When Foundations Are Shaken…
A sermon based on Acts 16:25-34
Sunday, January 14, 2018 – Epiphany 2B
He slept so soundly that it seemed like nothing could wake him but his alarm. And it didn't take the other guys at the seminary very long to figure out what a deep sleeper he was. One morning he woke up on his mattress to find that it had been moved from his bed, outside, and placed on top of his car. Thankfully he didn't roll off. But he was late for class. Another morning he woke up with his mattress at an incline… on the steps going up to the library. Good thing it didn't rain. And one morning as he was getting dressed his roommate asked what was all over his back. He ran to the mirror to see all the messages his friends wrote on him while he was asleep, thankful they wrote on his back and not on his face.
Some people are deep sleepers. They could seemingly sleep through almost anything. They're not the ones to help when you hear a strange bump in the night. They won't get up to when the baby is crying. They need the alarm to sound or they're sure to be late.
Some people are deep sleepers… spiritually speaking. It takes a lot to wake them up. It takes a crisis. It takes hitting rock bottom. It takes the ground to drop out beneath their feet before they wake up. But God loves them too much to let them sleep unaware of their eternal doom. So he does all he can to shake things up to wake things up. Listen to how he did that to a jailer in the city of Philippi, using a midnight earthquake to wake up from his sleep, both literally, and spiritually. And learn how God can do the same for you and through you. Our text for consideration is taken from Acts 16:25-34…
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 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. 27 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 had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
You've heard the expression, "No good deed goes unpunished." Well, that's probably how Paul and Silas felt. They had helped a little girl who had a rough life. Not only was she a slave to masters who used her for their own profit, but she was possessed by a demon. They drove the demon out in the name of Jesus when she kept following them and shouting a them. And for their kindness, her owners pressed charges.
Paul and Silas were publicly stripped, then severely beaten with rods, flogged, and finally thrown into prison where their feet were locked tight in the stocks. And suffering this injustice of being condemned without a trial, humiliated in public, abused, and injured, now bleeding and stiff-legged and cramped on the cold floor of the jail cell… they whined and complained and shouted their angry cries of outrage.
Actually, no. That's what I might have done. But not Paul and Silas. They were praying and singing hymns of praise to God. And they kept at it all night, still singing at midnight.
It may have been that their jailer fell asleep to the sound of those soothing hymns. But he didn't get to sleep long. Suddenly, he was shaken awake by a violent earthquake! The foundations of the prison floor were rolling, perhaps splitting beneath his feet! And if that weren't frightening enough, it got worse when he realized the earthquake was throwing all the prison doors wide open. And he must have known that this was not a natural event because no earthquake would make the chains and shackles on fall off the wrists and ankles of the prisoners. No! He knew this was from the gods, likely from the god or gods of Paul and Silas.
And that's when the real terror struck. Roman law demanded that if a jailer let his prisoners go, he would have to suffer the fate of each and every prisoner there. If some were scheduled to be flogged and others executed, he would first be flogged, then executed himself. So the best option he could think of was to take his own life. "He drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped." Yes, he would selfishly leave his wife to become a widow and his kids to grow up fatherless. But it was better than what he knew was coming him to him. When the ground dropped out of his life, suicide seemed the best option.
Have you ever been there? Ever had the ground crumble beneath your feet? Ever been shaken up so badly that you saw no solution, no way out? Have you ever had it bad at work, at home, in your marriage, with the kids, that you felt utterly miserable? How did you respond?
Maybe you went out of your way to help someone and were chastised for it. Maybe you feel like you've put in great effort to make the relationship good, but your parents, spouse, or kids keep ignoring your efforts, blaming you, and abusing you again and again. How do you respond?
Did you pray? Were those prayers just asking God for help? Or did you praise God for his goodness in spite of what you were going through? Did you sing? Were those songs "woe-is-me" songs fit only for a pity party? Or did you sing hymns of praise to God for his never-ending grace to you like Paul and Silas did?
I'll bet no one here has been publicly stripped and humiliated, beaten with rods, and mercilessly flogged because you've tried to help someone out. And yet, for much smaller offenses, don't we often whine and complain and shout our angry cries of outrage to anyone who will listen… even to God as if he owed us something better?
Or flip it. Maybe it's not you who's suffering, but a friend, a spouse, a neighbor. Maybe you've never considered suicide. (Or maybe you have.) But I can almost guarantee that someone you know has considered it. There are people in your life who have no hope. They find life so sad, and miserable, and lonely, with no hope for a way out, that they have considered taking their own life. They may have even attempted it. Some may have even succeeded in that attempt.
Now, to be clear, for those who did succeed in ending their own life, that decision was their own. They chose to be selfish and take what seemed to them to be the easy way out in direct violation of God's will that we shall not murder (self-murder included). It was their choice, not yours.
But for those who have attempted suicide, for those who have considered it, for those who are now considering it but have told no one… did they find a friend in you? Did they find a sympathetic ear? Did they find one who held out hope? Did they know you to be one who sings songs of praise to God even when in pain? Or did they even know you were a Christian? Did they assume that you didn't care either, because you never showed any concern, too absorbed in your own life and your own problems and pain that you did nothing to reach out to help them in theirs?
You see then that whether it's our response to our own injustices, problems, and pain that we face by whining and complaining instead of praying and singing praise to God, or it's our response to the problems and pain of others as we uncaringly ignore it to focus on ourselves, we deserve far greater problems and pain than anything we've ever faced in this life.
And that crushing news can rock your world. That realization can break up the ground beneath your feet. It can shake you up to your very core and make the foundations of your life crumble. And… that's what it's supposed to do. It's meant to wake you up from your spiritual slumber and see your great need for help—your great need for a Savior.
That's exactly what it did for the jailer.
When Paul stopped him from taking his own life, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!" he threw that jailer a lifeline of hope. Clearly, these men had a powerful god or powerful gods on their side. That must have been the source of this supernatural quake. So he asked them a very important, yet very flawed question: The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
It's very important because everyone asks this question at some point in their life and eternity depends on having the right answer to it. But I say that it's a flawed question because even though, by nature, we all assume there is something we must do to make things right with God, that's not the case. I hope you all know and believe the answer to this man's question already, but just to be clear the answer is, "Do nothing. Jesus did everything." "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…"
You see, for life's biggest questions, God often has the simplest answers.
Paul and Silas made it clear that there was nothing for the jailer to do because Jesus had already done it all. He lived a perfect life in the jailer's place. He died an innocent death in the jailer's place. He rose from the dead to prove to the jailer and to everyone that the debt every sinner owed to God has been pain in full. It's done. It is finished.
And as the jailer took them home and washed their wounds, Paul and Silas led him and his family though a Bible study to explain it all. And then there were two washings that night. After the jailer washed the wounds of Paul and Silas, Paul and Silas washed the jailer and his family in the waters of Baptism. And by that water they were connected to Jesus' work for them on the cross, they were washed of their sin, they were adopted by God as his own children. And why shouldn't they be? They were a part of all nations. And the promise was for them and for their children. And, so, the jailer "was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family."
Ironically, the one who's job it was to keep the prisoners locked up, was, for the first time, truly free himself. He found freedom from sin and guilt, from shame and death, from satan and hell. And, ironically, when the foundations of his world were shaken to the core, that jailer found his firmest footing on water—on the water of Baptism that connected him to Jesus.
And that's where we find our firmest footing when our foundations are shaken too.
For our sin and self-absorption, for our whining and complaining when life isn't fair or just a bit uncomfortable, for our calloused heartlessness in the face others' pain, we deserve hell. So what do we do to be saved? Nothing at all. The answer is still the same: Do nothing. "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…"
In 2011 a woman named Jenni Lake had a rough year. Terrible headaches led her to see a doctor to figure out what was causing them. It didn't take long to reveal three tumors on her spine…. And three more on her brain. She immediately started aggressive radiation and chemotherapy treatments. But just before Thanksgiving Jenni died. She died because she quit her treatments back in March. "Why in the world would she do that?" you ask. In March of that year, Jenni discovered that she was pregnant. So she stopped the radiation and chemotherapy treatments that would harm her unborn son. And on November 9th, 2011 Jenni gave birth to a healthy baby boy. And 12 days later, Jenni died with her son in her arms.
Now, what did that little boy do to be saved? Nothing. Mom did it all. Mom gave her life for her son that he might live. And do you think that that 6 year old boy ever doubts that mommy loved him? Of course not! She gave her life for him.
Of course, you know where this illustration is going. God loves you. He loves you even when your world is shaken to the core, then the foundations that you thought would always be there are rocked. He loves you so much that he gave his Son that you might live. Jesus loves you. Jesus cares for you as you go through the problems and the trials of this life. Jesus loves you so much that he took the cancer of your sin and it's terminal illness on himself. He endured the hell that you and I deserve on another day when the ground shook—so hard that the rocks split!—on Good Friday (cf. Matthew 27:51). And he did it all so that we might live forever with him.
And God graciously delivers the blessings of what he won for the whole world to each individual through his gift of Baptism, that means by which he delivers his grace to you. And so you never need to doubt that God loves you. He gave his Son for you. He gave his life for you.
And for that reason you can pray to God thanking him for his love for you, even when you're hurting and feeling all alone. You can sing hymns of praise to God for his never-ending grace to you like Paul and Silas did… even if you should someday be publicly stripped and humiliated, beaten with rods, and mercilessly flogged because you've tried to help someone out.
And as you praise God even in your suffering and pain, others will take notice. They'll notice that you're made of different stuff than other people. They'll see your quiet confidence in the face of pain, they'll hear your songs of praise even when the foundations of your world are shaken, and they'll come to know you as one who can handle the big challenges of life.
And when their world is shaken to the core, when they hear the doctor's diagnosis, when crime comes to their home, when they lose their job and with it a part of their identity, when they lose a parent, a spouse, or a child to death, when they don't know where else to turn… they may wake up. And when they do, they may turn to you. And ask you how you stay so calm when these things rock your world. They may ask, in their own way, "What must I do to have what you have? What must I do to find such peace?" "[Friend], what must I do to be saved?" And you can answer them with the truth that you've come to know and love: "Do nothing. Jesus has done it all." "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved."
Your foundations may be shaken. Your world may be rocked to its core. In fact, some big earth-shaking tragedy is likely to happen to you at some point in this sin-filled world. But find your firm footing and solid ground in water—the water of your Baptism. Know that even if you're beaten, flogged, and imprisoned, nothing can ever rob you of the freedom you have in Jesus; the freedom from sin and guilt, from shame and death, from satan and hell. And then praise God for it in all you do—in good times, and in bad.
And when others' foundations are shaken, and they, knowing you to be one who always praises God, come to you for help, share with them this simple truth: "Do nothing… Jesus has done it all…" "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." In his name, dear friends, amen.
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