Sermon Tone Analysis

If you have your Bible, go ahead and grab it.

We’re going to be in Acts 20:17-38 tonight and I started to mention last week where we would be heading tonight.

We have a lot to get through tonight and if we don’t get through all of it, we’ll finish it up next week.

In this chapter, Paul is beginning his return trip to Jerusalem.

At this point in his life, Paul has a longing to return to Jerusalem after spending several years away and he is trying to get there quickly in order to be there on the day of Pentecost.

As he’s returning home, there is this sense among Paul’s group that Paul’s life will be in danger if he returns and this is echoed more fully in chapter 21 but it is mentioned in what we are going to read tonight.

As Paul is returning to Jerusalem, he sends a messenger to the city of Ephesus and calls the elders of that church to come meet him in Miletus, a coastal city that was roughly 50 miles away from Ephesus.

Why does he do this?

First off, it’s because he loves the church of Ephesus.

You might remember last week that I said that Paul spent over 2 years in Ephesus which is the longest recorded stay of Paul in any one city.

Usually Paul would travel and plant churches and stay there for a few months, maybe a year but Ephesus was different.

2-3 years he spends there so this church is obviously very near and dear to his heart.

The second reason is that Paul is concerned about the future of this church.

He is concerned about false teaching and false teachers springing up and he is worried about those teachers infiltrating the church so he is warning these leaders ahead of time.

What we are going to see tonight is more than just the heart of a man that loves his church.

We are going to see the heart and drive of the pastor that seeks the good of the flock above all earthly things.

We are going to see the great need in Paul’s day and our day for Biblical preaching and Godly leaders in the church.

I have 2 great desires for all of you as you go through your middle and high school years with us.

The first is that you would be saved and that you would grow in your faith.

The second great desire is that when you leave here, that you find yourself a church that is not afraid to preach the Bible, that you find a church that isn’t swayed by what is popular and edgy but that you would fall madly in love with Scripture proclaimed from the pulpit.

I want to ask you guys, why do you think the responsibility of the pastor is? Ultimately the responsibility of the pastor is to teach the Word, shepherd the flock, to pursue their sanctification, we are to rebuke and correct where necessary, and we are to do all that we can so that God might be glorified amongst the people that he has entrusted to us.

This is no easy calling and James says in James 3:1 “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”

I know that the day is going to come where every word that I have ever uttered from this pulpit and every sermon that I have ever preached will be laid bare before the throne of God and I will be held accountable for all that I have taught you so I need to make it my mission in life to teach you what Paul refers to as, “the whole counsel of God” and we will discover what that is in just a moment.

My purpose tonight is really to prepare you partially for the here and now but predominantly for when you leave this place so you know what to look for in a pastor and in a church home.

It is so important for you all when you graduate to get connected to a local church, I can’t stress that enough.

Let me go ahead and tell you where we will be going this evening, we have 3 main points and those are the duty and conduct of the pastor, the whole counsel of God, and the dangers of false teachers.

Let’s pray and then we will look at Acts 20:17-38

The Duty of the Pastor

We’ll briefly talk about the duty and work of the pastor because I know that you guys are teenagers and you aren’t necessarily in the business of grading pastors and may not even care to be honest but I want to focus on this for a little bit just so you know what to look for in a pastor and to a certtain extent, what to look for in a church as you grow up and as you move on with your lives.

I understand that for many of you, you aren’t looking for a pastor that is rich in theology and dives deep into Scripture.

You’re looking for someone that’s entertaining, funny, doesn’t preach for too long, and appeals to your interests and I totally understand that because that’s how I was when I was your age.

When I first started preaching, I focused on trying to be mostly funny and sprinkle in some Bible but looking back on that, I see what a mistake that was.

But a time comes where those things need to take a back seat.

What should a pastor be like then?

Richard Baxter, a great Puritan preacher wrote, “When men are inflamed with the love of God, and live by a lively, working faith, and set light by the profits and honours of the world, and love one another with a pure heart fervently, and can bear and heartily forgive a wrong and suffer joyfully for the cause of Christ, and study to do good, and walk inoffensively and harmlessly in the world, as ready to be servants of all men for their good, becoming all things to all men to win them, and yet abstaining from the appearances of evil, and seasoning all their actions with a sweet mixture of prudence, humility, zeal, and heavenly spirituality; O what an honour are such to their profession!

What ornaments to the church; and how excellently serviceable to God and man!

Men would sooner believe that the Gospel is indeed a word of truth and power, if they could see more such effects of it upon the hearts and lives of men.

The world is better able to read the nature of Religion in a man’s life than in the Bible.

They that obey not the word, may be won by the conversation of such.

It is therefore a necessary part of our work, to labour more in polishing and perfecting of the saints, that they may be strong in the Lord, and fitted for their Master’s use.”

There needs to be a time in your life as a Christian where you need to prioritize what is necessary not for your entertainment level but for your growing in Christlikeness.

You have heard me say before, I’m not here to entertain you.

I’m not that funny and if all you want is social time or something like that, go somewhere else.

Or if you think that there is a youth ministry out there where you can grow deeper in your faith and understanding of the Bible, go there because that is what you need in your life.

I understand that I am not like a lot of youth pastors and that that reality might not appeal to people.

The leadership at my old church didn’t like my style, I got yelled at for preaching through Exodus!

For better or for worse, I am not like A-Wall, I’m not Pastor Wayne, I’m not some other youth pastor from another church you’ve been too, I’m me and that isn’t changing.

I truly believe that God has called me to preach the Gospel to you exactly how I am doing it.

Now this doesn’t mean that I’m hitting home runs every Wednesday night or that I’m the only person in the world who knows what he’s doing or how to do this.

I’ve been preaching for 10 years and I have yet to preach a perfect sermon.

What it does mean is that I am not going to change my approach to how badly I believe you need Scripture.

You heard me share a couple weeks ago that I get tired of answering the question of, “How are you going to make the Bible relevant to teenagers.”

I can’t make it what it already is.

Every jot and tittle in this book, every letter and word is for our good and for our growth in Christ.

What then are the duties of the pastor?

I think that we see many in verses 18-27.

Quickly, I want to go through just a few of these verses and point out to you some key elements.

The Pastor as Servant (Verse 19)

One of the first duties of the pastor is that he is a servant.

In verse 19, Paul begins with saying that his ministry was done in service to the Lord.

Paul is not in the business of making himself known but in making his Lord known.

Paul recognizes his place.

The pastor is not the star.

This is not our church, this is God’s church.

The moment that a church starts to wonder how a church could survive without one specific pastor is when the pastor has stayed too long.

The pastor is a servant of the Lord, a beacon that points to Him first.

Paul recognizes his nothingness without Christ.

The pastor is nothing without the God he serves.

The pastor recognizes that it is a tremendous honor to be placed in this position.

There is no greater calling in the world than to be called to be a minister of Jesus Christ.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said, “The work of preaching is the highest and greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called.”

It is an honor to serve the King of Kings and any preacher worth anything recognizes that he is only a servant in the hand of His God.

The pastor also recognizes that all he does is in service to God first and man second.

It is the goal of the pastor to please his commanding officer.

Paul said in Galatians 1:10 “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?

Or am I trying to please man?

If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

We have enough man-pleasers in the world and we have far too many standing at the pulpit.

We exist to serve God first.

The Pastor is Humble (Verse 19)

Not only does the pastor serve the Lord, he serves the church.

A pastor is to brightly shine as an example of a humble person and Paul emphasizes this in the middle of verse 19.

He serves the congregation as he leads them.

He does not commandeer the church and he is not the head of the church.

He has a position of authority but he does not use that authority as a means of domineering and the pastor is not to be a dictator.

The Pastor is Loving (Verse 19)

Next in verse 19 we see that the pastor needs to love his people.

The pastor should be willing to walk through fire if he has to for the good of the church.

Paul said in verse 19 that he served the Lord with tears and with trials but this did not cause him to shrink back from declaring to the church anything that was profitable for the church.

Pastors need to love their people.

We are to be like a shepherd to the church.

Keep in mind, a shepherd is not an easy undertaking especially when you take into context what it would be like for a shepherd at the time of Paul.

It was a 24 hour job of constant protecting, constant guidance, constant love and care, feeding and watering, for a creature that was totally helpless on its own and that is what pastoring is like.

This isn’t to say that you all are dumb as sheep but this is really to stress the level of care that the pastor is to have.

The Pastor is a Preacher (Verses 20-21)

Next Paul emphasizes that the pastor is a preacher.

Back in the day, when a pastor would come into a city, if someone were to ask who that was, people would often say, “that’s the preacher” and this is because that was the primary duty of the pastor.

Pastors are to be expositors of the Word.

They are to study, pray over, and speak only what the Bible teaches.

They are to emphasize God, repentance, and faith in Christ.