Confrontation

This sermon is one in a series from Steve Zeisler where he is teaching from

the book of Acts and in this sermon, preaching about some confrontations 
Paul and Silas had in their missionary work.

May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/

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CONFRONTATION
by Steve Zeisler

The weather in the mountains is unpredictable. A day may begin under
bright 
sunny skies, but in a very short time the dark clouds can roll in with 
dramatic drops in temperature, wind, hard rain, and even lightning. You
can 
be unexpectedly faced with difficult, even threatening, circumstances.

We're going to look at a text in Acts 16 that has that quality to it. The 
opposition to those who love Christ and his truth becomes a difficult and 
dangerous storm that blows up very quickly.

We're working our way through the book of Acts, and we're now in the early

stages of Paul's second missionary journey, in the midst of the founding
of 
the church in Philippi. The missionaries had left Antioch and had traveled

for weeks over hundreds of miles, repeatedly being denied any opportunity 
for ministry. Eventually they got to the city of Troas, where Paul had a 
vision from heaven, and they realized that the door was now open: they had

been called to Macedonia. They quickly traversed the Aegean Sea and early 
the next day continued on to Philippi, excited to see what would happen.
And 
caught up in the story, we too are anxious to see something important 
happen.

Ending evil exploitation

Acts 16:16-18:

It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl 
having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much 
profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying
out, 
saying, "These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are 
proclaiming to you the way of salvation." She continued doing this for
many 
days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, "I 
command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" And it came
out 
at that very moment.

These events took place early, perhaps midday, on the missionaries' last
day 
in Philippi. Many dramatic events were about to take place, and at the end

of this day (twenty-four hours), Paul and his companions would depart for 
another city. It wasn't obvious that it was going to be their last day in 
Philippi when they set off to the prayer meeting that morning. They had
done 
so for many days prior, and we will see in verse 40 that there was a good,

solid church now established in the city, headquartered in Lydia's house.

As the missionaries walked along, they were confronted by an evil spirit 
that had taken up residence in a girl. The Greek word makes clear that
this 
was a girl, not a grown woman. This confrontation had taken place a number

of times, and Paul, I believe led by the Spirit of God but also feeling 
"greatly annoyed," finally decided that enough was enough. So he banished 
the spirit from this girl's life, and in doing so set in motion a series
of 
events.

This is one of very few accounts of an evil spirit in the book of Acts. We

encounter occult practices, magicians, and others who dabble in dark
power, 
but seldom an evil spirit that has taken over a life. They are much more 
commonly mentioned, of course, in the gospels. During Jesus' earthly 
ministry, it seems as if the forces of hell gathered around where he was, 
and many more people were tormented by the presence of demons. They later 
became less common, apparently, or at least were not recorded in the book
of 
Acts, except for this incident.

It is difficult in cultures like ours to talk about occult spirits.
Educated 
people tend to be dismissive of anything that science can't measure and 
describe, and the world of spiritual beings is not easily subjected to 
scientific exploration. Evil spirits are therefore regarded as a 
superstition of ancient times. But I believe that is a serious mistake.

Another reason it's difficult to talk about dark spirits is that the
movies 
and popular fiction have rendered them as walking undead flesh-eating 
zombies and so on. Those over-the-top special effects tend to come to mind

when we read a text like this. Since we can discount the likelihood of 
Hollywood zombies, many folks wrongly assume the same is true of spiritual

beings mentioned in the Bible.

Now, Jesus said of the devil that he is a liar and a murderer, vicious, 
destructive to the core. But he is not a show-off. There is no advantage
to 
producing vampires with black capes and glowing eyes. Mere ruin of a life
is 
what the devil is really after.

The best perspective on the incident that takes place in Philippi is to 
realize that this girl, who may have been just into her teens, was too 
innocent to have done anything to invite what had happened to her. She was
a 
lot like the throwaway children in this country and other parts of the
world 
whose families have perhaps treated them so badly that their lives are 
trashed. Often throwaway children end up addicted to drugs, prostituting 
themselves to get money for a habit that is tearing them apart. Pimps 
exploit them in the same way that the owners of this slave-girl were 
exploiting her tragedy to make money for themselves.

The evil spirit told the truth: Paul and his friends were serving the Most

High God. But of course it was a problem to have an evil spirit telling
the 
truth about them, because honest people would tend to reject the word of
the 
evil spirit. This clever strategy of darkness would drive people from the 
truth.

Finally, we should observe that it was Paul's invoking the powerful name
of 
Jesus Christ that ended the degradation of this girl: "I command you in
the 
name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!" Immediately the demon was
banished 
from the scene.

At this point the storm gathered quickly and broke in fury upon Paul and 
Silas.

Resistance to the power of Jesus' name

Verses 19-24:

But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized 
Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the 
authorities, and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they

said, "These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are

proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe,

being Romans." The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief 
magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be 
beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw
them 
into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having 
received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and fastened 
their feet in the stocks.

Paul invoked the authority of Jesus' name in Philippi, and the economic 
exploitation of this powerless girl was ended. The trafficking in occult 
voices was cut off. We should consider this a good thing not only because 
the girl was free from her torment and degradation, but because all the 
customers who would have come to the evil spirit for fortune-telling were
no 
longer going to hear the wisdom of hell from her voice.

Paul and Silas directly challenged the corrupting power of greed on the
part 
of her owners. The response was fury. The antagonism with which Paul and 
Silas were treated was excessive by any measure. The merchants physically 
seized and dragged Paul and Silas to a place of public danger. A phony
trial 
before corrupt magistrates quickly gave way to mob reaction. Paul and
Silas 
were given no chance to defend themselves, even though in theory this was 
some sort of judicial proceeding. The treatment that they received here
was 
illegal, and it was going to come back to haunt those who visited it upon 
them. Their clothing was torn off to humiliate them. They were viciously 
beaten, and then the jailer was directed to "guard them securely," meaning

to do extra damage, to treat them worse than he would ordinary prisoners.
So 
he took these men, in agony from the beating, and made their agony greater

by fitting them in stocks in a dingy inner prison, as if the outer prison 
weren't bad enough.

Why the excessive resistance to Paul and Silas as they invoked the power
of 
Jesus' name? One clue is that Paul and Silas were identified as Jews. I 
mentioned in the last message that the Roman emperor Claudius had grown 
angry with Jews and banished them from Rome around this time, so that was 
part of what was in play here.

But these preachers were now taking the Jewish belief in one sovereign God

and making it even more pointed: "There is one God, and he loves us, and
has 
made a way for us to know him. We need not fear his judgment. We can join 
his cause." Growing numbers were believing what they said, and that was 
another problem. Roman authority insisted on order and predictability and 
clearly these missionaries were advocating change.

The gospel and its bearers were a threat to demons, greed, abuse and 
exploitation of the powerless, prejudice, corrupt courts and phony
justice, 
mob violence, slavery, arrogant wealth, unjust governments, and sanctioned

torture. From the perspective of hell, these men had to be stopped. Too
much 
was at stake to leave them alone. They spoke with the authority to banish 
demons, uncover hidden sin and change hearts, break apart prejudices. They

poured out healing, forgiveness, and restoration. Thus the excessive 
reaction: "Terrify them, silence them, imprison them, torture them.just
stop 
them."

Perhaps there is a warning for us here. Does the Christianity that we 
believe and live out have enough of an edge to it? Does anybody say of us
or 
our church community, "These people have to be stopped"? Is there enough 
saltiness in the salt so that it makes a difference? I think the answer is

both no and yes. There are probably times when we have found a way to be 
Christian without being at all offensive, and that should concern us. And 
there are other times when our lives have the effect of challenging the 
world.

Let me also be clear that Paul and Silas didn't go out trying to stir up 
trouble. They were just being themselves, and trouble found them. But when

it found them, they were undaunted by it. They assumed such things could 
happen to those who follow Jesus.

So the forces of hell succeeded in taking our heroes and clapping them in 
irons. They fell silent and were never heard from again. No, actually,
that's 
not the way the story ends!

Servants of the victorious Savior

 Verses 25-34:

But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise

to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came
a 
great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken;

and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were 
unfastened. When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew

his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had 
escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Do not harm 
yourself, for we are all here!" And he called for lights and rushed in,
and 
trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he
brought 
them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 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 together with all who were in his house.

And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and 
immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And he brought them

into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having 
believed in God with his whole household.

Everything has been wonderfully turned on its head! The worst that the
venom 
of the enemy could do didn't work. Light shone into the darkness. The
hands 
that had clapped Paul and Silas in irons were now washing their wounds.
The 
extraordinary earthquake that physically freed the prisoners, coupled with

the evidence of Paul's and Silas' faith, surely challenged all their
fellow 
prisoners as well as this jailer. The prisoners must have been shaken just

by their singing. Make careful note: they were singing hymns to God before

anything good happened. They didn't know how God was going to get them out

of this. No one had come riding to the rescue. Yet they still sang hymns, 
assuming that their Lord had not abandoned them.

Verses 35-40:

Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, 
"Release those men." And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, 
"The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now
and 
go in peace." But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us in public
without 
trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are
they 
sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and
bring 
us out." The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They

were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, and they came and 
appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging
them 
to leave the city. They went out of the prison and entered the house of 
Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

Paul's insistence that the chief magistrates bring them out themselves was

not just feistiness. He was giving the church standing in its community.
It 
wasn't likely this young church would be threatened again any time soon by

these folks, because they had botched things so badly the first time. They

were going to be much more likely to leave these young Christians alone.

In a matter of a few hours, dire circumstances had turned to glory. 
Everything had changed. The mob had dissipated, and in place of the mob, a

small community of believers in Lydia's house is in view.

What we see in this microcosm of one twenty-four-hour period is the way
the 
message of Christ is both received and resisted. Jesus' servants invoke
his 
name, which brings down a stronghold of evil. Then enemies dig in against 
them and do their worst to them. God supplies the power for his servants
to 
stand firm. At the end of the day it is the servants of Christ who stand, 
and those who oppose him who have fallen. This is a story that most of us 
see working out slowly. We are never quite sure where we are in the
process. 
But the timeline is compressed here to make a point: this is the truth
about 
the way God works. The gospel wins people and creates problems. We are in
a 
battle, and God honors his servants who stand for him in the battle. The 
Lord wins at the end. We serve a victorious Savior. The grave could not
hold 
him, and those who fight against his servants will not succeed.

Serving dangerously and standing firm

I said before that one of the challenges of this text is to ask ourselves 
whether there is anything about us that poses an appropriate threat to the

world we live in. Or do we adhere to this faith just because what we
really 
want is to make ourselves more successful at being worldly? Religion might

make you disciplined, and if you are more disciplined you can make more 
money. If you get along with people better you will be more successful.
Have 
we fallen into well-scrubbed worldliness, forgetting that Jesus' name 
invoked in power is going to have the effect of both the aroma of life to 
life and the aroma of death to death (2 Corinthians 2:15-16)?

There is another question raised by this text: Are we sure we are going to

win? The long struggle to tell yourself the truth, to believe it, to stand

firm, at times can seem too costly. Are we sure that the Lord will one day

have us at his side in honor, and that the things that have dragged us
down 
will be gone? If we are sure, then we will keep singing even when we don't

know how he is going to get us out of trouble.

First John 4:4 says, "Little children, you are from God, and have
conquered 
them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the 
 world." (NRSV.) How do we speak the word of the Lord against the things 
that worry and dominate us, pull the clouds down thickly over us? One of
the 
things we can draw from this text is the assurance that in the end, Jesus'

servants will be standing, and everything that has been arrayed against
them 
will have fallen. It is worth it to stay in the fight!

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand
in 
the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our 
Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and 
authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." (Jude 1:24-25.)

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Where indicated, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the
New 
Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV), ã 1989, by the Division of
Christian 
Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. 
Used by permission. All rights reserved. All other Scripture quotations
are 
taken from New American Standard Bible, ã 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 
1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.



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