Scripture
For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him, 31boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him. (Acts 28:30)
Observation
What an adventure of faith. This narrative at the end of Acts beats out most Hollywood blockbusters. To make it more amazing, it actually happened! We’ve got political intrigue. We’ve got false arrests. We’ve got verbal showdowns with Kings. We’ve got mob violence. We’ve got adventures on the high seas complete with surprise storms. We’ve got angelic visits, shipwrecks, snake bites, miraculous healings and an entire island coming to Jesus. I can hear the soundtrack with a driving beat behind each epic moment. It’s all leading to this crescendo foretold by the angel, “22But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. 23For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, 24and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ 25So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. 26But we will be shipwrecked on an island.” (Acts 27:22-25). Our pulse is pounding as we arrive with bated breath at the final verse in Acts 28 speaking of Paul in a prison in Rome. When we excitedly turn the page to read of Paul’s showdown with the most powerful man in the world we get… nothing. Wait! What? Where’s the moment where Paul boldly shares his faith with Emperor Nero? Did Luke get a hand cramp? Was he still sea sick? Did he lose his ink, quill and papyrus in the ship wreck. What happened to the storybook ending? Something is missing here… Years later when Paul wrote his letter to the Philippian Church from Rome, Paul wrote, “All saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household (Phil. 4:22). Paul had made friends with Nero’s family so there’s good evidence he would have had audience with him at some point. Historically the empress Poppaea was “a worshipper of the true God” and probably helped to make a meeting between Paul and Nero happen. We know if God promised the moment, then it came to pass. The problem is that all the action with Caesar takes place off the books. We know Scripture is “Holy Spirit Inspired” so why couldn’t He inspire one more chapter? Well, He did… It’s us. We are the next chapter. We are Acts 29!
Application
Sequelitis: The tendency of a well-received work to spawn many inferior sequels. Case in point. Do you remember that moment at the end of Back To The Future (one of my all time faves)? Just after Marty arrives back from 1955, Doc Brown races back into the McFly driveway from the future to tell Marty and Jenn that they have to go back to the future to save their kids from destroying themselves. They pile into the DeLorian and Marty says nervously, “Doc, we don’t have enough road to get 88 miles per hour.” Then, with his classic smirk, Doc Brown lowers his sunglasses and utters the iconic line, “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.” We then see the car has been retrofitted into a hover car and it leaves a twin fire trail in the sky as it roars into the future. When the credits started to roll my mind was ablaze with the possibilities of what was going to happen next. Without getting into the epic disappointment of Back To The Future 2 (3 somewhat redeemed the franchise), I want to make sure I’m not the one dropping the ball here. I don’t want to succumb to Sequelitis while living on the past success of those wha have come before me. Over the past couple of weeks Uncle Dan, Aunty Claudia and Dr. Dick Scott all had their Heavenly homecoming. They stepped out of time and into eternity with Jesus. Each of them had a profound impact on my life and the faith of a generation. It’s almost like they are handing me the keys and saying, “You’re up. What are you going to do with the time you’ve given (Gandalf vibes for sure)? Why didn’t Paul’s story get finished in the Scriptures? We are finishing the story. We are the next chapter. Why was there no narrative resolve? This isn’t a Hollywood movie, this is real life. There won’t be a resolve until every last soul has had a chance to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. When we choose to continue what was started we are refusing to be the disappointing sequel. We are choosing to fill in what has been missing.
Prayer
Lord, I’m on the threshold of my 48th Birthday and I don’t want to squander the opportunity I’ve been given. I don’t want to be the follow-up no one wants to see. I want to be the Empire Strikes Back, LOTR: The Two Towers, The Godfather 2, Toy Story 2. I want to build on the faith of the ones who have gone before me and take it farther. I want to live on purpose no matter what storms, setbacks and painful situations come my way. I want to live like a man on Divine Assignment and not get distracted by the false narratives and pitfalls of the flesh that seek to derail the story You’re writing. I’m handing the pen back to You. This is life in the next chapter. This is life in the last chapter. There’s something missing in Your Church today that I see in the previous generations. It’s the purpose driven dependance, that faith-filled resilience, the God-given grit that comes when we lay our lives down for Your glory and we quit trying to be the star of Your story! If there’s something missing here, it’s that I’ve been missing the fact that this story was never about me in the first place. It’s about You Jesus and my life and my days belong wholly to You. Use me to proclaim Your Kingdom and to teach others about You Jesus with every breath I’m given.
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