Acts 16:22-30

22 “A mob quickly formed against Paul and Silas, and the city officials ordered them stripped and beaten with wooden rods. 23 They were severely beaten, and then they were thrown into prison. The jailer was ordered to make sure they didn’t escape. 24 So the jailer put them into the inner dungeon and clamped their feet in the stocks. 25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. 26 Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! 27 The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” 29 The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Here on Paul’s second missionary journey we see the gospel of God’s grace being brought into modern day Europe, but it isn’t long before we also see:

• Persecution

How many of us believed that when we got saved that life would be easier? If you did it probably didn’t take long for you to realize that in many ways things actually get harder. In John 16:33 Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Look Jesus didn’t come to remove our troubles but to redeem and refine us. When we are saved there are some problems that come to an end while others are only just beginning. 2 Timothy 3:12 says “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” Here in Acts 16 Paul and Silas are in trouble, not because they’re out of God’s will, but because they are in God’s will! They are experiencing problems not because they are doing the wrong thing but because they are doing the right thing. But it’s in the midst of the persecution that we see the:

• Praise

Here in Acts 16 we see prayer and praise in the mist of problems and prison. So powerful was this praise that every door was opened and all the chains were loosed. I wonder today if we really understand just how powerful these spiritual weapons of prayer and praise are. Prayerful praise doesn’t just shake things up it opens doors. Paul and Silas had been falsely accused, stripped, severely beaten with wooden rods, and thrown into prison. Now here they are, sitting not just in jail but in the inner dungeon, with no idea of whether the next day would bring release or retribution. So what was their response to the persecution, what do we find them doing? Are they complaining about the unfair treatment? Are they demanding to know how God let this happen to them? Are they bitter, angry, or resentful? Are they discouraged or depressed? Are they shouting insults against the jailer and the authorities? No, they are rejoicing, giving thanks as they sing hymns of praise to God. Their response to the persecution is praise. Satan the enemy had tried to derail and destroy their ministry. He tried to cause them to become weary and worried, to become bitter and give in to a bad attitude, so that they would question their calling and quit. As I’ve said many times, the source of most of our pain is Satan and sin but we have a God that can turn tragedy into triumph. What Satan intended for harm God uses to arm. Satan wanted to plant seeds of doubt and despair but instead there was a harvest of praise. Paul and Silas not only knew what to do but who to look to. Instead of focusing on their chains they focused on Christ, choosing to cry out in praise instead of pain.  Prison can chain the hand but it doesn’t have to chain the heart. Are you letting your problems dictate your praise or are you praising into your problems? So many of us let the pains of this life put our praise into prison.  Don’t let the hurts hold back your heart, don’t let it cause you to hang your head, look up and let out your cry of praise even in the deepest prisons. They chose to offer a sacrifice of praise instead of protest. They chose praise instead of pity. How about you, how will you respond to the pain, will you retaliate or rejoice? They praised in the midst of the persecution because they were:

• Prepared

Scripture says that “at midnight” Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. What will you do at midnight? Psalms 119:62 says, “At midnight I will rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws” In many ways midnight is a milestone, the night is half over and with each minute we get closer to the dawn. The question we face is whether we will make it until day break. I think the answer depends on what we chose to do in the dark and difficult times and how we prepared while it was still day. How we come out of a trial often depends on how we went into it. Paul as he mentored young Timothy told him to be a good soldier. Soldiers prepare and practice for battle in time of peace; they don’t wait until war breaks out to work out.  When the enemy is closing in, you don’t have time to figure out how to work your weapon. It’s time for the church to face the truth, we are in a battle, Christians are not pacifist they are proclaimers of truth. If you are a believer then it’s time to join the battle. 2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” When Paul and Silas began to praise God in song they were using spiritual weapons, what about you when things go wrong are you going to pray and praise?  When things go wrong are you in the habit of praying or are you in the habit of cursing. In the midst of the problems will you proclaim His name or complain? What will you do at midnight, will you turn to God or will you turn on God? The 25th chapter of Matthew tells us about the ten virgins that took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom, five were wise and five foolish. The foolish ones didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, where the five wise ones took extra oil along. At midnight when the cry rung out that the bridegroom was coming the foolish found their lamps going out. They also found that they could not make it in on the other five’s oil. They had to go to buy oil and while they were going the bridegroom came. The five that were ready went in with Him and the door was shut. If we don’t stay filled up on the things of God then in the midst of our trial at, midnight, we may find our lamps going out. How prepared for persecution are you?  When the “prisons” come will you have a song for the night? Will you be singing in the suffering?

Matthew 20: 1-16

“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work. 3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. 4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. 5 So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing. 6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’ 7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’ 8 “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. 9 When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage. 10 When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage. 11 When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, 12 ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? 14 Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. 15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’ 16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

The parable begins with God’s generosity but despite God’s goodness and grace next we see the:

• Grumblers

Instead of being grateful for God’s grace these people grumbled. When the day drew to a close and it came time to pay the workers Jesus began with the ones most recently hired, paying them what one would usually get for a full day’s work. This created not just an excitement but an expectation for the ones who had worked all day. They thought that if he paid the late ones that much he would obviously pay them even more for all their hard work. Their excitement was short lived; in fact, they were pretty upset when they got the same pay working all day as those who had only worked one hour. Despite His gracious provision they chose to complain because they suffered from jealousy and spiritual narrow mindedness. Jesus directed this parable at Peter and the disciples who thought that since they had come in at the very beginning, at the ground floor so to speak, that they should receive greater benefits. Verse 10 tells us that when “those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more” There is a word for this it’s called entitlement and it will mess us up every time. We too will get messed up when we believe that we deserve the blessings based on our good work instead of God’s grace. You see if we want to deal with merits and entitlements then we also have to include demerits. The bigger question that we need to ask is, do we really want what we deserve? If it’s a wage that we want from God, then the Bible says that our salary is already figured out for us. If we want to be rewarded for our merit and compensated for our work, then Romans 6:23 reminds us of our pay: “For the wages of sin is death…” But, if we want to receive what God wants to freely give us, then we must look at last part of the verse: “but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” God wants to offer you something far greater than just compensation. I don’t know about you but I want God to deal with me on the basis of grace not on what I deserve. These jealous murmurers didn’t complain because they received too little they grumbled because of what the other workers received. Their problem was that they though they deserved more. They were not thankful for what they got because they were so focused on what others were getting. We need to stop focusing on what we have been given and focus on the giver. When you focus on the Giver you see what you have been given as a gift. But when you focus on what everyone else has been given you grumble.  Are you grateful or are you a grumbler? Instead of a heart of gratitude to God they grumbled, instead of joy they were jealousy. Instead of comparing our blessings to someone else’s we ought to develop an attitude of gratitude for grace. This faulty thinking put them in danger of serving God for temporal treasure instead of eternal gain. When we murmur we end up missing the message of God’s grace. Jesus reminds us of two fundamental things we seem to so easily forget. First it’s His to give away not ours to demand, “Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money?” Their perception was that this was unfair but the landowner was not being unfair for he had given them what they had agreed upon. It was his money and he could be generous if that is what he chose to do. This parable teaches us that grace is received not deserved. There is nothing that we can do that will put us in a position where we deserve God’s grace. What would have been fair would have been to pay the later workers less or pay those who had worked all day more. But grace is not about fairness it’s about mercy. God loves us and mercifully gives us so much more than we deserve, yet so often our response to mercy is moaning. Second why would we chose jealousy and not joy when He is kind to others? “Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?” God’s grace focuses on the Father not fairness. How do you think those hired second reacted to God’s grace? As far as we know the first workers were the only ones rebuked for complaining so it would stand to reason that those hired later went home with Joy. You see there is an interesting difference between the first workers and the latter, those hired early who went to work after negotiating a wage; and those hired later went to work without a contract, choosing to trust the goodness of the master. Unlike the first workers who wanted a contract, (Verse 2 “He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work”) the last workers trusted His goodness (verse 4 “So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. So they went to work in the vineyard.”) Because they trusted His goodness, they got His Grace and his uncalled for generosity and went home joyfully. Are you guilty of grumbling over grace? Have you gotten caught up in focusing on fairness instead of the Father? Are you so busy looking at the blessings of others that you are missing His mercy in your life? We will either be concerned with His blessing or consumed with bitterness. When it comes to serving God we need to stop creating contracts and start trust His heart.  Just as the landowner came looking for workers who were in desperate need, so God came looking for us because of our desperate need, sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ to come and save us. Why do we live thankless lives today, because we have stopped focusing on amazing grace? It’s hard to see grace when you are grumbling and you are either going to focus on the grace or grumbling. It’s easy to fall into the trap of taking grace for granted? I encourage you to stop and ponder the words to the song “Amazing Grace” written by John Newton, a man who came to know God’s amazing grace. We may sing about amazing grace but do we soak in it, I think we would rather lip sync about grace than live it. So take some time today to not only read this song of grace but to soak in His grace.

“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me….

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now, I see.

T’was Grace that taught…

my heart to fear.

And Grace, my fears relieved.

How precious did that Grace appear…

the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares…

we have already come.

T’was Grace that brought us safe thus far…

and Grace will lead us home.

When we’ve been here ten thousand years…

bright shining as the sun.

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise…

then when we’ve first begun.

The Lord has promised good to me…

His word my hope secures.

He will my shield and portion be…

as long as life endures.