Sermon Tone Analysis

Today marks the final message in our series, “Now What: When Life Leaves You Stranded.”

Over the last few weeks, we’ve heard from Pastor Bill on Elijah about feeling stranded by fatigue, from Pastor Mike on Moses about feeling stranded by mistakes, and last week from our Director of Worship Arts, Angie Lopez, on Esther about feeling stranded by relationships.

Tonight I am honored to share with you once more as we explore the life of the Apostle Paul and the reality of being left stranded by life altogether.

Have you ever felt stranded by life itself?

Sometimes cancer wins.

Sometimes the promotion doesn’t come.

Sometimes the friendship isn’t reconciled.

Sometimes the professor doesn’t recommend you.

Sometimes families break apart.

Sometimes promises are broken.

Sometimes injustices prevail.

And then the question really becomes: Now what?

Am I all alone?

Am I destined for failure?

Is God really there?

Does God hear me?

Does God care about me?

Do my circumstances matter to God?

Do my circumstances matter to others?

Does God even exist?

These are valid questions about yourself and your relationship with God.

And if you are sitting here in this room and asking these questions right now, then please hear me say that this is a safe place where you can ask whatever question you need to ask and doubt whatever belief you need to doubt.

You are loved here.

You belong here, and we want to know you here.

In fact, if you’ve never asked these questions, then I would wonder if you’ve ever believed in God at all.

Our lives are not a Netflix series.

They are not Walt Disney productions.

Our lives are blood and sweat and tears and grit and pain and joy and brokenness and healing and dying and growing all wrapped into our bodies and relationships.

Our lives don’t easily resolve like pop songs, and sometimes our circumstances require us to dig deep within ourselves - deeper than ever before to discover new strength from within, and ask deeper questions of our God in order to reach the other side of our pain and the other side of our fears, even if our present-day circumstances never change.

As a teenager, I remember coming to the realization that my dad was never coming back home no matter how much I prayed… no matter how hard I worked to earn his attention… no matter how much I wanted it!

He made his decision, and I had to make mine.

The question I faced was: Now What?

And so do you.

Are you accepting your misery as your lot in life and self-medicating to numb the pain?

Are you ignoring the pain and pretending that it’s not really there?

Are you making others miserable so that they can feel your pain, too?

How do we make a way forward when life leaves us stranded?

Is there a way forward?

Your pain is valid and so are your questions, but here at our church, we believe that your pain and your questions neither have to define you... nor determine your fate.

No other historical account from the Word of God resonates with our question “Now What?” and your truth of feeling stranded by life itself than the end of Paul’s final missionary journey to Rome before his death.

During each one of his journeys, Paul traveled all throughout Asia Minor and the Mediterranean region sharing this very simple message about Jesus over and over and again:

God fulfilled all of his promises in Jesus, demonstrating that... God is active.

Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins, meaning that… You are being made new.

Jesus resurrected from the dead and is alive, which means… You have eternal life.

And over and over and again, this message confronted the old religious establishment and the power structures of the world, which resulted in beatings against Paul, years of imprisonment, betrayal, hunger, abuse, and poverty.

Not a glamorous life for the first missionary.

Yet despite these hardships beyond what we could possibly imagine, Paul’s vision never wavered to see people know Jesus and receive eternal life.

At the end of his final missionary journey, Paul returned to Jerusalem to encourage the church there and report on his previous journeys.

The old religious establishment, however, again chose their own power over the good news about Jesus’s forgiveness... and imprisoned Paul.

He would remain in chains for the rest of his life.

The religious elite demanded that Paul be executed, but since the Roman government could find no fault with Paul, the court wanted to return him to the Jewish council, which would have certainly led to Paul’s death, so instead, Paul demanded to stand trial before Caesar.

On his sailing journey to Rome, Paul noticed a change in the weather and said to the captain on board that if they continue sailing onto Italy, then they would certainly lose their cargo, probably their ship, and maybe their lives, as well.

But the owner of the boat couldn’t see the storm in front of them for all of the dollar signs glittering in his eyes, so they pushed forward.

Luke records what happened next:

'When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it.

So they pulled up anchor and sailed close to the shore of Crete.

But the weather changed abruptly, and a wind of typhoon strength (called a “northeaster”) burst across the island and blew us out to sea.

The sailors couldn’t turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the gale.

We sailed along the sheltered side of a small island named Cauda, where with great difficulty we hoisted aboard the lifeboat being towed behind us.

Then the sailors bound ropes around the hull of the ship to strengthen it.

They were afraid of being driven across to the sandbars of Syrtis off the African coast, so they lowered the sea anchor to slow the ship and were driven before the wind.

The next day, as gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard.

The following day they even took some of the ship’s gear and threw it overboard.

The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone.' Acts of the Apostles 27:13-20

This is the first time in 27 chapters of history - more than 30 years of missionary work, which included multiple beatings, near death experiences, years of imprisonment - that Luke confessed All hope was gone.

Imagine what must have been happening on that boat for Luke and Paul to finally reach a breaking point where they both felt like all hope had been lost.

Gone were the sun and the stars in the sky.

Gone was the dream of sharing the Gospel with Caesar and all of Rome.

Gone was any future ministry work.

Why?

Because some guys saw dollar signs in their eyes rather than a storm.

I don’t think Paul feared death, but I have to wonder if Paul thought, ‘Really?

I’m so close to sharing the Good News of the true Son of God with Rome’s son of god, Caesar.

“Now what?”

All of this is coming to an end because some greedy ship captain refused to make a wise decision?

Really, now what?

Have you ever been left stranded because someone else made a selfish decision that negatively impacted you?

My boyfriend cheated on me?

Now what?

My landlord just jacked up my rent.

Now what?

My company just laid me off.

Now what?

I just received a bad diagnosis.

Now what?

I am trying to live my life well and do they right thing, but I feel stranded.

Now what?

Singer/songwriter/poet/dreamer Jon Foreman wrote about feeling stranded in his song “The Mountain” singing: Maybefaith is found inside a seed.

Maybe faith is found inside of me.

Mostly I feel like I’m lost at sea.

I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.

“The Mountain”

There’s a place for optimism in the church and rallying people together, but there’s also a place - and perhaps a much larger one - for people like you and me to raise our questions… and shake our fists… and shed our tears… and doubt our faith… and wonder how any of the present circumstances of our lives might possibly make any sense one day?

Am I alone?

I think this message deserves our attention tonight because as I’ve read every single page of these 66 letters - some of these pages dozens of times - I have come to realize that these letters actually offer peacefor people like you and me.

These letters aren’t a collection of do’s and don’ts.

They are love letters for you and for me and for the whole world to know that when all seems gone, God does his best work.

For new life only grows as we come to realize our own brokenness… and our own death.

Luke continues the account:

'No one had eaten for a long time.