"The end is the beginning: Acts 29”

While on vacation in 2009, we planned to go for a few days to see Bratislava, Prague and Vienna. Everything was thought out, we bought cheap plane tickets, booked cheap hotels, rented a car, and the bags were packed. On the appointed day we went to the airport, checked in out luggage and waited for boarding ... but never did. A few hours later we were informed that we would not be flying because the airline went bankrupt. And with great sadness not only for the money lost but also about the failed dream we returned home to Davide’s parents. But my heart desired adventure and we have found another option to get away for a few days. We bought tickets for a ferryboat and a few hours later were on the island of Malta. One day, taking an excursion by boat around Malta we passed the bay of St. Paul, where, according to history, the ship on which Paul was going to court to Caesar was wrecked.

Over the past two Sundays we read Luke’s detailed account of this journey and all that had happened to them. Luke has devoted 59 verses to this story! But why does he pay such attention to all these details, especially at the end of his book? Well, first of all, Luke himself was a participant in this journey and has experienced it all personally. One can only imagine what he went through, how much fear and emotion he had. And no wonder that he tells about his experiences in such detail and color. When we experience something so difficult and dangerous - it's hard not to tell about it in such detail!

But for Luke it is not simply an opportunity to pour out all of his experiences on us. His details are meant to emphasize God’s providence in all of this, and how in the midst of all that apparent "failure", inseparable from life in this world, God continued to carry out his plan. After all, this was Luke’s sub-theme throughout the book of Acts. How many times did He show how God worked out His plan even though human sinfulness and misunderstandings, and now does so in spite of human stupid decisions and unpredictability of nature (such as the storm and a snake). But God continues His act: gives Paul a meeting with the proconsul Sergius, who becomes very impressed with Paul and hears about Christ. Paul gets to meet with the chief of the island Publius, whose father Paul will subsequently heal in the name of Christ. And although Luke does not say anything about whether Publius, his father and Sergius got converted, we see that God was working powerfully in Paul's life. The storm and the snake did not help the situation, but did not defeat him, the forces of evil could not defeat God’s new creation, and Paul continued to go to Rome; and the gospel, that he carried with him continued to prevail. That is what Luke is trying to highlight with all his details.

But how often do we Christians are not able to see God’s Sovereignty through the crisis of our lives? Too often we are more like those superstitious Maltese who at first believed that since Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake, then he is somehow guilty before God; or since he is constantly in trouble, he is either not a Godly person or God is not Almighty and can’t save him. But Luke shows in his story just the opposite: while Jesus can calm any storm, he does not "immunize" Christians from all the problems that other people face in the world. Paul and his companions suffered along with their pagan companions. Yes, God sometimes miraculously frees believers from such situations, but sometimes He gives them courage and firmness to go through such disasters. Paul believed that Sovereign God even among the worst of crisis may create something beautiful and new, and therefore said: "For those who love God all things work together for good" (Romans 8:28).

And it is this unshakable faith in the Sovereignty of God made the mission of the early Christians unstoppable. For many weeks now we’ve looked at what the early church was like learning how to play our part well in God's plan. And today we are confronted with the truth that the Church that really believes in the Sovereignty of God becomes "the agent of hope” in this world. What is often our first reaction to the dead-end or crisis situation? Panic that we often also dump on others, drawing them into our mood of despair. But look at Paul. He was a complete believer in the Sovereignty of God and because of that he always saw beyond his own desperate circumstances and anticipated how God would turn what happened to him, even evil, into something good. When we are in a difficult situation, we cannot easily see the Sovereignty of God and, thus, we panic. But in this panic, we must turn to God and wrestle with him until we come out with unshakable faith, ready to go to the people with the word from God rather then with visible expressions of fear and stress. That is what Paul did when all hope of salvation was gone and everyone pretty much gave up. Paul thought God and was able to say with confidence: "I urge you to keep up your courage because the Lord God to whom I belong will not let us perish. Be of good cheer, God will be faithful to what He said to me " (27:22, 25).

In Psalm 73 the author begins to doubt the Sovereignty of God and his providence, because He allows the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer: " But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.... " (73:2-3). But instead of pouring his doubts onto others right away, he went into the temple to sort things out with God. And there, in the presence of God, he found God's vision of the situation and of the future, so in the rest of the Psalm he praises God: "I'm always with you, you guide me with your advice and will take me in to your glory. But the wicked will wake up one day and realize that their dreams are nothing but steam, which will evaporate and they will be ruined! God - the stronghold of my heart and my portion forever! "

But not only our words, actions too can restore people's hope and trust in God. Remember how Paul confirmed his hope - he took the bread and ate it and was strengthened for what awaited them ahead, while the rest did not eat it precisely because they did not believe they could be saved. In the Old Testament when prophet Jeremiah proclaimed the defeat and exile of the people of Israel, God told him to buy the field in Anathoth. This purchase make in such a hopeless time was a symbolic act of hope that God will bring back the time when this land will prosper and will again be bought and sold (Jer. 32:6-16). Very often, when people lose hope, this manifests in their senseless acts, which only make the situation worse. But Christians are called to constructive and meaningful actions that will bring hope back and transform even the most hopeless situation.

When war broke out in northern Sri Lanka people fell into a state of hopelessness and despondency. Everyone seemed to have given up. Roads was neglected, littered with debris, nobody cleaned their houses and yards. But one of the believers - Suri - decided that his house would remain joyful and beautiful despite terror and chaos that was around. Every day he cleaned the yard and planted flowers despite constantly bursting bombs. Then he decided to clean not only his yard but also his street. An Indian Army officer saw this and ordered his soldiers to launch a campaign to clean the streets around their camp. And so this one Christian’s care for the beauty of his own backyard became even in the midst of this war a symbolic act of hope. That is what Paul did by his action of eating and that is what we are meant to be - agents of hope who facing their doubts and despair listen not to the voices of panic but to the voice of Sovereign God in whose presence even hopelessness can turn into hope.

After a three-month delay in Malta Paul and the company went on to Rome via Syracuse and then Puteoli where they were welcomed by a group of Christians. These believers teach us that true church should also be a "harbor of hospitality" here and now, a place that accepts, nurtures and becomes a home to the weary travelers of life. The world in which we live - our city – is becoming more and more a world in which people are divided into "local and transfers," "Slavs and blacks," "professional and "Gastarbeiters”." I won’t give examples, we all know them too well. But Paul exhorted: "I beseech you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and there was no divisions among you, but that you be united in one spirit and one mind" (1 Cor. 1:10). Living in a world of strife we ourselves so often fall into a similar separation and, therefore, must be especially attentive to the call to be a "haven of hospitality”, a refuge for travelers in need of the love of God. Luke says that this love and care if believers in Puteoli gave Paul and Luke everything they needed in order to go on with their difficult mission.

Another meeting was awaiting Paul, which Luke considers necessary to describe. When Paul was on the last stretch to Rome some of the Roman believers came to meet him in the Appian area, having over nearly 69 miles for that, while others met them at the Three Hotels, having come down over 50 miles. Why does Luke give such details? To show the heart of those Christians who were willing to go such a long way to find Paul and company where they were. When the Church lives up to its name and truly represents Jesus, it leaves her "comfort zones" and is ready to go a long way to meet people where they are, where their need placed them. The church is not waiting until they come to her, she meets people on the road, but does so in order to bring them along, bring them Home. The Church does this not only by doing missions in far-away countries, but here in its hometown.

Do we leave our comfort zones to meet people where they are with all their needs and seeking so we can help them to become part of the family of God? By doing so the church becomes the community of thanksgiving and praise. When Paul saw what those believers did for him he praised God and took courage. Christian love in its essence is evangelistic - it bows people in praise of God. Sometimes people are passive in the church because for a long time they are wondering what their gift is and what can they do for God? But every Christian can do what these Roman Christians did – to go and meet another person. We saw how that encounter turned into a blessing for Paul and how God was glorified! As Robert Louis Stevenson wrote: "As long as we love we serve. No man is useless while he is a friend." God is glorified and believers are encouraged when we go to meet another person. When we, the people of God, do so our church becomes a safe harbor that welcomes you where you are and gives hope and courage for the way that is still ahead.

And so Luke ends his book very abruptly saying only that Paul arrived in Rome and lived there for two years preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. But this abrupt ending is his challenge to us and the possibility for the Holy Spirit to write new chapters of the book of Acts today through us. Yes, we would like to know what happened to Paul and how this hero ended his career but Luke is silent about this, just as he was silent about what eventually happened to Peter. But may be it is because the real hero of the book of Acts was neither Paul nor Peter nor Luke but the Lord Jesus who is seated on the throne as the Lord of the world and is now proclaimed  with boldness and without hindrance?! He is the One through whom the gospel of the early church was unstoppable and He is the One through whom it cannot be stopped now. God advance and will advance his plan despite any tragedies and crisis and he invites our church to participate in these plans. Christ continues to act and teach, proclaiming the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. And he does it through his disciples, through their lives, trials and even suffering. Why is Luke so thoroughly describes this journey and why he would not write a normal conclusion to the story? So that we may see that this journey – is our journey, the courts and trial - our courts and trials, human sin and mistakes – ours as well, unpredictable nature – also our nature. But the presence of Jesus – is Jesus' presence with us. The story is not complete because all those who now follow Christ have become a part of this story. Luke's narrative came to an end but at the end of this - our beginning.

We heard the first chapters of the history of Christ’s Church but what will be a continuation of this story in our church? Are we going to be the church that generously shares the grace of Jesus Christ received from Him as a gift with those we meet on the way. If so, we ourselves will be greatly blessed. Are we going to be the agents of hope even in the midst of hopelessness because we do not only pay lip service but really believe in the Sovereignty and providence of God? Are we going to be "the harbor of hospitality" in this inhospitable city, dying for ourselves and living and giving our lives for others, and in that finding our true life? The Church of today is the 29th Chapter of Acts that God is writing in our world. But will the world be able to see in the pages of our lives hope that comes from God and truth about the Lordship of Christ?