God is Constant in the Midst of Change – Acts 16 : 16-34

This sermon was first preached by Andrew M at St Denys as part of our Significant Changes series. The Bible Passage is available here. In this passage we see how God used Paul despite his character flaws, his ability to fall out with people, and despite him sometimes acting out of frustration.  And how Paul and Silas put into practice their experience of finding God to be trustworthy and worthy of praise in the most desperate of situations.

In Acts 16 we see how all Paul’s travel plans were thrown up in the air.  Nothing was straightforward – but Paul and his companions have reached Phillipi in what is now Turkey, for what the writer Luke describes in v12 as a stay lasting “several days”.  And what an eventful few days they were  They included miracles, arrest, imprisonment, an earthquake a failed suicide attempt and conversions to the Gospel.  As we delve a little bit into the passage we will look at what was going on in fast changing circumstances, what God was doing through it all and, importantly what God is saying to us.

God Acts, Despite our Mixed Motives and Flawed Character

The first part of today’s story is about a tiresome person who persistently distracted the crowds in an unhelpful way.  As Paul and his team were going about their business a girl who was a fortune-teller kept on chipping in and shouting, encouraging people to listen to Paul and be saved.  This sort of promotion was in fact unhelpful.  And we are told that eventually, v 18, Paul was so annoyed that he turned round and cast out the demon in her that was causing her to behave like this.

 Other translations would have Paul as being ‘deeply disturbed’ by her, or Paul had a ‘burst of irritation’ or ‘lost his temper’.  The Greek word diaponeomai is probably best translated as annoyed.  Paul was certainly upset by the girl’s condition and the disturbance she was causing, and finally, one day turned round and cast out her evil spirit in Jesus’ name.

 The girl was miraculously delivered and her life transformed.  But this led to another set of challenges for Paul and his team, and was nearly disastrous as we shall go on to see.

 I was struck by how, despite Paul’s rather mixed motives and what seems like a rather impulsive response, God acts.  Paul, as described by those that knew him best, those who lived and travelled with him, was not perfect - he was a flawed character, like you and me.  He was capable of falling out big time with people, and may not have been easy to get on with all the time.  None of this stopped God from using him.  God had chosen him –called him to be an apostle – and ultimately to die for him.  He almost certainly didn’t get it right every time, but God worked though him and despite him.

In a Crisis, Focus on Who God is

Moving on … we see that things started to go wrong in a major way.. The owners of the fortune-teller turned nasty when their income generating scheme collapsed, and stirred up trouble for Paul and Silas, ending with them being thrown into prison.  This wasn’t a relatively comfortable experience of house arrest but the full works.  A public flogging, chains, stocks – the full horrors of prison. 

Despite this, Paul and Silas carried on with their evening worship sessions, singing and praying.  And then God intervened.  An earthquake, and a miraculous release … which threw the jailor into despair to the point of attempting to kill himself.

 The second thing that struck me in this account is how casually Luke the writer mentions that Paul and Silas just happened to be having a time of worship.  Ah, but you say, it was Paul.  He was special, just the sort of guy who would be into that sort of thing in a crisis situation in the middle of the night.  I don’t think it is actually anything to do with Paul being an apostle, but an example of how when things change for the worse, we can hang on to those things that are unchanging … or as some of the older hymn writers would put it, “cling to Christ”.  Paul and Silas didn’t try to problem-solve, didn’t have a strategy meeting …  but allowed their perspective on the situation to be shaped by doing what came most naturally to them … which was to focus on God and who He is

God is Not Limited By Our Expectations of Him

Looking again at verse 26, God intervened miraculously and gave Paul and Silas an escape opportunity.  But their priorities were different.  They saw the situation of the jailor and an opportunity for the gospel … and in the remaining few hours of the night we see Paul preaching to the jailor and his family, Paul and Silas’s wounds being washed, the whole family being baptised and a meal being shared in the family home.  At the end of the night we are told, v34, that the jailor was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God – he and his whole family.

 I have always been struck that when it came to baptism, it was the whole family, servants included that were baptised.

Vincent Donovan was an American Catholic missionary priest in Tanzania in the 1960s and 70s.  He wrote a book in 1978, ‘Christianity Rediscovered’, about his experiences among the Maasai tribe and how he came to see Christianity differently as a result.  He discovered that he did not need to preach sin or guilt, but only forgiveness.  He came to realise that Christianity must be presented in a way that it can be rejected, and learnt that if people came to believe in Jesus, it was a community decision to become Christians, one made by the whole village.  He experienced the joy of whole communities coming to faith and also the sadness of seeing whole villages deciding not to become Christians.  Surely some individuals wanted to be followers of Jesus?

 To our way of looking at things, for a whole family and household to be baptised so hastily might seem puzzling or even wrong, but God is not limited by our expectations of him.  Salvation doesn’t need to be made more complicated than it is.  There was an urgency about the jailor’s need to be saved, a visceral need after his experience of the living God at work.  And no one from the family was to be excluded.  God never excludes anyone from his gift of salvation unless or until they ultimately exclude themselves.

God is our Constant in the Midst of Change

I often find it hard to relate to Paul in the book of Acts – he is a sort of superhero, in a league way above any one in which I am ever likely to play.  Miracles were always happening. The Holy Spirit was at work in powerful ways.  But in this account we can see that it is really all about God and what He does.

 We have seen how God used Paul despite his character flaws, his ability to fall out with people, and despite him sometimes acting out of frustration.  God delivered the girl of her evil spirit because He is God.  In the same way, He chooses to use us despite our failing and our less than perfect motives.  All He wants is our willingness and our availability.  We don’t have to wait until we are more sorted out in our faith, until we know more of the answers, until we have made more progress in becoming better people, until we have had a fresh experience of the Holy Spirit or some special calling.  This is so encouraging … at least I find it to be so.  God acts through us because He chooses to, despite our weaknesses

 We have seen how Paul and Silas put into practice their experience of finding God to be trustworthy and worthy of praise in the most desperate of situations.  They were singing and praying in the middle of the night while in prison.

 If God is our constant in the midst of change, if Jesus is our rock in uncertain times, when we are going through difficulties, we need more than ever to keep on keeping on with Jesus.  It is through these times that we can discover that Jesus is truly our faithful friend.  He will be with us through the difficulties.  They may not melt away, but our experience in them and through them draws us closer to the heart of God, and there is no better place to be.

 I remember being told once when I was a student that all the things that God allows to happen to us (good and bad) are the perfect preparation for the future that only He knows.

 And finally we have seen how when God is at work He is not limited by our expectations of Him.  It wasn’t just the jailor who came to believe in God but his whole family.  That may not have been so surprising in the context of the early church, but the same God is our God and is at work today.  So once again I have to ask myself whether I need to step out more in faith, be bolder and more expectant in my prayers, to ask God to open my eyes to see more of where He is at work in my life, in my relationships, in our community, in the changes in my circumstances.  Perhaps we all need to do this?

It has been said that “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end” 

Paul and his companions’ experiences in Acts 16 were certainly this, but I would change it a little and say that the tumultuous changes they went through were glorious in the end!

''Through all the changing scenes of life,
  In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still
  My heart and tongue employ

 Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then
  Have nothing else to fear;
Make you His service your delight,
  Your wants shall be His care.'

 (Hymn: Through All the Changing Scenes of Life)