Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Acts: Enlarging Our Vision

By Being his Slave 03/22/09

Sermon Series: Acts: Enlarging our Vision

Title: ‘By being His slave’    Text: Acts 16:16-40

Introduction: Have you ever been in a situation where you felt trapped? Perhaps not physically, but mentally or emotionally?

·       Some feel trapped in a job,

·       others feel trapped in a marriage,

·       some feel trapped in a particular neighborhood because they can’t afford to move.

·       There are some who are trapped by the choices they make.

·       Others are trapped by no control of their own.

Many of us feel trapped, like we are being held back, or held down by something or someone outside ourselves.

In our text this morning, we will find people who were trapped in certain circumstances and this feeling of being trapped, these expressions of bondage, are just other words for enslavement.

The people in our text were slaves…to something or someone.

The truth is, everyone, even all of us here this morning, are slaves to someone or something. Do you believe that?

Read: Romans 6:16-22

We are either a slave to sin or a slave to God. Sugar coat it if you like….call yourself a servant, a follower, a disciple, a Christian, but the bottom line truth is…

·       If you have given your life to Jesus, He is your Lord and Master and you are His slave.

·       If you have not given your life to Jesus, sin is your Lord and Master and your are it’s slave.

Wow…pretty heavy for an introduction. Let’s look at our text to see how this is displayed in the lives of real people.

Transition: Open your Bibles to Acts 16:16 (pg. 845 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you) For it’s there we will discover that we enlarge our vision of God by being His slave.

I. Acts 16:16-18          Demon filled slave girl

Read: Acts 16:16-18

Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke were staying in Philippi for a while and it became their habit to go to the river for times of public prayer (see verse 13).

On one of their trips to the river to pray, they met a woman possessed, filled with a demon of divination. That meant she was able to either tell someone’s future or things about them they only would know. Because she had that ability, she was a valuable commodity and became enslaved to a group of people who made money from her.

She was a slave, purchased and owned by someone else. And as their slave she was in bondage to be obedient not only to their wishes, but to the demon inside her.

As an aside, most modern day fortune tellers and psychics are only a money wasting sham. But, there are some who can actually tell someone something about their future or things only they know about themselves. You see, demons of divination still possess, still fill people today. Who do they fill…people who are slaves to sin and in bondage to it’s wishes. That’s why Scripture tells us to have nothing to do with them.

Read: Deuteronomy 18:10-12a ‘Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord…’

Anyway, this demon filled slave girl is following Paul and his group around for many days shouting the same thing ‘These men are servants (a better translation is bond-servant or slave) of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.’

I don’t know about you, but I would have thought Paul would have approved of what this slave girl was saying…because it was the truth.

But the text says Paul was ‘so troubled.’ Let me make it clear….Paul was fed up. He had had enough. Know what that’s like? Doesn’t seem very godly does it? Remember, Paul was human and struggled with life just as we do…think back to his heated argument with Barnabas about John Mark that caused them to separate?

Why was Paul fed up? We are not told.

·       Perhaps while what she was saying was true, she was interrupting his preaching or praying.

·       Perhaps he felt he didn’t need a demon giving him free advertising…considering the source.

We don’t know but in Jesus’ name he commands the demon  to leave the slave girl. And it did.  We are not told what happened to the girl. But I like to think that since she was of no use to her owners anymore, they let her go and grateful for God’s grace in setting her free, she joined Lydia as a member of the church in Philippi.

This slave girl was in bondage not only to her masters, but to the demon who filled her. But the power of God was able to break the chains of bondage setting this girl free. What chains are holding you in bondage? Do you believe God is able to set you free?

Transition: Well this slave girl was not the only one in the text who was in bondage.

II. Acts 16:19-24          Greed filled slave owners

Read: Acts 19-24

The slave owners felt nothing for the well being of the girl. They didn’t care that she was filled with a demon. Her ‘powers’ meant money for them, that was all they cared about. They were filled with greed. Greed is a powerful master and these men were slaves to it.

When their appetite for money was no longer being met by the girl, they turned on Paul and Silas. (We are not told what happened to Timothy and Luke)

·       Perhaps it was Paul and Silas who were doing most of the talking.

·       Perhaps Paul and Silas being Jews looked different than Timothy and Luke who were Gentiles. (More on that in a bit)

The slave owners were livid and wanted someone to pay for their loss of income.

It is interesting that they don’t tell the magistrates the truth, that Paul cast out the demon in the slave girl who was making them a lot of money. No, that would have seemed callas and uncaring towards the girl. So they lied….being a slave to greed will do that. They accuse Paul and Silas of unlawful practices and notice that they make note of the fact Paul and Silas were Jews.

Being a slave to greed causes these men to show their racial bigotry. The magistrate beats Paul and Silas horribly and locks them in jail…without a trial. Why, to be honest, just because they were Jews and a few people said they were causing trouble. You see, just as much as the Jews hated the Gentiles…the Gentiles hated the Jews. Anti-Semitism isn’t new.

Greed makes an ugly master. Being a slave to greed makes us choose to do and say things that will only benefit our insatiable desire for more….

·       more money,

·       more things,

·       more power,

·       more recognition

·       more.

The only thing a Christian, a slave of God needs more of in his/her life, is God. Wait…then God, as Master, will provide all we, His slaves, need.

Conclusion

A “slave” is defined in Dictionary.com as:

·       a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another.

·       a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person:

It is the latter that we can best identify with. Everyone is a slave, spiritually, either of sin or of righteousness. One to horrible bondage, the other to untold blessing.

·       We can be slaves to pleasure: “if it feels good…do it!”

·       We can be slaves to popularity: “do whatever it takes and compromise whatever necessary to gain the applause of the world”

·       We saw that we can be slaves to greed. We will say/do anything to satisfy our desire for more.

·       We can be slaves to habits. Any addiction you have that you cannot quit enslaves you: drugs; alcohol; tobacco, gambling...

·       We can be slaves to attitudes that overpower us…like anger, bitterness, distrust, fear.

I asked earlier and I will ask again….

·       What is holding you in bondage?

·       What chains are trapping you in a place you don’t want to be?

·       What habit or attitude is enslaving you?

·       Who or what is your master?

At a jail cell in Colorado, taped to the refrigerator where the prisoners can see it is a sign that reads ‘Your body may be in prison, but your soul doesn’t have to be.’

Nice saying isn’t it? But…it’s not a complete message. The soul without Christ is in prison, no matter where the body is. But in prison or not, the only freedom for the human soul is in Jesus Christ as our Lord…another word for Lord is Master…that makes us His slaves.

That means there is only freedom in this life, when we are slaves to God.

ILL: J. Vernon McGee a great Bible teacher once told the following story to illustrate the biblical principle behind our text for today.

In your mind go back in time about 150 years to the days before the Civil War. Imagine you are visiting one of the great cities of the South like Savannah, Atlanta, Birmingham, Jackson or New Orleans. As you approach the center of town you hear a commotion as a crowd gathers for a public auction and you gather round to watch.

The first thing you notice in the crowd is a foulmouthed, loud, man who you know, by reputation only, as the meanest, cruelest, most hateful man around.

You also notice in the crowd another man who stands out for his dignity, and soft-spoken tone, and recognize him also by reputation as a most kind, gentle, and gracious man. Both men, along with the crowd wait for the auction to begin.

Finally the auctioneer steps to the podium and begins rattling his words as the first item to be sold is brought to the auction block. There before you is a young black girl, about 20 years of age. Her dress is old and torn, but clean. She is obviously filled with anxiety and fear as the bidding begins.

From the outset the loud obnoxious man seemed to have his evil eyes set on this young lady. She obviously knew of his reputation and cringed in fear as he opened the bidding.

When the kind gentleman saw her fear, he too placed a bid. Soon only these two men were involved in the bidding as the price of the girl rose higher and higher. Finally the evil man bowed out of the bidding when he realized that the price of the girl was more than he was willing to pay.

When the auctioneer closed the bidding the kind gentleman paid the price for his purchase, was handed the Bill-of-Sale and turned to leave.

The young girl started to follow her new master.

 

He then turned to her and asked, “Where are you going?” “Why, I’m going with you,” she responded; “You bought me and I belong to you.” “O! You misunderstood,” the man said, “I didn’t buy you to make you my slave, I bought you to set you free.”

 

Then he took the Bill-of-Sale and wrote across in big block letters – FREE! – signed his name and gave it to the girl.

“I don’t understand,” the girl said. “You mean I am FREE!” “Yes, you are FREE!” ‘I can go wherever I want and do as I please.” “Exactly, You are FREE!”

“Mister, I don’t know who you are, but no one has ever shown such love and kindness to me. If I am free to do as I please, nothing would please me more than to go with you and serve you till the day I die.”

And that day she went home with Abraham Lincoln, not as his slave, but as his willing servant.


 

The story illustrates the great doctrine of Redemption! It tells of our slavery to sin; the cruel intentions of the enemy of our soul; and the gracious purchase, at an incredible price, by Jesus; not to make us his slave, but to set us free.

How could we respond in any other way than to say, “If you love me that much, I’ll serve you forever, as I remain a slave to your grace and no longer a prisoner of my own chains." (James Drake)

We enlarge our vision of God by being His slave.