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In this chapter, Acts 20, Paul is leaving Ephesus, a church that he had planted in 52 AD and later spent two years at.  Paul was a church planter; his pattern was to stay long enough in a city to start a church and install leaders, and then to move on to another city.  During his journeys, he would try to return to the churches he had planted as well as send some of them letters in order to continue his ministry to them.  The scene recorded in this chapter is a moving picture of what it means to be a spiritual shepherd, something that just about everyone of you will have the opportunity to be at one time or another in your life.  Since Paul’s world was very agricultural, metaphors of farming and caring for animals resonated with their audience.  While we may not know many shepherds today, we can understand his metaphor even today.  Basically, to be a spiritual shepherd is to care for someone or a group of people under you that are in need of care and support and protection.  It is used often to refer to elders and pastors in a church, and can also be applied to parents, ministry leaders, and even to some degree in other professions such as teachers or social service organizations.

This is an exhortation speech – Paul is exhorting or encouraging the Ephesian elders to learn from his example and care for those who are under their care.  I think this is a truly amazing and challenging passage that will have a great impact if you think of who you are currently shepherding in your life.   Let’s read together Acts 20:17-38:

Acts 20:17 - 38  From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.  ¹⁸ When they arrived, he 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, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews.  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 me that prison and hardships are facing me.  ²⁴ However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-- the task of testifying to the gospel 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 all men.  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, which he bought with his own blood.  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.'"  ³⁶ When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.  ³⁷ They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him.  38 What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.