Acts 20:17-19
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:
TRANSCRIPT
In our previous message, we had learnt about the first record of a Christian worship service. The early believers met at a specific location in the upper chamber or upper room. They worshipped on Sundays, the first day of the week. That was the day our Lord Jesus was risen from the dead. The Holy Communion was also administered. There was the preaching of the Word of God. These were the four important elements we had learnt in our previous message.
The Apostle Paul preached, not just a short message, but he preached until midnight. Then all of the sudden, there was an unforeseen event that happened. There was a young man named Eutychus, who was sitting on the windowsill, he fell asleep and he fell down from the third floor and he died. Paul raised him from the dead and continued to preach until morning. The focus was not on the miracle, but on the preaching. From there, Paul left Troas and went to Assos, he walked all the way there and he met Luke and the other brethren. From there, they sailed to another place called Chios and then to Samos and finally they arrived at Miletus.
Remember Paul had wanted to go to Jerusalem. He brough the gifts from the Gentile churches for the poor brethren in the Jerusalem church. By doing so, he would not only ease the financial burdens of the poor brethren, but at the same time, he would strengthen the spiritual bonds between the Gentiles and the Jews in the church of Jesus Christ. He had wanted to arrive at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover but because the Jews had plotted to take his life, he had to change his plans and now he could only reach Jerusalem just in time for Pentecost, which was about fifty days after the Passover. Most likely, Paul was hard pressed for time and he decided not to visit the church at Ephesus. But even though he could not visit the church, his love and concern for the Ephesians compelled him to at least give his final exaltation to the church leaders. For that reason, verse 17 tells us “And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church.” You see, these men were very dear and close to Paul’s heart. Paul was their spiritual leader. He was the one who founded the Ephesian church. For three years, he had nurtured and taught them the Word of God. They watched how Paul had endured the persecution from the Jews and narrowly escaped the riots at Ephesus.
We have learnt that in our previous messages. These men had grown to spiritual maturity under Paul’s ministry, and he had to pass the leadership responsibility to them. So, they would play a very vital role in the Ephesian church. From verses 17 to 38, it was commonly known as Paul’s farewell speech. It was the most emotional and sorrowful speech Paul had ever given. But my friends, it is more than just a sorrowful and emotional speech because there are many spiritual lessons we can learn about the characteristics of a faithful servant of God. And this is what we want to learn from today’s message and also the following weeks. We do not want to rush through this entire passage. We want to learn from each of those characteristics. So, for today, we will only consider Acts 20, verse 17 – 19. We pray that our pastors, preachers, elders, deacons, Sunday school teachers and even parents would be people patterned after these Godly characteristics. The title of our message is “The Characteristics of the Faithful Servant of God”.
I. The Perceptibility of His Ministry (v. 18)
Our first point is “The Perceptibility of His Ministry.” In other words, the ministry of the servant is noticeable. It is something that you can observe. These elders of the church must be a mixture of ruling elders and teaching elders. Remember, there are two types of elders in the church – ruling and teaching elders. All elders are supposed to be apt to teach. But out of all the ruling elders, God will cause some to specially focus on teaching the word, known as teaching elders or pastors. If you look down to verse 28, some of the elders were called overseers of bishops. They were given the responsibility to feed the flock, so these were teaching elders. These elders of the Ephesian church had to travel a couple of days to meet Paul at Miletus. Verse 18 tells us, “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.” The elders had been with Paul throughout his stay at Ephesus, and here he was reminding them of their firsthand knowledge of his life and ministry. Notice Paul mentioned two things. Firstly, the length of time – “from the first day that I came into Asia” – so it was over a span of about three years. And the second thing he said was, his life – how he had conducted his life during this entire time, they saw, they observed. So he said “after what manner I have been with you at all seasons”.
The Chinese have a saying, ‘you can tell whether a horse if strong or not by the long distance, because in short distance every horse seems to be able to run well. It is only in the long distance that you can tell the strength and endurance of a good horse. The same goes with people. The short time you spend with a person, everyone appears to be friendly, nice, wonderful, understanding, encouraging. But as you begin to spend time with that person, that is when you will learn of the hidden strengths of that person as well as the flaws of that person, right? Basically, that was what Paul was saying, ‘you know me, from the first day I came into this city, until now, it has almost been three years, you know about me. You know how I’ve lived my life the entire time’. It was not a short period of time. It was almost three years. He had spent with the Ephesians leaders. They watched him, they observed him. A word of exaltation to all those who are serving the Lord in the different ministries of the church, this is how people will perceive us. Over time, over observation, that they will consider in our lives. They will know about us. Let’s say you are called to be a deacon, or a fellowship leader. Initially, people may question your calling, they may have doubts about your motivations, but along the way, time will reveal whether you are truly called or not. In the beginning, some people may appear to support your ministry, but they may support you for all kinds of reasons. They may want you to return their support by acknowledging them, by promoting them. When you failed to do so, they would reject you. Time will tell.
There are also people who will always watch over your mistakes, they will never remember the good things you have done but they will never forget the wrong things you have done. Time will tell who these people are. But there will always also be some people who genuinely will watch and observe you, and over time, they will be able to have a right understanding of who you really are. About your life, and your ministry and it is our prayer that all of us will be able to say like the Apostle Paul, ‘you know me, from the first day I became a preacher or a deacon or a Sunday school teacher, or a fellowship leader. You know how I’ve lived my life the entire time.’ It does not mean that we do not make mistakes. No one is perfect. We do make mistakes from time to time, when we make a mistake, we confess, repent, change our ways, apologise. But the point is that we must be genuine and faithful to our calling. We cannot be a preacher and not be willing to preach. We cannot be a deacon and not be faithful in our services. We cannot be a Sunday school teacher and not be applying what we teach the children. As people watch and observe us, they will know us.
Just as Paul said to these Ephesians elders, ‘you know me, over a span of three years, you’ve watched how I’ve liked my life, you’ve heard what I’ve taught you, you know about me’. The reason why Paul had to appeal to their personal knowledge of his life was two-fold. Firstly, he wanted them to follow his example to serve the Lord faithfully. But I believe there is something even more important than that, I believe that Paul had to defend himself against the false teachers who were trying to tear him down. If you look down to verses 29 and 30, Paul anticipated, “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” In other words, there were already false teachers in the church at this point in time. They were just waiting for the Apostle Paul to leave. Once he leaves, they would attack the flock and Paul was very concerned about that so he had to remind his Ephesians elders, ‘remember what you have seen in my life during this span of three years.’
II. The Attitude of Humility (v. 19a)
Our second point is “The Attitude of Humility.” Look at verse 19, “Serving the Lord with all humility of mind”. The word serving means bond servant, or a slave, which means Paul was a bond servant and he was a bond servant to who? To none other than his master, the Lord Jesus Christ. And has a bond servant, he must please Christ, not man. That is why Paul said in Galatians 1 verse 10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” A servant of Christ is someone who will please his master. Everyone of us in the ministry is called to serve Christ, it applies to everyone. Christians, everything we do is service to Christ and we do it to please our master, whether you are an usher or you are in the PA ministry or in the refreshment team. Everything you do, is to please your master. It does not mean that a preacher does not seek to fulfil the desires of the congregation. But ultimately, his purpose, his reason, his motivation is to serve his master. It is an honour and privilege to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, don’t you think? Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
I have friends from other churches, recently some of them shared with me about the problems in their church. Sometimes when they request certain things from their church pastor, he would say ‘I’m called to please God, not man.’ I do not want to get involved in other churches matters, so I refrain myself from making comments. But everyone of us ought to be aware, we must not use this phrase in a careless way. We must not use this phrase to get out of a situation, for example, if we are lazy, or if we are proud, or if we are unwilling to serve the Lord, and then we use this phrase, ‘I am called to serve God, to please God. Not man.’ We must never do that. For example, if the congregation wants to organise a gospel event to reach out to the local community, that is a good thing. That is not contrary to God and His word. That is in line with God’s will. If we are not able to do it for whatever reasons, we humbly explain our reasons. We must never say, ‘I’m called to please God, not man.’ We must never use this phrase in a careless way like this.
A true servant of the Lord Jesus Christ is someone who has this attitude of humility, he’s not proud. Remember when the Corinthians were arguing amongst themselves. Some of them were saying ‘we belong to Paul’ whilst others were saying, ‘we belong to Apollos.’ What did Paul say? Paul answered, ’who then is Paul, who then is Apollos? We are but ministers by whom we believe.’ You can read that in 1 Corinthians, 3 verse 5. In 1 Corinthians, 15 verse 9, Paul described himself as the least of all the Apostles. He even said, ‘I am unworthy to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the church of God.’ In Ephesians 3, verse 8, the Apostle Paul referred to himself as ‘the least of all saints.’ In other words, the least of all believers. In 1 Timothy 1, verse 15, he said “this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation” – everyone of you should accept this saying, what is this saying – “that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” In other words, Paul said, ‘who am I, I am a nobody, I’m the least of all the Apostles. I’m the least of all the believers. I’m the chief of sinners.’ And here he said, ‘I am a born servant, a slave of Jesus Christ. That is who I am.’ My friends, that is who we are as well.
If only all of us can have this attitude of humility, that we are nobody, we are the least of all the believers. We are the chiefs of sinners, only God knows the things we have done in the dark, the agendas we have, deep in the recesses of our hearts. And we are servants, born servants of Jesus Christ. That will remove all the murmuring and complaining in the church. That would eradicate all the divisions in the church. You will not have someone saying things like, ‘who does she think I am, or who does he think I am – a servant?’. Because the truth of the matter is, indeed we are servants, all of us. We are born servants of Christ.
III. The Willingness to Serve (v. 19b)
So we must have this attitude of humility, and our third and final point is “The Willingness to Suffer.” Look at the last part of verse 19, “and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews.” A faithful servant of God is willing to suffer for the sake of Christ and the gospel. He is someone who is willing to follow the footsteps of his master as 1 Peter, chapter 2 verse 21 says this, “For even hereunto were ye called” – so we were called, to do what – “because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” So just as our Lord Jesus has suffered, you and I as His disciples must be willing to suffer for His sake. Paul’s reference to serving the Lord with tears speaks of an internal suffering, not so much external, internal. When you cry, most of the time it is something that comes from within. You cry, not so much because of the physical pain, but more so the spiritual and emotional pain. Three things in particular had moved Paul to tears, three things.
Firstly, he was often in tears, if you read through his epistles, he was often in tears over the salvation of the lost. When he thought about those who are lingering outside God’s Kingdom, he was often in tears. For example, Romans 9, verse 2, Paul was crying for the Jews who had rejected the gospel so much so that he said this, let me read for you, “I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” He loved them so much that he was overwhelmed with tears every time he thought of the Jews who were lingering outside God’s kingdom, just as you and I would also cry for the salvation of our loved ones, who are still rejecting Jesus Christ.
Secondly, he was often in tears over those Christians who were weak and sinning. For example, when he wrote to the Corinthians who were living in sin, Paul said this, ‘For out of much anguish and affliction in my heart, I wrote unto you with many tears’ 2 Corinthians 2, verse 4. We all know about the Corinthian church, it was a church that was filled with sin and immorality, it was a divided church, it was a church that the people were so proud, they abused their spiritual gifts, they challenged one another, they had sexual sins with one another. There was even this man who had sexual sins with his own stepmother. And they were proud about it that they were loving enough to forgive him and embrace him in the church, even though he was living in sin. They challenged the resurrection of Christ, attacked the integrity of Paul. The Corinthians were living in sin and Paul was filled with anguish so much so that he prayed for them in tears.
Thirdly, he was often in tears over the false teachers. Remember, just know I mentioned that he said to the elders of Ephesus that after he leaves, grievous wolves would attack the flock. Paul did not just say it very lightly. You know how he said it, if you look down to verse 31, he said this, “Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.” Think about this, one year is a long time – 365 days. Every day, as he stayed with these brethren at Ephesus, he was warning them about the false teachers with tears.
My friends, soon, we may have to look for pastors and preachers, no one can serve the Lord forever. But as we look for pastors and preachers, we should not only look for scholarships and paper credentials, but we must look for men with these three things in their hearts that will move them to tears. The love for lost souls, the heart for believers who have fallen into sin, and the concern for false teachers who attack the congregation.
These three things are very vital as we look for faithful pastors and preachers. But Paul also faced external suffering, temptations, “which befall me by the lying in weight of the Jews” (verse 19), so there’s internal suffering which brought him to tears often, the three things I mentioned, but there’s also the external suffering. Paul had faced tremendous hostility and persecution from his own country men throughout his ministry. At the very get go when the Lord Jesus called him on the road to Damascus and Paul started to preach Christ in the synagogues, it did not take long for the Jew to oppose him. We have learnt this throughout his missionary journeys. At Cyprus, he faced the hostility from the Jewish false prophet Bar-Jesus, remember? At Antioch, the Jews saw the multitude coming to hear Paul preach, they were filled with jealousy, and they started to contradict the things Paul said, they attacked him and they blasphemed the things Paul preached. At Iconium, Lystra, Thessalonica, Berea, Corinth. You name it, everywhere he went, the Jews persecuted Paul. And most recently at Ephesus, after the riot they plotted to take his life. That’s what we said just now, he had to change his plans, miss the Pass Over at Jerusalem only to arrive at Pentecost.
My friends, Paul certainly was not all knowing, no man is. He did not know what is in store in the future. In his heart, he only knew one thing, the Lord had called him and he wanted to serve the Lord. That was all that mattered. So if you read the life of the Apostle Paul, every city he went into, the first thing he did was to look for the synagogue and then he would preach the gospel to the Jews. When the Jews rejected him, he would leave and preach to the Gentiles, and then he would leave that city and then repeat the whole process again. He would first look for a synagogue and preach to the Jews. When the Jews rejected him, he would take the gospel and preach to the Gentiles. He did not know what was ahead for him, he only know the Lord wanted him to preach the gospel. And as he preached the gospel, he would face persecutions, there would be sufferings. But God, who had called him, would give him the strength to endure the sufferings.
That was how he wrote, you know, he faced shipwreck, he was weak, multiple times he was put into prison, he had to face dangers from his won countrymen, from the Gentiles, his life was nearly taken numerous times. God gave him the strength. You know, as he served the Lord, with this love for Jesus Christ, he was accomplishing God’s will for his life. Just now, I mentioned how the Jews rejected him, he went to the Gentiles, but he was accomplishing God’s will. Remember, at the very onset, when the Lord called him, on the road to Damascus, God already said to Ananias, in Acts 9, verse 15, let me read for you, he said, “he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.” That was how the Apostle Paul served the Lord so faithfully, willing to suffer. He did not know what was in store for him, he only knew one thing, God has called him. And in his heart, he just wanted to preach the gospel and fulfil God’s will in his life. God, who had called him, gave him the strength to do so.
My friends, you and I do not know what is in store for us, no one will ever know. We can anticipate certain things might happen, but we can never know for sure what is in store for us in the future. But one thing we do know, God has saved us and for some of us, He has called us into different ministries, in our hearts we love Him, we want to serve Him and as we serve Him, we may face sufferings, perhaps great sufferings. It may not be like Paul or the early believers, but you and I will also suffer rejections, hostilities, animosities etc. We who are called by God will be willing to suffer for Christ and the gospel.
Some people who judge the success of a servant of God but how large the congregation is, or how widespread his ministry is, or how many degrees he has. My friends, all those things do not matter. The true measure of a faithful servant of God is these three things. When the people watch and observe your life, they must be able to see that you live your life to please your master. And as a born servant of Christ, you must have an attitude of humility, and there is this willingness to suffer for Christ. My friends, do we have these three things? Can anyone vouch for our lives? When they look and observe the way we live our lives as they interact with us, can they say, ‘I know him, the first time I saw him as a preacher, as a Sunday school teacher, as a deacon, as a fellowship leader, I saw how he lived to please his master. Everything he does is to glorify the one who has saved him.’ Will anyone be able to vouch that about our lives, and do we have this attitude of humility, or do we have this spirit of pride, that we are always right? Everyone else is wrong, and are we willing to suffer for Christ? I pray that all of us whoever you are, who are saved by the previous book of Jesus Christ, will have these three important things. That through our lives, people will know that we love our master, we live to please our master, that we are humble because we are nobody, we are the least of all the believers, we are the chief of sinners. That is how we feel about ourselves. We are but born servants of Christ, and as born servants of Christ, we are willing to suffer and die for our Lord Jesus Christ, all to the glory of His previous name. Let us pray.
Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for Thy precious Word. We thank Thee for this opportunity for us to consider this portion of Scriptures. Indeed, as we learnt from this farewell speech of the Apostle Paul, we know that it is the most emotional and sorrowful speech ever given by Paul, but yet there are many spiritual lessons we can learn about the characteristics of a faithful servant of God. So, help us as we draw valuable lessons from this passage tonight Thou has taught us, that our lives ought to be lived in such a way that people will be able to observe how we have love Thee, how we have served Thee, how we have lived our lives to please our master. And we must live a life with this attitude of humility, not a spirit of pride.
We are but born servants of Christ, we are nobody. We are the least of all the saints, we are sinners. Indeed, we have sinned and we have often times drifted so far away from Thee. Yet Thou has drawn us back into Thy fold. Oh Lord, Thou are so gracious. We are nobody, there is nothing for us to be proud, we ought to be humble as born servants of Christ. And as our Lord Jesus, He died on the cross, shedding His previous blood to save us. He is our ultimate example, we love Him and we want to serve him. Even willing to suffer for Him and die for Him, if it is His will for us. Oh Lord, may Thou work in our lives in such a way that all of us, whether we are pastors, preachers, elders, deacons, or even parents, that we will exemplify all these Godly characteristics. We give Thee thanks and we pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
SERMON OUTLINE
- I. The Perceptibility of His Ministry (v. 18)
- II. The Attitude of Humility (v. 19a)
- III. The Willingness to Serve (v. 19b)
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The End of the Second Missionary JourneyThe End of the Second Missionary JourneyActs 18:18-28
The Beginning of the Third Missionary JourneyThe Beginning of the Third Missionary JourneyActs 19:1-7
The Riot at EphesusThe Riot at EphesusActs 19:21-41
The Characteristics of a Faithful ServantThe Characteristics of a Faithful ServantActs 20:1-6
The Lord's Day Worship ServiceThe Lord's Day Worship ServiceActs 20:7-16
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The Characteristics of the Faithful Servant (Part 2)The Characteristics of the Faithful Servant (Part 2)Acts 20:20-24
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The Believer’s Conviction (Part 2)The Believer’s Conviction (Part 2)Acts 21:7-16
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Paul's Arrest at JerusalemPaul's Arrest at JerusalemActs 21:27-39
Paul's Response to His ArrestPaul's Response to His ArrestActs 21:40-22:21
The People’s Response to PaulThe People’s Response to PaulActs 22:22-30
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God's Miraculous Deliverance (Part 1)God's Miraculous Deliverance (Part 1)Acts 23:12-17
God’s Miraculous Deliverance (Part 2)God’s Miraculous Deliverance (Part 2)Acts 23:18-35
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Paul’s Defence Before FelixPaul’s Defence Before FelixActs 24:10-21
Felix's Response to Paul's DefenceFelix's Response to Paul's DefenceActs 24:22-27
Paul’s Defence Before FestusPaul’s Defence Before FestusActs 25:1-12
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Paul Stood Before King Agrippa (Part 2)Paul Stood Before King Agrippa (Part 2)Acts 26:1-18
Paul Stood Before King Agrippa (Part 3)Paul Stood Before King Agrippa (Part 3)Acts 26:19-32
A Friend In Need Is A Friend IndeedA Friend In Need Is A Friend IndeedActs 27:1-12
What Can Trials Do To Us?What Can Trials Do To Us?Acts 27:13-26
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Paul's Arrival at RomePaul's Arrival at RomeActs 28:1-16
The Story Did Not End HereThe Story Did Not End HereActs 28:17-31
