Following Paul, through his life and through his letters, is a mighty big task. There is so much to learn, to see, to experience through the words of Scriptures. This study has opened these parts of Scripture up to me, for me, in a whole new way. I've read these verses, these books, many times before but never like this.
I can picture Paul bent over his scroll writing his letters, agonizing over the things he is saying, hurting for those that he once walked and talked with, possibly trying to figure out which of them has a true faith and which only confessed with their mouths but now live in the midst of the true believers.
Not all that long ago my husband said something about the many professing believers and then he said something else, I don't remember his exact words to the first part but I sure remember them to the last part. He said something like, 'I'm glad the Lord knows which ones of them are his', and then he said, "because I sure can't tell".
Could Paul? Did he know which ones seemed to profess a faith that wasn't a real faith, a faith unto salvation? Or did he worry over them, agonize over them, question himself time and again if this person or that was a true believer?
I don't know the answer to those questions. We will never know and I don't suppose it's important, at least it wasn't important enough to make it into Scripture.
And here we take up with Paul again. He has just finished his letter, instructing, encouraging, chastising, and he sends it off with Timothy, telling the recipients to put Timothy at ease and let no one despise him for he 'is doing the work of the Lord, as I am'.
After writing that letter to the Corinthians, Paul traveled through Macedonia to Greece, teaching and encouraging. It was on this trip that Paul revived a young man that fell off a building and died. This great miracle is covered in one paragraph in Scripture. How much attention to such a huge miracle would our human minds give to such a happening today? How many news articles would be written? How many times would it be shared on social media? And yet, in Scripture, the greatest words ever spoken this miracle is given one paragraph, and in reality only part of that paragraph is about this young man's death and resurrection.
Paul continues to travel, this time by boat. Scripture almost skims over the many places he is visiting. We are left to our imaginings, if we think of them at all, to figure out if Paul was received gladly in these places or if he was run out of each town.
While in Miletus, he sends for the elders of Ephesus, and tells them another one of those tidbits of information that could be so easily overlooked but again gives us great insight into Paul's life. He says, '...from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying...of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.'
Paul tells them that he served the Lord with 'humility' and with 'tears'...he cried over his work, over these people, over the Lord. He also says that he taught them repentance and faith in Christ. He gave them the same gospel that the disciples gave, the same gospel that Christ gave. He taught them what was 'profitable' but those teachings were not the profitable things of this world. He didn't teach them how to get rich or how to have a bigger house or a better job, he taught them what was profitable in Christ.
This wasn't the gospel being taught in so many 'churches' today, a gospel that puts personal happiness, comforts, and desires above Christ, this was a gospel that led people to Christ.
Just after telling the men from Ephesus that tidbit of information that gives us so much insight into Paul, he goes on to tell them, 'I am going to Jerusalem...not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me...that imprisonment and afflictions await me'. He knew what was coming his way. He knew that prison was waiting for him, knew that hard times were waiting. Was it hard for him to press on in his travels? Was it hard for him to continue to teach knowing that prison and difficulty were coming his way? Whether it was or not, he continued in his travels.
And he continued to teach the men from Ephesus, as well as us. Paul goes from telling them that prison and afflictions awaited him, to telling them, '...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'. He even goes so far as to tell them that he knows none of them will ever see him again.
And, oh, what he goes on to tell them...
Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 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. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;
So much insight is in those verses, so much information. He did not shy away from telling them the Truth, he delivered the Gospel to them, he tells them what will come their way, foretelling their future as well as his own. Paul was a man with so much insight that he could even tell the future. He knew what was coming not only his way, but their's also.
...and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Here, he even tells them that they are not all true believers, that some of them will begin to say...to teach...twisted things, things that are not the same as what he taught them.
Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.
How well we could take these words to heart and apply them to our lives today. I recently saw something on a reformed site that said something to the effect of how 'Christians' today cannot distinguish true, Scriptural, teaching from false teaching because they do not know enough of Scripture to know what is true and what is not. They are not alert, they do not seek after the things of Christ...night and day. This is what Paul did, but he sets an example for us, teaches us, instructs us, in so many things. Night and day he admonished them with tears. He cried over them, he corrected them, he kept them on the path they should have been on.
A while back my husband spoke of people that cannot seem to hold onto their faith without a crutch. They need someone, or something, in order to believe and when you take that someone or something away...they flounder, some even turn from the faith they claimed to have.
These men that Paul is speaking to seem to be that way, or maybe it is the whole of the called out ones, of 'the way', that are that way. Paul says he 'did not cease night or day to admonish' them. Was Paul what kept these people in their faith? Without him did they loose their faith? He now seems worried enough about them to have sent for them, had them come to them, so that he could speak to them one last time. He didn't send them a letter this time. He had them some to him in person. And it's in person that he is warning them of what is about to befall him and them.
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.
He tells them that he is leaving them in the hands of the Lord.
I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 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.’” (Acts 20)
Here, in what must have been some of his last instructions to them, he reminds them of how he worked, how he did not want the things they had but worked to provide for not only himself but for others too. He reminds them that it's better to give than to get, all at the same time as he tells them that he worked to provide for himself and others.
After that he prays with them after which they accompany him to the ship. They have said, or soon will say, their final goodbyes, all knowing that they will never see each other again. How hard was it for Paul to leave these men behind? How hard was it for them to let him go?
These men that have, up till now, always known that Paul was around should they truly need him. They could send for him or write to him for words of wisdom or to settle a problem. They now know they are completely on their own.
To be continued...
I'm going to stop this post here, not so much because I want to, but because I feel that this is the right place to stop. This part of Paul's life has given me great insight into the knowledge that Paul had. It has shown me that he was not only performing miracles but also that he was foreseeing, through the Holy Spirit, the future. I need time to reflect on this and feel, for that reason, that it is best to stop here. I do not feel that this post is as long, or as in depth, as some of my other posts on Paul's journeys, but I feel as if I need to take some time here to just think and ponder on what I have learned in these verses.
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