Acts 20:25-38
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[ILLUS] A major problem is the corruption of the guards.
We sometimes hear some politician talk about the necessity of prison reform. He or she will cite a long list of problems with America’s prison system, and that list will often include the corruption of correctional officers.
I recently listened to an interview were a former inmate said that the majority of contraband isn’t smuggled into prisons by visitors who come to see inmates but by correctional officers who are supposed to be guarding them.
According to that former inmate, a major problem in the prison system is the corruption of the guards.
One former prison guard was on vacation when he saw a headline that said drugs were a major problem in the prison were he worked. He knew that was true, of course, because he was the one smuggling the drugs into prison. In fact, he had two packages that he was supposed to smuggle in on the day he went back to work.
Although he read the headline and knew their was a heightened awareness of the drug problem in his prison, he didn’t believe that he would get caught because he had only been searched twice in all the years that he worked there. So, with the packages of drugs disguised as sandwiches for his lunch, he headed to work on that Monday.
Nothing looked unusual in the parking lot.
Nothing looked strange as he walked in.
Nothing look out of the ordinary as he passed a sign that said something like, “Anyone entering past this point with any illegal substance is liable to ten years in prison.”
Still he went on, and when he opened the door his commanding officer was waiting for him.
He was lead upstairs where a team search him and everything he had and found the hidden drugs.
Although not every correctional officer is corrupt, a major problem in the prison system is the corruption of the guards.
Although it might feel like it when the sermon is especially long, the church is not a prison, but like the prison system, the church in America has a long list of problems, and a big one is the corruption of the guards—the corruption of the pastors who are supposed to be guarding the church that God purchased with his own blood.
In Acts 20:25-38 Paul wanted the Ephesian pastors to know that they would need to be on the alert for themselves and for the church lest the church in Ephesus be corrupted.
Savage wolves would try to come in from the outside and other savage wolves would try to rise up from within.
These men would have to be on guard.
Listen to what Paul says beginning in Acts 20:25…
[READING Acts 20:25-35]
25 “And now, behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. 26 “Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. 27 “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 28 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. 32 “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 “I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. 34 “You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. 35 “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
[PRAYER]
[PROP] Because the church is always under attack, pastors always have to be on guard.
[INTER] But what does it take for a pastor to be on guard for himself and for the church?
This morning we saw that for a pastor to be on guard he needs to understand that the church is God’s treasure.
In Acts 20:28 Paul says that God purchased His church with His own blood.
The church is the only thing that God ever purchased with His own blood.
Therefore, the church is God’s treasure, a treasure that pastors are called to protect.
We also saw this morning that for a pastor to be on guard he needs to understand that the church is under attack.
In Acts 20:29-30 Paul spoke of savage wolves who come in from outside the church and rise up within the church.
Some of them are predatory pastors, wolves in sheep’s clothing, who twist the Scripture to satisfy their sinful appetites.
This is why the pastor must first guard himself and then guard the flock.
As Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16…
16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.
[TS] Tonight we want to see two more UNDERSTANDINGS a pastor must have if he is going to guard himself and the church that God purchased with His own blood…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
Necessary Understanding #3: To be on guard, pastors must understand that God and His Word are indispensable (Acts 20:31-32).
Necessary Understanding #3: To be on guard, pastors must understand that God and His Word are indispensable (Acts 20:31-32).
31 “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. 32 “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
[EXP] Paul wasn’t asking the Ephesian elders to do anything he hadn’t modeled for them while he was in Ephesus. Paul had been on the alert in that church for three years before leaving for Jerusalem, Rome, and beyond, and what did he do while he was on the alert there? He admonished the Ephesian believers.
To admonish is to urge and warn. How did Paul urge and warn the Ephesians?
Paul urged the Ephesians to repent and believe the Scriptures because the Scriptures reveal that Jesus is the Christ who was crucified and resurrected to reconcile us to God.
Paul warned the Ephesians when they refused to repent and believe the Scriptures concerning Jesus because the Scriptures reveal that only judgment remains for the one who has rejected Jesus.
Paul’s admonishing was around the clock.
He said it was night and day for three years.
Paul’s admonishing was continual.
He said that for three years he did not cease to admonish them.
Paul’s admonishing was personal.
He said that he admonished each one of them.
Paul’s admonishing was heartfelt.
He said that he admonished each one with tears.
But Paul knew that he wouldn’t be there to admonish them any longer, so he commended or entrusted them to God and His Word.
So long as the Ephesian elders looked to Him, God would not let them down.
Through His Word, God would admonish them and admonish the church in Ephesus.
Through His Word, God would build them and the church up in the Gospel of God’s grace.
Through His Word, God would give them the inheritance of the saints, which eternal life in the Kingdom of Christ and God.
Pastors cannot be on guard or be on the alert unless they are committed to the Word of God.
[ILLUS] A little boy walked into the kitchen and told his mother that he discovered he was six feet tall. When she asked how he had determined this, he told her he had used his shoe to measure and that he was six shoes tall.
With a loving smile she told him that his shoe was not a foot long.
But he insisted, “Mom, my shoe’s got to be a foot long ’cause my foot’s in it!”
[APP] When pastors use the wrong standard the result isn’t so humorous, and the consequences aren’t so benign.
When pastors do not use the Word of God to urge and warn God’s people then the church isn’t built up and some never come to share in the inheritance of the saints.
Some pastors today just don’t teach the Word of God.
They give a talk, but they don’t preach a sermon from God’s Word.
Some pastors today discount certain parts of the Bible.
Contrary to that, Paul said in v. 27 that he did not shrink from declaring to the Ephesian church the whole counsel of God’s Word.
But all pastors today ought to be committed to God and His Word because its through His Word that God does His Work.
We pastors cannot guard ourselves or the church unless we are committed to the Bible.
[TS]…
Necessary Understanding #4: To be on guard, pastors must understand that hard work and generosity are crucial (Acts 20:33-35).
Necessary Understanding #4: To be on guard, pastors must understand that hard work and generosity are crucial (Acts 20:33-35).
33 “I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. 34 “You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. 35 “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
[ILLUS] A pastor once sat down with the deacons and the finance committee at a local church in Mississippi.
He said, “I’ve been contacted by another church. They want me to come be their pastor. They’re offering me a significant amount of money, much more than I’m being paid here. If you guys can match what they’re offering, then I’ll stay here, but if you can’t… well, God’s everywhere, so I’ll go where the money is.”
Is that the attitude we pastors should have?
Does that sound like a pastor who is guarding himself against greed and materialism?
Or does that sound like a person who is treating the pastoral calling like a worldly occupation?
[EXP] Paul’s work in Ephesus wasn’t about turning a material profit; it wasn’t about clamoring for financial gain.
Paul didn’t see his time in Ephesus an opportunity to get.
Paul saw his time in Ephesus as an opportunity to give.
Paul said that he worked hard to provide for his own needs.
34 “You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me.
Paul said that he gave generously to help the weak (i.e, the poor).
35 “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
If a pastor is going to guard himself as Paul did, he must work hard and be generous.
[ILLUS] Before he was a bishop, the fourth century theologian, Ambrose of Milan, was a wealthy governor over the Roman province that included city of Milan.
When the city’s bishop died, the people met in the cathedral to elect a new bishop. As governor, Ambrose got up to speak a few words to the crowd when someone cried out, “Ambrose for bishop!”
Others in the crowd echoed his shout, and to his surprise, he was elected bishop although he had yet to be ordained or even baptized.
He actually tried to run and hide from the appointment but was finally persuaded that it was God’s will.
His first act as bishop was to give away his wealth to the poor.
He was a pastor who knew that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
[APP] Churches ought to pay their pastors. In Galatians 6:6 Paul wrote…
6 The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him.
But pastors must never view their service to the church as an opportunity for greedy gain; instead they must see their service as an opportunity for glorious giving.
Pastors must give their money, their time, their energy, their life in service to the church for the glory of Christ Jesus.
They must work and be generous.
This is one way they guard themselves and the church of God.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
Well, Paul was right, savage wolves did rise up in Ephesus. His letters to Timothy show that Timothy had to guard the church from false teachers.
At the end of 1 Timothy, Paul wrote…
20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”— 21 which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.
At the beginning of 2 Timothy, Paul wrote to Timothy…
14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.
But despite Paul’s best encouragement and Timothy’s best effort, the Ephesian church was still led astray.
In Revelation 2, Jesus sends a letter to the Ephesian church revealing that they had lost their first love—their love for Jesus.
What led to this? The corruption of the guards; the corruption of the pastors.
19 keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. 20 Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.
We can’t say for sure, but it is at least possible that Hymenaeus, Alexander, and Philetus were at one time pastors in the Ephesian church—predatory pastors who didn’t guard themselves or the church, unfaithful shepherds who allowed the Ephesian church to lost its first love.
Brothers and sisters, may that not be true for us.
Watch your pastor.
Listen to your pastor.
Pray for your pastor.
Make sure that your pastor is on guard and on the alert.
[PRAYER]