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Acts 20:36-38  PAUL SAYING GOODBYE TO THE EPHESIANS

Introduction:

	The Apostle Paul and several of his helper missionaries are on their way 
to Jerusalem to carry offerings received from Gentile churches to help the 
Jerusalem church during a time of great drought.  They have stopped tempporarily 
at Miletus near Ephesus  to visit with brethren from the church at Ephesus, who 
have met them there at Miletus.  During this visit the Apostle Paul sought to 
encourage the Ephesian Christians to be generous in their giving to help the 
Jerusalem brethren.  He reminded them of the sacrifices that he had made in 
order to preach the gospel to them.  He also reminded them that Jesus said that 
it is more blessed to give than to receive.  
	In this text when it came time for Paul and his helpers to leave and get 
on the road  toward Jerusalem, he found it difficult to leave these brethren 
because they were near and dear to his heart.  They, likewise, found it 
difficult to see him go.

I.  Paul’s prayer with the Ephesian brethren

	V. 36, “And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them 
all.”  Paul believed in prayer.  He prayed often.  But his prayer had a special 
significance at this time.  Paul had a special concern for the well being of the 
church at Ephesus.  Therefore, I am confident that Paul prayed for the church at 
Ephesus.  He surely must have asked God to bless the people of this church and 
to protect them from physical harm and from spiritual error.  He loved these 
people.  
	He must have prayed also for his own safety and the safety of his helpers 
as they journeyed toward Jerusalem.  They were carrying a considerable amount of 
money and perhaps other valuables which the churches were sending to the church 
at Jerusalem.  He knew that they would be subject to attack by bandits and that 
they would need the protecting hand of God upon them.  
	Judging by what Paul said down in verse thirty-eight Paul must have sensed 
that there would be danger for him even after he reached Jerusalem.  He must 
have prayed and asked God’s help lest that his ministry would be hindered by 
whatever would happen there.  Paul had already suffered much for the cause of 
Jesus and was willing to suffer more for Him, but he did not want his sufferings 
to hinder the work which the Lord had for him to do.  
	By leading out in this prayer, Paul surely wanted the Ephesian brethren to 
follow his example in prayer even as he had wanted them to follow his example in 
giving.  Paul wanted this people to learn to be a praying people.  He wanted 
them to learn that God is their source of help in every  trouble.  The very best 
way to teach them to pray was to pray with them in their presence so that they 
could see him and hear him and sense the earnestness of his prayers.   
	By the way, the best way to teach your young children to pray is to pray 
with them in your home.  As they hear you pray, it will teach them to pray.  The 
best way for a pastor to teach a church to pray is to pray with them.  The best 
way to teach anyone to pray is to pray with them so that they can see you and 
hear you.  
	But Paul’s prayer would do more than present his petitions to God.  It 
would do more than to teach the Ephesian brethren to be prayerful.  It would 
teach the Ephesian brethren in other ways.  Paul’s prayer would be an expression 
of his great faith and trust in the Lord.  It would teach the Ephesians to have 
great faith in God.  It would be an expression of Paul’s humility before God 
and, therefore, it would teach the Ephesian brethren  to be humble.  It would be 
an expression of his submissiveness to God.  Therefore, it would teach the 
Ephesians  to be submissive to God.  It would be an expression of Paul’s 
dependence on God and so it would teach the Ephesian brethren to depend on God.  
	Let us also note that Paul kneeled down to pray.  It was not that he 
thought that one must kneel in order in order to be heard by the Lord.  God does 
not require that one kneel in order for his prayer to be heard.  Nor did he 
kneel to impress others about him that he was a pious and devout person.  Paul 
knelt because an expression of his attitude of submission to the Lord.  It was a 
token of his lowliness and of God’s supremacy.  It was an expression of his 
awareness of his own helplessness and his total dependence upon the Lord.   

II.  Love which the Ephesian brethren had for Paul

	V. 37-38, “And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed 
him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see 
his face no more...”  The elders of the church at Ephesus were extremely upset.  
They wept bitterly.  Each one wrapped his arms around the neck of Paul and 
kissed him on the cheek.  It was customary in Paul’s day in that part of the 
world for men to kiss one another on the cheek as a token of friendship and 
brotherly love.  
	They must have feared for Paul’s safety.  If for no other reason they 
would have feared for his safety because of the sizable offering from the 
churches which he and his helpers would be carrying to Jerusalem.  There was 
always the danger of attack by bandits.  Not much of the remaining part of 
Paul’s journey would be made by foot, but at least a part of it would be and 
this would expose Paul and his companions to the danger of being attacked and 
perhaps killed.  This danger was greatly increased by the large offering which 
Paul and his companions would be carrying with them.  It pained their hearts 
just to think of the danger that Paul faced going to Jerusalem and, they must 
have also suspected that he would continue to be in danger even after his 
arrival at Jerusalem.  Yet Luke says nothing to indicate that they pled with 
Paul not to go.  They were resigned to the fact that Paul was doing the work of 
God and that he must go.  They accepted it as the will of God that he should go.  
	The Ephesian brethren set a fine example demonstrating the kind of 
Christian love that we all ought to have for our Christian brethren.  We should 
be that much concerned for our Christian brethren today.  
	V. 38, “...And they accompanied him unto the ship.”  There were two good 
reasons for them to accompany Paul to the ship.  For one thing, they wanted to 
hold on to Paul just as long as possible.  By going with him to the ship they 
would get to be with him just that much longer.  Another good reason would be to 
provide for him protection from bandits as he made his way to the ship.  They 
could not protect him from that part onward, but they could go with him to the 
ship and make sure that he and his companions were safe for that part of 
journey.  

III.  Lessons for us today

	There are several lessons for Christians today in this passage of 
Scripture.  I have already touched on some of them and I will briefly call them 
to your attention again.  The text points out the importance of prayer in the 
lives of Christians today.  Paul led the Ephesian Christians in  earnest prayer 
to God just before his departure from them.  Prayer has always played an 
important role in the lives of the people of God and it is very important for us 
Christians today.  
	Let me remind you that it has been repeatedly said that life in American 
has made a drastic change starting with September 11, 2001 and it will never be 
the same since that date that it was before that date.  I am thoroughly 
convinced that prayer is going to play a much more important role in the lives 
of Christians from this point forward.  Brethren, our whole nation needs to pray 
and each one of us as individuals need to get serious with God in our prayers.  
We are going to have to depend more and more on God as time goes by.
	Also in this message I have called to your attention the great example 
that Paul and the Ehesian brethren have set for us in brotherly love.  Paul 
loved the Ephesian Christian brethren and those brethren loved Paul.  I say to 
you that I suspect that our Christian friends are going to become more and more 
important to us as we live in these last days.  For the past several years we 
have been entering into a time when the non-Christian world has become more and 
more outspoken in their denunciation of Christianity.  But now we are entering 
into a time when the non-Christian world is becoming much more violent toward 
Christianity and Christians.  I am afraid that we will learn the hard way to be 
much more appreciative of those who are Christians.  We will treasure all the 
more our Christian friends.  
	Our text also in a very plain way points out the importance of witnessing 
to the unsaved and seeking to win them to Jesus Christ for salvation.  The 
Apostle Paul told the Ephesian brethren that they would see his face no more.  
He was, of course, talking about seeing him again in this life.  It was his 
conviction that they would never ever see him again in this life.  I might say, 
however, that there is some evidence that he was mistaken.  There is evidence in 
Scripture that after his imprisonment in Rome, he was released for a short 
period of time and that he may have made another trip to the city of Ephesus.  
	However, if he was right and they never saw his face again in this life, 
yet those Christian brethren have had the privilege of seeing him again.  They 
are with him right now in heaven.  Likewise we, too, will see our Christian 
brethren again.  We may or may not see them again in this life, but we will see 
them in a better world.  We will see them again in heaven.  
	But there are people about us who are unsaved and if we part with them 
there is the very real possibility that we will never see them again --- period!  
We may never see them again in this life and we may never see them again in the 
next life.  If they do not come under the influence of the gospel and come under 
conviction that they are lost sinners and if they never call upon Jesus and 
trust Him to save their souls, then we will never see their face again.  
Brethren, let us witness to them while we have the opportunity.