The text for our meditation on God’s Holy Word is the first lesson appointed for the day. I bring you grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Luke writes that:
Paul sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. And 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 of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
What an enormous difference Jesus makes in our lives! Last week we heard about a young man named Saul whom the bible tells us went “from house to house, dragging off men and women and committing them to prison.” He was proud and violent and zealous in his hatred for the Lord and his people—radically committed to their persecution and destruction.
Twenty years later, the Bible tells us that this same man was once again going from house to house—but now he was testifying to the need for repentance and faith in Jesus. Twenty years later he was humble and tender-hearted and absolutely committed to doing all in his power to bring people to faith in Jesus—and for his efforts—he was undergoing all manner of trials and tribulations and persecutions-- and he knew that more were to follow.
The same man had been radically and eternally changed from a profaner of Jesus Christ to a preacher for Jesus Christ—from a persecutor of the cause of Christ to one of those persecuted for that same cause. And as much as the people of God were terrified twenty years before at the sound of his name, now when they heard his name they knew the power of the Risen Christ to convert even his most powerful enemies—for they saw it in Paul’s life.
It is no accident that Luke uses this same phrase “from house to house” as bookends to mark those twenty years of Paul’s life before Christ and after Christ because he wants us to have the same awe at the power and goodness of the Risen Christ in changing lives-- as those early Christians had-- when they saw with their own eyes what Jesus had accomplished in the life of Paul.
We need this firm faith-- that the power and the goodness of the Risen Christ continues to this day—because we are still confronted with situations and circumstances and people that we faithlessly regard as beyond God’s help.
For couples in the midst of marital strife whose marriage seems beyond repair—for parents whose children who are on the wrong path—for that loved one who does not know Jesus—the story of Paul’s life is an incredible testimony to the enduring power of Jesus Christ to renew that which is beyond human help.
With Jesus there is no hopeless situation-- and there are no hopeless people--for the grace of God extends into even the deepest, darkest parts of our human experience. Paul said:
I am going to Jerusalem…not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Amazing grace—how sweet the sound—that saved a wretch like me—I once was lost but now am found—was blind but now I see. Amazing grace. John Newton, the author of that hymn, knew it to be true. He was an atheist who made his living in the slave trade and yet who was converted to Christ and the work of the Gospel. Amazing grace. Paul knew it to be true—he never forgot what he had been and he counted himself the foremost among sinners-- and yet he knew that God’s love for him on account of Christ had taken all his sins away-- and his own life was a testimony to that Good News of God’s gracious love that extends to even the worst of sinners.
God in his infinite mercy reached out to Paul—while he was still a sinner—and forgave him in Christ. From that moment on, it didn’t matter what life held for him—imprisonment—afflictions—martyrdom—his life was given over to the Lord wholeheartedly.
Our conversion to Christ may not be as dramatic as Paul’s or John Newton’s—but it is no less real. When we were still sinners, Christ died for us—while we were spiritually blind and dead in our trespasses—the Holy Spirit opened our eyes of faith and gave us spiritual life and saved us eternally.
Our testimony to the grace of God in our lives may not be as far-ranging in its influence and impact as that of Paul’s or John Newton’s—but it is no less true—and no less significant for those around us who need to know about God’s love and Christ’s power to heal all that is broken. That is our vocation as Christians.
Paul will not go where we go this week. John Newton will not speak to those we speak to this week. This is the course that the Lord has laid out FOR US—this is the ministry that WE have received from the Lord.
From the moment that we were saved—our lives (which were given to us by the Lord) became his—and their value and significance is found in yielding them to his service for the sake of his kingdom—for the sake of those who desperately need to know about the God who loves them and has shed his life’s blood for them. Paul said:
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 of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Much of what we have talked about so far, even though it was spoken originally to the pastors of the church at Ephesus, is just as relevant to all of us-- no matter what our vocation. But at this place in Paul’s words, a shift takes place that is more directly tied to the work of pastors.
It may not be readily apparent, but when Paul says that he is “innocent of the blood of all of you” he is referencing the words from the prophet Ezekiel that deal with the responsibilities of those charged with the spiritual welfare of the people of God. And Ezekiel likens that responsibility to that of being a watchman.
In the ancient world, a watchman would take his place on the walls of a town. If he saw danger approaching, he had a solemn responsibility to warn the people. If he did that faithfully—and they still would not listen—they bore the responsibility for their own destruction—but if he failed in his work---is he didn’t speak up and the people were destroyed—he was held responsible for their deaths.
From the moment those words were spoken by Ezekiel, this was recognized as one of the chief responsibilities of those who were called by God to provide spiritual care to his people. Paul did this. He called the Ephesians to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus. He taught them everything profitable for their salvation. He declared to them the whole counsel of God. Whether they listened or not---whether they believed or not—he had done what God commanded him to do.
Pastors have a solemn obligation to do exactly what Paul did: to call people to repentance and faith—to teach everything necessary for salvation—to preach the whole counsel of God without compromise.—to be able to truthfully say: Thus saith the Lord at the end of every sermon and Bible study. No man charged with the spiritual care of God’s people has any right whatsoever to change God’s Word or ignore God’s Word or explain away God’s Word and any pastor who does this-- is responsible to Almighty God for the souls that he has destroyed.
This ought to strike a holy fear in the heart of every pastor-- but it also ought to get our attention too—for each of us—in the context our daily relationships—has a responsibility as priests before God: to warn those we love if we discover they have wandered away from the Lord—to call them back to faith in Christ—to speak simply but sincerely to those who don’t believe in Jesus of their need for salvation.
It is eternal life itself that is at stake and sadly today, among pastors-- and among the people they serve—there is a shameful, dangerous willingness to downplay, ignore, change and outright deny God’s Word. It happened in Paul’s day and he knew it would continue to happen and so it has to this day. He said:
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; and 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.
For the last several weeks we have talked the persecution that the early Christians faced (first from the Jews then from the Roman Empire) and how they remained faithful to Christ—sometimes at the cost of their own lives.
But there was an even more dangerous persecution that was about to take place—more dangerous because its source was not outside the church—easily recognized—but it would now come from inside the church. Wolves in sheep’s clothing—adorning their soul-destroying, false teaching with all the right-sounding words would draw people away from Christ. And so it continues to this day throughout Christendom in places where the people of God ought only to hear the Word of God—instead hear lies spoken in God’s name.
This is a grievous sin. The men who are called by the Holy Spirit to care for the flock of the Good Shepherd have absolutely no right to speak any word save that of the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. Jesus said of his flock: my sheep listen to my voice and so it is his voice alone that must be heard in the church--and his alone. But not only to pastors is this warning given, but also to you, the people of God—to the lambs of Christ’s flock.
150 years ago, C.F.W. Walther, the founding pastor of our church body, preached a very famous sermon entitled, “The Sheep Judge Their Shepherds.” And in this sermon Walther emphasized what Paul is saying to us today in these verses—that all of us must pay careful attention to what we hear preached and taught in church—that it is not permissible to simply accept at face value what is preached here and in other places—but that we who are listening, have a solemn responsibility to make sure that the pastor is preaching God’s Word and especially that he is preaching Jesus Christ because...
It is only that word of the Gospel—the Good News of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for the sins of the world—which is able to save. Paul said:
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 ministered to my necessities and to those who were 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.’”
After his conversion to Christ, Paul was a tireless worker for the kingdom of God. He suffered every manner of hardship imaginable—he endured every kind of trial—and finally martyrdom, but he knew that it was not his striving or his efforts or sacrifices that brought people to Christ—but the powerful words of God’s grace that were really responsible for changing his life and the lives of those who came to faith in Christ.
That is important for the church to remember—especially this congregation. We are beginning to do some long-term planning—thinking seriously about the most effective ways to reach the community around us with the Good News of Jesus. And I think this is a wise thing to do.
But what we must always remember that it is not new methods and slick marketing that changes people’s lives—but Jesus. And he does that through his words of grace in Word and Sacrament. We are built up in our faith when we hear God’s Word and receive his sacraments. The blessed inheritance of forgiveness of sins and eternal life are bestowed upon us again and again each time we gather for worship.
And these gifts of God’s grace are now, and will always be, the most important thing that St. Paul Lutheran Church has to give to those around us as the people of God in this place.
Just as Paul did two thousand years ago, we can confidently commend ourselves and our congregation and the people of this community into the hands of Almighty God, trusting that his blessing rests upon us as we are about his work. Amen.
And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
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