Acts 20:29-38
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Good morning everyone. It is such a joy to be with you. If you have your Bibles go ahead and open up to Acts 20 and in a moment we will start in verse 28
I’m excited about today. becasue ast the end of our time in scripture today we will get to take the Lords supper together.
In case you weren’t hear last week mitchell preached on the first part of this passage. He talked about what a life looks like that’s complelty shaped by the gospel
and one of the takeaways I’ve enjoyed all week is a question he asked
What would it look like for Jesus to take up so much space in our lives that others things have to adjust?
I’ve found myself praying that this week. Asking Jesus to be so big in my life that everything else has to adjust. I’ve evaulated my schedule, my week and my life by that question and it’s been really helpful I hope it is to you today
This moring I want to try and answer 2 quetions
what does it mean that Jesus bought the church with his own blood?
and how might that continue to shape our lives toward the gospel?
Let’s read
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 every one 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. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 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.’ ”
And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, 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.
Paul has spent a good amount of time looking back to all the Lord had accomplished in his life and now he looks ahead. He is going to Jesursalem. He is saying goodbye an dhe expects to never see the elders and leaders of the church again. He knows that as he heads to Jerusalem afflection, suffering and even death await him
Last words really matter
so I want to invite you to lean in this morning and hear what these final words ar efrom Paul
He looks at the elders and says you have to pya attention to the way you live
not only for your life but for those in your flock
He is saying how you live really matters. Not how good of teachers or preachers they are, not how well they could lead an organization or what good ideas that might have
no he says you need to have an alertness and a guard on your own life and the life of those that goods put in your sphere of influnce.
this has challenged and encouraged me as i’ve prepared this week. When tempation has come i’ve just thought to myself “stay alert” be on guard watch how you live. It actaully matters
and while I know Paul is talking to the leaders in the church that day and there is no doubt that this addresses those of us who would pastor or elder a church I think it is applicable to everyone who is a christian
the New Testment holds out the priesthood of the ever beleiver
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
and for years at rivertree we have asked the question what if you saw yourself as the priest of culd-a-sac?
when we got downtown we realized their aren’t as many culda sacs so we have reframed it a little
what would it look like if you saw yourself as a shepherd of your street?
what would it look like if you saw yourself in this life. that their are people that God placed on your street, or in your spehere of influnces and he wants you to care for them.
that becasue you live their the nieghboorhood is better. I can remeber a time in my life this become very real
we lived in a nieghboorhood off taylor road in owens cross roads. we built a little starter house as we were starting our family out
and I was so excited I finally had my own back yard. Put a fence around it and went and bought a grill. and during the first storm the grill rolled down the little hill in my backyard and was almost destroyed
so we moved it into the grage and I started grilling in my front yard. and when I started doing that something amazing hjappen. People would be driving home. They would be on a walk and they would ask.
What are you grilling? It led to so many great coversations.
and thier was another family in the nieghboorhood that we just started sharing life with and we viewed ourselves as people who had the chance to show our nieghboors how much Jesus was worth to us
we were able to see oursleves as the shepherds of our street. there we so many special moments
from just offereing people food when they drove buy. to getting to pray with my nieghboor denise(she said I was one of the first people to ever pray with her)
to just joy in loving and caring about our niegh boord
but why would Paul tell these christians and us to pay careful attetnion to oursleves and the flock?
because of just how special the church is to the Lord. Look at what Paul says care for the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood
how wonderful is this. Paul is pointing the shepherds of the flock to the chief shepherd Jesus christ. and he is remanding them jus thow valuable the people of God are that Jesus God in flesh would live a perfect sinless life and he would shed his own precious blood for the church
that’s how much Jesus loves the church. that’s how much Jesus loves you
Paul would say in
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
and Paul isn’t losing sight of this and I would say this we can be sure of this as much as we don’t need to lose sight of Jesus the fact that the our good shepherd laid down his life for us reminds us that Jesus won’t and can’t lose sight of you
In John 10:14-15 Jesus says this
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
If you are a christian don’t let you heart grow numb to this. Jesus knows you. You belong to Jesus and the way he secured that is by laying down his life for you
there’s a lot in there. It’s this truth that stirs and wins our hearts to count Jesus as more valuable, more weighty, more wonderful and more beautiful then anythning else.
and it’s when we remeber this. We we understand what he died for, why he shed his blood that everything else in our life begins to adjust to him
that’s why Paul says Pay attention to the way you live. and the main way I pay attetion to the way I live is by considering what Jesus gave up for me
that he lived my life, the life I could never live and he died my death the death I desrved to die
So I could live HIS LIFE.
and I wonder if some of you would just allow him to be your good shepherd today. To care for you. To take care for you. To remind you of the extent he would go to so you could know his love and his care for you
no one has to remind us we are sinners. The cross did that. The cross already outed me then I was far worse off then I’d ever dare to admit but it also reminds me and reminds you that if Jesus was willing to shed every single drop of his precious blood I’m far more loved then I dare to imagine
but what Paul is saying here is more. You might wonder why is he telling them to pay attetion to the flock also.
One way that’s helped me think about it is this. that why we are saved by faith alone through grace only in Christ alone our FAITH is never alone
God has saved us from sin and death but he’s also saved us into something.
there is a way we actaully care for others when we pay attetion to our own lives and guard our own lives
we guard and protect things that matter
Engagment story
I can remeber saving up and buying a wedding ring for my wife. I bought it at a jewlery store in madison square mall that no longer exist
I was 20 years old. I was at a dinner with her and some friends when I realized the ring was ready and I could pay it off. So I walked from carebas- no longer exist
and went and bought it. I put it in my cargo pants and every 5 mins I checked to make sure it was still there. I was guarding it.
then I locked it in my glove box of my car and was SOOO nervous about it. On the night we got engaged I had it in my pocket and was so scared I was going to lose it. I guarded it becasue it was precious and mattered to me
I think when paul says pay attetion to your lives he is sahing
if you belive the value of the churdch and those around you you will stay alert you will check in on yourself beacuse how you live really mattters
We’ve been reading as a church staff this little book called authetic mnistry and this week we talked about the churc
the chapter we read was called love the church. And sometimes I think if we aren’t careful we can become jaded with the church. Maybe there’s a time where we don’t like certain things about the church. Maybe someowhere along the way someone in the church hurt us
but a good reminder for me is we get to love the church because Jesus loves the church and by his blood has brought us into the church.
The church is called the bride of Christ. Everything the Lord does he does for his birde. Reeves would say the chruch is his passion, his motivaiton and his delight.
Look at how Isaih talks about the church in
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Martin Lurther would tell a story of a king(representing Jesus) Marrying a poor girl(representing us) and at their wedding day the poor girl says all that I have I give to you, all that I have I share with you
so she shares with him all her debts, and all her shame
and then the king says “and all that I am I give to you and all tha tI have I share with you.
and with those words he is hers and she becomes a queen and all his kingdom is her
ALL THAT I have i share with you
friends that is the great gospel swap
that our great bridegroom Jesus takes all our sin, and all our death, our judgement and he has shared with us his perfect rightouness
Jesus takes our sin
We take his rightousness
The church is the delight of Christ. the church thrills Christ.
no one one in the church has earned Jesus favor or salvation.
but in the church Jesus has created something that makes his heart skip a beat
and becasue Jesus feels this way about the church we can be sure of this the church is a little tase of heaven come to earth
it’s part of our eterenal life. what we have been saved into is so special and this is what has shaped Pauls life
he knows there are those who will come along and try to destroy the church. They will twist things. and even draw ssome discples after them
so he reminds them of how the beauty
That’s why I love baptism and the Lords supper
the are both ways we remeber what Jesus has done for us but it’s alos ways we as a local chuch remember what Jesus has done for everyone here
I think it’s why Paul goes back to the way he lived
he is once again holding out a gospel shaped life.
becasue when we remeber that we were purchased with precious blood things start to shift
we think of ourselves less. I wonder what would change about my week or your week if you really beleived that those around us are so valuable that Jesus died for them
verese 31 -35 Paul is reminding the church that he lived in a way that wasn’t determental to the church
He says for three years I taught night and day with tears. We cry over things that matter
and he says I gave you the word of God. that’s what I had because you have an inhertance which is the church
and instead of gaing silver or gold or clothes I took nothing. He knew everything was a loss comapred to the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus
and as he worked hard he gives this teaching of JEsus that it is more blessed to give than to recive
He has leveraged his life for the sake of others and I wonder who we have leveraged our lives for.
or who god is calling us to leverage our lives for becasue
if you and I really belive that Jesus lived
that Jesus died and shed precious blood for our sins and the sins of the chruch
that he was burried
that easter is real(that when we gather on Sundays because Jesus is alive we are alive and we belive whole heartleyd sin and death will not have the final word
and that Jesus is alive
and we are people who have recived the greatest gift ever then of course WE WANT TO GIVE our lives away for this purpose also
and I want you to know its worth it. There are people that God will bring into our lives and we get to give our lives away counting them as no value(though increadilby valubale)
so that others can hear the good news about Jesus.
that’s what happened with each person whose become a Christain thorughout history.
Pauls words these days impact us even today. becasue there were people who heard pauls words about a gospel shaped life and they took action
they watched over their own lives and the lives of those the Lord would bring them to help lead
they lived in a way that was no self centered
they worked hard and they remembered the weak and ultimently the gave away the gospel and their lives
and the kingdom grew
and that’s what happened for each of us. Wheter it was a Sunday school teacher, a parent, a pastor, a youth pastor, a fried, a nieghbor or a family member
they decided that Jesus had made such a difference in their lives the gave. and they gave thier time treasures and talents so we could know about Jesus
that’s awesome and maybe that’s for monday. that’s for this week. Who might God have brought into your life that you can to give your life away for so they could know Jesus? Who might you share the good news of Jesus with, who might you invite to church on easter, who might you give your time, treasures and telents to becasue you really beleive they matter
Once Paul concluded there is this really Holy goodbye. where everyone knelt down and they pryaed together
and it’s a beautiful picture of the kind of love for each other the gospel produces. their is weeping on the part of everyone because they knew on this side of eternity they would never see him each other again
Christians have always been a people on the move and people willing to leave. While the gospel brings us together there are times the gospel calls us to part ways. And the only reason we are willing to do this is becasue Jesus is worth it
I think of friends even this morning who i love dearly. that I had some of the most amazing moments of gospel partnership with and how I wish I could hang out with them. Have a meal with them but Jesus has caused us to live in seperate parts of the world proclaiming his name becasue that life is worth it
we can say with Paul for me to live is Christ and die is gain
and I long for that for you today. Ross use to say it if in 3 years we are all in the same seats (good news we aren’t. Becasue we flipped the room and none of the seats are the same)
we are today we may have missed it.
and I’m grateful. 6 years ago those at southside where willing to give up there seats so others could know Jesus. I’m thankful for those who were at the cove campus who came downtown to start something really special. who belived becasue Jesu matters those who would come here matter
and we’ve seen it. We’ve seen God do so much so llet’s continue to live our lives asking the quesiton where in the world does God want me to go next? and living a life in pursuing what’s next
Allow the a life devoted to Jesus to shape you and allow you to be willing to give up everything so others would know him
for some that might be church planting, for some it might be the mission field overseas, some it might just be viewing your life differently. As one whose been called ot be a priest to your cul-d a sac and if you don’t have one to be a shepherd on your street
but whatever it is you don’t have to do it alone. Paul didn’t
it says they accompanied him to the ship as he heads to Jerusalem.
Most say it’s here Luke is comparing Paul to Jesus. and as we go into chapter 21 and 22 we see every place Paul goes he’s got friends like this coming together
saying don’t go
we will be with you
hugging and praying
and if you think about it it’s the opposite of what happened to Jesus.
Becasue Jesus at the end of his life was facing the most horrible and crushing burden of suffering of pain anyone has eve suffered and he knew it.
on the night before he died he went into a garden to pray. and he didn’t go alone. Jesus longed for his friends to be with him and he said all I need you to do is stay awake. I need my friends just for one hour
Yet they fall asleep. and then the next day they abadon him. Jesus even qouting from psalms 22 says My God my God why have you forsaken me
and on Good friday Jesus become on the corss the lonliest human in all of history.
devestaded and be destroyed all the lonliness came on him on the corss
Why? Why would anyone do this? Why would Jesus become the loneliest man in the history of the world
so you and I could be friends not only with God becasude he took away our sins but so we could be freinds with each other.
that’s the beauty of the church. that’s his delight. That’s why the writer of hebrews could say “FOR THE JOY” that was set before him he endurded the cross
becasue Jesus was saving us from somehting and into something. In a moment we are going to take the Lords supper together becasue of Jesus
let’s pray
ENGAGEMENT RING
