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As For Me & My House
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When we first meet Paul in the book of Acts, he is nothing like the hero he would become. In fact, he is an adversary to the faith. If you did not like Christianity and thought church was nonsense, you would have had a lot in common with the Apostle Paul.
Paul initially arrives on the scene giving approval to the murder of one of the early disciples. From there, he receives permission and authority from the governors and leaders to track down and persecute Christians throughout the region.
One day in Acts chapter 9, Paul is heading to Damascus—heading in the wrong direction with the wrong people for the wrong reasons. But God still gets it right. God's ability to redeem the brokenness and poor decisions of our lives is amazing. God knocks him off his high horse, and Paul has such an illuminating and profound experience that he is blind for three days.
During those three days in Damascus, God goes to a man named Ananias. Here's what's remarkable: Ananias is told that the very man who showed up to kill and persecute the believers is actually God's chosen instrument. God tells him to go pray for Paul's healing and tell him God will use him in amazing ways.
The turnaround time on grace will make religious folks uncomfortable. Paul shows up breathing murderous threats, and three days later Ananias tells him, "You're God's chosen instrument." If you were one of the early followers of Christ in Damascus, you might think, "Wait a second. He can't be on our team. He just showed up to take us out."
In religious spaces, we want to doubt God's ability to redeem a life. We want to vet people properly, see spiritual maturity, and make sure individuals pass the religious litmus test before welcoming them into God's family. But here's what you need to know: the entry exam into heaven is not a litmus test. It is a blood test. Because of the blood of Jesus Christ, you and I have been set free and redeemed, and our eternity is secured in Christ alone.
From that moment forward, Paul operates with radical grace. Known as Saul, he becomes infamously known as Paul. Throughout scripture you find individuals having their names changed and their reputations changed. God will come to individuals and say, "Your entire life you've been known by this. Your entire life you've operated under these labels and this reputation, but I have something in store for you that looks radically different. I can reverse the labels, the reputation, and the shame that is upon your life."
Paul then aligns his efforts with the early disciples and begins advancing the cause of Christ. Individuals who have a radical encounter with Christ operate with audacious boldness and zeal to see others experience the same.
Paul embarks on a journey saying, "I'm going to go after the hard assignments and reach individuals who are heading in the wrong direction with the wrong people for the wrong reasons, and I'm going to extend to them the good news of the gospel."
The word gospel means good news—not good advice. Scripture comes with profound wisdom, but God did not just come offering advice; he came offering an adventure. Don't settle for good advice when the reality is every single one of us has been marked with good news.
All of humanity, all of history faced the undeniable reality that death was in our future. Every single one of us was going to breathe our last, meet our maker, and we were all eternally damned. That was the reality for all of us until Jesus showed up and reversed the curse and paid the ultimate price on your behalf and on my behalf. He picked up the tab on a debt we could never pay. He extends to us life, eternal life, and harmony with our Creator and our heavenly Father. That is good news.
Good news still attracts resistance. A life of love still attracts a lot of hate. As Paul proclaims the goodness of God, individuals come against God's work.
In Acts chapter 16, Paul is in the city of Philippi with Silas. A woman enslaved by corrupt business owners who exploit her for profit comes to them. Paul and Silas minister to the girl in a way that sets her free. But this infuriates her owners: "We've been profiting off this young woman, and now you're ruining our business and affecting our wallet."
What I love about Paul is that it was a calculated decision. Paul knew: if I do this for her, this is what will happen to me. That's a true mark of spiritual maturity—an individual willing to step out, take on burden and inconvenience, so other people can experience the blessing and breakthrough and goodness of God.
I wonder what would happen in our lives if we too operated like Paul and said, "I'm willing to step out and take a hit for other people so they can experience the goodness of God, because our Savior came and took a hit for us, and it's only right to do the same for others."
Paul and Silas come under attack. The crowd joins in the attack against them, and the magistrates order them to be stripped and beaten with rods. They are stripped naked in public, humiliated, and brutally beaten. After being severely flogged, they are thrown into prison, where the jailer is commanded to guard them carefully.
They are placed in the inner cell—essentially solitary confinement in the darkest part of the prison—and their feet are fastened in stocks. This is a tough situation.
But then 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. All the prison doors flew open and everyone's chains came loose.
The jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open. He drew his sword, about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself. We are all here." The jailer called for lights, rushed in, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he asked them: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds. Immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God, he and his whole household.
Paul and Silas are in a painful, excruciating situation. How many of us have ever been stripped in public, flogged and beaten, dragged into prison, thrown into solitary confinement, and had our hands and feet placed in shackles? This is a wild, painful experience.
When you go to the pages of scripture, it has a way of leveling our experiences and elevating our perspective. You can't help but look at scripture and think, "It could be worse." These may be four of the most powerful words you could ever learn to say to yourself.
When you go through life, sure, there's going to be pain and inconvenience, confusion's going to come knocking at your door, and trials are going to show up. But it could be worse. When you wake up eating the same breakfast you've eaten for 17 years, "It could be worse." When you jump in that car with 200,000 miles on it making all those different sounds, "It could be worse." When you're stuck in traffic, "It could be worse." When you walk past all those annoying employees at work and sit in your cubicle reporting to the same old boss, "It could be worse." When you pull into the driveway and see all the things you need to do around the house, "It could be worse." When you step out of the shower and look in the mirror, "It could be worse."
Scripture is constantly reminding us that as children of God, we are not called to pattern ourselves after the world. In our society and culture, a victim's mentality has become pervasive. Everyone walks around saying, "Woe is me." But scripture says, "No, not you. As a child of God, someone redeemed by the most high King, you don't walk around with a victim's mentality. You walk around with a victor's mentality."
A victim's mentality views your God through the lens of your problems. But a victor's mentality views your problems through the lens of your God.
A victim's mentality says, "Why is this happening to me?" But a victor's mentality, one anchored in truth, one who knows their God is faithful and sovereign, one who knows God will bring to completion his good work in and through their life and works all things together for good—a victor's mentality says, "Why is this happening for me? My God doesn't waste anything. In some way, somehow, in a way I can't plan or predict, I'm going to look back and recognize this was a blessing in disguise."
Paul and Silas amaze me. In the middle of pain, in the darkest of moments, literally at midnight, what are they doing? Worshipping God. That's powerful.
What Paul and Silas knew was the profound and powerful role and impact that worship has in our life. Every single week we gather, I'm always praying, "God, would you introduce someone to the power of praise and worship? When we declare the goodness of who you are and remind our soul of the reality of your love and faithfulness in our life, what does it do to our posture and perspective as we continue to follow you?"
Worship is reminding your soul of who your God is. That ultimately is the goal of theology. We gather every week and around here we're Bible geeks, and that's a beautiful thing. But here's the deal: the goal of theology is not knowledge. The goal of theology is worship. The more you understand who your God is, the more you should express your adoration, devotion, and thankfulness to who God is.
No matter what you're facing, be a person of prayer and praise. What separates worry from prayer is this: worry is processing your problems with yourself. But prayer is processing your problems with God. Prayer and praise are the key to peace even in the midst of some of the hardest situations.
A principle that deserves to be repeated over and over as we try to live out this life for Christ is: pressure is more honest than pleasure. It's easy to be a Christian when things are going well. It's easy to act like a follower of Christ in a space like this.
The question is: How do you act like Christ when you're battling cancer? What do you do when your job begins to lay people off? How do you follow Christ when pain comes knocking at the door? It's in those moments that you really shine as a follower of Christ. When you start to suffer, people will pay attention. It's in those moments that the reality and substance of who you are and God's work in your life begins to show itself in profound ways.
Paul and Silas are in a prison cell in the middle of pain, worshipping God. And what does scripture say? The other prisoners were listening.
We don't often take into consideration that the world around you—the family members you're surrounded by, the peers, teammates, school students, co-workers, neighbors—they're paying attention. They are listening to the message of your life and the declaration of your words.
My question for you is: What would happen if you were to do an audit on your life and consider, "What does my life articulate to those around me? Does my life declare faith in God? Does my life declare an unwavering confidence in his goodness? What does my life communicate to those around me?"
Your life may be the only Bible people read. If that's the case, you might as well live on mission knowing that God's going to entrust you with influence and maybe just maybe God's going to do something in and through your life that's going to impact somebody else's.
Throughout the Bible you see this theme of prison, bondage, and captivity over and over again. Joseph is falsely accused and thrown into prison. The nation of Israel is held in captivity in Egypt. Daniel is in captivity. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are in captivity. The early disciples and Paul are thrown into prison. Jesus is arrested.
It's amazing—all throughout scripture there's this idea that our God is in the business of setting people free. Our God is in the business of liberating people and breaking the shackles off their hands and feet.
Maybe you're not a Christian and you've never been told this, and I say this as gently as I possibly can and it's meant to be an encouragement, not an insult. But every single one of us was born into the shackles of sin. If you're not a Christian, you still have shackles upon your life.
The beauty of our God is he comes to every single one of us bound in bondage, every single one of us enslaved by sin, and he extends freedom, liberty, and breakthrough to every single one of us.
Every week, the preacher prays, "God, would you just shake the foundations of the prisons that people are in—imprisoned by addiction, imprisoned by bad behaviors and toxic thoughts and habits. God, would you shake the prisons, imprisoned by bad relationships. God, would you shake the foundations of the prisons that hold people captive and keep them from the true life that you've desired for every single one of us."
When the prison foundations shake, the doors fling wide open, the shackles come off their feet. In that moment, the jailer wakes up and recognizes his doom. He was told to guard them carefully, and now they've escaped. So he thinks to himself, "I'm just going to kill myself because these leaders are malicious and gross and they like to drag out torture, so I might as well do myself a favor and take myself out."
But right before he's about to harm himself, Paul shouts, "No, don't harm yourself. We are still here."
What a statement. Most of us, myself included, if the doors fling wide open and the shackles come off our feet, would run. It's a jailbreak. Everyone for themselves. But Paul had this discernment: "Wait a second, in this moment God's not setting us free. God's about to set free."
It's amazing watching so many Christians succumb to fear and timidity that they're always on retreat looking for an escape. What would happen if we developed the same type of resolve that Paul and Silas had that says, "Hey, come what may, I'm standing in the gap for individuals who are going through hardship, bound by lies, enslaved by sin and I'm standing in the gap reminding them that we're still here and we're for you and God can do in your life what he's done in our life."
That's the follower of Christ. We're still here.
The man flips on the lights and shouts, "OKAY, WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?"
In this moment, the jailer is having the ultimate revelation—an epiphany. Up until this point, he thought he held the keys. As the jailer, he thought, "I'm the one with the authority holding the keys." And he starts to discover, "Oh my goodness, they possess something that I don't have. Clearly, there's one greater than I who truly holds the key of life. What do I have to do to experience what you're experiencing? What do I have to do to know and live with confidence that the same God that's on your side will be on my side?"
What they say is so simple. Sometimes we overlook the power of simplistic obedience. They just said, "Believe in Jesus."
To be saved is to surrender your pride, acknowledge your deficiencies, acknowledge your inability to save yourself, and fully accept God's desire to do the heavy lifting in your life. I believe that this Jesus did for me what I could never do for myself. And so, I am going to trust and place my faith in him as he does the heavy lifting in and through my life.
Paul says, "Believe in Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your entire household."
Now, we have to unpack that because that can be misinterpreted. What Paul is not saying is if you give your life to Christ, everyone in your life will also be saved simultaneously. That's bad theology. Our heavenly Father is our heavenly Father. And what you need to know about our heavenly Father is he doesn't have grandchildren. There is no carpool lane to heaven where one person has to drive and everyone else gets to freeload. No, at some point, we all have to place our faith in Jesus Christ and receive him as heavenly Father.
What is Paul saying then? Paul is making a statement of confidence. He's talking about the sufficiency of Christ. He's saying, "Listen, in the same way God redeemed my life and in the same way God saved me, he can save you and he can save your bride and he can save your kids and he can save your in-laws and your parents and your wild cousins and your crazy uncles because his grace is sufficient for all of us. That salvation is available to every single one of us."
If you're not a Christian, salvation stands ready and available to every single one of us despite who you are, despite where you've been, despite what you've done. Because it's not about how bad you are, it's about how good Christ is that tips the scales in our favor.
Paul is also saying, "Sir, listen here. If you fully surrender your life to Christ..." And fellas, just lean in on this because this is what Paul's trying to get across to this man. He's saying, "If you fully surrender your life to Christ, God will not only redeem your life in such a profound way that leaves you astonished, but your wife will be astonished and your kids will be astonished and the family who knows you the best will take notice."
Eventually you will be the greatest proof. Your wife and kids will ask, "Wait a second. What is God doing in Dad's life? What is God doing in my husband's life? What is God doing in the life of the leader of our home?"
What God will do in your life will come with such convincing evidence that eventually, not immediately, but gradually over time, God will gain credibility in your home because of his work in your life.
So, they believed and it says, "And they were baptized. As for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. We are going public in our faith."
The word baptized that Luke uses is really fascinating. Obviously, it means to immerse or submerge, but the actual definition means to be completely whelmed. Think about that. Individuals who go public in their faith, individuals who go into the waters of baptism, individuals who are immersed and submerged, identifying with the death and the resurrection of Christ, are individuals who have been overwhelmed by his grace, overwhelmed by his goodness, overwhelmed by his faithfulness, overwhelmed by his redemption and his creativity and his willingness to walk alongside broken roads and to redeem our lives.
Ever been overwhelmed by grace? That for whatever reason this God steps into our shoes and takes the hit, absorbs the wrath of God, and redeems us for all of eternity? That he loves all of us as if there was only one of us? That the one who knows you the best loves you the most?
If you're not overwhelmed by it, you don't understand it. You don't understand how radically in love God is for you.
Some of you have been painted this picture, given a caricature of God. That he's always angry and ready to smite you. God's not mad at you. God is mad about you.
When you discover his unyielding and overwhelming love for you, that every single day despite your brokenness and despite your shortcomings, you wake up with a truckload of grace dumped upon your life. And then the next day, a truckload of grace dumped upon your life. And then the next day, a truckload of grace dumped upon your life.
What eventually begins to happen is you discover his grace is inexhaustible. You cannot exhaust his grace. You might as well throw in the towel because your sin is no match for God's grace.
The old theologians would refer to Christ as the hound of heaven—just constantly pursuing and chasing us down with his love.
