Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry… But none of these things move me, etc. I. A DIVINE CREATION. "Received of the Lord Jesus." 1. After the pattern of Christ's own mission. 2. By the inspiration of the Divine Spirit. Not by education or any lower means. Not influenced by worldly motives. 3. In the spirit of a witness, simply declaring the gospel; recognizing that "the gospel of the grace of God" is "the power of God" to men's salvation. II. AN EXAMPLE OF SPIRITUAL HEROISM. 1. Victory over fear and selfish calculation. 2. Endurance in toil. The work of the ministry never finished while there are souls to be saved. 3. Superiority to the influence of lower types of character in the Church of Christ. A true man will not be swayed by opinion. The spiritual hero must reckon with the world's spirit of compromise and the Church's lack of sympathy; he must be sometimes misunderstood and maligned. 4. Lively expectation of the future. Paul constantly animated by the prospect of the whole world the kingdom of Christ. The true missionary must lay hold of the future by faith. The missionary spirit in the Church is very different from mere visionary optimism, or speculative scheming for mankind. It is not like the socialistic spirit which easily becomes revolutionary, or the spirit of religious fanaticism which easily becomes cruel and self-destructive; it is based on distinct promises, and it lifts up the whole nature into the light of God. It is the true enthusiasm of humanity (see Isaac Taylor's 'Lectures on Spiritual Christianity'). - R. Parallel Verses KJV: But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. |
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