Filled with Joy

Introduction

A hardened seasoned veteran worked in a place where kindness and compassion left with the clanging of cell doors. He had lost count of the years he had worked in this place. The smell of human misery, disease, and excrement hung in the air, seeping into the pores of his skin so that even to his family he smelled of the worst of humanity. There was little joy in his life. Take care of the dregs of society and see what happens to you. Get spit on, cursed at, threatened, and see if you don’t change. See if your heart doesn’t die a little each day until you finally become hard, jaded, and uncaring. He was assigned two new prisoners—a couple of preachers. Having already been beaten with the hope of destroying their spirit, he is told to make sure that they don’t escape. He is told to guard them with his life.

Chains and stocks are the required treatment. It will be a long night unless he can make sure that they will not disturb his sleep. Fastened tightly and uncomfortably, making sure that muscles are straining even as the swelling begins across a pummeled back, the jailer secures his prisoners hoping that a few hours of sleep will take away his own unpleasantness. We don’t know how many prisoners he is responsible for. What we do know is that this hardened man’s life is going to change. He goes to sleep not knowing that when he wakes up, his life will not be the same. Little did he know that the one true God was interested in him more than he was interested in himself. The joy was gone. He was the shell of the man he had been. Directionless, God was going to intervene. And he would never be the same.

Jailhouse Rock

Paul and Silas find themselves in front of a “firing squad.” They have been in Philippi preaching. They are here because God led them here. Acts 16:10 tells us that Paul follows the call of God to preach in the Macedonia area. Lydia and others have been saved. Other than a pesky teenager they have been having good success in Philippi. But that pesky teenager isn’t right. She is enslaved by a spirit of divination and she is enslaved by men who use her for their own gain. Troubled, Paul heals her. Setting her free from the spirit of divination means that she is worthless to her owners. Start messing with a person’s pocketbook and you find out real quick what it is important.

Now Paul and Silas are awaiting sentencing. There is no trial. There is no attempt to learn the truth. They are at the mercy of their captors. Beaten and sentenced they are handed over to our hardened uncaring jailer. We have already heard the story read. We know that Paul and Silas are getting ready to sing, but just for a moment put yourself in their stocks. What would you do?

We have been there. We have had things go bad when we thought we were doing God’s will. We want to follow God’s direction and then something catastrophic happens. What do you do? Pray for deliverance? Sure. Complain? Probably. Sing? “I don’t sing well.” I want to challenge you this morning. Have we forgotten how to sing? Have we forgotten the song that Jesus put into our hearts so long ago? It is much easier to voice our complaints against what is happening. As a human being, we do not like to suffer. We do not like for things to go wrong. But where is the song? Where is the song that says thank you? Where is the song that praises God? Where is the song of faith? We have lost our song. We sing when we feel good. We sing when things are going well. Our hearts soar when good things happen to us. But when we are deflated does our song leave us? Why does it leave us?

If anyone had a right not to sing, it was Paul and Silas. This reminds me of the early apostles who after having been beaten by religious leaders in Acts 5 return to the people rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering for God. Where is our song? Wouldn’t you like to know what they sang? What song would you sing? Tempted and Tried. Thank You, Lord. I Love You Lord. Maybe Paul and Silas sang Psalm 107: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.”

Maybe that is what they were singing when the earthquake came and their shackles fell off and the doors to the prison opened up and they were free to go. Whatever they were singing, they had an audience. Acts 16:25 says the other prisoners were listening. But not the hardened jailer. He was asleep and the earthquake shook him awake. Assuming the worst, he knows that his life will be taken for letting his prisoners escape, so he plans on killing himself. But the prisoners remain.

Joy Restored

Verse 29 tells us that the jailer is pretty shaken by this turn of events. He isn’t used to being out of control. Doesn’t his question strike you as interesting? He doesn’t ask “what happened?” “How come all you guys are still here?” Nor does he order them back to their cells. “What must I do to be saved?” Some want to suggest that the jailer is now convicted of his sin and that he is ready to turn his life over to God. That doesn’t fit. He is convicted that Paul and Silas have something which no previous prisoner had. He is convicted that they have something which he needs. Paul’s answer in verse 31 should not be understood as being a test of faith but the beginning of a process of further convincing this jailer that God loves him. Because it is after their baptism that joy is found in his house.

When we have a song to sing, we look at life differently. Paul had something the jailer didn’t—joy. An attitude of confidence and assurance when hell is breaking out all around. Paul is under the control of God and is free. The jailer controls the lives of others and is enslaved. Paul sings when things are bad; the jailer sleeps to avoid truth. Which one do you identify with? Let me tell you a point in this story that is convicting. Paul and Silas go where God leads them. They preach God’s message. They help others to hear the good news. They do God’s will and end up in jail. But when bad things happen in our lives, God is not through using us. We assume the earthquake was to release Paul and Silas. But the magistrates in verse 35 were going to release Paul and Silas the next morning. The damage had already been done. Do you think God didn’t know that the magistrates were going to release Paul and Silas? Was God sitting in his throne room looking down and saying to the angels around him, “Man, I didn’t see that coming! I didn’t need to send an earthquake. The officials were going to let them go anyway.” Of course not. So what’s the point?

We assume the earthquake was for Paul and Silas. I would submit that the earthquake was for the jailer. God takes the bad that happens in our lives and uses it to bring about his will and purpose. Because Paul and Silas had a song to sing, they were already safe. Prison didn’t break their spirit or bury their faith. But the jailer—the jailer needed to wake up. And God shook him awake. Maybe you are here today and you have been here so many times. You know the songs by heart and the order before we even start. Your eyes are open but your mind is closed. This is just routine. Listen to me. God loves you so much that he is even now giving you one more opportunity to hear him.

God loves you. He is interested in your eternal future. He wants to be in relationship with you. To the Christian, what is your song to sing during the tough times? If you don’t have a song, let God give you one.

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