Dennis Tuuri

# Sermon Transcript – Reformation Covenant Church
**Pastor Dennis Tuuri**

Basically two things. First, we want to review what we’ve been talking about in terms of Acts 20 and Paul’s charge to the elders at Ephesus. And then we want to talk about First Timothy and speak about one more part of the job description of the elders or men that God has called to minister and to lead and shepherd the flock of Jesus Christ, the great shepherd.

So, first we’re going to go through Acts 20, and we’ll get to 1 Timothy in a couple of minutes, but we’re going to go back first to Acts 20.

By way of review, what we’re going to do is we’re going to go through the various verses we’ve talked about for the last couple of weeks. So, we’re going to go briefly over verses 17 through 38. So, you might want to go back now, in fact, you should go back to Acts 20 and we’ll go briefly over each of these individual verses. And then at the end, we’ll talk about 1 Timothy because that kind of is a transition statement as it were for us as we move from Acts 20 into discussion of First Timothy.

The next several weeks we’ll be talking about various passages in 1 Timothy relating to the position of elder and if you remember correctly many months ago now we started with First Timothy and the qualifications for elder given in First Timothy 3 and deacon as well and so we’re getting back to that now having gone through a number of studies from the Old Covenant writings and also from the New Covenant writings leading to again a consideration of those qualifications for elder and for deacon and the role of the elder and deacon in our society today.

So let’s go back to Acts 20 first and then we’ll talk about First Timothy. I’ll read one verse—the way we’re going to do this is I’ll read the verse and then we’ll just make several comments on it that should help you to review. And also I think one of the reasons we want to do this is we want to see that every one of these verses is important. God has in his providence provided us with each of these verses for a specific reason.

We’re certainly not going to plumb the depths of those reasons today, but we at least want to catch some of the highlights as we go through this passage. And it should be a good method of review as well. And I’d like to encourage the men of the church and the women as well as they study their scriptures to think about each particular verse in the section you’re studying. It’s important to see the overall picture, but it’s also important to understand why God has placed verses in the order that he has.

Okay. Acts 20:17—”From he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church.” And here we mentioned, I think in the weeks gone by, that we have the elders specified here as the men from the churches that he calls out to give his farewell charge to as it were and to give instructions to and that tells us that the office of elder is an important one of the church. It’s a leadership function within the church and therefore has to have certain commandments or charges given to it by men who, Paul here in this case, who has established the churches in this area.

So we have definite authority structure in the scriptures spoken of here in terms of elders. It’s also—we’ve mentioned before—that it’s interesting that he calls for the elders of the church even though it’s very likely, almost certainly probable, that there are many individual households of believers scattered throughout this area in the great city of Ephesus. And so Paul tends to see unity in terms of the geographical location of the church in Ephesus.

And that’s important for us because we talked before about how we see from that the necessity of understanding the unity of the church in a specific geographical area. And long-term we want to look for the ability to look for the elders of the churches in Portland, for instance, to come to such a gathering as this and receive instructions as well in terms of their charges over their congregations.

In verse 18, when they were come to him, he said unto them, “You know from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons.”

And here we spoke last week. These verses 18 and 19 were the specific verses we talked about last week. Paul reminds him of the manner or how he conducted himself as an overseer of these overseers among them and overseer of the church as well. He reminds them his manner—how he did it, not just what he had to do, but how he went about doing it. And he also mentions that it was from the first day that they saw this manner in him, the method of his leadership as it were.

And they saw it at all seasons. Paul was not a fair-weather overseer, a fair-weather friend or helper or encourager to this church. No, he was with him at all seasons. And I think that for instance, again, the practical demonstration of people’s love and commitment to our family as part of this covenant community yesterday was demonstrated by the fact that in a time of not physical rain, but certainly a time that isn’t pleasurable to get together—we have a lot of work going on—we had a lot of people there demonstrating their friendship to us, their work. In other words, what I’m saying is in the covenant community, we don’t just have cheer with our friends. And we should call on each other when we have problems to assist ourselves and strengthen our hands to do the tasks that God has given us. And the elders of course should be certainly exemplary of that and assisting people in all seasons.

And as I said, from what Paul said—from the very first day, his whole ministry there was committed to assisting them and building them up in the faith.

Verse 19, “Serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying way of the Jews.”

And here we spoke of course. This is our outline last week—the three manners, three characteristics of the servant of the Lord, the servant of Jesus Christ, which is what Paul is, which is what elders are and actually what all believers are: servants of Christ. Those characteristics are humility, compassion and perseverance. And we spent a lot of time last week on those, but just to remind you of those three necessities in terms of the way we conduct ourselves in the midst of the covenant community: humility, compassion for one another, and perseverance in the face of sure temptations which will be which will fall upon us.

Verse 20, “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shown you and have taught you publicly and from house to house.”

And we mentioned several weeks ago that Paul—the content of what Paul taught, having moved now from the manner in which he conducted himself to some of his specific tasks and the specific task of the elders—the content was what all of the scriptures that were profitable for the body. He didn’t restrict himself to a certain set of doctrines. He taught all the scriptures and that was profitable under the body.

He did so in two ways: publicly, which is what we’re doing today, as a public gathering and a public teaching from the scriptures, but also from house to house. And it’s important to recognize that our teaching doesn’t end when we all go home at 2:00 today. It continues on throughout the week in our families. It continues when we get together. And it also continues in other private meetings we have with other groups of families from the church or other Christians. And I’m sure also that the eldership should play a part in that as well in going house to house to encourage people and admonish people when necessary in the faith.

And so when you get together and people bring up things from the scriptures, be glad for that—we’re teaching each other from house to house as well. And if the leadership of the church, the elders of the church come to your house and attempt to point out some things from the scriptures, be receptive to that. It’s part of the ministry of the elder.

Verse 21, “Testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And this is one of the first three occurrences throughout this passage where Paul talks about and sums up the content of what he’s testifying to, the content of his preaching and teaching. And here it’s specified as repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ—the two central elements which really comprise all the rest of his teaching to the individual churches and also to the non-believers as well.

Well, we talked there about the necessity of understanding that repentance is part of the preaching of the gospel. And because of that, it’s important to recognize that the scriptures, the law itself, and people’s falling short of that law is important to point out as you attempt to witness and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in your neighborhoods, wherever you may be. It’s important that people understand that they’ve come short of the requirements of a holy God, and as a result of that, stand condemned by him to judgment and damnation. That they must repent from the sins that they’ve been given.

The gospel is not simply a better way to have a better marriage or a better job and make more money. The gospel talks about the necessity—they’re repenting from their sins, then turning toward faith in Jesus Christ. And the elements of that faith will be specified in what we say this morning and also in First Timothy as well.

But it’s important to recognize he was testifying to repentance and faith and that he didn’t restrict his testimony or testifying to the gospel of Jesus Christ to a specific group here, a class group or a religious group. He says that he testified both to the Jews and also to the Greeks. And so we shouldn’t restrict who we teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to as well. We should teach it to all men.

Verse 22, “And now behold, I am bound in the spirit in Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there.”

Not knowing the specifics, yet Paul knew that there were problems coming as we’ll see in the next verse. And yet he was bound in the spirit to do that. And Paul in other places talks about how loyal to him if he doesn’t preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, if he doesn’t finish the course that God has given him to do. Paul understood that his ministry was of compulsion to the Holy Spirit. And that doesn’t just characterize the eldership. Certainly, it should characterize them, but it should characterize all believers.

God has called us into relationship to him through Jesus Christ and through our great covenant keeper. And we should understand that we are bound by the Holy Spirit and under compulsion then to obey him in all things that we put our hand to do. Paul understood that he was bound in the spirit. And so, understanding that God desired him to go to Jerusalem, he did so in spite of the many trials that would await him there.

Verse 23, “Saying that the Holy Ghost witnesses to every city saying that bonds and affliction abide me.”

He did not know the specifics of what would happen exactly in Jerusalem. But he did know that bonds and affliction were going to whom he was going to find there in Jerusalem. And we talked here about the irony as it were of Paul who, when he was sold on persecuting Christians and had authority from the leadership in Jerusalem to go out to get Christians and bring them him back in bonds to Jerusalem and put them in bonds and to afflict them. And now God is bringing him back bound—ultimately in the Holy Spirit over which the bonds of men have no control, but also the bonds, the physical bonds that he attempted to put upon believers are also going to be put upon him now as well.

And he knew that was coming to him.

Verse 24, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself. None of these things move me, neither can I my life dear unto myself, that I might finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”

And this passage has several very important elements to it. We’ll touch on a few now. He, and we talked about this last week in terms of perseverance. Even though Paul knew there were things that were going to come upon him, there would be temptations and trials and tribulations to him, yet he persevered. And one of the reasons he persevered is understanding the importance of finishing the course that God had given him to do. He was a faithful servant. He finished the course even if that meant going to Jerusalem and even experiencing death at the hands of unbelievers there.

He had to finish his course. And he says in this passage that his course was received from the Lord itself and of course that is good motivation to finish the course. God has given us something to do. We don’t shrink from that in the face of persecution by men but we finish the course that we’ve received from God.

He says that his life is nothing but he, it is nothing in and of itself. He recognizes that God has given him life. That life is a great gift from God. But his life, his physical life is nothing in comparison to finishing the course. And our physical well-being, the breath we breathe as it were and the air we breathe in should never be seen as ultimate above the call of God and Jesus Christ. Our call in Jesus Christ has to take precedence over everything that we are and do, including our very physical lives if required to give them for the gospel as well.

Our lives also be nothing in comparison to the ministry that we’ve received from God to finish it. And that ministry he identifies as testifying to the gospel. And here he describes that testimony that he’s earlier said was repentance and faith. He now says it’s the gospel of the grace of God. And so that’s important to recognize. One reason that’s important that he specifies it in that way is he’s going to Jerusalem to a group of people who are teaching works righteousness and works of salvation.

And he’s specifically saying here that the testimony he’s going to give, testifying of the course that God has given to us, is testifying to the grace of God. And we should always recognize that—what a beautiful song we sang earlier, “A debtor to mercy alone.” And it’s extremely important that we understand the nature of that, the grace of God given to us in the covenant mediator Jesus Christ. And so the gospel can be encompassed or described as the grace of God in total.

Verse 25, “Now behold, I know that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God shall see my face no more.”

And here he says that to what he’s been preaching which he has previously identified as repentance and faith and he’s identified as the grace of God. Now he says he’s been preaching the kingdom of God. And so we see that the gospel itself comprises much more than just a truncated version of the gospel that seeks to save people from some far distant punishment that God may bring upon them.

No, the preaching of the gospel is the preaching of the kingdom of God. And we’ll talk more about that as we look at First Timothy. But it’s important to recognize that Paul summarizes what he preaches as the kingdom of God. And as we said a couple of weeks ago, a quotation from Rackham in his commentary in the book of Acts: that repentance, rather, is the entrance into a society which is characterized by faith in Jesus Christ. It’s an entrance into a whole another world and life view. It’s an entrance into a whole another kingdom.

We’ve been saved, brought out by the power of Jesus Christ from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of light and of the son Jesus Christ. It’s a whole way of life. Repentance brings us into that Gospel.

Verse 26, “Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men.”

And here we have Paul’s statement of watchman innocence. And remember we talked about the watchman in Ezekiel 33. Paul says he’s as a watchman he is innocent of the blood of men. And by the way this term “I take you to record this day.” He’s implying he’s in charting them here to a legal witness that he is innocent as a watchman because he has preached fully the gospel of Christ. It’s a covenant testimony that he’s calling them to record that day.

And we talked before and we won’t talk a lot about it again this morning, but the various farewell addresses of other people in the scriptures—Samuel, Joshua at Joshua 23 and 24 and our Lord himself just prior to and including the words he said at the last supper—that Samuel for instance also testifies has the people make covenant record or legal record of the fact that he hadn’t done anything innocent in terms of relationship to them as well. Watchman innocence is what’s talked about in verse 26.

In verse 27, Paul says, “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”

And here we have the watchman duty specified for us to teach and preach the whole counsel of God’s word, not restrict it to elements of the faith that are somehow more palatable to people. And I talked specifically about the example of election, how it’s an important thing to teach people that God is sovereign. And we certainly don’t want to woo people into the gospel of the kingdom of God by somehow getting them to understand that they’re in control of the whole situation and then try to convert them later from that Arminianism into a later Calvinistic perspective. We don’t want to do that. That’s really duplicitous. It’s a denial of our—I think it includes a denial of our faith and the preaching of the gospel and the efficaciousness of it.

We somehow want to make it more palatable to people and kind of lead them down the road into the kingdom and then dump all the bad news on them. But if we see that as somehow bad news, that really implies a real disproportion of the kingdom of God. The good news is that God is in control, that he is king and he has a kingdom and has requirements of us. And so we don’t want to limit what we teach to people and Paul certainly didn’t.

And as a result of his teaching, the whole counsel of God’s word in obedience to the watchman duty required of Ezekiel 33. He had watchman innocence as he said in verse 26.

Then verse 28, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves and all the flock over the which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.”

And here we have a watchman exhortation. He now exhorts the elders at Ephesus to be also found in that same innocence when their ministry comes to an end in that particular realm that God has given them. He exhorts them to be faithful to their watchful duty to preach the whole counsel of God’s word to take heed both to themselves individually and also to the flock and to guard them, oversee them, guard them. And he exhorts them to that overseer duty in light of the fact that the Holy Ghost has given them that ministry.

And so in the same way that he said he received a ministry from the Lord and so he was under compulsion to God to walk in obedience to that ministry and in spite of perhaps physical danger the way ahead of him. So he exhorts the elders here now, the overseers of the flocks there, to also be diligent in their watchman duty because the Holy Ghost has made them ministers.

And he tells them that specifically to feed the church of God. And that of course relates back to what he said, teaching the whole counsel of God’s word and what’s profitable for the churches. They’re to feed the church of God. And then they’re required also to recognize that church of God has been purchased with the very blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with God’s beloved son. And so that also is another exhortation to be faithful in what you’re doing because the people you minister to are incredibly precious in the sight of God being purchased and atoned for with the blood of Jesus Christ.

And by the way, we won’t talk much on it here, but it does say here that He talks about the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. And there is clear teaching there that it’s God who has purchased them who made atonement for them with God’s blood. And so it’s another element—the element of the trinity is taught in this verse where you have God the father directing this whole thing, God the son providing purchasing of his blood and then the holy ghost having made them overseers. It’s important to recognize that the doctrine of atonement is fully taught here.

Then in verse 29, “If I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.”

And he warns them here that there are going to be dangers they’re going to have to warn the church of and guard the church from. And those dangers will be external threats in some cases.

And then in verse 30, “Also of your own selves shall arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.”

And he warns them here of internal threats. So external threats, internal threats that will necessitate their watchman duty to guard the flock by teaching them the gospel of Christ.

Then in verse 31, “Therefore watch and remember that by the space of 3 years, I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears.”

And here it’s important to recognize that word “warn” has the implications of admonish—to come to people and to point out areas in which they’re failing to walk in obedience to the scriptures. He’s admonishing them night and day with tears. And so again, one of the functions of the elder in his position as overseer of the flock is to go to individuals and admonish them when they’re falling short of the gospel. When they’re falling short of the claims the gospel upon their lives.

When people from the church do that, when elders from the church do that and come to your house, perhaps don’t turn a deaf ear. Hear what they have to say. These people have oversight over you. They have concerns for you. They recognize you’ve been purchased with the blood of Christ. They have a job as watchmen according to Ezekiel 33 and that Paul uses in this phrase as well to admonish you when you’re falling short night and day if necessary and with tears. And he warned them here as well in the church of the coming dangers.

“And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.”

And now, as he begins to close his farewell address here to the Ephesian elders, he says that he commends them to God and to the word of his grace. And that’s really interesting if you think about that wording. He commends them to God. And that’s probably rather obvious to people that we would commend people to God and to his care. But he doesn’t stop there. He says he commends it to the word of his grace, the word of God’s grace, recognizing that God ministers to people and works with people and controls people and oversees them primarily through the preached word.

And so he commends them to that word itself. Now, it’s a terrible verse for some of the individuals today who don’t really want to go back to the scriptures for their guidance and direction, but want to work somehow in God working directly to them through some sort of mystical oversight of them. Now certainly the Holy Spirit is important. He indwells us and teaches us things from the scriptures and he exhorts us when we fall short of the grace of God as well. But it’s important to recognize that God’s vehicle for ministering to people is through his word.

And so he commends the Ephesian elders to that word and that is a word of grace. That word and that word itself then being the vehicle that God has in his providence chosen to use to minister grace to us is edifying. It is capable to edify and build up the saints and to give them an inheritance. And by the way, I haven’t mentioned this, but I said several weeks ago when we started this, but there are parallels between Joshua 23 and 24. There are parallels between the book of Joshua and the book of Acts. And here we see one of those parallel verses where Joshua was committing the people to be faithful to God at the end of his ministry.

They continue to go forward with the claims of God upon the heathen around them and go forth suffering. And so Paul here says that he commends them to the word of his grace which is able to build them up and also produce an inheritance among the saints. And the idea of inheritance of course is a central theme in both Joshua and the book of Acts.

Verse 33, “I’ve coveted no man’s silver or gold or apparel.”

We didn’t really speak to this much in the last couple of weeks, but it is interesting that first of all there’s a parallel to Samuel again in terms of his judicial oversight. He at the end of his reign he turned the reins over to King Saul, as it were, and he made the people testify or take witness of the fact that he had not stolen anybody’s animals or done anything improperly. And again, this is a recognition that people in positions of real authority in the church and the government of the church have capability to do these things probably more often than not than other people would have the capability to do it.

And so he declares himself to be free from that sin. I think also though there’s also a parallel here to the book of Joshua. Joshua commands the elders and the chiefs of the covenant people from the Old Covenant as he’s about to die and leave his ministry. He commands them not to fall into the idolatry of the nations around them. And you have to recognize here the background of this comment is that in Ephesus they had elders—a Gerousia—who were ministers of the temple of Diana, or Athena, Diana, Artemis. Yeah.

And that those men basically—what their primary responsibility was to collect funds for the upkeep of that temple. That was their primary duty. And of course, those people became quite a lucrative position to get in. And so Paul here when he addresses the elders of the true church of Jesus Christ instead of the elders of idolatry and gives himself as an example as not profiting himself out of this whole arrangement and not coveting things—that was a hallmark of the false religion in Ephesus.

And so to again encourage the people not to fall into the idolatry of the nation that they’re in the midst of, he encourages them not to fall into that specific idolatry of covetousness.

Verse 34, “Yea you yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me.”

Paul says he worked. He worked hard. And of course, we recognize that he didn’t have to. He had the liberty, if you will, of being supported by the people that he ministered in the midst of, but he didn’t take advantage of that liberty. Instead, he worked to support himself. And not just himself, he supported those that were with him as well. So, he really went the extra not mile, but maybe extra 10 miles in this matter.

But it’s important for us to recognize here a principle of Christian love and supporting the weaker brother amongst us. We may think we have rights. We have liberties that we’re entitled to. And yet God would have us remember the example of Paul who of course was relying upon the example of Jesus Christ. Laying aside some of those liberties and privileges for the end that the people that he’s been ministering in the midst of be built up in the faith.

That doesn’t mean that Paul somehow was playing the dog in the manger. If you remember that Aesop’s fable, he didn’t say he would never take advantage of his liberties until every last man, you know, was satisfied and had eaten his share of the straw as it were. No, that’s not what Paul’s saying here at all. But he’s saying that for those people that he’s in the midst of who have to be edified to the point of understanding the liberties given to an apostle in terms of support, he will set aside that right or that privilege for a point.

But remember, in his own letters, he reminds them of their obligation to support those people that minister in the midst of them. And so he’s not doing it—he’s not against ultimatizing the requirements of the weaker brother here, the person who doesn’t understand the requirements that God has placed upon us in terms of support or anything else. What he’s saying is he’ll put aside some of those liberties to the end that those people be built up in the faith. Not that they’re left in the weakened condition, but that they’d be built up in the faith.

And that’s what he says in this verse as well. But in any event, it’s important to remember that example that God has given us through Jesus, of course, first and then through a minister of Jesus, Paul, in denying your own self liberties for the sake of others, putting aside your own life that you might minister to other people.

Verse 35, “I’ve shown you all things how that so laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive.”

And again there the idea is to support the weak—support means to build up, to bring them to the place to put them into the place they’re strengthened in that particular area they may be having problems with. And that’s important to remember—that’s a requirement of all people in the church and certainly the elders should exemplify that as well.

Verse 36, “And when he had thus spoken, he kneel down and prayed with them all.”

And of course, it’s important just to pause there and reflect upon the importance of prayer. Prayer isn’t just something we tack on to our Christian life. So often it can become that. And yet prayer demonstrates a reliance upon God, upon his finished work, upon his providence in creation, a calling forth from God for other people and for ourselves, to order our lives, and to make us obedient to the ordering that God has given to it.

It’s important that we recognize that throughout this whole speech, Paul is demonstrating a reliance upon God and his providence. And that’s wrapped up in the end here by this prayer and by a kneeling down to pray. I don’t know if we’ll ever have kneeling pads in this church or not. But I don’t think it’s something we should necessarily just reject out of hand. I think prayer is important to recognize and our physical posture before God is frequently a reminder to us of our position of humility and of going to our heavenly father supplicant as it were.

That’s our relationship to him and we should one way to remember that is to pray on your knees. It’s a good thing for all of us to pray on our knees at times and maybe even frequently in our homes when we have family devotions to teach our children our correct reverence for our heavenly father. Our society is marked by such informality and everybody’s a friend and a big brother. Several people have remarked about how you look at the paintings of Jesus and I just got a new publication in that had several paintings depicting the way Jesus has been portrayed over the last 600 years or so and in old paintings in the early medieval church and you saw Jesus portrayed as king, as a ruling authority, and having always some sort of symbol of rule in his hand.

And yet we’ve now got most pictures of Jesus as a big friend to us, a big brother as it were, somebody to help us out when we have problems. And so there’s—and certainly there’s some truth to that of course. Jesus is a friend to sinners and he’s an encouragement and a help to us. But he’s king. And it’s important that we teach our children that he’s not just there to help them out of scrapes. He’s there because he’s king of kings and lord of lords. We’re to bow the knee to him, of course, mentally, but also physically, we’re to bow the knee to him.

And I might just say here too that I think that same thing is true in other relationships that we have as well. Fathers and mothers are being honored by children. And I remember we’ve been talking about this several times in the last few weeks for another reason which I’ll may or may not bring up later. But there was a show on PBS several months ago about the English Revolution and Cromwell in that period of time and the attitude—and they all try to do is portray things historically of course. I mean there was obviously some errors there, there was bias. The hero was a loyalist, you know, royalist instead of a Puritan.

But in any event the point I’m trying to make is that culture then was permeated with the preaching of the gospel and had a much stronger apprehension of God as king and the children had much more obedience to their parents and a reverence for them. One of the very first episodes, I believe, was sitting there watching these two daughters 20 and 22 something like that and somebody enters into the room and they get down on their hands and knees before this person. They bow down before him. We wonder, is this the king come into the house? No, it wasn’t the king. It was their father. But they have that kind of reverence and loyalty and humility before their father.

Fathers and mothers represent God to the children. They’re the vehicle through which God has provided, again in his providence, to rear children. And our children should be taught that we’re their friends, yes, but that we’re also in a position of authority over them. They’re to have humility and reverence to parents. And that humility and reverence, if they fail to give it to parents, it is quite doubtful that they’ll give it to God later when they become adults as well. And so, we have to be careful what we teach our children about the relationship to their heavenly father and what we teach them about our relationship to our children as well.

Well, in any event, prayer is important and humility before God is important. And I was going to mention this last week and I—it just slipped my mind—but I mentioned it several weeks ago. I was meeting with a group of pastors and about some of the problems with our society and the legislature and whatnot. And the people that put it on did a real nice thing. They had a little cloth bag there, purple bag or something at every place setting. And I wonder what that was. At the end, as they concluded the evening, they had one of the pastors there read from Daniel’s prayer of repentance.

And that little bag had some sackcloth and some ashes and I have a little thing you can hang it up on the mirror in your car to remind ourselves that we must come to God repentant for the sins of this nation which we have also are responsible for and we talked before—but the fundamental tactic of Christian resistance is understanding that tyrannies that are brought upon us are the judgment of God, judgment of God for sin that we’ve committed as a nation and we think we can cure things in this nation without going through a period of repentance before God in our own households as individuals and also as churches, the nation, we won’t see a turning back to God.

As we said, repentance is part of the essential gospel of God. And if that gospel has requirements upon us as we continue to live on our lives, then repentance is one of those requirements as well when we sin and to recognize our sin as a nation as well.

Verse 37, “They all wept sore and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him.”

Now, that’s quite an indication of the importance of his ministry and the demonstration that he had given to them, of his humility and of his compassion for them. These people loved Paul dearly and he had value. He was a valued friend and overseer to them as overseers of the flock and they would be missed. He would be missed.

Don’t want to dwell long on this but it’s true that in our society one of the unfortunate aspects of it is that we do have kind of a strengthened sense of individualism in this country. Individualism is good. Of course we all have to be self-governing. But if individualism somehow weakens our compassion for each other and the ability that we have to cry tears and—we’re going to be away from people that we love and may not ever see them again—something’s wrong in our culture.

God has Paul demonstrate his compassion for the overseers and as an example to them to have compassion for the people they would minister in the midst of and that’s to be an example to the flock. We’re supposed to be concerned for each other—not just that we all crack the whips so we all obey but because we love one another and we recognize that if we sin we’re going to be judged by God. And that should be our motivation when we go to people in this church—correct if we have to for corrective reasons ever. It’s to help them. It’s not to somehow come down with God’s judgment upon them. Of course, there’s the aspect of honoring God and his presence in the community as well.

I’m not denying that. The point is that there’s obviously here a sense of compassion one for another that our society is really sorely in need of. And I think that it’s a direct result of the teaching that we receive in our churches.

Verse 38, “Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake that they should see his face no more, and they accompanied him under the ship.”

And again, here an indication that they were going to miss Paul personally as an individual as well as of course his ministry among them but they wouldn’t see him anymore and so that would made them very sad.

So we have then a conclusion of that particular portion of Acts. We’ve seen various aspects of eldership there that we’ve talked about. Now 1 Timothy 1, verse 3—in 1 Timothy 1—so you can turn back to that portion of scripture now.

Paul says, “As I besought thee to abide still in Ephesus when I ran to Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine.”

Now, that gives us somewhat of a transition between Acts 20 and our consideration of what’s in First Timothy and the requirements of the overseers stated there. I must say though that we don’t really know when this occurred in verse three. We don’t know when Paul had Timothy stay at Ephesus and went into Macedonia. There are various theories on this and I won’t bore you with them all, but it is not the incident that we’ve just recorded because Paul then wouldn’t expect to come back to see Timothy at Ephesus. So that really probably is not the incident we’re talking about here. May not be any incident in the book of Acts—maybe outside of the history recorded for us in Acts.

But the important thing is to recognize that Timothy did minister in Ephesus and that Paul did specifically give him charge or oversight over individuals there and as a result of that had requirements upon him as an overseer of the flocks. And so it’s a good way to transition into consideration of 1 Timothy 1. And we won’t go into an extended discussion of much in this scripture today, but we do want to bring your attention to just a couple of aspects of this passage.

I think they’re very pertinent for our times today. First of all, I want you to notice that in verse one, Paul in his declaration in his introduction to the letter salutation says, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God, our savior.”

Now, we just gloss over these things frequently, but it’s important that we stop and consider the words that God has in his providence through the working of the Holy Spirit caused me in the text here. And this is not the normal salutation that Paul gives. Paul says that he is an apostle. First of all, that’s fairly normal to assert his apostolic authority over the people that he writes to. And since this is a pastoral letter—in other words, a letter written to a pastor or an elder to give him specific instructions for the household of God—it’s certainly appropriate that Paul would put forth his apostolic claims.

But he says he’s an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God. Well, that’s interesting. He’s going to give Timothy some charges here and remind him of charges to give to other people. And I think one of the reasons he uses “commandment of God” here is to set up this whole idea that there’s authority being transmitted through this letter. That authority is going to filter down to other people as well.

And that Paul’s been called into his position of authority not of his own regard, but by the commandment of God. God has in his providence produced order in society. And part of that order is providing apostles and then providing elders and then providing other overseers of other flocks and of course the individual in his family as well with a exercise of government in the family. The point is that order of God in terms of his authority structures that he’s created is hearkened to here by Paul at the beginning of this epistle.

But then he says “by the commandment of God our savior.” Now I think if we could just for the rest of our lives keep in mind that phrase—the commandment of God our savior—we would do well in life. And unfortunately, this fact that God is our savior first of all is not recognized by most people. They look to all kinds of other methods of salvation. And Paul is saying that God is the author of our salvation. It is the righteousness given to us in Jesus Christ provided by God that produces our salvation.

There’s salvation in none other as we say in our communion service weekly. But the God that saves us also commands us. God is a savior. Jesus Christ is our savior. But Jesus Christ is our king who gives specific commands to the society that he has ordered. Remember we talked about that movie the Mission and how the Jesuit man there—several of the Jesuit priests in training—say well I don’t think we should do this. And the guy says look at this—isn’t a democracy. This is an order. Now that doesn’t mean of course that in the church we don’t seek out counsel advice. We certainly do in our own households. We be fools. Scriptures tell us to seek God’s many counselors but God in our household has provided fathers and then has assistance to the father and mothers to command that household. Our households are not to be a democracy. They’re an order. They’re a society. And so all society is reflected to that same principle of authority.

Jesus Christ who is God is our savior and he is our king. He is our savior king. And if we could just keep that in mind in everything that we put our hand to do, we would do Well.

Implications of that verse three: “As I besought thee, as I said, or as I read earlier, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine.”

Now, the word “charge” here means to take an order from one person and deliver it unto another. And Timothy had been charged by Paul to give the false teachers at Ephesus a charge not to teach this foolish doctrine they were teaching. And so, again, this authority structure under King Jesus delegated through various officers is spoken to here and Timothy has real authority over the people that he is to charge.

Authority is certainly set. The context of all this is that the charges they teach no other doctrine. Nothing dissimilar to what has been taught to them in the scriptures plainly and by the people that God has in his prophets sent there to minister to them in the person of Paul, Timothy, and the other people that God had sent to the church. They were teaching other doctrines.

Now, it goes on in verse four in terms of the specifics of what those doctrines are, but those aren’t the only things outlawed by Paul as it were. Remember, in Galatians, of course, he says that if I or an angel from heaven come and preach another gospel to you than the gospel that you’ve heard, let that mean be a curse. He says it twice—two-fold witness—and to also indicate the importance of what he’s saying. The gospel doesn’t change. And for people to teach a false gospel is tremendous sin in which they’re to be charged by the elders who have oversight over doctrinal matters in the church to avoid.

And so we see here one more function of the eldership and we don’t have time to deal with it in depth but one—and it’s been hinted at of course in Acts 20 as well and we could have made this point from several verses there. The elder has authority to guard not just himself and the church. The elder has authority to guard the purity of doctrine that’s taught as well. He is to guard the purity of the word.

And here the elder Timothy’s position as an overseer of that particular group was charged by Paul to continue that charge to guard the truth itself. The truth of scripture is important. It is the foundation for our very lives in society and it must be guarded as well. And so Timothy has that charge given to him to charge other men to teach no other doctrines.

And as I said in verse four, there’s some specifics given. I would probably just summarize that as speculative theology instead of strengthening theology. The idea is that there were a lot of foolish things they were bringing out that had no use, no practical use to edifying the saints and that led the saints away into many various and sundry doctrines which were actually counterproductive to them. And we have to be very careful we don’t enter into speculative theology instead of strengthening theology as elders and as teachers.

And then he goes on to say something again very important in verse five. “Now the end of the commandment is charity or love out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned.”

This is really important. The end of the commandment—what is the commandment here? Now, he may have reference to the law of God, but probably not. The term here used probably refers back to the commandment that he’s giving Timothy to command these other men to keep purity of doctrine.

The end result of commandment though in terms of purity of doctrine is love marked by a pure heart, good conscience and a faith unfeigned. Those things are elements of the central term which is the love that is the result of the commandment. God teaches us here that doctrine is important and that an emphasis upon doctrine will not be counterproductive to love, faith, pure hearts, and good consciences. And in fact, the teaching of good doctrine will yield that love.

That’s what Paul is saying here. Anywhere you cut it—with either think it applies specifically to the laws of God, specifically, or the commandments just issued through this authority structure to keep those laws pure and undefiled from other laws. Either way you cut it, the point is that doctrine and the teaching that the elders are performing in the churches is important and will yield love. Orthodoxy and orthopraxy—right teaching and right thinking and right doctrine—will yield right acting.

And if it doesn’t, there’s something wrong. That’s what I’m trying to say. There’s no division between those two. What I’m trying to say. It’s not a cause and effect necessarily, but those things are not seen as somehow disconnected. They’re coupled by Paul. Very important to recognize that.

And if we have improper orthopraxy or practice in our churches in our nation today, it’s probably because we have some very poor doctrine being taught. And of course, we know that to be the case.

Point to recognize in this context also that some people use verse 7 as an injunction as a command not to use law. He says verse 7, “Desire to be teachers of the law understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.”

They say: see, you’re not supposed to teach the law. Well that’s ridiculous because it goes right on in verse 8 to say, “We know the law is good if a man use it lawfully.”

The problem with people wasn’t that they wanted to be teachers of the law. The problem was they wanted to be teachers of the law. They didn’t understand the law. They didn’t comprehend it functionally or probably ethically either. And as a result, their teaching was astray and unprofitable and actually would serve to the detriment of the church. So he’d be charged by Timothy not to do it. He wasn’t saying here it’s wrong to teach the law and the application of God’s word to all of life.

He says in verse 8, as I said just the reverse: the law is good if we use it properly. He goes on in the next couple of verses to say one of the proper uses of it is restraint of influence upon evildoers. And if that’s what the civil government is to do—specifically in terms of application here now—restraint of evildoers. Then why do we object to the civil government using the law of God and its proper function which is to restrain evil in society both among the regenerate and unregenerate to take away and I have heard of instances where people use these very verses to take action against individuals who taught the applicability of the law to civil government.

Well, that is just a denial or a complete perversion of this passage. It’s just the reverse. It’s the improper use of the law and understanding the implications of God’s law. That’s what Paul is charging Timothy to suppress. The law is important. The law is related to the gospel. The law, the commandment yields orthopraxy and the fruit of righteous living.

Verse 11, “All of this, he says, is according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.”

He ties all that he says so far in terms of this charge to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And here is one more indication—just like we’ve had three indications in the book of Acts—that the gospel is not somehow some truncated form of life and health insurance or life and fire insurance. That’s not what the gospel is. It has implications for the commands that are being taught, the correct doctrine, the correct living that will come from the preaching of that correct doctrine. That’s the gospel of Jesus Christ. All this is according to the gospel of Christ—the gospel of Christ’s implications of verse one of that savior that we have and his implications for the commands that savior gives us.

The lordship of Jesus Christ is part of the gospel is what I’m saying here. The kingship of Jesus Christ is part of the gospel. And of course the salvation, the salvific effects of that upon our lives in terms both of eternity but also now—to save us from present sin, now in our own lives—delivered from the bondage of sin. All those things are elements of the gospel of Christ and must be taught.

Now remember he say, “Don’t allow people to teach a different gospel.” Well, this charge, if it was applied in our churches today, would be a tremendous corrective that would have implications throughout society because what do we have? We have a truncated gospel being taught. That’s different than the gospel that he has told us about in Acts 20 and it’s different than this gospel in First Timothy.

And as a result, many of the pastors that are this morning preaching from the pulpit are preaching truncated gospels. Those truncated gospels not acknowledging salvation through Jesus Christ alone, present and the future and the kingship of Jesus Christ ethical demands now as well as the eternal reign that will come about progressively through the preaching of that gospel.

That gospel is being preached this morning in another pulpit that denies those things. The savior king’s coming and his effectual work—those men are leading to the destruction of our nation because he’s told us that orthopraxy comes out of orthodoxy. And if we have a heterodoxy, another gospel being taught, other doctrine that isn’t correct from God, what are we going to see in our society? What we’re going to see is what we’ve got.