ACTS CHAPTER 20:1-19, “From Ephesus To Macedonia And Greece And Back”

Jim Bomkamp

1. INTRO:

1.1. In our last study, we looked at the city of Ephesus and how that the Lord began to deliver many people from the occult as they turned to Christ for salvation

1.1.1. We saw how what drew the people to come to salvation was that they heard and possibly saw evidence for an incident in which seven sons of a Jewish priest named Sceva, all of whom were Jewish exorcists, decided to try to cast a demon out of a man in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches

1.1.1.1.The man ended up beating up all seven of the men and they escaped the house wounded and naked

1.1.2. We saw from this story of these seven sons of Sceva that where a person is at in their relationship with the Lord means everything when it comes to effective praying and being used by God in any ministry

1.1.2.1.We saw that Christ has given us Christians His authority over demons as we are surrendered to Him and walking as His representative

1.1.2.2.We saw that in James 4:7 that we are first to submit ourselves to God and then resist the devil, and that then he would flee from us

1.1.2.3.We must be in submission to God if we are to be able to cast out demons or be used with spiritual gifts

1.1.3. We saw how that so many then came together and in the sight of all threw all of their books of the magic arts in a big fire, and that the amount of money which these books were worth was huge

1.1.4. We saw also how that the practice of any of the occult opens up a door for Satan in our lives, and that he can then come and play his games in our lives, and that the result will be devastating in our lives

1.1.4.1.We saw how that really if we let any area of our life which is displeasing to God continue that it will be a wedge that will eventually lead us away from God, and thus we must always ask God to reveal if there is any way in us which is displeasing to Him so that we can repent of that sin

1.2. Today in our study, we are going to continue following Paul in this third missionary journey, as he leaves Ephesus

1.2.1. From the book of 2 Corinthians we learn of some events that occurred during this part of the missionary journey, but aren’t included here in Luke’s account in Acts. Paul had penned a letter to the church in Corinth in order to rebuke them (which is probably the book of 1 Corinthians) after he had learned of some things going on in the church, and Titus was to take this letter to the church in Corinth and then come and meet up with Paul back in Troas. However, when Paul gets to Troas Titus is not there, and Paul takes this as a very bad sign concerning the church in Corinth. Paul then departs and heads to Philippi and spends perhaps as much as a year there, even though in our text the duration of time is not mentioned. Then, after Titus arrives Paul realizes that things are going well with the church in Corinth and that they repented after receiving this letter from Paul, and so Paul heads to Corinth and then spends 3 months there. During that three months in Corinth, Paul writes the letter to the Romans

1.2.2. Finally, Paul begins to head towards Jerusalem in order to make it there by the Day of Pentecost, and so he heads towards Philippi in Macedonia and then he bypasses Ephesus and comes to the city of Miletus, where he calls for the Ephesian elders to come to him there, and the rest of chapter 20 then deals with his address to these elders from Ephesus

2. VS 20:1 - “20:1 And after the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and when he had exhorted them and taken his leave of them, he departed to go to Macedonia.” - Paul departs Ephesus for Macedonia

2.1. We see in this verse that the uproar in Ephesus was what caused Paul to leave the city. If you remember from our last study, so many in Ephesus had turned to the Lord from the occult and paganism, that those who made the city’s gods stirred up a huge mob which kept on chanting, ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians’. Paul wanted to address this mob which had gathered in a theatre, and the mob would have torn Paul to pieces, but the Lord saved Paul because of the wisdom and love of his friends who convinced him to avoid the mob. Then, Paul knew that he was being led to leave the city of Ephesus and continue on his missionary journey.

2.1.1. He realized that at this stage in the development of the Ephesian church it would continue in good stead in his absence.

2.2. In 2 Cor. 2:12, we learn that on Paul’s trip from Ephesus in modern day Turkey, as he headed northwest toward Macedonia, that when he got to Troas he was very troubled about something. Titus had not returned to Troas from Corinth, as he and Paul planned, after delivering a letter of rebuke to them from Paul, “12 Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia.”

2.2.1. Paul was greatly troubled for the church in Corinth because of their spiritual condition, for he loved them with a pastoral as well as a fatherly love, for they were his children in the Lord, plus he wanted them to grow up in their faith and begin walking in a manner that was worthy of the Lord to whom they belonged.

2.3. Paul saw the church as the Bride of Christ which should be pure and chaste to Jesus, Her bridegroom.

2.4. Not finding Titus in Troas, Paul crossed the Aegean Sea from Troas in modern day Turkey to the city of Philippi. The Aegean Sea is the body of water that separates Turkey from Greece and Asia from Europe, and Macedonia was north of what we call modern day Greece.

2.5. In 2 Cor. 7:5-16, Paul wrote about how that after Paul had left Troas and gone to Philippi that eventually Titus came and found him and about how that Titus had been refreshed in his faith by the church in Corinth and that he had good news and not bad, for the church had truly repented after receiving the letter of rebuke which Paul had sent to them, “5 For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. 6 But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus; 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more. 8 For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— 9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. 12 So although I wrote to you it was not for the sake of the offender, nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God. 13 For this reason we have been comforted. And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. 14 For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame; but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before Titus proved to be the truth. 15 And his affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. 16 I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you.”

2.5.1. Notice here how that the church had experienced the ‘godly sorrow’ that leads to repentence. People in the world may experience sorrow over something that they have done that they shouldn’t do, however the result of that sorrow is not repentence, it is perhaps depression or even a hating of themselves, however it is not what these Corinthians had experienced, for their ‘godly sorrow’ had produced in them a resolve to hate sin and to remain faithful to the Lord to the end, no matter what the cost. They repented ‘with no regret’.

2.5.1.1.‘Godly sorrow’ is the kind of sorrow that we in the church should have over our failures to follow the Lord and do the things that he wants us to do, it should result in the resolve to not let anything like that happen again.

2.5.1.2.Paul writes here that the sorrow of the world just produces ‘death’, it doesn’t produce a resolve to not do wrong again.

2.5.1.2.1.Sorrow for sin without knowing the grace of God just results in a spiraling cycle of condemnation in a person’s life, as a person’s conscience is constantly accusing and belittling him. This is not at all what ‘godly sorrow’ produces in a person’s life.

2.5.1.3.Notice that Paul writes that the way the church in Corinth accepted his rebuke and repented in ‘godly sorrow’ showed that they were really innocent in the matter. In other words, it showed that they really were just ignorant of the fact that the things that they were doing were offensive to God, it was not that they had hardened their hearts in rebellion against God and thus were doing those things.

2.5.1.4.‘Godly sorrow’ and the guilt that it produces is a good things in the lives of people. However, to illustrate how far off base the world is concerning understanding the proper place for guilt and remorse, I don’t know if you caught this in the news this week or not, however the world is awaiting the execution of Timothy McVeigh, the man who bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City a few years ago and is now on death row. People want to see if he is ever going to have any remorse for the evil that he committed in killing all of these innocent people in that building, especially all of the kids in the day care facility on the first floor. People are confused about how this man cannot have any remorse for this action, and there are scientists who have been theorizing what could be wrong with his brain in order for him not to feel remorse right now. There is a certain part of the brain that some supposed experts say controls whether or not someone feels guilt or not, and some are saying that that part must be damaged in his brain. Some are even trying to see if they can save his brain after he is dead so that science can learn from it and try to prevent other people from not feeling remorse for doing really bad things. The world is so blind though because they don’t realize that what caused Timothy McVeigh to do the thing that he did is the same thing that causes us to do the bad things that we do, and that is that we have a sin nature which we have inherited from Adam, our federal head, and thus we sin and do things that we shouldn’t do. What frees people from sinning is when they repent of their sins and trust by faith in Christ’s death upon the cross as full payment for their sins.

2.5.1.5.Christianity is not a lifestyle of always ‘keeping rules’ like trying to always be a ‘good doobie’ or something, rather it is a relationship with Christ through the Holy Spirit where we are constantly to let Him have control of us and lead us, and all of the things that we experience we experience with the Lord in our life. He is that best friend that is by our side in every situation that we are in and with whom we should converse freely and intimately without reserve about all that is going on.

2.5.1.5.1.God loves us just as we are, and yet He also loves us enough to be forming in us through the trials, temptations, and struggles that we go through, the very image of Christ. He is molding our character and teaching us to live a life of faith and dependence upon Him, and as we are growing in our faith and trust in the Lord, the automatic result is that our character is changed and we begin to walk more and more in obedience to the Lord and his plan for our lives.

2.5.2. Notice also here that Paul says that they had ‘conflicts without and fears within’, and this is the experience of all who commit their way to the Lord and try to live for Him. Walking with Christ there is spiritual warfare which we experience and feel within us and around us, and it is only as we learn to look to Christ for help and trust Him through our difficulties that we learn to have victories in the midst of the struggles that we find ourselves in.

2.5.2.1.Paul writes in these verses here that he sometimes suffered depression, for he says that ‘God who comforts the depressed comforted us by the coming of Titus’. As we seek Him for His help, God can help us even through those dark moments of depression which we sometimes find ourselves in.

2.6. Paul had another reason for going to Corinth, and that was that he was wanting to collect a gift to take from the church in Corinth to the church in Jerusalem which was experiencing tremendous need and was now living in abject poverty. The church had planned to get the gift together but they had not followed through, so now he wanted to go there and help them to follow through with this good intention that they had. Paul had sent Titus back to the church to get this gift together. Paul wrote again in 2 Cor. 8:1-16 about coming to them to get this gift from them, “Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, 2 that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. 3 For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord, 4 begging us with much entreaty for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, 5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. 6 Consequently we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well. 7 But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. 8 I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. 10 And I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. 11 But now finish doing it also; that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. 12 For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he does not have. 13 For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality— 14 at this present time your abundance being a supply for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your want, that there may be equality; 15 as it is written, “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack.”16 But thanks be to God, who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus. 17 For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord.”.

2.6.1. Paul used the church in Philippi (Macedonia) as an example to the Corinthian church for the Philippians had given for the relief of the church in Jerusalem in faith, giving even beyond what was reasonable considering their present needs and situation.

2.6.2. We Christians often find ourselves being not good at following through with the good intentions that the Lord puts on our hearts. We think of many good things that we should do, however due to one thing, and many others that follow behind, we end up not following through and completing that which we began.

2.6.2.1.I think that one of the things that the devil has done very successfully with our culture here in 21^st century America is that he has placed so many things in the fast paced lives that we live in the fast lane, that our lives are so cluttered up that we are busy with many things that really are not essential to our life. Unless we are diligent to make sure that we follow through with our commitments, our good works as Christians end up mostly being good intentions with little or no works attached.

3. VS 20:2 - “2 And when he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation, he came to Greece.” - Paul exhorted the brethren in the churches as he traveled over to Greece

3.1. We see that Paul was constantly visiting churches that he or someone else had already planted. He sought to impart some spiritual insight or ministry to the churches so that he could know that they were healthy spiritually. We can see Paul’s heart for the continued growth of each church in his writing to the Romans, in Rom. 1:8-11, “8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, 10 always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. 11 For I long to see you in order that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;”

3.2. We Christians ought to love the brethren as Paul loved them, and if we do then we will be constrained by His love to encourage and build up our brothers and sisters. Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica expressing his love to them thusly in 1 Thess. 2:8, “8 Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us”.

3.2.1. As Paul, we too ought to pour out our lives into the brothers and sisters that the Lord brings into our life.

4. VS 20:3-5 - “3 And there he spent three months, and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia. 4 And he was accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus; and by Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. 5 But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.” - Paul spent three months in Greece, however he left when he discovered a plot against his life, and he began heading back to Troas

4.1. The three months that Paul spent in Greece were spent primarily in Corinth, and then after yet another persecution broke out against him he departed by going north along the eastern coast of Greece up to Philippi in Macedonia.

4.2. There were groups of Jews around during the time of this third missionary journey who had made a pact that they would make sure that Paul was killed. Luke records that Paul stayed in Greece for three months, and that once again a plot was uncovered ‘against him by the Jews’, so as a result Paul altered his course so that the multitude wouldn’t be likely to capture him. Instead of going to Syria, he instead headed toward Macedonia.

4.3. We find out from these verses that several men were traveling with Paul during this third missionary journey. Luke records the names of the men who were accompanying Paul: Sopater of Berea, Aristarchus, Secundus of the Thessalonians, Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. Luke records that these men had gone ahead of Luke, Paul, and perhaps others, to Troas.

4.4. We see again that Luke was also traveling with Paul on this third missionary journey, for in verse 5 Luke begins again using the words ‘we’ and ‘us’ as he is now once again united with Paul in this third missionary journey.

5. VS 20:6-10 - “6 And we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days. 7 And on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to depart the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. 8 And there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. 9 And there was a certain young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor, and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down and fell upon him and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.”” - When they had sailed from Philippi to Troas, at the Sunday service Paul was preaching until late in the night, and a boy named Eutychus fell asleep in the window sill and fell out of the building onto the street and was killed

5.1. Remember the first time that Paul was in Troas? It was during the second missionary journey, and it was in that city that Paul had the vision of the man from Macedonia crying out to him for help. He then left and went over to Philippi where Lydia was converted along with the jailer. Paul also met Timothy there at Philippi at that time, and then Timothy began to travel with Paul.

5.2. Luke seems to have recorded the stopping at Troas in order to tell one particularly interesting story.

5.3. Luke records that the church was coming together on Sunday, ‘the first day of the week’. This is another incidence of the church meeting each week on this day on which the Lord rose from the dead, and not on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath day.

5.3.1. This is perhaps the clearest passage in all of the New Testament in showing that the early church was in the habit of meeting not on the Sabbath, but on the first day of the week.

5.4. Luke records that the purpose of this meeting of the church on Sunday was ‘to break bread’, in other words to observe the “Lord’s Supper”. Jesus had commanded the apostles to observe just one rite on a regular basis, and that was the “Lord’s Supper”.

5.4.1. The early church may have celebrated this once a week or more.

5.4.2. We see from the first letter to the Corinthians, that the church would have a “Love Feast”, potluck style, and observe the “Lord’s Supper” as part of that. This seems to be what is happening here.

5.5. Since the apostle Paul had come to visit the church, they asked him to teach on this evening, as they had come together to celebrate the “Lord’s Supper”. But, the apostle Paul kept on teaching and preaching way into the night, and fatigue grew upon many there.

5.5.1. Many of the Christians of this day were slaves and worked very hard all day, and then they were free to leave and go to church in the evening.

5.5.2. This man Eutychus fell asleep in the window sill and fell outside to his death. However, Paul ‘went down and fell upon him and the Lord used him to heal this man and raise him from the dead.

5.6. In case any of you think that I tend to go on and on in teaching the Word, you should have been sitting under Paul’s ministry?!

5.6.1. The Greek word that is used here for Paul’s having ‘kept on talking’ implies ‘going on and on and on’.

6. VS 20:11-12 - “11 And when he had gone back up, and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12 And they took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.” - They went back upstairs, shared the Lord’s Supper, and then they talked until daybreak and Paul and the group departed

6.1. Unbelievably, after Eutychus was discovered to again be alive, the church went back up to the loft where they had been meeting, and they celebrated the “Lord’s Supper”, and had a meal together. Then, the apostle Paul picked right up where he was in his teaching and preaching where he had left off before the lad fell to his death, and he continued teaching and preaching to the church until the sun came up the next morning.

6.1.1. Luke records that the people left with the boy ‘alive’, and they ‘were greatly comforted’.

6.1.2. The church in Troas knew that they would not see Paul again, so they wanted to make the most of their having him present with them, and so they were willing to talk and fellowship with him even until the sun arose the next morning.

6.1.3. We in the church today ought to have a love and hunger for God’s Word as the early church had. So many in the church today cannot endure a preacher’s sermon if it lasts more than twenty or thirty minutes. This is a sad commentary upon what is really valuable in the life of many church-goers today.

6.2. Primarily, what a Christian needs in order to grow spiritually after becoming a Christian is the teaching of God’s Word. We ought to seek to be under solid Bible teaching always as Christians so that we can grow up in our faith.

6.3. How much God can use us as His instruments in this world is proportional to how well we know God’s Word.

7. VS 20:13-16 - “13 But we, going ahead to the ship, set sail for Assos, intending from there to take Paul on board; for thus he had arranged it, intending himself to go by land. 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. 15 And sailing from there, we arrived the following day opposite Chios; and the next day we crossed over to Samos; and the day following we came to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus in order that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.” - Paul sought to go to Jerusalem by Pentecost, and he decided to journey by land, but the rest went by boat

7.1. In these verses, we see Paul traveling from place to place as Luke is trying to establish primarily two things.

7.1.1. Paul was intending if at all possible to make it to Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost, as he hoped that this day might lead for him to another prime opportunity to preach the gospel to the Jews in the synagogue.

7.1.1.1.Paul had such a burden for his brethren to know Christ that it often led him to unnecessarily risk his life in order to preach the gospel to them.

7.1.1.2.Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans that he wished that he himself could be cast into hell, if doing so meant that his countrymen, the Jews, would be saved.

7.1.2. Paul had intended to pass by Ephesus, yet since he knew that he would see them no more, he wanted to give the elders a final farewell address.

8. VS 20:17 - “17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.” - Paul bypassed Ephesus and came to Miletus, and from there called for the elders of the church in Ephesus to join him

8.1. Paul wanted to make sure that he made it to Jerusalem by the Day of Pentecost, and thus he didn’t want to go to the city of Ephesus for he knew that in doing so that many people would be breaking his heart begging him to stay and continue to lead and teach them.

8.2. Paul also wanted to address the leadership of the church, and what we have in the rest of this chapter is Paul’s addressing of the Ephesian elders.

8.3. This address of Paul’s to the Ephesian elders is very significant because it is the only address recorded in the book of Acts in which Paul makes to a church, all of his other addresses are in preaching to unbelievers.

8.4. In this chapter, we see that the Ephesian elders are called by two different terms:

8.4.1. presbyteros

8.4.1.1.This word is translated as ‘elder’, and it was used in the Jewish culture to refer to older men and even civic leaders such as governors or mayors of cities.

8.4.2. episkopos

8.4.2.1.This word is translated as ‘bishop’ or ‘overseer’.

8.5. One thing that we see in the early church is that they were not caught up with titles for leadership, nor did they covet to have titles, for these terms for leaders seemed to reflect not their titles so much as what the works that they performed. In the church, elders and leaders are supposed to be appointed as a recognition of the fact that a respective man has been performing in respect to that role of leadership, and thus it is the Lord who has raised up that man to a position of leadership, it is not man who has appointed someone to a position of leadership.

8.6. In the next verses that follow this verse, we see that Paul begins to talk with these Ephesian elders about the relationship that had been developing between he and them, and the implication is clear that it is this relationship that has been built up between them that is the basis of the authority that they allow him to have in the church. This is really how leadership should work in the church. Leaders are not to demand submission nor lord it over the flock, but rather the people are to recognize the authority of leadership in their leaders and willing submit themselves and the church to their leaders.

9. VS 20:18-19 - “18 And when they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;” - Paul discusses with the Ephesian elders the relationship which has been built between he and them

9.1. Ken Ortiz, on a recording of a message that he preached once, mentioned that he had just finished reading the book, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. He mentioned that he did not recommend that people read the book because following it would drive people crazy. I concur. He mentions though that in the book that the author mentions something that is a profound insight. Kobe, the author, studied everything that he could get his hands on in the libraries about what in the last 200 hundred years of our country was considered to have made for success. What he discovered was that for 150 years success was based upon character ethic, and things like working hard, being honest, being frugal, being loyal, etc. However, in the last 50 years a subtle and then significant change occurred. What replaced the ‘character ethic’ upon which success was based was ‘success based upon the personality ethic’, and this was reflected in two primary ways:

9.1.1. The ‘Positive Mental Attitude’ ethic

9.1.1.1.This is about the fact that if you just think it and believe it you will get it.

9.1.1.2.You can achieve your dreams and fulfill your desires in this way.

9.1.2. The ‘Public Relations Approach’

9.1.2.1.If you can sell your image you can get what you want and fulfill your goals.

9.1.2.2.People stopped caring about what they were in reality and worried only about what people thought that they were.

9.2. Ken pointed out that the church has really bought into this ‘personality ethic’.

9.2.1. The leaders in the church today are more concerned about selling the church, and all of the external wrappings of the church than they are in becoming true men of God.

9.3. I like Ken Ortiz’ definition of ‘character’, he says, “it is what we are when no one else but God is around”.

9.4. What God wants us as Christians and Christian leaders to focus our attention upon is living our lives in such a way that we will be pleasing to the Lord. What God thinks about our lives is really what matters. The secret to church planting and being an elder and leader in the church is just focusing upon being in fellowship with Christ and allowing Him to do the work that He wants to do in our lives. What is important is just our simple obedience. It’s that we die to ourselves and that we allow Christ to live and love and move through our lives in all of the ways that He wants to do that. This was the type of leader that Paul was, and in his address to these Ephesian elders he first reminds them of his character and heart to live his life in a way that is pleasing to the Lord.

9.5. In these verses, we see that Paul reminds them of three things concerning the character which he has established with them:

9.5.1. Paul reminds them that he was a consistent example

9.5.1.1.In virtually all that he did his character was consistent, as he reminded them of how that these things were true of him as he was with them the ‘whole time’.

9.5.1.2.We Christians ought to strive to be consistent in our walk with the Lord. An inconsistent witness to people can undermine in moments what had taken years to establish.

9.5.2. Paul reminded them that he served ‘the Lord with all (or great) humility’.

9.5.2.1.To serve the Lord with humility means that we do not require any public recognition of the good things that we do, and that we surrender our own goals and grandiose plans that we have for our lives to the Lord and are content to be His slave for life.

9.5.2.2.To serve the Lord with humility without a doubt we will experience ‘humiliations’, and this word for humility can also be translated as ‘humiliations’.

9.5.3. Paul reminded them that he served the Lord ‘with tears’.

9.5.3.1.Paul cared so greatly for the people’s welfare that he “wept with those who wept”, and he wept over the sins that were committed by those in the church.

9.5.3.2.Part of the life of someone who serves the Lord wholeheartedly is that he will be brokenhearted at times because of the grief that he experiences when people rebel against the Lord and the love that He has for their lives.

9.5.4. Paul reminded them that he endured patiently and joyfully the trials that the Lord allowed him to go through.

9.5.4.1.These trials were the instruments through which God molded Paul’s character and therefore he counted them all joy when they occurred, for the trials he experienced allowed God’s work to be more complete in his heart.

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