Balancing Future Goals with Immediate Needs
Acts 20:1-17
March 24, 2013
As you know we are currently studying in Paul’s third missionary journey
Here in the book of Acts.
This journey has been every bit as intense as the first two, if not more so.
• He has been beaten
• He has been imprisoned
• He has been publicly mocked
• He has been rerouted
• He has been financially strapped
• Three times he has faced a mob
And yet through it all
Paul has maintained a tremendous focus and endurance.
And in a way it is that same focus
That Luke seems to highlight for us here tonight.
Now often times when we think of ENDURANCE or PERSEVERANCE
We often equate it with some sort of STUBBORNNESS.
You know, where a person follows their dreams or their goal
And refuses to yield for anyone or anything.
That would be a selfish type of endurance,
That generally only leads to broken hearts and regrets.
Many times we have heard stories of fathers who chased the golden rainbow of career and success and financial stability only to regret it all later in life when they realized they didn’t know their children.
Or we hear a story of an athlete or musician who sacrifices everything from personal health to personal purity to achieve that goal, only to reach it and realize the utter emptiness of it.
That is not the type of endurance Paul had.
His endurance was not self-serving.
His endurance was not selfish in the least.
Paul had an endurance that focused on others, not himself.
DOES THAT MEAN HE HAD NO PERSONAL GOALS?
No, in fact last week we saw a personal goal emerge,
And we see it again this week.
But what we also see was that Paul also had a selfless mentality
That allowed him to pursue his goal without neglecting people.
I think we can all agree that this is a valuable asset to learn.
Paul continually pushed forward to follow that call in his spirit
And yet he never failed to see what was presently in front of him.
One might say, “He never lost sight of the future, but never failed to see the present.”
This passage greatly illustrates that.
SO WHAT WAS PAUL’S PERSONAL GOAL?
We actually saw it last week.
Acts 19:21 “Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”
Paul’s personal goal was a complex one.
It is important to note that even his personal goal was not a selfish one.
• He didn’t have grand visions of retirement
• He wasn’t saving for an RV to eventually take off in
• He wasn’t planning for the day when he could play more golf
Paul’s personal goals were still spiritual ones.
Namely, Paul wanted to make it to Jerusalem
And ultimately to make it to Rome.
In fact Acts 19:21 said he “purposed in the Spirit” to do those things.
This was his goal.
Now, even last week we saw that he did not instantly act upon that goal.
Even though this was his desire he still stayed in Ephesus for a while.
WHY?
Because at that time they had a riot, and certainly he did not want to flee Ephesus and leave that church at risk until the time was right.
But his goal was clear.
And hopefully as we read this passage at the beginning of this sermon that goal became evident to you as well, for we see it continually.
In verse 1 he finally leaves Ephesus and head to Macedonia and then to Greece.
He had that offering for the saints in Jerusalem that he wanted to collect,
So he first went to do that.
And then we notice in verse 3 that he “was about to set sail for Syria”
(That is Jerusalem)
Paul had collected the offering and he was ready to go to Jerusalem,
Just as he desired.
Circumstances arose and was not able to do that,
Instead he had to walk back up through Macedonia and sail back to Asia.
But even then time and time again he is trying to speed the trip along.
In verse 5 we find him sending his mission team on ahead of him to wait for him in Asia.
This is called, giving yourself an excuse to move on.
But even then he gets caught in Philippi for five days.
In verse 7 we find him in Troas, but he is so eager to leave the next day that he preaches all night long.
And in verse 11 he does leave at daybreak.
He is a man doing everything he can to get back.
Even later in verse 16 it says, “For Paul decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.”
You can see his urgency to fulfill his personal desire.
Next week we will see it again as Paul speaks to the Ephesian elders.
Acts 20:22 “And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,”
So his personal goal is obvious.
He had a plan and he really wanted to fulfill it.
HOWEVER, there is a reason why Paul continues to be delayed.
He was not so focused on Jerusalem
That he could not see the people right under his nose.
In other words he wasn’t about to neglect ministry opportunities
Right before him just to get to ministry opportunities in Rome.
And I have to say I fully understand this tension.
Weekly I have a burden that literally climbs on my shoulder, it is the burden of the sermons and Bible studies I have to prepare.
In my perfect world, I would be shut up in my office without a single interruption, free to study and prepare to my heart’s content.
But, continually preparation gets interrupted.
(Now that is not a bad thing)
• Someone will come in burdened about a situation in life…
• Someone will come in confused about what to do…
• Someone will come in needing help…
• Someone may just come in needing to talk…
Now, if I am in a particularly selfish mood I will think, “Great, here they go messing up my time to prepare, don’t they know I have to preach this week!”
But here is the reality.
• God doesn’t call us just to preach from pulpits on Sundays.
• What God has just given me is an opportunity to share His truth or encouragement with someone who has entered my office.
Now, while I have to focus on the sermon that is coming, I can’t be so busy that I don’t have time for the opportunity that just fell right in my lap.
It is the future goal and the present need.
AND PAUL BALANCES THAT AS WELL AS ANYONE.
He wanted to get to Jerusalem in a hurry,
Let me show you the things that delayed him.
There are 7 in this text.
#1 THE NECESSITY OF EXHORTATION
Acts 20:1-3a
I really love all the aspects we see about Paul in this passage,
But I probably identify with this one more than the rest.
We all know the mission Paul is on.
He is on an offering collecting mission.
That is really the only goal.
But Paul couldn’t just leave it at that.
Everywhere he goes he still finds this need to exhort the believers.
“After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and when he had exhorted them and taken his leave of them, he left to go to Macedonia.”
He knew it was time to leave,
But not without one final word of exhortation to them.
And even when he finally made it to Macedonia:
(2) “When he had gone through those districts and had given them much exhortation he came to Greece.”
And even when he came to Greece, “there he spent three months” (presumably doing the same thing)
THE POINT?
Paul was in a hurry, but he was never in such a hurry
That he didn’t have time to stop and exhort God’s church.
“Exhortation” translates PARKLESIS
“a calling to another for encouragement or comfort”
To help you understand the Holy Spirit is the PARAKLETE
(The Comforter, Counselor, Helper)
Exhortation can be seen in both a positive and negative way.
It can be a cheer to continue, or a rebuke to change.
But it is important either way.
Paul told Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:2 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
Ephesians teaches us:
Ephesians 4:11-13 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
To put it plainly, we all need those people in our lives
Who will take the truth of Scripture and use that to exhort us.
This is one of the reasons
Why assembling together with believers is so important.
God never intended Christians to have a “Lone Ranger” approach.
You know we hear this “I can worship God anywhere” quote a lot today,
And it just isn’t Biblical.
WE NEED THE EXHORATION OF OTHER BELIEVERS
Paul understood that, so even though he wanted to quickly get to Jerusalem, he wasn’t too busy to give some exhortation on the way.
The Necessity of Exhortation
#2 THE NECESSITY OF ESCAPE
Acts 20:3b
“and when a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.”
So Paul traveled through Macedonia, and down into Greece
Collecting the offering and exhorting as he went.
But now he was ready to get to Jerusalem.
He planned to sail from Greece directly to Syria (Jerusalem)
But a problem arose.
“a plot was formed”
Undoubtedly these Jews from Corinth who still hated Paul had a plan
By which they were going to trap and harm him as he sought to set sail.
This meant Paul must now change his plans due to necessity for safety.
We talk a lot about endurance and perseverance.
And when it came to preaching the gospel Paul had it.
But there was no sense facing opposition
Just for the sake of traveling where you wanted to go.
Furthermore, Paul was now carrying the offering,
And it may have been that he didn’t want to risk getting this financial add back to Jerusalem.
So we see Paul not just focused on the future,
But also keenly aware of what is going on around him.
So now Paul is turning around and traveling north back to Macedonia.
The Necessity of Exhortation, The Necessity of Escape
#3 THE NECESSITY OF EXALTATION
Acts 20:4-6
Now here first of all we see that Paul is still seeking to move quickly.
Paul had been trying to make it to Jerusalem in time for Passover,
But his attempt to sail to Syria had been foiled.
But now Paul is still in a hurry.
In fact Luke mentions Paul’s traveling companions,
But also that he sent them ahead of him to wait for him.
(5) “But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas.”
Troas was in Asia, where Paul was intending to sail to.
And the idea is that he is trying to move everyone as quickly as possible.
If his traveling party is ahead of him, he has a reason to keep moving on.
But you will notice in verse 6 that Paul still takes 5 days to follow.
WHY?
(6) “We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas within five days;”
Paul delayed because of the Passover.
“the days of Unleavened Bread” was the Passover feast.
Paul was in a hurry, but he wasn’t in so much of a hurry
That he couldn’t stop and spend time worshiping
With other fellow believers.
Jesus has given specific instructions in the upper room.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
We as believers are not confined only to the Passover
In order to take the Lord’s Supper.
But certainly for a Jew, who was used to partaking in the Passover feast, it was important to commemorate that feast, by focusing back on the death of Christ.
This would have been an important time of worship
For Paul and the Philippian believers.
(THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN EASTER SUNDAY)
And again we are reminded of an important lesson.
We all have goals, we all have ministry plans, but none of those are so important that we don’t take time to stop and worship.
We are all familiar with the Martha and Mary story:
Luke 10:38-42 “Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
It is very similar to when Mary later anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume.
Matthew 26:10-11 “But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. “For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me.”
The idea again being, that we should not get so caught up in ministry
That we fail to spend time with Jesus.
Paul understood that he was never in such a hurry for tomorrow
That he couldn’t stop and worship today.
It was the necessity of exaltation.
#4 THE NECESSITY OF EXPLANATION
Acts 20:7, 11-12
We saw in verse 6 that Paul had stayed for 7days in Troas.
And on the 8th day Paul had plans of leaving.
We also noticed that day 7 was a Sunday.
“the first day of the week”
Here is the earliest indication of the church now meeting on the Lord’s Day,
And not the Jewish Sabbath.
If we had time we could embark on a discussion here about the fact that the church is NOT under the Sabbath day commandments.
• I can give you a few quick reasons
• The Sabbath is never observed until the Mosaic Law at Sinai
• The Mosaic Law was the old covenant with Israel
• The church is not under that old covenant
• Some believers still observed it (considered weak in faith)
But we now worship in the Lord’s Day,
Commemorating the resurrection of Christ.
Here, the church is doing just that.
Now the unique thing is that Paul is in a hurry to leave
And he doesn’t have much time to tell them all they need to know.
And his options are these.
• Delay the trip
• Skip the preaching
• Preach longer on this Sunday
Paul opted for the 3rd
It was important for him to move on,
But it was also important that he feed a flock that wanted truth.
Verse 7 says “Paul began talking to them…”
The indication here is that this was not just preaching,
But rather a time of dialogue, question answering, and discipleship.
Paul would have been answering questions, explaining truth,
And instructing the believers as to how to live.
And because this was important, even though he was pressed for time, “he prolonged his message until midnight.”
As we will see in a minute,
The congregation then had a tragedy and a miracle.
But as soon as that was over:
(11-12) “When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.”
So Paul literally taught all night long.
And this really speaks volumes
To Paul’s commitment and love for the church.
Now granted if I told you that we were going to preach all night tonight, and I would let you out in the morning,
You would moan groan, probably get up and leave.
But here we have believers in Troas who obviously did not have a New Testament, and maybe even had leaders with limited knowledge.
Here was their opportunity to learn and have truth explained.
They were hungry.
So hungry in fact that they were willing and eager
To hand with Paul as long as he would teach them.
And when Paul came across that hunger, he was willing to oblige them.
Incidentally you still hear of stories like this in 3rd world countries today.
Places were Christianity is illegal, and where Bible’s and trained preachers are scarce.
The idea is because they are hungry.
These Troas believers were and Paul was not in such a hurry
That he couldn’t stop and explain truth to hungry believers.
That is a beautiful picture of his willingness to see the need of the moment, not just focus on his future plans.
The Necessity of Explanation, Escape, Exaltation, Explanation
#5 THE NECESSITY OF EMPATHY
Acts 20:8-10
Now, I expect everyone here to really zone in on these three verses.
If anyone here ever wanted to make a case
About the dangers of long preaching, this would be your passage.
That’s why we put you on padded pews, and not window sills
But as Paul is preaching, there was a young man
Who just couldn’t go on any longer. He fell asleep and fell
From a 3rd story window, and according to Luke, the fall killed him.
And really what we see here is Paul’s concern and compassion.
• Paul had plans, but he wasn’t so busy that he wouldn’t take the time to preach to people who wanted to hear it.
• And when he was preaching, he wasn’t so focused that he couldn’t stop and meet an obvious need that was occurring.
It is just a picture of him being focused on the goal
And sensitive to the present.
And then, when all was well, Paul went back to preaching.
#6 THE NECESSITY OF EVANGELISM
Acts 20:13
So by now we have seen that Paul is in a hurry,
But that he is willing to delay his personal goals for present needs.
That is still the case.
Now we have the mission team setting sail from Troas to Assos,
But Paul determines to let them sail while he walks.
It isn’t really spelled out here, but it isn’t hard to get into Paul’s mind.
When you look at a map, this would have been an area that may have never have been covered by Paul.
He had always either sailed form Troas in the north,
Or Ephesus in the south, but may have not ever covered this section.
I really think that this intentional plan of Paul’s
Must have had something to do with evangelism,
Or at the very least walking through an area to see what occurred.
And even without proving it here,
It is not hard to see in Paul’s life that the present need
To share the gospel always superseded Paul’s future goals.
One only has to go back to Philippi and listen to Paul witness to the jailor
Who was about to take his own life.
Paul knew how to put his own plans on the back burner
For the sake of evangelism.
The Necessity of Exhortation, Escape, Exaltation, Explanation, Empathy, Evangelism
#7 THE NECESSITY OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Acts 20:14-17
Now this one will most certainly be fleshed out more next week.
But again we see Paul’s urgency.
Through a series of voyages Paul finally makes it to Miletus.
And once again we see his desire to make it to Jerusalem.
(That really is the driving force behind this passage)
We have a man who desperately wants to make it to Jerusalem,
He is just so compelled for the pressing needs of the moment
That he would put it on the back burner.
But don’t assume making it to Jerusalem is no big deal to him, it is.
Here he purposely sails past Ephesus.
He knows if he stops there he will get caught there.
And Scripture is clear, he may have missed out on the Passover, but now “he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.”
He is in a hurry.
But again this is so remarkable of Paul.
(17) “From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.”
So there is Paul, he sails past Ephesus,
But he just can’t bear to not give more encouragement and instruction.
So Paul holds a little pastor’s conference there at Miletus.
He calls the elders to him,
And you’ll see next week the encouragement he has for them.
But the point is, he just couldn’t sail by
Without doing something to aid and encourage the church.
So throughout this trip you see a man in an obvious hurry,
And yet a man who was still concerned about the church
And willing to do whatever he could for them.
It is a tremendous balance.
There are many statements by Paul that really indicate
His love for the church, but the one I find the most fitting here is:
2 Corinthians 12:15 “I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?”
And you can see that here can’t you.
• He had goals
• He had plans (they were even Spirit-let plans)
• But he also had a love that would not allow him to leave the church in wanting
He was pressed to give what they needed,
Even if it messed up his personal desires.
And in doing so, I think he gives us a pretty good example.
• Don’t forget that people need to be exhorted
• Don’t forget that Christ needs to be exalted
• Don’t forget that the truth needs to be explained
• Don’t forget that suffering demands empathy
• Don’t forget that the lost require evangelism
• Don’t forget that the church needs encouragement
And obviously we could have dwelt on each of those
And sort of expounded on them, but you get the main point.
Serve Christ.
Love people.
And God will manage to work it all out.
Jesus said it like this:
Matthew 10:7-8 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.”
