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"So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified."
(Acts 20:32)
Great leaders know the importance of investing in their team. True leaders are hesitant to take the credit when things go well but are more than ready to accept the blame if things go poorly on their watch. If you want to increase your effectiveness as a leader, then take a page out of the Apostle Paul's leadership playbook, and seek to be a blessing more than seeking blessings for yourself. Love others. Sacrifice for them. Put them above yourself. When you do this, you will lead well, and when your time as the leader comes to a close, you will be greatly missed.
Today, we wrap up our devotions this week by looking more closely at Acts 20:32 and how Paul invested in the leaders he was teaching. He poured his heart and soul into these men. He commended them to God. The word in Greek means "to place beside or near or set before", like food set on a table (BlueletterBible.org). This speaks of Paul's prayers for them and his entrusting them to the care of God.
Paul builds up these men; he tells them that he commends them to God and to the word of His grace, which is able (dunamai, capable and strong) to build them up. The word for "build" is the word that means to construct a home.
I.H. Marshall comments on this text with these words:
"It is Paul's handing over to God of the responsibility which he has borne for the church, and represents a farewell act as in 14:23. The leaders are put in the hands of God and placed under the word of his grace, i.e. the gospel of grace (verse 24). . . . It is the Word which builds up Christians, i.e. makes them mature (cf. 1 Cor. 3:9–15; Eph. 4:12), and gives them an inheritance among all his holy people (cf. Rom. 8:17). . . . It is significant that these blessings come through commitment to the Word: Paul and Luke know nothing of the idea that church leaders stand over the Word committed to them (2 Tim. 1:14) and are in control of it; on the contrary, they stand under it."
(Marshall, I. H. (1980). Acts: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 5, p. 354). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
Paul tells them this word of grace is able to build them up and give them an inheritance. They had an eternal, glorious inheritance in heaven awaiting them and all who are sanctified. That word "sanctified" or "set apart" is in the perfect tense in Greek; they had been, are, and will be sanctified. He reminds them Whose they are, to Whom they belong. What a man of God. He loved these men and poured his life into theirs. This is the type of preaching they were used to getting each Lord's Day, and they would miss this dearly.
Pastor Dan Summerlin serves as the pastor of Lone Oak Baptist Church in Kentucky. He is a well-respected pastor and faithful preacher of God's Word. His daughter, Jenna, lives in Austin and is currently attending our Great Hills Baptist Church new members' class. She is a professor of pharmacy at the University of Texas and specializes in pediatric pharmacy. I reached out to Pastor Dan this week, whose wife is undergoing chemo treatments, and let him know I was praying for her. I also asked him for any words of advice he could give to build up pastors today in their ministry to serve well, as he has served well these many years. Here is what he wrote:
"For pastors: the same Holy Spirit in the book of Acts is the same one who guides us. Our temptation is to look at our problems and pressures instead of looking at the person of Jesus our Lord. At the end of the day, it is not about us, only Jesus. And if we can learn this lesson—we don't have to survive—many of our problems disappear. Paul didn't have to survive, and therefore, he did survive prison, beatings, and betrayal, and through him, the Gospel was proclaimed, and the world was turned upside down. Paul simply said, 'I will not give up.' So for pastors...it is not about us but about Jesus...and that is the secret to the ministry."
Great leaders invest in others. How are you as a leader pouring your life into other leaders?
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