And So We Came to Rome

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. You know, life doesn't always go the way we want. The test results came back with a bad diagnosis. The job doesn't work out and bills are due. Family member passes away prematurely. These life circumstances can discourage the best of us. But even in the midst of these difficult seasons, God calls us to make the most of our time. And thankfully, He's right there in the trenches with us as we go. Today on Summit Life, we're turning to Acts 28 to learn more about how Paul furthered his mission of getting the gospel to Rome, all while sitting in a Roman jail. Let's join Pastor J.D.

for his message that he titled, And So We Came to Rome. Really bad one. Why don't you raise your hand at all of our campuses. You've been there. I've really only been close to a tornado one time. I was in high school, staying over with a couple of friends.

Their parents weren't home at the time. And one touchdown, probably about a quarter mile from where we were staying. And I can just tell you that everything they say about it is true. It sounds like a freight train is about to run over your house.

It is terrifying. I heard about a couple of guys at our North Raleigh campus. And these guys were on their front porch, in their words, enjoying the storm, when they saw the wall cloud form and then the funnel cloud dropped out of it. They said it was about an eighth of a mile from their house. It was really close and it looked like they were coming their direction. So these two guys sitting on the porch, one of them said, man, we got to go get our camera.

And the other guy said, no, we need to go get in the bathtub. And so thankfully cooler heads prevailed and they got into the bathtub and I guess pulled a mattress over top of them and spooned and prayed or whatever you do in the bathtub during a tornado. But they said that it was terrifying because you could hear all the destruction happening around them. And they didn't know if the thing was about to take out their house. When they walked out after the tornado was over or after the United Pass, they saw that several houses in the neighborhood had been damaged. Evidently, it had touched down in the backyard because six trees had been snapped. And for whatever reason, it just seemed to pass right over top of their house.

But they said the same thing. They said it was terrifying. Just the sound of unbelievable power as it passed through. The reason I remind you of that or the reason I tell you about that is because that is exactly the image that Luke gives to the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. If you were here when I talked through Acts 2, I talked about that. The way it describes it, it says it's like a mighty rushing wind.

And I told you that mighty rushing wind is not a great translation in English because the word really implies a tornado. This was no serene, gentle breeze that blew through the room and refreshed them and gave them religious, sentimental vibes that they just felt loving toward everybody. I mean, that may have happened later, but at that moment, it was like they'd been picked up by a hurricane and that kind of force had filled their spirits. We are going to see the Apostle Paul finally fulfill his dream of getting the gospel to Rome, which is some 2,997.4 miles from where the Spirit first ascended upon the church in that upper room in Jerusalem. That is what that torrential wind coming into them, this is what it did to them in the space of a few years, you're going to see the Apostle Paul 3,000 miles from where he started trying to get the gospel in the places it has never been. And that's going to bring us to the end of the book of Acts, if you can call it an ending. As I'm going to show you, the book of Acts doesn't really end. And that's because you and I are still writing the book of Acts in a way, I mean, we're not adding to Scripture, of course, but we're still writing what's going on in Acts. This thing doesn't stop with Paul because it's never been about Paul, it's never been about Paul's dreams or Paul's ambitions, it's been about what the Spirit of God wants to do in the church. What he wants to do in you and in your world, in your Rome, as I will show you. In these last few chapters, Luke basically recounts for us Paul's harrowing journey into Rome. We're going to cover all of them at once because there's a few things in there that I think are really important to learn, but basically what you're doing is you're just going into Rome with Paul. There are four things I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to see about our lives as we continue this journey that Paul and the apostles started.

Okay, I've got four of them. Open your Bibles to Acts 25 if you want to know where to be, and I want you to write this first one down. Write this first one down. Number one. Number one, live provocatively.

Live provocatively. That's the first thing I think you're going to see from these last chapters with Paul here. Let me catch you up on what's happened between chapter 20 and 25. When Paul left the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, which is what I preached through a couple weeks ago if you recall, when he left there, he got to Jerusalem to observe the Passover just like he had planned. That's what he told the Ephesian elders that he was going to do. Well, when he gets there, some of the Jewish authorities recognize him, and they go tell the Roman rulers that Paul has come there to start a revolt, which was, of course, a lie. And when the Romans question Paul, they realize it's a lie, but they can't figure out what to do with Paul since everybody wants to kill him, so they send him to the regional governor, which is a guy named Felix. Felix questions Paul, realizes he's innocent, but doesn't know what to do, so he leaves Paul in prison for two years.

Which, by the way, can you imagine how difficult that was? I mean, it's one thing to be out and out just persecuted. It's another thing to just be forgotten about for two years. Have you ever been in a situation like that where you're like, God, I would get it if it was persecution, but I just feel like you've forgotten about me. But don't feel too bad for Paul because it's during those two years he wrote most of the books that are in your New Testament.

So if you're in one of those situations right now, start journaling or blogging because you never know what God's going to do with that. That's what Paul does in those two years. Eventually, Felix, the governor, is succeeded as governor by a guy named Festus. Festus is reviewing his new responsibilities when he discovers that Paul is in prison and he wants to figure out why he's there. So he calls Paul to stand in front of him.

Now, recall that Paul has been languishing in prison for two years wondering what is going on. So the first thing Paul says when he comes out to stand before Festus is, I appeal to Caesar. Now, that was an old legal precedent where you could appeal straight to the top guy, to Caesar.

But the deal was that you had to abide by whatever Caesar said without appealing it. The Caesar at this time is a guy named Nero. He's a powder keg.

He's got emotional C4 strapped to his chest at all points. This is the guy that Paul appeals to for justice. But he thinks, hey, at least this way, I can guarantee that I'm going to get the gospel to Rome. Well, before Festus ships Paul off to Caesar, another governor in a neighboring region, Herod Agrippa, comes to visit Festus and says, hey, I hear that you've got Paul. And Festus says, yep. And Agrippa says, I've heard about this guy. Then verse 22, then Agrippa said to Festus, by the way, Festus has to be one of the worst names I have ever heard, is it not? Like Festival or Fester or, remember Uncle Fester and the Adams family?

I don't know what this name is from. But I would like to hear, Agrippa says, this man myself. Then tomorrow, said Festus, for the rest of us, you will hear him.

So Festus puts on this big fiesta for all the local authorities, feats of strength and the airing of grievances and the whole bit. And the centerpiece of that fiesta is Paul defending himself. Agrippa wants to know, why is it that all the Jews hate this guy? Why is he in prison?

Isn't anything wrong? Couldn't he just say he's going to mind his manners more and walk free? Why can't Paul be free?

And here is my point. People constantly wanted to know what made Paul tick. People were always saying, Paul, why are you in this condition? Paul, why do you do what you do? Paul, you could be free.

It wouldn't be hard. Nobody's holding this over you. Paul's manner of life provoked a question. Our lives should provoke a question. And we're not in the same circumstance. You're not standing before Herod Agrippa.

I realize that. But people should be able to look at us and say, I just don't get why you do what you do. Why are you so generous? Why do you have such hope and such joy in the midst of pain?

Why is it that you are so patient and forgiving? The apostle Peter would say it this way. In your hearts, 1 Peter 3.15, honor Christ, the Lord is holy.

Watch this. Always being prepared to make a defense, not even offense, but a defense, to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is within you. Do you see how Peter is supposing that your life is provoking that question? That people are just looking at you and saying, there's something that doesn't add up about you. Why do you do what you do?

So you ask, well, how do you do that? Peter and Paul apply that a number of different places in their letters to the church. The first one Paul points out, Colossians 3, is simply how you do your work. He says, you should do your work, Colossians 3, in such a way with such fairness and such integrity, even when no one is looking, that people just look at you and say, I can tell you got a different master than money.

I can tell you work for a different boss than the one that I work for. You should provoke the question by how you handle disappointment or persecution or pain. This is one I talk about a lot, so I don't want to belabor it here, but it is in pain and disappointment that you will find the best places that you can put the gospel on display. Anybody can have joy when things are going well, and you're not going to bring great glory to God just by showing everybody that he's made your life more awesome than theirs. It is when you have joy in the midst of things not going well that you show that you've got a foundation for joy that people in the world just do not have. Have I ever explained to you the difference between happiness and joy?

I think I have, but I'll review it. Happiness and joy, happiness comes from the root word happening. So happiness is when what you want to happen happens. That's when you're happy. Joy is not dependent on your happenings. Joy is dependent on something different. And many of us know how to be happy when the happenings of our life are favorable, but what God wants us to demonstrate is that we have a joy that goes much deeper and much broader than our happenings, and in the midst of very bad happenings, we can still have joy because we have something that the world doesn't know about. You're listening to Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. For more information about this ministry, visit jdgreer.com. Before we get back to today's teaching, I need to let you know that this is your last week to get ahold of our newest featured resource sent to anyone who gives financially to support this ministry.

And this has got to be one of my all-time favorites. It's a decorative wall pennant that says You Are Sent on it, meant to remind you each day of the importance of living sent and the lost world around you. You Are Sent is a phrase that we use to end each worship service at the Summit Church, and we designed this pennant to capture that message and maybe even serve as a conversation starter to your friends, co-workers, or family.

You'll love it. To take a look at the pennant, you can head over to jdgreer.com slash donate, and while you're there, you can give your gift to support this ministry and get ahold of this special resource. Or, as always, you can give by calling us at 866-335-5220. Now let's get back to today's teaching here on Summit Life. Once again, here's Pastor J.D. One of our campus pastors, Rodell, Rodell's dad, very sick with stage four cancer, now in many ways not able to do near what he was able to do, and Rodell told me, his dad's been a pastor for many years, he said, what's been amazing to me is to watch that a lot of the men that my dad tried to reach for years through the ministries of his church that would not listen, that now he has been able to impact and lead to Christ.

Here's how Rodell said it. He said, it appears that the sermons my dad is preaching from his cancer bed are more effective and louder and more persuasive than anything he ever said from the stage and the pulpit. It is in the midst of pain that you are able to provoke that question. That's when you preach the best sermons. It is your generosity of spirit that ought to provoke the question, just a generosity that makes people say, I mean, you're beyond nice.

There's just something about you that's extravagantly generous. I heard a story this week. My wife shared it with me.

I think she saw this on Facebook or she had a conversation about it. There's a guy in our church that I know that was going somewhere here in Durham. There was a guy broken down the side of the road. This guy in our church stops to help this guy. It turns out the guy's car is broken down. He's figured out it's the alternator.

The guy said, man, I'm not sure what to do. I have no money. I have no credit. He says, I hate to ask this, but could you loan me some money that I could get this alternator fixed? The guy from our church listens to him. He says, well, I do have money. He says, but no, I will not loan you the money to get your alternator fixed. He said, I will give you the money to get your alternator fixed. He said, I'm going to take care of this for you. The guy said, no, no, all I need is just spot me for a week or two. Then I'll get paid and then I'll pay you back. I said, no, I just want to give this to you as a gift. This guy who's broken down, he says, I don't get that. Why would you be paying?

Why are you doing this? He said, well, since you asked, he said, the church that I go to, what we believe, what we teach, what the Bible says, is that God has been extravagantly generous for us. When we were in a situation much worse than this one, God did not loan us the blood of Jesus. He gave it to us.

Our church teaches that any time that we have a chance to show that kind of extravagant generosity, he said we ought to. This guy on the side of the road says, what church do you go to? And he says, well, I go to the Summit Church. He said, here's what's odd.

I've been out here for about three hours. Only two other people have stopped to help, and both of them were from the Summit Church. Listen, so one tried to buy me a meal, one loaned me a little money. He said, what is it about your church? See, that is the kind of generosity that provokes the question that we're talking. It just ought to raise the question. I don't get it.

It's beyond nice. What you do with your money ought to provoke the question. You know, the average person in churches like ours gives 2.4% to the mission of God. The average American outside of churches like ours gives 2%.

Do you really feel like that extra 0.4% provokes the question? Most people assume that Christians are just people who are moderately more moral because we've got a guilt complex. They don't assume that we're people who live for an entirely different kingdom. Our generosity was supposed to beg the question, not why are you a little more moral than I am, but there must be an investment fund that you have that I don't know about an invisible kingdom I cannot see.

You're supposed to live in a way that provokes the question. I heard something years ago that's really helped me think through this. God explained. He said, if you're going to do with your money what God tells you to do with your money, listen, you're going to be at least three steps behind everybody else that makes the same amount of money as you. He said, here's why. Number one, you're not going to go in debt because the Bible tells you not to go in unsecured debt. He said, so when everybody else is running up on their credit card to buy new clothes and go on great vacations and go out to eat all the time, you're not going to be doing that.

That's going to put you one step behind. He said, number two, you're going to tithe, which means you're going to give 10% of what God gives you back to him. He says, and that takes a big old chunk out of your budget and you're going to notice that too.

He said, number three, you're going to save because Proverbs tells you that's wise for the future. He said, when you do those three things, your lifestyle right now is going to be dramatically different than everybody that makes the same amount of money as you and you're going to notice that and so were they. Your life was supposed to provoke a question that I don't get why you do what you do.

Is your life doing that? When is the last time somebody looked at your life and said, you've got to tell me what makes sense of this madness? Live provocatively in a way that provokes the question.

Seize opportunities. At the end of Paul's message, we're in chapter 26 now, flip over a page to that, Paul goes on this role at the end of his message showing how all the Jewish prophets have talked about Jesus and then he looks at King Agrippa and he says, King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? You see, King Agrippa was an ethnic Jew and he would have been about eight years old when Jesus died on the cross. So he likely, living in Jerusalem, remembers all this stuff going down and Paul's like, do you believe the prophets?

I know, I know Agrippa that you believe. And Agrippa says to Paul, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. In a short time, you're going to try to persuade me to be a Christian? Paul, this is not about you trying to convert me. This is about you trying to save your own life. Paul said, whether short or long, whether it took me a long time or a short time, I would to God that not only you, but also all those who are hearing me this day might become just like me, except of course for these chains.

Paul's life is on the line, but he thinks, hey, I've been given an audience to proclaim Jesus to the governors. Here's my question for you. Is that how you see your life? Is that how you see your profession? Maybe God made you a doctor, not just because you are good at medicine, not just because it's a great way for you to provide for your family. Maybe he made you a doctor because he could use that platform to give you a chance to share the gospel with other people who might otherwise not hear it.

By the way, when I say that, I'm not talking about you doing something unethical and violating the doctor, patient, whatever. I'm thinking more about your peers. Maybe God made you a teacher so that you could have a platform to share Christ with other teachers in a way that's much more effective than how I could do it in here. Maybe God made you an athlete so that you could share Christ with other athletes because you know how you guys think.

You're not going to listen to those of us who you don't feel like are great athletes. So maybe it is that God put you there because he wanted to give you a platform to proclaim him. College and high school students, do you realize that you are on the single greatest unreached mission field in America? Maybe in high school and in college, you're not just there to get good grades. You are there to get good grades, and you should do that. You're not just there to get good grades and set yourself up for a job. Maybe God has a strategic purpose for the four, five, six, eight, 12 years that you're going to be in that stage of life. And maybe it is to use you as a witness. Paul saw whatever situation, whether advantageous for him or not, as a platform that God had given him to proclaim Jesus.

Are you capitalizing on your platforms? Which leads me to number three, embrace sovereignty. Embrace sovereignty. We're going to flip over again to chapter 27. Herod and Festivus put Paul in a boat to sail him to Caesar.

But the boat gets swept up in a hurricane and blown out to sea where they basically get lost for a month. Seriously, this guy, Paul, cannot catch a break, can he? Verse 21, since they've been without food now for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Paul had warned them at the beginning of this chapter through a special word from the Holy Spirit that they shouldn't do this.

They didn't listen to him. So this is Paul's divine, I informed you thusly moment. Verse 22, yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I worship. And he said, Do not be afraid, Paul, you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.

Isn't that great? Paul's like, Hey, God's got to get me to Rome and he's just going to lump all you in with me and so you're going to get there safely too. So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island, small detail.

Here's the deal. Paul did not let the storm make him doubt God's control. In fact, Paul saw in the storm God arranging an opportunity for him to share his hope in God. You see, verse 37 tells us there were 275 other prisoners or other people on the boat besides Paul. Some were prisoners like him, some were soldiers, and some were just travelers who picked the wrong boat. But in that moment, they're not prisoners and soldiers and travelers.

They've all got one thing in common, and that is they are terrified and think they're about to die. And so Paul takes off his apostle hat and puts on his fellow traveler hat and says, Now I, as a fellow traveler in the same condition you are and going to be able to tell you about the hope that I have in God that comes from the gospel. As a Christian, God does not always shield you from the storm. He allows you to go through the same storms everyone else is going through so that you can show them what hope from within the storm looks like, what it's like to experience the presence of God in the midst of the storm.

Because demonstrating the presence of God in the storm is more powerful to them than calling to them from outside of the storm. Helping you to learn to weather the storms of your life. You're listening to Pastor J.D. Greer, and this is Summit Life.

We're in a series titled Scent, and if you've missed any of the previous messages, you can listen to them online at jdgreer.com. So, J.D., we're wrapping up our study of Acts soon, and we've talked so much about the call to go and the mission of the church to multiply and plant and grow new churches, and that is so important to us as we give a percentage of every dollar donated to Summit Life to this mission, right? Yeah, well, Molly, I'm grateful to say that just really trying to follow the principle of the tithe, we give at least 10% of every dollar that's given to us here at the Summit Life goes back into helping plant and equip brand new churches. You might remember over the past couple of years, hearing about churches, we've helped plant in Nashville, Tennessee, up in New York, in Germany, and what they say is the most secular place in the world in Germany and Nova Scotia.

I mean, we love, obviously, preaching the gospel on the air, but part of the strategy is to do it in places where we're trying to plant new churches to help saturate the place of the gospel. I give personally to this ministry myself, and I'm excited about it because it really does lead to gospel multiplication. You know, just you and I sitting here together, Molly, and thinking about, you know, we're in a room with each other, but we're talking to lots of people that God has also called to be a part of this. And so, yeah, we're excited because we feel like we get to be a part of something bigger that God is doing. So we'd love for you to be a part. Go to jdgrier.com.

You can find out more. Thanks, Pastor JD. We have a brand new featured resource that you can take a look at right now at jdgrier.com slash donate, where you can also give your gift of $35 or more to support this ministry. Or, as always, you can give by calling us at 866-335-5220. I'm Molly Vitevich. Be sure to join us tomorrow when Pastor JD reminds us that it's usually in the middle of life's storms that God uses us to make the biggest impact in the lives around us. See you Wednesday for Summit Life with JD Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.