#Bible Expressions of Faith. Acts Ch 20. Be on Your Guard
31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
Acts 20:31
Paul knows his missionary ministry is over.
He calls church leaders together.
You will get the most out of this Expression if you read Paul's entire farewell Acts 20:18-35 now. It follows this bold type.
18 When they arrived, [Paul] said to them: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you,from the first day I came into the province of Asia. 19 I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. 20 You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 21 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns methat prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. 28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God,[a] which he bought with his own blood.[b] 29 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30 Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. 34 You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
Paul warns the church about two problems in Verses 29-30.
The first problem is savage wolves.
- These are false apostles Paul knew about who had not been to Ephesus yet.
That’s a bad problem.
Problem number two is worse.
- Paul warns about church members destroying God’s truth to lure disciples away.
6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
John Wesley says this about the Nicolatians (savage wolves).
- Probably so called from Nicolas, one of the seven deacons, Acts 6:5.
- [Nicolatian] doctrines and lives were equally corrupt.
- They allowed the most abominable lewdness and adulteries, as well as sacrificing to idols; all which they … pleaded for as branches of Christian liberty.
31 So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
- Paul reminds them of his faithful three-years of ministry in Ephesus.
The Church in Ephesus heeded Paul’s second warning.
However, John also includes this quote of Jesus in Revelation 2:4
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
- The Ephesians ignored the first problem Paul described.
What about you?
Are you on guard for these problems in your life?
Or
Do you select what you’re willing to do as a follower of Christ?
If you select only what you want to do as a follower of Christ, you need to repent so that's not held against you.
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