Pastor Aaron Prelock preaches on what a pastor is supposed to do, from Acts 20.
Bloomington Bible Church Sermons
Acts 20 - What Does a Pastor Do?
[ Inaudible ] Hi. I'm Aaron. No, some of you. Some of you fairly well. Some of you not well at all. It's good to be here. It is strange to be here. I said this to the -- to a group that met several weeks ago. It's bittersweet to be here. I'm sure you feel the same way. I didn't expect to be back in the U.S. a year ago. You didn't expect a year ago to be looking for a pastor. I do hope, I think God's kindness and God's providence, that this can work out well all the way around. But I do understand that this is a very bittersweet time. So I'm sure there are lots of different feelings. There are lots of different emotions. Lots of questions. Running through all our heads. And my hope is that through this whole process, all of us will see that God is good and that Jesus is building his church. That we can see that God's plan, though it's so often very different from what we would think up. That God's plan is good. That it's not only good for us, but it's also good to us. The next two Sundays, today and next week, what I'd like to do is give something of a vision of what a pastor is to do and what a church is to be. So in one sense, the next few Sunday mornings are not going to be necessarily my normal preaching style. If you were here in April, I preached here two Sundays, were those recorded? OK, so that would be a much more normal sort of preaching style, engagement with the text. This Sunday, next Sunday is probably not going to be that. And in focusing on what a pastor is to do and what a church is to be, I'm not intending to give any sort of criticism of what is or has been here. Instead, I hope to lay out what I understand scripture to teach of who the pastor is to be, what the church is to be as well. So this morning, turn in your Bibles to Acts, chapter 20. In my Bibles on page 929, apparently half of the Bibles that you have, it's on that as well. And the other half, I don't remember, something like 874. But 929 Acts, chapter 20. This week, we're going to look at this question, what does a pastor do? What does a pastor do? There's the old jokes. Well, the pastor must have a nice job. He only works one day a week, and it's a half day a week. That is a joke, right? That may be nice. Well, as people wonder, what does a pastor do? How does a pastor spend his time? How does a pastor engage with the flock? What sort of priorities is a pastor to have? In Acts, chapter 20, we have the apostle Paul's priorities on pastoral ministry. And this is one of the central passages in the New Testament to find out what a pastor is to do, what his time is to be spent focusing on. You can look through the pastoral epistles, one into Timothy, first and second Timothy in Titus, but they're quite a bit longer. You can look at 1 Peter 5, 1 Peter 5, the first few verses of 1 Peter 5, or some of my favorite descriptions in the New Testament of who the pastor is and how he's supposed to act. But Acts, chapter 20, is the apostle Paul telling the elders of the church at Ephesus what they are to be. As he describes for them how he himself pastored them during his time with them. So in the apostle Paul giving us this passage, he's giving us as well, not just the church at Ephesus. He's giving us as well, something of an understanding of what the pastor is to be and do. Let's look at these verses together, Acts chapter 20, verses 17 to 38. Now from my leaders, he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. When they came to him, he said to them, "You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews. How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house. Testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, a repentance towards God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city. The imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself. If only I may finish my course in the ministry that I have received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 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. I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. From among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them, therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands minister to my necessities and to those who are with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way, we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. There was much weeping on the part of all. They embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken that they would not see his face again and they accompanied him to the ship. Let's pray. Father, we praise you for your word. You have spoken to us through your word and you speak to us today through your word. If other help us to understand this passage, help us to see why it matters, why it matters for the pastor, why it matters for the church. Father, would you use this morning and next week to direct us? Father, we pray that you would make our paths straight, shine your light upon our steps that we may know what you would have us to do. We pray this all in humble submission, praying not our wills, but your will be done. We pray this in the name of Jesus, our Savior, amen. So then, what does a pastor do? Ten tasks of a pastor. As I said, this isn't a normal sermon. I don't think I've ever preached a ten-point sermon before. I don't intend to preach many ten-point sermons, but as I looked through Acts 20, there seemed to me to be ten different categories that the Apostle Paul uses. Again, in Acts 20, the Apostle Paul is speaking not only to the elders of the church, it is to the Ephesus. He's also speaking to us, the Holy Spirit has given us this passage, not just as an interesting bit of biography, but to help us set our priorities as well. So these ten are not the only things that the Apostle Paul talks about in this passage. There are some verses that I'm not going to address. I'm not going to say everything that needs to be said about this passage, but I do think Paul gives us ten categories or ten tasks of a local church, pastor. We'll look back at verse 19, task number one. What does a pastor do from verse 19? He serves the Lord with humility and sincerity. Halfway through verse 18, you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time, from the first day that I set foot in Asia. The Apostle Paul is living among the people. He is with the people. What is he doing? Serving the Lord with all humility and with tears throughout the trials that were taking place in his life because of the persecution of the Jews. A plot number or not plot number one. Task number one, what does the Apostle Paul think a pastor is to do? Task number one, he serves the Lord with humility and sincerity. Some time ago, everyone was talking about authenticity in the church. People wanted authentic this or that. The church, authentic relationships, authentic religion. And it was a buzzword, an authentic became almost an excuse for here's just a few things I've been wanting to say, whether from the pastor to the people or among the people with each other. There is something to authenticity and sincerity in a pastor's relationship with his flock. Here we get a little bit of a sense of how Paul feels about the church and Ephesus. He lives among them. He sees his relationship to the people as serving, not himself, but the Lord. Humility and his tears characterize his ministry among them. In other words, the fact that Paul sees himself as pastor as serving the Lord means that his character, his personality, his gifts and abilities are meant to be used for the good of the flock. That includes his emotions. He is serving the Lord through tears. He cares about these people. Their pains are his pains. Their joys, as we also read about in Romans chapter 12, are his joys. Their lives are his life. His life is their lives. A pastor is to interact with his people with humility and sincerity. Now, by way of trying to show something of this humility, I have to let you know. If I come as your pastor, I can guarantee that Kate Wilson against you. Can promise that. Every one of you. And so will I. That's not faux humility. That's not modesty. It's not a promise and that I intend to, but that's just reality. Life is messy. Church is messy. We all know that we intend to do things a certain way and things don't come out the way we intend. We all know that when we go into a situation wanting to handle it well, often we come out saying I didn't handle that as well or as godly as I thought I did. I will sin against you publicly, privately, corporately, individually. I hope to God and with the help of the elders that I will also repent publicly and privately, corporately and individually. But know that humility and sincerity means we will see one another's sins up close and personal. I will disappoint you and I will be disappointed by you. All of us in our relationships with one another will see one another's weaknesses. You have a bit of a leg up on me on this. You know each other's weaknesses. I'm getting to know some of you. Some of you for the first time. I don't see all those things as well yet. Can we in humility and sincerity together serve the Lord? Task number one, the pastor serves the Lord with humility and sincerity. Task number two, verse 20, the pastor teaches publicly and privately, the pastor teaches publicly and privately, verse 20, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house. That means you need to know brothers and sisters that I understand pastoral ministry to be teaching in a multitude of ways. Monday morning preaching is one task of the pastor and it's an important task, but it is not the only task. I was fighting this so much, the circles of churches that I was in previously before moving back. So many pastors that I knew thought that if they preached hardy sermons and by hardy sermons, most of the time was just commentaries on the text. If they preached very rigorous commentaries on the text, that was them shepherding the flock. That was them teaching God's people appropriately. I don't think that's what Paul was doing here. I don't think the apostle Paul here was getting into the nitty gritty of the Septuagint Greek on the Old Testament. I don't think he was spending loads of time talking about what this word literally means or how this verb form indicates what they're to do with this passage. Instead he's teaching them how God's word applies to their lives. He's teaching them why God's word is the living word of God and why it speaks to them with authority to call them to repentance and faith. The teaching is public and it is private. Teaching takes place from the front in a pulpit, but it also takes place privately one on one, house to house in small group Bible studies and individual conversations at coffee shops, in the park, at school, at the pub, in casual conversations after church. Pastoral ministry is teaching. It's always teaching. Now that doesn't mean by the way that I think every gathering has to have a public teaching or a public prayer that every time you come to my house, every time I come to your house, we're going to have a sit down formal Bible study in time of prayer. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but I don't think that always has to be the case, also. You do need to know that a pastor's job is to teach publicly and privately. The pastor is constantly teaching and a major focus in my teaching is application, application. I think a lot of people, a lot of Christians think theology is boring. Deep theology sounds dusty, academic, distant, ivory towers, the things that we hated most about school or college. Brothers and sisters, theology is only boring when we don't see how it applies to our lives. It was a Dutch theologian in the last century. His name was Herman Bawink. He wrote a massive four volume systematic theology. Chris, you have it? And the others have it. Herman Bawink's Reformed Dogmatics and the other elders. Chris is carrying the torch. It's great, but he took this massive, I kid you not, it's about this wide, massive four volume systematic theology, and he shrank it down to a single volume that he intended to be accessible to factory workers, secretaries, cobblers, farmers, ordinary day laborers, and in the intro to this systematic theology that's sort of condensing all of his rich theology in the four volume set, he talks about how when God's people, genuine believers who understand God's word, begin to dive into the depths, the riches, the treasure of Christian theology, their hearts begin to sing because they understand more and more who God is, what he has said to them through his word, what he has done for them in their lives and in Christian history, and Christians cannot help but cry out in worship to the living God, the deeper they go into his word, the deeper they go into theology because they see why it matters for their lives. One of the major emphases in my preaching will be application. Every passage, why does this matter for your life? If you come away knowing what the text says, but not what it means, I have failed. If you come away being able to geek out in exegesis and maybe even able to write your own commentary on the passage, but you don't know how it calls you to repentance and change this next week, I have failed. Teaching is to be public and private but towards the goal that all of us are shown what God's word calls us to be and do. Teaching, local church teaching is to be focused on application. That is change, change of life. We'll come to this point more in a moment. A third task, verse 21, third task, what does a pastor do? He preaches to all both Jews and Greeks. Verse 21, Paul says, "I was testifying both to Jews and to Greeks." Why does that matter? We see all through the New Testament, Jew and Gentile, Jew and Greek. Why does that matter? Let's just say it simply. This in the New Testament is the ethnic division. This is a big deal. As you read through the New Testament, you see there is a huge divide between Jew and Gentile. They don't have the same songs, they don't have the same clothing, they don't eat the same food, they don't have the same culture, they don't have the same history, they don't have the same traditions, they don't have the same customs, they often don't have the same language. They are worlds apart and yet what happens? In the church they become as we read in Galatians, one new man. One new culture, not Jewish, not Greek, but Christian. A pastor is to preach to all, not just Jew, not just Greek, but all. That means that political divisions, ethnic divisions, age, culture, background, white, black, blue collar, white collar, IU, green county, none of these divisions matter when we come into the church. Or at least they are not of first importance. The church is to be for all who come to Christ. The pastor needs to focus on those who are in front of him and to care for them regardless of their background, not to preference one group over the other, not to preach to one group versus the other, not to care for one group differently than another, but to preach to all who come to Christ. Some time ago, 20 years ago, there was a fad in the church, it was called the homogenous unit principle. Church growth experts told the church, you want to grow the church? Focus on one type of person. Focus on that person, offer that person what he or she wants and the church will grow. You ended up with churches that looked a lot like one sort of person, but everyone else is saying, I don't get much out of this. What's a pastor to do? Fundamentally, he's to preach to those who are in his congregation, to his sheep, to his people, regardless of their background, to be able to grow whatever abilities he needs, to care well for them, to be able to look after them regardless of how different they may be to his own background or how similar they may be to his own background. And if the apostle Paul, as a Jew among Jews, as a Pharisee among Pharisees, can do this. I think that can characterize this church as well. And I pray that can characterize my ministry as well. The fourth task, following on, what is it that a pastor preaches to all, both Jew and Dental, fourth task, also from verse 21, he declares the centrality of repentance and faith. Apostle Paul writes verse 21, "I was testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance towards God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." Brothers and sisters, what is the core of Christianity? What is the center of our religion? What is it the very heart of what we believe? What is this, repentance and faith? This is how God has transformed us, hasn't he? He's brought us to repentance. He's shown us our sin and he is upheld Christ for us and shown us the object of our faith. He is the one we are to believe on. He is the one we are to hope in. He is the one who makes our repentance accomplish something. If it was just repentance, we'd have no hope because we'd never know that we'd repented enough. If it was just faith, how would we know when we'd exercise faith rightly? But with repentance, a change of lifestyle, turning away from sin and turning to Christ with faith, believing on Jesus, together repentance and faith is the heart of living Christianity. Beginning of the Reformation, Martin Luther, not at the time understanding the significance of what he wrote, said that the whole of the Christian life is repentance. Repentance isn't just something we do in church, it's not something we only do in private, it's not something we do at the beginning of the Christian life, repentance is the Christian life. Hence, as I said before, why teaching and preaching needs to focus on repentance and application. The more we see how God's word calls us to repent, the more we're able to see what God wants us to be and what God wants us to do. The more we see the light of Scripture held up, the more we see the dark corners in our lives that we need to bring into the light and to have cleansed. And I think this is what so many churches, perhaps across the world, but certainly in the US and the UK lack, I think a lot of churches and a lot of pastors and a lot of Christians are afraid of repentance. Many of us grew up in churches that were rather more conservative or traditional or fundamentalist, but there's been a pendulum swing away from that. And in contrast to preaching that used to be characterized as fire and brimstone, it often wasn't. But in contrast to that sort of a mentality, there's been a softening, but it's gone farther than Scripture does. And so many Christians are crying out, "Well, no one helped me see my sin." This is why so many Christians live constantly with crippling guilt, crippling doubt, crippling fear. Does God love me? Does the cross provide for my salvation? Am I truly justified? If you look at the books that are popular in the US, if you look at the songs and bands that are popular in the US, they're almost never those that urge us to go deep into Scripture or deep into theology. They're almost never the books or songs that focus on God's law or God's holiness or God's character. Christians across the English-speaking world are drowning in fear. There's something wrong with them or between them and God. Why is it? I think because we've lost the teaching of repentance in so many churches today. And repentance and faith rightly understood is life-giving. As I come to see my sin, come to see how I have violated God's Word, what I have done against God's Word, what I've done against God Himself, as I come to see that, I understand why I feel so miserable inside, why I feel so wretched inside, why I feel so discouraged and awful inside, when I see my sin as described by God's Word. When I see the truth that Jesus loved my soul enough to have his body broken and his blood shed for my sin, how can I not see his love? How can I not see his compassion, his care? That then motivates more repentance. As in life change, how can I not live for him who died for me? As I see what I am called out of, and as I see what I am called into, as you and I see how God's Word calls us to flee from our own desires, to flee from our sins, and to run to Christ, there's a cycle that takes place, a cycle of repentance and sanctification and it produces joy. Seeing the Holy Spirit at work in my soul, changing my bad habits and helping me put my sin to death, that's exhilarating. It's like beginning a new fitness program and seeing the numbers go down on the scale. Or the numbers go up with your reps or your distance or your speed and it almost becomes addicting. God is changing me. He's doing something in me. I didn't think I could do this, but by God's power and with the Spirit's strength that work in me, I'm becoming more like Christ. And it flows from understanding the centrality of repentance and faith. If you're not a Christian and you're with us this morning, that's what Christianity is all about. Right there, repentance and faith. Two words. It's not about any of us, certainly not me being a good person. It's not about us being nice to one another, spend enough time with this group of people, spend enough time with me and my family, and you will find things that are certainly not nice for everyone here. It's not about us being better than anyone else in the world. In fact, if anything sets apart Christians, we're more aware of how often we're worse than other people. But we have a Savior who loves us, who has called us out of our sin and has called us to a life of repentance and faith in Jesus God's only Son. Do you want to know what's at the center of what we do? Asking Jesus to forgive us of our sins. And if you've not done that, I would urge you, acknowledge what you know to be true, that you are a sinner who is sinned against Almighty God. You've sinned against everyone else in your life as well, but first and foremost, you have sinned against Almighty God, and without His forgiveness, you will perish eternally. But He offers repentance to all who call upon His name, to all who acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord. And know that if you call out to Him, He will not turn you away. The fourth task of a pastor is to declare the centrality of repentance and faith. We're going a little slower than I expect, and we're going to have to speed up. I can be long-winded. Fifth task of a pastor, verse 27, he proclaims the whole counsel of God. Verse 27, "I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God." Look, I love junk food. People asked us when we lived in the U.K., what did you miss most about the U.S. junk food? I have gone through so many bags of handicap hot fries. If you don't know what they are, go to Dollar General. I think that's about the only place. Maybe Walmart has them from time to time. Great. Spicy potato and corn. Oh, so good. Putting certain cookies. Twinkies. Love Twinkies. You remember a few years, probably 10, 15 years ago, the Twinkie factory ran out of business and someone bought it and it was not as nice as it used to be? They're back. They're amazing. They're good. A few years ago, actually 10 years ago, when we lived here, Kate and I were traveling. I think we were flying to England for a visit, and Leslie came up to me and said, "I know airline food isn't that great, so I thought this might help you," and she handed me a box of Twinkies. I'm like, "Oh, here is a godly woman." I love junk food. What happens when we eat junk food? We want more of it, and more of it, and is it good for us? No. Is there anything wrong with the occasional Twinkie or the occasional anti-cop hot fries? I certainly hope not. How many of us as Christians are tempted to go to spiritual junk food? Perhaps going even to sacred scripture, but only going to the passages that we like, that bring us comfort, that make us feel good. What is the pastor to preach? Well, the whole counsel of God, a steady diet of all scripture, the whole of it, because it's not just one book that's inspired. It's the whole thing, Genesis to Revelation, and what do you brothers and sisters need to hear? What do I need to hear? We need to hear the whole counsel of God. There's a famous preacher in London, the middle part of the last century, who spent something like 20 years in the gospel of Luke. Let me just say, whatever other benefit he did, his preaching was imbalanced. That was not a healthy diet of God's word. My preaching style tends to be shorter series, and trying to get through more of scripture. Why? Because I believe Christians, godly men and women, need to hear the whole of scripture. Look, if you can geek out on the intricacies of Greek grammar and the book of Luke, great. But there's 66 books in the Bible, not just one. We need to have all of scripture, a healthy diet of the whole of God's word, and how it applies to us, Old Testament narrative, Psalms, prophets, gospels, Pauline epistles, general epistles, the book of Revelation, all of it, we need all of it. And so healthy preaching, healthy local church ministry focuses not just on the things that we enjoy, the things that we naturally gravitate to, but the whole counsel of God's word. Fifth task, verse 28, pastors oversee and shepherd the flock of God. 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. Notice by the way how Paul is motivating these elders. Make sure you care for the flock, because the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. It's God's church, and God has obtained this church for himself with his own blood. That is a weighty responsibility that every elder should take very seriously. We are caring for those whom Christ has obtained at the cost of his own blood. Pastors are to oversee and shepherd the flock of God. That means brothers and sisters that you and I are not capable of living the Christian life all by ourselves. This morning I was working on this, sitting on my bed and I opened a pen, was writing with my pen, and I noticed my undershirt had a couple ink spots. So I licked my fingers, try and fix it, and what's it do? Makes it bigger. Go to the bathroom, try and pour some water on it. Stupid ink spot just keeps spreading. It's like, what am I going to do? Lady Macbeth, what's going on, out spot? How many of us feel like that in our Christian lives by the way? There's some area in our lives that we try to fix. We recognize there's a problem. We try to fix it and what happens? Just make it worse. Make a mess of it. Brothers and sisters, we need one another. You need shepherds over your own soul. You need those who will watch over your own soul. Look, it's great to be back in America. It was great to celebrate Independence Day this week. I do believe very much in the sort of independence that is the backbone of the American spirit, the willingness not so much to depend on others but to seek to make ourselves better. There's something culturally about that that I have an immense amount of respect for. Let's make sure that we submit our Americanness to Scripture, and that just as this is not a Jewish church, and this is not a Greek church, nor is this an American church, and to recognize that God's word calls us to understand our need to depend on one another, and our need to submit ourselves to those who watch over our souls. Individualism has no place in the church. We're not gathered as a group of individuals, we're gathered as a family, to submit ourselves to God in his word, to submit ourselves to overseers and shepherds over the flock. Acts 7, verse 29, pastors guard against wolves. I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them, therefore be alert. There's a certain sort of guy, it's usually a guy who likes to go online and write blogs. It's usually such and such big name speaker exposed, a certain sort of guy who likes to run a discernment blog, who gets his jolly's out of toppling the big dogs of Christianity. There's a certain sort of guy that's always very perceptive of the failings of those in leadership, and usually it's fairly prickly about other people pointing out to him his own failures. That guy needs to repent, but it doesn't mean it's wrong to guard against wolves. There are wolves, I was teaching at a pastor's conference a couple weeks ago and was talking about this. I think a lot of Christians are tempted to think, maybe this was just a New Testament thing, or maybe this was a long time ago thing, but we don't recognize that there are wolves today. I don't want to just give into the temptation to throw stones at the big and successful and attractive leadership of Christianity, but at the same time a godly pastor will guard against fierce wolves who will come in among you and not spare you. I've been a pastor long enough to see the damage that comes when Christians are drawn away after wolves rather than shepherds. I've been a Christian long enough to see those who rise up from within the church who speak twisted things that batter and bruise and maul the sheep. Godly shepherds guard against wolves, not because they get their jollies from talking down about other people, but because they have a good and accurate perception of what the flock needs, they're able to look ahead and say something is coming that will be a danger to you and I want to keep you away from it. We understand that right with shepherds, actual shepherds and physical sheep. There was a book that was popular in the 70s or 80s, Philip Keller, Shepherd looks at Psalm 23 and he talks about carrying a rifle with him. I think it was a pastor, he was a shepherd in part of what used to be called Rhodesia and I think later on in Vancouver. He talks about carrying a rifle with him because of the predators that he would find in the mountains. He's constantly scanning the horizon, wanting to make sure that nothing is going to come after his sheep. He's looking, he's looking at what's ahead, keeping an eye to the weather lest a storm come up quickly and hurt his flock. Shepherds are taking watch to protect the flock, they're observant, they're perceptive, they're watching for what the flock need, they're guarding against wolves. And though I do not hope that that is a dominant aspect of my ministry, I will guard against wolves. Task 8, 30 to 31, task 8, a shepherd exhorts and warns the elders and congregation. Among your own selves will arise, men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. Can I admit to you that sometimes the apostle Paul seems a bit intense? Read Philemon, I'm like, dude, this guy's passive aggressive. Three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. You can imagine that the Ephesian elders are like, "Bruv, give it a break, can we have a day off?" You admonished us yesterday and last night and you're probably going to admonish us tonight, can we have a little bit of time off? What does the pastor do? He's to exhort and warn the elders and congregation. By the way, I made an appeal earlier to those who are not Christians and urged you to turn to Christ and find repentance and reconciliation, but you also need to hear the warning of this. I did mention this, but I want to drive this point home. If you're not a Christian, you need to know that Almighty God is your dread enemy and you cannot stand before Him. If you face God in your sin, you will be swept away in His judgment. That is no laughing matter. The work of a pastor, the work of a Christian, the work of a church is to warn, flee from the judgment that is to come. There is a judgment that is coming surely. The Apostle Paul talks about this later on. He's on trial. He's speaking with the Roman governor, Felix, and what's he talking about with this Roman governor? With the man who has the power to set him free or condemn him, righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come. There is a judgment to come. God's Word holds us to a standard of complete righteousness, but because of our lack of self-control, not a one of us can stand before that judgment in ourselves. And if we are left to stand before God by ourselves, we will face His judgment for all eternity. Hear this warning, turn to Christ, and turn to Him today so that you're not swept away in the judgment that comes. A pastor is to exhort and warn the elders in congregation. But notice this sort of implied in this whole passage, but we see this really throughout all of Paul's ministry. First in the second Corinthians, Paul is exhorting and warning from within the congregation. The Apostle Paul has the Holy Spirit speaking through him. He knows that God is writing Scripture through him. In other words, the Apostle Paul is not preaching as I am to you today. I preach to you having studied this passage, having prayed, and hoping that God will bless me. The Apostle Paul, when he writes and teaches, knows he is speaking God's Word to his people. Paul's preaching is eternally true in the way that my words will never be. I hope to get as close as I can to giving you God's Word. Always speaking God's Word. All that to emphasize Paul's authority as an Apostle, as a witness of the risen Christ, as one who was taken up into heaven and able to see things that no man can utter. And yet you look at his description of his care for the Christians in Corinth, first in the second Corinthians, he doesn't batter them down with his authority. Do you not know what I have seen? Do you not know who I am? Do you not recognize who has called me? He humbles himself. He lowers himself. He pleads with them. He loves them. And his exhortations and warnings come not from a position of loftiness on high, looking down at the congregation, but eye to eye, face to face, night and day with tears, public and private ministry. Look it's easy to exhort. It's easy to confront. It's easy to sort of lob grenades out into the mess of you ordinary Christians, but to be life on life with men and women in faith and to exhort and to be exhorted, to warn and to be warned, Paul is urging pastors and elders to be those who exhort and warn elders and congregation to share in this work together. Task number nine versus 33 to 35, a pastor labors hard and honestly being an example of diligent labor. Verse 33, "I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel," in other words, this congregation, these elders could vouch for Paul's character. Verse 34, "You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me." The apostle Paul worked with his hands, he was a tent maker, to provide for his own needs. Now, as far as I know, I'm here, I'm candidates for a paid position, right? I just want to check if that's the case. But pastors are to be an example in their labor. Pastors should work hard. Pastors should work honestly. Pastors should be an example of diligent and faithful labor. One of my favorite books on pastoral ministry was written in the 1600s, kind of a weirdo who likes old books by a guy called Richard Baxter. Richard Baxter was a quirky dude. He was a pastor, he was self-taught. He was also an amateur surgeon, a shepherd of the souls of Christ sheep, who was also probably sending them onto glory. Just about swallowing a silver bullet because he had some sort of thing blocking his intestinal tract and somehow it worked, he was convinced that, and he had something wrong with his body. I don't remember what the problem was. He was convinced the way he needed to find the problem was to open Scripture and put his finger on a verse and then do what the verse said. I can't remember what the verse was or what it told him to do, but he did it and he got better. But he wrote a book on pastoral ministry called the Reformed Pastor, reformed as in pastoral ministry having been reformed, not so much the system of theology. He writes to pastors in England in the 1600s and says, "Do you not understand that while others are raised to the plow or to the shop, we pastors are given a perpetual Sabbath." My pastoral ministry is and can be often a comparatively cushy job. I've worked a number of different jobs before. I've worked on a farm, I've done landscaping, I've worked in a factory, worked in an office. That office work took me to high-rise office with corporate CEOs, so I've got to see a number of different types of job and life, so I've also done a little bit of work in academics. I've seen a number of different fields. Far and away the one I would rather work in is pastoral ministry. Working with people, working with God's Word, helping people repent and change and being an agent and an instrument of that. It's easy for pastors to take advantage of their flocks. I want you to know, if you call me as your pastor, I will work diligently for your good. There's all sorts of ways to neglect the flock, and a lot of them probably don't even take place intentionally. Pastors are to be an example of diligent labor. It doesn't mean the pastor has to work the longest hours, but it does mean the pastors to be exemplary in his labor for the flock. Paul says, "You yourselves know, you've seen this in me." Paul talks about, to the Church of Corinth, how he has robbed other churches to help the Church of Corinth and how he took nothing from them. Pastors to be an example in their labor. And a pastor who labors honestly and diligently, who is an example of this labor, that will be seen in his flock. We see this in all sorts of life, don't we? You drive by a farm. You can tell whether or not the farmer works hard, it gets up early or not. They're weeds everywhere. The grass-kempt is the machinery rusting in the field. You notice on journeys, flocks of sheep, the tails are all matted and they're constantly dirty and the barns are all broken down, versus the flocks that were healthy, and the sheep were fat, and the buildings were taken care of. It's obvious when a flock is taken care of, well, it's obvious when a congregation is taken care of well as well. The pastor labors hard and honestly. Task number 10, final, verse 36 to 38, the pastor offers himself to the congregation. He offers to spend himself and to be spent for the flock. Look at these final words of this passage, and when Paul had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all, and there was much weeping on the part of all. They embraced Paul and kissed him, being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again and they accompanied him to the ship. There is love here between a sheep and a shepherd, because Paul has given himself to this flock, weeping in tears, because they won't see him again. They're saddened that he has to leave, Paul gives himself to the flock for their good. As I start at the beginning by saying, I will sin against you if you call me as your pastor. I will also say this, I will give myself and my family to you for your spiritual good. We will be here with you and among you. And weeping and kissing, how much of that's cultural and how much of that should we all do today, I don't know. But I will offer myself for your good, to look after your souls and to have you look after my soul and my family's souls, so that together we may bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ in our lives, together we may show the riches and power of the local church. May God make these things true in and through us. Let me pray. Father, we praise you, you've given us this example from the apostle Paul. Help us to humble ourselves and be humbled by these passages, but if other we pray that you'd use these things for our good, we pray this all in the name of Jesus our Savior, Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]