DAY 1 - Saved From A Treadmill Existence

Acts 16:6-34 (NIV) 6Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. 11From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day on to Neapolis. 12From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. 13On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. 15When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us. 16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 18She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her. 19When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice." 22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly 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. 27The 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. 28But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!" 29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34The 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.

What must we do to be saved from a treadmill existence? From an “insurance mentality” of wanting life to be safe, predictable, and reliable? From a life that tries to make everything go smoothly as planned?

Do you know the experience of life not working out exactly as planned? Read Acts 16:6-12, and the first thing you’ll notice is that Paul did not plan to go to Philippi to begin with. He was irritated, but while there he healed the slave girl of her demonic spirit. But then her owners were angry with Paul, made up some charges against him, had him beaten and thrown into jail. The jailer was expecting the normal reaction from a prisoner: cursing the people who did this, denouncing the gods, bribing the jailer for some special favors.

Instead, Acts 16:25-32 happened.

And so the Gospel came to Philippi and the Way of Salvation touched the lives of two people and their families. The gospel came to Lydia as she was saved from a treadmill type of life to one that had meaning, significance, and direction as she became aware of God’s plan and purpose for her life in Jesus Christ. The gospel came to the jailer, to one who may have had an “insurance mentality”. But, the attitude of Paul and Silas in jail after the earthquake stabbed the dull spirit of the jailer awake to see that this person Jesus was King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Things did not go as Paul expected in Philippi, and yet the Way of Salvation came to the city. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is to pursue our way in the confidence that there is a plan and purpose. It is to seek Christ’s direction for our life, to look to Jesus as the ultimate authority in our life, to continually adapt our life to Jesus’ will and desire for us. If when things do not go as we had planned we can respond with faith that Jesus is Lord, we will discover that the Way of Salvation has come to our life as well.

Preached August 9, 1998

© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell