In our previous messages, we have considered the emotional farewell speech of the Apostle Paul to the Elders of Ephesus, and in that speech, we had learned about the characteristics of the faithful servant of God. Just to recap whatever we have learned so far: Firstly, we see the perceptibility of his ministry, which means his ministry is noticeable or observable. Paul said to the Ephesian Elders in verse 18, "You know everything about me from the first day I stepped foot into Asia," and it has been a period of three years. My life, my ministry, is all transparent before all of you.
Secondly, we learn about the attitude of humility. A true servant of God, according to verse 19, is not a proud person but is someone who served the Lord with all humility of mind. Thirdly, we see the willingness to suffer. Paul knew the Jews were waiting to attack him; even potential imprisonment and death await him, yet he was still willing to go on serving the Lord. Fourthly, there was the zeal to teach, verse 20, and because of this zeal to teach, Paul did not hold back anything that was profitable for the people. Fifthly, there was the love for evangelism, there was this undeniable love for the souls of men. All of us are involved in different ministries of the church; some of us are involved in the pulpit ministry, others are involved in Sunday schools, yet others are involved in fellowship groups and elderly homes. But all of us have this common denominator in that we have a love for the souls of men; that is the reason why we serve, right?
Finally, there was the conviction to finish the course. Verse 24 tells us that God has ordained a particular course for us to take; sometimes the terrain may be very challenging, for others it may be relatively easy, but all of us as faithful believers, we not only want to finish the course that God has ordained for us but we want to finish it with joy. So that was where we ended our last message.
Why did Paul say all these things about his life and ministry? Well, he said all these things for two reasons. Firstly, he wanted the Ephesian Elders to follow his example and serve the Lord faithfully. Secondly, perhaps more importantly, he wanted to defend himself because there were already false teachers lurking around or in the church at that particular time, waiting for the Apostle Paul to leave, and then they would come in to attack the flock. So Paul had to defend his own life and ministry. If you look down to verse 29, Paul said this: "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock."
So after giving the Ephesian Elders an overview of his life and ministry, Paul now moved on to focus on the instructions regarding ministry in the church. In a sense, he was giving them a charge; that was why I have titled our message as "A Charge to Keep." So after giving an overview of his life and ministry, now he issued this charge. But before he gave the charge, he started off on a very sad note. If you look at verse 25, he informed them and said, "And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more."
Paul has stayed with the Ephesian Elders for about three years. Three years is a long period of time; relationships had been built up, trust and confidence had been built up, but his work with them had come to an end. Having taught them the whole counsel of God's word, these Ephesian Elders now are ready to minister on their own. Most likely, the Holy Spirit must have revealed to Paul that he would never be able to see them again; that was the reason why he said very sadly, "You shall not see my face anymore."
The phrase "kingdom of God," depending on the context, sometimes it may refer to the future millennial reign of Jesus Christ, but here it simply means the rule of God in the aspect of salvation. How do we know? Because the entire context was about the gospel, it was about the whole counsel of God's word. So preaching the kingdom of God means declaring or proclaiming clearly the gospel, the good news, so that sinners in the kingdom of Satan, death, and destruction could be transported into the kingdom of God's salvation, life, and glory.
Paul had fulfilled his obligation and responsibility to preach this gospel. That was the reason why he was able to testify in verse 26, "Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men, both Jews and Gentiles." He not only taught the church, but he also evangelized to the lost; he had not been unfaithful in any aspect of his ministry. One day, when the Lord take account of our ministry, is there any aspect of our life and ministry whereby we would fall short, that we will be shy and ashamed of ourselves? I pray that we will be like the Apostle Paul, who has finished his course with joy, faithfully fulfilling his obligations and responsibilities.
My friends, if you have been called to be a preacher or a teacher, or you are a parent teaching your own children, and if you fail in your responsibility to teach the word of God, do you think there will be any serious consequences? Most certainly. Listen to what God said to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 3: 7-9. This is what God said: "O thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore, thou shalt hear the word of my mouth, and warn them for me. When I say unto the wicked, 'O wicked man, thou shalt surely die,' if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul." In other words, God was saying to Ezekiel, "I have appointed you as a watchman." A watchman is someone who guards and watches over a city. When there is danger, it is his duty to sound the alarm and to tell the people that danger is coming.
God was saying to Ezekiel that it is your responsibility to tell the people of the danger which I have already told you; if you fail to do so, I will hold you responsible. Yes, they will die, but their blood will be in your hands. This is a very sobering reminder to all of us of the serious consequences, not only to church leaders, but every believer. If we have truly believed in the gospel and we are saved, then it is our responsibility to tell others of the gospel that will save their souls. We have to tell others that it is only Jesus Christ who can save them from eternal damnation. We are like watchmen telling them that there's this great danger awaiting them. Repent and believe in the Lord; otherwise, you will perish. If we tell them and they reject our message, they are responsible. If we fail to tell them, God will hold us responsible.
The same goes with telling our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ about the truth of God's word. For example, we see someone living in sin, and we know that there are serious consequences. If we tell them, warn them, counsel them, and they reject our message, they are responsible. But if we fail to do so and just keep our mouth shut, God will hold us responsible. All of us have to know our responsibilities. So Paul declared himself innocent and not guilty of the blood of all men. Why? Because he said this, look at verse 27: "For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God."
So the implication is that the Ephesian Elders, including all of us as well, must follow Paul's example and preach the true gospel as well as teach the whole counsel of God's word. Whatever we know is the truth of God's word, and this truth has set us free. It is our responsibility to tell others about it; otherwise, we will face God's chastisement. God will hold us responsible. Knowing the truth and holding back the truth, God will deal with us.
The first instruction Paul gave to the Ephesian Elders was regarding a right relationship with God. Look at the first part of verse 28: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves." To take heed means to be on guard, to pay attention, to be careful. The first thing every pastor and Elder must take note of, and for that matter every believer, especially those who are involved in spiritual leadership—preachers, teachers, fellowship leaders, parents—the most important thing is our own relationship with God to begin with. You see, no one is able to serve the Lord faithfully if his own relationship with God is compromised.
Let's say you are not worshipful. Sometimes you worship, sometimes you don't. Even when you come to worship, you are not totally focused on worshiping God. Do you think you will be able to teach others about worshiping God in spirit and in truth? Or let's say you are not prayerful. You do not pray except before you eat your meals; even then, it is like a routine. Do you think you'll be able to teach others to be prayerful? Definitely not. You cannot teach others what you are not. If you are not prayerful and worshipful, you will not be able to teach others to be prayerful and worshipful. You may be able to teach others in theory, superficially, but with no conviction at all.
Do you know the reason why often times people give up serving God? Most of the time, they would tell you about the
struggles and pressures they face in the ministry. Of course, there are pressures, there are difficulties, but do you think they do not know about all these adversities before they entered into the ministry? They knew about all that. Oftentimes, the reason why they give up is because they themselves are not right with God. If one's relationship is not right with God and compromised, he or she will not be able to press on and persevere. So what must we do? We must take heed.
The first step to take heed is through self-examination—study our own selves, guard our own selves, pay attention to our own selves. For example, in 1 Timothy 4:16, after Paul had charged Timothy what he should do as a preacher, after giving him a whole list of instructions, Paul said this: "Timothy, pay attention unto thyself and unto the doctrine; continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee," which means you must pay attention to two things: one is your own life, and the other is your teaching. So not only your doctrine, but also your life, and you have to make sure that both your life and your teaching will honor the Lord.
There are some ministers who are able to preach very well, no doubt about that. As in, their points are very clear; their messages developed in a very smooth fashion. People understand their points easily. As far as the message is concerned, it is good. The problem is not with the message. They may preach well, but they do not live well; they do not walk the talk, so to speak. It can happen to us as well. We have to take heed, otherwise we will be just like them and not walk the talk.
Richard Baxter, the Puritan who wrote the classic "The Reformed Pastor," he said this, allow me to quote him: "Take heed to yourselves, pastors, preachers, ministers, lest you live in those sins which you preach so strongly against to others. Will you preach God's law and willfully break them? If sin is evil, why do you live in it? If it is not, why do you dissuade men from it? If it is dangerous, how dare you venture on it? If it is not, why do you tell men so? So if God's warnings are true, why do you not fear them? If they are false, why do you needlessly trouble men with them and put such fear in their hearts without a cause? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, or be drunk, or covetous, art thou such thyself? What shall the same tongue that speakest against evil speak evil? Remember, you cannot teach others what you are not. If you are not holy, how can you preach holiness to others?"
Basically, that was what Richard Baxter was trying to say: why do you stress about sin, about holiness, about God's commandments, about warnings when you yourself do not take heed? Therefore, all of us must take heed, pay attention to ourselves. Personal holiness is the requirement of not only pastors and Elders. Oftentimes, people only look at the ministers and critique them, their lives. Personal holiness is a requirement for every one of us. God wants all of us to be holy. Throughout the scriptures, God has called us to be holy, as "I am holy," He said, and this holiness is not just outward, in the eyes of men. Some people can pretend to be holy only in the eyes of men, or they may have some outward manifestation of holiness.
Take the Apostle Paul, for example; before his conversion, he already had that outward manifestation of holiness. Remember, he said, "I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless" (Philippians 3: 5 and 6). Was Paul considered holy in the eyes of men? Most certainly. There was this outward manifestation of holiness, but Paul said it is rubbish. It is rubbish as compared to the true holiness and righteousness which is inward, and only God is able to see into the deepest recesses of the heart. So the Apostle Paul knew that inside, if it is empty, all this outward manifestation of holiness is rubbish. It is nothing; it is meaningless; it is vain.
My friends, we may have an outward manifestation of holiness on Sundays: we go to church, we pray, we sing hymns, we carry our Bibles. People know us as Christians. We may teach the right thing; we may even stand for the right doctrines, whether it be the doctrine of inspiration or preservation, or biblical separation, or Covenant theology. But what about our lives? Remember, there are two things Timothy had to pay attention to—not just his teaching but his life as well. So all of us, we must take heed not just of what we believe in, what we stand for, what we teach, but including our lives.
The first thing is that we must take heed, therefore, unto ourselves. We must always have this right relationship with God, always examining ourselves: am I right with God? My doctrines may be right, but is my life right with God?
Our second point is a right responsibility toward the flock. Look at the second part of verse 28: "and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." The metaphor of a shepherd and his flock is often used to describe the relationship between God and his people. In the Old Testament, Israel was frequently described as God's flock and God as the shepherd. For example, Psalm 23 tells us, "The Lord is my shepherd." In the New Testament, oftentimes it would describe the church as God's flock and Jesus Christ as the shepherd. Jesus himself said in John 10:1, "I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
According to First Peter chapter 5, verses 1-4, if you have your Bibles, maybe you can turn with me to 1 Peter 5:1-4. Let us turn to this passage: Jesus Christ, the chief Shepherd, has taken his flock and divided it into small flocks. He has sovereignly raised up pastors and elders who were given charge of those divided smaller flocks. Peter said in verse 1, "of whom I myself am also an elder." Verse 2 says, "You must feed the flock of God which is among you." So, as the flock of God is being divided into smaller flocks, there's this particular flock of God which is among you, and there are other flocks of God which are among pastors and elders of other churches. But to this particular flock, specially placed in you, Peter said, given to you in your church, apportioned to you so that you can take care of them. That is the meaning of "which is among you." This particular flock—what must you do? Peter says, "You must feed them," obviously with the whole counsel of God's word. And you must take oversight of them, which means you must rule over them; you must oversee them. At times, you may even need to discipline and correct them if necessary, but you must do it with an attitude of humility—not by force, but willingly; not with money, but of a ready mind.
Then verse 3 tells us that you must not exercise your lordship over the flock, which is God's heritage, so you must remember that the flock belongs to God. You must be an example to them, and then verse 4 tells us that one day, the chief Shepherd, who is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall appear. And you, who have been faithfully taking care of the flock, that particular flock entrusted to you, apportioned to you, divided unto you—you take good care of it. The Lord shall give you a crown of glory that will never fade away.
My friends, if I may give you an illustration: I'm pastoring Bethel BP Church in Melbourne, right? Reverend Biak, who is joining us on Zoom, is pastoring First BPC in Insien. Reverend Lian Uk is pastoring Bethel BP Church in Dagon. I know now the two churches are combined together, but the point I'm making is that we are all pastoring particular flocks specially given to us, apportioned to us, divided unto us. It does not mean that we do not care about the believers in other churches all over the world, but the point is that our primary duty and responsibility is toward that particular flock of God given to us.
Allow me to say this: there are some people who have left Bethel BP Church and they have joined other churches. Do you know why I do not call them? What is so difficult about picking up the phone and calling them or sending them a text message? It is not difficult. The reason why I do not call them is because if they have been called by God to be the flock of other churches, then the responsibility to feed them, to take oversight of them, no longer belongs to me. I'm not their so-called shepherd; that responsibility rests upon the pastor of that church. My commitment is toward the flock of God specially given to me, not the other flock in the other churches. Again, it does not mean that I do not care about the believers in other churches, but I do not have a special responsibility toward them like a pastor does to his sheep, because they are not my sheep. In other words, they are no different to me than the members of, let's say, True Life BP Church in Singapore. Once in a while, I remind myself to pray for them; that is the best I can do for them. My utmost duty, obligation, and responsibility is toward the flock of God here, not elsewhere. That's the reason why I do not run after them, because I have to spend all my time, energy, and resources to prepare myself to feed the flock here. And one day, the Lord will hold me responsible for my flock here in this church. Even in this church, I do not know who are the true flock of God, right? Some are sheep, some are goats. Some look like sheep but they are goats; some look like goats but they are actually sheep. My responsibility is to feed, as in preach the word of God. And Jesus says, "My sheep hear my voice." The sheep will hear and they will be fed; the goats will not hear, they will not be fed, no matter how hard you try.
Now back to our text in verse 28: so Paul was saying the same thing as the Apostle Peter. He said to the Ephesian elders, "To all the flock that God has apportioned to you, given to you—the Ephesian church—for you to take care of." And through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, he has made you overseers, where we get the English word for Episcopal or Bishop. So only to this flock of God that you have been made an overseer—you have to take oversight of; you have to rule over them—not the other flock, but this particular flock. And your primary responsibility is to feed them. And Paul calls it the Church of God. It is called the Church of God because the emphasis is that it belongs to God, not men. And this church that belongs to God is so precious because the Bible tells us it has been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself purchased it with his own blood. That is why as pastors, preachers, teachers, even Sunday school teachers who are called to teach—not in other churches, but to this particular flock in this church—you have an awesome responsibility to feed them. And they are so precious to the Lord, who has bought them with his precious blood.
So as we teach, as we preach, we must always remind ourselves that we are dealing with precious souls whom our Lord Jesus himself has purchased with his own blood. How can we play the fool? God forbids! If we fail to feed the Church of God, the sad, tragic result will be the church may still be running, functioning; there may still be people in the church; in fact, the congregation may still be large. But it will be a spiritually weak flock; it will be a flock that will be ready to eat anything, including the poisonous weeds of the false teachers, false doctrines. They will easily follow the voice of the false shepherds, who will lead them to not greener pastures but to the desert, where they will never be fed.
But as faithful pastors, elders, preachers, teachers, we must never do that. Instead, we will do everything we can, according to God's grace and mercy given to us, with all diligence and hard work, including the willingness to suffer persecutions, adversities, even death, so that we may accomplish the work that God has given to us—to take care of the flock assigned to us. Feed them, because Jesus Christ himself has purchased them with his own blood. If that is my responsibility, my friend, to feed the Church of God, if my responsibility is to put in my utmost effort to garner all my resources so that I can feed the flock faithfully, what is your responsibility as the flock of God in this church? What is your responsibility?
Some of us have been attending church for many years. It doesn't matter whether it is in Bethel BP Church or any other churches. What is our responsibility? When the pastors, the preachers, the ministers are called to feed the flock, we are the flock. So what is our responsibility? It is to listen and to apply the message into our lives. One day, the Lord will hold us responsible. All of us have responsibilities given by God. So, as preachers preach, the flock must listen carefully, and then they must apply it into their lives. And by God's grace and mercy, one day they may also rise up, and God may cause some to be pastors and elders, and to teach and feed the flock of God. And it will go on and on until our Lord Jesus returns, all to the glory of his precious name.
So let us read these three verses, and then we'll close with a word of prayer. Okay, we'll continue next week. Acts 20, verses 25 to 28—four verses. Let us read in unison so that we remember what we have learned this week:
Verse 25: "And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven, indeed we know that Thou lovest the church. Our Lord Jesus died for the church; he has purchased it with his own blood. And even as Thou hast placed us in a local church like this, we know that we have been given this particular flock that we must take oversight of. As church leaders, it is our responsibility primarily to feed the flock that Thou hast entrusted to us. And we pray that we will always remember this awesome responsibility to the chief Shepherd, who shall appear one day, and we want to be faithful so that we will be able to receive this crown of glory that fadeth not away.
And we pray that as Thou would raise up pastors and elders in our midst, whether in this local church or any other local churches, that the flock of God in those churches will also be faithful today, that they will listen, and they will also apply the messages into their lives. And we pray that in Thine own grace and mercy, Thou wilt also raise some from amongst us who will rise up to serve Thee as preachers, teachers, pastors, elders, deacons—all to the glory of Thy precious name. Preserve this church. Preserve our pulpit ministry. Preserve our Sunday school that we remain faithful to the word of God until our Lord Jesus returns. We give Thee thanks, and we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.