Acts 20:25–38: "Paul’s Farewell Address in Miletus (Part 2)"

Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to Acts 20. Our passage for today is Acts 20:25–38. Last time, we studied Acts 20:17–24 in “Part 1” of “Paul’s Farewell Address in Miletus” to the Ephesian elders. Today, it’s “Part 2” as we look at verses 25–38. 

And let me start today by asking you the following. If you were to meet with your family for the last time ever, what would you want to say to them? Imagine your children gathered around you… your parents… your friends… your siblings… your grandchildren… everyone. If you had one opportunity to speak to them for the final time, what would you want to say? No time for trivialities or generalities. Just carefully chosen, purposeful words!

I can imagine a father at the end of his life wanting to do something like that. And what we have here in Acts 20 is a spiritual father, the Apostle Paul, giving some final words of counsel to his spiritual children… his spiritual children who are all growed up. They are elders over the church in Ephesus. And Paul is passing the baton to them. 

And what Paul communicates to them in Acts 20 is solid gold for leaders. It’s good counsel for how leaders of the church of Jesus Christ should conduct their leadership responsibilities.

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Now last week, we looked at Paul’s testimonial in verses 17–24. That section of Paul’s message was all about personal sacrifice for the sake of Christian ministry. Paul gives his “post-conversion” testimony of faithful service to the church. 

And he was able to say, 

“I served the Lord with humility and determination” (Acts 20:17–19)

“I didn’t hesitate to speak of my Savior” (Acts 20:20–21)

“I valued the Lord and his gospel as more precious than self” (Acts 20:22–24)

Paul didn’t tell these things to the Ephesian elders to puff up his own reputation. He gave them instead a personal snapshot of what faithful following of Christ looks like, so that they would do likewise. He was saying to them essentially, “This is ‘normative’ for the Christian life. Do like me!” 

“O Paul, he is so awesome! I could never be like him.” No, that’s not why he’s telling them these things. That’s not why these things are in the Bible! He’s telling them these things because he wants them to follow in his footsteps. And the Holy Spirit wants us, two-thousand years later, to follow in Paul’s footsteps. This is what faithful following of Christ should look like for all of us, especially for those who call themselves “elders” in the church.

Now in verses 25–38, the testimonial side of Paul’s message diminishes, and the instructional side of his message increases. Let me put it this way— verses 25–38 are less inspiration and more instruction. Paul tells them, “This is what faithful followers of Christ do. This is what elders in the church do.” In fact he says it even more forcefully than that: “Do this! Ephesian elders! I’m gone. I’m out of here. I’ve got one foot in the grave, and the other foot’s in prison for the rest of my life. You won’t see my face again. So now it’s time for you to step up and lead the church. The monkey is on your back now.” 

I’m sure at some point the elders listening to Paul collectively “gasped” as they contemplated what awaited them now that Paul was out of the picture. This is one of those messages today where we as elders “gasp” at the weight of responsibility that God has put on our shoulders. 

But knowing the type of men that Paul chose (and the Holy Spirit too), and knowing his expectations of these men, I don’t think that these men shrunk back from the prospect of leading without Paul. I think with tears in their eyes, they rolled up their sleeves … they manned-up… they girded up their loins … to follow through with the responsibilities that God had called them to. And likewise, I know our elders here at Messiah Bible Church will do the same after a message like this. Yes, we gasp! But we also gird up our loins!

Here’s how I want to frame our message today. I want to give you from the text, four statements that good shepherds over God’s flock should be able to say.

Now this message today is more particularly about leadership. And I’m not going to apologize for that, because that’s the contour of the text in Acts 20. And our shepherds need to know how to better shepherd the flock. And the flock needs to know what good shepherding look like… so that you can pray for your shepherds! And so that some of you can aspire to good shepherding some day in the future. By the way the first qualification for an elder is “aspiration” (see 1 Tim 3:1).

Additionally, you, the flock, need wisdom from God’s Word so that you can stay away from bad shepherds. And from wolves. We’ll talk more about wolves later. 

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So, four things that good shepherds should be able to say. Here’s #1. 

1) “I instructed the sheep in the full counsel of God” (Acts 20:25–27)

Paul says in verse 25.

25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 

Paul would eventually come back to this region of Asia. But, as far as we can tell, he never set foot in Ephesus again. And he must’ve never had direct communication with these elders again. He did communicate with Timothy, who was later stationed in Ephesus. But this is the last time that this group of men saw his face.

Look at verse 26.

26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, 

That’s an odd expression—“I am innocent of the blood of all of you.” Why does Paul say it that way? Well, Paul is using OT language here. Ezekiel spoke in the OT of the watchman (see Ezek 33:1–9). The watchman was responsible for warning the people of God. If the watchman did his job than he was guiltless of their blood. But if he was unfaithful then their blood would be on his own head, the watchman’s head. 

Paul says here, “I am innocent of your blood!” Why’s that? Because he told them everything. Look at verse 27.

27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

What do good shepherds like Paul do? Good shepherds declare the full counsel of God to the sheep. They don’t hold back. They don’t shrink back. And they don’t back down. 

Now we’re going to stay with this sheep/shepherd metaphor throughout the sermon today, because it’s profoundly biblical. In the OT and the NT this agricultural metaphor is utilized continually to speak of God and his people (see Ps 100:3; Isa 40:11; Jer 13:17; 23:1–4; Ezek 34; John 10; 21:15–17; 1 Pet 2:25; 5:2; Heb 13:20; Jude 12). God’s people are repeatedly referred to as sheep. And God’s leaders are repeatedly referred to as shepherds. Jesus uses this metaphor as much as anyone. So the metaphor is biblical, but it’s also appropriate. 

When I was a kid, we used to sing a song at VBS called “I just want to be a sheep!” We didn’t have cool songs and cool dance moves like we do at Messiah Bible Church VBS. It was the late 1900s. We just put our fingers above our ears and said, “Bah, Bah.” 

Now that’s really an adorable thing to see in a room full of kids singing about sheep and pretending to be sheep. But the nuance of this metaphor can be lost in that. It was lost on me as a kid, because I was a city kid. I never spent time with sheep. 

But if you know anything about sheep, you know four things: 1) They are wayward, 2) They are stubborn, 3) They are defenseless [sheep are just one step above grass on the food chain], and 4) [How do I put this delicately?] they are not renowned for their intelligence. 

Now when the Bible leverages the sheep metaphor for the church, it’s not trying to illustrate their lack of intelligence. Maybe indirectly that’s what’s going on? More often than not, though, the Bible is illustrating waywardness. Sheep are wayward. And also the Bible is illustrating defenselessness. Sheep are vulnerable. They need protection. They are stubborn, and they like to stray. So they need shepherds. 

All of that plays into Paul’s description of sheep and shepherds in Acts 20. And he says as far as his role as a shepherd is concerned, he didn’t hold back from instructing the sheep in the full counsel of God. 

26 … I am innocent … 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 

Verse 27 is almost the same verbiage as verse 20. If you want to emphasize something, repeat it! He said in verse 20, if you remember, “I never, ever, ever shrank back from declaring to you anything that was profitable...” He used a double negation in Greek for emphasis. He does that again here, and he uses the same verb for shrink back (ὑποστέλλω). He says here in verse 27, “I never, ever, ever, shrank back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” 

Now again Paul’s not saying this to just toot his own horn or draw attention to himself. He’s saying to these Ephesian elders, “You do like me. You imitate me. You do as I have done. Don’t shrink back from declaring the whole counsel of God to God’s people.”

Now what is the “whole counsel of God?” Well, literally it means the “full plan of God” or “full purpose of God.” The wording suggests something that has been deliberated in secret, but now has been made known. 

And if Paul was speaking to a group of Gentile Ephesians, then this makes perfect sense. Paul has revealed to them the mystery of the gospel, especially the inclusion of the Gentiles into the people of God. 

Secondarily, you might also say that this includes the myriads of gospel implications in the life of a believer, and the full revelation of God’s truth in the OT and NT. If you remember, Paul spent all night in Troas delivering as much content as he could to them. And he wasn’t just communicating the gospel in a nutshell to them. You can communicate the essence of the gospel in one sentence. Paul did that in one sentence with the Philippian jailer: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). That’s the gospel! You can communicate that in just a few words!

So Paul communicated more than just that to the Ephesians. Probably, what Paul did in Troas and in Ephesus is he opened up the Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi… he pulled out the scrolls, the parchments… and he relayed to them gospel implications and the fuller revelation of God’s Word. And we should do that do! That doesn’t complicate the gospel; it enriches the gospel. It explodes the gospel into gospel realities and gospel implications that permeate all areas of a Christian’s life. 

Now why am I taking so much time to explain this? Because this is what we’re called to do as elders. That’s what I’m called to do as the teaching elder, the senior pastor of this church. That’s why we preach through whole books of the Bible here at Messiah, OT and NT. We are called to preach the plain, simple gospel message. But also, we disseminate gospel implications from all of God’s Word into the lives of God’s flock.

Now I could spend the next fifty years here at Messiah Bible Church preaching the gospel and disseminating gospel implications. I’ll never exhaust them. I don’t know if I’ll be able to preach through all sixty-six books of the Bible in my lifetime. But I can die trying. And in the trying, I can say with a clear conscience, even now, “I instructed the sheep in the full counsel of God” (Acts 20:25–27). “To the best of my ability with the time that God has given me in the church I have instructed the sheep in the full counsel of God.” This is what drives me. This is my calling and my ambition as a pastor.

Some of you know that I’m a fan of the Denver broncos. I don’t publicize that often, because we have two NFL teams here in Texas. But I was born in Denver and grew up on John Elway, so I’ve been cheering for the broncos my whole life. 

And I remember several years ago when Peyton Manning played for the broncos, how he obsessively prepared each week for his responsibilities as a QB. His teammates said he was like a coach on the field. He told everyone what to do and what their responsibilities are on the football field. And you might say it this way: “He instructed his teammates in the full counsel of football.” He labored towards that. He was driven by that. 

When I hear about that kind of work ethic and determination, that inspires me. Because I think to myself, “If Peyton Manning did that for quarterbacking, how much more should I do that for instructing God’s flock with the full counsel of God?” That motivates me.

Elders, pastoral interns… let me say this to you even as I preach it to myself—you’re life’s work… our life’s work should include… it should be driven by… the obsessive desire to instruct the flock that God has entrusted to you with the full counsel of God. Good shepherds should be able to say at the end of their ministry: I instructed the sheep in the full counsel of God.

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Secondly, write this down as #2. Here’s another thing that good shepherds should be able to say:

2) “I cared for the sheep as an under-shepherd” (Acts 20:28)

This is a really important qualifying statement right here. I want to be clear that shepherds in the church don’t own the sheep. That’s where the shepherd metaphor breaks down a little bit, because shepherds typically own their sheep. But according to 1 Peter 5, the shepherds (the elders) are under-shepherds of the Chief Shepherd, Jesus Christ. He owns the sheep. He purchased them with his blood. 

Paul says in verse 28,

28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 

This is a really important verse for us by the way, because Paul equates three terms here. First the Ephesian leaders were called “elders” in verse 17. That’s the Greek word πρεσβύτερος. In verse 28, Paul calls the same group of men “overseers.” This is the Greek ἐπίσκοπος. What’s the difference between an elder and an overseer? What’s the difference between ἐπίσκοπος and πρεσβύτερος? The answer is—there is no difference. Elders are overseers, and overseers are elders. The only difference might be by way of nuance. Overseer is more evocative of what an elder does in a church. He oversees the care of the church. 

Now let me add another component to that. Paul says here that overseers care for and lead the church. That word for “care” is the Greek ποιμαίνω. It means to “shepherd” and it’s etymologically related to the term for flock (Greek – ποίμνιον). We derive our English word “pastor” from this word. So in a very real sense, elders pastor the church. They shepherd. They oversee. They care for the flock. 

But like I said already, the flock doesn’t belong to them. Elders are under-shepherds. The church belongs to God. He purchased those sheep with his own blood.

Now, I don’t know if that is a relief to under-shepherds or not. In one sense it is, because the flock belongs to God and not us. “Phew! I’m glad that’s the case. Jesus Christ is ultimately in charge, not us.” But in another sense, it’s not a relief, because we’re going to have to answer to the Chief Shepherd for how we shepherd his flock (Heb 13:17). And if we screw this up, he’s going to be pretty angry with us! 

Now this is important. I want you to know this. Shepherds in the church are shepherds. But shepherds are also part of the flock. This is another place where the sheep/shepherd metaphor breaks down. Not only don’t the shepherds own the sheep, but they are paradoxically sheep too! The shepherds were purchased with Christ’s blood just like the sheep. 

So it’s important that a shepherd doesn’t live above the flock, lording his authority over them. It’s important that the shepherds smell like the sheep. It’s important that the sheep know that their shepherds are sheep too. They make mistakes. They can be stubborn at times. They are vulnerable too. And that’s when all of us collectively as the flock need to lean into the power that only the Chief Shepherd gives. We need him. And we need the power of his Holy Spirit. 

And by the way, the Bible always speaks of a plurality of leaders in the local church. It’s not a one-man band. That’s why Paul says “Pay attention to yourselves.” in verse 28. Who shepherds the local church? A group of leaders/elders. And who shepherds the shepherds? Who shepherds the pastor of the church? The answer is the other shepherds. 

Paul didn’t call just one elder down to Miletus. He didn’t call just one pastor. He called a group, however large… maybe five guys… maybe ten guys… We don’t know how many. But he called a plurality of elders and gave them instructions on how to lead the church. 

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And speaking of leading the church… let’s turn the heat up a little bit. Here’s another important aspect of church leadership. Paul says in verse 29.

29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. 

Here’s a third thing that good shepherds want to be able to say:

3) “I protected the sheep from wolves” (Acts 20:29–31)

Have you ever wondered why we tell our children nursery rhymes before they go to bed? Maybe this is a little off the topic, but I just wonder who was the first person to tell their children the “Little Red Riding Hood” before they went to bed? 

Because here’s the essence of the story. A little girl goes to visit her grandma. That’s good, right? Except that the big bad wolf has eaten grandma. Okay, that’s terrifying! And then, the wolf dresses up like grandma. That’s weird, isn’t it? And then when Little Red Riding Hood gets there, here’s the dialogue between her and the wolf. 

“And what big hands you have!” (“The better to grab you with”) 

“O what big teeth you have” (“The better to eat you with!”)

Why do we tell our children these stories? And then after reading a story like that, we kiss our children goodnight and say to them, “Sweet dreams, sweetheart!” 

“Thanks a lot Mom and Dad. Thanks for that terrifying story just before I go to sleep.” 

Now I’ve heard some different theories on what that fairy tale is supposed to teach. I’m not really sure what it’s supposed to teach. But I find it interesting that in a lot of these fairy tales, the nemesis is a big bad wolf (e.g. “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” “The Three Little Pigs,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” etc.). Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?” I am. And you should be too!

Now biblically speaking, who are the wolves? Well, the wolves are false teachers in the church. Jesus said in Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” 

And what’s scary about Paul’s statement in verses 29–30 is that he says that wolves come from both inside and outside of the church. In other words, false teachers will come in from the outside and try to attack the flock. But false teachers also germinate from inside the church too. And in time they will rise up. 

Paul must have had certain people in mind that he knew in Ephesus. Eventually these people would let ambition and pride get the best of them. And the Ephesian elders were tasked with the job of dealing with false teachers. Paul says, “Be alert! Be vigilant!” 

What does the Bible say about false teachers? Let me give you a sampling. 2 Peter 2 says false teachers are those who “secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction” (2:1). They “indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority” (2:10). They “count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!” (2:13–14). 

1 Timothy 1 says that false teachers, “devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith…. [they] have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions” (1:3–7).

2 Timothy 3 says that they are “lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (3:1–5). 

Jude says that they “blaspheme all that they do not understand” (10). They are “grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.” (16). I could go on and on. That’s just a sampling of what’s found in the NT.

Suffice it to say, there is no love lost in the Bible for false teachers. Let me just boil all of that content down for you into three categories: 1) Heresy, 2) Divisiveness, 3) Ungodly ambition for power and control. If you’ve got one or more of those characteristics in a person, then you’ve got a wolf that needs to be dealt with. 

And again and again in Scripture, it’s the job of the shepherds to deal with wolves when they attack the flock. Shepherds are given rods for a reason, right? The rod, in a shepherd’s hand, was the ancient equivalent to a shotgun. 

By the way, in Psalm 23, the shepherd has both a crook and a rod. The crook is used to steer and corral stubborn sheep. The rod is used to fight off enemies. And God has tasked the elders with rods in their hands (or with shotguns if you want to update the metaphor) to deal with wolves who want to come in and attack God’s flock. 

Where were the shepherds when David Koresh led 76 men, women, and children to their death in Waco, Texas? Where were the shepherds when Jim Jones and 909 people committed mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana? Where we’re the shepherds when Joseph Smith started spouting off blasphemies and writing atrociously inaccurate accounts of history and theology and calling it “scripture?” There are approximately 18 million Mormons in our world today. It’s one of the fastest growing religions in the world. That’s 18 million people around the world that have been deceived and are headed to hell thanks to a false teacher from this country. 

Now we, as the pastors and elders of this church, we don’t have to answer to the Lord for Joseph Smith and those 18 million Mormons. But we will have to answer to God for this flock. And we will have to answer for whether or not we were vigilant in protecting this church from wolves. 

Some people might say, “That’ll never happen here, Pastor Tony. We don’t have to worry about wolves here.” Yes, wolves (false teachers) exist in San Antonio, Texas. Please don’t be naïve. And yes, wolves will get their due. Christ will return soon and put an end to all that nonsense. In the meantime, elders are called to stay vigilant.

Now before we leave the topic of “wolves,” let me give you six identifying markers for a wolf. Write these down. This will help our elders, but this will also help you, the sheep, to watch out. You can subtitle this list “What does the wolf say!”

Six identifying markers for wolves:

1) Wolves are Scripture-twisters

In verse 30, Paul says that men will arise speaking “twisted things.” The idea here is not that they will be spouting new things or brand-new heresies. Instead, they will twist or pervert true things. The most dangerous false teachers aren’t the ones that come out of nowhere teaching crazy stuff. Nobody follows Scientology except for weirdos in Hollywood. The really dangerous wolves are the ones that have just a little bit of truth and twist it. Wolves are scripture-twisters.

2) Wolves care more about themselves than the wellbeing of the flock

They care more about themselves! That’s something that’s patterned again and again in scripture. That’s the very nature of a wolf. They destroy the sheep to benefit themselves.

3) Wolves defy spiritual authority

When you have a person who wanders from church to church to church, trying to gather a following, more often than not, you’ve got a wolf. 

And sometimes, a wolf will just kind of saunter into a church inconspicuously. And everyone says, “Welcome. So glad you’re here. What churches have you been to?” 

“Oh, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one. I went to that church, and I didn’t like their leaders. And I went to that church, and I didn’t like their pastor.”

And the church might naively and goodheartedly say, “Oh, that’s no problem. This will be the church that works for you.”

Careful elders! Careful, sheep! Be careful with that. Wolves defy spiritual authority.

4) Wolves try to circumvent the Chief Shepherd

Sometimes wolves do this by putting forth themselves as the real Messiah. David Koresh’s name wasn’t David or Koresh. His name was Vernon Wayne Howel. He took the name David because he thought of himself as a messianic figure like King David. And he took the name Koresh, because it was the Hebrew pronunciation of King Cyrus, another messianic figure. He saw himself as a messiah. And a lot of wolves don’t direct your gaze towards the Lord. They instead try to direct your gaze towards them.

Sometimes this circumvention happens by putting forth themselves as the real Messiah. Sometimes this happens by perverting the truth of the Chief Shepherd, Jesus. Almost all of the cults throughout church history have put forth a mistaken view of Jesus: 1) The Arians, 2) The Nestorians 3) The Manicheans, 4) The Apollinarians, 5) The Nestorians, 6) The Gnostics, and 7) The Docetists. In our day, it’s the JWs, the Mormons, and the oneness Pentecostals. 

5) Wolves often pitch esoteric points of doctrine

Here’s a great phrase for you: “The main things are the plain things, and the plain things are the main things.” Whenever you have someone who creatively goes and fishes stuff out of the Bible that nobody else could discern, typically you have a wolf. I’m talking about esoteric ideas that aren’t clear and plain in the reading of Scripture. That’s a warning sign.

Or false teachers try to pitch insider information on stuff that only they know. Oftentimes it involves eschatology. 

And it starts like this, “Hey, I know who the antichrist is.” 

“Oh, really? That’s news to me.”

“And I know when Jesus is coming back.” 

“Oh, you do, do you? Wow, because the Bible says nobody knows that.”

6) Wolves can often be charismatic, but they don’t produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit

2 Timothy 3 says that they are “lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, [etc.]” (3:1–5). Jude says that they are “grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires” (16). Wolves can be likable and charismatic. They know how to gain a following. But they don’t produce the fruit of the Spirit. My grandma used to say that the proof is in the pudding. The fruit of the Spirit is evidence of good shepherding.

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Fourthly and finally, write this down as #4. This is a great place to finish up our message, because this last statement is more broadly applicable for all Christians, not just leaders in the church. All of us should want to be able to say this at the end of our lives:

4) “I was a giver not a taker” (Acts 20:32–38) 

Paul says in verse 32.

32 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. 33 I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” 

Paul says, “I didn’t covet anyone’s gold or silver. I didn’t do this for the money. The money’s not that good anyway. I worked bi-vocationally when I needed to. When people were in need, I helped them. I didn’t hesitate to help the weak, and you shouldn’t either. I taught you the value of hard work and discipline but I also taught you how to be generous and how to be givers. As the Lord Jesus himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Let me ask you one very pointed question right now, church. If your family and your church family were to write only one of two words on your casket when you die, on your tombstone at your grave, which word would it be: “giver” or “taker.” 

Robert Murray McCheyne, the great Scottish preacher, who died at age 29 said this once in his diary, “Live so as to be missed when dead.” Do you remember when Peter raised Dorcas from the dead earlier in Acts? The women that she had ministered to were inconsolable. They were beside themselves with grief. And part of that was because, I believe, they’re lives were better with her around than when she was dead. 

The Bible says “she was full of good works and acts of charity” (Acts 9:36). And so Peter’s like “I’ve got to find a solution for this.” And he goes in there and raises Dorcas from the dead. And the people rejoice, because Dorcas was a giver not a taker. And the lives of the people around her were bettered because of her ministry. Live your life like that! That’s the essence of a life well lived! Be a giver not a taker. 

After Paul delivers this great message to these Ephesian Elders, look what he does. He falls on his knees and starts praying for them. 

36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.

He’s still giving to them. He’s still blessing them. And watch how the people respond. 

37 And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.

There was weeping. There was grief over his absence. They kissed him. They embraced him. And then Paul says his final goodbye and leaves them for the final time never to set eyes on them again on this side of eternity. 

Can I just make an obvious observation here? These men loved Paul. They loved this shepherd to the shepherds. And he loved them. Sometimes we like to think of Paul as this unemotional, dispassionate idea-machine that just kind of robotically cranks out theological ideas: 1) “Justification by Faith,” 2) “Doctrine of Election,” etc. But that’s not the case. Paul loved these men. He was full of tenderness and compassion. 

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul says, “But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (2:7–8). Paul was a manly man. He could take a beating for the gospel. He was a tent-maker, a leatherworker. He could preach with power and conviction. He could rebuke. And he could match wits with the most brilliant people in the Roman Empire. We saw evidence of that in Athens. 

But also, Paul was a tenderhearted man full of love and affection. He not only gave of his mind to them; he gave of his heart. He was a giver not a taker. And he loved the church. And the church loved him too. 

Elders… shepherds… leaders of Messiah Bible church… go love your church like that! And sheep, the flock of Jesus Christ… church-folk… go love your elders like that! Amen!