Acts Chapter 20
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Good morning everyone! My name is Eric and I am one of the pastors here at Abide church. I am privileged to be able to share the word with you today, this sermon series through the book of Acts has been such a blessing. This week we are in Acts chapter 20, and I am going to start by inviting the kids up to the front.
Kids:
Today’s sermon is about being a missionary
Can anyone tell me what a missionary is?
A missionary is someone who tells other people about Jesus
Paul was a missionary, because he told people about Jesus
Some missionaries travel, Like Paul did, and some missionaries don’t travel
You can be a missionary right here where you live!
The bible says that every Christian is a missionary, and we are supposed to tell people about Jesus
Have you ever told someone else about Jesus?
Now is a good time to start! The bible says you are all God’s missionaries and you can tell people about Jesus!
As we go through the rest of the sermon today we are going to talk about what it means to be a missionary and tell people about Jesus!
Listen carefully for the different ways you can be a missionary for Jesus!
Last week we were in Acts chapter 19, and the apostle Paul was ministering in the City of Ephesus. While he was there the gospel spread through all of Asia, and many people believed. From that text we highlighted four different ways that the gospel spreads. The gospel spreads through the power of the Holy Spirit, multiplication, repentance in the church, and confronting idols.
This week, Paul has moved on from the city of Ephesus and is continuing his missionary journey. The gospel continues to spread, but the emphasis in this chapter is different than the previous chapter.
This chapter has lots of descriptive text, but the lessons we can learn about the calling on the life of a missionary are plentiful. We will get a glimpse at Paul’s heart toward reaching the lost, and this will go a long way in helping us aline our hearts to Jesus and our missionary identity.
The reason this is so relevant for us is because we are all missionaries for Jesus. It’s easy to look at the Apostle Paul, or famous missionaries like Jim Elliot, who traveled to a foreign land, or went city to city for the spread of the gospel and think that traveling is what it means to be a missionary. Whenever a church is sending someone out to a different city it is called “missions.”
In recent years the term “mission trip” has become common place in the church. These trips have the potential to be great, but often times we associate these kinds of trips with people who are “Missionaries.” But if we can look past this popular definition that requires travel to what the scripture says, it paints a different picture.
The bible says that this world is not our home, and while we are here on earth we are ALL missionaries wherever we are at. Mission isn’t only happening when you travel to a different place. In fact, the mission God has called you to is right here where you live, at least for as long as you’re here!
And don’t get me wrong, some people need to travel if we want to see the gospel spread to the ends of the earth. But the person who lives their whole life in one city can be just as much of a missionary as the person who travels all across the world.
Look at these verses from 2nd Corinthians:
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Paul wrote this too, by the way. He says that we are all Christ’s ambassadors, and God has chosen to make His appeal through us. If you don’t know, an ambassador is a representative. The United States has ambassadors in other countries that represent our country in that place. We are God’s representatives here on earth.
God’s plan to save the lost is through us, His people. As we will see in Acts chapter 20, Paul’s mission to reach the lost involved a lot of travel. Some of you might travel to reach the lost as well. But what we see in the bible is that all Christians are missionaries wherever they are at, travel is not required.
When you become a Christian you ARE an ambassador for Jesus. It isn’t something you opt in and out of, it is at the core of who you are in Christ. We would call this an identity, a missionary identity. Identity meaning a core part of who we are.
Christians don’t always do a good job embracing this, but part of the new creation you are in Christ is as a missionary, an ambassador!
This is why we need Acts chapter 20 to instruct us in high calling of being Jesus’ ambassadors. Paul set a great example, and he pours his heart out in this chapter. This text is so critical in understanding what it means to be Jesus’ ambassador.
This is not an insignificant role, God has literally enlisted us as His representatives and missionaries on this earth.
What a privilege!
What an honor!
My hope is that as we read the account of Paul’s, who is looking to Christ, we too would be willing to live into our missionary identity to reach the lost.
Let’s pray, then we can approach the text:
Father, help us this morning. We are totally dependent on you to speak to us. Without you, our best attempt to understand falls so short. Help your people to be more than just hearers of the word, change their heart and transform them into the likeness of Christ. Remove distractions from their mind and minister to them through your spirit. Help me to teach accurately, and for Jesus to be seen clearly as the center of everything in your word.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
As I said a moment ago, there are lots of lessons we can learn from this chapter in Acts. We will spend our time focused on Paul’s display of missionary identity, as well as the saints he is working with. As we work through the text verse by verse we will see:
The Fellowship of Mission
The Fellowship of Mission
The Heart of Mission
The Heart of Mission
The Cost of Mission
The Cost of Mission
The Safe House of Mission
The Safe House of Mission
The Gift of Mission
The Gift of Mission
I’ll give you a minute to write those down, then turn to Acts chapter 20…
In the wake of the riot in Ephesus, Paul decides to move to a new city on his missionary journey. We read this in the first few verses:
1 After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. 2 When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. 3 There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.
At this point the Apostle Paul is full steam ahead in his ministry. Paul is not only ministering and sharing the gospel with all the people he meets in different towns, It is also believed that during this time he wrote 1st and 2nd Corinthians, and during his three months in Macedonia he wrote Romans.
The message of the gospel that Paul is proclaiming is spreading rapidly, and so is the animosity toward Paul from the Jews. Paul is planning to set sail from Greece to Syria, but there is some kind of plot against him that is going to take place when he heads to the ship. This is likely an attempt on life…
Once Paul becomes aware of this, he makes a last minute change in plans and decides to take another route. At this time he is also traveling and coordinating with several partners in ministry.
Verse 4:
4 Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. 5 These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, 6 but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.
The text referring to these 7 men implies what is said elsewhere, that Paul was concerned for the collection of saints in Jerusalem. He is giving them lots of good support, and they are ministering together. These 7 men all represented different churches, and as representatives they carried funds for the mission work. They played a critical role in the formation of the early church, and Paul is putting a high priority on these partnerships in the faith.
They established a meeting place in Troas, and made this 150 mile journey from Philippi to Troas in just 5 days. They plan to spend some time there, and on the last day Paul is supposed to be there they are all gathered together as a church, and Paul has one last conversation with everyone.
We pick up the story in verse 7:
7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. 9 And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.
This oportunity Paul has to speak to everyone is valuable, and he is speaking with them for a very long time. We read a few verses later that this conversation lasted until daybreak. But there is an incident in the middle, right around midnight a young man who is sitting in the window, on the third story, can’t keep himself awake any longer and he falls asleep. This causes him to fall out the window and down to his death.
However, this isn’t the end for the young man.
10 But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.
This is a relief and a sign for all, it is one of many miraculous miracles recorded in the book of Acts. The young man was dead, but when Paul took him in his arms he was raised from the dead. The boy was ultimately okay, and everyone was greatly comforted by what happened.
In these first 12 verses we can observe the deep relationships and commitment from all these ministers and members in the early church. This brings us to our first point:
The Fellowship of Mission
The Fellowship of Mission
We should take note that the seven men mentioned before, traveling together and risking their lives for the gospel, the church that prioritized gathering together in the middle of the night, these things are a radical display of Christian fellowship.
This gathering isn’t like our gathering today. In this time the church is being persecuted heavily. Their lives are at risk because they follow Jesus, this is a tough time to be a Christian.
Yet, they gather. They coordinate their efforts. They break bread together. They aren’t slowed down by the persecution! In fact, it has the opposite effect. The intense persecution and hostility toward their mission pushes them together in fellowship.
Hebrews 10 reads:
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Mission isn’t the only reason we gather, but I believe it is accurate to say that our mission to reach the lost as Jesus’ ambassadors is ONE of the strongest unifying principles in the faith. There will come a time when we face persecution, and when the rubber meets the road true followers of Christ will be engaged in radical fellowship.
This is a pattern we see all throughout scripture and church history. The gospel often spreads more during times of hostility than it does during times of peace.
In modern times we struggle with fellowship around our common mission, not because it is too hard to fellowship, but because it is too easy!
It isn’t hard to gather in our modern age. We have cars that transport us comfortably from place to place, warm homes and beds to sleep in, and lots of fun things we could choose over Christian fellowship. Everything I just mentioned is good in it’s own right, but these good things can also be the things that temp us to forsake fellowship with our church family.
We can so easily fall into the trap of thinking that it is too hard for us to gather together for fellowship like these Christians did 2000 years ago. But what actually makes it hard? We are facing little to no opposition, no one threatened your life on the way to church today… I hope!
The reality is that It’s not hard because we face opposition.
It is hard because it can mean leaving our abundant life of comforts and preferences behind.
And the remedy for this isn’t to wish for persecution, it is to be willing to step outside of our comfortable lives and engage in the mission.
Engaging in the mission can be difficult and scary, but the more you press into that calling the more you will experience the radical fellowship that we see here in the book of Acts.
I have never been more connected with my brothers and sisters in Christ than when I am on mission with them. Deep in the trenches trying to reach lost souls like their life depends on it, because it does!
There is a war waging, and a mission taking place, and when we engage in that war we are going to see radical fellowship in the church.
The text continues:
13 But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. 15 And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and the day after that we went to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.
These verses document Paul’s trip on his way to Jerusalem. He is in a hurry trying to make it there by the time Pentecost rolls around, so he sails past Ephesus and stops in a town about 30 miles south called “Miletus.”
He doesn’t have time to make a full stop in Ephesus, which is where he spent the last 2 years, but he stops pretty close. He sends word to the Elders in the Ephesian church and asks them to come to him. The rest of this chapter is the final “face to face” words of Paul to the Elders in Ephesus.
17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them:
“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul opens up this somber time with a glimpse into his heart. One of the things that makes the apostle Paul so effective is his heart for the lost. This certainly comes through in this text, but he also expresses elsewhere how deeply he cares for the lost and dying people in this world.
1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
Paul has such compassion and sorrow for his unbelieving kinsman that he wishes he himself could be cutoff from Christ for the sake of their salvation. This is radical love and devotion to reaching the lost shows up in all of Paul’s writing, including here in Acts chapter 20. He isn’t puffed up with pride, he is serving through humility and tears because he wants to see Jesus’ glory spread, and He loves the lost. He is diligently preaching the word so that some of them might be saved.
This leads us to our second point:
The Heart of Mission
The Heart of Mission
A Christian on mission should have the same heart toward the lost that the Apostle Paul had. Sharing the gospel with someone isn’t usually a comfortable experience. As we discussed last week it can be very uncomfortable to confront the idols in someone’s life. The only sustainable and genuine motivation to do this is a desire to see God’s glory spread, and true love for that lost person.
If we truly believe that Jesus has saved us, and that the lost people around us are hell bound and following false God’s that do not offer hope, the only thing we could possible do if we have ANY love for them at all is to tell them the truth.
One of the biggest inconsistencies I see in the modern church, and sometimes in my own heart, is a lot of talk about loving the lost with no subsequent action to rescue them. Actions speak louder than words, and we can look at our lives to get a gage on our love for the lost.
How did Paul get such a deep love for the lost? He had a good grasp of the love Jesus’ showed him. Jesus was the perfect display of love for the lost, and Paul is compelled by this radical love. We didn’t deserve Jesus’ love, yet he loved us. He didn’t owe it to us to die, we do not deserve salvation, but He loves us.
Listen to what it says in Romans 8:
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
We must remember the love Christ has shown us, because Jesus’ love for us is what enables us to love the lost. Loving and seeking out the lost is a response to what our savior did for us. The Heart of Mission… Is love. Specifically, the love that Jesus has displayed to us when He saved us. Because of His love for us when we were lost, we can seek out and love the lost.
In the very next verse Paul talks about this constraint in the Spirit.
Read with me:
22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Because of the Holy Spirit and Paul’s understanding that he is a missionary he presses on. He doesn’t know exactly what is going to happen along the way, but the Spirit is telling him that there will be imprisonment and afflictions that await him.
This is a heavy point in their conversation. Paul knows that he will not see their face again after he leaves, this is their last conversation. But his eyes are fixed on the prize, which is to finish the race of his life well. Paul’s primary goal is not to live for himself, but to live for Christ.
He says this clearly in Philippians chapter 1
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
This leads us to our third point:
The Cost of Mission
The Cost of Mission
Paul says in Philippians that to live is Christ. Then in verse 22 he says that means fruitful labor, which is the work of discipleship and spreading of the gospel.
Here in Acts 20 we get to see this play out in Paul’s life. There may be hardships ahead of him, but it is no longer Paul living for himself, he is living for Christ.
In the gospel you get all the riches you could ever imagine, Jesus is the greatest treasure. But it costs you your life. We die to ourselves, and become a new creation in Christ. The life we once lived for ourselves is no more, now we live for Jesus and the spread of His glory to the ends of the earth!
Jesus said this about the cost of discipleship in Luke chapter 9:
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
Following Jesus in His mission to spread His glory through the gospel is costly. And again, it isn’t Paul who sets the example, it is Jesus! There was no higher cost ever paid for anything than what Jesus paid for the salvation of the lost. When Jesus died on the cross, the wrath of God for sinners was poured out on Him.
Brothers and sisters, the grace that we have received was NOT cheap. The price for our salvation was unimaginably high. Paul recognizes this, and it leads him to a willingness to share in the sufferings of Christ. Mission is costly because Jesus’ death was costly. Following Jesus costs us our life, we share in His death.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Becoming a Christian means recognizing Jesus as Lord, and believing in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then serving Him as Lord. Faith that doesn’t have works is visibly dead, because it is impossible to be a christian and NOT be transformed by the love of Christ and the high cost He paid for your salvation. We don’t work to be saved, we work because we are saved. {Repeat} We work because we have a changed heart, and we no longer live for ourselves, our life is no longer our own, it is now Christ who lives in us.
Following Jesus means engaging in His mission to reach the lost, and it is costly.
Paul pivots a little in this next section, and he begins giving direct instructions to the Ephesian Elders about caring for the church.
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. 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 every one with tears. 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.
Paul warns the Elders about the wolves that will attack the church. He says that these wolves will not spare the flock, they will speak twisted things and seek to draw away the disciples. This is a good text to show us that one of the roles of church Elders is to protect the church. The church is God’s idea, it serves an extremely important role in the life of a christian. There is a lot we could say about the church and the purpose it serves, but these verses are talking about protection for the saints.
Which brings us to our third point:
The Safe House of Mission
The Safe House of Mission
It is extremely popular to believe that Christians do not need the church. They don’t need to submit to pastoral leadership or commit themselves to a local family in Christ. This idea could not be further from the truth.
This week I read a meme that said, “Sure you can be a christian and not go to church. Kind of like a zebra separated from his herd getting eaten by cheetahs is still a zebra.”
This meme is meant to be a little bit comical, but the reality of that situation for Christians who neglect the church is actually really scary. Listen to this from 1 Peter 5:
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
That zebra meme doesn’t sound too far off the reality when you read that.
Or Hebrews 3:
13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Exhort means to correct and encourage, and it says that we should to be doing this “every day,” so that none of us may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. If the lion doesn’t get you, then your own heart will!
God has accounted for this already, that is one reason He established the local church. He structured His church to have elders who are watching over you. Going out into the world to reach the lost is a team effort, if attempted alone the consequences could be high.
So often we try to use other outlets for community in our life, and we can fall into the trap of thinking that is an adequate replacement for the church.
Sometimes people will try to use informal gatherings to replace the church. God knows about your Sunday brunch buddies, and maybe you plan to talk about spiritual things, but that isn’t the church God has commanded you to be a part of.
Or sometimes people will try to use family as a replacement for the church… God was the one who invented husbands and wives, He created those roles and responsibilities Himself, He knows what a family is, but He doesn’t say that can be a replacement for the church.
God has outlined what community looks like, some examples would be Loving one another, bearing one another’s burdens, confessing sin to one another, submitting to one another, exhorting one another daily, and so on.
We need to be careful not to be deceived into thinking God wants you to have all the things the scripture talks about in community while ignoring the divine institution He established for those things to take place inside of, which is the local church.
In Jesus’ death on the cross He united us as a family, and He intends for His family to participate in the church He established.
Yes, we love our family, we bear their burdens. Yes, we love our brunch buddies, we exhort them. But God knows about those things and He is still very clear about Christians being in the safe house of the church to live out all that the bible commands.
Do not attempt to boil the church down to one of many pragmatic solutions for living the Christian life. That is not the picture the bible paints of the church. Instead, come to the scriptures and be shaped and submitted to all that the Lord intends His church to be in your life.
This only scratches the surface of the role the local church in the life of a Christian, but if we look to Jesus as the head of the church we can find great comfort in being a part of the structure He established for His people.
Paul goes on in verse 33:
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 was a hard worker, and this was not a burden to him. He was not coveting what he didn’t have, and on top of all the ministry work he is doing he is supporting himself financially by working in his trade. Then giving his extra resources to the weak. He quotes Jesus and says, “it is better to give than receive.”
This brings us to our final point:
The Gift of Mission
The Gift of Mission
You see, it is actually a blessing that God has given us the oportunity to partake in His mission. We could have just been recipients of God’s gift of salvation, but instead God has given us a role to play in giving the good news to the lost around us.
There is no better gift to offer someone than the free gift of salvation. Imagine how much joy you would experience if you had 10,000 dollars to give away to someone in need. That would be an incredible feeling! We have something so much greater to offer, and that is the free gift of salvation. We have the oportunity to make an appeal to all people, offering them the best gift they could ever get. Way better than money.
I think our temptation in this is to view our missional calling as a burden… But when you pause to think about it, that is so backwards! This labor that we are called to is not a burden, it is a blessing!
What would be burdensome is if we went through life only focused on the things we could consume, and not the spiritual gifts God has given us to give. Namely, the gospel. Working hard and being a giver is joy filled, that is how God created us as human beings. It is our sin that tempts us to be lazy consumers. And just like all sin, it feels pretty good in the moment. But there is no true joy to be found in that sinful lifestyle!
Obeying the commands of God, and the calling to be His missionaries by offering the free gift of salvation to the lost are the most satisfying thing we can do! We know this because Jesus Himself said that “It is better to give than to receive.”
Jesus gave His life for us, for the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross, and now we have the oportunity to share in His joy by bringing the glory of God to the lost people in this world.
Jesus has given us a gift, and made us the missionaries who deliver that gift to the lost people in this world.
36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 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.
Let’s pray
Explain communion