Mission Accomplished Series

Many years ago, when we lived in central Illinois, our daughter Megan and I spent a day running errands. Our first stop was to a lawnmower repair shop to drop off our lawnmower blade for its annual sharpening. When we walked in, I held up the blade over my head and my mechanic friend Rob immediately told me I had put it on upside down the previous year! I asked how he knew that, and he said he could tell just by looking at it. After turning red, I asked him if he was going to tell anyone else what I had done. He said he wouldn’t think of it.

When I was ready to debrief with Megan in the car, I told her I always wondered why our lawn looked hacked up the previous spring and summer. Thinking I was in a safe place, I began to lament, “What was I thinking? I had it on upside down all year! Why did I do that?” Megan quickly replied, “Hello, you are from Wisconsin!” Later that day, I told our daughter Lydia what happened, and she asked if I was going to have someone else install it for me. Funny girls.

Here’s the deal. In order for a lawnmower to work properly, the blade must be sharp and installed correctly. Here’s our main idea today: Our mission will be accomplished when we stay spiritually sharp.

Please turn to Acts 28:11-13. After being stranded on Malta for the winter, the Apostle Paul and the other castaways found another ship and continued their journey to Rome: “After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead. Putting in at Syracuse [Sicily], we stayed there for three days. And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium [the toe of Italy]. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli [the major port for Rome].”

The twin gods at the front of the ship were believed to bring good luck to the sailors. Named Castor and Pullox, these idols were thought to be the sons of Zeus. Their constellation, Gemini, was considered a sign of good fortune after a bad storm. Paul obviously paid no attention to this nonsense. This detail may have been included to contrast pagan superstitions with the true protection believers have through God’s providence.

When I was growing up, my family used to reach out to St. Christopher before long trips because he is thought to be the patron saint of travel. St. Anthony was also popular in our home because he was prayed to when we lost things (we sent a lot of prayers his way). Let me just say we’re not to pray to those who have died or put our faith in figurines.

I see four ways for us to stay spiritually sharp in the final section of Acts 28.

1. Go out of your way to connect with Christians. We see this in verse 14: “There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome.” The word “found” means, “to find for oneself, to discover through inquiry.” They couldn’t do a Google search for a church, so they went out of their way to find fellowship. The word “brothers” means, “from the same womb.” Being there for “seven days” allowed them to gather for corporate worship on a weekend.

After being isolated on a ship with salty sailors and hardened criminals, along with being shipwrecked on an island where they couldn’t communicate with the natives, the believers longed to gather with God’s people, no matter how inconvenient it was. We’ve seen this commitment before in Acts 19:1: “Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.” This was repeated when they landed in Tyre according to Acts 21:4: “And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days.” Once again, we see believers exercising hospitality in a hostile world.

Let’s apply this to our cultural context. After two years of isolation, many are gathering again for worship here at Edgewood! I received a note this week from a guest from last Sunday: “We had been watching your sermons online for a few weeks and felt it was time for an in-person visit. It’s been a while since we’ve been to in-person, and it felt very good to be amongst believers again.” Two Sundays ago, an Edgewood member was watching the Facebook livestream for our 9:00 service. When the service was wrapping up, she heard a pastor say, “‘See you next time in person.’ So, I got ready and came to the 10:45 service.”