Mentors in Ministry, Growing in Christ

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it. ---2 Timothy 3:14

There's a silly song about friendship that I remember hearing when I was small.  Maybe you older folks remember it being sung on I Love Lucy reruns.  Her version goes like this:

FriendshipIf you're ever in a jam, here I amIf you're ever in a mess, S-O-SIf you ever feel so happy, you land in jail; I'm your bail.It's friendship, friendship, just a perfect blendship.When other friendships have been forgot,Ours will still be hot.
If you're ever up a tree, phone to me.If you're ever down a well, ring my bell.If you ever lose your teeth, and you're out to dine... borrow mine.It's friendship, friendship, just a perfect blendship.When other friendships have been forgate,Ours will still be great.
If they ever black your eyes, put me wise.If they ever cook your goose, turn me loose.If they ever put a bullet through your brain... I'll complain.It's friendship, friendship, just a perfect blendship.When other friendships have been forgit,Ours will still be it. 

 The Bible contains many examples of spiritual mentoring.  As Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, "Two are better than one....and a three-strand chord is not quickly broken."  I was reminded of this passage last night when I was watching an episode of "Scorpion" on CBS.  If you are not familiar with the series, a team of geniuses (genii?) are teamed up with a member of the CIA (or Homeland Security, or some other government agency) to solve crime mysteries and bring criminal masterminds to justice.  In one scene, the g-man phones one of the geniuses for help in a jam: they need to make a quick getaway, but the jeep they are trying to start has no fan belt.  The genius asks them what they have on hand, and in the jeep they find a radio, an MRE, and a roll of toilet paper.  The genius suggests that they take strips of toilet paper and braid them together, because braiding a 3-fold strand increases the strength of the paper exponentially.  Now, I don't know whether you can actually use toilet paper to replace a fan belt in real life, but the point is that one alone is weak, two together is strong, and three (you, your friend/mate, and Jesus) together cannot be defeated.

I want to look at 3 relationships from Scripture, and show how they relate to our relationship with Jesus.

Moses and Joshua
The first pair of people I want to look at is Moses and Joshua.  You remember that Joshua shared Moses' vision of taking the Promised Land a full 40 years before the Israelite nation actually began defeating the Canaanite peoples and driving them out.  You will also recall that Moses was told by God that he could stand on the Mount and look across the Jordan River, but that he could not actually go.  It was Joshua that would have to lead God's people the rest of the way.  How many times the older leader must have counselled the younger man.  How Joshua must have looked up to his mentor Moses.  "Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him.  So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses." (Deuteronomy 34:9).

No doubt Moses had told Joshua about the time that God had commissioned him as the leader of His people, when He appeared to him in a burning bush.  Moses might have recounted how he knew it was God who spoke, because the voice had told him to remove his sandals, for he was standing on holy ground.  Did you know that after Moses died and the people had crossed over into Canaan, that Joshua had a similar experience? He, too, was commissioned by God to lead the people.

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.  Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"  He replied, "Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come." Then Joshua fell face down to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for His servant?" The commander of the Lord's army replied,"'Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy."  And Joshua did so. --Joshua 5:13-15

Not only did Moses and Joshua share a commission, but they also led their people through water.  Moses led the people through the Red Sea to escape Pharaoh's armies.  Joshua led the people through the Jordan River to approach Jericho's walls.  Both events signified a major change in their lives: Moses and the people went through the Sea on dry ground, changing from a nation of slaves to a nation of free men; Joshua led the people through the River on dry ground, changing from a nation of nomads to a people with a permanent homeland.  

Think about how this relates to us today.  Did Jesus meet each one of us face to face? Didn't He give us each a commission to carry out?  Didn't He lead us through the water of baptism to signify a change in us--while we had been slaves to sin, now we are free in Christ.  "So if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed." (John 8:36).  After we were made one with him in baptism, were we not called to be conquerors? "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37).

Elijah and Elisha
The prophet Elijah was one of the most revered men in Israel's history.  In fact, every time a Jewish family prepares the Passover meal, to this day they always set a place for Elijah.  They believe that he will herald the coming of the Messiah, giving insight as to the events occurring throughout the history of the Jews, and to the Day of the Lord which is to come.  In Revelation, it talks about two witnesses that appear, prophesying and denouncing the Antichrist.  One of those witnesses is always thought to be Elijah.

Elijah and Elisha were companions.  At the end of Elijah's ministry here on earth, Elisha followed him to the very end.  Elijah asked him repeatedly to stay behind, but Elisha was determined to stay right beside him.

Fifty men of the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan.  Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the water with it.  The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.  When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"  "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.  "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours--otherwise, not."  As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.  Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more.  Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart. He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan.  Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it.  "Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" he asked.  When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over. (2 Kings 2:7-14)

Elisha went on to do great miracles in the land of Israel and of Judah.  He was able to do as much, and more, as his friend and mentor had done. It is very significant that he took up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah as he was taken up to heaven.

Again, think of what this might mean with regard to our relationship with Christ.  Doesn't Jesus ask us to walk very close to him at all times, even when the future is uncertain?  Didn't He say, "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father." (John 14:12).  Didn't Paul tell us to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ? Like the cloak of Elijah which Elisha picked up and carried with him, didn't Jesus command us to take up our cross and follow Him?

Paul and Timothy
Paul was a church planter, a great evangelist.  Timothy was often by his side.  We see throughout the book of Acts where Paul and Timothy were together, sharing the gospel of Christ.  In fact, in six of his letters, Paul names Timothy as a co-sender (2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, both letters to the Thessalonians, and Philemon).  Timothy allowed himself to be circumcised by Paul, in order that his Greek ancestry would not offend the Jews to whom Paul was preaching (Acts 16:3).  When Paul established the church in Ephesus, he left Timothy there to pastor it, and to mentor them through some of the problems they had.  Yet later when Paul was imprisoned in Rome, he asked that Timothy join him there (2 Timothy 4:9, 21).  Timothy himself was imprisoned, and was subsequently released (Hebrews 13:23).  Paul likely died in prison, leaving Timothy (and others) to carry on the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Christ.

Paul gave Timothy this charge:

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.  For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears from the truth and turn aside to myths.  But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

Is this not what Jesus told us to do in the Great Commission, when He told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel, and to make disciples of all nations?  Doesn't it feel like we are already living in the age where men will not put up with sound doctrine, and have itching ears to hear teachers that suit their own desires?  Didn't Jesus warn us that we, too, might endure hardship for the sake of His Name? "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you because of me." (Matthew 5:11).  "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds." (James 1:2).


In the late 1980's, in the church where I met and married my wife, there was a trio of singers who came together for Friendship Sunday, and wove together three friendship songs, all sung together at the same time. The songs were "That's What Friends Are For", made popular at the time by Dionne Warwick; Friends Are Friends Forever, by Michael W. Smith, and the traditional hymn (the refrain sung slowly in the background) "What A Friend We Have In Jesus."  Each song sung separately was a great solo; but when they were all sung together, it made a rich, harmonious, powerful picture of how a spiritual mentor, a young protege, and the Holy Spirit can come together to become greater than their individual parts.

Keep smiling, keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me, for sure
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
That's what friends are for

 And friends are friends forever If the Lord's the Lord of themAnd a friend will not say "Never"Cause the welcome will not endThough it's hard to let you goIn the Father's hands we knowThat a lifetime's not too longTo live as friends

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. 

 

 

 

For Christians Who Don't Worship Like Us

I must study Politicks and War that my sons may have liberty to study Mathematicks and Philosophy.  My sons ought to study Mathematicks and Philosophy, Geography, natural History, Naval Architecture, navigation, Commerce, and Agriculture, in order to give their Children a right to study Painting, Poetry, Musick, Architecture, Statuary, Tapestry, and Porcelaine.
John Adams, in a Letter to Abigail Adams, May 12, 1780

I love that quote.  I have lived in peace all of my life, because my ancestors fought wars to secure the peace I now enjoy.  I am free to study arts and philosophy, because my forebears laid the groundwork, building libraries and universities, courts and legislative halls, monuments and churches.

Not all of the churches in my family's history have believed the exact same doctrines.  My children do not attend the same denominations in which I was raised.  But all of them have been based on bedrock principles of Christ crucified, of Salvation through no other, and of our hope of Heaven.

Today I was listening to Dr. Wayne Braudrick on the radio.  He is pastor of Frisco Bible Church, and all week long he has done an overview of the growth of the Church as told by Luke in the book of Acts.  Today's message was from Acts chapter 21, in which Paul was encouraged by the Gentile Christians not to go to Jerusalem, because he would certainly be persecuted there.  Nevertheless, Paul went, led by the Spirit, despite predictions and prophecies that he would be arrested, beaten, and tried by a Roman court, set out for the center of the Jewish world.

Let's pick it up in verse 17.

When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers received us warmly.  The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present.  Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.  When they heard this, they praised God.  Then they said to Paul: "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.  They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs.  What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, so do what we tell you.  There are four men with us who have made a vow.  Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved.  Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the Law.  As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.

The elders of the Jewish Christians welcomed Paul with open arms.  They listened intently to what Paul shared with them about his sharing Christ with the Gentiles.  They rejoiced that the Gentiles had come to know Christ, as they themselves had.  But the Gentiles did not keep the Law of Moses: they did not follow the Jewish dietary rules; they were not circumcised; they did not celebrate a Passover meal on Friday night, and they did not go to Synagogue on Saturday.  In fact, many of the Gentile Christians had started meeting for worship on Sundays, the first day of the week.

But now that he was in Jerusalem, the elders advised Paul to make a public show that he had not abandoned his Jewish roots.  There were four men in their midst who had made a Nazarite Vow.  Paul himself had likely made the same vow at various times in his ministry.  The Nazarite vow was a Jewish practice, in which a man would separate himself from the world.  He would commit himself for a season (sometimes 30 days, sometimes longer) that he would not shave or cut his hair; he would not drink wine or anything fermented; he would not touch the carcass of a dead person or animal.  (You will recall from the Old Testament that Samson was to be a Nazarite his whole life--we see the vow being eroded when he killed the Philistines and took their cloaks, or when he found a honeycomb in the carcass of a lion; also when he took a wife from the Philistines, and drank wine among them.  So when his hair was cut, it was like the final straw, the final act of disobedience, and that is why God's presence and power left him.  You will also recall that John the Baptist in the New Testament was to be a Nazarite his entire life.)  Anyway, at the end of the season, whether it was 30 days or longer, the man who made the vow would present himself to the Temple and go through a seven day purification ritual, at the end of which the priest would shave his head.  And finally, an offering would be made, usually a rather expensive gift to the Temple.

If the Jewish Christians would see Paul going through the purification ritual, and paying the offering, not only for himself, but for four other Jewish men, then they would know that Paul had not abandoned the Jewish customs.  By agreeing to do this, Paul demonstrated (at great personal cost) that Christians were free to continue some Jewish customs and to keep their traditions.

On the other hand, the elders in Jerusalem did not require that Gentile Christians be circumcised.  They did not demand that Gentiles convert to Judaism in order to follow Christ.  They did know that some of the Gentile Christians had been raised in cities like Ephesus, where there was a temple to Artemis, a fertility goddess.  They encouraged their new brothers to stay away from sexual immorality, and not identify with the temple prostitutes that were so prevalent.  They also encouraged Gentile Christians not to eat animals sacrificed to idols.  Not only would eating of this meat identify them with the idols, but the way in which the sacrifices were made did not always drain all of the blood out of the animal carcass before it was consumed.  This was not healthy, and a Jew might see it as immoral.  Other than that, the Gentile Christians were free to identify with Christ, while keeping their Greek customs.

The reason I related this message I heard from Dr. Braudrick today is that my son, who has left our Protestant denomination and has identified with Greek Orthodox teaching, posted something on Facebook this week.  He frequently has to explain to his friends and family why he is more comfortable in a High Church worship setting than in a camp-revival-all-day-singin'-and-dinner-on-the-grounds type of unstructured worship he grew up with in the Baptist church.  But the post he shared was part of a Reddit stream, where young people were discussing Religion vs. Relationship.  Here is the excerpt that caught my eye:

"I'd say it [the idea that Christianity is 'not a religion, just a relationship'] has less to do with Sola Scriptura than it has to do with a shift from what theologian David Tracy calls the "analogical imagination" to the "dialectical imagination."
A couple things happen that are important here:
1) A loss of a sense of mediation between the created and the uncreated. Patristic theology could see communion with God as the end of spiritual life, while still seeing that communion as mediated by created realities that participate in God's own being and goodness--the bread and wine and the eucharist, the water of baptism, the icon, etc. Protestantism tended to amplify the gulf between the created and the uncreated, and in some cases (especially in Reformed cases) the only real "mediation" we're left with is the sovereign will of God. So someone like Karl Barth can go as far as to say that there's nothing "inherent" in any created thing that makes it more conducive to divine revelation than any other thing; even the Bible, for Barth, becomes divine revelation not because of what it is, but because God freely elects to make the words revelation for church by the power of the Spirit.
What does that have to do with "religion"? It basically devalues the material mediators between the divine and the human, the concrete "stuff" of religious practice. The relationship becomes one of the obedience of the human will to the sovereign will of God. Sacramental practices remain, but no longer as real mediators; they in many cases cease to be sacraments at all and become "ordinances," something we do because Christ commanded it, not because the water or the wine unite us physically to the life of the God who became flesh and dwelt among us.
2) The dialectical imagination amplifies the dichotomy between God and the world by focusing strongly on the total depravity of the fallen world. Every human striving towards God, because it is corrupted by sin, becomes effectively useless. Someone like Barth could identify "religion" with such vain striving, and say that Christianity is not a religion because it is the actual self-revelation of God. I've always thought of the religion-vs.-relationship thing as a dumbed-down version of this attitude. Religion is useless because it's a futile attempt at self-redemption, when it's really a relationship with Christ that saves us. While it's certainly true that it's a relationship with Christ that saves us, the absence of any sense of mediation and the association of mediatory practices with vain "religion" detaches that relationship from a robust sense of Christian sacramental and institutional life. The result is that the relationship is pitted against the "religion.""

Now, there are some things in this excerpt that are not well explained.  Some of it might have to do with the forum, where non-theologians and lay people (non-clergy) can weigh in on what they think and feel, and couch it in theological terms.  (To be fair, I do not know the author of this post; he or she may have graduated suma cum laude at some seminary, where this was part of their doctoral dissertation; or, he or she may be a college sophomore with more passion than knowledge on the subject.)  To that end, I will ignore the part about "the created and the uncreated".  I will assume that the term "uncreated" refers to the Creator, and let it go.

The part I wish to address is the defense of sacraments as acts of mediation between a holy God and a sinner saved by grace.  Of course, my theological background is based on the premise that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, by Christ alone.  Any church tradition or dictate that I should have to abide by church teachings and perform sacraments in order to continue "working out my salvation" smacks of legalism.  And bestowing upon the eucharist some kind of mediation power--like when God killed a bull and divided it in two so that He and Abraham could walk between the two halves to establish a covenant between them--that is foreign to my understanding of the New Testament promise that "there is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all men." (1 Timothy 2:5-6). I believe that there is no need to confess to a priest, or to pray to a saint, because we have direct access to God through Christ, and that we are all saints, all kings and priests (Revelation 1:6) so we do not need to confess to a man who wears a black frock with a funny collar.

It is imperative, however, that I make this argument in love, as these devout followers of Christ simply have different customs and backgrounds than I.  We do not need an internecine war, especially in these days.  The spirit of antichrist is so prevalent in the world today, and I believe with all my heart that we could be in the final generation before the Glorious Appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who will establish Himself as ruler on the throne in Jerusalem for a thousand years, and after that will create a new heaven and a new earth.  Who am I to tear down another's faith?  I personally could not convert, because I do not believe in the veneration of Mary or in the prayer to the saints.  Are these heresies beyond God's grace?  No more than my family's church regulation that all new members should be re-baptized to be a part of our fellowship.  I'm sure that other criticisms could be made of the worship style, music, etc.  I can spend time defending my denomination, or I can work to build up the body of Christ with its diverse members and diverse gifts.

My spiritual forebears studied doctrine so that I could be free to live under grace.  My children are free to rebuild the foundation of their faith with more structured forms of worship, so that their progeny will have a better view of God in Christ, and have their own relationship with Him.

And again I say REJOICE.

This weekend our pastor gave a marvelous message on grace.  His premise was that Jesus is the perfect husband.  Think about it: the Church is the Bride of Christ, so He is the Groom.  And since Jesus emphasizes love over the law, we do not have to be a slave to a list of Commandments in order to please Him.  Paul said that when we were under the Law, we were forever reminded how many times we fall short of it (See Romans 6).

The law condemns.

Love forgives.

Romans 7:1-4 talks about how we were married to the law.  We were not free to marry another as long as the law lives.  This is a problem, because the Bible says that "heaven and earth will pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (Luke 21:33).  The only solution, then, is for us to die to the law.  That way we share in Christ's death, just as we will share in His resurrection.  As we are freed from the law, we can then become the bride of Christ.

Our pastor summed up his message by saying too many people who have professed faith in Christ Jesus, who fall under Grace, are still trying to keep the Law.  We feel condemned.  We feel ashamed.  We feel dirty.  The Spirit washes us clean, but still we want to please Him by keeping the same old list of do's and don't's.  He said that Love is a better motivator to do good than Law.  If I tell my wife that I have kept my duty to her to remain pure, to not commit adultery, even though in my base nature I really, really want to, but that I have been good, will she be impressed with me?  Will she feel special?  Probably not.  But if I can look her in the eyes and say something like this: "When you open your eyes in the morning, it is like the sun rising.  When you close your eyes at night, the stars shine. When I am at work, I think about you all the time, and I can't wait to get home to you.  You are the world to me."  How will she feel after hearing that? Will she be worried about my being faithful to her?  I don't think so.  True love is a much stronger motivating force than a list of rules could ever be.

1 Corinthians 13 says:

Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is no rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.

This, boys and girls, is the relationship that Jesus calls us to.  He does not call us to righteousness, but if we are in right relationship with Him, we will put away unrighteousness.  He did not call us to condemnation.  "Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the one and only Son." (John 3:18)

How can you know that, and put it into practice, without rejoicing?  Does God really need our praise? No; He is perfect, in need of nothing.  But our praise is the evidence that we are in right relationship with Him.  The more we praise Him, the more He blesses us.  The more He blesses us, the more we praise Him.  It is a virtuous circle.  "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (James 1:17)

I've been toying with this analogy all week, and I hope that I can make it as meaningful to you as it is to me.  Many times my prayers end up like a giant Christmas list.  And when I don't get what I ask for, I tend to think in human terms: maybe God doesn't want me to have that blessing because I am not good enough for it. Maybe there is a line for that blessing, and I just have to wait my turn.  Maybe God is all out of that blessing, and He must wait for some kind of backlog at the blessing factory, and will let me know when it is in stock.  But when I truly seek His face, when I honestly try to know Him, I know that He is so much more than some galactic warehouse supervisor.  He spoke the Universe into existence; He never runs out of what is good for us.  James 4:2-3 says, "You do not have, because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your own pleasures."  If it is not for my good AND His glory, then I don't need it.

I have said this before, but it bears repeating.  Revelation 5:12 says, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"  If you have power, where did it come from?  If you have wealth, was it not granted to you by God?  "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.  But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." (James 1:5-8).  Honor, glory and praise belong to Him, for it is He that bestows strength and wisdom, wealth and power to us.

I saw a cartoon last week that said, "Who is this Foreigner, and why do they demand to know what love is?"  I laughed out loud, because I remember the chart-topping single in 1983 from the band Foreigner.  The lyrics really sum up what the World has been searching for since the beginning of time.  They are just looking for love in all the wrong places (with apologies to Johnny Lee).

And if Nietzsche felt that God was demanding praise from him, along with a long list of other demands, then he was under the Law, not Love; he was feeling God's Judgement, not Grace; he was tiring of religion, not relationship.  O, that we would not fall into the same trap.

Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.  --Habakkuk 3:17-18

Question:  What would you do if you were arrested for doing something good?

                 What would you do if you were taken to the public square and stripped naked, and then were  

                       beaten with rods? 

                 What would you do if you were thrown into prison, and your feet were put in stocks?

                 Where do you go to the bathroom if your feet are in stocks?  (Think about it).

                 What would you do if an earthquake broke the locks, and the prison doors sprang open, and

                        the stocks broke apart?

                 And if, by some miracle, all of this happened to you in one day, and the jailer repented, and

                        took you to his house, and washed your wounds, and fed you, and you shared the joy of

                        Jesus with him and his family--after all of that, would you willingly go back to prison, just

                        so the jailer would not get in trouble?

This very thing happened to Paul and his friend, Silas.  You can read about it in Acts chapter 16, starting in verse 16.  The two men were going to a place of prayer, and a girl started following them, shouting behind them, "These men are servants of the Most High God.  They are telling you the way to be saved."  Now, in case you were wondering, this is not usually how missionaries go about their business.  They don't drag a billboard behind them with big, red letters saying, "Get saved now!  Ask me how."  They don't usually hire a publicist to walk with them and shout, "Christians here!  Hey, everyone, here comes a Christian."

So Paul gets annoyed, and rebukes her.  He drives the demon out of her.  She is grateful.  Not so the men who were making money by having her predict the future.  These men seized Paul and Silas and dragged them to the magistrates.  They accused our intrepid missionaries of being religious zealots and fomenting a riot in the town.  Crowds press in, and start shouting at the top of their lungs (talk about a riot!).  The magistrates, wanting to keep the peace, order Paul and Silas to be stripped bare, and to be flogged in the city square.  Then they are taken and placed in a dark cell in the middle of the prison, without any windows.  Their feet are put in stocks.  I'm sure they couldn't ask the guards nicely if they could please lie down, or shift positions, or be let loose a few minutes every few hours to go to the men's room.  No, they were stuck there until the magistrate came and let them go.  The prison guard was supposed to guard them with his life.  If they escaped, he would almost certainly be beheaded.

So what happened?

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.  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 had all escaped.  But Paul shouted, "Don't  harm yourself!  We are all here!"

So why do you think they were praying and singing hymns at midnight?  I think it was because they had a captive audience, and that they had spent the evening preaching Christ to the prisoners.  I believe many of the prisoners repented that very evening, because when given the opportunity, not one of them escaped.  I think that the prison guard heard the message, too.  Either he went to sleep listening to them, or he shook his head and went someplace quiet to get away.  

Why were they praising God and singing in the middle of the prison in the middle of the night?  Because their God was bigger than their circumstances.  Because God had placed them in a unique position to share Christ with those who needed Him most.  Because they knew that God could work all things for His good; He would use their plight to show His might;  He would show His power in their weakest hour; His light could shine, because they didn't whine.  Later, Paul would write this to his letter to the church in Philippi: "Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice! Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything, by prayer and petitions, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:4, 6-7).

The earthquake woke up the jailer.  He was half asleep, and not very observant.  He panicked when he saw all the prison doors standing open.  He knew that if even one prisoner escaped, he could be tortured or killed.  But what would happen if they were all gone?  He was ready to kill himself.  But Paul, showing the grace of God, stopped him.  The first thing out of his mouth was, "What must I do to be saved?"  This is why I think he had heard the message that Paul had been preaching to the prisoners that night.  He didn't ask, "Why didn't you run?"  He didn't say, "You!  Back in the stocks before I run you through with my dagger."  His conscience was pricked, and he knew that his greatest need was Jesus.  And having met Jesus, he took Paul and Silas to his own house to dress their wounds and give them food and drink.  See what prayer and singing can do!

When the magistrates came to release Paul and Silas, they didn't go to the jailer's house.  They went to the prison.  That's where they found Paul and Silas.  That can only mean that the missionaries had gone back to prison on purpose, probably in order to spare the jailer his life.  Paul used his Roman citizenship to put the fear of God into the magistrates--it was illegal to imprison a Roman citizen without a trial.  The accusers had said they were Jews, so there was no trial.  But Paul, invoking his citizenship, brought apologies from the magistrates.  By doing this, Paul probably protected the fledgling church there.  The new Christians in that town included Lydia, a seller of purple cloths, and the jailer, and doubtless many others in the town who had come to believe in Christ.  Paul went to Lydia's house to encourage the believers before he left town.  Paul was exiled, but because of the circumstances surrounding Paul's arrest and imprisonment and his release once they heard he was a Roman--because of all that Paul had said and done, the magistrates probably looked the other way as the new Christians there met openly.

God can make all things work together for our good and His glory.  So why do we get so worked up when someone cuts us off in traffic?  Why do we get so bent out of shape when things don't go exactly as we had planned?  Think about it--if Paul had not been sent to prison, the prison guard might not have believed, and the church that was meeting in Lydia's house might have been persecuted.  If we would only trust God in our circumstances, and count it all joy, as James 1:2 says.  "But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed." (1 Peter 4:13).  At the end of all things, we can realize the great love that Jesus has for us.  "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!  For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride (the Church) has made herself ready." (Revelation 19:7).  How do we make ourselves ready?  By whining and moaning every time something doesn't go our way? Not at all!  We make ourselves ready by recognizing God's hand in all things, even when things don't go as we planned.

There is a series of beer commercials based on the idea that anyone who drinks their brand of suds is "ready for anything."  In one episode, a beer purchaser is invited to play miniature football with Fox football analyst and former Super Bowl coach Jimmy Johnson.  In another, a brand purchaser goes home and finds that his man-cave has been turned into a "fan-cave", and even his back yard is filled with likenesses of his team's mascot.  I believe that if we choose to follow Christ, and if we are truly "ready for anything" in any situation He places us in, then we will have more than a pirate ship in our back yard with fireworks shooting out of the cannons.  We will end up in the wedding party at the marriage supper of the Lamb.  We will be clothed in white, reflecting the glory of God in Christ Jesus, whose people we are.