Springwood Presbyterian Church: Whitsett, NC

Joshua 24: 14-15

Paul has already traveled to many cities and countries preaching the good news.  Taking Silas and Timothy with him, he goes for the first time to Macedonia, to the city of Philippi.

Acts 16: 16-34                                                                                                   5-16-10

Enslaved or Saved?

Imagine you are a prisoner in Philippi.  Two men, nearly naked and bloody from beatings, are dragged past you to the maximum security cell in the very center of the jail—the cell reserved for the most dangerous criminals.  Chains clank as the jailer binds their feet to an iron bolt in the wall.  You hear groans—then silence.  It’s dark now.  The dim light that filtered under the door during the day has disappeared.  You stretch as far as your chains and the other prisoners in your crowded cell allow, trying to get comfortable enough on the stone floor to sleep for a few hours, when, from the central cell, you hear prayers and hymns of praise.  Singing and praying?  Those guys couldn’t walk without help when they came in.  How could they sing?  What reason could they possibly have to praise their God?

 While you marvel, an earthquake rocks the jail, bursting the hinges on the doors and shaking the chains from the walls and you’re free!  But for some reason, you and your cellmates stand there, stunned and shaken in mind as much as the jail was shaken in its foundations.  The old prisoner Paul shouts to the jailer: Don’t hurt yourself—we’re all still here.   “But,” the jailer protests, trembling, “you’re free to escape, and if I don’t kill myself first, the Romans will do it for me for failing to keep you here.”   “Yes,“ Paul agrees, “we were prisoners in chains and now we’re free.  You--you were free, so you thought, but in fact, you were a slave to your duty—to the Romans—to your fear.”

“Then what do I have to do to be free?” begs the jailer.  Was he asking how he could escape the wrath of the Romans and his fellow citizens who took revenge on these men?  Or, was he asking how he could be as free in his heart as Paul and Silas, who could sing and praise God even after being so terribly beaten?

The answer came quickly: “Put your trust in the Lord Jesus.  Then you’ll live as you are meant to live—you and all your household.”  The jailer took Paul and Silas into his home in another part of the jail, dressed their wounds, fed them, and was baptized along with his entire family.

You stand there with the other prisoners, still in your cells, even though you’re free to walk through the smashed doors.  Perhaps you too, want to be free of the chains that hold you keep you from living as you were meant to live.   …                

We know all too well about the enslavement of Africans that was part of our history for 300 years.  That kind of slavery exists in many parts of the world even now.  Other kinds of slavery happen right here. 

Migrant workers in North Carolina are often exploited by employers who promise them good wages and housing, but in fact, hold their work visas so they can’t leave, pay them next to nothing for working long hours and provide only bare shelter in crowded unheated, unairconditioned sheds, frequently without working plumbing.

Then there’s sex slavery.  Last week, a man was arrested in Greensboro for holding a young woman against her will in a brothel--something far more common than we’d like to think.

Remember Howard Hughes?  He was brilliant; produced films in the 1930’s and ‘40’s that are classics today; an early aeronautical innovator; a millionaire at an early age.  You’d think with all that, he could live a happy life.  But he wasn’t free.  He was consumed with anxiety that people might exploit him—fearful of germs—so shy about being with people that when he was 45, he went into complete seclusion, shutting himself up in a dark house for 26 years.  Howard Hughes was a slave to his fears.

Look how freedom and slavery are turned upside down.  All the people in this story are enslaved some way or another.  So, just what is slavery?  What is freedom?  Bob Dylan sang, “freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose”, but freedom in Christ is about what we have to gain.  Those who seemed to be free were not: the girl’s owners were bound tightly to her by their greed; the jailer was shackled to his employers, the Romans.  And those who seemed to be enslaved were free: the slave girl released from her demons; the jailer freed from his fears and his need to be cruel to other people; Paul and Silas freed from the actual jail, even though, as the slave girl said truthfully, they were slaves to the Most High God.  God and only God had a true claim on their spirits.  God’s love and Christ’s death and resurrection were the chains that bound them to God and the work of the Lord Jesus.

So who’s a slave and who’s free?  Again, hear Bob Dylan:

“You may be an ambassador to England or France,

You may like to gamble, you may like to dance,

You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,

You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls.

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed,

You’re gonna have to serve somebody.

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord,

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”

Slavery comes in many forms: enslavement of the body by chains or by illness or by addictions; enslavement of the mind to narrow thinking or fear of change; enslavement of the soul to fear or misplaced wants.  Dylan had it right: “You’re gonna have to serve somebody.”  Joshua, Paul and Silas, and many after them chose to be God’s slaves--a hard life, yet they welcomed it, not because they enjoyed hardship and persecution, but because they wanted to serve this  God of freedom and love.    

It’s still a hard life for those who chain their lives to God today.  Like Paul and Silas, you might get in trouble with the law if you try to stop people from exploiting migrant workers, or get yourself hurt if you try to intervene to stop sex trafficking.  Like the jailer, you might need to give up some of your security and comforts in order to help others.  You may be teased, reviled, even abused for speaking of Christ and trying to live as he did.

But consider the other choice.  Do you want to live as a slave to fear—money—drugs—power—bitterness—resentment—hatred--pride?  Jesus Christ saves us from all that.  The heart bound to Jesus is free no matter where it is.  We’re blessed to be able to serve him.  No wonder Paul and Silas could sing and rejoice!  To be slaves of the Most High God is freedom indeed.