This is not a "God is with you in the storms of life" lesson.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Acts 27:31-44
This is our last lesson in the book of Acts, and Luke's purpose is to show how nothing could prevent Paul from fulfilling God's purpose for him to share the gospel in Rome. Though sailing through a terrible storm, Paul's trust in God does not surprise us. But his great faith and belief in his mission influenced even the hardened pagan sailors and soldiers with him.
None of you will lose a hair from your head. (27:34)
When We Studied the End of Acts in 2018
So, this is a weird choice on Lifeway's part, using Acts 27:31-44 as their final lesson in the book of Acts. Luke, the author of Acts, just uses this episode as a checkpoint on the way to his main point: that Paul traveled to Rome where he continued to preach the gospel even while under house arrest.
Lifeway's explanation for this choice is that we can "reflect on how God has been with [us] in storms [we've] faced". Okay. Well, that's important too.
One way or another, I strongly encourage you to at least mention the end of the book of Acts. That's the passage we studied in 2018:
There are a few things from that post that I'm going to recycle (full disclosure).
Getting Started: Things to Think About
Your Worst Travel Experience
I've used this before (including in that 2018 post), and it's still one of my favorites. Assuming everything turned out okay (which is not always the case), what's your worst travel experience?
I'm starting to forget which stories I've shared before, so forgive me if you've heard this one. When my family moved from Fort Worth to Thomson, we did so on Thanksgiving week during an unexpected winter storm. (Driving two U-Hauls with car trailers.) We did remarkably well, but by the time we got to Birmingham, it was dark. And that's when one of the U-Haul tires blew out -- an inside one, not an outside one -- forcing us to find an open repair shop somewhere in Birmingham. And of course, it was going to take them a while to fix it, so I thought I would find a nearby McDonalds for our dinner. Humorously, there were vehicles circling our U-Haul like sharks in the parking lot, so I didn't even get to wait for our food before I decided to return to the shop. (Which, frankly, I'm impressed I found again, considering I can't seem to drive anywhere today without a map app.)
What's your story?
And if your stories are too painful, you can always talk about your favorite "road-trip-gone-wrong" movie. There are too many to count. Please be sensitive to your mixed Bible study company. (Even these priceless movies haven't aged entirely well.)
(But my goodness, the scene where Pee-Wee randomly belts out "The stars at night are big and bright" still makes me laugh so much.)
Getting back to business -- one way or another, our very worst experience really doesn't compare to Paul's trip in Acts 27 and 28.
Keep This in Your Back Pocket: Storm Experience
I'm cautious with this one -- most of us reading this have very recently lived through Hurricane Helene, so it might be too soon to talk about our storm experiences.
What's the most frightened you've ever been in a storm? What helped you make it through?
I grew up in Houston TX, so I'm relatively used to high winds and heavy rains. But the sound of those massive trees coming down ... that was terrible. A helpless feeling.
Or kick it up a notch -- have you ever been through a terrible storm on a boat? I have not. I would rather not be. The stories from passengers on this enormous cruise liner are discouraging.
And that's on a massive modern ship! Have you been through anything like that on a smaller vessel? (Probably not.)
The only reason to bring this up is to put people in the head space of Paul's companions on their wooden ship sailing through a Mediterranean hurricane. I imagine it would be difficult to act rationally and calmly ...
Special Early Aside: Medicanes
Luke says that Paul's ship ran into a "Northeaster" (the original word is "Euraquilo", a sailor's term). You're not going to find much about that online -- mariners in the region are very specific about the names of their prevailing winds
One guess is that the "Northeaster" is the "Tramontana"
The Tramontana wind is one of the most predominant winds in the Mediterranean Sea. It is a cold and strong wind from the north and northeast. It usually blows more in the Balearic Islands and the northeast of Catalonia. It is a dangerous wind, as it can reach gusts of up to 200 km/h. It is a wind that occurs in winter and can last for several days.
That's major-hurricane-force winds. (Note: Catalonia is in the far west; Paul was still far to the east, so it was probably one of those other winds. But who's counting?)
But I also learned about something called a "Medicane", which is a terrible slang term for a "Mediterranean hurricane".
All of this to point out that Paul's ship most certainly could have sailed through the equivalent of a hurricane in the Mediterranean. I can only imagine.
A Philosophical Conundrum: The Many or the Few?
As a proud nerd, I love Start Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Love it. And that's where a young Matt Ward first learned what I assumed to be immutable truth:
Of course the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Logic!
And then I've spent the last 30 years listening to people try to argue otherwise. So what about you? How have you tried to understand the philosophical argument about which is "more important", the many or the few?
More about this below.
Where We Are in Acts: Paul's Fourth Missionary Journey
I like to think of this section as Paul's "fourth missionary journey". After all, he wanted to share the gospel in Rome, right? And that's exactly what he's on the way to do -- complete with a Roman military escort, Roman chains, and on the Roman dime.
This week's passage takes place when their ship is about to run aground off the coast of Malta. So, you can see from this map that a lot has already happened on this journey!
Let me point out a few keys to Acts 27:
Big Idea #1: Roman Naval Travel
You might not realize that Acts 27/28 is a very important account of ships and seafaring in the Roman Empire. We know "about" Roman ship travel -- this website
in addition to having lots of nice pictures, also tells us that sea travel was military or commercial (not passenger) and most people slept on the open deck. It tells us that sailors were very superstitious, and captains offered sacrifices for safe travel. But it doesn't talk about the travel itself because there's just not a lot of first-person accounts about it.
Well, Acts 27/28 is first person. Luke traveled with Paul on this journey. He observed the sailors' behavior and practices. He learned their lingo (many of the Greek words in this section are unique and technical).
Big Idea #2: Appealing to Caesar
Any Roman citizen could appeal to Caesar. This included safe passage to Rome on the emperor's dime. (You can imagine that the emperor expected the regional governors to keep those appeals to a minimum.) However, it did not include personal needs, trivial things like food and clothing. And when you got to Rome, you were expected to pay for your own lodging, however long you waited for your hearing.
So, that's why Paul had companions sail with him. Luke specifically notes,
The next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to receive their care. (27:3)
Even though Paul was a prisoner, he was also a citizen, so he was allowed to collect the resources he would need (of course, most of those resources sank to the bottom of the sea, but that's neither here nor there).
Big Idea #3: You Can't Stop God's Purpose
Luke accomplishes two main things with this entire episode. First, he pits God's purpose against any/all obstacles. The Roman sailors tried to appease their "gods" through superstitious exercise. But when those "gods" (and by that, I mean the storm and the sea) did act against the ship, they could not prevent God from bringing Paul to his destination. You can back further away and see this episode as "the prince of this world" attempting to slow or stop the spread of the gospel. It cannot be done.
Second, Luke describes how to God both the many and the few are important. Now let's call back the topic I mentioned above --
Big Idea #4: The Many and the Few
We see several real-life examples of this at work in Paul's journey. For example, some sailors try to save themselves in a lifeboat, ostensibly thinking that it would be better for some of them to survive than for everybody to perish. Later, some soldiers try to kill the prisoners thinking that it would be better for the large group to survive than to be dangerously slowed down by keeping an eye on prisoners.
But here's the thing -- with God, that's a false dichotomy. With God, the many and the few are important. I've heard it said that if only one person would have been saved, God would still have sent His Son to the cross. God isn't in heaven weighing relative value of people; only humans do that. Every life is equally valuable to God.
So, the next time you are weighing a decision based on what's best for "this larger group" or "this smaller group", make sure you're asking the right question.
Big Idea #5: The Journey of the Centurion
I like this one a lot, but see below for the details.
Little-but-Cool Idea: "Sounding"
A detail about Roman sailors that I like very much: in verse 27, we are told that the sailors "sensed" that they were close to land, something they verified with "soundings". A "sounding weight" is simple -- it's a weight attached to a thin rope with regular markings to show depth. But I like that the soldiers could "sense" the land. Something about the behavior of the water clued them into approaching land that they couldn't see (being midnight and all). These were experienced sailors -- not nitwits.
If you like that topic, you could talk about skills you have/know that are difficult to teach, that are based on "feel". Your purpose in doing so would be to establish this question: what would it take for you to be willing to listen to a newbie like Paul? Probably something very significant. And that's exactly what happened on this journey.
Part 1: Call to Trust [in God] (Acts 27:31-34)
31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the skiff and let it drop away. 33 When it was about daylight, Paul urged them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting and going without food, having eaten nothing. 34 So I urge you to take some food. For this is for your survival, since none of you will lose a hair from your head.”
This is one of those rare occasions when I actually like the Lifeway heading for a passage. This passage is precisely about the centurion and the soldiers needing to trust. But goodness, we sure got thrown into it!
To appreciate this, we need to know that there was a disagreement between Paul and the owner of the ship whether they should harbor in Crete ("Fair Havens") or try to make a larger harbor ("Phoenix") further west. Paul said that if they did, they would be caught in a storm and lose the ship. The owner said the smart seafaring thing to do would be to travel west. The centurion listened to the owner (for obvious reasons).
So, everyone on the ship understood that Paul had given them trustworthy advice.
And then, a few days prior (we just know that this was after the third day but before the 14th day), Paul had very boldly told everyone on the ship,
22 Now I urge you to take courage, because there will be no loss of any of your lives, but only of the ship. 23 For last night an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood by me 24 and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. It is necessary for you to appear before Caesar. And indeed, God has graciously given you all those who are sailing with you.’
It's been made very clear to the people on the ship (based on Paul's consistent behavior, calm demeanor, and unshakeable faith) that he means it.
In other words, a hardened sailor would under any other circumstance hear the words of this landlubber, Jewish prisoner and immediately reject it. But they didn't. They listened to him and did what he said.
It starts with this action that we jump right into the middle of. First of all, it's midnight. They've been caught in a storm for 14 days (!!!). We have just been told that the sailors know they are approaching land. In a short time, their depth changed from 120 feet to 90 feet, leading them to believe that they were about to crash into some sort of land mass and drop the anchors in a panic. This further led some of the sailors to attempt to escape the boat in a lifeboat, thinking they could slip away in the dark.
Paul "ratted them out" to the centurion (Julius) who ordered the soldiers to cut the lifeboat adrift (which must have created some tension between the sailors and the soldiers!).
Aside: Julius
Now it's time to talk about Julius the centurion.
Luke introduces us to him by name in 27:1. He's in charge of Paul's guard. As far as I can tell, only two centurions get named in the Bible. The other is Cornelius ... Perhaps you can guess where I'm leaning with the importance of being named.
Early, we learn of Julius's kindness to Paul (27:3). But in 27:11, we read that Julius sided with the ship owner against Paul (again, makes sense). But then here in 27:31, Julius orders his soldiers to follow Paul's warning about letting the sailors escape, and he follows Paul's suggestion to throw the rest of the food overboard. And in 27:43, we read that Julius protected Paul from the soldiers and even protected all of the prisoners (at Paul's warning).
In the course of this journey, Julius goes from being Paul's "guard" to being someone who listened to Paul and even protected Paul. What do you think happened on this journey to bring about that change?
And that's one of Luke's main themes, isn't it?
Now back to the passage.
No one on the ship has eaten for 14 days; I'm assuming that's how bad the conditions were. And Paul is the one to gather them together and encourage them to eat (not the captain, not Julius). He is now seen as their spiritual leader. (Indeed, the word he uses for "survival" is actually soteria, which is also the word for salvation. Luke the author sees this event as a picture of salvation -- the message of salvation can save all those around who hear it.)
Here's where Paul's prophetic connection with God really shines. God had already told Paul that the ship would eventually run aground. Paul now knows that this is that moment. There's nothing they can save on the ship -- the ship will break apart. What they need to do now is eat what they can, needing the energy for the difficult swim to shore.
Think about all of this. Think about what Paul is asking these men to do. Think about what Paul is telling them is about to happen. These are hardened pagan sailors. And yet they will listen to Paul. They will trust in God because they trust God's messenger.
Application
When is the last time you trusted God enough to do something "difficult"? When is the last time you helped a non-Christian trust God?
Aside: George Muller
This event reminds me of one of my very favorite George Muller stories. If you don't know who George Muller is, please look him up.
A ship captain tells this story about a time he was stalled in dense fog:
I had been on that bridge for twenty-two hours and never left it. I was startled by someone tapping me on the shoulder. It was George Mueller.
Captain,' said he, 'I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon.' This was Wednesday.
It is impossible,' I said. 'Very well, if your ship can't take me God will find some other means of locomotion to take me. I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years.'
I would willingly help you, but how can I? I am helpless.'
Let us go down to the chart room and pray,' he said.
"I looked at this man and I thought to myself, 'What lunatic asylum could the man have come from? I never heard of such a thing.' "'Mr. Mueller,' I said, 'do you know how dense this fog is?'
No,' he replied, 'my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life.'
"He went down on his knees, and he prayed one of the most simple prayers. I thought to myself, 'That would suit a children's class, where the children were not more than eight or nine years of age.' The burden of his prayer was something like this: 'O Lord, if it is consistent with Thy will, please remove this fog in five minutes. You know the engagement You made for me in Quebec for Saturday. I believe it is Your will.'
"When he had finished, I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray.
First,' he said, 'you do not believe God will do it; and, second, I believe He has done it. And there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.' I looked at him, and George Mueller said this: 'Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years and there has never been a single day that I have failed to gain an audience with the King. Get up, Captain and open the door, and you will find the fog is gone.'
I got up, and the fog was gone. On Saturday afternoon George Mueller was in Quebec."
Note: the ship captain was a Christian, and Muller was not a prisoner, so it's not quite the same thing. But you can read story after story about Muller, if you want to look.
Part 2: Call to Obey (Acts 27:35-38)
35 After he said these things and had taken some bread, he gave thanks to God in the presence of all of them, and after he broke it, he began to eat. 36 They all were encouraged and took food themselves. 37 In all there were 276 of us on the ship. 38 When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing the grain overboard into the sea.
[Just when I say something nice about a Lifeway subheading, I have to change the rest of them.]
Paul has told the men to do all of these things, but they have to actually do it. First comes the eating. Paul has their attention, so he models for them what he has asked -- he gives thanks to God, and then he eats. Simple, right?
Not so much.
Have you ever gone a long time without eating? Or, have you been seasick for an extended period of time? That first bite made your stomach churn, didn't it? Well, Paul is going to help them overcome that. And in the process, he is going to teach a very memorable spiritual lesson. Did these guys ever experience a meal again when they didn't remember Paul giving thanks to God for his food in such extraordinary circumstances?
Calm in a Storm
This is a pretty simple exercise, and you might not even need to do it to make your point. Pick two or three group members to act like it's the end of the world, and pick one group member to be calm. Then turn them loose for 15-20 seconds. For the rest of the group members, who are you drawn to? Human nature is that we might get distracted by the "sky is falling" people, but we are deeply drawn to the calm person. Why is that? And then extrapolate from that why the men on the ship were drawn to Paul.
I like how Luke gave a headcount. Yes, it's a big ship with lots of people, but the point is more that God cares about the many and the few -- right down to the one.
In Luke's Gospel, he recounts a parable from Jesus that helps us understand why Luke was caught up in those kinds of numbers:
4 “I say to you, my friends, don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. 5 But I will show you the one to fear: Fear him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the one to fear! 6 Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. 7 Indeed, the hairs of your head are all counted. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Luke 7)
At the end of it all, humans are (have?) souls, eternal souls. And God doesn't want any of us to perish. These 276 people are given an opportunity to repent and turn to Jesus. We aren't told if any of them did, but I'm just going to assume that some/many did.
Note: why throw the grain overboard? One, Paul said the ship was about to break. And two, the lighter the ship, the higher they would ride and the more rocks they would pass over.
Part 3: At Least One Life Is Changed (Acts 27:39-44)
39 When daylight came, they did not recognize the land but sighted a bay with a beach. They planned to run the ship ashore if they could. 40 After cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach. 41 But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow jammed fast and remained immovable, while the stern began to break up by the pounding of the waves. 42 The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners so that no one could swim away and escape. 43 But the centurion kept them from carrying out their plan because he wanted to save Paul, and so he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. 44 The rest were to follow, some on planks and some on debris from the ship. In this way, everyone safely reached the shore.
28:1 tells us that they landed on Malta. Here's a zoom of the map I included above.
Incidentally, Malta is an independent country today. Huh. The Greeks and the Romans fought over Malta for a few hundred years before Paul landed there. It was a Roman colony with heavy Greek culture. Paul would ultimately stay there for three months, preaching and healing. (Yes, the centurion could say that they stayed there until the spring, when seas were favorable again, but we all know that God wanted Paul there that length of time.)
[Note: here is a tremendous example of Luke's details about sailing practices. This is the sort of thing that helps historians understand how Rome operated.]
God Cares About the Great and the Small
I'm going to bring this up one last time. God cared about every person on Paul's ship. God cared about every person on this tiny island in the middle of the sea. Here is Paul -- on his way to bring the gospel to the most important city in the world -- and God cared equally about the individuals along the way. Luke carefully used the word "everyone". And again, Luke the author realizes that this is a picture of salvation. Some of the people were healthy enough to swim. Some people were weak or sick and needed help. But everybody (because they listened to Paul) made it safely to shore.
The Lifeway material gives you questions like "when was God with you in a storm?" And that's fine; I spiritualize the text regularly, too. But don't miss Luke's point: God had a purpose for Paul. God's purpose for Paul was to share the gospel in Rome. Nothing could stop that. And along the way, God would take care of every individual who accompanied Paul, giving them more opportunities to learn from Paul and hear his gospel message.
Don't miss this: God isn't just "with us in the storms of life"; God has a purpose for our lives, and that purpose is to take the gospel to the whole world. God will use our experiences to help us connect with others; God will use our days to give us more opportunities to serve Him. But let's not reduce God's presence in our life to a sturdy umbrella. It's much, much greater than that.
Closing Thoughts: Get to the End of Acts
The easiest way to communicate this is to take your group to the end of the book of Acts.
30 Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. (Acts 28)
This is Luke's point. Paul may have been a prisoner, but the gospel was unbound. (And remember, I believe that Luke wrote this before Nero's massive wave of persecution, so his hopefulness was not manufactured. Had Luke known of Paul's or Peter's martyrdom, I have no doubt that he would have written it and demonstrated God's glory and purpose through it.) God brought Paul through the storm so that he could continue to witness about salvation in Jesus Christ.
If we're still breathing, God has a purpose for us in His plan for humanity, too.
Pray together as a group -- what can you do to fulfill God's commission for your church and Bible study group?