An Anti-climactic Ending? (Acts 28)
Amazing Grace (vs 1 & chorus)
Call to worship/OT reading:
pastor bobby owens
Psalm 67
NT reading:
dr. brett eckel
Acts 1.1-11
song:
Let your kingdom come
Historical reading:
pastor andrew loginow
Apostles Creed
song:
Come thou fount
Confession & Pardon:
pastor zack mcguire
song:
My Jesus I love thee
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
an anti-climactic ending? (acts 28)
Introduction
Have you ever had this though before – well, that was anti-climactic? Maybe reading a book, or watching a movie or a show when you had high expectations but they just fell flat? There have been a lot of Super Bowls like that, hasn’t there? Remember when Tom Brady and the Bucs vs. Mahomes and the Chiefs was going to be an epic game? It wasn’t. The Bucs destroyed KC; the Chiefs didn’t even score a touchdown.
Maybe you had an anti-climactic experience the other way, like you thought something was going to be really bad or painful and it was actually quite tame. Maybe you were dreading a certain conversation or meeting and all of your anxiety amounted to nothing. Maybe you spent hours, days, or weeks even, building something up in your mind, stressing you out, consuming your thoughts, robbing your peace and joy, and then it wasn’t that bad. We’ve all had these types of experiences, experiences where we thought – well, that was anti-climactic.
So here’s my question: is the ending of the book of Acts anti-climactic? Remember how Acts began? You should, Dr. Brett read it to us in the New Testament Call to Worship. Acts opens with the risen Lord Jesus ascending to heaven and sending the Holy Spirit to fill the church. And there have been epic scenes throughout the book of Acts – Peter’s Pentecost sermon, Stephen’s sermon and martyrdom, Paul’s conversion, the 4 baptisms of the Spirit, the council of Elders, Paul at Mars Hill, even the shipwreck last week. But does chapter 28 kind of feel like this epic book ends with a whimper instead of a bang? I suspect if we read Acts 28 with eyes to see, ears to hear, and a sanctified imagination, we might not feel that way; let’s give it a try!
Jesus Has Defeated Satan
Last week we left Paul and the gang shipwrecked on an island, which we now learn is called Malta. Luke tells us of the unusual kindness of the native people, or the barbarians (the Greek is βάρβαροι, meaning non-Greek speakers). It was cold and rainy and the sailors were drenched from the sea so the locals kindled a fire and welcomed them. As Paul was gathering sticks to kindle the fire a viper fastened to his hand. At this point you have to assume everyone froze waiting for Paul to die but Paul pulled a Taylor Swift and shook the snake off into the fire and went about his business.
At 1st glance this is a wild story of how St. Paul lived through a viper bite. I mean, this is so wild everyone assumed that Paul was guilty of murder and maybe Paul had escaped justice from the sea but now justice had caught up with him in the serpent, but when Paul is unscathed by the reptile everyone then assumes Paul’s a god. Paul may have been singing T Swift, but the locals were singing Vertical Horizon. This was a most unusual occurrence, indeed. And while this is kind of interesting, if you’re reading it as mere history it’s going to seem anti-climactic.
But remember Jesus died and rose from the dead and every story in the Bible is about that good news. The ascension of the Lord Jesus at the beginning of Acts reminds us that everything happening in Acts is controlled by Christ from the right hand of God the Father. Also, remember we noted last week how the Acts narrative parallels the Gospel of Luke and that Acts 27 mirrors Jesus’ death in Luke 23. If that’s true then Acts 28 mirrors Jesus’ resurrection in Luke 24. If that’s the case then how do we read this story understanding that it’s intentionally recapitulating the resurrection narrative of Luke 24 for the purpose of encouraging the church?
Let’s exercise a sanctified imagination together. Paul gets bit by a snake, he throws the snake in the fire, and the barbarians see it and feel compelled to worship him as a god. Does that remind you of anything? When you’re reading Scripture and you stumble across a snake, a viper, a dragon, does it make you think of anything or anyone specifically? It should.
From the very beginning of the Bible we’re warned of the reptilian rebel, the serpent of old, who slithered his way into God’s good creation and led us into sin. In Scripture the reptile represents God’s enemy. Don’t get that wrong, this isn’t dualism – Satan isn’t equal to God, he’s created by God and submitted to God’s sovereignty, but his very existence is to play the antagonist. The devil hates God and he hates God’s people.
The serpent kept the gospel from the world for thousands of years but Acts 28 reveals to us that he has been de-fanged. The viper bit Paul but Paul just brushed him off into the fire. That’s because on Easter weekend the serpent struck but he was crushed underneath Jesus’ heel. On Good Friday Satan executed his master plan. He knew this was his one and only shot.
He had known since God cursed him in the garden that someday a man would reverse the curse. When Jesus finally showed up – God incarnate, conceived by the Spirit and born of the virgin – the devil set the wheels in motion. And on Good Friday he had to think the victory was his. He tried to have Jesus murdered as a baby, he tried to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, all to no avail, but there Jesus was – very God of very God – hanging on a Roman cross, breathing his last breath, oh how the devil must’ve howled at the victory he thought that he had won.
But oh how Satan was wrong, oh how the world changed and has never been the same since dawn broke on the 1st Sunday morning of the rest of eternity. As Jesus drew in his breath he crushed Satan’s cold, scaly head. Jesus had endured the curse of sin, he had exhausted the wrath of God, he walked through the valley of the shadow of death and he was back. And because of the resurrection of the Son of God, the serpent has lost his venom and his destination is the fire. The barbarians were tempted to worship Paul as a god because he survived the snake and threw it in the fire. That inclination was good it was simply directed at the wrong person. Paul was not a god but Jesus is God and Jesus defeated the serpent at the cross and Jesus is going to throw him into the fire that burns forever.
Do you understand how good that news is?! Even though Satan still has influence in this world he’s like a wounded, chained lion – he’s dangerous if you get too close but he’s bound. Satan is on death row and he may still effect a great deal of evil in this world but his days are numbered. Beyond that, he can’t do anything unless he begs Jesus for permission first and whatever Jesus allows him to do will ultimately be used for God’s glory and for our good.
Death Has Been Defeated
Then Luke tells us that Paul goes about healing everyone on Malta of various illnesses. I know that reminds you of Jesus – that’s exactly what Christ did in the gospels! In fact, that’s what the apostles have been doing throughout Acts. That’s because, just as the prophets of old had promised, Jesus came not only to defeat Satan but to finally and fully defeat death. Jesus healed the sick because he was announcing a kingdom and a world where death and disease would be no more – what Scripture calls the new heavens and the new earth.
As unbelievable as that will be, the really good news is that Jesus came to heal his people from the finally fatal illness of sin. Jesus lived without sin securing the righteousness of his people and Jesus died for sin as the substitute of his people so that when Jesus resurrected it would be as a new kind of humanity – a humanity where sin was atoned for and in the past. This is what we offer in the gospel. The gospel is the good news that the curse is reversed through the person and work of Christ. What we must do is repent and believe this good news.
There’s no other option – we have to repent. We must confess our sin and turn from our sin. Repentance proves God has given us the gift of faith. Faith means that we know that we have sinned against God and that Jesus is our only hope. We don’t just know it but we assent to its validity and we trust Jesus.
Faith means you take whatever level of knowledge and assent of the gospel you can muster and you put all of your eggs in that basket – you transfer your trust to Jesus alone. Trust is found at the end of your rope. Trust is the point where you come to Jesus exhausted, hands empty and open, saying, “I’ve got nowhere else to go; nothing I can say, or think, or do is good enough; my only hope is your mercy.” And that is where Jesus says, “Good. That’s all you need. Rest in me.” When it comes to faith your trust cannot be diversified, you must bet it all on Jesus but if you do, it’s a guarantee because Jesus has the monopoly on forgiveness and eternal life because he defeated death.
The World Is Being Made New
After that Paul sails from Malta and finally arrives in Rome. This is the great climax of the book of Acts; this is what the narrative has been building toward. When Paul finally arrives in Rome he does what he has done in every new city he journey to – he gathers the local Jews. For the final time in this great story Paul preaches the gospel to Israel revealing to them that everything promised in the Law of Moses and the Prophets has been fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. As has been the case every step of the way some Jews believe and others are hardened in unbelief.
In frustration Paul reminds the Jews that the prophets had warned Israel that they would not have the eyes to see and the ears to hear the Messiah but the Gentiles would. And then Acts ends with theses words:
[Paul] lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance (vss 30-31.
Is that it? What about Paul’s appearance before Caesar? What about the spread of the gospel throughout Rome and to the rest of the world? What about Paul’s death? Why don’t we get a more epic ending?
Oh but maybe we do, the question is do you have the eyes to see it? What do you think happened? Who won – Paul or Caesar? the church or Rome? Sure Nero beheaded Paul and sure the Roman Empire persecuted the church worse than ever in history but where is Rome now? It’s a cool tourist vacation. Where is Nero now? Dead and simply in the history books.
Where is Jesus now? Ruling at the right hand of God the Father, where’s been for the last 2 millennia. Where is the church now? Look around you. It’s here in Sterling Heights, Michigan and it’s all over our city, and all over our state, and all over our country, and all over the globe. Christ Community Church, we are the ending of the book of Acts and it’s not finished yet. The story isn’t over.
I mean, the end happened when Jesus resurrected from the dead, that’s why the New Testament says we have been living in the last days for 2,000 years but Jesus has been gracing the world with story after story after story of the gospel’s victory for the last 2,000 years. Jesus has been remaking the world since the very 1st Easter Sunday and you are the proof. A day will come when Jesus will return to raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new and then Satan, sin, and death will fully and finally be eradicated from the new heavens and the new earth. On that day the world will be set to rights and everything sad will be untrue. Everything that is good about this world, everything that you love, everything that brings you joy will be even better and everything that is evil about this world will be abolished and Jesus will be our God and we will be his people.
Here’s the hard part, church, we have to live like that is true. The world, the flesh, and the devil will do everything in their power to entice us to live as if Jesus hasn’t already started remaking the world but we can’t be deceived or else we will be robbed of our hope, our peace, and our joy. That’s why it’s so good for us to gather every Sunday together around the Word and the sacraments because it’s our declaration to our flesh and to the world and to the devil that regardless of what the rest of the week brings Sunday morning is the truth. The gospel is the truth. The hope of forgiveness and eternal life is the truth.
In Acts 1.8 Jesus told us that the gospel was going to the ends of the earth. Acts 28 reveals Jesus was right. The gospel made it to Rome, the center of the ancient world and then the gospel covered the globe. We’ve seen that in our church history class, haven’t we? And we know it’s true because here we are.
Conclusion
At face value the ending of the book of Acts feels a bit anti-climactic. But the value of Acts is found in the gospel of Jesus and when we remember that then the end of Acts is actually quite glorious, isn’t it? Jesus has defeated Satan. Jesus has defeated death. Jesus is making the world new and he’s including us. How’s that for a good story?