In, With, & For the City ~ Acts 20:17-38

January 17, 2016 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson
Intro: Eric Swanson & Sam Williams, To Transform a City, On Wednesday, May 23, 2007, Shao Zhong,
clutching a black plastic bag filled with all his possessions, shuffled off the train onto the platform of Beijings
West Railway station. [He] was from a small rural village and had arrived at the city to work in a factory with
several others from his village But unbeknownst to him, his arrival at that moment signalled a historic event.
Shaos arrival in Beijing that morning tipped the global demographic scales from a rural to an urban majority.
There are now, scattered around the world, more people living in cities than in rural areas of the world. Most
important, this is an irreversible trend. For the rest of human history, the earths population will be more urban
than rural. // Although this character and this setting are fictitious, the facts of the story fit the circumstances
that happened that day.
In find that fascinating, both as a person who lives in one of the major cities of our country, and as a Christian
reader of Scripture. In the Scriptures, the story of human history moves from a paradise garden in which our
first primal parents lived in harmony to a glorious garden-city in which people dwell in love and security.
But we live between those two realities, and our citieswhile in many ways beautifulare centres of
brokenness, violence and greed.
If you are interested in learning more about Jesus, and what it means to follow him, you will to some degree be
interested in cities because cities are full of people, and God loves people who are created in his image.
Whats more, you will be interested in how the Gospel of Jesus forms the way we view our cities.
Today, I want to invite you to take a look at a particular passage from the NT book of Acts. Well see
(1) what Jesus ambassador said to a group of leaders of the church in the ancient city of Ephesus
(2) how the gospel Jesus quickly spread throughout the Roman empire
(3) some implications for understand ourself as a community of faith living in the modern city of YYC
In, With, & For the City ~ Acts 20:17-38
I.

The Gospel in the City

This passage immediately presents to us the Apostle Paul who was the handpicked ambassador of Jesus.
1. Paul: The Persecutor of the Church in the City
(1) Paul was a Pharisee who hated Christians. He presided over the first execution of a Christian (Acts
7:58), and went around breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord (9:1ff). In
his own word, he persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it (Gal. 1:13).
Philippains 3:5-8, I [was] circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of
Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the
church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now
consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the
surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
(2) The Gospel changes what we believe about ourselves as humans and our relationship with God.
Paul had met Jesus, the King of Gods kingdom, and found him to be kind and generous and
forgiving, and now wanted everyone else to be introduced to the King.
2. Paul: The Proclaimer of the Gospel to the City
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(1) Thats why Paul had been to Ephesus, the first and greatest metropolis of Asia. He preached the
gospel there and so many people were becoming followers of Jesus that it threatened the local
businesses that profited from the worship of the goddess Diana. There was a near riot.
(2) Acts 20:22-24, And now, behold, I am 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 and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the
gospel of the grace of God.
3. Paul: The Planter of the Church in the City
(1) As an ambassador of Christ, Paul spent 3 years in Ephesus, & acc. to Acts 10:10, all the residents
of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
(2) Pauls missionary strategy was to travel to the major cities of the Roman Empire to proclaim the
gospel and to plant churches.
Rodney Stark, The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered
Rome, Any study of how Christians converted the empire really is a story of how they Christianized the cities.
When the gospel of Jesus is proclaimed in the city, God draws people to himself and forms these people into
communities within these cities.
II. The Community with the City
vs. 17 [Paul] sent to the Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.
1. The Church is both in Christ and in the City
(1) Scriptural Examples
Eph. 1:1, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.
Phil. 1:1, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons
Col. 1:2, To the saints and faithful brother in Christ at Colossae
Phil. 3:20, our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ
(2) When you become a Christian, you become dual residents of the Kingdom of God & city of Calgary.
That means that we care about, are involved in, and pray for our city we treat our city with
respect even as we seek to bring beauty to broken places and lives as followers of Christ, we
seek to be great neighbours, excellent employees, and we seek for justice and mercy for our
city we seek to bring the peace of the Gospel of Jesus to bear on our city by introducing people
to Jesus, the Prince of peace.
- Illus: NCC member who mentions that every time she sees a police car, she prays for them.
- Illus: NCC family who welcomed into their home a refugee from Iraq
The Gospel changes how we live. We no longer live for ourselves, but for him who for our sakes
died and was raised again (2 Cor. 5:15).

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2. The Church is Both Organic and Organized

(1) Organic: Christians who have experienced new life in Christ naturally want to associate with other
Christians and explore what it means to live out the new way of being human that Christ gives to us.
Life Together: the One-another commands in the NT.
Their life together is lived out before the city and in the midst of the city. We model a different way
of being human, the new way of life taught to us by Jesus that is marked by sacrificial love.
(2) Organized: Paul organized churches with leaders (elders / overseers / shepherds) who are given
the task of shepherding, protecting, and guiding the flock to be the people of God in their city.
1) As the Apostles preached the gospel, they established churches and appointed elders.
Acts 14:21-23, When they [Paul & Barnabas] had preached the gospel to that city and had
made many disciplesstrengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue
in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. And
when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they
committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Acts 20:17,28, Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to
come to him. And he said to them.: 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.
This is why New City Church is a presbyterian church. That means our church govt
follows the New Testament pattern of establishing elders to oversee the church & her mission.
2) What are the responsibilities of an elder?
Elders are entrusted with the spiritual oversight shepherding of the local church family (Titus
1:7; 1 Peter 5:2).
Elders are to lead the flock by setting before them a godly example (1 Peter 5:3).
Elders are to serve the flock by attention & prayer (Hebrews 12:17; James 5:13ff).
Elders are to protect the flock against false teaching & false teachers (Acts 20:28-30).
3) What are the responsibilities of the sheep?

The flock is called to respect their elders & esteem them for their work (1 Thess. 5:12, 13).
The flock is called to follow their elders & imitate their way of life and faith (Heb. 13:7).
The flock is called to guard the reputation of their elders (1 Tim. 5:19, 20).
The flock is called to obey their elders who are over them in the Lord (1 Thess. 5:12), because
they will have to give an account to the Lord (Hebrews 13:7).

We are called to be a community of disciples of Jesus in the city (organized as a flock) who is with the city in all
its beauty and brokenness and who show the city a new way of being human while seeking its prosperity.
III. The Mission for the City
The reason the church existed in ancient Ephesus and the reason it exists in modern Calgary is because God
has a great big missionary heart for the city. And were called to participate in that mission.

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1. Acts 20:32, 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.
(1) build you up = maturity / Christ-likeness
The more you become like Christ, the more you will be engaged in his mission.
(2) to give you the inheritance.
Luke 12:32, Fear not little flock, for it is the Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Everything God has for us can be summed up in the words, the Kingdom. And we are called to
be proclaimers of the Kingdom of God to our city and invite others to it.
Doing kingdom work involves introducing people to the King, Jesus, and bringing the Kings
perspective, values, & transformation to the city in which we live.
2. Christopher Wright, The Mission of God, It is not so much the case that God has a mission for his
church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world. Mission was not made for the
church; the church was made for missionGods mission.
This means we exist to participate in Gods mission and not for our own comfort.
This means we view Calgary less in terms of a playground and more in terms of a mission field.
This means we view ourselves as missionaries strategically placed in our neighbourhoods, in our
workplaces, in our schools.

The Gospel of Jesus forms us into a community that is in, with, & for the city.
Application: When you become a Christian, there are three gifts to unwrap and unpack when you become a
follower of Jesus: (1) His Gospel; (2) His Church; (3) His Mission.

On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate yourself in relation to each on of these realities?

NCC, may you embrace your calling to be in, with, and for the city.

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