At the end of Paul’s time with the Ephesians’ leaders before
Paul left on his final leg of the journey to Jerusalem, a couple of things took
place that indicated to me that true fellowship involves focus on Christ and
prayer. These leaders were greatly moved by Paul’s message to them and greatly
saddened by the fear that they would no longer have an opportunity to
fellowship with and learn from Paul. They would miss Paul immensely. There was
real affection and care for Paul on the part of these elders. There was also
great affection and care for the Ephesians on the part of Paul. A mutually
loving and caring relationship existed between the believers.
Acts 20:36-38 describes the relationship and gives us some ideas
for improving our fellowship.
And when he [Paul] had said these things, he knelt down and
prayed with them all. And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and
repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken,
that they should see his face no more. And they were accompanying him to the
ship.
First off, they had been listening and discussing Paul’s
ministry among them. That’s the “these things” the passage was talking about.
Paul had covered several key points in his longest recorded message to
Christians. He discussed four concepts with them:
1. Paul’s ministry as an example to them
(vs. 18-21)
2. Paul’s future prospects (vs. 22-27)
3. Warnings of coming heresies (vs. 28-31)
4. Proper attitudes toward material goods
(vs. 32-35)
Having finished the discussion, Paul, and presumably the
rest of the elders, knelt down to pray together. I know we say a prayer at the
end of the sermon on Sunday mornings, but for many of us (myself included) that
is the only time we engage in group, corporate prayer. I feel this was a
pattern in Paul’s life: to pray whenever meeting with believers. I find that is
an, often overlooked, aspect of the times we get together for what we call
fellowship. I try to involve prayer with others in my activities with others,
but I’m not always successful. Maybe that’s because what we are doing is not
actually “fellowship.” Maybe it’s just having fun with other Christians.
I also find it interesting that they knelt to pray. This is
from Acts so it’s not a “rule” or “commandment” for us to follow. And I’m not
going to say that we always need to be in a kneeling position when we pray.
However, Paul left us with that example of reverence and respect, an we should
make sure we pray from a position of reverence and respect. Kneeling is one way
of doing that. I know that it is not always possible to position ourselves in
such a way (I can’t get up after kneeling and my husband can’t kneel due to
knee surgeries), but we should, at the very least, position ourselves in a way
that shows reverence and respect to God.
I noticed their attitudes when parting with Paul became
eminent. They were weeping aloud and embracing Paul. There was grieving over
the possibility of never seeing Paul again. Do I feel anything like that when
leaving the presence of fellow-believers? Probably not because I have a
reasonable assurance that I shall see them again. But that’s taking a lot for
granted. I should not be so cavalier because it’s quite possible that those we
part with may never be seen again. We should make sure they know we will miss
their fellowship and that we will be praying for them.
Finally, parting should be hard to do. The elders wanted
every last minute with Paul so they accompanied him to the ship he would be
sailing on. I confess, sometimes my attitude is “will they ever leave?” It may
be hard to find closure for our fellowship times, yet if we have shared
Scripture, prayed and loved on each other, the parting may be less traumatic
than it was for these believers.
I’m going to try to pray more with the groups (or individuals)
I meet with. I think we need to include more prayer into our meetings and
partings.
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