Grace Bible Church Gillette, Wyoming

1. Paul’s challenge to the Ephesian elders at Miletus included a description of the manner in which he lived among them (Ac 20:18). They observed his manner of life in his service to the Lord, humility, and tears. He also added that he went through trials, some of which they knew about and observed how he handled them.

2. Paul referred to the specific trials that came against him through the plots of the Jews (Ac 20:19b). All throughout Paul’s ministry, he had received persecution from the Jews. Almost immediately after his conversion the Jews began to persecute him for claiming that Jesus was the Son of God (Ac 9:20, 23).

3. On Paul’s first missionary journey, he was opposed by Elymas, a Jewish false prophet (Ac 13:8). In Antioch of Pisidia, a persecution was instigated upon Paul through the Jews, influencing the prominent people of the city (Ac 13:50). In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas were driven out of the city by Jews and Gentiles (Ac 14:5). At Lystra and Derbe the Jews instigated the stoning of Paul by which he was left for dead (Ac 14:19).

4. On Paul’s second missionary journey, the Jews pursued him from Thessalonica to Berea (Ac 17:13-14). At Corinth, the Jews threatened to persecute Paul but God prevented them from laying a hand on him (Ac 18:12-13).

5. On Paul’s third missionary journey and while at Ephesus, the Jews became hardened, spoke evil against the Way, and took away disciples (Ac 19:9). From Greece, attempting to sail directly to Jerusalem, Paul was forced to detour by land because the Jews had plotted to kill him at sea (Ac 20:3).

B. Bound in Spirit (22)

1. Paul was “bound in spirit” (NASB) to go to Jerusalem. This could refer either to the Holy Spirit (“compelled by the Spirit” NET) or to Paul’s spirit. It very well could refer to Paul’s own spirit when connected with the earlier context where he, “purposed in the spirit” (Ac 19:21) to go to Jerusalem. The article before the word “spirit” (tō pneumati) is sometimes used in reference to the human spirit (Ac 18:25; Col 2:5). Paul may have been personally bound to go to Jerusalem because of his sense of duty to deliver the donations from other churches to the suffering Jerusalem church.

2. In either case, Paul did not know what circumstances lay ahead for him in Jerusalem.

C. Holy Spirit Testified to Persecution (23)

1. However, Paul did know through the Holy Spirit that in every city, he would have some degree of persecution.

2. At the time just after Paul’s conversion, the Lord revealed to Paul through Ananias that he would suffer for the Lord’s name’s sake (Ac 9:16).

3. In addition, wherever Paul went, the Holy Spirit solemnly testified to him about imprisonment and persecution.

4. In addition, Paul taught this universal truth to all churches (Ac 14:22; Php 1:29; 2Ti 3:12 cf. 1Pe 4:12-13).

D. Paul’s Attitude Toward Persecution (24)

1. His life was of no account.

a) In regard to persecution, Paul’s life was not “dear unto himself.” Paul did not consider his life of any account (logos) as “precious” (timios - valued or precious).

b) This was not a reckless attitude of self-abandonment. Rather, as a true bondservant, Paul’s life was at the disposal of Christ, his Lord and Master.

c) It meant that Paul was determined, ready, and willing to suffer for Christ (Ac 21:13). Paul’s attitude was that he already suffered the loss of all things for the excellency of knowing Christ (Php 3:8, 10). Paul’s ultimate goal was to exalt Christ whether by life or by death (Php 1:20-21). Paul found no comparison between present sufferings and future glory (Ro 8:17)

2. He had to finish his course.

a) The completion of Paul’s course and ministry was the driving force of his life. The main reason was that Paul had received this course and ministry from the Lord Jesus.

b) Paul was indeed an apostle who had been called by the Lord Jesus Christ (Ac 9:6, 15; 22:14-15; Gal 1:1). Because it was the Lord that commissioned Paul, and because he was the Lord’s bondservant, Paul was consumed with accomplishing the Lord’s will (2Ti 4:7-8).

c) Paul was following the example of the Lord (Jn 4:34; 5:17; 6:38; 17:4; 19:30).

3. He had to share the gospel of grace.

a) The course that Paul was to finish was to share the gospel to the ends of the earth (cf. Ac 1:8). Paul’s passion was to take the gospel to the people and lands that had not heard the gospel (Ro 15:20-21).

b) Paul’s gospel was a gospel upon which God’s grace was emphasized. Grace is the unmerited favor of God through the Lord Jesus Christ, which is given to undeserving sinners (Ep 2:8-9). When Paul spoke of not shrinking from declaring the “whole purpose of God,” it would include the grace of God, which alone is responsible for the salvation of man (cf. 1Pe 1:1-3).

IV. PROTECTION FROM FALSE TEACHERS (28-31)

A. Be on Guard for Yourselves (28)

1. Paul exhorted the Ephesian elders to protect the flock from false teachers (28-31). But in order to fulfill that, there was a prerequisite, namely to “be on guard for yourselves.”

2. In order to be an example to others, to teach others, and to keep others from following false teaching, the elders had to maintain first and foremost their own spiritual lives.

3. The phrase “be on guard” is the Greek word prosecho, which means, “turning or holding one's mind to someone or something” (Friberg). It would imply paying careful attention to something.

4. The verb is a present active imperative that could be translated, “you must keep on being on guard.” It is personal and emphatic because the word “yourselves” (eautois) is added. Spiritual life must first be personal and prominent before someone can oversee it in the life of others.

5. Jesus used the same word and it is most often translated as “beware” (NASB). The areas that Jesus applied this warning were: (1) of outward appearances (Mt 6:1), (2) of false prophets (Mt 7:15), (3) of persecution (Mt 10:17), (4) of false teaching of Pharisees (Mt 16:6), (5) of unforgiveness (Lk 17:3), (6) of hearts weighed down with sin and worries of the world (Lk 21:34).

B. Shepherd the Church of God

1. The importance of spiritual leadership was understood by the fact that the Holy Spirit had made them “overseers” (episkopos - scope over). The Holy Spirit leads and guides in the appointment and administration of church leadership.

2. The local flock was the local church of God. It was this flock (or church) that the elders were to “shepherd” (poimainō - tend, feed, herd). Shepherding in the church has many facets (administration, provision, caring cf. 1Pe 5:2-3) but the most important facet is feeding the flock with the Word of God.

3. When the resurrected Christ commissioned Peter three times, He commanded Peter to feed the flock (Jn 21:15, 17, “tend” boskō - to feed).

4. Peter taught that believers need the spiritual milk of the Word to grow in their spiritual lives (1Pe 2:2). The writer of Hebrews reproved his readers for being immature and subsisting on only milk and not the solid food of deeper truths (He 5:12).

5. The way to keep the flock from false teaching is by teaching the truth of the Word of God (Ep 4:14-15).

Grace Bible Church · 4000 E. Collins Rd · PO Box #3762 · Gillette, WY · (307) 686-1516