To the Ends of the Earth
To the Ends of the Earth by Rev. L. John Gable
September 27, 2020
The Tab staff has taken to teasing me because apparently I tend to use my hands when we are discussing various programs and ministries during staff meetings. Particularly when it is a brand new idea apparently I gesture that we are talking about it at the 30,000 foot level. And then, as the idea begins to get some traction, apparently I lower my hands to the 10,000 foot level and then when we really get down to the details we start talking at the 1000 foot level. I must do it with enough frequency because periodically we will be in the midst of some discussion when one of them will ask, “Wait a minute! Are we talking about this here, here or here?”
As we come to the end of our study of the book of Acts, a study which I have thoroughly enjoyed and from the responses I’ve gotten from you it appears you have as well, it would be very easy for us to use those same gestures to describe what we have been reading. At the 30,000 foot level we understand the book of Acts to be Luke’s telling of the story of the growth of the Church and the spread of the Gospel, God’s upper story of salvation history, if you will. And then as the story unfolds we have heard wonderful, fascinating stories of God’s doing in greater and greater detail, what we have referred to as the lower story of human history. (Here and here). And we have seen repeatedly how the two intersect.
Bear in mind Luke writes this second book as the sequel to the Gospel bearing his name to a fellow named Theophilus, which translated means “lover of God”, which could have been an individual or perhaps even a gathering of individuals, that is the Church, that first generation of first century believers, who surely were struggling to keep the faith in extremely difficult circumstances and may well have been in danger of losing hope. The book of Acts, at the 30,000 foot level, is the story of how God is, was and always will be alive and active in the midst of His people… and we are included, not only in the hearing of this great story of salvation history but also in our living of it, so don’t lose faith or give up hope!
As we come to the end of our study it might be helpful for us to be reminded where it all began. Recall Jesus’ parting words to His disciples, His telling them to “Go and make disciples of all nations”, the so-called Great Commission. With those words still ringing in their ears Luke records that the Lord further commissions His disciples just before His ascension in to heaven, saying, “Be My witnesses, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” I can almost imagine Jesus making hand gestures as well as he commissioned the disciples in this way, not from higher to lower, but in concentric circles. Be My witnesses in Jerusalem (start right where you are, with the people you know, those who are closest to you), in all Judea (among those who are like you, those you naturally associate with, geographically those who live in your region) and Samaria (those who are not like you, who don’t look or act or think like you, you are to be My witnesses to them as well, for they too are loved by the Father) and then to the ends of the earth. This then is how Luke lays out the telling of the story of the growth of the Church and the spreading of the Gospel first in Jerusalem, then in Judea (think of the ministry of Peter), then in Samaria (the ministry of Phillip) and to the ends of the earth (the ministries of Paul and Barnabas and countless others.)
This task given to the original twelve disciples was daunting to be sure. The known population of the world at that time was about 12 million people which meant that each one of them would have to reach a million people on their own to fulfill the Great Commission. Today the Gospel would reach “global saturation” if each follower of Jesus reached just 14 others. But bear in mind, the growth of the Church and the spread of the Gospel is not a human endeavor alone. It is not something we can do on our own if we just put our minds and best efforts to it, like building a company and establishing franchises. No, the expansive growth of the Church to the ends of the earth is not something we have done but something which God has done using us, ever since the day of the birth of the Church, the Day of Pentecost described in Acts chapter 2, when God poured out His Holy Spirit on willing believers and literally “dynamited” them out of that upper room out in to the world. The impact of that explosion continues to be felt today as hearts are touched and lives are changed by the Living Christ. The Gospel message has no bounds. This is the story Luke is telling us in the book of Acts and you and I are part of it still.
In the ancient world Spain was considered to be the “end of the earth” so Paul saw Rome as something of a way-station on the way there and a significant one at that. If the Gospel could play in Rome it could be spread throughout the Roman Empire, the then known world. The saying “all roads lead to Rome” was quite literally true. Recall, however, before setting his sights on those extremes he had one project he wanted to clean up. For years he had been taking up a collection, a “generous offering”, among the Gentile churches he had planted in Greece in support of the primarily Jewish believers in the mother church back in Jerusalem. So, after finishing his third missionary journey, his intention, despite the warnings of those closest to him, was to go to Jerusalem, make the offering, then book passage to Rome to share the Gospel there. However, when he arrived in Jerusalem the opposition brought against him by the Sanhedrin was so intense that he was actually arrested and retained by the Roman authorities. While they didn’t care much at all about matters pertaining to religious disagreements they cared deeply about issues of civil disorder, so as Oscar preached last week, in his imprisonment Paul was given numerous opportunities to give defense of the Gospel to the authorities of the day as he appealed his case in the courts. His desire had always been to share the Gospel message with councils and kings and he was given those opportunities, until he exhausted his means of appeal, save his meeting with the Emperor himself. When he made that appeal to King Agrippa, Agrippa had but one option, saying, “You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go.” What appeared to be a closed door for Paul when he was arrested in Jerusalem suddenly became an open window as he was chained and bound and put on a sailing ship to Rome, and he even let the Emperor Caesar Augustus pick up the tab for his safe passage.
We didn’t read the travel passages which Luke records for us, but they are a good story and worth the read which I’ll leave to you. But picking up the story, when Paul finally arrived in the Italian port believers from the city came out to greet him, some having traveled 40-50 miles to see him. Remember, Paul didn’t plant the Church in Rome, others had, the Gospel preceded him there, which enabled there to be believers there to greet him, which must have been a welcome sight. If ever you are traveling in a place unfamiliar to you I encourage you to find a place of worship. Even if you can’t understand the language spoken in the service, it is a joy to be in the company of other believers. For me, it is always a good reminder of the depth and breadth and diversity of the Body of Christ.
Luke tells us while in Rome “Paul was allow to live by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.” He was under house arrest which while better than being imprisoned was still limiting, so again the Emperor did him an unexpected favor. Since Paul couldn’t go out to see others, the Emperor brought soldiers to him, in rotation, to guard him. Imagine Paul’s delight, every three hours or so, a new guard was brought to him, someone with whom he could share the Gospel message. Another closed door and opened window: “If I can’t go to them, let them come to me.” And that time of isolation and seclusion were also for our benefit, for during those years he wrote letters which we still read today, to the Philippians, the Ephesians, the Colossians, Philemon. Now that is making good use of a forced shut-down.
Luke concludes his telling of the story by saying, “(Paul) lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”
He doesn’t tell us what eventually happened to Paul. Tradition has it that perhaps he actually did make it to Spain, although there is no good record of that. It is believed he was martyred in Rome during the persecutions in 64 AD during the time of Nero. So why didn’t Luke tell that part of the story? Because he wasn’t writing Paul’s story, he was writing the story of the spread of the Gospel; Paul isn’t the hero of this story, God is. So, very intentionally, Luke is telling us, the story goes on!
For centuries it was believed that Spain was the end of the earth and for good reason, look west out over the ocean and there is no land in sight. That flat view of the world ended in the late 15th century when Christopher Columbus and others like him sailed beyond the known into the unknown. In the town in Spain where Columbus died in 1506 there is a monument erected in his memory. The most interesting part of the monument is the statue of a lion that is wiping out the first Latin word of the motto Spain had adopted for centuries. It reads, “Neh Plus Ultra”, which literally translates, “No more beyond”. You see, Spanish explorers thought they had reached the outer limits, the end of the earth, and there was nothing more to be discovered. However, after Columbus and his explorations, the lion is ripping off the first word “Neh”, so the motto now reads, “More beyond.”
That is how Luke concludes his Gospel, there is more beyond. “It was a Jew who brought the Gospel to Rome; a Roman who took it to France; a Frenchman who took it to Scandinavia; a Scotsman who evangelized Ireland; and an Irishman who in turn made the missionary conquest of Scotland. No people have ever received the Gospel except at the hands of an alien.”
In the very opening verses of Acts chapter 1, the disciples ask the about to be ascended Lord, “Lord, is this the time when You will restore the Kingdom to Israel?” Short-hand for, “Is this the end of the story?” Jesus answers their question by giving them a commission to “Go and be My witnesses…to the ends of the earth.” As we come to the end of his writing, we see that Luke doesn’t tell the end of the story either because there is no end to this story; it just goes on and on, as it will until Christ’s Kingdom comes or we are taken home, and you and I are part of the telling.
C.S. Lewis closes the final book of his series The Chronicles of Narnia in a similar way with the lion Aslan (the Christ figure in that beautiful classic) speaking to the children. He writes. “And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. (And) for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story: which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
You and I are part of the greatest story ever told as the Gospel message has come to our hearing and now is given to our sharing, as we too are called to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth, and may it be so. Amen.