Sermon Tone Analysis

Acts 20:28-32

A Worthy Charge for the Elders

 

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.

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.[1]

Elders bear an awesome responsibility before God to shepherd the flock of God.

Perhaps that concept of shepherding holds different connotations for different people, but ultimately, the only concept which matters is that which God intended.

Assuredly, elders are charged to rule over the congregation, providing leadership for the people of God; however, they dare not abuse the divine charge they have received by lording it over the flock.

Such charges and divine restrictions leave one breathless.

Nevertheless, it is apparent that godly elders are required if a congregation will be healthy and if Christ will be glorified through that Body.

We might well ask what responsibilities are imposed upon and expected of the elders?

What tasks do the elders of the congregation perform on behalf of the congregation?

Such questions occupy our minds and beg a biblical answer.

In order to answer such questions, consider the charge which was delivered by the Apostle to the Gentiles when addressing the elders of the First Baptist Church of Ephesus.

Paul was going to Jerusalem, a trip which would prove to be his final trip to the city.

From Jerusalem, he would be sent to Rome and imprisonment.

The Ephesian elders were informed that this would be his final visit.

Behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me…  Behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again [*Acts 20:22, 23, 25*].

Knowing that this would be the final opportunity to instruct the elders of this congregation in their divine responsibilities, the old man spoke of the dangers to the flock of God and the need for vigilance from the overseers.

The charge which he gave to the elders of that one church apply to all churches since that day.

Pay Careful Attention – Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.

The congregations of our Lord are unceasingly threatened by lurking dangers.

Consequently, the work of an elder is constant, unending, perpetual.

The elder must be ever vigilant for the sake of the flock of God.

It is not enough for a people to say that they will never fall into error or that they will never fail the cause of Christ.

Rather, leadership must be alert to the ominous dangers constantly menacing the people of God.

Have you ever noticed the note of caution which constitutes an apparent theme in the Apostle’s missives?

Consider just a few of the instances in which the Apostle calls for saints to stand unyielding or to be watchful against error.

You stand fast through faith.

So do not become proud, but stand in awe [*Romans 11:20*].

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them [*Romans 16:17*].

Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall [*1 Corinthians 10:12*].

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong [*1 Corinthians 16:13*].

Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord [*Philippians 4:1*].

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving [*Colossians 4:2*].

So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter [*2 Thessalonians 2:15*].

The note of caution which was sounded continually to all saints was especially prominent in the apostolic instruction to those who shepherd the flock of God.

The language speaks of an action which is mandatory and continuous.

/Pay careful attention/ translated a word which is present tense and imperative.

As I have said in previous messages, the present tense in that Greek tongue conveyed a sense of an action which is continuous.

Therefore, those first readers would have understood the Apostle to say that they were required to be continually on guard.

Two areas of life required guarding.

First, the elders were responsible to guard themselves, and then, they were responsible to guard all the flock.

Think with me on these realms of watchful oversight.

It is necessary for the elders to keep themselves from error since the flock depends upon them for wise counsel and guidance.

Elders are a particular target for the evil one.

After all, elders cannot protect the spiritual welfare of others if they fail to protect their own spiritual life.

John MacArthur cites John Owen in this context.

A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what the minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more.[2]

The shepherds must be vigilant against failure to be men of prayer and men of the Word.

They must make the deliberate effort to stay close to the Master in all their labours.

They must resist wickedness in their own lives, keeping themselves pure.

Paul gave wise counsel to Timothy, an elder in the Ephesian congregation, in the first pastoral letter to the young theologue [cf.

*1 Timothy 4:1-15*].

Note especially, the concluding remark Paul makes.

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.

Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers [*1 Timothy 4:16*].

That same truth is expressed in his later letter to Timothy.

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honourable use, some for dishonourable.

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonourable, he will be a vessel for honourable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work [*2 Timothy 2:20, 21*].

Although God does bless His truth in spite of the preacher, God cannot bless an unholy leader, no matter what title, position, or office he might hold.[3]

Richard Baxter, the greatly respected Puritan writer, spoke of the dangers facing elders in his classic work The Reformed Pastor.

Listen to this excerpt from that book.

Take heed to yourselves because the tempter will make his first and sharpest attack on you…  He knows what devastation he is likely to make among the rest if he can make the leaders fall before their eyes.

He has long practised fighting, neither against great nor small, comparatively, but against the shepherds—that he might scatter the flock…  Take heed, then, for the enemy has a special eye on you.

You are sure to have his most subtle insinuations, incessant solicitations and violent assaults.

Take heed to yourselves, lest he outwit you.

The devil is a greater scholar than you are, and a more nimble disputant…  And whenever he prevails against you, he will make you the instrument of your own ruin…  Do not allow him to use you as the Philistines used Samson—first to deprive you of your strength, then put out your eyes, and finally to make you the subject of his triumph and derision.[4]

Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd, has taken His own flock and divided it up into smaller flocks.

Then, as evidenced from our text, the Holy Spirit raises up overseers to shepherd those separate flocks.

The shepherd is to pay careful attention … to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made [him an] overseer[].

The function of the elder is to be “careful, pastoral and corrective.”[5]

The most important task of a shepherd is to feed the flock, even as he governs the flock, through sound exposition of the Scriptures.

Pity the flock which is compelled to wander in arid wastelands because the shepherd fails to provide biblically sound nourishment.

Such sheep are susceptible to wander away from the flock in search of healthful food.

In their hunger, they are liable to eat the poisonous weed of errant doctrine, to follow false teachers who deceitfully promise them greener pastures, though leading them deeper into barren deserts.

Eventually, such emaciated sheep fail to reproduce because they are so spiritually wasted.

Preaching and teaching is work which is vital to the charge that the elders have received.

They nourish the flock through providing sound doctrine.

They refresh the flock through providing rest and leading the flock to sweet water, each of which is found in the truth declared through God’s Holy Word.

Elders refute error through exposing it, contrasting it to the pure Word of God.

They admonish the flock, correcting the obdurate will which presupposes opposition.

Again, this is through providing sound doctrine.

Jesus spoke of Himself as the Good Shepherd, thus providing a model for all undershepherds to follow.

Listen to the words of the Master concerning the labours of a shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep [*John 10:11-13*].

I dare not compare myself to Jesus, but I do say that in His devotion to His sheep each elder is provided a model to follow in watching over His flock.

Thus, every elder must be alert to danger to the sheep.

Paul saw danger arising from two spheres—from without and from within.

From without would come fierce wolves, assaulting the flock.

From within would come men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

This charge had a sense of urgency, because of future dangers—dangers which are now fully upon us.

“Syncretising pagans and persecutors from outside will spiritually ravage the flock with the destructive force of wolves.

Within the church, heresy leading to schism will be the order of the day.”[6]

The infection of the world is never far away.