Pillar 1 of a Biblical Church, The Whole Counsel of God, Acts 20:17-35

Acts 20 and the Need for the Whole Counsel of God

That's Acts chapter 20 verses 17 to 35 hear the word of the Lord. Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him and when they came to him he said To them you yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia Serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews.

How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house Testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

And now behold I'm going to Jerusalem Constrained by the Spirit not knowing what will happen to me there. Except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me.

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself If only I may finish my course in the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus. To testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now behold I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.

Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the Church of God which he obtained with his own blood.

I Will come in among you not Sparing the flock and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the the disciples after them. Therefore be alert Remembering that for three years.

I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend 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.

I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands minister to my necessities and to those who Were with me in all things. I've shown you that by working hard in this way We must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he himself said it is more blessed to give Than to receive.

May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word. Well ever thought you understood something? Pretty well only to be made aware to realize that you are only seeing one side of the story ever start to answer a question before was fully asked and Be embarrassed that you assumed the question wrongly.

Ever hear someone make a case for themselves. Maybe how wronged they were I didn't deserve to be suspended or how right they are only to hear the other side and Realize you were fooled. I Was walking down the sidewalk and in Singapore walking down the road.

But there was a high wall on my right side when I got to it driveway of this parking lot to a big hotel. I was shocked to see inside kind of the half of the whole of the parking lot the walled-off lot that I could see Two men arguing just violently and they were speaking Mandarin.

So I couldn't understand what they were saying. But I could tell that they were they were really mad at each other. And other than man I just kind of saw that soon as I saw that just stopped in my tracks and Thought man these two guys are about to get into a fight and I knew what they did.

Yeah, I have to do the right thing. I have to go in and break it up. So I just stopped there just staring at this with the other with the wall still blocking up half of the parking lot. I stared at the two men Arguing and then suddenly just as I feared one man took up a big Swing at the other man and he went fly back like he'd been hit hard the fight had started.

Oh, no, I'm gonna have to break this up. I have to go do my duty. It was weird though that could tell from my angle that the guy that took the swing missed by a mile and Didn't really hit the other guy and it was really weird.

That the guy the other guy just went flying back like he had been hit hard. But you know, I thought well, whatever I could see the fight had begun. So I began to walk quickly Through the driveway into the into the full parking lot and now I could see the whole picture there and the half of the parking lot that I couldn't see before was a TV camera and a cameraman a Man with a boom mic and another lighting manual of the light and a few other people standing around watching the two actors.

Everything I saw before was true. But I couldn't interpret it correctly until I saw the whole picture. Now the worst thing that would have happened if I had actually ran in there and broken up the actors fight scene Would be my own embarrassment.

It's a cut cut get out of here. But sometimes acting on partial perceptions can have much more dire consequences. When last we were living long term in Singapore Mike is speech therapist won a free trip to New York City in September of 2001.

Think about that for a second New York City in September of 2001 on the morning of Tuesday, September 11th 2001 as part of her package deal prize that she won she was she was supposed to take a tour up to the top of the World Trade Center as She finished her breakfast with her husband started walking Toward the World Trade Centers and she looked up and she saw an airplane Disappear into the side of one of the towers.

From now from her point of view all that she could see was a plane going into the building. You know those pictures you've seen from a distance. They show you've probably seen them over and over again on TV the plane hitting on one side and the explosion coming out the other.

Well, she was just looking at the side the plane hit and First her thought was well, this is some kind of stunt some kind of magic trick. You know like David Copperfield making a Statue of Liberty disappear this time.

He's making a plane disappear to the side of a building. She said that there were just so many other strange things in New York City. She figured this is just another one of them. And so she turned to her husband and said, oh.

What a neat effect and they kept walking straight toward the World Trade Center. Only when crowds of people began running the other way. Did she realize that something horrible had just happened? You can see something very important you can be an eyewitness to one of the worst terrorist attacks in the history of the world, but get the exact wrong lesson and Respond in exactly the wrong way.

Keep rock walking straight toward disaster. Unless you get the whole picture. Now that's exactly what is wrong with a lot of preaching these days. There are many preachers who aren't preaching anything.

That's directly false. They're just preaching only one side of the story. We can rail against the doctrines of the you know. Whatever the cults criticize some people for their overt doctrine for the things they teach but in my experience there are far more people today who may not be saying anything that is directly false.

But they're only teaching half the story what they declare may be entirely true. But it isn't the entire truth. You see a half truth. Presented as a whole truth is a complete untruth and because they aren't declaring the entire truth.

The whole Council of God what Paul calls it here people can respond in exactly the wrong way. There are people who are right now heading toward disaster based on their true but merely partial perception.

What the Whole Counsel of God Is

How are we not to be one of them? Well, the Apostle Paul gives us the key in this farewell address the Ephesian elders and here in Acts chapter 20. This key plays as we saw we were going through access plays a key part in the book of Acts.

This explains what happens in the last one-third of Acts. Why he goes all through the trials and you know the the prison that he goes through. He says if only I may testify to the gospel the grace of God.

I don't care about these afflictions as long as I do that and this also explains what the church is that he is leaving behind. What they need what he calls the whole Council of God, so let's answer three key questions.

What is it? What is the whole Council of God? How do we get it? And Why is it necessary? You know what how and why? But what is the whole Council of God? Well, the term I think is just self-explanatory.

First hole means all means the entirety. It's not a special word. Don't expect me to say something to the Greek means this or that and it means something totally different than English. No, it just means all and counsel means the truths that he has revealed.

He has counseled us about what the truth is. Psalm 119 verse 24 says your testimonies. I'm the words the Word of God are my delight. They are my counselors. They teach the right way. They are the counsel He has given us in his word that which is this which is of God.

In verse 32 He commends them the churches to God and to the word of his grace. That is scripture that would that would mean that the things other things There are not revealed in his word. Maybe things are just a man just speculations.

Maybe speculations about theology are a lot of debates about the end times. Maybe today a lot of politics people like to talk politics a pop psychology fluff about self-esteem. Maybe motivational speaking saw a commercial yesterday Pinocchio giving a motivational speech, you know, you have potential in his nose gross because he's actually lying.

You don't have potential but a lot of stuff it just gets so much attention these days. Well that can be skipped because much of that is not profitable but not anything that that is here. This is profitable.

We proclaim everything in it and it is all profitable because the message of the gospel is in it all the gospel of the grace Of God so that is that is the what it's pretty simple now. Notice how important Paul deems declaring the whole message of Scripture in verse 20.

Paul reminds them. These are his last words to this church. Remember that you're gonna say your last words are gonna be important. He reminds them that he says I did not shrink. From declaring to you anything that was profitable.

I didn't shrink from I didn't and they didn't hold it back. I didn't flinch and doing it even once he doesn't even he doesn't say well I've literally got around to all of it. He said he didn't shrink.

He never held it back. He's never afraid man. If I say that that guy's gonna be angry. He's gonna leave. I won't get his tithe anymore. You know, he doesn't he's not afraid that if he teaches us this whatever unpopular doctrine that they'll reject him.

He never flinched from declaring everything God said and he didn't shrink from nose. He did said he didn't shrink from declaring. Not just suggesting. Not just implying. Not whispering anything. It's not as though some things the popular things He said loudly and the other things the unpopular stuff.

He said softly. No, he declared Everything in verse 20. He says he's innocent of their blood because he did not hold back. I was God will he say God will not hold me responsible if you fall into judgment.

Because I told you everything you needed to know. Here he is drawing on an image from the prophet Ezekiel and what God says to Ezekiel you're like a watchman on a wall. You you have to tell the people what you see coming.

The watchman is held accountable held responsible for for warning the people. At the watchman on the wall scenes danger coming is an invading army and he doesn't warn. Maybe he's afraid, you know, that's unpopular.

Those people don't want to hear this is an evading army coming. They want to hear everything's fine. No, but if he doesn't tell them he will be held responsible. But if he warns and the people don't listen that they don't close the gate.

They don't prepare to defend themselves. Then it's not his fault when the city is destroyed. He did his duty. He did what he was supposed to do. He warned him. He might not win the people. In other words, you might not convince them.

He might might not win them, but he must warn them. Now the church is not held accountable for winning. We might not win we might not win every person we speak to. But we must warn. There are sometimes when faithfulness will bring loss and suffering when people will reject us.

Because they don't like what we're saying as it did for Paul when he left Ephesus. He went knowingly into prison. Paul felt he had to do that to be faithful to his call he had to say things that people would Reject him for for us faithfulness to the whole message may sometimes mean losing people who can't accept certain teachings whatever they find Unacceptable.

They hate the idea that their salvation is totally outside their control that God is sovereign that Jesus teaches church discipline or that our favorite in times theories are are taught in Scripture or not really or there are they hate the idea that that our Autonomy our self-rule our individualism the consumer attitude that there's so much in the air around us these days that everything exists for my Consumption my marriage exists for my consumption my family even the Bible salvation worship the church even the Lord himself.

All exists to give me my best life now, right? That's the consumer attitude and if it's not doing that if any of those things aren't doing it for me. Well, I'll go and try another one. It will do it for me another wife another church another whatever another God.

Maybe that consumeristic individualism that the culture has inculcated in people around us. You know that we're supposed to give up for the Lord and for his body now people around us. They find that repulsive.

We want to win them but We might lose them if we tell them the whole truth, but we have to take that chance. We'll try to do our best to present everything is as winsomely as attractively as we can. But sometimes faithfulness means warning without winning.

I Don't mean to make excuses for for not reaching people. For staying small. We should be eager to grow. A healthy church wants to grow. But we have to make a choice if we have to make a choice between warning or winning.

You know, we think if we can just maybe we we don't mention this then they'll like us and they'll come in. Well, no. We had better choose warning if we hold back any part of the message and people continue to head toward disaster.

Because they can't see the whole picture. We will be judged for that. We will have in some way their judgment their blood on our hands. To be free of the guilt of the souls of others. We need as a body together to be showing people the whole picture.

Everything that God has revealed the whole counsel of God. But we can't do that if we don't know it ourselves. So what we need? What we need to see the whole picture is the whole counsel of God, but how are we to get that whole counsel?

Like Micah speech therapist we can see something that's completely true but only see one side of it and based on our One sided view we make the wrong decision on which way to walk. Continue walking right toward disaster.

How We Get the Whole Counsel of God

Well, that's the second question. I was how. How are we to know? The whole counsel of God. It's not something you could just leave up to your your preferences your taste your whims your feelings. You know, whatever you Wake up and feel like doing you see we all have biases.

In fact, some of the most dangerous people are those who don't know their bias, especially they become professors or editors. We like certain ideas. We just like others. We have certain blind spots. We see certain things whether it's there or not.

And we totally miss other things that are there when we come to the Bible. We naturally gravitate toward those those themes and those books that we prefer and we we think we understand. It's like ruts in a dirt road.

You know, we keep following the ruts no matter where that leads us. It's easier than forging a new path. But the ruts might not lead us on the right path. So we need what we need. Some discipline a discipline regimen of going through all of Scripture.

That's why you in your private Bible reading you try to read the entire Bible. Over a year or two, but you over a certain time you're getting through to all of it. Not just camp on a few verses here and there your favorite ones your favorite books or whatever or let devotionals kind of spoon-feed you a verse here and there and For us together, you know, that's why we intentionally here we shift around to all parts of the Bible.

That's why we take large portions of it and we go through whole books. To see everything that God has said we believe what Paul later wrote to Timothy that all Scripture is inspired by God all of it and All of it is profitable.

All of it is useful and we need it all to be be careful of any teaching or teacher. Who tells tells you that some parts of the Bible, you know, I'd worry about those anymore. They're not really for us.

They belong to another era that we can unhitch them. From our faith today to get the whole counsel of God. You need the whole Word of God including the Old Testament so for example, we we Methodically read and sing here and pray through all the Psalms.

Which sometimes means we we end up singing and praying and reading things that sound strange. To us in our day some things we probably would never think of on our own. But we need that because all the word is inspired not just all of what we like about it here.

How are we to see the whole picture. The Apostle Paul tells us one way in Colossians chapter 3 verse 16 is to sing at the Word of Christ. Well and you richly. By singing of all things singing Psalms hymns and spiritual songs.

Our own songs. I don't think they're bad. Our own songs. Great to have creative people who can write good songs our own songs that will reflect our taste or our culture. So we need to sing Psalms to all of them knowing that when we do we'll soon find ourselves singing and praying things.

That seem maybe incredibly bizarre from time to time to our modern ears. Is it like somebody who's been given only vegetables to eat all their life? They've only eaten vegetables. They got how would it strike them and suddenly give him a steak?

How do you think it would feel in their mouth. Start eating some meat and first we feel strange wouldn't. Be hard to swallow. We keep chewing on it. Eventually you begin to like it. Now some will say you don't need to be so regimented follow the lead of the Spirit.

I heard of a man who dropped out of church when he learned the pastor prepares his messages ahead of time. Because he just thought the guy should just show up and follow the lead of the Spirit. Of course what really happens when you do that as you follow your feelings and.

And you probably go back into your ruts and you're going to the same passages and saying the same things over and over again. But what better leading of the Spirit can there be. I don't mean to put down leading following the Spirit.

We believe in that but what better leading of the Spirit can there be. Then what the Holy Spirit that what we know He has led the Word of God as it was actually written and inspired talk about following the leading of the Spirit.

If we really want to do that. Then let's follow the book whose every letter He led right. This is led by the Spirit. In other words, we teach and we preach The Word of God as it is given to us. We don't come up with topics that we want to hear about and then selectively take a verse here verse there.

Sew them together and our own little concoction that we think support our beliefs about those topics. But that is exactly the advice given today on how to attract people to church to preach to them about the topics they want to hear about and.

Then you know and then find the verses here and there that you think support that topic. But if we do that, when will we ever when will we ever tell them about their need for salvation? About sin and judgment and damnation.

How will they ever understand what the good news is? Why is why why it was necessary for Jesus to die on the cross to buy their salvation for his blood? It's all something. I think it's just yesterday the Babylon be on online.

This is a picture of a woman and she said. Woman totally puzzled why the pastor who just spent 30 minutes telling you how great she is. Just told her that she needs Jesus. Right, you understand this what goes on so much today telling people how great you are how terrific you are.

And then you try to tackle on what you need Jesus and people why? You just I thought I had it. I thought God loves me as I am. We don't come up with topics we want to hear about but but we need to proclaim all the Word of God.

If we just stick with what people want to hear. When will we ever get? To why they really need Jesus. How will they ever stand understand the good news, but also. When we do that. We show who we really believe.

Do we really believe that God knew what he was doing? When he inspired the Bible as it is I Mean do we understand that. Do we really believe that God is all wise and the way he put the Bible together.

Or do we deep down wish maybe the Bible was in the order that we'd like it to be in. And the topics there were interested in you know, it's six ways to find a spouse. Seven steps to a happy marriage. Eight signs of the end times.

Nine keys to prosperity. These kind of things that people love to hear about now. True arrogance. You know is editing the Bible together to be the way we want it to be. It's saying that if God really knew what he was doing.

This is how he he should have put the Bible together. But true humility and notice how Paul points to his humility at the beginning of this passage. I humbly you know. Serve you up. True humility bows before the word and admits that God was right all Along that he knew what he was doing.

The way the Holy Spirit led scripture is better than how our feelings Think we're being led. Now, how are we to see the whole picture? Well, we need to talk about it. He says here this verse 20. Paul says he went from house to house.

As he was visiting people right in their houses and their kitchens around the kitchen table over dinner. Talking about the Bible not just about football and the weather and politics or basketball here.

I don't know if he was from North Carolina or not. Health but the whole counsel of God that's what he was talking about. Christians should want to talk to each other about what the word teaches. That's why we have our Wednesday nights like we do.

We just basically talk about the passage. That's why we're willing to listen to other Christians. It means we're. Because they might bring to our attention Passages that we might not know about or he might have forgotten about something we overlooked.

Because we were dwelling on our favorite few verses to see the whole picture. We need the whole body. No, sola scriptura. Scripture alone scripture alone is our final authority. Sola scriptura doesn't mean solo scriptura.

Just me and scripture. How are we to see the whole picture? We need we still need preaching. In verse 20, he says not only he'd go house-to-house, but he declared to them publicly. Oh as they had meetings and he preached to them preaching to gatherings.

One of the keys to hearing the whole counsel of God is expository. Preaching that is expositing declaring what the passage says an Expository preaching the main point of a of a passage like here in Acts 20 is the main point of the message.

Normally, that is what normally that's what we do here. We look at whole passages. We seek to see the whole picture of it. We can feed on everything that God has provided for us and like someone eating a well-balanced diet.

We can grow up healthy and strong. But that means that you. You need to eat it. We can feed it to you, but you need to eat it. Come prepared to listen. Pray ahead of time for a good appetite to be eager to listen.

Take notes if that helps you as well. We have you know place to take notes at the back of the bulletin listen again online if you need more. Paul preach Publicly that means that you need to gather publicly with a church and listen to preaching.

How do we see the whole picture? We need to sing it to pray it to talk about it with each other and here listen carefully to Expository preaching in which the main point of a passage of Scripture is the main point of the message now.

How are we to see the whole picture? We not only study it. We live it. We experience it. We have to do it to feel it to practice to practice it. You know our actions. Also teach and we can we can deny or obscure Part of the counsel of God part of God's Word just by not living it by not doing it.

If we say it's more blessed to give than to receive. But we don't really give you know, maybe just a few dollars or cents here and there while we spurge on ourselves people see that. And they just think that's just empty words.

If we say well, we want a biblical reformed church, then we don't sing Psalms or even when the Bible says to are we don't practice church discipline because we live in a culture that hates discipline or we teach with our Lives that those passages that just can be ignored.

If we say well Jesus is for all kinds of people, but our church is only made of our kind of people. People notice that people notice what they see. Not what we say. If we say I love the Lord we quote Psalm 45 my heart overflows with a pleasing theme.

I address my verses to the king, but then worship that singing to the Lord is dreary or routine or boring to us. You know, there's no sense of being pleased by it. Then our lives declare that Psalm 45 isn't true.

It's not for us. If we say I love the Word of God. But then we skip on Bible study. We can't muster the self-discipline to endure it when it's you know. When it's not exciting or immediately inspiring.

Is because sometimes it's not I'm just got to do it like training for athletics basketball. You got to do the drills. Our lives. But if we do that, we don't do the drills. Our lives teach something else if we say I want to serve the Lord.

But then we don't feel like the Apostle Paul here. I do not count my life of any value nor as precious to myself of all him. I finished my course may testify to the gospel of the grace of God if we. If we don't really believe that we don't really show that with our life our actions teach.

That we don't really believe what we say. Notice how Paul shows his vibrant experience with God in this passage. He begins by pointing to how I lived. Remember how I lived among you Ephesians. I didn't say remember my teaching.

He doesn't keep reminding him was teaching but first of all Look at my life. I lived it in front of you twice in verses 19 and 31. He mentions his tears. Paul was a passionate man, you know, he deeply felt the value.

What he taught the reality of it. This is theory. He experienced God himself, especially God the Holy Spirit of what he was teaching. Notice that in verse 22 He speaks of being constrained or bound by the Spirit.

The other was the Holy Spirit had such a grip on him that he had to go the way the Spirit told him to go. Then in the next verse he speaks about the Holy Spirit has been testified to him or what is going to happen.

So these are just theories about abstract doctrines. He was talking about realities that he was living. He was a doer of the word. Unlike some people today who want a lot of people do they like experiences of the Spirit just you but they like it more like.

For the thrill of it, you know, some people like drugs some people like the Spirit. It's kind of their drug and. But Paul's experiences with the Spirit actually led him into more trials in this life. People like sometimes like drugs are.

Because they want to escape from their trials. So people want to thrill in the church shout hallelujah run around because they want to escape from the trials of this life. Well, that's not what it's really for.

Because Paul's experience with the Spirit actually led him into more trials. And why does he follow the Spirit into change and the suffering says constrained is bound and he follows the Spirit into Imprisonment.

Verse 24 could be Paul's personal mission statement. Why does he follow the Spirit into that suffering? He says I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish my course and test and and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Paul had what the Prophet Jeremiah said was was fire in his bones. This was his life and it should be the life of our church. We're not so concerned with being respectable or are being big or successful or on the cutting edge or are being comfortable in our old Old-time religion if only we may finish the course laid out for us.

Of testifying to the gospel of the grace of God. Not just to talk about it. Not just words because we like the religion. We like the sound of it. But to practice it to live it to run that course. How we're to see the whole picture is by singing praying talking to each other hearing expository preaching and Doing it.

Letting it be our life. But why that's the third question. Why would we want to give up, you know all the advantages and there are probably lots of advantage to kind of cutting and pasting Parts of the Bible we like putting the rest.

We don't like a way of just putting it back together as it suits us. After all is for a church. Why not give the customer what he wants, you know today's commonly believe the customer is King. They want to hear about Whatever.

What do they want to hear about? They want to hear about how to be successful how to find the right spouse how to raise nice kids. That kind of stuff. They don't want to hear about their sin. Don't worry about that.

Something not about God's judgment on sin. Certainly not that their sins are are so bad that their only hope is if the perfect man God himself. Took those sins on himself on the cross that they that they needed to be bought from death.

They couldn't just work their way out of it. They need to be bought out of it that it took blood to purchase them. A lot of people don't like to hear that. You know, there are many teachings of the Bible that are not very popular.

So so why bother? You know, what I just give those parts. Just just bury them somewhere give the people with the parts. They like sweep the rest under a rug and call it's called some teachings. They're unpopular called a big a family secret.

I've heard that we have some things that are family secrets. They're right there in the Bible. They're not family secrets but anyway, but in other words don't talk about it because they put people off well.

Maybe maybe man is not the measure of all things. The third and last question is why is the counsel of God? Necessary the truth is. Without everything that God has revealed. The message we present falls apart if we only talk about grace and never sin and judgment and Repentance people think that they can they're saved no matter how they live and continue in sin like that.

That that cartoon I saw yesterday woman puzzled about why she needs Jesus if she's so great as the pastor just said she was. You know people, you know, you know, you only hear part of it. You you don't understand the gospel if we only present what people must do.

You know, you got to be good. Don't commit adultery. Don't steal. Don't go to church least occasionally. Then people become proud of their life. They're and they're the religion. They think they can do it.

They can accomplishment. They don't think that they didn't really need the grace of God. People need the whole message and we need to present it all or we will be held partly responsible For holding it back.

Why the Whole Counsel of God Is Necessary

Why do we need the whole counsel of God? Why is the whole picture necessary? Because without it We've become badly nourished, you know, like somebody who eats only sweets his diet is Twinkies and coca-cola.

Only hearing the sweet themes. We naturally prefer is like only eating sweet foods that we crave if we only Only eat cake and ice cream and drink coke. Eventually, we will get fat and very sick. A poor diet makes you vulnerable.

So to does a poor spiritual diet. Paul here in verses 29 to 31 mentions Savage wolves that will attack attack God's flock. The savage wolves are looking for weak strays. Those who aren't being protected by a shepherd.

They're not they're not in the church who don't hear the whole counsel of God when we miss some of what God has revealed. We will be vulnerable to wolves. Wolves are prowling around. Today on TV on the Internet.

Sometimes they'll come knocking at your door. They're looking for your weak spots. Looking for people who only know part of the truth. Half truths that become complete untruths. So in verse 32 Paul inspired by the Spirit he commends us.