Loving Christians
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2017 · 1 October 2017
Acts 20 gives us an exciting insight into the ministry of Paul. And we now see the love that he had for the church people. Paul said in Ephesians 5:1, "Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for it." But that also was Paul's testimony. Jesus gave Himself to redeem the church; Paul gave himself to serve the church. In redeeming the church, Jesus died. In serving the church, Paul also died.
Paul had a tremendous desire to see the church be what it ought to be. So that whatever the will of the Lord became the will of Paul also. You know it is when we fall in love with Jesus in the truest sense that we begin to want what He wants. 1 John 5:1 says, “Everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.” It is spiritual maturity to love with Christ those whom He has made believers.
And we need to learn how to submit our wills to Him. In Ephesians 3:20 Paul said, "now unto Him that is able to exceed abundantly above all that we could ask or think according to the power that works in us." In other words he says to all Christians, you ought to really be moving out powerfully. You ought to be fulfilling your potential and Paul saw God glorified when the church was maximized in terms of its potential.
Paul lived and suffered and died for the love of the church. In Colossians 1:24, he said, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” In other words, I suffer in the place of Christ; I take all attacks of the world meant for Jesus willingly for the sake of His church.
And Paul’s goal was the perfecting of the saints, to bring them all full maturity that they might honor God and therefore Jesus be satisfied. If the goal of the ministry is not for the love of the church to see the saints brought to the place where God is glorified in their lives, then you have a perverted goal. If a man approaches the ministry for the love of his own ego, then he has the wrong goal.
If you really love the believers, then you will know they need you to minister to them, to be grown up. The ministry of gifts is for others. My gift only becomes effectiveness when it is given to you. I care that you grow up and that Jesus is honored in your life. Paul loved the church enough to die for the sake of the preaching of the gospel and the nurturing of the saints.
Now Paul is on his third missionary tour. He is in the same area of eastern Mediterranean generally that he had been previously. And he was going further west to Asia Minor and to Macedonia, then to Achaia where Corinth was. He planted churches all over the place. And this time he has companions with him for almost three years. But it is coming to a close because he is leaving Ephesus.
Paul is going back to Jerusalem then from there he wants to go to Rome and from there to Spain. And so there is a feeling through this passage of finality. And you sense that when farewells come along there is love that rises to the top. And so we see a series of goodbyes and farewells all through Acts 20 as Paul goes back toward Jerusalem.
Now as we look at these 17 verses, we see six different things here that express Paul's love: his affection, his giving, his teaching, his persistence, his availability and his concern. We saw last week that Paul's love is revealed in his affection. Verse 1, “After the uproar was ceased (the riot of Ephesus), Paul called the disciples to himself and embraced them.” But the usual custom was a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Today, we see somebody hug, and it is over. But in those days there was time for people to talk and there was fellowship. And in Acts 20:37 it says, “Then they all wept freely, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him.” There was something about Paul that endeared him and people could affectionately touch him, embrace him and kiss him.
There should be such an affectionate feeling toward every person of God. There must that kind of love in your home with your children. It is good for them to be able to show their affection. When kids grow up in homes where parents are gone, the child does not know the meaning of physical love. Five times in the New Testament the church has commanded us to demonstrate its affection physically. Ii is important for us to demonstrate our love.
Secondly, Paul's love was demonstrated in his giving. He was all over the place collecting offerings for the poor saints at Jerusalem; verse 2 says, “Now when he had gone over that region and encouraged them with many words, he came to Greece.” Imagine it took him close to one year to collect all that.
We can tell a man's love by his sacrifice. Paul during most of his ministry earned his own living by making tents and working with leather. And he didn't ask for anything while he was busy seeking to meet the needs of others. He was a selfless and a giving person. What's the opposite of love? Always being egotistical.
Now this principle is illustrated in 1 John 3:16 when it says, “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Genuine love then is defined in terms of supreme sacrifice. And Jesus is the standard. Notice there is a moral obligation when it says, “And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” That is the supreme sacrifice of love.
Some Christians aren't even willing to give their time or their money, let alone their life. Many aren't even willing to give you their attention. Now not many of us are going to be called on to give our lives. But notice that he mentions the brethren. Many people are concerned about humanity, but they just don't like people. As CS Lewis said, “Loving everybody in general is an excuse for loving nobody in particular.”
1 John 3:17 says, “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” Don't say you love the brothers unless you meet the need of the one guy that crosses your path. Statements of love only are not enough. Verse 18, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”
Can you really say you love the brothers unless you are willing to make a financial sacrifice? 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” In other words, if you really love the way Jesus loves, you would make yourself poor to make somebody else rich.
We see his love in Acts 20, thirdly in his teaching. It was wonderful that Paul showed physical affection, and it was wonderful that he took care of financial needs. But it is most wonderful that he gave them spiritual truth, right? That's what makes them grow up to be all that Jesus wants them to be. He loved them with much exhortation, much teaching, much preaching and much encouragement.
It is a simple principle: if you really love your children, you are going to teach them. Whenever I see an unruly child, untaught, undisciplined and rebellious, I assume the parents did not love the child. They may say they love the child, but their actions show the opposite. For if they love their child, they would teach the child all the principles that will make his/her life fulfilling.
The same principle applies. If you really love the church, you will teach the church. Paul here shows us a loving ministry. He teaches the flock tirelessly, selflessly driven, not by his own desires or his own ideas, but by their need for spiritual food from God. In the early church, preaching is the key to everything. And that is true for our church too.
When Paul wrote to Timothy, he said in 1 Timothy 4:13, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” Do three things, read the text, apply the text and teach the text. 2 Timothy 4:2 says, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” That is expository preaching.
And he said, remember the day is coming when they will not listen. And we are living in that day. Many churches are far away from preaching of the cross and God's truth. One of the reasons is that there is no belief in the authority of Scripture. The second thing is the liberal theology. There are many men who preach the use of men’s reason as the final authority. They treat science as all-knowing and the Bible as false. That has done much to destroy the positive response to preaching.
Thirdly, the church has been invaded by media, materials and music. All kinds of wonderful movies and musicals and all kinds of new media things that are very good. But that cannot take over the teaching of the Word of God. And in some churches there is so much music that it takes away from the focus on the sermon. The real problem in the church isn't poor attendance; it is spiritual malnutrition.
Some churches put the emphasis on the pastor not as a preacher, but as a counselor and social worker. If God's principles aren't emphasized for your own spiritual and mental health, how can you please God? That has caused preaching to decline because now the church is identified as a community organization rather than a teaching ministry. God wants the church to be a place where you can minister.
Fourthly, we see Paul's affection also in his persistence. Verse 3, “and stayed three months. And when the Jews plotted against him as he was about to sail to Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.” Paul was in Greece which was really in the city of Corinth. Remember that he wrote the book of Romans there. And he planned to board the pilgrim’s ship at Cenchrea to go to Yerusalem, but the Jews plotted to kill him.
Well, he found out about the plot. In fact in verse 23, he admitted that the Holy Spirit had witnessed to him that in every city nothing but bonds and affliction awaited him. They did. But Paul was absolutely persistent, he trusted God. And so when he heard about this, all he did was change his route to return through Macedonia. He was going to get that money to the Jerusalem saints if it was the last thing he ever did.
He even said in Romans 15:30-31, “Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints.”
Love is persistent. Well if you really love the Lord Jesus, you will love the church against all odds, you will continue the ministry against discouragement, against persecution and against all kinds of confrontation. He went again on this long journey, this is a tired and weary man. But he would never consent to change his plans, because he believed God was in it.
Verse 4-5, “And Sopater of Berea accompanied him to Asia—also Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. 5 These men, going ahead, waited for us at Troas.” Notice that little word us. Luke the author, is back. Paul had left Luke at Philippi, now he comes back through Philippi again, picks him up and so the narrative becomes about us.
Sopater, Aristarchus and Secundus were from the Macedonian churches. Gaius and Timothy were from the Galatian churches. Tychicus and Trophimus who are mentioned elsewhere by Paul were from the Asia Minor churches. And 2 Corinthians 8 says, "Titus was from Achaia." So these are guys from different area churches with their money to give the Jerusalem saints as a token of love.
Verse 6, “But we sailed away from Philippi after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days.” He originally wanted to be in Jerusalem for Passover, but when the plot came up, he couldn't make it. So now he hopes to get there by Pentecost which was 50 days after Passover. We cannot control our plans, but God always knows what is best.
And lastly, Paul loved the church because of his availability. Verse 7, “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” He knew he had to leave the next day. After they took a break in the middle, he came back and verse 11 says, “Paul had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak and then he left.”
Look at verse 7 again, "Now on the first day of the week." Here is the first direct statement of the time when the church met. In Galatians 4:10-11, Paul says, “You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.” That part of worshipping on Saturday is gone.
Colossians 2:16-17, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” The early church met on the Lord's Day and so do we as well. May it be true of us whatever our gifts, we so love the saints that we measure that love by sacrificially giving ourselves, Amen? Let us pray.