Sermons
A Message by the Rev. Harvey G. Throop
Palisades Presbyterian Church
San Diego, California
March 22 , 2009
(18) The Apostle:
Faith-Empowered Leadership
(Acts 27:1, 13-20, 33-44)
“ …Paul then stood up among them and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me… I urge you now to keep up your courage…’”
(Acts 27:21b, 22a)
Are you faith-equipped to handle whatever storms life many bring you?
Paul was being transferred from Caesarea to Rome where he would stand trial before Caesar. Apparently, Luke was again traveling with him. Paul was still under arrest, guarded by a centurion who placed the prisoners on board a ship that was headed for Rome.
According to navigational practice in those days, fall was a poor time to be at sea. The treacherous winter winds were already evident. Sailing was difficult after September and almost impossible by November. With winter approaching, the winds and weather would be dangerous and quite unpredictable. And since ships in those days were not equipped with the necessary navigational equipment, it would be impossible for them, if caught in a storm, to chart their course or to find their way.
The ship on which Paul was making his trip was an Alexandrian cargo ship that was hauling grain to Rome. It was obvious that, because of the approach of winter, Rome would not be reachable by the ship until the spring. So the question was: in which harbor should the ship, crew and passengers stay during the winter months.
Paul, not being one to shy away from discussions concerning any issue, suggested that they stay in Fair Haven on the Island of Crete where they were. Fair Haven, however, was not a particularly good harbor, nor was it near any sizable town. But the centurion on board, who always had the final say, rejected Paul's suggestion and sided with the ship's captain who encouraged them to sail further along the coast of Crete to Phoenix, which had a finer harbor and was a larger town. And an unexpected southerly wind had made the suggestion sound quite plausible. And that is what they opted to do.
So they set sail and put out to sea. Luke writes, “We sailed under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us” (Acts 27:4). The “lee side,” of course, is the downwind side where the heavy winds were blocked by the island allowing them to make better time. Winds were going to be an issue their entire trip.
That reality is also true of life. Winds and storms come into everybody's lives. We may face a prolonged illness, the death of a family member, a financial crisis, a rebellious teenager, depression, family tensions, an accident or the loss of a job – among other things. Storms come into our lives; that's simply the nature of life.
So the question is not whether storms will come; the question is how will we respond when they do come? The people who are best prepared for the storms of life have learned coping methods for when things go wrong. Life teaches us that if one's sails are set right, one can cope with any storm.
I've always appreciated words by the poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox:
“One ship drives east, and another drives west,
With the selfsame winds that blow.
‘Tis the set of the sails
And not the gales
That determine the way we go.
Like the winds of the sea are the ways of fate
As they voyage along through life,
‘Tis the set of the soul
That decides its goal,
And not the calm or the strife.”
Soon, however, a terrible storm called the northeaster struck with a vengeance. The skies turned dark, the wind turned violent and a great storm raged down on the boat, threatening the lives of its 276 passengers. For days, the gale tossed the ship like a twig in the sea.
Since the ship was equipped with only one mast that had a single square sail, it could not head into the wind, so the crew had to give way to it.
When storms come, we cope best by heading into them. That's true in sailing and its true in life! In a boat if you turn broadside to the waves, the waves can swamp your boat. In life, if we don't face our problems, they may conquer us. You can't pretend they aren't there. When problems are ignored, they have a way of festering and growing like a cancer. Only by facing your problems and taking control will you be able to survive. But the crew on Paul's ship had lost control.
As they struggled against the storm, the crew secured the lifeboats and brought them on board. They also pulled chains across the bottom of the ship to keep it from being broken up by the violent currents.
Then they lowered the sea anchor to slow the boat down. A sea anchor is not like a regular anchor. A sea anchor is often made of a very sturdy cloth – like canvass -- in a pattern something like a small parachute. It is tied to the back of the boat and lowered into the water in order to create a drag – to slow the boat.
Sometimes, the safest course in a storm is surrender, but not the kind of surrender that allows life to swerve out of control. The key to this kind of surrender is the control of the sea anchor. At times, we have to trust that God will take charge.
As the storm continued to worsen, we read that all the gear and cargo were thrown overboard in a frantic effort to lighten and stabilize the ship. Crew and passengers were willing to give up anything to stay alive.
During the “storms” of our lives, we, too, need to get rid of some of our cargo. Our junk can weigh us down so that we are unable to cope. Our lives get filled with too many activities, too many obligations and too many distractions. We need to examine our lives and see what we can do without.
So, essentially, all control of the ship on which Paul was a passenger had been lost. Luke writes, “All hope of those on board being saved was at last abandoned” (Acts 27:20).
Well, into that chaotic situation arose Paul. One can almost imagine the scene. Although a prisoner, Paul assumes commanding leadership before the fear-plagued crew and passengers. And in words that could be heard above the howling wind, he shouted, “I told you this would happen! (Don't you just love it whenever someone says that to you?) You should have listened to me and stayed in Crete” (see Acts 27:21)!
Then Paul tells everyone, "Keep up your courage.” He tells them about a vision he had from a messenger of God. And he goes on to say that the ship won't make it, but not a one of them will lose a single hair on their heads. Then, to illustrate his confidence, Paul begins to eat. And he encourages the others to eat, as well. In fact, Paul goes ahead and says the blessing over the food, while the waves are still crashing over the boat! It was such a crazy thing to do, but the sailors went ahead and began to eat as well.
The crewmembers must have wondered among themselves, “Who is this guy?” They already knew he was an unusual passenger. But whatever they thought, Paul's words gave the crew new confidence!
Anxiety and worry may be very contagious, but so is faith in God. We are called to believe in God. And one of the ways we affirm our faith is through prayer. It is through prayer that God ministers to us, encourages us and renews our faith. Don't wait for the storms to hit before you begin to pray.
Paul was the one who told us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Since he had learned to pray during ordinary times, when the seas were calm, he knew how to be assured of God's presence when the storms hit.
There on the ship, Paul demonstrated what we might call “Faith-Empowered Leadership.” And he did it, at least in part, by doing three things.
The first thing Paul did in the midst of the crisis was to pray. The others on board were all focused on the waves, the wind and the unstable ship. Paul was focused on the presence of God.
When the storms come, it is too late to learn to pray. We need to start the discipline of prayer today.
Paul had absolutely no doubt but that God would do his part, but he also knew that he and all those on the ship must do their part. So Paul prayed and through his prayers, he was made firm in his trust and resolve.
The second thing Paul did was to remind everyone that they hadn't eaten in fourteen days. It could never be said of Paul what has sometimes been said of others, “they were so heavenly minded that they were of no earthly use.”
Paul encouraged those on the ship to do an ordinary thing as an act of faith in God. I don't know this from my own experience but I would suspect that no one ever sits down to dinner on a ship in the middle of a dark storm unless they know and are certain that they are going to be just fine. So Paul gathered the ship's company together and made them eat.
Paul was declaring in the midst of that terrible storm that God was in charge, and in doing that, Paul seemed to bring an element of calm to those around him. The most useful people in a crisis are those who are calm and who can help others to be brave and, in being brave, can restore a sense of calm.
We live in a world that sometimes seems like it is coming apart at the seams. There is violence in the streets, diseases wreaking havoc in parts of the world, wars and rumors of wars and the storms of addiction and heartache tearing apart families. Nevertheless, we teach trust in God -- the One “in whom we live and move and have our being” (see Acts 17:28).
So, the second thing Paul did was to address practical concerns and needs.
The third thing that Paul did while in the midst of that storm was to give thanks to God before the storm was over. Before daybreak, before there were any signs of that terrible storm letting up, Luke tells us that Paul, "took bread; and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat" (Luke 27:35).
Interestingly, that is the same language Luke used in his gospel when he described the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist. The word Eucharist means thanksgiving. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we are giving thanks for God's grace that we have received.
The mark of a true hero is that he or she knows how to give thanks before the storm is over. Jesus instituted the practice of Eucharistic communion before the cross. To follow him is to learn to give thanks for a deliverance that is still on the way. That is why our gratitude is the measure of our spirituality.
The next morning, the ship ran aground and the stern began breaking up because of the force of the waves. It was then that the solders were preparing to kill the prisoners so that none of them might swim away and escape. But Luke tells us that the centurion stepped in and saved Paul's life as well as those of the other prisoners.
It's a remarkable story, isn't it? God used even what could have been a disaster to bring about his will.
As you and I go about our daily living and as we encounter various trying circumstances and even storms in our lives, let us remember the example of Paul who put his faith into action: he practiced the presence of God through prayer; he attended to practical concerns and needs; and he offered thanksgiving to God for a deliverance that was on the way.
