Paul begins his final missionary journey by visiting churches he planted over the years in Greece. A stop in Troas sees a young man raised from the dead before Paul continues to Miletus, where he meets with the elders of the Church in Ephesus, modeling love for Christ and His Church.
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If you made it in today without a Bible or an outline. They're just in the lobby at the table over there. We love to study the Word of God and to orient you where we are. We are in a historical book called The Book of Acts that comes after the Gospels in the Bible. You can turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 20. If you need to use the index at the beginning of your Bible, there's no shame in that. The earthly ministry of Jesus ended around 32 AD. We are roughly 25 years after that, following the ministry of an apostle named Paul. An apostle is a specially selected messenger of God, who is continuing to take the message that Jesus taught, and the message of what Jesus did and teach it all over the world. Planting and establishing the first churches in history. And the end result of the ministry that was taking place in this time is people like you and me sitting here almost 2000 years later. Last week, we saw a riot take place in Ephesus as the silversmiths, who made little shrines of the goddess Artemis, directed their anger toward Christianity for threatening their business.
In response to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Through Paul, people were turning from false gods to the true and living God in droves, and the impact could be felt in every business connected to paganism. The spirit was also stirring in Paul, telling him that after three years, it was time to move on from Ephesus and continue ministering in other places. The members of the almost entirely Jewish Church in Jerusalem were in financial dire straits because of societal persecution and a terrible famine that was affecting the region, Paul decided it would be a wonderful display of unity and love if the Gentile - that's non-Jewish - churches in Macedonia and Achaia, the region of present-day Greece, gave an offering to help their brethren in Jerusalem. And so, he set out to visit the churches he had planted in those regions to strengthen and encourage them and collect an offering for the Jerusalem believers. The Apostle John wrote about the connection between giving and loving the brethren of the church. It's on your outlines, John wrote. This is how we have come to know love.
He that's Jesus laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has this world's goods and sees a fellow believer, literally a brother or sister in need, but withholds compassion from him, how does God's love reside in him? Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth. So, let's put our first map up on the screen, and then we'll just leave it up there until we're finished studying all the way up to verse six. It says, after the uproar was over, that's the riot we read about last time Paul sent for the disciples - those are the members of the Ephesian church - encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia. In what was likely the summer of AD 55, Paul sailed northwest from Ephesus to Macedonia, which was home to churches like Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea, and when he had passed through those areas and offered the many words of encouragement, he came to Greece and stayed three months.
He then headed south to Greece, which was then the province of Achaea, likely in the winter months of AS 56 or 57, where he visited the church in Corinth, and while he was there, he wrote his famous letter to the Romans, which we have in our Bibles. There had been much drama surrounding the church in Corinth since Paul had planted it back in Acts chapter 18. After Paul had left Corinth, the church had gotten into all kinds of sin and was rejecting some of Christ's basic teachings. Paul wrote them two letters. The first one we don't have. The second letter is in our Bibles as First Corinthians. The Corinthians rejected both letters, and the situation grew worse. Paul then likely made a brief trip to check on them in person, only to be rejected in person. The church body didn't defend Paul or stand with him when he confronted the church's leaders, and Paul left humiliated and dejected. Then he wrote another letter. A third letter, which we also don't have. This letter was a stern rebuke and very difficult for Paul to write to the degree that he was overwhelmed with anxiety as he waited to hear back whether or not the Corinthian church had received and accepted and responded to his letter.
When he finally got the news that they had, he heard that they had repented and were seeking to restore fellowship with him. And so, in response, Paul wrote the letter in our Bibles called Second Corinthians. All of that happened before this visit to Acadia. So, this journey was a big deal in terms of Paul's relationship with the church in Corinth. Then we read The Jews, and whenever it says that in the Book of Acts, it's referring to the Jewish religious leadership who were not Christian but felt that Christians were heretics. So, the Jewish religious leaders plotted against him, plotted against Paul when he was about to set sail for Syria. And so, he decided to go back through Macedonia. After visiting Corinth, Paul planned to set sail to Syria, which would have been the city of Antioch, the city of his home church, which you can see on the far eastern side of our map. But some of the Jewish religious leaders learned Paul's itinerary and planned his assassination, possibly by infiltrating the boat he would be sailing on and throwing him overboard at some point on the journey.
So instead, Paul headed north back up to Macedonia. Once again. He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. Paul tells us in First Corinthians 16 that he planned to have representatives from each church travel with him to personally deliver their church's love offering to the church in Jerusalem. It's reasonable to assume that's why these men were accompanying Paul. These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas, but we sailed away from Philippi after the Festival of Unleavened Bread. In five days, we reached them at Troas, where we spent seven days. So, Paul, Luke, who is the narrator of the Book of Acts, and a couple of others stay in Philippi to celebrate the feast of Passover before sailing back to the province of Asia, which is present-day Turkey, where they landed at Troas and rejoined the rest of the group. Verse seven. On the first day of the week in Troas, we assembled to break bread.
It was a Sunday evening, and the church in Troas would have been meeting for their weekly service. Remember, the two-day weekend didn't exist at the time, and so believers would gather in the evening for church. After everyone had finished their day's work. The early church began meeting on Sundays because the Lord Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday morning. However, there's no prohibition in Scripture against meeting on any other day. Instead. Scholars agree that the phrase break bread likely refers to the agape feast, the love feast that the early church used to celebrate on a weekly basis. Much of the early church met in homes out of necessity, and so a practice naturally developed where they would have the church service in the early evening and then stick around to enjoy dinner together. That's what the church in Troas was gathering to do this evening, and it provided the perfect opportunity for Paul to see them one last time and share as much with them as he could. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.
So, Paul almost certainly delivered the sermon in that service and then continued talking with them as they ate the meal. And afterward. The Greek word there for talking is "dialegomai" from where we get the English word dialog. Paul preached, but he also engaged in conversation with them about the Lord, answering their questions and sharing in response to the subjects that were raised. And we see in this Paul's love for the church because even though he's leaving the next morning to begin a long and difficult journey, he had no concern for rest and continued talking with the brethren as long as they desired at this point until midnight. Paul had likely been teaching for 5 or 6 hours by this time. And that's inspired me to make some changes to the length of my messages. But don't worry, we'll still be done by 11 p.m. or so. We're going to get through four chapters this evening. It's going to be incredible. It says there were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled.
And a young man named Eutychus, the original Greek, tells us he was between 8 and 14 years old, was sitting on a windowsill, and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. The room was packed with people. There were many lamps, which were basically just little fires in the room, heating up the room and burning through the oxygen in the room. There was no air conditioning. It would have been stuffy and hot, and if you'd been listening to someone talk for 5 or 6 hours, you'd probably get a little drowsy too. So, this young man named you tickets went and sat on a windowsill to get some fresh air and valiantly try to stay awake instead. Being a teenager, he just fell asleep as Paul continued to teach. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was understandably weak when he was overcome by sleep. I just love that phrase overcome by sleep. I was fighting it, but I lost. When he was overcome by sleep. He fell down from the third story.
So, Eutychus falls out of the window from a height of three stories and was picked up dead. Let that be a warning to any of you who may feel the creeping embrace of sleep coming over you at this very moment. But Paul went down. Bent over him, embraced him, and said, don't be alarmed because he's alive. Paul rushes down. Raises him from the dead. That's what's going on. Brings him back upstairs and says, now where were we? There are some clear parallels between how Paul raises Eutychus from the dead and how the Old Testament prophets Elijah raised the widow's son in 1 Kings 17 And Elisha raised the Shunammite woman's son in 2 Kings 4. I put those references on your outline so you can go and look them up later this week if you'd like, but the point being made by these clear parallels is that like Elijah, like Elisha, Paul is a true prophet whose ministry was authenticated by similar miracles like raising the dead. Verse 11, after going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time.
Underline until dawn, until dawn. Then he left. They brought the boy home alive, and were greatly comforted, I should say so. Paul taught at their service, shared communion with them, ate the agape feast with them, and conversed with them about the Lord until dawn. I am confident that when Paul raised Utica from the dead at midnight, it gave proceedings a second wind, and he had their undivided attention. Can you imagine being the guy who left early, who was like, oh man, I'm here. It's 1145. It's almost midnight. I've been here 5 or 6 hours. No one can accuse me of being a lightweight believer. I've given this a good go. I got to work tomorrow and then he gets up the next morning, see someone. He's like, anything interesting happen after I left? Oh, yeah. Paul raised a dead kid and then we talked for like, six more hours. Dang it, I knew it. There was no internet, there were no podcasts.
This was their only chance to see Paul. And they didn't know if they'd get another one. They wouldn't, by the way. And so they weren't going to miss a second of what this incredibly special man had to share with them. They loved him, they appreciated him, and they were blessed by him. Let's put our second map on the screen so you can follow along as we walk through the next part of Paul's journey. We'll leave that map on the screen until we finish talking about verse 17. It says in verse 13, we that's Luke. And the rest of the party went on ahead to the ship and sailed from Troas for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land. We don't know why Paul chose to walk to Assos. It's likely he either desired some solitude to pray or was accompanied by some of the brothers from Troas, giving him more time to converse with them. When he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went on to Mytilene, sailing from there.
The next day we arrived off Chios, the birthplace of Homer. Not from the Simpsons Greek philosophy, you Philistines! Okay. The following day we crossed over to Samos, the birthplace of Pythagoras, and the day after, we came to Miletus, a coastal city about 30 miles south of Ephesus. For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, for the day of Pentecost. The assassination plot had derailed Paul's original plan to be in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. His revised plan was to make it to Jerusalem in time for the feast of Pentecost, which took place 50 days after Passover. Because of Paul's deep connection to the city of Ephesus, having spent three years living in ministering there, he knew there would be no such thing as a quick stop in Ephesus. And so, not wanting to miss the feast of Pentecost, he intentionally bypassed Ephesus. Verse 17, now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church from Miletus.
Paul sends word to the elders in Ephesus to make the journey to come and see him. While he did not have time to visit the church in Ephesus again, his love for them compelled him to meet one last time with their elders to encourage, exhort, and warn them of dangers coming in the days ahead. If you haven't been around the Bible very much, I'll let you know that the word elders is a synonym for pastors. In this context, it has nothing to do with age, but with the office of pastor in the church. These were the pastors of the church in Ephesus, the overseers, the shepherds of the local church charged with overseeing the flock, the congregation. Much of the modern church is enamored with the giftedness of those who hold leadership positions in the church. The most prominent names in evangelicalism tend to be the most gifted, charismatic, or controversial leaders, those with the best social media presence, and those most likely to go viral. But the New Testament teaches a vital ingredient of leadership that is almost entirely overlooked today.
A life that serves as an example. Jesus told his disciples, I give you a new command. Love one another just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. Jesus's life and conduct was the example his disciples were to follow. In Hebrews we are told these are all on your outlines. Remember your leaders who have spoken God's Word to you as you carefully observe the outcome of their lives. Imitate their faith. Scripture says we are to watch the lives of our leaders. We should be able to observe Christ's likeness, and when we do, we should follow their example. Peter exhorted elders, pastors to shepherd God's flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion, but willingly as God would have you, not out of greed for money, but eagerly not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. Paul put it succinctly to the Corinthians. Imitate me as I also imitate Christ. Every believer should seek to imitate Christ. But when we need help to know and understand what Christ would do in various situations and relationships, we should be able to look to leaders in the church as an example.
Paul told the Philippians, join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. He said, do what you have learned and received and heard from me and seen in me. And the God of peace will be with you. And there are more examples I could give. In the faith. Your first role model is Christ. It's Jesus always. Your next role model should be the men and women in scripture who are held up in the Bible as examples of godliness. But I want to suggest that your next role models should not be men and women that you do not personally know. Your next role model should not be men and women who have a great social media presence and are highly gifted. Your next role model should be mature brothers and sisters in Christ who are living their lives in front of you, faithfully following his example. Don't be enamored with what your favorite Christian celebrity says about marriage and ignore the couple you personally know who are living out a godly marriage right in front of you.
Good biblical teaching is of incalculable value. It is essential, but some of the best help we can get in applying those truths to our lives will come from knowing and talking and doing life with those who are actually doing it. You know nothing about that online preacher's marriage except what he shares on social media. Take the true things that they say. They're good. Praise God for them. But you can personally know the life and challenges of that godly couple whose marriage is setting an example right before your eyes. You can observe those truths being applied in real-time. Write this down. The New Testament model of leadership deeply values being an example worth emulating. An example worth emulating. Paul is going to begin his speech to the Ephesian elders by appealing to the fact they witnessed his example up close and personal. Over the three years he lived in ministered among them. It says in verse 18, when they came to him, he said to them, you know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, underline the first day how I was with you, and then underline the whole time, the whole time, you know, from the first day I set foot in Asia how I was with you the whole time.
I noticed in Paul's words another mark of spiritual maturity. Consistency. Paul says, from the first day I was with you to the last, I behaved the same way the whole time. We cannot measure consistency during the good times. Consistency is measured in the hard times. What is the difference in your behavior in the good times versus the hard times? How much variation is there? The less variation there is, the more consistent you are. How do you treat people in good times versus hard times? What is your commitment to fellowship with the saints look like in good times versus hard times? Do your beliefs about God and how he views you. Change in good times versus hard times? Does your attitude towards sin change in good times versus hard times? There are many questions I could raise. Paul was consistent and consistency is a mark of spiritual maturity. It's worth asking yourself the kinds of questions I just mentioned. It's worth reflecting on them because our behavior in hard times. Our consistency or lack of it serves as an indicator of where we are in our spiritual maturity.
Be committed to being consistent. Be someone who understands that the things that are true about God and about us, and about the love of God are true at all times. They're not less true when you're going through a hard time, and more true when you're going through a good time. Become a Christian who is consistent and understands the truth is the truth always. And I build my life on the truth, not on my emotional state. I build my life on the firm foundation of Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I act based on the truth. Not on how I'm feeling. Not on my state of mind at the time, but on the truth. And here's the good news the Holy Spirit offers us the power to be consistent if we want to, if we want to. But a lot of the time we don't want to because having a pity party feels a whole lot better. Being mad feels a whole lot better. Using our emotional state to justify wrong behavior feels a whole lot better.
But for those who would say, no, no, I want to be consistent. I want to live and think and act based on the truth. No matter what's going on in my emotions or with my thoughts. The Lord would say, Here's the Holy Spirit to give you the power to do that. Paul continues in verse 19 and reminds the Ephesian elders they got to witness him serving the Lord. Would you underline serving the Lord, serving the Lord with all humility, with tears? And during the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews, the Jewish religious leaders, the word serving in the original Greek is the verb form of the word doulos. The word doulos means bond-servant or slave. And so, this is the verb form. The word serving here literally means slaving. Paul gladly and gratefully considered himself a slave of the Lord Jesus, and here reveals his motivation for enduring so much and pouring himself out so freely for the church. Here's his motivation. He viewed it as serving the Lord.
He did it all in service to the Lord Jesus. Listen to me on this. If your motivation is serving people. You will be disappointed. And you will end up bitter and probably giving up. Why? Because people are disappointing. People can be ungrateful. People can be demanding. People can be selfish. And when I say people stop thinking of somebody else. I'm talking about you. I'm talking about me. Anyone? Anyone who has placed their hope in any of us, in any small way even, has either been disappointed or will shortly be disappointed. Because we're sinners. The key to living a life of effective service and ministry is doing it to serve the Lord. Because our hero, Jesus Christ, will never disappoint you. He will never fail to encourage you. He will never fail to affirm you when you do what is right. Serve people because you love God. Easy to say. Very hard to do. Easy for me to put out there. Very difficult to walk in practically. When I don't get the encouragement, the affirmation, the appreciation, the reciprocation, or the respect that I think I deserve.
How do I react? What a horrible question, right? What a horrible question. My reaction reveals a whole lot about whether I'm serving God. Or serving people. My reaction reveals who I'm truly seeking to please and who I really want my reward and affirmation from. Write this down. Paul viewed everything he did for people. As a service to the Lord. He viewed everything he did for people as a service to the Lord. This is a life principle for every believer, in every area of life, where you are called to serve as a spouse, as a parent, as a coworker, as a member of a church, as a classmate, in every area of life where you are called to serve. Do it out of love for the Lord and you will persevere. You will endure. Do it for people. And you'll burn out and get bitter. I guarantee it. Paul says he served the Lord with all humility. This wasn't a false or a put-on humility. It was the genuine and natural byproduct of viewing oneself as a servant of the Lord.
The evidence of this is that Paul did not get bitter when the Lord asked him to take on the role of a servant. He was simply concerned with pleasing his master, Christ the Lord. And can I tell you, there is no master sweeter to serve than the Lord Jesus. As I shared a couple of weeks ago, what makes someone a disciple of Christ is that they desire to be like Christ. That's what makes you a disciple. You want to be like the one whom you are a disciple of. And Jesus said, The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. And he told his disciples, A disciple is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master. The Word of God tells us explicitly that one of the things the Holy Spirit is working in the life of every believer is a change in perspective. The Holy Spirit is working to change our perspective, to change how we view ourselves, instead of viewing ourselves as entitled and deserving of being served.
He wants to change our perspective so that we begin to view ourselves as servants serving on behalf of Christ and in so doing, being like Christ. Following his example. When the carnal Corinthians started splitting into factions based on their favorite preachers. Oh, I'm Team Apollos. Oh, I'm Team Paul. He's the best. Paul refused to compete for followers, telling them what then is Apollos? What is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. In his second letter he told the Corinthians, it is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. Paul shows that true spiritual humility is not thinking yourself worthless. True spiritual humility is not low self-esteem. It's understanding that all your worth comes from Christ. All your gifts, all your abilities. Anything good in you comes from Christ, and any real meaning and purpose in life comes from living as a servant of Christ, as master who served us with all of himself.
Paul wrote that he was in no way inferior to the other apostles like John and James and Peter. But in Ephesians three eight he also referred to himself as the least of all the saints, and in first Timothy 115 as the worst of sinners. Paul served the Lord with all humility, genuine humility, because there's no other way to be if you actually view yourself as a servant of Christ. Write this down. Paul's humility was a natural byproduct of viewing himself as a servant of Christ, and natural byproduct of viewing himself as a servant of Christ. Do you view yourself that way? Do you view your purpose in life as serving Christ and therefore serving those he asks you to serve? Do you do it? Gladly. The work the Holy Spirit is doing in every disciple of Christ is the work of making us more like Christ, which means making us more willing and joyful servants of God. Paul says he served the Lord not only with humility but also with tears. That speaks of the internal suffering that comes along with being an elder but is also experienced to some degree by any mature saint.
For those who love the Lord deeply will find their hearts becoming like his. They will love what he loves. The things that grieve him will grieve them. Paul was grieved over the lost - over those who don't know Christ. He was grieved as he walked the city of Athens and saw people worshiping false gods, devoting their entire lives to meaningless pursuits like money, wealth and prestige and power and position, and fame. And he's grieved internally as he watched men waste their lives. Waste their lives. I think of his grief over the hardness of most of his ethnic brethren, the Jews who rejected Jesus. Paul was so grieved by this that he wrote to the Romans, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood. In other words, Paul says, if I could trade my salvation for seeing Israel turn to Christ right now, I would. The condition of the lost grieves those who love the Lord.
Paul was grieved by weak, struggling and sinning Christians. He longed to see the immature grow up in Christ. He longed to see believers definitively cut off the sins of their old lives and go all in. On following Jesus to such believers in Corinth, he wrote. I wrote to you with many tears out of an extremely troubled and anguished heart. Those who love the Lord love his people. And so, they cannot be ambivalent. Where believers are immature, uncommitted, and refuse to take holiness seriously. Those who love the Lord will be grieved by such behaviors and attitudes and longed to see them changed. Paul was grieved by the threat of false teachers who he will later in this chapter refer to as wolves. Those who love the Lord are grieved by such men and women, and the threat they pose to immature believers. Paul wished he could be everywhere at once, so that he could defend such believers from such attacks of the enemy. He wrote to the Philippians, I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Godly elders. Godly pastors will experience tears over the lost over weeks, struggling and sinning Christians, and over the threat of false teachers. Godly fathers. Will experience tears over their children who don't walk with the Lord, or when their children are weak, struggling, and sinning, or when their children are being led astray by false teachers. And all who love the Lord will to some degree experienced tears over the lost over week, struggling and sinning Christians and over the threat of false teachers. It comes with the process of sanctification, allowing the Holy Spirit to make your heart more like the Lord's. But those tears are never in vain. In Psalm 126, verse six, it says, though one goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed. He will surely come back with shouts of joy carrying his sheaves. God promises that those who love him and faithfully spread his word and cry tears, because they are moved by the things that move the heart of God, will reap a rich spiritual harvest in this life and or the next.
Serving the Lord is never in vain. It's never in vain. Make a note of this. As Paul walked with the Lord, his heart became like the Lord's. As Paul walked with the Lord, his heart became like the Lord's. The man or woman who loves the Lord will almost certainly experience suffering, not only internally, but also from external forces. If you've been with us for our study through the Book of Acts, then you'll be well aware of how much trouble the Jewish religious leaders made for Paul during his missionary journeys. Acts 920 told us that immediately after Paul turned to Jesus, he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogue, saying, he is the Son of God. Just three verses later, we were told the Jews conspired to kill him on Cyprus, Paul was opposed by a Jewish false prophet named Jesus. At Pisidian Antioch. When the Jews saw the crowds gathered to hear Paul speak, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what Paul was saying, insulting him. Paul would face more hostility from the Jewish leaders in Iconium, Lystra, Thessalonica, Berea, Corinth, and Ephesus.
On this very journey, Paul's travel plans had to be revised to work around a plot to take his life, and when he arrives in Jerusalem, he will face still more Jewish opposition. Truly did the Lord's words to Ananias about Paul come true. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name. Despite being persecuted by his countrymen nearly everywhere he went, despite their various attempts to murder him. Despite the stress and anxiety they constantly caused him, Paul's feelings toward them were. If I could trade my salvation for seeing them all turn to Christ right now, I would. Paul was indeed God's man. Gripped by God's heart. And filled with the Lord's desire to see the lost welcomed into the family of God and grow into maturity in Christ. I'm going to ask the worship team to come up. Paul's love for the church is a wonderful example. For those who desire to live in a manner pleasing to the Lord. Paul instructed the Romans. Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil. Cling to what is good.
Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another. Do not lack diligence in zeal. Be fervent in the spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in affliction. Be persistent in prayer. Share with the saints in their needs. Pursue hospitality. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud. Instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone's eyes. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. May God give all believers, not just the leaders of the church. Such love for the church Christ purchased with his own blood. Let's pray. Would you buy your head and close your eyes? Lord, thank you so much for your word, and thank you for the example of our brother Paul, a man gripped by your love for those who don't know you and gripped by your love for the church, for those who love you.
Please do that work in our hearts, Lord. Grow us in love for one another. In compassion for one another, in affection for one another. You said in your Word that our love for each other within the church is supposed to be the defining mark of your people. So, Lord, please do it more and more. Grow us in love that we might reflect You to the world around us, that when people come in and visit, they would experience a love between us that doesn't exist anywhere else because it's not based on simple shared interest; it's not based on selfish motivation, but it's based on the fact that we are the family of God. Brothers and sisters through the blood of Jesus. Sinners, all equally needy of the grace of God, and all equally grateful to have found it. So, Lord, please bind us together in love, in greater unity. Lord, please work a servant's heart in us by your spirit. All the areas of us that seem so deeply entrenched, where we feel entitled, where we feel like there are things we deserve that we're supposed to be finding in you.
Lord, please free us and please forgive us. Lord, please help us in the relationships where we are burdening people. With the expectation of giving us the things we are supposed to find in you. Please open our eyes to see where we're doing that. Lord, help us to instead turn to you so that we can be free to serve and to love as you've called us, to which we cannot do if we're just constantly offended by how we're not getting what we think we deserve. Lord, do that work in us so that it's not fake, but it comes from an actual work of your spirit, a change in perspective that we cannot bring about in our own strength. Lord, please do that. Work in us. Make us genuine servants, glad and grateful to serve you in every circumstance. And as we pursue that Lord, I pray that we would find every need we have emotional, spiritual, physical, financial, practical, relational. We would find every need met in you and by you.
Please do that work in us, Lord, for our joy and for your glory, that your name would be exalted. Lord, please grip our hearts with a love for the lost. Please don't let us grow weary of caring and of praying and of preaching and of sharing the truth. Lord, please don't let us become callous where our brothers and sisters are walking in weakness and need to be called higher. Please help us to love one another in a way that refuses to accept that. And Lord Jesus, please protect every one of us, Lord. From false teaching or anything that is not true. Protect us from the things that our ears want to hear, because our flesh wants to hear them. Give us such an appetite for the truth, Lord, that anything less is distasteful to us. Please bring glory to yourself, in us, individually, as couples, as families, and as your people, the church. Jesus, we love You and in Your name we pray. Amen.