Acts 20:1–16: “Paul as Spiritual Leader”: Five Activities

Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to Acts 20. Let me give you a little sneak peek at what we are going to see later in this text. The Apostle Paul is going to raise someone from the dead, a boy named Eutychus. Eutychus fell asleep while Paul was teaching. He fell out of a three-story window and died. Paul rushed down and miraculously raised him from the dead. Why’d he do that? Why is this in the Bible?

Coincidently, I count seven times where something like this happens in the Bible: 

1) Elijah raises the son of a widow from the dead (1 Kgs 17:17–22). 

2) Elisha (Elijah’s protege) raises the son of a Shunammite woman from the dead (2 Kgs 4:30–37). 

3) Jesus raises Jairus’s daughter from the dead (Matt 8:28–43). 

4) Jesus raises the widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:11–15).

5) Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11:38–44). 

6) The Apostle Peter, earlier in the book of Acts, raises Tabitha from the dead (Acts 9:36–42). 

7) And then, in our passage today (Acts 20:8–12), we’ll see Paul raise a boy named Eutychus from the dead. He falls over dead listening to Paul’s long-winded preaching. By the way, the name Eutychus means “lucky one.” That’s apt, don’t you think? 

Now let me make one point of clarification about these “raisings,” and then I want to ask a question again about our text today. These “raisings from the dead” need to be differentiated from Christ’s resurrection and from our future resurrection. 

“Why do you say that, Tony?” Well because Lazarus eventually died again later in life. So did Tabitha. So did Jairus’s daughter. So did Eutychus. On the other hand, Jesus rose from the dead with a new, incorruptible body that will never die again. It was imperishable and incorruptible (see 1 Corinthians 15 for more on that). It was untarnishable. And ours will be too when we are resurrected in our new bodies. In fact, just to clearly differentiate terms, I’m going to use the word “revivification” instead of “resurrection” to differentiate those two realities. 

So in today’s passage we’re going to see a revivification of a dead boy. And the question still remains—why? Why did Paul do that? Miracles in the Bible always have a purpose. They are not ends in themselves. So why did this happen? And why was this revivification recorded in Scripture? 

To that you might say, “It was recorded in the Bible to teach pastors to not preach long sermons, Pastor Tony.” No, I don’t think that’s the case. I think instead this happened as part of a larger section of Scripture to show us the remarkable power of spiritual leadership displayed by the Apostle Paul. 

This is a leadership that we can’t perfectly emulate. I don’t believe in apostolic succession. And we’re not able to go around and indiscriminately raise people from the dead (truth be told, Paul didn’t do that a lot either). But we can emulate some things with Paul. Paul’s heart. Paul’s character. Paul’s spiritually-minded love and leadership for people. We can emulate those things, and we should. “Imitate me as I imitate Christ,” Paul said (1 Cor 11:1; see also 1 Cor 4:16; Phil 3:17; 1 Thess 1:6). 

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Go ahead and write this down in your notes. I want to give you today: 

Five Activities of a Spiritual Leader.

These are modeled for you by the Apostle Paul. And here’s #1.

1) They build up the church (Acts 20:1–2)

Spiritual leaders build up the church. Look with me at verse 1. 

1 After the uproar ceased, 

What uproar? Well, let me refresh your memory. “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” That uproar! For two hours, upwards of 20,000 people gathered in a theater and screamed that stupid chant. Then the town clerk was like, “You know we could go to jail for this.” So they went, “Oh, forget this!” And they went home. 

1 After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia.

I’m guessing the disciples were pretty shaken by this “uproar.” So Paul encourages them. He builds them up.

Look at verse 2.

2 When he had gone through those regions 

What regions? The regions in Macedonia where he had previously planted churches: Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica, etc. 

2 When he had gone through those regions [in Macedonia] and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece.

The key concept in these first two verses is “encouragement.” In fact, the Greek verb for “encourage” (παρακαλέω [parakaleō]) is used twice. Paul encouraged (παρακαλέω) the believers in Ephesus in verse 1. They needed encouragement after the uproar in the theater and the prospect of Paul’s departure. And Paul also encouraged (παρακαλέω) the churches in Macedonia in verse 2.

And by the way, this encouragement isn’t an isolated incident. The Greek παρακαλέω shows up again and again throughout Paul’s ministry. During Paul’s first missionary journey, Acts 14:22 says, “When [Paul and Barnabas] had preached the gospel [in Derbe], they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging [παρακαλέω] them to continue in the faith.” During Paul’s second missionary journey, Acts 16:40 says that in Philippi, Paul and Silas “went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged [παρακαλέω] them and departed.” And now, here again on Paul’s third missionary journey, Paul encourages the saints in Ephesus before he leaves town. Then he travels throughout the region of Macedonia (Philippi, Berea, Thessalonica) and he encourages them too. 

What did that look like? I don’t know, but probably something like this: “Keep growing as a disciple. Don’t give up! Don’t be discouraged by persecution. Jesus was persecuted; you’ll be persecuted too. Just trust God and press through it. God loves you. And God will sustain you.” 

That’s the kind of thing that Paul did. And that’s what spiritual leaders do. They encourage. They build up. And I’m sure it was especially exciting for Paul to come back to these places where he had planted churches years before and see how much some of the individual disciples had grown over the years. You can sense some of that joy in Paul’s letters like Philippians, Colossians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. 

And here’s the thing about spiritual leadership. You’re not going to be a good spiritual leader if you don’t encourage well. You’re just not. And I would say, as a rule of thumb, your leadership needs to be 80% encouragement and 20% rebuke or criticism. Maybe more like 90/10. For every critique, for every criticism, for every harsh word, there needs to be several statements of encouragement and exhortation and uplifting your fellow believers in their pursuit of Christ. 

You might say, “Tony, that’s me. I’m not a natural encourager. My spiritual gift is discouragement.” Yeah, that’s not a thing. 

But if you’re not a natural encourager, that’s okay, let me encourage you with something! I don’t think encouragement was Paul’s primary gift either. I don’t think he was a natural-born encourager. Who was the “son of encouragement” in the book of Acts? It wasn’t Paul. It was Barnabas. 

“What! You want to take John Mark on another missionary journey? After he deserted us! John Mark is weak. He’s a quitter.” That was Paul in Acts 15 something like eight years before Acts 20. But now, an older, wiser, gentler Paul… after a few more life experiences and a few beat-downs for Jesus… Paul has mastered the art of encouragement. And maybe Barnabas rubbed off on Paul after all these years. 

So if Paul can master the art of encouragement, so can we. And just by way of full transparency (pastoral confession time), I’m not a natural encourager either. Nobody has ever given me the nickname “Pastor Barnabas.” But I learned from other people who are good at encouragement and even gifted with it… it’s a spiritual gift by the way. And I’ve gotten better at it. I’ve got a ways to go. But I’m better. And I want to learn from those people who are good at it, because that’s what spiritual leaders do. They build up by encouragement! 

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Write this down as #2. Spiritual leaders build up the church. They also mentor younger leaders. Let me say it this way:

2) They pass the torch (Acts 20:3–6)

Look at verse 3 with me.

3 There [in Greece… probably Corinth] he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. 

So Paul goes to Macedonia and then to Greece and then back to Macedonia. These are all places he’s been before, and there are churches in all the places he travels. 

But Paul doesn’t just raise up churches. Look at verse 4.

4 Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. 5 These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, 6 but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

John Calvin said that this is a passage worthy of great meditation, but not lengthy exposition. I’m going to take his advice on that. We’re not going to spend a lot of time on Acts 20:3–6. 

But let me just point out one very important lesson from these verses. Paul traveled to a lot of places, met a lot of people, and made a lot of friends. And one of the most important things that Paul did in addition to planting churches and preaching the gospel was mentoring young leaders. Luke mentions seven of those leaders here. And amazingly he doesn’t even mention Titus, who we know from other NT passages was instrumental for Paul at this time too. 

Now verse 3 says that Paul spent three months in Greece. And then it says that while he was there the Jews plotted to kill him… again. So Paul adjusts his travel plans and backtracks to Macedonia where he just previously encouraged all of the churches there. Let me show you on the map where Paul goes in Acts 20.

Paul’s Third Missionary Journey - [Click for Map]

He leaves Ephesus after the “uproar” and travels to Macedonia and then to Greece (like I said, this probably means Corinth). He spends three months in Greece, and after there’s a threat to his life he comes back through Macedonia by land to Philippi and then to Troas. And verse 6 says he spent seven days in Troas. That’s where Paul preaches his long, long sermon. More on that in a moment. 

Now we know that Paul is trying to get down to Jerusalem. He said that in Acts 19:21, even before the riot in Ephesus. But leaving from Ephesus he takes this increasingly circuitous route back to Jerusalem. First, he goes west and then he comes back east. Why does he do that? If he’s trying to get to Jerusalem, why doesn’t he just go straight east from Ephesus to Jerusalem? Well there’s a reason why, which I’ll show you in just a little bit. 

But first let’s look at what’s packaged with this extensive travelogue. It’s more than just a travelogue. Luke lists Paul’s entourage. Paul’s got a posse of seven men that he’s travelling with: 1) Sopater, 2) Aristarchus, 3) Secundus, 4) Gaius, 5) Timothy, 6) Tychicus, and 7) Trophimus. Now let me say two things about these men, besides the fact that they all have really cool names. 

1) They are from various places throughout the Roman Empire where Paul has planted churches. Sopater is from Berea. Aristarchus and Secundus are from Thessalonica. Timothy and Gaius are from Galatia. Tychicus and Trophimus are from Asia, probably Ephesus. 

Also you can add Luke to this list, because in verse 6, he says “we.” Did everyone catch that? Luke is back traveling with Paul. It’s interesting that Luke used “we” in Acts until they came to Philippi. Now they’re back in Philippi and the “we” picks up again. Apparently, Luke was ministering in Philippi, leading the church there for all these years while Paul has been travelling. And now he rejoins Paul on his way to Jerusalem. 

By the way, I don’t know what happened to Silas. He started Paul’s second missionary journey with him, but somewhere along the way he just disappeared. Probably he’s in Corinth or Ephesus helping the church. Here’s the point. Paul not only gives his best people to the church, he also mentors and trains up young people for future service in the church. Paul mentors young leaders.

2) And here’s the second thing I want to say about these seven men. Paul has planted all of these churches in the last ten years or so. So these men are, at the most, ten-year Christians. Probably some of them are even younger in their faith than that. And these men are probably young in age (like Timothy). And they are certainly young in their faith (again like Timothy). And Paul is raising up a new group of young disciples to lead the church after he’s gone. 

Why’s he doing that? Because spiritual leaders mentor younger leaders. They pass the torch. Here’s my encouragement to you, church. Go find someone younger in the faith than you and mentor them! 

You might say, “Pastor Tony, I’m twenty years old. Who am I going to mentor that’s younger than me?” Well, here’s a suggestion. There’s an army of up-and-coming Jesus followers in children’s ministry. And they need mentoring. Some of you are already invested in that work of discipleship. Praise God for that! Let me encourage you (see what I did there?) to keep doing that. 

For those of you who are “senior saints” in our fellowship, listen up now! If you’ve got two or three or four decades of walking with the Lord under your belt, and more than a little grey in your hair, hear me on this—who are you spiritually mentoring? Who’s your spiritual understudy? Who are you training up to take over for you someday? You should have somebody. Replicate yourself!

In fact, why not have multiple people that you are raising up? Paul did. And there was a sense of urgency with Paul. I’m sure he was thinking, “Every time I travel to a city, they want to kill me. I’ve got one foot in the grave constantly. I better start passing the torch on to some younger leaders.” 

Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” So here’s the question: what are you doing to protect and hand over the truths of the faith to the next generation of spiritual leaders? 

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Write this down as #3. Here’s another thing that spiritual leaders do. 

3) They feed the sheep (Acts 20:7)

Look at verse 7.

7 On the first day of the week, 

By the way, the first day of the week is Sunday. By this time, the church had established Sunday as the day of worship, not Saturday. Sunday is, of course, the day of Jesus’s resurrection. And the church has been gathering and worshipping on Sunday ever since (see Matt 28:1; Mark 16:2; 1 Cor 16:2; Rev 1:10). 

7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech [λόγος (logos)] until midnight.

Paul would tell Timothy at the end of his life, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage (παρακαλέω) with complete patience and teaching.” (2 Tim 4:1–2). And just so you know, Paul wasn’t a hypocrite. He wasn’t telling Timothy to do something he wasn’t willing to do. Paul tells Timothy to do the very thing he himself did throughout his ministry. 

Case in point, Paul uses his last opportunity in Troas, on a Sunday, the final night of his ministry within that church, to preach God’s Word. And he preached all night. He just couldn’t stop. 

Now let me just paint this picture for you a little more clearly. Verse 7 says that they were gathered on the first day of the week. So, this is Sunday. This is when the church gathers. This isn’t Paul persuading the Jews on Saturday in the synagogue. This isn’t Paul preaching Christ to the pagan Gentiles in the marketplace on another day of the week. This is church. In fact, they’re breaking bread together, which is a reference to the ordinance of communion. 

And notice too that the evangelism verbs from Acts aren’t used here—persuading or proclaiming. Paul is simply “talking” with them. He’s literally “dialoguing” with them about the Word. So probably they had some questions and Paul, trying to be as thorough as possible, is answering all their questions. And he is attempting to impart everything he can to them because this is (probably!) the last time that he’s going to see them. 

And verse 7 says this: “[Paul] prolonged his speech until midnight.” Literally, Paul prolonged “the Word” (the λόγος [logos]) until midnight. By the way, let me just say this: a pastor needs to be able to both preach and teach. He needs to be able to proclaim the gospel to believers and unbelievers both. And he needs to be able to explain the Scriptures. Both of those are modeled for us by Paul.

So here’s what I think happened. Paul’s like, “I’ve got one last chance to teach the Word to these believers. I’ll probably never be in Troas again.” So Paul pulls out his OT scrolls from Genesis to Malachi, along with his other writings, and he teaches and he teaches and he teaches and he teaches all the way till midnight. His audience might turn into pumpkins at midnight, but Paul’s going to keep preaching. 

And remember now, Luke was there! Look at the “we” statement in verse 7. Luke was there, and as he describes what happened, you get the sense that Luke was shocked by how long Paul kept teaching. And Paul “prolonged his speech till midnight!” “Really, Paul, really? Can we wrap this up? Can you land this plane please so we can get some sleep? We’ve got a big trip tomorrow.”

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Look what else Luke writes in verse 8.

8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

Now lamps in the first century were open flames or even torches. And what happens when you have open flames in a room? They burn up the oxygen. And when oxygen is depleted in a room, people get sleepy. That’s not an unimportant observation in verse 8. Luke’s setting you up for verse 9.

8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

 9 And a young man named Eutychus [Little Lucky!], sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Paul. Wrap it up already!” 

And being overcome by sleep, 

Eutychus was the first, but not the last person to fall asleep in church. The Greek indicates here that Eutychus was trying to fight this. Eutychus—bless his heart—was trying to pay attention. But he was overcome! 

Paul was really quite fascinating when he taught the Scriptures. I would’ve loved to have been there that night when he was teaching. And probably there were a group of people in Troas who were riveted hour after hour as Paul was teaching. 

But you know how it is—a long week of hard work! Big dinner that evening! It’s way past this kid’s bedtime. And hour after hour after hour, Paul keeps teaching! John Newton, the great preacher and hymnwriter from the eighteenth century, the author of “Amazing Grace” said once, “When weariness begins, edification ends.”

And being overcome by sleep, [Eutychus] fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. 

That’s horrifying! “How dead was he, Pastor Tony?” He was dead! He wasn’t half-dead! He wasn’t knocked unconscious. He must have fell backwards three stories right on his head. And he is not alive after hitting the ground. Luke’s a doctor. He should know. This kid’s life is over!

Now let’s just set aside the humor of this for a moment, since we know the outcome. Put yourself in the shoes of these disciples. How horrifying would this be for this church! I mean this kid is probably about twelve years old. His parents were probably in that room with him. And now he’s lying on the ground, dead. Imagine the shrieks of horror. Imagine the wailing that would have ensued. Imagine the grief and heartbreak that would instantly hit this church as they saw that boy’s lifeless, motionless body on the ground. 

But their grief and horror didn’t last long. Look at verse 10.

10 But Paul went down and bent over him, 

Literally “he fell on him.” Just like Elijah and Elisha in the OT when they stretched themselves over the children to raise them from the dead (1 Kgs 17:17–22; 2 Kgs 4:30–37).

and taking [Eutychus] in his arms, [Paul] said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 

Can you imagine the relief that the church felt in that moment? Can you imagine the radical shift in emotion from heart-rending grief to uncontainable joy as they realized that Paul had just brought this kid back to life? 

11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while

Paul raised the kid from the dead and then went right back to work!

he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 

Now watch this. This is the key phrase to understanding this passage. Look at verse 12.

12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted. 

Write this down as #4. Here’s a fourth thing that spiritual leaders do.

4) They comfort the distraught (20:8–12)

Now again, why is this passage in the Bible? What are Luke and the Holy Spirit trying to teach us with Paul and this revivification of Eutychus? 

Some smart-alecky Bible interpreter from the congregation might say, “That’s easy Pastor Tony. God recorded this passage in Scripture to encourage pastors to not preach long sermons.” 

To which a pastor might respond, “No, I think he wrote this to remind the congregation to not fall asleep while the pastor’s preaching! Otherwise, it could be deadly!” 

To which a congregant might respond, “Well if we die during your sermon, Pastor Tony, then it’s your job as the teacher to bring us back to life.” 

To which, a pastor might respond by saying, “Well if I raise you from the dead, then you have to come back and listen to the rest of my sermon.” 

But I don’t think that’s the main focus of this passage or the main takeaway for us. The miracle happened, and Luke, as a faithful historian recorded it for us. But the miracle pointed to something greater than the miracle. It was a demonstration of God’s love for the congregation, and Paul’s love for the church. And verse 12 brings this home. 

12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

  By the way, the word “comforted” here is a passive form of the Greek παρακαλέω. It’s a remarkable statement that bookends what Paul does at the beginning of this chapter with what he does here in verse 12. At the beginning of the chapter, he encourages the church verbally. And here in verse 12, the church is encouraged by Paul’s miracle with Eutychus. 

Now some people might raise an objection here and say, “Pastor Tony, I want to be a spiritual leader. I really do. I want to comfort those who are distraught. But I can’t raise people from the dead. I can’t replicate what Paul does here.” 

And to that, I would respond, “I can’t either. I agree! And I’m not so sure we’re supposed to replicate what Paul does here… not exactly.” 

But here’s the question: how can you comfort God’s people like Paul does here? How can you use the gifts and resources that God has given you as part of the church to comfort those who are distraught.

You might say, “I can’t raise the dead.” Okay, fine. But can you comfort someone who is dealing with a death in the family? Can you pray over someone who is sick? Can you sympathize with someone who is brokenhearted? Can you bring a meal to someone who is hospitalized or grieving over the death of a loved one?

Many of you have done that over the years here in our church. And I’m so thankful for the way in which our deacons have helped orchestrate a “meals ministry” here at Messiah. That’s a wonderful medium of comfort and mercy for those who are distraught.

One of the things we have to wrestle with in the book of Acts is what’s prescriptive and what’s descriptive in these passages. Right? We’ve talked about that before. And I’ve said things like, “Don’t teach the apostles’ experience, instead experience the apostles’ teaching.” And I think that’s a helpful reminder for how to interpret some of these difficult passages. 

But if all you ever conclude from this story in Acts 20 is that Paul raised some kid from the dead! If all you ever conclude is that this is a historical fact… “It happened; just make note of it” … I think you’ve missed something. 

And here’s something that might be helpful to you when you think about miracles like this. Signs and miracles are never ends in themselves. They are a means to an end. Sometimes the end is advancing the gospel. Sometimes the end is authenticating the gospel message. Sometimes, like here, the endgame is comforting the distraught within the church. 

So remember this—don’t ever fixate on miracles as the endgame. They are a means to an end. And the end isn’t only accomplished by extraordinary miracles. We can comfort the church body in a time of grief and heartbreak without raising the dead. And we should. Spiritual leaders do that. Spiritual leaders comfort the distraught.

Sometimes, and you’ve got to be careful with this, we can comfort the distraught by giving a theological perspective on death and the afterlife. We do that by reminding people that this world is not our home, and we shouldn’t cling to life in this world like it’s our final destination. And when Christians die, we don’t have to grieve like those who have no hope (1 Thess 4:13). 

But like I said, you’ve got to be careful with that. Make sure you don’t too quickly try to theologize a person’s grief away. Let them grieve. Sympathize with them in that grief. “Weep with those who weep” (Rom 12:15). And then, after weeping, when the opportunity is there, you can reinforce biblical perspectives on death and the afterlife.

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Fifthly. One last thing. Spiritual leaders build up the church, they pass the torch, they feed the sheep, they comfort the distraught, and finally… 

5) They lead with decisiveness and conviction (Acts 20:13–16)

Look at verse 13.

13 But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. 15 And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and the day after that we went to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

Let me summarize what’s going on here as you observe the details on the map. 

Paul’s Travels from Troas to Miletus - [Click for Map]

Luke and Paul’s travel associates board a ship in Troas for Assos. Paul instead travels by land from Troas to Assos. Then Paul boards in Assos and goes to Mitylene and then the island of Chios and then the island of Samos and then to Miletus. Paul’s plan is to get ultimately to Jerusalem. But he stops along the way in Miletus which is about thirty miles south of Ephesus. And Paul decides to not stop at the port in Ephesus because, according to verse 16, he was “hastening to be at Jerusalem” by the day of Pentecost. 

And we see in verse 17 that he stayed in Miletus. 

17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.

Now if this is Paul’s last journey before Jerusalem and then Rome, why doesn’t Paul want to go to Ephesus for one final visit? I mean this is the place where Paul has spent more than three years of his missionary life. He’s invested a lot of energy into that church. Why not visit them one last time? 

Well I’ll give you one very compelling reason why he doesn’t go there, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Nobody wants to experience that madness again. Paul is probably trying to avoid another riot by going to the city of Ephesus. 

But also, as verse 16 tells us, Paul was hastening to be at Jerusalem before Pentecost. He couldn’t just take a quick trip up to Ephesus for a day or two, he knows that a couple days could easily turn into weeks. So he decides to tell the elders to come to him at Miletus which is about a two days’ journey from Ephesus. And in Miletus, Paul gives a very powerful, passionate goodbye message to these Ephesian elders. We’ll look at that next time. 

But there’s another reason why Paul is in such a hurry to get to Jerusalem. Why not spend time in Ephesus? What’s the rush? Well there’s a reason. And the reason is that Paul has travelled extensively in the previous year and has collected a large sum of money to bring back to the church in Jerusalem to relieve the church from the poverty and the famine that has ravaged the city. You might ask, “How do you know that, Tony?”

We know this from the books that Paul wrote during this time of his ministry. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus. And here’s what he wrote, “Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem” (1 Cor 16:1–3).

Later Paul wrote the book of 2 Corinthians from Macedonia where he spends two chapters on the collection of relief for the saints in Jerusalem (see 2 Cor 8–9). And then from Corinth, Paul wrote the book of Romans where he says, “At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings” (Rom 15:25–27).

So when you put all of these historical pieces together, you realize that Paul was urgently trying to reach Jerusalem with financial aid for the church. He took this circuitous route through Macedonia and Greece and Asia to collect benevolence from all the Gentile churches, so that he could deliver them to the suffering believers in Jerusalem. 

That was Paul’s plan. That was Paul’s conviction. And Paul was driven to accomplish that leadership agenda. And he does it. In fact, as we’ll read later in Acts 21, Paul delivered that benevolence to the Jerusalem church at great risk to his life. It wasn’t long after he reached Jerusalem that he was arrested and eventually sent to Rome in chains as a prisoner. More on that later in our series! 

And as part of that decisiveness, Paul calls the elders in Ephesus to meet him in Miletus to give them some final instructions. What instructions are those? Come back next week and I’ll tell you. 

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Let me close with this. I’m going to land this plane in about sixty seconds, so if I lost you along the way, listen up now. If the spirit of Eutychus got the best of you and you dozed off a little bit during this sermon, now’s the time to wake up. I’ve saved the best for last, so here it is. 

I feel like it’s necessary to remind all of us with a sermon like this on spiritual leadership, that even the best spiritual leaders in the church make mistakes. Is that true? Good leaders make mistakes. Paul was one of the best spiritual leaders ever, and even he failed the church at times. 

And let me speak to the elders and other leaders in this church. Even at your best as a spiritual leader, you’re going to make mistakes and God is going to work despite your failings. Amen? That’s not an admonition, that’s a comfort. 

Your pastor, even if he is a good spiritual leader, he’s going to fail you at some point, at some level as your pastor. Your elders, and we’ve got great elders here at Messiah, at some point, at some level they will fail you as your leaders. As I’ve said before, if you’re looking for the perfect church, this ain’t it. Perfect churches don’t exist.

But here’s the thing. And here’s what we need to remind ourselves of often. There is one Spiritual Leader who will never fail us. There is a Great High Priest who sinlessly and flawlessly leads us into God’s presence. And by his blood, shed for us, we are saved. His name is Jesus. And by imitating his example as a flawless Spirit-empowered leader, we can be God-honoring, Spirit-empowered, spiritual leaders too. Look to Christ; He’s our perfect example. Look to Christ.