Acts 20:31
Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
At Miletus Paul appealed to the Ephesian elders' own knowledge of his life among them and charged them to stay alert and remember his example. For more than three years with Ephesus as the center of his work he warned every person continually night and day with tears, teaching publicly and from house to house amid labor, trial and opposition while a flourishing church was established and the message spread through Asia. The call to watch was given because after his departing grievous wolves would enter not sparing the flock, and men would arise from among themselves speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves. A minister is a watchman and shepherd who must continually discern evil, perceive danger, and give decided warning without delay, for if he sees the sheep torn and is silent their blood rests on him, while faithful warning delivers his soul even if they will not hear. His persistent tearful warning remains the standard for diligent personal labor, urging sinners to see their condition and to exercise repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, with urgency, prayers and tears that none be lost without entreaty.
Paul's Three-Year Example
At Miletus Paul appealed to the personal knowledge the Ephesian elders had of his manner of life and urged them to watch and to remember his example. For three years he had not ceased to warn each person and every one continually, night and day with tears. Those tearful, persistent warnings showed how seriously the church must be guarded against dangers from outside and from within.
The three years were in fact more than three years, spent with Ephesus as the center of his work. There a flourishing church was established, and from there the gospel spread through the province of Asia to Jews and Gentiles. That sustained evangelistic work throughout the region was joined throughout to labor at his trade.
During that time he taught the Scriptures publicly and from house to house with persistent effort, warning continually with many tears. His ministry involved continual labor, trials and opposition, especially from the Jews. With it went deep concern for the people's salvation and the welfare of the church, care to strengthen a young church, and a heavy burden for all the churches.
At the same time he worked day and night with his own toilworn hands at tentmaking to supply his own necessities and those with him, so as not to be chargeable to any for support. At times he suffered hunger himself to relieve the necessities of others, sharing his earnings with Luke and helping Timothy obtain equipment for his journey. His toilworn hands held up before the people added force to his sensible, intelligent and eloquent appeals.
His example proves that earnest gospel labor joins humble, tearful warning with honest manual work, and that work is not shameful or lowering to ministry. Mechanical toil in any line of honorable labor does not necessarily lessen influence, is not inconsistent with true greatness and elevation of human and Christian character, and should not make a man coarse and rough and uncourteous. Ministers are not required to do in all respects as he did, but he stands as a faithful, all-round Christian minister doing his duty and as a Christian gentleman of the highest type.
His unceasing tearful warning showed thorough conversion in tender, burdened love for souls, especially for his Jewish countrymen. Night and day with tears he warned every one of them of peril and of sure judgment if they continued in unbelief, praying most earnestly for their salvation. He labored with unremitting zeal and untiring fidelity to win them in synagogues and places of public resort, in season and out of season, in public and in private, whether they would hear or forbear, and that spirit with its fruit proves a heart saved and sanctified through the truth and fit for heaven.
Because the law was being transgressed, his warning pressed sinners to see their true condition and to exercise repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, declaring all the counsel of God. In this way they could be cleansed from all unrighteousness and reach a higher standard. No one living in transgression and rebellion against God will be allowed to enter the gates of the holy city and the courts above when Christ comes.
Watch and Warn Faithfully
The call to watch is a call to church leaders to constant, personal pastoral care, to vigilant guarding of their trust after Paul's example of warning every believer night and day with tears for three years. His tearful persistence shows the seriousness of guarding the church against dangers from within and without, with repeated warning to remain watchful against corrupt people who would lead believers astray. The charge was given because after his departing grievous wolves would enter among them, not sparing the flock, and men from their own selves would arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them.
Watching means constant alertness against corrupt religious deceivers who profess purity and present truth mingled with error while practicing adultery and licentiousness. They cover sin with Scripture and Christianity, gain confidence as holy messengers, then draw souls from rectitude, make void the law of God, and beguile and bewitch them to ruin. It also points to another class arising from among themselves, speaking perverse and distorted things to draw away disciples after themselves. In all ages those who think they have a work for the Lord, show no respect for those God is using, fail to make right applications of Scripture and wrest it to sustain their own ideas, and draw away from the body to proclaim theories of their own invention to divert souls from present truth and the truth for this time, belong to this class and are in Satan's service. Such trials and delusions come both from outside and within and increase as the end approaches.
Such agents met Paul in his day and curse the church in all ages, multiplying near the end, so the call to watch applies with increasing force as trials and delusions approach, to keep the flock from being beguiled, bewitched, and led to ruin. A minister is a watchman on the walls of Zion and a shepherd to the flock whose work is to watch continually for evil and every danger lest the sheep be harmed and scattered and devoured by wolves, and to warn every one night and day. He must discern the evil, perceive the danger, see the haste in the matter, and give decided warning without waiting for fanaticism to develop with terrible results. If he sees the poor sheep torn and scattered and gives no warning, he is an unfaithful watchman and shepherd, and the sin and blood of those led astray rest heavily upon him; if he warns faithfully he executes his mission, frees his garments from the blood of souls, and delivers his own soul even if the erring will not hear. No excuse stands for a shepherd who suffers the flock to stray from the true pasture, and to plead that weak, erring sheep led him out of the way only proves him unfit to watch over, care for, and bring back the sheep.
Ministers of the gospel as guardians of the flock must be most faithful in doing their duty and wide awake to see evil, reasoning from cause to effect to prevent the sure result of any unfaithfulness on their part. Watching means not being afraid of men yet being wary of them, including guarding the church against entering business transactions that would place it in the power of men. His persistent, heartfelt warnings are the model for working diligently, energetically, and earnestly for people's salvation, even when they show no interest, reaching people personally with the love of Christ. It means intense earnest zeal to save souls ready to perish instead of tame sleepy effort, working with God to restore diseased souls and bodies with words and actions that give life. It calls for urgency and persistence in warning people of danger and urging those near to come to Jesus with earnest prayers and tears, so that no one is lost without having been entreated, from a heart so filled with Christ's love for perishing souls that selfishness and self-honor have no room. Wealth, learning, and self-exaltation save no one, while a willing mind and consecrated heart bring precious fruit and accomplish great things for God under the blessing of the great Medical Missionary.