Ｆ
We must learn from the lesson of Paul to practice the Body life and to take the word of the Spirit through the members of the Body, obeying it as a word from the Head (20:23; 21:4, 7-8, 11-14).
Ｇ
We must learn from the lesson of the mistake of James and the devastating mixture of the church in Jerusalem (vv. 18-26; Matt. 22:7; 24:1-2):
１
Jeremiah spoke of the law of life that could be written upon our hearts (Jer. 31:31-34), and Paul spoke of the law of the Spirit of life in our spirit (Rom. 8:2, 4, 6), but James treasured and uplifted the law of letters (Acts 21:20).
２
Paul spoke of being crucified with Christ and being conformed to the death of Christ by the power of Christ's resurrection; it is this life that produces the Body life that consummates in the New Jerusalem (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:10).
３
In the light of the divine revelation, the greatest lack of James is the cross of Christ; self-cultivation does not carry out God's economy, but self-denial does.
４
James boasted that there were thousands of believing Jews in the church in Jerusalem who were zealous for the law, but Paul was zealous to gain Christ, be found in Christ, know Christ, lay hold of Christ, pursue Christ, and uplift only Christ for the fullest enjoyment of Christ (Acts 21:20; Phil. 3:6-14; Col. 1:18b).
Ｈ
We must learn from the lesson of Paul to be saved from the mixing of Judaic practices with God's New Testament economy, which is not only erroneous but also abominable in the eyes of God (Acts 21:18-27, 31, 36; Heb. 10:29).
Ｉ
We must learn from the lesson of Paul's appealing to Caesar, utilizing his Roman citizenship to save himself from his persecutors so that he might fulfill the course of his ministry (Acts 22:25-29; 23:10-11; 25:8-12; 26:32):
１
Paul was willing to sacrifice his life for the Lord, but he still endeavored to live longer that he might carry out the Lord's ministry as much as possible (20:24).
２
God in His sovereignty rescued Paul so that He might separate him from all the dangerous situations and entrapments and sent him to a quiet prison; this was to afford him a quiet environment and give him time, whether in Caesarea (24:27) or in Rome (28:16, 23, 30), so that through his last Epistles he might release exhaustively to the church throughout the generations the revelation of the mystery of God's New Testament economy that he received from the Lord.
３
The benefit and profit that the church throughout the generations has received from these Epistles will take eternity to measure (see Acts 25:11, footnote 1).
Ⅳ
All of us should follow the pattern of the apostle Paul to do the same one work universally for the unique Body (1 Cor. 3:12; 15:58; 16:10; Eph. 4:11-16):
Ａ
The work in the Lord's recovery is for the building up of the local churches unto the building up of the universal Body of Christ (2:21-22; 1 Cor. 16:10).
Ｂ
Today there are four kinds of workers:
１
The first kind is the co-workers who match the need of the ministry of God in the present age; this is a small group of people who have been dealt with by the Lord and who are in one accord.
２
The second kind is the younger co-workers; they are willing to receive the direction and to come under the coordination of the older co-workers, and they are willing to follow and to learn in humility.
３
The third kind is those who are unwilling to submit to the senior co-workers, who do not belong to the denominations, yet who are happy to remain in fellowship with us.
４
The fourth kind is the preachers and free evangelists among the denominations.
Ｃ
What we need today are the first and second kind of co-workers; concerning the third and fourth kind of co-workers, we can only let them choose their own pathway; with some people God has not assigned them to take the same way as we do, and we dare not say anything to them.
Ｄ
Whatever the situation may be, we are here to do the work that God has committed to us; we cannot interfere with others' work, and we are not here tearing down others' work.
Morning Nourishment
Acts 16:6-7 ...Having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia,...they tried to go into Bithynia, yet the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.9 And a vision appeared to Paul during the night: A certain man...was standing and entreating him and saying, Come over into Macedonia and help us.
Acts 16:6-12 indicates that even Paul had problems within. The Holy Spirit wanted him to go out to spread the church, but he did not understand the leading of the Holy Spirit. As he vacillated between going forward or going back, a dream came to him in the night telling him to go to Macedonia in Europe (vv. 9-10). This illustrates a common problem among the Lord's workers. Once workers come to a place for a time and settle down, they do not want to move.
If Paul had not been subdued by the Holy Spirit, the church could not have spread to Europe....For the church to spread, the bondage of Jewish religion, human opinions, and the self with its old concepts must be broken. The spread of the church often encounters these three problems. The first problem is outward, the second is between the workers, and the third comes from the self and old human feelings. The church should have spread to Europe much sooner, but these problems delayed its spread. The final problem in the spread of the church is the self. If we stay in our old feelings and relationships, the spread of the church will be delayed indefinitely. To break out of the self, we need a vision. When we break through, the church spreads. (Three Aspects of the Church, Book 2: The Course of the Church, pp. 43-44)
Today's Reading
Paul's old concepts were revealed not only in his second ministry journey but also in his third. When Paul was in Corinth during his third journey, he wrote a letter to the church in Rome and spoke of his feeling to go to Rome to visit the church there and from there to go to Spain (Rom. 1:15; 15:23-24, 28). This feeling is also mentioned in Acts 19:21. This was the will of the Holy Spirit related to the spread of the church. The Holy Spirit revealed to Paul that he should go west for the spread of the church.On his third trip Paul went to many of the same places in Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece....In principle, Paul did not accomplish much for the spread of the church in his third journey. On his return from his third journey, he decided to pass through Macedonia and Achaia on his way to Jerusalem, and from there he would go to Rome. We must know that this was the will of the Holy Spirit. In Jerusalem he encountered some problems and was seized by the Jews (21:27-30).
In Romans 15 Paul was clear that he should go to Rome and Spain. In Acts 19 Paul said again that he wanted to go to Rome. His feeling was very much related to the spread of the church, because the next step in spreading to Europe—after reaching Macedonia and Greece—was to go to Italy, and specifically to Rome. Then the following step would be to Spain. If the apostle had arrived in Spain, he would have thought that he was at the uttermost part of the earth.
When Paul wrote the book of Romans, he was full of care for Rome, and the Holy Spirit wanted him to go. However, he was held back by the inward entanglement of his fleshly relationship to the Jews. In Romans 9:3 Paul said, "I could wish that I myself were a curse, separated from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh."...He had not entirely abandoned his Jewish concepts.
If Paul had not been seized at that time, his offering of sacrifices would have confused the Gentile brothers when they heard about it. The line between the Old and New Testament dispensations, between the law and grace, would have been blurred. Therefore, it was certainly wrong for Paul to go back there. (Three Aspects of the Church, Book 2: The Course of the Church, pp. 44-45, 47-49)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1990, vol. 1, "The Spirit," ch. 12; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 2, "Crystallization-study of the Epistle of James," chs. 1, 3-4, 6