Bidding Paul a Fond Farewell - Part 1

Who is this man Paul?

(Acts 28:1-10, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 15, 2013)

[28:1] After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. [2] The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. [3] When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. [4] When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” [5] He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. [6] They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:18, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.” Who is this man Paul? Who is this Lord who rescues Him?

Remember when Paul the angry Pharisee first had his life turned around by a bright light and a voice from heaven saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” His immediate response was this question: “Who are you Lord?” The answer that came back: “I am Jesus.”

This Jesus is the man that Paul follows from that moment forward. Following Jesus can lead a man “through many dangers, toils, and snares.” As Acts 28 begins, following Jesus has led Paul to the island of Malta where the people worship a variety of gods.

Paul and his companions, shipwrecked on this small island about the length of our little seacoast, needed help. They were not too proud to receive the kindness of strangers. His ability not only to give but even to receive from others could open up doors to further relationship in wonderful ways that he might not at first comprehend.

What were these strangers like? The people there had their own way of looking at the events all around them as they tried to understand the rulers and divinities behind those events. They believed in divine justice as a force to be reckoned with, perhaps centralized in a personal spiritual entity, the Greek goddess, Justice. Paul believed that Jesus, who satisfied the demands of divine justice for us, is the perfection of God's justice, love, and every other attribute that God possesses.

The Maltese view of the world was simple. If you do evil, Justice will get you. There is something to that view, but it does not takes into account everything we need to know about God. In any case they expected that they could make a pretty educated guess about a man who barely escaped from a shipwreck and then was immediately bitten by a poisonous snake: “No doubt this man is a murderer.”

This was closer to the truth than they realized, but that is another story for a different passage. In this passage, Paul does not die at the hands of Justice. After a suitable amount of time passed and it was clear that Paul was not going to die, the kind people of Malta had to come up with another theory. Paul was not a murderer. He was a god.

Who was this man Paul? Do you understand him? How would you explain him to others. You have followed his story for many chapters. Have you been able to figure him out? The people of Malta were missing some important facts about Paul and about the man that Paul was following. One thing is for certain: No one could understand Paul unless they understood some of the most basic facts about the man that Paul was following.

[7] Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. [8] It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him. [9] And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. [10] They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.

In the absence of clear insight, it might help to gather more facts. The people of Malta needed to look beyond the shipwreck, the snake bite, and this man's unexpected survival. Within the next few days they would know more about Paul.

A leading man among them, one Publius, entertained Paul and others for three days. His father was very sick. The apostle healed him. This was a new fact. This man Paul healed someone. Soon others were brought to him. He healed them too. More facts.

By the time their visit to Malta was over, the people of the island knew more about Paul than they had on that first day. They honored the apostolic prisoner and his friends by giving them whatever they might need for the rest of their journey.

Paul was not a murderer. He was not a god. He was a man who could heal. This had not always been the case. There had been a time not many years before when this poor man needed healing very badly. He had to be led by the hand into Damascus. A man named Ananias laid his hands on him. On that important day Paul was not the healer but the healed. At that turning point in his life Ananias said to the future apostle, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And he DID receive his sight. And he WAS filled with the Holy Spirit.

The wise men of Malta were missing some facts:

1. They needed to learn the extent of God's justice. God demands perfect obedience from all those who would live. If Justice were to take prisoners, we would all face the viper's deadly bite.
2. They needed to learn the magnificence of God's love. The Lord of heaven and earth was willing to provide the righteousness that no man could supply in order to save us from His wrath.
3. They needed to find Jesus, the answer to both the justice and the love of God.
4. They needed to see the power of God's holy love extended through the embrace of those who could rightly sing, “Amazing grace, How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!”
   
   
   It is with this mission that the Lord still sends forth His church into islands of ignorance. We preach Christ, crucified and risen. We make Him known with our lips that speak the truth in love and with our embrace that heals the sick the distressed. We do this so that those who have no real understanding of the extent of God's justice and love may at last come to know the only way that people can find life that will last forever.

Old Testament Passage: Psalm 30 – Healing from God

Gospel Passage: Mark 12:28-34 – Only one God

Sermon Text: Acts 28:1-10 – Paul on Malta is saved from mortal danger and is used as an apostolic agent of divine blessing

Sermon Point: Belief in “the gods” leads to a very different life than that which comes from faith in the God of Israel who has saved us from the worst danger.