Paul's Parting Instructions

WELCOME

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WELCOME

Good morning CrossPointe

Thankful to worship together this morning as we continue in our series through the book of Acts

PASSAGE CONNECTION

Today we will be in

The Big Idea

Imagine the Apostle Paul invited you over for dinner.

This is the man who was a pharisee that hunted down Christians

but little did he know that God was hunting him

God saved Paul and then sent him out on mission but also said that he would suffer for the name of Jesus

Now Paul is heading toward the end of his missionary journeys.

He senses that persecution awaits him

We’ve see the gospel go out from Jersualem into all the world. Now Paul is heading to Jerusalem but will ultimately end up in Rome.

After you finish the meal you are sitting around the table, drinking a cup a coffee, and he says that you will never see him again.

This is it.

He’s a friend. A co-laborer in the gospel. He’s a man you’ve respected and admired and now he is saying goodbye.

He keeps talking and nobody wants to interpret because they don’t want the night to end.

These are Paul’s final works to you face to face

Will you listen

What issue weighs heaviest on Paul’s heart?

The church and caring for the people who make up the church.

Connection

The church’s value leads us to care and protect her.

We value our homes so people are buying video-enabled doorbells

We value our pets so they now have mircochips inside them

We pay extra to insure and protect our smartphones and smart watches.

For Paul - the church was worth caring and protecting.

READ 20:17-38

PRAYER

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

Acts Overview

READ ACTS 20:17-38

PAUL’S PLATFORM

AMERICAN VIEW OF PASTORS

Build a platform for yourself as a pastor

CEO, Organizer, Leader

PAUL’S PLATFORM

Shepherd

Serving the Lord - humility and tears while surrounded by hardships

Teaching

Declaring all of God’s word

Repentance & Faith

Willingly and gladly lay down my life - so that I might finish

VALUE OF THE CHURCH

INTRO

This passage has so many things we could talk about

Paul serving the church in humility and with tears in spite of the trials.

His continued message of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus

Paul is heading to Jerusalem, knowing that he would would additional persecution, yet he went anyway

The fact that these words were the last these men would hear directly from the lips of Paul.

Focus this Morning

Verse 28-32

This is the heart of Paul’s message to the elders and I believe they are helpful for us this morning.

Lead-In

Last week Paul was in Ephesus - a city of 100,000 with its temple to Artemis - one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world - Riot

Left for Macedonia then to Greece but Jews tried to kill him

Sailed to Syria, back to Macedonia and then to Troas

On his last day in Troas, Paul decided to preach until midnight. There were lamps in the room so you can imagine the light of the flames dancing across the wall. This poor young man, Eutychus, (called out by name), fell in a deep sleep in the window

Paul just kept talking, until the man fell out the window and fell three stories

They bolt to the ground level and Paul sees that he’s fine

They go back upstairs, celebrate communion and Paul continues preaching until daybreak.

From Troas they went to Assos - to Mitylene - to Chios - to Samos - to Miletus

They sailed past Ephesus because Paul was hoping to make it back to Jersualem before the celebration of Pentecost.

It’s here that Paul calls the Ephesians elders to visit.

CARING FOR THINGS OF VALUE (When it comes to things of value…)

Example:

When you buy your first car or your first home. Eleanor...

We care for things that we value

Paul’s Value for the Church

(28b) “Church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”

CULTURAL VIEW OF CHURCH V. BIBLICAL VIEW OF CHURCH

Cultural View

Organized Religion

CEO, provide services

Optional

Biblical View

A people, purchased with the blood of Jesus

The church is valuable because of the price God was willing to pay.

Blood of Jesus - Why is this valuable…?

Who Jesus Is? - God, clothed in humanity, fully God and fully man.

What Jesus Has Done? - His hands and feet were pierced to pay the penalty for our sins.

Sin = wrath, death, separation

Jesus became our sin

Why Jesus Died? - so that by faith we might become the righteousness f God.

Personally

verse 28 has really hit me this week

“Pay attention to yourselves… and the church”

God made you overseers of his church

Which he brought with his blood.

Yesterday I asked my son to move the van into the street for me

He’s nervous, the van is valuable, another son has already taken out the neighbor’s mailbox...

This is a weighty truth for anyone who in leadership in the church

We are overseeing people that God has purchased with his blood.

CARE FOR THE CHURCH

“PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION” - HOW THEN SHOULD WE CARE FOR SOMETHING OF SUCH GREAT VALUE?

Personal Care

(28) “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to the flock...”

The “WHAT” here is clear - we need to first pay attention to what is inside ourselves before we begin looking at others.

Now the question becomes, “HOW” do we ‘pay careful attention to ourselves?

Healthy self-examination can become dangerous because our minds can begin to focus on ourselves and all our faults - leading to self-condemnation

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Any practice that detracts from faith is an evil practice, especially that kind of self-examination which would take us away from the cross - foot proceeds in a wrong direction.”

Examine Your Work: …if you think you are something special, you aren’t, you’re just deceiving yourself… “But let each one test his own work...” Fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control...

Examine Yourself Through God’s Eyes: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

The following is adapted from an article written by Jared Mellinger, and pastor in Pennsylvania on desiringgod.org

The gospel brings proportion to our examination

Robert Murray M’Cheyne famously said, “For every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ”

“beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image for one degree of glory to another.”

Self-Reflection leads to awareness of sin but God-Beholding leads to transformation.

The gospel brings pardon to our examination (penalty of sin)

God knows the worst things about you. The hidden shame caused by sin.

God’s love for you is not based your actions as though you have done anything to desire his affections.

Psalm 130:10 “God does not deal with us according to our sins”

The gospel brings perception to our examination

The gospel brings power to our examination (power of sin)

God, according to his grace and mercy, is at work within those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus.

“I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

Self-examination must never end by looking at ourselves or we will be led away into despair. True self-reflection sees ourselves in light of the gospel.

This should lead us to repentance and faith

Repentance - confessing where we fall short

Faith - God is at work within us as we behold Jesus.

The gospel saves us from the penalty of sin (justification), from the power of sin (sanctification), and from the presence of sin (glorification).

Protective Care

Outside Threats - Fierce Wolves

[28] “flock,” “shepherds” - Christians are likened to sheep throughout the Bible

Do you know what fierce wolves like to eat? Sheep.

“He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees a world coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.”

In , Jesus warned his disciples, “beware of false teachers, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

Think about this warning for a moment

There are people in this world who many think are Christians, they may even have titles and positions in churches - but in reality, they are bloodthirsty wolves.

Inside Threats - Twisted Truths

The danger isn’t always just outside the church

Sometimes the danger is within. A half-truth misapplied or misunderstood becomes twisted. Division arises and people become separated from the flock and easily fall prey.

God has given his church a means of protection

#1 Himself

JESUS is the good shepherd. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.* No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.”

In Jesus is called the Great Shepherd or the Chief Shepherd

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else.* No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.”

Our first and primary means of protection is God himself. We do not need to fear but we are called to be alert, to be careful.

#2 His Word

“You word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

God’s word helps us know and hear the voice of our good shepherd, Jesus.

God has made his plan and purposes clear for us

“For the time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound doctrine. Instead, they will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who who will tell them whatever they want to hear.”

We never think this will be us…

There is a couple who use to attend CrossPointe and sat here in this space. Truth became twisted in their minds and hearts so that they desired what God condemned. My wife and I met with them and talked and prayed - but in the end - we found someone else on youtube, another pastor, who agrees with us. We agree with him, not you.

God’s Word was clear but they didn’t like what it said, so they found someone who looked like a sheep who would tell them what they wanted to hear.

God’s word provides clarity

This is why I believe Paul said in v. 20, “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house - repentance to God and faith in Jesus.

Paul at one point says his hands are clean - I’ve taught you from God’s word - “I commend you to God and to the word of his grace.

#3 Shepherds

This one implied in two ways

#1 Paul’s example

#2 Imperatives are given to the overseers of church in Ephesus (28)

Elders / Shepherds / Overseers / Pastors = all synonyms

Guard the doctrine of the church

In submission to Jesus they seek to understand, live by, and communicate the truth of God’s word

Elders should be able to teach

There was genuine love between Paul and these leaders

Paul wasn’t just a good leader or organizer

He didn’t just put on a great service with // amazing worship, a dynamic kids ministry, and a great communicator - the holy trinity of modern church planting.

(32) “AND NOW I COMMEND YOU TO GOD AND TO THE WORD OF HIS GRACE...”

To the church in Corinth Pauls says that some people found his speaking contemptible. Paul later said he was untrained in speech...

He genuinely loved the people and he spoke the truth according to God’s word.

Commended to God & Commended to the Word of his grace...”

Commended to the Word of his grace...”

Yes, there are fierce wolves and twisted truths - Yet, God has given us protection

“For the time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound doctrine. Instead, they will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who who will tell them whatever they want to hear.”

CONCLUSION

Value the church based on what God was willing to pay for her redemption

Jesus purchased a people for himself with his own blood.

Let us treasure the church as a family accordingly

Personal Care

Examine yourselves in light of the Gospel

The gospel brings proportion to your examination

The gospel brings pardon to your examination

The gospel bring power to your examination

Rest in God’s Protection

God himself is your good shepherd - he will not run or flee when you need him most

God’s Word is lamp to your feet when your path feels dark and uncertain

God’s undershepherds - the elders are here to love, serve, and protect the church