In the Storms

God with Us In the Storms Acts 27:13-25 Pastor Pat Damiani December 15, 2019 NOTE: This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript. For this sermon series, I am also indebted to Life Church and Pastor Craig Groeschel, who have provided some of the ideas that shaped this message and who have also provided graphics and other supporting materials at no charge. [Video] Good morning and welcome to week three of our current series – God with Us. This series is based on this familiar passage from Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus. Will you read it out loud with me: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:22–23 ESV) During this series, we’re looking at different seasons of life and how God is with us during those times. Two weeks ago, we discovered that God is with us in the valleys and we developed this main idea: We may enjoy God on the mountaintops, but we get to know Him intimately in the valleys Last week, we saw how God is with us in the wilderness and we developed this main idea: Your deepest need becomes a gift when it drives you to depend on God This week, we’ll be looking at a third metaphor, that of storms. Again this week, I don’t want to split hairs in trying to distinguish between valleys, the wilderness and storms. We could easily waste a lot of time doing that which really wouldn’t be profitable for us. Not surprisingly, the principles that we need to apply in each case are very similar – some are even exactly the same. And the value of looking at the hard times in our lives from these three different perspectives is that we are presented with a lot of different Biblical tools that we can use when we find ourselves in those difficult times. I’m not going to spend a lot of time this morning describing the kinds of storms that some of you might be experiencing right now. By now, we know that there are relational storms, and health storms and financial storms. There are storms in our families and our jobs and our neighborhoods and sometimes even within the church. But what I do want to ask you to think about for a moment is the kind of attitudes you have and the kind of questions you ask when you’re in a storm: • Have you ever blamed God for a storm? That’s what Adam did when He sinned and he blamed God for making Eve. • Have you ever asked God how He could allow such a storm? • Have you ever asked God where He is in the storm? I know that one time or another in my life, I’ve asked all those questions. And my guess is that you have too. That’s why I’m so excited about the main idea we’re going to develop this morning: Never allow the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God We’re going to be looking at a passage from the New Testament this week. So go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 27. Since I’m not going to read the entire chapter, let me set the stage for you. Paul has been arrested and because he has appealed to Caesar, he is on his way to Rome along with Luke and Aristarchus. As a prisoner, he is under the watch of a Roman centurion named Julius. They make their way to the city of Myra in Lycia, where they find an Alexandrian cargo ship that is carrying grain to Italy and they board that ship. Because the prevailing winds are against them, they make slow progress, but they eventually end up in a place called Fair Havens on the island of Crete [Show map #1]. Since it is now late October or early November and the sailing conditions are at their most dangerous, Paul suggests that they winter there before proceeding. But Julius chooses to listen to the pilot of the ship and they decide to try and make it to Phoenix, only a short distance away, and harbor there for the winter [Show map #2]. We’ll pick up the account in verse 13. [Read Acts 27:13-25] [Show map #2] When a southerly wind came up, they decided to make the trip to Phoenix, figuring it would only take a few hours. But as soon as they left a strong northeaster came and they were blown way out to sea where they were tossed to and fro by the storm. The crew did all they could to secure the ship and threw much of the cargo overboard to try and keep it afloat, but, not surprisingly, we see in verse 20, that after several days they had given up all hope of being saved. In the midst of the storm, Paul stands up and apparently can’t resist an “I told you so” moment. But he doesn’t linger there long and he encourages everyone on the ship to take some food. He then relates the story of how God had appeared to him and assured him that he and everyone else on the ship was going to be saved. In the midst of the presence of the storm, Paul is confident in the presence of God and he shares that with the others. The remainder of the chapter recounts the rest of the journey, which eventually ends up with the ship crashing on the rocks in the surf off the island of Malta. But just like God had promised, every single person on that ship made it safely to land. So we see here that Paul understood the main idea we are talking about today… Never allow the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God Before we look at some principles from this passage that will help us to do that, I want to first briefly talk about… FOUR KINDS OF STORMS (that we face in our lives) 1. “Normal” storms In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminded His disciples that God “sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45). We’ve talked about this before. There are some storms that come just because we live in a world that has been contaminated by sin. A lot of natural disasters, like hurricanes, earthquakes and floods as well as a lot of disease would fit into this category. There is really nobody to blame for those kinds of storms. They just happen naturally and there is nothing we can do to control them. 2. Storms caused by others That’s the kind of storm that Paul finds himself in here in this passage. Even though he tried to warn the others about the dangers of trying to make the journey, as a prisoner, Paul didn’t have the final say in the matter. So he got dragged into the storm by others. Perhaps in your marriage relationship your spouse has been unfaithful and through no fault of your own you get dragged into a storm. Mary and I were dragged into a financial storm many years ago when we lost much of our retirement savings due to the wrong actions of some people at the Baptist Foundation of Arizona. Maybe you’re a model employee but you lose your job because your company downsizes or restructures or declares bankruptcy. So you’re in a storm that is caused by others. 3. Storms of our own making Sometimes the storms we are in have been created by our own disobedience or our own bad decisions. We get into financial troubles because we fail to give God the firstfruits of our material resources or we go into debt to buy things we don’t need. We have problems in our marriage because we put our needs ahead of those of our spouse. We get fired at work because we’re not a good employee. Jonah ended up in a storm like that because he tried to flee from God. 4. Storms God brings into our lives Sometimes God brings storms into our lives for the purpose of helping us to grow. Sometimes He does that to help us draw near to Him for the first time. Sometimes He might do that to cause us to deal with some habitual sin in our life. Sometimes He does that just to help us draw closer to Him. And sometimes He even does that for the benefit of someone else. I think Job’s suffering was an example of that kind of storm. We know that God explicitly allowed some storms into his life and by the end of the book we see that at least one purpose was to draw Job into a closer relationship with Him. The reason I’ve shared these four types of storms is because the way we apply the principles we’ll look at in just a moment is probably going to look different depending on the kind of storm we’re in. That’s particularly true if we’re in a storm of our own making. Often in those situations the first thing we have to do is to do whatever we can to get back to a place of obedience or to discontinue the action that got us there in the first place. But even then, the principles we’re going to look at are still helpful. As the ship approached Malta it was nighttime. So the sailors put down four anchors to keep the ship from running aground until the daylight came. I want to close this morning by talking about four anchors that we can put down when we’re in the presence of the storm that will help us know that God is with us. FOUR ANCHORS TO PUT DOWN WHEN I’M IN THE STORM 1. A personal relationship with God Paul understood that God was with him in the storm because he had a long history with God. Ever since the day that he had an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul had observed God walk with him through valleys, the wilderness and storms. He had the kind of intimate personal relationship with God in which He constantly observed God at work in His life to guide and protect Him. We know from his writings that Paul had been shipwrecked on at least three prior occasions and God had saved him in each of those cases. So when he faced that kind of danger once again he sensed God’s presence and was confident that God was going to make sure that Paul would get to Rome, just as He had promised. On the other hand, the sailors, the soldiers and the other prisoners who had no relationship with God, were easily discouraged and lost hope pretty quickly in those very same circumstances. I’m not going to sit here and claim that God can’t or won’t be present with those who are not His children when they go through a storm. I don’t ever want to limit in any way what God can or will do. But what I can tell you, from both what I see in the Bible and also from what I have observed personally, is that those who are closest to God outside the storms are the ones who sense His presence most intensely when they are in the midst of the storm. The Bible is clear that the only way to have a personal relationship with a holy God is through faith in Jesus. Because God is holy, our sin separates us from Him. And the only way to bridge that gap is through Jesus. That very first Christmas, Jesus left the glory of heaven and became a man, just like us, but he lived a sinless life, unlike any of us. And then He took our sin upon Him on the cross and died to pay the penalty for that sin. And on the third day, He rose from the grave to prove His mastery over sin and death. And when we put our trust in Him and what He has done for us, God credits us with the righteousness of Jesus and makes it possible for us to have a personal intimate relationship with Him. If you haven’t taken this crucial first step, then I urge you not to put that off and to do that today. Until you do that, there is just no guarantee that you are going to be able to experience the presence of God when you are in the midst of a storm. But even if you have taken that first step, it is essential for you to be constantly growing in your relationship with God and getting to know Him better. The better you get to know God before you enter the storm, the more likely you are to be able to know that He is with you while you’re in the middle of the storm. 2. The Word of God Paul was really adept at listening for the voice of God. That seems to have begun in his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and we see evidence that it continued throughout his ministry. There were several times when Paul planned to go minister in a certain place, but God had other plans and Paul was always eager to hear from God and follow His directions. So when Paul found himself in the middle of the storm, he just did what he was used to doing on a regular basis – he listened for the voice of God and then he did what God told him to do. Obviously today, God usually doesn’t speak to us the way He spoke to Paul, although He is certainly capable of doing that if He chooses. Today, as we say often, God primarily speaks to us through His written word – the Bible. And so we regularly point out the importance of reading the Bible consistently and systematically. But just reading the Bible is not enough. We have to also obey what we read. A couple weeks ago, Mary and I were going to dinner at a house we’d never been to before. So we plugged the address into the map app on my phone and Siri gave us step by step instructions to follow. But the app only gives you one direction at a time – like turn right in ¼ mile. Then once you complete that turn you get the next instruction – turn right in 300 feet. We actually missed a turn, but Siri was smart enough to get us back on track and get us to our destination by a different route. I think that is a pretty good picture of how God usually operates. He gives us some step to take and then He waits to see if we’ll obey. Then once we take that step, He shows us the next step. And fortunately, when we get off track, which we’re so prone to do, God puts us on a new path to get us to where He wants us to be. But He can only do that if we’re listening for His voice. 3. The people of God As I already mentioned, Paul did not make this trip alone. We know that at a minimum he was accompanied by Luke and by Aristarchus. Not a lot is known about Aristarchus, but he is mentioned four other times in the New Testament and in each of those occurrences he is always with Paul. Paul calls him a “fellow worker” in Philemon 24 and a “fellow prisoner” in Colossians 4:10. Just from those few mentions, we can determine that he was the kind of friend who stuck with Paul through the storms of life. We know a little bit more about Luke. He had accompanied Paul in Asia Minor during his second missionary journey. And subsequent to the events recorded here in Acts 27, we know that Luke accompanied Paul to Rome where he stayed with him for at least two years while Paul was under house arrest there. Perhaps, as a physician, Luke tended to the physical needs of Paul during that time and it is likely that this is when Luke did much of the research for his gospel account and the book of Acts. Like Paul, we are much more likely to cling to sense the presence of God when we’re in the midst of a storm if we’re surrounded by our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. As we’ve talked about in this series, when we’re in a valley, or in the wilderness or in a storm sometimes our judgment gets clouded and our thinking gets messed up. So we end up doubting God and/or making bad decisions. That’s why we need others to encourage us, to remind us of God’s presence and to lovingly point out where our thinking has gotten off track. Unfortunately, many of us tend to isolate ourselves when we’re in the midst of a storm, which is exactly the opposite of what we need to do. So if you’re in the midst of a storm and you don’t really feel like coming to church, that is when you need to do that most. If you’re part of a small group, don’t make an excuse not to attend. Invite someone over to your house for a cup of coffee or a meal. Surround yourself with other people who love Jesus, too, and let them be an encouragement to you and help you know that Jesus is with you in the midst of that storm. 4. Patient endurance In the last part of Acts 27 we read that some of the sailors tried to flee the situation they were in. They pretended that they were going to lower the anchors but they were actually trying to get in the lifeboats and leave the others. But not only would that have likely resulted in their deaths, it would have also meant that the rest of the people on the ship would have died, too. So, after listening to Paul, the soldiers cut the ropes holding the lifeboats so those sailors could not leave. That’s a pretty good picture of our natural reaction when we find ourselves in a storm. Our first inclination is often to try and run from that situation. But that often puts us in even more danger than we would be in if we just patiently ride out the storm. No doubt, there are some times when we should try to get out of the storm, especially if that is a storm of our own making. It is certainly appropriate to stop our disobedience or to reverse a bad decision we’ve made when that is within our control. But most of the time, especially if it a storm that God is using to teach us something or to draw us closer to Him, the best course of action is to remain in the storm as long as God wants us to and to cling to Him along the way. That certainly wasn’t easy for the 276 men that remained on the ship and had to battle hard to get to shore when their ship ran aground and began to break apart. And it probably won’t be easy for us either. But we can persevere, knowing that God is with us. Never allow the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God I believe that every single person here today needs to respond to this message in some way. Let me suggest some of the possible ways that you might do that: • If you have never entered into a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus, then you certainly need to do that today. That is the first and most important step in knowing that God is with you when you go through the storms. • If you are already reading the Bible on a consistent systematic basis, then good for you – keep it up! But if not, that is an important next step for you to take today. • Not only do you need to be reading the Bible, you need to be obeying it. As humans, none of us do that perfectly, so perhaps there is some disobedience that you need to confess to God this morning and then you need to commit to being obedient in that area of your life. • All of us need the encouragement we find by spending time with other people who love Jesus. What are you doing to make that a priority in your life, not just on Sunday mornings, but throughout the week? • Are you in a storm right now? Then will you pray and ask God to give you the patient endurance that you need to stay there until God is finished working in your life. And also pray for Him to give you clear direction when He is ready for you to move on. Real peace is not found in a trouble-free life. Real peace is found in the presence of Jesus. As we explored in more detail last week, neither Jesus nor the New Testament authors ever promised us that we would not have storms in this world. But the one thing I can know for sure is that if I’ve put my faith in Jesus, is that He is with me in the midst of those storms. And that is enough. Discussion Questions for Bible Roundtable 1. Give some examples of some storms that you have experienced personally that fit into each of the four categories. 2. What spiritual disciplines had Paul observed prior to the storm that allowed him to know God was present during the storm? 3. When should we attempt to remove ourselves from a storm? When would it be harmful to do that? How can I know the difference? 4. What are some of the ways other people help us know that God is with us when we’re in a storm?