So guard yourselves and God’s people. Feed and shepherd God’s flock—
his church, purchased with his own blood—
over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as leaders.
I know that false teachers, like vicious wolves,
will come in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock.
Even some men from your own group will rise up
and distort the truth in order to draw a following.
Watch out! Remember the three years I was with you—
my constant watch and care over you night and day,
and my many tears for you.
(Acts 20:28–31)
The first three words sum up Paul’s charge to the Ephesian church: Be on guard (NASB). This vigilant state of mind required that the elders, first, “be on guard for yourselves.” That’s an awareness of personal erosion. Paul predicts the painful truth that “from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things.” Only by staying on guard will the leaders keep from drifting personally. They must also “Be on guard . . . for all the flock.” That’s an awareness of corporate erosion. Savage wolves, Paul warns, will come in and pick off the sheep. Protect them!
Paul then repeats the command to “be on guard,” but in different words: “Be on the alert,” he warns. The original term for this phrase occurs many times in the New Testament. Interestingly, Paul had written the identical command while living in Ephesus to the church at Corinth:
But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost; for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. . . . Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:8–9, 13 NASB, emphasis added)
Ultimately, all attacks from Satan against the church are assaults against God’s people—first personally, then corporately. Erosion works its way out in concentric circles like ripples in a pond. The apostle Paul knew that staying aware of the process and results of erosion would be essential to help prevent the Ephesian church from its own tragic “decline and fall.”
This commitment to a continuous state of readiness required an example to recall, which Paul provided in himself: “remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears” (Acts 20:31 NASB). And with a tender goodbye, Paul boarded the ship at Miletus. His words rang in their ears as they watched the old sailing vessel slip over the horizon.
Taken from The Church Awakening by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2010 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Faith Words, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
