THE LIVING CHURCH
Meditations in the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 20:28-31

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THE APOSTLE now gives his charge to the elders in Ephesus. The elders are called 'overseers' or 'bishops'. This office is certainly something very different to the idea of a bishop today in the Anglican communion and other communions which have bishops, though there is this similarity that the elders here in the New Testament are guardians of the truth of God, just as bishops are supposed to be in the church today.

Paul is very concerned for the safety of the 'flock' of God the believers in the church at Ephesus. His concern is for the preservation of the gospel - that the truth of God may not become distorted or corrupted (v.30). If the gospel is corrupted, souls are in eternal jeopardy because people are brought to believe in that which does not save them from their sins, but leaves them under the eternal judgement of God. This is far more serious than any other danger in life. All other dangers effect only this temporal existence, but the corruption of the truth effects our eternal existence, whether we live in glory or in eternal woe.

There is a very deep concern, care and love expressed by Paul in this charge. He loves the church in Ephesus, and anywhere else. Like the Lord Jesus he does not want anyone to perish. He wants believers to be preserved, and the gospel not compromised so that people who hear it are not led astray and so are lost. There is a great need for the same concern in the church today. We must not be arrogant or high and mighty in our concern to preserve the truth. We must always act in love and humility, but we need to have this concern, because unless the truth is preserved people will perish eternally.

In this concern those who are elders or leaders need firstly to be on guard for themselves (v.28) because if the leader goes astray, he or she will lead all the believers astray. All of us who are called to ministry within the church of God need to be constantly reforming ourselves and our beliefs by the Word of God, and praying earnestly that our cultural prejudices and our pride does not cloud our study of the Bible and so prevent us from hearing God's truth revealed to us by the Spirit. The older we get the more fixed in our opinions we get, and so the harder it is to be true to the Word of God and allow ourselves to be reformed by it.

Paul shows how urgent it is for the leaders and ministers to guard themselves in order to remain true to the Truth of God. He indicates in verse 30 that some of the 'savage wolves' who will devour the flock will be from amongst the body of the elders. Satan knows how to exploit the church at the very highest level. Just because we may be a bishop or minister does not mean we will escape the devil's deception. Many bishops have distorted the truth and led the flock into disaster.

In verse 28 Paul speaks of the elder (bishop or minister) as having been called and commissioned to the office of elder by the Spirit of God. It is one of the most fruitful ways in which Satan brings 'wolves' into the church when he succeeds in bringing people into the ministry of the Church who are not called and appointed by the Holy Spirit.

How are we to discern whether a person is called by the Holy Spirit. Paul gives a great hint in the second part of verse 28. Paul urges the elder to be a shepherd of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. How central is the blood of Jesus to the minister? How important is the blood of Jesus to the minister? How often is the blood of Jesus, and all that it involves, the subject in the preaching and teaching of the minister? What does the blood of Jesus mean to the minister and is the teaching he gives consistent with the biblical testimony. How precious in the blood of Jesus to the minister, and does he see how precious is the fellowship of believers, the flock of God, to Christ seen in the cost he paid, his precious blood, for the redemption of their souls.

The minister truly shepherds the flock of God when he proclaims the precious blood of Jesus. That is proclamation of the sacrificial substitutionary shedding of Christ blood in atonement for sins, so paying the debt we sinners owe to God, and by paying the debt providing full forgiveness of all our sins throughout our lives, reconciling us to God, and raising us to life and fellowship with God. It is the blood of Christ which washes and sanctifies us and so keeps us in God's family and sanctifies us.

A chorus of a hymn goes like this "Precious, precious blood of Jesus; ever flowing free. O believe it! O receive it! 'Tis for thee". The Spirit-called elder or minister has this earnest longing for the souls of men and women. He or she seeks to hold Christ crucified constantly and fully before people. Christ crucified is the heart of the ministry he or she gives. Paul says in the previous verses to the ones we are considering in this meditation that he is innocent of the blood of all men. Why can he say this? It is because he determined to know nothing except Christ and him crucified and the whole council of God involved in this great act and sacrifice of love. How we need to pray for such elders/bishops/ministers for the church today.