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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot. When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Chios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus. Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.
From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them:
“You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”
“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
Acts 20:13-24
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
What’s most important in life?
It’s a question I think we all ponder, even if only indirectly.
Jesus seemed to address the matter when He said this during His Sermon on the Mount:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21
In this context from Jesus, we see that we will treasure what’s most important to us, and there are many things that compete for the right to be what we treasure.
Money. Material gain. Fame. Success. People.
These are just a few of the offerings before us.
But going back to Jesus and His teaching, we find Him caution us in regard to where we seek our treasures. For He also says this in Matthew 6:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19-20
Store up treasures in heaven. Focus on things that are eternal and not temporal. This is what Jesus is telling us is really important in life.
Fast forward now to our scripture passage for today as we continue to look at Acts, chapter 20. There we find Paul being Paul, rarely staying in one place for too long as he worked to carry out Jesus’ call to make disciples of all nations.
During this time, Paul was well within his third missionary journey and in verses 13 through 16, we find him spending a lot of time at sea, port hopping from Assos to Mitylene to Chios to Samos to Miletus. We read where his ultimate destination was Jerusalem and because he was in a hurry to get there, he decided to bypass pulling into Ephesus and summoned the elders of the Ephesian church to join him in Miletus instead. This is because he had a message to share with them, a message we will start to look at today as Paul shares his heart and what he sees as most important in his life. Look again at his words here:
“You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”
“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
Paul loved his brothers and sisters in Ephesus and he had dedicated a lot of time there preaching and sharing the Gospel so that Jews and Greeks alike might “turn to God in repentance” and develop faith in Jesus. But note that the Ephesians weren’t Paul’s treasure. They were precious to him but his focus was on the treasures of heaven, not on earth.
For if the Ephesians were Paul’s treasure, then he wouldn’t have been in such a rush to get to Jerusalem. He would have just pulled into Ephesus and remained there, enjoying fellowship with his fellow Christians while working to bring others into the fold.
But Paul’s attention was in a different direction. His spotlight was on the Lord and the Lord alone, no matter how challenging or dangerous that pursuit may be. In fact, he was willing to follow in the footsteps of the Savior he professed and die for the cause of the Gospel if need be. By his own confession, Paul considered his life nothing at face value. He didn’t see himself as important in the light of what God had called him to do through Jesus. All Paul was concerned with was to finish the race he was running for Christ so that He might complete the tasking Jesus had given him, the task of “testifying to the good news of God’s grace”.
Paul’s treasure was Jesus. Plain and simple. Everything else paled in comparison to his Lord and Savior.
This is what mattered the most to him in life and Christians should all follow his lead, seeking to store up treasures in heaven along the way.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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