Victory Amid Hardship - Pastor Tom Loghry
God continues to work in the midst of Paul’s imprisonment and hardship, revealing the power of Christ though his ministry to the people of Malta and the favor and welcome he receives in Rome. We can expect this same God-given victory in our own hardship.
Transcript:
Last Saturday marked the 122nd anniversary of D-Day. On June 6th, 1944, the Allied Forces during World War II performed a successful amphibious assault on the beaches of Normandy, establishing a beachhead which would eventually lead them to Berlin. It was a decisive day in the war, a brilliant victory, and yet the war was not yet won. It would still take nearly a year before the war in Europe would end. Many more battles, many more lives lost. Setbacks, but also victories, and then the war would come to an end.
We see the very same sort of thing in the case of Jesus. There has been a war between heaven and Earth, between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. It's a war in which we as humans have willingly pledged our fealty to the devil, joining him in his rebellion, deciding that we would rather be our own gods rather than submitting to our Creator and living in harmony with him. And as a consequence of our rebellion, we have been given over to our brokenness. We suffer the consequences of the evil that we have embraced. We have been separated from the giver of life, and so we die.
But God has not given up on us. God has never intended to allow evil to win the day. And so God sent His Son into the world to destroy the works of the devil, to redeem us from our sin. Those three days, those three days in which Christ died, lay in the grave, and then rose from the dead, mark an occasion of victory even greater than that of D-Day. It is the turning point of our world. Jesus Christ has changed the course of human history. It's a reality that no one can deny, even those who would deny that He is in fact the Son of God, the Messiah of the world. Christ has changed things without a doubt.
However, while absolutely decisive, decisive, this does not mean that there are no more battles. It does not mean that the war has come to an end. We still face hardships, we still suffer setbacks, but we do also see victories as we await the appearance of the final victory, which will be revealed at Christ's return. In today's passage, here in Acts 27 through, and, and into Acts 28, we are reminded of the victories that come in the midst of hardship as we read about the hardships that Paul himself suffered. These victories come not by our strength, but by the power of Christ, who is with us. We find in Paul a picture of the Christian life as it is lived in the present age.
Now, if you were with us last week, you'll recall that Paul is being transferred to Rome from Caesarea, which was in Israel, and that he was being transferred to face trial before Caesar. And so he is on a voyage as one who is a prisoner. In the midst of their journey, the ship was caught up in a nor'easter. The ship was being torn apart by hurricane force winds. And yet, in the midst of the storm, Paul was assured by God that he and all those on the boat would survive because God's plan was that Paul would stand before Caesar. And so now as Paul has led his fellow travelers to share in this basic faith in God's deliverance, so now we see the fulfillment of God's word.
Their time on the ship has come to an end. And so picking up in verse 39 of Acts 27, we read, "When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.
The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. But the centurion wanted to spare Paul's life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely."
So they finally have sight of land, certainly a sight that must have brought them great relief, hope that they might not drown, an assurance that they could, in fact, live to see another day. And so the ship turns its direction towards this island. It, they, they make way by putting down the sail, the foresail, which would have been this sail right up here in the front that we see, and they basically let loose, they get rid of anchors. They're just going all in. They just wanna bring the beach all, the, the boat all the way to the shore, all the way to the beach. Now, just to orient you to where they are, they're going to the island of Malta, and, in fact, there's a tradition as to where they actually landed. It's called St. Paul's Bay, which is here. Now, as they're going along towards the beach, however, they strike a sandbar. They get stuck, and the waves start crashing against the ship and just starts breaking it apart, and so it's time to abandon ship. Now, that sounds all right, except the soldiers want to kill the prisoners.
Now, we might ask, "Well, why do they want to kill the prisoners?" The reason is, is because they are responsible for the prisoners, and they're concerned, "Well, if these prisoners escaped, it's gonna be our head. We're gonna be held responsible." And so just as it seems that Paul is escaping from death, again, the threat of being killed and not making it to Rome leaps up before him. But God is going to be good to his promise, because the centurion, Julius, orders his soldiers not to kill the prisoners. Instead, everyone is to make their way to shore. And so we see by God's providence how the life of Paul and all those on the ship is preserved just as he had promised.
Turning to chapter 28, Luke continues the story now on the dry ground of Malta. "Once on, safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. Paul 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. When 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, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.'
But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The 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."
So they're on the island of Malta, and the people here show incredible kindness to these people that are shipwrecked. Now, people who lived on islands in the Mediterranean at this time weren't necessarily considered to be the most cultured people. They would have maybe been considered as sort of barbarians. And yet the virtue that they display here is profound, as being the sort that anyone of high Greek virtue would display in these circumstances. Once again, we see God's mercies at, at play here for the sake of Paul and all those who are with him.
They build a fire for them. It's a kind of miserable scene. It's raining. It's cold. Remember, they had been in a storm, so this is why they're crashing on this island. And as they're trying to build this fire, Paul decides to give a hand. He's not above trying to do some work to try to help out, and so he's gathering brushwood, he's, he's throwing it on the fire. And while he's doing that, lo and behold, a viper leaps out of the fire, because it's getting so hot, and bites him.
Now, you gotta look at this and you just think, oh, this is just Paul's luck. He just goes from one thing to the next, escapes from the sea, now he gets bit by a snake. And, and it seems once again, oh, maybe Paul's gonna die. Maybe he's not going to make it to Rome. And in fact, the people of Malta assume that this must be a sign of God's curse against Paul. They know that he's a prisoner, and so when they see the snake bite him, they, they figure, "Well, this guy must be a really bad guy that he came out all this way, he escapes from the ocean, and yet he's gonna get bit by a poisonous snake here." And so they say the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.
Now, Justice was actually personified in a god, an, an, as a goddess known as Dike, a daughter of Zeus. And so quite literally, Justice is not allowing Paul to escape in the eyes of these citizens of Malta. Now, it's interesting because this idea of Paul seeming to be cursed, to in fact be divinely rejected, kind of recalls Jesus for us.
Because when Jesus is hanging on the cross, by all accounts it appears that he's rejected by God, and cries out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" All the people, the religious authorities, think, surely this means that we were right that he was not the Son of God, that he is not the Messiah. Now, in fact, this is all setting up for God to prove in Jesus the, an entirely opposite point, which is, you're gonna do your worst against my son, and yet I'm going to rise him, raise him from the dead. It actually turns to prove that Jesus is exactly who he says he is.
In Isaiah 53, verses four through five, it was said in anticipation of Christ that, "Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."
Now, obviously this, this passage applies specifically to Christ. But as Christians, as those who are following in the way of Christ, as Paul is one who is following the way of Christ, it should be no surprise to us that as we suffer for the cause of Christ, people may sometimes observe that and think, "Well, if anything, you don't seem like you're blessed. It seems like you're cursed for all that you're suffering." But that is because they do not understand the way of Christ.
The way of Christ does not promise us immediate earthly blessings and prosperity in the here and now. There's some people out there that preach that sort of message. "Oh, if you follow Jesus, you're gonna become rich. If you follow Jesus, you'll never get cancer, or you'll be healed of all of your diseases." That's not what, what we find in the New Testament. That's not what we see in Paul. We find in Paul a man who suffers repeatedly again and again. The Christian life is the way of the cross.
Now, what's interesting here though is that we basically have in miniature a story of the Christian life, of the hope that we are assured of in Christ. Because even as Paul seems to be doomed to die, he's been bitten by this snake, we find that in verses five and six It said that he just shakes it off, and they're waiting, they're waiting for him to die, to swell up, but it does not happen. Instead, he is perfectly fine. And so they completely change their tune. They think, they go from thinking this guy is cursed to thinking he's a god, for who could possibly survive that?
We see in Paul a certain paradox, a paradox which kind of characterizes the Christian life. He's a prisoner here. He's suffering all this, and yet he is free. He is free, nothing can touch him. He suffers, but he's unstoppable. Paul kind of summarizes this, this experience of his in the course of his ministry in 2 Corinthians 6:3-10, where he says, "We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way; in great endurance; in troubles, in hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience, and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love.
In truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as, as imposters; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything."
Having nothing, and yet possessing everything. That's Paul's condition. He, he has, he has nothing to really claim for himself in terms of worldly power and position, and yet we see again and again that he truly possesses everything. Paul's status as a prisoner and the situation on the island becomes all the more surreal in what follows next.
Continuing on in verse seven, it says, "There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.
After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island-- it was an Alexandrian ship with a figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. From there, we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. There we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.
The brothers and sisters there 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 people Paul thanked God and was encouraged. When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him."
So we see, as we're still on the island of Malta, that Paul and those with him are in a position where they're really at the mercy of their hosts. They have no supplies of their own. They can provide no shelter for themselves. But again, the people of Malta continue to take care of them, particularly this, this man Publius, who's the chief official of the island. He showed them generous hospitality. And yet Paul finds a way to outgive this man. While he's staying with Publius, he learns that his father is sick. He has fever. He has dysentery. He's under threat of possibly dying from this disease that he's suffering. But rather than him dying, Paul intervenes here and heals him. But not by his own power. It's important for us to recognize this. Paul is not a god. He is only a servant of God. He is a servant of Christ. It says in verse eight that after prayer, after praying, he placed his hands on him and healed him. It is God who heals Publius' father.
This is a sign of the truth of the gospel. It's a sign of the truth that Paul is truly an apostle of Christ, a servant of God. It's a sign of the life which the kingdom brings, that something new is breaking in to the world. The fact that Paul does this is a confirmation of, of his status as, as an apostle, that he is sent by God. We, we think back to Jesus' own ministry, and when he healed the man who was born blind, and the Pharisees were giving the fellow who was healed a very hard time about it 'cause they didn't like where things were going with Jesus.
That man testifies in John 9:31-33, "We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does His will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." And so by the same token, we could say if, if Paul was not from God, if he was just preaching a made-up philosophy, he could not do these things. He has no power in himself. Now, as a result of this healing, the rest of the island comes to him with their sick, and he heals them. And so as a consequence of this, we see in verse 10 that he is honored. They, and they are, they are supplied. Now again, this is just a totally crazy situation that this man who is a prisoner, who should be lowest on the totem pole here in this situation, is in fact the one who is winning favor for the entire ship here on this island.
In many ways, he has become the captain of, of this journey. And in fact, we know that God is the captain because he's directing and, and establishing every step here. So after staying three months there, they do sail for Italy, and they get on an Alexandrian ship. Again, one that was probably carrying grain. The figurehead of the ship are the gods Castor and Pollux. It's a good reminder to us that they're not in Israel anymore, and they're, they're in a very pagan sort of place. But that's where the gospel is going. The gospel is not just for the Jewish people. The gospel is for the world. And so Paul is going to Rome.
Now, as he's working his way there, he encounters other believers. So it's not as though the gospel has awaited, the spread of the gospel has awaited Paul's advance. It's gone ahead of Paul. There's believers in the town of Puteoli. And as Paul approaches Rome and reaches the, the forum, form of Appius and Three Taverns, the believers from Rome actually traveled to meet him. Now this is no small journey. They have to walk, like, over 40 miles to meet him. I mean, would you walk 40 miles to go greet someone and welcome them into their city? It's a high honor they're, they're paying to Paul to welcome him in to the city in this fashion. It has the characteristic of almost being a triumphal sort of entry for Paul.
Now, when Paul sees this, he thanks God. And we can imagine him thinking about, "How in the world did I get here?" You know, thinking about his entire journey. It's all because of God. It's only because of God that he's standing here, and he's finally meeting these believers to, in Rome, whom he had previously written. And so he's encouraged. I mean, any of us would be encouraged in, in that circumstance. And he makes his way to Rome, and in Rome, he's under house arrest, which isn't the worst of circumstances. It could be way worse for, for Paul. He's under house arrest. He has a personal guard, and so he does have some liberty in the situation, and we'll learn a little bit more about his activity in Rome in our last sermon here in Acts next week.
Paul was a prisoner. That's what we have to remember in all this. Paul was a prisoner, he did not have complete liberty, but he was exactly where he was supposed to be. When he had left Ephesus, he had in mind that he should go to Rome. He probably didn't imagine at the time that it would be as a prisoner in these sorts of circumstances, but at the same time, that development did not surprise him. His suffering was foretold on his way to Jerusalem. Hardship was expected. In Acts 23:11, when Paul had been arrested, the Lord came to Paul in his Jerusalem prison cell, telling him, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome." In the midst of this storm in the sea that seemed to have death written all over it, an angel was sent to him repeating this message in Acts 27:24, "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."
And so just as the Lord said, so it happened. Paul made it to Rome to stand trial before Caesar. And through it all, we taste just so much irony. The irony of Paul being in chains and yet being free, of having all this power, this divine power standing behind him, and yet him willingly going to Caesar as a prisoner. This is the Christian condition. The power and authority of Jesus Christ, our King Jesus, stands behind us. Christ is with us, but we follow him in the way of the cross.
Jesus tells us, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." Christ subverts the way of this world, the way of finance, fame, and military strength. He embarrasses these powers by saying, "Go ahead, hit me with your best shot, see if that will defeat me." They crucified him, they killed him, but they couldn't keep him dead. And ever since he walked out of that tomb, the world has not been able to destroy those who belong to Christ. That was our D-Day, and we are still marching on today. Hear Paul's words to the Romans that testify to this confidence which is his and which is ours. Romans 8:35-39, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Yes, we suffer, but we are more than conquerors. More than conquerors because we belong to the one who has already overcome all and who stands victorious. We belong to Jesus. And because we belong to Jesus, our story has been joined to His. This world spins on, but it is marching toward its end. Berlin looms on the horizon. Having turned to Christ, our lot is now thrown in with the armies of heaven. The King is coming. Satan and his cohort will be condemned to torment and destruction, once and for all. Evil shall be wiped off the face of the earth. The dead will be raised, and God is going to make His home here on Earth, to dwell with us in a new creation that will be filled with goodness, justice, and peace, finally and once and for all. This is the Christian hope that stands beyond the cross.
And I remind you of that hope because we will suffer. We will be cast down, but we will not be destroyed. The convoy of Christ is unstoppable. It rolls on and on and on, through every trial, through every hardship, to that day which approaches, Rejoice at, over every victory along the way, just as Paul rejoices. And also don't despair in the face of resistance and loss. Our losses are all temporary. In closing, I charge you to take Paul's words to heart as he speaks to us in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. "Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
Let us pray.
Dear Father, we thank you for the testimony of this passage, because it reminds us that we should have faith in you. That we should have confidence because you have not abandoned us. We can know that you are with us, that Christ is with us, and that even through suffering and hardship, you are working out your purpose. Father, we thank you for the victories that you give us along the way, in the course of the journey, in the course of the calling that you've called each one of us individually and collectively to. Father, we thank you that even in loss, we have no reason to despair, because the decisive battle has already taken place. And we know, we know that we will enjoy an everlasting victory which will appear when Christ returns and makes all things new.
So Father, we pray that until that day comes, that we would persevere as Paul perseveres, that we would share in his faith, that we would share in his hope, and that through us, Father, you might be glorified and that the truth of the gospel may be attested to by what you are doing through us. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we worship God and hear the preaching of his word. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)