Dashed Upon The Rocks (Journey To Rome - pt2)

But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss... for there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.' Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. However, we must run aground on a certain island." ...Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come. (Acts 27:21–29)

When the surf gets steep and rocks lie ahead, where is your anchor?

A Crash Is Inevitable

The final point of our last study was that sometimes a crash is inevitable, as Paul makes clear here. Speaking to the 275 people aboard (verse 37 tells us the full number), he tells them they are going to run aground—a crash is inevitable in the midst of this storm. And many of us know this all too well.

Back in 2005 and 2006 the U.S. housing market reached its crowning point. People were cashing out their equity, and speculators said it would just keep going. As 2007 came, economists began to warn of an adjustment. Then in 2008 markets around the world began to fail, and finally the inevitable crash came in October 2008. There's probably not a single person here who wasn't affected in some way. Years later we're still seeing the effects.

Here in Acts 27 the crash was inevitable. Paul informed them in verses 21–26 that they would experience loss—the ship would go down and everything aboard would be lost. The only silver lining was that life would be spared; they would run aground on an island rather than sink in the middle of the Mediterranean.

The Journey So Far

On the map in your sermon guide, Paul's journey began about August of AD 60 from Caesarea, on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean. They eventually reached a port on the island of Crete called Fair Havens—a name that didn't really fit, because it wasn't a good place to winter. By late September the captain and sailors wanted to move about 35 nautical miles west to a port called Phoenix.

They waited for favorable weather. The winds were contrary, coming from the west. Then one morning a soft southerly wind came, and it seemed the perfect opportunity. But by midday a drastic change came: a huge storm from the northeast that they called Euroclydon—a "Nor'easter." The Bible calls it tempestuous; in the Greek it was typhoonic. A typhoon-class wind came down on this large, poorly maneuvering vessel.

They lowered the sail, raised the rudders, bound up the ship, brought the skiff aboard, and let it drive. A little more than three days in, Paul stood and said, "Men, you should have listened to me." I love that he gives the old "I told you so." But he adds: don't worry—the angel of the God whom I serve has appeared to me, and we're going to be okay. We are, however, going to crash.

Though All Be Lost, All Is Not Lost

By the fourteenth night, all 275 souls had lost hope. Sadly, many people live their lives in that kind of hopeless, despairing, depressed mindset—and unfortunately many who sit in churches and call themselves Christians do too. We shouldn't be like that. If you're a Christian, we have hope that extends beyond this life.

That's the first point: though all be lost of this life, all is not lost. It sounds strange at first, but the Bible supports it. We who follow Jesus have a sure and steadfast hope that extends beyond the trinkets and trappings of this life. Therefore even if we lose everything gained in this life, we have not actually lost.

That makes it vital to take to heart the teaching of Jesus and the pattern of Paul. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19–21)

The Pattern of Paul

The same man stuck in this storm later wrote to the church in Philippi:

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:7–8)

That word "loss" is the exact same Greek word Paul used aboard the ship. If Paul was willing to give up everything of this life to gain Christ, it shows he recognized the exceeding value of who Jesus is. He was willing to let it all go to lay hold of Jesus.

You may remember Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. At the end, the Holy Grail falls onto a ledge over a bottomless pit, and Indiana is hanging there, risking everything to reach it. His father, played by Sean Connery, says, "Indiana, let it go." There's wisdom in that—there are things we need to let go. And of course the children's ministry kids are always singing the Frozen song, "Let It Go." There's truth in that too.

Many people who call themselves Christians are hanging on to and hoarding the things of this life as if this were all there is. It's a terrible witness, because those who don't know Jesus only have this life. But we who believe recognize this is not all there is. The wonderful result of living like Paul is that if you've already reckoned all those things loss, then losing them is no loss at all, because you gain Christ.

You Only Live Once?

If you're not a Christian, hear these words of Jesus:

He who desires to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for My sake and the gospel, the same shall find it. (Luke 9:24)

There's a saying going around—"#YOLO," "you only live once." For the person who's not a believer, that's actually reality, and Ecclesiastes has much to say about it, because this life is all they have to look forward to. But the Christian's banner should be how we live for Jesus. As the missionary Jim Elliot is remembered for saying: "Only one life, 'twill soon be past; only what's done for Christ will last." That which is done for Christ is what will truly last.

When the Surf Gets Steep

Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land. And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms... fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come. (Acts 27:27–29)

A nineteenth-century Scottish scholar, James Smith, wrote a study on this voyage. He explains that a ship like this, driven without direction in such a wind, would travel about 35 to 36 miles in a 24-hour period. Calculate it out and the timing matches exactly the roughly 500-mile distance from Crete to Malta. Luke's facts fit actual history.

How did the sailors sense they were drawing near land at midnight, with no GPS and no sonar? Most commentators say they heard the waves crashing on the rocks—Smith says in storm conditions you can hear that at a quarter mile. But I asked one of our own experts, Mick Majora, who has spent much time on the water. He said, "The surf got steeper." In the open sea the swells are lower and farther apart, but as the ocean floor rises near land the waves bunch together and grow higher. More time is spent below the waves than above them—a distressing situation.

That's point two: when the surf gets steep, there are rocks ahead. Storms come to everyone.

Make Sure You're Anchored Correctly

Point three: make sure you're anchored correctly. Modern boats come to a point at the bow but are flat at the stern; anchoring from the stern in these conditions would batter the ship and take on water. But these large grain vessels came to a point at both ends. James Smith points out the wisdom of the commander: anchoring from the stern positioned the ship pointed directly toward shore, about a quarter mile out. The plan was that at first light they would raise the mainsail, drop the rudders, cut the anchors, and beach the craft.

If you're a Christian, you can have the right mooring, because your trust is in Jesus. The author of Hebrews writes it beautifully—here from the J.B. Phillips translation:

So in this matter God, wishing to show beyond a doubt that his plan was unchangeable, confirmed it with an oath. So that by two utterly immutable things, the word of God and the oath of God... we who are refugees from this dying world might have a source of strength, and might grasp the hope that he holds out to us. This hope we hold as the utterly reliable anchor for our souls. (Hebrews 6:17–20, paraphrased)

God has given us the word of his promise and sworn an oath, so that we would have a sure and reliable anchor for our souls. Everyone faces storms—a bad diagnosis, a lost job, a foreclosure, whether by our own foolish decisions or simply the fallenness of the world. But only the Christian has an anchor for the soul when the rocks lie ahead, and it is in God alone.

Take Nourishment for Your Survival

And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved." Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off. (Acts 27:30–32)

The sailors wanted to bail out in the lifeboat under pretense of setting anchors from the bow, leaving everyone else behind. The soldiers got wind of it. Notice how Paul uses their self-preservation instinct: "Unless these men stay, you cannot be saved." Their practical hope was in that small boat. By cutting the ropes and letting it go, they were saying with their actions, "We trust you, Paul, and the God who has spoken to you." For all practical purposes, the prisoner Paul is now in command.

And as day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food, saying, "Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing. Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you." And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat. Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves. (Acts 27:33–36)

Point four: take nourishment for your survival. In the text it's literal food, but believers must recognize that Scripture speaks much about nourishment that isn't physical. When the devil told the fasting Jesus to turn stones into bread, Jesus answered:

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

In this life we receive nourishment for survival from the revealed word of God. Yet many Christians live spiritually emaciated lives because they never partake of it. You wouldn't try to maintain strength on one meal a week—and you can't maintain spiritual vitality on one meal in church each week, even if it's solid meat. We need to be in the word daily.

Give Thanks Before Them All

Note this side point: Paul "gave thanks to God in the presence of them all." Christians, when you sit down to eat with family, friends, co-workers, or neighbors—even those who aren't believers—simply say, "I'm a Christian, and I think it's a good thing to thank God when I eat, so I'm just going to pray." No one will object. I was once at lunch with my friend Victor Marx, and he said to our waitress, "Christie, we're Christians, and in a few minutes we're going to pray for our meal—can we pray for you?" A tear formed in her eye, she shared a little of her story, and before she left she said, "I used to go to church—maybe I should find a good one." And notice: after Paul prayed, "they were all encouraged."

Trusting God Brings Salvation

So when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea. When it was day, they did not recognize the land; but they observed a bay with a beach, onto which they planned to run the ship if possible... But striking a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves. And the soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away and escape. But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose... And so it was that they all escaped safely to land. (Acts 27:38–44)

Under Roman law, a soldier who lost a prisoner would bear that prisoner's judgment, so they planned to kill them. But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, stopped them and commanded those who could swim to jump first—the first mention of surfing in the Bible, if you will. And so it was that all 276 escaped safely to land.

Point five: trusting God brings salvation. Some math major could calculate the improbability of all 276 souls surviving—it was surely exceedingly high. But God is bigger than our statistics, and those who trust in him experience his salvation.

The probability of a man walking on water is rather low too. Yet when the disciples were spent in a storm on Galilee, Jesus came walking on the water, and Peter walked out to him. When Peter saw the boisterous wind, he began to sink and cried, "Lord, save me," and Jesus reached out and caught him. God is bigger than our statistics.

Here the people trusted the word of God through God's man, Paul, and experienced salvation—even though their faith wavered. The sailors wanted to flee; the soldiers wanted to kill. Yet even small, wavering faith that still trusts in God brought salvation.

If you're a Christian today, be reminded that trusting in the Lord brings salvation. If you're not a Christian, I encourage you to put your confidence in Jesus, who died on the cross 2,000 years ago to take your sin upon himself and pay its penalty, so that we could trust him for salvation and have a sure and steadfast anchor in heaven—even when the surf is steep and rocks lie ahead.

Closing Prayer

Father God, thank you for this passage of Scripture—the facts of it, and more than anything, the way it applies to our lives some twenty centuries later. You have purpose you want to reveal through the Scriptures, so I pray we would take hold of these things this week and that they would affect the way we live and interact with others. Lord, help us who believe in you and have put our trust in you to have a sure and steadfast strength in you, our souls anchored in you, knowing that even though we lose everything in this life, we have lost nothing—because we have a life and an inheritance with you that is incorruptible. Amen.