Guard the Flock, Finish the Course: Saturday of Autumn Embertide (Acts 20:24-35)

September 19, 2026, Autumn Ember Day III, Saturday of Autumn Embertide, Day of Discipline, Denial, and Special Prayer, Season after Pentecost

Matthew 24:42-50, Psalm 71:17-24, Acts 20:24-35, Isaiah 6:1-8

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you on this third and final day of Autumn Embertide.

On Wednesday, Saint Paul reminded us that ministers are servants, not owners. The field is God’s, the building is God’s, the Church is God’s, and Jesus Christ alone is the foundation. Yesterday, in Ephesians 4, we heard why Christ gives ministers to his Church: to equip the saints for the work of ministry and to build up the Body of Christ. Today these three days reach their final question. If the Church belongs to Christ, and if ministers are given to equip his people, what does faithful stewardship look like over the long haul?

Before we turn to Acts, one word about today’s readings. The BCP 2019 gives us two specific sets of Ember Day propers, Ember Days I and Ember Days II. It does not appoint a separate third set for Saturday. So for this final day we are using the Prayer Book’s Common of a Pastor: Isaiah 6:1-8, Psalm 71:17-24, Acts 20:24-35, and Matthew 24:42-50. They are not a third set of Ember propers, but together they give us a fitting close to three days of prayer for those called to Holy Orders.

Our primary text takes us to Acts 20, where Paul is speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus. He knows his ministry among them is ending, and he knows suffering lies ahead. This is an apostle looking back over years of labor and forward toward whatever obedience will cost next. Verse 24 gives us the center of his perspective: “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24, ESV) Paul is not saying his life has no value. He knows he belongs to Christ. What he refuses to do is make self-preservation the controlling purpose of his life. His question is not, “How can I avoid every cost?” but, “How can I finish what Christ has given me to do?”

Notice also that Paul calls it “the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus.” He did not invent it as a personal project, and he does not speak of it as something he owns. He received it. That connects directly with what we have heard throughout these Ember Days: Christ gives, the Church discerns, servants receive, and because ministry is received, it must be carried as stewardship rather than possession. Paul also tells us what the ministry is for: “to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” The center of faithful ministry is not the minister’s personality, preferences, reputation, or ability to gather admiration. It is the Gospel of grace.

So even a sermon about duty must begin with grace. Bishops, priests, and deacons do not save the Church. Christ saves sinners. The Son of God gave himself on the Cross for us, bore our sins, rose from the dead, and calls us to repent and believe. We are not reconciled to God because we finish our course well. We are reconciled to God because Jesus Christ finished the saving work we could never accomplish. Only then does he give his redeemed people work to do. That is why Holy Cross Day stands so naturally at the beginning of these Autumn Ember Days. We first looked to the Lord who gave himself for sinners, and only then did we begin praying about ministry. Paul can hold his life with an open hand because Christ first gave himself for Paul. Grace precedes endurance.

In verses 25 through 27, Paul turns from the course he must finish to the message he has been entrusted to preach. He tells the elders that they will not see his face again and then says in verse 27, “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27, ESV) That is a demanding sentence for anyone called to preach or teach. Faithful ministry does not consist in discovering which parts of Scripture a congregation or culture already finds agreeable and then staying safely within those limits. Paul did not shrink back from the whole counsel of God.

That does not authorize a preacher to be needlessly harsh, combative, or fascinated with controversy. The whole counsel of God includes judgment and mercy, repentance and forgiveness, creation and redemption, holiness and grace, the Cross and Resurrection, Christian obedience and Christian hope. A minister who preaches only warning has not declared the whole counsel of God. Neither has one who speaks of grace while refusing to name the sins from which grace saves us. Faithfulness therefore requires courage and proportion. The preacher is not free to edit the faith around personal preferences, and neither are they free to turn a favorite issue into the whole Christian message. We receive a faith larger than ourselves, and we are stewards of what has been entrusted.

Then verse 28 turns directly toward pastoral oversight: “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.” (Acts 20:28, ESV) The order is striking: “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock.” The shepherd must watch himself as well as the sheep. A minister can become so attentive to the faults, needs, and dangers surrounding other people that they stop watching their own soul. Public ministry does not make private holiness less important. Knowledge of doctrine does not make repentance unnecessary. Ordination does not remove temptation. The servant who teaches others to confess sin must continue confessing his own, and the one who warns others against pride, greed, lust, resentment, or unbelief must remain under the same Word they preach.

The first Ember Collect understands this perfectly. It asks God to fill those called to ministry with “the truth of your doctrine” and clothe them with “holiness of life.” Truth and holiness belong together. The Church needs ministers who know what is true and who themselves live under that truth. Then Paul says, “Pay careful attention...to all the flock.” Why? Because the flock is precious. Paul calls it “the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” Christ’s people are not raw material for a minister’s ambitions. They belong to the Lord who shed his blood for them. That makes pastoral care serious. We do not manipulate the flock for our own security, use people to build a platform, protect a reputation, or prove that a ministry is successful. We care for them because they belong to Christ.

Verses 29 and 30 explain why vigilance is necessary. Paul says, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves 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 disciples after them.” (Acts 20:29-30, ESV) Danger can come from outside and from within. Paul does not romanticize the Church as though every threat comes from somewhere else. False teaching, ambition, manipulation, and division can arise among people already inside the Christian community. That is one reason ordained ministry includes guarding as well as feeding. A shepherd who never warns the flock of danger is not necessarily gentle; they may simply be neglecting part of the work. Yet guarding the flock is not the same as creating constant suspicion. Paul’s warning is serious because truth matters and people matter. The goal is not fear but faithful protection of those Christ loves.

Verse 31 therefore says, “Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.” (Acts 20:31, ESV) Paul’s vigilance is not cold policing. It comes with tears. He warns because he loves. That combination is worth recovering. Truth without love becomes hard, and love without truth becomes helpless. Paul does not choose between them. He admonishes, and he weeps.

Then verse 32 changes the emphasis in a way we need to hear: “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up.” (Acts 20:32, ESV) Paul is leaving, but the Church will continue. That is possible because the Church never finally depended upon Paul. This is one of the great freedoms of Christian ministry. We matter, but none of us is indispensable. Ministers come and go. Priests retire. Bishops die. Beloved leaders move away. Generations pass. Yet the Church does not become orphaned because Christ is still Lord.

Paul commends them “to God and to the word of his grace.” That is where the sermon must finally land, not on Paul’s toughness and not on ministerial endurance as heroic self-production. God’s grace called Paul, saved Paul, gave Paul a ministry, sustained Paul through suffering, and would preserve the Church after Paul was gone. Psalm 71 gives us the same long view. The psalmist says, “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.” (Psalm 71:17, ESV) Then he prays, “So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation.” (Psalm 71:18, ESV)

There is something beautiful in that prayer. He is not asking for enough time to become famous. He is asking for enough time to pass the faith on. Christian ministry always has another generation in view. Some of the most important servants in the Church are those whose gray hairs represent decades of quiet fidelity. They have prayed when no one noticed, taught children who grew into adults, given when money was tight, cared for the sick, served on committees no one remembers, and kept confessing Christ through seasons of change. Psalm 71 teaches us to honor that perseverance, not because age itself is holiness, but because long faithfulness is a gift worth thanking God for.

Isaiah 6 takes us back to the beginning of calling. Isaiah sees the Lord “sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.” (Isaiah 6:1, ESV) The seraphim cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3, ESV) Isaiah’s first response is not self-confidence but “Woe is me!” (Isaiah 6:5, ESV) Then grace intervenes. A coal touches his lips, and he hears, “your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:7, ESV) Only after cleansing comes the question, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” and Isaiah answers, “Here I am! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:8, ESV) That is the right order for vocation: vision, conviction, cleansing, sending. Isaiah is not sent because he discovers something impressive in himself. He is sent as a forgiven man. The same order remains true for Christian ministry. Grace does not merely get us started and then leave us to maintain ourselves by discipline. The God who forgives is the God who sends, and the God who sends is the God who sustains.

Our Gospel from Matthew 24 gives us the final image for this Embertide. Jesus asks in verse 45, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?” (Matthew 24:45, ESV) Faithful and wise. Not spectacular. Not celebrated. Not the one who built the largest audience or accumulated the most praise, but the servant who is still at the work when the master returns, giving the household what it needs.

For a pastor, that means a great deal of ordinary faithfulness: open the Scriptures, preach the Gospel, administer the Sacraments, pray with the sick, comfort the grieving, correct when correction is needed, teach the faith, guard the flock, and help people repent, believe, forgive, endure, and hope. Much of faithful ministry is repetitive because people repeatedly need the same grace. There will always be another sermon, another hospital room, another person asking the same question, another conflict requiring patience, another generation needing to learn the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Commandments, and the story of Jesus.

Then Jesus says in verse 46, “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” (Matthew 24:46, ESV) That is a beautiful Ember Day benediction: found so doing. The wicked servant in the verses that follow begins to live as though the master’s delay means the master no longer matters. The result is abuse, self-indulgence, and unfaithfulness. Jesus’ warning reminds every Christian leader that delegated authority remains answerable to the returning Lord. Yet this is not only a word for clergy. All of us have something Christ has placed into our hands: a family, a friendship, a gift, a responsibility, a ministry, a season of life. We do not all have the same calling, but all of us are called to be faithful with what our Master has entrusted to us.

Finally, Acts 20 closes by bringing Paul’s teaching back to the shape of his own life. In verses 33 through 35 he reminds the elders that he did not use ministry to enrich himself. He speaks of working with his own hands and helping the weak, and then remembers the words of Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35, ESV) That is another fitting ending for Autumn Embertide. Ministry beneath the Cross is self-giving because our Lord is self-giving. That does not mean self-destruction, neglect of legitimate rest, or pretending limits do not exist. It means a life whose center has moved away from self-protection and toward love of God and neighbor.

These three days now come together. Wednesday taught us that we are servants, not owners. Friday taught us that Christ gives ministers to equip the saints. Today Paul tells us to finish the course, declare the whole counsel of God, watch ourselves and the flock, and commend everything back to God and the word of his grace. That last movement matters most. The final word is not our endurance. The final word is grace. Paul received his ministry from the Lord Jesus, testified to the Gospel of grace, and then entrusted the Church to God and the word of his grace. The Lord who calls his servants is also the Lord who sustains them.

So on this final day of Autumn Embertide, let us pray that God would give his Church faithful servants and make us a faithful people. Let us pray for bishops who guard the flock without imagining they own it, for priests who declare the whole counsel of God and keep watch over their own souls, for deacons who make the self-giving service of Christ visible, and for those in discernment, that the Church may recognize true vocation and form people in sound doctrine and holy living. Let us also pray for those who have been serving a long time. Ask God to sustain them to the end, give them joy in hidden faithfulness, and let them proclaim his might to another generation.

May those called to Holy Orders watch themselves and the flock, proclaim the whole counsel of God, testify to the Gospel of grace, and finish the course entrusted to them. And may all of us, ordained and lay, be found faithful with whatever Christ has placed into our hands until our Master returns.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.