LISTENING TO PAUL
C. S. Elliott
Acts 27: 5–This is a rather long passage, but I thought reading it would help to give the background to the whole scene that we have before us. The brethren know the passage well, but what impresses me is the thought of what could have been averted if they had listened to Paul. I believe that at the present time we shall prove it increasingly safe for our souls if we pay attention to the apostle’s word, because he had the mind of God. Here, in this setting, his word was rejected by the sailors, who probably had a great deal of experience on the seas. They may have thought, ‘Where would Paul have gained his experience to be able to speak as he does? What does he know about the sea? He is just a tentmaker; what can he know about navigation?’. But the important thing was that he had the mind of God, and that is what is needed in every situation. Do we have the mind of God? Will what we do bring glory to God? Paul had warned them earlier. He had said, “I perceive that the navigation will be with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives”.
Would we want to turn away from Paul to go by our own thoughts and to carry on as we please? It would only lead to disaster, as the men on this ship found out. The apostle Paul was with God and had the mind of God, so he brought in the word of God at the right moment. The details in the passage, if we look into them carefully, provide a wealth of knowledge, experience, and food for our souls. Those persons had to go the way they did, through distress and calamity, because they did not hearken to Paul. “The storm”, it says, was “extremely violent on us”, and then they threw the cargo overboard and cast away the ship’s furniture. Then neither sun nor stars appeared for many days. It was a dark, difficult and dismal situation. I believe that, if we turn away from Paul, that is exactly the situation in which we shall find ourselves, tossed and thrown about in every direction. How precious are the apostle’s words which he wrote to Timothy, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”, 2 Timothy 2: 19. How very testing that is! It comes very close; it is very penetrating, but as standing by the apostle’s word we find we are safe. The apostle is with God, so if we are with Paul then we find that God will be with us.
Here they had to go the whole way to disaster. What experiences they had! But later Paul said, “And now I exhort you to be of good courage, for there shall be no loss at all of life of any of you, only the ship. For an angel of the God, whose I am and whom I serve, stood by me this night, saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted to thee all those that sail with thee”. The apostle was now in command of the situation; he was with God. He could lay claim to God as he spoke—“The God, whose I am and whom I serve”. How he
valued the sense of grace in his soul, that he belonged to God; that God had taken him up. And we in our measure would know something of this, that God in His grace has taken us up and brought us into a sphere of blessing. But then He intends us to remain there so that we may be saved practically.
Just previously Paul had said, “Ye ought, O men, to have hearkened to me”. The word of rebuke comes home to us forcibly when we move away from the path of what is right, the path on which the Lord has set us, and in which the apostles and other men of God have walked—the path of the just. Think of what it means if we turn away from that! The word of rebuke comes sometimes, but then it might not come. It is very solemn to think that it might not come. We know that for many the word of rebuke has come but has not been heeded and such have lost their way. But if the rebuke comes, and we heed it, and are brought back to what is right, let us give glory to God.
Later, Paul says, “I exhort you to partake of food, for this has to do with your safety; for not a hair from the head of any one of you shall perish”. If we have someone like that on board, what an exhortation, what a comfort! Paul brings in the mind of God—and how much needed that is. I cannot over-emphasise the need of bringing in the mind of God so that souls are saved. Then, later on, it says, “The counsel of the soldiers was that they should kill the prisoners, lest any one should swim off and escape”. There seems to be no gratitude to Paul on the part of the soldiers for saving their lives. There was this man of God on board, but they were more concerned lest any one might swim
off and escape. We do not want to be like that; we want to be on the line of saving souls, of preserving persons alive. Then some cast themselves into the sea to get to land, while the rest, some on boards, others on some of the things that came from the ship, all got safe to land. As way was made for Paul, they all got safe to land. We want to prove that, getting to land, and the saints being preserved; what is for God preserved among His people, so that there can be glory to God.
I have been impressed as to what comes through death, in type, and I believe that would apply here. Think of the waters through which they passed, but they came through safely to land. May right conditions be maintained by us; may we be listening to Paul, obedient to his word, and thus be preserved for the glory of God.
Word in meeting for ministry, Brooklyn, N.Y.
8 July 1975