Departures. It can be a funny place at the airport, can’t it?
For some there’s that wild sense of excitement – the holiday has finally begun. Yet for others, departures means saying goodbye to someone they love. There’s a knot in the stomach and tears in the eyes.
Life is full of goodbyes, yet in Acts 20:13-38 we read about a particular kind of goodbye, as the apostle Paul says farewell to the Ephesian elders: a ‘goodbye for the gospel’, an intentional goodbye in response to Jesus’ call on Paul’s life, Acts 19:21, 20:22.
As Christians we are a sent people. In John 20:21, Jesus says “as the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” We’re sent to make disciples to the very ends of the earth, so saying goodbye in one sense is just a normal part of the Christian life.
At UFM, we have the privilege of walking with people through significant goodbyes – some preparing to be sent, others preparing to leave a place and a people they’ve served, sometimes for decades. Please remember them in your prayers.
At the time of writing we’re anticipating two commissioning services: a family with young children being sent by their church in London for service in Central Asia and a young man being sent to serve among the lost and the least in a country in the Middle East.
Will you pray for them, their families and their churches as they say goodbye? And as you pray, will you keep in mind three wonderful lessons from Acts 20:
Goodbyes for the gospel are good
As Paul said goodbye to the Ephesian elders, he wasn’t moving on because he fancied a change or had a better offer. No, Paul was saying goodbye because of the gospel. He was on the move to Jerusalem, then later to Rome, preaching as he went.
And that is why the goodbye was good. It was a farewell full of meaning, taking seriously Jesus’ words in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Paul was saying goodbye because of the gospel
Friends, being faithful to the gospel will compel us frequently to say goodbye, because Jesus is never just at work in one place. He calls us, he commands us, he gives us the joy and the privilege of participating in the work that he is doing. That’s why saying goodbyes for the gospel is always good!
Goodbyes for the gospel come at a cost
As Paul said goodbye, we read ‘they all wept,’ Acts 20:37. To be separated comes at great cost.
As we were preparing to move to Indonesia, I remember a supporter praying for our parents. As she spoke, you could hear her voice beginning to break up. Her son and his family were mission workers in the Middle East.
Jesus is worthy of our very lives
Yet as we feel the cost of gospel goodbyes, we know that Jesus is worthy of our very lives, Acts 20:24, “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
Goodbyes for the gospel never leave us lost for words
At the point of his goodbye, Paul was full of confidence for those he was leaving behind, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified,” Acts 20:32.
At the moment, it’s like we are standing in departures at the airport. But of course there’s another place in an airport: arrivals.
arrivals … it can be a beautiful place …
It can be a beautiful place can’t it? People no longer separated. Tears of sadness turned into tears of joy. Christian friends, don’t lose heart. Through the gospel, Acts 20:32, God is preparing you for a future, reunited with all of those you’ve said goodbye to for the gospel, presented with an inheritance that will never perish, spoil or fade, brought into the very presence of Jesus. So friends let’s go on, even through the tears, saying goodbyes for the gospel.
Michael Prest, Director, UFM Worldwide