COVID and the Church Part 1 – Acts 27 v 14-26

Acts 24 – Background:

Paul is on his way to Rome as a prisoner to stand trial before Caesar.

I like this story because we see how Paul behaves as a prisoner, rather than how we often see him as some super-apostle.

The weather has not been kind to them and Paul can see that the ship is in great danger. However, it is decided that they to sail on.

Let’s pick it up in verse 14.

¹⁴ Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the ‘North-Easter’, swept down from the island. ¹⁵ The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along.

• This can be a metaphor for many of our lives. We set sail in a direction that seems good to us, and to those around us (it was only Paul who has expressed any concern – the majority, including the owner and the pilot of the ship chose to sail on). So off we go in the best of intentions, but God knows otherwise. I’m reminded in these verses of Proverbs 16:1 “We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer.” (NLT)
• Ever felt that way? My plans were to continue in school teaching until I retired. That was my ministry. God knew otherwise.
• Sometimes storms come and rock our boat. They are not always of the enemy. Sometimes God is alive in the storm.

¹⁶ As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure, ¹⁷ so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Because they were afraid they would run aground on the sand-bars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along.

• This is pretty intense stuff! Passing ropes under the ship to hold it together just shows how catastrophic this storm was. I wonder what other boats were in that storm, not known to Luke who wrote this story down for us.
• I wonder if you’ve ever felt as desperate as this. Doing all that you can to hold your life together in a storm.
• I’ve lived a pretty blessed live but there have been times in my life when Andrea has suffered from depression, we’ve had young kids, I’ve been working full time in a hight school and leading a worship team.
• I have had to turn to God for strength and to sustain me.
• Those ropes holding the fragments of my boat together make me grateful that together we have the Lord in our life and at the centre of our marriage and our family – the strongest cords imaginable.
• Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” That three stranded cord has wrapped itself around our boat and kept us afloat in the toughest of storms – financial, relational, emotional and health storms.
• Pause to reflect:
  • What have been some of the storms in your life? Looking back, do you see how God was with you? He was there. He weeps with our tears, he knows the pain we feel, whether we acknowledge his presence or not.
  • How about now? Do we need to look to him anew and join our feeble cord with his? Deuteronomy 22:27 says, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Imagine those arms underneath your boat right now.
• Notice in this story how God didn’t take the storm away. Paul didn’t cry out to God or stretch his hands out like Jesus when he calmed the storm with the disciples in the boat. He could have, but he didn’t.
• If you thought it was intense already, read on…

 ¹⁸ We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. ¹⁹ On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

• They have taken such a violent battering that cargo has been thrown overboard just to keep them afloat.
• Some would say that we have all taken quite a battering since the pandemic began to take a hold a year ago. Psychiatrists are now beginning to write more articles on the effects of the global pandemic in terms of ‘trauma’, ‘mass trauma’ and ‘PTSD’. The media has reported on lives and livelihoods, the global economy, jobs, numbers of deaths and health issues, variants, second waves, third waves, schools going back, pubs opening and everything that can be seen in the immediate. But I’ve not heard a whole load in the media about the ‘trauma’ people have been going through together. Bereavement on a huge scale, friends and family members unable to breathe, the fear of who might yet be affected, and all this on a global scale. I’d say our ship – the world – has taken more of a battering than is yet to be understood in terms of emotional impact. One of the best therapies for trauma is to talk about it. Let’s continue to be authentic with one another and honest about our fears.
• Thinking about that cargo that had to be thrown overboard in our story, pause to reflect:
  • What cargo went overboard over the last 12 months for you personally? A job? A career? A relationship? A support system? A routine or something you rely on?
  • What have you learned in the process?
  • Is this something you would like to recover or are you better off without it? What is God saying in this situation? Has he got something new for you? Do you need to trust him with that?
• I suppose that in the same way, perhaps there has been some ‘cargo’ that we have had to let go of in order to stay afloat as a church!
  • The way we meet has not been as we would have preferred.
  • We know that if we’d have hung on to these things it would have done more harm than good.
  • We’ve had to throw our methods and meetings overboard.
  • Of course, some of those things will get washed up with us on the shore. They arrive safely with us. We will meet again!

²¹ After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: ‘Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss.

• I don’t think this is a smart-Alec ‘I told you so’ moment. Paul is reminding them that he got it right before so they should listen to him now. He’s using his past predictions to add clout to his current message:

 ²² But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. ²³ Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me ²⁴ and said, “Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.”

• Remember that verse in Proverbs again? Proverbs 16:1 “We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer.” (NLT)
• When God says it, it will come to pass. No storm can stop that!

 ²⁵ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. ²⁶ Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.’

• Still no dramatic deliverance! He’s seen an angel and had a word from the Lord, but God still does not rescue them from the storm! The Lord works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.
• Can we trust him with our lives tonight? Can we believe that, even in the storm, he has a plan and he will ensure that we are delivered safely to our correct destination, according to his will?
• Let’s pray:
  • Storms past and present
  • Cargo overboard – survival mechanisms – help us throw the right things out, not our food!
  • Pray for our church as we seek to land together, that no one will be lost, and that he would land us on the right shore.