Acts of the Apostles 20:24 NLT
I am challenged by this verse this morning as it puts everything in perspective about “Ending Well” in regards to life. Paul states that he wants to finish strong - doing the work that God assigned to him.
I think we are all subject to get distracted in life and forgetting about what is the “main thing” we have been called to do in life.
There was an elderly man at home, upstairs, dying in bed. He smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookies baking. He wanted one last cookie before he died. He stumbled down the stairs and crawled into the kitchen where his wife was busy baking cookies.
With his last remaining strength he crawled to the table and was just barely able to lift his withered arm to the cookie sheet. As he grasped a warm, moist chocolate chip cookie, his favorite kind, his wife suddenly whacked his hand with a spatula.
Gasping for breath, he asked her, "Why did you do that?" "Those are for the funeral."
As you read these words in Acts 20, it sounds like Paul didn’t expect to be around much longer. He was thinking about possibly exiting this world. (As you read the rest of Acts you will discover that this was the case - his time on earth was coming to an end). When you leave this world, how would you like to leave?
A few days before his death, Dr. F. B. Meyer wrote a very dear friend these words: "I have just heard, to my great surprise, that I have but a few days to live. It may be that before this reaches you, I shall have entered the palace. Don’t trouble to write. We shall meet in the morning."
Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission, in the closing months of his life said to a friend, "I am so weak. I can’t read my Bible. I can’t even pray. I can only lie still in God’s arms like a little child and trust."
Leaving this world is not particularly a nice thought, is it? How would you want to leave this world if you had a choice? You would probably want your family with you, to love you, and comfort you as best they could.
I once had a elderly lady make an appointment with me. When she came in she basically said, “I know my time on earth is soon to be over and I want to take care of all my affairs before I do.” She then proceeded to give me a bunch of envelopes to be passed out to friends and family of her last wishes and thoughts. She died that week in her sleep.
HOW WOULD YOU WANT TO LEAVE THIS WORLD?
Let’s think about how Paul was going to leave this world and how this applies to our exiting this world.
1. He Wanted To Exit While Serving The Lord
“I have done the Lord’s work humbly and with many tears. I have endured the trials that came to me from the plots of the Jews.” Acts of the Apostles 20:19 NLT
Paul served the Lord with great humility and tears. Life is tough and living the Christian life can be tough but it pays eternal dividends. We should always serve the Lord in humility because He is the one who gives the ability to serve. He alone deserves the glory for the good we do.
General William Booth, the founder of the salvation Army, had lost his eyesight. His son Bramwell had to tell his father there would be no recovery. "Do you mean that I am blind?" the General asked. "Yes, this is apparently so," his son replied. The father continued,"I shall never see your face again?" "No, probably not in this world." "Bramwell," said General Booth, "I have done what I could for God and for His people with my eyes. Now I will do what I can for God without my eyes."
That’s the humble attitude of a true servant of the Lord. I will do whatever I can do with whatever I have or don’t have.
Some Christian people think they can’t serve because they can’t teach a SS class or play the piano or sing a solo. But that’s not true. There are many ways to serve the Lord and we all need to find out how we can serve!
Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s, once appeared on the cover of their annual report dressed in a knee-length work apron, holding a mop and a plastic bucket. Here’s how he described that picture: “I got my M.B.A. long before my G.E.D. At Wendy’s M.B.A. does not mean Master of Business Administration. It means Mop Bucket Attitude.”
If Dave Thomas had a servant attitude for Wendy’s then what attitude should we have for the Lord’s church?
The great violinist, Niccolo Paganini willed his marvelous violin to city of Genoa on condition that it must never be played. The wood of such an instrument, while used and handled, wears only slightly, but set aside, it begins to decay. Paganini’s lovely violin became worm-eaten and useless.
Use it or lose it. Serve or decay. It’s your choice.
Every Christian should serve in some form or another. Have you thought about how you can serve the Lord? And can you think of a better way to leave this world than by serving the Lord in some form?
How do you want to leave this word? Sitting in front of the TV or serving someone? Jesus came to serve!
2. He Wanted To Exit While Preaching Strongly
“I never shrank back from telling you what you needed to hear, either publicly or in your homes. I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.” Acts of the Apostles 20:20-21 NLT
John Wesley used to ask his young men whom he had sent out to preach on probation two questions: "Has any one been converted?" and "Did any one get mad?" If the answer was "No," he told them he did not think the Lord had called them to preach the Gospel, and sent them home.
Apparently, Wesley thought that when the Holy Spirit convicts people of sin, they are either converted or else they don’t like it, and they get mad.
John Wesley preached his last sermon of Feb 17, 1791, in Lambeth on the text "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near" (Isa 55:6).
The following day he was very sick and was put to bed at his home. During the days of his illness, he often repeated the words from one of his brother’s hymns: I the chief of sinners am, But Jesus died for me! His last words were, "The best of all is, God is with us!" He died March 2, 1791. AND THAT’S HOW JOHN WESLEY LEFT THIS WORLD.
Just because we age it doesn’t mean we should give up or give in or quit serving and stop preaching.
3. He Wanted To Exit While Be Compelled By God’s Spirit
““And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.”
Acts of the Apostles 20:22-24 NLT
Paul was compelled by God’s Spirit. What a way to live and to die! Paul was compelled, perhaps meaning He was filled and moved by God’s Spirit. What dominates and controls your life? What moves you in life?
At a busy dental office one patient was always late. The receptionist called to confirm an appointment, and he said, "I’ll be about 15 minutes late. That won’t be a problem, will it?" The receptionist said, "No. We just won’t have time to give you an anesthetic." He arrived early.
Motivation makes a difference in life. That patient was moved by the fact that he didn’t want to experience pain if he could avoid it. WE UNDERSTAND THAT.
What moves you in life? What cranks you up and turns you on? What fires you up for the day? What keeps you going?
It’s like the bumper sticker: "I owe, I owe, so it’s off to work I go." Debt is a pretty good motivation for working.
What motivates you in life? Money? Raising your children? That’s a good Christian motivation. That is, raising your children to become decent, hard-working people and most of all, to become Christian people. THAT SHOULD BE A BIG MOTIVATION IN LIFE!
“For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;”
II Corinthians 5:14 NKJV
Acts 20:22 says that Paul was compelled by the Holy Spirit. What about us? Or are we even aware that God’s Spirit lives within us and is at work in us?
Who’s in control of your life? Who moves you to do good, to serve? Or are you motivated at all? If you are not motivated to serve in some form then you perhaps you need to question your faith!
If you are not sensitive to God’s Spirit, to His leading in your life, then something is wrong! If you are not have a “compelling from God” you might possibly be completely out of God’s will in your life.
I want to live this life in such a way that I am serving and preaching and listening to the Holy Spirit’s wooing in my heart. When my time is up and want to say that exited with great class and style and that I was filled with God’s Holy Spirit in my life.
How about you?
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