WATCH, AND REMEMBER

These elders had a great need to be vigilant. There were dangers from without coming in. Paul refers to them as ‘grievous wolves’, v. 29. What do wolves do? They attack the flock and scatter it, said the Lord Jesus, John 10. 12. ‘Not sparing the flock’, says Paul. Then there were dangers from within. Men would arise from amongst themselves who would traffic in perverse, twisted teaching. Of such were Hymenaeus and Philetus whose heretical teaching was ‘upsetting the faith of some’, 2 Tim. 2. 18 ESV. Peter also wrote of false teachers who, he says, were ‘among you’, 2 Pet. 2. 1. It was not going to be easy with the rise of such men. Where truth is found, falsehood so often attacks. The sort of watching implied by Paul is that unsleeping alertness that can never be taken by surprise.

What would help them in their watchfulness would be the remembrance of what a true teacher should be. They had seen it in Paul himself. He had spent his time among them as a humble slave of the Lord Jesus, with utter devotion to Him. He had served with all humility of mind, Eph. 4. 2; Phil. 2. 3; Col. 3. 12, a foremost quality in a servant of the Lord. Nothing is more contemptible than spiritual pride and conceit. Pride has no place in the service of the Lord. He had served with tears, vv. 19, 31. He was not ashamed of his tears. They showed a deep exercise of soul for the salvation of the lost and for the welfare of the saints. He had been unmoved by his many trials, vv. 19,23-24. He had been consistent in his labour, v. 31. He had not shunned from declaring the whole counsel of God; he did not ‘play to the gallery’. He had kept nothing back. With him visitation of the flock was not a mere social call; he bought up the time for eternal results, v. 20. He was no timeserver; he did not seek to please men and he was pure from the blood of all men. He described his life as a course which he hoped to finish with joy. He had put his all into it for God. Do we often put more into our career, our secular calling, sometimes even into our pastimes, than we do in the pursuit of our spiritual course? Not so Paul. His life was filled with strenuous effort. He had made ‘full proof’ of his ministry.