Acts 20 — Watch the Flock

Today’s Passage: Acts 20

After the uproar in Ephesus dies down, Paul gathers the disciples, encourages them, and says goodbye, then travels through Macedonia and Greece, strengthening the churches with many words as he goes. A plot against his life turns him back the way he came, and a company of men from many churches travels with him. At Troas, on the first day of the week, he preaches so long into the night that a young man named Eutychus drifts to sleep in a window, falls three stories, and is taken up dead, and God gives him back alive. Then Paul sails down the coast and calls the elders of the Ephesian church to meet him at Miletus, and there he lays on them the charge that gives this whole chapter its weight: keep watch over yourselves and over the flock. The Holy Spirit has made them overseers (ἐπίσκοπος) episkopos, pronounced eh-PIS-ko-pos. Strong's G1985, overseer, guardian; bishop. The men called elders in verse 17 are here named overseers, and it is the Holy Spirit who has made them so. Their work is shepherding, the labor of tending, feeding, and guarding the flock, and it is one office, not two. They are to watch over themselves first, and then over the flock, the flock He purchased with His own blood. Scripture does not leave this office an open question: the Spirit sets men apart as overseers, and those men must shepherd. The charge is settled. , and they must shepherd the church God purchased with His own blood. Wolves are coming, Paul warns, some from outside and some from within, and when he has finished he kneels, prays, and commits them to God and to the word of His grace. They weep as they walk him to the ship. The road, the raised life at Troas, and the farewell at Miletus are not three separate scenes but one long climb toward that single charge: keep watch over the flock He purchased with His blood.

The life that came back to Eutychus at Troas was real life, and the Spirit’s warnings that chains awaited Paul were real warnings, and we must not empty either of them of its weight. Yet the church that reads them now already has that same Spirit who filled the upper room; it does not wait for a new Pentecost to receive Him.

As you read, hold this: Keep watch over the flock He purchased with His blood.

Acts 20:1–6 (BSB)

¹ When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples. And after encouraging them, he said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia. ² After traveling through that area and speaking many words of encouragement, he arrived in Greece, ³ where he stayed three months. And when the Jews formed a plot against him as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia. ⁴ Paul was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. ⁵ These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas. ⁶ And after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we sailed from Philippi, and five days later we rejoined them in Troas, where we stayed seven days.

Here is encouragement offered after a crisis, and a murderous plot that reroutes an apostle without ever derailing him. A team drawn from many cities travels together, and Luke’s we quietly returns at Philippi, telling us he has rejoined the company. Already the road is bending toward the men who will have to watch over the flock once Paul is gone.

Acts 20:7–12 (BSB)

⁷ On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight. ⁸ Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. ⁹ And a certain young man named Eutychus, seated in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, and embraced him. “Do not be alarmed!” he said. “He is still alive!” ¹¹ Then Paul went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. And after speaking until daybreak, he departed. ¹² And the people were greatly relieved to take the boy home alive.

Word and table again, and then a fatal fall. Paul goes down, throws himself on the young man, and embraces him, and life returns. Then he climbs back up to break bread and to keep teaching until daybreak, and the people carry the boy home alive, greatly relieved. The church God purchased is wide enough to include the drowsy young man in the window.

Acts 20:13–17 (BSB)

¹³ We went on ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, where we were to take Paul aboard. He had arranged this because he was going there on foot. ¹⁴ And when he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. ¹⁵ Sailing on from there, we arrived the next day opposite Chios. The day after that we arrived at Samos, and on the following day we came to Miletus. ¹⁶ Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, because he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost. ¹⁷ From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.

Paul goes on foot while the others sail, for Pentecost is pressing him toward Jerusalem, yet he will not hurry past the elders of Ephesus. He sends for them and waits, and the great charge of the chapter is about to be spoken.

Acts 20:18–27 (BSB)

¹⁸ When they came to him, he said, “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I arrived in the province of Asia. ¹⁹ I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, especially in the trials that came upon me through the plots of the Jews. ²⁰ I did not shrink back from declaring anything that was helpful to you as I taught you publicly and from house to house, ²¹ testifying to Jews and Greeks alike about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 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 town after town the Holy Spirit warns me that chains and afflictions await me. ²⁴ But I consider my life of no value to me, if only I may finish my course and complete the ministry I have received from the Lord Jesus—the ministry of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. ²⁵ Now I know that none of you among whom I have preached the kingdom will see my face again. ²⁶ Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. ²⁷ For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.

He speaks of humility, of tears, of a ministry from which he never once shrank back. He had testified to Jews and Greeks alike of repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus, the one gospel and not some second message. Now the Spirit warns him, town after town, that chains are waiting, and those warnings truly came to pass; yet they open no new canon and add nothing to the finished word. Paul counts his own life of no value to himself if only he may finish the course and complete the ministry he received from the Lord. The man who is about to charge the shepherds first shows them, in his own life, what a watchman looks like.

Acts 20:28–35 (BSB)

²⁸ Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of 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 and will not spare the flock. ³⁰ Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore be alert and remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. ³² And 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 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 ministered to my own needs and those of my companions. ³⁵ In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:28 (BSB) — “Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.”

Watch over yourselves, and then over the flock. These are Spirit-appointed men and a blood-bought church, with wolves waiting outside and others ready to rise up from within. Paul commits them all to God and to the word of His grace, then points to his own working hands and to the help he gave the weak. Shepherding is a holy calling, and it is also plain hard work.

Acts 20:36–38 (BSB)

³⁶ When Paul had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. ³⁷ They all wept openly as they embraced Paul and kissed him. ³⁸ They were especially grieved by his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

Then comes kneeling, and prayer, and open weeping, and a walk down to the ship. The charge does not trail off into a slogan. It ends in love, love for the very men who must now keep the watch.