” Not only does Paul know that he isn’t alone, but he’s also able to sing because he knows that His case is “airtight.” Look closely at verses 7-8 with me. He gives some specific ways that that they are ‘partakers with (him) of grace.’ He says that they’ve partook with him in his imprisonment and in the gospel’s defense and confirmation. That is, Paul sees their kindness and support as part of the good that is resulting from his imprisonment. Further, his imprisonment has given him the ability to testify and defend the gospel, and because of their partnership with him, Paul sees himself as standing before the judges with all of Philippi.

In verses 7-8, there are four different legal terms used: ‘imprisonment’, ‘defense’, ‘confirmation’, and ‘witness.’ And, I think the primary reason that Paul brings it up to the Philippians is to show how worthwhile their investment has been, to show that their investment isn’t going without a return even though Paul has been imprisoned. Prison has only expanded his platform to reach the influencers with the gospel. But, I think there is an important secondary reason that Paul speaks this way. There’s a beautiful and powerful reason that Paul says that ‘God is (his) witness’ as to how much affection and love and passion he has for this church. Not only are they partners in the particular trial, but they are the proof of why this trial is worth the suffering. They are the ‘confirmation’ of the gospel. They share in the pain, suffering, and labor of the mission, and they ‘confirm’ that the mission is worth it. They prove that the case to suffer for the gospel is airtight because they prove, through their support of Paul, that the gospel is truly effective. Think about what all has transpired in Philippi. During Paul’s first trip, a woman and her family came to faith. Paul and Silas are imprisoned, which leads to the miraculous conversion of the jailer and his family. Then, they are taken to the county line and told to move to Gadsden. That’s what we know of this church’s beginnings. Conversion of a woman, prison, and the conversion of a jailer. And now, 10 years later, here is Paul talking to a thriving, evangelizing, gospel-loving church that has supported him from the very beginning. The “church” is the “confirmation” of the gospel. The gospel came to them and changed their city forever. The gospel found ordinary people in an ordinary town and built them into a church that would be used to sustain an apostle and advance the gospel throughout the known world one day.

APPLICATION: And, it’s the same with us. How do we know that this is all worth it? Look around. Look at whose represented here. adoptions. hard cases. Was any of this in you? No! Your lives are the evidence that the gospel is worth the hardship. Your lives are the confirmation that this is true.

Airtight Judgement of God

v. 7 “It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart” Is it any wonder that Paul held them in his heart? They were the proof that he wasn’t a fool. They were the proof that his joy was secure. They were the evidence that confirmed that Paul wasn’t wasting his life. Maybe he would never be exonerated, maybe he would never be declared innocent before a Roman court, but he was certain that in the judgement of almighty God, his case was airtight. He was living according to the truth, and even if he suffered for the truth, even if the truth was to be advanced through his chains, the Philippians were the confirmation that it was all worth it.

Look at the Fruit, Stay in the Fight

APPLICATION: We always remember the hardest days of our lives as the best days of our lives, because it’s those days that make the biggest difference. Nobody wants trouble on vacation, but nobody tells the story of the trip that went off without a hitch either, do they? Nothing produces joy like seeing “hard” days pay “off”. There’s going to be days in your life if when you wonder whether or not the Christian life is worth it or not. There’s going to be days in which you think about the time involved in teaching elementary boys and their blank stares and whether or not it matters. There’s going to be times in which you wonder whether the hot and cold nature of youth ministry is worth the heartache and frustration. Look back, not just at what’s happened in their lives, but what’s happened in yours. Look at how God has used you to do what you didn’t think you could do before. Look at the fruit, and stay in the fight. The game is hard, but joy isn’t found in the bleachers. Look at the fruit of what God has done, hard as it was to come by, stay in the fight for greater joy in Christ.

His Future is"Secure”.

v. 6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Finally, Paul is able to sing in chains because he knows that His future is “secure.” You’ll notice that twice Paul references ‘the day of Jesus Christ’, once in verse 6 and again in 10. So, it’s clear that Paul has in mind what’s to come. But, if a person is going to sing in prison, if a person is going to have joy through cancer, if a person is going to have peace when their life has went every way but the right way, it’s the future that matters. Because as hard as the past was, as unbearable as the present seems, it’s the future that terrifies us. The future “threatens” us. It’s the future that is filled with worst case scenarios. It’s in the future that we fear, not just being alone, but staying alone. It’s in the future that we worry about what will happen to our children. It’s in the future that we fear our money will run out, and we’ll lose our home. But for Paul, he’s able to be sing because the threat of the future has been neutralized. He says, “And I am SURE of this, that he who began a good work in you will bringing it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ.” That is, Paul is able to look at his future with certainty, even if he is uncertain where he will be tomorrow or a year from now. And, he is certain about the future because of what has happened in the past. There’s an interesting interplay of tenses throughout. He moves from past to present to future seamlessly, which verse 6 gives us a good example of. “God began a good work in you (past).” “I am sure of this (present).” “He will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (future).” In other words, Paul says, “I have joy in the prison today because used the prison once for his glory in the past, and I am certain he will do it again in the future.” God used the prison to start his church, and he is certain that God will use it now to build his church.

And, this is what populates his prayer for the Philippians. “As they’ve loved you in the past, I pray today that you would increase their love in the future. As they’ve lived wisely in the past, I pray that they would live even wiser in the future. As they’ve been fruitful in the past, I pray that they would be even more fruitful into the future.” In other words, “I am certain that you began a great work in them and will finish the great work in them, and I’m asking you to do what you I am certain of.” And, that’s what faith looks like. And, that’s where the joy that leads to singing in the midst of tragedy comes from.

And, that’s what faith looks like.

Dance in the Dungeon

APPLICATION: Joy today is found in “remembering” God's faithfulness yesterday and in “trusting” God's faithfulness for tomorrow. God has given us the past so that we might enjoy the present and look forward to the future. He was faithful yesterday, and that’s the proof that we need today in face of the threat of tomorrow. Andrew Brunson was a missionary in Turkey for 23 years. In 2016, during a government crackdown on Christian activity, Dr. Brunson was arrested and imprisoned in solitary confinement. He came to the very verge of suicide during the dark days of his encouragement. And, as his wife ministered to him and his gospel partners prayed for him, the Lord supplied the strength to persevere through misery. At his lowest, Brunson decided that he would spend 5 minutes every day dancing in defiance of his unbelief, dancing in the face of his misery in praise and thanksgiving to God for his goodness. And, he said that it was this that began to change his perspective. This morning, may we dance in the face of our enemies. May we dance in the dungeons of the Christian life. For God has been faithful and God is faithful and God will be faithful.

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