To Live Is Christ by Matt ChandlerSample

“The Blue-Collar Joe”

This is one more utterly unique conversion story to help us develop a portrait of the Philippian church. The jailer is not like our first two character studies. The jailer is basically a blue-collar ex-GI manning the jail cells. He is not interested in the incessant banter of the intellectuals, and he’s not invested in the charismatic hoopla of spiritual power. He is like the guy who just wants to put in his time at work so he can go home, have a beer, and watch the game. He’s duty bound. He just wants to do his job well, honor his imperial employers, and get back to his well-ordered house. On the scale of Lydia to the slave girl, the jailer is middle class. Not super rich and not poor.

How does the gospel grab hold of him?

In Rome during this period of time, if a prisoner escaped or was lost, whoever was responsible for that prisoner would pay the price with his life. Like a lot of blue-collar Joes of today, this jailer has come to identify his life with his job. There are people today who cannot think of themselves except by what they do, and perhaps this man is no different. So when he sees that he might be about to lose a lot of what has been entrusted to him, it’s an automatic leap for him to think of taking his own life. He immediately yanks out his sword and gets ready to kill himself. But Paul shows him a better identity, a more fulfilling reality, and a greater duty that transcends everything this guy has previously known.

He shows the jailer this reality first by example. After being tortured, the missionaries sing and pray. After becoming free from their bonds, even though the opportunity for escape and revenge is before them, the missionaries stay to share the gospel. When they have the chance to run away, they stay. And the jailer is blown away. While Paul engaged Lydia through her intellect and the slave girl through spiritual power, he engages the jailer through a living witness to a miracle.

* The diversity of the early Philippian church is startling. What does this show you about God’s character? How should this affect how you live within your church family?