Farewell to Ephesus
Introduction: Our journey through the book of Acts brings us today to the Apostle Paul’s final stop in Asia on his third missionary journey. Having traveled thousands of miles over a timespan of some ten years, in the most primitive fashion imaginable, he was now heading for Jerusalem and what he hoped would be an opportunity to preach the Gospel to his fellow-countrymen at the very heart of Judaism.
Paul had left the Greek mainland and sailed across the Aegean Sea to Troas, where he spent a week with the believers and resurrected the unfortunate Eutychus, the subject of our last exposition. The ship, which had been loading during this time, set sail for Assos, some 20 miles down the coast, but Paul, according to verse 13, chose to walk the distance in order to have time to reflect about his upcoming trip to Jerusalem. He reboarded the ship and three days later they arrived at Miletus, some 25 miles south of Ephesus.
Paul had purposely passed up the great city of Ephesus, where he had spent more than three years of his ministry, because he feared he would be detained by the believers. He wanted to get to Jerusalem by Pentecost, if possible. However, when the ship docked for a while at Miletus, he sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus and asked them to come and meet with him. The feeling was strong in his mind that this would be his last trip to Asia Minor, and since he had been warned that imprisonment awaited him in Jerusalem, he felt it best to take this opportunity to bid farewell to his converts and friends. Let’s read the account, as provided for us in Acts 20, beginning in verse 17.
17 From Miletus he sent word to Ephesus and called to himself the elders of the church. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them,
“You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was beneficial, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that chains and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of God’s grace.
25 “And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. 26 Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all people. 27 For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. 32 And now I entrust you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. 34 You yourselves know that these hands served my own needs and the men who were with me. 35 In everything I showed you that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And they all began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, 38 grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.
It’s impossible in the time we have this morning for us to treat this powerful passage with anything approaching thoroughness. However, there are two key themes that seem to predominate, and I would like for us to focus our thoughts on those:
Characteristics of a healthy ministry (17-27)
One might think as he reads Paul’s comments, particularly in the first ten verses of our text and then again beginning in verse 33, that he is demonstrating quite a bit of pride in his ministry, but I think the opposite is actually the case. We learn from his epistles that he experienced a great deal of opposition in his evangelistic work, even from other Christians. This forced him to defend himself, for if his enemies succeeded in discrediting him, they would likewise succeed in discrediting the Gospel he preached. This he could not allow. I believe we can accept the personal comments he makes about himself at face value and seek to imitate Paul in these characteristics.
Victory over the temptations of the flesh (18-20, 33-35). The flesh offers a number of temptations to anyone in ministry, whether clergy or laity, including pride, indifference, laziness, and greed. Paul undoubtedly was faced with each of these and more, but he experienced victory over them. As indicated in verse 19 he overcame pride with humility; in place of indifference there were tears; in place of laziness there was perseverance in preaching and teaching, not only publicly but from house to house; and in place of greed (verse 33-35), there was the willingness to forgo his rights to be supported and to do manual labor to meet his own needs and those of his fellow-workers.
All of us can think of people in ministry who have washed out, people who once seemed like solid Christians but today no longer believe the Gospel, or who were once effective teachers but today are no more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, or who once were generous givers but today are totally selfish in their quest for personal wealth, or who were once dynamic workers but today are completely unproductive for Christ.
Why? What is it that turns healthy ministries into casualties? The fact of the matter is that more people fail at ministry because of succumbing to the temptations of the flesh than ever fail because of false doctrine. In fact, I believe that virtually everyone who does fall victim to false doctrine firstfalls victim to the temptations of the flesh. In other words, I believe that genuine intellectual problems with the Christian faith are extremely rare; most people who reject God’s claims on intellectual grounds actually have moral problems which they aren’t willing to admit, and their behavior cannot co-exist with God’s standards. Either their lives have to change to conform to their beliefs or their beliefs have to change to conform to their lives. The characteristic of a healthy ministry is that the life changes to conform to the truth, yielding victory over the temptations of the flesh.
A focus on the essentials (20-21, 24-25). In verse 20 Paul claims that he did not shrink from declaring anything that was profitable, yet he pointed out that his teaching consisted principally of “solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Then down in verse 24 he says the same thing in different words as he speaks of testifying “solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.” What I pick up from this is that Paul didn’t allow the truth to get lost in the middle of political pronouncements, social issues, doctrinal systems, or minor theological debates. His goal was not to make sure the Ephesians were Republican or pro-life or Calvinistic or immersionists, as good as all those things may be. Instead, his goal was to make sure they understood the Gospel.
I think it would be worth a few moments’ time to examine what Paul saw as the heart of the Christian faith. “Repentance toward God” and “faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” are two sides of the same coin. In fact, the grammar of the original Greek has the two nouns, repentance and faith, joined by a single article, indicating that they are closely aligned. When a person places his faith in Christ as the sacrifice for his sin, he is at the same time turning from or repenting of his former unbelief. One can also refer to this as the “gospel of the grace of God,” for “gospel” means good news and “grace” indicates that the sacrifice was made without merit on our part, as was the case when Jesus died in our place.
Now I’m not going to suggest that Paul always preached a salvation message to the exclusion of all other truths, but I do believe our text makes clear that this Gospel was the focus of his ministry. He never let an opportunity to speak or share pass without at some point telling his audience the good news that God graciously sent His Son to pay the full penalty for their sin and to give them eternal life.
Complete abandonment to the will of God (22-24). In verses 22-24 Paul indicates that while his is uncertain about the ultimate result of his trip to Jerusalem, there is no uncertainty about the persecution and afflictions that await him. Nevertheless, he does not hesitate to go. How can he show such commitment? The answer is seen in verse 24: “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus.” That’s what I call complete abandonment to the will of God.
There is a story to the effect that a certain missionary society in South Africa once wrote to David Livingstone: “Have you found a good road to where you are? If so, we want to know how to send other men to join you.” Livingstone replied: “If you have men who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them! I want men who will come if there is no road at all.”
Do you know why more of us don’t take the attitude that Paul or Livingstone took? It’s ultimately because we don’t trust God’s goodness and wisdom. Theologically we accept that God is our refuge and strength and that just as He does for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, our heavenly Father will take care of us. Yet we stew and strive and even connive to get promotions and to store up treasure for ourselves on earth. Should we be surprised that our hearts are focused on this world rather than abandoned to God’s will when our treasure is here?
At the grave of a very rich person, a bystander was overheard to say, “I wonder how much he left.” The answer, of course, is “all of it.” I can’t help but think of a man in our church in Wichita. He was a believer and a good family man, but his whole life was devoted to saving up for retirement, so much so that he really didn’t have time to serve the Lord or be very active in church. As Treasurer of a major corporation on the N.Y.S.E. he was quite successful, and when he retired, he had a beautiful home, a new Cadillac, and enough money to last until he reached 100. Only he didn’t reach 100.
Less than six months after he retired, he suddenly died from an aortic aneurism. I remember as I sat with his wife in the hospital when the doctor came to say he was gone, I thought how futile this man’s efforts had been to prepare for the future. I use him as an example not because he was an evil person or greedy or selfish; actually, he was none of these. His priorities were just off. There are a great many like him in the church today, and that is why many have no productive ministry. The characteristic of a healthy ministry is complete abandonment to the will of God.
A fourth characteristic comes from verse 26: “Therefore I testify to you this day, that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.”
Clean hands (26). To understand what Paul is saying I think we need to go back to a passage in the Old Testament to which he is undoubtedly alluding, Ezekiel 33. Turn to it with me, will you, and let’s read the first nine verses.
Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the horn and warns the people, 4 then someone who hears the sound of the horn but does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5 He heard the sound of the horn but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have saved his life. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away for his wrongdoing; but I will require his blood from the watchman’s hand.’
7 “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them a warning from Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will certainly die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked about his way, that wicked person shall die for his wrongdoing, but I will require his blood from your hand. 9 But if you on your part warn a wicked person to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die for his wrongdoing, but you have saved your life.
The way to keep one’s hands clean of the blood of others is to warn them about the imminent danger of trying to live their lives independently of God. Nowhere does the Bible say that we are responsible for their response, nor are we called to save people from the danger, but we are called upon to warn them.
These then are four characteristics of a healthy ministry: victory over the temptations of the flesh, a focus on the essentials, complete abandonment to the will of God, and clean hands. But in his farewell address looks not only at the characteristics of his ministry, but also at the dangers that face the church.
Perils of a growing church (28-35)
When a church is growing rapidly, as was the Ephesian church, the dangers that face any church are heightened:
Careless leadership (28). The reason this happens is that rapid growth puts pressure on the leadership, and they need more help. Since there may not be enough qualified leaders to fill the gap, some are appointed who have not yet proved themselves. This would be a special danger in a situation like Ephesus where all the growth was by evangelism and the new Christians were all recent converts from paganism. Later Paul wrote to Timothy, one of the pastors of the church at Ephesus, and gave him a list of the qualifications of elders, one of which was that he must not be a new convert.
Here in Acts 20 Paul speaks to this matter of leadership in verse 28, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Instead of being careless the leadership must be alert. They must be like shepherds, for the congregation is like a flock.
External opposition (29). In verse 29 Paul says, “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” These wolves would, of course, be the emissaries of the Evil One, who will not stand idly by while the church grows and prospers. He may send the wolves of governmental intervention or the wolves of persecution or the wolves of heretical teachings or the wolves of temptation.
Internal division (30). He continues in verse 30, “and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be on the alert.” As careful as a church tries to be, when there is rapid growth there is the possibility that some will become members and participants who do not share the heartbeat of those who established the church. And eventually they begin to communicate their discontent or their unorthodox ideas, and a group of malcontents begins to form around them. If attempts are made to exercise church discipline the accusation is made that the leaders are not acting in love. Entire denominations have gone down the tubes from internal corruption. We must always be on the alert.
Inattentiveness to God’s Word (32). In verse 32 Paul says, “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” I think it’s significant that the Apostle commends them both to God and to His Word. Though trust in God is essential, it must be accompanied by obedience to His Word.
A tearful good-bye (36-38)
As I thought about the moving scene in verses 36-38 where Paul and the Ephesian elders bid a tearful farewell to one another, I thought about the fact that every one of us has a desire to be loved and needed, but we all doubt at times if we really are. Sometimes we wonder whether we would really be missed if we suddenly left the scene. Ask yourself, “If I was transferred next week and had to say goodbye to those with whom I have been worshiping for the past several years, would there be any tears? Or if I were killed in a car wreck would there be any tears at my funeral, other than from my family?” It’s worth asking.
I think there were tears at Paul’s farewell for two basic reasons. One is that he was a person of absolute integrity.
People grieve when separated from a person of absolute integrity. The reason is they’re so rare. It’s so difficult to find someone you can trust implicitly, whose word is as good as his deed, who has no ulterior motives, who is genuine and authentic through and through. Paul was such a person. The Ephesian believers never had to worry about whether he was on the take or whether he was trying to build his own empire or reputation or whether his teachings were trustworthy. He was a person of absolute integrity.
People grieve when separated from a person of unselfish love. People know the difference between being appreciated and being loved. They know the difference between being respected and being loved. They know the difference between being used and being loved. Those who are merely appreciated or respected, or those who are used, do not shed tears when you leave. But the mutual feelings of deep and abiding friendship and love exhibited here on the shores of the Aegean are open to any of us who develop absolute integrity and unselfish love for others.
Conclusion: The Apostle has shared with us some important characteristics of a healthy ministry and some perils of a growing church. It seems to me that the key to implementing these truths is found in Paul’s assertion, “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course.” Karl Marx once called his fellow communists “dead men on furlough.” Isn’t that really what we should be for the cause of Christ?
When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the captain of the ship sought to turn him back. “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages,” he cried. Calvert replied, “We died before we came here.” May that be our attitude. And may we take these exhortations to heart so that our ministry in a growing church might be healthy and so that we might escape the perils that would render us ineffective. May we someday hear the Savior say, “Well-done, good and faithful servant.”
Tags:
Victory over temptation
Biblical essentials
External opposition
Internal division