In the last few days, we’ve seen the power of the sea. A container ship has run aground at Nobby’s beach, Newcastle. Engineers have been airlifted onto the stricken vessel. Will she hold together as the hull pounded by the waves? Or will she break up? We don’t know!
We went down to North Shellharbour beach last night. The sky and sea were grey, and frothy, and foreboding. The beach was pushed back onto the grassy verge. The huge surf has been washing away the beach. Then today, back to normal, the electric blue sea under the sky blue heavens.
Yesterday’s weather reminds us of the terror of the sea. For all our modern technology, we still can’t control the sea. That’s why so many people drove past our house yesterday. They wanted to watch the foamy grey waves swamp the breakwater, to see how the little harbour would cope with the rough seas. They stood in awe of the power of the waves, waves which remoulded the beach overnight.
The ancients held the sea in great fear. It could be calm and picturesque when you set out, but she can turn on you. They knew the sea was uncontrollable and unpredictable. That’s why in Revelation 21, there is no sea (v. 1). Sorry, all you surfers. No sea means no terror, no uncertainty, no danger.
God is the one who controls the sea. The sea is his, for he made it (Ps 95:5). God gathers the sea into jars (Ps 33:7). He rules the surging sea, He stills the mountainous waves (Ps 89:9). Psalm 107 talks about the experience of sailors on the sea.
24They saw the works of the LORD, his wonderful deeds in the deep. 25For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. 26They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away. 27They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits' end. 28Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. 29He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. 30They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven. 31Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. (Ps 107:23-31 NIV)
It is Yahweh, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who sends the great waves. Then he stills them. Blessed be his name.
Previously, Paul has been on trial. He is on trial for Jesus. Actually, Jesus is on trial. Well, actually, it’s the kings and governors of this world who are on trial. Paul is witnessing to Jesus before kings and rulers: Tribune Claudius Lysius, Governor Felix, Governor Procius Festus, King Agrippa, even Emperor Caesar himself. All must bow down to the Christ. The world leader’s eternal destiny depend on their response to Jesus.
From the human point of view, Paul appeals to Caesar because the Jews want to kill Paul and Porcius Festus wants to do them a favour. But from God’s point of view, Paul is going to take the news about Jesus to the emperor himself, so he can repent and honour Jesus. So Paul is not really a defendant. He is really a witness to Jesus. God is kindly giving the kings opportunity to submit to 'the King of Kings'.
Acts 27 is the story of a lengthy set of sea voyages. Sea voyages are always risky, especially in ancient sailing ships. And shipwrecks were quite usual. Around 3 or 4 years earlier, Paul wrote this to the Corinthians:
Three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea (2 Cor 11:25 NIV).
So Paul knew the dangers of sea travel. And Acts 27 tells us that Paul will experience a fourth shipwreck. Paul and his companions make it safely from Joppa to Myra over many weeks. At Myra, Paul with his guard under centurion Julius, and his companions, board an Alexandrian ship heading for Italy. So they sail with difficulty to Crete. It is winter, the time of storms and tumultuous seas. Most ships spend winter in port. And this ship needs to do that as well. But for some reason the Port of Fair Havens in Crete is not good enough to winter in. Paul asks them to stay because of the danger. But the centurion, who likes Paul, this time doesn’t follow his advice. The ship’s pilot and owner want to go further along the coast (Acts 26:11). So that’s what they do. And they get in trouble. They are pushed out to sea, not knowing where they were. And after two weeks of this, Paul said to them.
21After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: "Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. 22But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. 23Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me 24and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.' 25So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. 26Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island." (Acts 27:21-26 NIV)
There are dangers in this voyage, but there are no risks. The danger is the storm. The danger is the shipwreck. But there is no risk because God is in control and wants his gospel preached in Rome before Caesar. So the ship runs aground and is destroyed, but everyone onboard survives and makes it to the small island called Melite. Melite means place of refuge. We know this island as Malta.
Almost 15 years ago, my Mum took us to Malta to show us where she grew up. We got to see St Paul’s Bay. That’s where tradition has it that the shipwreck happened, and 276 wet and tired but glad people came ashore (Acts 27:37).
The Maltese in the story are an interesting bunch. They are pagans but they show love towards their fellow humans. They are generous and hospitable. They start a fire and welcome the survivors.
However, the Maltese have a tendency to jump to conclusions. So we read from verses 3 to 6 of chapter 28:
3Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. 4When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live." 5But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. 6The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. (Acts 28:3-6 NIV)
Either murderer or god for these people. There doesn’t seem to be anything in between. Well, Paul will have 3 months to correct their theology (Acts 28:11). And Paul would have had opportunity to share the gospel with everyone on the island. Paul was a prisoner, sure. But like Joseph in Egypt, he had earned the favour of Julius the Centurion and Publius the Island’s Chief. He healed Publius’ father-in-law. So the Maltese sought him out.
9When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. 10They honoured us in many ways and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed. 11After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island. (Acts 28:9-11 NIV)
Paul is acting just like Jesus in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus was mobbed by the sick Jewish people. And Paul was mobbed by the sick non-Jewish people. Why? Because Jesus is working through Paul. Jesus chose Paul to extend his ministry to the gentiles.
When spring came, it was time to leave Malta and complete the journey to Rome. So Paul, his guards, and his friends board another ship. And this journey is thankfully, uneventful, even boring.
But that doesn’t mean there is no cause for concern. Paul may well have had a lot on his mind. He was, after all, going to appear before the Emperor, Caesar. And Caesar had the power of life and death in his hands. So we read in verse 15:
The brothers there [in Rome] had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these men Paul thanked God and was encouraged. (Acts 28:15 NIV)
Some of the Christians travelled around 70km to meet Paul. And this encouraged Paul.
It is possible we think of Paul as a superhero. He wasn’t. He was a man just like us. He had fears, and worries. He got anxious and dejected. Yet at the sight of these Christians who had come so far to meet him, he rejoiced and was encouraged. Here is the fulfilment of what Paul wrote to the Roman Christians a few years earlier.
11I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong, 12that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. (Romans 1:11-12 NIV)
Paul wanted to be encouraged by them, and to encourage them in turn, because that is the gift every Christian has: faith. And when I see you trusting Jesus, it makes me want to trust Jesus. And hopefully, when I trust Jesus, that makes you want to trust Jesus.
Paul was a prisoner in Rome, but he has a great deal of freedom. So we read in verse 16:
When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him. (NIV)
Paul has a great amount of liberty. He can rent his own house. He can see who he wants. But he is in home detention.
The first thing Paul did when he got settled in to his rented house in Rome was to call the Jewish leaders to him. This is typical of his strategy: "to the Jew first, then the Greek". What was his message? It was always the same:
23From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. 24Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. (Acts 28:23-24 NIV)
And when they become stubborn he said to them: "Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!" (Acts 28:28-29 NIV)
And that’s what Paul did. Paul would speak to whoever came to him. So we read in verses 30-1:
30For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 28:30-31 NIV)
Paul might be in chains, but the gospel is not in chains. No, through the imprisonment of Paul, the gospel spreads even further. It is highly likely that Paul wrote Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon during this time. So we know straight away that Paul used his time well, and that we ourselves have benefited from his imprisonment. Those letters give us some insights into what happened during these 2 year. He writes in Philippians 1:12-13.
12Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. 13As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. (Phil 1:12-13 NIV)
You can imagine the situation. The Palace Guard troops each take it in turns guarding Paul. They’d go over to Paul’s house when it was their turn on the roster. And Paul would say, "Hey, I haven’t seen you before. Do you know why I am a prisoner?" And then he would share the gospel. And at the end of the day the soldiers in the mess would probably say: "Where were you posted today." "Oh, I got Paul of Tarsus!" "What did he talk about?" "One guess! I chained myself to him. He seemed glad really. Because basically we spent the time talking about Jesus." The whole palace guard, indeed everyone else, got to hear about Jesus.
And no doubt this encouraged other Christians to be bold. So Philippians chapter 1 verse 14:
Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. (Phil 1:14 NIV)
Well, Paul eventually was released from this house arrest. And Acts doesn’t have anything more to tell us. That was all Luke knew. That was where he got up to. Paul did eventually appear before Caesar. And we know that Paul was acquitted, and set free. That was his first trial.
We know that Paul went back to his old ways of preaching and visiting churches. He started leaving his younger apprentices in different churches all around the Mediterranean. Paul himself probably made it to Spain, which was as far west as you could go.
However, it was only a matter of time before Paul was re-arrested. He had too many enemies. And a few years after his first trial, he again waited to be tried before Caesar. He wrote 2 Timothy, his last letter.
6For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (2 Tim 4:6-8 NIV)
A few months after writing this, Paul was taken out and beheaded along the Ostian way.
But Acts doesn’t tell us about any of this later history. No, we have to piece this together from his letters and from later Christian documents. Acts instead has an open ending. It is an unfinished story. The aim of Acts was that the gospel would go to Judea, Samaria, and ‘to the ends of the earth’.
Is Rome the ends of the earth? No, Rome was the centre of the empire. It’s like saying London, or New York, or Sydney is the ‘ends of the earth’—hardly. Deepest darkest Africa might be the ends of the earth, but not the capital of the empire.
In the end, Acts is incomplete because the mission is incomplete. The story is unfinished and there is more to write.
At the end of "Lord of the Rings", Frodo leaves his book to Samwise Gamgee. It is incomplete. There were a few pages in his book left for Sam, because he too bore the ring of power.
And so it is with us. God has left a few pages at the end of Acts for us.
How would you finish of Acts. We would of course plot a line from Paul, to those who followed him, those who kept Paul’s writings alive throughout the centuries, through the early church fathers to the middle ages, through the Lollards who translated the Scriptures into English, to Luther, Calvin, Tyndale, Cranmer and the reformation, through Whitfield and Wesley, to English settlement in Australia. And the gospel came to Australia on the First Fleet, in the form of the Rev Richard Johnson, the first chaplain, and then through faithful gospel ministers like William Cowper and Samuel Marsden and Thomas Hassell. And then, somehow, it came to you and me.
How are you going to finish the story? Of course, you can leave it unfinished. You can not add to the story. That just means it never was your story, and that the mission of declaring that Jesus is the Christ to the ends of the earth has nothing to do with you. That means you’re not a Christian.
But if you’re a Christian, you have your little bit to add to the end of Acts. The bit you add is the people you testify to, the people you point to the Lord Jesus Christ, the places you go to witness to Jesus and teach that he is the Christ in the power of the Spirit.
Acts is the story of the risen Christ at work through his people. If you're a Christian, Acts is your story. Be encouraged, and go and do likewise.
Let’s pray.