Back to the Bible Canada with Dr. John Neufeld - Jesus Goes Global: A Prisoner of Christ: Hearing God in the Storm

Hi, this is Ben Lowell, and this is back to the Bible Canada with Dr. John Newfeld.

Well today we continue our series, Jesus Goes Global, a prisoner of Christ with a message

titled, Hearing God in the Storm.

So turning the Bible to Acts 27, verses 13 to 26, as we joined Dr. Newfeld now.

We all know that the weather changes, you know, maybe calm and sunny and warm and ideal,

but a day will come when the wind blows or the rains beat down and we are, if you are

like me in the northern climb, we can be stuck in a blizzard where the venture route is dangerous.

Now changes in weather are a part of everyone's experience and as we know, this change of

weather is a metaphor for what we often experience in life.

I do like what Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3.1 to 8.

For everything he says, there is a season, then he mentions the things he's talking about.

There's a time to be born and there's a time to die.

I mean, how different are those two events and yet?

That is the lot of every single human being.

And then he speaks further of those different seasons.

There's a time to weep and a time to laugh.

There's a time to seek and there's a time to lose.

There's a time for war and there's a time for peace and the point is that it is madness

to think that the season we are presently enjoying will continue on without interruption

of that calm to a season when the storm rages and everything seems to be lost.

Now most of us do well when the sun is shining and the weather is ideal.

But how to handle it when the storm rages and you can't see the end of it, when we stare

at the possibility of death when we face the undoing of all that we once counted on.

The question I want us to consider is whether you're able to hear God in the storm or whether

you maintain your trust in God when you can't see your way through and all you have is the

promise that God will never leave you or forsake you.

Can that be enough for you?

Now we're studying the last four chapters in the book of Acts and by now Paul's legal

difficulties in Caesarea are over and he's on his way to Rome to stand before Caesar's

tribunal where he will find out whether or not he will be exonerated of any wrongdoing

or judged to be a threat to the empire and then put to death.

We would think that the great drama ahead is the drama of the trial and not that the

drama of the trip is going to be anything at all.

But there is a storm in the meantime and we might say, oh my, there's been storm after

storm for Paul.

You know how Paul had been persecuted in various places, how he'd been unjustly treated

and then as he comes to Jerusalem to help the poor Christians with a gift from their

Gentile brothers and sisters and thus establish links of love between them.

Even there Paul finds himself in a riot unfounded and untrue accusations are made against

him and then he's left to rot in a prison for two years.

I mean, perhaps we might say, well, the Lord's going to bless him now at least he's going

to have a peaceful trip to Rome.

Yeah, we'll undergo trial there, but perhaps he will have his case heard by a just man

and just once in his life, the storm that rages will result in a period of respite and

peace.

And at first it does seem it's going to be that way.

The Centurion who guards him on his voyage to Rome is a man named Julius and he respects

Paul and he treats him very well.

In our last study, we saw that the ship has reached a harbor, it's called Fair Havens,

it's on the island of Crete, but the harbor while sheltered is small and the vessel they

are sailing is large.

Another larger harbor on that same island was just a few hours away.

That was what they felt like they needed.

Even though the weather was iffy by now, they thought they could make it and there they

would comfortably ride out the winter and wait for spring and then carry on their journey

and that's where we left off.

So let's begin to read our section today, it's in Acts 27 verses 13 to 20.

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, but soon a tempestuous wind called

the northeaster struck down from the land and when the ship was caught and could not face

the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along.

Running under the lee of a small island called Cowdub, we managed with difficulty to secure

the ship's boat.

After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship, then fearing that they would

run a ground on Sirthus they lowered the gear and thus were driven along.

Since we were violently stormed tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo

and on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands.

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.

So I start by simply observing that many an ancient sailor never made it home because

the storms that swept across the Mediterranean.

In many cases, what we are reading about here simply ended in the death of everyone.

No one made it home and so as we try to imagine the scene, we should try to imagine it with

all the terror that attended this event.

So let's see if we can imagine what Luke is describing.

Remember he was there when this went down.

The sailors had been at fair havens until they had detected a change in the direction

of the wind and they got what they wanted.

It seemed like things were going their way.

And so when they saw the favorable wind, everyone went to work immediately.

No way of knowing how long those conditions would last, it was about 65 kilometers from

fair havens to the large harbor at Phoenix.

And they would sail straight west about 5 to 6 kilometers until they rounded Cape Malta,

and north for about 20 kilometers all the while hugging the shoreline as close as they

could without getting caught in the rocks.

You don't want a sudden change of wind that drives you out into an open sea where you're

going to surely die.

If everything just remained the same for a few hours, they will have made it.

But then as is often the case, there's a sudden change.

The wind is called a northeaster.

It comes down from the island of Crete.

Those are strong winds.

They're very dangerous.

It goes from calm to a howling gale in a minute.

The world changes and the blink of an eye.

What you feared has now come upon you.

The crew tried to keep the ship as close to the shoreline as they could because they fear

being driven out to sea.

But the force of the wind made it impossible to keep the ship on course.

They were driven south and west and the island of Crete now was further and further away.

They now was becoming quite clear that they had no way of getting two phoenix or even

to getting back to fair havens.

They had their hands full without a plan of where to dock the ship and so survival instincts

kick in as well as panic.

Luke who was there simply says we were driven along.

He means the storm and not the sailors were now in charge and they were going to end

up where the storm was taking them.

But amazingly they find themselves under the shelter of another island albeit a very small

one.

It's called Kouda.

And if you look at it on a map it normally appears as a tiny little dot.

You have to know what you're looking for to find it.

It's about 37 kilometers from Crete.

It's out in the open ocean and somehow by God's grace they managed to steer the ship

into the shelter of that island.

Luke mentions that they could not secure the ship's boat and this boat, it's kind of

a small craft, it's necessary to ferry sailors to shore if they couldn't find a harbor.

They would let down the anchor and then the boat would go back and forth to land until

all the crew was on the land.

Well, they're in danger of losing that boat now.

That would mean that the sailors would be stranded.

But they managed to hoist the boat onto the ship.

It's kind of amazing given that they're fighting a storm at the same time.

Hardly have they done that when they're given a new task.

Pass ropes under the ship to make sure that the hull doesn't break up.

Then the Greek word that Luke uses here is one that we can't interpret with certainty.

The ESV simply says they lowered the gear and that might refer either to the main sail

or it might refer to the anchor.

If it was the anchor you have to assume that they're trying to close to this tiny island

secure the ship hopefully and ride out the storm.

They most certainly don't want to allow the ship to be driven towards the shoreline.

That would be disaster.

But the storm is so strong that the ship is still being driven along and that would mean

well if they're driven out to sea or to the shore they're going to die and so what are

they going to do?

Well, they start to jettison the cargo.

Remember this is an Alexandrian ship and probably they're throwing some of the valuable

grain into the ocean.

Well, they have to.

It's a matter of life and death and now it's the third day and you have to imagine no

one's getting any sleep.

Over tired, afraid, constant terror and still the storm is carrying on.

You don't have to tell them that they're in trouble.

There's not a soul who doesn't understand that.

So now they make a decision.

They will need every hand on deck to throw the tackle overboard and what's that?

I think that refers to the main mast which, you know, its effect is a very large tree.

It's a massive piece of wood, very heavy.

It's needed to sail but it could overturn the vessel in the storm.

In fact, they're throwing the profits overboard and now they're dismantling the essential elements

of the ship and overthrowing that as well.

It's a matter of survival, nothing else matters to save your life.

But there's one more thing that will have to be thrown overboard.

Luke says days passed, sun and moon were not seen.

Storm clouds masked everything and the storm was not abating.

Luke then adds all hope of being saved is now abandoned.

So hope is thrown overboard.

Now the men are simply awaiting death.

They have fought for all their worth but the effort that they've expended has not been

enough.

Death is now at the door.

Now as we're going to see at this moment Paul is about to speak.

He's been hearing from God and you might wonder, I mean how is that possible with so much

chaos going on?

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The Storm Luke describes as not a metaphorical one, it's a real one.

And even in our day, you know, with shipping that so vastly superior to that of the ancient

world, we still know that there are times when ships go down in a fierce storm resulting

in the loss of life.

The ocean has to be respected, it will never be tamed.

But I also have said that sometimes those real storms do provide a metaphor for a number

of life's dangerous experiences.

You know, there's an old hymn that I love, it simply says, on Jordan's story, Bank

Sizedood, and Cast a Whistful Eye, Decaydon's Bright and Fairland where my possessions lie.

Now, I like that hymn because he does remind us as Hebrews does that here we have no abiding

city.

Our possessions are in the heavenly kingdom.

That's where we root down, that's our true home.

This land, the one we're now occupying, this is simply the land of our sojourning.

We have no home here, my possessions are over the Jordan.

But I also like the fact that the side of the Jordan where I now find myself before

I cross over, this side is stormy.

I mean, before we cross, we will face a ferocious wind and it might fill us with dread.

When believers face death, we are not all the recipients, you know, have a chariot

racing down from heaven and souping us up in a moment of joy and taking us to our eternal

home.

Instead, we often hear, well, it's cancer and it's untreatable or it's a tumor or the

car accident has left our loved one in a coma and they're suffering terribly.

Sometimes days pass, sometimes even years pass.

Before we cross the Jordan, the days of storm can seem overwhelming and the situation looks

very much like the storm that Luke describes.

Days have passed and neither sun or moon appears, eventually if we thought that there was

a way through perhaps, you know, a health breakthrough or perhaps a miraculous healing,

but it's not forthcoming.

Eventually all hope is abandoned because we knew that hope to survive this storm was

simply an illusion.

Now, I'm usually very careful not to spiritualize a Bible text and I would be the first to

say that the reason Luke describes this storm is not to introduce the theme that storm

has come into every life.

He's simply describing a storm, but I also know that every bit of scripture is given

for our benefit that we might learn from it, either that we might learn about God or about

his grace or faith or obedience or just to gain a heart of wisdom.

And what do we learn from this storm?

Well, the entire lesson here is that in the middle of it, Paul declares he's heard from

God and that tells us that for Paul the peril that he was in did not interrupt his relationship

with God.

In the end, the thing that Paul saw is that in every situation, God is in the center.

So let's read the rest of our texts in Acts 27, verses 21 to 26, since they had been

without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, man, you should have

listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and occurred this injury and loss yet

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

the ship.

For this very night, there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and

whom I worship 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.

So take heart men for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told,

but we must run a ground on some island.

Well Paul speech begins with, I don't know, it's a bit of what I told you so or I was

right and you were wrong about this thing.

Now look at the trouble that you've gotten yourself into, I mean, sounds like that.

Well, let's try to imagine the scene.

Why is Paul so easily able to speak to the crew of the ship and I have no doubt he's

doing it and they're listening to him because while they worked, hauling up the skiff and

getting the ropes around the hull of the ship and shortening the sail and dropping the

anchor and taking down the main sail, I mean all that sleepless work and filled with

terror.

Paul was an absent from that.

He was right there.

He worked alongside of everyone.

See I have no doubt given all the difficulties Paul had been through in his life that he was

probably very strong and he was not easily panicked.

People would have seen him and felt his willingness to work with him and not immediately fall

apart and they would have come to certain conclusions about him.

And Paul is able to say, I didn't think this trip from Fair Havens to Phoenix was a really

good idea.

But even though I thought it was bad planning, when I got in trouble, I worked alongside

of all of you.

How many of you know people who when things get rough simply clock their tongues rather

than roll up their sleeves?

And so Paul is now telling them, I told you it was a bad idea so that when I now tell

you the next thing, you might listen to me.

I have a clear eyed advice and I think you should listen to me.

The first bit of advice is this.

Take heart.

Back in verse 20, Luke accurately said that our hope of being saved was abandoned.

They had no hope now, but now the man who accurately assessed the situation earlier is going

to accurately assess this situation.

Take heart, have hope.

Don't allow yourself to fall into despair.

Take heart.

Don't you lose courage.

But this is not simply a pep talk.

You can't just tell people to take heart when there's no objective basis for taking

heart.

Before Paul tells them why to take heart, he adds that he knows just as certainly as he

knew that they shouldn't set sail from fair havens, that there is not one person aboard

this ship is going to lose their life.

Now at the outset, that seems impossible.

It's like a plane crash in today's world.

I'm perhaps someone's going to survive, but everyone almost never happens.

And yet here is Paul saying, I got the last thing right and I'm telling you I got this

right as well.

Of course, there are several ways of interpreting that in one way is that this guy has just,

you know, coxure of everything.

He thinks he's never wrong.

I mean, we've all met people like that.

I mean, I have.

And often they're very annoying.

Let me just say it here.

I mean, admittedly, no one's right all the time and we need humility and realism.

But then Paul instead of saying, I'm always right, he tells him why he knows this to be true

right now.

He's not a not a motivational speaker, rather on the very night God, the true one, the

God and Father of Jesus, this God, my God.

He sent an angel to me and he said, for you're not, I've called you to stand before Caesar

and that's what you're going to do.

Now from that, let me make a point.

If God has called us to do something in this life, we're going to do it regardless of

the storms we face.

It's said of Hudson Taylor, then training in England before he went to China and change

the world that he'd been observing and participating in an autopsy in which he had

practiced finger on an instrument that had been used to cut into a dead man who had died

of the plague.

He was told in consequence that he should put his house in order that he was very likely

to die and Taylor responded by saying he was not invulnerable to disease and that God

would call him home at any time, but he also knew this, God had called him to go to China.

See, that's the confidence that I think we can all have.

We will not be done on this earth until the work that God has called us to do is complete.

Now in most of our lives, we might not know what that is, but there is a lesson here.

Paul had been called to testify to the resurrection of Jesus before Caesar in Rome and no storm,

no drought, no disease, no war.

No enemy would prevent that from occurring if God had called it to happen.

And because God had called Paul to that, Paul also knew that because of that, he was

going to show mercy on all of his shipmates.

His mercy was not just to Paul.

He was going to be to everyone and that's called common grace.

God causes the rain and the sun to both bless the believer and the unbeliever.

He's good to all and furthermore, God uses believers to bless the lives of others.

We know that so.

And that we are called upon to care for the poor and the disadvantaged.

Along with that, we're also called upon when our churches meet together, we're called

upon to pray for all men and especially for those who are in positions of authority,

for kings and governors and rulers of any sort.

That is every Christian knows that the good of the human race is our concern.

That's one of the reasons when we, you know, for instance, choose a career, a job.

We choose a career that brings benefit and blessing to the human race.

Whether you're a doctor or a nurse or a builder or a plumber, whether a chef or a farmer

who grows food, Christians choose careers that bless and not those that harm.

How much more so than when Paul says, God has granted that everyone here who sails with

me would have their lives saved because God has a purpose for me.

You know, by framing it that way, Paul is saying, you know, God has called me to something,

but in my calling, I will also pray for you.

So think of it this way.

Not only had God told Paul, look, I'm sending you to Rome and nothing can interrupt that,

but as soon as Paul heard that, he didn't say, great, I'm going to be fine.

The very next thought was, well, Lord, how about these other 275 men on board this ship?

I plead for mercy for them as well.

And since Paul, I have faith in God.

If God promised that, it's going to be done.

So take heart, have courage, be strong, don't throw your hope overboard.

It's an amazing account that we have here, a man who's doing God's business continues

to be concerned for all sorts of others whom he encounters along the way.

He pleads with God for the welfare of all those who are around him, even those who have

never heard of God.

May it be said of every child of God.

Our business, ultimately, is not with the storm.

Our business is with God and to bless those whom God has put into our orbit.

John, let me ask you a short question, if nothing else.

Are we blessed just for our own benefit?

You know, it's such a good question because Abraham is told that obviously the blessing

is going to be on him, but when we read the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12, we know

that through Abraham there's an overflow of that blessing to the whole world.

And that principle surely worked its way out in Paul's life.

He's going to be a standing before Roman tribunal.

God is going to save his life in the storm.

It turns out it's not just for Paul, it's also, I mean, you think about all the other

people that were saved from the storm because of what God had in mind for Paul.

So that tells me that, you know, the blessing of the individual believer's life is not just

meant for the individual, but it's also meant to overflow to those whom that individual

touches.

And I think that's a mandate on our own lives.

We're blessed to be a blessing.

Amen.

Thanks so much, John.

Remember to join us again tomorrow as we continue our series.

Jesus goes global, a prisoner of Christ right here and back to the Bible, Canada, where

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I hope and pray you experience the resurrection of our Lord in a new, meaningful, insightful

way this Easter season.

Remember this stunning truth.

We are sinners, deserving nothing yet given everything because of our Savior.

He took our place on the cross.

And now the tomb is empty, death is defeated, hope is alive, he is risen.