Acts 20:24-27
“It pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me” (Gal. 1:15-16).
Paul holds a unique place in the revelation of God to man, as the one who was chosen of God to reveal the mystery of Christ and the church, a mystery which had been hidden in God since before the world was made. Although initially a violent persecutor of the church, he was converted in a remarkable manner while traveling to Damascus, and afterward he became one of the greatest servants the Lord ever had. Surely it was characteristic of the grace of God that when the hatred of man put out one of the brightest lights God had in the early church (in the person of Stephen), God reached out to the worst one responsible and said, so to speak, “You come and take his place!” God then makes out of Paul an even greater servant than Stephen. Paul, in a very definite sense, is the minister of the church’s calling, blessings and glory.
A Standard-Bearer for the Dispensation
Not only was Paul the one specially chosen to receive from a risen Christ in glory those divine revelations concerning the church, but he was also what we might call a representative man. That is, he was chosen to show, in his pathway through this world, that special character of walk and behavior which is the pattern for this dispensation. No doubt our Lord Jesus Christ is ever the true pattern for us, for none walked as He walked, and “never man spake like this man” (John 7:46). However, our blessed Master did not walk through this world as part of the church, for He was destined to be its Head. He did not, in that sense, suffer for the church in its heavenly character, for the church had not been formed. Thus Paul was raised up, not only to receive the truth of the church, but to be a standard-bearer for the dispensation and to lead the way in which believers should walk.
It is because of this that he could say to the Philippians, “Brethren, be followers together of me” (Phil. 3:17), and also, “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do” (Phil. 4:9). To the Corinthians he could say, “Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me” (1 Cor. 4:16). In the same way he could say to the Thessalonians, “Ye became followers of us, and of the Lord” (1 Thess. 1:6). In giving such instructions, he takes the place of a representative man who, by his life and ministry, was showing a pattern for the church dispensation. The special privilege of Paul and ultimately of all who are part of the church is given to us in Galatians 1:1617, where Paul recounts that “it pleased God . . . to reveal His Son in me.”
It is the happy privilege of every believer in this dispensation, not only to have Christ revealed to him, but also to have Christ revealed in him. We see this twofold character of Christian privilege and testimony exemplified in Paul, and especially in his farewell address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus. It is to this summary of his life and service that we wish to direct our attention. In recounting how he had brought the truth of God to them and others, he mentions in particular three things that have to do with God, and which are pertinent to Christ’s being revealed to us and in us.
The Gospel of the Grace of God
The first characteristic is found in Acts 20:24, where he mentions “the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” The wording is refreshing, and no doubt the one who could readily identify himself as the chief of sinners was keenly aware of the grace that had been extended to him. It is the only place in Scripture where the gospel is particularly termed “the gospel of the grace of God.” In this way Paul emphasizes grace as being central to his message of the gospel, and it is here where each one of us must start if we are going to approach God. We who are saved had first of all to recognize our complete helplessness before God, and that it was only on the ground of God’s grace that we could have any blessing.
In this way, the grace of God must be central both to our having Christ revealed to us, and to any revelation of Christ in us. God has revealed Himself in grace, and all our blessings in Christ are on the ground of grace. The understanding and enjoyment of these blessings must be on the ground of grace. A sense of this in our souls will produce both happiness and humility, for true Christianity makes everything of Christ and nothing of man. May we ever have a strong sense of His grace in our souls!
Likewise, the gospel of the grace of God should form an integral part of the testimony of every Christian. God is dealing with this world in grace, and we are told in Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Our message to this world is one of grace, although tempered with salt, that we may reach the conscience as well as the heart. But God seeks to draw men by His grace, and our walk and words ought to demonstrate God’s character of grace.
The gospel of the grace of God is the first truth that a lost world must hear, if souls are to be saved. Then too, our own souls are refreshed and encouraged by having the gospel of His grace constantly before us. While Scripture presents the gospel as an individual exercise and not primarily an assembly responsibility, yet it is true that if there is no outreach in the gospel, there is often little blessing in the local assembly. If we continually have Christ revealed to us, but do not have the energy to reveal Christ in us, we become like the Dead Sea. In a body of water that has no outflow, gradual stagnation occurs and the accumulation of minerals renders the water unhealthy and unable to support plant or animal life. It is so with the believer who takes in but does not give out. Let us always seek from the Lord that love for souls and the energy to bring the gospel of God’s grace before them!
The Kingdom of God
The second characteristic of his ministry that Paul mentions is in Acts 20:25, where he says, “Ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God.” The expression “the kingdom of God” is used extensively by the Lord Jesus in the Gospels, particularly in Mark and Luke. It is also used a number of times in the Book of the Acts and in Paul’s epistles. In a general way the expression “the kingdom of God” conveys the moral character that is suitable to God’s kingdom. When the Lord Jesus presented Himself to Israel as their King, He also presented the moral character of His kingdom. Man in his sinful condition could not practically live out such a moral character, and thus they rejected the Lord Jesus. However, it remains that there is a walk and moral condition of man that answers to God, and those who recognize the rightful King are called to exhibit that character in this world in His absence.
The exhibition of this moral character involves not only a clear knowledge of sins forgiven, but also the recognition of our being delivered from the power of sin by the death and resurrection of Christ. In order for that new life in Christ to be manifested in our lives, it must be recognized that we have died to sin. Such scriptures as Romans 6:1-12 and Galatians 2:19-20 clearly bring before us that we have died to sin through the death of Christ and that now we are to walk in newness of life. Baptism is the outward sign of our taking this place and identifying ourselves with the death and resurrection of Christ. To the extent that we recognize the inherent sinfulness of our old Adam nature, we will exhibit our new life in Christ practically in our walk and will have that moral character that is suitable to the kingdom of God.
The importance of this cannot be overemphasized, for our Lord Jesus Christ is honored and glorified when our walk is pleasing to Him. The world cannot see our hearts, but our lives are an “epistle . . . known and read of all men” (2 Cor. 3:2). Sad to say, the walk of believers has all too often been out of character with the kingdom of God, and as a result their testimony has suffered. While this does not excuse those who do not believe, it is a solemn reflection on those who profess to know the Lord when their lives are a bad testimony instead of a good one. In matters such as personal uprightness and honesty, the believer ought to be an example of Christ. In the matter of immorality, such things should not be so much as “named among you, as becometh saints” (Eph. 5:3). It is reported that in most western countries, the divorce rate among so-called fundamental believers is about the same as that among unbelievers. What a commentary on our position as belonging to the kingdom of God! May we be thoroughly exercised to pay attention to our walk and ways, and to seek more and more to realize that we are “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:11).
All the Counsel of God
The third characteristic of Paul’s ministry is mentioned in Acts 20:27, where he says, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” This is perhaps most germane to Paul’s teaching, for all the counsel of God involves Paul’s peculiar position as the one to whom the truth of the church was revealed. He could say concerning these precious truths that were revealed to him, “Of which I became minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given me towards you, to complete the word of God” (Col. 1:25 JND). Until the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, the revelation of God was not complete. Likewise, until Paul received the truth of the church from a risen Christ in heaven, the revelation of all the counsel of God was not complete. Paul was given the final revelation from God to man and completed the Word of God. Others might add details, such as the Revelation given to John many years after Paul had been martyred, but Paul had already given us the truth of the church in which all is displayed. It is in the “full knowledge of the mystery of God” that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden (Col. 2:2-3 JND). We will never understand the Word of God, nor be able to look intelligently on events in the world around us, unless we see clearly the purposes of God to head up all things in Christ, to bless the church in heaven, and to bless Israel on earth. These purposes were especially given to Paul to bring out.
May we value our privileges, as being called to live in this dispensation of God’s grace, and thus to be able to enjoy the knowledge of “all the counsel of God”! The Lord Jesus could say to His disciples, “Many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them” (Luke 10:24). Surely we have been privileged to see far more than even the disciples, and yet how indifferent we are sometimes to the revelation of God’s counsels! God wants us to enjoy now in our hearts what He is going to do in the future, particularly in exalting His beloved Son! The believer now has common interests with God, and he looks forward to being associated with Him in all that bright glory!
May we be willing to share these counsels with others, too, for Paul’s expressed wish was that he might “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God” (Eph. 3:9). God has revealed His purposes in His beloved Son, and this brings us back to the gospel, which does not first of all concern man in his need, but rather “His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:3-4). But God wants to bring lost, guilty sinners into association with His Son, in order that He might display “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). What a display of His grace!
W. J. Prost