Acts 28:1-10

October 19, 2003

This past week the news media, sports outlets, and office banter touched on a common topic:

Do the curses from generations past affect life today? Cubs and Sox’s fans think so.

•After Babe Ruth was sold to the Yankees by Red Sox owner Harry Frazee after the 1919 season for $125,000, the Yankees won 26 World Series to the Sox's zero. The come from behind victory by the Yankees only confirmed that curse.

•Bill Sianis' goat wasn't permitted to enter Wrigley Field to watch a 1945 World Series game, even though the goat had a ticket and attended prior games - Sianis put a curse on the team to prevent it from playing in the World Series again. So far, the curse seems to stand, this time in the form of the 26 year old Cubs fan, whose life is now worth less than Mrs. O’Leary’s cow.

When pressured, few people will stand by the curse as the explanation of the topsy-turvy events of the playoffs. People point to the simple superstitious events as interesting coincidence, but they are not universally believed. But…we still talk and wonder.

We may be able to see the illogic of such talk in baseball, but some Christians see life in spiritual terms which are similar to the Billy Goat Curse. When bad things happen, they try to connect the dots. We are not materialists, that is, we see our universe as a physical and spiritual realm. As Christians who believe God is active in his creation, who has declared he will punish sin, we very easily make connections between events and a sovereign God.

There is a growing trend in some Christian quarters to dress up unscriptural ideas and methods in pseudo-technical language and then give to them credence as the means by which we should view our lives in a spiritual world. These ideas have been around and germinating in the United States chiefly through individual and group "deliverance" ministries that operated on the fringes of Charismatic renewal in the fifties and sixties. By the early seventies the more confrontational and aggressive methods in focusing on "principalities and powers" (i.e., demons perceived as ruling demonic spirits) were in place in these groups.

Today such techniques as "Spiritual Mapping" and "Strategic-Level Spiritual Warfare" (so widespread that it is referred to by the acronym SLSW) are commonly accepted, but dangerously held. This view draws the analogy that just as enemy intelligence is gathered during wartime...Spiritual Mapping gathers the strategic information necessary for effective intercessory “smart prayer” deployment. We see the relationship between evil in a city, past sins and present demonic involvement and draw the conclusions ourselves.

Our passage points out some of the wrong thinking that is common in our Christian culture today. But it not only identifies our wrong thinking, it also points us to how to think properly about our place in God’s world. How can we interpret the good and bad in our lives?

If anyone would be tempted to connect the dots in his life, it was Paul. Constant set backs would easily cause one to conclude that God was torqued at him.

He’s been mobbed numerous occasions, has been beaten repeatedly, jailed and threatened, even stoned. In the past two years he was attacked by his own countrymen, his life threatened and plotted against. He was jailed, bribes were demanded of him and justice withheld. Now he at last is en route to Rome, but what should be a simple voyage, becomes a cross between The Titanic and Castaway, minus Kate Winslet and Wilson.

Last week Paul pointed the crew on the ship to Christ’s promises in the midst of a storm. His words of encouragement may have been helpful, but as he pointed out, the storm was still going to blow. Blow it did. Their only hope for survival in the winter storm was to beach the ship on a nearby island, but before they could reach shore, it got caught up on a reef and broke apart. God’s providence once again is seen in the kindness of the Roman Centurion Julius who refuses to follow protocol and kill all the prisoners lest they escape. He makes sure all lives are saved and make it to shore. Once there, Paul’s struggles continue. And once again we find great encouragement in how the work of Christ 2000 years ago is at work in us today. READ Acts 28:1-10

Our chapter opens with Paul and fellow 275 passengers marooned on the small island of Malta. The ship was destroyed, but all lives were saved. Luke gives us some background about this island.

The island of Malta (the name means "refuge") is south of Sicily, just off the boot of Italy and is some 18 miles long by 8 miles wide Their language was a Punic (Carthaginian) dialect from North Africa.

The inhabitants are called natives in the ESV and islanders in the NIV. The term Luke uses is barbaroi, barbarians. The term was used as any non-Greek or Roman inhabitant, one whose language sounded as though all they could say is “bar-bar”. But rather than uncivilized oafs, these islanders showed great philanthropy … love of fellow man. They may have witnessed the ship stranded on the sandbar, battered by the waves, survivors floundering in the surf. They helped them ashore; built a fire to warm their chilled bones, thus providing for their safety.

As the fire began to burn down, Paul lent a hand tending the flames as he gathered a bundle of sticks to stoke the flames. In the midst of the bundle there lay dormant a venomous snake which once warmed sunk his poisonous fangs into Paul’s hand. The natives were certain what was happening, the event explained itself, Divine Justice can not be thwarted. In their response, we see first some wrong thinking, but also see how we should think.

THIS PASSAGE SHOWS SOME WRONG THINKING

Suffering comes because God is punishing me for evil

The inhabitants of Malta easily see the correlation. Their world view demands it. When people suffer it is because of some sin they have committed. Luke’s readers may be familiar with the Greek poem of a murderer who escaped from a storm at sea, was shipwrecked on the coast of Libya, but was killed by a viper as he lay recovering on the beach (Bruce, Acts, 522n Greek Anthology 7.290)

The islanders, steeped in an animistic worldview, thought of the gods as using the forces of nature, especially storm and sea, for retributive justice. They interpreted Paul's snakebite as the work of the goddess "Justice" against Paul, who must be a murderer. The islanders were following the conventional wisdom: "bad things happen to bad people."

They concluded his crime must be severe, for if he survived the ship wreck, it was imperative that according to Divine justice, he not be spared.

As with any falsehood, it has weight due to its truthfulness

•They properly understood that God governs the world, providence presides in all events, things do not come to pass by chance, but all is by divine direction.

•They understood that evil must be punished; no one escapes, but must reckon with God’s divine justice. God is not asleep or uncaring about sin.

•They believe murder is a heinous crime which demands that the wrong-doer be punished.

But this line of thinking is still very deadly.

•They thought that all wicked people must be punished in this life, that God never mercifully allows sinners to get away with murder, in this life. They lacked the insight that God does not always, immediately punish sin and that there is more to life than this life.

•They concluded that suffering was a sign of an especially wicked person. Like Job’s false comforters, they were sure there was a one to one correlation between sin and suffering.

So they begin to watch and wait. They are certain what will happen, for they know exactly how the universe works … or so they think.

As the bite has no ill effects, they do not change their thinking; they just make another false conclusion. Their universe is a closed, predictable system. Since he has not died, he is not a murderer, he is a god! Public opinion is so very fickle.

Christians are notorious for this. Remember 9/11? Some prominent Christian leaders pointed to the events of that day as an expression of God’s wrath on America. They interpreted God through natural occurrence, through His world rather than through His Word

In 1906 an earthquake virtually destroyed the city of San Francisco. San Francisco has always existed on the edge of morality – some would say it has fallen over the edge. When that great earthquake came, many preachers in this country declared the destruction of San Francisco was the righteous judgment of God. A cynical poet questioned the assumption.

“If, as they say, God sank the town for being overly frisky,

why did he burn down the churches and leave standing Hotling’s whiskey?”

(H. Robinson, Decision-Making by the Book, 1991, 110)

We do this on grand scales, but on personal levels as well. We may conclude that evil which falls on someone is evidence of their sinfulness. This same question was raised with Jesus in Luke 13.

The murder of worshippers by Pilate or the tower which fell in Siloam is not evidence that they were the worst of sinners. Rather suffering should be a call for us all to repent, that our lives are short and that we are always in the hand of God. Calamities are a call to repentance

 Good comes because of God is pleased with me

This is the positive side of the same lie. Since Paul did not suffer the ill effects of the snake bite, he must be someone special, so in a moment he goes from a vile reprobate to a virtuous deity.

When opinions are formed on circumstances rather than on God’s Word, conclusions have no certainty to them, they’ll change with the wind. Their error about Paul helps us to better understand similar errors in the church today.  

This helps us to see the problem with the health and wealth gospel

The correlation between beneficial circumstances and personal goodness or God’s pleasure with the path I am on is an error we must avoid. God’s may or may not reward of me through temporal blessings. But we can not connect those dots.

• Since the Bible tells us that good comes to the just and unjust alike, we don’t know if the good God sends our way is merely there to confirm us in our sin. That is, we love the good more than God, so he gives us that which will keep us from seeing our need of him.

• There are those who wear their success like a badge of God’s pleasure, all the while they have achieved that success through the neglect of family and the violation of ethics.

• The flawed “Word of Faith” system holds to a basic belief that God is bound to bless you if you’re a person of faith. In this we manipulate God to give us what our greedy hearts desire and call it good. The only thing that life on this side of eternity promises us is temptation, tribulation and persecution.

This helps us see the problem with signs movement

There is a movement in Christian circles that says that we could do so much more evangelism if only we performed signs. They believe that miracles are redemptive, convincing people of the gospel. The error here is seen in what took place around this fire in Malta.

If your presuppositions are non-Christian, then how will you interpret the miracle? What is needed is the word to explain the event. What is more, it is only by God’s grace that a person will believe the word spoken to them.

When people play with the demonic, thinking they are engaged in spiritual warfare without the boundaries of God’s Word, they are engaged in a dangerous exercise of silly game playing at best and a very dangerous demonic activity at worst. 

So for us, to ever try to draw a connection between an event and the spiritual cause behind that event, we will likely fail in making a right connection.

When a friend is sick, such a time is good to take an account of our lives before God, that death and disease in the world are due ultimately to the sin of our first parents, but we can not create a tit-for-tat with a specific sin and a specific sickness.

To conclude God’s wrath or displeasure based on circumstances is to ignore His clear and instructive written Word, for a very murky experience. Such a choice more likely will confirm you in your sin and make you question His love for you. Rather, we must think christianly. 

THIS PASSAGE SHOWS US HOW TO THINK CHRISTIANLY

But this passage is not just to teach us how to avoid wrong thinking, but how to think rightly. Right thinking means we must think biblically, think in light of Christ. As Scripture is written for our instruction, that instruction is not just what sins to avoid and right actions to embrace, but we should expect it to point us to Christ and our position in Him. Acts 28 paints a wonderful picture of what it means to be in Christ, to be united with him, to be a Christian in the clearest sense of the word. This is what we should learn from this passage.

The Serpent will strike us - evil will come our way. Don’t be shocked, because you are in Christ.

The serpent of old struck Christ

The first promise of the gospel in God’s Word, in Genesis 3:15 points to this truth. The serpent will strike at the heel of the seed of the woman and he shall strike his head. From Genesis forward there is the constant battle between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, culminating in the birth of Jesus Christ, who is the promised one. This is what John portrays in Revelation 12 as the pregnant woman flees from the dragon who seeks to devour her child. While on earth, the devil sought to tempt Jesus by the very words of Scripture we read earlier, from Psalm 91, that God would protect him and therefore he should test God’s love.

In this way, the serpent sought to strike Paul, keeping him from serving Christ.

Ever since Paul's conversion on the Damascus Road, Satan, directly or indirectly, through a variety of individuals and events, on 12 different occasions, sought to kill the apostle. Now the thirteenth attack against his life is caused by a poisonous viper.

What happened on Malta is another case of how his life parallels that of Jesus. His life imitates Christ not because he is a super-saint, a Christ figure which should make our mouths agape.

Therefore, we should not think we are immune to Satan’s attacks

Since we belong to Christ, we are not immune from the sufferings and difficulties that Christ suffered. God’s servants are not above their master, as Jesus said in John 15:20 

'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

When troubles come you have no reason to think that you are above them, that you are specially protected from pain. But we are protected from the ultimate evil, for Satan is defeated. 

The Serpent is defeated - Christ defeated the power of evil on the cross

The serpent who struck Christ, was crushed by him

This is the second part of the first gospel promise in Genesis 3:15. Christ was wounded, but victorious over sin, death and the grave. His temptation in the wilderness wherein Satan quoted God’s Word, has in it the very answer, as he neglected the promise in the context. Look at Psalm 91:13. The work of Christ tramples the serpent, he is a defeated foe.

This is the promise we read of in Revelation 20, that the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, Satan is bound. But the binding is specific – from deceiving the nations. 

The serpent, who struck Paul, was cast into the fire.

The binding of Satan is seen in the absence of affect on Paul as the flung the foul fiend into the fire. The Maltese would not be kept in the darkness any longer. This small island of barbarians would see the gospel acted out, not only around the fire, no doubt through the preaching of the Word, but also in the healings that followed.

The serpent is struck down by us as well, for we are in Christ

Christ has defeated the evil one, his is crushed, in effective to harm us. Suffering may come as well as good, but we know that the great curse of sin is broken. There is nothing to fear. We see the power of the gospel over Satan when ever it is preached. It is for this reason Christ said in Luke 10:18-20: And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

Our spiritual warfare is very real, but is done knowing we are victors in Christ. There are no spiritual powers which we must bind, for they are bound from keeping others from Christ

What we read of in the end of Mark, a portion that was most likely added later, not part of the original text, may well have been added to reflect this great truth found in Acts 28. This is why Paul attributes to us what is promised of Christ, when he writes in Romans 15:20: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

We do not live in fear of territorial demons. We don’t speculate on the forces we can neither see nor name. But this we do know, that while evil spirits still ply their trade in our universe, we are not under their authority. They are held back by God’s chain from ultimately deceiving those that belong to Christ.

How must we live in light of this truth?

When faced with suffering and we are left wondering what is the connection between God’s love and my pain, between the evil that is in me and in the world and God’s justice – then we must take a firm grip of the gospel promise and know that as Christ is victorious over Satan, so are we. This is what Peter wanted the suffering and scattered believers to know when he wrote in 1 Peter 5:6-11 (read).

What are we called to do? Be humble; cast our cares on him who cares for us. Be sober minded, watchful, resisting the devil. How – be firm in your faith. Sufferings will come, but know that the God of all grace will restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you. You have nothing to fear. There is no curse, no power over us that is not under the hand of our loving Father who will use even evil and suffering in our lives to perfect us to more clearly reflect our Savior, Jesus Christ.