20240608 Acts 20:18-35 - Healthy Christian Ministry

We will study healthy Christian ministry. This is an important topic to me.

When I did not know anything about Christianity, a friend invited me to come to church. I accepted out of curiosity. Within weeks, I had fallen in love with these people. I was still an atheist, but I was there every Sunday. I attended the Wednesday night events. I found that there was something different about this community. I love the topic of what makes a healthy church because I was incredibly blessed by one. The question of what is a healthy church is also important because many of us have had bad experiences in church. Some want nothing to do with the church because some churches are toxic. Because of both good experiences and bad experiences, church health matters. We will study the topic of healthy Christian ministry in Acts 20:18-35.

This is the context. Paul’s ministry in Ephesus was recorded in Acts 19. In Acts 20:18-35, Paul speaks to the elders of the church in Ephesus. The text can be broken up in three parts:

- Paul speaks of his ministry in Acts 20:18-27.

- He warns the Ephesian elders of coming false teachers (Acts 20:28-31).

- He encourages them to have a proper attitude towards material goods (Acts 20:32-35).

Throughout this text, there are lessons on healthy Christian ministry. We will look at the Gracious Context, the Gracious Content, and the Gracious Concern of healthy Christian ministry.

 First, we look at the Gracious Context of love for Healthy Christian Ministry (Acts 20:18-19, 22-23, 25, 33, 36).

Healthy Christian ministry is deeply personal. It includes knowing each other’s stories, our dreams, our heartaches, our stories of victory, and those of failure. The text highlights this gracious context for ministry in four ways.

 First, we see that love makes itself known and is transparent.

Paul lived with them for three years (Acts 20:31), and he says in Acts 20:18, “You know how I lived.” They knew what he was up to. We can follow Paul here. Christian ministers include pastors. To some extent, also all Christians as we are servants of Christ who desire to serve others. We want to be transparent. We are hospitable. We know where we live. We spend time together in each other’s homes. We can say to each other like Paul, “You know how I lived.”

 Second, we see that love endures hardship in Acts 20:19, 22-23.

If healthy ministry is driven by love, hardship will not hinder ministers. In Acts 20:19, Paul speaks of the hardship from opponents to the faith. One example for Paul from Acts 14:19 is that he was stoned and left for dead. Paul did not let that traumatic event end his missionary work. In Acts 20:22-23, Paul says that he knows hardship awaits him. Because he is driven by love, he is not stopped.

 Third, we see that love works hard.

In Acts 20:33-35, Paul speaks of not asking for money when he worked among them. He says, “I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.” We do not rely on our strength but on the Holy Spirit, and we are not lazy. We need healthy schedules. We value rest. And we work hard and have the reputation of working hard. Paul worked hard because he cared for others. As a minister, it was obvious that he contributed to the community rather than taking from it. This is a healthy mark of a church ministry. It puts people first and benefits the people it serves. When it comes to money, Christian ministries need money. And they should not be known for their financial campaigns and ongoing requests for money.

 The fourth hint of a loving ministry is hard goodbyes.

Paul mentioned in Acts 20:25 that they would not see his face again. As they are parting ways, they prayed together, and there was much weeping. According to Acts 20:38, they were “sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again.”

Because of the nature of Brussels, I expect that in five years many of us will no longer be here. I want to dread those goodbyes. Imagine being in a community group for three years. You have heard painful stories. You have shared painful stories. You have celebrated birthdays. You have hurt each other and forgiven each other. You have studied through books of the Bible together and learned together, laughed, and cried together. I hope there will be much sorrow when we leave each other. This sorrow will be a testimony to what we mean to each other and the love that we had for each other. This is the gracious context of healthy Christian ministry: love for Jesus and love for people.

 Second, Healthy Christian Ministry teaches the Gracious Content of the Gospel (Acts 20:20-21, 24-27, 31).

 First, Paul stresses the importance of teaching.

Teaching was important to Paul. He taught everywhere, in public and house to house (Acts 20:20). He taught everyone, Jew and Greek (Acts 20:21). He taught at all times, night and day (Acts 20:31).

**Application:** We need Christian content every day. We get it through reading the Bible, and reading Christian books. We can listen to sermons or lectures. The church has lots of books to recommend and lend you. With audiobooks and podcasts, it is easy to listen to Christian content while we do the dishes, are on public transport, or while running. Families, you can read one chapter of the Bible after a meal and discuss it. A study Bible can help with the harder verses. Paul stresses teaching. We all need teaching.

 Healthy Christian ministry focuses on profitable teaching.

Paul taught what was profitable (Acts 20:20). Christian teaching informs, reminds, encourages, and comforts. It stirs up love for God and people. It forms us into a joyful, hopeful, caring people. Christian teaching is not always entertaining. It humbly interprets the scriptures and connects real people with relevant Biblical truths. We don’t want to be argumentative or unnecessarily divisive. We do not want to be speculative. What is profitable is clear in scripture and unites all Christians.

According to Acts 20:21, Paul taught on “repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” He also summarizes his profitable teaching as “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24), “proclaiming the Kingdom” (Acts 20:25), and “declaring the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26-27).

The gospel is profitable because it is God’s appointed message to be the means to change our eternal destiny and change lives. Because of sin in the world, we are sinners and sufferers. We contribute to sin and suffering in the world. The consequence of sin and suffering is death and punishment that we deserve.

The gospel is that Jesus is King and makes a way to forgive sinners. So we must do two things: (1) repent and (2) trust in Jesus. Repenting means we must turn away from sin and idols, follow Jesus, and live as citizens of his kingdom. Trusting means that Christianity is not about mentally acknowledging the truth about Jesus. It is trusting Jesus. Trust is the language of relationships. Jesus is our savior, Lord, and he is also our friend. He is our treasure. We delight in knowing him through the word and obeying him. We do not pretend like we have it all together yet, but we are a people who grows in this relationship.

The phrase "whole counsel of God" refers to God’s whole purpose for humanity. This phrase stresses the completeness of the teaching. It must cover the basics but also equip all people to follow Jesus in all spheres of life. These spheres include honoring parents, teachers, and bosses. It includes learning to be a gospel-driven parent, spouse, neighbor, church member, and citizen. And all this, through easy seasons like the hard. In the gracious context of love, healthy Christian ministry teaches gracious content. It is healthy, complete, gospel-shaped teaching.

Third, we look at Paul’s Gracious Concern, caring for the well-being of the church (Acts 20:28-32).

First, Paul tells ministers to protect the church by watching themselves (Acts 20:28).

Healthy ministers must take care of their own theological, spiritual, and moral integrity. Ministers must feed on Christ through his word, prayer, and the sacraments. They must enjoy healthy Christian community. If not, they cannot take care of others. They must take this seriously because God cares for the church. Paul highlights God’s love for the church. He reminds them of Christ’s sacrifice for the church. Jesus purchased her with his blood (Acts 20:28).

Second, Paul tells ministers to care for the church by protecting them from false teachers (Acts 20:29-30).

In the text, all we know is that these false teachers were turning people away from the church. We can at least know that false teaching distorts the profitable teaching that Paul was talking about.

Profitable teaching makes much of Jesus and urges people to turn from sin and trust in him. False teachers will distort the free offer of the gospel. Either the good news becomes no longer about the forgiveness of sins. It becomes about health, wealth, comfort, or a social cause. Or it stresses actions in addition to trusting in what Christ has done for salvation.

In my experience, people leave the church because they have a distorted gospel. It may go like this: I need Jesus plus a girlfriend or boyfriend. I need Jesus plus a healthy family. I need Jesus plus comfort. People leave the church over these false gospels. Because God does not promise these extra things. We can get angry with God when we are not satisfied with what he offers.

Application

The concept of “false teachers” is prominent in the New Testament. It is important for elders to protect people from false teaching. Christians need to be experts in healthy teaching.

This is healthy teaching.

It is teaching that accords with godliness (Titus 1:1). It is teaching that encourages us to take our eyes off of ourselves and onto Jesus. Healthy teaching presents Jesus as the savior of the world in whom we can trust, treasure, and rest in. If people teach this and I disagree with other stuff they say, they are not false teachers.

These are ways to recognize false teaching.

False teachers promote ungodly behavior. False teachers deny the gospel. False teachers draw people away from good churches. False teachers try to convince you to only listen to a very select group of teachers. False teachers are often not recognized by established denominations. They are not accountable to others.

We want to take false teaching seriously at Hope.

If there was a movement within Hope that promoted a different gospel, we would take it seriously. If there was a group that would draw people away from the church, we would also take it seriously. We would assess the situation. If false teaching is the cause, we would make the situation public and call out the false teachers.

Also, if anyone accuses me of being a false teacher, this is what would happen.

I would let Daniel know. If necessary, we will also let our denomination know so they can investigate the claims.

My experience with the idea of “calling out false teachers” has been quite negative.

People can go too far and create a very toxic form of Christianity. You can google almost any name of any famous pastor and add “false teacher” and you will find something. This is toxic Christianity. It is gossip and slander. Those who accuse godly and healthy teachers of being false teachers are themselves false teachers. It is very harmful to young Christians and draws people away from healthy churches! We need to protect the church against this form of toxic Christianity and witch hunts. We need to remember that false teaching is not calling out people who have differences of opinion from us on non-gospel issues. We can celebrate different opinions and humbly accept that no one has a perfect theology.

Some people are more worried about false teachers than others.

The remedy is to read your Bible, apply your Bible in a healthy Christian community, and don’t isolate yourself. Listen to sermons with an open Bible. Evaluate what you hear. Does this teaching make you value Jesus more? Does it challenge you to follow Jesus in all areas of life? Are you growing in truth, in love, in faith, and in holiness? Are you loving your enemies more? Are you more compassionate with yourself? Do you rely on Christ more than yourself? If yes, you are probably not listening to false teachers.

Conclusion

Some churches teach the Bible accurately and are unhealthy. Some churches love obeying the Bible and can be unhealthy. We need the gracious context, gracious content, and gracious concern. Our community must be marked by love. Our teaching must focus on the gospel. We must seek the health of the church by protecting all against false teachers.

Christianity is Christ. Being a Christian is having Christ! He is our friend in whom we delight. He is our savior who gives us peace. He is our Lord to whom we submit! A healthy church must be founded on Christ. Healthy Christian ministry must lead to delight, peace, and a sense that you want to turn more from sin and submit more to Christ.

If you are part of a church, you are the church. You have a role to play. Make this a gracious, loving context and community. Learn and teach the gracious content, the gospel. Help protect your fellow sheep.