If you want to take a wild, whirlwind adventure into the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts, I would invite you to visit Ephesus in the first century. Ephesus was the third largest city in the Roman empire with a population estimated to have been around 250,000 during the early days of Christianity’s spread throughout the Roman world. We are first introduced to Ephesus in Acts 18:18-28 where we met an evangelistic couple named Priscilla and Aquilla and an engaging orator named Apollos.
In Acts 19 the adventure continues with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on a group of John the Baptists’ disciples who believe and are baptized in the name of Jesus, again demonstrating what Jon described as the norm of Christian experience—repentance, faith in Jesus, water baptism by immersion and the gift of the Spirit.
The story continues with Paul’s bold preaching and persuasive argument about the kingdom of God in the Jewish synagogue over a three-month period. Then there is obstinate opposition to the Way and his daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus, a Gentile philosopher or educator who perhaps was nicknamed a tyrant (which is what his name means) over a two-year period. The result? “all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.” (Acts 19:10) Wow! What impact!
Then the power encounters between good and evil began as “God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands” (Acts 19:11)—there were miraculous healings (direct by his hands and indirect by garments that touched him and then touched others to heal them); there were exorcisms of demons. One record was of some Jews (seven sons of Sceva) who were casting out evil spirits invoking the name of Jesus when this occurred:
15 The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded. (Acts 19:15–16) What a story! What a sight!
The result? 17 When this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they became afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem. 18 And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, 19 while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread and prevailed. (Acts 19:17–20) What an unexpected, unpredictable outcome of good winning out over evil!
If that is not enough excitement, a riot breaks out after Demetrius a silversmith who made silver shrines of the Greek goddess Artemis pointed out to the city leaders and other workmen that Paul’s preaching was a threat not only to their lucrative business but also a threat to the temple of Artemis and an affront to their goddess. The crowd starts shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” They seized two of Paul’s traveling companions and took them into the theater. Paul is ready to go in after them to confront the crowd, but he is persuaded to back off. Their shouting continued for about two hours and finally, the city clerk quiets the crowd and dismisses them.
One of the most honest statements ever made by an historian is found in Acts 19:32 where Luke writes: Some were shouting one thing and some another, because the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. (Acts 19:32) Don’t you love the way Luke tells it like it is? As I reflected on that statement, I thought that describes some congregational meetings I have attended over the years.
In the midst of all that chaos in Ephesus, there is a church—a church where Timothy and the Apostle John later served, a church to whom Paul later wrote a letter and Jesus delivered one of the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation.
In Acts 20 Luke records what happened on the Lord’s Day when the disciples gathered in an upper room to hear the Word preached and to share the Lord’s Supper which was the church’s common practice. This is what he reports when Paul is still preaching at midnight:
9 and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on talking. When he was overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead. 10 But Paul went down, bent over him, embraced him, and said, “Don’t be alarmed, because he’s alive.” (Acts 20:9–10)
I assure you that I won’t preach past midnight (not even past noon) and I have no reason to believe that if someone falls asleep, falls out of their chair, and falls to the floor dead, that I would be able to raise them from the dead, so please don’t try it.
Luke’s account of the Ephesus adventures culminates in one of the most emotional scenes in all of Scripture. After they set sail for Jerusalem, Paul along with Luke and several other companions arrived in Miletus where he summoned the elders of the Ephesian church and shared his heart with them. His speech is recorded in Acts 20:18-35. You can follow along in your Bible but not on the screen. I want you to hear Paul’s words and listen for his heart. Luke was there. He heard Paul speak and recounted it:
“You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, 19 serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and during the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. 20 You know that I did not hesitate to proclaim anything to you that was profitable and to teach you publicly and from house to house. 21 I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. 22 “And now I am on my way to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, not knowing what I will encounter there, 23 except that in every town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me. 24 But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace. 25 “And now I know that none of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will ever see me again. 26 Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, 27 because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God. 28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them. 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears. 32 “And now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that I worked with my own hands to support myself and those who are with me. 35 In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them. 37 There were many tears shed by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship. (Acts 20:36-38). Then Paul and his companions set sail for Jerusalem.
In his commentary on Acts John Stott sets this message up with these observations:
“First, this is the only speech in the Acts which is addressed to a Christian audience. All the others are either evangelistic sermons, whether preached to Jewish people (2:14ff.; 3:12ff.; 13:16ff.) or Gentiles (10:34ff.; 14:14ff.; 17:22ff.), or legal defenses, whether made before the Sanhedrin in the early days of the church (4:8ff.; 5:29ff.; 7:1ff.) or the five speeches before the Jewish and Roman authorities, which come near the end of the book (22–26).”
Secondly, the leaders addressed are called ‘elders’ (17), ‘pastors’ or ‘shepherds’ (28a) and ‘overseers’ (28b)—three terms used interchangeably referring to the same people, not three groups of people.
Thirdly, the terms are all plural denoting a pastoral team of leaders not a sole individual flying solo in leading the church—SEOs (shepherds, elders, overseers) not a CEO.
Paul’s concern here for the welfare of the church was not a passing whim. It was his compelling passion. Listen to his testimony in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 where he responded to his critics with a summary of his sufferings and a window into his heart:
23 Are they servants of Christ? I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, many times near death. 24 Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; 27 toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing. 28 Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:23-28) His heart is with all the churches—churches he established; churches he visited; churches he knew.
Why such concern for all the churches, especially this church in Ephesus? The church in every place and every time has been entrusted with the mission of God. The church in every place and every time has been entrusted with the message of the Gospel. So, we must guard the mission, and we do that by guarding the message.
The imperative “Be on guard” or “Be alert” appears twice in Paul’s charge to the Ephesian elders (28, 31). It means to keep watch, to pay attention to, to give one’s ear to someone, to apply one’s mind to something. As a nautical term, it means to hold a ship in a certain direction, to sail towards a destination, to stay on one’s course.
Guard the mission. Notice how Paul refers to the mission and the task of preaching: proclaim and declare (20, 27), teach (20), testify (21, 24), ministry and task (24), preaching (25) and admonishing and warning (31). The mission is clear—like Paul we have been sent to proclaim, to preach, to teach, to testify, to warn. This mission must be guarded.
Guard the message. Notice how Paul refers to what he preached and taught: repentance toward God and faith in Jesus (21), the inevitability of suffering (23–24), the grace of God (24, 32), the kingdom of God (25), the purpose of God (27), the redeeming blood of Christ (28), the church of God and its edification (28, 32), the danger of false teachers (29–30), the need for vigilance (28, 31), running the race (24) and our final inheritance (32). He did not settle for a truncated gospel or a watered-down message. He could say, 26 Therefore I declare to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, 27 because I did not avoid declaring to you the whole plan of God. (Acts 20-26-27) His message and our message is an unchanging, universal, eternal message for all.
No wonder when John Stott wrote his commentaries on 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy, he entitled them, Guard the Truth and Guard the Gospel. That is still the challenge before the contemporary church because we will not preserve the mission nor finish the task if we fail to guard the message.
At the heart of Paul’s charge to these spiritual leaders of the Ephesian church is this imperative with incredible insights into its importance:
Guard yourselves. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28)
Why this concern for the leaders and their flock? They are facing threats from outside— "savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29) and threats from inside— “Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them.” (Acts 20:30) So, he warns them again, “Therefore be on the alert.” (Acts 20:31)
Paul is an example of one who paid attention to himself, his motives and his heart as he cared deeply for the flock entrusted to him. Twice in his message Paul mentioned his tears. He said in verses 18-19, “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, 19 serving the Lord with all humility, with tears. ( Acts 20:18-19) Again in verse 31: . . . remembering that night and day for three years I never stopped warning each one of you with tears. (Acts 20:31)
His ministry among them was personal, individualized, and intimate. He assumed accountability for the souls to whom he preached and reminded these elders that they are accountable for the souls entrusted to them—to protect them, to instruct them, to direct them and to correct them. In the elder training I have done in dozens of churches, I remind elders that they are not only accountable for the souls that are in their church but also those that God wants to reach through their church—to see that the church achieves what God desires and avoids what is unacceptable to Him. That is why being an elder in a local church is a more serious responsibility than any other level of leadership. Souls are at stake, so we don’t take this task lightly or treat this text lightly!
Why is the church so precious to Paul and why should it be so important to everyone of us as Christians? In Paul’s words because it is the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28) The church is God’s prized possession not ours although we sometimes act like we own it. It was purchased with the precious blood of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, not our blood or our sacrifices. It is overseen by elders appointed by the Holy Spirit as overseers to shepherd the flock entrusted to them. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are all invested in the church. Each cares deeply about its success. Each is committed to its mission. The church matters.
This is not only a reminder of how much God loves His church that He would give His Son for His church and seek to protect His church. It is also a reminder of how much He loves you and everyone that He would give His Son to redeem His world. Until the reign and rule of God come over the life of every man and every woman, every boy and every girl of every nation and every generation, we still have an unfinished task. May we who wear the mantle of leadership in the Lord’s church today share Paul’s passion and be so compelled to guard the mission and message of Jesus until He returns. Amen.