Introduction
Toward the end of his second term as the first U. S. president, George Washington announced his retirement from office in a letter addressed to the American people on September 17, 1796.
Though many people feared a United States without Washington, the address assured the young nation that it no longer required his leadership.
Washington also used the opportunity to offer advice for the prosperity of the young nation.
After witnessing the growing division between the two political parties, much of his advice focused on warning against the dangers posed by political parties, factions, and other threats (both domestic and foreign) that would eventually undermine the integrity of the American government.
Today, we will examine Paul’s farewell message to the elders of the Ephesian Church in Acts 20:13-38.
Just as Washington, after years of leadership, urged the nation to stand firm against division, Paul encouraged the Ephesian elders to look to God to preserve his church.
Scripture
Let’s read Acts 20:13-38:
13 But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. 15 And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and the day after that we went to Miletus. 16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.
17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them:
“You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 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. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every 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 coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.
Lesson
Acts 20:13-38 teaches us that God sovereignly preserves his church through faithful elders.
Let’s use the following outline:
1. God Preserves His Church Through Faithful Service (20:13-21)
2. God Preserves His Church Through the Whole Counsel of God (20:22-27)
3. God Preserves His Church Through Vigilant Care (20:28-38)
I. God Preserves His Church Through Faithful Service (20:13-21)
First, God preserves his church through faithful service.
The Apostle Paul was coming to the end of his third missionary journey.
He was heading back to Jerusalem, hoping to reach it on the day of Pentecost.
Luke gives us a hastily scribbled itinerary of Paul’s journey.
Paul arrived at Miletus and sent for the Ephesian elders to come and meet him.
You may recall that Paul had spent a little over three years in the city of Ephesus.
This was the longest that Paul had stayed in any single location.
As a result of his ministry in Ephesus, the church was planted in Ephesus, and the gospel was preached throughout the entire region of Asia.
Paul had an extremely fruitful ministry in Ephesus.
When the Ephesian elders arrived in Miletus, Paul reminded them of his faithful service to them.
This is the only message in Acts that is given directly to church members. In fact, it is given to church officers.
Paul said to the elders in Acts 20:18b-21:
“18b You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Paul served the people of God with humility, tears, and trials.
He served publicly and privately.
He served Jews and Gentiles.
He served zealously and without laziness.
He served by proclaiming repentance and faith.
Paul modeled the truth of 2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
God works through weak, faithful servants to accomplish his sovereign purpose of preserving his church.
William Farel urged John Calvin to stay and preach in Geneva.
Calvin did so and began his ministry in Geneva in 1536.
However, two years later, Calvin was banished from Geneva.
He went to Strasbourg, but three years later, in 1541, Calvin was invited back to Geneva.
Reluctantly, Calvin returned to Geneva and remained there for twenty-three years, until he died in 1564.
When Calvin returned to Geneva from Strasbourg in 1541, he picked up exactly where he had left off in the Psalms in 1538, when he had been banished from Geneva.
John Calvin’s commitment to serving God’s people, often despite personal hardship, laid the foundation for the Reformation, demonstrating God’s use of faithful service to preserve his church.
I remember a young Baptist pastor in western Pennsylvania who was proclaiming God’s word to the congregation that had called him.
However, the people did not like the Biblical doctrine that he was proclaiming.
The congregation said horrible things about him and to him.
I once asked him, “How do you handle all this criticism against yourself and your ministry?”
He said, “I will love them until they realize that God has called me to serve them.”
Church officers: serve God humbly, with tears, if necessary, and rely on God’s strength to support and uphold you.
Church members: Pray for and support the church officers who labor faithfully to help you grow in Christ.
II. God Preserves His Church Through the Whole Counsel of God (20:22-27)
Second, God preserves his church through the whole counsel of God.
Paul shared with the Ephesian elders that he was on his way to Jerusalem.
He did not know exactly what lay ahead of him, except that the Holy Spirit testified to him that he
faced imprisonment and afflictions.
Paul was incredibly courageous.
He did not shrink back in the face of massive difficulties.
He desired to fulfill the task given to him by the Lord Jesus.
He summarized his calling in verse 27, “… for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”
What is “the whole counsel of God”?
The Westminster Confession of Faith notes the following in Chapter 1, paragraph 6:
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit or traditions of men (The Westminster Confession of Faith [Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996]).
The note in The ESV Study Bibleputs it this way, “The whole counsel of God refers to the entirety of God’s redemptive plan unfolded in Scripture” (Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible[Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008], 2130).
Paul did not shrink from preaching all of God’s word.
He preached the popular parts.
He also preached the unpopular parts.
He preached the parts that were easy to understand.
He also preached the parts that were difficult to understand.
Paul did not omit any part of God’s truth in his proclamation of the gospel.
He knew that God’s people needed all of God’s word, not just some parts of it, as he would write Timothy:
“16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, emphasis added).
God’s church is built up when all of Scripture is taught to God’s people.
William Tyndale was born in Gloucestershire, England, in 1494.
He studied at Oxford University and possibly Cambridge University.
Tyndale joined the Reformation movement in the wake of Luther’s work.
In 1524, Tyndale moved to Hamburg, Germany, and never returned to England.
The reformers recognized that the Bible was the authoritative word of God, superseding the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church.
Tyndale realized that one problem was that the Bible in churches was the Latin Vulgate, and English people did not speak Latin.
So, essentially, the Bible was a closed book to them.
Tyndale was committed to translating the Bible from its original languages into English, so that every English person could read it for himself.
One day, Tyndale was discussing the matter with another scholar.
The scholar said, “We were better without God’s law than the pope’s.”
Tyndale quickly responded, “ I defy the Pope and all his laws, and, if God spare my life for many years, I will cause a boy that drives the plough to know more of the Scripture than you do” (see https://rsc.byu.edu/prelude-restoration/words-fitly-spoken-tyndales-english-translation-bible).
Tyndale was eventually martyred at the age of 42.
However, his translation of the Bible into English enabled people to learn the whole counsel of God for themselves.
A lighthouse guides ships with a clear light through stormy waters.
Similarly, the whole counsel of God guides God’s people through the stormy waters of life.
Churches get into trouble when their preachers and elders decide that they need something besides the whole counsel of God to help God’s people.
So, they resort to gimmicks.
They install fog machines.
They employ bands that produce concerts for the attendees.
They give people “how to” messages that cater to felt needs but often miss actual, spiritual needs.
Let’s make sure that our elders always proclaim the whole counsel of God.
III. God Preserves His Church Through Vigilant Care (20:28-38)
Third, God preserves his church through vigilant care.
As Paul was coming to the end of his message to the Ephesian elders, he exhorted them with these words in verse 28, “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.”
One of the responsibilities of the elders is to feed the flock.
They do so by proclaiming the whole counsel of God.
Another responsibility of the elders is to care for God's flock.
How do elders care for the flock of God?
How do elders provide vigilant care for the people of God?
First, they pay attention to their own walk with the Lord.
They read the word of God.
They talk to God in prayer.
They quickly confess sins when they occur in their lives.
Second, they recognize that they have a responsibility.
Jesus gave his life for the people of God.
The people of God are blood-bought saints, incredibly precious to Jesus.
I remember the first time my daughter allowed my wife and me to take care of our grandson.
I was overwhelmed with a sense of responsibility, protection, and care for the 18-month-old child that she had left in our home.
Elders have that same overwhelming feeling for the saints that have been entrusted to our care.
One day, we will have to give an account for each precious child of God for whom we are responsible.
Third, elders pay attention to dangers coming from outside the congregation to harm the people of God.
Fierce wolves will attack sheep when they perceive them as vulnerable.
So, the shepherd must always stay vigilant.
Similarly, elders are paying attention to what the members are reading, watching, and being exposed to.
Years ago, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was a book that took the world by storm. They even made a movie with that title.
The thesis of the book is that the church suppressed knowledge about Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene.
So many Christians were reading the book and wondering if there was some truth to the claim.
Eventually, I addressed the matter in a message, clarifying the biblical truth about the matter.
That is what elders do to protect the flock from harm from outside the congregation.
Fourth, elders also pay attention to dangers coming from inside the church.
Paul said in verse 30, “… and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”
That is why we do not allow just anyone to teach here at the church.
The elders approve teachers.
Moreover, the elders pay close attention to what is being taught or said in the various circles of the church.
Finally, elders provide vigilant care for the flock of God by commending them to the word of his grace.
Paul said to the Ephesian elders in verse 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.”
The elders recognize that the priority in ministry is the word of God.
The word of God must be rightly interpreted and applied so that it can make a difference in a believer’s life.
In the early fourth century, Arias promoted the view that Jesus was a created being and was not truly God.
He was opposed by a young man named Athanasius.
Eventually, the Council of Nicaea was convened in 325 AD.
Athanasius played a key role in formulating what became known as the Nicene Creed, which affirmed Jesus as “true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.”
This directly refuted the teaching of Arianism.
Athanasius became the bishop of Alexandria a few years later, in 328 AD.
Athanasius protected the church from false teaching about the nature of Jesus.
Athanasius faced significant opposition in his defense of the truth.
He was expelled from Alexandria five times over the course of several decades.
Nevertheless, he remained faithful in defending the people of God by his vigilant care for them.
I have never been a shepherd.
But I have read about shepherding.
It looks easy, but it isn't easy.
Shepherds must be constantly vigilant for the safety and well-being of the flock.
Elders have a similar responsibility to care vigilantly for the care of God’s people.
So, let me encourage you to pray for your elders as they care for your souls.
They carry a heavy burden.
They care deeply for you.
They want the best for you.
They know that they will one day have to give an account to the Chief Shepherd for how well they have done their job.
Conclusion
We are reminded that God sovereignly preserves his church through faithful elders.
Just as God worked through Calvin, Tyndale, and Athanasius, God continues to work through faithful elders today.
So, elders, let me encourage you to continue serving God and his people through a commitment to his word.
And, members, let me encourage you to support your leaders, cling to the word of God, and trust yourself to the grace of God. Amen.
