Out to Sea
Paul was still under arrest, so he was a prisoner, and had been a prisoner for at least two years. He had appealed to Caesar, so Festus said that to Caesar he would go. It appears that Luke joined them for this journey, as he was the one narrating the events that unfolded, and he said that he was part of this journey. They were off to Italy. Paul and some other prisoners, Luke said, were handed over to a centurion named Julius, and then they put out to sea. They landed in Sidon, and from there they put out to sea again. The westerly winds were against them, so they sailed north, on the eastern side of Cyprus, an island, to protect them from the winds. Then, at Myra and Lycia they changed ships. They found one that was sailing for Italy and they boarded that ship and continued their course.
On the ship to Italy and back at sea, the winds were so strong that they did not permit the sailors and ship to hold to their course, so they moved along the coast with great difficulty. Luke recorded that they came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea, that much time had been lost, and that sailing had already become dangerous. Luke said that Paul, thus, warned the sailors that the voyage was going to be disastrous and would bring loss to the ship, cargo and even to human lives. Yet, Luke said, the centurion did not listen to Paul, but he followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. Reading that statement reminded me of the story of the Titanic, at least a movie version I had seen of it some years ago (not recommended due to inappropriate content) where advice was not heeded and it cost the loss of ship and many human lives.
So, going against good advice, the ship’s centurion continued course and the ship and crew ended up facing hurricane force winds called a “northeaster.” The ship was caught by the storm. It could not head into the wind, so they gave way to the winds and were driven along by the winds. They, thus, took a violent beating from the storm. The next day they began to throw cargo overboard, I assume to lighten their load. For many days they did not see the light of the sun by day or the light of the stars by night, so they despaired of life and gave up hope of being saved. The men went a long time without food. Then, Paul told them that they should have taken his advice not to sail from Crete. He told them, if they had heeded his counsel, they would have spared themselves the damage and loss.
The Encouragement
Acts 27:22-44: Paul continued: But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. 23 Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me 24 and 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.’ 25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. 26 Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”My Understanding: As I considered this passage of scripture prayerfully before the Lord concerning its practical application to our daily lives, I saw that it presented us with an unintentional allegory of sorts. The ship can represent the institutional church. I see two classifications of people on this ship – the prisoners and the free men. As well, in the institutional church there are two classifications of people – those still in bondage to sin (prisoners of sin) and those who are free (those who have been set free from slavery to sin via Jesus’ shed blood on the cross for our sins and via the repentant faith of the believer). Jesus told us that, as believers in Jesus Christ and as human beings living on the face of this earth (the sea), we would face trials of many kinds (the winds and waves against us). And, these trials, though used of God to strengthen us, if we will let them, can often become hindrances to our faith (our course) if we give in to them and we let them overtake us.
The Shipwreck
27 On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. 28 They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. 29 Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. 30 In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31 Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it fall away.
33 Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. 34 Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” 35 After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. 36 They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. 37 Altogether there were 276 of us on board. 38 When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.
39 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. 40 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. 41 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.
42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. 43 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. 44 The rest were to get there on planks or on pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land in safety.
When we give in to temptation and sin, which is often the result of yielding to our trials and allowing them to get us off course, much time can be lost in our lives in being effective servants and witnesses for Jesus Christ. Our lives can even reach a point of being dangerously close to truly falling away from our Lord in rebellion against our God because we have not heeded the wise counsel of scripture, and we have decided to go our own way and to follow our own course of action against the wise and godly counsel of scripture. Yet, God continues to warn us through his word and through his messengers against continuing on our own course and against following our own flesh by yielding to the temptations presented us when we give in to the world (the sea) and we allow it to take control of our lives. Sometimes the problem lies in listening to the counsel of worldly men, even in the church, who don’t have the mind of Christ, and who would lead us in the wrong direction. And, sadly enough, the innocent will be affected by our wrong decisions, as well.
When we yield to our circumstances and we allow them to overtake us and to get us off course in our walks with the Lord Jesus, and we allow this earthly life and the world to consume us – our time, attention, thoughts, behaviors and attitudes, these wrong decisions not only lead us to disastrous results that impact our lives and those around us, in particular those closest to us, but they remove from our lives the light of Christ and the light of his love and his gospel, so that we end up walking in darkness and we cannot see the light because we are consumed by the darkness. And, it is in these moments of darkness that we may despair of life and give up all hope of being saved and of having eternal salvation with our Lord Jesus because we choose to give in to the world and to allow it to carry us along instead of listening to the wise counsel of God’s words and to follow the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ with our lives. We give up hope because our hope is in the wrong things – men and the things of this world that will perish. If our hope is properly placed in the Lord and eternal matters, then hope should not be lost.
So, God is offering to us words of hope and encouragement, even if we have gotten off course and even if we have given into the world and the flesh for a long period of time without the light of Christ shining in and through us. We may have to suffer the natural consequences for our sins, yet God will be with us and will spare our lives for eternity if we repent now of our sins and turn to walk in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ and to his will for our lives. As well, we may have to face judgments of God on the church because the church (the ship and its leaders) have not listened to God and have continued in following the course of men and the ways of this world. Yet, God is saying to us that even there that he will be with us if we now choose to put our hope and trust in him completely. He will see us through whatever comes our way to the ultimate destiny of our eternal salvation with him and to victory over sin if we will just hold on to the right things, i.e. holding onto Christ Jesus and his gospel.
When these natural consequences for our sins face us, and/or when the judgments of God come upon the church because the church has gotten off course and has not listened to God’s counsel, don’t think that God will necessarily provide a way of escape for us from those consequences and/or judgments, because they may be what is necessary to get us back into right relationships with God/Jesus Christ, and they may be what we need, as the church, to spur us on to getting back on the right course with God. God knows what we need. So, we should not resist his discipline on us, his children, but should allow him to teach us through whatever he brings our way. And, then God will restore us to a right relationship with him, i.e. he will offer us the spiritual food we need to survive what lies ahead.
The Lord gave me this song as a prayer to him, which I have often sung back to him in prayer. I pray that this would be the prayer of your heart today, too.
My Prayer / An Original Work / May 30, 2011
“Fill me with Your Spirit; help me to love others;
Let me know Your power; be an overcomer.
Show me how to follow Jesus Christ, my Savior;
Be His faithful servant to obey Him always.
“Lead me with Your presence; help me know the right way;
Teach me love and kindness, generous compassion.
Give me grace and courage to be Jesus’ witness,
Teaching His salvation to a world who needs Him.”
Won’t you come and follow Jesus Christ, your Savior?
He died so you’d be free of control of your sin;
Free to follow His ways in complete surrender;
Living sacrifices – let His grace transform you.
Song Lyrics @ Public Domain
Audio, song lyrics and sheet music:
https://sites.google.com/site/psalmshymnssongs/home/songs/my-prayer
Song on video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4hFxxfJ8DA
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