There is something just about coming together and pausing to reflect on Jesus’s sacrifice that just resets our souls. If you got a copy of Scripture today, I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 20. Acts Chapter 20 As we continue on in our Rethink series today, we are going to look at the topic of re-defining success, redefining success. Now, I know when I say the idea of redefining success, it brings up a whole lot of stuff that there is no way that we could totally do it justice. But in the time that we have left today, I want to begin to move into this idea of God. How can I, at the end of my life, pull up at the end of my life and know that I have lived a successful life? Now, as soon as I say the word successful, most of us think, well, okay, Matt, that's great. Let's work through what it means to really be successful. Because for some of us, when I say the word successful, it automatically puts this idea into my mind of money or education or qualification, maybe a degree or a promotion or some kind of future financial security or something like that. For some others of us, when I say success, the first thing that pops in our mind Now we all say it out loud because we're good church people, but we would say it is something like maybe popularity or maybe followers, or maybe a present comfort or a future comfort or let's just be honest, the American dream, right, is a house, a two cars, a dog and a couple of kids. Right? That is what has been driven into most of us that what it looks like to be successful. Now, let me say this to begin with, because I know that most times when you hear this type of message, you get somebody like me that is going to come up here and down on everything that I just mentioned. But let me just say this. 

All of the topics I just mentioned on our definitions of success, whether it be popularity or money or fame or whatever, all of the things that I just mentioned, are not sins in themselves. In fact, all of those things are great gifts from the Lord. They really are. You can read it all over Scripture. The fact is, God has gifted us with those things. The problem with them is that all of the things that I just mentioned, whether it's popularity or status or followers or present comfort or future money, all of them are horrible definitions of ultimate success. And here's why. Because they're moving targets. They're not absolutes. Have you ever noticed that when you have things in your life that are not from the Lord that others think that is success when you do achieve them or when someone else achieves them, that it really doesn't bring the peace that you thought it was going to bring? Or that they thought it was going to bring. In fact, ask any person on this planet that really finalizes their lives in a state of not knowing Jesus, but with a lot of stuff. And it seems like the words are always the same. If I had to do it over again, I would point my life in a different direction. You see, success is a weird one. Why? 

Well, because in all those things that I just mentioned, if you look at Jesus's life when he was on the cross, he would have failed every single one of those success things right? At that moment, He wasn't popular. At that moment, He had no little nest egg. At that moment, He had no house, He had no wife. I don't think he had any pets. Right. I don't think he had any of that stuff. So really and truly, if that is our definition of success, then we're not following Jesus. I'm not saying those are bad things. I'm just saying ultimately, that's not what success is. So the question I want to answer today is what does biblical success look like? What does it look like? I think there's two scriptures that Jesus gives us that absolutely is probably the best combo in Scripture that describes an overall message of what success is. And then I want to give you a very specific definition of success on the back side. Matthew 6:33 and Matthew 22:37, give us two incredible pictures of success. Matthew 6:33 is where Jesus is talking to his disciples about the future. He's talking to them about not worrying. Talking to them about God, the provider that has created them will take care of them. And He pulls up in Matthew 6:33 and says this. He says, So as a result of all that that God has done for you. He says, Seek first His kingdom and his righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you as well. In other words, Jesus says, If you want the hand of God in your life, he says, seek the heart of God. Why? Because He is the giver of life, the giver of all things good. He is the healer. So Jesus said, In all reality, success is pulling up at the end of your life and looking back at it and asking yourself, Did I seek the kingdom first? To which most of us would agree. But the problem with that is it's just so large, right? It's almost ethereal in some of our minds or so general in some of our minds. That's why he gives us Matthew 22:37. Matthew 22:37. 

Jesus says, okay, success is serving the kingdom. But let me boil it down to something for you. And he says this. Watch this in verse 37 of Matthew 22 says, Jesus replied, Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. Listen to this in verse 40, he says, All the law and the prophets hang on these two commands. So Jesus takes this idea of seeking the kingdom and He boils it down to the idea, just like we talked about last week, that there is a vertical component of serving the kingdom or seeking the kingdom, and that is just loving God with all of our heart. There's a horizontal with there's a horizontal dynamic to serving the kingdom, and that is loving others and serving others. And when we do this, what we're doing ultimately is that we are living the life that God has called us to live. And at the end of our lives, we will know that we have been successful, especially to the one in whom it matters most. Are you feeling that? The idea is that we seek the Kingdom of God by loving God with all our heart, by loving others, with all of our heart. And if we do that church listen, that's when we're successful, especially in the eyes of God, to which most of us once again, we say, Well, Matt, that's great. I feel that. I really do feel like. But what does that practically look like? 

I mean, I get it. Jesus did that. I get it. Jesus tells us to do that. But is there an example in Scripture of a sinner like me that is modeled that or maybe even has pulled up at the end of their life and says, Here's how I've been successful? To which I would tell all of us, today is your lucky day. Because there is. That's exactly what Acts Chapter 20 is. Acts Chapter 20 is the Apostle Paul at the end of his life, right toward the end of his life. And he is speaking to the church. And the Apostle Paul is about to give the church some goals or some targets of how they can know if they have lived a successful life. And I love what Paul does in this passage because he goes back over his life in his ministry and he says, Here's how I have lived, here's how you should live, and here's how you can know that you know that you know that you are walking out a successful life. Now, Acts chapter 20 is a little bit of an anomaly, and here's why. If you know anything about the Book of Acts, the Book of Acts is the continuation of Luke's gospel. The Gospel of Luke. Right. The Gospel of Luke tells the story of Jesus and how he has come to save us and give us life. The Book of Acts is his continuation of that, to tell us about the Holy Spirit and to tell us how to have a relationship with Jesus and to describe to us the beginning of the church. Acts Chapter 20 is a little bit of an anomaly because it's the only long elongated passage in all of Acts that is written directly to believers. 

So it's important and the reality is it's actually the Apostle Paul preaching his own funeral and telling us how he knows that he has walked out the message of God in his life. So what I want us to do is real simple today. I just want to walk through Paul's recollection of his life, and I want it to challenge us to rethink our life and our definition of success, and to ask ourselves, am I looking for the Kingdom of God or am I living for my kingdom? All right, here we go. Acts Chapter 20. We've got some work to do. Starting in verse 17. I'm going to read it and just give you seven quick things. Here's what Paul says from Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them, You know how I have lived the whole time I was with you from the first day I came into the province of Asia. Watch this in verse 19 real closely. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. Here's what Paul says. Write it down. Number one, he looks at these Ephesian leaders at the end of his life and he says, 

Hey, biblical success is humbly serving and pointing others to God and not me, not me. Now, this is so practical in our lives. Why? Because verse 19 blows away the earthly model of success with one phrase. That is when Paul, at the end of his life, pulls up and says, What? He says, I served with great humility. You see, in Bible times, the word humility was seen as weakness. But in the Bible, 200 times this word humility is seen as a virtue that God has called us to live. And Paul is pulling up at the end of his life right here and explaining to us that Christianity is not built on this legacy of extraordinary men and women in great power. No, he's saying that Christianity is about the legacy of a savior who can save and then use even the most brokenness, the weakest, the biggest sinners that there are. You see, Paul lived his life in a way that he took himself off the pedestal and he placed the king of kings Jesus on the pedestal. That's what he's saying here. He says, You want to be successful, then be able to look back at the end of your life and ask yourself, Have I put the mirror up to myself? Have I shined my light into other people? Or has my life been a life that is modeled that I become less and he becomes more? This is John 3:30, right? John 3:30 John says that he, Jesus, must become greater and I must become less. Church, listen, that is success. Let me lean on this just for a minute and just say this. You cannot point people in two directions. Your life will never be able to do that. Here's what I mean by this. We are either going to point people to ourselves or we're going to point people to our savior, and our savior is King Jesus. 

So the question that Paul is answering here is, is success me pointing at me for success or success be pointing at King Jesus. If our desires to elevate ourselves outweigh our desire to serve and to elevate God. Listen, we're chasing a fleeting goal. You know a question that I just struggle with over and over and over again? Is this, am I pointing more to this guy and my pointing more to that guy? Is more of your time spent pointing people to yourself or is more of your time spent humbly serving King Jesus to point them towards him? Paul says, Let me tell you this in such an anti cultural way, that success. It starts with humble service. Humility is us coming before others just serving the king. So let me ask you this morning, how are you doing serving King Jesus? Are you directing people's attention away from you and to him or you directing people's attention to you and away from him? That's the question Paul says is a success question. That's number one. Success is humbly serving and pointing to Jesus. Number two, he says this success is giving my attention and time to ensure that my generation hears the truth. About what? Jesus’s love for them. That's success. Success is me pulling up at the end of my life and knowing that my time and my attention has ensured that my generation has heard about Jesus's love. I love the distinction here because Paul says service number one, and then he says, number two, we need to speak the gospel. Those things are mutually exclusive. They work together, but they are not the same thing. Look at verse 20. Watch what he says. He says, You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you, but I have taught you publicly and from house to house, I have declared both to Jews and the Greeks, that they must turn to God in repentance and have a faith in our Lord Jesus. What does that mean? That means that Paul knew that one of the central calls and central roles of all believers lives. Any follower of Jesus in his life is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus. He knew that. 

Do you want to know if you're successful at the end of your life? Are you going to be able to look back at your life and look at the string of people that you have proclaimed Jesus to? Are you saying, Matt, that I need to save these people? No, that's not what I'm saying. That's God's job. That's Jesus's role. What I'm saying is this. We are not responsible for the level that someone responds to the gospel, but we are responsible for sharing the gospel and helping people understand the gospel. That's what Paul understood. That's why Paul could say this in verse 26. Let me skip ahead for a minute. He says this, therefore, Paul says, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. Now, that's bold, isn't it? For I've not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. You know what that means? That means there's an implication here that if we don't answer the call of Jesus, that the blood of those around us that do not hear the gospel in our generation that's on us. That's on us. 

In other words, Paul is looking at this going, Listen, listen, you crazy people. I have given you the gospel. A lot of you have denied it. I've given it to you. And I'm no longer guilty for that. Can you ask that question and answer it like that about your tribe? Now, I know there's people that don't know the gospel all over the world. I get that. And we're called to go reach. But I'm just asking about the people around you, your generation, those that are in your circle. Do they regularly really hear you speak the gospel? I love that later on in verse 31, we'll get to it later. Paul looks at him and he actually looks at him because, listen, for three years I haven't stopped warning you about this. Would your family say that about you? That's success. That's what Paul says success is. That's not what earthly success looks like, though. So number one is humble submission and pointing away from us. Number two is that we are speaking the love of Jesus to our generation. But look, in number three, you look at verse 22, he says this, and now, compelled by the spirit, I am going to Jerusalem not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. Now write this down. Number three is not going to take a lot of explanation. 

But number three, success is following the Holy Spirit by faith, even when it's hard. That's success. Now, what does that mean? That means that following the Holy Spirit is a lot of times a thing that we do out of faith and not having all the answers. Paul, context is always king. Paul knows that he is heading to Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit has already warned him this is about to happen and then it's not going to end up well. He knows that he's going to be persecuted. He probably knows that he is going to be killed. But he also knows that this is what the Holy Spirit has asked him to do. And now he needs to take a step of faith. Now, listen, faith is one of those things that we struggle with so much, and here's why. Most of us are incredibly put together. We're incredibly, incredibly methodical and we're incredibly systematized. Faith doesn't necessarily end up in any of those realms because sometimes the numbers don't add up. Sometimes that time doesn't add up. And sometimes the effort that you think you're going to put out is not what you think you want to put out. Faith is me just simply saying, Yes, Lord, if that's where you want me to go, that's where I'm to go. 

So let me ask you something. Are you following the promptings even when you think it's hard? That's number three. Number four, keep on moving. This definition of success, number four, write this one down. Success is finishing strong. It's finishing strong the race of life Paul would say. He's looking back at his life after all that Paul has gone through. I mean, when you think about it, if you're a Bible student and you know where Paul is at this moment in his life, when you look back at all of Paul's ministry, most of us will be like, Paul, Take a break. Right. Paul, you deserve to kind of chill out for a little while. You've done your deal, you've served your time, you have done and walked and had and then all of that. But Paul is determined to finish strong. In fact, look at verse 23 again, this is I only know that in every city, the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardship are facing me. Watch this though in verse 24. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me. My only aim. Man, I love this. This motivation is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given to me. The task of testifying about the good news of God. You know what Paul would look at you and say today? He’d say Listen, starting the race is amazing, but nobody remembers how you start. Everybody remembers how you finish. That's what Paul is saying right here. So let me be very specific for those of you that are entering the fourth quarter of your life, raise your hand. No, don't raise your hand. I'm just kidding. 

Listen. For those of you that are entering the fourth, for those of you that are rounding third base of your life, what is your plan to finish? What's your plan? Are you planning to finish well? Do you plan on retiring and sitting back and turning things over to the young bucks and riding out your glory years and nothing but comfort or luxury? Or do you have a plan to finish strong and to serve to your last breath and to invest in the kingdom till God calls you home? Listen, those of you, you need to know that your relationship with Jesus still matters. Your relationship with people still matters. Your obedience to God still matters. You still have value. And this next generation needs you. It needs your wisdom, it needs your prayers, it needs your guidance. It needs you to serve. Are you going to finish well? Paul says. For those of you that are in middle school, you're about to finish middle school. What's your plan to finish middle school well? For those of you who are in high school, what's your plan to finish high school? For those of you that are moving into a new role at work, what's your role to finish well? What's your plan to finish well? For those of you that are finishing up a project, are you going to finish well for the Kingdom of God? Finishing well, is the definition of success. 

It keeps going. In verse 24, he says, My only aim is to finish the race. We just saw that, and watch this, to complete the task the Lord Jesus has given to me. Write this down. Number five Success is being faithful to do what Jesus has asked me to do. In other words, success is being faithful to step into the gifts, the abilities, the resources that God has put in your life. Now, look, your gifts are going to be different than my guess. My gifts are going to be different than your gifts. We all have different gifts. We all have different roles. We all have different callings. We all have different things that God has put on us. And success is me. Just knowing those gifts and walking in those gifts. My gift is not to lead worship. My gift is not to change baby's diapers. My gift is not to lead a children's camp. Amen. That is not my gift, but it might be yours. So success is pulling up at the end of our lives and knowing that I have walked out my giftedness. You say Matt, How do I know my giftedness? Man, you need to jump into a mentor relationship. You need to jump into a life group with people that can help you. You need to jump into our Place Ministry Assessment here that can give you a goal and give you and show you what your desires and passions and gifts and abilities are. 

Because, listen, one day we are going to be held responsible for how we use the gifts God gave us. What are you doing to do that? Paul says that’s success. But it keeps going. Verse 28. If those aren't good enough, watch this. He says, keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you an overseer. He says be shepherds of the Church of God, which he bought with his own blood. He says, I know after I leave, Savage Wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. In other words, it’s not going to spare the church. From even among your own number, men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away many disciples. Draw away disciples from them. Verse 31. So be on your guard. Remember that for three years I've never stopped warning each of you day and night with tears. Out of everything. Paul could have said right here. Notice what he leans into. Number six, he says that success is deeply committing and investing into the church, into the body of Christ. Now, Paul points out really clearly here, watch this, that the only institution that Jesus ever gave his life for, and that he died for, that he created is what? Is the church. It's the church. Paul says that Jesus bought the church with his blood, that Jesus has invested into the church, and there has never been a person that has invested more into any institution on this planet than this right here, that Jesus created it, that Jesus died for it, and Jesus loved it. 

Friends, it needs to be on the top of our priority list. And at the end of our lives, we need to be able to look back at how I invested into the church? Why? Because what is the church? The church is the body of Christ. It is the gathering of the saints. It is the believers that are gathering together to represent Jesus to this world. We are all part of the body, part of the body of Christ. And I can say we all have different roles, we all have different gifts, we all have different abilities, and we are responsible for living those things out. This is why I'm so passionate about the church. It's not because I walk here, I work here. It's not because I serve here. It's not because this is just what I do. It's because Jesus said we should be and it should be for all of us. It's why I say all the time that church is so much more than a place to attend. It is a body to belong to. It's a body that we should all be part of. It matters and it should be on the top of the list of success. But what about you? Are you going to be able to say this when you're pulling up in those moments of life? That man, I served the church, part of the body, or was I just here when I got there? Now keep moving, because when I finished the text with this. He says this in verse 32, Paul says, Now I and I commit you to God and to the word of His grace, Paul says, which can build you up and it can give you an inheritance among all those that are saints. But in other words, Paul is saying, Man, I love you and you are his. Verse 33. Paul says this, I love this. I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing, although he puts clothing in there. It doesn't really mean anything to us. But to them it did. Right. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. Verse 35. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work, we must help the weak. 

Remembering the words of Jesus himself. And I noticed the last thing Paul says about success. Watch what he says. He says success. Watch this. It is more blessed to give than to receive. When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and he prayed and they all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was the statement that they would never see his face again, and they accompanied him to the ship. Paul ends with saying this, Number seven, Success is us giving way more than I expect to receive. Giving is me giving away way more than I expect to receive. And here's why this is so important. It's so important because it is straight from the mouth of Jesus when he said it is more blessed to give than receive. 

Now I want you to notice something because Paul is a master orator. He's a master arguer, not like I got in a fight with my wife, but like making an argument for something. Paul starts this whole argument with doing what? Taking the attention off of me and putting it on Jesus. He ends this whole argument by saying It is so much greater for me to give so much more blessing to give than to receive. Listen, this is the model of Jesus. It's no coincidence he started with this and he finished with this. Why? Because he knew the struggle we were going to have with ourselves. He knew the struggle we were going to have with pride. He knew the struggle we were going to have with This world is a show that's all about me. And I am the star actor and everybody else is a supporting actor. He knew the struggle that we were going to have with all of this is all about me. And he starts it with humbly serving. He ends it with saying It is so much greater to give than to receive, to serve than receive, to pump into others than receive. In fact, this is exactly what we saw when we celebrated the Lord's Supper, is it not? That Jesus on the night he was betrayed, He knew he was going to the cross. He still paused and he said, Listen, let me tell you what I'm about to do and how I am about to die for you. 

Church, I don’t know if you notice this or not, but Paul's success list is way different than our success list. Paul's success list is way different than what our culture is trying to feed us of what it looks like to be a productive human being. I'm not saying popularity is bad. I'm not saying money's bad. I'm not saying retirement is bad. I'm not saying taking it easy is bad. But I am saying this. Those are not the definers of success. The Definition of success is, am I going to stand before the king one day as his son or his daughter and be able to say: Here is all of me and I'm giving it all to you. And I've done everything I can through my life to live this. So let me ask you something, believer. What's your definition of success? What is it? This week, my prayer is that you can just pause for a little while and you can work through this grid of seven things and ask yourself, Man, am I like the Apostle Paul, going to be able to pull up at the end of my life and say, here I am, King Jesus? Listen, earthly success is never going to leave you where you think it's going to leave you, but heavenly success will always take you farther than you ever think it can take you.

Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you for life. Thank you for giving us salvation. Thank you for this example of the Apostle Paul at the end of his life saying, You want to know what success looks like? Here it is. God, Thank you that this week, maybe just this week you will get some people off the rat race of keeping up and trying to be successful on this planet. And you will help them point their hearts, their lives and their success to your kingdom. Seek ye first, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added on to you. Lord Jesus as we step into this moment of invitation and worship. God, if there's someone here that needs to give their life to you today, I'd love to speak with them. If there's someone here that needs to link in to join this church, to ask for some accountability, to ask for some direction of how they can walk this out, I would love to pray with them and some other people with me would love to pray with them. God, if there's someone that just needs to walk over to us at the Next Steps banner and go, Man, I am struggling and I need some help and I don't even know what to say. Lord, I just ask you, give them the boldness to do that. Lord, let us worship you today as a people that had been redeemed have been set free and know that we get to be with you in eternity. Lord Jesus, you are worthy. 

And it’s in Your name. Let’s stand and sing together.