Feed the Flock

For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

Acts 20:27-28

These words are part of Paul's great charge to the Ephesian elders. The elders were what we would call the pastors of the churches there. In these ancient cities, they did not meet together as we do on a Sunday morning. There was no room suitable for them to do so, so they met in homes. The teachers of these various house churches were the elders, those responsible for guiding and directing and teaching and feeding the flock. These are the men whom Paul has summoned to meet him at Miletus.

The primary responsibility of a pastor is to teach the Scriptures, to feed the flock. If he is not doing that, he is failing in his job, miserably. It is the truth that changes people. If the Word, the Scriptures, are not being taught, then people are not being changed. They are struggling on in their own futile ways and nothing is being accomplished. So the primary job of pastors is to teach the whole counsel of God.

They are to begin with themselves, says the apostle, i.e., they are to obey the truth which they themselves learn. This is where their authority comes from. It is only as they are obedient to the truth which they teach that they have any right to say anything to anyone else. Would you dare say that to your children? If what I am doing is not in line with what I teach, then don't believe me. I have no authority over you; I have no power over you. But if your actions are in accord with your teaching, then power is inherent in that obedience.

So these elders are to begin with themselves, and to teach the Word. Their responsibility is to the Holy Spirit, not to the denomination, nor to the congregation. It is the Spirit who has set them in that office and has equipped them with gifts. He who reads the heart is judging their lives, so it does not make any difference what anybody else thinks. They must follow the Spirit in what he has given them to do.

Notice how he underscores the fact that theirs is a very precious ministry. It is to feed the church of the Lord. Nothing is more precious to God in all the world than the people of Christ, the body of Christ. The most valuable thing on earth, in God's sight, is his church. He gave himself for it, he loves it earnestly, he obtained it with his own blood. Therefore, it has highest priority in thoughts. What concerns the church is the most important thing in the world today. I wish we could catch that picture as the apostle understood it.

Lord, thank you for the shepherds you have appointed to feed your flock. May you grant them strength and courage to teach the whole will of God, and to apply it first to their own lives.