Sermon Transcript
And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius. Since much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because even the fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives. But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. 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. Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo, and on the 3rd 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. 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. 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 aground on some island. 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. Shore.
The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners lest any should swim away and escape. 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, and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to the land.
There aren’t very many guarantees in life, but one universal constant shared by all people regardless of age or income or nationality or religion is at least occasionally we will face some challenges, some heartache, some trouble. Life is going to be hard at least sometimes. And maybe all the time. Now, there are some religions that claim they can keep you safe from the pains of this world. And there are even some people who twist the message of Christianity, saying if you trust Jesus, then Jesus will keep you safe from disease and injury and bless you with prosperity and wealth.
What I can tell you is we definitely do not see that in Scripture because, among a number of other reasons, the people in Scripture, even those closest to Jesus, faced a lot of trouble themselves. And if Jesus had actually been offering to keep His followers safe from harm and bless them with financial prosperity, you’d think the people closest to him would have been able to take advantage of that offer. But the people who followed Jesus first still dealt with a lot of pain and a lot of difficulty. So, there’s really no way out of it. We’re going to have hardships.
We will never get rid of them completely. There are some principles, however, that can help stabilize us when we are in a difficult or painful season. Because let’s face it, when we’re really getting squeezed, sometimes it can lead to a bigger existential crisis of sorts. We can kind of unravel our belief in God can be shaken. Like, if I’m in this much pain, God must not be real.
Or we can start to have self-doubts like, oh, I’ve irreparably messed up my life. How could I have done this? What does anything even matter anymore? It’s hopeless, right? There are times we can kind of spiral to places that are really unhealthy, and those actually only make our situation worse.
So that’s one reason why the narratives of suffering or difficult times in Scripture are so important. They ground us. They give us a framework to process our own challenges. They can keep us from that spiral that we might face when we have our inevitable struggles. So, in today’s text, the Apostle Paul is in a shipwreck.
Literally, he’s on a boat in a fierce storm and the boat busts all apart and then they need to float or swim to shore. Before he got on the boat, he had been arrested in Jerusalem for talking about Jesus, but rather than being tried exclusively in those local courts, Paul appealed to to Caesar, and therefore he needed to be transferred to Rome. So the officials put him on a ship with a bunch of other prisoners under the custody of Roman soldiers, and they all set sail. Just pause here for a second. You’d think if belief in Jesus would keep you away from peril, then you would think Paul of all people should have had a nice little respite cruise where everything went perfectly fine and he saw beautiful sunsets.
But that’s not what happened. Back to the story. Because of the time of year, there was a potential that the weather might become a problem. The sailors knew that, but none of the sailors expected the severity of the storm that they eventually encountered. And the situation became so dire They jettison all the cargo off the ship, and simply staying afloat requires so much effort, they basically don’t eat for 2 weeks.
Then Luke records in verse 20, he says, all hope of our being saved was abandoned. In other words, it couldn’t get worse. I don’t know what difficulties you faced in the past or what lies in your near future, and likely none of us will be in a literal shipwreck, but many of us will face a season when all hope is gone, when it seems like it couldn’t get worse. And when we get there, the account of Paul’s shipwreck can help us. Studying today his will give us 3 lights in our darkness.
It will give us 3 ways to anchor ourselves when we are being tossed and turned around. So, they are, we have a role to play, God’s plan has not failed, and suffering does not equal abandonment. We have a role to play, God’s plan has not failed, and suffering does not equal abandonment. So first, we have a role to play, especially among Christians. You’ve probably heard this, we can sometimes get the idea when difficulties arise, oh, oh, God will just take care of everything.
We can kind of lay down and let whatever may be, may be, instead of doing the work that needs to be done. This is not known as the Jesus take the wheel strategy or the let go and let God. It’s not really true. With all due respect to Carrie Underwood for her 2005 hit single, it’s not quite how life works. I’m not knocking the song, Carrie Underwood fans, you don’t have to protest.
It’s a great song, I like the song. It’s about a mother driving on a rainy road and she starts to spin out, so she throws up a prayer and then the kid is safe and so she starts to realize, oh, I need to live my life right. And if that’s what we mean by Jesus, take the wheel, then awesome. So, I’m not knocking the song. I’m knocking the philosophy that’s derived from the song or maybe just tweaking it a little because what we often mean when we say, Jesus, take the wheel, or, let go and let God, is that we don’t have a role to whatsoever.
Like, if I am struggling in my marriage or in my job or in my health, I don’t really need to put in any effort. I can just go take a nap in the park and it will all fall into place. And that is not really the way it works. Look at what Paul says here in the midst of this terrible storm. The ship is on the verge of busting apart.
They are lashing straps around the hull to try to keep it together. There’s no break in the storm. They’ve given up all hope. And then Paul has some kind of vision. An angel appears to him and says, one, Paul, you must stand trial before Caesar.
So good news, you’re gonna live. And 2, everyone who is sailing with you is also going to live. Oh, fantastic! Now, the situation hasn’t changed. The storm is still there, fierce as ever, but new information has arrived.
God has promised everyone is going to live. So Paul, after having this vision, I’m sure with a newfound confidence, turns and speaks to the crew. He says, verse 25, so take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as he has promised. As I have been told. He says, hey everyone, hey, listen guys, relax, we’re gonna live, we can have hope, I have heard from God.
But then this is when you would expect him to break out in a chorus of Jesus Take the Wheel, right? You would expect him to say God says we’re gonna live, So, everyone be as you are. Just let the mainsail go. The wind will take us exactly where we need to be. We can let go and let God.
But that’s not what he says. It’s a little perplexing. He says we’re all going to be okay exactly as God has promised, but But verse 26, or nevertheless, we must run aground on some island. We must run aground. We must.
We have a role to play. Like what? If we’re all going to be okay, then we don’t have to do anything, right? If God has promised, then regardless of what we do, it will all turn out the same, right? Wrong.
That’s not the way it works. Action is required. Part of God’s plan is our actions. Or we could say it like this: God’s plan includes our actions. That theme runs all the way through Scripture.
God tells Joshua before they approach Jericho, Joshua chapter 6, God says, I have delivered Jericho into your hands. Now march around the city.
Why? If you have delivered them into our hands, then why do we need to march around the city? Because part of God’s plan is our actions. When Nehemiah is building the wall— remember our Nehemiah series we started in January? We went through the entire book of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah is rebuilding the wall around the city. But this angry mob is on the way to attack them as they build. So Nehemiah divided his crew between wall builders and wall defenders, and he tells one group, chapter 4, verse 20, if you hear the sound of a trumpet, come over to where we are because we’re gonna need your help. Like, they’re coming to attack us, we’ll blow the help whistle and you’ll come. That makes sense, right?
But then the next words out of his mouth are, our God will fight for us.
Really? Well, if God is going to fight for us, then I don’t think we need to come to your aid when we hear the trumpet blast. God will just take care of it if he’s the one who’s fighting for us.
No, that’s not the way it works because part of God’s plan is our actions. Philippians 2:12, Paul writes, work out your salvation with fear and trembling because it’s God who works in you. Well, if God’s working in me, then I don’t need to work out my own salvation.
No, because part of God’s plan is our actions. We see the same principle over and over and over again. Again. God is absolutely sovereign. Everything that happens happens according to him.
From him, through him, and to him are all things, Romans 11:36. At the same time, humans are responsible for our actions and we have a role to play. In our minds, those might seem contradictory. We think if God is really sovereign, then our actions aren’t even our actions. What we do is determined by him, not us.
If, on the other hand, we make real decisions, we have a real choice, if we have a real role to play, then God isn’t really in charge. Like, the outcome isn’t really in His hands because we could take it away. So, He must not really be sovereign. That’s what we think. But in Scripture, we see both of those principles at the same time and often in the same verse like we do here in Acts 27.
God is sovereign. Everything is up to Him, everything, and we must play our part. If that apparent contradiction troubles you, the most helpful metaphor I have heard comes from J.I. Packer in his little book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. Packer compares the apparent contradiction of divine sovereignty and human responsibility to the apparent contradiction in the study of light.
He says, there is cogent evidence to show that light consists of waves and equally cogent evidence to show that it consists of particles. Particles. It is not apparent how light can be both waves and particles, but the evidence is there. So neither view can be ruled out in favor of the other. Neither, however, can be reduced or explained in terms of the other.
The 2 seemingly incompatible positions must be held together and must both be treated as true. Such a necessity scandalizes our tiny minds, no doubt, but there is no help for it if we are to be loyal to the facts. Now, Packer wrote that in 1961, but from what I understand, at least, I don’t have a degree in quantum theory, it hasn’t really been answered in the last 60 years. People who study light just accept it, that if they look at it one way, it’s particles. If they look at it another way, it’s waves.
And that’s the way it is with divine sovereignty and human responsibility. God is really in charge. Everything really is up to Him. And at the same time, we have a role to play. We can’t just let go and let God.
That’s not the way it works. Okay, so the second anchor which the account of the shipwreck provides us when we face our own difficulties: God’s plan has not failed. God’s plan has not failed. When the tough times come, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard as a pastor something like, My life is ruined. There’s no way I can get back on track.
Either I have made some kind of mistake or someone else has done something or circumstances, and now my life is just messed up. Like, this couldn’t have been the plan for my life. I’ve been derailed from what ought to be. Maybe I’ve missed God’s will for my life. It’s almost like a shame in some instances or this self-blame.
Like, the difficult circumstances mean that God won’t fulfill what He has for me. Forces beyond— we don’t really say this, but this is what we would be meaning— forces beyond God’s control overruled Him, and now God’s plan for me will never be fulfilled.
But what we see in the account of the shipwreck wreck is that difficult circumstances will not stop God’s plan. So let’s look at this. Um, before Paul ever got on the ship, when he was still in Jerusalem, God tells him, Acts 23:11, that Paul must go to Rome and testify about him there. So we know what God’s plan is. Paul is going to Rome.
That’s the plan. That’s God’s plan for Paul, no question about it. Now, you and I probably never get anything that definitive from God. We usually don’t have these kind of direct revelations, but in this case, we don’t need to wonder what God’s plan is. Paul is going to Rome, that’s the plan.
But now, Paul is in a very difficult circumstance. He’s hungry, soaking wet, frightened. If he were me, he’d be seasick. He’s exhausted, looks like the ship is going to fall apart. Remember, all hope was gone.
So someone in that circumstance could think, God’s plan must have failed. I’m not gonna make it to Rome. These sailors decided to leave port even though they knew the weather might be bad. These people messed up God’s plan for me and now I can’t get back on track. It would be easy to think that, right?
God had one thing in mind and now it’s not going to happen because somebody took action, like God got overruled. But God’s plan has not failed. God’s plan never fails. Paul eventually makes it to Rome. I’m sorry for not giving you a spoiler alert if you’ve never read Acts before and you were gonna go read the rest of it at home later today.
I apologize for ruining it for you. But Paul makes it. First, they actually crash on an island, they spend some months there telling those people about Jesus, and then they set sail again for Rome. But Paul makes it. The pain, suffering, and fear in the middle of the story didn’t stop God’s plan.
Here’s the lesson: nothing is going to stop God’s plan. Nothing.
Listen, I don’t know what you’re waiting on in your life, what you’re really hoping for, what you wish would finally happen for you, the big break that might be in your future. And I can’t tell you whether that big break is going to happen or not, if it’s a job, a promotion, a relationship, a child, for your child to come to faith, a cure. I don’t know if that specific thing is ever going to happen in your life or not, but what I do know is that God will fulfill His purpose for you. Psalm 138:8, nothing can can stop his purpose for you. Even though people are down here making real decisions, it’s not like God is some kind of puppet master.
You know, the hiring manager for the job you’re hoping for is going to make a real decision. The person on the other end of the dating app is really going to choose whether to respond to your interest or not. But their decisions, their choices will not thwart God’s plan for you. In fact, their decisions and their choices will fulfill what God has for you. Look at this on the ship with Paul.
We’ve already seen how the sailors decided to sail even though there might be danger, and that didn’t stop God’s plan. But look at this here in verse 42. When the ship is in the middle of crashing on some island, the guards are worried the prisoners will escape. If they are allowed to swim toward land. And guards could actually be in serious trouble if they lost prisoners.
Guards could be executed themselves if the prisoners escaped. We see that in Acts 12:19 when Peter escaped from prison, didn’t work out well for the guards. So, the guards on the ship, probably thinking of their own lives, verse 42, planned to kill the prisoners. That’s their intention. They’ve made a choice, a real choice, and obviously if they kill all the prisoners, Paul won’t make it to Rome.
So we’re like, we’re reading this, we’re like, oh no, here we go again, God’s plan is in jeopardy once more. No, it’s not. Verse 43, but the centurion, that’s the guy in charge, wishing to save Paul kept the soldiers from carrying out their plan. So, none of the prisoners were killed.
So, the soldiers made a decision, you know, let’s kill the prisoners. Then the centurion made a decision, no, you can’t. Everyone was saved and God’s plan was fulfilled. The fact that people are making choices doesn’t mean that God isn’t ultimately in charge. There is no decision that can prevent God’s plan.
Again, actually, decisions always end up fulfilling God’s plan. And again, I don’t know what’s happening in your life. I don’t know who is about to make a decision that may change everything for you. But I do know, whatever it is, whatever decision they make, God will fulfill his purpose for you. He cannot be stopped.
Okay, so the storm shows us we have a role to play, shows us God’s plan never fails, and finally, it shows us that suffering does not equal abandonment. Suffering does not equal abandonment. In the middle of our storms, we often feel like we’ve been abandoned. By God or forgotten. Maybe we come to church, but it all seems like a lie.
We hear lyrics like, weeping may come, remain for a night, but joy will paint the morning sky. And we’re like, there’s no joy painting my morning sky. This is all a joke. Where we continue, you are there in the fast, you are there in the feast, your faithfulness will always shine. And we might think, nope, your faithfulness is not shining and I am not sure it ever will again.
I just don’t believe anymore that you are there in the fast. Right? It has been too dark for too long and I just can’t hold on any longer.
I get it. If that’s you, I get it. I’ve been there. I’ve been there when church and Scripture and songs and prayer all seem hollow, like God isn’t really there, like all of this is just some kind of scam. I’ve been there.
But let’s look at the account of this once more. Remember, they were hopeless. They had given up. Maybe they felt abandoned by God. I don’t know what else all hope of being saved was gone could mean.
Like, God, you told me I was going to Rome. Now I’m on a battered ship in the middle of the sea and I’m not going to survive the night. Night. I guess you aren’t with me after all.
I think that’s how I would feel.
But was God there? Did their suffering mean that God had abandoned them? No. Verse 23, right in the middle of their hopelessness, God sends a message to Paul. God doubles down and says, don’t be afraid, which means he probably was, says, don’t be afraid, you are still going to Rome.
Paul isn’t alone in the storm. God had not forsaken him. God is with him right there in the middle of his trouble. And God has not forsaken you, Christian. He’s right there with you in the middle of your trouble.
You might be thinking, you know, that would be much easier to believe if angels appeared to me and gave me a message from God. You know, if that happened, I would feel pretty assured God wasn’t absent. But angels aren’t appearing to me, so how am I supposed to know that God is with me?
Don’t you realize if you have placed your trust in Christ, you have an even greater assurance than an angel appearing to you.
Jesus paid the price guaranteeing God would always be with you. Jesus experienced the ultimate absence of God so that God’s presence in your life will never be interrupted. On the cross, Jesus cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So that you will never be Jesus lost God in His storm, ensuring that God would always hold on to you in yours.
Occasionally in our services, we sing the song I Am by David Crowder. The lyrics of the chorus are, I am holding on to You. I am holding on to You. In the middle of the storm, I am holding on. I am.
And some people understand that to mean that we are holding on to God in the middle of our storms, and there’s certainly truth to that. But there’s another meaning which I find much more encouraging because there are times I can’t hold on to God in the middle of the storm, right? I just— it’s too much. I can’t hold on anymore. So So I sing, if I’m singing that and I’m thinking, I’m holding on to God in the middle of the storm, I’m thinking that’s not really true right now.
So there’s a much more encouraging way to understand the song, and it is what God tells us in Exodus chapter 3. God tells us that his name is I Am, meaning in the song when we sing, I am holding on to it’s saying God, the great I Am, is holding on to us. In the middle of our storm, I Am has His arms around us, whether we are holding on to Him or not, whether we feel like He is near or absent, whether we can see Him, whether we are struggling with doubts or whether we are sure in our faith, Whatever the situation is, I AM is holding on to us, and we have that assurance because Jesus paid the price to make it possible.
Let’s pray. Father, thank You for always holding on to us in the middle of our storm. Thank You that Your plan never else, Lord. Um, and please show us the role that you would have us to play in our current struggle right now, Lord. I pray you give us the courage to act and the knowledge to know, uh, which actions to take.
We pray all those things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
