"What We Preach" Sermon: Acts 16:25-34

“What We Preach”
[Acts 16:25-34]
June 12, 2010 Second Reformed Church – Community Lunch

In about ten minutes, I’d like to tell you what Second Reformed Church is and strives to be from the perspective of the pulpit – that is, what it is that we preach here at Second Reformed Church. It is not up to me to preach on whatever I want to preach – you won’t hear any “sermons” on ways to save on car maintenance or my favorite recipes from the Scripture. No, what you will hear preached is what God has said – God’s Word alone – and specifically Salvation in Jesus Alone.

That’s what we find in our Scripture: Paul and Silas had gone to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Philippi, and while they were preaching, false accusations were leveled against them, and they were thrown in prison – which is where we find them in our text.

Paul and Silas were in prison, waiting for trail, and they were praying and singing hymns to God, because they were confident in Jesus and His Salvation – that no matter what happened to them in the hands of the law, they were safe in the Arms of God.

And as they were singing and praying, there was a great earthquake, and the prison collapsed around them – freeing them – and no one was hurt. Now, the jailer woke up and realized what had happened, so he drew his sword and was about the kill himself with it, because he figured that all the prisoners had run out, and he didn’t want to face whatever the law would bring down on him.

But no one had left. At Paul’s command, everyone had stayed right where they had been. And Paul called out to the jailer, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” Can you imagine the combined relief and confusion that must have come over the jailer? He was relieved – everyone was still there – he wouldn’t be jailed or put to death himself for losing the prisoners. But why had they stayed? What was going on? They had a chance to escape and they stayed right where they were.

So he fell down before Paul and Silas – and having heard them pray and sing throughout the night – he knew what they believed and why they were in prison, and he understood that they were in the right and his only hope was to know and believe what they knew and believed, so he asked them, What must I do to be saved?”

“And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’”

Their message – the Gospel – the Good News – was the only hope for the jailer – and it is for each one of us – in this life and in the life to come – is to believe that Jesus is the Promised Savior – that He is God, come to earth in human form, to live and die under God’s Law, and then to rise victorious over sin and death and Hell, and ascend back to the Throne of the Son at the Right Hand of God the Father.

After he received that Good News, he was to be baptized and then to live a different life – a life that followed after all the commandments of God – summarized as loving God and loving neighbor. Such a life would be marked with the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit who would now enable him to do the good works that God put before him and would mature him in the faith.

Paul writes to the Corinthians, “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (I Corinthians 2:1-5, ESV).

Paul preached Jesus – Who Jesus is – what Jesus had done – and he called people to believe and then to live according to the Word of God afterward. Now, when Paul says that he did not know anything “among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified,” he does not mean that he knew nothing other than the Gospel. We see that Paul had a masterful knowledge of Greek and Roman philosophy, religion, and literature, not to mention his knowledge of the Hebrew Scripture. What Paul meant is that he was not called to be a scholar, but to be a preacher of Jesus, so everything that he was and did would be to make Jesus and His Salvation known.

That is my goal – that is our goal – here at Second Reformed Church. I preach that you might know and believe Jesus and then follow after Him. That is what this church is about. That is what being a Christian is about – we are all to direct others to Jesus. That is what a church is to be. That is what I pray you find here each Sunday.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for giving us Salvation through Your Son. Gather us together in faithful churches with faithful ministers who preach Your Word Alone and Salvation in Jesus Alone. Call Your people to Yourself and draw them into Your churches. Let us be found faithful in Jesus, and glorify Yourself through this church. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.