Paul's Farewell Address

Jason Shirk

Acts • Sermon • Submitted 6 months ago • Presented 6 months ago

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Introduction

History is filled with interesting last words spoken by famous people as they faced death:

“Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.”- Oscar Wilde

“Friends applaud, the comedy is finished.”- Beethoven

“I’m bored with it all.”- Winston Churchill

"Don't you dare ask God to help me." Joan Crawford

Our text this morning is Paul’s last words to the Ephesian elders. Last words are often memorable. They often have significance. Some are funny and some are completely sad. Paul’s last words to these believers reveal the ideal pastors heart.

We are skipping over the first half of the chapter not because it isn’t interesting. In these verses that have just been read to you, we see Paul visiting churches on his final tour before he goes to Jerusalem. In Troas, he preaches a long message and a young boy probably 8-14 years old falls asleep in the rafters, falls and probably dies. God works a miracle and the boy is brought back to life. The reason we are skipping these verses is because the entire purpose of this chapter is to highlight Paul’s farewell to the churches. Paul knows he will most likely not see any of these people again personally. Acts 20:25 “And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.” I want to focus on Paul’s Farewell Address to the Ephesian church because it has so much information in it that shows the heart of Paul as he finishes his race.

One of the highest priorities for Paul is that his people would be equipped theologically and spiritually to persevere after he is gone. Paul is preparing them for when he is gone. These visits were not just goodbye tours; they were about making sure his children were ready for what was going to come. He wouldn’t be able to be with them. He couldn’t encourage them any more. He couldn’t work side by side with them in the ministry any more. He couldn’t challenge them when they were wandering anymore. He was going to have to commit them to God and the elders that Paul had established in the church of Ephesus. Paul desired to leave behind healthy churches.

I am a young man just starting out in my race, but I want to have this heart for our church. Any leader ought to have this heart for those he leads. Sunday school teachers is this your heart? Do you just teach a lesson because someone needs to do it or do you want to see those children better prepared to walk with God? Parents, do you have the heart of Paul towards your children? Even those who are managers and bosses at work can have this heart.

Let’s take a look at what was on Paul’s heart as he said goodbye to a church that he dearly loved.

Paul’s Example vs 18-24

Paul developed leaders vs 17

Paul is sailing along the coastline trying to visit as many churches as he can because he is in a hurry to reach Jerusalem. As dear as Ephesus was to Paul, he could not spare the time to go and visit the church since it would take traveling inland, but Paul still had them on his heart. When he reaches Miletus, he calls for all the pastors/elders of the church to meet with him. Miletus was about 30 miles away. We see here that though Paul didn’t have time to visit, he still prioritized the development of leaders. These men were the ones who would carry on the vision and direction of the church. If the church was going to survive, Paul needed to train these men to carry on the work.

Paul reminded them of his example vs 18

As he gives them his final instructions, he reminds them of his example. The book of Hebrews 13:7 “Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.” As believers, we are actually commanded to remember those who have the rule over you. There is a lot of meaning packed into the word remember and it means more than we think it does, but it does not mean less than we think it does. It means to put your thoughts on. Those who rule are the elders of the church who govern, oversee, shepherd the flock. Hebrews makes this clear when it says that they have spoken unto you the word of God. We should remember, but we should also follow their faith. Imitate their walk with the Lord. Notice this isn’t blind faith: considering the end of their conversation. Paul wants these Ephesian elders to remember his example and follow it. What did he do?

Served the Lord vs 19 Paul was not in it for himself. He was trying to serve the Lord. He served with humility. He knew that he could do nothing without God and everything that God had done was grace. He also served with tears. This past month, I have learned more than any other what it means to serve with tears. There have been sorrows and weights that you may never know. Why would a preacher cry? Because he loves so deeply. I have seen the death that sin and carnality bring to the people I love. If I have never told you, I want you to know I love every single one of you. He also served the Lord with temptations or trials. Serving God is not always easy. Paul in another farewell address to Timothy wrote these words 2 Tim 2:3 “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”

Godly leaders should be servant leaders. They serve with humility, tears and endurance. When life gets tuff, they keep on serving.

He taught the people everything they needed vs 20 Paul says he kept back nothing. The word means to shrink back or avoid. Paul did not avoid teaching anything that was profitable to them. He wanted to ground them in everything they needed to know and do. I think there is an interesting connection here with 2 Tim 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” Later in verse 27 Paul would declare that he did not shun declaring all the counsel of God.

Paul taught in two different settings: publically and privately. I believe that a preacher has a responsibility to minister privately in the homes of people. We aren’t very good at this in American Christianity because everyone is too busy and preachers have used that as an excuse, but that is the direction we need to go. Richard Baxter an old Puritan preacher wrote a book called the Reformed Pastor which by the way was not about reformed theology but the pastors responsibility to visit his people.

Godly leader want to give the people everything they need to resist theological error, stand strong, obey God and live a holy life walking in the Spirit.

3. He preached the gospel- vs 21 Paul desired for people to be saved. That was his heart beat. In romans he would say that he wished he could be accursed so that the Jews could be saved. He preached repentance and faith. This is an aside but notice that the gospel was the same for both the Jews and the Gentiles. They did not get saved by different gospels.

4. He finished his course. Paul was faithful all the way to the end.

Paul’s Expectation vs 25-27

I will spend less time on points 2 and 4 of the message today, but I don’t want to skip over these words. Paul lets these elders know what he expects is going to happen.

He expects that he will never see them again. We don’t know for sure that Paul never saw them again, but he believes that he is not going to see them again. So these words are important to him.

That he is free from the blood of all men. Here Paul was most likely referencing:

Eze 3:15-21 “Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and h…”

Eze 33:4 “Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.”

Paul’s Exhortation vs 28-32

This is the main section that I want us to focus on this morning. Paul leaving them for the last time gave them his final charge. To these Ephesian elders Paul commanded them to Take heed, take care of, pay attention to.

Yourselves- why is it that so many preachers have fallen into immorality? i believe it is a failure to obey this first command to take heed to yourself. We can become so focused on preaching and teaching others that our relationship with God slacks off. You can’t pour into other people what you don’t have. Effective ministry is only the result of walking with God. Jesus said in John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” Fruitful ministry only comes as we abide in Christ.

All the flock- God has placed these elders over the church to take oversight of them. It is our job to look out for the flock, make sure they are led to green pastures and are not walking off some cliff somewhere. Notice here we are to take care of all the flock. I can’t pick and choose my favorites. God gave this church multiple pastors so they could effectively minister to the entire congregation because their are limits to how much one man can do. As a leader, sunday school teacher, pastor what are we supposed to do with the flock:

feed- vs 28 The word here literally means shepherd. My job as a shepherd is to take the sheep to green pastures. One thing I have had to learn is that I can’t make people eat. All I can do is faithfully lead them. The sense of this word feed does not mean force feed people. But I must put before them the good food of God’s word. In Eze 34:1-6 “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.” The church is valuable to God. It is so valuable that Jesus shed his own blood for it.

Acts Exegesis and Exposition

If the blood of God’s Son is good enough for the sheep, so is the faithful labor of his steward-shepherds for the flock God has bought.

b. Protect- vs 29-30 The Shepherd is also supposed to protect his people. The problem is sometimes the sheep do not always see the wolves. In this passage Paul warns them against wolves from without and within. How do we know a wolf? We could go into many other passages, but in this verse we are given two marks of a false teacher or a wolf: 1) they twist scripture- I don’t know if you were aware of this but every bible teacher out their including men like Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen have bible verses for why they believe what they believe. The problem is that those bible verses are twisted out of context to mean something they were not intended to mean. 2) they draw away disciples after them- the second quality of a wolf is that they lure people away from the church.

Paul has done exactly what he is telling the elders to do: feed and protect. Paul had spent three years warning everyone night and day. But there comes a point when he just has to leave it in God’s hands. vs 32 he commends them to God and to the word. If our people can be grounded in a relationship with God and in His word they will be healthy and set up to stand on their own against the wiles of the devil.

Paul’s End vs 33-38

This last section shows how close Paul and these people were to one another. Paul reminds them of his work on their behalf and how he sacrificed for them. He challenges them to look after and support the weak, but then they all pray and weep together as they say good bye.

Conclusion

This message was more of a pastoral theology and it doesn’t have the same thrust as some of my other messages have. It really is what I am striving to be like as your pastor. I want you to know that I love you, have wept tears over you. My prayer is that I have fed you the word that you need to grow in grace and that I am teaching you the counsel of God so you will be protected from false teachers. As a pastor, I fail; so I commit you to the chief shepherd.

As a take away from this message, I plead with you to follow my example where it is good and holy and follows the Lord. The rest throw out. But my heart is that every one of you in this church would be fed and healthy spiritually. What spiritual food do you need? What dangers lurk in the weeds waiting to strike the sheep? Leaders, help me feed and help me protect the flock.

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