Show and Tell (Acts 20)
Christ the lord is risen today (vs 2 & chorus)
Call to worship:
pastor zachary mcguire
Deut 5.6-22
song:
How firm a foundation
Historical reading:
pastor michael champoux
Apostles creed
song:
All creatures of our God & king
Confession & pardon:
pastor brett eckel
song:
Christ the sure & steady anchor
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Acts 20
Introduction
My daughter Anabelle has “show & tell” in her Kindergarten class tomorrow so yesterday she was showing her mother and I what she planned on showing her class and what she wanted to tell them about it. Something similar is happening in Acts 20. Paul does a bit of a show and tell for us in this chapter – 1st he shows us how Pastors/Elders minister to the church and then in his speech to the Ephesian Elders Paul tells them how Elders should minister to the local church. Have you ever wondered what pastors do or what they should do? Some of you are in seminary right now studying theology for the purpose of ministry. Whether you are 1 of the 7 Pastors/Elders here at Christ Community Church or you are a member of the congregation this pericope gives us a healthy understanding of what Christ expects from the pastors/elders of his church.
Show
The 1st point we must note is that Paul shows us how Pastors/Elders must minster to the local church. Pay attention to 2 different scenes here – (1) in verses 1-6 we see an emphasis on the prominence of God’s Word and (2) in verses 7-16 we see an emphasis on the preaching of God’s Word. The 1st emphasis we see is on the prominence of the Word of God. We don’t necessarily see this on the surface but when we consider the context of this pericope the clouds dissipate and we see more clearly.
As Pastor Kevin reminded us the last 2 weeks, we now find ourselves on Paul’s 3rd missionary journey. Did you notice again in verse 6 Luke is using the 1st person plural? Luke was there – he is testifying to what he witnessed. And what St. Luke witness here in the 1st 6 verses of Acts 20 were the 4th, 5th, and 6th stops on Paul’s 3rd missionary journey. It was during this period of time that the apostle Paul wrote both 2nd Corinthians and the book of Romans.
Can we take a moment and appreciate how wonderful this is? Let’s not pass too quickly over these 6 verses as merely a recap of ancient travel. Portions of God’s holy Word were written during this journey, including St. Paul’s magnum opus – the book of Romans. The books of Acts, Romans, and 2nd Corinthians all converge in Acts 20 to remind us of the prominence of God’s Word. Ponder for a moment how God has used these 3 New Testament books for the last 2 millennia– all of the sermons, all of the commentaries, bible studies, and devotionals written, all of the saints who have read these words, God used the book of Romans to change the heart of a German monk named Martin Luther, who would spark the global revival we call the Protestant Reformation.
During this time the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write Scripture, the same Scripture we preach, read, study, and treasure today, the same Scripture that nourishes us today. Paul ministered to the church writing Scripture; pastors/elder minister to the church today by leading the church from that same Scripture. We structure the weekly liturgy from Scripture; we counsel people from the Bible, and most importantly we preach the Word of God.
The 1st emphasis Paul showed us was the prominence of the Word of God. The 2nd emphasis is the preaching of the Word of God. Acts 20 gives us a bit of a living parable for the work of the Elder in preaching the Word of God. We read in verses 7-16 about the Eutychus incident.
There should be no dispute that starting in verse 7 Luke tells us of an ancient church service. Notice 4 elements of the Christian worship service that were true 2,000 years ago and are still true for us today at Christ Community Church – (1) it was the 1st day of the week. The Greek text literally says on the 1st of the Sabbath. The old covenant Sabbath was Saturday; orthodox Jews still worship on Saturday. Starting with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on that 1st Easter Sunday, the new covenant Sabbath is now Sunday. Christians immediately transferred their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday and Christians have worshipped on Sunday since. Sunday is the Christian Sabbath – it is our day of worship and rest.
(2) The church was gathered. That verb translated gathered together is a plural participle. A participle is a verbal noun so the phrase when we were gathered together can be translated the gathered ones. That’s who we are; that’s our identity – the gathered ones. Jesus has saved each one of us individually but he has saved us to gather. The idea of a Christian who does not go to church is nonexistent in Scripture and church history; it is an invention of modern individualism and is sin. The church gathers every Sunday.
The most wooden translation of the beginning of verse 7 would read: but on the 1st of the Sabbath we had been the gathered ones to break bread. And that’s the 3rd intrinsic element of Christian worship the breaking of bread. Breaking bread refers to the sacrament – the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, the Eucharist. Here in Acts 20 the early church practiced the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. And still in 2024 here at Christ Community Church and all over the globe Christians gather at the communion table every single Sunday.
The 4th element of Christian worship we see in Acts 20 is the preaching of the Word of God – Luke tells us Paul talked with them…and he prolonged his speech. The verb translated talked is διελέγετο, which means, “to speak in a somewhat formal setting and probably implying a more formal use of language—‘to address, to make a speech.’” When Luke tells us that Paul prolonged his speech he uses the word λόγος: Paul prolonged the λόγος, the Word. What St. Luke is describing and the ESV translators did a poor job of translating is that Paul was preaching to the gathered church. These 4 things have been intrinsically true of Christians for the last 2,000 years – on the 1st day of the week the church gathers for the breaking of the bread and the preaching of the Word.
And while Paul is preaching the Word this crazy scene unfolds – a man named Eutychus fells asleep and fell out of a 3rd story window and died. Let that be a warning to any of you who may be dozing off right now. Then Paul takes Eutychus up in his arms and resuscitates him. When I was in the Expository Preaching doctoral cohort at Southern Seminary we read a lot of books on preaching and one of them was called Saving Eutyhcus: How To Preach God’s Word And Keep People Awake. This work by Gary Millar and Phil Campbell with a foreword by Alistair Begg is basically how to preach sermons that are faithful and not boring.
The book derives its title from our passage in Acts 20. While the title is clever I don’t think the emphasis in this pericope is on whether or not Paul’s sermon was boring but I do think there are 2 theological points we should draw from this wild pericope: (1) the apostles resuscitated the dead just like Jesus did as validation of their unique redemptive office. This is descriptive not prescriptive. Raising the dead is not something all preachers or all Christians can do or are called to do; it was unique to the apostles.
(2) These scene is a living parable illustrating the power of preaching the Word of God for it is only in the Bible that the gospel is found and it is through the preaching of the gospel that hearts are raised from the dead to new life. It’s no coincidence that this incident happened while Paul was preaching. The Spirit provides a providential picture, a living parable of what the pastor/elder must do – we must preach the gospel from the Word of God because that is how God gives life. Preaching is how God brings new life and preaching is how God sustains life.
Tell
Not only does Paul show us the prominence of the Word and the pastor/elder’s responsibility to preach the Word in vss 1-16 but in vss 17-38 the Holy Spirit explicitly tells us what is most important for pastors/elders through Paul’s farewell sermon to the Ephesian elders. In vss 20-21 Paul contends that he did not shrink from declaring the gospel – repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. Repentance toward God means to confess your sin and turn from your sin. Listen to how one respected Greek lexicon describes repentance:
Though in English a focal component of repent is the sorrow or contrition that a person experiences because of sin, the emphasis in μετανοέω and μετάνοια seems to be more specifically the total change, both in thought and behavior, with respect to how one should both think and act.
Repentance is the result of faith in our Lord Jesus. As Reformed Christians we define faith by 3 facets – knowledge, assent, and trust. To have faith first and foremost means to know that there is 1 true holy God who created you, to know that you have sinned against him in thought, word, and deed, and to know that Jesus lived, died, was buried, and resurrected for the forgiveness of sin. You must also assent to this knowledge of Jesus – you must confess and not deny these things to be true. You must assent to the validity of these truth claims.
Finally you must transfer your trust to Jesus alone. You must rest in his life, death, and resurrection to make you, a sinner, right with your holy creator God. You must let go of your pride, self-righteousness, and idolatry and trust that Jesus died for your sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried and raised on the 3rd day in accordance with the Scriptures. It is our prayer that each and every one of you would repent and believe the good news even today!
This is the message that Paul calls the gospel of the grace of God. This is the message that Paul calls proclaiming the kingdom. This is the message that Paul calls the whole counsel of God. That’s because every pericope is the Bible is about Jesus. The whole Bible is Christian Scripture. Every story whispers the name of Jesus.
And this is what pastors/elders are tasked to preach and it is out of the strength of this good news that pastors/elders are tasked to shepherd, to oversee, to rule, to lead. That’s why in verse 28 Paul commands the elders, Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. Pastors/elders must pay attention to their lives, their holiness, their marriages because the Holy Spirit made us overseers/pastors/elders/bishops/shepherds to care for the church of God. This is why the qualifications given in 1st Timothy and Titus are nonnegotiable for pastors, not merely when we’re 1st ordained, but for the entirety of our ministry.
This is serious because God obtained his church with his own blood. On vs 28 NT Wright comments, “This is perhaps the most direct, certainly the most striking, statement of the meaning of Jesus’ crucifixion to be found anywhere in Acts.” Here Paul is unashamed of the divinity of Jesus – God obtained the church with his own blood; in this instance God = Jesus. The verb obtained is περιεποιήσατο, which means, “to acquire possession of something, with the probable component of considerable effort.” Considerable effort, I’d say – his own blood. Paul is referencing the humiliation of Christ, Jesus’ Passion, Good Friday, the death of Jesus on the cross, the shedding of his blood, the bearing of God’s wrath.
Jesus shed his blood; Jesus died for the church. Jesus lived, he bled, he died for the church. Literally for the ἐκκλησία. For pastors to abuse the church by neglecting our lives, our holiness, our marriages is to spit on the blood of Jesus.
Did you notice also the interesting quotation in vs 35 where Luke quotes Paul who quotes the Lord Jesus who apparently said, “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” You may be wondering, “is that in Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or John? Where is that quote?” The answer is none. There is nowhere in Scripture where Jesus is quoted as saying it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Maybe there is an old piece of parchment buried in the Egyptian dessert that Luke read that we just don’t have anymore or maybe it was burned in the library of Alexandria. John tells us in John 21 that if everything Jesus did and everything Jesus said was written down the world could not contain the records. Regardless of when the Lord Jesus said it or where it was written before what we do know is that the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to write it here and so it is indeed canon and should be revered as such. And so we ought to take the words of Jesus to heart – it is more blessed to give than to receive. Pastors/elders follow in the pattern of the Lord Jesus when we give of ourselves to the church and all believers follow in the patter of Christ when we give of our time, treasures, and talents to others in service to Jesus.
When Paul finished preaching to the elders he prayed with them. We’ve seen this consistently throughout the book of Acts, haven’t we? The church prays together. Prayer is a gift. What a gift as pastors/elders to pray with our people. We elders must remember that it is a gift to lead God’s people in prayer during the liturgy. It is a gift to pray for our people on our own. It is a gift to pray with our people when they seek our counsel. May we never run from this high calling of pastor/elder that we see in Acts 20, but we pray that CCC will have faithful godly elders until Christ returns.
Conclusion
In this chapter Paul showed us and he told us how Pastors/Elders must minister to the local church. The best summary I’ve ever heard of the job description of the Pastor is from Dr. Mark Dever – preach, pray, love, stay. That’s exactly what Paul called the Ephesian Elders to do in Acts 20, isn’t it? The job of the Pastor/Elder is to faithfully preach the gospel from the Word of God and administer the sacraments because this is how God gives life. May it be so at Christ Community Church.