Final Farewell

[Luke writes] From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church... "You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials... how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ... And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there... But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God... Therefore take heed to yourselves and to 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. For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after themselves... I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothing... remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. Then they all wept freely, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship.

When you have one last chance to speak to those who will carry on your work, what do you say?

One Last Conversation

If you had just one more opportunity to speak to your loved ones and friends—knowing tomorrow would be your last—what would you say? Would you prepare deliberately, or speak off the cuff? And what if those people were not only your loved ones, but the very ones who would carry on the work you started after you are gone?

That is exactly Paul's situation in Acts 20:17-38. He is fully aware that this is his last opportunity to speak with this group from Ephesus, and very likely the last time he will ever see most of them. Before this, Paul spent three years with these individuals, instructing them, discipling them, and raising up leaders. During that time, men from Ephesus went out and planted churches across Asia Minor—including the seven churches mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3.

A Short but Weighty Message

This passage gives us tremendous insight into how Paul ministered and led. As I studied it, I had to keep reminding myself that this was a single conversation, not a long teaching. Reading the whole thing aloud takes only about two and a half minutes—fewer than 500 words. The temptation is to dig in for three or four weeks, but Paul spoke these words briefly as he prepared to depart.

It is as if Paul has a short layover at Miletus. He is on his way back to Jerusalem, determined to be there by the Feast of Pentecost. In Acts 20:16 we read that he had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia. He had already spent three years there, and he knew that stopping in the city—where he had so many relationships—would cost him time he did not have.

Summoning the Elders

So Paul lands at Miletus, about thirty miles south of Ephesus, and sends one of his eight traveling companions—men like Luke, Timothy, Trophimus, and Tychicus—up to summon the elders. He does not go to them; he calls them to come to him.

This detail reveals much about the early church. There were ordained elders, overseers, and leaders in Ephesus. That was always Paul's goal: wherever he planted a church—Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth—he aimed to see native leaders raised up so each church would be self-governing and self-supporting. He was a missionary, an ambassador, intent on going where no one had spoken the words of Christ (Romans 15). From the day he set foot in Ephesus, he knew it would not be his permanent home.

In the New Testament we see at least two offices of leadership: deacons (from the Greek diakonos, meaning servant or minister) and, out of that group, overseers or elders who shepherded the flock of God. Paul had established such elders at Ephesus, and now he calls them for final words.

It is striking that just before this, Paul spent seven days at Troas and taught roughly twenty-four hours straight. Now he gives the Ephesian elders only about 485 words—two and a half minutes—before boarding the boat. These words are brief, but they are essential. Luke may have recorded only the high points. Paul's message moves through three points: their knowledge of his past character, their awareness of his present circumstances, and the application for their future leadership.

Paul's Humility in Service

"You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility." The first thing that stands out is, "I always lived among you." Though he was the apostle Paul, though he had planted nearly a dozen churches, though God had done miracles through him, he never lived above them or lorded his authority over them. This is exactly what Jesus taught: the leaders of this world lord authority over others, but it must not be so among His disciples. The one who would be great must be the chief servant.

This mattered because these men now had a title. A title can be a heady thing. Paul himself was called an apostle, and if God ever used you to cast out a demon or raise the dead—as Paul had just done—you would be sorely tempted toward a fat head. Yet Paul had a right view of himself. He called himself "the least of the apostles" (1 Corinthians 15:9), "less than the least of all the saints" (Ephesians 3:8), and "the chief of sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15). His value came entirely from Christ in him: "By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Paul's Handling of Suffering

"With many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews." Paul reminds the elders that he handled suffering rightly. In 2 Corinthians 1—written near the end of his time in Ephesus—he says, "We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life."

This is powerful. We almost deify Paul and forget that he was subject to the same discouragements we are. At Ephesus he was so persecuted, primarily by the synagogue, that he nearly despaired of life itself. Yet he handled it rightly, recognizing that God used it to bring him to a place of complete trust: "We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead."

Some today use the Bible to claim that real Christians never suffer. Paul's life is a poor proof text for that. He suffered, and he was honest about it—he did not pretend everything was fine. In America we feel we must put on an appearance, but Paul said plainly, "We despaired of life." He was honest, yet he handled it in the right way, trusting the God "who delivered us" and "will still deliver us."

Helpfulness, Honesty, and Simplicity

"How I kept back nothing that was helpful." The New Living Translation reads, "I did not shrink back from telling you what you needed to hear." Paul told them what they needed to hear, not what they wanted to hear, even at the cost of his reputation or following. To the Corinthians he said, "I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved" (2 Corinthians 12).

He also had an honest, unhypocritical stance: "I proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly, and from house to house." He did not have one message behind closed doors and a watered-down message for the public. In our technological age this is harder than ever to fake—even politicians know they cannot say one thing in the South and another in the Northeast. The easiest way to be consistent is simply to be the same in private as in public.

And Paul had a healthy simplicity: "testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks." He was no respecter of persons—not xenophobic, not ethnocentric. There is racism and ethnocentrism latent in every human heart, yet in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian nor Scythian. All people, whatever their color or language, need the gospel.

A Hold on the Scriptures and an Honorable Style

What did he testify? "Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." He held firmly to the whole counsel of God: "I am innocent of the blood of all men... for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God" (vv. 26-27).

Finally, his honorable style: "I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothing. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities... I have shown you in every way that by laboring like this you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" (vv. 33-35). Later, when Paul instructed Timothy and Titus on appointing elders (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1), he insisted they not be greedy for money, lest they be seduced by the enemy. Paul's life had been free of greed, and the elders were to follow that pattern.

Faithful to the Spirit, in Uncertainty and Suffering

Paul next brings to mind his present circumstances. "See, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem." That word "bound" means under obligation—Paul saw himself as a bondservant of Christ, a slave by choice, chained to the will of God. He was faithful to do what the Spirit directed.

He was also faithful in uncertainty: "not knowing the things that will happen to me there." And faithful in the face of suffering: "the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me." Everywhere he stopped—Troas, Miletus, Philippi, Corinth—Spirit-filled Christians warned him not to go. They spoke truly; that is exactly what awaited him.

Then come perhaps the most powerful words in the whole book of Acts: "But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy." About ten years after speaking these words—around AD 68, in a Roman prison awaiting execution—Paul would write to Timothy, who was with him here at Miletus: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race... there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness" (2 Timothy 4).

Faithful to the Ministry and the Gospel

He was faithful to the ministry he received from the Lord Jesus—the commission given on the road to Damascus to be an apostle to the Gentiles. And he was faithful to proclaim the gospel: "to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." About a month before he spoke these words in March of AD 58, Paul had sent a letter to Rome that began, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."

Application: Guard Your Heart

Paul now turns to application for the future leadership at Ephesus. First: guard your heart. "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock... to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (v. 28). They were managing someone else's valuables—His church, purchased by His blood. They belong to Him, not to the leaders.

Why guard the heart? "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after themselves" (v. 30). This is sobering. Paul knew that the very leaders he had appointed carried fallen hearts, and the temptation would rise within them to draw people away after themselves rather than after Christ. He had seen it in Galatia, Macedonia, Greece, and Corinth, and he knew it would come to Ephesus.

Application: Guard the Flock

Second: guard the flock. "Take heed... to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." An elder is simply another sheep whom the Spirit has raised up to be an overseeing sheep, called to feed and tend the flock. Why? "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock" (v. 29). The danger comes both from within—drawing people after self—and from without—deceivers who come to lead the flock away.

How Is Your Life Affecting Others' Future?

So we finish with a simple question. Considering Paul's past, his present circumstances, and the future of those who would follow him: how is your past and present affecting other people's future? You may not carry the title of elder or deacon, but if you are a Christian, you are a leader. There are people younger in the faith watching you. How is your character, and how you handle your present circumstances, shaping their future? That is exactly what Paul was saying to the Ephesian elders—and what I believe he would say to you and me today.

Closing Prayer

Father, I pray that You would plant these things in our hearts. Help us to be mindful of them. Challenge us, Lord, with Your word, which is living and powerful. Maybe there is an area in what we have looked at today that challenges us, corrects us, reproves and rebukes us. Maybe we need to be more humble in our service, or we are not handling suffering in the right way. Lord, help us to be those who are willing to sacrifice for others, to be unhypocritical in our stance, to have a healthy simplicity and a grasp on the Scriptures. Help us to be honorable and to live with integrity as Paul did—faithful in the Spirit, faithful in the face of suffering and uncertainty, that we would finish well, be faithful to the ministry You have called us to, and faithfully preach the gospel. Help us today to guard our hearts and to guard that which You have committed to us. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.