05-24-2026 - SAYING GOODBYE AND THE WARNINGS SENT - Acts 20:17-32

 MESSAGE BY PASTOR ROB INRIG

      FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC

I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy ( Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G,   Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J.  Magda- Laci M.  Gloria F, Miguel A H. Silvia H, Manuel D, Brianda M, Alejandro M, Natalia M, Oscar ND, Juan Carlos V.   Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; And for those who have departed and are in eternal sleep, waiting for you to come, and with joy they will live eternal life with you. 

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can add names from family and friends who need prayer

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Many years ago in a church I pastored, 2 individuals began attending who were particularly destructive, their regularity was to constantly complain and tear down.  Few avoided being the target of their unhappiness.  After some time dealing with them, I asked the Board to step in and deal with them.  Gordon MacDonald in, Ordering Your Private World described people like these as VDPs, Very Draining People who consume 80% of your time and energy.  These are ones who claim time but shouldn’t be given time once it becomes apparent they have no intention to change.  I am thankful to say over the years, I’ve had very few who fit this description.  I note this to speak of the high value in having those will step into the hard places.  

In business, leadership is about who occupies the corner office.  In sports, it’s the visual impactor of the game.  In politics, it’s the one in the media spotlight.  In some of those things, there are often the accompanying perks of position - some good, some not.  There’s the first class flights, the best accommodations, the front and center promotion, the authoritative voice listened to.  Leadership often wrapped up in accomplishment and ego.

We all have our images of what effective leadership looks like as well as the type of leadership we are willing to follow. We also have places we’re naturally drawn to when we think of who best fits our definitions of leadership. Yet I think it’s important to widen our understanding of leadership beyond  what we typically think.  That all here this morning have been placed in some level of leadership, though we rarely see it that way.  Simply, leadership isn’t so much positional as it is relational.  It’s about influence.  It’s about decision-making.  It’s about courage.  It’s about choice.  It’s about making a difference in the life of that friend, that group, those people.  Leadership is not reserved for a special few but for each one of us, wherever we are.  

It’s to people in Ephesus that Paul writes, reminding them to lead by standing strong, not in the position they occupy but in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the armour of God.  Leading in the places they’ve been called. The context here?  Paul’s announcement he is leaving them.   

Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And when they came to him, he said to them: You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ:17,21.

His departure means that these leaders are suddenly thrust into a place they didn’t see coming.  But in his leaving,  he gives them a description of who they are to be that is radically different from  everything they’ve seen around them.  This picture of leadership as followers of Jesus is not about elevation but demotion - a far cry from perks  and power.  These qualities quiet.  There’s no podium, no powering over, instead servanthood that messages grace.  Coming alongside, leading with demonstrations of grace that are seen not just spoken.  Servanthood with tears and trials so the truth of Jesus is made known - He alone worthy of our praise.  As John the Baptist rightly says, He must increase, but I must decrease.  He who comes from heaven is above all  Jn 3:30,31. 

In our time of celebrity, these words forgotten.  With humility, Paul’s serving is filled with tears, trials and attacks - the attention given to the One he serves.  

Paul’s message is grace but it isn’t grace that omits hard truth in order to make it acceptable to what his listeners want to hear.  Instead prominent in what Paul says is repentance.  Where in repentance we bow rather than elevate;  in repentance we confess rather than cover; in repentance we admit rather than deny. Because repentance means acknowledging our wrong instead of covering over the reality that we are far less stellar than the selfies we present.  

But for those who have placed our faith in Christ, repentance tell us - we are forgiven in Christ.  Forgiven and made new.  Our sin not counted against us.  Our rescue is given in Him.  Our hope is guaranteed in Him.  Our forever life is paid and secured in Him - our sin but God’s grace.  

As Christians, we need to always keep front and center the good news we’ve been given that Jesus brings rescue - even to those we think undeserving.  He's doing what we can’t. He sees what we can’t. He's doing what we won’t. Jesus, having done the unimaginable, laid aside His glory to take on your sin and mine to accomplish our deliverance.  

This is the message Paul speaks to all who will listen, even going from house to house. But now  Behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me  :22,23.

I can’t even begin to comprehend Paul’s courage.  It’s one thing to be sitting in a safe place, reflecting on the past.  The whips on the back, the stones that almost brought death, the prison doors that slammed shut, but Paul can’t relegate these to the past because he’s been told more awaits.  The Holy Spirit has made it clear that imprisonment and afflictions are ahead, their appearance certain. In this, does God give him reminder that he as a persecutor has has brought these things upon God’s people?  As he describes himself, I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted His people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.  1 Tim 1:13-15  

And yet now here he is, willing to do whatever it takes to win people to Jesus.

If this were Jonah, I’d guess he might be booking passage out of there.  Not Paul.  He is mission focused no matter the cost.  Because he lived for another.  The message Paul gives is the gospel of grace.  Generally when we think of God’s grace, we think of His love, His care, His protection, His going ahead of us.  But for Paul, the reality of God’s grace is never far from him as he thinks of God’s rescue and how his life was changed.  That’s why he can say,                

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God  :24.

The mission of God’s grace experienced by Paul and faithfully carried to us, so we too can know all we’ve been given in Jesus.  We partakers of His kingdom.  We also to be a people on mission so our families will know Jesus, our coworkers will know Jesus, our friends will know Jesus.  In a world of hurt, in a world of anxiety, in a world uncertain of where we are and where we’re going - grace.  That Almighty God loves us and wants us to know Him.  He wants us to be free of the things that bind us, free of the things that bring destruction, free of sin’s penalty that has sentenced us to death, but far more than death, everlasting separation from God.  Grace given to us in Jesus, who we are told did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the whole world will have life through Him Jn 3:17.   God sees us in our sin before coming to Him and sees us in our sin now - He wants us to run into Him to be set free and be transformed by His power.

What that means, though, as recipients of grace, we are to be givers of grace.  That in attitudes others experience, that in actions others feel, that in words others hear, people will know they’ve been in the presence of Grace. 

Grace, like the late Paul Leonard, told about his struggles paying his way through university.  His father died during his last year of high school, and his mother had become blind.  With her encouragement, however, he enrolled on the eve of the Great Depression.  By night, he drove a taxi, and during the day, he waited on tables in a campus dining hall.

The grace of the Lord

At lunch one day, I was serving a table where faculty members were seated. As I returned to the table with my tray held high, the unthinkable happened! I slipped on a spot of gravy on the floor and watched helplessly as the plates slid off the tray, spilling onto an especially well-dressed man, one of my professors.

My heart sank.  What could I do to atone?  I grabbed a towel to clean him up, but I only spread the mess over more of my professor’s suit.

"Don’t worry about it, young man. These things happen," was what I wanted to hear, but instead, he locked eyes with me and asked, Mr. Leonard, what are you going to do about this?

"I’m so sorry, sir. I’ll pay to have your suit cleaned," I responded.  "I don’t believe this suit can be dry cleaned,” my professor countered. "Mr. Leonard, I believe it is only fair that you buy me a new suit.”

"Yes, sir," I managed to say.

With a knot in my stomach, I agreed to meet him at a downtown men’s store the following day. I recognized the name of the store as an exclusive men’s clothier specializing in custom-tailored suits. I also knew that I could cover the expenses only if I were able to make payments over several months of work and scrimping. As I walked in the front door of the store, I grew even more apprehensive.

Oh, there you are, the   ever-proper professor remarked. He had arrived early. He already chosen the fabric and the tailor had already taken measurements.

My professor, a regular customer, had apparently vouched for my trustworthiness because the clerk nonchalantly accepted the professor’s remark, Mr. Leonard will be responsible for the bill, as I have indicated.

More than a little disoriented, I turned to follow my professor out the door. Then he stopped. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.   “Yes, sir," I responded. "It will take time, of course, but I…"

He interrupted me with words directed to the clerk, Let’s see that Mr. Leonard is fitted for a suit just like mine. And put them both on my bill.

Not only was my debt cancelled, but I received what I did not deserve. And my benefactor provided me with more than a suit and an indelible memory -  he presented me with grace.

In a fallen world, populated with selfish, lost, fearful and rebellious people, grace is the one thing we all need.  It reaches where we are and takes us to where God wants us to be.  To be people who show kindness, value and forgiveness  - why?  Not because it’s something we’ve earned, but because it’s something we have been given when Jesus forgave us.  We, the undeserving but loved by God, are called to live out what we have received.  Not fundamentally by what we do but because of who we are as the Holy Spirit transforms us to be more and more like Jesus.  All of us are called to lead out in being grace givers in the places He has us. 

This only possible when we are living in the presence of Grace.  Taking the message of God’s grace to heart —allowing the amazing truth of the forgiving, embracing and undeserved love of Almighty God to reform our beliefs and attitudes.  To allow the truth of God’s Word to indwell us.  And what does this look like?   Romans 15 encourages, We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbours for their good, to build them up. For even Christ did not please himself, but, as it is written: The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide, we might have hope.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God  Rom 15:1-7.

When we as believers live this out, lifting up the weak, building others up, encouraging, coming alongside others with accepting hearts, we as the church become an unsafe place for sin but a very safe place for sinners.  We recognize that we, like they, are sinners in need of Christ’s saving love.  We aren’t a people who look upon others with judgment but with hearts that care for the lost, who bring healing to the hurting, who with compassion speak loving and sometimes hard truth to those defeated by lies.  Not muting the need we all have for repentance, but contextualizing it as God’s loving rescue. 

People who live with gospel truth, creating a good news,  gospel culture.  It’s a culture that attracts, a culture that promises hope, real hope.  Until Christ comes, that hope is not fully realized, as one day it will be.  Disappointments will still come, pain will still invade.  Betrayals will still occur, but for Christians, the hope Christ gives will never disappoint, never fail.

It’s this message Paul leaves us with as he tells those he has come to that he is leaving, but he’s not leaving without the truth he has left with them: Behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God:25-27. 

What I have left with you is certain.   The whole counsel of God is what you are to base your life on.  Base what you believe, what you hold to, who you live for - on God’s truth, not yours, on God’s truth, not on lies, camouflaged as truth that another has told you.  

One last word as we close, Paul is driven by grace, but he is not blinded by it.  He is a realist, and as such, he gives those he is leaving an important warning. Grace does not mean acceptance of all. We do need to be and stand as people of truth, His absence will mean another’s presence for which they need to be on high alert. Predators moving in.  And for that, they need to be prepared enough, discerning enough, bold enough, and aggressive enough to ward off attacks.  

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.   I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears:28-31.

Notice the order of how they are to guard themselves - the first, Pay careful attention to yourselves.  In other words, don’t think that it’s the others that need first protection, but rather it’s those of you who lead.  You are in leadership as a pastor, you as a member of the Board, you as a father,  a mother, an older sister, a businessperson.  You are overseeing a house group.  You who lead in that group.  You have influence over another.  The principle is no different than what you are told in the pre-flight instructions, First put on your own oxygen mask before looking to others.  Because when you aren’t first guarding yourself, how are you to guard those under your care? Our kids need you to be the mom, the dad who shows them the reality of Jesus in your life.  You as a friend.  That's what you believe is far more than a habit you do, some principles you live by, or some Sunday morning service you attend. 

They need to see someone who is a follower of Christ, a recipient of grace.  Following because of love.  Following because you truly believe in who He is - yes, even in times we don’t fully understand.  A follower of God’s truth.  Following those changes, how we speak, how we act, how we respond when we’ve been wronged.  Because the flock you have been given to care for as a boss, as a teacher, as the lone Christian in a class, as a parent of unbelieving kids.  You are a member of that team or a quiet influencer among friends.  Not perfect, but knowing and following the One who is.

Doing this because fierce wolves are coming.  Their arrival certain.  Some already here, though those ones not having any appearance of what they are.  But Paul making clear that when he is gone they will begin teaching things that are wrong.  The things promoted at first appearance  will seem plausible but will take people away where they are soon following the wrong things these leaders say.  

Your voice critical.  The truth you follow evident in what others see even though you have no idea anyone else is looking.  Not a leader by position or evens words said but a leader by lifestyle.  Someone who is willing to walk against the flow.  Who is willing to not join in even when others choose to do.  Living to please Christ.  Because you’ve known His grace

And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace,

which can build you up and to give you the inheritance

among all those who are sanctified :32.

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