Thankful for "The Hope of Israel"

Acts 28:17–31 ESV

After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.” And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.” When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet: “ ‘Go to this people, and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed; lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.” He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.

Scripture: Acts 28:17-31

Sermon Title: Thankful for “The Hope of Israel”

           This isn’t the conventional way to do a Thanksgiving Day message and it’s not what I usually do, but we are concluding our series on the book of Acts today on Thanksgiving Day. While it’s not typical, I think it is an appropriate way to give thanks to God for the writing of this book, for the growth and spread of the early church through today, and for what we are most thankful for—our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, our only Hope. So, we turn to our passage to focus on what we ought to be most thankful for. Paul is in Rome—we read of his arrival on Sunday. He will speak to the Jews about what mattered most to him, and kept speaking to any who’d listen.

           Brothers and sisters in Christ, that’s the book of Acts. Approximately 30 years or so, from Jesus’ ascension into heaven, to the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given, through times of teaching and healing, arrest and persecution, through Paul’s conversion and his growth in the Christian faith, to his calling to bring the good news near and far. As we’ve worked through this book, we’ve traveled thousands of miles by land and sea. We’ve met lots of people who believed already and grew in their faith, who came to faith for the very first time, as well as some who would not believe. We’ve seen the treatment that brought about Jesus’ crucifixion continued to how some of his followers were treated. We’ve heard obedience and disobedience, eyes and ears opened to preaching, and miracles that healed people. All this wasn’t just people doing what they wanted or being tricked by a religion or being at the right place at the right time. No, we have seen God at work.

           If we ask the familiar Thanksgiving question, what are you thankful for, we begin this morning by being thankful for God’s purposes. Let’s go back to the beginning. I don’t mean Acts 1; I mean Luke 1. The gospel of Luke begins, “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” With those words, Luke tells this man, his audience, the purpose for which he would write all the things related to the life of Jesus.

Now we go to Acts 1. This time he writes, “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” That is the starting point from which he wrote “The Acts of the Apostles,” covering the ministries of Peter and John, Stephen, Philip, Paul, Silas and Timothy until we come to the final verse of chapter 28, “Boldly and without hindrance, [Paul] preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.” God’s purpose in calling people to be his ministers, his purpose throughout all the experiences we’ve read throughout this year, his purpose from Judea to Italy and everywhere in between and everywhere going out from these places is that the kingdom of God is preached and that people would be taught of and about the Lord Jesus Christ.

As he had done in so many other places among Jews and Gentiles alike, we see Paul doing that for the Jewish brothers and sisters here in Rome. It seems they knew of him, but they hadn’t heard that he was a troublemaker or someone to stay away from. They had also heard of The Way and likely of Jesus, but they weren’t real familiar with that. God brought Paul here for a reason! As one of the apostles, this is what he does! And yet the same scenario that’s played out many times plays out again here. He gets to the point of telling them, “‘…God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!’” and some who were listening, who had been following along, maybe a bit skeptical—that’s too much. They “will not believe” and “leave” from hearing him.

I assume it isn’t just the that last sentence about the Gentiles; it’s also what’s wrapped up in this prophecy from Isaiah that Paul shared in verses 26 and 27. If we go back to the source, Isaiah 6, Isaiah’s just given himself to be used willingly by the Lord. In similar but not the same words as Acts 28, the prophesy is a command over the people who God would send him to. It’s a proclamation that they would hear and never understand, see but not perceive. It almost feels like how we would think or a curse, God says “…Make the heart of this people calloused, make their ears dull and close their eyes.” A note in the NIV Study Bible says, “Isaiah’s prophetic commission will have the ironic but justly deserved effect of hardening the callous hearts of rebellious Israel—and so rendering the warnings of judgment sure.” When we get to Paul saying this in Acts 28, filled by the Holy Spirit of God, he states this has happened. Some of those who were from Israel have been hardened; they cannot understand the ways of the Lord. If they were not hardened, they could see and hear and understand—they could repent and God would heal them.

Yet God’s purposes were not for that. God’s purposes left them in their bitterness. They resented that God would call a people who were not originally his own. When God acts graciously to call some of these people to salvation, to call some of the Gentiles, and that goes all the way to us today, it isn’t that we deserve this. Left on our own, to our purposes, we too would say the same thing—God wouldn’t do that, he can’t do that. Yet it’s by the gracious purposes of God that he has caused us who have believed in him to repent, and he has and continues to bring healing into our lives. For that we give him thanks.

We are thankful for God’s purposes. The second thing we find to be thankful for in this passage is in our title, coming from verse 20. Why Paul was here is because of the hope of Israel. We are thankful for the hope of Israel, which is the hope of the whole world—Jesus Christ! If God’s purpose is to seek and save those who are lost but who he has lovingly redeemed, Jesus is how he accomplishes that. What Jews back then needed to hear and believe was the same thing the Gentiles needed to hear and what the church everywhere must continue to seek and share today.

That means we need every bit of the incarnate Son of God living, dying, coming back to life, and ascending to heaven still alive. It’s not enough just to tell people, “Jesus came and lived here”—that doesn’t save us. It’s not even enough to just tell them, “He died on the cross.” He did that, and it’s a huge deal—Jesus died for you, a sinner, to take your punishment on himself, to save you from your sins and condemnation. That’s absolutely true! But it fails to grasp what is so essential in the teachings of the early church that we’ve been reading: Jesus necessarily came back to life. Death couldn’t hold him. We have a living God. He died because sin deserves death, but he did not stay dead. He came back to life, the firstborn of the resurrection. He ascended to heaven, promising to return, and when he does, he will give life to his people and gather us to live forever.

All of this isn’t just for Christmas or for Easter. It’s also not just for Sundays. We’re to live lives full of gratitude and joy because we rest in the promises of salvation in Jesus Christ. Giving thanks for God’s perfect grace ought to be a day-in and day-out thing for believers. When we’ve fallen into sin or are experiencing temptation, we’re not likely enjoying our brokenness once the light of Christ has been shed on it. But we can know, not just that we shouldn’t sin, but that we’ve been forgiven by his mercy. When we’re going through a time of pain or emptiness or loneliness or grief, we know that even when the peace of Christ seems lacking in our emotions or feelings, our future joy is a secure promise; it is a guarantee. When we come to the end of harvest or some significant project or procedure or even the end of the work week, we’re able to praise God for his keeping us safe, that he’s called us to be his, and that we might have shown others the way to him. To be thankful for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior means that we always have something to be grateful for, even when we’re going through bleakest seasons of life.

That brings us to our last point, we should be thankful but not attached to the temporary blessings God has permitted us to have. While I’ve included this point because it is Thanksgiving Day, I don’t think it’s too far from our passage. We’re told in verse 30 that “Paul stayed there in his own rented house;” the English Standard Version translates it, “He lived there two whole years at his own expense.” Either way, Paul had means—whether his own or through support that fellow believers had given to him. He wasn’t living on the streets. He wasn’t in a pit or even a prison cell. It seems like he lived as normal as he could. That he was able to serve God and minister to others about him, and do so in this way, was a blessing. He couldn’t take it for granted. Yet were God to call him home with the end of his life, or call him to another place—another community with less help—he would’ve left all this and gone. That’s what we’ve seen throughout his ministry.  

I want to ask us: Are we able to truly be thankful for the blessings we have in our lives, which God has permitted us to have? Are you able to be thankful, but not be attached to them? As I think about this holiday, if we did not have God in our lives—maybe this resonates for some of you, you know what I’m talking about—at some level we would likely still be thankful for the stuff we have. With all that fills our homes and garages and fields, for resources and entertainment and healthcare and work and technology, most people can say they’re thankful for other people in their lives. Plenty of non-Christians celebrate this day; they express thanks.

But as I said at the beginning of our service, our Christian faith and identity informs us of who all these blessings are from or who allows us to have them. With faith in the one true God, we direct our thanks to him who works all things for our good. There are many things that we have or can have, which are useful for recreation, for ease, for comfort, to help sustain life, which we could get by without. We might be greatly limited, but they’re not necessities. These are what I mean by temporary blessings: from vehicles to boats to electric stand mixers to large refrigerators to Bluetooth headphones to smartphones to large couches to oversized beds.

We could go on and on. God gave people minds that invented these things. He knew they’d come about and that many people in our society today would be able to afford them and benefit from them to different degrees. He has permitted us to have them. We should be thankful to him for them, but do not become or do not continue to be overly attached to these things. If our neighbor can use them, are we willing to share or invite their use? Your identity is not found—it should not be found—in these temporary blessings.

Brothers and sisters, what this comes down to is if something was taken away from you, would you wonder where God went? If you are in pain, are you able to experience the hope of your life not in your health in this life, but in the healing that is to come? If you are in poverty, are you able to experience the abundance that is promised to you not necessarily in this life, but in the life to come? If you consistently feel like you have more than plenty or like you depend on others, can you express gratitude to God and seek his guidance on how to live loving one another well? Trust God’s purposes not just in the days of the early church, but still today and forever. Be reminded that your identity is solely to be in Jesus Christ, be thankful to him and be thankful for the many blessings that you’ve been given. Amen.