Frontline Bible Study

Rev. Michael W. Foss

Acts 16:16-34

This remarkable section of the book of Acts relates three episodes. The first two are directly related to one another, the third appears to be separate. But the question that unlocks some key leadership lessons for us is this: Why has Luke placed these episodes together? Is there more here than a simple sequence of time?

I believe Luke was intentional in placing these three together. The sequence is one of theme, not just time.

Episode 1: Acts 16:16-18

Read the text.

The events in this passage of scripture appear, at first glance, to speak for themselves. Paul and his company (presumably including Luke because of the "we" in the text) are on the way to "a place of prayer." They meet a slave girl who has the gift of divination. This was the gift of "fortune telling". Her service to others came with a fee that flowed to her masters. Her gift gives her insight into the faith of Paul and his company. She proclaims this loudly for all to hear and does so for many days. Finally, Paul gets annoyed and casts out the demon that brought the gift of divination to the girl. And it came out.

Straightforward, isn’t it? Yes…and no.

What the girl said was true. That was not the issue. But Paul was not a person who was seduced by praise. More importantly, he understood that her gift was in fact spiritual slavery. Jesus had articulated that God had sent him, and those who were to follow him, to "proclaim release to the captives… to let the oppressed go free." (Luke 4:18) Paul was called to extend salvation as release and freedom for this girl from the spirit that imprisoned her. To do so meant that he had to look past the praise and do the right thing.

The leadership lesson is clear: Do the right thing even when it means that praise will be silenced.

Episode 2: Acts 16:19-24

Read the text.

This next episode is a continuation of the first. In fact, we see the consequences of Paul’s actions. The owners of the slave girl discover that she no longer can foretell. Their income is compromised. In anger, they seize Paul and Silas and bring them before the magistrates. The crowd joins the owners of the slave girl in charging Paul and Silas with disturbing the peace. The magistrates strip them both and have them flogged. Lastly, out of fear or spite, Paul and Silas are thrown into the innermost cell.

Interesting. Paul and Silas have been praying, witnessing, and sharing the Good News of Jesus in this community. But when they heal this slave girl and threaten the income of the slaveholders, the crowd turns against them. In other words, doing the right thing does not always receive rave reviews!

That’s not fair! you may say. But it is real. To be a leader is to act on principle regardless of the response of others. If we "play to the crowd" we lose our integrity. Sometimes that means that we are surprised by the negative responses; at other times we can anticipate that others will not be happy with our decision. But leaders, like Paul and Silas, knew that the cost of doing otherwise is the loss of one’s self.

Leadership lesson #2: Leaders know that doing the right thing is its own reward – the reactions of others may or may not be positive.

Clearly, this does not mean that we do not take seriously the potential reactions of others to our actions. Instead, we may anticipate positive and negative responses but we will act with as much spiritual integrity as possible, just like Paul and Silas did. Their "slavery" was to the "Most High God" as the girl had said before her release, not to the approval of others.

Episode 3: Acts 16:25-34

Read the text.

In response to their imprisonment and mistreatment, Paul and Silas, in the depths of the dungeon, "were praying and singing hymns to God". What a remarkable reaction! But they knew the God who transformed a cross into an empty tomb. And they knew this, not as just a nice idea, but as bedrock reality. This God was with them and would make an opportunity for them where human beings wouldn’t and couldn’t see any. And the opportunities begin right away. We read that as they prayed and sang, "the prisoners were listening to them."

Leadership lesson #3: Our response to difficulty and crisis will be noticed by others and can become incredible opportunities for the witness of faith.

I do not imagine Paul or Silas pretended that everything was wonderful. Rather, I imagine them asking for God’s intervention and then praising the God who always hears and, in the wisdom of eternity, responds in love. Can we imagine the impact this "real faith for real life" would have had on those prisoners? The text tells us that it was mighty, indeed.

As Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, the earth shook and the cell doors flew open and "everyone’s chains were unfastened."

Abraham Maslow, that great Jewish psychologist who survived the Holocaust, remarked that the human spirit can choose to be free even in the midst of great terror and adversity. How? We elect personal freedom by choosing how we shall respond to our circumstances.

The prisoners choose spiritual freedom rather than physical freedom. Instead of bolting out of the newly opened doors of the dungeon, they remain there. The jailer awakens, and instead of being sold into slavery, chooses to kill himself and draws his sword. And Paul, calling out that all are still inside, saves his life and his soul. The jailer and his family are baptized and enter into the eternal family of God in Christ Jesus. It is not until the next day that Paul and Silas are released… and then with an apology from the magistrates!

Leadership lesson #4: When the future slams shut before you like a dungeon’s door, be alert, God is about to give you more opportunities to do good than you can imagine.

Spiritual leaders must understand that faith is not the absence of adversity, injustice, or mistreatment; it is the secure path through them. This episode in the lives and ministry of Paul and Silas makes it clear that this spiritual perspective is not naïve. This is that spiritual freedom which no situation can take from us. Maslow was right. Perhaps the greatest freedom is precisely in the midst of adversity when we choose to respond in faith, hope, and love.

The question is not whether difficulty and tragedy will come to us. It is only a question of when and how. In the dungeons of injustice and despair, let us remind one another that the shaking of the ground beneath our feet is not more tragedy but the footsteps of God. The Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to open the doors and present us opportunities to witness and save lives… eternally.