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Acts 20
At the end of Paul’s third missionary journey he found himself
led by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem, and he knew from his previous
visits there, and from the words of people in each city that he visited
that he would not be well received.
Sometimes following God can be so hard. Paul was not having difficulty
knowing what God wanted, he knew God’s will very well. But he
also knew that it would be the most difficult thing of his life. Listen
to Paul’s words in Acts 20:22-23, “And see, now I go bound
in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen
to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying
that chains and tribulations await me.”
God wasn’t saying to Paul, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
He wasn’t saying that there wouldn’t be trouble. Some people
teach that if you really have faith you won’t ever have any trouble.
If this teaching is true then Paul didn’t have very much faith!
Paul had more trouble than must of us ever dream of. And that is exactly
why his faith grew so much.
As he faced this new trouble in his life, knowing that his decision
to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit would cost him dearly, Paul
decided to give the elders some final words of encouragement before
he left. You can be sure that no one fell asleep during this speech
by Paul. At the end of it there was not a dry eye among them. “they
all wept freely, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most
of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no
more.” (Acts 20:37-38) What did Paul say to these leaders of the
Ephesian church? What was so important that he stopped hurrying to Jerusalem
long enough to meet these men?
“From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of
the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them; "You
know from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always
lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears
and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; how I kept
back nothing that was helpful, but taught you publicly and from house
to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
First Paul reminds them of how he lived with them. He is saying to them
“use me as your model.” Paul wrote, “Imitate me, just
as I also imitate Christ.” (I Corinth. 11:1) Our actions always
speak much louder than our words. Our lives have much more impact than
what we say. Paul had spent three years with the church in Ephesus and
they knew his ministry. What was so important to Paul was that they
would not forget to continue that ministry. For he was certain that
after he left, “savage wolves” would come and try to destroy
the ministry that he had founded there. What kind of ministry did Paul
want them to continue? Did he tell them, “Continue the miracles!
I am starting my own “Paul’s Miracle Handkerchief Ministry”
I will ship you 200 blessed handkerchiefs a month and you can carry
on while I am in prison” Did he tell them to continue the spiritual
warfare ministry? Did he tell them to continue the school of Tyrannus?
No! That is not what he meant by continuing “his” ministry.
Paul is not concerned with what ministry they do. He knows that God
might call them to do something totally different tomorrow. Instead
Paul is concerned with how the serve the Lord. Paul is concerned with
the attitudes of the heart.
Let me share with you three attitudes that characterized Paul’s
ministry and are crucial to ours. Humility, Openness, and Boldness.
Paul “served the Lord with all humility,” (Acts 20:19) Humility
is the ability to see yourself correctly. Many people think that humility
means that you are always thinking that you are worthless, or the worst,
or inferior to everyone else. But this is not what the Bible teaches.
True humility is when you realize who you are in the sight of God. Usually
this involves a process of being broken. For Paul this happened on the
road to Damascus. When the light of God shone down on him and took away
from him his natural sight, it also let him see how wrong and sinful
he really was. Paul realized how much he needed God, and how far away
from God he was. There is no better picture of brokenness in the Bible
than that of proud Paul, who had come to Damascus for the purpose of
leading away Christians captive, instead being lead by the hand into
the city, a captive of Jesus Christ.
But humility does not end in brokenness. Like Paul we are broken in
order that God can reshape us into the image of His Son Jesus Christ.
I find that many people in Japan have been taught so much about brokenness
that they cannot be humble. They are too afraid to be humble. They are
so far down in their own self-esteem already that any more would lead
to depression. What we have to do is not only be broken but reshaped
by God. Because we are broken, we can accept God’s shaping in
our lives. And as God shapes us we begin to see how precious we are
in His sight. We start to see how His plan has been working in us from
the very beginning. We realize His forgiveness, mercy and love that
is unfailing even when we make mistakes. Paul could count himself as
a slave for God, doing anything no matter how lowly, not because he
felt inferior to others, but because he was confident in the love of
God for him. Our human reaction, when we feel inferior to others is
to try to make ourselves look good and others look bad. This is the
exact opposite of humility. Paul, knowing his own sin, but resting on
the unfailing grace of God, could forget about himself and concentrate
on building others up.
“with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting
of the Jews; how I kept back nothing that was helpful. Openness was
the second main attitude that Paul had in ministry. He kept back nothing
that was helpful. Even the tears and trials! He showed it all to these
men. They had gone through it with him and saw each thing that he was
going through.
This is so important as we try to build each other up in Christ. You
see most people assume that everybody else is doing allright and they
are the only ones who don’t know what is going on. We all tend
to think that we are the only ones with problems. But in reality the
same kinds of things happen to all of us. God is knitting us together,
and openness is one of the best ways that He does this. You see, when
you shares a struggle that you are going through, three things happen.
One, it is no longer an individual problem but a community problem.
Suddenly, there are people who will pray with you, encourage you, and
listen to you. Two, as God answers prayer and you grow in faith, all
the other people you shared with also can grow in faith. Three, the
people you share with will be encouraged that other people have the
same kind of problems they they have, that they are not alone, or strange,
or sinful, or inferior.
Of course pastors often have a hard time showing their own struggles
and tears. I often think if people really knew what I struggle with
they wouldn’t respect me anymore. Or that they would realize how
much of a sinner I am, how weak my faith is, how little I really know
about God. And then God reminds me that they need to see all of these
things and His grace, so that they can also depend on God’s grace
and not me.
“but taught you publicly and from house to house”. The last
attitude that Paul had was Boldness. Even though there was opposition,
Paul was bold to preach the gospel. He taught publicly and from house
to house. He did not care what his enemies would do. He only cared that
the gospel would be preached. The key to boldness can be seen in Paul’s
words “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life
dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry
which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the
grace of God.” (Acts 20:24)
God has blessed the Wednesday night Bible study recently with a young
lady from Australia who is working with a group of young Australians
at an amusement park. She lives in a dormitory, and has been the only
Christian there. Two weeks ago we prayed that she might be able to find
a Christian friend, perhaps in the next group of Australians. But God
had someone else in mind. Danielle, excited about fellowshiping with
us on Wednesday, had her Bible out and was reading it when another girl
walked by and said, “Oh, I have one of those.” They got
to talking and now they are both coming to the Wednesday night meeting.
Paul was willing to risk his life and his freedom to do to the will
of God. But this young Australian girl is also learning about boldness.
Reading the Bible could have left her open to ridicule. Perhaps some
people will exclude her because she is not “cool”, or she
is a “goody-goody”. But she does not care, because she has
found joy that far outshines anything that she might lose. She is bold
to show that she is a Christian.
Humility; brokenness before God, but also resting in His grace. Openness
to share both trials and tears. And Boldness, counting the joy of our
relationship with Christ so precious that it more than compensates us
for anything else we might lose. Whatever ministry you have, whether
it involves preaching salvation to the lost, or sharing your faith with
a friend, this is the kind of ministry we want.