The following is a sermon preached at the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi. If you would take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 28, page 937 in the Pew Bibles. This is the last chapter of the book of Acts. This will be our next to last sermon in our study in this book, Acts chapter 28. It seems like everyone's talking about gratitude lately. And not just because Thursday was Thanksgiving, but more and more people are promoting both the physical and the emotional benefits of gratitude. I'm sure you've heard talk over the years about things like wellness and self-care and mindfulness. I read somewhere the other day that mindfulness is passe. that now we're all about the gratitude, and that gratitude is the new mindfulness, that practicing gratitude can enhance our immune systems and make us less susceptible to illness. It can improve sleep quality and make us happier, and I'm sure that most all of us would admit that we could use more practice in the practice of gratitude. But I think we would also want to add to the conversation and the narrative surrounding gratitude that we would want to focus and emphasize the object of our gratitude. Because so often the talk about gratitude can be sort of vague and hazy. It's more of an attitude or a feeling. But what we want to say is that gratitude, thanksgiving, is about being thankful to God. And that we can even find it commanded in the scripture. Give thanks to God. Well, a couple of times in Acts chapter 27 and 28, we find Paul giving thanks to God. In chapter 27, he was in the middle of that great storm and the ship was drifting dangerously toward the land. And we read that Paul took bread and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it. began to eat he he gave thanks when everything around him seemed like it was all-out chaos in chapter 28 In the verses that we are about to read, Paul has arrived on the outskirts of Rome. And as he was greeted there by the brothers who had come out from Rome to meet him, verse 15 says, on seeing them, Paul thanked God. Paul thanked God upon his arriving safely to his destination, when it seemed like it would not happen. But far from his trouble now being over, there were still plenty of challenges in Paul's way in the days ahead of him. And Paul needed courage. Paul needed courage. And what I want us to see in these verses before us tonight is that there is a connection between gratitude courage and I want us to see that by noticing two things from these verses I want us to see first barbarian kindness and then second brotherly love barbarian kindness and brotherly love before we read God's Word let's pray and ask his blessing on our time together let's pray father we give you thanks for your word and for calling us here together tonight to worship and to hear your word sung and prayed and read and proclaimed. And we pray as we do so in these next few minutes together that we would see Jesus, that you would stir up in us a gratitude for him and for what he has done for us, that you would equip us with a boldness and a courage to live for him and to testify to his name as you give us opportunity. We pray that you would give us your spirit. We pray that you would speak, Lord, for your servants listen. And we pray all of this in Jesus' name, amen. Acts 28, starting in verse one. After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all because it had begun to rain and was cold. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, no doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a God. Now, in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery, and Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him. And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed. After three months, we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead. Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days, and from there we made a circuit and arrived at Regium. And after one day, a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Pudioli. There we found brothers, and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the forum of Apius and three taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. First we see barbarian kindness. Remember what Paul had said to the men in charge of the ship before they set sail from Crete? Back in chapter 27 in verse 10, he said, Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives. Well, Paul was only partly right about that. And God had spared the lives of everyone on the ship, all 276 persons, not a hair perished from the head of any of them, as we read in verse 34 of the last chapter. But there was much loss. And both the ship and its cargo were gone. There was nothing left. And so when Paul and his fellow shipmates arrived on the shore of this island, they didn't have anything. No food, no clothes, except for what they had on, and no place to stay. Nothing. They had nothing. They didn't even know where they were. And it says that after they were there, they were brought to safety. It says in verse one, they learned that the island was called Malta. And they were going to be stuck there for the winter months in the wet and the cold season of those winter months. But what they found was that verse two, the native people showed them unusual kindness. Those are two words. There are two words in that verse that often don't go together. The word for native people and kindness. You see, the native people were barbarians. Literally, the Greek word in verse 2 and verse 4 for native people is barbaroi, or barbarian. Barbaroi is one of those words that's formed. It sounds like what it is. it's onomatopoeia or some even say that it's it's echoism because it's formed by combining two sounds together in this case it's the sounds that the Greeks thought foreign languages sound like sounded like and so when foreigners speaking another language would speak it sounded to the Greeks like bar bar bar bar bar bar bar and so they called them barbarians it's if you If you watch a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving or a Charlie Brown Christmas over the holiday season, think about the teacher. How does the teacher talk? Womp, womp, womp, womp, womp, womp, womp. That's sort of what this is. That's how it sounded to the Greeks and so they called them Barbaroi. Over time, that word came to have the same connotations that we have with that word. It came to mean someone who was crude, who was uncivilized, well, barbarian. And it's true. We just read these verses and we learned something about the native people on Malta and their beliefs. And we find that they did have some kind of folklore and superstitions that were associated with them. Because when Paul is bitten by this snake, The people think that he's a murderer, it says in verse four. And they say, though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. And you see in the ESV that justice is even capitalized there, that perhaps they were talking about the Greek goddess Dike, which was a daughter of Zeus. Perhaps that's what they meant when they said justice has not allowed this man to live. But what happens? What happens when nothing wrong comes to Paul, when no harm comes to him? They changed their minds, didn't they? And instead of saying that he was a murderer, they now say that he himself was a god. So obviously, these men, these natives on the island of Malta, they had some sort of thoughts of fate or karma or whatever you want to call it. But what do we see them doing for Paul and the fellow shipwreck survivors in this story? It says in verse 2 that they showed them unusual kindness, or philanthropia. That's the word for kindness that we read there, is the Greek word philanthropia, philanthropy. That's what the native people were doing for Paul and for Luke and for all the rest. They were showing love and care and concern for their fellow man. They were showing hospitality to strangers. It's almost as if the story that we find here at the end of the book of Acts is sort of like the Good Samaritan story in the book of Acts. And you know Jesus' story about the Samaritan man who went out of his way to help and to care for the injured man who had been completely ignored by the priest and the Levite. Well, these Maltese people, they provided warmth. clothing and food. Verse 10 says that they gave to them whatever they needed. And this time, instead of coming from a hated Samaritan, these simple acts of mercy were coming from a bunch of unclean barbarians. And that was after Paul's own people were the ones who had rejected him. And Paul's own people were the ones who had wanted him dead. This was surely unusual kindness. Unusual kindness. They went out of their way to care for these shipwrecked survivors. Kindness and barbarian don't usually go together, but here they do. that went on for three months it says in verse 11 and during that time we're told that Paul worked signs of healing first on the father of Publius who was sick with fever and dysentery and then after that we find that all of the rest of the the Islanders who had sicknesses they they came and they also were cured all of this is taking place on this tiny little island of Malta and all among the barbarians. And then we find that Paul and the others, they set sail, this time on another ship from Alexandria. And as they make their way north to Italy, we're told that these people from Malta had given them whatever they needed. They had whatever they needed on board. Isn't that a surprising turn of events? What a surprising turn of events after the terrifying and the tumultuous events of chapter 27 when Paul was afloat at sea and in the storm. And we find this care and this concern of these native people here in the first part of these verses. But there's something else surprising. There's something else surprising that we read in these verses. That's what they find on the next part of their journey. Because what they found on the next part of their journey was brotherly love. We recently got a copy of the Ole Miss Alumni Magazine in the mail. And in it, there was a section called Rebel Traveler. Because the Alumni Association offers all kinds of trips throughout the year for graduates of the school. And so, if you wanted to, In 2025, you could go on a trip to the Galapagos Islands, or New Zealand, or the Panama Canal, or the Greek Islands, and you could do it all with fellow alumni of the University of Mississippi. Apparently, this is a thing that other alumni associations do as well, and you can find other places that go to far-off countries and to unfamiliar places all with someone that you know will be there that is a fellow graduate from the same school where you went. Paul didn't have that in these verses. And verses 11 to 15 describe the last leg of Paul's journey to Rome. They left Malta, And they first came to Syracuse on the island of Sicily. They were there for three days. Then they went to Regium, a little town on the tip of the toe of the boot of Italy. From there, they set sail to Puteoli in verse 13. It's one of the ports of the city of Naples in Italy. And while they're staying there for a week, before they made the rest of their way to Rome on foot, It was about a 140-mile journey on the Apian Way. What did they find as they came to Rome, verse 14 says? They found brothers. Think about that. Paul had never visited these places before. His missionary journeys had not taken him this far. He was a long way from Tartus. He was a long way from Jerusalem. He was not with a group of friends or a group of like-minded people. There was nobody on this journey that were graduates of Jerusalem College fighting Pharisees. He was on his own. But what did he find when he arrived in Puteoli? Verse 14 says, there we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. Did you get that? That there were brothers already in Puteoli before Paul arrived there. That there were already Christians in Puteoli. And we don't know how. We don't know how the gospel of Jesus Christ had made it that far to Puteoli and had been received and accepted and believed on and a church had formed there in that city. But because it had, there were believers in Christ who were ready to extend encouragement and hospitality to Paul when he arrived there. That's one of the things that we've said before, that when you travel, when you're on vacation, don't take vacation from church. Because it can be such an encouragement. It can be a tremendous encouragement to find brothers and sisters in different places and different cultures and different denominations even, who are following Christ and seeking to serve Him in their own context. I cannot imagine what kind of encouragement this would have been to the Apostle Paul as he arrives here in Pudioli, especially, especially after all that he had been through already for the name of Christ. What a sweet gift, a sweet and a surprising gift from God that was waiting for the Apostle Paul in Naples, Italy. But he still had to get to Rome, didn't he? He still had to make the rest of that journey to Rome. God had promised him that he would. We read it back in chapter 23. God said, you will stand and testify for me in Rome. We read it in chapter 27. God told him that he would stand before Caesar in Rome, and now he was headed there. Now he was about to arrive in Rome to stand before Caesar. Remember, in this chapter, Paul is still a prisoner. Yes, he had a number of liberties that he enjoyed as a prisoner, but he's still a prisoner. And Rome is the place where he is going to go where his case ultimately will be decided. Because Rome was the capital. Rome was the center, the power center of the whole empire. It was the home to around a million people. It was busy and bustling and crowded and noisy. It could be dangerous. And as Paul went there, everything was uncertain for him. He had no idea how it was going to turn out. But before he could even arrive in the city of Rome, verse 15 says, the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Apius and three taverns to meet us. You see, the church in Rome had sent out a welcome party for Paul. These brothers, they came out the 40 miles to meet Paul at the Forum of Apius. And there were still more brothers who came out the 30 miles to meet him at three taverns to greet him and to walk the rest of the way into the city with him so that he would not go in on his own. And you see, Paul had already written his letter to the church in Rome. And he had told the church there that he longed to see them. That it would be a joy and a refreshment for him to be there with them. And what we find here in this chapter is that obviously the feeling was mutual. Because these brothers in Rome, they give Paul a gracious welcome and they kept him company. They put strength in his step for the last few miles of what had been a long and arduous and taxing journey. This is brotherly love on the way to Rome. In verse 15, on seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. Paul praised the Lord and he prepared himself for whatever he was going to face when he got to Rome. Which brings us back to gratitude. And the Greek word for giving thanks is eukaristeo. It's a compound word that comes from the prefix ewe, and the root word ewe, which means good or well, and the root word karis, which means grace or favor. And so eukaristeo means to be well-favored, and by implication, to be grateful, to be thankful. In fact, that's still the word that the Greeks say today when they say thank you. It sounds a little different. It's efkaristo, but it's the same word that we find here in Acts 28, 15 as Paul gives thanks to God. And what I want you to see tonight is that this was no mere formality for the Apostle Paul. This is no passing reference to gratitude in his life. No, Thanksgiving was a major theme of Paul's entire life and ministry. David Powell, he's a New Testament professor, he wrote a book several years ago tracing the theology of thanksgiving in the letters of Paul, and he writes that Paul mentions the subject of thanksgiving more frequently per page than any other Hellenistic writer, pagan or Christian. And for Paul, thanksgiving serves as the bridge between theology and ethics. In other words, the thing that connects what we believe with how we live is thanksgiving. That's the bridge. Thanksgiving, it's an act of worship. It is a way of life. And over and over again in Paul's letters, we find him giving thanks and he exhorts others to do the same. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. See, Paul was the apostle of thanksgiving. And that's exactly what we find him doing here at the end of the book of Acts. Why was Paul so grateful? I think we could find or say at least six things from the verses that we just read about Paul's gratitude. And number one is that God counted Paul worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ. And think about this, this long ordeal that he has been experiencing, arrest, confinement, trial, mockery, shipwreck, deprivation, snake bite. Paul could say the same thing that Peter and the other apostles had said way back in Acts chapter five when they were arrested and taken in by the council and then released. It says that they, in Acts chapter five, verse 41, they left the presence of the council rejoicing. rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. They suffered dishonor for the name of Christ and they were considered worthy to do so and so they rejoiced. Number two, God rescued Paul with spectacular deliverances. We read in verse 1 that he was brought safely through the storm in the shipwreck. He suffered no harm from the snake's bite, verse 5. He was near death. His situation was dire, and his life was spared in dramatic ways. God rescued him in those dramatic ways. Number three, God provided for Paul's basic needs in very ordinary ways. We read that it was unusual and that it came from complete strangers who lived on the island of Malta, but it was very basic, wasn't it? And it was providing warmth, sharing a meal, opening their homes. And like what Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, he says, but if we have food and clothing with these, we will be content. And here's Paul on the island of Malto, he's content and he gives thanks. Number four, God worked among the barbarians. Here's what Paul writes elsewhere in the book of Colossians, he says, talking about the inclusiveness of the gospel. Here, there is not Greek and Jew circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. And Paul here in this chapter, he is able to display the power of the gospel. He's able to display the power of Jesus' resurrection among these barbarians, among these natives on the island of Malta. And by the way, Just think about some of your own family history and some of that proud ancestry. Do you know what the Romans would have considered it? The Romans would have considered almost all of our ancestors barbarians. And the gospel came even to us. Number five, God provided companions for Paul. He could arrive unannounced. and Puteoli, and he found brothers. And he didn't even make it to Rome before the brothers came out to greet him and to encourage him, to accompany him to the city. And all you have to do to understand how important that was, how significant that was for the Apostle Paul is to look at the end of his letters when he writes about these same kind of friendships or these same relationships and how much they meant to him. He says, greet the brothers. Brothers, pray for us. Greet the brothers with a holy kiss. Paul needed others, and God provided that. Number six, lastly, God kept his promise because it didn't seem like Paul would make it to Rome. Everything seemed to be working against his arrival in the city, but here he is, he's making his entry into the city, into Rome, just like God had said that it would happen. You know why? Because God was faithful. God was faithful to his word, he was faithful to Paul, and for that reason, Paul gave thanks. Paul thanked God. and took courage. Paul thanked God and took courage. Now, those two go together, by the way. Gratitude and courage. And these are not two separate actions that Paul carries out in this verse. It's not that he thanked God and then he took courage. No, it's literally having given thanks, or in giving thanks, Paul took courage. And his courage was a result of, or it came from, his thanksgiving. And there are a bunch of things that we could say about that. There are a bunch of connections that we could make about gratitude and courage, but at its most basic level, here is what it is. Gratitude, thanksgiving is about remembering. It's about remembering. It's remembering before God, remembering to God, remembering his glory, his goodness, his grace, his faithfulness in big ways and in the small things. And like Ralph Davis has said, The greatest threat to faithfulness is forgetfulness. And if we're going to be faithful in what God has called us to do, if we're going to be faithful in taking up our cross and following Jesus, if we're going to be faithful to persevere until the end, then we need courage. We need the courage that comes from giving thanks to God. We need the courage that comes from remembering. From remembering what God has done in the past, what he's doing right now in the present, so that we will have confidence in what he will do in the future. Courage comes from remembering the past and the present so that we have confidence for the future. God turns gratitude into fortitude, like he did with Jesus. And it was Jesus on his way to the cross, on the night that he was betrayed, and we find him with his disciples gathered together, eating a meal together, and what does he say? The scripture tells us that he took the cup and he took the bread and giving thanks, he gave it to his disciples and said, this is my body, which is for you. This is my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus gave thanks, and then he went to meet the cross. Then he took courage to face even death. a death that he would overcome and conquer by his resurrection. God turns gratitude into fortitude, like he did for the Apostle Paul in these verses, as now he arrives at last in Rome. Verse 14, and so we came to Rome. Priscilla Owens was a hymn writer many years ago, and her most famous hymn is one that we sing often at mission conferences. We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. You know that one. The one you may not know is a hymn that she also wrote based on Acts 28, 15. Thank God and take courage. The rough is the way. Thy master will give thee fresh strength for each day. Though foes are around thee and danger alarms, they cannot unfasten the clasp of his arms. Thank God and take courage. With Christ on our side, we still will march onward with Jesus to guide. So our encouragement from these verses tonight is to be on the lookout. Be on the lookout for barbarian kindness, for unusual kindness. Be on the lookout for brotherly love. Remember those things. Remember where God has shown you and demonstrated kindness and love to you, where they have come from his hand. and thank God and take courage. Let's pray. Father, we give you thanks and express our deep gratitude to you is even as we've read over the last several chapters of the Book of Acts, we feel it seems like we have come time and again to these same words of comfort and encouragement. Do not fear. Take heart. Take courage. We need that because we oftentimes lose courage. and we lose heart and we're afraid. And so we ask that you would give us hearts that remember, that grasp on to your promises and to your blessings in our lives, that they would latch on to the greatest blessing of all that you've given to us of life in Christ and of forgiveness of sins, of knowing your presence with us with whatever we go through, even into eternity. And so we ask and we pray humbly that you would give us courage, that we would be bold to live for you, to take up our cross and follow Christ, to be faithful witnesses and to testify to the good news of the gospel and the greatness of Christ in all that we do. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.