Paul’s Life Testimonial

Acts 20:17 – 38

Let us study Paul’s life testimonial written in Acts 20:17 – 35 to become imitators and a model (1 Thessalonians 1:6 – 7).

Paul said to the elders of the church in Ephesus (expressed as “us” in the following summary):

From the first day and always (18), Paul

• served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of his Jewish opponents (19).
• has not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to us but have taught us publicly and from house to house (20).
• has declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus (21).
• considers his life worth nothing to him; his only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given him—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace (24).
• declares to us today that he is innocent of the blood of any of us (26) because he has not hesitated to proclaim to us the whole will of God (27).
• instructs us to
  • keep watch over ourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made us overseers (28^a)
  • be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood (28^b).
  • be on our guard! Remember that for three years he never stopped warning each of us night and day with tears (31) because he knows that …
    • after he leaves, savage wolves will come in among us and will not spare the flock (29).
    • even from our own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them (30).
• commits us to
  • God and to the word of his grace, which can build us up and give us an inheritance among all those who are sanctified (32).
• has not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing (33). We ourselves know that these hands of his have supplied his own needs and the needs of his companions (34). In everything he did, he showed us that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (35)

Then, he knelt down with them all and prayed (36). They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him (37). They accompanied him to the ship (38^b).

Reference

The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011). (2011). (Revised and updated edition.). London: Hodder & Stoughton.

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