Saying Farewell

Intro

What would you do knowing the end, what is going to happen to you, even how you would die? would it change the decisions that you made? maybe the way that you live your life right now?

From tea leaves to Tarot cards, Ouija boards to fortune cookies, humans have devised techniques over the years to meet their craving to see into the future. Not all humans though, it turns out. Not even most of them, say two researchers in Europe. Instead, nearly nine out of ten people said they would rather remain in the dark about upcoming bad events - including the time and cause of their own deaths or the death of a spouse. A fair number of people (40 to 70 percent, depending on the question) also wanted to remain ignorant about upcoming good events, whether it was the outcome of a soccer game or what they'd get for Christmas. Only 1 percent consistently said they wanted to know what the future holds for them, according to the study published Wednesday by the American Psychological Association. More than 2,000 German and Spanish adults were asked if they'd like to know the  outcome in various scenarios. The only setting in which a majority wanted a crystal ball was in learning during pregnancy if the baby were a girl or a boy. The researchers called this "deliberate ignorance," and showed it is for more widespread than many assume. Rather than reflecting self-deception or moral weakness, it's actually a canny strategy to avoid regret about learning bad news and prolong positive anticipation of good news. The topic about which most people shunned the glimpse into the future involved  involved knowing the time or cause of death - with information about death of a partner being even less desirable than learning about one's own death.

Poll: Would you want to know when you're going to die? - nj.com

Did you know the cost of becoming a child of God when you made the decision to follow Him? Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 16:24 that there is a cost to following Him. the cost to following Jesus is that we must deny Himself, that is to give up your own way of doing things, give up yourself completely and follow Jesus.

this is what the Bible calls us to, we may not know the specifics but we are promised that the way is not easy. but we can do it. The promise is there that the cost of living for the world is your soul. But the cost of denying yourself here on earth and living for God is eternal life and Joy in heaven.

knowing the cost of discipleship should then cause us to not back away from the truth but should add urgency to us sharing the truth of the gospel.

20:1-12 - Farewell Service

I want to jump ahead in the passage a little bit before we start. To help us understand, and get a little perspective on the things that Paul did. Acts 20:23-24

Acts 20:23–24 (CSB)

except that in every town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me.

But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

Paul knew the cost of His ministry, we will get into that in a bit. But knowing the cost, Paul still did what he had to to make sure people heard the gospel. Even with love as Paul’s motive, glorifying God and growing the K of G a riot happened and after things died down a little bit He left to Macedonia.

we read in the first 6 verses of the travels on Paul’s farewell tour, about how he visited churches, encouraging them with the message of the gospel. He was travelling knowing bad things could likely happen to Him. But the thought on His mind was making sure that these people that came to Jesus knew how to live with the time Paul had left on this earth.

One of the things that Paul and the early church valued is food and fellowship. Like any good Baptist when they got together the ate together and broke bread together. Any excuse for a potluck! but it was not just for nothing that they met. They met on the first day of the week. Acts 20:7

Acts 20:7 (CSB)

On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.

As a side note I found this interesting that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, Pentecost happened on the first day of the week as was promised by Jesus, and now the disciples met on the first day of the week for worship, even the the Sabbath was on the seventh day of the week. They got together to break bread together, the took communion together and worshiped the Lord together. There was a purpose behind all they did. Paul had a limited amount of time so He wanted to speak encouragement to these people.

well there was something I find kind of funny that happened while Paul was preaching. He talked a long time to the people, the room was warm, they had just ate, there where lamps going and a kid named Eutychus fell asleep. He fell out of the third story window as he fell asleep and died. This is not the funny part though. He said don't be scared, he is still alive! remember this was after midnight, and Paul healed the boy, went back upstairs and kept going. He spoke through the night until the next morning.

as we are living our lives for God, as we take our cross and follow Jesus through the good times and the bad times, our job remains the same. Our job as followers of Jesus as we see here is partly fellowship and growing together. They did not gather together just to eat though, they had a purpose behind their getting together to eat. They gathered together in love.

We learn from this that we are to gather together when we can for fellowship. We are to build relationships with each other for the purpose of learning more about Jesus, helping each other grow closer to Jesus more and more.

20:13-24 - Going to affliction

Paul left the believers at Troas to try and make it bake to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost.

Acts 20:16 (CSB)

For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost.

Paul ended up in Ephesus again, he gathered all of the elders together he lets them know the He served the Lord with them through whatever the world had to throw at Him. He said it was through trials that He served the Lord.

this is where we get back to verse 23-24. Paul knew what he was going into, he knew that wherever he was going, chains and afflictions would follow him. But he did not care. He was going to afflitction but we see what He was trying to accomplish as he did this. Acts 20:21

Acts 20:21 (CSB)

I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

his main goal? not to try and get out of the chains and afflictions that the HS said where coming his way, but rather we can see that he went forward to preach the gospel no matter the cost. He gathered all of the elders together and gave them a message which we are going to look into in a minute. but the question I want to ask again is are we willing to count the cost of discipleship and standing on the word of God?

Knowing what is coming to us for be firm on the word of God, are we still going to do what it takes. knowing the end result as Paul did we look at a 2 things.

Acts 20:24 (CSB)

But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

what is our goal amidst afflictions? is it to make the gospel known?

You go back to that survey, what would you do if you knew how your life was going to end? or maybe even if you knew the hardships you where going to face following Jesus would you still do it? wee Paul says in Vers 24. It all matters what our purpose is as we live our lives.

we see what his purpose and our purpose should be, why we do what we do. to finish the course and the ministry that Jesus has called us to, and to testify to the gospel of the glory of God. To finish the race of life and to hear our savior say well done good and faithful servant.

but in the mean time we have a job to do, all the afflictions are nothing compared to the glory that is promised us in heaven. so knowing this, we accomplish what we are called to do on earth. Are we facing afflictions for the gospel we preach, that is okay as Jesus suffered and died for our sin, so to will we suffer but with the hope.

our goal amidst all that goes on is always to grow the kingdom of God. no matter what happens to us our goal is to share the gospel.

is there anything in our lives that are hindering us from accomplishing what God has called us to do.

If there is anything that is hindering us from accomplishing the purpose God has called us to we need to cast it aside. Paul said to the Ephesian elders that he considers His own life of no value. What is it that consumes your time? What idols are in your life?

you may say, I have no idols, I do not worship anything made by my own hands. Anything that you turn to in place of Jesus is becoming an idol. What is it that you go to in times of happiness or in times of trouble? first thing in the morning when you get up do you turn to the TV or your phone or do you look to the bible and spend time with the word of God.

I am not saying that these things are bad in themselves but in my experience they quickly take the place of Jesus. Sometimes extremes are needed, cast them aside until you build the habit of spending time with God and sharing his gospel in all things.

20:25-38 - Farewell Message

and in spit of the afflictions Paul knew he was going to face he still shared the same message as he always did, the message that Got Him in trouble. If we knew there was someone that we would never see again, what would our message to them be? Just imagine that you are never going to see your best friend again what would you do? How about if you knew they did not know Jesus then what would you do? would you risk losing a friend to share the gospel weith them?

Paul knew that He was not going to see the Ephesus church ever again. Acts 20:25

Acts 20:25 (CSB)

“And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again.

Knowing the cost of the message, knowing He was never likely going to see them again, knowing He was going into affliction and death this is the message He shared with them.

Acts 20:28 (CSB)

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

Watch out for your own spiritual life, look out for the spiritual life of those in your flock.

Essentially we need to make sure that we are living our lives for God. Then when we have our lives in order and we can see clearly through the love of Jesus we need to help others and point them to Jesus as well, to encourage and challenge each other.

verse 29 - We need to do this because there will be those that approach us with the goal of leading us astray.

We need to warn people to watch out for those that would lead them astray. So far the message we hear is for those that know Jesus but it is still important. Stand firm on the word of God and uncover the wolves hiding that will lead others astray.

Verse 35 - Serve others and share the gospel with them.

As we do this, we need to go out and serve others, think of others asd better then oursleves, share the love of Jesus with people, the whole message of the gospel. We are not the only ones that wolves will try and lead astray. Be diligent in building relationships and sharing the gospel with those that are lost.

So What?

So what? what is it that we should gain from this. These are the points that we have gone through starting with the main idea we have been going through. knowing the cost of discipleship should then cause us to not back away from the truth but should add urgency to us sharing the truth of the gospel.

We need to build relationships and fellowship together as one body of Christ standing firmly on the word of God.

work together in unity, gather together as the body of Christ while standing firmly on the word of God. We can not do this alone, we need each other.

Our goal, to finish the mission God has called us to while casting aside anything that would draw us away from that.

is there anything in your life that would cause you to go astray from the gospel

We need to make sure we are guarding ourselves and those around us so we can all grow closer to Jesus.

We need to work together to share the gospel. we need to grow and equip each other and then we need to go out and share the life giving powerful gospel of Jesus.

The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Nineteen: A Minister’s Farewell (Acts 20))

It is a difficult thing to say good-bye, especially when you know you will not see your friends again in this life. But we have the blessed assurance that we will one day see our Christian friends and loved ones in heaven, when Jesus Christ returns. This is why we do what we do, this is the great hope we have.