Lechem Panim #215 “Paul Pours Himself Out” (Acts 20:13-16) Pastor Cameron Ury

You know, if you had to pinpoint the number one characteristic of the Christian; the one that would most clearly identify him or her as a follower of Jesus Christ, that one characteristic would (without question) have to be a holy love for God that spills over into a consequent holy love for other people.

John 13:34-35 (ESV)— 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Romans 12:10-13 (ESV)— 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

1 John 4:21 (ESV)— 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Devoted to The Church— Now I say all of this because we see here in Acts 20 Paul’s love spilling over on those he is lovingly nurturing and mentoring. He and his traveling companions have just left the city of Troas. And Luke writes…

Acts 20:13 (LSB)— 13 But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land.

Investing in People— Now why does Paul choose to walk by land? Well, here we get another window into the heart of Paul. When we read between the lines here, we see just how dedicated Paul was to investing in the lives of other people. Now keep in mind that Paul had recently finished an over two year teaching stint in Ephesus. While he was there, for five hours a day, seven days a week he was teaching there in the school of Tyrannus. Like we said before, he would wake up in the morning (probably early), make tents till 11:00 AM, teach in the school of Tyrannus from 11:00am till 4 PM, then go back to making tents till 8:00 PM, then teach till 1:00 AM or 2:00 AM; then he would go to bed, get up, and repeat. And that doesn’t even take into account the Bible studies that he did in peoples’ homes. He never missed an opportunity to give himself for his greatest love, the people of the church, which was an extension of his love for Christ. His whole life was a living sacrifice for the church, the bride of Christ. And we see the same thing in this chapter. He comes to Troas (no doubt exhausted) and yet still makes the time to pour into the believers from the moment he arrives at that church service until midnight that night, when Eutychus falls asleep at the window and falls down and dies. Then Paul rushes down and raises him from the dead. And even after he raises Eutychus from the dead, what does he do? He goes right back up into that upper room and continues to teach; and they go until dawn. I mean the man is absolutely incredible; just 100% sold out in love for the Church. And it gets even more unbelievable, because look at the very next verse. Remember that Paul is anxious to get to Jerusalem before Pentecost and then wants to begin making his way to Rome. So after this he leaves. And he has a very long journey to take. And so Luke writes…

Acts 20:13 (LSB)— 13 But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for so he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land.

On Foot For The Church— Now your translation may say “on foot”, which is also correct. Paul went by land, on foot. The rest of his ministry team gets on a boat, but he goes for 30 miles on foot. Now you might ask, “Well, why does he want to do that.” Well, saying goodbye was very different in the ancient world than it is in our culture. When you and I have a guest leave we wave at the door and often times we will continue to wave until they’re out of sight. But in the Biblical world it was customary to actually go with your guest part of the way on their journey. You would walk with them quite a ways. It was a very long, drawn-out kind of a thing. And so now we see why Paul walked. He could have easily got on board the ship with the rest of his ministry team and sailed away and been done with the believers in Troas. He could have laid down in the boat after teaching all night and finally gotten some rest. But no, he chooses to walk 30 miles so that the believers in Troas could have the opportunity to walk with him and he could teach them and pour into their lives for as long as they wanted to walk with him and receive that teaching. I mean, imagine it. I often walk with my family on a local trail. We walk about 6 miles; and let me tell you, by the end of it we are tired and ready to rest. And that’s often after having had a good night’s sleep. But Paul walked 30 miles, just to spend time with these believers who were hungry to be discipled. You know he probably only walked alone the last 5 or 10 miles of the trip. Can you begin to see why this chapter might just be on par with 1 Corinthians 13? And guess what he was not doubt doing that last 5 or 10 miles by himself; praying and thinking about what he is going to say to the Ephesian elders, whom we find him ministering to in the very next section. Let me tell you, I almost got kind of emotional in my study on this because I felt like I came to see Paul’s heart in a way I hadn’t before. I mean I always saw him as a powerful, brilliant speaker who was devoted to fighting for truth. But I think I just never really noticed the heart of Paul. And my heart began crying out for Jesus to help me to love and serve my people as this man did.

Gifts Not Our Own— But you know, what we see demonstrated here in this passage (and in his life as a whole) is the reminder that our gifts are not our own. God has given you a gift(s). And whatever that is, whether it’s teaching, preaching, hospitality, encouragement, mercy ministry, even cooking; whatever your spiritual gift is, that gift is meant to be a blessing not just for you, but for the Church; it is to be available through you to all of God’s people. And Paul knew that. His gifts he made available to God’s people in every possible way. You want a picture of what a 1 Corinthians 13 kind love looks like? That’s it. Now from here, Luke says in…

Acts 20:14-15 (LSB)— 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. 15 And sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to Miletus.

The Miletus Stop— Now I am not going to go into the geography of all of these cities. But one interesting thing to note about these cities is that each [is about 30 miles past the next one, all down the little coast of Asia Minor. And the thing was that the winds only blew from early morning to late afternoon; so, they would just travel from early morning to late afternoon, 30 miles, stay overnight; 30 miles, stay overnight; 30 miles stay overnight; 30 miles, stay overnight. That’s how they journeyed. And so, that’s why it tells us about all those little stops. And it says they came to Miletus. And Miletus was a town, the ancient capital of Ionia. It was not too far from Ephesus. It was originally composed of a colony of Cretans; {it} became extremely powerful and built one of the world’s great, magnificent temples dedicated to the God Apollo. So, it was somewhat famous. But they came to Miletus, not too far from Ephesus. Verse 16 tells us]…

Acts 20:16 (LSB)— 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

Calling For The Ephesian Elders— Now I want to make something clear to you that may not be obvious on a first reading of the text. Paul is not by any means seeking to avoid the Ephesians. He wants to make time for them as well (and we will see that he does). But what is happening here is that the ship going to Ephesus was apparently going to stay too long; it was going to linger longer in Ephesus than he was able to stay, because remember he is trying to make it to Jerusalem for Pentecost. So he chooses not to take the ship to Ephesus, but rather took the one that was going to stop at Miletus. Apparently he had a choice which ship to take. But notice verse 17, which (although it’s a part of next weeks passage, you need to see here. It says…

Acts 20:17 (LSB)— 17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.

Still Pouring Out— Now you might ask why that is important. Well, here’s why. Paul is in the middle of his journey and has stopped here in Miletus. He has a few days before his ship leaves. So what does he do? Get some much needed R and R? No, he sends for all the elders of Ephesus to come and meet him there in Miletus so that he can teach, exhort, and pray over them some more. I mean, he’s unbelievable. What a radical commitment to the people God placed under him. When Jesus had asked Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” and Peter said “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” and Jesus said “Feed my sheep.”, this is exactly what he meant. And what happens next is one of the most beautiful scenes in all of scripture. When the elders get there, they give back to Paul all the love he gave them. And we’ll talk about in the coming weeks. But you know, what are we to take from all of this? You know, sometimes we look at men and women in the early church (like Paul) as spiritual giants. We mythologize them and make them more than what they were. They weren’t superheroes. They didn’t have limitless power and energy. They were just men and women who allowed Jesus to change their hearts; and the rest of their lives was an explosion of that love; not a weighty chore, but a joy-filled outpouring and expression of love for their Savior. And what you and I need to understand is that you and I can have that same kind of love they had. In fact, listen to what Paul writes in…

Philippians 3:17 (ESV)— 17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.

Not Arrogance— Now some might say that’s a little arrogant, thinking that people should imitate him as the supreme standard. But that is not what he is saying at all. Note how he says to the Corinthians in…

1 Corinthians 11:1 (ESV)— 11 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Paul’s Greatest Gift— You see, it was all about modeling what it means to live like Jesus. And perhaps that is Paul’s greatest gift to the Church; not his preaching or his teaching, but the proof that you and I really can walk in the love of Christ. Why? Because Paul did it; a human being just like us. It was his being like Christ and having the love of Christ that drew people to him in such an amazing way. And when we allow Jesus to create that love in our hearts, one of the first expressions of that love for Christ will be (as it was with Paul) our love for the Church. Paul writes to the Philippians again in…

Philippians 4:9 (ESV)— 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Love The Church— Paul loved the Church. You need to; I need to as well. And so let us ask the Holy Spirit to create in us that kind of love, which flows from hearts fully given over to Jesus Christ. Let’s do so. Amen.