Paul and Jonah / Obedience

A conversation on the book of Acts

March 16, 2022

Today and next week we are looking at the last two chapters of Acts. Acts really begins back all the way in Luke 1–Luke and Acts are written as companion documents. Luke’s story of Jesus and the church is dominated by a historical perspective, and that continues into what happened with the early church and it’s living out Jesus commissioning.

The resurrected Jesus looked at his first followers and said:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

From Luke building perspective as to Jesus being the Messiah (in the gospel of Luke) and then building perspective as to living in response to the Messiah’s commissioning (in the book of Acts), we see the complexities and beauty of being a follower of Jesus.

Luke has a theme of Jesus’ interactions with individuals, many of them on the fringes of acceptable society—sinners, women, and children among them. And now Acts is this Christlikeness characteristic being lived out to the ends of the earth by the early followers of the Way, or Christians.

The commissioning did start out by being lived out in Jerusalem where we see thousands of Jews seeing that Jesus is the Messiah and following Him. But living out the commissioning didn’t stay idealistic or utopian for long. As we move through Acts, beyond chapters 1-4. the complexities hit the fan: people not getting it, persecution, scattering, resistance, slow progress, transformation, regression, confusion…

And in the midst of all of this success and struggle the theme builds–the theme that is so succinctly said in Acts 12:

But the word of God continued to spread and flourish. (Acts 12:24)

Over the past weeks we have talked about the availability of some things as we follow Jesus: isolation, persistence, intentionality, and change. And now as we walk into chapter 27, we see that obedience is available.

Chapter 27 is a mess of a chapter. Paul is arrested and is on his way to stand before Caesar. Sounds simple–but the trip that we see in chapter 27 and in the first verses of chapter 28 was anything but simple. It was maybe the worst road trip ever.

While this messy journey is happening there are flashing hyperlinks that are pleading for us to take a pause and reflect on them. So before we look at this journey a little and reflect on the hyperlinks, let me ask you a dialogue question that will help connect you with the people you are sitting with and with the content we are about to walk into.

What elements of a long road trip do you love and what elements are painful for you?

Paul has had some epic road trips on his three missionary journeys, but now he is heading off in a whole new type of journey as a prisoner. Paul was arrested and now on his way to Rome to stand before Caesar. The road trip adventure begins.

Paul and some other prisoners were put under the control of a centurion named Julius, and they hopped from port to port along what was called the province of Asia. After switching ships, and in spite of Paul’s warning, they headed out into open water and kept sailing towards Italy. It didn’t go so well.

When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure, 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 sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

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. But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me 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.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”

On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.

Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. Altogether there were 276 of us on board. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.

When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.

The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely. (Acts 27:13-44)

So much changed in this journey. And while it is about the story… it is about so much more. Success was: Get to Italy. Deliver the people and the goods. Collect the payments. Prepare to repeat. But everything changed. Talk about this in the context of your own life:

When does survival become the measure of success?

What is happening when success shifts to simply surviving?

They pulled up on the shore of Malta. It was not a deserted island–there were people there–and they received unusual kindness from them:

Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. (Acts 28:1-6)

One more question before we get to the hyperlinks:

Why is the belief that people ultimately get what they deserve is so prevalent?

With this narrative in our heads, there are three hyperlinks that I think it is important for us to start processing. I say “start,” because each of these is fuel for immense contemplation.

The first is Jonah. The beginning of the narrative in Jonah 1 stands in stark contrast to the narrative we see in Acts. Jonah is called by God to go to Nineveh and preach to them, call them to repent. This was painful for Jonah. He knew that God had been calling his people–the Isrealites–to repent and with marginal effect. And now God cared about these non-Jews–the Ninevites–and was calling them to repent, calling them to be spared from judgment, calling them to God’s grace.

Not fair. So Jonah ran and sailed the opposite direction.

The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.”

Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”

He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)

The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”

Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:1-17)

Paul, the early church, and the first readers of Acts would have known the story of Jonah well and would have felt its parallels: Jonah running from God’s call to the Gentiles and Paul running towards God’s call to the Gentiles.

We have looked at these ideas: Isolation is available. Persistence is available. Intentionality is available. Change is available. And now, obedience is available. Commissioned by Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and still–disobedience is an option. What is the contrast between Paul and Jonah? Obedience.

Why is obedience to God an option to be chosen instead of forced?

The next hyperlink is the blessed meal. In Matthew 14, we see Jesus feeding the 5000 (Matthew 14:13-21). He took what they had and gave thanks, and they ate to the point of being satisfied. Jesus miraculously provided for their physical need–because it mattered.

Here is Paul as they were about to be wrecked:

Paul urges the people on the boat to eat because they will need the energy to survive. He takes what they have, gives thanks, and they eat until satisfied.

We see this lived out again in Jesus’ feeding of the 4000 and again this act of thanks as He celebrates the Last Supper with His disciples. There is so much happening here, but feel this: here is a moment of God’s provision and human ability and capacity coming together.

Why doesn’t empowerment by God eliminate the need for human effort?

The last hyperlink is found in the snake that latched onto Paul’s arm. This, for Paul and for the initial readers would have been a glaring, flashing hyperlink. In Genesis 3:1-13, there is the story of the fall, which is a super complex and theology-building narrative. Adam and Eve were given free reign in the Garden. This was utopia. The directive was only to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the snake came and tempted them and confused them, and they ate. And then the spiral of human history away from the garden began–and Jesus the Messiah is the key back to the garden.

So as Paul is helping build a fire, the snake leapes out and bites him. The islanders saw this as judgment–he must be a murderer!

And Paul was a murderer! (Acts 8:1) But, because of Jesus–because of the grace of Jesus–judgment from the fall was overcome.

Contrast fall and grace:

Why is God’s grace easy to talk about, yet hard to believe?

Why is God’s grace easy to talk about but hard to put full confidence in?

We have talked through some complex things today. Acts 27 is the beautiful melding of God’s miraculous provision and human efforts. This is living out the commission: God’s provision and our efforts coming together, brought together by obedience. Paul was living this out in light of his personal experiences over the previous 15 years.

How do your past experiences give focus to the potential partnership between God’s provision and your efforts?

Take It Deeper Questions:

Read Acts 27.
When have you been car sick or seasick?
When life has felt the most out of control, how did you see God’s involvement in that moment? Has your perspective of God’s involvement changed as that moment has become more distant?
How do you see Paul’s life to this moment preparing him for what is happening?
How do you see your life to this moment preparing you for what is happening?
How are you challenged, focused, encouraged, and/or frustrated by this text?

Bible Reading Plan:

Joshua 21
Joshua 22
Joshua 23
Acts 5
Acts 6
Acts 7