How Not To Depart Without Being Desired
2 Chronicles 21:18-20
Acts 20:17-38
Will you be missed when you are gone? The Apostle Paul spent 3 years with these believers in Ephesus, and they were saddened by the fact he was now going to leave them. Paul had led them to the Lord, and now he is leaving them.
They must have watched with tears streaming down their faces as he ascended the ramp to the ship. He would be sorely missed.
Will you be missed when you are gone? Will it affect the church? Will it affect the offering? Will it affect your Sunday School class? Will a ministry suddenly be in need of a new worker to take your place?
Now these Ephesians must carry on for God without Paul. Now don’t follow man, because he’ll let you down. God can move a man to another place, but God is always the same. He never moves. He never changes.
Sometimes I hear people say to me, “Preacher, I missed several weeks and no one called but you.” [That’s not really an indictment on the church as much as it is on them. I’d to admit that I can miss and not even be missed.]
Apparently, some people don’t leave any holes to fill. Just try it at work sometime……miss work several days, and don’t call in, and see if you are missed. If you are doing your job, then you’ll be missed when you stop doing your job!
Paul left a big hole in the hearts of these dear friends; as a result, he was missed. Will you be missed when you are gone? Are you missed now when you are absent from the services?
I. Paul was missed because of the MANNER of his life (17-20).
Paul had left quite an example for them to remember and follow.
A man once purchased a car. “What is it?” asked a friend. “It is not a ,” he answered. “It is a horrible example.” However, Paul was an example to emulate.
A. He set an example of lowly service.
Paul had served with all humility. He had always taken the lowly place. Paul was a servant of others. He was faithful in his service.
You‘ll be missed if you are a faithful servant. However, if all you do at church is SIT, SOAK, and SOUR, yet never SERVE, you won’t be missed!
A husband who is faithful to his wife part of the time is not faithful at all.
Don’t be like the little who suggested to her sister that they should play church. Her sister answered, “Alright, but let’s play I am absent.”
B. He set an example of godly sorrow.
They had seen his frequent tears. He had wept over their sins. He had wept with them over their sorrows. He had gone forth weeping bearing precious seed.
Show me a person who is tender-hearted in their caring for others, and I’ll show you a person who will be missed when they are gone! There’s something attractive about an unselfish, caring person.
C. He set an example of patient suffering.
The Jews had been the plague of his life, persecuting him continuously.
See verse 23,24.
II. Paul was missed because of the MESSAGE of his life.
Whether we’re missed or not, we’ll all be remembered for things we have done or said.
See Acts 20:20-21. By lip and by life, by exposition and by example, Paul’s message was made known. Paul was known for proclaiming the gospel. A church used to have as their motto: “Famous for the Gospel!”
Adrian Rogers died several months ago, and at his funeral the preacher asked the congregation what Dr. Rogers was famous for saying, and in unity they all said, “Come to Jesus!”
An evangelist preached a revival and on Sunday he preached, “You must be born again.” Again on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday he preached the same “You must be born again.” Someone asked him why he had preached on that all week. He said, that’s simple: “You must be born again!”
What matter most to Paul was getting the message of the gospel out! See verse 24. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16).
A. Not ashamed of the content of the gospel
The gospel came of divine presentation (Galatians 1:11,12) and concerns a divine person.
You can not preach the gospel without preaching Jesus Christ.
B. Not ashamed of the intent of the gospel
C. Not ashamed of the extent of the gospel
III. Paul was missed because of the MOTTO of his life.
See verses 33-35. We all have a motto Maybe you’ve put it into words or maybe not. Your motto is what motivates / compels / constrains / drives you. Paul’s came from Jesus himself. Look at the end of v. 35 - “it is more blessed to give than to receive.”
A pastor was preaching away to his congregation about their need to move forward and to do great things for God, and he said, "Church, if we are going to start moving forward as a church, we’ve got to walk." A deacon sitting in the front row, said, "That’s right preacher, let the church walk."
Then the preacher said, "After we walk, we’re going to have to run." The deacon again supported the pastor, saying, "Yeah, preacher, let it run."
The preacher then said, "After we run, it’s time to fly." The deacon shouted, "Let it fly, preacher, let it fly!"
The pastor then said, "Well, if the church is going to fly, we need to take up an offering." The deacon then shouted, "Let it walk, preacher, let it walk!"
There are some givers in life, and there are some receivers in life. The receivers eat better; the givers sleep better. I not only want you to sleep better, I want you to live blessed.
It is the givers that are remembered and missed and not the receivers!
A. A general blessedness insinuated
If it is MORE blessed to give, then it is only logical to believe that there is some measure of blessed in receiving. I don’t know of anybody who does not enjoy receiving.
B. A greater blessedness enunciated
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.” This was one of the Lord’s proverbs, part of the common knowledge of the Christian community in Paul’s day, doubtless derived from the oral teaching of the Lord’s disciples and nor recorded elsewhere. Not everything Jesus said and did is recorded in the gospels. John says that world itself is not big enough to contain all the books that could have been written about the Lord Jesus; but written or not, this statement was part of the word of God and Luke incorporates it as sun here.
Jesus’s life was one long example of giving, and Paul’s was a close second.
There is an epitaph that illustrates that the greatest honor is in giving. In Warwickshire, England an epitaphs reads:
Here lies a miser who lived for himself,
And cared for nothing but gathering pelf.
Now where he is how he fares,
Nobody knows and nobody cares.
I am reminded of a poem that says;
Not what I get, but what I give,
This be the gauge by which I live.
Not merely joys that come my way,
But the help I give to those astray.
Not the rewards of money or fame,
But the loads I lift in Jesus in name.
This be the pay at the end of the day,
Not what I keep, but give away.
Conclusion:
Paul is leaving them at Ephesus, and they begin to weep because he is going to be missed. He will be missed because of His manner, his message ,and his motto.
Will you be missed when you are gone?
