Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] So we're coming in the last week of this three week series that we've been looking at called Transitions and the Story and the Story of God. We've unpacked different moments in the sweeping story of scripture where we've seen one kind of leader going to another leader. And we've seen how God has worked in the midst of that. And what we've looked at over those few weeks is that our hope is not in human leadership, that as good as Moses was and as good as Joshua was, as good as Elijah was and as good as Elisha was, at the end of the day, it is about the Spirit of God, the presence of God more than it is about the presence of a human leader and the need and the importance of us to be strong and courageous because he's with us, not because we are incredibly strong and capable and incredible in our own right, that God is with us in every single season that we encounter.
[00:01:04] There's been a few times that I've had to skate around a particular topic because we were coming to get to that this week. And it's an important part of this whole thing around change and transition is one of the reasons that makes it so hard. And that is that one of the hardest parts of change and transition is the reality of saying goodbye.
[00:01:28] Who here enjoys a goodbye?
[00:01:33] I didn't think quite as much. That is, it's one of the challenging elements whenever we step into a new season or when someone we love steps into a new season, that the reality of a goodbye comes to the fore and they can be hard to deal with. I mean, this is words that I read from Robert Fuller in an article that he wrote for Psychology Today way back in 2009. But he said goodbyes are poignant preludes to the leave takings and withdrawals that deprive our psyches of the sustenance they need to maintain our selfhood. A lot of big words there, he says, as every goodbye is a premonition of disintegration, a foretaste of death, and another step on the path to adieu. No wonder we're not fond of goodbyes.
[00:02:24] I read this and there was a part of me that wanted to ask him if he's okay and whether he needed a hug. But there's something within that that when we come to a goodbye, there's stuff that we need to face, there's stuff that we don't want to face. There's a whole lot of emotional reality in the midst of a goodbye. And so today, what I wanted to do as coming to this passage that Stu read for us.
[00:02:55] Thank you for that marathon effort, Stewie. I knew it was a longer passage. There's a couple of things that this is a passage that has meant a lot to me since I made the announcement a few months ago that I was finishing up. This was kind of a place that I kept coming back to, and I just wanted to share some of the impressions this passage has had on me. One of the. Some of the things that I have got out of it in the hope that it would prepare us for our time together on the 7th of December, because that will be a goodbye of sorts.
[00:03:29] Of sorts.
[00:03:31] Our family will still be in Launceston. We'll most likely still see you around, but there will be an element of the season that we've had that will be no more.
[00:03:43] And for me personally, I know the emotions are going to come thick and fast, and so thought it would be good to prepare us for that time.
[00:03:54] And so I think there's four things that I just want to quickly navigate through this passage. And so where we're up to, where this lands in the story of Acts is Paul has had a sense that God is leading him back to Jerusalem. And so he has been on this ship's journey. And one of the interesting parts of it, at least for me, is he skips the Ephesus.
[00:04:20] Like, I don't know, like, we didn't read that because the passage was already long enough. I didn't want to make Stu do all of chapter 20. But he skips Ephesus.
[00:04:30] He calls out for the Ephesian elders to come and meet him in this place, Miletus. But he really. He cannot have a brief visit to Ephesus. And he's wanting to move quickly to Jerusalem. He wants to be there by the Passover.
[00:04:47] And I think this gives a really interesting. In my. I'm a Bible nerd. So it's interesting to me. But Paul is very pastorally caring.
[00:04:59] We often read his letters, and they can be some heavy words, harsh words, but he skips this town because the idea of coming into it, he's like, I can't stay briefly, and I have to.
[00:05:14] So he will. He calls the elders out to Miletus and then shares this speech that Stu read for us. And the first thing that gets me is that Paul remembers and recaps their story together.
[00:05:32] And so Paul starts off by sharing, you know, how I have lived since I have been with you. He's been with them for three years, and he kind of breaks down all, all of the ways in which he has served, in which he's loved them and he's taught them and he's led them and there have been tears shed and what he's proclaimed and what he's taught for them. And in a way, he is kind of sharing with them, I guess, like an example to follow.
[00:06:04] Not that he's big, noting himself, not that he's putting himself on the pedestal and saying, this is what you're to do. But Paul, I think his life has always beat to this drum. Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.
[00:06:21] That Paul in this moment is saying, this is how I have sought to imitate Christ among you.
[00:06:30] And in doing so is giving these leaders an opportunity to imitate him. And as he does this, there's something powerful that takes place that he's sharing, kind of he's been there for three years, an element of their shared existence together.
[00:06:50] I love these words from Yuval Noah Harari.
[00:06:54] He says humans think in stories and we try to make sense of the world by telling stories.
[00:07:04] Tim o' Brien says that storytelling is the essential human activity. In fact, the harder the situation, the more essential it is that Paul, in this moment, he's sharing the ways that he served and how they've connected, how they've done life together, how he's taught them, how they've responded. Remembering highs and lows and leading them in this process of remember these last three years, as he calls them, to have Christ as their example.
[00:07:41] Something that I've noticed in the last few months as I've tried to get around people, around dining tables and life groups and sitting sopping wet in Utes as we deliver table tennis tables. It's a weirdly specific example. You can talk to Stu about that.
[00:07:58] And one of the things that has come up time and time and time again has just been the stories of the last 10 years.
[00:08:10] As I've reflected and as people have reflected to me. And there's been something about that that has been a deeply beautiful process of remembering God's faithfulness across 10 years.
[00:08:27] There's something restorative, something that brings a whole new sense of meaning as you share the story with one another. Fixing our eyes on Jesus to together, but remembering how God had been at work.
[00:08:44] As I was driving around with Stewie, he just two, two word question he threw out there that got us on a whole tangent. Remember Covid?
[00:08:54] Like, it seems like a weird kind of course, Covid was such a massive thing, but it's almost. It's getting that long ago in the rear vision mirror that to actually remember what that was like as Stewie and I were on leadership together and the things you had to navigate through that time, churches who were like, we're never going online. Church isn't done online. Church is done together in the room. And that's how it's always been done and that's how it will always be done. Suddenly went. How do we get online again?
[00:09:25] It was a weird kind of time, but together as we talked, it was this moment of how faithful was God that he brought about the right people in that moment. And the joy of being able to see families worshipp God together. Leading us in song as different family groups was really special. And just as we talked and reminisced, there was something about the story of what God has done among us came forth.
[00:09:55] And I think as we move into the next few weeks, it's going to be a time to share stories together of how God has been at work, of how God has been active, of the things that went well, the things that didn't go so well. There's so many of those stories and look forward in a way, there'll be some emotional stuff that comes from them. But I think it's an important part to have a. Have a healthy goodbye, to be able to acknowledge and share those stories together.
[00:10:29] The second part is that I don't know if you know that Paul has this weird kind of certainty and uncertainty as he outlines his departure.
[00:10:41] So in verse 22 he says this. And now compelled by the Spirit, I'm going to Jerusalem.
[00:10:49] There's clarity in that, isn't there?
[00:10:52] There's certainty, there's confidence.
[00:10:55] This is where I'm going. And the very next sentence, I know it's going to happen when I get there.
[00:11:02] Like there's a sense of which he's incredibly, this is where I'm going. But whoa, as we step, as I step into it, I'm not 100 sure where this is going.
[00:11:12] And in some way like this, this language of compelled sounds really nice and lovely. The literal meaning of the Greek language. Because our Bibles that we have in English weren't originally written in English. They're translated from languages like Greek and Hebrew.
[00:11:28] The literal meaning of this word compelled in the Greek is to bind.
[00:11:35] To bind and fasten with chains.
[00:11:41] The romanticism of compelling gets diminished a little bit with that, doesn't it?
[00:11:47] But this is like Paul continually shares. Every time he starts a letter, he announces it.
[00:11:53] Paul a servant of God, a bond servant of God, a slave of Christ. Paul sees his life as nothing but being led and fueled by Jesus Christ. That is what he's giving his entire life for.
[00:12:12] And so he's like, I'm bound, I'm compelled. I'm going this way.
[00:12:17] I'm not 100% sure what's going to happen when we get there.
[00:12:24] He makes this little comment, like, in every town that he comes to, the Holy Spirit's letting him know prison and hardships, which yay.
[00:12:33] But he doesn't fully know. And I feel like that is a really good posture to hold as we move into new seasons, that as we navigate transitions, as we step into the unknown. There is a sense where we have a confidence in God. As we've talked about, he is the One who is in all overall, are we going to cling to him?
[00:12:58] But that doesn't necessarily mean that every step coming, I will know what that looks like and how many times. I'm sure if we had a microphone, we could hear countless stories of people who had a degree of confidence that God was going to lead them in this way. And he did.
[00:13:18] But it went a whole different way than you thought it was going to go. Has anyone ever had that experience before that he doesn't mind leading us on a roundabout way of doing things?
[00:13:32] But for Paul, even in the midst of there's a level of uncertainty and even in the midst of prison and hardships, he says this. I do not account my life. This is a different translation.
[00:13:45] I was precious to myself only to finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the Gospel or the good news of the grace of God, that in the midst of this life, all that matters is that I want to give my life to Jesus.
[00:14:09] I don't know what it will look like, but I will give my life to him to be poured out for the call that he has placed on my life.
[00:14:20] And I think for both of us. I love Janine's prayer that she led us with earlier because there is a sense of God, you are going with us, but we don't know exactly what that's going to look like.
[00:14:33] And I feel like as I'm about to make my transition, I feel like God has led me in that direction, but I don't know what it's going to look like. It might look a little like this, but I don't fully know what lies ahead. And the same is true for Summerhill Baptist Church.
[00:14:51] There's a confidence that God has us, that he's holding us and that he will continue to hold beyond that next season.
[00:15:02] And I think the key for each of us as we embark on our transitions is to fix our eyes on Jesus.
[00:15:14] He is the author. He is the perfecter of our faith. He is the one that holds us and upholds us and sustains us.
[00:15:25] Whatever the next season holds for each of us, let us fix our eyes on Jesus now. I need to apologise for this next title. It's so cliche. Like, it's so cliche. And I didn't want to do it, but I just couldn't it do think of anything else. So I apologise.
[00:15:47] But we see Paul next Let go and let God.
[00:15:51] I cringed when I wrote it, but there was something about what you see Paul do in this next bit that I think is a profound, profoundly wise and incredible moment.
[00:16:05] So one of the things that I've noticed, even just before I was kind of coming to announcing that was going to be heading off, is I noticed this dynamic that was happening where I was stepping back and back in meetings, that my opinion wasn't being asked as much.
[00:16:25] And when you've been somewhere for 10 years and your opinion is being asked a lot, suddenly it's like, wait, what's happening now? What's going on?
[00:16:35] I was trying to piece this together and then it all happened in a conversation that I was having just on the way to my car. I. After a meeting where someone asked me this question.
[00:16:45] How does. It was roughly this. I'm kind of somewhat. How does it feel to be moving out of influence when you've had so much influence for 10 years?
[00:16:55] Like, short answer, not good.
[00:16:58] But I don't know if you've ever had these moments where like, someone says something, someone asks something, you see a picture, you see a verse, and it's almost like kind of whether you call it your conscience or the Holy Spirit kind of says, remember that.
[00:17:17] Don't let go of that.
[00:17:20] Because what I learned from that moment when that question was asked was how I answer that question determines so much about the health and trajectory of what comes next that at some point I had to. And this is like, if I'm being brutally honest with you, it's one of the things that I still wrestle with two weeks out, how much should I take on and how much should I let go?
[00:17:51] It's a deep wrestle, but there's something in me that is kind of, I have to come to the place where I can let this go, not the relationships, because we'll still be in Launceston. We'll run into each other and I will be happy to chat and I'll be happy to. I'm happy to play ping pong. 3am May be a stretch, but I'm happy to play ping pong.
[00:18:18] But there's something about this season of being pastor that I have to let go of.
[00:18:25] And this is what we see Paul doing.
[00:18:29] Paul gives them these instructions. He's like, keep watch over yourselves and the flock.
[00:18:36] Be shepherds of the church of God. He says, there's going to be threats, there's going to be challenges, there's going to be going to be troubles. Even from within the fellowship, there will be things, so be on your guard.
[00:18:53] Like, this is the work Paul has been doing. Among them, he has been leading, he has been teaching, he has been protecting, he has been shepherding. But he's come to this moment where he's like, no, no, you have seen me for three years do this.
[00:19:13] Now you do it and you can do it.
[00:19:17] And in the midst of that, he entrusts them to the grace of God.
[00:19:26] It's a beautifully powerful thing. It's one of the things that I have seen as one of the things that has made it easier to step back from those moments where they've come up like, oh, I'm not being asked as much, is the capacity and the capability of people in this room.
[00:19:46] It's been a joy to see.
[00:19:50] And one of the things I've been able to sit back and say is like, you can do whatever God has for you in the next season because God's with you and God's got you.
[00:20:06] I love that in the light and all the troubles and struggles and threats that Paul knew this church would encounter, that the best thing for him to do was to entrust these people to God and His care and his grace.
[00:20:24] Because it is his grace that can build. It is his grace that helps us to take hold of an inheritance along with all the saints and all the other fellow like. It is only in his grace that can hold and uphold us.
[00:20:38] And Paul says, I am committing you as leaders of the Ephesian Church to the grace of God.
[00:20:46] And there will come a time on the 7th of December where I will pray my final blessing. That's going to be a tough one to get out, but in that it will be a committing you and the leadership teams and the preaching teams and the pastoral care teams to the grace of God to navigate the next season.
[00:21:13] And so the question for me, as much as anyone else, is, will we keep Cling and hold fast to the grace of God in the weeks and months ahead because he will uphold us.
[00:21:31] And then we get to the last bit.
[00:21:35] And I found this really powerful to read. It wasn't what I was expecting, but there is a tearful yet hopeful goodbye.
[00:21:49] Because I read Paul and I read his letters and they can be scathing and sharp. And he's calling. This helped reframe a whole lot of Paul's letters to me because he's not doing it to, like, eviscerate people.
[00:22:09] You see, in this farewell, Paul weeps, that everyone in this group weeps and they embrace.
[00:22:19] This is why Paul speaks the way he does to churches. The depth of his love for Jesus and love for these people, to see them on the right track.
[00:22:31] It helped reframe a whole lot for me of Paul and his writings. This is something I hadn't expected. Just Paul weeping with this group of people and weeping together. And like, he makes this. It seems. Even as Stu read the whole passage, it seemed like this offhanded comment of, you will never see me again. And it just kept going.
[00:22:56] And this is the bit for them that just this what grieves them the most.
[00:23:03] And so there is.
[00:23:05] There is a tearful goodbye and what our mate Robert.
[00:23:09] What was his name? The guy from. Robert Fuller. The guy that needed a hug. Yes, Robert Fuller.
[00:23:16] Like, he catches this part of a goodbye.
[00:23:19] The sadness and the ache and the weeping.
[00:23:25] But that's not the final story, because the reason for this goodbye is the call of God that is leading Paul on the commitment to the grace of God that will carry the Church of Ephesus through that. It's not the end because of the presence of God and the mission of God and just who Jesus is that will connect us that as we come to the seventh, for me personally, there will be tears, but there will also be a sense of hope that God is leading each of us and calling each of us into a new season.
[00:24:18] And I look forward to praying for Summerhill and cheering on Summerhill and seeing what God does moving forward.
[00:24:29] There is hope. There will be hope and tears combined.
[00:24:35] And that's okay.
[00:24:37] That's okay. I think I said it in week one of this series that gratitude and goodbyes often go hand in hand because we remember what we've had over this last season. And this is what's happening with this farewell to the Ephesian elders.
[00:24:56] So this passage has meant quite a lot to me personally, and I've come back to it time and time again because I think there's some core realities that are helpful to hold on to. Hopeful goodbyes and so just what stands out to you in the midst of this passage?
[00:25:19] Like, how are you feeling as we move into what will be a goodbye?
[00:25:26] And this gives a few weeks because we're going to have a banger of an awesome week next week.
[00:25:32] I'm so excited for this baptism.
[00:25:35] We've got a few weeks to help work through, process, hear stories, do all of that stuff, that inevitably hopeful goodbye.
[00:25:47] I feel like now I just want to pray for us as we step into that and I'll ask Andrew to come.
[00:25:58] Heavenly Father, thank you that you are in all, over all and through all.
[00:26:10] Thank you that you are active in leading us, that you are Jesus, you are the head of this church.
[00:26:21] And so as we come into the next few weeks, our final few weeks together as pastor and congregation, would you be with us?
[00:26:31] Would you comfort us? Would you draw near to us?
[00:26:36] Would you remind us of times in which you have been at work?
[00:26:41] Would you come alongside to help Holy Spirit? Thank you that you draw us closer to Jesus.
[00:26:50] And I just pray for people here that as we step into this next few seasons, this next season, Father God, that you go with them and before them.
[00:27:05] Thank you for how you have been faithful Summerhill Baptist Church before I came, that you have been faithful while I've been here and you will be faithful from 8th December onwards.
[00:27:18] Help us to trust in your faithfulness, trust in your grace and be held by you in this next season. In your name we pray Jesus.
[00:27:28] Amen.
