SERMON           

                     The Final Chapter:

                   An Unfinished Story                                 

                                   Acts, Chapter 28                                    

      Pastor Robyn Hogue                 September 20, 2015                Skyline Presbyterian Church

 

As we conclude the Book of Acts, Paul and companions arrive at Malta, near Sicily on the Coast of Italy. They have made it through the storms. Last week I preached on the storms of life, the storms through which we pass. Paul and companions made it safely to the other side. We will make it to the other side.

Luke is telling the story. “We arrived safely,” he says, “and the natives treated us with unusual kindness.”(Acts 28:2) It was cold, it began to rain, they built a fire, people stood around it. Paul could not stand by and receive this kindness without helping so he gathered wood for the fire. A snake appeared from the wood and bit Paul’s hand.

The snake fastened on Paul’s hand and the crowd quickly arrived at a conclusion: this man was a murderer. In other words, he made it safely here through the storm, but now he was getting what he deserved, he was going to die. This perspective was deeply rooted in an ancient way of interpreting life. At its core, it goes like this: if you are blessed, if you are thriving, you must have done something right, you must be a good person, God must be smiling on you. And if you are you are not thriving, it must be because you have done something wrong, you have been a bad person, God must be hammering you.

It’s karma. It is simplistic, and yet this ancient theology dies a slow death. And this is despite our sense that it does not match with human experience. At times we know that bad things happen to good people. At other times, good things happen to bad people. And so Paul must have deserved his fate, which surely will be death! And yet…and yet…he survives; he shakes it off! They watch him, to see if all of this is real, and then, Luke tells us “They change their minds and say he is a god!” (Acts 28:6) So Paul goes from being a murderer to a god within minutes!

Now it is not such a stretch to say that this mirrors the bi-polar character of our society and how we view those with authority, celebrity and visibility. We put someone on a pedestal, and then we tear them down. We think someone is a god, but then they are the personification of evil. They imagine Paul to be a god, but Paul is not a god, he is a servant of God.

And Paul’s call to service comes quickly. A man lays sick in bed. Luke tells us that he has a fever and dysentery. The tradition has it that Luke was a physician. There are many medical details scattered through the gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts that bear this out, this being one of them. Paul visits the sick man and lays hands on him and he is cured. Many others came, and they were also healed.

In the gospels, Jesus does three things: He preaches, He teaches, and He heals. The fullness of the gospel includes what we think, how we feel and what we are doing; it is about the head, the heart and the hands. Jesus did these three things: preaching, teaching and healing and He commanded the disciples to do three things: preaching, teaching and healing. In the first book, the gospel of Luke, we observe Jesus going about this mission but in the second book, we see His disciples doing these very things. Here we find Paul preaching, teaching and healing.

At first, we observe, and then, as the story unfolds, we find that we are participating. In the Message, Eugene Peterson introduces the Book of Acts in this way:

“Because the story of Jesus is so impressive…there is a danger that we will be impressed, but only impressed. AS the spectacular dimensions of this story slowly (or suddenly) dawn upon us, we could easily become enthusiastic spectators, and then let it go at that…and in our better moments inspired to imitate Him.

It is Luke’s task to prevent that, to prevent us from becoming mere spectators to Jesus, fans of the Message. Of the original quartet of writers on Jesus, Luke alone continues to tell the story as the apostles and disciples live it into the next generation. The remarkable thing is that it continues to be essentially the same story…The story of Jesus doesn’t end with Jesus. It continues in the lives of those who believe in Him. The supernatural does not stop with Jesus. Luke makes it clear that these Christians he wrote about were no more spectators of Jesus than Jesus was a spectator of God—they are in on the action of God, God acting in them, God living in them. Which also means of course, in us.”

Among the themes found in the Book of Acts is this: We are no longer spectators—we are participants in God’s mission.

This past summer the PGA tour brought the US Open Golf tournament to our community. Specifically, they brought it to my neighborhood. There, to Chambers Bay Golf Course, were made many, many physical accommodations for the anticipated number of fans. Temporary buildings were erected, gardens and restaurants and bleachers were present where prior there had been none. Access to the county parks closed, traffic re-routed, sale-merchandise prepared and marketed. By all measures the event was a success. But still, the numbers of people attending the US Open were very small when compared to the vast numbers of people who would rather play than watch.

Being a spectator has its enjoyments, but it is nothing like being in the game. In the Book of Acts it is as if God is saying, “You’ve been standing in the crowd or sitting in the bleachers, I want you to get out on the field, this is where the work of the kingdom is happening.”

As the Book of Acts concludes Paul has made it to Rome, the western world’s largest city. This is where the Spirit had been leading him. He is under house arrest, the political and religious authorities not knowing quite what to do with this faith. He meets with the Jewish leaders, and explains this history of what God has been doing in the world, tracing all of this through the law and the prophets in to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Some accept the faith; some do not. We have seen this response before.

Paul stayed in Rome for two more years under house arrest, speaking to whoever would come to visit with him. He talked about the kingdom of God and the life of Jesus with boldness and without hindrance.

The Book of Acts is a first century book with a 21st century relevance: the encounter of the gospel with ethnic diversity (What if this became part of our conversations about immigration?) and the encounter of a Jewish-Christian heritage with other faiths (What if this became a part of our conversations with Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Humanists, and Baha’i?)

The Book of Acts reminds us that we can have confidence in the gospel, and we do not need to fear those who are different from us. The Spirit moves, the word gets out, the gospel is unhindered, and nothing can stop it. (Acts 28:31)

Today we’ve gathered for a multitude of reasons. Many people worked together on behalf of the people of Syria over the past weeks. The immigrants are poor not because God has cursed them, but their poverty is an occasion for our generosity.

We give thanks for the ministry of retired pastors Phil Schiller and Harold Larsen and especially their influence across sixty years of service. We pray for our pastoral intern, Carol McLaughlin as well as for daughters and sons of this congregation who are preparing for the pastoral vocation—specifically for Michael Anderson as he begins his seminary studies in St. Louis and Johanna Wuco as she continues toward licensure within the Assemblies of God as she serves among university students at Western Washington University.

We lift up the importance of intentional faith development, Sunday School classes for all ages and disciple groups, and preschool and all gatherings of at least two or three where the word is studies and most importantly how the word takes us from one place to another: from being a spectator to being a participant in God’s mission.

The Book of Acts ends abruptly—the gospel is preached without hindrance. And yet Acts leaves an important question unanswered: What happens to Paul? How did he die? Luke is a very sophisticated writer, and the biblical scholars agree that the ending is not accidental, but for a purpose: Acts is not a biography of Paul, it is about something else. The Spirit moves, the word gets out, the gospel is unhindered, and nothing can stop it.  It is, we might say, “to be continued.”

The story of Jesus does not end with Jesus. It continues in the lives of those who believe in Him.