16 Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.
17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. 18 When they arrived, he said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. 19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. 20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. – Acts 20
I have been waiting for this passage since we started our chronological journey through the new testament. This passage changed the course of my entire life. Specifically, verses 22 through 24 convinced my soul that I should go into ministry.
I was 19 years old in Guatemala. We were serving local college campuses by performing gospel presentations and service acts. The summer long journey included many Sundays of worship in Spanish. My Spanish is barely conversational, but it most definitely is not at the level to follow a fiery preacher speaking Spanish. So during each sermon, I would read a different book of the bible (the sermons in Guatemala are fairly long, 50+ minutes). I chose that morning the book of Acts.
A lot has happened by the time we get to chapter 20 of the book of Acts. Jesus gave the disciples His Holy Spirit. Peter preached the first gospel. The church experienced exponential growth. Paul was converted on the road to Damascus. Now, Paul is leaving his Asian portion of mission work and heading towards Jerusalem. Here he calls the leaders of the Ephesus church and tells them of his departure.
This could not have been easy for Paul. Paul invested so vigorously in the life of the early church. Ephesus would have been during his “prime” years of ministry (so to speak). It would have been easier to stay. It would have been comfortable, but Paul understood his journey was specific. He understood his role as an evangelist and missionary. So it came as no surprise to him when the Holy Spirit “compelled” him to go to Jerusalem.
We can focus on the “compelled” portion of this text, but I believe the real meat in the text is in Paul’s understanding of his calling. This text changed my life because the Holy Spirit revealed through this passage that my calling was bigger than anything I could imagine. Do you believe your calling to God’s kingdom is big or small?
Many of us today believe our calling is facility-focused. In other words, our calling to Christ is about going to church and participating in church events. For many years this was THE way of living out faith in America. After losing our facility for three months, I believe we all see that our calling is much bigger than a building. Our calling, like Paul’s, is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone we can. No building is required. Are you ready to partake in your bigger than imagined calling?