Work in His Power, Weakling (Acts 28:1-10)
On Malta, though we don’t immediately recognize it, we have one more contest between Paul and the pagan gods. Paul is in one of his weakest moments. A shipwrecked prisoner cold, hungry, and bitten by a poisonous snake. But the entire ordeal is one more instance in which people enslaved to pagan ideologies are overcome by the Lord’s work in Paul.
We must understand that people are not in neutral. We preach the gospel to people that are enslaved to sin. We declare salvation to people that are overcome by evil and darkness.
But it is not immediately obvious to us that we are equipped for such a task. And it is not immediately obvious to us that we are equipped for the task. Amid times of hardship and struggle, the Lord calls us to trust in Him. The Lord calls us to faith and trust in Him and He works through us in power and might.
The people on the island of Malta welcomed Paul and the rest of the crew. This is probably because there were Roman soldiers aboard and this was a roman colony. But even with this being the case, there was “unusual kindness” shown to them. Normally a person was killed or enslaved when they were shipwrecked on an island. But in this case, the people of Malta showed “unusual kindness”, as they brought out the welcome wagon.
I don’t know about you, but lately I’ve felt a good bit of wear and tear. I’ve felt too weak to handle the many things that come at me. But that seems to me to be the point of Christianity. And it seems to me to be what we see here.
A shipwrecked prisoner goes forth into the darkness against the powers of darkness and conquers. But because he understood that Jesus was strong and trusted in Him, powerful things happened on this island of Malta.
And that is what we see today. We are weak, but because God is strong, He uses us in mighty ways.
We Are Weak But He Is Strong
If you consider what has taken place, this really is astounding. Paul has been tossed around on a boat in a storm for two weeks. And now he has landed ashore. He is obviously cold, tired, hungry, and just plain worn out. And not only this, he is still a prisoner on his way to a trial. But Paul didn’t just lie around. He served the people that were there by helping tend to the fire that was made.
The people of Malta were apparently kind-hearted. Normally when people were shipwrecked they became slaves or were murdered on the spot. The threat of newcomers was always considered a risk and most of the time it was considered a risk they weren’t willing to take. But in this case the people of Malta were incredibly kind and took care of Paul and the rest of the crew, which was over 200 people. It is very likely that they saw soldiers on the ship and realized that these people were also Roman citizens. But, whatever the reason was, they cared well for the shipwrecked crew with fire and food, which would have been a tremendous expense. But Paul didn’t just lie around as people worked. He got up tended to the fire and matters got worse for him at this moment.
At this point, Paul was bitten by a poisonous serpent. Now, this is something that is considered contested by scholars. Was this serpent actually poisonous? Well, the people that lived there and saw the snake dangling from his arm certainly thought so. They were acquainted with the wildlife of the area and time of Paul’s journey.
The argument is that there are no poisonous serpents on Malta at this time. But, the wildlife of an area changes. All the legends say that there were serpents in Ireland and at some point they were driven out. And this means that there were probably serpents in Ireland long ago. Here in Arkansas there were once Red Wolves that roamed most of the State, today there are none. Wolves once covered the West, today they are scarce and being reintroduced to places that they once were very populous. And those changes in America are just a few hundred years in the making. This was almost 2,000 years ago. And the people that lived in the island at the time believed this was a viper whose bight would kill Paul.
Paul picked up a stack of wood and was bitten by a snake. I can’t tell you how many times that my Dad told me to watch out for snakes as I was gathering up wood from the woodpile outside my parents’ house. This was a real thing that could happen, so I would pick up one side of the stick of wood and look under it before picking up the wood. And it seems that Paul picked up a stack of wood with a snake in it. And when the snake felt the heat of the fire it jumped up and bit him.
As I imagine myself being there, it is really an extraordinary event. Everyone would have witnessed this. They were likely crowded in around the fire and witnessed the snake leap out of the wood and onto Paul’s arm. And they all thought he was a dead man.
But Paul didn’t seem to panic. He just flipped the snake into the fire. And he didn’t panic because he knew what the Lord had promised many years earlier.
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”” (Mark 16:16-18 ESV)
This is not a passage of Scripture calling upon people to play with venomous snakes and drink poison during church service. That does happen in some parts of Eastern Kentucky and they make the news every now and then when someone dies. But it is a promise that calls upon people to trust the Lord.
This was about protection from the Lord for the people going forth and declaring the gospel. And we see these promises fulfilled in different places throughout the Book of Acts. The people did speak in tongues as they declared the gospel to people from different languages on the Day of Pentecost. And here, Paul is carrying the message of the gospel to Rome and is now on the Island of Malta and was protected from the bite of a viper.
But that is not what the people thought. They thought that their goddess Justice was giving justice to a murderer. They thought he was going to die.
So, here we have Paul who defiantly shook the snake off into the fire while everyone else thought he was a murderous dead man. So they watched, and watched, and watched, and saw that Paul didn’t fall over dead, swell up, or anything else. Paul, the shipwrecked and now viper-bitten prisoner, lived.
When I think about the mission we are called to. And when I think about the job that I am called to, I feel small and unable. I feel weak. I think that is the best way to describe it. I feel an inherent weakness around my own ability to get the job done.
But I think that is the best way to think of ourselves. And I think that this is purposeful. My trust is not to be in myself. My trust is to be in the Lord.
I want to illustrate this from my own life and work as a pastor.
I am to preach and teach God’s Word. I declare it in hopes that people will trust in Christ and lives will be transformed. Everything I say is to be transformative.
Here’s the problem. I can’t do that. I can’t bring people from death to life. I can’t do that on my own. The work itself is miraculous.
I can’t make dead men live. I can’t bring the spiritual dead to life. I can’t do those things. It is not me, but the Holy Spirit that brings conviction of sin. I don’t have the ability to do these things. And yet, that is the job.
I am to be faithful to preach and teach the Word. Week after week, in weakness, I am to come here and declare the gospel. And all the while I must trust that God will use it for His glory and the growth of His Kingdom.
Paul was sitting among pagans that thought the goddess Justice had gotten him and that he was a convicted murder. Paul was sitting among pagans who were in darkness that had shown him great kindness. But this shipwrecked prisoner was thought, by them, to be a murderer. What was he to do?
We see early on that God’s protection over Paul is tremendous. This poisonous viper should have killed him. That’s exactly what everyone else thought would happen.
But as it turns out, this is a common occurrence for Paul. Two weeks in a hurricane force wind on the sea should have killed him. A few different mobs should have killed him. And being stoned to death should have killed him. But Paul was still alive, protected by the Lord.
Again, Paul was weak and the Lord was strong.
Our weakness and the Lord’s strength is central to the message we proclaim. It is the message we proclaim.
We are rebel sinners, helpless to help ourselves. But God delivered to us salvation. He redeems us through the finished work of His Son. Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and paid the punishment for sin. And all those that turn from ruling their own life and trust in Him are saved.
We couldn’t save ourselves. And, who can save us, accomplished our redemption for us. Our response is to understand our sinfulness, weakness, and trust in Him.
Christ Does Powerful Things Through Us
Paul survived the snake bite. And so, these pagans believed he was a god. This has happened before. But it seems just as ludicrous to us today as it did a few chapters back.
This story is brief, so we are forced to fill in a few details in our own mind. But I think it is brief because it is so similar to what happened earlier when Paul and Barnabas were mistaken for Zeus and Hermes.
At that time, Paul and Barnabas denied that they were gods and preached the message of Jesus to the people. We must assume that is what happened here. And I believe it to be such a safe assumption that I am saying that is what happened on the island. They called Paul a god and he informed them of the truth and the salvation of Jesu Christ. For it really seems to be the only thing Paul would do in this situation. He had already proclaimed his devotion to the Lord to his shipmates. They knew this already and now he was proclaiming it to the islanders of Malta.
And then, we see Paul begin performing miracles in Malta. This was usually accompanied by the proclamation of Christ in the Book of Acts. It was as if God put His stamp of approval on the message delivered by accompanying it with these miracles.
The first of these miracles was of the governor of the island’s father. Publius was the man that had organized and helped the shipwrecked crew for three days. He had an estate near by, welcomed, and treated them very well. His father had a fever and dysentery. Dysentery is a bacterial or parasitic infection that causes all sorts of awful gastrointestinal things to happen. And it was often deadly in the Ancient world. Considering that it was here combined with a fever, we can assume that it would’ve been deadly for Publius’s father. After this all the sick were brought to Paul for healing.
And again, because of the brevity of the details, we assume that it was as it is throughout the rest of the Book of Acts. Paul proclaimed salvation in Jesus Christ and healed in the name of Jesus Christ the many people of Malta that were ill.
And it seems this went on for three months. Considering the warmness with which the people treated them, I do believe that many of the Maltese people were converted.
I want you to think through what we’ve said already. Paul was weak. But he did mighty things in the Lord because the Lord is strong and mighty in power.
I really believe that most of the time, we must acknowledge our weakness before the Lord before He will work. I can certainly say that this has been the case in my own life.
Paul was constantly working in reliance upon the Lord.
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. (2 Corinthians 11:30 ESV)
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 ESV)
Our weakness drives us to the Lord for His grace and mercy. Our acknowledgment of personal weakness and weakness as a church moves us to rely upon the Lord whose “power is made perfect in weakness”.
I want this message to flow all over you today. You are weak, but He is strong. You really are a needy sinner. But the Lord is strong.
You really can’t do the things that you are called to do. Yet, if we are faithful and trust the Lord, then He will do wonderful things through us.
Our weakness and His strength drives us to trust Him and work in Him.
Conclusion
I want to close today with an application concerning our church. We are a small church body, with a small church budget. And as a pastor, I sometimes feel like I am doing everything I can to just survive. In the past year, I’ve had a knee replacement and a surgery to fix the replacement. I had a gallbladder removed. Insurance problems have recently changed things for our family with regard to Haddon’s care. And, financially we barely make it, even after adding some part-time work to our repertoire.
This sort of weakness can be seen throughout our church. I could point around the room and talk about your ailments, but I won’t because I don’t feel that I have permission to do so and I’m not sure it would help.
I think that a lot of us feel like Paul here today. We feel as if we’ve been washed up on shore and things could really go poorly at any moment. But, for the most part, they haven’t. We have seen the Lord working in our weakness. We have seen people coming to our church. We have seen lives transformed. We are seeing families transformed through what happens here.
And we are wanting to see more and more of that.
We are weak. But He is strong.
As individuals and as a church body, we can look at the text today and look at our lives and make a decision.
Will we work in dependence upon the Lord? Will we realize our own weakness and frailty before the Lord and plead with Him to work among us? Will we realize His incredible strength and pray and work toward the Lord doing even more magnificent things among us?
My challenge to you this week is to contemplate your own weakness and frailty. Let that shatter any misunderstandings you have about your own ability to fulfill taking the gospel to your children and your neighbor. Understand that you cannot do that in your own power. And let that move you to prayer.
And alongside that contemplation, consider the strength of the Lord and His ability to do all that and much more. And let that move you to an attitude of dependence upon Him. And let it move you to a courageous faith that is willing to do difficult things for the Lord.
Do you feel that you are too weak to lead your family in prayer and Bible reading? Well, you probably are. But the Lord is not. And you need to pray, lean on His understanding, and lead your family in prayer and Bible study or Bible reading.
Do you feel that you are too weak to share the gospel with your neighbor? You are. You can’t raise the spiritually dead. That’s a task for the Lord. But He has chosen to use weak vessels like yourself to do such a thing. He has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the wise, Paul tells us. And He has chosen us, in our weakness, to be the means of spreading His name to your neighbor and to the globe.
Here is just the right mindset for us today. We are weak, but He is strong. We are unable, but He is able. We are poor pitiful sinners. But He is the God of the Universe.
One aspect of this text that I have left until now is the sovereignty of God. God was taking Paul to Rome and he did it by taking Paul to Malta through many dangers, toils, and snares. He did it through the court system, storm, a shipwreck, and a snake bite. But God wanted Paul to preach the gospel through the nations as he went to Rome and this is how He made that happen.
Your weakness is not accidental. And neither is your placement. And we are to be people that see our weakness and are faithful in our time while we lean upon the Lord who is strong.
And that is the message we see today in the Lord’s Supper. We are sinners who cannot save ourselves. We are rebels that without the Lord would find ourselves spending eternity in Hell. But God, who is over all, gave to us a redeemer. He gave us His Son to do what we could not do for ourselves.
R. Dwain Minor