If you have your Bibles, I'd love for you to join me in Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20 is undeniably a significant passage of Scripture due to the transparent and emotional nature of it. The Apostle Paul is incredibly passionate in all of his relationships. His passion of heart pours over into his communication, his desire for the spiritual betterment of those around him. We're listening in, in Acts chapter 20, in this segment of verses this morning, to a very personal conversation with the Ephesian elders. The apostle makes it clear to them that he'll never see them again. He know what awaits him. He is trying to convey to them some truths, foundational truths, which makes it really relevant for us. He is saying goodbye to these beloved Ephesian elders. His message here undoubtedly is for Christians. That's who he's talking to specifically in this context. It is very transparent. It is very emotional. The emotion is visible in it. They're crying as they talk to each other in this passage. In fact, I don't know of any moment more transparent or more emotional in Scripture for Paul than this one. In fact, one wrote, if you read this segment of Scripture with a sterile detachment, you and I deprive ourselves of the life-resulting benefit of this passage. We have to understand the humanity in it. We have to feel the empathy of the moment. We have to sense the passion in here. Linguistically speaking, even relationally, it is a vivid image painted for us. It is that of a group of soldiers still soiled by the dust and the blood of war, drawing together around their revered general for one final bit of wisdom. Let me help you understand how this applies to us. In his first letter to the believers at Corinth, the apostle Paul wrote to them in chapter four and verse 16 and said, I beseech you, I'm begging you, I'm pleading with you, be ye followers of me. That's not a carnal statement, that's not empirical. That is him saying imitate me because I am certain that I am imitating Jesus. That's the call to us. Be willing in this moment, in this study, to imitate the apostle Paul. Literally, he's saying, imitate my life. Now, in specific, he's talking to the Ephesian elders. He's going to tell them, imitate me. He's going to say to them, follow my example. And very specifically, I believe he says to them, follow my example of generous living. It is clear he is telling them, I have lived a generous life, imitate me in that regard. I'll note in verse 18 with you that he writes, as he's speaking, he says, when they were come to him, does Luke, he said unto them, Ye know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons. He is telling them, in effect, no one on earth knows me better than you guys know me. Luke is writing this inspired account. This scripture is for us. Paul is telling the Ephesian elders, you know who I am. And then he'll say to them, as he proves that he withstood trials that would benefit them, trials that would have sent others away, he says in verse 19, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying and weight of the Jews. and how I kept nothing back that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. He is simply looking back at the past and he's rehearsing unto them how he lived with them. Note the very important awareness we pick up in that verse. He says, I held nothing back. I expended myself on your behalf. If it was profitable for you, even at my expense, I did it. He reminds them that he gave himself to them through exhortation and tears. Paul's ministry was one of exhortation. His calling was one of preaching. That was his gift. That was what he lived for. That was his passion. And he says to them in verse 31, watch and remember this, that by the space of three years, I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears. I worked, I labored night and day, I exhorted with tears trials that would have sent others away. I endured for your sake. I expended myself for your betterment. I gave of myself for your benefit. He is telling them, he's articulating the reality that he had lived a generous life. He says in verse 34, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me. I didn't take anything from you. I didn't steal anything from you. I labored to meet my own needs, expending myself. I believe that the key to Paul's generous life is seen in verse 24. He says this, but none of these things move me. Neither count I my life dear, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Paul is acting in this moment as an accountant. He is using in this verse some financial language. He is saying, I've examined all of my assets, I've examined all of my liabilities, I've checked all the ledgers of my life, and I have decided to put Jesus Christ and others ahead of everything else, including myself. Now when the apostle says that, that's not theatrics. When the apostle says that, that's not a motivational speech trying to guilt other people to action. God, as his witness, he is saying, I have looked at the ledgers of my life, I've done the reckoning, I have done the accounting, and I deem that I have put Jesus first. I have literally lived a generous life. In other words, as one wrote, he said, I am willing. to sacrifice even myself if it is necessary. This was the spirit of the Savior and of all the early Christians. Duty is more important than life and when either duty or life is to be sacrificed, life is to be cheerfully surrendered. I don't know that the end of life and cheerful ever really coincide, but it is here in scripture that we understand the apostle Paul is saying, I would have been willing to give my own life for your sake. Not many of us would imagine that we would do that for people that are near to us, much less people that we have interacted with for a space of three years, but that's exactly what Paul said. I've summed my whole life up and it is generous. Really the core of it as he concludes his speech with the Ephesian elders is a quotation from Jesus in verse 35. He says, I've showed you all things. How that so laboring ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus. How he said, it's more blessed to give than to receive. Paul's summation, and we would do well to listen to this summation. One, because it came from Jesus. Secondarily, because Paul is saying, now I have literally assessed my whole existence and I communicate to you, it is truly more blessed, it is more satisfying, it is a happier way of life to give than to receive. It summarizes the apostle's ministry among them to his fellow warriors in a nutshell. Your ministry as my ministry is to be one of giving yourself, generously living your life. Paul gave himself to God, Paul gave himself to people. Paul gave himself to the ministry that God had given him and he gave it with such intensity that he forgot himself and he summed it up. It is, as Jesus said, more blessed to give than to receive. Now if I say to you, live a generous life, we might leave thinking we have received an anecdote for our betterment. Live a generous life. But if we're ever going to actually change, if church services are ever gonna be a catalyst for our spiritual betterment, we have to listen to what the word of God tells us. We don't cheapen it by just saying, here's the mandate, live a generous life. We understand, as we unpack the Scriptures, how to get there. And Paul shows it to us. He says, first of all, if you're ever going to live a generous life, you have to live with humility. You can't be proud and at the same time live a generous life. You cannot be dominated by pride and at the same time live a generous life. Remember what he said in verse 18. You know from the first day that I came into Asia after what manner I have been with you at all seasons. This, the Apostle Paul, this audacious statement of imitate me is backed by three years of his life. He literally says, you have been able to carefully watch me for three years. In effect, if anyone knows Paul, you know Paul. If anyone knows that I have lived generously, you know that I have lived generously. He looks at the Ephesian elders and he says to them very pointedly, for three years you have closely examined my life and here is what you have seen. The phrase in verse 19, you have seen me serve the Lord with all humility of mind. Can you imagine? after three years, being able to look at people, call God as your witness, and say, you've seen me all the time serve God, and you've seen me all the time do that with humility of mind. Now, I think to myself, there's no way in the world I'd stand up here and say, I've pastored this church for 20 years, you've watched me closely, and you've seen me do nothing but serve the Lord with humility of mind, because you think, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, I've seen you tired. I've seen you ticked off. I've definitely seen you carnal. I've definitely seen you not wanna be here, and so I salve my conscience in this way. I think Paul's writing this after three years. Put another 17 on him, he's probably not got it. Probably not so perfect. Maybe at three years in, I could say, at 20, no. Think about what he is saying. Examine my life, look at me closely, learn something from me and imitate me as I follow Jesus. I have lived a generous life because I have lived with you in humility, serving the Lord with all humility of mind. That's just summation of the past. Serving in there is a very specific word. It could be understood as slave. That strikes us the second we hear it. It sounds very strong. Servant of Christ, slave of Christ. Actually, it was one of Paul's favorite descriptions of himself and this life. To be a doulos, a bond servant of Jesus Christ. Bondservant is literally someone who often voluntarily attached himself or herself to a household for a lifetime of service. By that attachment, they were willing to say, I will never own anything, I will never have or do anything other than what the master of the house deems me worthy of receiving or worthy of doing. That is an emptying of self. It's a stunning statement. That's what the apostle Paul said to them. You have seen me for three years, night and day, ceaselessly up close have watched me, and what you have seen is a generous life. The integer to living a generous life is that of serving the Lord, being willing to see yourself as such. Paul viewed himself as a bondservant. In fact, often he would tell people that about himself. In Romans 1.1, he wrote this in introduction, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. To the believers at Galatia who were struggling a little bit doctrinally, he said to them, do I now persuade men or God? Do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. To those in Philippi, he said of him and Timothy, we are the servants of Jesus Christ. If you were to ask the apostle Paul to tell something about himself in a short moment, if there's just one thing you want us to know about you, Paul, what is that one thing? He wouldn't tell you about his education, which was exceptional. He wouldn't tell you about his global travels, which were extensive. He would desperately want you to know that he was a servant of Jesus Christ. I'm a slave of Jesus Christ. Voluntarily attaching myself to the work of Jesus Christ, whatever he deems me worthy of having or doing, that is what I will accept and I will gripe about nothing else. Live with service and humility. Paul says, I serve the Lord with all humility. Now, the second we hear that, we think like, eh. I mean, if I said that to you now, you guys, I'm standing here this morning, I'm preaching to you with all humility. You're like, ooh, I don't know. I feel like you kind of just threw it all away the second you told us you were doing this with all humility. But what if I was serious? What if I said, no, no, no, no, I'm here this morning. I also walk in in the rain. I parked on the grass. I drank tepid honey water between the services. I shook hands with complete strangers. I said hello to babies. I've preached twice. Think of how grievous this ministry is for me. All with humility. All with humility. When Paul says this, he's speaking from the very core of his being. God is my witness, I have served with all humility. To our ears we think, wait a second, that in and of itself is pride, until you understand what it is that he's saying. Humility is a compound word. It means recognize your own weakness, and on the other hand, recognize the power of God. That is true humility, a recognition of what Jesus Christ's saying about us as truth. Jesus said in John 15 five, without me ye can do not one thing. That's what Paul is saying. I served with all humility. I reached an end of myself. I reached an end of my skill set. I went beyond my wits. I understand I'm not a physically imposing being. I understand that I'm not full of charisma. I know that my speech with you was contemptible and I stuttered and I stammered. I know all of that. I took some beatings. I grasp it. But in my weakness, he was made strong. I served With humility, one wrote, our need for Jesus Christ is not partial, it is total. Our need for his strength is not intermittent, it is permanent. True biblical humility is nothing more or less than recognizing how needy we are and how great God is. Generous living begins with an awareness of who you and I are, servants. with Christ-enabled humility. People without this foundation, without service and humility, will never live a generous life. Rather, they will always be stingy and self-serving. You cannot live a generous life until you live with service and humility. Secondarily, I note this. He's teaching us that we have to live selflessly. Verse 19, he said this, serving the Lord, yes. Serving the Lord, and then he says, with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. Paul is communicating unto them, I was willing to exchange my safety, my personal well-being for you. Selflessly. Paul summarizes in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, really what is a stunning passage of scripture. He rolls out all of the hardship in his life. He just goes down a list of all the things that have happened to him. He says this in verse 23, in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. That one always causes me to stop. In deaths often. Think about that. You might meet somebody who has had a near-death experience. If you ask Paul, Paul, have you ever stared death in the face? Have you ever had a near-death experience? He'd say, yeah, last week. And the week before that, and the week before that, and about a month ago, and a couple months back, once I was left in a ditch for dead, once I was beat within an inch of my life, in deaths often. He continues down the list of the Jews, five times received I 40 stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep. Journeyings often, perils of water, perils of robbers, perils by my known countrymen, perils by the heathen, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, in the sea, among false brethren, and weariness, painfulness, watchings often, hunger, thirst, fafting, cold, nakedness. I've been everywhere, man. If this was a Christmas party, you'd look at it and be like, I get it, good grief. Dominating the conversation, making your situation, you're a one-upper. But it was all true. It was all real. It was all fact. When the apostle's standing here weeping with the Ephesian elders, he has transparency of heart. He is saying to them, you have watched me. You've put me under a microscope. God is my witness. You've looked at my life. I've lived it generously. How, Paul, have you done that? Because the highest calling I have is to just be a servant of Jesus Christ. I live serving with humility of mind. My weakness, his strength. I live selflessly. I have surrendered my agenda. I have surrendered my ideals. I have surrendered my way. I have surrendered my preferences. It's not about me. I live selflessly. One asked, how did Paul survive? And not only survive, but selflessly persevere all of these trials. When that question was asked, the pastor went on to tell the story of James Calvert, a young pioneer missionary who also persevered. He said he and his team were headed to minister among the cannibals of the Fiji Islands. While en route, the ship captain tried to dissuade him, finally crying in desperation, son, you will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go there. Calvert replied simply, we died before we came. Before we ever got on this boat, we already died to ourselves. This ceased to be about us the moment we got on this boat. We will not fear what man can do unto us because we don't belong to ourselves. We have died to self. I would say to you with conviction, one of the greatest ailments of the modern day gathering of believers is we are not dying to self. We do not live selflessly but rather selfishly. Lee. It is a fact that we are far too concerned about whether or not people are doing it our way. We're far too concerned about our ideals being uplifted, our ambitions being satiated, our desires, our mindset, the way we want it to be being accomplished. We leave the church and we gauge what we got out of it and how it made us feel when in reality a generous existence dies to self. Jonathan Edwards, no relation. My last name is Edwards. Some people are like, really, I didn't know that. Well, I'm not related to Jonathan Edwards. You're like, no, no, no, I knew that. That's been evident in the first 17 minutes of this message. On January 17th, 1722, he, bringing about the Great Awakening, wrote this in his diary. I have been before God and have given myself. all that I am and have to God, so that I am not in any respect my own. Neither have I any right to this body or any of its members, no right to this tongue, these hands, these feet, no right to these senses, these eyes, these ears, this smell or this taste. I have given myself clear away and have not retained anything as my own. Do you recognize that if you live like this, contention in your life ceases? You don't find yourself arguing. You don't find yourself losing your temper. You don't find yourself given to fits of rage or anger. You find that it really just doesn't matter because you're living selflessly. You've died to self. If you want to live a generous life, you have to be willing to die to self, but not only die to self, be willing to give every single thing that you have. I reference this in verse 20, how Paul said, I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. But I have rather showed you, I taught you publicly and privately, from house to house. I gave you everything I had. That's what Paul's saying. Now we might diminish that by saying, yeah, but you were a teacher, but that was his gifting. That's what God gave him to do. That's what he had to offer. And he says, I gave you everything I had. What he's conveying is there was reason to want to hold back some of the truth. Sometimes it's painful to hear the truth. And sometimes it's painful to deliver the truth. But I gave you everything I had. I gave you scripture. I didn't just tell you anecdotes. I didn't just give you a story. I didn't try to be empirical. When you left, you had studied the Word. I gave you everything I had. There were moments that I desired rest, he would say, but in verse 31 he referenced, I ceased not to warn everyone, night and day, with tears, passionately, ceaselessly, without fatigue, I gave you everything I have. All of us at Salvation are gifted that charis, that spiritual gift that God expects and anticipates that we will use for His honor and His glory. The question is, are you living generously and giving all that you have, or are you holding back? One wrote, becoming a Christian means a radical change in ownership. You once belonged to yourself, your desires, your plans, your will. Now you are a slave of Christ to do his will and fulfill his plans. You are not your own. You have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Live a generous life, not a cheap anecdote. Not good advice. Scriptural mandate. Follow me. Imitate me, Paul says, as I imitated Jesus. I lived a generous life. How? I saw myself as a servant. I lived with humility. I dyed this self. I gave you everything that I had, and I lived without covetousness. Verse 33, he says it plainly. I have coveted no man's silver or gold. I haven't coveted any man's apparel, not his house, not his servant, not his beast, not his wife. I have coveted nothing from anyone. Paul plainly says he coveted no one's good. Another key to generous living is to live without covetousness. Now let me be very specific about what I mean. Covetousness means to have a consuming and controlling desire for what others have and for more of what we ourselves already have. Thou shalt not covet is the last of the Ten Commandments, but if we do covet, we will end up breaking all the other nine. Those who covet will steal, lie, and murder to get what they want, and even dishonor their own parents. Covetousness is idolatry. Paul is saying, I was able to live generously. I was able to hold nothing back. I was able to always put others first because I never coveted any man's goods. I had no illicit desire for worldly gain. That's a really specific way of saying, if you have a desire for worldly gain, it is a great inhibitor to generous living. The love of money, the Bible says, is the root of all evil. Paul wrote to Timothy, he said it plainly, the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Now to be very careful, he does not say that money is the root of all evil and he does not mean that all evil has money at its root. The proverb that he is communicating there under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is simply that greed is a trap. If you want to live a less than life, if you want to be less happy than you could be, less satisfied than you could be, be controlled and dominated by greed, it's a trap. It's not just a trap for rich people, it's a trap for poor people and everyone in between. Paul makes that clear. He writes one verse earlier in verse nine, but they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and that ultimately drowns men in destruction and perdition for everyone who wants to be rich. Who wants to be rich? Don't raise your hand, it's not good now. Who wants to be rich? I want to be rich. What Paul is saying is even for the wannabes, for those that have money and trust in their money and for those who don't have it and they wanna be rich, even for the wannabes, don't fall into the trap of greed. Don't give in to covetousness. You will always live a less than existence if you always want one more thing. He was able to live a generous life because he lived without covetousness. The point, again, is that phrase. It is more blessed to give than to receive. That is a summation. As a summary statement, that is directly from Jesus. He's quoting Jesus. This is Paul who is now at the point of assessing his life and he doesn't have a lot of life left. He's assessing it and he's saying, I'm telling you now, it is more blessed to give than to receive. This phrase is specifically a focused request to act. It is an imperative verb. It is more blessed to give. It reiterates the need to make a conscious effort to give. To make a conscious effort to live a generous life, even at pain to yourself. One wrote this, a generous life does not come about by happenstance, it is a conscious choice to give. I also wanna circle back because in this moment, as he's getting ready to board the ship and he's surrounding by his dust and blood covered warriors here in Ephesus for the gospel of Jesus Christ, he's not looking at this group of elders and telling them to give their money. He's not saying to them merely give your money, merely give your resources. He is exhorting them to much more than that. He's aiming at a much higher target. He is telling them give your life away to Jesus. Give your life away to others. It is far more blessed to give your life away to Jesus and to people to serve them than to have people serve you. That's what he's saying. It's a far greater thing, it's a far more blessed thing to give your life away to the needy and to the weak and to the spiritually hungry than to have somebody constantly serving you. Get it down to the root of your being. Who cares what you want? Who cares how it makes you feel? Are you selflessly giving and living for others? Are you truly modeling Jesus Christ who loved the church and gave himself for it fully and completely? If you live a generous life, you will discover that it is a far more satisfying existence. It is a far happier way of life than one of being served. But it's a choice we make. It is something that we must do intentionally. If we don't choose to make the turn, if we don't choose to take the step, we will not be compelled otherwise to do so. It's not just anecdotal, live a generous life, though that's good advice, and though that makes you a great citizen and a good and kind person, it's a scriptural mandate. And maybe we could have filled it in with a little more stories, but all we did was listen to the Apostle Paul in Luke's inspired account in Acts chapter 20, and in conversation he tells us, microscope, study, you saw, I lived a generous life. How did you get there, man? That is such a high mark of spirituality. I lived knowing that I was a servant, and I did so with humility of mind. I lived selflessly. I gave you everything that I had, and I lived without covetousness. Wow, that's an incredible testament to the Apostle Paul, but it's a fact. I've reckoned my entire life, I've checked the ledgers, and I sum it up in this way. It is better, it is more blessed, it is happier, and it is more satisfying to give it all away. than to be served, than to get my way? Are you living a generous life? You have a choice to make. Can I invite you just where you are to bow your heads with me for just a moment? Thanks for listening this week to the Graceway Baptist Church Podcast. For more information about our church and our ministries, head on over to our website at gracewaycharlotte.org. We are a church located in South Charlotte. We are growing and our ministries are doing big things for Christ. If you're looking for a way to get plugged into what we're doing, email us at info at gracewaycharlotte.org. Also, stay in the loop with everything happening by following us on Facebook and Instagram. Our handle is GracewayCharlotte. Thanks again for listening to the Graceway Charlotte podcast. We'll see you next week.