Phenomenal Resilience

Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. (Acts 14:19&20)

He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God. The next morning the city officials sent the police to tell the jailer, “Let those men go!” So the jailer told Paul, “The city officials have said you and Silas are free to leave. Go in peace. But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.” (Acts 16: 34-37)

In the first scenario we are examining, Paul and Barnabas were teaching the truth in Lystra and miracles happened. Those who saw the miracles wanted to worship and offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. Paul and Barnabas told them not to do so – that they were only men and to worship God -  but they still wanted to. We pick up the story here when others came from surrounding areas and were opposed to the work of Paul and Barnabas. They were familiar with the followers of Christ in Antioch and Iconium. And some were opposed to the work that God was doing through them.

So these visitors to Lystra whooped up a hostile crowd and they stoned Paul, and thinking he was dead, they dragged his body out of town. How hostile and uncivilized is that?!?!

But God either did not allow Paul to die or breathed life back into him and Paul went back into the city and stayed another day! That’s pretty gangster if you ask me. Gangster, of course, meaning Paul was hardcore and about his business – the business of Christ. (not that he was at all criminal)

In this second scenario, Paul & Silas had been beaten and placed in jail because they had cast a demon out of a young woman. The woman had a spirit by which she predicted the future and she was a slave. When Paul casted out this demon, her owners were livid because Paul had ruined their money-making scheme. So, as we see over and over again in scripture, they (the enemies of God) started a ruckus, whopped up the crowd, seized Paul and Silas, and brought them before the law keepers of that time – saying “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice”. These magistrates are the ones who had Paul and Silas flogged and then thrown into jail.

That night, while Paul and Silas were in jail, they were praying and singing. The scriptures tell us that all in the jail were listening. And at midnight, the Lord caused an earthquake and released all of the prisoner’s restraints. When the jailer in charged realized all the prisoners had been unrestrained, he assumed they’d escaped and he was getting ready to kill himself. Paul told him not to do that, that they were all there. In response, the jailer wanted to know about this God they were serving and how he may be changed. They began to share the truth with the jailer. This is where we pick up. The jailer took them to his home and all of his family was saved!

In verse 35, we pick the story up in the next morning as see that Paul and Silas were back in jail and the jailer had returned to his post. Amazing! Again, we see that Paul (and Silas, in this instance) was not deterred by the persecution of the enemy. They returned to prison! And they continued to speak according to the Spirit’s move in their lives.

Paul and Silas did not shy away from the persecution of the enemy. They were all about glorifying God and loving the people He created – regardless of how they were mistreated.

Are we like that? Serving God and loving others without regard for how we are being hurt? That’s a tall order but we can do it.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3&4)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles [non-believers] do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)