Finish the Race

“But none of these things move me, neither do I count my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus Christ, to testify fully the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24)

Paul is speaking to the elders in Ephesus as he is on his way to Jerusalem when he commands them to feed the church and warns them of “wolves” who would come to destroy the sheep. Then he prayed with them. They cried knowing they wouldn’t see him again.

When he says “none of these things move me,” he is speaking about how in every city he visits, he is warned through the Holy Spirit that he would be imprisoned and suffer much affliction in Jerusalem. (Acts 20:23) But he says none of these warnings will deter him because he knows that it’s his mission and ministry destiny that he has received from the Lord, to go there and preach the Gospel.

How different this is from us, speaking generally of the Christian community today. Very few of us today make this kind of commitment. But Paul, all the apostles and many disciples made this commitment to the Lord and to His Gospel. And many disciples of Jesus who have truly surrendered to Him continue to make this commitment. What others do is weigh the cost of serving the Lord and then determine whether to will carry out the assigned mission. A little rejection, a little ridicule and a little trouble dissuades easily. There are families to think of,   responsibilities,  livelihoods and then comes the final determination that the Lord wouldn’t put us in such a situation. So, the notion of sacrificial devotion and service is dismissed as not from the Lord.

“And Jesus said to him, No one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) Luke tells of different men who wanted to follow Jesus. They believed in Him. And speaking rashly they said they would follow Him wherever He went. But in the end, they could not leave their responsibilities to their families, to their work and to their wealth (in the case of the rich young ruler- Matthew 19:16-25). In other words they wanted to commit and even begin but waiver in their commitment, in their loyalty to Jesus and the Word and are divided, regretting the decision they’ve made or longing for their old life.

Paul continues in verse 24 of Acts 20 with the declaration, “... neither do I count my life dear to myself...” That is quite a statement. What if the Lord actually did call us to a dangerous mission? Would we take it without doubting and knowing full well that it might cause us our lives? We read of brave front line workers who do just that. These front line workers many times come from these hostile environments and know the risks, but take it anyway in their love and devotion to Jesus and their love for their fellowmen who need Jesus, His hope and His peace, taking the Gospel and distributing Bibles. They were there at one time and know the desperation without Jesus. They know that with Jesus the lives of those living in these dangerous remote places will have hope and peace in the cauldron of hate, fear and danger. But we cannot merely decide to minister in such a place. The Lord has to birth that desire in our hearts to know that this is the place the Lord wants us. But in reality, here in the comfort of peace and freedom, some of us cannot even make it across the street to be rejected by our neighbors. We need to check the sincerity of our love for the Lord and for our neighbor who is on his way to destruction.

Paul’s last statement is his desire to finish the task the Lord has given him of fully testifying the grace of God in His Gospel and to do so with joy. And so he did. He went on to Jerusalem where he was imprisoned. (Acts 21:27-36) There he shared the grace of God given through Jesus in Jerusalem although imprisoned. He was then taken to Caesarea to Felix the governor where he was imprisoned two more years and left to Felix’s successor, Porcius Festus. Paul appeals to Caesar when it looks like they want to return him to Jerusalem. (Acts 25:11) He continued to witness Jesus and witnessed to king Agrippa and Bernice, who were friends with Festus and were in Caesarea. (Acts 25:13-27; 26:1-29) On his way to Rome by ship he has an opportunity to witness the Truth and greatness of God to the sailors, telling them of God’s promise that none would perish in the shipwreck (Acts 27:23) and later to the sailors and the natives where they were shipwrecked,  when a viper bites him and he suffers no harm. (Acts 28:3-7) Once in Rome he continues to share the Gospel with the Jews there. (Acts 38: 17-24) Paul was quite outspoken in proclaiming the Gospel and had a big role in the spread of Christianity in Rome. The account we have of Paul imprisoned in Rome are the letters he wrote to the churches he established. Those letters are the epistles that contain the rich Truths of God. He experienced much freedom although detained. During the persecution of Christians by Nero, Christianity spread where the Christians fled. It was during this time that Paul was beheaded. (Historical account of Eusebius of Caesarea in his work Ecclesiastical History) All this was not an unexpected event to the Lord. He used Paul to spread the Gospel to many nations, wherever the Christians fled. Paul who declared “... neither do I count my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus Christ, to testify fully the gospel of the grace of God.”

We each have been given our course, our race, our ministry, our task to fulfill. Paul writes to Timothy, “ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” (2Timothy 4:7) Our task may not be as sacrificial as Paul’s. Nevertheless, we are to complete what the Lord has given us to do. It’s our responsibility to seek to know what the Lord wants us to do. Is it to teach the children in Sunday School? Is it to clean the toilets in the church? Is it to lead worship? Is it to teach?. Is it street evangelism, writing worship songs or ministering to the homeless? Is it to minister to the youth or to go to the world? There is a place reserved by the Lord especially for each one of us. Pray, surrender completely and spend time with the Lord. It will bring revelation and open up opportunities to prepare for that mission. And in the Lord’s perfect time, He will place you where you need to be. He gives us one step at a time so we don’t make our own plans, but depend on His plan revealed one step at a time. It is a work of God. And we must be close in touch with Him to know what’s next and to walk at His direction.

All in all, in review, Paul was given his task. Zealous that he was, he didn’t spend time wondering what his next step was. He immediately conferred with the Lord who assigned him the task. He didn’t meet with the leaders in Jerusalem, the apostles to learn what to do next. He went to the originator of the task. We can learn from that. “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and having called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the nations, immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood; Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and stayed with him fifteen days.” (Galatians 1:15-18) Most of us run to our pastors or our leaders. There is a time for that. But first spend time with the only One Who gave you the assignment. He knows how and when to act. Then when the time is right, the Lord will have you reveal to your leaders what God is doing. It will be a time when you will know the assignment and how to carry it out. It will be a time that you will have proven yourself and not only know the assignment but have a revelation from the Lord on how to carry it out and you have proven you are ready and able to carry it out how the Lord has instructed, not as man sees it should be done, for God’s ways are not man’s ways. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, says Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Let us pray:

Father God, let me not fail in obeying and carrying out the assignment and purpose for my life. As long as I am on this earth, I know that You Lord have a work for me to do. It may be temporal and short lived or it may be something I will devote the whole of my life to do. Whatever, I am ready to listen. Give me each step Lord so that I don’t begin to take independent steps without You. Give me the ability and the wisdom to carry it out diligently and dependent on You Lord because it is Your plan and not mine. Guide my steps and lead me in righteousness to complete it just like You want. I thank You Lord that You are with me, that You walk with me and turn me whichever way You want me to go. I trust in You completely and yield to the voice of the Holy Spirit. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.