I. Paul Willing To Separate From Loved Ones Vs. 25; 36-38
A. Why? Paul Concerned About Following God’s Will Vs. 22-24
1. Paul’s friends were dear to him
2. The Bible speaks highly of friendship
a. Proverbs 27:9,10 Ointment and perfume delight the heart,
And the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.
10Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend,
Nor go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity;
Better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.
b. Luke 7:37 Jesus- “a friend of sinners”
c. Philemon 1:1 To Philemon our beloved friend
3. As wonderful as friendship is, obeying God is our first calling
4. Matthew 8:21, 22 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
B. Why? Paul Had A Clear Conscience Re. His Friends
1. No regrets re. his friends
2. He had been faithful re. his friends
3. Wasn’t held back by unfinished business
C. Why? Paul Had Confidence In God Re. His Friends Vs. 32
D. God 1st; Family 2nd; Friends 3rd
1. Many allow their family & friends to steer them away from following God
2. Many choose family & friends instead of God.
3. We can allow ourselves to this that this is noble, even a sacred duty
4. Some people fall short of God’s will b/c of choosing family & friends over God
5. That is a real test of our love for the Lord
II. Spoke The Entire Truth To Them
A. Fulfilled God’s Call Vs. 26, 27
1. “Blood of all men”- Paul had warned everyone about Heaven & Hell
2. Their destinies would be their own choices.
3. He had given them all the truths of scripture.
4. Give your friends not what they want, but what they need.
B. Exhorted Them To Be Responsible Vs. 28
1. Good to exhort others to be responsible w/what God has given them
2. The way we do that is to be careful 1st w/our own lives
3. Take heed– pay attention to your own spiritual well-being. Have your eyes open
4. We are then fit to care for others.
5. Godly leadership flows from a godly life, not just from knowledge of God
6. Others have been given to us to care for. We have a responsibility.
C. Warned Them About Themselves Vs. 29-31
1. This warning spoke of the future failure they would have as leaders
a. They would allow wolves to enter the church V. 29
i. These men would spread false doctrine
ii. This warning came to pass in the church at Ephesus
iii. 2 Timothy 2:17 Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
iv. Revelation 2:4 “you have left your first love…”
b. Some of the leadership would go astray V. 30
i. They would fail to protect the church
ii. This must have been difficult to hear
2. Paul issued these strong statements in love V. 31
a. He had warned them with tears
b. He had warned them faithfully and regularly for three years
c. Some of you have loved ones that you tearfully warn for years
d. That is from the heart of God
e. The loved ones that we warn feel it is a hardship for them
f. How much more of a hardship for the one who warns with tears.
g. Paul loved those whose actions would break his heart
3. Jesus warned Peter
a. Peter promised to never deny Jesus
b. At Jesus’ arrest, Peter denied him three times
c. At Jesus’ empty tomb, the angel told Mary…
Mark 16:7 But go, tell His disciples–and Peter–that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”
d. Jesus lovingly restored Peter, and made him a pastor. (John 21)
D. Used Himself As An Example Vs. 33-35
1. What a blessing for us when we can point to our own lives as positive examples.
2. Paul worked while at Ephesus; he didn’t make himself a burden to them
3. Paul able to say that he had left them a Christ-like example.
III. Paul Left His Friends In God’s Hands Vs. 32
A. Paul Commended Them To God
1. Paul poured three years of his life into these people.
2. Paul knew that God was able to keep them.
3. Faith in God’s ability to keep his friends gave Paul the confidence to follow God
4. Paul put much more faith in God’s ability to keep them than in his own ability.
B. Paul Commended Them To God’s Word
1. Commend- to place beside or near, to entrust. To place in God’s hands
2. The Word of grace
3. Able to build us up
4. Give us an inheritance- God’s word leads us to Heaven with our Lord
5. Paul did not entrust these people to anything else except God and His word
IV. How To Follow Jesus In Light Of Our Friendships
1. Love God supremely. This will make you a friend who is full of Jesus.
2. You will give them what they really need: more of Jesus
3. Stay current with your friends. Speak the truth in love. Love them.
4. Be willing to love your friends enough to warn them if they need it.
5. Be an example, be Christ-like.
6. Commit your friends to Jesus now; if you ever need to leave, you will have already entrusted them to the Lord. If they follow Jesus, you will see them again in Heaven.
7. The best thing you can do is follow Christ. Then you’ll be able to give Jesus to others
Illustration
The passengers on a commercial airliner have been seated and are awaiting the cockpit crew to get them under way. A murmur is heard in the back of the plane, and a few passengers on the aisle glance back to see the pilot and copilot, both wearing large, dark sunglasses, making their way up to the cockpit. However, the pilot is using a white cane, bumping into passengers right & left as he stumbles down the aisle, and the copilot is using a seeing-eye guide dog. As they pass by the rows of passengers there are nervous giggles heard, as people are thinking that it must be some sort of practical joke.But a few minutes after the cockpit door has closed behind them the engines start spooling up and the airplane taxis out to the runway.
The passengers look at each other with some uneasiness, whispering among themselves and shifting uneasily or gripping the armrests more tightly. As the airplane starts accelerating rapidly, people begin panicking. Some passengers are praying, and as the plane gets closer and closer to the end of the runway, passengers become more and more hysterical! Finally, when the airplane has less only a few seconds of runway left, the shouts of horror fill the cabin as everyone screams at once, but at the very last moment the airplane lifts off and is airborne!!!
…Up in the cockpit, the copilot breathes a sigh of relief and turns to the Captain: “You know, one of these days the passengers are going to scream too late, and we’re gonna get killed!”
A real leader isn’t going to wait for everyone to scream. He’ll realize his own problems first and deal with it.
Saying farewell
The great preacher H. A. Ironside told of visiting a godly Irishman, Andrew Frazer, who had come to southern California to recover from a serious illness. Though quite weak, he opened his worn Bible and began expounding the deep truths of God in a way that Ironside had never heard before. Ironside was so moved by Frazer’s words that he asked him, “Where did you get these things? Could you tell me where I could find a book that would open them up to me? Did you learn them in some seminary or college?”
The sickly man gave an answer that Ironside said he would never forget. “My dear young man, I learned these things on my knees on the mud floor of a little sod cottage in the north of Ireland. There with my open Bible before me I used to kneel for hours at a time and ask the Spirit of God to reveal Christ to my soul and to open the Word to my heart. He taught me more on my knees on that mud floor than I ever could have learned in all the seminaries or colleges in the world.”