Paul's Farewell Address

We are going to look this morning at one of the most famous passages in the book of Acts. It's known as "Paul's Farewell Address." Let's read it, and I'll set the stage and we'll just hit a couple of the high points this morning.

"[Act 20:13-38 KJV] 13 And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot. 14 And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene. 15 And we sailed thence, and came the next [day] over against Chios; and the next [day] we arrived at Samos, and tarried at Trogyllium; and the next [day] we came to Miletus. 16 For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost. 17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. 18 And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, 19 Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews: 20 [And] how I kept back nothing that was profitable [unto you], but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, 21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: 23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. 24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. 26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I [am] pure from the blood of all [men]. 27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. 28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. 32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. 33 I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. 34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. 35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. 36 And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all. 37 And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him, 38 Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship."

Let me quickly break this down for you, and then I"ll get right into the message this morning:

Paul has concluded his second missionary journey. He's on his way back to Jerusalem. He's got an offering for the people there. We talked about that last Sunday. But everywhere Paul goes people are warning him that bad things are going to happen in Jerusalem. Everyone knows this is going to be Paul's last hurrah. Paul knows it.

So in this passage, he's travelling and he purposely skips Ephesus. Apparently he thought going there would take too much time because it was kind of home and he'd been away for awhile. But he wanted to see the Ephesian pastors one more time so he called them to come and visit him in a nearby town called Miletus. So all these pastors and church leaders come from Ephesus to this little town Miletus to have a kind of Preachers fellowship, and Paul addresses them there. It was kind of like the first preachers retreat.

Verses 13-17 just lay all of that out, from verse 18 through the end of the chapter Paul is giving a sort of last speech, a farewell address to these people. It's really emotional. He knows he won't see them again.

It's interesting that this is the only time in all of Acts it records one of Paul's sermons to Christians. There are a couple times it tells us what he preached to lost people, but this is the only time he preaches to Christians.

And if you look at it closely - it's almost like the cliff notes of all of Paul's letters. Paul of course wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Collossians, Philippians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. And if you compare what he says here - it's almost like someone took all of those letters and put them on the stove and boiled them down to their theme.

I'm not going to get into all of that. You can read and study that sometime if you want. It would be an interesting study. I want to sort of focus on verse 24:

"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."

I think this speech teaches us all lessons about 5 important parts of life: Our purpose, our time, our ministry, and about our comfort I also think there are some valuable lessons about church leadership but I'll probably leave that for next Sunday or for Sunday Night. Again: Our purpose, our time, our ministry, and our comfort.

So let's pray and I'll make those four points and we'll be done.

The first thing I think we need to learn from this farewell speech is:

1. What it teaches us about purpose Paul said:

"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."

I want you to notice that Paul said "that I might finish MY COURSE" What is that?

I looked it up and it means "a race course." I know I make everything a running analogy - this is literally a running analogy. Paul is saying, that I might finish the marathon that God has put me in.

What's the point? I think the point is that Paul knew God had given him something specific to do. Something with clear markers. Something with a finish line. God didn't say "Here, Paul, go do your own thing." God said, "here is your course, here is the lines and here are the turns and here is the finish line now go after it." And Paul was obsessed with finishing it.

Now, what does that teach us? How can we apply that?

I think it's clear that ...

We have all been given something to do. I have a course. You have a course. Sometimes we call it a call. Sometimes we call it "the will of God." Whatever you call it - you must understand that God wants you to accomplish SOMETHING. God has SOME SPECIFIC job for you.

Think of the parables. The parable of the talents. The master gave his servants a bunch of talents and went away and what came next - a day of reckoning. A day when the master saw what his servants had done with what he had given them.

Look at me folks - there is a day of reckoning coming. Someday, sooner than you think, you are going to stand before God and He's going to expect you to have accomplished something.

Now, I don't know what your course is. That's between you and God. But I know it's something. I know that God has a purpose for you. I know it's something big. I know its something that is going to take effort and struggle.

Few things bother me more than people who seem to be wasting their life. Do you realize that the average person watches 3 hours and 46 minutes of TV a day? That's 9 years of your life you spend in front of the TV? And we wonder why we aren't doing more for God. I don't know what God's will for you life is, but I know it's probably not being a pokemon trainer. I know it's probably not constantly taking the path of least resistance.

God made you for a purpose. He's given you a course. Figure out what it is and get running. Get after it.

The second thing this teaches us is....

2. What it teaches us about time Paul was concerned about finishing his course. He wasn't wasting time. In fact, the whole reason he has these guys come to Miletus instead of him just doing the natural thing and going to Ephesus is because he doesn't want to get bogged down and waste time. He wants to finish. He's very concerned about this.

I have a friend in town, Dan Henry, that ran a Ironman Triathlon two weeks ago in Chattanooga. If you don't know what that is, that means he swam 2.2 miles, then got out of the water and got on a bike and road 112 miles, then got off the bike and ran a full marathon - all in the same day. That's what you call crazy. The cut off time for the Chattanooga Ironman was something like 16 hours and 30 minutes. Do you want to know what his finish time was? 16 hours, 29 minutes and 30 seconds. We were talking and he said that if he had stopped one extra time, just to chit chat with a passerby or walk and enjoy a banana or something, he would have got a DNF - a did not finish. There were people just a hundred yards behind him at the finish line who didn't get a finishers medal because of 30 seconds.

I think that's the attitude Paul was showing here about the will of God. He wanted to make sure he got it done. He didn't want to waste any time. He didn't want to get to heaven and get a DNF.

Twice in his epistles, once in Ephesians 5:16 and once in Collosians 4:5, Paul tells us we should be "Redeeming the time." That means we live with a sense of urgency. We live like we have a job to do for God and we can't waste time.

So the lesson here, what it teaches us about time and the purpose God has given us is...

We have a limited time to do it. Jesus, when He was on this earth said "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh when no man can work" (John 9:4)

Church member, Christian - you have a job to do for God. You have a God given purpose. You don't have infinite time to do it.

"Only one life so soon will pass, only what's done for God will last."

Church, don't waste your time. Find out what God wants you to do and get at it. Get doing it. Get off the couch. Wake up from your lethargy and find some way to serve the Lord.

God has a purpose for your life, a job for you do to, a course for you to run and you don't have forever to run it so get at it.

The third thing we see in this is:

3. What it teaches us about ministry Look at verse 24 in our text again:

"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God."

Paul not only talked about his "course" but he talked about "the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus" and Paul knew what His ministry was, his ministry was "to testify of the gospel of the grace of God." His ministry was a gospel ministry.

Further on, in verse 26 Paul says "I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God"

You know, it's interesting, I was having a conversation with someone recently who is just getting into the Bible for the first time and they asked me about the subject of Hell. It's a tough subject to talk about. It's tough because if we lived like we believe what we say we believe about Hell, we'd have so much more urgency when it comes to the gospel.

So here is what this teaches us about the ministry:

Our God-given purpose should further the gospel. I don't know what God's will is for you. It may not be to be a preacher. It may not be to be a missionary. I don't think those callings are for everyone. But I know that no matter what your calling from God is - it's going to forward the cause of the gospel. It's going to help the gospel be proclaimed.

You can further the gospel as a housewife. You can further the gospel as a factory worker. You can further the gospel in the office. When you go to the hardees in the morning to eat breakfast with the liars club - you can further the gospel. You can further the gospel at the YMCA. You can further the gospel in your classroom.

Whatever your purpose in life is - whatever job God has you doing - your ministry should be furthering the gospel.

Let me give you one more lesson from this passage - and I'm warning you, you aren't going to like it. It's a little edgy. It's a little blunt. But you need to hear it and I need to hear it.

The last thing is...

4. What it teaches us about comfort Look one more time at verse 24:

"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy"

Notice the beginning of the verse "none of these things move me" What is Paul talking about there? He was looking at his future and look at the verse 22:

"And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me."

Paul was saying, do you know what? I know God wants me to go to Jerusalem and I have no idea what is going to happen to me there - but I know this, I know that it includes "bonds and afflictions" I know I'm going to be incarcerated and I know I'm going to suffer - but none of these things move me.

Do you realize that for Paul, everywhere he went he faced hardship. When he went to a new city - he probably didn't check out the local holiday inn, he checked out the jail because he knew that is where he was probably staying the night. I mean, turn with me real quick to 2 Corinthians 11.

"[2Co 11:23-28 KJV] 23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool ) I [am] more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 24 Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 [In] journeyings often, [in] perils of waters, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils by [mine own] countrymen, [in] perils by the heathen, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches."

Here is the last thing I think we can learn from this passage about God's purpose for us:

Being comfortable doesn't have anything to do with it. We live in a microwave society, a drive through society, a convenience society. People expect to be comfortable 100% of the time. They want to stay in their safe little bubbles. Church member, I don't know what God's will for your life is but I know that, most likely, it's going to force you out of your comfort zone.

It might move you away. It might have you working extra hours. It might make you sweaty and sore. It might cause you to have to speak up when you would prefer to be silent. You might have to teach the old dog new tricks. I don't know - I just know that if you study any of the people in the Bible who were serving God, they didn't stay in their comfort zones for long.

So let's stitch together all we've learned from this farewell address so far:

God has given each of us something to do, we have limited time to do it, it's going to further the gospel and it's going to stretch you out of your comfort zone.

Are you running your course this morning? The Christian life isn't a spectator sport - so get off of the sidelines and get into the race. You don't have forever - so get running. It isn't a stroll, it's a race - so run hard. Do your part to further the gospel.