Acts (Part 2) | A Legacy of Faithfulness: Unhindered - Acts 28 | November 30

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I'm reading from the English Standard Version, which seems to be simpler than some of the others.

And imagine, based on what Zach taught us last week, imagine it's Luke speaking to you.

So after we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed

us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold.

When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire,

a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand.

When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand,

they said to one another, No doubt this man is a murderer.

Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.

He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.

They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead,

but when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him,

they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

Now, in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man

of the island named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days.

It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery,

and Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him.

And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had

diseases also came and were cured.

They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail,

they put on board whatever we needed.

After three months, we set sail on a ship that had wintered in the island,

a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead.

Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days, and from there we made

a circuit and arrived at Regium.

And after one day, a south wind sprang up, And on the second day, we came to Petilio.

There we found brothers and we were invited to stay with them for seven days.

And so we came to Rome.

And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of

Appius and three taverns to meet us.

On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.

And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who guarded him.

After three days, he called together the local leaders of the Jews,

and when they had gathered, he said to them, Brothers,

though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers,

yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty because there was

no reason for the death penalty in my case.

But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar,

though I had no charge to bring against my nation.

For this reason, therefore, Therefore I have asked to see you and speak with

you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.

And they said to him, We have received no letters from Judea about you,

and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you.

But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this

sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.

When they had appointed a day for him, they came to hear him at his lodging in greater numbers.

From morning to evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God,

and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the law of Moses and from the prophets.

And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved.

And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement,

The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet,

Go to this people and say, You will indeed hear, but never understand.

You will indeed see, but never perceive.

For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely

hear, and their eyes they have closed,

lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.

Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of

God has been sent to the Gentiles They will listen He lived there two whole

years at his own expense And welcomed all who came to him Proclaiming the kingdom

of God And teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ With all boldness and without hindrance Amen,

That was so cute.

Well we have arrived at the end of the book of acts and as my boss said in a

meeting a couple weeks ago quoting the book of ecclesiastes the end of the thing

is better than the beginning,

and hopefully he meant the end of the year rather than the end of the business

because that would not be very good.

And we are arriving at the end of Acts, chapter 28. This is the end of the year.

Acts 28 · chapter mention

So a lot of things culminating here at once. I pray that this meets us today

as greater or better as we are more receptive to what God has to say to us through these words.

But we've journeyed far, not just in distance with those in Acts,

but also in these stories and over the last several months.

And we started all the way back, right, with the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Well, we started before that with Jesus, but that's the kind of the culmination.

It's the mission statement of the entire book that you will receive power and

you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria and to the

ends of the earth. And that's what pans out.

That's what unfolds over the next 26 chapters is the story of these faithful

witnesses. It's the legacy of their faithfulness, the legacy of their courage.

And I promised I wasn't going to talk about courage last week.

And I will mostly, mostly agree to that promise with the occasional little mentions.

But it's the legacy of their faithfulness and courage played out as they are

witnesses empowered by the Spirit of God over these 28 chapters.

And likewise, I'm not going to talk about courage. I'm also not going to paint

another picture because that went pretty well and I don't want to jinx it or

like tempt it anymore It's not going to get better than that.

Ellie gave me an a-plus I'll accept it. So I'm not going to paint another picture

That's not what this is about but,

I do want to ask a question that will carry us through the rest of our time.

A question we could have asked 30 weeks ago, 40 weeks ago, whatever it was.

I know we took a little bit of a break.

The question is, why is it called the Book of Acts?

And easily we could have started this question. Obviously, sometimes there's a longer title, right?

Sometimes it's called the Acts of the Holy Spirit.

A little more rarely you'll encounter this idea, which is fitting.

It's what the Holy Spirit does through people. It's not the title that I am

as favorable for at this current moment in my life.

Perhaps that will change. But most commonly, we might see it referred to as

the Acts of the Apostles, right?

Depending on your translation, what resource you're using, it might expand it

and call it the Acts of the Apostles.

So why is it called this and not something else?

It's interesting why books of the Bible are called the things that they are.

And sometimes our English translations don't do them justice.

Like the book of Numbers, I think, right?

That's a horrible title in English. But the Hebrew title is something like Through the Wilderness.

Like that's a great title. That's way more exciting than a bunch of numbers.

So sometimes we get it wrong. But Acts of the Apostles is one of those that it seems fitting.

Why don't we call it something else? Why don't we call it the obstacles of the apostles?

Certainly there are a lot of obstacles in this book. Why don't we call it the

problems of the apostles?

It seems like all they do is encounter one problem after another,

especially in these last chapters, Paul is arrested over and over again.

Why don't we call it the sufferings of the apostles?

Why do we call it the acts of the apostles and not something else?

And I suppose the obvious answer is that it's because it's, it's not about what got in the way.

This story and these stories are not about what gets in the way of the witness or of the gospel.

It's really about what they did as they overcame these obstacles,

as they overcame these problems, as they overcame these sufferings.

It's what they did in the face of such trials.

And it's called the Acts of the Apostles because, as we mentioned earlier,

it's what the Holy Spirit does, how he acts through his people.

This mission that advances despite opposition, despite persecution,

despite all of these other things that we encountered along the way.

And we're here as the church, the legacy that was writ all these many years

ago, that continues on with us.

We are here to celebrate this community of believers that gathered together

at first and that overcame all of these hindrances, which that will become an

important word as we get towards the end of our time together, hindrances.

It's a word that I really love in this chapter.

So this legacy of faithfulness, this legacy of courage in the face of insurmountable

sufferings, insurmountable circumstances, it's what this is going to be oversimplified.

And this is not my definition of acts, but to oversimplify it so that we can

look at it more deeply in a minute.

It's what they did as they encountered these trials and these sufferings.

Listen to the words of Paul as he writes in 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians,

for those of you who've been around for a while.

I invite you in the awkward moment as you can to close your eyes as I read these words.

So that we can at least attempt to envision what Paul is writing in this,

in this passage. This is chapter 11.

Isaiah 11 · chapter mention

He says, five times I received at the hands of the Jews, the 40 lashes less one.

Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked.

A night and a day, I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys and danger from

rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people.

Danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness.

Danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship,

through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all of the churches.

Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to fall and I am not indignant?

If I boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness." And then in chapter

12, he continues that thought, "...therefore I will boast all the more gladly

of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content.

I am content with weaknesses, I am content with insults, hardships,

persecutions, and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong." You can

open your eyes if you haven't already.

Paul's life is full of just one thing after the next, isn't it?

Who has been shipwrecked? Laurie and Andy, maybe.

Other of us? Probably not.

Who has been beaten with rods? Whatever that means or looks like.

Who has been stoned? Don't answer that question. With rocks.

And he says that he suffers these weaknesses.

And yet the book of Acts is not called the weaknesses of the apostles.

He says that he suffers these insults, and yet the stories full of insults they

may be are not called the insults of the apostles.

He says that he has suffered hardships, and he has, one after the other.

He is, I don't know if, I didn't count how many times he uses the word danger

in this translation, but danger across the board, danger in the city,

danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers.

These are the hardships of Paul and the hardships of the apostles,

yet it's not titled that.

Persecutions that he suffers at the hands of the Jews, at the hands of the Romans, and the calamities.

And yet this book isn't called The Calamities of the Apostles,

although that would be a pretty cool name. It's like a Marvel movie or something.

There is a Zelda movie, yeah, right? Our kids are into Zelda right now, I guess.

While all of these calamities, to borrow Paul's word or to borrow our English

translation, they all play a role.

They're all featured along the way.

It's not called that because they're not the hero of the story.

They're not the star. These are just plot tools, character forming events that push the story along.

They're important, they're integral, but they're not the story themselves.

They serve to further the development. They serve as a supporting actor.

And I don't mean to say that these are stories that are made up.

What I simply mean is that they are not what it's about.

They play such an important role

and they're indispensable to the story itself, but it's not the story.

The story is not the calamities of Paul. They're not the hardships or the dangers.

Dangers of the apostles would be pretty cool too as a title.

And so what Paul writes is that he is content that he rejoices in these,

that he's excited by them in a way because he knows that through them,

he will witness the power of Christ in his life.

That for Christ's sake,

he is content knowing that the hardships and calamity are not the story,

but what they will bring about is the power that God has promised overcome and to be his witness.

Are you content with weakness in your life? And I don't mean sin.

And I don't mean foolishness.

Those things are, those are things we shouldn't be content with in our life to be sure.

But are we content with weakness? Each of us has limitations.

We all have deficiencies. We all have disabilities, if you will,

or circumstantial adversity, illness, whatever it may be, we all have it in some way or form.

We all have weakness. Are we content with our weakness?

Like Paul was content.

Paul says he is content and God has given it to him for joy.

That's what he proclaims with his life and his words, because the reality that

we look at is the more aware you are of your weakness,

the more aware you are of your need for God's grace, the more humble,

the more prayerful, the more thankful, the more patient, the more gracious and

content and joyful you will be.

And when we are most aware, the point when we are most aware of God's grace

is the point that we most recognize our weakness.

We've just left a season of thankfulness, a holiday for thankfulness.

We enter into a season of expectation, celebrate the coming of Jesus and looking forward to his return.

The most aware we will ever be of the presence of God is as we live in our weakness,

as his strength is displayed more and more through our weakness.

And it's this message that we often forget in the book of Acts.

It's perhaps the message that is most easily overshadowed because what we do

is we see it and we get all the weakness in other chapters and other books.

But in Acts, we see it in some people, and maybe you are one of them.

We look at it and we just think we should be more like the early church.

We should be a first century church in this age. We should live like them.

We should emulate them. We should look up to them.

These were simpler times that I wish we could get back to. Perhaps you've had

that thought or you've heard that thought before.

But wasn't the early church full of hardship?

Wasn't the early church full of strife? Certainly there are things to be borrowed

and certain things to be emulated. But.

But again, it's not called the hindrances of the apostles.

It's not called the strife of the apostles. And all of these things show up in the early church.

And we're already so much like them in so many ways, in hardship, in difficulty.

We suffer like them. We suffer as we elevate some and we demonize others.

We act just like these believers, even though we could look at them and say,

I want to be like that. and what we are in our modern context, we're the problem.

And we have to break this myth, our idealization of the first century church

in some ways because they weren't perfect.

And these words are not in here that we would copy them.

You will find no complete handbook on how to be a church in the book of Acts

nor in the Bible as a whole.

You'll get instructions from time to time, but you will find no complete manual

of this is how they did it and this is how we should do it.

Because it's not there for us to replicate accurately the churches of Acts.

And while the apostles suffered all of these things we talked about externally.

Hardships, persecution, beatings, riots, imprisonment, they suffered just as

much internally as well.

They suffered all of these troubles and moral failures. And yet it's not called

the troubles of the apostles as they dealt with early believers.

And they suffered self-indulgences of their people.

They self-suffered distresses. And yes, it's not called the distresses of the

apostles as they discipled people from whatever religion they were of before,

whether it be Jewish or Gentile or what have you.

It's not about the internal conflicts that we know that they face and that are

stands prominently in other books of the Bible.

These are all the things that we suffered today and that they suffered then.

And I hope this point hasn't been overlooked as we've gone through the book

of Acts, that these are the acts of ordinary people who faced extraordinary circumstances,

ordinary people who have been filled with the spirit of God and move forward.

And so as ordinary people, they face all of these things as well in this journey

of the Holy Spirit through them.

Ordinary men and women in extraordinary circumstances led by the Spirit of God,

unafraid of weakness, unhindered in mission, as God works, goes forth through

the world, unstoppable.

This story becomes their pattern, it becomes our pattern as well.

When their weakness meets God's Spirit, we find the impact on the nations.

They were unafraid of weakness.

Another way of saying it is that this legacy of faithfulness and courage is

one of faithful witness stepping out even in their weaknesses as they're led along by the Spirit.

And so Luke in this book celebrates these actions, he celebrates these events,

he celebrates these stories, not the obstacles.

And one pastor challenges us to reflect and test ourselves.

When you read of Paul's lashings, when you read of his beatings and imprisonments,

shipwrecks, danger, hunger, exposure, mind-blowing revelations,

what are you tempted to think?

Are you tempted to think that this man had faith, he had guts,

he had endurance, he had courage, he had a work ethic second to none?

And then we look at ourselves and say, I'm a sorry excuse for a Christian compared to him.

And if we are tempted to think that, then we fall into the very thing that Paul was trying to avoid,

to look away from the cross of Christ and the sufficiency of his grace and to

look to our own achievements, our own justification, that our own fallen nature craves self-glory.

We are glory thieves, if you will.

We love this idea of superheroes in our culture because we want to be one.

We want people to rejoice over our successes and forget about our weaknesses,

forget about our failures.

We want to keep those hidden. And since there are people who achieve remarkable

things, they earn their favor amongst people, we think the same thing with God,

that we can earn our favor with God if we just live an impressive life.

And that's why we really could refer to this book in such a way as like the

opposition of the apostles.

Because what a great way to emphasize the incredible feats that they did by

looking at the odds they had to overcome.

We talked about the persecution, but there's also the signs and the suffering

of the apostles that we see through this.

And we wouldn't be wrong because the failures and the hardships aren't hidden in this book.

They are integral. They are exposed to light that all might see and act accordingly.

And that's why it's called Acts.

Because the weaknesses aren't hidden, because the Spirit plays the prominent

role, because it's not our justification or actions.

This word acts while we have a definition from it.

It's not far off. It flows from a Greek word praxis, which also we can understand

because we have that idea in our own language.

It's the faith of these early believers put into practice. It is the practical

application of what they knew to be true and therefore hung their lives upon and depended upon.

That Jesus is alive and that he changes everything.

And it could have been easily called the doings of the apostles.

Although I believe that that would have sold it short.

Although that's probably how we understand the word most often acts as the doings

of the apostles. I think that misses the point though. It's not just a doing.

It is a mode of action, which is at the heart of what that word praxis means.

A mode of acting, a way of acting.

In Romans chapter eight, Paul puts this into contrast when he writes these words.

So then brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according

to the flesh, because if you live according to the flesh, you're going to die.

But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,

you will live." And so there's this mode of acting, one that is fleshly,

a mode of acting that is fleshly and has its characteristics and has its results.

And there's a mode of acting that is governed by the spirit and bears the fruits of righteousness.

And this is why I'm more inclined to the title, The Acts of the Apostles,

because the Spirit is always acting in accordance with who the Spirit is,

but it is the mode of action of these redeemed believers that has transformed

and changed as they shift in

these courageous and faithful moments as they're led by the Spirit of God.

It's this new mode of action that they entered into that Paul continues to write

in this in this chapter, for all those who are led by God's Spirit are God's sons.

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear.

Instead, you have received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father.

The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children.

And if children also heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,

if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing

with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

And now these words are very theologically rich.

And so we have no time to dive into the depths of them for sure,

but suffering as it is brought up, we have this phrase that he uses.

If indeed we suffer with him, we will be glorified with him.

Almost as if We won't find eternity with Christ if we don't suffer with Christ,

almost as if it is a condition.

And we find these words of God throughout the scriptures in different ways.

But if we just look at that idea of praxis, of acts, of a mode of acting,

and we continue this thought, knowing that there's a lot more here.

Suffering is a promise, a guarantee. And when we encounter suffering,

whether it be internal, external, whether it be persecution or just simply life

outside of Eden, when we encounter these moments, we can either,

by enter into our mode of acting that is fleshly,

ruled by the flesh, which results in fear and slavery, or we can walk out of

a mode of acting that is ruled by the spirit and that leads to glory in Christ.

And these are the stories. These are the circumstances that invite the choice,

but the modes of acting are the things that prove the choice.

Sufferings and hardships invite that question. They invite the ability for us

to choose which mode we are going to act out of.

But it is these acts that provide, improve the choice to be led by the spirit

and faithfulness as a witness, which is kind of interesting that this isn't

called the witness of the apostles.

After all, that's the thesis verse at the beginning of the book.

That's why we're here. Paul is supposed to be a witness before Caesar.

And yet in this chapter, the surprising conclusion is that as far as it is written,

Paul never finds himself before Caesar.

It ends before that moment, or perhaps it glosses over it and doesn't even mention it.

We find Paul in Rome at the end of this chapter with seemingly no conclusion.

I do love these last words though. These last sentences for the next two years,

Paul lived in Rome at his own expense.

He welcomed all who visited him, boldly proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching

about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.

Presumably within these two years, he had an audience in Caesar's court,

or perhaps the story is that his accusers never showed up.

And so some statue of limitations was met and he went on his way after two years.

But it seems like all of these seem like important details for Luke to have mentioned in some way.

We know that nothing in the Bible is done without purpose, without intention.

So it seems like these are important details to have left out.

But maybe it's because the point of the book of Acts, the point of this chapter

is not the trial. It's not Caesar even.

God is persuaded very little by status and title and authority on this earth.

So maybe Caesar isn't even the point of the story.

It's the unstoppable spread of the gospel. as we know that whether Caesar hears

or doesn't, we know that all of the palace guard heard.

We know that Paul was essentially chained to a guard for these two years,

that every single one of those guards, as they switched shifts, heard the gospel.

We know that slaves within Caesar's household became Christians as a result

of his presence here in Rome.

We know that what was began at the beginning was finished here at the end,

that the gospel went out to the ends of the earth, that it goes out unhindered.

I love this, the way the ESV puts it as Terry read it.

This last verse, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord

Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

After 28 chapters of imprisonment, storms, threats, crowds, shipwrecks,

snakes, courts, councils, confusion.

Wouldn't you have liked this sermon to be about handling snakes?

In this chapter, the final verdict is that the gospel was unhindered,

that it couldn't be stopped.

Despite everything, the gospel advances without hindrance.

As I said, nothing happens in the Bible without thought and the invitation for

us to pay attention and to look closely.

And many scholars argue that the end of Acts is intentional and purposeful, not accidental.

That Luke's gospel was never about the life and death of Paul,

but to show the successful and unhindered spread of the gospel from Jerusalem

to the heart of the Roman Empire, to Rome itself, to the ends of the earth.

The story of the church's mission they argue is meant to continue through the

reader's action in its own time.

That the ending is open because you are supposed to write the next chapter with

your life, with the life of this church.

That Jesus chose ordinary men who faced extraordinary circumstances,

and he has chosen you as well.

And so now it's up to us. It's up to you to continue the story.

And we think of this word praxis.

When we think of the title, The Acts of the Apostles, maybe a better title that

Luke was trying to get at is The Acts of You, which doesn't make grammatical sense. I got it.

What are you going to continue? What is going to be the story of the spirit applied to your life?

The practical application of the spirit. What will God do through you in your weakness?

What will God do through you in your workplace, in your suffering,

in your family, in your disappointments?

The point is not what stands in the way. The point is whether you walk in the

spirit anyway, whether your mode of action in the spirit will take you through.

And so this is a legacy of faithfulness, a legacy of courage.

Last time I'll mention that word, probably.

A legacy built one challenge at a time, one act of obedience at a time,

one gospel conversation at a time, one step of faith at a time.

And the question for your life is, will the gospel be unhindered because of

you, or will it be unhindered in spite of you?

Because God's promise is that His word will go out and that His name will be

great among the nations.

So that is going to happen, either because of you or in spite of you.

And so will the gospel go out unhindered because of you or in spite of you?

Jesus uses ordinary people. He still does that to this day.

And so these last sentences, these last chapters of Acts are still being written in our lives.

God is still overcoming obstacles.

The spirit is still empowering witness. The mission is still advancing.

Now it's your turn to write the next chapter. Will you live unhindered?

Will the gospel live unhindered in your life? Let's pray.

God, your name will be great among the nations. We sang at the beginning, let incense arise.

You said in your words that everywhere, incense will be offered in your name,

in a pure offering because your name will be great among the nations.

And that is what the book of Acts has been all about.

The faithful witness of these early believers empowered by your spirit,

making your name great among the nations.

And the call here is for us to pick up where the story is left off,

leaving this legacy of faithfulness that spans generations.

We are the result. We are the fruit of the faithfulness of this early generation.

And what will be the fruit of our faithfulness 10, 50, 100 years from now?

Lord, help us to live lives as your witnesses powered by your spirit.

Are unhindered.

Help us to be unafraid of weakness.

I feel like that's something that holds us back so often. These are stories of weakness.

These are stories of acting in your spirit despite weakness.

Lord, that we would be content and joyful at every persecution,

at every hardship, at every trouble, at every calamity,

knowing that we can experience your presence here with us, all the more greatly

when we recognize our need for you, when we are humble before you,

when we are thankful for all that you have for us.

We are thankful for all that you've done for us.

May we live in your presence continually.

I pray that we are so transformed by the reality of who you are,

and the reality of this belief, this message,

that Jesus is alive and that he transforms, he changes everything.

I pray that we would live in that this season and for the rest of our lives,

Jesus, as your gospel moves out unhindered by any obstacle.