Lost: Daylight

Acts 27:39-44, Luke 15:20b-32

April 27, 2008

First, let me thank Jane Marion for doing a wonderful job last week when I was off.  I’ll never think of blue Easter chickens in the same way again.

Also, welcome back to her daughter Lauren, who was in Paris and faced some challenges there, but has come back home to the nest.

For the past three weeks we’ve talked about how Paul and his comrades have been “lost” in a storm at sea, and how they felt that they would lose their lives.  We’ve also been reflecting on how Jesus so desperately does not want us to be lost in the spiritual sense, but would rather that we be found, and return home to him.  In this theme, last week Jane shared with you the first half of the parable of the prodigal son.

If you have your Bibles with you, turn to Luke 15.

If you recall, the first half of the story goes like this:

-Younger – wanted inheritance – Dad you’re dead to me
-WHERE did he go? Far Country – Not in the Father’s TOWN
-Squandered wealth -
-Fed pigs – disgrace for a Jew
-Came to senses
-walked home – Repentance
-Father Ran to the son - Forgiveness
-Killed the calf - lost and found!!! – Celebration

But what about the older brother, the one who was angry?
The two sons show that there are two ways to be LOST!
a. One sinned AWAY from home, the other sinned AT home.
b. One was lost in MILES, the other in COLDNESS.
c. One sinned outwardly, the other inwardly
d. One feels he is not worthy of the Father’s love because of wild living
One feels he is worthy of the Father’s love because of slaving.

If anyone asked the townspeople about the older brother they would say, He is the better son.
Some would probably add, “That wonderful Father has one bad son who broke his heart and an older son who is a fine, hard working, loyal, and respectable young man.”
Yet, he was more lost than the younger brother, because he could only think of himself. He couldn’t appreciate that the one who was lost had returned.

LK 15:31 "`My son,’ the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. [32] But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ "

How often have we felt lost in the sea of not appreciating what we had, or being jealous of what someone else had?  Look around the room—I don’t see anyone who is starving to death, or who is living on the street.  Do we appreciate what God has given us?  How do we show our appreciation?

Sure, we’ve all got challenges.  In fact, we all feel lost at one time or another in our lives, even to the point of no return.  We face struggles and situations that we feel will be the end of us.  Well I have some good news—God is with you, and wants you to know that “Your Condition Is Not Your Conclusion.” There is daylight on the other side of the storm.

Turn in your Bibles over to Acts, chapter 27.  Look at Paul, who was on a ship and was caught in a terrible storm for fourteen days. It seemed as though the end was near. And while Paul had the faith that it took to see things through, the prisoners and the guards could not see past the rain.

God had already promised Paul that everyone on the ship would be saved from death in verse 24 when Paul heard from the angel.  But the guys in the middle of this terrible storm for fourteen days did not want to hear this. They were concerned about their lives; they had a condition known as fear.  How many times in scripture have we heard God say, “Fear not”?  God will do great things with you, no matter what your past—or your present—if you’d only overcome your fear, have faith in Him, and let Him.  Remember—your condition is not your conclusion! 

Moses had a condition. He was a murderer. If you read Exodus 2:12 , he slew an Egyptian and hid him in the sand. It was his condition, he thought he was lost, but it wasn’t his conclusion. God used Moses, an ordinary man, with an imperfect past, to do extraordinary things.

There was a man named Naaman. Naaman had a condition. Naaman was a leper. If you read 2 Kings 5:10, Elisha told Naaman to go the River Jordan, that old muddy River Jordan and to dip himself seven times and his flesh will be as clean as a newborn baby. And it worked.  Being a leper was his condition, lost to society, but it wasn’t his conclusion.

People thought that when Jesus went to the cross that that was his conclusion, all was lost. Now, it was his condition, but it was not his conclusion.

On that Friday, He hung on that old rugged cross, and He died. But early Sunday morning on that third day, He got up with all power of God the Father in His hands.

You see, that’s why our condition will never be our conclusion as long as we trust and believe in Jesus Christ—we have his power of resurrection, the power to move beyond our condition.  The power to get out of our dark cave and into the daylight.

Listen again to this exciting conclusion to our story with Paul:

“When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could.  Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders.  Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach.  But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground.  The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.

The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping.  But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan.  He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.  The rest were to get there on planks or on pieces of the ship.  In this way everyone reached land in safety.” (Acts 27:39-44).

Paul’s prediction which we heard back in verse 22 comes true: the ship is caught on a sand bar, and is destroyed; but all of the people on the ship make it to land—everyone reached land in safety.  Sometimes we have to go through the midnight to get to the daylight.  We must go through the valley to stand upon the mountain of God . 

It seems that life is a series of valleys and mountain tops, of ups and downs, of midnights and daylights.  Pau ’s journey was certainly like this.  And now, not only did he and his companions have to face the weather, they faced each other.

Just when the prisoners thought that there was hope for their survival, they heard the order given for the Roman soldiers to kill them.  Once again, they were lost.  You see, in the rules of the Roman army, if a prisoner escapes, Roman soldier/guard loses his life.  So the soldiers figured, better for the prisoners to die than for them to die.

But God laid it on the heart of the centurion to spare Paul’s life, and the lives of the other prisoners.  Their condition was not their conclusion!  Their midnight turned to daylight!  And even as the ship was being destroyed, those who could swim did so, and made it to shore.  And for those who could not swim, the destruction of the ship provided the very objects of salvation for the prisoners to float to shore with.  God provides.

Are you in a shipwreck in your life right now?  Are you feeling lost, and the waves are crashing over your head as your ship is falling apart right under your feet? 

Well, your condition is not your conclusion—this is not the end for you, you are not lost.  God has a plan for your life.  The question is, are you brave enough to put your trust in Jesus, and to jump off of that sinking ship and either swim grab onto the broken pieces of your life and let Jesus rescue you?  There will be daylight after the storm.

He’s waiting; he’s calling.  He wants no one to be lost, not even you.  Won’t you come to him?