Acts 28:16-28

Last week we finally got Paul to Rome.  For 4 years he had been trying to get to Rome, but riots and jail cells and trials and storms and shipwrecks and unknown islands had kept him from reaching his goal.  But, finally Pauk got to Rome in Acts 28:15. 

The story Luke tells of Paul’s trip to Rome is more than just a travelogue. It is more than an exciting story of adventure where the good guy defeats the bad guys and overcomes adversity it order to be victorious.  Within this story is a life-lesson for us! We reenact this story in our own lives. We are on the road to Rome; the Eternal City. We are not doing laps; we have a destination! We have purpose.  We have direction. However, the road may not be straight.  There may be detours and bumps in the road but we are on our way to apantasis! 

Last week we learned a new Greek word; apantasis. That special word means going out to greet someone special and escorting them back into the city.  Through the storms of life, with the help of hospitality, we who are in Christ; we who are IN Christ, will join Jesus in the air to apantasis Him back to our eternal city; which will be on the newly renovated earth; the home of the righteous forever.

Isn’t that amazing? “I just thought it was a cool story about Paul.”  It is.  But it is so much more. On my way to apantasis there will be storms, but hope and hospitality will keep me going! Hope and hospitality and help from the Spirit is all I need to keep on keeping on going all the way to Rome; our home. 

So, Paul finally gets to Rome.  And it seems that this should have been the end of the book. Remember our theme verse? What did Jesus say would be the goal of our studying Acts? 

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

That has happened.  The Gospel has gone all the way from Jerusalem to,not only the ends of the earth, but the center of the then known earth. The Gospel has reached the climax.  Think with me; the book of Luke moves from the humble begins of baby Jesus to Jesus ascending to heaven. Then in Acts, the Gospel goes from its humble beginnings in Jerusalem all the way to Rome.  You would logically think that the book of Acts should end with Jesus coming back, in the apantasis.  The book of Acts should have ended last week with the apantasis. But it doesn’t.  There is another half a chapter.   And I have to ask… why?  “What is the point?”  Well, let’s see. 

Acts 28:16-22 When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him. Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: "My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. But when the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar-- not that I had any charge to bring against my own people. For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain." They replied, "We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of the brothers who have come from there has reported or said anything bad about you. But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect."

Paul doesn’t waste any time in getting on with his appeal to Caesar.  As soon as he got to Rome, he was turned over by Julius to the authorities.  He was assigned a guard and found a place to live and then bam he invited the Jewish leaders in Rome to come and take care of business.  He discovered that the Jews from Jerusalem had not followed through with their accusations.  Maybe they were hoping he had died in the big storm.  But for whatever reasons, there are no charges waiting for him there.  Then, Paul did what Paul always did; he started witnessing.

Paul had the courage to initiate the witness. He could have left well enough alone and no one would have ever bothered him, he would have gotten out of jail and gone on his way.  But, no, he went right to his people, the Jews and started telling them about Jesus; watch. 

Acts 28:23 They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.

Paul told them about his favorite topic; the kingdom of God. He broke open his Bible and told them how Jesus was the one Moses and prophets had predicted would be the instigator of this Kingdom.  I would love to have that sermon on mp3; to listen for hours, all day, to his lecture on the prophets and the kingdom of God.

In our adult Bible class we have been studying one of those prophets; Daniel. I suspect Paul may have snuck in some of Daniel 2. 

Daniel 2:44-45 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.
This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands-- a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. "The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."
 
Paul could have said, “Jesus is the rock not cut from human hands; the virgin birth.”  He could have said, “This thing we call the church is this kingdom and it is going to bust up all worldly Empires and endure forever ever. All day long, from morning to night they kept drinking Starbucks and Paul kept on preaching.  Watch what happened?

Acts 28:24 Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.

Some did and some did not.  Some bought it and others couldn’t.  Some became believers, but most didn’t. Why? What is it about people that the same information, presented by the same person, in the same context, to people of the same background; get different results?  Why do some people buy into it and some people don’t?  The answer is in the next section.  And it moves us a little closer to why Luke kept on going after the book should have ended, last week.

Acts 28:25-27 They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: "The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said through Isaiah the prophet: 'Go to this people and say, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.  For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

There are two kinds of people in the world; honest seekers and status keepers.  There are people in the world who love the Lord, so much, they are open to where ever, and what ever and why ever; he may tell them.  There are those people who love to see where God is leading them.  They love to dig into God’s will.  They are challenged by who God is making them become.  There are people who love to be right with God so much that they are honest about seeking the truth.  They are not so much concerned with where they have been in he past, as where God is leading them in the future.  They only want to please God so they are open to new truths about him.  So there were a few honest seekers in the crowd that day in Rome listening to Paul explain the reality of the Kingdom of God and they bought it.

But you get the impression from Paul’s comments, that most of the Jews there that day were status keepers.  “If my grandma, God rest her soul, believed it; it is good enough for me!” They do not have the courage to listen to where God may be leading them. 

There reasoning is like this:
-We have arrived at the truth.
-It was all discovered by my grandmother.
-Therefore anything new must be wrong.

But that is not how God works.  God, in his mysterious way, is moving us, as individuals, to grow in him.  But also as his people, we are called to grow closer to him! God’s relationship with us is very much dynamic!  He loves us the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us there.  We can’t become stagnant.  We can’t settle into our comfort zone.  God is moving us to along according to his agenda.  Our job is to be honest seekers of his movings. 

Paul warned the Jews in Rome when they rejected the Gospel, that they had become ever hearing, but never understanding.  Ever seeing, but never perceiving.  Their hearts had become callused, their ears deaf and the eyes blind.  In that state, as status keepers, they could not be healed. 

So, here is the bottom line. Luke could not close his book with the apantasis because he had to give them one last chance. Paul couldn’t be happy in Rome until he spoke to his Jews about the kingdom. Isn’t that like God?  God wants everyone to repent and come to his kingdom.  God doesn’t want to close his book on anyone.  He has to give you one last chance. 

The funny thing is; “Funny” in ironic, not ha ha; the funny thing is you may not know when your last chance is. One day the apantasis is going to happen, but if you wait till you hear the shout and the trumpet sound, it will be too late.  And besides that there is no guarantee that you will live till then or even till tomorrow.  Today may be your last chance, to listen to the Gospel.

This has been Thanksgiving week.  I have personally a ton of thanks in my heart this morning.  Brazos was born on Monday.  Number 8 is great and so is his mom. But I am also thankful for a Savior who loves me so much that he died on the cross for me and gives me chance after chance to keep on responding to his love.  I am thankful that he gives us chances to listen to the Gospel as honest seekers. 

As the Jews in Rome were walking out the door of Paul’s house, metaphorically, as well as really, Paul said one last thing to them.

Acts 28:28 "Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"

Is that true for you?  Are you listening? God is giving you another last chance to honestly seek him. 

Los Alamos Church of Christ
November 30, 2008