Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Please remain standing, if you're able, and let's turn to acts, Chapter
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Twenty, acts twenty verses seventeen through
thirty eight, acts twenty, verse seventeen.
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Said this a little sooner, but
this is page nine, hundred and
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twenty nine, and they this Bible
here, if you have that one now
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from my leadus. He, that
is Paul, sent to Ephesus and called
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the elders of the church to come
to him, and when they came to
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him, he said to them.
You yourselves know how I lived among you
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the whole time, from the first
day that I set foot in Asia,
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serving the Lord with all humility and
with tears and with trials that happened to
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me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring
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to you anything that was profitable and
teaching you in public and from house to
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house, testifying both to dus and
to Greeks of the repentance toward God and
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of Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I am going
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to Jerusalem, constrained by the spirit, not knowing what will happen to me
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there, except that the Holy Spirit
testifies to me in every city that imprisonment
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and affliction awaits me, but I
do not count my life of any value,
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nor is precious to myself, if
only I may finish my course and
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the ministry that I have received from
the Lord Jesus, to testify to the
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gospel of the great of God.
And now behold, I know that none
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of them, of you among whom
I have gone about proclaiming the Kingdom,
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will see my face again. Therefore, I testify to you this day that
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I am innocent of the blood of
all of you, for I did not
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shrink from declaring to you the whole
counsel of God. Pay careful attention to
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yourselves and to all the flock in
which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers
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to care for the Church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
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I know that my after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among
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you, not sparing the flock,
and from among your own selves will arise
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men speaking twisted things to draw away
the disciples after them. Therefore, be
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alert, remembering that for three years
I did not cease, night or day,
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to admonish everyone with tears. And
now I commend you to God and
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to the word of His grace.
Which is able to build you up and
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to give you the inheritance among all
those who are sanctified. I coveted no
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one's silver or gold or apparel.
You yourselves know that these hands ministered to
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my necessities and to those who are
with me in all things. I have
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shown you that by working hard in
this way, we must help the weak
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and remember the words of the Lord
Jesus, how he himself said it is
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more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had said all these
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things, he knelt down and prayed
with them all, and there was much
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weeping on the part of all.
They embraced Paul and kissed him, being
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sorrowful most of all because of the
word he had spoken, that they would
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not see his face again, and
they accompanied him to the ship. May
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God bless his word to us,
maybe seated. Let's consider God's word now.
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Let's consider a little further and a
little deeper into what this office of
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elder is and what it means for
us. Is is his people as his
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church. There are different words that
are used in the Bible for elder.
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One is presbyter. We have this
word. Sometimes it's translated this in scriptures
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and we use it in English and
it's just the transliteration of a Greek word.
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transliteration is just when you take the
spelling in one language and just kind
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of transfer all the letters into English
or whatever language you're after. So the
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word in Greek is just Pres Buddhas
right. It sounds familiar. So we
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basically are just using the Greek word
presbyter when we talk about the elders.
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The same as true of another word, although it's not transliterated. We we
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use an English the word Bishop for
the word overseer. So I believe it's
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in verse twenty. NOPE, that's
too soon. But he called also,
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he tells them to he tells these
presbyters, these elders. There it is
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verse Twenty Eight. Pay careful attention
to yourselves, into all the flock in
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which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers or bishops. Episcopops is the word.
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There took care for the Church of
God. So we make no distinction
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between the elder and the Bishop or
the presbyter and the Bishop, because scripture
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makes no distinction. Paul calls the
elders to himself and he tells them to
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be bishops. So we've just ordained
bishop has. So in a few weeks,
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actually in October, the ministers and
elders from Arizona and southern California and
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one from Hawaii will gather together in
Redlands, California for a presbyter meeting,
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or we call it a presbytery meeting. It's because these presbyters get together and
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meet to discuss theological issues, to
establish church plants, other things are regarding
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in need of the church. Well, this practice, along with the Office
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of elder, is not something new
and we have an example of that right
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here in scripture. A presbytery meeting, a meeting of the Presbyters, called
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by the Apostle Paul. In verse
seventeen, he calls them. He sent
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from my leadas he sends to Ephesus, and he says I want the PRESBYTER's
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I want the elders of the church
to come. I have we need to
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meet, I have something to say. And in this chapter, in the
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last part of this chapter, we
have the account of Paul's farewell speech,
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a very important speech, in which
he talks to them about what they're supposed
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to do. You can imagine the
situation and he describes it a little bit
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here. He's been there with them
for three years, so a significant amount
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of time to get close to someone, especially when he talks about he says
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this. It wasn't just a public
ministry that he did, but it was
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a private one too. He says, from house to house, I admonished
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you. With tears, he says
he admonished you. He was there with
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them, in their lives, knowing
them, their situations, praying for them,
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helping them, serving them, working
hard and with some personal cost.
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We have read, if you go
back and you read these chapters, and
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actually I'll read, that there were
riots going on over Paul's Ministry in Ephesus.
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Lives were at risk, there were
dangerous things and he says I'm probably
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going to face more persecution because in
every city that I've already been, the
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Holy Spirit testifies to me, everywhere
I go, that I face persecution,
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I face trials, I faced difficulties. This has been Paul's life and it
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will be Paul's life. He expects
this, and so he has given himself
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his very life again and again and
again for these men and the church as
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a whole. So now, after
three years of this, he's saying,
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brothers, I'm leaving now. I
love you. You know I love you.
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I've taken care of you, I've
been with you, but it's time
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for me to go and I'm not
going to see you again. So there
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was a lot of hugging and kissing. We read at the end of this
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presbytery meeting as they saw him away
and wished him well. It's a remarkable
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it's a remarkable passage, not only
because we get a sense of what Paul's
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ministry was like, but we see
the connection between the foundation of the Apostolic
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Ministry and what life is to go
what's is to go on after that apostle
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leaves. What is the church supposed
to look like after the Apostle and the
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apostles leave? We see it right
here in act twenty. Paul tells them
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this is what it's supposed to be
like, this is what it's supposed to
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do. He's told Timothy and Titus, I want you to appoint elders,
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I want you to establish men in
these churches. Why? To do this
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kind of work, work that he
describes, and Timothy and tied us and
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work that he describes here as well. So we have this is a very
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important passage for us to pay attention
to when we think about the Office of
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ruling elder. What are they supposed
to be doing? Who? What kind
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of people are they supposed to be? Why do we have them? What
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is Jesus doing as he rules the
church through them? Heinrich Bullinger, a
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sixteen century Swiss reformer, said this
about this passage, about Paul speech.
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Here he says it's elegant beyond measure
and not any less useful, especially to
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those who, as prefects of the
church, sufficiently uphold a perilous office.
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If they are wise, they will
want to reflect night and day on Paul
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Speech. But we won't do that
all all day long, but we will
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spend a little time of reflecting on
what Paul says here. The first thing
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to know is, or that I
want to draw your attention to, is
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that Paul draws attention to himself.
Right he says they're at the beginning of
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the his speech. He says in
verse eighteen, you yourselves know how I
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lived among you from the whole time
that I first from the first day that
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I set foot in Asia. So
he's like, from the moment I got
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here you've known me and what kind
of man that I am. And he
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goes on through the rest of his
speech to describe his ministry, to describe
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the kinds of things that he has
been doing, and then he can concludes
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at all in verse Thirty Five,
when he says, in all things,
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I have shown you that by working
hard in this way, we must now,
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so that there's the we. We
must help the weak and remember the
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words of our Lord of the Lord
Jesus, how he himself said it is
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more blessed to give than to receive. So you see what Paul does.
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He stands before these elders and he
says, I want you to follow my
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example. I have lived this way
among you, not only to Minister Christ,
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to you, but he's been training
them, he's been teaching them,
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he's been showing them what it means
to live as an overseer, as a
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bishop, as an elder, as
a presbyter of God's flock, as those
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who are called to, as he
says in Verse Twenty Eight, care for
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the Church of God, one that
is infinitely valuable, how so? Because
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it was obtained by the very blood
of Christ. Have you ever been given
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something responsible, something valuable kids,
have your parents ever handed you something and
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said now be careful, don't break
it. Can you imagine being handed something
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that Jesus paid for with his own
blood and said be careful, don't break
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it? Perilous work, Heinrich bullinger
calls it, and rightly so. That's
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what Paul talks about it in those
in terms as well. In those terms
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as well, he talks about his
own danger, or his own dangers that
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were posed to him, and he
talks about his bravery in that. Multiple
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Times he says, I did not
shrink from there were moments where they were
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required courage on his behalf, moments
where there was pressure and trials and he
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had to stay a true what did
he stay true to? Well, verse
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twenty seven, for example. I
did not shrink from declaring to you the
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whole counsel of God. He talks
about this in other ways, about proclaiming
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the kingdom, about being constrained to
teach the truths of Jesus, Verse Twenty
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One, testifying both to the Jews
and to the Greeks of repentance toward God
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and of Faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ. See, as Paul does,
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this work in the church, amazing
work. We see his outstanding bravery at
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all times and in all places,
public, private, to the Jews,
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to the Greeks. From the beginning, he from the moment he arrived to
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the moment he got on the boat
to leave, Paul was consistent in proclaiming
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and and bringing to them this word
of Christ, word of God, the
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Kingdom of God. And now he
says to these elders, you have seen
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that, and now it's your turn
to follow. But notice he doesn't,
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though. He gives his own example
and cause them to follow him. It's
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under something even bigger than that.
Again, remember how he ends. He
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says, in all things, I
have shown you that by working hard in
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this way, we must help the
weak. And remember the words of the
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Lord Jesus, how he himself said
it is more blessed to give than to
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receive. You see, Paul is
saying what we all say in evangelism and
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what we say and discipleship, which
is come followed me. I'm following Jesus,
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or to put it another way,
come follow Jesus with me. That's
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what Paul has been saying to them
in his words, in his life and
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his actions. He's been teaching them
that is, it is more blessed to
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give than to receive. So what
does he mean by that? That's something
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that I think many people, even
non Christians, will affirm. It's more
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blessed to give than receive. You
don't want to be under the debts of
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other people, for example, or
there is a really nice feeling in giving.
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Is another argument. There's all kinds
of ways in which unbelievers might affirm
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this truth. It's more blessed to
give than to receive. I'm Calvin says
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somewhat funny. I think. He
says they people will receive this, however,
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but they they nod with donkeys ears. He says there's this sort of
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agreement with it, but a foolishness
and an ignorance of it as well.
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And here's what he means, and
rightly I believe. We can agree with
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this truth on kind of a human
and penultimate level. It's more blessed to
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us to give than receive, at
least in most cases and in most ways.
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But Paul I, I believe,
understands this in a much grander way
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than just feeling good or benefiting for
perhaps from time to time now he means
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literally that there is this equation which
we shouldn't take coldly or in a calculating
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way. But nevertheless it is more
blessed to give, when we consider our
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giving in Christ and according to his
ways and according to the things that he
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is done, than to receive.
What do we mean by this? Well,
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consider Jesus's life. Jesus gave right, he gave and he gave and
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he gave and he gave. Jesus, we read in Philippians, did not
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consider equality with a thing to be
grasped, but made himself nothing. He
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he gave, he took on this
this his this incarnation. He gave of
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himself a to us and throughout his
whole life, I'm not only the humbling
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of himself in the incarnation, but
on after that, again and again and
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again, all the way to his
own death, being despised by people he
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loved, being forsaken, being rejected, being humiliated, ashamed. He gave
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and he gave and he gave and
he gave until he gave up his own
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his own life. Now a lot
of people would look at that and say,
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well, was it really more blessed
to give than to receive? What
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was because of the resurrection? We
know this. What did Jesus get for
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His giving resurrection, life and his
humanity, a kingdom of power and glory
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that will last forever, at which
the name, which every name under heaven,
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every name in Earth and throughout all
the earth, will confess that he
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is lord forever and ever. He
was given a kingdom by his father that
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will last forever. He was given
a people that were bit brought in and
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will establish something that was prefigured in
the land of Canaan under Solomon and that
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great kingdom, but is only a
shadow, just a little plastic model,
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of the great reality, eternal reality, that is to come. Jesus gave
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and gave and gave of love,
of obedience, and he was given an
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eternal reward for that. That's what
Paul says in Philippians and it's affirmed and
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many other places. Jesus didn't give
because it made him feel nice or because
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it helped him stay independent of other
people not be in other people's debts.
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No, he gave out of a
duty and an obligation to love. That's
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what giving is about, loving and
he did that again and again and again
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and again, and the result was
is that through that love, through the
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giving of his own life, he
rapped us up into his love and the
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father's love and created this Kingdom of
love that will last forever. Is it
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more blessed to give than receive?
Absolutely of course. We could never give
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like that. We could never love
like Jesus loved in this way, in
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this giving of ourselves so that we
might receive the these blessings and rewards.
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It's impossible. How many of you
have ever woken up in the morning and
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said today is going to be a
good day, I'm going to do this
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right, I'm going to love the
people I've been called to love, I'm
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going to be honorable, I'm going
to take care of them, take care
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of my children and my spouse or
my family or my friends. And then
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it takes such a little thing and
someone's crosses you the wrong way or says
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the wrong thing, and all of
a sudden you're all kind of back to
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where you were before. This is
our lives, a constant struggle. Jesus
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is life was not like that.
He struggled, yes, he was tempted,
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just like you are, but at
every moment he loved, he gave
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perfectly. So we can't do that, but we can do something else.
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Jesus gave of his life so that
he might receive this kingdom, in order
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to give some more, in order
to give it to us. And what
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we do is we receive of that
Kingdom of love and then give in his
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name. We give of ourselves.
We share in that war reward. We
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enjoy in those blessings, these eternal
delights and joys forever. It's more blessed
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to give than to receive for us, because in Christ there's more blessing than
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you could ever accumulate for yourself here
on earth. And that's why Paul says,
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I didn't desire silver and gold.
You Know Me. I was with
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you. Was I clamoring for your
money when I was here? No,
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he says, I worked. I
worked with my own hands. I worked
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hard, day after day after day. I gave, I gave, I
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gave. Why? Why did Paul
do that? Why could Paul let go
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of the things of this world?
Because he had hoped somewhere else, in
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his own loving no, in Christ's
love. Think about what he says beloved.
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Does he say I loved you?
I loved you. I loved you.
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And and because of all of the
great things I've done, I preach
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to you the good news of Paul
that if you act like me, you
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will be saved. No, he
says, I came to you bringing the
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message of God, the repentance according
to Christ and the Gospel. I came
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preaching his kingdom, which is about
US receiving something through the forgiveness of our
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sins. It's more blessed to give
than to receive because of what Christ has
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done, because Christ has purchased us
with his own blood. So it's in
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the light of that, in light
of that kind of ministry, in light
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of that kind of ultimate kingdom which
Paul is all about, that he then
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lives his life in this kind of
way. What is that way? Well,
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it's a way of boldness, right, it's a way of consistency,
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it's a way of protection and desiring
to care for those that were entrusted to
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him. He does not shrink from
declaring the whole counsel of God. He
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pays attention to himself and his ways
even as he pays attention to the flock,
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because there are dangers. It's a
ministry of speaking, it's a ministry
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of guarding, of protecting. He
says in Verse Twenty Nine. I know
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that after my departure fierce wolves will
come in among you, not sparing the
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flock. And if that wasn't scary
enough, he says from among your own
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selves will arise men speaking twisted things
to draw away the disciples after them.
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If that isn't sobering, I don't
know what is beyond guard. He says
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to these elders, watch yourselves,
stay true to the word of Christ,
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work, serve in this way.
What is the way? It is the
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way of love. It is the
way of Christ. It's following Jesus in
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the way that he went forth,
but doing so because of the way he
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went forth as well. It's not
just mimicking him, in other words,
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it's not just modeling him, but
it's trusting in him. If you listen
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to this and you say, well, glad I'm not an elder, that
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sounds impossible. Well, of course
it is. To do perfectly. To
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call an elder, to call someone
to serve as this kind of overseer of
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the flock, to have to place
in their hands the care of Christ's church,
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is not just to call a brave
man or a leader, it's to
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call someone who is devote it to
Christ and to his way, to someone
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who will walk in Christ's path,
who has received the Kingdom and is willing
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to minister to and is dedicated to
minister that Kingdom and that word of Christ
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to you, one who will not
give up in that way and one who
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will not give up in those paths. Even in the midst of his own
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weakness, Paul understood his own weakness. He says, we hold this treasure
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in jars of clay, things which
can be easily broken, easily harmed,
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he says. When he speaks to
the Corinthians, he says, you know
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how I came to you in fear
and in trembling. Paul's knees were knocking
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when he came to the church.
It was hard, but he was able
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to do it nonetheless. Why?
Because it was the spirit who is working
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in him. This work is beyond
us, it is difficult, beyond measure.
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I speak to you here, who
are elders, but I want to
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remind you that it is, it
is God's work, not only because it
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relates to him, not only because
our charge comes from him, but because
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it is he himself who upholds the
work. So trust him, place this
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weight in his hands, even as
you already have placed your life in his
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hands. He is the one who
upholds his servants, in life and in
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death. Paul feels for you to
give of his own life for the sake
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of the Gospel, because he knows
how secure he is in Jesus, and
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you, who serve Christ's Christ and
his sheep, can do the same.
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Indeed, all of us can do
the same, whether you are very little
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or very big, or young or
very old, male or female, Jew
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or gentile, slave or free,
we all are called by Jesus and are
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strong in Him, even in our
dying. We do not die, but
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we have promises and a kingdom in
him. Your Lord is at work.
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The Apostle Paul is one who was
sent by Christ, as are these men
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and as is our brother this morning. The Lord Jesus is at work.
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It is his church. Let us
rest entirely in him to fulfill the things
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that he is promised on the basis
of his strength, his work and his
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life. Let us pray
