Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, and we are in the Book of Acts chapter 20, and Dave, we are going to pick up with verse 16.Acts:20:16For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.
See All...:“For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia:for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.”Well, Dave, we’ll get started with that, what is the hurry to get to Jerusalem?

Dave:

Well, I’m not great on celebrating certain days and so forth, but the church was very young.It couldn’t have been more than, I don’t know, 30 or 40 years since—I don’t think it was probably even that many, maybe 25 from the birth of the church. So this is fresh in their minds, I mean, something really special happened.

Tom:

Dave, would you say the birth of the church, would you say Pentecost was the birth of the church?

Dave:

I think so, you know.Jesus said, I will build my church, and He said, I’ve got to go away, and if I go away, I’m going to send the Comforter, and He will lead you into all truth.So, it says that the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself the Chief Cornerstone.If we think of the church as a body of believers that are functioning with Christ as the Head. It seems to me that Christ really got enthroned at that time.Christ had said, Tarry in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit has come upon you.So, I would say that really that would be the initiation, or the beginning of the church, and it was a very special day.I mean, not that it had some, that we needed to remember it and have some special sense about it.

Tom:

Or spiritual efficaciousness, right, not at all.

Dave:

But this was really something, because Christ had risen from the dead, He had gone to heaven, and He said, I am going to send the Comforter. And you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit, and you will be empowered to be witnesses for me from Jerusalem to the uttermost parts of the earth.So I would say that this is what Paul had in mind, and he’s been gone for a long time, and he wants to be back with the saints, who, by the way, are living people, not dead for a while then—

Tom:

Canonized individuals.

Dave:

Right, by the church of Rome.So, I can understand his sentiment, although he loved the people at Ephesus, and he had spent three years there.So, he’s going to call the elders from Ephesus.

Tom:

Verse 17:“And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.”

Dave:

You know, the Bible, I don’t know the geography. I’d have to get out a map and look at it, but they say, Well, this was written centuries later, the critics—we’re getting so much geography here, names of places and the distances between them, and how would you figure this all out?How fast can a sailing vessel make it, and how far is it from Miletus to Ephesus?I don’t know, but it couldn’t have been that far.Maybe he sent someone ahead who cold get there faster than a ship could get there, I don’t know, maybe there was a shortcut.But anyway, it does say that from Miletus he sent, so it couldn’t have been all that far. But again Tom, you couldn’t have written these things if you were writing it centuries later. If it was a phony book like they try to tell us.

Tom:

Or a book that just has things that are spiritual, that are just platitudes, moral ideas, and we can interpret them any way we want.No, this is history.Luke is the consummate historian, and certainly under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but this is history.

Dave:

Yeah, and it’s very, very interesting for that reason, and for many other reasons.

Tom:

Verse 18:“And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons.”

Dave:

Now Tom, let me just go back for a second, because this is really interesting to me.Were there schedules for these ships?These were, I don’t think they were passenger liners, these were cargo vessels.

Tom:

In one case, I remember grain ships.

Dave:

That was the one that sank, it was ship wrecked.How does Paul know that there’s going to be another one going?He had some schedule, he had some idea because he’s got to get somewhere at a certain time.He doesn’t have much time with the elders from Ephesus, and there again, it’s interesting.I don’t want to offend my friends out there, but it doesn’t say anything about a pastor, he sent for the elders.The Bible seems to teach plurality of leadership, not, Tom, in some church today, we’ve got a dictator, really. One man is running the whole show.You wouldn’t get that idea from the Bible. We’ve gotten letters from people who can’t reason with the pastor, and the pastor says, it’s my way or the highway. You know, you don’t like the way I’m doing it, go.

You don’t get that from the Bible.On the other hand we need to have leadership, and I believe Paul is writing the Book of Hebrews.But anyway, Obey them that have the rule over you, there must be some authority in the church under Christ as the Head.And Paul said, Follow me like I follow Christ, so we would expect, whether it’s the pastor, whether it’s the elders, whatever you want to call them, we would expect that these are men of God who are following the Lord closely and are leading the flock to follow as they follow.So now Paul says, You know what manner I have been with you at all seasons—end of Verse 18.Paul can point to his life and say, Look, I didn’t preach anything that I’m not living, and that I wouldn’t want you to follow me as I follow Christ.

Tom:

Dave, I think about the apostle Paul and his life.Let me underscore that with Verse 19:“Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews.”In other words, his life was always— people were after him, persecution, they wanted to kill him.

Dave:

Tom, one of the first things we need is a little humility, and I joke because sometimes people say:Oh, you seem to be so humble.I say, humble, what are you talking about?Can you imagine a couple of worms being humble?I’m less than a worm—if we knew how great God is, I mean, humble is some kind of a joke, but it reminds me—

Tom:

Well, when we think we’ve got it we get proud, that’s the problem.

Dave:

That’s right.Well, I remember, as I have mentioned, I remember being on my knees praying for humility and probably got it, and the next thing I know I was proud of I was so humble!So Tom, our hearts are deceitful, but I remember a dear man, an elderly man, he was a traveling evangelist, very proud.Well, I won’t go into the details but we had him for dinner, for Sunday dinner and I won’t go into the details of that.But anyway, as I took him to church that evening where he was going to speak, I said, Here’s a book I would like to give you.He looked at the title:Humility by Andrew Murray---Now Tom, you know that book, it’s a classic, fantastic.

Tom:

Folks, if you want, it has some really true Holy Spirit led conviction in your heart about your life.That book just destroyed me, Dave, and I’m thankful for every word in it.

Dave:

Amen.Wow, he would not take that, in fact, he was insulted that I would dare to offer him a book like that!Well, serving the Lord with all humility of mind—why?Because we are serving the Lord, you can’t get proud about serving the Lord.With many tears—we have to come back of course to this verse—tears?Well, later on in the chapter he says he wept day and night for three years— Temptations that befell him by the lying in wait of the Jews.They are all against him, but Paul is going to remain true to the Lord. And praise God that he did because he’s a great example for us.