I can’t tell you what the numbers are, but every Sunday there are ministers of the gospel who are preaching the last sermon in that pulpit.
Many of those men are guests in that particular church, and their meetings are coming to a close.
This is the last, awkward service in church where they have ministered for …….. months.
or there is a truck with their number on it just waiting for them up on the interstate.
No, he didn’t die when he reached Jerusalem, but his ministry began a very different chapter.
Perhaps, one or two of those pastors traveled to Rome to see Paul while he was incarcerated there.
Perhaps they met with him in Judah before he was sent to Rome.
Perhaps they bumped into one another at some missions conference somewhere much later.
But there is no indication that Paul ever had the opportunity to return to the church at Ephesus.
Of course, these verses don’t describe a regular church service.
This was a special fellowship meeting of some pastors and other servants of the Lord.
So Paul wasn’t preaching a message in these words.
But he was referring back to the ministry that he had among them for three years.
And just as this was the probably the last time that these men could spend time with their missionary, about a year earlier, there had been a final, farewell service with the entire church.
Thinking back on all that took place in Ephesus,
Paul concluded that he was “pure from the blood of all men.”
This was an indirect reference to a clean conscience.
In fact, the Greek word translated “pure” is also translated “clean” and sometimes “clear.”
Paul had a clear conscience about his Ephesian ministry.
This evening, let’s briefly think about the relationship of guilt to the ministry or to the preaching of the gospel.
The first few were as an ordinary church member moving from home to school, to school.
Three times have I been pastoring a church and left led of the Lord to move to another city and ministry.
In none of those cases was I asked to leave, or forced to leave, by any problems within those churches.
In fact, it was with great reluctance and sorrow, mixed with excitement on my part, that we left.
And in each case we left people whom we love and who love us, and several of which remain very close.
I have to admit that my heart fills with a special kind of SORROW,
BUT I feel no GUILT about doing so.
But at the time of our departure, it was the right thing to do, because it was based upon the leadership of the Lord.
It’s not confined to pastors, but those men are probably more prone to think of the churches in which they minister as THEIR churches.
Every time they get into the pulpit, the spot-light and the eyes of the members are on them.
When they speak, the members of the church are listening to them, not to the experts that the preacher studied, and not even directly to the Lord, but to the pastor.
Like it or not, that pastor determines the style and atmosphere of the church.
If that church is a doctrinal or a Bible-loving and Bible-studying assembly, it is because the pastor has led it that way.
If it’s a church full of socials, picnics and camping trips, it’s usually because the preacher has directed it that way.
And as a result he often thinks of himself more highly than he ought to think.
He can get to the point of thinking that that congregation, and that building, and that ministry, are HIS.
But they are NOT his.
Everything about that ministry is the Lord’s if it really is a church of Christ.
And when he leaves that ministry, for whatever reason, that church is going to be just fine, or even better, without him.
Paul spent three months ministering in the Ephesian synagogue (Acts 19:8).
And then for two years the church met in the school of Tyrannus, under Paul’s leadership.
At that point he began to make plans to revisit the churches which he had planted in Macedonia.
But the riot in Ephesus disrupted those plans, and he stayed a few more weeks or months.
“And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia.”
Paul felt that the Lord wanted him to move on and that the church was going to be just fine.
He was not aborting a baby, leaving it in a dumpster to die.
He was not closing his eyes and turning off his heart towards the people of Ephesus.
And the Holy Spirit was going to continue to bless and build that church without Paul.
The church in Ephesus did not belong to the Apostle Paul, but to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And even though there may have been sorrow in leaving people who had become close to him,
He felt no guilt about obeying the will of the Lord.
And, he felt no guilt about completing his ministry in Ephesus because . . .
Tomorrow they may be hit by a truck, or tonight they may be hit with a heart attack.
But they don’t KNOW that they are preaching their last.
What if the Lord did reveal to those pastors that this was their last opportunity to address their loved ones?
It is not the same thing as if they were moving down the road to a new congregation, and preparations had been in the works for weeks.
What if just before entering the pulpit, the Lord sent a forerunner of the death-angel?
If that preacher knew that this was his last message,
If he was the kind of pastor that he ought to be and not a selfish, self-centered hireling,
He would preach only the absolutely most important truths.
Or if he knew of a truly desperate need in one of his congregation, he might address that need.
And he might use every argument in his arsenal to convince the wicked among them to repent towards God and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
If that preacher knew that this was his last church service, he might be struck with guilt over having served them for so many years or months in such a slovenly manner.
But Paul felt no guilt because he had from the beginning kept back nothing that was profitable unto them,
and he had “not shunned to declare unto them all the counsel of God.”
He had not neglected the doctrines which were hard to take or hard to understand.
He had not avoided the principles which were contrary to the sin which resided in their hearts.
He had plead with people to repent and to trust Christ.
He had exposed the stupidity and vanity of their old idolatries.
He had rebuked the Jews for their perversion of the scriptures and for their blindness.
So he felt no guilt about LEAVING the ministry in Ephesus, because he had faithfully CARRIED OUT the ministry in Ephesus.
There was no man’s money in his pocket; and no man’s wife under his arm.
There was no blood on his hands, either physically or spiritually.
He had been faithful to the work which the Lord had given him to perform in Ephesus.
There is at least one more aspect of the ministry related to the word “guilt.”
The word “counsel” refers to the will, or the purpose, of God.
Of course, no man can preach the hidden things of God.
But the revealed will, the written Word, is quite unmistakable.
And, as t they say, Paul had preached it from “Genesis to Revelation.”
All that he knew, all that he possessed, he faithful shared with both the brethren and heathen.
And preaching the whole counsel of God means preaching repentance for sin.
It is designed to make people “feel bad” about being a sinner in the sight of God.
It is supposed to produce moral and spiritual remorse and regret.
Where have so many modern churches come up with the idea that the purpose of the ministry is to make people feel good about themselves?
There is a difference between experiencing peace with God and “feeling good.”
There is a difference between the calm of a humble, spiritual worship of the Lord, and the self-satisfaction of having somehow personally bridging the gap between us and the Lord.
Paul brought sinners into a wonderful relationship with the Lord by passing through the valley of sorrow and repentance.
And preaching the whole counsel of God also means reminding even the best saints that they are not perfect.
We should feel guilty about not being the kind of witness that the Lord wants us to be.
We should feel guilty about our pride and our self-satisfaction; our smugness and pleasure.
There should often be a tear in our eye as we compare ourselves with the standard that we find in the counsel of God.
At the conclusion of his ministry in Ephesus,
Paul could look back and say that he had no guilt about leaving,
because he felt no guilt about his ministry,
and that was because a part of his ministry had been spent faithfully raising the subject of guilt among the people to whom he ministered.