Elders from Ephesus - Part 1
Acts 20:17-24 · Vern Peterman · Jul 8, 2018
Acts (2017-18), No. 69
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926191106436

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. We're going to be stepping our way through Acts chapter 20, 17 through 24, as Jim just read for us here. But I have a question for you. Have you ever been through an experience, perhaps even more than once, where you've met with somebody for the last time and you know that it's been the last time. Often that happens in our current state of culture when we're knowing that that person is dying perhaps and hopefully going home. But Whatever those last times are, oftentimes we think of, okay, what do I want to say to this person that I'm going to talk to now for the last time? In my own case, I just think back of different instances like that.

About 26 years ago, my older brother, Ed, was dying of cancer, and it was around Christmas time. So I met with him around Christmas time and he and I sang, you know, songs together. I brought my guitar and he and I sang songs together about the Lord. And then, you know, we talked about things that mattered between us. And then a week later, New Year's Day, he went home. You know, he was gone.

I didn't sit down with my brother on those last moments when we knew it was, for both of us, going to be our last time talking. We didn't talk about, you know, hey, look at how those giants are doing. They're just doing great, right? We didn't say, you know, hey, it's nice weather today, you know.

We talk about things that really matter. And the Apostle Paul is doing exactly that with the elders from Ephesus. He has, as we'll see as we go through the passage this Sunday and next Sunday, he has spent time with them and it's been dear and precious time. It's been times of the heart, times that really mattered. And so as we go through that, I think that's important for us to keep in mind.

He's carrying across to them, in the words that he's saying to them, these are things that really do count. This is my last time. He's even going to tell them that. This is the last time I'm going to see your face. And so he's going to tell them about the things that really count, the things that really matter, the things that are near and dear to his heart, the things that he would want to pass along given the last opportunity to do so. This also happens to be Paul's longest speech to Christians.

This passage for this week and next, which is Acts 20.17-38, we won't be going through all those today. is the longest recorded of Paul's speeches addressed to Christians in the entire book of Acts. We have other speeches that he gives to unbelievers in different contexts, but this one here is special from that regard, and it's special from the standpoint that this is the last time he's going to get to talk to them. So it's a final farewell speech, packed with Paul's exhortations, and his spiritual priorities, and he's also going to give them some rather intense warnings and urgings.

He's going to tell them what he has done and his perspective on that. He's going to tell them what's ahead for him. He knows in some degree, and matter of fact, he will continue to find out in greater degree what is ahead in the times ahead and why this is going to be very likely the last visit. And he's also going to tell them, this is next Sunday's passage, what is ahead for the elders at Ephesus? What do they need to pay attention to and watch out for? He's going to urge these men, not about trivial things, you know, but about things that he considers very, very important. And upon whom? They must keep their focus of attention at all times.

One of the other things to point out, while some of the dramatizations and even some of the pictures I'm going to show here on the screen show women, it's very likely they weren't present. This is Paul, a man, speaking to men, and so it should be taken in that light. Are there things in it that certainly fit in a message to women? Most certainly.

And so they shouldn't be set aside from that standpoint. This is also not because men are somehow superior. This is not a chauvinistic message, but it is a biblical message that God has put into place. This is not reflecting what the Jews had. There was a daily Jewish prayer that the Jewish men would say. They would thank God that they were not born a woman. That's very chauvinistic. That's not what he's talking about here. God has given men a particular role and responsibility in the home and in the church and so that's something we want to take seriously and Paul takes seriously. So he carried on this ministry to men and to women.

We even see the example here, he talked to the women at Philippi, and Lydia was among those who were saved, and Lydia was the one who was hostess to Paul and those who were with him at first there at Philippi. In his final address, however, he's going to address the elders. They were all biblically, at least at that time, biblically qualified men. There were cautions he was going to give them, and we'll look at that primarily next week. Paul himself was a biblically qualified man, acting as an apostle, speaking here to elders. And by the way, there's something else to be pointed out. He's going to be talking to the elders this week's passage and next week's passage is about those elders who are men.

One of the things that scripture is clear on, the elders in every single instance where gender is pointed out are men. Scripture makes that clear. And by the way, it's not because men are better at it. It is a biblical role that God has called men to, and so we'll be taking a look at that.

This is a critical point in this church's history. We'll be taking a look also at what happened at Ephesus in the future. So that's an important thing. It's going to bring to light some truths of great importance to us. Here is Acts 20 verse 17. So from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.

It would have been nice if he did have a cell phone and he could just say, hey guys, you know, or maybe do a group text, you know, that would be great. Hey guys, I'd like to have you come down, you know. But reality is, if he landed at Miletus and maybe had a few days of layover, which looks like he did. A few days of layover there in Miletus until the ship went out, either on the same ship with a delay from loading and loading, or on another ship. So we did have some time but it would take about a day at least to get from Miletus up to Ephesus and then to have those elders come down from Ephesus down to Miletus. So that by itself would have taken a couple of days and so that's likely what happened here.

So here Paul would meet with these elders and speak with them and pass on to them his final words. These words that he would speak would be the last time he would speak to them face to face. You have this map as we've been showing, which is one portion, the northwestern quadrant, if you will, of Paul's third missionary journey. And in this one, he was meeting with the elders from Ephesus.

He himself was making a beeline for Jerusalem, as we'll talk about and continue to bring up here. He was headed there quickly. And why would he meet them in Miletus? Because if he stopped in Ephesus, he'd never get away, right? So instead, he had the elders come down to Miletus, meet him there where he could address them for the last time. And so Miletus was just to the south about a day's journey each direction.

Now, we have this. This is not a part of the passage, but I want to bring it out because it's an important thing for us to look at. Paul is talking to men, okay? And he's talking to men. It's men in their biblical role, in this case, as elders. But it's also another thing for us to take to heart in terms of being husbands, in terms of being fathers.

And so a key point, this is out of Genesis 1, 26 through 28. Here is a passage that has continuing relevance. in the church and for us and in our homes and it starts like this Genesis 1 26 through 28 then God said let us make man in our image make man excuse me according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth So one of the things that that points out, let us make man in our own image. This implies the persons of the Trinity, which later become very clear in the book of Genesis and afterwards. The persons of the Trinity.

This, by the way, is one of the things that Nicodemus didn't understand. Isn't that amazing? Nicodemus, here he was, the teacher of Israel. He did not understand the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This passage right here should have told him, hey, there's more than just God the Father as one.

Let us make man in our image. And he wasn't talking to the angels. So, then God created man in His own image. In the image of God He created him. Male and female He created them. So maleness and femaleness was not an afterthought on God's part any more than making man in God's image, right? Both male and female and making man God's image were not afterthoughts, but instead God's intent from the very beginning. Maleness and femaleness is not something that is an accident of biology or evolution, which the Bible does not teach and I don't believe took place, on a macro scale. but rather something that God intended. So the distinction here of having the men gather, who were elders at Ephesus, was something that came out of the way God made male and female from the very beginning. I say here, see Genesis 5, 1, 9, 6, and I give a number of passages. Genesis 5, 1 and 9, 6, 1 Corinthians 11, 7 and James 3, 9 are those passages that talk about the image or likeness of God, which continues its effect on into the present time and into the New Testament.

Matthew 19.4 and Mark 10.6 refer to Jesus saying, in the beginning God made them male and female. That was God's intent from the outset.

One of the other things we point out here, between Paul spending about three years with the church there at Ephesus, and that was not three lightweight years, but three rather intense years as we'll soon see, Addressing these elders in multiple exceptional ways and writing at least one letter to them probably more and Sending Timothy to them. This is first Timothy chapter 1 He says I'm sending you Timothy to Ephesus to do what to correct the false teachers the record that we have outside of the Bible is that Timothy spent the rest of his life in Ephesus and The book of Hebrews was very likely written by several lines of evidence to the Jews in Ephesus and in the surrounding area. It says at the end of it in chapter 13 that Timothy is getting out of prison. So here again is another point that ties it to Ephesus and Timothy's ongoing connection there.

The Apostle John spending at least the last two decades of his life in Ephesus. So here's John. We actually have extra biblical accounts of what he said and did outside what the New Testament records. But he spent at least the last two decades of his life there. Can you imagine? There was a great deal of continuing apostolic influence.

The first of the seven messages of the seven churches of Asia was to this specific church body. And we won't have time to look at it this week, but I wonder if Christ were to send a message to Holly Hills, what would he say? Food for thought. Here's Acts 20, 18 through 21. And when they had come to him, he said to them, you yourselves know from the first day That I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility, and with tears and trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews. How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

So these are heavy words to introduce things, right? This is not light conversation. Eee, how about them Rockies, right? Arno Gabalain, he's home with the Lord now for some decades, but he wrote a kind of summary of this passage. We won't take the time to go through it, but you're welcome to do so.

All the things in Paul's letters that were words and terms that the Apostle used that we find kind of gathered up and collected here in this passage, some of them a humility of mind, and we're going to talk about that in a minute. It is one of them that I would point out finishing my course as he wrote to the believers in Philippi and to Timothy and second Timothy and the ministry which I received multiple references to that and including The book of Ephesians that the elective has been going through Anyway, many others I could look to I'll leave it to you to study that further if you'd like See in these verses that Paul was humble and compassionate.

One of the things that comes out, this is an instance, the culture did not teach humility. And in great part our culture does not either. So a lot of bragging and putting your best foot forward to put things in a nice way. But humility and compassion were not things that the culture of the time would teach, just like our own. As a matter of fact, humility was looked upon as a character defect. If you were humble, that was something, oh, there was something wrong with you. What's the matter with you? Right?

So the Apostle Paul had to teach them that. So by the time he had taught them that here, he would say, I came to you in humility They would have learned by his teaching, not from the culture, that humility was a good thing. He didn't shrink back from the full message and the full purpose of God.

Imagine he might have said, well, you know, if I bring this up, they're not going to like it. You know, one of the things we point out, the culture did not support humility. And so, you know, he could have held back on that. Instead, what did he do? He taught humility, and you'll find that in most of his letters. Why? The whole culture had a problem with it throughout the Roman Empire. Humility was looked upon as a character defect. Paul took up the opportunity on different scales and different situations.

One of the things we see in here is that he said in public, in larger groups, who talked previously about the school of Tyrannus, where he would teach there, but also house to house. So that would be anything from home Bible studies, He would teach that. Also the gatherings of the church. They didn't have some large church building, even not what we had here on Sunday morning. The churches often met, I say churches, the church often met in smaller groups in different homes and he would teach at those as well.

He carried this message that was given to him by Christ to Jews and Gentiles to repent What does that mean? It doesn't mean to feel really, really bad, right? It doesn't mean to cry and sob and weep and wail. Repent means a change of mind ending in belief. That's what he was aiming for. Whatever your current mindset is about Christ, Jews, Gentiles, that needs to change ending in belief. That's what repent is biblically and especially in the book of Acts. to repent and to put their faith in Christ.

Because the world is going to teach you to put your faith everywhere else. First, here's the message of the gospel. Christ died for your sins. He was buried and He rose again. Do you believe it? That's the gospel to be saved. But on top of that, to put their faith in Christ personally every moment of every day. Here's Acts 20, 22, and 23. And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.

For Acts 19.6 on, Paul knew in advance that he would encounter trouble and trials and be taught by them and about them.

And what we find, he is saying here, he is going to continue to hear, Paul, trouble is awaiting you. He is going to have, in fact, after this point in time and before he gets to Jerusalem, three warnings given by the Holy Spirit through those who are prophets Paul, you're headed for trouble. He will have, at certain places, that message and people will have a hard time sorting out. Now wait a minute, Paul, you are headed to Jerusalem and you're still going to go there in spite of the warnings?

He says, yes, I must. That is exactly what God wants me to do. He is going to do the right thing in spite of what the external circumstances are. And the right thing is more than just a moral choice. It's what he specifically knows that God wants him to do. He had known since the time he wrote the book of Romans that he was led by God to go to Jerusalem and to Rome. So chapter 1 and chapter 15 of Romans has that message.

Even knowing in advance that great trouble was in store for him, Paul proceeded as the Lord led him in spite of any human fear. So here's a question. Was Paul afraid? He may well have been. Was he anxious? He may well have been. But he knew what he needed to do. That's important.

Here's Acts 20.24, But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

I know already, and I'm going to get three more warnings, right? I know already, this is what God has for me. I'm not going to say, oh boy, that looks like trouble. I think I'll steer clear and just stay in Antioch. No. He's headed to Jerusalem. He's headed there because he knows that's exactly what God wants him to do, and his motivations are that he receive from the Lord this assignment. He's going to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

So one of the things that becomes very clear is Paul's priorities. For many people today, and it was true of the Epicureans of Paul's time, for many people today, pain avoidance is number one priority. I always avoid pain. Was that Paul's approach to things? Not at all. It wasn't pain avoidance It was pursuit of Christ. Paul will stay the course. He says it here. He'll write about it later. He will stay the course as he knows that the assignment he was given from the Lord Jesus was from Christ Himself.

Can you imagine what it would be like I mean, we offer Bible studies here at Holly Hills, and that's great. And we gather here together to meet and worship together, and to learn from the Lord. Can you imagine, what if the Lord came up to you and said, hey, let's have a Bible study?

Would you take Him up on it? Paul did. Can you imagine, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, he says, I've been to paradise. I can't tell you about it, but I've been there. Can you imagine that? This, for Paul, was what told him very clearly, this is top priority. This is the most important thing. And avoidance of pain, avoidance of difficulty, even if I know about it in advance, is not the most important thing. He knew his spiritual priorities. He would not be distracted or dissuaded from those priorities.

Now here you have, and it's on a slide on page three, you have three different passages including Acts 20-24 that have been going through today. And I've added here on the screen some information about where they were and some dates, which are not in your handout, but nonetheless they're here.

And I want to go through these particularly because I want you to see a pattern that's there. And what you'll see, for example, in Acts 20, 21, solemnly testifying, in verse 23, solemnly testifies, solemnly, and then in Acts 23, 11, it'll be solemnly witnessed, you must be my witness, and then again in Acts 28, 23, He was explaining to them by solemnly testifying. Now, first let me tell you that all those words are, they're related words. They're part of the same family of words. And so let's follow through on the sequence here. Let's look first at Acts 20, 20 through 24.

I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly and from house to house. Doing what? solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me, how often? In every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.

Does He know what He is headed for? Yes, very clearly. All the details? No, that's yet to come. But the big picture? Yeah, he's headed for trouble. Does that make him stop going? No. But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. So we get the picture very clearly that he is headed to solemnly testify, even though the Holy Spirit is solemnly testifying to him of the trouble that he's going to encounter. See that?

Next, Acts 23.11.

So this would be a little bit later, a couple months later maybe, or a month later even, Acts 23.11, by this time he is in Jerusalem, and we happen to know with a pretty high level of certainty, this is the night of June 3rd and 4th, 57 AD. On the night immediately following, so now he is in Jerusalem, okay, now he is in Jerusalem, the Lord, who's that? The Lord Jesus Christ stood by his side. At this time, it's not the time for Jesus and Paul to have a Bible study together. But the Lord is talking to them here.

It says, take courage for just as you have solemnly witnessed, and this is of the same family of words, so it is the synonym. solemnly witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also." So when Paul went to Jerusalem, did Jesus chew him out for going there on his own insistence? Did Jesus say, ah, Paul, you blew it, now I've got to rescue you? Is that what Jesus did? No. Paul knew he was going to solemnly witness and to be one who gives solemn testimony, here Christ acknowledges that He has done exactly that.

And just as He has done exactly that in Jerusalem, He's going to be a witness where? In Rome. He knew back when He was writing Romans that He was headed to these places, and even what He was headed for, He sees here, as he hears Christ talking to him, you've been my witness. And you're going to be my witness again in Rome. So guess what? Next one, Acts 28 to 23, which is when he is in Rome, When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers, and he was explained to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and from the prophets from morning until evening." What did he do when he got to Rome? He solemnly testified, just like the Lord Jesus told him that he would in Rome, and He testified just as he did back in Jerusalem. Paul knew exactly what he was doing.

So, some things I'd like particularly for the men to ponder here is one of the things that the Apostle Paul presented early on was humility. Now, you may have heard the story about a pastor who was given an award for humility. The only thing is they took it away from him the first time he wore the button.

So, for us, think about it. Think about it. You as a believer are here today already seated with Christ in the heavenlies. That's heavy, heady stuff. Unless we realize it is all by God's doing. Paul, here was a guy who was an apostle. Here was a guy who had established a whole bunch of churches and done what appeared to be nearly impossible. Here was a guy who had visited heaven personally. Amazing stuff. So what does he say? I come to you with humility.

One of the other points we'd say here, God's man learns Christ, not just about Him. One of the things that they'll be going through in the Ephesians passage there, in chapter 4, is a talk about what it means to learn Christ. And this is a word that is related to and connected to being discipled by Christ personally. to learn Him. It's not just about Him. God's man learns Christ.

This is what Paul himself had done. He had not simply talked to these believers about Christ. Here's all the information. Here's all the data you've got to pack into your head. But you need to learn Him personally. You need to learn Him personally so as to be discipled by Him. God's man learns Christ, not just about Him. God's man learns who I am in Christ and who is Christ in me. It's not about just being macho. It's not about being prideful. It's not just about running in and taking charge. But who am I in Christ and who is Christ in me? And it's not just data. It's lived out in the plight. In John chapter 15, tells all the disciples gathered there, he says, abide in me and I in you. It's lived out. It's lived out.

In the big picture, God's man knows where he's going and knows that only God can take him there. And anybody else who's going along for the ride needs to see that. In the big picture, God's man knows where he's going and knows that only God can take him there.

Nancy and I moved to Colorado 17 years ago, right? And what we have discovered, very interestingly, is of course we've learned lots of things. One of the things we found out is several things that we didn't know until we got here that God had put in place long ago.

We found out just an interesting example. Nancy and I had a summer school class in fifth grade together. We didn't know each other. I played the flute, she played the violin. I'm pretty sure I played at it. But anyway, so things like that we didn't know. We didn't learn about until later.

In the big picture however, those are interesting little facts to discover. But God's man knows where he's going. The details from one person to the next will vary. A man may even be surprised about what details show up. But God's man knows where he's going, spiritually speaking, and knows that only God can take him there and anyone else in his charge, whether it's a family, whether it's a wife, whether it's a church, anyone else who is in that person's area of responsibility or entrusting knows this. In the big picture, God's man knows where he's going and knows that only God can take him there. God's man learns what's really important in life and in eternity and communicates the importance of those things to those entrusted to him. So as a man, one of the questions all along the way is, does my wife know what's important? Does my family know what's important? Do we here in the body of Christ know what's important? Or at least are we learning what's important?

And then communicate that importance to those with whom we've been entrusted. God's man has learned his limitations, and so learns to depend upon Christ for his adequacy. Nancy and I will sit down with a couple for pre-marriage counseling, and we'll go through the four kinds of love that are in Ephesians chapter 5, the husband for the wife.

And I'll say, okay, now we've gone through these things. Are you ready to carry that out? And if the guy says, yep, you're in deep trouble, right? Because it's not your capacity that will pull it off. The adequacy is only in Christ. If we think that we have what it takes to be the man in whatever circumstance, God puts us, we're in deep trouble. Because it calls for far, far more than we ever were intended to have and to carry. only dependence upon Him will pull this off.

Let's pray. Thank you Lord as we look at this passage we can see as Paul begins talking to these men for the last time and conveying and communicating these very important things. We see that you have revealed essential truth, important truths, critical truths And in fact, as we proceed into the next part, we'll see Paul conveys very clearly these principles that we've laid out here. We thank you for these truths that you've given to us because you love us and you care for us and you want us to learn and to know them as we learn and know you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.