April 1943
151
“Whereupon O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” The heavenly vision was char acterized by the following points of our outline. For Those Who Have Topics 1 A GOD-GIVEN COMMISSION (Acts 26:19). Paul tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ appeared unto him, and told him that He was going to make him a minister and a witness of the things he had already seen and of the things which the Lord would reveal unto him. Here was his commission—to be a witness and a minister. A witness does not speak of himself. A true mis sionary w ill not speak of himself, but of the One who sent him. If we al low the commission of a mission board to be our highest commission, we will fail. If we allow our sentiment or our pity for the multitudes to be our com mission, we w ill fail. In the New Tes tament the emphasis is not on the needs of men, but on the command of Christ, “ Go ye.” Oswald Chaihbers, in his book, So Send I You» makes this statement: “Missionary enterprise to be Christian must be based on the passion of obe dience, no( on the pathos of pity.” Paul states his obedience when he speaks of his vision and commission. There is nothing that pleases God more than an implicitly obedient serv ant. If the missionary fails in his obedience, he fails in everything. II. A GOD-GIVEN COMPREHENSION (2 Cor. 11:23-27). In this passage Paul is reciting his experiences, mainly •describing that which he had suffered outwardly' or physically. Before we criticize Paul for his evident boastful attitude, we must follow the context, and note that he says that he had gloried in his weak nesses that the power of Christ might rest upon him. The Lord had given him the glorious promise, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Through these experiences God had shown Paul the comprehensive ness of the task. III. A G O D - G I V E N COMPASSION (2 Cor. 11:28). Paul had a care and this care was “of all: the churches.” He does not go into .detail here, but just states that ■this care was something from with in. If we could have heard Paul speak this verse, perhaps there would have been almost a sigh in his voice, but wijhal much compassion. There were wayward, self-willed Christians; there w 'er e backsliders, and backbiters, and this care was his. He needed ldve and compassion. He needed skill and tact. The experiences he had in the care of these churches were too in timate and sometimes too heart breaking to recite in detail. Paul had
a God-given compassion. Without it he could not have successfully cared for “ all the churches.” Conclusion We are not to shrink back from a God-given commission, nor. cringe un der the comprehensiveness of the task, nor fail to seek a God-given compas sion. We can go forward to victory in the missionary enterprise with His promise, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Spend a, little time in the course of the meeting in considering how ad vance may- be made—even in these wartimes—-in the cause of foreign mis sions. Do not overlook the importance of earnest, intelligent prayer.^ The finest treatise we have on “what it takes to be a missionary,” aside from the Scriptures, is to be found in that extraordinary book, Ambassadors for Christ, by Misses Ca ble and French. A ll young people in terested in the missionary cause should read that book.
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