You're listening to audio from Faith Church, located on the north side of Indianapolis. If you'd like to check out more information about our church and ministry, you can find us at faithchurchindy.com. Now here's the teaching. Hey. Morning, everyone.

Good to see y'all this morning. Glad you're here for us as we're opening up the book of Acts yet again. We've been walking our way through this entire book, which is this great record of the beginning of the Jesus movement, you know, what we call the the church today. But every good story, every good narrative has to have characters, characters you can resonate with and connect with, especially a, you know, a main character whose journey you can kinda follow or whose, you know, personal life journey serves as a good frame or a metaphor for what's happening overall in, the story that we're considering. Now in the book of Acts, you may be tempted to think that, oh, well Peter obviously is that main character.

He's the guy who's kinda started this whole thing and we've been following along with him, but then, well, he kinda fell off the page back, I don't know, 10 chapters ago, but a new guy came on the on the scene, Paul. Maybe Paul is the the main character whose life story we're following, and it's true that that Paul's life kind of frames especially the whole second half of the book of Acts, but he's also not the main character. Does anybody remember all the way back at the very beginning of this series we said the main character of the book of Acts is Jesus. I know. It's a Sunday school answer, but it's right.

The main character in the book of of Acts has been and continues to be the risen and exalted Jesus who continues to work through his church by the power of the spirit. Every single story is showing us Jesus at work. And this is vitally important to get because main characters in this narrative, they come and then they go, not just from the story of Acts as we're reading it, but from their interactions with different people in different churches. See, we're at this point in the story where Paul is working his way towards Jerusalem, and he knows and we know he's not gonna be part of any of the churches he's planted over the last 10 years. He's no longer gonna be part of these churches' lives.

So how does the church keep going if the main character's gone? How does how does the ship keep sailing when the captain's gone? And if if you're the captain on your way out as as Paul is, you know, what do you need to say before you go? How do you help the the new captains of this ship weather the storms that are coming their way. That's what's happening in this short speech that we just read together.

In this story, Paul has one last chance to get across the important things that he the most important things he can think of that these leaders in Ephesus, the leaders of the churches in Ephesus need to hear, and, you know, because Luke has recorded it for us, we we too get to hear Paul's kinda final farewell speech to these leaders. It's a speech that tells us a lot. It kinda summarizes Paul's life for us again, but more than that, it tells us what leading a church looks like, what it entails. It tells us what leaders are called to do. It tells us, if we're part of a church, what we should expect from the leaders of this church.

And if you're, you know, if you're on this ship, it gives you the chance to ask the question like what kind of a leader do I want? What kind of a captain do I want? Now, we're gonna we're gonna walk through the speech together. We don't have time to to get into every single detail of all of these verses, so we'll pay attention to some of those details, but but mostly, we're gonna focus in on verses 28 through 31. That's the core of the message, and if I had to sum it up in a way we could remember and kept it consistent with my nautical introduction so far, I'd probably say something like, here's what Paul's trying to get across.

Pay attention, and every good captain stays on course. Right. Keep at it. Stay alert. Stay awake.

Stay aware. It's like, if you're gonna let the ship drift, remember, nothing drifts in the direction you want it to go. So pay attention. Every good captain stays on course. Let's jump into this, and I'll show you how that comes out of verses 28 through 31.

Now, in in the verse that's right before the passage that we, you know, right before verse 17 where we began reading this morning, Luke makes mention that that Paul's in a hurry. He chose to sail past Ephesus because he wants to get to Jerusalem before the day of Pentecost. You may remember from last week, we talked about how Paul is sailing to Jerusalem with kind of a lot of money on board. They've been collecting an offering for the church in Jerusalem that has been suffering under a famine for almost 10 years at this point. All the churches have contributed and different people have come from all the different regions that Paul has planted churches bringing money with them, and now they're all sailing to Jerusalem together, and he wants to get there before Pentecost.

That's about 5 weeks away from where we are in the story, and it takes three and a half weeks to sail from Miletus to Jerusalem. So time is time is tight. So he could have hit up Ephesus directly, but that would have slowed him down. Right. Paul's a pastor.

Pastors love to talk. Especially love to talk to people, and there's so many people in Ephesus. He spent 3 years there, so there's so many people he would want to to check-in on and to visit and to talk to and to find out how are you doing, you know, and and say hello to your mother for me, and like how are you guys? He was gonna want to go from house to house as he did when he was there. There's no time for that.

And besides, you may remember the big riot in Ephesus. Remember the silversmiths who got really mad at him, they were looking for him and never found him. It's not a good, maybe not great to show up again, and he and his team are loaded down with all that money, so maybe let's not go into the city center. Let's let's stay out here where we can protect ourselves a little bit more. Anyway, all good reasons to avoid Ephesus, so he docks a few miles down the coast at Miletus and sends word up to Ephesus and invites the elders of the churches there.

He said, come on down, come see me. It's a bit of a trek. It's only 30 miles, if you can fly, which you can't, so it's a couple of days walk each way up and over mountainous terrain. They're like, you know, I imagine uphill in the snow both ways, something like that to get to come and see him, but the chance to hear Paul kind of one last time it's too good to pass up. It's been probably about 6 months since he left.

6 months since they've seen him, since they've heard from him, and he's eager to get updates, they're eager to get updates, They've got questions. Now that they've been leading on their own for 6 months, they're like, oh, good. One more chance to ask the guy, like, because how do I deal with this guy? Right? They've all got questions about the churches they're leading.

So Paul lands in Miletus with the rest of his compatriots. A few days later, the elders show up. We should picture probably a decent sized group, at least a few dozen people. You know, Luke talks about the church in Ephesus, the church, singular, but that's a way of referring to kind of the the whole group of churches in Ephesus. You know, there at the time, there weren't any buildings like like this, you know, where a whole big group of people could get together or buildings that were dedicated just for the gatherings of the church.

So churches gathered in houses, in small groups, maybe 50 at the top end, that could fit kind of in a in a fairly well-to-do person's living room. So believers met in these close knit groups that cared for each other deeply, and and each of these churches had an an elder. Someone who's maybe been a believer a little bit longer or who's a little bit older and more mature, and their responsibility was to teach and to preach and to care for the the sick and to organize providing for the poor, all those things the church has done, you know, for centuries. And the elders in any given town, they they knew each other. They they were connected to each other.

They were supporting one another, encouraging one another, working through problems together. When the elders could get together and one could ask another one, it's like, I've got this guy in my church, and I just don't know what to do with him. Like, do you have room? You know, that sort of problem solving together. And, you know, keep in mind, when Paul wrote a letter.

Right? Ephesus, Ephesians. When Paul would write a letter to the church, these are the guys who would receive it first and make copies and talk to each other about how to understand what Paul was writing, and one of them could ask another, like, what do you think he means there in chapter 4 when he says, you know, such and such? And then they take it back to their house churches and teach based on what Paul had said. Right.

So these are the guys to whom Paul sends this this message. He says, I'm just down the coast. I'm in Miletus. It'll only take you a couple days. Come see me as quickly as you can.

There's a few things I want to get across, and this this might be my last chance. So as Luke records it, this final farewell message, this farewell speech from Paul would only take 3 minutes to deliver, and then they'd be done. Time to head home. Except I would guess if they're giving up the better part of a week to travel down and travel back, Paul's probably going to speak for more than just 3 minutes. I think what we we have here is Luke's kinda summary, his his notes or his big outline of what Paul talked about on on that day, you know, this this is an outline because Paul being Paul, we're pretty confident he went on for longer than 3 minutes.

You remember last week he preached so long that he killed a guy. Right? So, this particular talk, however long it lasted, better part of a day, I would assume, this particular talk though is really only about one thing. The whole talk is about one thing. Paul says, you watched how I led.

Now keep at it. You've got a lead, and no good captain or every, I should say, every good captain stays on course. Flip side of it is no good captain just lets the ship drift. But as long as the speech is and as much backstory as Paul includes of his own life that's in here, it's really only about that one thing, stay vigilant. Every good captain stays on course.

All of verses 18 through 27 are just a run up getting up to that one main point in verses 28, 29, 30, beginning of 31. And then everything after 31 is just reinforcing that point again. Keep at it. Every good captain stays on course. Don't let this thing just drift.

So let's pick it up in verse 18. We're not gonna read the whole thing. I'm gonna try and get us a running start up to verses 28, 29, 30, you know, where this this main idea is. Verse 18, if we pick it up there, Paul starts by reminding them of things they already know. Says, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time, from the first day I set foot in Asia, and then he sums it up for them, or maybe he goes through and tells the whole story again, and it takes hours, and Luke sums it up for us whatever way.

He says there were trials, and tears, and plots against him from Jewish authorities, and Gentiles of influence, but they saw firsthand how he led with humility. How he worked hard to deliver a comprehensive and structured and well thought out teaching through the whole of the gospel message, how to live it out in life. They watched as he taught in public daily, as he taught in private, going from house to house, and from house church to house church. I mean, a guest teacher here leading a workshop shop on prayer over there, telling stories from Jesus's life to another group, reading the Psalms together, showing people how to understand the Hebrew Bible in light of Jesus as the Messiah. He says, I told everyone, everywhere I went, turn toward God.

Turn to Jesus in faith. Like that's the message. Now he's not, you know, he's not tooting his own horn here or just like trying to give autobiographical details because they're interesting. He's saying you watched how I led. Remember?

This is what I did, and this is what I did, and this is what I did, and this is what I did. So when you lead, keep these things in mind. But now, and this is kind of where his his farewell message turns, he says now I'm on my way to Jerusalem, and and no one knows what's I don't know what's gonna happen to me there. He says everywhere I've gone, every city I've been in, I've faced affliction and the threat of imprisonment, so if the past is any clue to the future, I feel like God's trying to tell me something. Something's gonna happen, but he's he's going anyway.

I mean, he can't not. He says there at the top of page 120 or 122, excuse me, that in verse 22 that he's constrained by the spirit. The Holy Spirit is compelling him to go, kinda constraining his path, so that this is the only choice he has, right? Follow or disobey. Stay in the race or bail.

Paul being Paul there's really only one choice. I mean, he's staying in the race. He's going. He's going to bring this relief offering to the church even if it cost him his life. And his only desire, he tells them, is I just wanna I just wanna finish.

I wanna finish the course. It's it's the picture of a race. It's like I just wanna finish the race. I don't wanna wipe out a half mile from the finish line. Like, I wanna get this done.

I wanna complete the ministry task that I've been given by Jesus. He tells us what it is, to testify to the good news of the grace of God. The grace of God in Jesus, even if it doesn't end well. In fact, he knows it's not going to end well. He tells them straight up, look.

There's no one in this room that's gonna ever see me again. I mean, other than the guys that are going to Jerusalem with him. He's like, none of you are ever going to to see me again. It's like, but remember, I've done everything I could here in Ephesus. For 3 years, I taught the whole course of God's teaching, the whole of the message of good news of new life in Jesus.

So with all of that in mind, it's like there's just there's one thing I gotta get across, and that brings us to verse 28. So pay attention. Pay careful attention to yourselves, to all the flock. In which the the holy spirit, in this flock, the holy spirit is the one who made you overseers to care for, to shepherd the church of God, the church which he obtained through his own blood. He says, I I know that after my departure, fierce wolves are gonna come in in among you, and they're not sparing the flock.

And from your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore, so be alert, pay attention, stay vigilant, stay awake. Did you notice those kind of twin commands that sort of book ended at the beginning of verse 28 and and verse 31? Pay careful attention. Be alert.

Remember Paul's talking to the leaders in the church. He he's telling them stay on top of things, be vigilant, keep watching, don't slack off, stay awake, be alert. Right? He's been the one who's been paying attention, staying vigilant over the last 3 years with them, and they've watched him do it, but he can't stay forever, and they have to take responsibility for themselves. He's saying, so please pay attention, be alert, watch carefully over yourself and over all of the flock of God.

And then Paul says, he reminds them. He's like, because remember, the Holy Spirit made you, he made you guys, he's like, not me, he made you the overseers. That's the word that's used for the captain of a ship. Each of you is captaining your own little ship. The Holy Spirit put you in charge of it, made you an overseer.

That's the captain of the ship, the officer of the club, the the official in a in a temple. As overseers, they're the ones responsible for charting a course, for making sure that we're following after Jesus, to ensuring things are done correctly, done done well, that the flock is safe, cared for. And he says it's even more critical that you pay attention now because he's leaving. And when the cat's away, what happens? The mice will play.

Right? Or when mom and dad leave, the kids act perfectly and do everything they're supposed to. Right? No. I was always afraid my parents never told us when they were coming home because they never wanted us to know and be able to anticipate and, like, clean the house in the last 5 minutes before they arrived.

And Paul's like, look, I'm leaving. There's not gonna be another one of those, oh, no. Paul's here. Quick. Clean up.

He's like, so you guys are the ones who are gonna like, you're in charge now. You're gonna have to watch over this. If you're not vigilant, you're gonna start to slowly, you know, cut corners or let your guard down or make allowances for some some bad teaching. Well, he means well, or some indiscretions over here. Yeah.

Paul is already he's mixing his metaphors all over the place. You're captains of this flock, so he continues the metaphor from shepherding. He's, hey, wolves are coming. Fierce wolves are gonna come in among you, and wolves are gonna do what wolves are gonna do. They're gonna eat your sheep.

So pay attention. Stay awake. Stay alert. Be vigilant. In fact, he warns I mean, some of those wolves are they're in the room right now.

Like, look from among your own selves are gonna come men speaking twisted things, drawing people into wrong belief or away from lives of holiness. It's like so be alert. Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Right? And take the church down with you.

Say, watch yourselves, watch the flock, guide them, teach them, protect them, lead them, feed them, and don't forget, they're the most valuable thing on the planet. That little ship of souls that you're captaining, Jesus bought them with his own blood. You literally can't pay a higher price for something. This is the most precious thing in the world that you're responsible for, So take this take this seriously. Stay vigilant.

Be alert. Every good captain stays on course, or no good captain just drifts. So the few minutes we've got left, what does it what does that have to do with us? As I was preparing for this this morning, I was thinking, man, this would be a lot easier if I were preaching to just the elders. Right?

Or we were sitting down for a couple of hours to go through this whole thing in detail. What did Paul do? How did he live? What did he say? All of those stuff.

If we were talking to just the captains in the room, it it might be a little bit easier, except I gotta imagine that that Paul spent 100 of hours talking with leaders, teaching and training, and setting up people and saying here's how you lead. None of that's recorded, but this is. This last message to these leaders was not supposed to just stay with them. It was supposed to go through them to their church, and Luke wrote it down and kept it for us, which means it's for us and our leaders and our church as well. So what does it have to teach us?

Well, there's there's 2 things that come to mind. The first is having seen kind of the job description of what a captain of this church ship or what a leader, pastor, overseer, elder, whatever title you use, having seen that job description, you know, if you're part of a church, if you're part of this church, then this is what you should expect from those of us who lead. Like, it's reasonable to hold us accountable to this. You can expect the elders, the overseers, the pastors to lead, to guide from scripture, to protect from error, from bad teaching, or from bad teaching that kinda pulls you away from true belief, true belief, or holy living. You can expect the leaders to feed you regularly from the word of God, which means, you know, if you're part of a flock, if you're following the captains of a ship, then you know what your responsibilities are.

If your leaders lead, you follow. If they're guiding, then you come along. If they're confronting teaching that leads people away, then you don't let that teaching have influence in you or or in the church. If if they're regular preparing meals, you show up and eat. That's that's what you do.

That's for all of us, whether you're an elder or not, but second, you know, if you're part of this flock and you aspire to be a leader, which is a good thing. Paul says elsewhere, you know, whoever wants to be an elder, whoever desires to be an elder is desiring a high and holy calling. It's a good thing to desire. He says then this is what leadership looks like. It's not glamorous teaching night and day with humility and tears while being subjected to plots against your life.

That's the job description of leading in the church. You're not in it for the recognition or the reward or to try to make people proud of you. Paul says even here, like, I wasn't doing this work for the money or so that I could make myself look like I was part of a higher social status. This is exactly the opposite. I worked not just in leading the church, but I worked with my hands too so that those who are weaker from me could benefit from the work, like not the other way around.

See, if you think of it like this, the average follower of Jesus should always be asking the question what's my next step of obedience in following Jesus? But the leaders are always asking, what do I need to sacrifice next in order to better lead the flock that's been entrusted to me in following Jesus? So if you long to lead, which is a great thing to long for, this is what leadership looks like. If you're a leader, this is what you're called to, leading and guiding and feeding and protecting at your own expense as a sacrifice of responsibility to a group of people that Jesus purchased at the highest possible cost. His own blood.

See, no good captain lets the ship just drift. No good pilot, I'm gonna mix metaphors again, gets on and says this is your captain speaking. I have no idea where we're going today. Every good captain stays on course, and no good elder or pastor or overseer is gonna let the church just drift. And no good church member lets their leader let the church just drift.

Because in the end, you know, the church doesn't doesn't belong to the elders, certainly doesn't belong to the wolves, but as Paul says in verse 32, he says, now I commend you to God. I'm giving you over to God. You you don't belong to me. You're not my elders. You're you're God's elders.

You're God's captains. You're God's overseers. So I'm commending you to God and to the word of his grace. It's like it's not it's never been me, Paul says, that's been building you up. It's always been the word of God and the word of his grace that has built your church.

So whether Paul's there or these elders are there, what matters is that the grace of God and his word is there, because Jesus is the main character. Not Paul, not these individual captains. It's Jesus who bought his church with his own blood. He's the one who wants to build it up and protect it through the people that the Holy Spirit is using, which here is now us. We live in a hurting world.

We can't just drift. We have a responsibility as a church, as a ship to continue the metaphor, or as runners in a race. We have a responsibility to finish. We have a calling to, as Paul says his calling was to testify to the gospel, the good news of the grace of God. So what kind of ship do you wanna you wanna be on?

One that's kinda just drifting around, just trying to keep everybody on board, or a ship that's going somewhere so the people are finding new life in Jesus. That's where our captain's taking us. Let's pray. Father, we need your help. Even in this speech that Paul gives, there are so many layers of the members of the individual churches, their overseers, how they've been led by Paul, how Paul is following Christ, how Jesus submit him submits himself to you.

And so, each of us, however we lead here in whatever way, pray that you would help us to be good captains of this ship. And for all of us on board, we pray that we would be working and rowing in the same direction. That people who don't know you would come to know you and grow in walking in the way of Jesus. So what we wanna do, father, is finish the race and the course you've set for us, and point to the good news of your grace. So we pray that you would use us in that way.

In Jesus' name, amen.