In our previous study we considered the commencement and the consolidation of that church at Ephesus. Today we're going to consider what I term Paul's farewell message to the Ephesian elders and that is found recorded for us in the twentieth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and just before we read some verses let us bow for prayer. Our Father, we come to thee again in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to give thee thanks for thy manifold blessings bestowed upon us. We thank thee, O God, for taking care of all thy children. We realize there's not even a sparrow falls to the ground, but thou dost take note of it. Thou hast told us in thy word that we are of more value than many sparrows. We thank thee, O God, because thou dost know our uprising and our downsitting. And we pray to thee at this time that thou wilt bless all thy people everywhere. Remember, especially those who are listening to this broadcast, may it be the study of the word we'll be edifying for each one and glorifying for the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear us thou and bless us for his own namesake. Amen. And now we turn to the Acts of the Apostles, chapter twenty, reading at verse seventeen. and from my leaders he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. When they were come to him he said unto them ye know from the first day that I came into Asia after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Spirit witnesses in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more, wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves unto all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves, shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch. Remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears. 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. I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, unto them that were with me. I have showed you all things how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it was more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had thus spoken he kneeled down and prayed with them all. And they all went sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, soaring most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more, and they accompanied him unto the ship. I'm sure the Lord will bless to us the reading of these verses. Now here we have the record then of Paul's farewell message to the Ephesian elders. Now keep in mind. The church at Ephesus was representative of the church as a spiritual body. You'll learn that when you come to study the doctrines of this church as set forth in the Epistle to the Ephesians. But it was also representative as a local church in its character and constitution. It is obvious from a study of this portion of Scripture that this church at Ephesus was governed internally, and responsibility for maintaining a scriptural constitution rested upon a group of men who were designated the elders. Here then we have a kind of model church. Now remember, as we set forth in the study yesterday, that the Apostle Paul was there when that church commenced. He was there and he saw things consolidated. But now he's going to see it set up with a proper scriptural constitution. He stayed with them for approximately three years. Then he left. Now on this occasion he's passing by. He hasn't time to wait, but he sends up to the city and asks for the elders to come down and meet with him. He's got something to say to the elders. Now this is something that we ought to remember today. It is something that every church should study today. Now if Paul was to send to some churches today and ask for the elders to come and meet with them, They wouldn't know who should go. There are some churches today who don't recognize elders. They wouldn't know who to send. And no one would know whether they were expected to go or not. My friend, any church that doesn't recognize elders is not following the pattern that's set down in the New Testament. Here was a model church. The Apostle Paul had been with them for three years prior to this. and now he sends to them and he calls for the elders of the church. So I draw your attention then to the men with the responsibility. Now at this point we cannot go into all the details of what constitutes a man, an elder. That will come up when we come to the study of Paul's letter to Timothy. And you'll find he's got something to say there about the character of the men who take leadership. For this much we must look at right here, as we study these men with the responsibility. First of all, there is the authority of elders. Now remember, Paul was a great apostle. Paul was used of the Lord to go not only into Ephesus but into other cities and see Christian churches established. He had been here at Ephesus. However, on this occasion, Paul acknowledged the authority for elders as being representative of the church. So therefore, he didn't call for the whole church to come together. He calls for the elders. So these elders represented, as it were, the church at Ephesus. But I want you to notice this, that these elders acknowledged apostolic authority and were in submission to apostolic teaching. This principle still holds good today and is workable. Now get these two thoughts well down into your mind. Elders then were people who were acknowledged in the church. And elders were men who acknowledged apostolic authority. Now let me make it perfectly clear to every listener today that we do not have apostles in the church at the present time. There were apostles in the early days. There were certain things that qualified men to be apostles. A way back in Acts chapter one. When they were going to appoint someone to take the place of Judas who fell by transgression, it was laid down very clearly there that the one to be appointed must be one who had accompanied with them and one who was a personal witness having seen Christ in the resurrection. We don't have men like that today, and so therefore we don't have apostles today, and besides there's no need for them. But here's something else. If these elders at the church at Ephesus were men who acknowledged apostolic authority, and we do not have any living apostles today, nevertheless we have the writings of the apostles. We have the writings of Paul, the epistles that he sent to the churches. These epistles were written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And since we have these inspired writings of the apostles, then men who have to take the lead in local churches today should be men who acknowledge the Word of God and give it the place it is entitled to have in church government. If a man does not acknowledge the Bible as being the inerrant Word of God, he has no right whatsoever to expect people to look upon him as being an elder in the assembly. But these men were in submission to apostolic teaching. So therefore, men today who are going to take leadership in any local church, should be men who are in submission to the teaching of the New Testament. This principle still holds good today and is workable. If a man doesn't believe the Bible, then I doubt very much if he should even be in church fellowship, never mind in church leadership. Notice then the activity of elders. Elders are also called overseers. In verse twenty eight it says, Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. And so therefore an elder is an overseer. That's one who sees over. One who takes as it were the place of leadership and guidance in the assembly. Therefore they were men of spiritual maturity. How can a man see over others? if others are more mature than he is. But the elder in the local church must be a man of spiritual maturity, a man with understanding, a man capable of accepting the special responsibility of caring for the flock of God. Now therefore, since he introduces the thought of the flock and to feed the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood, is to take care of all the flock, says that verse. So he introduces the thought of shepherding, and that is exactly what an overseer is. An overseer is also a shepherd, one who looks over the whole flock. Now, the work of shepherding the flock would entail a continual concern for the welfare of each individual believer in that particular local fellowship. So therefore the elder must guide the flock. Now how does he guide the flock? By example like a good shepherd. You know in some countries today when a shepherd is taking the sheep out, he puts the sheep before him and he comes behind the sheep and he has his dogs one on either side driving the sheep along. But that is not the eastern picture. In the east The shepherd walks on before, and he calls the sheep by name, and they follow him. And if one sheep runs after the shepherd, the rest will follow. Sometimes you'll pick up a little lamb, and the sheep that belongs to that little lamb will follow the shepherd, knowing that its own little lamb is there. And the rest of the sheep come on, and the whole flock then can follow the shepherd. Now, in the spiritual sense, A man who is an elder is an overseer, he is a shepherd, and he should be able to guide the flock by his example like a good shepherd of the sheep. But the elder must also be a man who can give to the flock. He can give them spiritual food. It says, feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. That means that the elder is a man who knows how to give the flock, and he gives to them by exhortation, and he gives to them suitable spiritual food. They've got to be fed. You know what? The trouble today is this, that we have got away from the biblical pattern, and today we make one man the shepherd of the flock. And we seem to come to the conclusion that it's only his job to feed the flock. In fact, some men have the audacity to claim this position and claim that they are the shepherd of the flock. Now, when you come to the New Testament, you'll discover that it speaks of elders in the plural. It doesn't speak of the leading elder or the chief elder. Elders in every local church was the Bible pattern, and these elders were overseers. And these overseers were shepherds, men who cared for the flock. They knew how to guide the Christians by their example, like good shepherds leaving the sheep. They knew how to give the flock suitable spiritual food by exhortation and teaching. But more than that, a shepherd was one who had to guard the flock from enemies who would seek to destroy. Notice then that he tells them that after his departure that there would be those who would come in, grievous wolves would enter in among them, not sparing the flock. Also of your own cells shall men arise, speaking perverse or perverted things, to draw away disciples after them. Which simply means this, he warns them that there would be troubles from without, and there would be difficulties from within. And the work of the elder then was to guard the flock, guard those tender sheep and those little lambs from the enemies, those who would come in like wolves to destroy them, and those who would arise amongst themselves speaking perverted things. I wonder, what has caused the greatest trouble amongst God's people today have been grievous wolves who have come in. men pretending to be preachers of the word and they have introduced doctrines which are contrary to the teaching of the Scripture and these men are like grievous fools and they have been destroying God's people and destroying the local testimony of the local church and then men have arisen from amongst themselves speaking perverted things so the elders in the church had to be active They didn't simply meet at some meeting once in a while and make the decisions for the church as to how the money should be spent, etc., etc. That may have been one of their ideas, but that wasn't a main one. They had to be able to guide the flock, men of example. They had to be able to give the flock suitable spiritual food to nourish their souls. They had to be able to guard the flock from the enemies from without and from within. Another thing you must note about these elders is the acknowledgement of elders. While elders were not appointed by the vote of the people, because you never read of sheep choosing their own shepherds, do you? Nevertheless, elders are known and are to be acknowledged and obeyed by all who are in fellowship in the local church, but they're not appointed by vote. Men who do the work have to be acknowledged because of the work they do. Now that leads us on to something else in connection with Paul's farewell message, and that is the ministry they receive. Now notice the character of the minister and the character of his ministry. That is the Apostle Paul. Now he begins to tell them, of how he acted while he was amongst them. He says, You know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, in plain words, you can examine the record. He was a man who was marked by lowliness, serving the Lord with all humility of mind. A very lowly man was the Apostle Paul. He was a man characterized by love for the people and with many tears. He wasn't soft, but he knew how to shed tears on behalf of these people. He was a man characterized by long suffering. He said, you know something about the temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews. So the character of the man himself was this. He was marked by lowliness, marked by love, marked by long suffering. but notice something about the ministry that he gave them. And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you. Do you realize, my friend, that all preaching should be profitable? Whether it's to the congregation when they're assembled together, a large congregation or a small congregation, the ministry from the pulpit should be profitable, or of its ministry over the air, at least it should be profitable. All ministry should be profitable. It's not the preacher's business to preach politics. You leave politics to the politicians. The preacher's business is to preach the word. Be instant in season and out of season. And then he says, But I've showed you and I've taught you publicly and from house to house. His ministry was public and his ministry was private. That gives us something of the character of Paul, the minister of the gospel. Then notice the charge that he gives to these men. He tells them this, that he kept back nothing from them, etc., etc. And then he goes on to say this, I charge you to take heed, therefore, unto yourselves. Verse twenty again. Take heed and feed. This is a very solemn charge because the elders must first of all take heed to themselves, and then to all the flock that is under their care. You see, I've already indicated there would be dangers from without, that is, devouring wolves that would destroy. There would be dangers from within, and that would lead to divisive teaching. So therefore he says you have to take heed and you have to feed the flock. How could a man feed others if he doesn't take heed first of all to himself? Now again, there's the commendation and the example. Paul did not commend them to some human successor. I think that's very important. He was leaving them here. And there was a possibility that he may never see them again. I think, of course, there came the time when he did see them, but at this time he wasn't sure. And this is what he says to them. He says, I commend you to God, verse thirty-two, 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. Now notice, again I emphasize, Paul did not commend them to some human successor. He did not appoint somebody to be his representative or his successor there. They already were well established as a local church. They were under the guidance of these elders who were recognized for the work they were doing. And he speaks to the elders and he says, I commend you. I commend you to God and to the word of his grace. This appears somewhat conclusive, that all matters of difficulty that would arise in the church could be settled by laying the matter before God in prayer and accepting and obeying the teaching of the Word of God. Paul reminds them of his own example of Christian conduct. And this would set the record straight for them to continue in similar principles. So therefore he commends them to God and to the word of his grace. Then he says, Now remember, when I was amongst you, I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Very easy for a man like Paul or others to become covetous. Paul said, I didn't do that. I didn't covet anything you have. In plain words, he's showing them the example. He didn't want them to do that either. They weren't to serve for filthy Luca. They were to serve for the joy of doing a service for God. Ye, ye yourselves know that these hands, and he shows them his hands, these hands have ministered unto my necessities unto them that were with me. And some of you may ask, how did he do that? Well, do you remember that Aquila and Priscilla were there? They were tent makers. Paul had worked with them when they were in the city of Corinth. They also were in Ephesus. Don't you think that he worked with them there in Ephesus also, worked with his hands, and gave an example to the other Christians how things should be done. I have showed you all things, how that soul laboring you 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. And then you have the concluding scene, and they wept with Paul, the man who had wept with them in his preaching, they now weep as he's leaving them.