A cursory study of Acts 20:24 by JQuisumbing
What a question to ask. Am I disrespecting a great Apostle, a man of God? I kid you not. Those were his words.
“But my life is worth nothing to me…”
No, the Apostle was not suffering from poor self-esteem. It was quite the opposite. Let us look at the entire passage.
Acts 20:24 (NLT)
But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
What was the Apostle Paul talking about?
First, let us break up the verse into 3 parts.
Acts 20:24
1 – But my life is worth nothing to me…
2 – unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—
3 – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.
1 – BUT MY LIFE IS WORTH NOTHING TO ME
Let us look at the background… Let us take a quick look at why Paul said that his life is worth nothing to him…
You know the old saying, ‘a picture is like a thousand words’. Well, take a look at the map below which covers all three of Paul’s Missionary Journey (Acts 13-20).
The red line represents Paul’s route and all three missions spanned about nine or so years. And it was no leisurely road trip, for he had experienced many hardships.
- Paul was persecuted and even beaten before being imprisoned
- Paul was in danger from crossing wild rivers, earthquakes, robbers, Jews, Gentiles, and false Christians
- Paul had many sleepless nights… had hungry and thirsty days
- Paul was constantly anxious for all of the churches
On top of all that Paul had experienced, during his journeys, the Lord God also allowed him to have a ‘thorn in his flesh’! (2 Corinthians 12:7)
The Bible was not exactly clear what it was, except that it was a torment from the devil. Whatever it was, Paul’s ‘thorn in his flesh’ was so debilitating that he pleaded for the Lord to take it away three times. God refused, but his words to him was that “His Grace is sufficient for him”. (vs 9)
Paul was also an old man already. When one had been working hard for that long, it would be natural to consider a vacation? Or better yet, RETIREMENT?!
Well… not Paul…
Paul wanted to go to Rome! He felt that he was not worthy of a vacation or even retirement.
“But my life is worth nothing to me unless,” he declared. Unless what?
2 – UNLESS I USE IT FOR FINISHING THE WORK ASSIGNED ME BY THE LORD JESUS
What drives a Sailboat to go forward? WIND
What drives a Car to go places? FUEL/GAS
What drives a Fan to keep you cool? ELECTRICITY
What drives a person to achieve great goals?
AMBITION
What is the meaning of ambition? …a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work.
The key is a strong desire… not just to do anything… but to achieve something great… something fantastic… better yet, something SPECTACULAR! And the SPECTACULAR demands hard work, determination, and dedication.
What strong desire drove Paul to not even consider his own life as being worthy? He said, unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus.
The next obvious question, of course, is ‘What WORK?’
3 – THE WORK OF TELLING OTHERS THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE WONDERFUL GRACE OF GOD.
What is the GOOD NEWS that Paul felt that his life was not worth it unless he focused on imparting it to everyone?
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.
By the way, the Greek for Good News is GOSPEL.
The Gospel is the most important event for all mankind, because our GOD became man, so that He would die on the cross, so that you could be with Him in eternal life.
So, this makes the Gospel-size Ambition as being the primary goal for ALL those who have the Holy Spirit in them.
May GOD be all the glory!
Johann Quisumbing 