Paul’s Farewell
The
apostle Paul was leaving and, chances were, he’d never be coming back. He was nearing the end of his third
missionary journey, and as he headed back to the city of Jerusalem he decided
to stop by and talk to some of the leaders of the church in Ephesus. He didn’t want to meet with the entire
congregation, probably because he had places to go and simply didn’t have the time
to say good bye to everyone there, but he did want to give some final instructions
and encouragements to those who had been appointed to lead that
congregation. And so when the apostle
Paul met with this group of Christians in the nearby town of Miletus, he
reminded them about what he had gone through when he had been with them, he
reviewed for them the gospel that he preached, and he hinted at what would happen
in the city where he was going. He knew
that prison and persecution were probably waiting for him there, but he was
determined to go and finish his task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. And then he said to them, “I know that none of you among whom I have
gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again” (Acts 20:25).
The Christians
who were there that day, those who were brought to faith through the apostle
Paul, those who were instructed by the apostle Paul, those who would one day
receive a letter from the apostle Paul that is now included in Scripture
itself, would no longer be able to count on the apostle Paul. They would no longer be able to count on him to
visit them; they would no longer be able to count on him to teach them; they
would no longer be able to count on him even to be with them on this earth much
longer. And they were devastated. In fact, Scripture says that “They all wept as they embraced him and
kissed him. And what grieved them the
most was his statement that they would never see his face again” (Acts
20:37-38). This famous apostle, this
loyal pastor, this faithful shepherd of theirs whom they had been able to count
on for so long, was no longer going to be there for them.
They Could Count on False Teachers
Paul himself
knew this better than anyone. And he was
probably more concerned about it than anyone else too. Because listen to the warning he gives these
leaders: “Keep watch over yourselves and
all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of
the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I
leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even
from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away
disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I
never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.” Paul made it very clear to the people of
Ephesus that although they may not have been able to count on Paul as their teacher
any longer, but they certainly could count on false teachers after he
left! And it wasn’t just a possibility
that false teachers could make their way into the congregation; it wasn’t just likely
that distortions of the truth would affect the faith of some of the members; there
was no doubt! It was a fact: savage
wolves would rise up even from among their own congregation and lead people
astray. And they could count on it!
Don’t
you think the leaders of the congregation of Ephesus were a little bit scared
by Paul’s words? Some of their own congregational
family whom they currently called fellow Christians would turn against the
truth and lead unsecured sheep away from the flock! Some of their own brothers - some of whom
might have even been standing there in that group around Paul - would not only
fall away themselves but would also drag others with them! How horrifying that must have been! How heartbreaking it must have been to know
that some of those friends among you would soon become your enemies. They could count on the unity of that
congregation to be challenged. They
could count on the faith of every individual Christian there to be stretched to
the breaking point.
Count on Your
Faith Being Attacked
And you
can count on your faith being attacked just as violently. Now I’m not saying that savage wolves will
rise up from our own number and lead people in the wrong direction. I would not anticipate that happening nor
does the Holy Spirit give me special revelations like he did to the apostle
Paul so that I would know something like that.
But this is true: your faith will be attacked by false teachers, false
teachings, false ideas, and false assumptions.
And you can count on it! There
will not be a day that goes by when you are not attacked from without and from
within!
From
without the devil will hound you every step of the way. Because, to put it mildly, the devil hates
you. He hates that you’re here this
morning; he hates that you go to Bible study; he hates that you read God’s Word
on your own. He hates that you are not in
the same situation he is in; he hates that you are God’s child. And he will do everything he possibly can to
rip you away from the arms of your Savior.
And the devil doesn’t play nice; he doesn’t play fair; the devil doesn’t
abide by any of the rules of war. He’s
nasty and dirty and more vile than anything or anyone you have ever even heard
of before. He will come after you with a
spite and a rage that is unparalleled on this earth. And you can count on that.
But the
world we live in is not much better.
Because in general this world takes Satan’s side. It will throw at you temptations of such
varying colors and such varying degrees that you can easily be overwhelmed by
them all: temptations of adulterous actions and thoughts, temptations of greed,
of hate, of laziness, of impatience, of despair, of downright selfishness. And the temptations of this world can be very
subtle, can’t they? Sometimes you slip
up when you didn’t even realize that the ground under you was slanted in the
first place. And this world will not change;
it will not improve. It will keep
getting worse; it will continue to promote and push those things that are
contrary to your faith. And you can
count on it.
Don’t Count on
Your Strength
But
let’s not just blame everything outside of us.
Because the attacks against our faith are even more brutal from
within. That sinfully depraved nature in
us all pokes and prods and pulls us in the wrong direction in every aspect of
our lives. Even if the devil did not
exist, even if the world in which we live could not affect us, that sinful disease
in us has saturated our being to such an extent that it is in a constant battle
with our faith. Faith believes one
thing, our minds tell us something different.
Faith clings to one thing, our experience teaches us the opposite. Faith moves us to do one thing, our bodies
want to do something in the other direction.
And that sinful nature is inbred; it’s a virus that we cannot
shake. And so it will always harass us
until the day we die. And you can count
on it.
And so
what are we supposed to do? If we are
going to be attacked from without and from within, if we are up against the
powers of an evil angel, the entire world, and even our own selves, if it’s
never going to stop, what are we supposed to do? What were the leaders of the congregation in
Ephesus supposed to do? They knew these attacks
from the outside and from within were coming; they knew they couldn’t avoid the
enemies that the Lord had predicted. And
so where did Paul point them? Where did
he direct them for their protection and their strength and their peace? Not to themselves. Paul didn’t just say buck up, hang tough,
stay strong. No, that wouldn’t have
worked. And it wouldn’t work for us
either. We aren’t strong enough to fend
off the assaults of Satan, the weapons wielded by this wicked world, or the violent
and sometimes fatal strikes of our sinful nature. We are outmatched in every way. And so how did Paul encourage his fellow
Christians who were in the same desperate situation that we are in today? “I now
commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give
you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Count on Christ
& His Word
Paul
wasn’t going to be there for them anymore, but God’s Word would be. Paul wasn’t going to be able to lead them
anymore, but God’s Word would. Paul
wasn’t going to be able to see them through the awful times that lay ahead, but
God’s Word would. And so Paul did not
want them to count on him! He did not
want them to count on themselves or on anyone or anything else! He wanted them to count on Christ and his
Word: the only thing that was stable, the only thing that was able to defend
them, the only thing that was powerful enough to strengthen their faith and
keep them safe. God’s Word is where Paul
pointed them. God’s Word was the only
place that they could go.
God’s
Word is the only place you can go. You might
be able to go to your spouse and they might be able to help you at times. You might be able to go to your parents and
they might be able to give you an answer or two. You might be able to go to a friend, a
neighbor, a fellow Christian, or to me.
But in the end, you cannot count on those people. And no matter how much I want to say that you
can count on me for anything, that I will always be there for you, that I will
do everything that I can to make things right, I can’t. It pains me to say it, but you can’t count on
me. And I don’t want you to count on me
for your peace and strength and solidity.
The only thing you can truly count on is the Word of your Lord.
The Word
of your Lord will protect in ways that no one else can. The Word of your Lord will strengthen you in
ways that you cannot see. The Word of
your Lord will give you peace in more ways than you even thought possible. The Word of your Lord will not fail you. The Word of your Lord will not let you
down. You must, you must keep going back to it again and again: in worship, in
Bible study, in the pages of your own Bibles at home. Because when you are feeling down, where do
you need to go? Go to the Word. When you are feeling angry, go to the
Word. When you are feeling all alone, go
to the Word. When you are feeling lost,
confused, helpless, hopeless, hurt, go to the Word. The Word of your Lord is your only remedy;
everything else is just a band-aid. The
Word of your Lord is your only fortress; everything else is just a hole in the
ground. The Word of your Lord is the
only thing on which you can rely. It is
the only thing that you can count on. Because
it is the only thing that tells you about Jesus. It is the only thing that promises you
forgiveness. It is the only thing that
secures for you salvation free of charge.
I can’t
predict the future, but I’m sure that in the coming years you will have you own
share of difficulties. And this
congregation will inevitably struggle with different situations at different
times as well. And although I will do my
best to help and solve and sooth and lead, I won’t be able to do everything
that needs to be done for you. I can’t
even do everything that needs to be done for myself! And although you will strive and work and put
all your efforts into surviving a very vicious life, you won’t be able to do
everything that needs to be done either.
And so my love and my concern for you moves me, it compels me, to say with
the apostle Paul, “I now commend you to
God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an
inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” Not me, not you, not anyone else, but God’s
Word. It will build you up here; it will
take you home there. That’s the power of
his Word. And you can count on it.
Amen.
“The Lord will
rescue us from every evil attack and bring us safely into his heavenly
kingdom. To him be glory forever and
ever. Amen.” - 2 Tim. 4:18
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