I kept nothing back

And when they had come to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, - Acts 20.18-20

Paul’s closing address to the church at Ephesus is one of the most moving and powerful messages in all of scripture. It still almost moves me to tears as I read about Paul leaving a group of people he loves. He knew he might never see them again. I remember leaving a couple of ministries and how hard it was to say goodbye.

Paul challenges me here as he does so often. In all the time he spent with the Ephesians he could boldly say ‘I held nothing back from you.’

It challenges me to read these words. It can be challenging sometimes to preach the ‘whole counsel of God’ because of fear of men. We can be tempted to temper our words so we don’t offend our friends or antagonise our enemies. It is not always easy just to preach and let the chips fall where they may.

I think I preacher I heard recently nails it when he says ‘I can no longer try to apologise for the word of God.’

Nobody could ever accuse Paul of not warning them or talking about their sin or things they needed to do because he held nothing back when he preached. He did not make excuses for the word of God – he just preached it.

We can’t decide what parts of the Bible to preach and where to hold back. We must preach the full counsel of God and trust Him with the results. Its His words, after all, not ours. We should never seek to offend with our words or attitudes or actions – we simply preach God’s word and let it do its own work in the hearts of people.