If Paul was to have a tombstone, it could rightfully read, But I count my life of no value to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace (Acts 20:24, HCSB).

Paul spoke his own “eulogy” to the Ephesian elders knowing he would never again see them (20:25, 38). Acts 20:24 is the second to last time God’s “grace/charis” is used in Acts. This is only the second time in Acts that the noun “gospel/euaggelion” is used. The other is Acts 15:7 and contextually the author, Luke, asserts Paul and Peter did not preach different gospels as some suggest. One approach to this text is personal. Paul’s gospel of God’s grace is an autobiographical account of a life of grace.

How Acts 20:24 and its surrounding text (20:17-38) is autobiographical is found in both its structure and overt themes. Paul’s ministry is not just words; it is life imitating Jesus. The gospel of God’s grace was first historically lived by Jesus. If we are to have an impact, we must be living grace, living the gospel, living the life of Jesus. Paul’s speech as recorded by Luke echoes Luke’s record of Jesus’ table talk and praying in the garden:

The parallels between Jesus’ farewell speech to his disciples and Paul’s farewell speech to the Ephesian elders are too numerous to be merely coincidental” (William H. Willimon, Acts, INTERPRETATION, A Bible Commentary for Preaching and Teaching, 156).

Here are some I found: Private meetings (Luke 22:14; Acts 20:17); Suffering (Luke 22:15,28; Acts 20:23); God’s Kingdom (Luke 22:16, 18, 29-30; Acts 20:25); Divine blood (Luke 22:20; Acts 20:28); Traitors within (Luke 22:21; Acts 20:30); Service (Luke 22:26; Acts 20:33-35); Warnings (Luke 22:40; Acts 20:31); Strengthened or built up (Luke 22:43; Acts 20:32); People kneeling (Luke 22:41; Acts 20:36); Farewell prayers (Luke 22:40-45; Acts 20:36).

In Paul’s speech, he is becoming the picture of grace that Jesus first painted. Beyond structure, there is imitation. Paul wants to “finish my course” (Acts 20:24); while Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Both speak of their death and ministries. As Jesus served His Father, Paul served “the Lord with all humility, with tears, and with the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews” (20:19). As Jesus taught openly and privately, Paul taught “in public and from house to house” (20:20). As Jesus went to Jerusalem, Paul makes that same journey. While not going to Jerusalem to die, the sense of the end being near is still present. Although, Paul’s surviving the shipwreck might be a resurrection motif tying it to Jesus’ Jerusalem trip. Providing grace takes work, determination, and imitation whether in preaching or living the message.

Paul is inviting the elders (and us) to live like himself who lived like Jesus. Openness to all is grace, regardless of race (20:21). Do our churches look like our neighborhoods? God’s opening His arms to those who repent is grace (20:21). Do we grade sins based upon a social scale or upon those we commit? Trusting Jesus for our salvation and not ourselves is grace (20:21). Belief is trust, understanding nothing we do has the power to save because the power is in the blood (20:28). We obey because God said so; not because our belief powers salvation.

With grace comes responsibility to “not shrink back” (20:27) so we can be “innocent of everyone’s blood” (20:26). Jesus’ life was one of accountability, as was Paul’s, as ours should be. Accountability is more than words. It involves the giving of one’s life.

Throughout this “eulogy” is the concept that grace involves giving. Paul reminds the elders, “In every way I have shown you that by laboring like this, it is necessary to help the weak…” (20:35). Paul’s preaching without pay from the hearers is an analogy of grace. Paul gives freely the message of grace because Jesus gave freely of His life. Paul supports the weak, as the weak need grace. This explains Paul’s unexpected discourse of money and his quoting Jesus – “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (20:35). This gem of a quote is about more than money. Obviously we are like God when we give, and God gives grace. Not all can preach without receiving monetary fellowship, and support is scriptural. But what all must do is find ways to live God’s message of grace to all. Are our lives, our homes, our families open to the weak? Are we grace givers?

Our imitation of Jesus, the way we act, our attitude, our giving to others, are all part of the message of grace: “And now I commit you to God and to the message of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified” (20:32). In preaching, if people do not see Christ, the message is lost. Jesus gave so we could receive; He died so we could live. As we live and when we die, could it be written we lived the gospel of God’s grace?