Acts 20:17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. The successive scenes in Paul's life are fine studies in character. Paul at Athens shows us the man of adaptation; Paul at Corinth, the man of affairs; Paul before Agrippa, the man of opportunity; Paul shipwrecked, the man anchored; Paul in prison, the man free. Here at Miletus we have the man with a good record. Let us look at — I. HIS PRIVILEGES. 1. He can look his old friends in the face (ver. 17). There was not a man in Ephesus who could make him hang his head. 2. He can fearlessly refer to his past (ver. 18). There is no braggart air. It is the honest confidence of a man content to have his record scrutinised, in the full belief that it will be his ample vindication. 3. He can confidently forecast his future (ver. 22). The goodly retrospect justifies a goodly prospect. His past is prophetic of his future. "A good record" tied to our past does not give us title to heaven. Jesus Christ alone can do that. But it is a mighty help to confidence in the genuineness of the title. II. HIS FIDELITIES. 1. To the Lord (ver. 19) — to Him first of all. There is no fidelity to other interests while there is infidelity to Christ. It was his Master first, men afterward, himself last and least. 2. To the truth (vers. 20, 27). He was as unswervable in his devotion to the truth of Christ as to the person of Christ. We may dream of fidelity to Jesus with a quiet rejection of some truth of Jesus, but it will be only a dream. The Son of God and the truth of God are one. 3. To men. Fidelity to Christ and truth ensure fidelity to men. Paul could call these elders to witness that he was pure from the blood of all. It will pay to get these three fidelities unmistakably into our record. Christ without truth is a phantom Christ. Truth without Christ is a body without a soul. Duty to men with no Christ and no truth of Christ is keeping to the low level of the moralities. III. HIS CHARACTERISTICS. We will find them balanced and harmonised in couplets. 1. Faith and action. Paul entered Ephesus trusting in God. For three years he withstood its idolatry and its rage, and turned the city upside down, living the life he lived in the flesh "by the faith of the Son of God." With the same trust he was ready to go to Jerusalem, unmoved by the "bonds and afflictions" that awaited him. But how he tied his faith to deeds! James wrote that "faith if it hath not works is dead, being alone." And this is sometimes quoted as if he and Paul were not agreed. But look at this restless, ceaseless, mighty toiler at Ephesus, Corinth, Athens, Rome, Jerusalem, harnessing "works" to faith. 2. Humility and courage (ver. 19). When humility is at its best it most magnifies God. When courage is at its best it most magnifies God. That is the Divine secret of their harmony. They come together at the foot of the cross. 3. Tenderness and conscientiousness. There was a wonderful pathos in this man's nature. He has been misjudged by the sentimentalists who count him cold and harsh because he would tell the whole truth. But how did he tell it? Like his Master, "with many tears." And yet his conscience kept his tenderness from mawkish weakness — kept him from mutilating truth through mistaken notions of love. He told men, even weeping, "that they were the enemies of the Cross of Christ."Conclusion: 1. A good record is rather to be chosen than great riches. "He left a large property," is one comment on the dead; "he left a good record," is another comment. There is an infinite difference between them. Let us not wait for the practical recognition of this truth till we come to look death in the face. It will be too late then. 2. Some things must be in the man before the best things can go down in his record. The quality of doing depends on the quality of being. Every man is the artificer of his own fortune, because every man is the builder of his own character. 3. To have our record worth looking at, a joy in memory, a welcome prophet of the future, and something we need not blush for when confronted with it either here or hereafter, we must have it stamped with fidelity to Christ, to truth, to men — these three. Treachery to either is treachery to all. (Herrick Johnson, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.WEB: From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to himself the elders of the assembly. |
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