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People find it easy to hear the teachings of Jesus that align easily with their existing values and priorities. It’s considerably harder to get excited when his words seem to cut the ground out from under us. In his emotional farewell to the elders of the Ephesian church, the apostle Paul twice makes the same important statement: He never hesitated to tell the whole story of Jesus and pass along the whole spectrum of God’s will, even when it brought discomfort.

Back to the Blueprints
Telling the Whole Story
Paul and the Ephesian Elders

June 6-7, 2009
Glenn McDonald
Acts 20:1-38

The first day of summer is nearly upon us. This is what we’ve been waiting for, right? This is the reward for enduring another winter in the Midwest. This evening there will still be traces of light in the sky at 10:00 p.m. Summer is when we will finally slow down, or so we tell ourselves. We’ll get around to a couple of projects we’ve procrastinated. We’ll do some reading, and invest time with people we love, and maybe even travel somewhere – although we might only have enough gas money to get to Terre Haute and back. For many of us summer has had to carry the heavy burden of representing the Good Life. We can’t wait for these days of warmth and sunshine to arrive, and we don’t want these days to slip through our fingers too quickly.

Today we come to a New Testament story where the apostle Paul speaks frankly about a different version of the Good Life. It’s is God’s version. The good news is that this amazing gift from God can never slip through our fingers. But Paul speaks with great clarity – he pulls no punches – in reminding us that in order to experience this different kind of life we must abandon ourselves to it.

We’re now in the homestretch of a six-month study of the book of Acts. We’re going to spend most of our time today dissecting the emotional farewell speech that Paul delivers in chapter 20 to the elders of the church at Ephesus. But first let’s explore a brief vignette that happens a bit earlier in Troas (a village in what is now western Turkey), beginning in verse 7:

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs rooms where we were meeting. Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted.

No pastor can resist the temptation to point out that even the apostle Paul was capable of boring people to death – literally. We need to cut Paul some slack, of course. In the ancient world slaves worked all day long – and it’s not a stretch to suggest that the early Church in this part of the world had a majority population of slaves. Paul therefore wouldn’t have begun to speak until it was dark, and, apparently wanting to share every good sermon illustration he had heard during the previous six months, he kept Eutychus and everybody else listening well past their bedtimes. Here at ZPC we made sure that there would be no window seats in the sanctuary, and that the carpet would have excellent padding just in case the sermon goes a bit long.

Our real target today is the rather long narrative that occupies the second half of this chapter. We’re going to survey all of this text, because there are teachings here that we simply can’t afford to overlook. Paul is saying goodbye to the leaders of a church where God has accomplished great things. If you’ve ever wondered if there is a place in the Bible where a lot of men get together to cry and hug, Acts 20, beginning at verse 17, is it. Let’s look together at these powerful words:

From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

“Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

From this one text we learn a great deal about the central character of the book of Acts, who is the apostle Paul. Paul was a man of deep emotion. He was fueled by profound spiritual commitment. He had an utterly realistic view of both the dangers of the world and the overwhelming goodness of God. Twice (in verses 20 and 27) he says the same thing: “I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.” That is a remarkable statement.

What gives me hesitation is the word hesitation. I know that I have hesitated in the presence of certain audiences to share all that I know about the will and the ways of God. Most pastors I know would confess the same thing. We get stage-struck. We become afraid that the audience will tune out, or get mad, or even go away if we bring up the hard stuff. And that’s the worst thing that could happen, right? That the congregation might decide not to come back next week? Paul makes it abundantly clear that he was not held captive by such fears. What Paul feared was not telling the whole story. The worst thing that can ever happen to growing disciples is not being exposed to the whole will of God.

Jesus provides such incredibly good news that it’s tempting to put our foot on the accelerator of that good news and never let up. The phrase “the love of God” can even generate a kind of conditioned response amongst us. We hear about God’s love and immediately sigh, “Everything is fine and there is apparently nothing for us to do.” Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?

We must shake ourselves awake and open our minds to the fact that the love of God signifies more than just our security. God’s love is also a fiery, demanding, purging, and purifying expression of the very heart of God – the fact that God will not rest until what is broken within his creation and what is broken within us has been fully restored.

Paul did not hesitate to tell the Ephesians that God seeks – in fact, God requires – our full participation in receiving and living out his good news. We must do the hard work of surrender. We must give up a life we cannot keep in order to gain a life we cannot lose.

The problem is that the life we have to give up often seems (at least in our minds) to be working out pretty well. Maybe right now we think we’re winning! We’re getting approval and applause. But Paul makes it clear that we cannot receive the gifts that God wants to give to us apart from letting go of the trinkets that we have come to value so much.

American culture throbs with the promises of new life in exchange for modest commitment. How many times this week did you see or hear an ad in which someone said, “I lost X number of pounds in X number of days – and I didn’t have to give up anything that I like to eat!” A while back I saw a promotion for a church program that promises to disciple an entire congregation in just four weekends. Aside from the fact that that would leave us very little to do between now and the Second Coming, the implication is that you won’t have to give up any of the habits that have been ruining your life for decades now. You can belong to God, and the transition will require minimal discomfort and sacrifice.

In the Reveal spiritual life survey that more than 600 of you took last winter, you told us that you know better than that. In Thomas Merton’s famous words, “The spiritual life is first and foremost an actual life.” You made it very clear to us that you’re not satisfied with a church that talks about the things of God unless that translates into training for living every day for God. Spiritual disciplines and personal vigilance must be key components of such a life.

Notice how Paul gets at this in his farewell remarks. He does not hesitate to say that life is hard, and that it’s hard to be a disciple. In verses 29 through 31 he candidly admits that turbulent times are ahead for the Ephesian church. There will be false teachers who will distort the truth. Thus he pleads, “Be on your guard!” There’s no such thing as discipleship in four weekends.

Nor does Paul not hesitate to redefine success. Look again at verse 24: “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” George Bernard Shaw once wrote: “This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”

That is a brilliant statement. George Bernard Shaw also wrote that there are two enduring disappointments in life: not getting what you want, and getting what you want. The problem is that if what we want is not what God wants, we are always going to be disappointed.

Back in the 1920s Cliff Edwards had a voice that could glide seamlessly up and down over three octaves. He could also accompany himself on the ukulele, and he billed himself on the restaurant performing circuit as Ukulele Ike. Edwards ended up getting everything he ever wanted. He became one of the earliest stars of Vaudeville and Broadway. But it turned out that what he wanted was not what he really wanted. His life imploded through alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling, and bankruptcy. Today most of us have never even heard of Cliff Edwards. But we do know his voice. It’s that of Jiminy Cricket in the movie Pinocchio, where Ukulele Ike sang, “When you wish upon a star…”

The apostle Paul did not hesitate to say that earthly success is not what any of us really want, even though that may be what we’re killing ourselves to achieve. What we really want is God. If you’re engaged in our summer Bible reading challenge – which is going through all of Paul’s letters and the book of Hebrews by reading one chapter a day – then yesterday you read what Paul wrote in Romans 12:2: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Paul makes it clear that what the world says it can offer to us in a game of Deal or No Deal is not a deal worth making.

And what is Paul’s vision of the Good Life? It’s not receiving, but generosity. Look what he says in verse 35: “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” What’s significant about that statement is, first, that it’s the only sentence attributed directly to Jesus that is found outside of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Second – and far more important – this is the Bible’s most memorable assurance that giving gifts always brings deeper joy than receiving gifts.

Finally, Paul does not hesitate to tell the whole story concerning safety. Spiritual security does not mean that our lives in this world won’t be threatened from time to time. In verse 19 he talks about being severely tested by spiritual opponents. In verse 23 he acknowledges that “prison and hardships are facing me.” This is not the customary version of the victorious Christian life that is so widely embraced here in America.

Last winter a bakery in Serbia was robbed so many times that as a joke the owners decided to put a life-size picture of Chuck Norris in the window, along with a sign that said, “This store is protected by Chuck Norris.” The break-ins immediately stopped. One customer even quietly asked if he could get Chuck Norris’ autograph.

So here’s the big question: What kind of security do we receive by committing ourselves to Jesus Christ? Paul, who is transparent about the fact that he is on his way to arrest, trial, and imprisonment, says this in verse 32: “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” In other words, what matters most can never be taken away from us. Everything else is eventually going to slip through our fingers – everything except our life with God.

What’s the worst thing that could ever happen to us? It’s missing the chance to hear the whole story. The whole story is that life is hard, and it’s not easy to be a follower of Jesus. But God is overwhelmingly good. And if we abandon ourselves to him, then what we have always wanted – more than anything else – will not only be ours, but can never be taken from us.