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Context No. 1483 of 4322 · Acts

Context · Reflection

Acts 20:1-6: in context

1After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, took leave of them, and departed to go into Macedonia. 2When he had gone through those parts and had encouraged them with many words, he came into Greece. 3When he had spent three months there, and a plot was made against him by Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he determined to return through Macedonia. 4These accompanied him as far as Asia: Sopater of Beroea, Aristarchus and Secundus of the Thessalonians, Gaius of Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of Asia. 5But these had gone ahead, and were waiting for us at Troas. 6We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we stayed seven days.

After the uproar in Ephesus subsides, Paul gathers the disciples, encourages them, and sets out for Macedonia. He travels through the region, encouraging the believers there with many words, and comes into Greece, where he stays three months. When a plot against him forces a change of route, he goes back through Macedonia, accompanied by a company of named companions, Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophimus, and they make their way toward Troas.

Two quiet things in this travel narrative are worth noticing. The first is what Paul was doing as he traveled: encouraging the believers with many words. Amid all his labors, a large part of his ministry was simply this, going from church to church strengthening and encouraging the people, building them up with words of encouragement. We can undervalue this, thinking of ministry in terms of grand acts, dramatic conversions, striking works; but the steady work of encouraging fellow believers, strengthening the discouraged, building up the faith of ordinary Christians with words of hope and truth, is a real and needed ministry, one Paul gave himself to constantly. The second thing is the list of names. Paul did not travel or work alone; he moved with a company of companions, named here one by one, coworkers who shared the labor and the danger with him. For all his stature, Paul was not a solitary figure but the center of a team, surrounded by fellow workers who traveled with him and helped carry the work. Both things are worth taking to heart. The ministry of encouragement, of strengthening others with our words, is available to every believer and always needed; and the work of God is not meant to be done alone but in the company of others, coworkers who share the burden. Paul encouraged the churches, and Paul traveled with friends; and in both he shows us something of how the work is meant to go.

Do I give myself to the ministry of encouragement, strengthening and building up fellow believers with my words, and do I try to do the work of God alone, when even Paul traveled surrounded by named companions who shared the labor?

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