Walking Through Acts

Does God really have everything under control? Does He really have the whole

world in his hands as the children’s song says? What about the storms of life that

we inevitably have to endure? For some of us, it’s storm after storm after storm.

And we wonder, where is God in all of this?

We are going to pick up right where we left off a couple weeks ago in our Walk

Through Acts. We have almost reached the end of our journey through Acts.

There are 28 chapters in this book and, today we will be in Acts 27:13-44. We are

in the middle of a sea voyage to Italy. I want us to recall that in the first section of

chapter 27, Paul had warned the captain and the owner of the ship to not set sail

from the place they were staying Fair Havens for they were in the midst of the

danger months of sailing. Ultimately, he was ignored, for what does a prisoner

know that a captain does not?

Acts 27:13

13 Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their

purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore.

This phrase “supposing that they had obtained their purpose” is one that many

people still employ today. Remember that these men, whether it was the soldiers

or the sailors or the captain (pilot), they had received a warning from Paul, and

disregarded it.

Today, we may not use the phrase “we suppose we have obtained our purpose”,

but we very much employ similar phrases such as, “I believe this is a sign” or “this

was meant to be.” Says who? And that’s the important part. The sign that these

men in our text experience which prompts them to think they have a favorable

sign is the gentle south wind which seemed like favorable sailing conditions.Many Christians today fall into the trap of mistaking God’s calling on their life with

gut feelings or a sequential set of circumstances that seem to be pointing in a

certain direction. And we tend to say things like, you see how God has

orchestrated things in such a way that this must be where you should be headed

or this seems to be the right decision for you to make. I know there is no ill intent

behind saying these things and we mean well. But we may as well go to tea leaves

and palm readings for confirmation because no matter our gut feelings, or a set of

circumstances we observe around us, if we base our decisions on things that are

comparable to these gentle south winds in our lives, they are unreliable and

pagan. The only reliable voice in our lives should be God’s voice.

Jesus said in John 10:27,

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

We have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us as Christians. If you are one of Jesus’

followers, you know His voice and we follow it. There is no confusion or doubt

when it comes to God’s leading in our lives. Instead of looking to outward signs to

determine our steps, we must look to God.

These pagan men, in our text, did not lean on God, but their own intuition and as

we will soon see will result in disaster.

Acts 27:14-15

14 But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the

land. 15 And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way

to it and were driven along.

Not surprisingly, what seemed to be sweet sailing circumstances quickly turned

sour. This tempestuous wind, interestingly enough, had a name. It was known as

the northeaster. The etymology of this name is quite interesting. In other

translations of our Bibles, it is called the Euraquilo. Greek – euros combined with

the Latin Aquilo- north wind. It is quite literally an east-north wind. Or, as our

translation renders it, a northeaster.Why explain this to us Mark? Well, I’m going to make an assumption here, but I

would venture to guess that many of us are not sailors or sea captains and if you

happened to be one of those, probably have not sailed on the Mediterranean sea.

Our text is describing winds that were blowing from the north and the east. The

ship in our text is being beat and driven by winds that are perpendicular to each

other and is putting great strain on the sails and as we will soon see, the ship itself

is starting to be ripped apart.

Now, the ship is off course, due to those strong winds.

Acts 27:16-20

16 Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with

difficulty to secure the ship's boat. 17 After hoisting it up, they used supports to

undergird the ship. Then, fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis, they

lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along. 18 Since we were violently

storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo. 19 And on the third

day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. 20 When

neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all

hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

How often do we find ourselves making poor decisions and facing great difficulty

or hopelessness all because we leaned on our own wisdom rather than God’s?

And then we find ourselves in a panic and extreme anxiety trying to do whatever

we can to get back to a sense of stability, and every effort seems to be futile. All

hope seems lost. (and then we tend to blame the government or our noisy

neighbors or our crazy cousin for all of our problems; or we tend to blame Satan.

Oh, Satan’s really getting at me now! Really?)

In the verses we just read, we see a sense of panic and urgency as the sailors start

throwing things overboard, the cargo, the tackle and some translations even

suggest they took the mast down so as to lessen the strain on the ship further.

How easily this all could have been avoided.

So what does a man like Paul do in this situation? One who has been cast aside as

a naysayer or someone not worthy of being heeded, a prisoner. Does he just sitback and revel in the fact that he was right and they were wrong? Well, maybe a

little bit, but that’s not all.

Acts 27:21

21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them

and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete

and incurred this injury and loss.

Paul does say, “I told you so” in a sense. “You didn’t listen to me before, but it

would be wise for you to listen to me now.” Now Paul could have been satisfied

being in the right and letting everyone else wallow in their hopelessness. But he

doesn’t.

Acts 27:22-26

22 Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but

only of the ship. 23 For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God

to whom I belong and whom I worship, 24 and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul;

you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail

with you.’ 25 So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I

have been told. 26 But we must run aground on some island.”

Paul tells the men to take heart. Take courage! And then Paul makes the bold

claim that none of their lives would be lost. I’m sure some were thinking, “Paul,

are you delusional? Have you not seen what’s been going on around us?” Paul was

very aware of the external circumstances he and his fellow sea voyagers were in.

Why? The night before, an angel appeared to Paul which told him that 1. He was

going to get to Rome, and 2. Everyone on board the ship will survive. Then he tells

the men that they will run aground on some island, which we will discover later is

the island of Malta.

One of our greatest ways of witnessing to the world is through our demeanor

through difficult times. It seems like our world today gets more chaotic every

moment. And this provides a luxury to the Christian in today’s world. In the

confidence that we find in Jesus, we don’t respond internally or externally as the

world does to external circumstances. We don’t let the world that is caught up in afrenzy throw us into a frenzy. We can be at peace during fair weather as well as

the storms. And so, our resoluteness and calmness and resilience in the middle of

the chaos is an indication to the world, that you are either crazy and delusional, or

you must have something that I do not.

Paul had something that the sailors of the ship did not. He had the Holy Spirit in

him. He had the hope of Jesus. That’s where he found his confidence and his

assurance. Let me ask you this question. How do you respond to the chaos in your

life? Is the peace of Christ simply a good notion, or an ideal, or a wall decoration in

your house? Or is it a reality that you embody when the going gets tough?

Acts 27:27-32

27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the

Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. 28

So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a

sounding again and found fifteen fathoms. 29 And fearing that we might run on

the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.

30 And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the

ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, 31

Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship,

you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat

and let it go.

We can understand the desperation of those onboard. They wanted to live and

their best chance of survival in their minds was to escape. But Paul told them, the

promise of everyone’s lives being spared goes out the window if you leave. Now

the Bible doesn’t tell us that Paul instructed the soldiers to cut away the ropes to

the ship’s boat, but that’s what they do. I’m sure that the idea behind this action

was to make sure that no one puts their lives in jeopardy.

Acts 27:33-38

33 As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying,

“Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without

food, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will

give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” 35 Andwhen he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the

presence of all he broke it and began to eat. 36 Then they all were encouraged

and ate some food themselves. 37 (We were in all 276 persons in the ship.) 38

And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the

wheat into the sea.

You can imagine that tensions were high and that there was no lack of ill will

toward Paul by some of the sailors who attempted to jump ship. In their minds,

that was their best chance at survival. You can also surmise that the sailors also

felt some type of way towards the soldiers who completely removed all hope of

escaping in the future. So what does Paul do? Food. Food solves all our problems

doesn’t it?

Here's the reality of the situation. Why does Paul encourage the men to eat? They

haven’t eaten in fourteen days! No one has to encourage me or tell me to get

something to eat when I’m hungry. At home, if I’m hungry, I just walk over to my

pantry without a second thought. But can you imagine not eating for fourteen

days, and then being told, hey you need to eat some food? Why were these men

not eating? The answer is simple. They had fallen into despair. They thought, they

were as good as dead. So why bother eating? It’s not that there wasn’t food

stored on the ship. You see, the storm that they had been through deprived them

of the means, the time, and the inclination to prepare or to eat any regular meals.

So Paul tells them, you need to eat.

And before they ate, Scripture tells us that Paul gave thanks to God in the

presence of all before they started eating. And all 276 of them were encouraged

and a little bit of hope was restored.

In this brief scene, isn’t this a great picture of what it looks like to live as a

Chrisitan in our world today? Our vision statement at UCC is “Hope Live Here.” It

lives in you and it lives in me. I know it’s so cliché but it’s true. The Church is not a

place but a people. It is the people of God. So wherever we go, we ought to be

beacons of hope to those around us. Man do I wish the public perception of

Christians would change. Many think that we’re too judgy or uptight, or miserable

or hateful. Imagine if we could, little by little, change the public perception to that

of Christians being bearers of hope and encouragement through these difficult

days. No matter how one slices and dices it, we’re all on the same boat together,and it should be our desire that everyone on board survives. And let us never

forget the source of our strength and hope and in everything we give thanks to

God, our provider and sustainer.

Acts 27:39-44

39 Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay

with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore. 40 So they

cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes

that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the

beach. 41 But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and

remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. 42 The

soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. 43

But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan.

He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land,

44 and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were

brought safely to land.

Everything that had been described by Paul happened. The journey up to this

point has been treacherous and full of uncertainty and unnecessary hardship, but

the ship ran aground on some island. Everyone survived. The ship broken up and

all, but every life had been spared.

Why did the soldiers want to kill the prisoners? Remember what we’ve observed

before. If a prisoner escaped, the Roman soldier assigned to them would be killed.

And who was one of the prisoners on the ship? Paul. That’s why the centurion

kept the soldiers from killing off the prisoners. It was Paul who played a vital part

in sparing all of their lives, and possibly with a heart of gratitude, did not want to

see Paul harmed.

Piano to play here.

This was a story, a true story, of sailors, soldiers and prisoners weathering the

storm together. It’s a story full of danger, despair, hopelessness, fear, selfishness,

but one that ultimately resulted in hope and perseverance. And because of God’s

sovereignty, everyone arrived safely to shore.So now I return to the questions I asked at the beginning of my message.

Does God really have everything under control? Does He really have the whole

world in his hands? Where is God in all of this; the storms, the chaos, the

uncertainties of life, the tragedies? He’s here. He sees you. He cares for you. He

loves you. And He desires you to trust in Him. He desires you to give your whole

heart to Him. He loves you so much that he gave his only begotten Son to die in

your place so that you could have hope of everlasting life through faith in Him.

This is true for all of us. This is the hope we cling to. One day we will reach the

shores of eternity and experience no more sorrow and no more pain. A place

without tears or suffering or longing, for all that we’ve ever hoped for will be fully

realized. Trust in God and lean on Him. He will never fail you.