Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

The more I study the history of man and the sea, the more grateful I become that I am a landlubber.

Tens of thousands of lives have been lost in ship wrecks in my lifetime.

But some sailors have much to be thankful for in spite of ship wrecks.

John O'Brian, for example, was off the coast of India when his ship was wrecked, and all hands were lost, but he and four other sailors.

The next ship he was on floundered off the Cape of Good Hope, and he alone of all the crew got to shore safely.

Then in July of 1747 he was on the Dartmouth, a ship of 50 guns, which was engaged in battle with a Spanish Man Of War with 70 guns.

His ships magazine blew up, and he was blown off the ship.

Only 14 of the 300 man crew were rescued.

He was one of them.

He was found flowing on top of a gun carriage that had been blown off the ship with him.

There are few men in history who have as much to be thankful for, for protection on the sea.

There is one in the Bible however who beats this amazing record.

The Apostle Paul says in II Cor.

11:25, "Three times I was ship wrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea."

Paul not only ties John O'Brian in ship wrecks he survived, but he spent more time in the water, and above all, Paul is the only man we know of who was the key to the survival of every man on board a ship that was totally lost.

276 men survived this terrible ship wreck.

Charles Hocking in his Dictionary Of Disasters At Sea, reveals that many ships have gone down in storms, and some had survivors, but more were lost than saved.

Just a few examples gives you the picture.

In 1857 in the gulf of Finland-826 lost, none saved.

In 1863 off Japan-584 lost, only 69 saved.

In 1854 Australian ship-459 lost, only 39 saved.

In 1914 off Brazil-445 lost, only 143 saved.

In our text we are looking at one of the greatest ship wreck stories of history, for not only was it a spectacular ordeal for all involved, it stands alone as a story where the ship and all its contents were lost, but where every life on board was saved.

We would expect to see a Thanksgiving service after such a dramatic story.

We would not expect to see it during the ordeal itself, and before anyone has yet made it to safety on land, but that is what we see in our text.

Paul has a mini-Thanksgiving service while all of their lives were still hanging by a thread.

It would seem that the only value of this scene for us is to make us grateful that we were not a part of it.

It was a horrible experience, but nevertheless, it is loaded with food for thought as we approach another Thanksgiving.

Paul's thankful spirit here is of value for all of us for three reasons.

First because of-

II.

THE CONTEXT OF HIS THANKFULNESS.

We have already referred to the fact that these 276 men were riding out a hurricane.

Some of us know how frightening it can be out on a lake for even a few minutes when the wind and waves are high and threatening.

These men had been helpless for 14 days as they were driven across the Adriatic Sea. 14 days of hanging on for life.

It was not exactly party time.

Bill Robinson in A Sailor's Tales tells of a 24 hour storm he had to ride out in the Gulf Stream in 1976.

He said all of your energy is concentrated on just staying on board the ship.

He said that nobody eats, for the same reason you don't see people eating while running from a charging bull, or while escaping from a burning house.

Your life depends on not being distracted by anything but the need to hold on for dear life.

This contemporary testing confirms the account of this ancient story of riding out a hurricane.

Paul said that for 14 days they lived in constant suspense, and did not eat any food.

Here were over 270 men in extremely weakened condition, with minds as worn out as their bodies, with fear and despair, and their ship ready to be dashed against the rocks at any moment, and yet, in this context, Paul does not curse the darkness, but lights a candle.

He gives a little pep talk; says a prayer of thanks to God, and they all eat some bread.

It was the first positive thing they had done in 2 weeks, and it gave them the shot in the arm they needed to press on.

The context of Paul's thankfulness is a key lesson for all of us.

Anybody can be thankful lying on a beach in the sun while sipping cool drinks.

But Paul was thankful in the worst storm we have on record, next to the one Noah had to ride out.

Thankfulness is only a real virtue when it functions in the context of stress, strain, and storm.

It is still pleasant in the sunshine, but there it is a mere natural virtue of which all men are capable.

The reason we honor the Pilgrims for their role in giving us Thanksgiving is because they were thankful in a context of great suffering.

47 of them died their first winter in this land.

They braved the stormy sea, and risked their all to be free.

Mrs. Felicia Hermons wrote of them-

The breaking waves dashed high

On a stern and rock-bound coast,

And the woods, against a stormy sky

Their giant branches toss'd;

And the heavy night hung dark

The hills and waters o'er,

When a band of exiles moor'd their bark

On the wild New England shore.

Not as the conqueror comes,

They, the true-hearted, came,

Not with the role of the stirring drums,

And the trumpet that sings of fame;

Not at the flying come,

In silence and in fear,--

They shook the depths of the desert's gloom

With their hymns of lofty cheer.

Amidst the storm they sang,

And the stars heard and the sea!

And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang

To the anthem of the free!

America was not a paradise then.

It has become what it is for us, because of thankful people who did not give up because of misery and hardship.

Like Paul, they paused in the struggle for survival, and said, thank you Lord, and then pressed on.

All though history the truly great stories of thankfulness are those that come out of a context that none would choose, but which have to be endured with either bitterness or thankfulness.

Many Christians get themselves into messes, like Paul was in, by no mistakes of their own, but due to circumstances they cannot control.

If Paul would have had control, they would be safely harbored through this whole storm.

He warned them not to go, but the decision was not his.

He was at the mercy of other people's choices.

All Paul could do was to be faithful and thankful for each day he was alive, and to make some difference in the world for Christ.

Henry Muhlenberg was a young German pastor who set sail for England to minister in America in 1742.

Pirates threatened the seas, and so there was a 3 week delay.

When the ship did get going, the water on board was foul, and the sailors were a quarrelsome and

drunken crew.

The rats were so numerous he counted several thousand, and on top of all this, he was dreadfully seasick.

It was a 75 day journey of misery.

When he landed the trip to Philadelphia was just as miserable, with rainy weather, mud, and washed out roads.

He finally made it, and for years was a faithful pastor, even though, when the Revolutionary War broke out, he was constantly being sought by British officers to be arrested.

People urged him to flee with his wife, but year after year he avoided them, and kept preaching until the peace treaty was signed.

His was a life of suffering and service under fire, yet, he was a man of faithfulness because he was a man of thankfulness.

A thankful spirit will keep you going when no other fuel can.

It is one of life's greatest life-savers, and career savers.

People who are thankful do not give up, but, like Paul, keep pressing on, for they are able in all settings to see something for which to be grateful.

Dietrich Bonhoffer, in prison for resistance to Hitler, wrote this letter to his parents just before his execution.

"Dear mother, I want you to know that I am constantly thinking of your and father everyday, and I thank God for all that you are to me.....Thank you for all the love that come to me in my cell from you during the past year, and has made everyday easier for me.

I think these hard years has brought us closer together."