Things Are Not Always What They Seem

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  May 29, 2022

Click here to listen to the service 
 
Read Acts 16:25 – 34
 
Preparing for this morning’s sermon presented somewhat of a challenge.  I started out the week with one idea in mind as I read this passage about Paul and Silas from the book of Acts… and how they had once again been able to bring the gift of salvation to a household of people under unlikely circumstances.
 
Just last week the text contained the story of Lydia and her entire household being baptized after she heard Paul preach outside the gates of a city he had not even intended to visit… but a city, where nonetheless, he had been led by the Holy Spirit… and because of his obedience the door to salvation was opened to Lydia and her household.
 
Now, in the verses between last week’s text and this week’s, there is a story about an enslaved woman who was a psychic, a fortuneteller, whose gift was being exploited for the benefit of her owners.  This woman followed Paul and Silas around telling everyone that they were working for God and that they were telling people how to be saved. 
 
The Scriptures indicate that what she was doing troubled Paul to the point that he commanded the demonic spirit that possessed her to come out… which it did… much to the chagrin of the woman’s owners who suddenly found themselves losing out on a stream of revenue. 
 
Now, some people might question why Paul commanded the spirit to come out of the woman since what she was saying was true.  After all, these were men of God and they were preaching about salvation. 
 
But THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM…
 
The problem was not with the message… it was with the messenger.  
 
Paul did not want the gospel message to be perverted by being proclaimed by a demonic spirit… so he commanded the demon to come out of the woman.  In retaliation for this, the woman’s owners dragged Paul and Silas before the magistrates who had them beaten and thrown into prison.
 
And that is where we pick up the story this morning, with Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns even as they were imprisoned in chains... then, according the text there was a violent earthquake that shook the very foundation of the prison causing the doors to fly open and the chains to fall off all the prisoners.
 
The jailer, who had been sleeping, awoke to see all the prison doors wide open causing him to believe that all the prisoners had escaped while under his watch… and in a moment of desperation, he drew his sword to kill himself.  Thankfully for the jailer; however, THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM… and Paul was able to stop him with words of assurance that all of the prisoners were still there. 
 
Then the jailer went rushing in and fell at the feet of Paul and Silas… asking them the question that would open the prison door, spiritually, for the jailer as well as his household… “What must I do to be saved?”
 
That is when Paul and Silas spoke the words to the jailer that have continued to bring salvation to people for centuries and generations, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” 
 
And as we see in the text, after hearing this, the jailer took care of Paul and Silas and washed their wounds just before he and his entire household were baptized… after which they all shared a meal together.
 
Now, as I reflected on this text, I could not help but be reminded of another earthquake.  It was one that shook the very foundations of the prison that held each one of us captive… that is until the doors were flung open and the chains of sin that kept us bound were dropped forever… it was the earthquake that the Scriptures tell us tore the curtain of the temple in two as Jesus gave His life in exchange for ours on that cross at Calvary.
 
Now, just like that jailer who found himself on the brink of suicide… thinking he had made a colossal mistake from which he would never recover… salvation is offered to all who will simply believe in the Lord Jesus Christ… regardless of the mistakes and missteps they have made in their lives.
 
And that would have been the crux of the message for the day… but THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM…
 
Because in spite of my original intent for this week’s sermon, the Lord put something else on my heart… before I could even sit down to start writing today’s sermon, Tuesday happened.  And I found myself faced with the realization that there was yet another mass shooting calling for our attention… demanding a response from us as the church.
 
But what can we say in the wake of nineteen children and two teachers being gunned down in an elementary school?  What words will ever be enough to address the magnitude of the crisis we are seeing play out in real time as gun deaths have become the leading cause of death for children and teens in this country?
 
Thoughts and prayers are not enough.  We simply cannot afford to let it stop there.  Our children deserve so much more than that.
 
This is Memorial Day weekend when our country honors the memories of those who gave their lives in service to their country in the military.
 
But right now, there are twenty-two empty chairs out on the lawn in front of the church… in memory of those who gave their lives just going to school…
 
Those chairs outside represent empty chairs where nineteen third and fourth graders:

Naveah Alyssa Bravo
Jacklyn Jaylen Cazares
Makenna Elrod
Jose Flores, Jr.
Amerie Jo Garcia
Eliana “Ellie” Garcia
Uziyah Garcia
Xavier Lopez
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos
Tess Marie Mata
Miranda Mathis
Lexi Rubio
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez
Jaliah Nicole Silguero
Eliahana “Elijah” Cruz Torres
Rojelio Torres
Alithia Ramirez
Maite Yuleana Rodriguez
Layla Salazar
 
will no longer sit…
 
Two of the chairs sit empty because, Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles, will no longer occupy the chairs behind their desks in the classrooms where they went each day, seeking to enrich the lives of the children they taught.
 
And there is one additional chair for Joe Garcia, Irma’s husband, who died of a heart attack just two days after the massacre that took the lives of his wife, her co-teacher and those nineteen children…
 
But I also want us to keep in mind that there were others who were hurt in that horrific incident as well.  At least seventeen others were physically injured while countless others will be left with mental scars that will potentially impact them for the rest of their lives… and not all of them are people who attend or work at Robb Elementary School or live in the community of Uvalde, TX.
 
This madness has got to stop.  When Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14) I do not think for one minute that He had mass shootings in mind…
 
We cannot continue to accept a world in which our children and grandchildren are afraid to go to school out of fear they may not make it home again… When we put the protection of gun ownership above the protection of our children’s lives, we have a problem.
 
And this is not just a problem for the gun violence prevention activists and politicians to sort out.  This is a problem that we all need to address because THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM.
 
The fact of the matter is that gun violence is just a symptom of a much deeper problem… a problem in which the church most certainly has to be involved because only the church… the body of believers… holds the answer for what is able to combat the sin and evil that is running rampant in our world today. 
 
Now, at the risk of offending anyone, I think it is fair to say that the church has become complacent… many of us have become much too comfortable sitting in the pews on Sunday mornings and believing that is where the assignment ends… but Sunday morning should only be the beginning.
 
It is where we should be coming to get ready for the rest of the week… to get prepared for the battles we must face on a daily basis in a world that has gone wild.
 
In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we read in the Message Paraphrase:

 
This battle we are facing is far more than any of us can handle on our own… but there is good news for us today despite the messages we are seeing and hearing in the media. 
 
We are not in the battle alone.  The Lord has promised NEVER to leave us nor forsake us… (Hebrews 13:5) Jesus has said He will be with us ALWAYS, even to the end of the age… (Matthew 28:20).
 
Yes, the world seems to be on the verge of going to hell in a handbasket as my grandmother used to say, but we do not have to go along with the rest of the world… We have been given a way out.   
 
Jesus said He is “the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through [Him]” (John 14:6). 
 
We, as the church, have already been given the answer to the problems that plague the world.  And in a word, that answer is Jesus.  He told us that we would face trials and tribulations in this world but He also told us to take heart, because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). 
 
Now, if this life was all there was, we would be in a horrible position… but thankfully this life is just a stepping stone for the best that is yet to come.  But until we get to the best, we have to do better with what we have. 
 
We have to do better at telling this dying world about the Living Savior who is Christ the Lord. 
 
We have to do better at showing unconditional love to others, just as Jesus does. 
 
We have to do better at being the church, not just coming to church.
 
And that means we have to be willing to speak up and take a stand against the evil we see being perpetrated around us. 
 
We have to be willing to say enough is enough and stop standing idly by while political agendas are being executed at the cost of the lives of our young people.  [And yes, the pun was intended.]
 
Politicians and corporate executives continue to capitalize on the lives of those who have the least ability to protect themselves from becoming victims of senseless violence.  It seems of little concern to them since the majority of those victims come from communities of color and live in places of poverty that are far outside of their peripheral vision from their positions of power.
 
But no matter who and what they choose not to see or acknowledge, make no mistake about it… the Lord sees it all. 
 
Over in 1 Peter 3:12, we read, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
 
Despite how bleak things may look in the world right now, remember THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM. 
 
There really are better and brighter days ahead for those who know and love the Lord… for those who have asked the question, “What must I do to be saved?” and have heeded the response to “believe in the Lord.”
 
And if that describes you and the desire you have in your heart, then I want to invite you to stand now and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: Lord, I Want to Be a Christian #589.

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