The Apostle Paul was in a hurry as his third missionary journey ended. He felt “constrained by the Spirit” to reach Jerusalem and deliver the Gentile churches’ “contribution for the poor among the saints” (Acts 20:22, Rom. 15:25-28). Before he set sail from Miletus, Paul asked the Ephesian church elders to meet him. He needed to tell them something important: they would soon be under attack.
Conflict wasn’t new for Paul or the Ephesians, who had already lived through “no little disturbance concerning the Way” when their local craftsmen rioted over the hit the idol-making industry took from all the people becoming Christians (Acts 19:23-26). Yet, this was different. Paul didn’t know exactly what would happen in Jerusalem, “except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me” (Acts 20:22-23). The Ephesians might never see Paul’s face again – a heartbreaking prospect after he had spent nearly three years ministering there (cf. Acts 20:25, 31, 38). As it happened, Paul was arrested in Jerusalem on false accusations by his Jewish opponents from Asia and spent the next five years in custody, eventually finding himself a prisoner in Rome (cf. Acts 21-28).
That wasn’t Paul’s only warning to the Ephesian elders, though: “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30). The greatest threats to the church would come not from the actions of outsiders but from within…even among some of those very elders. Still, when Paul wrote to the Ephesians as a prisoner a few years later, he was clear that the real enemy wasn’t the craftsmen, the Jews from Asia, the Romans, or even the false teachers. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
Knowing that changes things. When attacked, we don’t respond in worldly ways – stirring up crowds, throwing around money, or trying to destroy our opponents. Instead, we armor up, seeking to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might” with prayer and God’s Word as our chief weapons (cf. Eph. 6:10-20). That’s why Paul commended the Ephesian elders “to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified”, urging them to work hard to “help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:31-35). For the enemies we face on the Way, those are the tactics that matter. If instead of reacting like the world when attacked we use the armor and weapons God provides, we will find they are as powerful now as ever.
Join us as we learn from the real people in Jerusalem, Antioch, and Ephesus how to truly follow “The Way, the Truth, and the Life” of Jesus Christ together!