Sermon Tone Analysis

THE ANCHOR HOLDS        ACTS 27

 

 

            On April 15, 1912, at approximately 2:20 A.M. the stern of the White Star liner /Titanic/ swung slowly upward toward the stars.

Her lights went out, flashed on again, and then went out for good.

Only a single kerosene lantern flickered high in the after mast.

As her stern reached higher, a steady roar thundered across the water as every movable thing aboard her broke loose.

There has never been a mixture like it: 15,000 bottles of ale and stout, huge anchor chains (each link weighed 175 pounds), thirty cases of golf clubs, 30,000 fresh eggs, potted palms, five grand pianos, a cask of china from Tiffany’s, a case of gloves from Marshall Fields, and, most valuable of all, 1,500 passengers who had not been able to get off the great ship.

The great and the unknown tumbled together in a writhing heap as the bow eased deeper and the stern rose higher.

The /Titanic/ was now absolutely vertical, with her three dripping propellers glistening in the darkness.

For nearly two minutes she stood poised as the noise finally stopped.

Then she began sliding slowly under, until the sea closed over the flagstaff on her stern with an audible gulp.

A wreck of any kind is a terrifying experience, whether it is a train derailment, an automobile collision, or a crash of an airplane.

But probably the most terrifying of all is a shipwreck, because of the prolonged agony that the passengers and crew endure.

Well, probably one of the most famous shipwrecks ever told is found in the Scriptures.

It was the shipwreck that Paul and his crew experienced while heading to Rome.

Luke describes every detail of the shipwreck vividly so that we can imagine being on board that ship.

So I ask to take your Bibles and turn to the 27th chapter of the book of Acts, as we begin to slowly draw this great book to a close.

I am not going to read the entire chapter for the sake of time, but I do want to read from verse 21 to 38.

In this chapter, Luke recited this story for our benefit by dropping four anchors for us to hold on to when we find ourselves in the storms of life.

R. Kent Hughes calls them: the anchor of God’s presence, the anchor of God’s ownership, the anchor of service for God, and the anchor of trust in God.

I want to take these points to preach this passage to you.

But before we look at these anchors, I need to remind you how Paul, along with 275 passengers got themselves into this storm.

Folks, I remind you that there are two ways in which we end up in the storms of life: one is by our own doing in disobeying God and the other is because God has put us there.

In the passage, Paul is in this storm because of God’s sovereign hand.

If you remember, in Acts 25, Paul makes an appeal to stand before Caesar.

So Paul was heading to Rome which he desired to do and preach the gospel there.

I am sure he had no intentions of getting there in chains, but God has orchestrated the events of Paul’s life so that he can give the gospel to the most influential men in the world at that time in Israel and Rome.

Luke, in verse 1, says that Festus turns Paul over to a Roman centurion by the name of Julius.

And he boards Paul along with Luke and Aristarchus on a ship from Adramyttium (add rah MITT ee um).

In verse 3, while in Sidon, Paul was well treated and given an opportunity to visit some friends there before departing.

Things were going well up to this point, but it was here that Luke began to record Paul’s storm.

They leave Sidon sailing up and around Cyprus instead of heading west toward Italy because the winds were contrary.

Finally, landing in Asia Minor, the centurion transferred Paul and the others to a large Egyptian grain ship.

These grain freighters were 140 feet long and 36 feet wide and bore a 33 foot draught.

They were sturdy ships for the high seas, but they had trouble sailing into the wind.

Travel was rough from Myra in Asia Minor until they reached Fair Haven, a small seaport on the island of Crete.

Paul, an experienced traveler, warned the centurion in verse 9-10 about traveling the seas after Passover (mid October) because the voyage was dangerous due to fierce storms.

But the pilot of the ship convinced the centurion to go on because Fair Haven was a boring little seaport.

So they took their chances and set sail for Phoenix about forty miles away.

Beginning in verse 13 is where things get exciting for those on board the ship.

Luke says, in verse 14, a northeaster struck from the land and the ship was caught in the middle of it.

Some Bibles translate “the northeaster” as Euroclydon or Euraquilo.

“Euraquilo” is literally translated /euros/ (east wind) and /aquilo/ (northeast).

From the sailors point of view, Euroclydon, the terror of seaman, had been watching and waiting from the top of Mount Ida (the fable abode of Zeus) to drive them to destruction.

So they were caught in this typhoon like wind and the battle was on to try to save their lives.

They were in a mess.

In verse 16, they were able to secure the ship’s dinghy and they took ropes which they tossed around the hull of the boat to keep it together from the terrible waves.

They jettisoned cargo and cut away any tangled gear that littered the deck.

And for fourteen days they saw neither sun nor stars.

They were hoping they would not be lost at sea.

            God caused the ship to drift 476 miles from Cauda (Clauda) to the island of Malta.

In the 19th century, an experienced Scottish yachtsman, James Smith, made a careful on-site study of this narrative.

He asked experienced Mediterranean navigators what the mean drift of a ship of this kind would be in such a gale.

He learned that it would drift about 36 miles in 24 hours.

Even today, the soundings mentioned in verse 28 indicate that the ship was passing Koura, a point on the east coast of Malta, on her way into St.

Paul’s Bay.

Smith calculated that a ship leaving late in the evening from Clauda would, by midnight of the 14th day, be less than three miles from the entrance to St. Paul’s Bay.

He also reported that no ship can enter St. Paul’s Bay without passing within a quarter of a mile from the point of Koura, where the sailors would have heard the breakers, thus surmising that they were nearing land, as Luke reports in verse 27 (cited by F. F. Bruce, /The Book of Acts /[Eerdmans], pp.

514-515).

Remember earlier, in the sermon, I told you that there are two ways to get into the storms of life.

One is by our own choosing in disobeying God and the other is by God’s own choosing.

I have been studying the gospel of Mark for my quiet time and I am reminded of an incident in the life of the apostles after the feeding of the five thousand, when Jesus made (by force or persuasion) the disciples get into a boat and head to the other side of the sea.

While at sea, Jesus knew a storm was coming but he put them there to show them he had authority over the storms of life.

The storms of life do not necessarily mean that we are out of the will of God.

The disciples were in the will of God because Jesus sent them out into that storm.

Folks, just because God promised Paul that he would bear witness in Rome did not mean it would be smooth sailing.

And the same is true for all of us.

As we serve Christ, there will be storms, hardships, high seas, breakdowns—but also peace, assurance, faithfulness, the sustaining presence of God.

Those that claim that following Christ makes everything smooth sailing have either misunderstood or misrepresent God’s Word.

F.B. Meyer wrote, “If I am told that I am to take a journey that is a dangerous trip, every jolt along the way will remind me that I am on the right road.”

Isn’t that what Jesus said to the disciples by warning them that they will face trials, but they were to be assured that he was going to be with them.

Every Christian can have courage amidst life’s storms if he or she uses the proper anchors.

So let us look at the anchors that Paul held on to in this passage.

Again I want to remind you that these are not original with me, I read them in a commentary and they spoke to me so I am passing them on to you.

First,

 

THE ANCHOR OF GOD’S PRESENCE – 23

            So on deck of a sinking ship, Paul was anchored by the presence of God, which became an ongoing reality for him.

Paul had experienced God’s presence before.

While he was in Corinth, Jesus spoke to him in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people” (18:9-10).

In Jerusalem, Jesus stood beside him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome” (23:11).

In writing to Timothy, Paul wrote, “At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me.

May it not be charged against them!

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it” (2 Tim.

4:16-17).

And even the writer of Hebrews (whom some believe to be Paul, wrote, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb.

13:5).

So how do we become aware of God’s presence?

R. Kent Hughes wrote, “Rarely through an audible voice, but rather through the still, gentle assurance of the Holy Spirit and through God’s Holy Word.

Paul in two letters, I believe makes a connection for us of these two aspects of God’s presence.

He tells the Ephesians “to be filled with the Spirit,” and the Colossians “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”.

These things are essential for spiritual health and courage.

C. S. Lewis said, “He walks everywhere incognito.

And the incognito is not hard to penetrate.

The real labor is to remember, to attend.

In fact, to come awake.

Still more, to remain awake.”

When we are anchored to God’s presence, then we can show tremendous courage in the midst of the worse storms.

And remember, when we are anchored we can sustain others just as Paul does with the 275 other passengers.

THE ANCHOR OF GOD’S OWNERSHIP – 23

            Paul was able to master the storm because he knew to whom he belonged.

In other words, he recognized that he was not his own, he was bought with a price.

Therefore, he was the property of God.

So how do we belong to Christ?

            /Like a bride belongs to a bridegroom/.