God's Hidden Agenda

TROWEL & SWORD

God's Hidden Agenda

Rev Keith Vethaak

If there is one thing that irritates me more than anything else it’s when experts make pronouncements on subjects they know little about.

Like the “Art Expert” on television who tells us that the Apostle Paul introduced a new type of religion. Rather than having the compassion and grace of Jesus he was legalistic and stern.

Well is it true? Does Paul reflect a different approach to people than Jesus had? Does Paul miss the heart of the ascended Jesus? When Jesus walked the earth His heart went out to the broken and lost. He was constantly surrounded by “sinners”. When Jesus rose from the dead the first to see him was Mary Magdalene out of whom He had cast seven demons. The risen Jesus hadn’t changed. His heart was still for the broken, the outcasts. When Paul and Silas were in Philippi (Acts 16) things were going wonderfully well. A rich businesswoman called Lydia came to the Lord and invited them to stay with her. Jesus had risen and ascended. He had sent out His disciples to do the things He had done. Did Paul still have a heart for the lost and broken? Did Jesus still care about the outcasts? Or do we find that the God of Paul is just concerned about the well off?

Let me take you to an account in the Bible that at first just makes no sense at all.

It’s in Acts 16 just after Lydia’s conversion. In verse 18 Paul casts a spirit of divination out of a slave girl. Her owners are incensed and dragged Paul and Silas before the authorities. The magistrates order them to be stripped and beaten. And it just doesn’t make sense. Why? Look at verse 37. Paul says, “They beat us publicly without a trial even though we are Roman citizens...” The thing that doesn’t make sense is why Paul and Silas forgot to mention to the magistrates at the outset that they were Roman citizens. If I knew that I was in for a beating I think I might have said, “Excuse me sir, but we are Roman citizens, you can’t just have us beaten and thrown into the prison.” Paul and Silas say nothing. It’s a mystery, it just doesn’t add up.

And then we read that they are in the inner cell of the prison with their feet fastened in stocks when a great earthquake destroys the prison and all the doors spring open.

Aha, maybe Paul and Silas knew that God was going to do this and they wanted to demonstrate His power to the authorities. But there is still something here that doesn’t make sense.

We pick up the account in verse 26: “Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners has escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

Now tell me, what was the point of an earthquake that opened up the prison doors if no one escaped?

Not even Paul and Silas walked free!

So why did Paul and Silas end up in prison when they could easily have avoided it? And why was there an earthquake that broke open prison doors if no one escaped?

Either the whole story makes no sense, or something else is happening here.

I believe that the key to this story is
the jailer.

Now jailers weren’t the most popular
of men. The Romans had this foolproof system of making sure than no one ever escaped from their jails. If someone escaped the jailer was executed. No wonder he put Paul and Silas in the inner cell and chained them up as well! The only downside to their Roman system was that they didn’t get too many applicants for the job of jailer. After all, would you apply for a job if you knew that one failure meant you were dead?

The end result of this was that often prisoners were released on the condition that they run the jail. At best, most jailers were rough and tough, not the sort of people that you’d like to meet on a dark night or invite home to dinner.

So what we are seeing here is a whole set of circumstances organised by God to make sure that this jailer hears the good news about Jesus.

When the jailer asked: “What must I do to be saved?” He wasn’t thinking of salvation. He wanted to know what he could do so that no prisoner escaped and his life could be spared.

But all of a sudden it all clicked for Paul. Now he understood why their mouths were stopped so that they didn’t alert the magistrate to their Roman citizenship. Now he realised why the prison was destroyed by an earthquake and yet no one escaped. It was to bring the jailer to the point of desperation so that he was open to the Gospel. We read that “Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptised.”

Did Paul have a heart for the lost and broken? Did Jesus still care about the outcasts? Read this account and there can be only one answer. And it’s an encouraging one. If God cared enough for this jailer to put Paul and Silas through the unpleasant experience of being beaten and imprisoned, then what won't He do for any one of us? You may be praying for someone to come to know Jesus. Never underestimate what God will do! The Good Shepherd will seek and seek until He finds.

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