Tuesday, 09 August, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Acts 27:21-32

²¹ Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. ²² Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³ For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, ²⁴ and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ ²⁵ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. ²⁶ But we must run aground on some island.”

²⁷ When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. ²⁸ So they took a sounding and found twenty fathoms. A little farther on they took a sounding again and found fifteen fathoms. ²⁹ And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. ³⁰ And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go.

Paul is being transported by ship to Rome to face trial. The ship is caught in a terrible storm and is about to be shipwrecked. But God grants Paul a great comfort: He promises through an angel that no one will die in the coming shipwreck.

Paul is completely assured that God will do as He has promised. Yet when he sees the sailors attempting to abandon the ship, Paul gets the soldiers to intervene to keep them on board, telling the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”

What do we learn from this?

Paul knows that God is in control, and that He has promised to act to protect everyone on board. But this doesn’t cause Paul to sit back and wait for God to do everything. Paul also knows that God works through means, and in this case, the physical salvation of the people on board depended on the means of the sailors. Therefore, Paul acts to keep the sailors on board the ship.

Paul doesn’t see a conflict between God’s providence and his own personal responsibility. God acts through means, and when He ordains the ends, He also ordains the means.

Understanding this can help us in many areas of our Christian walk. Why pray when God has already ordained what will come to be? Because He has commanded us to pray, and He has ordained that He will work through means of the prayers of His people to bring about His desired end. Why do we share the Gospel with people when God has chosen to save the elect? Again, it is because God has commanded us to evangelize, and He has ordained to bring people to salvation through the means of people sharing the Gospel.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Acts 23:11 tells us that Paul had previously been told by the Lord [Jesus Christ] that He would “testify the facts about me … in Rome.”

In this passage, the same message is given Him through an angel.

Paul has had a number of revelations from the risen Christ, and he believes what he is told.

We aren’t given these direct revelations like Paul, but we have the completed word of God presented to us in the Scriptures. And in them we are challenged to believe what God is telling us, and to act in accordance with it, trusting God to do what He has promised.

Saturday, 06 August, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Acts 24:24-26

²⁴ After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.” ²⁶ At the same time he hoped that money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and conversed with him.

Paul stood before governor Felix, the man who had the power to prosecute him or to release him. Felix had asked him to speak about Christianity. Perhaps he was really interested at some level, but Luke tells us that part of Felix’s motivation to keep asking for Paul to come talk was his hope that Paul would offer him a bribe to be freed.

On this occasion in our passage for today, Felix brought his wife, Drusilla, who Luke tells us, was Jewish. What Luke doesn’t tell us, but we know from the history, is that Drusilla was the daughter of Herod Agrippa, and brother to Herod Agrippa II. She was given in marriage by her brother to King Azizus of Emesa. Josephus describes how she became Felix’s wife:

While Felix was procurator of Judea, he saw this Drusilla and fell in love with her; for she exceeded all other women in beauty. And so he sent to her one of his friends, Atomus, a Jew from Cyprus who pretended to be a magician, who endeavored to persuade her to leave her present husband and marry Felix. He promised, that if she would not refuse, he would make her a very happy [felix] woman. Accordingly she acted ill, and because she desired to avoid the jealousy of her sister Berenice — for she was very ill treated by her on account of her beauty — was prevailed upon to transgress the laws of her forefathers, and to marry Felix.

Paul’s freedom depends upon the judgment of Felix. Paul knows who Felix is(Acts 24:10 “Knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense.”), and he has to know about the scandal of his marriage to Druscilla. So what does Paul preach to Felix and Druscilla when he is given the opportunity?

In good pastoral style, Paul preaches a three point sermon:

1. Righteousness.

2. Self-control.

3. The coming judgment.

What do we learn from this?

Paul didn’t pull any punches when offered the opportunity to “speak about faith in Christ Jesus.” He didn’t water anything down to try to please his hearers. He didn’t compromise the message to better his own position and win his freedom.

Paul began by declaring the law, and hammering home our guilt before God. It is only after people are convicted of sin will they be ready to hear about what God has done to save people from those sins.

For Paul, the opportunity to present the Law in all its preparatory work for presenting the Gospel was more important than being popular with people and it was more important than winning his own freedom.

Where is Christ in this passage?

We often talk of the love of Christ. It is His love for His people that caused Him to come to earth, live the perfect life to be credited to His people, and die on the cross to pay the price for their sins. That is a comforting thing for us to talk about, and it is often quite easy.

What we have a tendance to neglect, however, is telling people of the coming judgment, where Christ will come to judge the living and the dead. All of those who are not in Christ, all of those who have not come to God, trusting in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation, will stand before Him on the last day and find Jesus Christ not as their Savour but as their judge.

We find Jesus Christ in Paul’s third point, judging all those who are not His people for their lack of righteousness and self control.