"Instructions"
Overview
Six Instructions for Every Shepherd
In Acts 20:17–38, Paul calls the elders of the Ephesian church to meet him at Miletus. The terms used in the New Testament for this office—elder, overseer, bishop, pastor—are interchangeable, all describing the same shepherding work. Paul opens with a sober declaration: he is innocent of their blood because he did not shrink from declaring the whole purpose of God (echoing the watchman charge in Ezekiel 33:8). From there, he gives six concrete instructions that together form a portrait of faithful leadership.
1. Watch yourselves. Pastors are charged to guard their own life and doctrine 1 Timothy 4:16. The world watches and listens, and our witness is made in every moment. 2. Shepherd the flock by feeding it. The threefold charge of Jesus to Peter—"feed my lambs… tend my sheep… feed my sheep" John 21:15–17—frames the pastor's primary task: nourish God's people with His Word, because the church was purchased "with the blood of his own Son." 3. Protect them from false doctrine. Paul warns that "savage wolves" will arise, even from within (Acts 20:29–30; cf. Matthew 7:15). Like shepherds in towers scanning the horizon, leaders must stay alert and not lazy. Paul's later charge to Timothy in Ephesus 1 Timothy 1:3 shows that this warning came true. 4. Study. Paul commends the elders "to God and to the message of His grace" Acts 20:32. There is no place for "Saturday night specials"—pastors are to immerse themselves in the text until they can explain it clearly. 5. Give, don't expect to get. Paul coveted no one's silver or gold, working with his own hands and recalling the words of Jesus: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" Acts 20:33–35. The moment ministry becomes about getting, the focus shifts away from Christ, who only gave. 6. Pray. Paul knelt with the elders and prayed before parting Acts 20:36.
A Charge for Every Believer
Though spoken to pastors, these instructions belong to all of us, because we all have flocks—families, neighborhoods, friendships, workplaces. Parents in particular are called to pastor their children: to watch their own walk knowing little eyes follow, to feed their children the nutritious Word rather than spiritual junk food, to protect them from false beliefs that come home from the world, to be visibly rooted in study so children see Scripture is more than a dusty decoration, to give without demanding their children meet unmet needs in us, and to pray—for friendships, future spouses, schooling, and faith.
Grace at the Point of Failure
None of us has kept these instructions perfectly—not even Paul, who wrote as a fellow sinner. But it is precisely at the intersection of our sinfulness that God meets us with grace. Every shortcoming with our flocks was borne by Christ on the cross. Satan whispers, "It's too late—too much damage with your child, your neighbor, your friend." God answers: it is never too late. His grace does not move us away from our flocks but back toward them. Live in that grace, and shepherd well the people God has placed around you.
Transcript
Instructions these days seem to be coming more and more with pictures. 0s
And sometimes the pictures don't exactly fit what it is you're putting together. 7s
Sometimes you long for words don't you? 13s
To go with the pictures. 16s
What we're going to study this morning is a picture that the Apostle Paul gives to us. 20s
It is a picture of leadership but Paul, as he manifests that in his life, 25s
he just doesn't stop with the picture. 31s
But rather he also gives words with the picture. 34s
So let's study. 41s
First let's set the backdrop for this and let's start in verse 17, please, of Acts 20th chapter. 43s
There we read. 53s
From myaltis, he sent a message to Ephesus. 55s
Asking the elders of the church to meet him. 59s
From myaltis, he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him. 63s
So who is sending the invitation? 72s
Well the one sending the invitation is the Apostle Paul. 73s
Who the elders? 77s
There's a term in the New Testament. 79s
That's really a synonymous term. 81s
You'll see it various forms. 83s
Elders, overseers, bishops, is all the same thing. 85s
It's what we would call a pastor. 89s
So when you see an overseer it's the same thing as a bishop. 92s
Seeing elder, it's the same thing as a pastor. 95s
These are all interchangeable terms that we see in the early church. 98s
So what Paul has done then is he is gathered together 104s
He's calling for a meeting of the pastors of Ephesus 108s
because he has something to share with them. 113s
He starts on a very personal note. 118s
Look at me, please, at verse 25 of our text. 123s
And now I know that none of you, 128s
among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, 131s
will ever see my face again. 135s
Therefore, I declare to you this day that I'm not responsible 139s
for the blood of any of you. 144s
For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 148s
I've reminded of the prophet Ezekiel when God turns to Ezekiel. 156s
And says, if I say to the wicked, oh wicked ones, you shall surely die 160s
and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways. 168s
The wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. 175s
So the gathering then is the pastors. 186s
And Paul is turning to the pastors and saying, I have given you the truth. 189s
I have taught you and proclaimed the truth. 196s
Whatever now your response is that blood is not on my hand 201s
for I have given you the truth. 206s
That is very personal, that is very powerful, that is very 211s
poignant. 216s
He then goes on to give six specific instructions to the pastors. 219s
Six specific instructions to the pastors. 227s
Here's the first. 231s
Watch yourself. 234s
Watch yourself. 236s
Let's pick up, please, in verse 28. 238s
He says to the pastors, he says, keep watch over yourselves. 240s
You're right, first Timothy 4. 251s
He says, pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching. 253s
Continue in these things. 259s
For in doing this, you will save both yourself and your hears. 262s
When he turns these pastors then and he says, watch yourself. 269s
He's talking about their life and their doctrine. 274s
Watch yourself, Paul says, because everybody is going to be watching you. 280s
He says, it's really true, isn't it? 285s
It's true as we Christians leave these walls on Sunday morning 289s
and we go about our various activities. 294s
People are watching and they're listening. 299s
They're listening to what we say. 304s
They're watching what we do. 307s
They're focused in on us. 309s
And sometimes the world will say, if that's a Christian, come out. 314s
Come out. 323s
If that's our Christians talk about people, if that's how Christians act, come out. 326s
Paul says, watch yourself because the world is watching. 339s
And we make a witness every single moment. 347s
We go on. 357s
Verse 28 again, keep watch over yourselves and over the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. 358s
See the interchangeability of the term. 367s
To shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own son. 370s
So there's number two. 378s
Number one, first instruction, watch yourselves. 379s
Here's a second instruction. 382s
Shepherd. 386s
The flock. 387s
What does that mean? 388s
Turn a few pages back. 389s
Would you please? 391s
To John chapter 21. 392s
It's page 101. 394s
John chapter 21. 396s
We're going to pick up in verse 15. 400s
And there we read this. 405s
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 408s
Simon, Son of John, do you love me more than these? 412s
He said to them, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. 415s
Jesus said to him, feed my lamps. 418s
Old Testament, the New Testament, church is understood in shepherding analogies. 422s
Verse 16, a second time he said to him, 428s
Simon, Son of John, do you love me? 430s
He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. 433s
Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. 436s
He said to him the third time. 442s
Simon, Son of John, do you love me? 444s
Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time. 446s
Do you love me? 449s
And he said to him, Lord, you know everything. 450s
You know that I love you. 453s
Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. 455s
Now the second exhortation that we're tend comes from the word shepherding. 462s
And then as bookends on either side of the shepherding is the word feed. 469s
That is a very specific word there. 475s
You are crystal clear in what it means. 478s
And they are exactly right when they translated feed. 481s
So what is the primary responsibility of the pastor? 484s
The primary responsibility of the pastor Paul's highlighting is to feed the sheep. 491s
To feed the sheep. 501s
That's about everything else. 504s
That is the flock gathers. 506s
Paul says, always be watching yourself in the church and outside of it. 510s
And then he says, feed, feed the sheep. 518s
Why is that important? 523s
Look at the very next part of verse 28. 525s
To shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own son. 528s
So whose flock is Jesus? 539s
The pastor is placed to administer word and sacrament. 543s
The primary responsibility is to teach the sheep. 547s
Paul gather in the pastors together then. 553s
He's got six instructions for you. 557s
Number one watch yourselves. 559s
Watch yourselves. 561s
Watch your life. 562s
Watch your doctor. 563s
Makes a witness. 564s
Second, shepherd the people in terms of feeding. 565s
Third, protect them. 572s
Protect them from what? 576s
Full doctrine. 578s
Full doctrine. 580s
Let's go to verse 29, please. 581s
I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 585s
Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them. 595s
Therefore, be alert. 604s
Remembering that for three years, I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears. 607s
Jesus said in Matthew 7th chapter, he said, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly, arravenous wolves. 618s
You will know them by their fruits. 630s
Paul then is predicting then that false teachers will invade the church of Ephesus. 635s
Did that happen? 642s
It sure did. 643s
Listen to what Paul writes later in 1st Timothy 1st chapter. 645s
He says, I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people, 648s
not to teach any different doctrine. 659s
And what's the specific instructions for these pastors? 666s
To be alert, don't be lazy. 669s
In ancient day, the shepherds used to build towers and they would look around for anything that might hurt the sheep. 672s
They would watch rising floods or animals. 678s
They would watch. 681s
They were to be alert, pulsates. 682s
Watch yourselves. 687s
Your life and your doctrine. 688s
Shepherd them by feed them. 692s
Third, protect them from what? 695s
False doctrine. 699s
Because false teachers will come and attack the church. 701s
And he's saying pastors, you're going to need to fin that off. 706s
And you need to teach and teach and teach. 711s
Number four, study. 719s
Look at verse 32. 722s
And now I commend you to God and to the message of His grace, a message that's able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified. 726s
I commend you to the message. 740s
Paul's saying, pastors, study. 743s
You say, would you get up to preach? 748s
You'd be ready to preach. 752s
You know, there's a phrase among pastors for sermons that when they get up, they don't know what they're going to say. 754s
And the phrase is, it's a Saturday night special. 763s
Serenize special. 765s
Oh, I have set when I heard a pastor get up in the very first thing he said is I'm looking forward to seeing what God wants me to say today. 767s
And I thought to myself, I am too. 778s
I am too. 783s
No, you go to bed early on Saturday. 784s
And you're ready earlier in the week. 787s
And you're ready to preach. 789s
And you've poured yourself into that text. 790s
And you've studied that text. 793s
And you know that text. 794s
And you don't even outline that text until you can explain that text in absolute detail. 795s
You don't even start on the sermon. 801s
Paul is saying, I commend you to the word. 803s
Pastors, I commend you to study. 806s
No Saturday night specials. 811s
No Saturday night specials. 814s
Five. 818s
Give. 820s
Don't expect to get. 822s
Look at verse 33. 826s
I coveted no one, silver or gold or clothing. 829s
You know for yourselves that I work with my own hands to support myself and my companions. 834s
In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the week remembering the words of the Lord Jesus. 841s
For he himself said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. 849s
By the way, that's the only quotation of Jesus outside of the Gospels. 857s
Paul's turning this group of pastors and say, 863s
If you are ministering to get something in return, you're in the wrong vehicle. 868s
Because your concern is to give, give, give, give and give. 876s
And never expect to get. 883s
Expect to get. 887s
Because the moment he says to these pastors, 890s
the moment that you expect to get, 893s
the moment that that is the expectation that you are going to get, 898s
your focus has changed. 902s
From modeling after the Lord Jesus Christ who all he did was give. 906s
Study. 913s
Do I expect to get? 915s
You just keep giving. 916s
What's the last? 918s
Six is pray. 920s
Verse 36. 923s
When he had finished speaking he knelt down with them all and prayed. 925s
There was much weeping among them all. 930s
They embraced Paul and kissed him, grieving especially because of what he had said 933s
that they would not see him again than they brought him to the ship. 938s
Watch yourselves. 947s
Shepherd feed the flock. 950s
Protect them from what? 953s
Fall doctrine. 954s
Study. 957s
Give. 959s
Do I expect to get? 960s
Have that anticipation. 962s
And pray. 965s
That is a picture of the life of the apostle Paul, 968s
these six instructions that then are put in words for these pastors. 973s
Here's the question. 980s
This is a great text for an ordination. 983s
It's a great text for an installation. 988s
But what's the applicability of it for all of us? 992s
What's the applicability of it for all of us? 995s
Each one of us has a flock. 1003s
Multiple flocks. 1008s
There's the flocks of a family. 1012s
There's the flocks of neighborhoods, flocks of friends, 1015s
flocks of workplaces. 1021s
We all have flocks. 1024s
We're all called to be a pastor because we've all got flocks. 1027s
So take the six specific instructions here. 1035s
And apply it to your flocks. 1041s
Parents. 1046s
Watch yourselves. 1050s
Watch yourselves. 1052s
You know why? 1053s
Because you've been watched. 1054s
You've been watched every day. 1056s
Your child will see that which is important to you. 1059s
They'll see your priorities. 1063s
They'll see where you invest your time in your money. 1065s
They'll see what you do on Sunday morning. 1069s
And they'll say, I got it. 1073s
I got the message. 1076s
I got it. 1078s
Because I see it. 1080s
I even hear the words. 1082s
Watch yourselves. 1085s
Because you're being watched. 1088s
You're being watched. 1090s
Parents. 1093s
Shepherd. 1097s
Feed the child. 1100s
Feed them. 1103s
See we placed before our children nutritious food. 1106s
Why do we do that? 1109s
Because we want them to be strong, right? 1110s
Physically and mentally. 1112s
But yet spiritually. 1114s
Sometimes we can just put out junk food for them. 1118s
We're not rooted in the word. 1122s
They're not taught the word. 1124s
We just going to hope it's going to all work out with Sunday School and Church. 1127s
Shepherd them. 1136s
Feed them. 1139s
Just as you feed them to keep them alive physically. 1141s
Feed them. 1146s
The very word of God. 1147s
Protect them from what? 1152s
False doctor. 1155s
Parents, the world is filled with false doctor. 1158s
They will come home with so-and-so, and their friends said, you know, they believe they 1162s
believe this. 1166s
And you stand at that moment where you say, are you equipped to be able to defend them from the wolf that has just entered in in terms of the false belief? 1167s
Or is there just a hole that everything's going to work out? 1179s
In other words, are you rooted in the word of God so that when the false doctor and comes, you will be able to discern and teach your child that is not what Scripture says. 1184s
Parents, study. 1206s
When your child is in the bedroom and sees the Bible, is that the dusty thing in the bedroom? 1212s
When the child says, I got it. 1222s
I got it. 1225s
I got the message. 1226s
That book is for show. 1229s
Have your children ever come across you when you are studying the word? 1235s
Do they see you? 1240s
Do they see you? 1241s
Do they see you? 1245s
Do they see you when you send them to Sunday school? 1245s
Do they see you sitting in the outclass? 1252s
Because they get it when they see it. 1256s
They get it. 1258s
I saw it with my parents and I get it. 1260s
I get it. 1264s
To be so rooted in the study of the word of God that your child knows that you are a lifelong student of the word, 1267s
and that you are equipping yourself to feed them in the lamb. 1278s
Feel secure because of the shepherd. 1288s
Give and to expect parents to get. 1299s
Don't parent with the expectation that your child is going to give to you and meet whatever is lacking in your own life or your own needs that you have. 1305s
No, your single or focus is to keep on giving, not getting, not getting. 1316s
Because you see then the lamb says, I am, I get it. 1325s
I get it. 1330s
And when the lamb has lamb's, what happens? 1333s
Pray. 1341s
Parents pray for them. 1344s
Pray for them every day. 1347s
Pray that if it's the Lord's will and they get married, pray for a future spouse. 1350s
Pray for them now. 1355s
Pray for their friends. 1359s
Pray for their experience in school. 1360s
Pray everything. 1363s
So that child knows that they are lifted up and they are undergirded with prayer. 1366s
You see, you take those principles that Paul talks to these pastors and Ephesus. 1375s
We've all got flocks, right? 1381s
Well, why do the same thing here for the neighbors? 1384s
Do the same thing for the work associates? 1387s
It's the same, it's all the flocks that all of a sudden you find yourself in. 1390s
When you stand in your neighborhood and you look around at the houses or the apartments around you and you say, 1394s
Here's my flock. 1399s
The Lord has plopped me right here and has called me to pastor, to pastor. 1402s
And then the six instructions become manifest. 1413s
And here's the thing. 1421s
There's not one of us here that hasn't fallen in short. 1426s
Not one of us. 1433s
Not one of us. 1435s
When we reflect on our lives and we reflect on the various flocks that we have, 1439s
There is nobody who's perfect, including the Apostle Paul. 1443s
And as he writes these instructions for these pastors, he's writing it as a fellow sinner. 1449s
But it is precisely at the intersection of our sinfulness that God meets us with grace. 1455s
The grace of the cross that all of our sin, including all of the times that we have fallen short in these six instructions. 1464s
In our lives with the various flocks that are all around us as we live. 1473s
God meets us with His grace of forgiveness and says, 1479s
And that too was born on the cross by the Lord Jesus. 1484s
And we hear that glorious word of absolute that glorious word of forgiveness. 1490s
What is Satan then do? 1497s
Satan wants to get in and say, 1505s
It's too late for you. 1511s
Don't you understand? 1514s
You have messed up too much with your child. 1517s
It's too late for you. 1522s
Can I stand there? 1523s
There's a good reason why as you drive home at night, you slow, they come around the corner, 1527s
and you peek at your neighbor's garage to see if his car is safely in there. 1533s
Because you've messed up there, and that relationship's broken, and it's too late for you. 1538s
It's too late for you. 1547s
Satan wants to say, 1548s
With regard to your friendship that dissolves. 1549s
It's too late for you. 1552s
And just fill in the bank. 1556s
And what does God say? 1559s
It is never too late. 1564s
And his grace through the cross envelopes us. 1568s
And he raises up and moves us to go not away from our flocks, but toward our flocks. 1575s
Beloved of God live in that grace. 1595s
Because we've all got flocks. 1607s
Don't we? 1610s
We've all got flocks. 1611s
Because we're all all pastors. 1615s
Pastors. 1623s