The Mission: Bless Because God Blesses Us (Acts 27-28:1-10)
Acts: The Mission of the Church • Sermon • Submitted
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Reminder to use some time before the service to look up and bookmark passages I included in the notes!
Many years ago I was photographing a huge event in Atlanta with a large team of other freelance photographers. I had worked several other jobs for this company but this event was the crown jewel. After setting up for the event we went to the hotel and God paired me with a man who I will call “Wayne” because I don’t remember his name! It was important to me that my roommate whenever I traveled know I was a Christian, and it was also important to “Wayne” to also tell his roommate that he was a Christian, so we hit it off right away!
The owner of the company had no regard for spiritual things. He was rude, arrogant, loved money, pursued his own pleasure, and had few redeeming interpersonal skills. Wayne was the owner’s right hand man who believed two things:
First, he believed God placed him in that high position because, as far as he could tell, there was no one else boldly representing God to the owner. Wayne told me several practical ways he tried to constantly remind the owner of God’s standards. At the top of his list, The owner knew Wayne was praying for specific things for the owner and, when possible he prayed with the owner, though the owner seemed to hate that.
Second, Wayne had this crazy idea that God uses Christians to bless the lost. I was skeptical of the idea at the time, so Wayne shared several practical ways his faith kept the company afloat. The owner was a disorganized man and rather caught up in life’s fleeting pleasures, but Wayne believed God had called him to work with excellence. So Wayne was very organized. He devised organization methods to protect the company’s equipment and stored it in such a way that reduced redundancy and expensive overhead costs. Wayne was good with finances and handled the company’s finances as good or better than how he handled his own personal finances. Wayne, because of the fruit of the Spirit in his life, had far better interpersonal skills which meant the company was better able to retain employees and those employees could trust Wayne to be a buffer between the owner and them.
Wayne believed that without God’s blessing on his life, that company would never have achieved its great success.
I could not recall ever hearing anything like that before, so that conversation made my head spin! I was a Baptist, Wayne was Assembly of God. Could it have been possible that me just might have interpreted Scripture accurately? Wayne carried himself and communicated humbly which pointed to God’s power, not Wayne’s power. I had my doubts that God uses Christians to bless the lost around us, but over time I eventually concluded that Wayne was correct!
If you will, please locate Acts 27 and 28 in your copy of Scripture. Acts 27 to Acts 28:10 proves that Paul, a single righteous person, significantly blessed the many lost around him. This morning, I hope Paul’s example in this passage will convince you that just one, single, God-focused person can significantly bless the lost who are all around us! This morning we will continue to see Paul boldly standing for truth and for that reason, the lost around him were very blessed.
(SLIDE: MAP of VOYAGE)
Paul had been on a voyage from Caesarea to Rome and even though the ship’s leadership made very poor choices, God blessed everyone because Paul was on that ship. In Acts 28:1–2 we read, “After we were brought safely through (remember that was a total of 276 people), we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2 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.”
So we discover that the islanders were kind and welcoming and from what we can tell, none of the islanders were believers. Luke would have probably told us that. Julius, the centurion who was escorting Paul, treated Paul favorably. In all fairness, people who do not love God can bless others but their blessing is a different kind.
Note the focus here. The lost can only bless our temporary bodies. Thousands of charities exist across the word today and when people who do not believe in God donate, they do ease the thirsty, and hungry, and the naked, and the homeless. The lost can bless our temporary bodies, but they cannot bless our eternal souls.
We can learn something else from the islander’s welcome. Scripture is clear that the Holy Spirit restrains sin. This means that God’s Spirit who lives inside us stretches out his influence to the lost around us. He prevents the world from being the awful place it would be without His direct involvement. When the lost think about someone besides themselves, it might just be the Spirit preventing them from harming God’s people.
Do you remember Balaam in the Old Testament? Balaam intended to curse God’s people, but something else happened instead. When he opened his mouth, he blessed God’s people. I think this happens all the time around us but we give people the credit instead of God. The Holy Spirit restrains sin.
Even if the islanders did kindness on their own, those small amount of blessings cannot even compare to the overwhelming blessings God continually rains down on top of His people. Sometimes when Gods blessings rain down, some of those mercy drops splash onto the lost who are near us, his people.
Those who do not know Christ can warm our hands, but only Christ can warm our souls and give up deep hope in the middle of the darkest trials in life. In the middle of those trials, Gods deep mercies cause us to bless the lost by doing good works.
We bless the lost intentionally. (Acts 28:3-9; La 3:22-23)
We bless the lost intentionally. (Acts 28:3-9; La 3:22-23)
In Acts 27-28:10 Paul intentionally and continually did good works to bless the lost. You might remember that...
On three occasions he reminded the ship’s leadership to protect the lives of everyone on board.
When all had despaired of life itself, Paul fed everyone and inspired others to fix their gaze on God. (27:6)
Paul publicly gave thanks to God in the presence of all.
Paul seems to have encouraged Luke who was also on the ship to have unshakeable faith that God will keep his Word.
If you have your Bible open, please follow along starting at verse three and consider the good works Paul continued doing once they reached the shore safely.
3 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. 4 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.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 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. 7 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. 8 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. 9 And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 10 They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.
A storm-tossed ship, viper toxins, diseases, or anything else did not prevent Paul from continually caring for the lost’s physical needs. Paul and Jesus were both were always thinking up new ways to bless others. They were always ready to care for whatever others needed. Why? because that is what God himself does!
(Slide: plastic lawn mower) When I was either three or four years old, my brother, David and I were given toy lawn mowers. They were red with yellow handles and I remember one morning when dad started mowing the lawn, we were going to mow the lawn too! So we got our mowers out and pushed them at a safe distance behind dad when he was mowing the grass! Why did we do that? Because we loved modeling our dad!
(SLIDE) Lamentations 3:22–23 (ESV) declares… 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
This verse tells us that every day God, looks for new ways to bless his children. We should desperately want to be just like our our dad and do exactly what He does. Paul splashed out God’s blessings onto all who were around him by showing them a measure of favor God shows to us.
Listen to Proverbs 13:21 (ESV). It says, “Disaster pursues sinners, but the righteous are rewarded with good.” Many other such verses exist and so in that conversation with Wayne, I missed other important verses such as the verses in Acts 27-28.
I think Wayne was telling me that God’s people should be like freshly baked homemade bread. My wife has been baking a lot of homemade bread lately. Being around the smell of freshly made bread is a blessing! Just like homemade bread...
We bless the lost by proximity.
We bless the lost by proximity.
God heals bodies when His people are near. (Acts 27:34-38; 28:7-9)
When Jesus walked the earth, crowds of people regularly swarmed around him for healing. Jesus had compassion on them and constantly healed their diseases and all kinds of other physical ailments.
In our chapters, Paul did that too. In Acts 27:21 Paul stood in the midst of the crew and declared God’s promise to save everyone’s lives. In verse 35 everyone aboard stood around Paul and welcomed his encouragement and nourishment, then in chapter 28 they finally recognized that Paul had something they desperately needed and people from the entire island flocked to Paul for physical healing.
God blesses nations when His people are near. (2 Chron 7:14)
If you are familiar with O.T. history, consider the rule of righteous kings such as David, Solomon, and Josiah. Even though the nation was mostly comprised of wicked people, God cause Israel to have times of peace and prosperity like it had never experienced before. Why? Because of one leader, God imputed righteousness to the rest of the nation.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV) “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
God has caused the USA to be a blessed land for a long time because righteous people encircled by their enemies firmly stood for God’s truths and tried to faithfully live righteous lives.
God soothes emotions when His people are near. (Acts 27:34-36; 28:10; Hosea)
God’s Word reveals that when people live unrightly their emotions are all out of whack. Fear, doubt, worry, anxiety, depression, discouragement, sense of overwhelming aloneness, and so on. But when the righteous are near, God soothes emotions, kind of like how a cough drop soothes a sore throat. It is not a permanent solution, but it eases the pain and makes life just a bit more comfortable.
The book of Hosea, is a true story of a single righteous man who boldly stood for God’s truth in very wicked times. He married a prostitute who repayed his love by grieving him with sin over and over again. We can safely assume that she was an emotional trainwreck, yet she kept returning to Hosea who offered unconditional love, He was a shelter for h er mixed up emotions.
Consider Acts 27:26. When people’s needs are met, hope is restored. Paul gave thanks to God and reminded them all that not a hair of their head would perish and “they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves.”
After Paul healed Publius’ father and all kinds of sicknesses and diseases, Acts 28:10 reads… “10 They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.” In other words, the islanders had hope! They experienced gratitude! Paul inspired them to feel a little better about life and so blessed not only Paul, but cared for all the other lost around Paul by giving them whatever they needed to make the rest of the journey to Rome.
Just one person, boldly standing up for God can significantly impact the lost around them. The impact Paul made because of the Holy Spirit’s power is remarkable in these verses! God does at least one more thing...
God spares lives when His people are near. (Acts 27:44; Gen 18:23-33)
An Acts 27, the ship and it’s cargo was lost, God was going to see Paul to Rome. God could have allowed every person on that ship to perish, but for some reason God chose to spare everyone’s lives because Paul was among them.
You might turn to Genesis 18 or make a note to read it in depth this afternoon. In...
Genesis 18:23(ESV)
Abraham stood before the Lord, drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
God is willing to spare lives when righteous people are near. God chose not to spare Sodom, but he was willing to if ten righteous people could be found there.
In the desert, when the Israelites grumbled and complained God wanted to kill them! But Moses looked on them and had compassion. Moses pled for their lives and for Moses’ sake did not kill the whole nation.
God blesses people through His people but God has a bigger plan, a better plan. This is why Jesus declared, in… John 14:2–3 (ESV) “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
God doesn’t want to temporarily lighten people’s burdens; God wants to permanently lighten people’s burdens! This is why he promised eternal life in heaven where there will be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more death. Heaven is a place of eternal comfort. For this reason,
We bless the lost by clearly connecting to Christ. (Acts 27:23,35; 28:8)
We bless the lost by clearly connecting to Christ. (Acts 27:23,35; 28:8)
This is the most significant way we bless the lost around us. In chapter 27,
Paul did good works aboard that storm tossed ship but Paul didn’t leave them guessing why he was different. If you look at Acts 27:23, Paul clearly told them, “I belong to God.” In verse 25 Paul encouraged the others around him to have faith in God just like Paul did and in verse 35 he clearly gave thanks to God in the presence of all. There was no doubt that Paul was a Christian.
We can guess that chapter 28 verses 1-10 spans four months of ministry. Paul and Luke were probably shipwrecked sometime in November and the Mediterranean was not navigable until March. It is possible a very large Roman grain ship passed by and picked them up, but even then that would have been an almost impossible journey.
If Paul was on the island for several weeks or for four months, it is remarkable that in verses 1-10 Luke only recorded one time Paul connected works to Christ and we find that attempt in verse 8. How did Paul make that connection? He prayed. That would not have been a very quiet prayer like maybe some of you teens make at school when you sit down to lunch at a table of your friends. It might not be the quiet and almost unnoticeable prayer some you might make when you go out to eat at a restaurant. Healing is connected to deep, Spirit Power, ground shaking, tomb opening, mountain moving faith. There would have been no doubt that God caused Publius’ father to be healed.
So are we to assume Paul only connected works to Christ only one time the whole time he ministered on Malta? Absolutely not! Paul could not have kept quiet on Malta.
Here’s what I think, based on what I know of how Luke wrote. While Paul was faithfully proclaiming Christ to the whole island, nothing particularly happened. Paul didn’t encounter persecution and maybe no one came to Christ because of Paul’s ministry there, so Luke didn’t record Paul’s efforts and Luke has done that before.
Luke, I think, assumed his readers would know by now that Paul was overflowing with the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke would have hoped that after 27 chapters and about 30 years of bold, passionate, outspoken ministry, that we would know by know that Paul could do nothing but use every opportunity to share the Gospel with the lost around him. And you know what? we don’t know if anyone believed in Christ those weeks or months while Paul was on Malta, but that didn’t stop Paul from being a blessing! Paul could not do anything but point people to Christ so we should always point to and speak of Christ, because that is the greatest way we can bless others.
Has Scripture has convinced you that just you, just one, single, God-focused person can significantly bless the lost! You can and here are three ways you can maximize your impact.
How do I bless the lost? (How do I maximize my impact?)
How do I bless the lost? (How do I maximize my impact?)
I must imitate God! (Psalm 119:164)
The author of Psalm 119:164 was so overwhelmed by God’s righteousness that, “Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules.”
Focusing on what we want to be is the best way to reach our goal. How many times a day do I pray to God? How many times do I focus on His purity and aspire to have some amount of God’s purity flowing through me? I can’t bless others if I say and do the same things everyone else does. We we mimic our Father, we will naturally bless the lost.
Even if I am the only Christian in the room,
Others must know I belong to Christ! (1 Cor 16:13; Acts 27:23)
We don’t know what Luke did on Malta to bless others. I can tell you that Luke loved turning that spotlight clearly on Paul. Paul did not because he desired the spotlight. He didn’t desire center stage, but God kept putting him in situations where he, and a few others were surrounded by crowds of lost people.
The Corinthians needed encouragement to live for Christ in a morally corrupt community, so Paul wrote to them in 1 Corinthians 16:13 (ESV), 13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
Are you the only Christian in your classroom? Are you the only Christian in the school lunch room or in the break room at work? Are you the only Christian in you cluster of offices or on the assembly line? Stand up and stand out for Christ! Even if we are the only Christian in the room, others must clearly know we belong to God.
Perhaps the most significant way we can bless others like Paul did is this...
I must regularly plead with God to spare the lost! (Rom 10:1; James 5:16)
Paul plead for the lives of the lost before the storm came.
Moses pled for God not to kill Israel even though Moses was also constantly grieved even though he worked hard and long hours because Israel made his job so incredibly difficult.
Abraham pled for God to spare Sodom even though his own family suffered great evil at their hands.
We bless others by constantly, passionately praying for them even though we can see their fins circling around us in the water. Paul prayed for the sharks. He wrote of this in...
Romans 10:1 (ESV) 1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.
James 5:16 (NASB95) “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
We must plead, “God, please give them one more chance” because we have a deep love for people.
Here’s the thing, we might go months without seeing any fruit, but if we can alleviate even just a little bit of someones’ pain, our efforts are worth it. God’s work through us makes the world a bit more tolerable. God has blessed us, let’s pour out His blessings on the lost around us this week. God powerfully used one saved person to powerfully impact 275 other people on that ship and much of the population of Malta. Let’s remember that the Spirit is powerful and wants to work powerfully through us to impact the lost in our lives!
SONG:
SONG:
Closing Reminders:
Closing Reminders:
Deacon’s fund
Nominating committee
Petition
Prayer Ideas:
Prayer Ideas:
Lord, you have called us to be righteous, that we would faithfully act righteously (like you children)
That we will constantly look for opportunities to bless others.
That we will boldly connect our works to Christ.