Acts 20 Being Guided by God's Generous Grace

 

Scripture: Acts 20:35 "Remember how Jesus taught us you gain more blessing in life by giving than by receiving"

 Title: Guided by God's Generous Grace

 Acts 20:1 After the crowd disbursed, Paul gathered the disciples together and encouraged them. Afterward, he set off for Macedonia. 2 He continued through the cities where he had been before, teaching the believers, as he made his way to Greece. 3 After three months, he planned to sail off to Syria, but some Jews were plotting to harm him, so he returned through Macedonia. 4 Those traveling with him included, Sopater of Berea, son of Pyrrhus, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, and Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophimus from Asia. 5 They went on ahead to Troas. 6 After the feast of Unleavened Bread we sailed from Philippi to Troas and stayed with the brethren for seven days.

The feast of Unleavened Bread is also the feast of Passover. After celebrating the feast with the disciples in Philippi Paul and Luke set off to reunite with the group in Troas. Paul has a goal to be in Jerusalem in time to celebrate Pentecost, which is 50 days after Passover. From the text of this chapter, we find that Paul has spent almost 20 days traveling and staying with the disciples before he leaves Asia and sails across the Mediterranean Sea to Israel.  

While Paul has moved on from the laws of the Jewish religion and adopted the life of grace according to the teachings of Jesus, he still maintains celebrating the past through the rituals of the Jewish feasts. Traditions are hard to give up, especially, ones that have so much meaning. Each of the Jewish feasts were an opportunity to renew a person's faith in the Almighty God and thank Him for all He has done for mankind. Keeping traditions alive is something that can be done without having to revert back to the legalism of the past.

The teachings of the Old Testament Scriptures are sound, it was how the Jewish leaders chose to apply them, that caused Jesus to be frustrated with the Pharisees and Sadducees. They had found a way to make the "laws" into regulations which must be kept in order for God to love a person. Paul's realization on the road to Damascus helped him change that pattern into an awareness that God loves mankind whether they keep the rules or not. The rules are there to help us love God and love our neighbor, they were never intended to be a way to earn favor with Him. Paul, of all people, saw the deep contrast between spending his life trying to earn God's favor by being perfect, and understanding that God loved him solely for who he was, even though he had tried so hard to wipe the name of Jesus and His followers from the face of the earth.

Once we begin to understand the grace of God, that His love is not dependent upon what we do, but who we are, we can truly be set free to love others. The more we learn of God's unconditional love for us, the greater chance we have of treating other people with that same kind of grace. And it is our demonstration of that grace that helps people around us see that Jesus is truly alive.

Acts 20:7 We gathered together on the first day of the week to break bread and Paul began teaching. His message lasted until midnight. 8 People had brought their lamps into the room where we were listening. 9 One of the younger of the group, Eutychus, sat in the window and drifted into a deep sleep. As Paul continued to talk, Eutychus fell outside from the third floor to the ground. Those who reached him first determined he had died. 10 Paul went down and laid upon him, embracing him, and told the crowd, "He will be fine, I can feel he is alive." 11 They all went back up to the room and ate some food and Paul continued to teach the group until daybreak. Then Paul left town. 12 The boy was fine, and the people were comforted and encouraged. 

13 The rest of us had caught a ship bound for Assos where Paul had arranged to meet us, since he was choosing to walk there. 14 He joined us, and we continued sailing down to Mitylene. 15 The next day we passed Chios and then on to Samos and on the third day came to Miletus. 16 Paul wanting to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, did not want to get delayed in Asia so we sailed past Ephesus.

17 While in Miletus, Paul sent word to Ephesus and asked the elders to come down to meet with him. 18 When they arrived, he said, "I spent a lot of time with you 19 humbly serving the Lord. You are aware of the many trials and tears I experienced from the Jews and 20 how I did not stop telling you about the good news of Jesus. I taught everywhere I could, 21 telling both Jews and Greeks about the need for repentance toward God and belief in Jesus as the Messiah and Lord. 

22 "Now, I am on my way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, and I have no idea what I will find there, 23 except every place I have been recently, the prophets have let me know that I will probably end up in prison. 24 "My life is not that important to me; I just desire to finish the work that Jesus has asked me to do. To that end, I will continue to tell others of the good news of God's grace as long as I live. 25 "We have shared many good times together, but this will be the last time we see each other. 26 "I confess to you that as much as I know, I have not harmed anyone.  27 "I never avoided sharing the good news, no matter what got in my way.

28 "Now, I encourage you to take care of yourselves and of the believers in your community where the Holy Spirit anointed you as leaders. God has purchased these people with the sacrifice of His blood. 29 "In the future you will experience those who will seek to lead the believers astray, 30 some might even come from among your numbers, speaking falsehoods and trying to get people to follow them rather than our Lord Jesus. 31 "Be diligent and alert to care for the believers. Take my life as an example, how I served you for these many years.

32 "Now I entrust you into God's hands and encourage you to live by the Word of His grace. In this way you will be strengthened in your faith and brought to a point of maturity in Jesus.

 33 "I have no need for anyone's gold or silver or even clothes. 34 "You know how I provided for my own needs and did not rely on you. 35 "I tried to show you how a life of hard work allowed me to help the weak. Remember how Jesus taught us you gain more blessing in life by giving than by receiving"

Paul gives a pep talk to the elders of Ephesus. These are the last words he will speak to them face to face. He is confident he will ever see them again. At this point he does not know that he will write them a letter in about 10 years. Since he does not know what will happen in Jerusalem, he is not making any promises about the future. We might do well to adopt this philosophy as well, since our lives are in God's hands, we cannot know for sure what the future holds. James suggests that we tack the phrase, "If the Lord wills," on to more everything we say because we will only be able to accomplish something in the future if God is with us.

Paul became introspective with the elders and tried to share with them the things he believed would do them the most good in the future. Keep in mind, these were the people he had spent the most time with during his ministry other than his traveling companions and possibly the believers back in Antioch. He reminisced a little, talked about the calling to share the good news, the coming of false teachers, the need for confidence in the grace of God, and the need for generosity in dealing with others.

Let's talk about the good news. The highest priority in all of life for a believer in Jesus is to live a life that demonstrates the love which we have received from Him. In our attitudes, in our actions, and in our words. I used to say that there is no other book in all the world that will benefit the reader more than the Bible. If I had only one book to read, it would be that one. Paul sums up the words of the Bible and message of the good news by saying, "the need to repent to God and believe in Jesus as the Messiah and Lord." The real purpose of our lives is to become more like Jesus and to help others come to know Him. As some have summed up the Christian life in a slogan, "To Know Him and to Make Him Known."

Paul felt a responsibility for the salvation of mankind and wanted to share the good news with as many as possible so that none would perish. He often left one town and headed to another so that he had a fresh mission field in which to sow the seed of God's grace and love. In each community he gathered a few elders and transferred to them the responsibility of shepherding the believers in that community. The good news is not just a teaching of ideas but a transformation of our lifestyle so that other people see the love of Jesus in us.

Let's talk about the pitfalls of the church, the false teachers. Staying true to following Jesus is not easy. We need one another to watch out for us and keep us focused on the path we are called to live. We need to be aware that false teachers will come, and they might even be our friends. We need to be careful that we are not too willing to accept what others have to say without prayerfully searching the Scriptures for ourselves to know what is true. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to help us discern the truth when it is spoken, but we need to have our lives trained to read and study the word of God so we might know the difference between the truth and a falsehood.

Let's talk about the grace of God. Paul takes this young body of believers and tells the elders it is their responsibility to watch over the people God has entrusted to them, reminding them that God has sacrificed His blood to purchase each one of them. They are important to him. The life we are supposed to live is a life of love and forgiveness where we see the things God has done for us and we turn around and treat others in the same way. Grace means undeserved love, we do not earn God's love, and if we are following Jesus then others should not have to earn our love. But we sometimes get this messed up and hold things against others because of what they do and how they act. If God has forgiven us our sins, what right do we have to withhold forgiveness from those who have offended us. 

And let's talk about the need for generosity in our lives. Paul suggests that we do not need to covet what others have, but to thankfully accept what God gives us. Paul reminds us of his hard work to provide for his own needs helping us understand how we need to work for a living and be satisfied with what we have. He even helps us understand that our excess is not just so God can provide a lavish lifestyle for us but so we will have what we need to share with those around us who are truly in need. The message of Paul, when it comes to money and provisions is simply the teaching of Jesus, we "gain more blessing in life by giving than by receiving."

These four ideas were the things on Paul's heart as he headed towards Jerusalem. He wanted the elders of Ephesus to keep these things in mind as they led the small church. Of all the things Paul could have taught about, it comes down to living a life of accepting the generous grace of God and passing it on to others.

36 When he finished, he got down on his knees and prayed with the elders. 37 They could not stop crying and hugging Paul, 38 being grieved by the fact that this would be the last time they would see each other. They would not stop until he got on the ship to set sail.

I bless you in the name of Jesus with a heart full of grace, knowing all that God has done for you, and a generous spirit as you share all you have and are with those around you.

 

Edd Breeden