Year 1, Day 261: Acts 28

Acceptance

Alright, before I put a cap on the book of Acts, I’d like to talk a little bit about the end of the shipwreck story.  Don’t think that it is any accident that the story begins in chapter 28 with Luke telling us that the people of Malta received them honorably and with incredible grace.  If we go back to what I was saying about the shipwreck being an analogy about the process of repenting against sin it makes perfect sense. 

There is the moment when all is given up, all is surrendered, and the storm of sin is weathered.  Once the effects of the sinfulness have passed, there is nothing but grace and forgiveness left.  It is the perfect ending to the shipwreck story because it is also the perfect ending to the “life of sin” analogy.  When we weather our sinfulness and let it pass over us, we are left with the grace of forgiveness.

Ending the Book of Acts

So then we move on to the ending of the book of Acts.  It ends with a bang, even if it is Paul’s last testament.  As I’ve said all along, the oldest of church tradition holds that Paul went to Rome and there he died, although nowhere in the Bible do we have an accounting of Paul’s death.  Personally, I think it is possible Paul survived, went to Spain, got arrested again, and then came back to Rome and died.  But in the end, it really doesn’t matter and we don’t really know for sure.  This book is not about Paul’s ministry – or Philip’s or Peter’s!  This book is about the spread of the Holy Spirit.  And that’s how the story ends.

The Holy Spirit comes to Rome.  Rome was the epitome of the Gentile world.  At this time and in this day, anything and anyone who wanted to be recognized went to Rome.  Thus the process for Christianity spreading to Rome has begun.  After a few hundred years, from Rome it would be carried out to all the ends of the known world – a process that has not yet ended.

But what is really important?  What are we really told about the Gospel and the Holy coming to Rome?  The testimony starts in Acts 28:23.  They (the Roman Jews and Christian converts) appointed a day to hear Paul.  And we hear that they came to listen in great numbers.  We hear that some listened and believed while others heard and disbelieved.  Finally, we hear that Paul gives the word that the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit have come unto the Gentiles.  We are told that the Gentiles will listen.

The question is, how do we take this statement?  Surely not all of the Gentiles have listened.  Certainly atheism and agnosticism abound in the world – as much as the worship of other gods abounds as well!  So certainly this is not a proclamation that all of the Gentiles will believe!  Our own understanding of history would not support this.

So what is this statement about?  Simply put, this statement is saying that it is the Gentiles who will embrace God’s “New Thing.”  It is the Gentiles who will embrace grace, it is the Gentiles who will understand repentance, and it is the Gentiles who will worship God in their spirit.  It is the Gentiles who will be able to move beyond the complaint of Hosea 6:6 that I have quoted frequently in my study of Acts: “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”  It is the Gentiles who will be able to put human tradition aside and worship God in their hearts. 

Of course, certainly not all the Gentiles will do this.  And even those who do try will occasionally get all caught up in the tradition.  But the spirit of worshipping God in truth will come out of the midst of the Gentiles!  We who are Gentile believers bear evidence of this new relationship with God!

Looking at Ourselves

This thought – the last sentence of the prior paragraph – must always be held aloft.  The biggest complaint of the prophets against the Hebrew people is that while they are God’s people they do not pursue God with their heart, mind, and soul.  They know what to do; they even know the actions to perform!  Yet they do not do them meaningfully.  Sometimes they do not even do them at all!  That was God’s complaint of His own chosen people.  We need to be careful to not fall into that same trap.

So I ask: Are we as Christians any better?  How many Christians go to church every Sunday not necessarily to hear what God has in store for them but rather to hear how God’s ways are conforming to their expectations?  How many Christians gather in worship every Sunday (or whatever day) not as a time to come and humbly lay their life before the altar to let God keep what He may and to toss out what He may, but rather they come to establish “their kingdom” and “their temple” the way “they think it should be?”  How many Christians are really interested in what God wants from their life?  Or rather, how many are really interested in accomplishing their standards and making themselves feel good because “God surely supports their efforts in God’s name?”  Here’s really the fundamental question: when we go to church are we interested in adding God to what I’m already doing or am I interested in surrendering all that I am doing to God?

We as Gentile followers of God are not immune to the same human spirit that caused the Hebrew people to routinely fall away from God.  I’d really like to say we’re different, but we’re really not.  At least from my perspective we’re not.  But we should be!  We have no excuse!  We not only have the Word of God, but we also have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!  We have no excuse, yet we still stumble and fall.

But even all of this being said, what remains is faith, hope, and love.  Yes, we fall.  Yes, we miss what God is doing in our midst.  But God still chooses to work through us!  Hallelujah and Amen!  God has brought salvation to the Gentiles and He has included us in a relationship with Him.  Our ability (or inability) to maintain a righteous following of His ways is not nearly as important as His desire to forgive us and allow us to try again!  Hallelujah and Amen!

Repent.  Throw your life before the altar and just see what God will do with it!  Don’t just add God to your life, surrender your whole life to God!  Discard that which you think is important but God thinks is not worth keeping.  Embrace your full calling as a Gentile follower of God!  Embrace the understanding that human tradition is not as important as the leading of the Holy Spirit.  It is who we are; it is the story of Acts.  It is why Paul was put on trial.  It is why Christ came to die.  Go, sinner.  Be a saint.  Live out the Holy Spirit within you.  That is the story of Acts.

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