In his sermon 'Portrait of a Pastor: His Calling,' Peter Allison discusses Paul's farewell address to the Ephesian elders as detailed in Acts 20. Paul recounts his example, emphasizing his transparency, humility, and the emotional bonds he formed with the church leaders. His ministry was characterized by teaching the whole counsel of God, serving with humility, and not withholding helpful teachings even when difficult. Paul describes his calling as a life-controlling mission given by God, guiding his decisions despite the known risks of chains and tribulations. The sermon highlights the importance of pastors being trained by example within the church context and emphasizes the dual shepherding role of feeding and protecting the flock. Paul warns of external and internal threats to the church, urging elders to be vigilant. The sermon concludes with the importance of joy in fulfilling one's calling and the responsibility of shepherds to be accountable for those under their care.

Our Scripture reading is Acts 20, beginning at verse 17. From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them, you know from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials, which happened to me, by the plotting of the Jews, how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed to you and taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me.

Nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God. And indeed now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. To shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel.

Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities and for those who were with me. I have shown you in every way by laboring like this that you must support the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And then they all wept freely and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied Him to the ship.

May we not delay to keep all His commandments. Heavenly Father, please instruct us out of Your Word. Illuminate our hearts. Enable us to understand and discern the spiritual matters, the things that our natural minds are not able to understand apart from You. And I ask that you would sanctify and cleanse my sinful lips that they may proclaim the gospel, the good news of the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

Amen. Well, as I mentioned last week, our approach to this passage is to examine the message in its entirety each week by following one theme or one thread as it runs throughout this farewell exhortation to the Ephesian elders. And we saw that this passage provides a portrait of a pastor. And I've broken that portrait down or summarized it under seven headings, which are his example, which we looked a bit at last week, his calling, which is what we want to look at today, as well then as his method, his message, his motive, his self-examination, and finally his power. What is the power behind this?

And so Paul began, we saw last week that he began his address to these elders of the Ephesian Church by recounting various facets of his own example as their fellow elder among them for three years in the Ephesian church beginning with verse 18. He's in Miletus. The ship has stayed there for a couple days probably needing to unload cargo and load up more and he's called the elders down and he begins and once they get there this would probably be the next Sunday after Troas once they get there he opens this saying you know you know from the first day I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you. It's the transparency of His walk in their midst. You know.

You know these things. We saw that He established deep and meaningful personal relationships with the elders. He wasn't distant or clerical in his manner there. This is obvious in a number of places. It's from the you know, which he opens up here, to the sorrow the elders experienced on learning he might not see them again.

To the kisses and embraces that characterized His departure in verses 37 and 38. You see, we see a man who experienced real emotions. They wept freely. They embraced each other. They kissed each other.

Because we are all real people with real emotions. We saw the character of His ministry. He reminds them in verse 19 how He served the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials that was occasioned by the opposition of the Jews and the conspiracies to kill him or stop him. We see how he prayed with them. That was a part of his example.

We also saw the time that he spent alone with God in prayer as He walked from Troas to Asos. In verse 20, He says they also know how He didn't omit unpleasant topics. He didn't omit or avoid things that were difficult or hard to communicate. He kept back nothing, he says, that was helpful. Even when it's hard.

It's hard to confront somebody who may be going astray because they often don't want to hear that they're going astray. But Paul says he didn't keep anything back. If it was going to be helpful to them, whether they wanted to hear it, whether they were open to hearing it, whether they made it easy or not. He said he didn't hold back. And he recounts his ministry from house to house.

He didn't just speak in front of large crowds and talk to important people, but he ministered individually from house to house with families and individuals. Verse 21 shows His boldness in preaching and testifying to everyone. Jews and Greeks, the message of repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus Christ. We saw in His consistent example in life and in doctrine. He didn't covet money.

He taught through his example as well as his words how they must support those who were weak and needed help. You see, his Example is important because God ordinarily equips pastors through the training of another pastor. And a big part of that training is their example. That's how we learn things. It's how we all learn things.

Through watching somebody else do their work. And we learn from that. That's how Sons and daughters learn their respective trades and crafts, isn't it? They learn by watching mother and father. And there's a progression in that.

They start out watching us, And then they start helping us. And as they learn more, they can continue to be a bigger help. And pretty soon they can take over that work with our help and assistance. And pretty soon, the end goal is that we can watch them engage in that work. And that's the process here that we see Paul going through with these Ephesian elders.

And see, that's why it's so important for pastors to be trained by other pastors in the context of the church. An academic institution is a wonderful place to learn how to be an academic scholar. And there is certainly an academic component to a pastor's calling. But it's not necessarily a great place to learn how to be a shepherd. That happens in the pastor watching other shepherds at work.

And that pastor in this context is the church. So it's very important that pastors should be trained by other pastors in the context of the church. And that's exactly what Christ did with His twelve disciples. And that's what we see Paul doing here for three years with these Ephesian elders. He trained up a presbytery of elders, instructing them in the art of shepherding a church, instructing them in the Scriptures.

We know he used books in that instruction at Ephesus because in 2 Timothy 4, he instructs Timothy to bring his parchments when he comes to him from Ephesus. And so we come then to this place in Paul's address where he begins to talk about his Calling. And I should probably, in bringing that word into this text, I'm introducing a word that's not in this text. And you could rightly ask, well, what does calling have to do with this passage? So I'd like to first define that word and then see how it applies here.

Because Calling or call is one of those words that has a lot of different meanings. Native speakers can understand which particular meaning is being referenced by the context. But it can mean anything from what we call or name something to waking somebody up from their nighttime sleep. But the sense in which we're using it this morning refers to an invitation to assume a special or particular responsibility or office. An invitation to assume a special or particular responsibility, to undertake a particular responsibility or office.

And then when God is the one calling us, it's better understood as a command to a life-controlling responsibility or mission. Our calling is the purpose for which we have been put on the earth. And it's characterized by what we contribute to our families, our church, and our culture in which we live over our lives. That's what our calling represents. And of course, as Christians, we all have a calling to serve the Lord.

And the Bible speaks of this calling that we have as Christians in several places. Paul instructed Timothy, in 2 Timothy 1, 9, that God has saved us and called us with a holy calling. Not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ before the foundation of the world. God has called us with a holy calling to be His saints. Hebrews 3.1 refers to us as partakers of the heavenly calling.

And in Ephesians 4.1, Paul instructed them to walk worthy of the calling with which they were called. He instructed new converts in the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 7 to remain in the same calling in which they were called after being converted. That if they were a slave, they could remain in that. Now, if they were able to be free, they should do that. But It was acceptable, it was good for them to remain in their current calling.

They didn't need to drop their jobs and run into something else. And in Romans 11, we're taught that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. What He calls us to, He doesn't repent of. Paul told the Thessalonian Church That he and his ministry team always were praying that God would count them worthy of this calling and fulfill all his good pleasure You know That the name of the Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in them and you in Him. And we all have our callings as well as mothers, as fathers, as husbands, as wives.

Some people like King David are called to be civil rulers. And their job is to bless those who do well and bring God's wrath on those who do evil. They are a minister of God's wrath. And others are called to be evangelists, to bring the Gospel to the highways and the byways. See, our work or our occupation, our vocation, is one means through which our calling, our mission in life is to be fulfilled.

It's not the end in itself. And so in verse 22 then Paul brings up his current situation, his example in the present, in order to teach about the priority of his calling in setting the direction of his life. Paul was called as a minister of the Gospel, as an apostle to the Gentiles, to bring the Gospel of the grace of God to them. That was his calling. It was a calling that the Lord had given him.

And the priority of this call was a deciding factor in what he did or did not do. It was, as it were, the compass by which he charted the course of his life. The guide by which he made the decisions of what he would do and what he wouldn't do. It was a question of was it going to further his calling and the successful completion of his calling or not. And so the priority of his call, his life-controlling mission or responsibility to preach the Gospel, it bound him to go to Jerusalem, even though he didn't know what would happen to him there.

Except that his experience there would involve chains and tribulations. That's all he knew. He didn't know what was going to happen. There was a lot that was unknown, But that didn't stop him from moving forward, because he knew that was where God was calling him. He knew that was what he was required to do.

It wasn't just a likely scenario that he might be in chains and deal with tribulation. No, it was through the testimony of the Holy Spirit that he knew for a fact that he was going to face imprisonment and tribulations. Because in every city, he says, that people were testifying through the Spirit to what He would face in Jerusalem. And even after He left Miletus, people continued to testify through the Spirit that chains and afflictions would face him in Jerusalem. In the next chapter in verse 4, the Christians there tell Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem.

Because they're concerned for him. They're looking at it from the standpoint of here's a man who is very useful and valuable and precious to us and to the church. We don't want him getting arrested and thrown in jail or killed. So They don't want him to go. They're evaluating what he should do based on what they see would be best for the church.

What they think would be best for themselves in the church. And based on their love for Paul. In Caesarea, Agabus, in the next chapter, a prophet bound his own hands and feet with Paul's belt, declaring on the authority of revelation from the Holy Spirit that this is what would happen to Paul in Jerusalem. And he was right. That did happen.

But you see, because his calling was from God, because his calling was his controlling influence in his life, he says none of these things moved him. None of these things moved him. Nor did he count his own life dear to himself. Why? So that he might finish his race with joy and the ministry which he has received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the Gospel of the grace of God.

So none of these concerns moved him. He said His own life is not dear to Him in order that He can fulfill His calling as an apostle. A calling that He received from the Lord. And we all have received a calling from the Lord. You see, this decision to go to Jerusalem had been made back in chapter 19.

Verse 21, when these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem saying, after I have been there, I must go see Rome. So Paul had purposed in the Spirit, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, this was where he needed to be. This was where He had set His heart to go. And so none of these other factors then moved Him, even to the point of not counting His own life dear to Himself. His life was dedicated to the fulfilling of His calling and the mission that God had given him.

You see, neither Jesus nor the Apostles in the New Testament ever hit or downplayed the cost of discipleship. There's no bait and switch with the Lord. There's no promises about how God has a wonderful plan for our life and can make our life so much easier if we only become a Christian only to find out later of all the trials and the tribulations that are involved. Rather, we are instructed to count the costs before we begin. When the multitudes started coming to Christ, He started preaching about the high cost of being a disciple.

You have to be willing, He said, to forsake everything you have. Luke 14, I'll just read from there, verse 25, Now great multitudes went with Him. He's having success as a preacher. People were flocking to hear him because he taught with authority. And his message then became, if anyone comes to me and doesn't hate his father or mother, or wife and brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life.

In other words, you're willing to risk your own life. He cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And for which of you intending to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he can finish it. Lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build and he was not able to finish.

You know, sometimes that happens when we don't count the cost. I remember growing up in San Jose for the whole time we were there, for a number of years, there was sitting right next to a highway, 50 foot section of bridge up on the pillars and everything, just sitting there. No connection to it, no connection from it. It just sat there. Somebody had started to build something and hadn't counted the cost.

And we saw it every time we drove down the freeway. And you always wonder, what were they thinking? Obviously a lot of money had been spent to build what was there. Or what king going to war against another king does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with 10, 000 to meet Him who comes against him with 20, or else while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So Jesus says, so likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has, cannot be my disciple.

See, Jesus is very clear from the very beginning about the cost of being his disciple, but he's also very clear about his power to bring us through the chains and the tribulations. He told his disciples, in this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And I'm telling you these things, He said, so that in Me you can have peace. See, when we enter the fields of labor without counting the cost, we may be tempted to give up when the cost becomes higher than what we're willing to pay.

The cost of being a disciple is that we're ready to forsake all. And don't hold even our own life as dear to ourselves. Our calling as parents is to be fruitful and multiply. And that has costs associated with it. Mothers bear children knowing the cost that wear and tear on their bodies.

The cost to their sleep, the cost to their dreams for a corporate career. Fathers have children knowing the financial costs that will occur and the toil that will be involved and necessary to pay those costs. They have families knowing the pleasures they may have to forego for the sake of their family. See, the calling of the Great commission has costs. Missionaries go into foreign lands knowing that they risk their lives, their health, and that they will have to make sacrifices regard to their families and their ability to be near their children or their grandchildren or their other extended families.

They'll have to make sacrifices regarding the relatively easy way of American life. And so Paul in verse 24 gives his calling in order to point out, in order to show and instruct these Ephesian elders how it was the controlling influence in his life. He was living in the midst of a real life example of how he was making a decision to do something that he was called to do, despite the risk and the sacrifices he would have to make to do it. He had counted the cost and he was prepared to face them. Now that certainly doesn't mean we shouldn't be wise about these matters to reduce the risks and minimize the cost.

We study our bodies to learn how to maintain them. We seek to maximize our finances and minimize our toil with appropriate tools and methods. But these considerations always have to be subject to fulfilling our calling and our purpose and our mission. Because successful completion of that mission is the overriding priority. Now it doesn't also mean that we are impervious in our human nature to risks.

Paul is bound, he's going out of duty, not because his flesh enjoys change and tribulations. But his commitment here is to being faithful and to bring glory enables him to do what his flesh doesn't feel like doing. He asked the Roman church to pray for Him that He would be faithful to His calling, because it's contrary to what our human nature wants to do. He says in Romans 15, He writes to them, Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit that you strive together with me in prayer to God for me, that I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints." Paul is a person. He had a human nature.

He didn't want to go into some place with change and tribulation. And he asked this church to join with him in praying, to strive in prayer even, for Him, that He would be faithful and that the Lord would deliver Him from those in Judea who do not believe. He's praying. See, we don't pray for tribulations. We don't ask the Lord to send them.

He sends them. We pray that He would deliver us from them and that we would be faithful through them. And He gives them this prayer because Remember, he says, I want to come to you. And so he says, well, pray that I may come to you with joy by the will of God and be refreshed together with you. So they had an incentive to pray that you would be preserved through that.

Now, well-meaning people can also seek to dissuade us from our calling. I think this is a very real issue. Well-meaning people can seek to dissuade us from our calling. In every city, people were telling Paul not to go, because they were concerned for his safety and well-being. He says in every city, he hears this testimony.

And we get some details in the next chapter, if we can take a peek into the next chapter. There are a couple examples there, I'll give you one of them. But Agabus is a prophet and he seeks to dissuade him from going. You see, these are like tests. They're tests to see if we are faithful to our calling.

There's an example, really striking example. I just still marvel at this example given in 1 Kings 13 about a similar challenge that's given to a prophet who is carrying out a mission. This prophet from Judea, and we're never given names, but he's told to deliver a prophecy to King Jeroboam. Jeroboam had built these idols in Bethel and Dan so that people wouldn't have to go to Jerusalem. And God told this prophet, you go tell Jeremiah my message.

He told him to bring a message saying, O altar, thus says the Lord, behold a child Josiah by name shall be born to the house of David, and on you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you.' And he said, he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign the Lord has spoken. Surely the altar will split apart, and the ashes will be poured out in the ground." So you can imagine this prophet coming publicly with this message. It's not a very friendly message. It's likely to be received as a friendly message by Jeroboam. So Jeroboam points at him and says, Seize him!

Well then he finds he can't draw his hand back. So then he realized, then the altar split apart and the ashes spilled out just like the prophet had said. So he realizes He's made a mistake and he asks the prophet to pray for him that he be healed, which the prophet did. He takes his hand back. Then he invites the prophet into his house to show him refreshment.

And the prophet says, no, I cannot, because I was commanded by the word of the Lord, saying, you shall not eat bread or drink water or return by the same way that you went. So he declines the invitation of the king because he has to be faithful to His mission, His calling. But another prophet comes up and says, come home with me. The other prophet meets him on the way going. And he gives him the same message.

I cannot go with you. Neither can I eat bread or drink water? And he gives him the same, I've been commanded. I can't eat any bread or drink any water in this place. I have to go home by a different way.

But this prophet then says, well, I told him about a prophet and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord saying, bring him back to your house that he may eat bread and drink water." And it says he was lying to him. But the prophet went back, contrary to what he'd been commanded. And as they were eating, the word of the Lord came to the lying prophet who had brought him back, and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judas saying, thus says the Lord, because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, but came back and ate bread and drank water, in the place of which the Lord said to you, eat no bread and drink no water, your corpse shall not come back to the tomb of your fathers." And when that prophet left, that's what happened. A lion came out and killed him but didn't harm the donkey, and it just stood there guarding the two. And the lying prophet went back and picked up his body and buried it and said, I want to be buried next to that guy.

That was a test. And that prophet failed. Even though he was carried out another part of his mission. And so Paul faced the same thing here. He faced these people trying to persuade him not to go up to Jerusalem.

But Paul was certain about his duty and his calling to go. And he did. And so it's only then after this rather lengthy recounting of his own example, including this current example in his own life at that moment, that Paul gets to, I think, in one sense, the heart of why He called these elders together. And that was to exhort them in their calling as the shepherds of this Ephesian church. A church that He had labored in for three years.

A church into which He had invested His blood, sweat, and tears. And so he begins this in verse 28 with therefore. Therefore. It's in light of his example. This example that he's just been telling them about.

It's in keeping this example in mind that he wants these elders to conduct their ministry. He has taught his people, his churches, his elders, that they are to imitate him as he imitates the Lord." So he says, therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." Take heed. Take heed to yourselves and to the flock. Take heed means to be in a state of alert. It means to be concerned about.

It means to care for. It means to pay close attention to something. They were to occupy themselves with this duty. To take heed means that you double check that you locked the door. It means you double check that you took care of a certain task if you don't remember.

It means that you exercise diligence in that. And you don't think, well, it is what it is. To take heed is to be devoted, dedicated. And this is the imperative, And this is the imperative. That they take heed both to themselves and to the flock.

Both they have to do both they because they they Are in a place where their fall their stumble is going to be a occasion of Blot of greater blasphemy of Christ. It's going to be an occasion of other people being led to stumble. So shepherds have to first be a shepherd of themselves. That's why the presbytery is so important in this matter. Because these are the shepherds of the shepherds.

And remember, as I said last week, pastors are sheep too. They're the shepherd. They're the under-shepherd, but they're also the sheep and they need the shepherding as well. Because they're just people. So there's a command here, take heed to yourselves.

First of all, you can't take care of other people if you're not able to take care of yourself. Isn't that what the airlines always tell you? Put the mask on yourself, and then you can put the mask on the person sitting next to you and your children. Because if you don't have any air yourself, you're not going to be able to do anything. So these elders are to take heed to themselves first and to this flock.

Now Paul calls them overseers. So they're called elders in this passage. Luke calls them elders. The elders are assembled together. And then Paul calls them overseers who are to shepherd.

So overseer is that word, episkopos. We get the word bishop from it. And sometimes I think in the King James, if you have a King James, it might be translated bishop. In the older translations That was what they used. It actually come bishop.

Doesn't sound like it comes from Episcopos, but according to etymology, it did. You drop the E, and so you have Episcopos. And the P morphs into a B, which happens in the transferring of languages, and apparently this word had some French aspect to it. So the P becomes a B, P to B, and the K, episkopos, becomes a H, And so we get biskof or bishop out of it. But most Bibles now translate that word, episkopos, not as bishop, but as overseer.

Because bishop has the connotation of some guy in a funny hat in some formal church setting. And it's really just an overseer. We might call them today a supervisor or a foreman. Elder and overseer are used interchangeably in the New Testament because elders are overseers as well as being shepherds. But the words do mean different things.

These are not technically synonyms. An elder is the office, and overseeing and shepherding are the functions that are performed in that office. If we look in the Old Testament at how the Hebrew, let's say, to take the Septuagint, and you see how they translated the Hebrew into Episcopal, we can gather the differences in these two words. Elders represented people. They always represented people.

That's probably the single characteristic that defined an elder, somebody who represented people. It could be representing the congregation, it could be representing a city, it could be representing a country, but they represented a body of people. And they exercised corporate authority. We never read of an elder doing anything. It's always the elders in plural that did something.

They commanded or they directed or they investigated or they met together or they decided. It's always in the plural because elders met corporately. They exercised corporate authority whereas overseers exercised an executive or supervisory authority. And they did exercise authority as individuals. We see an individual overseer, like Aaron, being given oversight over other people or over other processes and things.

And so when Paul uses this word overseer, it's not just adding color to his language. It's not an exact synonym. It's talking about the function of oversight. These elders were to have oversight in the church. And the purpose of their oversight, the purpose of their responsibility for the processes and the things that happened in the church was to shepherd the church.

And that was their job. They were to exercise oversight and shepherd the Church of God. And so shepherding involves two primary functions. It involves feeding and protecting. It's the job of a shepherd to feed and to protect.

In verse 27, we see what He fed. He fed the whole council of God. Pastors need to declare the whole counsel of God. See, if a flock is deficient in one mineral, and the shepherd provides everything that the flock could want in their diet, but except that one mineral, he would be a terrible shepherd in not providing that one thing. You say, well, it's just one thing.

Yes, but it's the one thing that's most needed. And likewise with pastors or parents or politicians or anybody else who has a responsibility to feed or to protect. If parents provide every food known to man except the one food that is most needed for that child, we would say they'd be a terrible parent. If politicians only tell people the things that they want to hear, they have failed as a leader. And if pastors avoid the controversial parts of God's Word, the parts that are unpopular in the culture at that time, the parts of the Word of God that are most necessary for Christ's church to hear at that time.

And they do that because they might step on toes or people might get offended, then they have failed in their duty as a pastor. Pastors, Shepherds are to provide still waters and green pastures. Rapids are dangerous. Sheep drown in rapids. So it's feeding is a matter of pointing the true and the right way.

The prophet Samuel could tell the Israelites, far be it from me, but as for me, he said far be it from me that I should sin against God in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and the right way." That was his calling. And he's saying he's going to do that regardless of whether the people were willing to accept him or not. This was in the context of the people wanting a king. And God said, no, they haven't rejected you, they've rejected me. But Samuel recognized there was a certain rejection there.

And Samuel's response is, I'm going to be faithful to my calling as a shepherd. Regardless of what you do, I'm going to continue to teach you the good and the right. And the second major duty of a shepherd is protection. And Paul gets into that in the next section. He says, verse 29, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Savage wolves are going to come in from the outside, bringing strange doctrines that would lead people astray, bringing errors, corrupting the truth, and bringing people into bondage. But he also says there's going to be wolves in their midst. And also, from among yourselves, from these very elders that He was talking to, men will rise up speaking perverse things, misleading things, to draw away disciples after themselves. That's always a danger sign when somebody is trying to make themselves popular. No good ever comes of that.

And there's an example in the New Testament in 3 John about an elder who was doing that. He talks about being, he had talked just earlier about being innocent of the blood of all people as a shepherd. And that's really a reference back to something Ezekiel talks about in Ezekiel 33. See, Ezekiel 33 and 34 talk about, Ezekiel 33 talks about the duty of a watchman. See, his duty is to look out for trouble.

It's to look out for enemy armies coming against the territory. And his duty is to sound the alarm when he sees the enemy approaching. And if he blows the trumpet and sounds the alarm, but the people don't pay any attention, well, then he's not guilty of their blood when they get destroyed. But if he sees the enemy coming in, He doesn't say anything because for whatever reason, he fears what the people will think if he tells them. If he's not a whistleblower, when he sees wrongdoing, Then it says, and the people aren't warned, they're not informed of this wrongdoing, they're not informed about the trouble that's coming.

Then God says, I will require His blood at the watchman's hand. I will hold him responsible. Yes, the people are responsible as well. But in addition, God says, If the watchman sees a sword coming and doesn't blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes away any person from among them, he is taken away in his own iniquity. So this doesn't absolve the people of responsibility.

They're still as much responsible, fully responsible. But God says, His blood I will require at the watchman's hand. And so in chapter 34, God talks about bad shepherds who are not looking out for the flock. They're not protecting the flock. Rather, they're feeding on the flock.

They're feeding on the very sheep that they were supposed to feed. They're feeding on them. And God says He's going to remove those shepherds. Take them away. And they will never ever be shepherds of His people again.

And so this is what Paul means here when he says that the fruit of all these labors is that He's innocent of the blood of all men. He has a free conscience because He's faithfully executed the duties of a shepherd. He's warned those who are in danger. He's instructed the ignorant. He's comforted the mourning.

He's fed the flock. He's fed them whether the Word of God, the whole counsel of God, whether they really wanted to hear it or not. They've been warned and they've been instructed and they have full responsibility if they make shipwreck of the faith. And so he's reminding these shepherds that they must give an account of the well-being of those entrusted to their care. Elders will have to give an account of every soul that has been entrusted to them.

And it's true of parenting as well. Children that depart the faith are responsible for their own apostasy. And as parents, if we have instructed them and we have warned them and we've been faithful in our duties, then we are innocent of that. But if we as parents have failed to instruct them or failed to warn them of their danger, then we as parents, God says, will bear responsibility as well. It doesn't diminish the children's responsibility, but we bear that as well.

Paul's testimony is that he had not shunned to declare to them the whole counsel of God. He had fulfilled His responsibility as a shepherd and He was not liable for anyone's blood." Well, I think there's A few things that we can learn from this. First is our calling, the calling in our lives. Our calling to serve Christ, to walk in obedience to His commands, is more important than our lives. It's more important than our lives.

But notice also the importance of joy in our calling. He didn't value his life so that he could finish his race with joy. We ought to have joy in our lives. And the Scriptures hold this out for us. In Hebrews 12, too, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand." He's our example.

He did this for the joy. And so James 1-2 says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Or 1 Peter 4.13, But rejoice to the extent that you take place, participate in Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. The joy that is set before us is the basis of our perseverance. 1 John 1, 4, he says, I write these things to you that your joy may be full.

Filled with joy. And Jude 1, 24, in that great promise, now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. We ought to have joy, and Where that joy is missing, then we are missing out on the blessings. We are missing out on the resources that Christ has provided for us. To have joy.

It's really vital. We ought to be having that. If we lack that, we ought to be seeking the Lord for the joy, asking him where we have gone astray, asking for that joy. And our lives also ought to bring joy to others. Joy to others.

And John said, I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in the truth. I have no greater joy." See, others ought to have joy from what we do. Even Shepard in Hebrews 13, interestingly, says, obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls. As those who must give an account, let them do so with joy. Let them do so with joy.

See, by our work, by our actions, we want to bring joy into the lives of others. So may the Lord give us joy in our callings as His servants and as whatever else He's called us to. Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are such a gracious and kind shepherd. That You do care for us, that You do fill us with Your joy and make it possible that we can abound in joy and peace in believing. Be filled with joy and peace in believing.

And we can abound in hope by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Father, may these fruits of Your Spirit be present in our life, and not just present, but growing. May we seek to have that joy and that peace and that hope that You promised to us, that you give to us, that you work in us as we carry out that calling that you've given to us. Lord, we pray that for your grace to persevere in our callings to be faithful to the stewardship's that we've that have been entrusted to us. And we ask this through your strong and precious name.

Amen.