I came across a Bible verse today I highlighted decades ago . . .

Paul was making his farewell speech to the elders of the Ephesian churches.  “I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me  in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me” (Acts 20:22,23).

I haven’t read through Acts for a long time.  This time it hit me how Paul was relentlessly stalked by Jews who hated to hear that Jesus is the Christ.  It reminds me of what some missionaries endure today—and how easy, by contrast, we American pastors have it.  So when Paul said, ” . . . except in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me”, he spoke from experience.  Then came the words I highlighted decades ago . . .

“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

I pastored for 44 years.  (You must be tired of hearing that!)  I’m guessing I highlighted this verse early on.  Ah, the ignorant nobility of youth!  How easily then to identify with Paul!  No Jesus-haters stalking me.  No hostile church members plotting to take my life.  Not even a disease threatened.  So death was distant—a concept more than reality.  How easily, then, did I say with Paul, ” . . . I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus”!

I was a crusader—on a mission to build the church of Jesus Christ and equip God’s people for ministry.  I was giving my life to an eternal cause!  What was my little life compared to the eternal church of God and the name of the Lord Jesus?

Now, at 71 years old, things have changed.  I listen to younger men preach and envy their vitality and vision.  I long for those “good old days” of my vitality and vision.  But I also think to myself, “Wait, you young preachers; wait until you’re old like me.  Will your passion be the same then?  Will aging temper the ease with which you speak words that sometimes sound like platitudes?  Will it become harder for you to say with absolute conviction, “In all things God works for the good of those who love him . . . ” (Romans8:28), because you will have experienced painful things in which you cannot catch even a glimpse of good?

I’m not questioning God’s Word; I still stake my life on it.  I’m asking for two things.  First, that when us old folks hear young preachers speak with absolute conviction, that we don’t doubt the truth of God’s Word they’re speaking.  We may think, “Wait.  Wait ’til you’ve gone through some of the fires I’ve gone through.”  Or, “Wait ’til you have to sit here in pain like I do and God seems silent.”  But we must never let the preacher’s youth make us question God’s truth!  Even if his “all things” are few, it remains rock-solid Gospel that God works them all together for good.  The young preachers may be somewhat naive, but God is infinitely wise.  And it’s his Word young preachers are preaching.

The second thing I ask is of the young preachers:  that you remember your congregation includes some old folks whose experiences in life have made some of what you preach sound like pie-in-the sky.  Perhaps you could acknowledge that.  Perhaps you might say, “I know some of you who are older than I have gone through things in your life that make Romans 8:28 a fantasy.  You lost your wife to cancer after years of suffering.  Your teenage son was killed by a drunk driver.  I haven’t had to endure anything like that.  Not yet, anyway.  But think of what Paul had gone through when he wrote those words!”  I suggest that, not to save face for you, but to highlight God’s unchanging, gracious Gospel for them.  And to assure them that questioning God’s promises isn’t the unpardonable sin.

When I read Acts 20:24 today in a new Bible, I highlighted it again.  This time because I don’t know if I can honestly say it with Paul.  This time you see, I’m closer to death.  It’s not as distant—more reality than concept.  And even though I’m disabled, I do count my life as precious to me.  But I want—no matter what— to be able to stand with Paul and say honestly from my heart with the vitality and vision of a young man . . .

I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself,
if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus,
to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Because deep inside, underneath all the junk in me, lies this unshakeable conviction:  my life amounts to little compared to the spread of the glory of the gospel of the grace of God in Christ.