Caring For The Church Of God

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Acts 20:28

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.

Last week, to the glory of God, I was officially ordained into the office of a Pastor and I want to thank you all for your presence. We all took charges together. I as a Pastor and you as a congregation. And today being the first Sunday, after my ordination, I want us to consider together, Caring For The Church Of God.

The text we read is like the charge I received last Sunday. Paul is on his last missionary journey after planting churches and calls the elders of the church in Ephesus for a conference kind of. To give them his last words. And the words he spoke and especially verse 28 will be our focus for this morning.

What Is The Church Of God?

The New Testament use of the word church, in this text is the Greek word Ekklesia. It denotes “an assembly, congregation, the whole body of Christ.” This assembly, or gathering, are people who have been called out of the world of sin. That is the meaning of the phrase “obtained with his own blood.” This points us to the death of Christ for sinners. This means that for anyone to consider themselves as a member of the church, they must be those who Christ himself has bought with his blood. This is the message of the church. That Jesus Christ died for sinners to bring them together as One body, his body. Comparing the church to the human body, Paul says

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another (Romans 12:4-5)

We are many, but one body. This talks of the church. And it points us to another understanding of the church: The Universal Church (Invisible Church), The Local Church (Visible church). The Universal church is all of Christians worldwide, including those who have passed on into eternity. The local church is all individual churches that people belong to as members. The church then is a gathering of all people who have been purchased, bought or obtained by the blood of Christ.

Let me ask you? Are you a member of this body? I am not asking if you attend church on Sundays. Or even if you have your name on the register of any church as a member. But I am asking whether you are saved? Whether you have truly believed in Jesus Christ and have been pardoned of your sins? That is what makes you a true member of the church.

Someone may ask, why are buildings then called churches?

Of course, when Christians together meet for worship, it is expected they meet under a roof. And if that meeting is going to be permanent and recurring, we expect a permanent structure or building. And such buildings housing God’s people have come to be called churches. And there is another Greek word that will explain this. The word is kyriakos, which means, OF THE LORD or “belonging to the Lord.” The word it has been noted by scholars has been used in only two places in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 11:20, Revelation 1:10. So in the course of the history of the Christianity, the word kyriakos “came to be used to refer to other things such as the place or people or denomination or country related to the group that belongs to the Lord.” (Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology: A Systematic Guide To Understanding Biblical Truth).

What Does Caring For The Church Of God Mean?

Having identified what the church of God is, I will attempt to answer the question, what does it mean to care for the house of God? Or what is the meaning of caring for the house of God? The dictionary meaning of the word care is “the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something.” To care for the church of God then is to “provide what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of the church of God.” If you look at the text again, you will notice there is another word that has been used to describe the church of God: “flock” We know what a flock is right? A group of sheep. And the Bible figuratively describes the people of God as his sheep.

Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture (Psalm 100:3)

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd (John 10:14-16). My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (v.27).

The word care in the Greek means “to shepherd.” This brings to the fore what it truly means to care for the church of God. To shepherd sheep first and foremost means to feed them. So to care for the church of God means to feed it. How is the church of God fed? By the word of God: the Bible. You will notice that, when Paul spoke about his own ministry, he spoke about it in the context of “declaring and teaching the word of God (read vv.20-21; 27). The word of God is that by which sinners would be saved. The word of God is the spiritual food his sheep need to grow. Jesus in his temptation told the devil “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4).

Dear friends, the preaching and teaching of God’s Word is indispensable in the life of a church. It is by God’s word his church is fed, nurtured and grown. Look at verse 32: “And now I commend you to God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” That is so clear: God’s word builds us up. The core mandate of every Christian ministry is the teaching and preaching of God’s word to feed God’s sheep. Paul, writing to Timothy, charged him “Preach the word…” (2 Timothy 4:2). Peter in 1 Peter 2:2 says “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is God.” Here is a litmus test if you are truly a believer: Do you desire the word? Do you have a longing for the word? If you are not worried by a lack of desire for God’s word, you probably may not be saved. And you should be worried by your lack of desire for the word of God.

Now to shepherd the flock isn’t only about feeding it. It is also about tending; leading, directing, correcting, rebuking, reproofing, disciplining. All these come along in feeding the sheep. When Paul told Timothy to preach the word, he continued with “reprove, rebuke, and exhort.” That means caring for the church of God also means practising church discipline together. As humans, we have the tendency to stray and when this happens, the Bible expects the church to act. So let’s all agree together, as part of our life as a church, we will help and correct ourselves. Of course, the main means by which we are going to correct ourselves is the faithful preaching of the word of God.

Another means by which we care for the church is warding off false teachers from the flock. It is protecting the flock from wolves. Look at vv.29-30. Paul anticipates false teachers from among the believers who will be teaching things that are false and will draw many away. To care for the church will then mean warning you about errors, false teachers and those who teach wrong things. In our life as a church, we will try our best to teach the truth here so that when you see error, you can know it.

The Responsibility of Caring For The Church

Whose responsibility is it to care for the church? Look at our text again: “Pay careful attention to yourselves…” Who is Paul talking to? We see the answer in v.17: “the elders of the church” The New Testament church leadership structure is elders or overseers or bishops. These words are used interchangeably to mean Pastor. In verse 17, we see elders. The Greek word is Presbuteros, from which our Presbyterian friends get their name based on their system of church governance. Then look also at the word overseers in verse 28. That word is also in Greek Episkopos, which basically is the same thing as the word elder. The elders perform the function of oversight of the church.

And what oversight do they perform? They are tasked with the responsibility of caring for the church. They give leadership to the church. They feed the church by preaching the gospel. They guard against false teachers. They are responsible for church discipline. Remember we described the church of God figuratively as sheep. Now the word Pastor, basically means shepherd. In this meaning therefore, we also see the role of a Pastor. He is a Shepherd. He is an Overseer. He is an Elder. He has responsibility for feeding God’s sheep. These words: Shepherd, Overseer, Elder are all used to describe the New Testament office of a Pastor. Everything we have said about the previous point is the responsibility of the Pastor.

The Biblical role of the Pastor or Shepherd is the responsibility of building up the church. And this responsibility is a God ordained responsibility: “which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers”. This is consistent with other parts of the Scriptures. In Ephesians 4:11, God gifted the church with the office of a Pastor. Even before the New Testament church, God has promised his people to give them Pastors after his own heart: “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” (Jeremiah 3:15). This then tells us a Pastor cannot call himself. And also, when God calls a Pastor, he calls the Pastor in the context of a church. And this biblical conviction is the conviction that took us to TMBC last Sunday. You don’t want to be led by a Pastor under no authority. Even Paul was sent out on his missionary journey by the church (Acts 13:1-3).

Now how do we even know one is called as a Pastor? For almost every profession in life, there is a form of qualification or competencies required. It takes years for doctors to train to be doctors. Even when they are done with their education, they write exams to qualify them to practise. Consider any profession you can think of. There needs to be qualifications gained through training. This is equally true of anyone who will lead a church as a Pastor.

The life of the person will tell. Look how Paul tells the elders “Pay careful attention to yourselves…” This clearly points out a certain kind of life which is expected of those who are called. They are to be vigilant over their own lives. And Paul himself will use his own life as a guide for these elders. Humility (v.19); Able to teach (vv.20-21;27); Faith In God (vv.22-24; trusting God with his life); Not Greedy/Covetous (v.33), Not Lazy (vv.34), Generous (v.35).

In the Pastoral epistles, that is Titus and Timothy, Paul gives us an extensive qualification to look out for if one says they are called of God. (1 Timothy 3:1-7). Let’s also note that, these qualifications must be examined with an understanding that to Pastor a church is a call by God. It is God who makes Pastors but the only way we can know someone is truly called of God is these qualifications Paul gives. We don’t believe that God calls people today like he called Moses and the other Apostles. Today, God’s calling is manifested in very normal ways and the character of a person who says they have been called by God must have certain traits as outlined.

Finally, all these points us to One who is himself the Chief Shepherd: Jesus Christ. Elders, Pastors are under shepherds whom Christ sets over his people to feed them