Our Responsibility

we're continuing this morning in our
series of studies in the book of Acts
were still in Acts chapter 20 Paul's
third missionary journey he's on his way
home to Jerusalem where he is going to
be imprisoned and eventually led to
appear before the emperor in Rome he is
called down the elders of the church at
Ephesus to the Seaport of Meletis and in
Acts chapter 20 he gives them his
farewell speech and that's what we've
been looking at and that's what we're
going to continue looking at as we read
the verses 25 to 31 of Acts chapter 20
here's what Paul says now I know that
none of you among whom I have gone about
preaching the kingdom will ever see me
again
therefore I declare to you today that I
am innocent of the blood of all men for
I have not hesitated to proclaim to you
the whole will of God keep watch over
yourselves and all the flock of which
the Holy Spirit has made you overseers
be shepherds of the Church of God which
he bought with his own blood I know that
after I leave wolves will come in among
you and will not spare the flock even
from your own number men will arise and
distort the truth in order to draw away
disciples after them so be on your guard
and remember that for three years I
never stopped
warding each of you night and day with
tears join me as we pray again Lord
we're just so glad for your word and so
glad for the book of Acts that tells us
the ongoing mission of Christ in the
church through the Holy Spirit and how
you've used men like the Apostle Paul
and not only to establish churches but
to nurture them and to equip them
remain faithful to you despite all the
foul weather that they might experience
in the journey of life
and thank you that you have promised not
to be with us to in all the ups and
downs that and all the experiences of
life and thank you that you invite us to
share the good news of the gospel with
people around us and help us to do that
with courage and with boldness and help
us to indeed proclaim the full counsel
of God and to take our responsibilities
seriously to that end help us with your
spirit
help me this morning as I share this
message with you people and Lord may we
both be sober-minded and yet profoundly
courageous as we walk out this journey
with you thank you for hearing us we
pray in Jesus name Amen all of the
verses that we have read this morning
from Acts chapter 20 ought to focus on
just the first three verses let's read
them together Acts chapter 20 the verses
25 to 27 where Paul says to the Ephesian
elders I know that none of you among you
among whom I have gone about preaching
the kingdom will ever see me again
therefore I declare to you today that I
am innocent of the blood of all men for
I have not hesitated to proclaim to you
the whole will of God as we take a
little bit of time this morning to look
at those three verses there are two
themes that have really stood out to me
that I want to try to share with you
this morning and the first is this Paul
declares himself innocent of the blood
of all people listen again to verse 26 I
declared to you today
I am innocent of the blood of all men
I am innocent of the blood of all men
what does that phrase remind you of that
ring a bell
comes from the Old Testament in fact it
comes from the Old Testament book of
ezekiel the 3rd chapter where the Lord
God says to the people of his or to to
the prophet Ezekiel these words it's an
extended passage but let me read it to
you at the end of 7 days the word of the
Lord came to me that is Ezekiel son of
man I have made you a watchman for the
house of Israel so here the word I speak
and give them warning from me when I say
to a wicked man you will surely die and
you do not warn him or speak out to
dissuade him from his evil ways in order
to save his life that wicked man will
die for his sin and I will hold you
accountable for his blood but if you do
warn the wicked man and he does not turn
from his wickedness from his evil ways
he will die for his sin but you will
have saved yourself the passage goes on
again when a righteous man turns from
his righteousness and does evil and I
put a stumbling block before him he will
die since you did not warn him he will
die for his sin the righteous things he
did will not be remembered and I will
hold you accountable for his blood but
if you do warn the righteous man not to
sin and he does not sin he will surely
live because he took warning and you
will have saved yourself notice in both
of these passages the connection between
you did not warn him and I will hold you
accountable for his sin and so the Lord
is saying here to Ezekiel is very very
clear he is saying that when the Lord
and trusts you with the warning that all
on
repentant sinners are going to
experience God's everlasting judgement
then it is your responsibility he says
to the Prophet to warn them in no
uncertain terms if you warn them and
they do not listen to you then their
blood is on their own heads in other
words they deserve what they're going to
get if you do warn if you do not warn
them and they will still experience the
judgment of God in their own hands then
God says to the Prophet I'm going to
hold you responsible that's what Paul is
referring to when he says to these
Ephesian elders for three years I have
been with you
I have not hesitated in declaring to you
the whole Council of God we'll talk more
about that in a few moments and he says
I want you to know that I am innocent of
the blood of all of you now as you can
appreciate that's got practical
implications for you and me because we
live in a world where we are all
surrounded by people who have no faith
at all or who have they do profess faith
often don't manage to translate it into
their lives I did a little study this
past week on church attendance in Canada
would you like to know the figure the
percentage of people in this country who
on a given Sunday attend religious
13% 13% and that includes all religions
not just Christians you might sort of
get the feeling that God is being
excluded from people's lives would you
not that's incredible and sometimes
those people who do not have faith or
who aren't following the Lord Jesus
they're part of our family sometimes
they're our own kids they've been
up in the way of faith they've got a
university they have fallen in with the
wrong crowd perhaps and they have
effectively abandoned their roots and
they are leaving for all practical
intents and purposes as if there's no
God sure sometimes it's friends and
co-workers who are busy living in the
world and busy pursuing worldly
treasures and worldly goals and they
never darken the door of a church except
maybe for a funeral and the occasional
wedding but apart from that faith is not
a part of their lives sometimes
sometimes it can even be people that you
sit next to in the pew who have the
outward form of godliness but whose
heart is far away from God and far away
from the truth now it's easy for us to
say well that's not my responsibility
right I mean I'm not a prophet like
Ezekiel and I'm not apostle like the
Apostle Paul but I want to remind you
that when the Holy Spirit was poured out
on the day of Pentecost and God gave the
spirit to his people what did Peter say
quoting from the book of Joel
he said God's people are called to
prophesy listen to these words Acts
chapter 2 verse 17 and 18 a quotation
from the book of Joel in the last days
God says I will pour out my spirit than
all people your sons and daughters will
prophesy your young men will see visions
your old men will dream dreams even on
my servants both men and women I will
pour out my spirit in those days and
they will prophesy to prophesy is to
speak the Word of God it's to declare
the whole Council of God and so yes we
may not be preachers we may not be like
the prophet Ezekiel we may not be like
the Apostle Paul but all of us are
commissioned by God to declare the word
of the Lord and that often puts us in a
pickle does it not
because on the one hand we but we all
have bad pictures of people being blown
out of the water we don't really want to
turn people off Dewey
we are after all polite Canadians we
don't really want to be rude on the
other hand we don't want to see people
perish either and so we have this
tug-of-war what do I do
what do I say what don't I say the net
result is that most of the time we talk
ourselves out of saying anything to
anybody and hoping that somehow or
another it'll all work out in the end
that everybody will be saved
this is nothing Everage belief in North
America regardless of who you are how
you live well if there is a God in
heaven well he'll be kind and gracious
Paul says I declare to you I am innocent
of the blood of Allah here for I have
not hesitated to declare to you the full
counsel of God so what does it mean then
not to be guilty of people's blood how
do we apply this in our own lives today
three very practical quick steps that I
think will help us to capture the
biblical balance step number one and
this is the tough one it is our solemn
duty to warn the people around us about
the truths of the gospel that is and
that truth of the gospel we'll talk more
about that in a moment
includes telling people that apart from
saving faith in Jesus people will be
lost eternally it is our duty to warn
people you can't avoid that conclusion
when you listen to the words that God
speaks to Ezekiel what I say to a wicked
man you will surely die and you do not
warn him or speak out to dissuade him
from his evil ways in order to save his
life that wicked
man will die for his sin and I will hold
you accountable for his blood the book
of Proverbs is a very similar verse that
has often been used in the pro-life
movement to encourage Christians to
become active in stopping abortion on
demand here's how that reads in proverbs
24 11 and 12 rescue those being led away
to death hold back those staggering
towards slaughter if you say but we knew
nothing about this does not he who
weighs the heart to perceive it does not
he who guard your life know it will he
not repay each person according to what
he has done if you say we knew nothing
about this does not he who weighs the
heart perceive it we are duty-bound if
we know what the truth is to warn people
picture it this way you know you are
driving along the road and you come to a
place where the road is washed out and
there is danger ahead are you just gonna
sit there in your car and watch other
people whiz on by into destruction or
are you gonna get out of your car do
everything that you can to flag down
approaching traffic and say whoa stop
don't go off the cliff it'll kill you if
we do that in the natural are we also
not to do that in the spiritual that's
why Paul says to remember that for three
years I never stopped warning each of
you night and day there is an element of
warning to the gospel you and I have
that responsibility we need to take that
seriously
that means when our kids wander what our
co-workers are not men and women of
faith when the world is steaming ahead
to its destruction
as we listen to the Holy Spirit and as
were moved with compassion by the heart
of God
we need to sound the warning signs
doesn't mean we have to be arrogant
doesn't mean we have to be rude doesn't
mean we have to be unkind but neither
can we remain silent the church has been
too silent too long in the face of too
many issues because we love comfort more
than we love truth Paul says I'm
innocent of the blood of all in here day
and night day or night I've warned you
second principle that flows out of this
and might make you feel a little better
is that we do not have to keep repeating
the warning we don't have to keep
repeating the warning that's the
temptation is it not particularly when
we love people and we take seriously the
truth of the gospel that people without
saving faith in Jesus are going to be
lost when that really dawns on us and we
see the danger that our our unbelieving
spouses in or the danger that our
unbelieving kids are in or the danger
that our closest friends are in then we
want them to come to salvation at least
we all don't want them to come to
salvation and then the tendency is to
bug the daylights out of that kid's
gonna university isn't gonna church
every time he comes home i lay it on him
my husband or my wife doesn't want to
come to church with me and every other
week i try to drag him there and and on
and on it goes that and my co-workers i
make a nuisance of myself very
counterproductive and it's
counterproductive for two reasons
number one all it does is it stirs up
their anger and doesn't help them move
forward into the kingdom of God Jesus
talks about that in the Sermon on the
Mount when he says in Matthew chapter 7
verse 6
do not give dogs what is sacred do not
throw your pearls to pigs if you do they
may trample them under their feet and
then turn and tear you to pieces Word of
God is very precious the message of God
is very precious and if you keep giving
it to somebody who doesn't appreciate
its value they'll they'll not only not
appreciate its value they'll turn around
and they will take you out so don't do
it another reason this is very
counterproductive is because it gives
people excuses to hide behind what
you're trying to tell them what to do
and so now the reason they don't want to
believe is because you're bugging them
and they're not gonna let you boss them
around and so you are just justifying or
giving them fuel to say I don't want to
hear what you have to say to me go away
and so therefore and get this the
biblical balance is that it is our
responsibility to warn people once or
twice and after that it's our
responsibility to leave them alone one
verse that I've used a lot in the course
of your ministry is Titus 3 verse 10
where Paul says warn a divisive person
once then warn him a second time and
after that have nothing to do with him
that is to say don't keep rubbing his
nose in the truth you're throwing pearl
before swine you are wasting your time
and you're just stirring up trouble the
reason for that is that having heard the
truth as we'll talk about in a moment
people are responsible for their own
decisions see if people perish because
they don't know the truth and we've had
the truth and we've withheld it from
them the responsibility is ours my
Bloods on my own hand but if I have told
not only once but maybe twice or maybe
three times whatever and you're not
yielding to it it's no longer my
responsibility it is your responsibility
and for that reason if you look at the
Ministry of Jesus or you look at the
Ministry of Paul they're very eager to
present the truth of the gospel once or
twice after that they walk away and they
go to find people who are willing to
hear it and it's very interesting for
example that when Jesus sends out his
disciples he tells them this in Matthew
10 14 and 15 if anyone will not welcome
you or listen to your words shake the
dust off your feet when you leave that
home or town I tell you the truth it
will be more bearable for Sodom and
Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for
that town Sodom and Gomorrah of course
our biblical examples of the terrible
judgment of God upon sin and upon
unbelief and Jesus says if you have
preached the gospel in the towns of
Israel and they do not respond to the
gospel the good news that you're
bringing then he says wipe the dust off
your feet and you go on to the next town
I had a colleague told me the story once
he was preaching away as he was
preaching away man came forward down the
center aisle and he stood in front of
the poll pad and he went like this and
the preacher says what are you doing
and he says I'm wiping the dust off my
feet
imagine that in the context of a worship
service colleague of mine another one
told me his story once he was preaching
in church he'd been asked to to include
the youth in his presentation and so he
talked a little bit about modern music
and all of this sort of stuff and
and and the serving elder the serving
elder took issue and after he had done
preaching the serving elder climbed the
pulpit took the microphone and he said
to this to the congregation as they were
leaving council does not endorse this
pastors servant this morning
can you imagine that that would sort of
see let me tell you something you know
that when a pastor comes in here the
Surfing elder always shakes his hand
right and a lot of people think that's
just you know to wish you strength and
blessing and and all of that sort of
stuff and that that's part of the
picture but but urgently it serves a
bigger function than that the function
of handshake before the service is
counsel saying to whoever is officiating
at the service we are giving you the
authority to lead the service in this
congregation because the elders are
responsible for supervising the body
we'll look at that more closely when we
get further into false farewell speech
and it used to be a it used to be that
after a preacher was done preaching the
serving elder had the responsibility to
shake the hand which was an indication
of the fact that he on behalf of council
approved the preaching and supported the
preacher that practice has been
discontinued in churches because it gave
too much opportunity for the Surfing
elder to decide that he didn't like what
the preacher was saying and so we've
just let that arrest if you look at the
Ministry of Jesus look at the Ministry
of Paul I warned you once I warn you
twice if after that you refuse to accept
the gospel your blood is on your own
head it is not my responsibility I will
go find other people who will listen
when you reject the gospel and that's
why pollen is missionary journey always
started off in the synagogue's you will
recall always went to the Jews first
and when the Jewish community rejected
the gospel he would wipe the dust off
his feet that he would say I'm gonna
leave you alone and he would take the
disciples and he would start Christian
communities elsewhere so we're
responsible forwarding people we're not
responsible to continue to badger them
if your son and your daughter knows the
truth that people without Jesus are
going to be lost if your co-worker knows
the truth that God is gonna come in
judge the living and the dead and that
they need to repent and turn to Jesus in
order to be saved and they refused to
believe the responsibility is no longer
yours doesn't mean you can't love them
doesn't mean you can't you know
periodically invite them to church to
periodically speak to them but the
responsibility is now no longer your
responsibility it is their
responsibility and the reason for that
is that there's still a third principle
that flows out of that and that
principle is this we need to honor
people's choices we honor people's
choices it was Joshua and Joshua 24 who
said to the people of Israel choose this
day whom you will serve whether the gods
of the nations are the gods beyond the
river where you came from or the amorite
to live in this land choose whether
you're going to serve these gods or if
you're going to serve the Lord God of
Israel
and part of having been created in the
image of God is that God gives us the
power and the ability and the
responsibility to make choices and once
we have made those choices we have to
live with the consequences of those
choices those consequences we cannot
avoid our tendency of course is to
continue to plead and to know people are
responsible for their own choices come
today a judgement will
we all stand before God and he's going
to hold us accountable for what we have
done in the flesh the judgment will be
based on what we have done with what we
know and we need to let people know yes
you're free to you're free to turn your
back on God you're free never to go to
church you're free never to pray you're
free to live the way that you want to
live but you're not free to avoid the
consequences and whether you believe it
or not there's coming a day you're gonna
be held accountable for your actions the
only way to avoid the wrath of judgment
of a coming final day is to turn to
Jesus and find your faith in Him that's
the biblical balance Paul says I'm
innocent of the blood of all over here
for three years for three years I've not
hesitated to warn you day and night the
issues are serious because God is dead
serious about the reality of sin
salvation and service all right that's
one aspect that I want us to look at
this morning the second aspect that I
want us to look at then is the rest of
the passage and that is that Paul prided
himself in declaring the full council or
the whole Council of God verse 27
I have not hesitated to proclaim to you
the whole wheel of the translations have
the whole Council of God and there's two
things in that verse that are
significant for us to contemplate the
first is the whole will or the whole
Council of God what that is and what
that stands for
and the other is Paul's observation that
he hasn't hesitated to proclaim the
whole Council of God so let's begin with
the whole Council of God for a moment
the whole Council of God is the total
saving plan and purpose of God revealed
in the person of Jesus Christ that's
plan which is the message of the Bible
from one end to the other can I think
best be summarized in the four words
that you've heard me talk about before
creation fall Redemption restoration
that sums up the whole council the whole
plan and the whole purpose of God let me
take a few moments walk you through that
some of this we've covered before but
the more deeply this can be settled in
our souls the more we know what we need
to tell people and how it is that we
need to tell it to them let's begin with
creation the Bible begins of course with
the phrase in the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth the Bible
makes it very clear that everything that
exists in the universe from the greatest
galaxies to the most minut sub atomic
particle was created by our God when he
spoke it into existence Hebrews 11:3 by
faith we understand that the universe
was formed at God's command
so that what is seen was not made of
what was visible and Psalm 33 8 to 9 let
all the earth fear the Lord let all the
people of the world revere him for he
spoke and it came to be and he commanded
and it stood firm God said let it be and
it sprang into existence by the way if
you were not here for the Thanksgiving
Day service and some of you were not
intent look the service up online on the
replay if you go to Maranatha - church
calm in the center of the page there's a
number of buttons one is a labeled
service replay go to service replay
scroll down on the windows along the
side until you find a Thanksgiving Day
service and look at it
I spoke extensively on the
or of God in creation showed some
incredible videos of how big the
universe is and how complicated cell
life is and how DNA gets replicated not
everybody's interested in science but if
you're interested in knowing the
greatness of our God and how he
engineered it it's worth your while to
look at God is the creator of everything
that is and I think it annoys him to no
end when people keep ignoring him as the
maker I mean wouldn't you be what
wouldn't you be Ted insulted if you put
all this time effort and energy into
making this and everybody's going around
saying oh well you know don't know where
this came from but it's here and it just
must have appear well I'd be a little
annoyed and I dare say that God might
just be annoyed enough that one day he's
going to hold people accountable for how
they have refused to honor him as
creator gone well we know the story of
creation we know other gods whole
counsel continues into the area of the
fall Adam and Eve were created in the
image of God shared the blessings of God
life was paradise for them the serpent
came along they thought they could have
their cake and eat it too they rebelled
against God they fell into deception and
through their lying through through
their deception and - they're turning
their back on God sin entered into the
world and all of us live with the
consequences of that sin entered the
world through one man said Paul in
Romans 5:12 and death through sin and in
this way death came to all men because
all sinned and as you know this
particular circle represents our
alienation from God our
self-centeredness our bondage to Satan
and all the conflict and turmoil that
you experienced in your personal life
that you experienced in the world
watch the news and you discover what
this looks like
for real and throughout history the big
question is how do we make things better
the human heart says we can make things
better by working at it ourselves the
Bible says no you can't you need to save
in grace of Jesus and so there is
redemption God could have left us where
we were chose not to enter it into the
world through the person of Jesus lived
our life died our death defeated death
so that by faith in Him
we could be restored to go on have our
sins forgiven and experience his saving
power and his saving grace to scripture
2nd Corinthians 5:19 in Christ God was
reconciling the world to himself not
counting men's sins against them for
justice through the disobedience of the
one man Romans 5:19 the many were made
sinners so also through the obedience of
the one man the many will be made
righteous the whole counsel of God
includes creation and includes the story
of the fall our terrible human condition
and how God in His amazing grace
stepped into our world to bring us back
to himself and then of course it
includes the thing that we call
restoration and restoration means that
when history has run its course when all
the nations of the world will have heard
the gospel said then nobody can say oh I
didn't know what was required of me
everybody will have had an opportunity
to hear the gospel decide to accept it
or reject it then comes the end when the
in comes Jesus returns guess what
happens when Jesus returns the world as
we know it is going to be purified by
fire Peter says the very elements will
be dissolved with fervent Heat
and on that day God is going to make a
new heavens and a new earth Peter puts
it this way 2nd Peter 3:13 in keeping
with his promise we're looking forward
to
a new heaven and a new earth the home of
righteousness the prophet Isaiah one of
the most visionary prophets in the Old
Testament by faith looked forward to
that day and he said in 65 17 and 18
behold I will create new heavens and a
new earth God speaking the former things
will not be remembered nor will they
come to mind but be glad and rejoice
forever in what I will create for I will
create Jerusalem that is the City of God
the people of God to be a delight and
its people are joy that is the full
counsel of God and Paul says that's the
full counsel that I have preached to you
day and night for three years and that's
why I am innocent of the blood of all of
here but notice he doesn't stop there
and maybe I will just introduce this and
leave the rest for next week he goes on
to say in that particular passage
I have not hesitated to proclaim to you
the whole wheel or the hell counsel of
God other translation says I have not I
have not shrunk
I have not shrunk shrink shrunk I've not
shrunk from declaring to you the whole
counsel of God it's very interesting
usage of the word
I like shrink back better than not
hesitated because hesitated gives you
the picture at least in my mind of I'm
hesitating about going forward right to
be shrinking back gives you the
implication of Oh
oh there is trouble ahead and I'm going
to I'm gonna hold off for fear of net
getting into trouble and I think this
we're gonna stop this morning because I
want you to give some thought to that
why would Paul say I did not hesitate to
proclaim to you the full council of god
what is it about preaching when we
consider the good news to be of such a
nature that we are afraid to tell our
neighbors about it because we are afraid
of what so as you think about that a
couple of questions I want to leave you
with and probably come back to this the
next time
ask yourself this question who is there
in my sphere of influence those are my
sphere of influence that that isn't
fully aware of what happens if they do
not give their lives in surrender to
Jesus now remember I said we live in a
culture where everybody thinks they're
going to go to heaven they may not
believe there is a heaven but if there
is a heaven they're sure they're gonna
go there and they're not who is there in
your world who needs to be warned about
the truth of the gospel and when you
think about that ask yourself the
question what makes you hesitate to tell
that person the truth of the gospel that
we were just talking about what makes
you hesitate to declare the full counsel
of God and then Lord willing next week
when we can go back to that let's look
at that a little bit more closely and
see why Paul would say I didn't hesitate
it didn't ring back because you see
while the gospel is incredibly good news
before it's good news it's terrible
dears and when people hear terrible news
what do you think happens
they might just get mad at you throw
stones at you put you in jail try to
kill you and then the temptation is to
say whoa can't afford this because I
might get hurt and the result is that
not speaking out puts their blood on our
heads and that is a terrible thing to
contemplate God gives us His Holy Spirit
so that we can speak courageously the
whole counsel of God deal leave it at
that
father in heaven we thank you that you
have not left us without witness first
of all you've given us your word and
your word tells us that you made
everything that we brought sin upon
ourselves and because we brought sin
upon ourselves we're under the wrath of
God cannot save ourselves tells us you
sent Jesus so that by faith in Him we
might be restored to you have our sins
forgiven experience your presence in the
here and now and live with you eternally
in the new age that is to come and Lord
that's incredibly good news and if there
be some of us here this morning who have
never embraced that news and experienced
that grace for him or herself and I pray
that by the power of your spirit in
through your word you write this deeply
upon our hearts thank you that you've
not only given us the written word but
you've also raised up prophets to speak
it and to bear witness to the saving
power of God and then Lord as we have
experienced that in our own lives
help us to contemplate who is there in
my life who was living as if there is no
God who was driving a car full speed
down the road into certain destruction
unless they repent and come to faith in
you then help us Lord to know what our
place is what warning people once or
twice looks like what it means to allow
people to make their own choices and to
live with the consequences and to make
sure that their blood is not on our
heads
but on their hands thank you for Jesus
thank you for his amazing saving grace
and thank you Father that we look
forward to the day when you make all
things new and we will be with you in a
new creation
on new heavens and a new earth in which
righteousness reigns and which
everything will be the way that you have
designed it and our pleasure
and our joy will be beyond limit because
you will have the people that you set
out to get for yourself thank you for
your love and for your grace we pray it
you