If we look at the Word of God
in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, Hebrews 13, 1 Peter 5, and so on and
so on, we see many areas of Scripture that teach us about the qualifications
for the gospel ministry. But in our society, we have something
that's a little odd, that we don't see evidenced in the text
of the New Testament. In our society, in some circles,
and bear with me, I'm making an argument here that's biblical,
without having to preach every one of those texts that I've
referenced today. But in our society, we see an esteem for
men of God to a fault. The Scripture says that men who
preach the Gospel, who shepherd the flock of Christ, are worth
double honor. The Scripture teaches that they are to be obeyed. The
Scripture teaches they ought to be humble. They ought to be
obedient to not just the Lord, but to the law, and submissive
to the church. The Scripture teaches that they
aren't to lord over, but by the call of God, they are to patiently,
patiently shepherd the people. And all throughout Scripture,
we see Paul actually giving very clear instruction on how one
man is qualified to answer the call to the gospel ministry.
How someone can say that God's called me to the pastor, and
that they're measured by certain things. They're measured by their
ability to be humble, even though they have great authority. They're
measured by their marriage. Is their marriage the epitome
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, or is it for them? Do they lord
over their children? Or do they guide their children
in righteousness? Are they greedy? Or are they
willing to lose it all for the sake of Christ? Are they a husband of one wife? Are they dedicated to the woman
that they call their bride? And so on and so on. And we could
spend several hours this morning looking at these qualifications
and asking ourselves, does the man that we're talking about
this morning, to ordain, does he have these qualifications?
Well, brothers and sisters, we've been watching him for years.
And you've been watching him for years. And if he were not
qualified, we wouldn't be here today. But what happens when
someone like me, or like Brother Jesse, or like you, becomes disqualified. What happens if we turn to anger
rather than patience? Well, the only hope we have in
that point, in that moment, is Christ. The only hope that we
have when we find ourselves disqualified for the ministry of Christ is
that Christ alone forgives and repairs and brings one who has
fallen back to righteousness. Because even when we are the
most qualified in this flesh, we are still unqualified without
Christ. We are unqualified, we are not
worthy. See, oftentimes we think about
what it means to be a minister of the gospel of Jesus. In Grace
Truths, we've been going through now, this is about four sermons
on some specific issues related to how we ought to be as a people,
and this will be the finalization of this little series, and then
we will prepare in the next few weeks to get into 1 Thessalonians. And we will journey through those
two letters, and the Lord will be praised, and we will be stronger
and greater But we think about this call to the gospel, and
we wonder how is it that the world looks at it versus how
is it the Scripture teaches it. The world looks at the call to
the pastorate as some great esteemed thing that a man has earned.
Oftentimes, and historically, not that it's a bad thing, a
man's education qualified him to the gospel. In other words,
during the time of the 16th, 17th, 18th hundreds, you had
to have your doctorate of divinity before you could be ordained.
You had to have a theological foundation that was not questionable. And yet we still see men today
academically qualified for something, but spiritually unqualified for
the gospel ministry. And in the New Testament we saw
that Jesus called uneducated, ignorant men who could barely
read or write to the gospel ministry. And so I think, wow, there's
hope for people like me. It's not about who we are that
calls us to the ministry. It's not about our great qualifications.
It's not about our great academics. It's not about our theological
fortitude. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul writes the words to this
church, to this precious, dear, and beloved church who is sinning
like crazy, losing their minds, losing their focus, falling all
back into worldly ideals, and he loves them. And he starts
out by questioning them in their own understanding, who, as Corinthians,
understood that the reality of wisdom, and that people who were
really eloquent in their speech, they were esteemed higher than
most people. The educated were esteemed in
that day. But Paul says in question, where
are your soothsayers? Where are your wise ones? Where
are those who speak wisdom in your day? And then he says some
words that have been a mantra for mine for over 15 years. He
says that God uses the nothings of this world to bring to nothing
the things that are. The lowly, the small, the weak. He even goes on to express this
truth, that the stupidity of God, there is no such thing,
but if there was, the foolishness of God is greater than the wisdom
of man. And the weakness of God is greater
than the strength of men. That the stuttering, fool, murderous
heart of Moses, as he stood on Sinai to see the Shekinah glory
of God take control, of all that He created and command His authority
and His supremacy through His sovereignty with the commandments
from His own mouth. This nothing that could barely
speak became the vehicle through which God spoke. Paul says to
the Corinthian church, I did not come to you in eloquence. I did not come to you in power
and in strength. He says, but barely able to stand
and barely able to speak, I come and preach Christ and Him crucified,
lest the cross lose its power. And so the qualifications of
the gospel ministry is that we know we are nothing without Christ. It is not a profession. Ministry is not a job. The ministry
of shepherding the flock of Jesus Christ is an imperative. It must
be. You must be. And I remember 20
years ago, looking into the eyes of many of my mentors, wanting
that answer. How do I know that I'm called?
And each after each continued to tell me, son, walk away. Walk away. Don't do it. If you can do anything else,
do that. To which I would become angry
and frustrated and puzzled. And then after just a few years,
I realized there was nothing else that I could do. And that
if it cost me everything, it's the only thing I would do. And
that's a call. Paul had it all. Popularity, power, authority,
knowledge, wisdom. Young man ruling under the authority
of Saul of Tarsus. Named after the King of Israel. Baptized. I mean, baptized. You see how I think about circumcision.
Circumcised on the eighth day. As to the law, perfect. He had it all. And yet he, on
the way to arrest the apostles in Damascus, was found by Christ. And Christ looked at him, a murderous
zealot of Judaism, and said, why do you forsake me? And he
blinded Saul in his flesh, but he gave him eyes to truly see.
And the very men who feared for their life, God sent the message
that Saul of Tarsus would come and join their efforts and become
their apostle. And then Saul, so that he would
be not known as Saul, changed his name to Paul, because he
was not Saul. He was a new creation in Christ.
And everything that he was, everything that he believed, everything
that he stood for, everything that he loved, he let go. For
the priceless gain of knowing Christ as his Savior and as his
Lord. And he never looked back. And he had great opportunity
to. Well, on Paul's third missionary journey, if you'll turn with
me to Acts chapter 20. On Paul's third missionary journey,
he desires to go back to Ephesus. Now keep in mind that Ephesus
is a city there that is Greek. And Ephesus is the place where
Timothy was placed as, what I would say, one of the chief elders.
Timothy was Paul's personal protege. He took Timothy from his mother's
home. That's probably 13 or 14 years
old. And he mentored him in the faith
and the gospel. He ordained him and he laid hands
on Timothy with tears. And he said, you keep this flame
fanned, and you are strengthened, young Timothy, by the power of
the grace of God that is given you through Jesus Christ. And
then Paul taught Timothy that it was the Word of God alone
that would give him that strength. The words of Christ. And Paul
knew that his time was coming to an end. When you look at the
letters to Timothy, you see a real pastoral heart in obedience to
the call of Christ for men who are called to shepherd the people,
to shepherd not only the flock, but those who are also willing
to sacrifice their lives for the call of Christ. And you see
Paul in his final days, sick and diseased, imprisoned. It
was his commonplace. And you saw him suffering, and
he writes to Timothy in his second epistle, and he says, please
come to me and bring my coat. I'm cold. Think about this, okay? And bring John Mark with you,
for he's important to the gospel. You know the story with Paul
and Barnabas. They separated ways. They went
on separate missions because John Mark was a point of contention.
Paul did not think it necessary for him to go back through these
towns with him. But now John Mark is ready. And
guess who he's with? Timothy. and bring some paper,
because we need to write, and bring the letters and the writings
that we've already begun, because we have more to do." And friends,
this is the moment in time where God began, when Paul was imprisoned,
when God began to write the Scripture that gives us eternal life this
very moment. And Paul knows his time has come,
and he's going back to Jerusalem in a journey to that place He's
like, man, I need to go back to Ephesus. I need to tell these
elders what's happening. I need to charge them one more
time, but I don't have time. If I go to Ephesus, I won't even
get to talk to the elders. Can you imagine? It would be
like if Brother Zeke showed up right now. All of us who know
Zeke and Jamica, who left to do mission work, it broke our
hearts. It still breaks my heart. If
they'd listen to me, they'd obey the Lord and come back. No. That's
not how it works. They listen to the Lord. It would mess up our fellowship.
It would today. We'd all be hanging out. Oh my
gosh! And everybody that knew them would just jump on them
and it'd be like, well, who are these people? Paul knew that
that would happen if he went to Ephesus. So he goes, look
at chapter 20, look at verse 17. Let me read this all the
way down. Then we'll talk, verse 17 through
35. Now from Miletus he, Paul, sent
to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.
And when they came to Him, He said to them, you yourselves
know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day
that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and
with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots
of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything
that was profitable and teaching you in public from house to house,
testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, of repentance toward
God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold,
I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what
will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies
to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me." Verse
24, But I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious
to myself, if only I may finish my course in the ministry that
I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the
grace of God. And now behold, I know that none
of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom
will see my face again. before I testify to you this
day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you. For I did
not shrink from declaring to you the full, whole counsel of
God. Pay careful attention to yourselves
and to all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers, to care for the church of God which He obtained with
His own blood. I know that after my departure,
fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And
from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things
to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be alert, remembering
that for three years I did not cease, night or day, to admonish
everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God
and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up
and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves
know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those
who were here with me. In all things, I have shown you
that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and
remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, it
is more blessed to give than to receive. And when He had said these things,
He knelt down and prayed. and there was much weeping on
the part of all. They embraced Paul and kissed
him, being sorrowful most of all because the word he had spoken,
and they did not see his face again. And they accompanied him
to the ship." Why is that emotional? I don't
know. We cry at silly pretend stories.
Lifetime movies, dramas, plays, pictures of kittens. This is true. This is real. This is what it
means to do the work of the gospel. We gather here time after time,
day after day as a people. Not a place, not a program, but
purposefully for the sake of glorifying God, who has sent
His Son, that we have eternal life, that each of us are unified
in the foundation of this gospel, which is good news not only to
our souls, but to our everlasting life. And there is nothing else
in this world that comes into a close second than being the
church of Jesus Christ and gathering as the saints of God, who are
redeemed by the body and the blood of Christ Himself, who
created us, who sanctifies us, who has redeemed us, and who
sustains us until the day when He comes to take us to Himself. And there are millions and millions
and millions of men and women across this world, across the
last millennia, who have given their lives for the sake of the
work of the gospel. This very morning, who are dying
because they believe in Christ. And belief in Christ is so much
more than just saying yes. It is faith. Believing not just
the truth of Christ, but on the person of Christ, in the work
of Christ. Everything in Christ alone is
all encompassing the fullness of who Christ is. And friends, you can believe
on your own or you can believe by the power of the Spirit. And
if you are not born of God, if you do not have the eyes of
faith, you cannot see the truth of Christ. And there is nothing you can
do but believe. Faith alone. Had Paul been passionate about
the gospel, but not had faith, he would have died and perished
in his sins. His work to the gospel ministry
is not what is credited to Him as righteousness. His power and
His preaching and His love for the saints is not what stands
Him right before the Lord. It is Christ and Christ alone
that suffered on the cross for Saul and turned Him into Paul. And it is Christ and Christ alone
in His work and His righteousness and His death and His life and
all that He is that stands you right before God the Holy Judge
of the universe this day. It is not your church. It is
not your fellowship. It is not your faith. It is not
the bumper stickers that you wear, or the clothes that you
put on. It is not anything that you do
in your conservative views, or your Christian views, or your
holiness, or your personal justification, or anything. If you do not stand
this day in Christ alone by faith, you stand this day in the judgment
of the holiness of God. And He will have no mercy on
you after this life. For all the mercy of God is bound
in the fullness of all who Christ is, and there is no other way
to salvation." And the beautiful thing is that
those who are in Christ are indeed transformed. And oh, how sick
and slow of a transformation it can be as we work our way
through this life. high on Jesus today, working
like we have no other affection, and then tomorrow we look in
the mirror and wonder where we've been. And it shows us that it
is only Christ who saves us. There's nothing different than
those who are called to the Gospel. And that's why I weep when I
read this. Because in everything I want
in my life, I want my life to be the epitome of nothing for
the sake of Christ. And millions whose names will
never be known. Those unnamed men in Acts chapter
7, when Stephen is murdered by the hand of Saul, by the authority
of Saul, against the rule of Rome. And they did not care. And it says, unknown men with
great lamentations took the body of Stephen and buried him properly. They signed their own death warrant.
And I'm going to tell you this, I don't want to see anybody but
Christ in eternity, but I'd like to see those guys. How many more
are just like them, whose names will never be recorded anywhere,
but whose names are in the Lamb's Book of Life? Let's take this text apart as
quickly as we can. Paul stopped in Miletus so that
he would not stop in Ephesus because he knew it would be this
homecoming parade that would just dishevel his trip to Jerusalem.
And he goes there and he calls for the elders to come to him.
Now some translations of the English text do a very poor job
of emphasizing the gravity of this. And I pray that it says,
and call the elders of the church to come to him. Some of them
give the leeway that he invited them over. No. He calls them
and says, come. I need you here now. I couldn't
come there. I need you here. Well, where
is Miletus? About 30 miles from Ephesus. On the shore. That's all. It's like, hey, I
can't come to Claxton. Meet me in Statesboro. It's important. Paul shows with emphasis that
he calls them to him. And nothing's said about who
comes, who didn't show up, who was late. It's not important.
What's important is what he had to say to them. And I chose this
text over all texts because I believe that by the nature of those who
are called of Christ to be gospel ministers, The qualifications
are important, but friends, that which is summarized in 1 Timothy
3 and Titus 1, guess what? It's not for pastors. It's for
all who are in Christ. But Paul does a good job of giving
a summary of that which all Christians are to be so that those who are
called from the church, we are part of the church as pastors,
we are actually qualified as people who are striving to be
good Christians, producing the fruit of the Spirit. You see,
it's so difficult. Because a lot of times we esteem
not only pastors because they're pastors, oh, we esteem them improperly
to a fault because we think they're holier, We think they're supposed
to be more righteous, supposed to be more driven, supposed to
have more information, supposed to pray more and study the Bible
more and all of these things, when really, we all are required
to be growing in our faith. We're all required to be known
as gentle. to not give into fits of anger,
to not be drunk with wine, to not steal, to have good reputation,
to not gossip. This is a requirement of all
of us. Why? Because when we do these things while confessing
that we're in Christ, there's a darkness here that's contrasting
the light. And according to 1 John, it says
that something's wrong. And usually, for the Christian,
it means that we've just sinned, we're rebelling. But for those
who are known by sin, who are known by greed, who are known
by the lust of the world, the Bible says that they're probably
not in Christ. So that one who says they're
going to shepherd the flock of Christ... Friends, where does
a leader usually take those who follow? The same place they are. And so if the man who stands
before you to shepherd you through the gospel, though he is fallible,
is living a lie, Chances are he's going to skip around and
twist this Scripture to such a degree that it's going to lead
some people astray. Not all people, but most people. And so Paul has called them there.
And he does two things. He says, let me remind you of
what we've done. Look at verse 18. And when they
came to him, he said, you yourselves know how I lived among you the
whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia. That's
what I've been talking about. They knew the reputation of Paul's
life. They knew that he suffered well. They knew that he wasn't
a complainer. They knew that he wasn't worldly. They knew
all of these things about him. His life spoke for itself. He talks about in verse 19 that
he served the Lord with all humility. That he served the Lord with
all tears. He served the Lord with trials
that happened to him through the plots of the Jews. Paul served
the Lord diligently to the end. And he's reminding these elders,
remember my life, like he told the Philippians. Model yourself
after me. He says, follow me as I follow
Christ. But you know what? We don't put
our eyes on each other, we put our eyes on Christ as we see
each other. So that as we're following Christ,
we're watching Christ. Because if we watch each other,
we can lose sight of Christ. But we're always to be working
together, discipling one another, teaching each other, rebuking
one another, gently restoring those who have fallen with patience,
as we see in Jude's writing and in Titus. But we follow Christ. And Paul is saying, listen, I
have followed Christ even to the end. And I did not stop declaring
to you, shrink back from declaring to you anything that was proper.
Look at verse 20. Now keep in mind that Paul, though
he did not shepherd a particular congregation, he shepherded the
elders and was responsible for the establishment of most all
of the churches that we saw in the first century. and he oversaw the appointments
of the elders, those who would oversee the church. And so when
he's given instruction, he's not giving instructions to apostles,
because after John died, there are no more apostles. The apostles
are here in the Word of God, and we follow their teaching.
In Acts chapter 2, that's what the church did. We devoted ourselves
to prayer, to the breaking of bread, and to the fellowship,
and to the apostles' teaching daily. And so if I come around
and start acting like an apostle and giving you new revelation
and giving you new thoughts, I'm a heretic. Kick me out into
the street right before a chicken truck comes. Get it over with. But talk to me first. He's saying, people plotted against
me, but even though I suffered greatly, I did not shrink from
telling you that which was profitable, teaching you in public and from
house to house. I'm going to testify to the Jews
and the Greeks of the repentance toward God in faith in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, how does that apply today?
Friends, I have been in the ministry for 20 years nearly. on staff
with churches. That's what you call it. Full-time
ministry, staff with churches. That means nothing anymore. It's
not a job, it's not a career, it's a calling that you're so
unable to walk away from that you would rather die than do
anything else. And Paul had opportunity after
opportunity to change his message just a little bit. to teach Christ
correctly, but withhold some things that may be a little controversial,
to withhold some doctrine that may be a little bit polarizing,
and just keep the peace. And he'd have had a 40-year ministry
there, 50-year ministry, died of an old age, and had a lot
of other pastors, a lot of other churches, but these things would
not grow Christians, they would grow social Christians. And Paul doesn't just say it
here to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20, he says it to the
Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 4. He says that we don't twist
the Word of God. We don't temper with the Word.
The whole counsel, he will go on to say, I did not shrink back
from declaring to you anything that was profitable. So I proclaim
the Gospel, which, listen, cuts against everything that every
human being believes and stands for. Did you hear that? Starting
with our faith and our practice of religion. The full counsel
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said, I did not
come to bring peace. There have been people in your
lives, possibly, who have told you at different seasons that
this could not be the will of God. Because God will not call
you to a place where your children would
disown you. Or God will not call you to a
place where you could put your life in danger. Yes, He does. The very mention of Abraham being
called, and with joy, the very next morning, gets up to kill
Isaac, causes people to leave our fellowship. The very mention
of that truth. They visit, and oh, it's uncomfortable. Friends, Jesus Christ is uncomfortable. And it is uncomfortable to be
told who we are, stands in opposition to who God
is. It's uncomfortable for the counsel that Paul taught these
elders to teach others, the full Gospel of Christ, faith and repentance
in Christ toward God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. This
means that they had to know that their very existence was fallen
from the grace of God. And no matter how good they were
morally, that that morality could never put them in right standing. No matter how passionate they
were about helping other people. Friends, hell is full of passionate,
benevolent, loving, caring, kind, giving, tender, sweet, weeping
people. And heaven is full of cold, aggravated,
cantankerous, blabbermouth, gossiped, people who have been transformed
by Christ, who then do have hearts. But you see the point I'm trying
to make. I will not shrink back. I did
not shrink back. You hold on to that. That's what
he said we've done. And then he says in verse 22
what lies ahead. And for the shepherds of the
flock of Jesus Christ, if they withhold, if they hold back,
if they cater to social pressure, if they cater to being liked, they've forsaken Christ. What lies ahead? Verse 22, And
now, behold, look, see, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained
by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there. that
God the Holy Spirit has spoken to Paul and said, you've got
to go. Don't know why. Don't know what. Don't know what
for. But I'm going. And on the way
there, I knew better than to stop in to see you, so I'm going
to have you meet me where I am. This is where we are. I'm going. I don't know what's going to
happen to me there, friends. That's what faith is. Trusting in that which we cannot
see. If we can lay out our lives, our spiritual lives, if we can
lay out our church life, if we can lay out our Christian ministry,
and we say, oh, it's going to do that and do this and do that,
then it's not the call of God. Now, should we organize? Yes! But if everything we lay
on paper sort of goes lockstep, which is what it was like when
I did this megachurch ministry stuff, It's not the call of God. It's
not the work of God. I sat at an elders meeting years ago.
I won't tell you where. It's easy to find out. Oh, I'm going to find out what
church he was in in that city. Look them up. Got to be careful. But I sat at an elders meeting
with 11 other brothers. And I looked at everything that we were doing,
and everything that we had accomplished, and all the numbers of people,
and I saw no one compassionate, no one compelled by the Gospel,
people that were aggravated with exposition, aggravated with Bible
study, but enjoyed doing stuff. And I said in an elder meeting,
could it be that we are doing all of this in our power? To
which I was rebuked sharply by about five of the men. Two of
them went, Let's talk about this later. And come to find that
I was right in my assessment. That what we were and what we
did could be measured by the plans and the things that we
put in place. If we do this, the condition there, then this
would be the outcome. There was no work of God, there
was no mystery, there was no power there. Because no one was
coming to faith, they were coming to church. And we confuse the two. And men who were called to ministry
were called to do that same type of work and replicate those same
types of fruits. And then when you look out and
you see 3,000 people, adrenaline does something to you and you
can think that it's God. And when you stand out in front
of thousands of people and the lights come up after the rock
show, and the lights come up, And you're already high on the
music. And the fog's getting through, you know. And you're
trying not to cough and choke. And you look out there and you
see thousands of people. And you think, they're about to listen
to me. It does something to you. And
a grave responsibility comes upon the man of God who's called
to preach the full counsel and not shrink back from the truth
of the gospel. And that means that if there's 3,000, that 2,800
of them are probably going to be offended by what he says. Because when you call people's
babies ugly, they don't like you. I'm not saying do that, Jesse.
If you're visiting with people who have babies, I'll say, that's
the ugliest baby I've ever seen. Even if it's true. You say God is
the giver of life. And all things are beautiful
in Christ. State the truth. But what I mean by that is that
we love our idols. Sometimes it's our ministry and
even our faith becomes an idol. And when Christ says these things
are ugly, we get angry. And Paul knew that when he went
to Jerusalem, he didn't know what was going to happen to him,
but he knew he was going to continue to preach the gospel of Jesus.
And he knew that because of that, people were going to hate him.
The religious people were going to hate him. One, because they
opposed their faith. It opposed everything they stood
for. Two, it opposed their authority. And thirdly, the people that
they hated the most would come to faith and become restored
to God, and they weren't. And so that's why he says in
verse 23, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every
city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. Imagine getting that
call. Are you going to this town next?
Well, what's going to happen? You're going to jail. And you're
going to be whipped and the flesh is going to be torn off your
back when they beat you. 40 minus 1. Oh, and by the way, the Lord
told me you're going to be stolen and left for dead, and they're going to
arrest you and put you in prison for a couple of years. You're going to get
shirt wrapped. You're going to do a little miracle with some
serpents. There's going to be a whole lot of cool stuff going
on, but you're going to suffer, and eventually Nero's going to
take your head from your body and stick it on a pole and say,
hurrah, we stopped this lunatic. And so Paul knew it was coming.
He didn't know the details, he just knew it was coming. And
he got up and he went. And friends, shepherding the
church of Jesus Christ, though it's not a stoning session or
a whipping session, it is laborious, if it's done the way it's supposed
to be. Just a mere burden. Do you pray
for each other? Do you find yourself burdened
in such a way that, wow, I'm praying for all these people,
I'm praying for all these circumstances, just in your own household, just
in your own connectivity. And you're praying for all these
people because you care that God would work great things through
these circumstances. Imagine that burden. and how heavy it can be at times. And imagine that burden on Christ
who took the burden of all those who would believe. And not just
the burden to redeem them, but the power to do so, and that
He became sin so we could be the righteousness of God. And every time the phone would
ring for Paul, he knew it was going to cost him his flesh. Therefore, I testify to you this
day in verse 26, I am innocent of the blood of all. What does
that mean? For I did not shrink from declaring
to you the whole counsel of God." In other words, none of you who
heard my teaching, I can go to my death, I can leave your presence,
I can leave this place forever and know that I am not guilty
of failing to teach you the fullness of the counsel of God. In another
way of putting that, I did not shirk my responsibility of teaching
you the will of God in its completeness. And the will of God for you is
that you would be saved by faith, through faith, by grace in Jesus
Christ, and that you would teach others this same truth, that
by hearing, they would be given ears to hear, and thus they would
become the saints of God. And if you desire to live a godly
life, you will be persecuted. You will suffer. These are the
words of Paul to Timothy. These are the words of Paul to
these same elders. He didn't teach one elder something
different than he did others. There is one training for pastors. One message, one truth, and it
is the full counsel of the will of God. Then we teach that same
thing to others day after day after day after day. Verse 28
is the crux of this text. It is the meat of this. It is
the point. Because He then commands these
elders. He says, therefore, what you need to be doing, this is
what we've done. This is what lies ahead for me
and for you. You're going to suffer. So what you need to do is pay
careful attention to yourselves. In other words, look out, watch
out, keep watch for yourselves. Don't fall prey to what? To temptation. Don't fall prey to lust. Don't
fall prey to power. Don't lord over people. Watch
out! Be careful what you say. Be careful what you teach. James
has already, if he hadn't written it, Not every one of you should
be teachers, brethren. For those who teach will be held
to a stricter judgment, James 3.1. Do you know what that means?
Not just for elders, but for each of us who claim Christ.
When we're standing at the grocery checkout, and we say something
flippantly about who Jesus is or what the Bible says and we're
incorrect, we have to give an account for that incorrect teaching.
It's a false doctrine. It's putting words in God's mouth
that aren't there. It is not okay. Be careful, Christian,
what we say about who God is and what He said. Don't ever
say, well, God wants this, if you can't prove it in the text
of Scripture in context. Don't ever say, thus saith the
Lord, unless it comes from the Word of God. Pay attention to yourselves and
pay attention to all the flock. What's that? The sheep, the church. Now here's an interesting reality.
I may have the position and the role of teaching and shepherding. And what that means is that I
give careful attention over the flock. I'm concerned pastorally
with your spiritual life, with your birth, with your growth,
with your discipline, with everything as a whole and individually. And we could go in and we could
show what all those looks like and how they apply, and we could
do that later. But I'm still part of the body. And though Jesse has had a call
of God to stand apart, to sacrifice the world, and to answer the
call of Christ in shepherding the flock and being an elder
of the flock, even if his ministry is a little different, he still
has the same authority as I do, just like Brother Dave does,
just like Pastor Luke does. We are overseers of the flock,
even though our roles and our talents may be a little different. And so if we look at this, we
see that we are also the flock. That's why we have to pay careful
attention of ourselves. We're a sheep, and yet we're
an under-shepherd. I'm a husband to my wife, but
I'm really a bride. It's the most confusing dichotomy
that I've ever contemplated at length. And I have contemplated
it at length. I've drawn charts to try to make
this work, and it doesn't work. It's just a mystery. Why? Why would God put people? Why not just a big bush that
burns? It'd be sufficient. Because God and His wisdom is
greater than our wisdom. And God and His power is greater
than our human power. And we have this treasure in
jars of clay. Paul would say to the Corinthian
church that the unsurpassing power might be seen to be God's
rather than ours. We're struck down, but not destroyed.
We're crushed, but not perplexed. We're driven to despair. 2 Corinthians 4. Always being
given over to death in the body, but being alive in the Spirit.
For your sake, beloved, Pay careful attention to all
the flock, here's the key, in which the Holy Spirit has made
you overseers, in order to care for the church of God, which
He obtained with His own blood. Now do you see the gravity of
the call of the pastor? Nobody's ever hired a pastor.
Nobody's ever called a pastor. Christ calls pastors. Christ
calls these men to step out and to obey the call and compels
them to do that, which only a fool would do. But yet Christ then puts these
men over the care of His church that He bought with His blood.
They belong to Him. Now let me tell you what we see
in the Gospels. and the parable of the talents. And I'm going to chop a little
section off, and we're going to say something, and I'm going
to move on. I don't have time to exegete all of that. But the talent is owned by the
Master. And when we aren't good stewards
of that which the Master owns, what happened to that servant,
to that slave? who did not take care of, and
multiply, and grow, and groom, and invest the master's money. They took everything that he
had and they put him in chains. Caught him wicked and lazy. Friends,
to shepherd people in Christ, whether you're a pastor or not,
is to have the very possession of God at your hand. that you
might breathe life into them through the Word of God. So much
more than while we have relationships in our own lives, it's the man
of God who's called to oversee the flock, held highly accountable
for that which God has purchased through Jesus Christ the Son.
Let's never forget the gravity of that. Verse 29, pay careful attention
because I know that after I leave," he says, after my departure,
fierce wolves will come in among you. See what he says there?
People are going to come in and join your ranks. They're going
to come in and become members on record with your congregations.
It may be widows, it may be men, it may be young men, it may be
old men, it may be women, it doesn't matter. Somebody's coming
in here among you and they are fierce wolves and they are not
going to spare the flock. and amongst your own selves,
He says. Verse 30, will arise men speaking
twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Like I heard yesterday, someone
arguing that we are gods. God created each man and woman
in His own image. Let us create man in our own
image. So therefore, the essence of God the Creator, and He says
that everything would create other things or grow or have
children or whatever after their own kind. And this man posited
that because God is God, the Godhead created man, then man
is sort of like divine. So is my cat and my dogs by that
argument. That's twisted. And in front of this pastor sat
47,000 people who said amen. And then gave him a million dollars
that day. Crazy. Friends, twisted people,
wolves, come into the flock to devour the sheep of Christ. And they would draw disciples
after them. And I'm going to say some things right here as
I close out this text, because I want you to put some application
to this. What is it that you desire more than anything when
it comes to your faith? A church that suits your fancy?
One that has better heat? You know? Perfection? A certain attire? A certain translation of the
Bible? It's important. It's not ultimate. It's very
important. Let's just put it that way. It's
not ultimate. Certain types of political views.
What is it that you're looking for? Friends, look for Christ. Look for the Gospel. Look for
powerful, aggressive, patient, humble teaching of the Scripture. From a man or men who oversee
together your joy. That's why we're here. Ultimately,
the measurement of right living, right teaching, right preaching,
rightly being the church of Christ is that our joy is full because
of how we're fed. We have an epidemic in our country
anyway. We like to eat. It gives us happiness. It gives us joy. For me, if I'm
having a bad day, I think if I had like death, I could eat
a Krispy Kreme, I'd be fine. It's good stuff. Make you feel
like you're fine anyway, right? That's how the Word of God should
beat our souls. And Jesus says that, though your
fathers ate the man in the wilderness, they still died. I'm the bread
of life that comes from heaven to give life to all men. Eat
of my flesh, drink of my blood, be satisfied in me. We must look
to be a people who eat and live and are sustained on the words
of Christ. Because He is our highest treasure. He is our greatest reason. He
is our King, our Creator, our Redeemer. He is the One who took
our sin on Himself and satisfied the justice of His own holiness. And therefore we do not stand
condemned, but as Paul would say in Romans 8, verse 1, therefore
now there is no condemnation for all or anyone who is in Christ
Jesus. We are not condemned because
Christ took our condemnation and He was condemned. Church,
that's why we gather, to the praise of that grace which is
glorious. And when wolves come in, they
dilute that. They put something else in front
of that. Oh, that's it! They'll say, that's
the point, that's the means, that's the message, that's the
mark. But oh, wouldn't this look good? Let's just get involved
in this. Let's do that. Let's play this. Let's work this way. Let's engage
here. And after a while, you can't
even see the gospel. You can hear it in a little sermon,
but it's not lived. It's not power. It's not joyful. Friends, we who are called to
preach the gospel of Jesus must preach the gospel of Jesus. It's
not good news to say we fed a thousand souls bread. If we did not feed a thousand
souls the bread of life, it's bad news. I don't want to offend
anybody. Then you better leave your Bible
at home. Because this text that we're
in right now is offensive. It's offensive. I don't want
to hear I've got to suffer in the ministry. My flesh doesn't
want to hear that. I want to live a happy little
life with a barbecue grill and three dogs. I want to retire
at 95, 97, 99, whenever. Live a couple of days and die. And I want everybody to have
a big party and have like a 90-day funeral. Eat, drink and be merry. Yeah. Buy a jet and fly me around
the world. I mean, you know. That's not
what we want. I mean, that's what our flesh
wants. Everybody to love me. I want everybody to love me.
I want my enemies to love me. I want my neighbors to love me.
I want people to look at me and go, well, I just love James.
He's awesome. I love him. I don't like when people don't
like me. It hurts my feelings. I may sound like a prophet, but
I'm not. I have feelings. I think Jeremiah
had feelings. You see what I mean? So it's
offensive to my flesh to hear that Paul says, everywhere we
go, you're going to suffer. It's not the American way. It's not the American church.
No, it's the true church of Jesus Christ. And friends, sometimes
our suffering is just people going to hate us. Sometimes our
suffering is people going to hurt us. And sometimes our suffering
is people going to hurl our bodies onto a pyre and burn us. But it's going to cost us. And
it's going to cost the man who's called out by Christ. Be alert, he says, therefore,
remembering that for three years I did not cease, I didn't stop
to admonish everyone with tears. And I want to say a little thing
about that, and I know we're going a little long, but I want to say something
about that. It's often said of me that sometimes my preaching
style, my oratory. If I had monitors, I wouldn't
be quite as loud because I would hear my voice. But as I started
my preaching ministry, it was outside on the street. Laundromats
was the first safe place I preached. They weren't leaving their clothes.
And they were utilized a lot when I was in high school. You
walk in there and you're like, oh yeah, a congregation. And then
the lunch rooms at school was another good place where you
could start preaching. You get to college and you start
realizing there's opposition. So I'm used to being loud because
you've got to project your voice. As a matter of fact, those who
came under Spurgeon's tutelage, they measured their chest. And
if their chest wasn't a certain diameter, they couldn't be a
pastor. Why? Because they didn't have microphones. And Spurgeon posited that if
a man couldn't be heard across the room, he surely couldn't
preach the Word of God. So I'm loud. People say, listen, when
you're passionate. You know what I don't scream
about? Football. Oh well. I don't scream at a chess tournament. I don't scream at a soccer game.
I don't scream at a martial arts competition. I don't care. You may like those things. But
I've been to many of them and I've sat there going, what is
this guy yelling at? That poor coach. And if I would be willing to
yell at something like an entertainment package on a field for the love
of God, could I not yell the glory of His name? It's about
passion. I don't think preaching should
be a mundane lecture. It's hard for me even teaching
in the classroom because I get preachy. I did not cease night or day
to admonish everyone with tears. Do you think Paul just had a
little drip in the corner of his eye as he lectured with a
mundane voice? No. He labored. Unable to speak,
he says. Unable to stand. Weeping over
the souls of men, over the souls of women who would please just
listen to the Gospel. That if you're not saved by the
faith that is in Christ alone, you stand in the judgment of
God. Why is that bad news? when it's a life sentence? But why would we preach such
a way? If we're able, why would we preach
such things? And by what power? Look at verse
32. And now I commend you to God
and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up
and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. What's he saying? God is able
to do that which you're called to do. Jesse knows that if the
Lord's Spirit is not in him and speaking through him, that everything
he says is moot. The same is true for you. The
wisdom that we often get asked for, the worldly problems that
people come to us and they say, what am I supposed to do here?
Friends, you know what? You preach Christ and Him crucified
first, before you start peeling away the layers of psychology.
And you might find you don't need them. I'm probably sure you won't. What do I do? Christ died for
your sin. Christ in His glory. Christ in
His omnipotence. Christ in His majesty came down,
created a womb in the woman of Mary, and was born from the womb
that He created. And He walked among men, obedient
to the command of God, to live holy as a human being. Yet He
was fully God, and He was fully man, and that He gave Himself
willfully. to become a sacrifice that satisfied
the wrath of the Father against us. And those who believe by
faith, they are saved from such judgment, for it has been satisfied,
Christ propitiated for us." That's good news. Now what was it you
were asking me about? You're aggravated about your
kids not listening? God is able. to build us and
to give us the inheritance of Christ. Do you hear that? There's
nothing there about keeping it. There's nothing there about maintaining
that inheritance. 1 Peter says that you who by
God's power are being kept for an inheritance that is unfading,
undefiled, We are kept by God. The preacher
is kept by God. The message is kept by God. The
church is kept by God. You are kept by the power of
God. Friends, that is your hope. It is not in me. It is not in
Jesse. It is not in any other man. It
is not in any preacher you see on the internet. I believe God
lets these extremely famous and well-known pastors mess up so
that we would stop worshipping them. So don't start worshipping
me, because I don't want to become a public fool and say something
crazy. Our hope is in Christ. And not
only is God powerful, but God provides. In the Scripture there,
in verse 33, He says, I coveted no one's silver or gold or clothing.
You know these hands minister to my necessities and to those
who are with me. In all things, I've shown you
that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and
remember the words of Jesus. He said it is more blessed to
give than to receive. Even when we have nothing, it
is more blessed to give Christ and to preach Christ and to live
Christ than to have all the riches of this world and all the comforts
of this culture and to lose our very soul. So beloved, I pray
that as this text rings in your ears, that you would be empowered
by the grace that is in Jesus Christ. That you would not leave
this moment. without satisfying your conscience
to know either one of two things. You are dismissing the Gospel
of Jesus because your hope is in that which you've already
done, or in the past that you've lived, or in the present state
that you find yourself, or you embrace by faith the truth of
the Gospel that Christ alone is your salvation. And your faith
is not a time in history or a point therein. It is the present reality
of your present state before God. And if you do not find your
hope in Christ this moment, put it there. Believe on Christ,
lest you stand before God condemned. And if you cry with the depths
of your soul and you say, I don't know how and I don't feel that
I can, then you cry out to God that He would give you the eyes
to see and a heart to understand and believe. Because He is the
only One who can. He is the only One who will.
I can't convince you, neither can your neighbor, but Christ
can save you by His grace.