Paul's Words to Church Leaders

We are going to look again at Acts 20 tonight and we are going to take a more in depth look at what Paul said to the elders at Miletus. I just focused on verse 24 this morning, tonight we are going to look at verses 25-35.

These verses are about church leadership. When I determined years ago that I was going to preach through books of the Bible, the one thing I didn't count on was how often the subject of the text is church leadership. I don't want to skip over passages like this - because they are important for the church - but it's very awkward to talk about and to preach about.

But that is what we are going to look at tonight. So let's read verses 25 - 35 together and then I have 3 quick points for you.

"25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. 26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I [am] pure from the blood of all [men]. 27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. 28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. 32 And now, brethren, I commend 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 them which are sanctified. 33 I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. 34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. 35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Like I said, this sermon is all about church leadership. It's directed to church leaders and it gives instructions for us. So we are going to look at it tonight.

But please don't check out. It's important that you know this stuff. It's Bible. Someday you might find yourself in another area looking for a church. Someday something may come up. You need to know what you believe about this stuff and you need to understand the scripture on it.

So we are going to break this down into three sections: the position of church leaders, the profession of church leaders and the pay of church leaders.

Let's pray and we'll look at those:

The first thing I want us to look at is:

1. The position of church leaders I believe there are three names for pastors in the new testament: elder, bishop and pastor. They all refer to the same thing, although they have a different emphasis. You can see all of those positional titles here in Acts 20.

Look at verse 17:

"And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church."

Notice the word "elders" there. The first position of church leaders is:

A. Elders (17) Now, the word "elders" is the greek word "presbyteros", it's the word we get the term "presbyterian" from. It's most basic use refers to age. That's how we use the word. But that isn't how it's used here.

In Bible times, the city council was called "elders." They were a group that met together to discuss ideas and to lead the city or country.

But throughout the new testament, elders is used to refer to the leaders of the church. Now, there are two ideas about this that I think are off:

One the one hand, you have those who teach that the church should have an elder board that sits over the pastor and makes all of the decisions for the church. This is the presbyterian model. I just don't see churches in the New Testament being led this way and it's certainly not taught.

On the other hand, you have those who say "well, elder is just a another term for pastor" and they would say your church can only have one elder. That's sort of what we were taught in college. Well, if you look closely at this text, it blows that out of the water. Every time it talks about elders it talks about them in the plural - always "elders" never "elder" and every time it talks about the church it's always singular. Always "elders of the church" never "elders of the churches" or "elder of the church."

So I think the middle ground position and the biblical position on elders is this - the church should be led by preachers and it's healthy to have more than one of them.

The second term we see here is:

B. Overseers (28) It says "take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers."

That word "overseer" is the word "episkopos", its where the term "episcopal" comes from. This is the only time it's translated for us as "overseer", the other six times we see it in the New Testament it's translated as "bishop."

Thayer's dictionary defines this word this way:

a man charged with the duty of seeing that things to be done by others are done rightly, any curator, guardian or superintendent

So the idea isn't that pastors are supposed to act like kings - that's not what bishop means - we are overseers - sort of like managers or superintends. We have a level of authority, but the authority doesn't come from us. It comes from God.

By the way, this word is also used in the plural whenever it references churches. It's only found 5 times. One of those times it refers to Jesus. Two of those times it refers to the qualifications of individual bishops. The other two times, the only times it actually references actual bishops, they are plural.

The last term for pastors is...

C. Shepherds (28) This passage doesn't use the word. In fact, it's only used a couple of times in the New Testament, but it's definitely inferred here.

Look at verse 28 again:

"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

The flock, that is a word straight out of shepherding. So, it's natural to read "shepherd" into this. A shepherd looks after, feeds, and protects the sheep - right?

But here is the thing that this passage and every other passage makes very clear - they aren't our sheep. We have been given the care of these sheep by the Holy Ghost - they are God's sheep.

So that's the position of church leaders. We aren't kings. We have a special authority, but it's got checks and balances.

Let's look at number 2:

2. The profession (work) of church leaders In other words, what are church leaders supposed to be doing. This is what most of this is about:

First, we are to:

A. Lead the flock We have been made overseers. Managers in a sense, of the church and we are to lead the flock.

You've got these churches that are board run. They have a board for everything. The pastoral leadership has no authority to do anything. That's not what we see in the Bible. In the Bible the pastors have authority and they are to "take heed" that they use it properly.

So, lead the flock. Second, we are to...

B. Feed the flock Look at verse 28 again:

"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

Feed the church of God.

How are we supposed to do that? Well, Paul tells us by example in verse 27, he says

"For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God."

We feed the flock of God with the word of God.

Listen, it's not the pastor's job to be cute or to be funny. Every sermon doesn't have to bring you to tears or have you crying out for revival. It's just a meal.

Most of the meals we have at my house aren't super spicy - my stomach couldn't handle that. They don't come on fancy china. They aren't works of art. They aren't super heavy. They aren't cotton candy. They are meals. What counts is that they nourish me.

Wherever you go to church - make sure that the preacher is a Bible preacher.

The third thing church leaders are supposed to be doing is:

C. Warn the flock Look at verses 29-31

"For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears."

Paul said that there are going to be "greivous wolves" that entered in among you. I think he was saying that there were going to be pastors who could only be described as "greivous wolves." Remember, we are talking about a flock of sheep here - what does a wolf do? He devours the flock.

Look folks, I'm a pastor. I love pastors. I want to do everything I can to help good pastors, but can I tell you something - there are a lot. A LOT of crooked pastors out there. The people in this world I am most proud to call my brothers are pastors. Some of the people in this world who I think the least of are pastors. Some of them are just wolves.

Do you know it is the job of church leadership to warn about the wolves.

There is a church across town that teaches it's people that only people who go there are saved and if you leave that church you are going to hell. They are wolves.

If you go to a church where the pastor is a dictator and tries to bully people into getting his way - he's a wolf.

If you have a pastor who is using his position in the church to be unfaithful to his wife or worse - to abuse kids - he's a wolf.

If you have a church that is struggling financially and a pastor who insists on living like a king he's a wolf.

Which leads me to my next point...

3. The pay of church leaders Verses 33-35 address this:

"[Act 20:33-35 KJV] 33 I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel. 34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. 35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive."

Paul was telling these preachers that he had worked with his own two hands not only to support himself but also to support other preachers. So the lesson here is:

A. They ought to be willing to work. Pastors ought to be hard workers. They ought to be willing to support themselves. Paul was a great example of this. He didn't work to be rich. He worked to support his ministry. He worked so that his ministry could take the offerings and use them elsewhere.

He also wrote about how it was totally appropriate for churches to pay a pastor - but that wasn't the norm.

Paul worked in Corinth for his long stay there and apparently he worked in Ephesus.

The second thing this says about church leaders is:

B. They ought to be willing to give. Remember, when Paul says "So labouring ye ought to support the weak." He's talking to pastors.