Hello Again,
Read Acts 20:1-38
Instead of two devotionals today, I’ll just combine the readings from yesterday and today for us. Today’s passage gives us Paul’s hasty leave taking from Ephesus after the riot and his eventual return to the neighboring town of Miletus in order to give a more formal goodbye to the Ephesian leaders.
Paul is out of the frying pan in Ephesus and into the fire as he prepared to leave Greece (20.3). The we passages return here beginning in verses 5-6 highlighting perhaps the return of Luke to his travels with Paul after some time in Philippi.
We see a few different sides of Paul today that may surprise us. The first being that Paul was apparently not the most engaging speaker, eloquent speaker. A man falls asleep and then out a window while listening to him in Troas (20.9). For further proof of Paul’s lack of speaking skills you can look at 1 Corinthians 2:1, he doesn’t come with lofty/eloquent words; 2 Corinthians 10:10 voices some criticisms from the church, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible;” combined with 2 Corinthians 11:6 where Paul, who isn’t always the most humble person in the world and likes to list all the things he’s good at says of himself, “I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge.” Corinth of course was where Apollos had set up shop for a while and he was eloquent with words and knew the scriptures (Acts 18.24).
If nothing else, this should show us that even Paul was not gifted in every way. The Spirit gives us each unique gifts that we are called to use. Paul didn’t try to be Apollos and I doubt Apollos tried to be Paul. What are the gifts the Spirit has given you to build up the body of Christ and spread the good news of Jesus? What are the gifts you see in other people that you can encourage them to use and develop?
But we also see a tearful Paul today. Paul is uncertain of what lies ahead of him but he knows the Spirit has called him to Jerusalem. And his extended stay in Ephesus has clearly meant a lot to him in terms of the relationships he has built as the group breaks down in tears because he makes it clear he won’t see them again. Paul cares about these people, he cares about the disciples in Ephesus and the church that has formed there. I think we often view Paul as some stoic, hard, calloused person who was so focused on the kingdom of God that he didn’t really care about people, but that isn’t the picture we find in Acts 20.
Who are some people you are thankful for in how you have partnered in ministry together? How might you reach out to them this week and express your gratitude for the relationship that formed and the ministry you have done together?
Grace and Peace,
Matt