Farewell to the Ephesians (Acts 20:17-38)
From the city of Miletus, the Apostle Paul sent word to Ephesus for the Elders of the church to come and see him one final time. The farewell scene and Paul’s speech is recorded for us in Acts 20. As the scene unfolds, the church leaders grieve deeply and weep because Paul tells them that none among them would ever see him again. Those words were so painful to the elders. Many of them had sacrificed to become Christians. They had suffered; they had shed blood for the cause of Christ. Now their time with the Apostle had come to an end.
Those of us who have had to say goodbye to loved ones know why the elders wept. Final moments with loved ones are very hard – as Sonja and I well know. I am reminded of a story Elder Glenn Coon used to tell about his mother. As the days approached for Pastor Coon and his wife to leave for a long stay in the mission field, his mother chose to be with them everywhere they went. She shopped with them. She slept at their house. When they went down to the docks to board their ship she rode in the car with them. She waved to them from the very end of the dock as their ship sailed past. She wanted to be with them every possible moment fearing that she might never see her son again.
It’s one thing to say, “See you later.” It’s another thing entirely to say, “Goodbye!” Goodbye has a finality to it; a blunt force trauma of “this is the end”. No doubt the elders questioned the Apostle closely. Why was he leaving? Why not stay in Ephesus where the work was going well? Why not stay and evangelize where he was appreciated, loved and supported? Why walk into the valley of the shadow of death when they all knew that it would be the end of him? No doubt Paul felt torn by a desire to stay and a desire to go. “My leaving”, he explained in his farewell to the Ephesians, “is not a matter of whim or wander- lust. The Spirit is calling me; I hear the voice of God. That is why I am compelled to leave.”
The Apostle chose to journey on because he had a dream and a destiny. He was destined by God to be a pioneer missionary and evangelist. He was not called to be a bishop who would oversee the flock and settle down comfortably into parish ministry. It was Paul’s destiny to go “where no missionary had ever gone before” (to paraphrase Star Trek). He felt the call of the Spirit to enter new territories where the Gospel was unknown. That was his destiny. His personal dream was specific. He wanted to carry the Gospel to Spain which was as far west as one could go in the world of that day. I rather think that the Apostle desired to fulfill Jesus’ commission to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. When that was accomplished, it seems likely to me, the Apostle expected Jesus to return.
We all have a destiny and a dream. God has called you to a particular destiny that will bring glory to Him and the Gospel cause. And you have a dream for your life – no doubt a dream of love and of service for others. I have enjoyed the destiny God planned for me: To serve his cause as a pastor. My personal dreams of love have been fulfilled many times over by my family, my wonderful wife Sonja, and our many church friends. Parting company with church friends over the years has been very difficult for me – as it is for any pastor who loves his or her church. I have always been in a position where I could blame the conference, “they made me do it”. This time around it has been a matter of personal decision rather than conference action and I can tell you it has been very difficult. Lancaster church has been a wonderful church to pastor; we could not have been treated any better. But with conference finances being what they are, cuts will have to be made. Pastors, like myself, who have had the great privilege of serving for many years feel the responsibility to make way for younger pastors that they too might have the opportunity of service.
There remains the matter of my personal destiny. Retirement does not end pastoral service it only frees us from the day-to-day burden of being responsible for the management of a local church. Sonja and I are optimistic as we wait to see what the Lord has in mind for us in the days to come. If the past is any predictor of the future, good days for serving the Lord will continue to come our way. You will always be in our hearts and our prayers will always include you.
Always your friend,
Pastor Rockne
PS: The word “goodbye” as commonly used does not belong in the language of Christians. For Christians there are no final partings that involve God’s people. Jesus is coming back!
