A Final Charge
Application
- Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ must remain sensitive to God the Holy Spirit’s leading to know when an assignment is complete.
- God specifically tasks Elders to “guard,” but anyone who believes something is “out of place” needs to inform the “guard,” so no trouble arises within the church.
- B.O.L.O. goes out to make all officers aware. Elders may need to send out a spiritual B.O.L.O. to the local church—perhaps even to other local churches.
- The church needs to give honor as publicly as possible for individuals who serve well, especially those who transition from one responsibility to another.
- Conclusion: Any believer who thinks he doesn’t matter doesn’t understand the biblical imagery of the Church—the Body of Christ. The human body has cells that fight infection, organs that remove impurities, and organs that exchange what cannot be used for what is essential to use. Do we know how and where we as believers fit into the Body of Christ and the local church?
Bible Text
25 “And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face. 26 Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all people. 27 For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. 28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. 32 And now I entrust 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. 33 I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. 34 You yourselves know that these hands served my own needs and the men who were with me. 35 In everything I showed you that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
36 When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And they all began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, 38 grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they were accompanying him to the ship.
-Acts 20:25-38