Shepherding the Flock

what a pickup this morning then where we
left off last leak and for the past
number of weeks we've been looking at
Paul's farewell speech to the elders of
Ephesus just to put it in context again
Paul is on his way home on his third
missionary journey he has revisited all
the churches that he established in his
first and second missionary journeys he
had planned to sail home from Corinth
got wind of pots of the Jews against him
so he decided to backtrack to tow us and
now he is in the Seaport of Meletis
which is close to Ephesus he has invited
the elders from effort as Ephesus to
join him and in Acts chapter 20 he is
giving his farewell speech to them and
that's where we pick it up again this
morning reading from Acts chapter 20 and
the verses 25 to 31 Paul speaking he
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 our counsel 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 savage 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 remember
that for three years I never stopped
warning each of you night
day with tears he says be on your guard
let's pray together again Lord is we
turn to your word and look at a passage
that is significantly irrelevant to all
of us as a community here I pray that
you give me the words that I need to
share your word with clarity and
authority and power and I pray Lord that
that word will find fertile soil in each
of our hearts I'll Lodge there spring to
life grow up bear fruit to the end Lord
that this community as the Church of the
Lord Jesus will not only remain faithful
to the Lord Jesus but also faithful to
its calling filled with the presence and
the power of the Holy Spirit serving as
light to the world and salt to the earth
and will be careful to give you the
glory
so Jesus Christ in whose name we pray
amen well we saw last week that Paul's
concerned in addressing these Ephesian
elders is that his imminent departure
would create a leadership vacuum and
that into that leadership vacuum there
would come people who would have
destructive tendencies towards the flock
and that is why he says to them in Acts
chapter 20 the verses 29 to 31 I know
that after I leave savage 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 savage wolves are
we saw that come in from the outside
they came in many different forms they
would include persecution from both
Gentiles and Jews they would include
false prophets and false apostles and
false brethren and Jesus has constantly
warned us against that he says to his
disciples before he sends them out to
Matthew 7 watch out for false prophets
they come to you in sheep's clothing but
inwardly they are ferocious wolves watch
out this Paul savage wolves will come
among you not sparing the flock but
perhaps even worse than wolves from the
outside our people from within the
community he says that are going to
distort the truth and who are going to
try to fragment the body by building a
series of followers who follow their
heresies and I put it out last week that
the early church for the first couple of
centuries really constantly struggled
with - - heresies in particular legalism
and Gnosticism legalism said you have to
observe the law the ceremonial law of
Moses even though you belong to Jesus
you must be circumcised you must keep
the feast days and all of this kind of
thing Gnosticism says the body the
physical world doesn't matter you get
redeemed from it by having a special
gnosis or knowledge both of those were
profound heresies they continued in
varying forms in the world today and
they need to be resisted sis Paul at all
costs here's how he puts it writing to
the Galatians about the matter of
circumcision and the Judaizers who were
encouraging circumcision among Gentile
believers
he says this matter arose because some
false brothers had infiltrated our ranks
to spy on the freedom we have in Christ
Jesus and to make us slaves we did not
give in to them for a moment so that the
truth of the gospel might remain with
you so here's the question in light of
the fact that there are savage wolves
who want to plunder the flock and in
light of the view that there are
misguided individuals sometimes arising
from within Christian communities who
want to introduce heretical belief
systems and build their own following
how can the Church of God be protected
particularly in the absence of a strong
leader like was the Apostle Paul and the
answer of course is by raising up local
leaders who can properly Shepherd the
people of God listen how Paul puts it
Acts chapter 20 verse 28 keep watch over
yourselves remember he's speaking to the
elders of the Ephesian Church 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
there are three things in that single
verse that I want us to focus on in the
time that we have this morning and the
first is that the church belongs to God
listen again be shepherds of the Church
of God which he bought with his own
blood now there is been a lot of
discussion over the years whether the
correct translation is Church of God or
Church of the Lord
ancient manuscripts
support both sides of the fence the
overwhelming evidence today leads to the
translation that we find here in the NIV
Church of God which he bought with his
own blood that's kind of an odd
combination because it was the Lord who
shed his blood not God the Father for
our purposes it doesn't matter a lot
because what really matters is that the
church belongs to God because it has
been bought as we'll see in a moment at
a very expensive price to be the church
is to be the called
out people of God out of all the people
of the world people who belong to God
I've always loved the way Peter puts it
you're a chosen people a royal
priesthood you've heard me quote this
verse many times a holy nation a people
belonging to God that you may declare
the praises of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light the
Heidelberg catechism in Lourdes day 21
puts it this way what do you believe
concerning the Holy Catholic Church and
remember the word Catholic means
universal it doesn't mean Roman Catholic
it means what do you believe concerning
the universal church this is one of the
phrases from the Apostles Creed which is
being covered in the Heidelberg
catechism in this section and the answer
is I believe that the Son of God through
his spirit and word out of the entire
human race from the beginning of the
world to its end
gathers protects and preserves for
himself a community chosen for eternal
life and United in true faith and of
this community I am and always will be a
living member to belong to the church is
to belong to God God created the whole
world all the people in that sense
belong to him but the world is sold out
to Satan and the church is a people that
have been
all back to God and they have been
purchased at a very high price namely
the blood of Jesus we read in the book
of Revelation with your blood you
purchase men for God from every tribe
and language in people and nation that's
known as the Ransom theory of the
atonement and what it means is that
while God originally created the whole
world in Adam's sin we all sold out to
Satan in Satan gained legal ownership of
the whole human race which is why the
Bible describes him in the New Testament
as the god of this world for us to be
redeemed we had to be bought back and we
were bought back at the cost of the
blood of Jesus that is to say his death
on the cross the shedding of his blood
broke the power of Satan over the human
race and enabled us to be restored to
God and Paul's point about all of this
here is that we were we are incredibly
valuable because we were bought at an
unbelievably high price we need to
understand that you're no longer your
own you belong to Jesus because he laid
down the ultimate price so that you
could sit here this morning and call
yourself a Christian and know that you
belong to God and all the promises of
God that he made to his people apply to
you because of faith in Jesus
it also means it also means that
destroying of the church as in savage
wolves and whatever else false prophets
false apostles false teachers is an
extremely serious business because
you're touching the apple of God's eye
Paul puts it this way 1 Corinthians 3:17
if anyone destroys God's temple God will
destroy him
for God's temple is sacred and you are
that Tampa the reference there of course
is to the Babylonians destroying the
temple of God God had raised the
Babylonians up to punish the Israelites
because of their disobedience but then
they went way over the top and Babylon
ultimately get punished for destroying
the dwelling place of God and it's very
sobering to think that anybody who
serves as a savage wolf or an insider
who wants to destroy the unity of God's
people comes under the judgment of God
because God values his do you understand
this morning how valuable you are to God
because you have been purchased at a
very high price the church belongs to
God and he's very jealous of his people
not only that but because the church
belongs to God and he's very jealous
first people God has chosen to look
after the church and guess how he does
that one of the ways in which he does
that is by providing leaders for
Christian community to care for his
church keep watch over yourselves and
over 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 Paul is
addressing the elders of the Ephesian
Church because he says you are the
overseers of this church that is to say
you are the supervisors of life in
community on behalf of Jesus if Jesus is
the great Shepherd the Good Shepherd
then you are his under Shepherd
and the Holy Spirit has raised you up to
look after the needs of God's people
very important to understand that
because it's the Holy Spirit then who
generates calls equips people in the
body of Christ with the necessary gifts
to hear from God to love God's people
and to lead God's people into the
overseers are people equipped of God to
help unify the body of Christ last week
we looked at this particular chart I'll
just talk about it really quickly every
church community as I said is composed
of different constituencies that's what
each of these numbers and letters
represent the early church had Jew and
Gentile they had huge differences
between male and female free and slave
these were huge social differences the
genius of the churches that God brings
people from all of these different
constituencies to faith and he makes one
body out of them through the person of
Jesus Christ Jesus delegates that job to
overseers which we would call elders or
bishops or presbytery the Greek uses all
of those words to bind God's people
together as ligaments and part of the
key for the church to grow is to be able
to identify those kinds of people whom
God raises up calls by his word and by
his spirit to serve as under Shepherds
over the flock of Christ that's how God
protects his people from enemies on the
outside and even enemies from the inside
keep watch over yourselves in 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
these leaders are entrusted with a
two-fold task the first task is that
they need to keep an eye on their own
wives keep watch he says over your
selves to keep watch over your selves is
to make sure that you remain in union
with Jesus remember you are then under
shepherds over the chief Shepherd you
were a steward you're not an owner
you're doing it on behalf of the boss
and so you need to walk with Jesus you
need to put to death your own sin you
need to live by the spirit and your life
has to model the kind of life that God
is calling the whole community to Paul
writing to Timothy says watch your life
and doctrine closely persevere in them
because if you do you will save both
yourself and your hearers leaders can
only lead others to where they have been
themselves and that's why biblically and
historically the standards the standard
for those who occupy leadership
positions in the church is always higher
than just the standard that applies to a
given individual or a given member
because you can't lead if you cannot
lead by example and that's why in a
church like this whenever we go through
the nominating process of elders and
deacons or you know other leaders in the
churches they get elected they go
through a whole vetting process whereby
we try to determine as best we can their
maturity in Christ for their leadership
position doesn't mean people have to be
perfect but the more committed we are to
the ways of Jesus and the more mature we
are in the ways of Jesus the safer it
is because the last thing you want is
leaders in community taking advantage of
the flock for their own purposes they
need to represent the Lord Jesus
so these Shepherds have responsibility
to take a very close look at their lives
but more than that they have the
responsibility then to watch over the
flock keep an eye on the flock keep
watch over yourselves and all the flock
over which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers be shepherds of the Church of
God which he bought with his own blood
now I find it fascinating Paul is
writing or talking to elders of what is
essentially an urban church
it's a City Church Ephesus was a huge
city but he reverts back to this
agrarian Megerian agrarian agrarian
model of shepherding the flock of God
and the reason for that is that the
image of a shepherd of which Jesus of
course is the chief shepherd is an image
that runs throughout Scripture and
really captures what looking after God's
people looks like in the date and age
and the time that remains want to give
you four ways four ways in which
Shepherds are to shepherd the flock and
this can apply to people in leadership
positions it applies not just the elders
and to deacons or to staff people but
any of you that head up a ministry where
you have responsibility for people under
you these principles apply so let me
walk you through that as quickly as I
can this morning the first
responsibility of a Shepherd for his
flock is of course
feeding the sheep Psalm 23 captures it
really well where David himself a
shepherd says the Lord is my shepherd I
shall not be in want he makes me lie
down in green pastures he leads me
beside quiet waters he restores my soul
don't know how many of you will remember
this but more than thirty years ago when
I first arrived here at Maranatha I
preached a series of messages in Psalm
23 anybody still remember that sometimes
you wonder why I preach but some of you
well it's still one of my favorite
series of sermons and in preparation for
today I pulled out my sermon notes and I
was struck by by the profundity of what
a simple phrase like this really means
because you'll notice the wording the
wording is really interesting the Lord
is my shepherd I shall not be in want he
makes me lie down in green pastures he
leads me beside still waters he makes me
lie down in green pastures interesting
because how do you make a sheep lie down
well in order for a sheep to lie down
there's a number of factors that have to
be taken into consideration the Sheep
has to be free from fear the Sheep has
to be free from the friction that
develops within a flock when the budding
order you know becomes part and parcel
of who dominates who and the Sheep has
to be free from pests that trouble it
and of course the Sheep has to have
plenty of food and water the green
pastures
to the food the quiet waters refers to
the water for the sheep there are three
ways in which sheep in the Middle East
would get their water one would be due
off the grass early in the morning the
Bible often talks about Herman's do
falling in Israel do you remember that
phrase well Herman was a mountain in the
northern part of Israel
that was snow covered and the water
vapor from that snow-covered mountain
would wofe waft down to the southern
regions of Israel and settle as dew on
the grass
so do served as one source of water for
the Sheep another source obviously would
be a dug well and a third would be any
pool of water particularly standing
pools that sheep could drink out of
comfortably but each of these required
significant work on the part of the
Shepherd if you want sheep to take
advantage of the do you've got to get up
early enough before the do birds are off
if you want them to drink from a well
then you've got to make sure there is a
well and you got a dig you got a you
know get the water out of that well and
and and and so on and the same thing
with with with providing the comfort
that they needed to lie down in green
pastures so you got here a marvelous
picture of what providing for the needs
of the flock looks like creating a safe
environment creating a place where
people are at rest where people aren't
attacking each other where people have
food that they need to grow in union
with the Lord Jesus Christ and so it is
Peter it's Jesus who says to Peter after
his resurrection when he's restoring him
feed my sheep one of the functions of
leadership of the church again across
the board is to provide spirit
food so that people can grow up in
Christ into all of the things that he
has for them
that's one function of shepherding a
second function of shepherding obviously
is guiding the Sheep Psalm 23 goes on he
guides me in paths of righteousness for
his name's sake pads of righteousness
sheep like all domesticated animals and
those of you that have ever firmed will
know this left to themselves will always
follow the same path they will they will
just walk it into the ground if you will
and they will graze in the same area
until there is virtually nothing left
some of you know the story when when we
first got my sheep in my youth as I said
before we didn't have proper sheep
fencing we only had a barbed wire
fencing because we had a cattle
operation on a sheep operation and the
sheep were constantly getting out of our
fields into the neighbor's field now our
neighbor was a fine wonderful Christian
but he'd lose his Christianity a little
bit when the Sheep got into his field
more than a little bit actually he got
his dark side really showed up and he'd
get on the party line and he'd blast us
you know that our blankety blank blank
sheep were in his because he was worried
they were going to ruin his pasture now
you know he exaggerated a little bit but
it is true left alone they will they
will cue the grass and their droppings
and whatever else can do actually do
damage particularly if there's parasites
or diseases they can do damage to a
pasture and so the biblical shepherd and
by extension shepherds today would take
the sheep and would fan out from the
home place like like a cloverleaf
pattern
or you lead the sheep to graze over here
now I'm gonna help you to graze over
here and now I'm going to help you graze
over here and the picture here is that
of leading and God's people in paths of
righteousness for his name's sake and
the New Testament application is
obviously is that one of the function of
leaders in community again at whatever
level is to guide God's people by
teaching them the truth of God's Word by
helping them to walk in the truth of
God's Word by challenging and correcting
them when they fail so that God's people
can leave out what in Christ they really
are paul writing to timothy again puts
it this way he has preached the word be
prepared in season and out of season
correct rebuke and encourage with great
patience and careful instruction and
paul says concerning himself and this is
the Revised Standard Version be
imitators of me as I am of Christ what
are the task of protecting the body and
helping to grow is to model inward in
indeed what life in Christ really looks
like with a view of leaving out what in
Christ we really are never forget years
ago when the churches that I pastored
gentlemen came to me terribly frustrated
and and he said to me why are you always
preaching on the third section of the
Catechism and I knew immediately what he
was talking about because the third
section of the Catechism deals with a
life of gratitude
the first section deals with their sin
and misery very short second section
deals with who it is they were in Christ
then the third section talks about what
that means practically speaking for the
Christian disciple art and I knew right
away that here was a man who was
struggling with who he was he was
struggling with his identity and he
didn't know how to be faithful to God in
the way that he lived he was very shame
bound and he just wanted to hear how
much God loved him and how his sins were
forgiven he didn't really want to hear
that the gospel also was intending to
serve for his life to change as a matter
of fact I've discovered over the years
people in church never get mad at you
hardly until they discover that you
really mean what God says about life
changing and a lot of people don't
understand the nature of grace they come
under condemnation because they feel
that they have to pull themselves up by
their bootstraps and somehow be
something that they really are not
and my answer to the Mian as I recall
was that I spoke about transformed lives
because I very deliberately built my
preaching ministry on the structure that
Paul adopts in some of his major New
Testament letters like the book of
Romans like the book of Ephesians like
the book of Colossians and the structure
in all of those letters is identical he
spends a huge amount of time talking
about who Christ is and who it is that
we are in Christ and then he gets about
half ways through his letters and then
he changes tone and he marks the
transition with the word therefore and
what he means by that is because all of
these things are true of you in Christ
this is what this should look like in
the way that you live and without due
unduly elaborating on that
let me just talk about it a little bit
more because this is so critical for the
health of Christian community let me put
it this way 1 Corinthians 5:7 he says
get rid of the old yeast at me that you
may be a new batch without yeast as you
really are for Christ our Passover lamb
has been sacrificed what he means by
that is that if you have come to faith
in Jesus you have become a new person
your old identity has been crucified
with Christ and now you are invited to
live out of your new identity and not
your old one we can illustrate it this
way by Nature as you know or separated
from God or under Satan's influence who
are blind as bats we don't see Jesus we
don't understand Jesus we think he is
irrelevant we think we're pretty good
we don't need Jesus then we come to
faith in Christ we repent of our sins
and by faith in Jesus we become part of
God's family and all the blessings that
God has given to Jesus and you can read
about this in the book of Ephesians in
particular now belong to us in Christ
were seated in heavenly places in Christ
the same power that raised him from the
dead now lives in us in Christ we have
become the children of God we are a new
creation doesn't mean we're living that
out fully but we have new potential and
now that we are in Christ and the Holy
Spirit works in us under the terms of
the New Covenant if we will but listen
to the Holy Spirit if we will but listen
to the scriptures when God speaks it
into our lives he will give us both the
desire and the ability to put off the
old and to put on the new and our lives
begin to change isn't that true that's
the nature of Christian sanctification
that's the power of
price in us and the job of any of us
that lead or preach or teach is not to
lay a load on you that says oh if you
don't smarten up you're gonna go to hell
you bad person you it's to declare this
is your identity in Christ God loves you
even if you never change God still loves
you
but it's inconceivable that you won't
change because the Holy Spirit is in you
and the Holy Spirit won't let you keep
on sinning the way that you were sinning
before and if you do he will make life
miserable for you and he'll pull the rug
out from underneath you and he will
discipline you if he has to discipline
you but he will help you become a new
person so that you can be made ready for
eternity
where you're going to be in the very
presence of God we need a little
feedback here little Eamonn a little bit
a little bit of do you get what I'm
trying to say this is how you feed the
flock this is how you guide God's people
you don't try to make them something
that they're not you remind them of who
they are in Christ and you resource them
you help them to live that out so that
they can become the workmanship that in
Christ Jesus
see I like amens you know if I ever go
on preaching after this I'm going to go
to a black church where people say Amen
all the time okay we need to move on
that feed the sheep they have to guide
God's people and of course they have to
protect the flock some 23 goes on even
though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death I will fear no evil for
you are with me your rod and your staff
they comfort me now we often talk about
the valley of the shadow of death and we
talk about people going through the
valley before they die and how God has
promised to be with them and that's a
legitimate interpretation of Psalm 23
but in the middle east the valley of the
shadow of death was a very literal thing
because you see the agricultural year
was divided into two sections the first
section would be winter in and spring
perhaps into early summer was spent
around the home base and the pastures
around the home base as the season went
on and that grass was consumed the
shepherd would take his sheep on to the
high mountain pastures but in order to
get there he often had to go through
treacherous territory which included
valleys and cliffs and and great dangers
and predators and the valley of the
shadow of death was the shepherd
shepherding his people through these
dark and difficult places to try to
bring them into the high mountain
pastures where there was still an
abundance of of grass and water for the
sheep and his job was to protect the
sheep during that journey and in order
to protect the sheep he had had two
pieces of equipment that were a valuable
piece of the Shepherd's equipment
the first was the rod and the second was
the staff the rod was a short stick with
a big knob on one end and it served
multiple purposes including if a sheep
was wandering off you'd throw your club
at the Sheep to get him to get back in
line if a predator was after the Sheep
the club served as a means of getting
him away served a number of other
purposes as well but for our purposes
that's enough the staff of course was
part of his equipment to help the Sheep
he would guide the Sheep with it and if
a little lamb gets separated from its
mother he could pick it up with the
crook of his staff and bring it back to
its mother because if he touched it with
his hands the mother might no longer
recognize the sheep and that's why the
Shepherd staff always has this crook on
it so as to be able to pick the lamb and
put it back with its mother
powerful word pictures of how the
shepherd protects God's people and all
of us who are in leadership positions
have that responsibility to the flock we
have an obligation to protect God's
people because there's a lot of dangers
and you know between prayer and
intercession and warning and and just
disciplining and disciple in the
community the Shepherd has to create a
safe environment or people can flourish
and be all that God wants them to be
while just moving along very quickly to
bring this to a close one fourth
function that we can talk about and that
is the fact that the Shepherd also
restores or heals the sheep already
earlier on in verse 3 we read a very
familiar line about he restores my soul
and the psalm goes on in verse 25 to
talk about he prepares a table before me
in the presence of my enemies you anoint
my head with oil my cup over flows let
me talk for just a moment about what it
means to restore my soul it sounds you
know kind of kind of poetic doesn't that
he restores my soul he makes me feel but
it actually means a lot more than that
because it refers to a condition among
sheep called casting casting means that
under certain circumstances a sheep will
find itself turned upside down and
unable to write itself up three reasons
why that happens or a quickly sometimes
the ground is uneven and a sheep will
stretch and roll over and before you
know it it's got its four feet in the
air
sometimes it happens because his fleece
has gotten too heavy with mud and water
and whatever else and he goes
topsy-turvy and sometimes he just simply
too fat and he ends up with his feet in
the air as soon as he is with his feet
in the air the Sheep of course panics
tries to write so I put himself right
side up and the motion of his pawing
feet creates gas in his stomach which
now makes it virtually impossible for
him to get back up on his feet left
alone like that for hours in the heat or
days and more moderate climate and the
sheep will die so the Shepherd's job is
to keep his eye on the flock and see
what sheep has ended up upside down and
the moment he finds one he's got to do
them right side up restore circulation
and enable that lamb or that sheep to
recover incredible picture of the
healing ministry of Jesus in the body of
Christ you can do life with savage
wolves and an enemy that is ruthless in
trying to destroy our walk with God and
not get bit and not get injured and not
develop some pretty serious issues and
as I've often said the church is full of
people so at one point or another walk
joyfully with the Lord Jesus ran into
trouble whether by their own choosing or
by somebody else's choosing and they are
out of condition what the Good Shepherd
does is he goes finds the lost sheep he
binds up their wounds and he heals them
so that they can be restored because
sheep are valuable to God and to God's
people and if you're a leader again
whether you're an elder or a deacon or a
section leader or a small group leader
or just a leader in your own home these
are all tasks that God gives us in order
to protect our children in order to
protect our youth in order to protect
the body of Christ and I just want to
encourage you going forward that
whatever you're calling or your task is
do it with all your heart because Jesus
the Good Shepherd by his Spirit will
give you what you need to do the job
that you do and then come to Dave
eternity you will hear those words of
the Lord Jesus well done good and
faithful servant you've been faithful
over little I will put you over much
that's God's provision for a healthy
church life you already have it in you
and among you and my hope and prayer is
that even as I step aside in the
transition and we don't know the future
is going to look like yet because we're
still looking for a senior pastor
replacement
we may depend on our own staff and our
own leaders for the short term we're
talking to about do we find that interim
pastor to tie us over churches often do
that but whatever form it takes Jesus is
the Good Shepherd he's giving you each
of you gifts and abilities it's an
opportunity to step forward step into
the challenges and the opportunities and
you will be amazed at what God can do
through Jesus by the power of His Holy
you