When Suffering Is God's Will for You

We saw last week that Paul entrusted the congregation at Ephesus to the care of God and the word of His grace. Now Luke tells us about Paul's trip from Ephesus back to Jerusalem, and what happened when he got to Jerusalem. The trip was relatively uneventful; they sailed from port to port for a time, and then took a ship from the south coast of Asia Minor around Cyprus and landed at Tyre. Then they traveled down the Syrian coast into Palestine and thence to Jerusalem. Why does Luke include this story? What does it have to do with his theme of the kingdom's certainty? The answer is that the story highlights five of the key values and practices of the Kingdom. How do people live when they have submitted to Jesus' reign? Luke shows us that they live hospitably, lovingly, and in submission to the will of God expressed through prophecy, even when God's will is for them to suffer. That's how they live. And that, in turn, shows us the certainty of the Kingdom's triumph. Its values transcend and overcome the world's values, for love is stronger than death.