PAUL'S EXHORTATION TO GOSPEL MINISTERS
Acts 20:28-30

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We observed in the preceding message Paul's Example Before Gospel Ministers as described in Acts 20:17-38. In the midst of this passage is the text for the present message, Paul's Exhortation to Gospel Ministers (vv.28-30; cp. 1 Peter 5:1-4).

I. "Take heed to yourselves" (v.28a). This admonition precedes "take heed ... to all the flock" (v.28b). This means the gospel minister's duty to himself comes before his duty to his church. He who is negligent regarding his own life and soul will fall prey to the same sins and heresies against which he warns others, and also be ruinous to those whom he ministers.

Every gospel minister should ask himself: "Do I neglect myself in ministering to others? Do I subdue my Adamic nature, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified (1 Corinthians 9:27)? Do I neglect my own bride and family in ministering to the bride of Christ and the family of God? Do I preach to others what I have not already preached to myself, or what I do not myself practice? Do I endeavor to be innocent of the blood of my hearers by preaching the whole counsel of God to them (vv.26f)? Do I always conduct myself with the maturity required of an "elder" (v.17), and earnestly endeavor to remain qualified for the office of "overseer" (v.28; "bishops" in 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9), and faithfully discharge my duties as a "shepherd" (v.28; "pastors" in Ephesians 4:11). (Note that all three titles – "elders", "overseers", "shepherds" - apply to the same man both here and in 1 Peter 5:1-3.) Is my example worth following (1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 Peter 5:3; Hebrews 13:7)?

II. "Take heed to ... all the flock" (v.28b). This "flock" is the "church of God" (v.28c). It is comprised of all whom Christ calls "My sheep" (Ezekiel 34:6-16; John 10:1ff): all God's elect, who are given by Him to Christ, and who are by Christ redeemed by His vicarious death, sought until they are found, gathered into His fold, enabled to savingly and experientially know Him, caused to follow Him, and promised eternal security in Him.

These sheep need someone to "take heed to" them because they cannot adequately take heed to themselves. They often go astray and become lost (Psalm 119:176; Isaiah 53:6), and ever in such instances must be sought and found (Ezekiel 34:6; Luke 15:4). They depend on a shepherd to lead them everywhere (Numbers 27:15-17), and to ascertain that they are provided "green pastures" and "still waters" (Psalm 23:2).

To "take heed to all the flock" does not mean gospel ministers are in charge of the "one fold [under] one shepherd" (John 10:16), for that duty belongs to Jesus Christ alone (1 Peter 2:25). Rather, each minister is to tend to that part of the flock "among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers" – but every member of it individually: both the young and the old, the weak and the strong. None of Christ's sheep is to be neglected.

III. "Shepherd the church of God" (v.28c). The "church of God" is His because "He purchased [it] with His own blood." This He did not in the person of God the Father, but in the God-Man Jesus Christ, "God manifested in the flesh" (1 Timothy 3:16; cp. John 1:1, 14). The church of God is therefore told "you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, ... but with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18f).

To "shepherd the church of God" is to do all the duties of a shepherd to it, as an under-shepherd of Christ: feed it, tend it, govern it, and protect it. Paul cites two reasons for doing so, citing enemies of the sheep from both outside and within the fold:

First, "savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock" (v.29): "Wolves" are natural enemies of sheep, and "savage" is their inherent nature. These "savage wolves" include especially "false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves" (Matthew 7:15).

Second, "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves" (v.30). These include those members of local churches who pervert the gospel of Christ and split their own churches by causing other members to depart from Christ and follow them (see Revelation 2:2-4).

O Great Shepherd, give us faithful shepherds!

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