Acts 20: Paul's farewell

Nero became Caesar in 54 AD. Paul was in Ephesus and stayed there for three years. Acts 20 happens around 58 AD when the "peaceful years" of Nero’s reign were starting to fray. Paul was in his 3rd mission trip. He was heading Jerusalem but wanted to say goodbye to his friends of Ephesus. He went to Miletus, a city next to Ephesus and called his friends and church leaders from Ephesus to meet him there. It was the last time they were seeing each other because Paul would face a persecution and finally die in Rome for the gospel. There he said:

25-27 “And so this is good-bye. You’re not going to see me again, nor I you, you whom I have gone among for so long proclaiming the news of God’s inaugurated kingdom. I’ve done my best for you, given you my all, held back nothing of God’s will for you.

28 “Now it’s up to you. Be on your toes—both for yourselves and your congregation of sheep. The Holy Spirit has put you in charge of these people —God’s people they are— to guard and protect them. God himself thought they were worth dying for.

The Church is like a chain of love: Jesus, Peter, Paul, leaders in Ephesus, the congregation, etc. In his farewell, Paul asks them to take of the Ephesus congregation because God himself thought they were worth dying for. I must always remember that God himself thought I were worth dying for, despite being a sinner.