Prison Ministry (Acts 16:16-34)
In college, I went to the jail twice a week—on Tuesdays and Thursdays—and taught the Bible to inmates, and I’d go back on Sunday evening to assist in worship. I even preached at the jail a couple times.
During that time, I not only worshiped with the Florence Boulevard congregation, but the church was paying me as an intern. When I started missing on Sunday nights, some folks started to wonder about me. So the preacher, a good friend of mine and one of my mentors, Bill Bagents, got in the pulpit and said, “Many of you have noticed that Justin isn’t here tonight. That’s because he’s in jail.” Bill offered no explanation and then preached his sermon.
Some of you have probably been in jail, too. Perhaps you’ve been in jail to teach the gospel. Some of you were involved in our jail ministry through mailing Bibles and correspondence courses. As you recall, at the height of that ministry, we prayed for our students each Wednesday night. Some of you might have been to jail to visit a family member or friend, and others of you might have gone to bail out a son or a brother or a friend. One or two of you might have spent the night in the drunk tank in your younger days.
Paul and Silas didn’t spend the night in a drunk tank, but they spent the night in prison. Paul had cast out a demon from a slave girl; that greatly angered her masters who stirred up xenophobia in Philippi and got Paul and Silas thrown into prison. The two missionaries, however, never lost their focus, and freely shared Jesus’s love. Paul and Silas demonstrate: “The gospel is bigger than you.”
Scripture (Acts 16:16-34)
verses 16-18:
A slave girl who had “a spirit of divination” met Paul and his traveling companions. This girl brought her masters much money from her fortune-telling.
She followed Paul and the others, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you [the] way of salvation.” After several days of this, Paul became “greatly annoyed,” and cast out the demon.
verses 19-24:
This girl’s slave masters created a storm after Paul sent the demon out of their slave. Philippi was a hotbed for xenophobia, and the slave masters stirred that up by saying that Paul and Silas were Jews advocating non-Roman customs.
Paul and Silas were then then stripped and beaten. They would have been stripped stark naked; that’s how it was done to humiliate folks.
The jailer was told “to keep them safely,” so he put them in the “inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.” Stocks had holes placed in all sorts of different places so that the legs and feet could be placed in a variety of horribly painful positions.
verses 25-34:
Obviously, most people would have been asleep at midnight. However, Paul and Silas were probably in a great deal of pain that prevented them from sleeping.
Paul and Silas didn’t bemoan their situation; instead, they prayed and sang praises to God. The other prisoners were listening to them. In that way, Paul and Silas allowed their lights to shine, and you know the end of the story—the jailer was converted (probably in no small part to the singing and praying).
A powerful earthquake shook the prison and opened the doors and unfasted the bonds. An earthquake that powerful should have brought the roof down and killed everybody; only the hand of God prevented that.
When the jailer saw the open doors, he started to commit suicide—that way he could avoid the shame of a public execution. Paul called out to him, and the jailer came before Paul and Silas and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” The jailer recognized Paul and Silas as spokesmen for God by the way they handled their imprisonment.
Paul and Silas told the man to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You understand this man was an unbeliever, and faith is the first step in coming to the Lord. Furthermore, “faith” should be understood as trust—when one truly has faith (trust) in God, he will do whatever God has commanded.
The jailer then demonstrated repentance by washing their wounds and setting food in front of them. He was then baptized along with his household.
Application
“The gospel is bigger than you.” Paul and Silas understood that the gospel was bigger than them. Think about it—they were beaten and sent to prison unjustly; however, they demonstrated their faith in prison. When the jailer in charge of their confinement asked what to do to be saved, Paul and Silas not only told him but they baptized him and his household. Paul and Silas understood the jailer had a soul, he needed Jesus, and the gospel merited proclaiming. The gospel was bigger than Paul and Silas, and “the gospel is bigger than you.”
How can you demonstrate that “The gospel is bigger than you?”
One: Supplicate
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.” Paul and Silas were willing to Supplicate. I don’t know for what Paul and Silas were praying, but I know they were praying.
For what should you pray?
You should pray for people to come to Jesus. Speaking of Israel, Paul said, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved” (Rom 10:1). Pray for the lost around you by name.
You should pray for your enemies. Would it really surprise you if we were to learn that Paul and Silas were praying for the jailer and others who had imprisoned them? That fits with being a disciple of Jesus: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44). Pray for God to bless those who trouble you. Pray that a door might be opened to bring them to Jesus.
Two: Sovereignty
God’s sovereign hand is all over this text. That jailer would never have been converted if Paul and Silas hadn’t been arrested. Do you think he would have asked them what to do to be saved if they hadn’t been praying and singing? The earthquake brought him before Paul and Silas.
You have no idea what God is doing in your life. God may be bringing you together with someone that you might bring that soul to Jesus. When Esther was reluctant to go before King Xerxes to tell him about Haman’s plot, Mordecai told her, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Est 4:14). Who knows whether you have been brought together with a precious soul for “such a time as this?”
Three: Specimen
Paul and Silas used their lives as a Specimen—an example—before the jailer. Jesus expects you to be a Specimen of his love: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:16). I love what Peter said to wives: “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives” (1 Pet 3:1).
What good will you do with your example? What Specimen of the faith will you display?
Four: Set
When the jailer asked Paul and Silas what he needed to do to be saved, the two missionaries didn’t need to stop and think, but they were Set—ready—to give an answer.
Paul and Silas answered the jailer because they were ready to explain the truth at a moment’s notice. Whenever someone asks you about the faith, you must be Set to give an answer: “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet 3:15). Do you know the Scriptures well enough to explain to someone how to be saved? How well do you know the truth of the gospel?
How well are you living the truth of the gospel? Do you need to come this morning and begin living that truth?
This sermon was originally preached by Dr. Justin Imel, Sr., at Church of Christ Deer Park in Deer Park, Texas.