I pass on the little illustration given me by a brother. He said, “Some brethren seem all gospel-minded. They do not seem to get much beyond the gospel to discover the importance of the assembly, and others are so church-minded that they seem to lose sympathy with the gospel. Neither is in accordance with the mind of God.” The brother went on to say, “In our ministry we should be like a compass — one leg planted in the middle of the assembly and kept there and never wandering away, and the other leg of the compass wandering as far in gospel testimony as it may, consistent with the Word of God.”
When the Apostle had finished this evangelical tour, he was back with the church in happy fellowship, telling them what God had done and how He had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. “And there they abode long time with the disciples” (vs. 28). This man was a great servant, entrusted with the highest truth God ever committed to man, but he never became so infatuated with saving souls that he forgot or neglected assembly life and testimony. Here Paul abode a long time with the disciples. How easy it is to put wrong emphasis on things. I was thinking about Peter’s commission in John’s Gospel. After his restoration, what did the Lord tell him to do? Send him out to preach the gospel? Not a word about the gospel. He says, “Feed My sheep” (John 21:1616He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (John 21:16)). He is a shepherd—“My sheep.” It all had to do with the house of God. How the Lord loves the sheep, and when we put the gospel above ministry to the saints, when we discount teaching in order to elevate preaching, we have not the mind of God. The greatest preacher and evangelist who ever lived is this man Paul, but he did not think he was wasting his time by staying there a long time teaching the disciples.
Now we go further, to chapter 20. Here he is making his farewell address. “Now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. [This is Paul’s last visit with the elders from Ephesus.] For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (vss. 25-27). Now, if you are going to be in the good of Paul’s ministry, you will desire the whole counsel of God, and if you deliberately refuse it, you are cutting yourself off from what God has for you. And if you refuse it to others, you are like a man who wraps a cord around the arm of another and stops the circulation. If you rob the saints of some of the truth of the counsels of God for them, you are doing damage to them. Paul said that if he had done it that way, he would be guilty of the blood of those people. He means to say that he would be responsible spiritually for their being left lame, sickly, puny and lacking in normal growth, but he says, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:2727For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. (Acts 20:27)). Should we seek less? Should we be satisfied with less than the whole counsel of God?
Now let’s go to chapter 22:14. We are back to Paul’s conversion, but it comes in here in an orderly way. Ananias said to him, “The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know His will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of His mouth.” Now the expression one desires to emphasize is this: “That thou shouldest know His will.” That is more than simply going out to preach the gospel. From the very start of his commission, Paul was to know God’s will.
Now we will go to the last chapter of Acts and the last two verses: “Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him” (ch. 28:30-31). We see the double character of Paul’s ministry there —teaching and preaching. They both went together. And what was the theme? The theme was the kingdom of God and all that concerned the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when you have those three titles put together in that way, it means God is seeking to bring before us all the range of truth that has to do with the Person of His Son — as Lord, as Saviour, as the Anointed, as the crucified Man up there — our Lord Jesus Christ.
One of the sad things that one notes in conversations with Christians at large is that you seldom hear them speak of “our Lord Jesus.” They will talk about “Jesus,” about “Christ” and about “Christ Jesus.” But how seldom do you ever hear Christians speak about “the Lord Jesus,” and even more rarely do you hear them speak about “the Lord Jesus Christ.”