Instructions for Ministry on the Frontlines

Transcript

GR 2304
02/07/2021
Instructions for Ministry on the Frontlines
Acts 20:18-31; Revelation 2:1-7
Gil Rugh

We are preparing to look into the book of Ephesians together and we’re doing a little bit of the background of that book and I want to do a little more of that today. It’s a very important book, it appears a number of times in the New Testament. We looked at Paul establishing the church there in Ephesus and developing it. He’d had prior contact, but he spends three years ministering in Ephesus and getting that church established (we’ll talk more about that). Later he’ll write a letter to the church at Ephesus. Along the way he also writes to Timothy, remember the letters to Timothy. Timothy was at Ephesus helping to develop the ministry there, so Ephesus again, a focus in Paul’s letters to Timothy. Then the closing book of our New Testament and of our whole scriptures is the book of Revelation and there Jesus Christ addresses a letter to the church at Ephesus. So it’s a very prominent church in the New Testament. We’re just looking at some of the overall picture of it, so as we come to the most extensive letter to that church, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we’ll have a better context.

Turn in your Bibles to Acts 19. Paul on his third missionary journey, and we have a map we’ve looked at just to remind you of how Paul has traveled, you can see that he journeyed across. When he left, he left from Tarsus, and went up and across and in through Galatia; remember the letter to the Galatians, it would be the churches here. So he’s revisiting these, he was here on his first missionary journey where he established these churches. Then he comes across here into what we have labeled on the map ‘Asia,’ it’s really Asia Minor, which is basically our modern-day Turkey (we don’t want to get confused with the far-east Asia). Paul came across and there is Ephesus, where the major focus of his ministry will be. After three years he leaves Ephesus and comes over into Greece. When he comes down through and ministers in Greece then he’s going to retrace his steps. He’s really going across and come back into Israel. And on his way back he’s going to stop at Miletus, and you can see just south of Ephesus there is Miletus, you can just hardly make it out on the map; they say it would have been about a two-day walk. So Paul may spend a week here, but we’re not told exactly how long, it’s not a long trip. Perhaps the ship that he’s traveling on dispenses cargo and takes off cargo and so on, but it’s a two-day trip. He has to send a messenger there to call for the leaders of the church at Ephesus, the elders, and they have to come down on the trip, and maybe spend a day or two with them, then on his way. Perhaps a week or a little less, we don’t know. He meets here because he doesn’t want to take the time himself to travel up. Perhaps the ship he’s going on wouldn’t allow him that time. Perhaps the problems he would face if he went back into Ephesus since there was considerable unrest when he was there the first time over his ministry. All in all, he meets here.

Come in your Bible now, before you take the map down, turn over to chapter 20, what happens in 20:17, we pick up right here at Miletus. You can see it on the map, and in verse 17, “From Miletus he sent to Ephesus.” He is concerned to get back to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast, so his time is short, this is where he is, he calls for the elders, “He sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.” Again, I mentioned, if it’s a two-day trip and then two days back you have four days, if he spends a couple days -- around a week, maybe a little less. This is the context of what we have from verse 17 of Acts 20 down to verse 38, the end of the chapter as we have it.

Paul has called for the leaders of the church at Ephesus. He’s going to give them instructions on the importance of the responsibility they have because he has confidence that when he leaves the elders he will see them for the last time. He is sure that trouble is ahead of him and that is part of what he is preparing the elders for. We are going to see the first half of the discussion in verse 17 down through verse 24; he’s going to talk about his ministry there, then he transitions. By the time you get to the end he is going to be impressing upon them what they have to do is really to model his ministry in their ministry because they have the same kind of responsibility entrusted to them as he has and they have to be sure to understand the seriousness of it and to carry it out properly. I want to walk through some of this and then we will leave here to go to another section about Ephesus toward the end.

“From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.” I want to note this church is relatively new. Now important to remember Paul has journeyed from when he was in Ephesus and ministered there for three years. He left and went over to Greece. It is easy to lose time perspective, but he was in Greece for two years. So now he’s coming back to meet with the elders of the church, two years have gone by since Paul was in Ephesus ministering. That’s why some of this review is important and necessary. Not only to impress upon them what they will face as leaders of the church but to refresh their mind about his ministry there and how he carried it out.

So he calls the elders of the church. Part of God’s plan for the church is leaders and already this church in existence a relatively short time, Paul has elders appointed in that church, they are recognized. He doesn’t call for all the church. We don’t have any idea how large this church is. There are a plurality of elders, he “called to him the elders,” plural, “of the church,” singular; that seems to be a New Testament pattern, each local church would have more than one elder. I say that because some systems like the Baptists churches usually just have one elder and then a board of deacons. It seems the pattern in the New Testament church is there are a plurality of elders.

“They came to him.” He refreshes their mind on what his ministry was like when he was with them. “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time.” We noted when we talked about his ministry there that it seems that Paul, for the three years he was there, did not travel out to the other regions of Asia, other churches like the seven churches of Asia in Revelation 2 and 3. A church like Colossae, Laodicea, these churches were evangelized. Paul’s workers that were with him evidently would travel out to other cities carrying the gospel; people who were believers would perhaps travel with them. People would come in from those cities and evangelism took place. Paul was primarily centered in Asia for three years in Ephesus, but his ministry impacted the whole region.

How was he there? I was “serving the Lord,” that reminder how Paul sees himself. That word translated ‘serving’ is the word for a slave, a doulos. Here he was serving as a slave of the Lord, that would fit, he is serving as the Lord’s slave in his ministry there. His ministry in Ephesus for those reasons was carrying out the work the Lord had given him. The Master that he served had given him a responsibility and he carried that out faithfully during his time there. We read “serving the Lord,” one commentator translated it “slaving the Lord,” that would put it more serving as a slave the Lord, the Master. “With all humility,” he didn’t come with an arrogance of his importance as an apostle, I represent the Lord. We can do things that in and of themselves aren’t bad but they are not done properly. He came “with all humility and with tears and with trials.” It was a difficult three years, it was a lot of trouble that went on, he points out here “trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews.” The Jews were intensely opposed to Paul because of the effectiveness of his ministry. He was one of them as a Jew, he had been a Pharisee of the Pharisees, and now he could use the Old Testament scriptures and show clearly that they had crucified their Messiah. He through faith in that Messiah had been transformed himself. He mentions the plots of the Jews but included in that then… Remember the riot with the silversmiths related to the Gentile’s worship of Diana or, as she is referred to, Artemis. Remember they went into the stadium, excavations have shown that stadium seated about 25,000 people. When you pack out the stadium and they are in an uproar and the confusion, as we read, and it was all about the ministry and message that Paul was bringing … and you had the commercial issue of he is destroying the trade and the money we make in connection. Paul mentioned here the plots of the Jews, but it was multifaceted, he mentions that because he wants them to be prepared. These are the elders, there’s a danger -- we think, well, we’ll get established and there’s some opposition and difficulty but then we settle down, people appreciate we’re good people, we lead good lives. Paul wants them to realize my ministry there was filled with trials.

Verse 20, it did not deter him, so he goes from humility, tears, trials, plots against him and then verse 20, “how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable,” I didn’t pull back from the ministry. Verse 19, he’s there serving as the Lord’s slave, representing the Lord, his Master. So there was difficulties, there were trials, it was humbling, I cried, there were plots against me. Now you know “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable.” Keep that in mind because that’s at the center of what Paul’s talking about; he’ll come back to it down in verse 27, “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” That’s anything that was profitable, the word that God had given him. Back up in verse 20, “teaching you publicly and from house to house,” he was aggressively at it. This was life for me in Ephesus for three years, I did it in a public way; remember he did it in the synagogue, he did it in the house of Tyrannus. He also did it from house to house, sometimes the public ministries are not options, so we gathered in a home and I came to your home.

When I was in a communist country many years ago we met with some believers, but it was more of a handful in a house, eight people or so there and you could talk about things and the word of the Lord. They would talk about how they met in their homes. That’s what Paul was doing, he did it from house to house. “Solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks.” Here’s what my ministry was about, here is what was involved in verse 20 in teaching you publicly, from house to house, what? Solemnly testifying to all kinds of people; Paul didn’t adjust his message to cultural variations. The Jews had their own culture and insulated lives, the Greeks had their… No, I had the same message for both, what? “Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We talked some about this in our previous study about Paul’s ministry at Ephesus. Today there is the pressure to say that part of the gospel is not the complete gospel. Paul wants to impress upon the leaders of the church at Ephesus here’s what my ministry was, then he’s going to tell them that ministry is passed on to you. We need to be alert and aware, this is the gospel, verse 21, “repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ,” they are part of the work of God’s grace in salvation. What do you do? You recognize you are a sinner, you have been in rebellion against a holy God, you have fought Him. You repent, you turn from that, acknowledging, God I am a sinner, a rebel against You. I bow in obedience to You placing my faith in Jesus Christ to be my Savior. So it’s “repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,” you can’t have one without the other. If a person doesn’t recognize their sin why would they place their faith in Jesus Christ? What are you believing in Him for? For salvation from sin which I am repenting of, agreeing with God. That’s why the word confession goes with the word repentance, it’s all part of recognizing what God says about me is true, I see myself as God sees me, I turn from sin and place my faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The same Lord he is serving, that’s where it began, my life as His slave, verse 19, serving the Lord as a slave. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, He is the one that I have trusted, in Him alone. That was my ministry with you, I never backed off of that. Paul’s like I’m going forward relentlessly; opposition comes from the Jews, from the Gentiles, from the commercial side, the religious side of the Gentiles, I didn’t shrink back, I didn’t give ground.

You know how it is with the pressure, we can easily begin to look to make adjustments, that’s what’s happening with the church. The ‘in’ thing in the world is you do social things. We have… and it is consuming at governmental level things. Well, the church begins to fit, yeah, that’s what we’re about, too. We want to change people’s decrepit, depressed social conditions, we want social justice, yeah, we’re all in this together. No, we are not. Paul’s on his own track, it’s the track that the Lord whom He served as a slave had given him. I’m bringing the gospel, I’m bringing the gospel, I never shrunk back from that, you have to repent. I don’t care if you are a Jew, I don’t care if you are a Gentile, I don’t care if you’re religious or non-religious Gentile, I don’t care if you’re making money or losing money. This is what it is about, this is what it’s about, you have to see yourself as God says you are. I don’t care if you are a Jew and have the Old Testament, you have to repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ.

Where’s he going from here? Verse 22, “Now, behold, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.” We might say, oh yeah, we all have uncertain futures, we say we’re going to do something tomorrow if the Lord wills. Paul says no, there’s more to it than that, I don’t know what the future holds for me but I know what is going to happen, the details only God knows. But note the next verse, what I do know, “except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.” You know what he’s doing here? He’s using himself as an example. Remember he’s addressing the elders who are the leaders of the church at Ephesus. They are going to be responsible for carrying on, leading the ministry there when Paul is gone. He doesn’t present: you know men it was difficult when I was there and I probably caused a lot of trouble, but you can look forward to better days because a lot of it was probably personal, about me, but I think as the ministry goes on… No! He’s taking them the opposite way. He is leading them into it by telling them the Spirit of God has made clear to me whatever the overall future is, every place I go is going to be trouble, there’s going to be opposition, there’s going to be trials, “bonds and afflictions await me.” So I may not have the big picture overall, but he’s got a good idea because he will later tell them I’m not going to see you again. Well, why? You might come back in coming years. But he tells them I won’t be seeing you again, what does that say? The bonds and afflictions, you know where that’s going to eventually end up, that’s where this trip is going to end up. He’s going to end up in prison and taken to Rome. It’s a difficult life Paul is setting out.

Verse 24 puts it in perspective. “But I do not consider my life as of any account as dear to myself.” That’s the hardest thing for us as believers. Once we’ve gotten over the hump, we’ve repented of our sin and we’ve placed our faith in Christ, if it is genuine I have to have a life now as a slave just like Paul did. I have placed my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. ‘Lord’ means He’s the master and I am the slave, my life is not dear to me, I serve my Master. So he’s preparing them. The biggest thing we continue to battle is selfishness. In over fifty years of ministry in this church and the few years before I came the pattern wasn’t any different in that church either. And it wasn’t any different in the churches I belonged to without pastoring. You know what we battle? Self. Self. I don’t consider my life as that important, it’s not dear to me, it’s not about me, I’m not worried about me. Am I happy, am I satisfied, am I enjoying life, am I getting out of life what I hope? That life is gone. That’s one of the marks of whether I am truly saved or not, well, I don’t consider my life as of any account, so I know… We don’t know for sure. Paul knew for sure, the Spirit of God told him as an apostle you are going to go from city to city and you are going to go from trial, affliction, being arrested, to trial, affliction, being arrested. But this isn’t written so we can sit back and say I’m glad I’m not Paul, glad I’m not an apostle like him, because you know why he’s telling them this? To prepare them to be like him, to have that resolve. Your life shouldn’t be of anything dear to you, get over it, it’s not your life any longer. You were bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body. That’s what he says, right? “I do not,” verse 24, “consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus.” That’s what matters, Lord, this is no longer my life, it’s Your life, You purchased me, I belong to You, I am the slave, You are the master.

What matters now is I fulfill the responsibility You’ve given me. Paul says my responsibility is to “testify solemnly of the gospel of grace of God.” That’s the same thing he said in verse 21, “solemnly testifying… of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” The end of verse 24, “to testify solemnly of the gospel of grace of God.” There are some people who profess to be believers, who think they go to church to have fun. They ought to make church good. There’s a lot of difficulty in the world, we go to church to relax, enjoy it. The quartet has sung a song in the past, “it’s not a recreation room, brother, it’s a battlefield.” We settle down and think, well… I’ve had dear people leave this church saying I just get tired of the conflict. What does that mean? Jesus said if they’ve hated me they will hate you. That implies there’s going to be some pretty strong conflict.

Look at our government, when people hate one another it creates serious conflict, pretty soon people are out to destroy those they hate. That’s what Paul says. Why is he being imprisoned? I imagine if you had a cup of tea with Paul he could be a nice person. That didn’t make people love him. He didn’t do bad things like rob temples, even the Ephesian political leader had to tell them that, he didn’t rob temples, he’s not doing things like that. Why did people hate him? “Solemnly testify of the gospel.” That’s why the church wants to morph over and let’s include some other things in the gospel, if we’re about improving people’s social conditions, if we are about social, racial justice, people will appreciate that. I’m not out to offend people, I’m out to please the one who is my Master. We think if we do something we could fill the church with people. Well, if we fill the church by doing what pleases them and we don’t please our Master what kind of slaves are we? Well, we found a better way, look at this, Lord, we packed the place out. Yes, but you’re My slave, you didn’t do My work, you did what the world appreciated. So what he says here is crucial.

“I do not consider my life,” and we’re going to get to this, the Ephesians lost some of this, you know what this is? “I don’t consider my life of any account as dear to myself,” that is a definition of love, that is what love is, right? Self-sacrifice, doing for the other person. Whatever the cost, whatever the price, I will do what the God that I love and serve wants me to do. For you as one I love, with the love of God, I will do what is eternally best for you. It’s not about me. Paul could have had a comfortable life and did, relatively speaking, until he came to trust Christ. Mark that, underline it, “I don’t consider my life of any account as dear to myself.” The Ephesian church is going to slip on this, over years, that will become less true of them than it needed to be and that will be Christ’s evaluation as we will see. “I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself so that I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.” Paul, you are a gloomy fellow, you already said you don’t know for sure what awaits you, just bonds and that. This is not to discourage them, this is to toughen them up by the reality of the future.

He went about preaching the kingdom, some people read more into that, so they think that’s our call. What is he, up at the end of verse 21, “you put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” That word ‘Christ’ is the Greek the same as you have in Hebrew for the Messiah, the Anointed One, the One who would be King. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to explain His death, His payment for sin, as was sung about, He paid the price. He is the Messiah. He will come again to establish the kingdom but right now He’s not talking about how you can get Ephesus more socially ready and upgraded. He’s preaching repentance. If he came in and wanted to help improve city conditions, deal with some of the injustices, he might have been welcomed. The Romans wanted peace and they were going to have it at any cost, even your death, so this will help bring different racial groups together, and Jews, we’re for it, yeah… You can’t compromise. The problem we have is we’re just slaves and our Master has given to us… The church is what? The pillar and support of the truth. When we begin to play loosely with that we’ll see the consequences, they are severe. So I’m not going to see you, you won’t see me.

“Therefore,” verse 26, “I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men for I did not shrink,” and here’s the same thing we had up on verse 20. “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” I put aside thinking about myself, concerns for me, my well-being. It was all about carrying out the ministry that I had been given. “I’m innocent of the blood of all men.” Paul drew this from the Old Testament.

Come back to Ezekiel chapter 33. We’ll just look at one passage here. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, so after that large book of Psalms, skipping the smaller books, then you could hit Isaiah, then you’d hit the large prophecy of Jeremiah, then the large prophecy of Ezekiel. Look at Ezekiel 33, God is giving instructions to Ezekiel. In verse 1 of chapter 33 he said, “the word of the Lord came to me saying,” verse 2, “ ‘Son of man.’ ” Interestingly that’s the favorite title for Ezekiel, son of man. You know what Jesus’ favorite title for Himself during His earthly ministry? Son of Man which does emphasize His humanity. Christ was God and He was also Son of Man, truly human. Ezekiel here, son of man, all the weaknesses that can come with that. Verse 7, “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you.” See His sovereignty in this again? We are going to come to this with the elders. It’s God’s action, He is sovereign, that’s where the letter to the Ephesians will begin, God is sovereign. “For you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel.” You are like a watchman in the tower on the wall; when you see danger coming you warn the people. If you don’t warn the people you’ve not done the responsibility given to you. That’s what a watchman is to be, watch for the danger, sound the alarm. “I’ve appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel.” This is a spiritual watchman. So you will hear a message from My mouth and give them a warning from Me, the word of God entrusted to Ezekiel. “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity.” He is a sinner, he would die for being a sinner, the punishment is just. But note, “But his blood I will require from your hand.” Why? You were supposed to warn him and you didn’t, so the punishment for the sinner, he dies in his sin, but the consequence for the watchman is I hold you responsible. There’s a double responsibility here, the sinner for his own sin but the watchman for sinning in not telling him of coming death. “But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way he will die in his iniquity.” Same result but you have delivered your life. What’s the watchman’s responsibility? He told Ezekiel prior to this, I put My words in your mouth, you tell them what I told you, I don’t care if you have to sit on thorns, you tell them what I told you (Ezekial 2:7).

Jeremiah starts his ministry, “I have put My words in your mouth.” (Jeremiah 1:9) This is the simplicity of it, man wants to complicate it, the devil wants to corrupt it. This is what Paul’s background is, I am a watchman, I am here to tell you of coming judgment. The penalty for sin is death, you must repent and believe in the Savior. My hands are clean from the blood of all men. Everywhere I went I did this, from house to house. What I wanted to talk to you about is you are a sinner, you need the Savior. I’m bringing you the message of God’s grace. I’m the watchman on the wall. Paul tells them, “my hands are clean from the blood of all men,” I have told you what God has entrusted to me.

Back to Acts chapter 20, the reason he is clean from the blood of all men, verse 27, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” It’s a serious thing to be entrusted with God’s word; I can’t just tuck it away for words of comfort periodically when I need it. You know what he’s done to me? He saved me and put me on the frontlines. You know what He’s done for us as a church? He’s saved us and put us on the frontlines. You know what they do? They shoot at you, they attack. So now you’re ready for the elder’s response. “Be on guard for yourselves.” You see what Paul has led them to here? He’s talked about himself, he’s talked about his ministry, and he concluded that very solemn, he solemnly testified, he solemnly taught them. And now you realize it’s serious business to be a slave of Jesus Christ, He’s holding us accountable so I didn’t shrink. What could I do? He’s going to hold me accountable, I will stand before my Master as His slave. I want to be a slave that did His will, I can’t retreat, I can’t go back. Well, Lord, I was afraid. I told you not to fear their face as He told Ezekiel earlier, you shall not fear their faces, He told that to Jeremiah, don’t be afraid of them. There’s no place for cowards; there are things that make you afraid in one sense but I can never be afraid to the point of shrinking back. We sing the song “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.” That’s what Paul says, there’s no shrinking back. Jesus warned, what the word of God warns us, those who shrink back I have no pleasure in them. One of the characteristics of believers is endurance, they stay with it because of the grace of God.

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock,” now note this, “among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” We don’t take this seriously enough. Paul took seriously his responsibility, God had appointed him. What has God done for overseers, the elders? Three words used for the same ones, he called for the elders of the church in verse 17, down in verse 28 he calls them overseers and they shepherd, it’s all the same. He made you overseers.

Our concern is to have the men that God has appointed as the elders and overseers of this congregation. We’re going through a process. We look at the men of the congregation. We have many men that might be qualified but Lord who would You have to serve in this? We go through a sifting process. We go through praying about it, we go through talking to possible men, we present it to the congregation, then we accept those after the end of that process. Those are the ones God has appointed. You know what that means? They have a solemn responsibility first and foremost, note the rest of this passage, you are “to shepherd the church of God.” It’s not the elder’s church, it’s not your church, it’s not my church. It’s the church we attend and in that sense I don’t have any problem with ‘my church,’ the church I attend. But we don’t get confused here, it doesn’t belong to me, as the pastor I’m not free to do what I want to do here, what I might do. The elders don’t have that. It’s the church of God which He purchased with His own blood because we are a collection of the people who have what? Been bought with the blood of Christ. “You are not your own, for you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:20) What must be true of us individually must be true of us corporately. The elders are entrusted with a solemn responsibility, they must carry it out. In the conflicts we’ve had I appreciate the elders God has provided. I had a pastor come who was in the process of trying to develop elders in his church. I told him, you know, almost any believing man can be an elder when things are okay. You know the most godly, trustworthy men when things go bad. When there are battles and struggles you can’t have them bail out, you can’t have them turn and run.
The elders have a solemn responsibility; the church must recognize that. When people disregard the teaching of the elders and pretend to be spiritual they are ungodly. What does he say? The Holy Spirit appointed them, but I don’t recognize them. That’s like a wife who doesn’t recognize her husband’s authority when God says that’s what He established. In government we talked about that. Where Christians begin to weaken and retreat on the Word there is no going back. That’s what God said. I don’t agree. Well, you don’t have to, just do it. The elders can’t go back. It’s God’s church. It’s not mine. My great fear is that I would retreat. I read the books, I’ve studied in classes, I know what they say, how you can build a church, what you can do to make it more appealing. I’m locked in, you’re locked in, here’s what we have, He purchased it with His own blood. Who am I to make adjustments? Who am I to listen to the world or men? It’s His and I am His so I am a slave entrusted with a responsibility with His possession. My body in His church. You have the same responsibility, we all do as believers, we’re in this together.

“I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” This is the responsibility of a shepherd, you have to protect the flock. It’s a serious thing when there are sheep without shepherds, they are out there, they are vulnerable. Remember Hebrews 13? You listen to your leaders because they will give an account. David was a shepherd, what did he do? He fought with a lion, he fought with a bear. I don’t count my life dear, I have to protect the sheep at any cost. It’s not about me and if the wolves got to one I go out and find an ear, a part. Everyone is precious, I have to bring it back and give an accounting for it. It may be why I couldn’t protect that one. It’s not a game, this is not about let’s vote and decide what we want, it’s not mine to do with what I want. You have something that belongs to you and someone comes over and starts using it, takes it, and walks away, you’d say, wait a minute, that’s mine! Oh, it doesn’t matter, I just decided I want to -- it does matter. And yet we think that the church… well, it’s my church. We had people leave the church when we went from congregational to elder form of government because of the word of God. I don’t want to be a part of a church that I don’t have a vote. Well, how many slaves get to vote? God appoints the structure and here’s how it works.

I don’t agree with the president. We had a political leader say, ‘he’s not my president.’ He wasn’t a godly man so expect that. It shouldn’t be true of me, I’m not saying that. We changed presidents, he’s my president, he’s the one God appointed for now. The previous one was my president and at my age I can list a whole string of ‘my presidents.’

Alright, “savage wolves will come in.” They attack from the outside but that’s not the only problem, verse 30, “From among your own selves men will arise.” Attacks from without and and from within. The wolves, they come out there, they attack and ravage, but the danger comes as you get some who infiltrate, disguised and dressed like sheep, but they are not. The greatest damage has been done from our church and the churches I have been privileged to be part of, to observe, have come from within. They get torn apart from within. Infiltration; you either have unbelievers who got in and were successful in ravaging the flock or you’ve got believers and sometimes it’s a combination because believers get confused. Paul had to tell the Corinthians what? I am concerned for you, I can’t tell anymore, did I waste my life and ministry with you? You weren’t really saved? Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith because true believers don’t act like this. We get soft and we want to be careful. We only have to be careful to be faithful with the Word in the way God would have us.

“Be on the alert,” verse 31, “remembering that night and day for three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” It wasn’t easy, this is solemn business. “Be on the alert,” watch out, keep your eyes open, sift everything through the scripture, keep your attention where it ought to be. I didn’t want your money. Remember Paul would accept money, but he wouldn’t accept it from people where he was beginning a ministry. We have public servants who represent us in government and come out millionaires. I’d like to know how they do it on that salary. But we sacrifice so much to be your servant -- let me show you my six-million-dollar house. That’s up to them, Paul wanted to be careful. He’s not going to leave Ephesus. The attacks are relentless. Oh yeah, how much was in the offerings he took with him? He didn’t take their money. We pay our staff here at Indian Hills, people willingly give, they are established believers. We have speakers come in, we want to pay them. We invite them, we are a church of believers, we want to support them different than going other ways. I’ve gone to other churches for conferences or something, I don’t do hardly at all anymore, but I wouldn’t take the gift. At times they wanted to give a love offering. No, you paid for my hotel, you paid for my costs, my church pays me amply, you can use that for your ministry here. I think it’s fine to pay but I didn’t want to go away, and they say, yeah, he depended on the situation. Paul’s very careful, I would want to be very careful. You wouldn’t want to send people down to the university to do evangelism and the first thing they want to do in evangelism is take an offering to help support myself while I tell you about Jesus. I don’t do that, Paul didn’t do that.

Alright, he’s going to leave them on that and it’s going to be tears and grieving (Acts 20:38). We’re not going to see each other. Well, we will in heaven but there’s still sorrow.

We have to conclude with, come over to Revelation chapter 2. We can do this quickly because it was just four or five years ago we did the book of Revelation. It’s very fresh in your mind and we did a couple of studies in these opening seven verses so if you want more details… The church at Ephesus was established on Paul’s third missionary journey. That would have been early/mid-fifties, 52-53 A.D.; now Jesus is addressing that church in the middle nineties, so the church has had forty years of history. Let’s just take note of how it will be. We are doing this because we’re going to then study the letter to the Ephesians. They will be in between, closer to the newer side but we’ll say about that time. What about after forty years? Jesus Christ addresses it. He’s the one, verse 1, who walks, holds the seven stars -- those were representatives of the churches, the leaders of each church -- He walks among the seven golden lampstands. We ought to remember this. The picture, remember, is Jesus; the lampstands represent the churches. What are we? We are lights in the darkness; our goal is not to create grayness, our goal is to be a center of light; lampstands give off light. Christ is walking among His local churches in these seven churches, it’s an awesome thing. Remember, He’s the Lord, we are the slaves. It is His church; we are to be doing His business, His way. The evaluation is ongoing, it’s not just one thing here.

And He’s going to commend them first, “I know your deeds and your toil and your perseverance.” This is a good church, their works, toil -- that means to labor to exhaustion, that word – perseverance, it takes toil to persevere. Maturity, through thick and thin. I’ve said often when we’ve gone through struggles and trials, Lord, one of the blessings is I know when the dust settles there will be faithful people here because they are godly people, they will sort through it. That church at Ephesus did. “You cannot tolerate evil men,” you won’t put up with those who are evil in their doctrine or evil in their practice. “You put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them false.” Remember Paul warned those among your own selves, these would be the false apostles who infiltrated saying yeah, we’re apostles too, but you tested them, their life, their doctrine, you found them false. “You have perseverance,” you have endured for My name’s sake, you haven’t grown weary. So I don’t want to give up, I want that kind of commendation, you didn’t quit, faithful to the end. People that were here when I came over fifty years ago, faithful, endured. Some of you have come since and you’ve weathered and endured. We want to create that environment for those who come up here and are added. What else could you say? That’s about as good as it could get. No! He’s the Master, we are the slaves, He’ll tell us how good it must get.

“But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” Forty years have gone by, they are still doing a lot of good things, but they have slipped, it is serious. We say, well, when you put everything He has said, their works, their toil, their perseverance, their intolerance of evil men and false teachers, perseverance and endurance for His name’s sake -- we’re only human, You know our frame, we are but dust as the psalmist said. “I have this against you.” That ought to get our attention.

“You have left your first love, therefore remember from where you have fallen.” The book of Ecclesiastes says don’t say the former days were better than these. In one sense we don’t want to get into that the wrong way, but I want to look back, is our passionate service for Christ the same as it was in the first ten years? Has it been that way in the last ten or whatever? We go through and do the same things, but do I do it with the same commitment to Him, same resolve? It doesn’t matter about me, it doesn’t matter. One thing refreshing about new believers, they just jump in, it’s like jumping off the high dive in the deep water and they forget they don’t know how to swim. With new believers they jump in and the next thing you know they are telling everybody they can tell about the gospel. They are ready to go to war and do whatever, I’ll do whatever you want. There’s a good thing about that, that initial recognition: I don’t count my own life dear. He just redeemed me by His grace, He made me new, my life is His. I’m all in, I’m all out. What do You want to do next? It’s almost like you have a wild horse that is not trained enough yet, but we don’t want to calm them down so much that they just lay in the stable.

What has happened here to your first love? Sometimes we get that it’s the emotion, that’s the world influencing us because it’s not about the emotion, He tells us in what He says to do. Verse 5, “Remember” or be remembering, these are commands, “from where you have fallen.” This is a serious change that’s in this church from their beginning, you left your first love, you have fallen. Some connect this back to Isaiah 14, “Lucifer, son of the morning, how you have fallen.” This is a serious situation here.

“Repent,” that is a strong command, it is an aorist imperative. (Some of you have taken some Greek.) These are strong commands, “Do the deeds you did at first.” “Repent and do the deeds you did at first.” There is ‘deeds,’ we had that word up in verse 2, your deeds, your works. The word ‘first,’ “you have left your first love,” verse 4 -- now these are the deeds you did at first. So the ‘firsts’ are connected to our works, not our feelings. Feelings have a place. This love we’re going to talk about, this is why it becomes foundational to the book of Ephesians. I told you the key word there is the word ‘love,’ agape, as a noun and a verb. A total of twenty times in those six chapters we will have the word ‘love.’ Somehow in the thirty years since that letter was written, as we will see, something settled down; they did a lot of the same things but it wasn’t all about the Lord, it came to be more about me. Remember Paul said one thing that didn’t change was I don’t count my life here. That’s what we struggle with; that’s why I said when we were in Acts 20, we all struggle with that over time. We think we have earned a little more comfortable life, a little more peace, a little less trial. Well, we are storing up treasures in heaven remember. We think well, yeah, I’ll take a little bit of them now. No, we are slaves until the day we die, in a hostile world that hates our Master and I don’t want to be loved by those who hate my Master. I want to be identified with Him, if they hate Him you will hate me. I take it they should hate this church if it’s His church that He purchased with His own blood.

Now again, you’re understanding this as fellow believers in the sense that I mean it, and that it’s biblical. We are not looking for the world’s approval. We are working at reaching out to a world of the lost in the darkness. We are bringing them the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ that the devil does not want to shine in their lives. So help them clean up their life, improve their social conditions, help deal with the racial tensions. No! That’s not the light of the gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I come and tell you that someone paid the price to purchase your wretched life from a life of sin, a life that has no future and will end in an eternal hell. I want to tell you of the love of God who in your wretched condition provided His Son. The message doesn’t change! Paul didn’t say I had one message for the Jews at Ephesus and another for the Greeks, he said I had one message for Jews and Greeks alike, it’s all we have. When the world around us is closed to hear us, you know what? This church will shrink and shrink and shrink. But we want to be careful we are still about the things that God says He approves. Do we have our first love? Have I settled in about me more than I should? I don’t count my life dear.

We have multitudes of you… and when our elders meet, in our prayer time it is brought up that we have so many people who give so sacrificially of themselves in so many ways that enables the ministry to go on. Look at the diversity. We have people in the nursery now changing pooped diapers. Oh, what fun, get in a car, drive through the snow when the temperature is zero and you get to change a dirty diaper, and then go home. Well, you’re not doing it because that’s the most enjoyable thing you are doing. You are doing it because what? It’s an opportunity to serve the Lord and make the ministry more effective, His word more effective in lives, remove any distractions and help prepare the way. Everything contributes.

We are blessed to be that kind of church we want to be it but it’s good for us to go back. I try to reflect sometimes. Not on the old days of glory like we old people do but are we doing what we did then? Was that most important? Was that what drives me? I’m doing it not just because it’s a good thing to do but, Lord, I’m doing it because I’m passionate in my love for you, this is really the most exciting thing for me. You are looking at the motive of my heart, I’m glad to do it. There are days I won’t feel the same about it but that’s alright, I still do it. Lord, I want to correct my attitude and get it right immediately. I want to be doing it because I love You, what a privilege. There are things I get to do here I won’t even get to do in eternity; you know, when we are in the New Jerusalem there won’t be anybody to evangelize, but I get to do that here. So being faithful together.

We’ll get to see what the letter to the Ephesians is. It’s an encouraging letter, it is a letter that doesn’t have to deal with problems as such as some of the other letters do. It is different than Corinthians. So it will have a richness for our lives as the Word always does.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for bringing us together on this cold, snowy day. Thank you for those who were able to make the trip and be here personally. Thank you for those who have set aside the time to join in fellowship with us in spirit as we joined in worship and study of the Word together. I pray the Spirit will take Your word wherever we are and impress it upon our hearts and minds. May we gladly receive it, evaluate our lives in light of it, make any adjustments that are necessary because our number one concern is to be pleasing to You. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.