The benefits of citizenship

Acts 16:19-40 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities, ²⁰ and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, ²¹ and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”

²² The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. ²³ When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; ²⁴ and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵ But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; ²⁶ and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. ²⁷ When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” ²⁹ And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, ³⁰ and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹ They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³² And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house. ³³ And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. ³⁴ And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.

³⁵ Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.” ³⁶ And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” ³⁷ But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” ³⁸ The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, ³⁹ and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed.

In today’s text Paul claims the rights and privileges which came with being a Roman citizen.  But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly?   Paul again does this in an account from Romans 22:25-29 :     when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?”  When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.”  The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.”  The commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.”  Therefore those who were about to examine him immediately  let go of him          The commander purchased his Roman citizenship; Paul was born into his.   We too, as believers, have been born into a citizenship with benefits, rights and privileges. Ephesians 2:19 says:  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household.     We are actually more than just citizens of the kingdom or the household of God, Romans 8:14-17 says:     For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”  The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,  and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ         We have both the benefits, rights and privileges of citizenship and also have been adopted as children of God, fellow heirs of all the benefits; eternal life and victorious life, through and with Jesus Christ.

Just as was the case with Paul, his citizenship did not provide that he would never suffer or be persecuted. Jesus says to us:   ^“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”(John 16:33)     There will be people and things that come against us, but regardless of the situation or circumstance we need to remember who we are, that we are citizens of God’s kingdom and that we are heirs with Christ, having all the benefits, rights and privileges in and of Jesus.  We need, like Paul, to declare and claim those benefits and privileges when we are faced with circumstances which are not in line with the promises and benefits of God. God’s word is rich with His promises for every situation and circumstance we face.  It is our responsibility to know what those promises are.  We need to know both who we are and what are the benefits, rights and privileges which we have. Far too often we live less than victorious simply because we don’t remember or fully know all that we are or have. We cannot claim benefits we have forgotten or are unaware of.

We need to saturate ourselves in the word of God so that we more than just know the words, but that we believe what they say. If we don’t know who we are and all that we have then when trouble comes we will believe the circumstance rather than the truth. The following three verses speak to the importance of the faith and confidence we have and receive through God’s word.            we walk by faith, not by sight.(2 Corinthians 5:7)   Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)   faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)     We need to hear the word of God, with our physical ears but also with our spiritual ears. We need to have it so ingrained into our being that it, the word, is what we trust and believe, not the physical evidence which we see with our eyes.

The psalmist knew the benefits of being one of God’s citizens, one of His children. He portrayed it differently according to his own experience and understanding. May his declaration be our prayer. May we say with him:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.  He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life;
And I will dwell  in the house of the Lord Forever.    Amen