The Authentic Church (Part 1)

Today we're returning to our study in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, and we are in chapter 20.

If you brought a Bible and you want to turn there and follow along today, if you would like a sermon out in line, didn't get one, as always, our ushers are ready to hand you one.

Just raise your hand and let them know.

My 2000 Chevy Blazer.

I took it to a mechanic for a checkup because I was preparing to go out of town.

And he called me and said, You better come over here.

I said, All right.

And he had me look underneath the car.

And he said, Do not drive this car.

Somebody's gonna get hurt.

I said, Oh, okay.

And so it's now in that great auto graveyard, and I won't see it until the millennium.

It's a really, really nice, faithful car.

But you know, all of that prompted me to help you know when it's time you should get a new car.

You know you need a new car when you pull over to let a fire truck go by and it just pulls in behind you.

Or you know you need a new car because your gas gauge just measures in qubits.

Those of you new to the Bible, that's a biblical term, okay?

A biblical measure.

Or you know you need a new car when you're waiting at a stoplight, and people run up to your car and ask if anyone was hurt.

Instead of an airbag, you've got a big beach ball attached to your steering wheel.

And you know you need a new car when you go to the repair shop every thousand miles to have the duct tape replaced, and the only thing holding your bumper on is a Reagan-Bush 84 bumper sticker.

In this life, things are gonna break down, but there's one thing in this life that's always reliable and is not gonna break down, and that is the Church of Jesus Christ and the power of the gospel to transform people's lives who believe in him.

The Apostle Paul, who in Acts chapter 9 was miraculously converted to Christ, later wrote to the Roman believers in Rome and said, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

And you know what?

There's been no expiration date.

It hasn't changed in 2,000 years.

The book of Acts is the history of earliest Christianity from its very beginning in the first century.

Because of that, the book of Acts is a way of understanding what the real authentic Church of Jesus Christ is by going back and look at the pattern you see as the church was born and then was grounded and founded throughout the Roman Empire.

And in Acts chapter 20, uh Paul had been ministering for some three years in the town of Ephesus, and he left, but now he came back and he's on his way to Jerusalem, and he wants to meet with the church and uh give them some final instructions.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

And before he leaves, he assembles the elders of the church in Ephesus to say goodbye.

I'm gonna break into what he tells them, these elders in the church in Ephesus in Acts chapter 20, beginning in verse 17.

Acts 20 · chapter mention

From Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.

And when they had come to him, he said to them, You yourselves know from the first day that I set foot in Asia how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews, how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.

But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course in the ministry which I've received from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

And now, behold, I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face.

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

So be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.

Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day, for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

And now I commend you to God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified.

You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who are with me, and everything I showed you, that by working hard in this manner you may must help the weak.

Remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than receive.

When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all, and they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he has spoken that they would not see him, his face again.

And they were coming him to the ship.

Now, I have to tell you, there's so much here.

I can't do it all in one message, so I'm gonna do the first part today, and then we'll continue it.

There's so much to talk about.

But this is the only place in the book of Acts where we see a sustained address to Christians about how they should be the church.

This passage is often preached and taught as guidance for those serving as elders and church leaders.

I'm gonna take a much broader view and look at it in three parts because in this passage, Paul's describing the kind of church we should be, the authentic church of Jesus Christ.

It's all about actions of believers in ministry.

Almost every word in this passage is a verb about what Paul has done.

Today we're going to look at the first two essential characteristics from this passage about what the real church of Jesus Christ is, what a gospel church is from what Paul says to these believers in Ephesus.

Paul highlights the first important aspect of a healthy, authentic church by calling for and addressing the elders of the church in Ephesus.

And as we discussed last time, the first quality of an authentic church of Jesus is to appoint godly leaders.

When the church was born in Acts chapter 2, it was under the oversight of the apostles.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Uh, twelve men who were Jesus' disciples and commissioned to make more disciples.

Um I don't even think they knew exactly what all that meant or what a church was all about at that time.

But in Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit descended on those who believed, and many, a few thousand people believed, and that was the birth of the first church because what they did they knew they had to do, okay, we've got to get together under the direction of the apostles.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

We got to get together, worship, listen to instruction, Acts 2.42.

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer.

As the church, then, okay, that'd be nice if they could just stay in Jerusalem and have a nice megachurch there.

But they didn't.

And God saw fit to bring some persecution, which then many of those believers started fleeing Jerusalem and moving north, up into Samaria, Judea, and they ended up, as you remember the story, all the way up into Syria and Antioch.

They passed through and they're planting churches in every single city.

Paul and his team, after they planted, this is what it says in Acts 14, 23, when they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended it to the Lord in whom they had believed.

One of the first things needs to be done is leadership, godly men in leadership.

These local leaders are referred to by several synonymous terms in the New Testament.

They all really refer to the same thing.

Sometimes they're called pastors, poimain, uh, which is also the word shepherd.

They're also called overseers, episcopas, and many times they're called elders, presbyters.

The apostles tasked individual churches to appoint godly shepherds and overseers of their local church.

First sign of a healthy church, authentic church.

Appoint these men godly leaders.

Then the uh churches or the apostles and elders at the time gave churches uh a list of qualities they needed to look for in men who would be appointed as elders, overseers, shepherds, pastors.

The apostle Paul finally codified those qualities for the church elders in his first letter to Timothy, who was assigned there to appoint elders in Ephesus.

Here's what he said the first qualification to be an elder is to be a man.

1 Timothy 3, 1 and 2.

It's a trustworthy statement.

If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.

An overseer then must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, and able to teach.

Godly male leadership is a characteristic of an authentic church of Jesus Christ.

That does not mean women can't be leaders in the church.

It means God did not intend them to be overseeing in authority over a local church.

That's just the way God designed it to be.

This qualification is followed, if you read the passage, I'm not going to go through it, but uh specifically for elders, several godly traits that when you point these elders, make sure they're living a godly life.

They're told not to be addicted to wine or money, be self-controlled, not given to anger, as well as other qualities that evidence spiritual leadership skills like an ability to teach God's word or to manage his own household well.

All qualities.

And then the missionaries, even that were sent out by the apostles in the New Testament to lead people to Christ and plant new churches, were all charged with appointing elders who will shepherd that church they planted.

Paul writes to Titus, who's planting a church in Crete, and he says, For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains.

And you know what first on the list is?

Appoint elders in every city as I directed you, namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband and one wife, kind of the same qualifications you see, what he wrote to Timothy.

This really is an essential foundation.

If we go back to Acts, of an authentic church of Jesus Christ.

So in Acts chapter 20, verse 17, Paul sent word, I want to meet with the elders of the church in Ephesus.

Acts 20:17

And when he starts speaking to them, he this is a very this passage is so helpful because it's like I said, it's the only place in the book of Ephesus where we have a sustained address given to Christians about what the church is all about.

He clearly defines the role of elders of the church in Ephesus, the role of elders in the local church.

He says to them in Acts 20, 28, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

To shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

They are made overseers of that local church by the Holy Spirit.

He's the one sanctioning it.

They are to watch over the spiritual welfare of the believers in that church.

They are to feed, like a shepherd, feed, nurture, protect them from false doctrine, spiritual harm by teaching them God's word.

Second, in his message to the elders of Ephesus, and this is where I want to go today, Paul's focus, if you look, is all on Jesus Christ.

Acts 20, 18 and 19.

When they came to him, he said, You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews.

Notice the focus of all that Paul is doing in that church: serving Jesus Christ.

Let's evaluate our own lives.

What we're doing.

In an authentic church, this is where it starts.

You see.

The real authentic church of Jesus Christ is all about believers in the church recognizing that the church belongs to Jesus Christ, not me, not the trustees, not the doesn't belong to us.

Belongs to Jesus Christ.

And he is first in everything we are to do.

Colossians 1.18.

Jesus is the head of the body, the church.

He's the beginning.

He's the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything he might be preeminent above everything else.

As a result, the real authentic Church of Jesus Christ, from what we learn in the book of Acts, is all about believers doing what would please Jesus Christ.

And that's where we need to learn and evaluate ourselves as a church, as individual believers.

As Paul directs his letter to the Roman church in Rome, Romans 15, 1 to 3, listen to what he says.

This is really his appeal to every believer in every local church that he had planted.

It really boils down to this.

He says, Now we who are strong ought to bear with the weaknesses of those without strength and not just to please ourselves.

Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good to his or her edification.

You know why Apostle?

Because not even Christ pleased himself.

But as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

You know what that's referring to in Isaiah 53?

It's talking about the cross, and he says, you know what?

All of your pain, sadness, sickness, sin.

I took it.

It all fell on me.

Why?

Because I'm not here to please myself.

I'm here for you.

That's the example of Jesus Christ.

And the church of Jesus Christ is to reflect him in what we do in the church, serving him.

Paul said that his service was, service to the Lord was with humility and tears.

Well, he's just giving us a clue.

You cannot serve Jesus without humbling yourself, setting aside your own little agenda and personal interests, your territory in the church, to do what you want to do.

How is that helping the body?

How are you helping somebody else?

To serve Jesus requires us to humble ourselves just as Jesus did, to put aside selfish interests in order to do, again, what would please Jesus Christ.

Paul lived that way.

He literally lived his life out as an example to all the believers in these churches.

He lived to please Jesus and fulfill what the Lord gave him to do.

Remember, I just read Acts 20, 24.

I don't consider my life, any account as dear to myself.

I don't.

That's not why I'm here.

So that I may finish my course and the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

And then Paul goes further in his letter to the Philippian church, spelling out what that means in Philippians 2 3.

He says, Listen, church in Philippi, we need to be all about Jesus' Lord, serving him in this church.

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than you.

Now, the implications of that are very far-reaching.

And we have to be aware of constantly checking ourselves with that.

How are we doing?

As the authentic church of Jesus Christ when it comes to serving him as head of the body, you cannot do it by promoting your own selfish interests.

You can't do it.

That's not authentic.

Paul said in his service to the Lord, he served him with not only humility, but with tears.

Tears means he was moved by the needs of others.

He had compassion and sought to help them in any way he could.

In fact, he even emphasizes this towards the end of this passage that I read in Acts 20, 34, 35.

You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who are with me, and everything I showed you.

By working hard in this manner, you must help the weak.

Remember the words of the Lord Jesus.

He himself said, it's more blessed to give than for you to receive.

You know, to serve Jesus requires those who follow him to be a servant to others like Jesus.

And again, I go back to the really classic passage in his letter to the Philippians, where he said, Philippians 2, 4, and 5, don't merely look out for your own interests.

It's not a sin to look out for your own interests.

Don't stop there.

Also look out for the interests of others.

And you know why to do that?

Because that was the attitude we see in Christ Jesus.

The real authentic Church of Jesus Christ is all about serving Jesus as Lord by humbling ourselves, looking to the needs of others, one another.

That's what they did.

That's what the apostles, prophets, uh, elders preached, taught, and did in that early church, laying the foundation for all future churches.

I love this passage though, as Paul continues in his letter to the Philippians, he's trying to give them examples of what he means by serving with humility and tears.

And uh he's he uses examples.

He starts with Jesus Christ, that's how he, that's how he lived to serve us.

Dying on the cross for our sins.

But then he holds up Timothy, his disciple, of humble service to Jesus Christ when he says in Philippians 2, 19 to 22, I hope, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon or shortly, so that I may be encouraged when I learn of your condition.

You know what?

I have no one else like him, a kindred spirit, who will genuinely look after your welfare.

They all seek after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ, but you know, his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.

He holds Timothy up as an example.

Look at this.

That's how all the churches should be.

Not just look after your own interests.

What about him?

Do you know anything about her?

What's his situation?

Do you know?

Okay, I mean like I said, it's gonna take me a couple more messages to really get into what an authentic Church of Jesus Christ is.

We look at the first two qualities uh based on the pattern we see in the early church, uh, first appointing godly leaders, men who serve as elders, plural elders, and overseers in the church.

And in an authentic church, believers know the focus is on Jesus, not me.

He's the head of the body, he's preeminent in everything, and everything I do, I want him to be pleased.

To serve Jesus then requires humility, compassion, putting aside our pride, selfish interests.

It's real easy to slip and slide over those things.

It really is.

I keep myself in check.

Focus on Jesus' interests to build one another up in the faith.

Like Paul exhorted the Colossian church.

Listen to what he says to the Colossian Church in Colossians 3.

If you read through his letters, you can pick it up.

He's trying to teach and be an example of what an authentic church of Jesus Christ is and what it does.

Here's what it does: Colossians 3, 12 to 14.

So then, as those who have been chosen by God, believers in Jesus, in other words, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another.

That's in there for a reason.

You know why?

Because some people are hard people, personality-wise, clash, bearing with one another.

Another word for forbearing.

Forgiving each other.

Whoever has a complaint against one, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Hold no offenses.

Jesus has paid for our sins.

He's forgiven you.

Now pass that out.

And you know what?

Beyond all these things, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony and unity.

What a word for the church.

Of course, to serve Jesus' interests, we must be a church that preaches the gospel.

Scripture tells us one of Jesus' main purposes, interests when he was here was for people who don't know him to understand the good news of the gospel and be saved.

Luke 19, 10, as he met with Zacchaeus, people are trying to figure out what on earth he's doing.

He says, you know what?

The Son of Man, meaning himself, came to seek and to save the lost.

That's why I'm here.

That's the interest of Jesus Christ.

Don't forget it.

If we're not about that, I don't know what we're about.

Honestly.

Christian churches today are all over the map.

The authentic church of Jesus Christ will reflect the interests of Jesus Christ.

And one of his main interests is to seek and save those who are lost.

You know, he can save us from God's judgment because he died on the cross to take the penalty for our sin.

So that whoever believes in him is given forgiveness of sins and the free gift of eternal life.

Live forever.

He promised that.

John 6.40, Jesus said, For this is the will of my Father.

Everyone who beholds the Son, meaning if you understand who Jesus is, you see him.

You can see him in the Gospels.

Everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life.

And I myself will raise him up on the last day.

So if you've never placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ to save you from the judgment of your sins and receive forgiveness and eternal life, I encourage you to believe in him for his promise to give you that eternal life, forgiveness, even as I close in prayer right now.

Father, thank you that you establish the church through the ministry of the apostles in order to bring us together as believers in Jesus Christ and serve him who's head of the body.

Thank you that you designed the church to be a light, proclaiming the good news of the gospel, that Jesus saves everyone who believes in him.

I ask you today, Father, here we are, this one local church.

Help us to be that light of the gospel.

Help us to be the voice of truth in this world.

Help us to be the church as you designed it to bring you all the honor and glory.

I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.