If I was to try to make this into a regular sermon, the points might be: People, Places and Pleasantries.
But I think that forcing our scripture into those three little boxes might damage the merchandise.
So we have more of a Bible study than a sermon this evening.
Let’s just sail along with Luke from Miletus to Ptolemais.
Once again, reading these verses is like reading Luke’s journal or watching a travelogue.
This is curious information, but not fundamental to our faith.
In fact much of the remaining eight chapters are of this particular nature.
Keep one of your fingers in Acts 21, find your map of Paul’s Third Missionary Journey, and let’s set sail.
Paul had spent a few days in Miletus, first waiting for the elders from Ephesus, and then in visiting with them.
It was a painful departure, when it was time for his little coastal boat to set sail.
The words “were gotten from them”
This was more painful than having to tear off a band-aid from a hair forearm.
Although there was at least one letter written by Paul back to the church,
this was the final contact between the missionary and the church that he had started in Ephesus.
The words “straight course” indicate that the wind was just about perfect so, as the sailors used to say, “they flew before the wind.”
My references tell me that this should have taken about 6 hours.
They stopped and spent the night there, just as they probably did in each of the first 3 places mentioned.
The Island of Coos was the home of the physician Hippocrates, the so-called “Father of Modern Medicine,” and the author of the “Hippocratic oath.”
But that was about 350 years before Paul arrived.
It is also said that the Coos was the center of silk production in the Western World.
As you know, silk is made from the secretions of a certain kind of moth larva or from the cocoons which they make from those secretions.
So the party reached Coos on the first day and on the second day they came to the famous Island of Rhodes.
Some think that this is one of the most beautiful islands of the Mediterranean.
Like Alexandria and Athens, one of the greatest universities in the world at that time was here.
And it was there that one of the Seven Wonders of the World could be found: the Colossus of Rhodes.
It had been a 120 foot high statue of Apollos (not the preacher but the Greek god), which stood beside the entrance to the harbor
I have read that it was so large that it was nearly impossible for the average man to wrap his arms around Apollos’ thumb.
Apparently after spending another night in Rhodes, Paul and the others then sailed to Patara.
This city was back on the mainland and in the province of Lysia.
It was the Asian center for the worship of Apollos, and its temple rivaled that of the temple of Delphi.
But once again, we have to ask, “Apollos who?”
they are basically fictions and denizens of ancient history,
while the worship of the One True and Living God goes on.
Since leaving Philippi out of Neapolis, Paul and his friends had been sailing on coastal ships.
These were smaller vessels which generally didn’t venture very far from land.
They most likely carried passengers, mail and small shipments of cargo.
We have to remember that naval engineering hadn’t progressed to where it is today.
And most navigation was handled by eye-sight.
The ship that Paul had taken from Miletus may have reached its destination at Patara,
and was going to turn around,
or perhaps it would continue slowly stopping at every port along the southern coast of Turkey,
but Paul needed to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost, so he found a large, fast, sea-crossing vessel.
Luke with all the detail of an avid traveler and excellent historian says that they “discovered Cyprus” on the left hand.
The word “discovered” is translated elsewhere as “sighted.”
After 200 miles of open water the captain accurately put Cyprus on the starboard side of his ship.
In other words they went south of the Cyprus.
I trust that you remember that this was the place where the missionary work of Paul officially began.
The Apostle may have actually been able to see the capital city of Paphos,
(I wonder if it is true that Paul took his Christian name because of Sergius Paulus.)
Today, Cyprus is an island severely divided between the Greeks and the Turks.
After another 200 miles and two or three days of open sea the ship landed at its intended destination of Tyre.
This was one the greatest commercial centers of the western world and had been for a very long time.
It had been the capital of the Phoenician empire, and its influence and power is still being felt today.
For example, the Phoenicians were the authors of our kind of alphabet.
And when Paul arrived, the city of Tyre may have been celebrating 2500th anniversary.
Luke’s language seems to suggest that Paul had to really search to find these disciples of Christ.
But when he finally met them, they quickly began to enjoy one another’s company.
Perhaps there were some people here whom he knew.
Perhaps it was just that they hit it off, and Paul’s schedule permitted a week-long stay.
Paul was not one of these big name evangelists who only spoke in the large churches and in the city-wide meetings.
He looked at every soul as important;
Little fires can grow into great conflagrations.
That small church in one of the greatest cities of the world could some day become one of the Lord’s giants.
But what about the continued warnings from the Holy Spirit about this trip to Jerusalem?
Does this verse say that the Spirit said that Paul SHOULD NOT go up to the city?
This is as far as I’m concerned, perhaps the most confusing part of the Book of Acts.
Clearly, God was telling Paul through others that bonds and afflictions awaited him there,
Doesn’t this say that it was the saints in Tyre who told Paul that he should not go?
see Acts 20:22 (“And now, behold, I go BOUND IN THE SPIRIT unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there.”)
The sense is, that these disciples, by the spirit of prophecy, knew that if the apostle went to Jerusalem, many evil things would befall him;
wherefore of their own spirit, and out of love to him, they advise him not to go.
The reason that Paul had to search for the brethren in Tyre, was because they were small in number.
It does not appear that it was because they were ashamed of Christ or that they were in hiding.
On the day that Paul was to depart, the whole church, publicly gathered on the beach and prayed.
They didn’t care who saw them or what others thought of them, this was the thing to do, so they did it.
Once again, they may have booked passage on a little coastal sailing ship, or they may have walked.
Ptolemais was about 20 miles south of Tyre on the north side of Mount Carmel.
There was an excellent road between the two cities.
By the way, it was as far north as the Sea of Galilee.
It would have been in easy walking distance from Tyre,
And the second day’s journey would have been up and over the mountain,
so perhaps they were on board ship, but who knows?
I have never lived in a community where so many people walk, as I do now.
There are three or four groups of people who walk for hard exercise;
There are several couples who off and on take their babies out in their strollers.
And there are a dozen or so regular dog-walkers.
Other than those who walk in groups, these people are scattered throughout the day and only once in a while do we walk past each other.
I prefer to get started on my walk before 6:15 in the morning, when it’s still cool, and there are few others.
Think about the fellowship and interaction there would have been with all the friends and strangers.
I wonder what it was like in those days to walk from Tyre to Ptolemais.
Those well-conditioned walkers would probably have had pleasant and enjoyable journeys.
I am told that it had the best port in Israel at that time, but Ptolemais was never really an Israelite port.
Alternately, it was the property of the Philistines and the Phoenicians.
From time to time, Israel had access to it, as they did in Paul’s day, but it wasn’t a strictly Jewish city.
On the other hand there was a church there, and with them Paul spent a day in happy fellowship, before leaving the next morning for Caesarea.