Video: Transcript: Guarding the Flock (Acts 20)

Transcript: Guarding the Flock (Acts 20)
(Hearing-Impaired Edition with Both Speakers)

Bruce:
All right, we are back in this elder course.
We’ve just looked, in the past few sessions, what is an elder to be like.
And now we’re getting into what does the elder need to do.

So all these things they needed to be like helps them be able to do what they’re called to do effectively,
which is protect the sheep.
That’s a small nutshell.

That’s number one on the list: protect the sheep.
Now this is Acts 20.
The situation here is Paul is meeting with the Ephesian elders,
elders that have been appointed in Ephesus.

You remember Timothy was given that charge to appoint elders.
And he asked for the elders to meet with him.
They traveled to meet with him,
and he said, “I’m not going to see you ever again.

But here’s my charge to you:
keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.
Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you, etc., etc.,
even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw disciples after them.
Be on your guard. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”

Oh, just the impact of that.
Three years.
Never stopped warning them, day and night, with tears.

But those words: keep watch.
Be on your guard.

So let’s look at that.
Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.
Interesting—Paul/Timothy appointed them, yet he’s saying the Holy Spirit was part of this process.

You became an elder because the Holy Spirit appointed overseers
to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
That’s the NASB translation.

Now you know some of those words there—God’s people.
Jesus is the Great Shepherd, right?
John 10: He says, “I am the good shepherd.”

And then He sends out His disciples as the first kind of foray into—yeah—preaching.
He says, “I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves.
Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”

This idea of sheep—and you’re now a shepherd—
and one of your jobs is to watch out, because there are wolves out there.

Abby:
Right.

Bruce:
And you know, this is what happens when wolves and sheep meet.
Not a pretty picture at all.

So wolves are going to come,
and they’re going to try to destroy the church,
and they’re going to try to destroy individual sheep.
And they’ll do that by leading people astray and by personal attacks.

And this—this is important.
Now, we cover this in the Deacon class as well,
but it’s vitally important for you to realize:
if you become an elder in the church,
that we are involved in spiritual warfare.

This is not—it’s not a cake walk.
There is a very real enemy whose job is to kill, steal, and destroy, the Bible says.
And one of the things he wants to destroy is the church.

And so you’ve got to be on guard, Paul says,
over yourself and over the flock that He’s appointed you as a shepherd in.

Now, in my history in the church, spiritual warfare is not much talked about.
In fact, I read The Screwtape Letters as a teenager by C. S. Lewis—marvelous.
A book where he imagines an overseer demon writing to a demon
who’s been appointed to a new convert to make sure he goes to hell.

Right?

Abby:
Yeah.

Bruce:
And so they react about what they should be doing,
reflecting on Ephesians 6:10–18, which is the armor of God:
Put on the whole armor of God.
We’ll reflect on that a little bit in a few minutes.

In seminary, I had nothing.
No teaching about spiritual warfare.
And I was going to be a leader in the church.

It took me a long time to realize that some of what was happening in the church
when things were really getting rough—
and usually that happens when things are going well in the church, by the way—
that if things are going well, there’s going to be some kind of attack.

And it may be on the church in general.
It may be on you as an individual, as somebody, as a leader.
But know that there is an enemy.

And so what do you do?
God has appointed you as an elder to be watching for that,
to be on guard against it.

So what does that mean?
Well, I like to think of Patton when I think of that movie.
It’s a great movie.

But there’s that one scene where Patton is fighting Rommel,
the best general of the Nazis, in a tank battle.
And Patton’s winning—the first time Rommel’s been defeated in the battle.

And he says—uses some not-so-nice language—but he says,
“I read your book.”

In other words, he made a point to know what Rommel’s strategy was going to be,
what Rommel was going to do,
and he was able to counter that in his own plan of attack.

Now, what we’re going to do in just a little bit here is look at:
Who is our enemy?
And what strategies does he use to get to you
and to get to the church of which you’ve been appointed the leader.

So—who are they?
Just some passages here.
These are ones that give us some glimpse of who he is.

First of all, this is a passage from Isaiah,
and it says—many people believe this is a reference to Satan:

“You are the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God.
Every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite, emerald, topaz, onyx, jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise, and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold.
On the day you were created they were prepared.”

That it was this being that God created—special and beautiful.

And this one as well:
“You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created
till wickedness was found in you.

Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God;
I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.

Your heart became proud on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
I made a spectacle of you before kings.”

Abby:
Wow.

Bruce:
And then the Isaiah passage:
“How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations.
You said in your heart…”

Bruce:
All right, we are back in this elder course.
We’ve just looked, in the past few sessions, what is an elder to be like.
And now we’re getting into what does the elder need to do.

So all these things they needed to be like helps them be able to do what they’re called to do effectively,
which is protect the sheep.
That’s a small nutshell.

That’s number one on the list: protect the sheep.
Now this is Acts 20.
The situation here is Paul is meeting with the Ephesian elders, elders that have been appointed in Ephesus.

You remember Timothy was given that charge to appoint elders.
And he asked for the elders to meet with him.
They traveled to meet with him.
And he said, “I’m not going to see you ever again.

But here’s my charge to you:
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.
Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you, etc., etc.
Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw disciples after them.
Be on your guard. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”

Oh, just the impact of that.
Three years.
Never stopped warning them, day and night, with tears.

But those words: keep watch.
Be on your guard.

So let’s look at that.
Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.
Interesting—Paul/Timothy appointed them, yet he’s saying the Holy Spirit was part of this process.

You became an elder because the Holy Spirit appointed overseers
to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
That’s the NASB translation.

Now you know some of those words there—God’s people.
Jesus is the Great Shepherd, right?
John 10: He says, “I am the good shepherd.”

And then He sends out His disciples as the first kind of foray into—yeah—preaching.
He says, “I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves.
Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”

This idea of sheep—and you’re now a shepherd—
and one of your jobs is to watch out, because there are wolves out there.

Abby:
Right.

Bruce:
And you know, this is what happens when wolves and sheep meet.
Not a pretty picture at all.

So wolves are going to come,
and they’re going to try to destroy the church,
and they’re going to try to destroy individual sheep.
And they’ll do that by leading people astray and by personal attacks.

And this—this is important.
Now, we cover this in the Deacon class as well,
but it’s vitally important for you to realize:
if you become an elder in the church, we are involved in spiritual warfare.

This is not—it’s not a cake walk.
There is a very real enemy whose job is to kill, steal, and destroy, the Bible says.
And one of the things he wants to destroy is the church.

And so you’ve got to be on guard, Paul says,
over yourself and over the flock that He’s appointed you as a shepherd in.

Now, in my history in the church, spiritual warfare is not much talked about.
In fact, I read The Screwtape Letters as a teenager by C. S. Lewis—marvelous.
A book where he imagines an overseer demon writing to a demon
who’s been appointed to a new convert to make sure he goes to hell.

Right?

Abby:
Yeah.

Bruce:
And so they react about what they should be doing,
reflecting on Ephesians 6:10–18, which is the armor of God:
Put on the whole armor of God.
We’ll reflect on that a little bit in a few minutes.

In seminary, I had nothing.
No teaching about spiritual warfare.
And I was going to be a leader in the church.

It took me a long time to realize that some of what was happening in the church
when things were really getting rough—
and usually that happens when things are going well in the church, by the way—
that if things are going well, there’s going to be some kind of attack.

And it may be on the church in general.
It may be on you as an individual, as somebody, as a leader.
But know that there is an enemy.

And so what do you do?
God has appointed you as an elder to be watching for that,
to be on guard against it.

So what does that mean?
Well, I like to think of Patton when I think of that movie.
It’s a great movie.

But there’s that one scene where Patton is fighting Rommel,
the best general of the Nazis, in a tank battle.
And Patton’s winning—the first time Rommel’s been defeated in the battle.

And he says—uses some not-so-nice language—but he says,
“I read your book.”

In other words, he made a point to know what Rommel’s strategy was going to be,
what Rommel was going to do,
and he was able to counter that in his own plan of attack.

Now, what we’re going to do in just a little bit here is look at:
Who is our enemy?
And what strategies does he use to get to you
and to get to the church of which you’ve been appointed the leader.

So—who are they?
Just some passages here.
These are ones that give us some glimpse of who he is.

First of all, this is a passage from Isaiah,
and it says—many people believe this is a reference to Satan:

“You are the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God.
Every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite, emerald, topaz, onyx, jasper,
lapis lazuli, turquoise, and beryl.
Your settings and mountings were made of gold.
On the day you were created they were prepared.”

That it was this being that God created—special and beautiful.

And this one as well:
“You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created
till wickedness was found in you.

Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God;
I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.

Your heart became proud on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
I made a spectacle of you before kings.”

Abby:
Wow.

Bruce:
And then the Isaiah passage:
“How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations.
You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.”

Then Revelation:
“War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon,
and the dragon and his angels fought back.
But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan,
who leads the whole world astray.
He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”

That’s who we’re battling.

And then in the New Testament, we have all these names for him:
“Prince of this world,” Jesus calls him—in other words, he’s got position, has got authority.
Now Jesus also says, greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.

A “prince of the power of the air”—I always find that one interesting,
just because, you know, they didn’t know anything about the fact
that I can pick up a cell signal just about anywhere in the world,
and it comes through the air.

“The god of this age.” Wow. I think that’s always been appropriate.
There are things in the culture, if you look at what they try to celebrate,
you can see the devil behind it.

“Murderer and a liar.”
“The tempter.”
“Roaring lion,” Peter calls him.

Abby:
So yeah.

Bruce:
So—he’s a powerful being.
And Peter says: you like sheep, we’re going astray, and it comes back there.

So—spiritual warfare. Are you ready for battle?
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.
Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

So—your own spiritual life is important for you to do battle,
for you to be able to recognize Satan at work.

So what is your prayer life like?
Some use adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication.
Some use the Lord’s Prayer as the guide.

But to re-engage in a prayer life—devotionals, prayer wheel.
This is one that has been meaningful to me.
It’s from a book called The Hour That Changed the World.
Just 12 facets of prayer.

I don’t use all of them every day,
but they give me a guideline of things, of ways to be praying.
You’ll notice number five on there is “watching.”

I ask just about every morning, I ask, “Okay, where is the enemy at work?”

Abby:
Yeah.

Bruce:
I’m just trying to take that position of what the verse said:
“Watch over yourself and the flock.”

Yeah—so where does he work in my life?
Where does he work in my church?
Where does he work in the world?

And it’s really not hard to recognize.

Have people praying for you.
Paul—the apostle Paul—eight times refers to people praying for him.

And one of my mentors said there are three levels:
One is one or two people you can trust, to share deeply with them about your struggles.
Two is people that are going to agree to pray for you.
Three is just general—pray for the church and its ministry.

But yeah—to be watching, and to call attention to people.

I’ve shared this one before.
This is a ’61 Chevy.
I was in an accident with this.
I was going to pick up my future wife for a date.
Turn left on a yellow light.
The guy trying to run the yellow light hit me on the side.

Car wouldn’t move.
Had to haul it to a mechanic nearby.
He cut away the fender that had been punched against the back wheel.
Said, “Okay, drive it down the street and come back.”

So I drove it down the street and came back.
And he says, “You can get this home, but don’t drive this car regularly.
Everything’s out of alignment.
And when a car is out of alignment, particularly the back wheels,
it’s going to be fighting against itself all the time.
And eventually it’ll just collapse—go nowhere.”

To be able to keep moving forward anymore, that alignment is key to health.

So that’s been that picture I come back to every once in a while:
to check my life and just say, where’s the steering wheel going the wrong way?

My father wasn’t too happy about me, about that car.
Well, I totaled two of his cars when I was a teenager.

Abby:
(Laughs)

Bruce:
But at least you’ve been living this life—a lesson out of the Torino.

The walls of Jerusalem—a watchman would usually stand on the top of the walls.
This is one of the gates of Jerusalem still today—it’s been restored now.

But a watchman would stand on the top there and look out over the approaching land.
Is any enemy coming? Is there anybody coming?
And if there was, he would blow the trumpet and gather the troops.

And that’s your job.
That’s your job as overseers.

Abby:
As elders, yeah.

Bruce:
As elders, you need to be keeping watch.

And again, if you fail in that task—wow.
If you don’t recognize that it’s an attack of the enemy,
that’s a scary, scary place to be for your church.

We’ve been through the pandemic a few years back.
Now it’s amazing to realize it’s already three years ago.
And it amazes me—I was retired from active pastoring in a church.
I was working as kind of a mentor-coach to a pastor in a church.

And they hired me to just walk with him through challenging times,
and try to help him go.

And I found it amazing, the stories I would hear.
Not so much in that church—though it was there too—
but the argument and the fighting: “Will you wear a mask? Will you not wear a mask?”

I heard stories about one church where people got in a fistfight out in the parking lot—
coming to church. One guy was wearing a mask, the other wasn’t.
And they ended up getting in a fistfight—in the Church of Jesus Christ.

When you say, “What? Where does this come from?”
Well, I can tell you where it comes from.
It’s the enemy.
And he’s going to work every way possible.

Abby:
Any way he can.

Bruce:
Any way he can, right.
And often he’ll work through—yeah—through people.

And it’s hard to recognize: is this the enemy?
When you’ve got a group of people in the church who are advocating—yeah—
advocating for a direction that the church is not going,
and they end up getting nasty about it.

John MacArthur—he’s somebody that I read every book he wrote,
marvelous speaker—once told in one of his speaking engagements
about the time the church was changing the music.

Just changing music—because they wanted to be contemporary.
He was pastoring a church in California.

And, you know, the only place I ever heard organs in California
were in ballparks—where you know, seventh-inning stretch,
“Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

And so they were making their music more contemporary.
And lo and behold, one day he gets a call from his secretary:
“You’ve got to come down here.”

“Well, why?”
“Well, the police are here, with somebody from the city.”

Okay, he comes down.
And the complaint was somebody had complained about the noise in the church
on Sunday morning—particularly the drums.

Turns out it was a member of their church.
He was just being ornery.

And where does that come from?
I can tell you where it comes from—behind it.

We’re going to look more at that in the next session.
So invite you to come back.
Then we’re going to look at some of the strategies and the way he approaches what he does.