PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST

[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XVII.  GATHERING CLOUDS
F. B. Meyer

There was Timothy, his "beloved child," his "true child in faith"; Tychicus, "the beloved brother and faithful fellow-servant in the Lord," who was with him in his last imprisonment; Titus, his "partner and fellow-worker," his "true child after the common faith"; Luke, "the beloved physician," who accompanied him to Rome, and was with him to the last; Trophimus, the Ephesian, who would have been with him to death had not sickness detained him at Miletus; Aristarchus and Secundus, the former of whom probably contrived to become his fellow-prisoner that he might minister to his illustrious friend; Sopater, his kinsman, well known to the Roman Church; Gains, a trophy of that first missionary tour which had taken him to Derbe; and the other Gains, at this time his host; and Jason, who had sheltered him at Thessalonica at the risk of his life.

And these were only a sheaf of the great harvest of his friends. Writing at this time from Corinth, he greets twenty-six persons by name in the closing verses of the Epistle to the Romans. Priscilla and Aquila, who would have laid down their necks for him; he beloved Epaenetus; Amplias, his "beloved in the Lord"; Persis, the beloved; and many others. If he were more bitterly hated than most, he had a greater need of love than most, and his course through the world was constantly gathering around it the wealth of human hearts. And what love in the annals of Love is comparable to that which unites souls in Christ?

"Hearts I have won of sister or of brother,
Quick on the earth or hidden in the sod,
Lo, every heart awaiteth me, another
Friend in the blameless family of God."

What blessed fellowship these elect souls must have had at Corinth, during those memorable three months in which the Epistles to the Galatians and the Romans were being written! Probably those masterly arguments were first given in their reverent and rapt hearing. To them was uttered the first rough draft of Romans v and viii; or of Galatians 3, 5. The conversations -- -carried far on into the night -- on the destiny of Israel, the counsels of God, the method of dealing with the scruples of weak consciences, may have engaged eager and intense discussion.
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XVII.  GATHERING CLOUDS
F. B. Meyer

At last it became necessary for the party to break up. Paul was eager to get to Jerusalem for the Passover, and a passage had been taken for him in one of the pilgrim vessels that started each spring from every port on the Aegean for Palestine. Before his embarkation, however, a plot was discovered on the part of the Jews for his assassination, and he was compelled to alter his route, going with an escort of friends through Macedonia, and taking up a sailing vessel from Troas. He took advantage of this change in his plans to say another farewell to the endeared circle at Philippi, always nearest his heart; and then hastened to rejoin the little band that awaited him at Troas, sworn to care for him and the treasure which he had been at such pains to collect.


3. SAD FOREBODINGS.

That journey from Troas, down the ragged shores of Asia Minor, sailing by day and anchoring by night, must in some senses have been sadder to the little band of devoted followers than to Paul.

He had no doubt as to its bourne. He went bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, sure that there, as in every other city, bonds and afflictions awaited him. Of this the Holy Spirit gave unequivocal testimony. He prolonged his speech at Troas till midnight, and sent for the elders of the Ephesian church to meet him at Miletus, because he knew that all they among whom he had gone about preaching the Kingdom should see his face no more. He said farewell to the little groups, who waved their good-byes across the waters to his receding ship, as though it were his last. What the Spirit said through the disciples at Tyre only corroborated what He had said to the heart of Paul (Acts 20:23). What Agabus foretold in striking symbolism, had been prognosticated already by that inward prophet whose voice cannot be bribed. Though he was quite willing to adopt any course of action which James might suggest, with the view of keeping him pent up in the upper platform of the Temple, away from the streets, filled at the feast-time with excited crowds, he knew it would not avail; and it excited no surprise when he found himself the centre of a frenzied mob, hurrying him down the Temple steps to the lowest court, where they meant to take his life without sacrilege to the holy shrine.
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XVII.  GATHERING CLOUDS
F. B. Meyer

To those that loved him, the successive and unanimous prognostications of coming disaster were like the falling of the earth-sods on a coffin containing the earthly remains of one's dearest friend. Luke gives us a pathetic picture of the scene in the house of Philip, their host at Caesarea, with whom Paul must have exchanged tender reminiscences of Stephen. Agabus came there from Jerusalem, and unbinding Paul's girdle bound himself with it, · speaking in the power of the Holy Ghost, and announcing that in like manner the Jews would bind its owner. "And," says Luke, "when we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem." They wept sore; enough, Paul said, to break his heart.

But he was marvellously sustained. It seemed as though he were going rather to a bridal than a funeral. Was not his spirit espoused to his Lord, and would not death land him in his presence, which was far better than the choice society of his friends? He was ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Indeed, he held not his life of any account, as dear unto himself, in comparison of accomplishing his course, and the ministry, which he had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God.

"Yea, thro' life, death, thro' sorrow and thro' sinning,
He shall suffice me, for He hath sufficed;
Christ is the end, for Christ was the beginning,
Christ the beginning, for the end is Christ."

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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XVIII.  THE FURTHERANCE OF THE GOSPEL
F. B. Meyer

(Philippians 1:12-13)

"My soul exults to dwell secure,
Thy strong munitions round her;
She dares to count her triumphs sure,
Nor fears lest hell confound her;
Though tumults startle earth and sea,
Thou changeless Rock! they shake not Thee."
RAY PALMER

THAT was the one thing Paul cared for. If only the Gospel of the love of God made progress, and the Lord Jesus were magnified, he was more than content to suffer to the uttermost. And now, as he reviews the things which had happened to him from the standpoint of the years, he rejoices with exceeding joy to be able to announce to his brethren at Philippi that they had fallen out to the furtherance of the Gospel.

Our space forbids us to tell in detail the story of his transportation from the lower platform of the Temple at Jerusalem to the hired house at Rome; but we may at least consider its successive stages beneath the light of the thought, which gave him such pleasure, that they had all conduced to the furtherance of the Gospel, partly by giving him an opportunity of manifesting the traits of a true Christian Character, and partly by enabling him to give his testimony for Jesus before the highest tribunals in the world.
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XVIII.  THE FURTHERANCE OF THE GOSPEL
F. B. Meyer

First, there was the awful riot in the Temple-court. -- The Jews of Asia, perhaps led by Alexander the coppersmith, laid hold of Paul, under the impression that he had introduced Trophimus, whom they knew as an Ephesian, into the court reserved for Jews. They dragged him down the steps, furiously beating him the while, and with the intent of murdering him when they reached the bottom. With the greatest difficulty he was rescued by Lysias and his legionaries, who rushed down from the adjoining Castle of Antonia, surrounded him with their shields, and bore him back on their shoulders from the frenzied vehemence of the mob. It was not simply the result of natural coolness and self-command, but because he was at rest in Christ, and desired to magnify his Master, that he was able to hold a brief conversation with his deliverer in the midst of the tumult, and obtain permission to address the people in their national tongue, weaving the story of the risen Jesus so ingeniously into his personal narrative, that they could do no other than listen.

There was a manly strength in his quiet remonstrance with those who were set to examine him by scourging, and avowal of Roman citizenship, which must have filled them with profound respect. Here was no common criminal!

Some have questioned the propriety of his behaviour, when on the following day he was arraigned before the Sanhedrin. But Annas, who sat to judge him, had really been deposed from the High Priesthood by right, though, as a matter of fact, he exercised that office still. And as to raising the question of the Resurrection, that, after all, was the one point at issue between him and the Jews. The Pharisees professed to believe in the Resurrection, and yet refused to admit that Jesus had risen. Paul, on the other hand, sought to establish not only that there would be a Resurrection, but that there had been one.

That his efforts to use these trying scenes for the glory of his Master were appreciated and accepted was made abundantly clear by the vision of the Lord, who bade him be of good cheer, and assured him that the witness which he had given from the steps of the castle and in the halls of the Sanhedrin should be repeated in Rome herself, at the very heart of the empire, where all the Gentiles should hear.

There must have been something very noble and heroic in his bearing; or his nephew, who was evidently in the secrets of his foes, and must have passed as a bigoted Jew, would never have run the risk of being torn limb from limb for divulging the secret plot of the zealots, who had bound themselves by a solemn vow neither to eat nor drink till they had for ever silenced the tongue that gave them more cause to fear than all the legions of Felix's escort.
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XVIII.  THE FURTHERANCE OF THE GOSPEL
F. B. Meyer

His Judicial Trials. -- He was presently hurried by a strong body of soldiers in a forced march, by night, to Antipatris, thirty-five miles distant, and twenty-five miles further, on the following day, to Caesarea, to undergo trial before Felix, the Roman Governor of Judaea. But as on repeated occasions he stood before him, he seemed less eager for himself, and bent on snatching every opportunity of so public a position to explain the nature of "the Way," and to reason with his judge concerning the faith in Christ Jesus. Indeed, on one occasion he spoke so powerfully of righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come, in the presence of Felix and the woman with whom he was living in adultery, that Felix trembled as the prisoner compelled him to review a life of shameless infamy beneath the searchlight of an awakened conscience.

When Festus came in the room of Felix, who had been recalled in disgrace, the Apostle, within a few days, so far impressed the new-comer with his faith in Jesus, who had died, but whom he affirmed to be alive, that the Governor was able to state the case with wonderful accuracy to King Agrippa, who, with his sister Bernice, came to pay their respects to the new representative of the Emperor.

But perhaps Paul's greatest opportunity, and one of which he availed himself to the full, was that in which he was able to preach the Gospel to an assembly that comprised all the fashion, wealth, and distinction of the land. Festus was there in state, and the Herods, brother and sister, seated on golden chairs; the officers of the garrison, and the principal men of the city. How great a contrast between the splendid pomp of that occasion and the poor chained prisoner at the bar! Yet, in truth, though bending under the weight of sixty years and many sorrows, he was the noblest and fairest decked of all the glittering throng. How grandly he preached Christ that day under the guise of making his defence! The story of the suffering and risen Lord; the fulfilment of the predictions of Moses and the prophets; the opening of eyes; the turning from darkness to light; the conditions of remitted sin and an inheritance among the saints, such topics were recited with all the passionate earnestness of which he was capable, till the Roman thought him mad, and the Jew princeling needed all his courtly wit to turn aside the barbed dart of the prisoner's appeal.
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XVIII.  THE FURTHERANCE OF THE GOSPEL
F. B. Meyer

CAESAREA.

In one of the guard-rooms of the old palace of the Caesars, for two whole years, Paul was kept a prisoner, but permitted to see, and receive help from, his friends. How gladly must the saints in Caesarea and from other places have availed themselves of the privilege! It is an old tradition that during this period Luke wrote the Third Gospel, in fellowship with his friend, and under his direction. If this were so, what an unfailing source of interest it must have been to the two to trace the course of all things accurately from the first, as they delivered them, which from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word. In another way that period of two years was very fruitful in the best sense. Paul's appreciation of the truth as it is in Jesus, was greatly ripened and deepened. Contrast the Epistles to the Thessalonians, Corinthians, Romans, and Galatians, with those to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, and the advance is easily discernible, Less polemics and defence of his motives and actions, and more of the believer's vital union with his Lord; less doctrinal discussion of the work of Christ, and more absorption in his Person; less of the old covenant, more of the new, of the King, and of the life in the heavenlies. Ah! those years spent within view of the dividing sea, restrained by the old castle walls, and the chain which he shook so pathetically before Festus and his guests, notwithstanding that the indomitable spirit was stayed from its incessant labours and journeys, were turned to good account, if only they enabled him to give the church his priceless prison Epistles.

At last this term of confinement came to an end. The ecclesiastical authorities had never ceased to urge that he should be handed over to their jurisdiction, a claim which in God's good providence the Roman Governors steadfastly refused. They knew, and Paul knew, that to such a trial there would be only one end. But finally, when Festus showed signs of yielding, Paul claimed his right as a Roman citizen to have his case tried by the Emperor himself, partly because it would remove it from local prejudice, partly because he desired to secure for the Christian church the same recognition as was awarded to the Jewish synagogue, and partly that he might fulfil his long-cherished purpose of proclaiming the Gospel in Rome.

To that appeal nothing to the contrary could be alleged. He had appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar he must go. As soon as possible he was placed under the care of a centurion for conveyance to the imperial city.
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XVIII.  THE FURTHERANCE OF THE GOSPEL
F. B. Meyer

THEN CAME THE VOYAGE.

At every stage of it the Apostle seems to have bent all his endeavours to use his opportunities, as far as possible, for the glory of his Lord. To him to live was Christ. He reckoned always and everywhere that he was a debtor to all men, and under obligation to repay to each some proportion of the momentous debt he owed for his redemption.

They set sail, first in an ordinary sailing vessel, then from Myra, in an Alexandrian corn-ship, one of the great fleet perpetually engaged in provisioning Rome. Contrary to Paul's advice, who even at this stage of the voyage must have been considered as a person of distinction and experience, the captain attempted to cross the open bay from the Fair Havens to Phoenice, each on the southern side of Crete. But, when half-way across, the wind changed, and a sudden squall struck down from the mountains and carried the big ship out to sea. In the brief respite afforded of sailing under the lee of the little island of Clauda, they hauled in the boat which had been tearing through the water behind them, and got ropes round the straining vessel to strengthen her. This done, there was nothing for it but to drift through the open sea. Three days after, all hands (even of the prisoners) were called in to lighten the ship, by casting out cargo and other movables; and after many days of storm, in which neither sun nor moon appeared, all hope that they should be saved gradually faded away.

It was then that Paul stood forth, calm, assured, with the message of God, to cheer and reanimate their fainting hearts. Like Peter before his execution, the servant of God had quietly slept amid the tumult. Like Peter, too, he had been ministered to by angels. Through the murky atmosphere one of these ministering spirits had found his way to his side, uttering a "Fear not!" fresh from the throne, and an assurance that he should yet stand before Caesar. Evidently the deliverance of the crew had been previously the subject of the Apostle's prayer; for the angel added, "Lo! there have been granted unto thee by God all they that sail with thee." Here was an opportunity of preaching faith in God, and belief in the power of prayer.
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XVIII.  THE FURTHERANCE OF THE GOSPEL
F. B. Meyer

Always full of prompt common-sense, he detected the attempt of the sailors, when the vessel struck, to get away in the boat; but with something above common-sense, with a sense of the Eternal and Divine, he took bread, and as though he were presiding at the Lord's table in Corinth or Philippi, he gave thanks to God in the presence of all, and broke it, and began to eat.

When they reached the shore of Malta on that drear November morning, it seemed as though nothing more could be done to further the Gospel. But as the viper fell off Paul's hand, and the father of the chief man in the island was healed of dysentery through his prayer, and all else who had diseases throughout the island were cured by his touch, much was done to magnify Him, concerning whom Paul was proud to say, "Whose I am, and whom I serve."


SO TO ROME.

Did his heart misgive him as he at last approached the city, and signs of her splendour and teeming life multiplied at every step? He had often thought of this moment, and longed for it. Some three years before, writing to the church at Rome, he said, "I long to see you, that I may impart some spiritual gift." He confessed that he had often prayed and purposed to come to them. But he had never anticipated coming like this -- one of a knot of prisoners in charge of Roman legionaries. But almost certainly through his bonds he was able to effect very much more good than if he had been free. Had he been free, he might have gone from synagogue to synagogue, but the opportunity would never have befallen him of speaking to the Pretorian guard and Caesar's household.

It is thus that God answers our prayers in ways and methods we did not expect. We have set our hearts on realizing some project. For long years it has gleamed before us as an Alp through its long-drawn valley. We have yearned, prayed, and wrought for it night and day. Assurances have been borne in upon our souls that one day we shall rejoice in a realization of our cherished desires. But when at last we come to our Rome, it is as prisoners, and our hands in fetters.

God fulfilled Paul's desire to see Rome in this way probably for two reasons. First, for safety's sake, and secondly for the wider audience that awaited him. And these two reasons may necessitate our being conducted to our Rome in chains. Were it otherwise, the very exuberance of our joy might intoxicate, or the gratification of our ambition might overbalance. It is best to have the chain. Not Rome without the chain, nor the chain without Rome; but Rome and the chain together.

Do not fret at the limitations and disabilities of your life. They are required as the makeweight, and constitute your opportunity. Storm and shipwreck, centurion and sea-captain, soldier and fetter, Caesarea and Rome -- all are part of the plan, all work together for good, all are achieving God's ideal, and making you what, in your best hours, you have asked to become.
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XIX.  "MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN THEY ALL"
F. B. Meyer

(1 Corinthians 15:10)

"Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul,
Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own --
Paul should himself direct me."
COWPER

"GOD," says the eloquent Adolphe Monod, "left to the Jews the first twelve Apostles, and gave to the Gentiles one only, whom He prepared expressly for them. Like a spiritual Atlas, Paul carries the whole heathen world upon his shoulders. That Roman empire, the most powerful on the face of the earth, which required seven ages to be established, he took only a quarter of an age to regenerate. The greatest among men was Jesus Christ; the greatest among apostles was Paul."

Even in these days of easy and universal communication the Apostle's record as a traveller would have been a remarkable one; but how much more remarkable it appears when we recall the banditti that infested the mountain passes of Asia Minor; the impetuous torrents that crossed the track; the vast distances that had to be traversed on foot; the hardships of the wayside inns and caravan-serais; the suspicion and dislike of which Jews must have always been the objects.

But what a record he has left! In his first missionary journey he establishes churches as Christian garrisons along the central highway of Asia Minor, and attracts the enthusiastic Gauls with the tenderest affection, "preaching both to Jews and Gentiles, converting a proconsul and silencing a false prophet; at one time adored as a god, at another stoned by the same people in their fury." In his second, he proclaims the Gospel to Europe, and founds churches in some of the most famous and influential cities  -- Philippi, Thessalonica, Bercea, Athens, Corinth, flame out as successive beacon-fires in the darkness. In the third, like a Colossus, he strides the Aegean, planting one foot in Asia Minor and the other in Greece, where he preaches even to Illyricum. In the fourth, after pleading his cause before at least three different tribunals, he traverses the Mediterranean, saves the crew and passengers of the storm-driven corn-ship by his prayers and heroism, compels the respect and affection of an island of barbarians, and reaches Rome in the guise of a prisoner, but really as a conqueror, to unfurl the banner of his Master in the palace of the Caesars. After his release he again sets forth on journeys that carried him, perhaps to Spain, but certainly to familiar scenes in Asia Minor and Greece. So he fulfils his course till Rome and martyrdom again come in sight.
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XIX.  "MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN THEY ALL"
F. B. Meyer

When he began his work, the world was being borne to her grave, in spite of what philosophy, literature, and legislation could do to arrest its moral decay; but when he closed it, some thirty years afterwards, germs of life and salvation had been sown, and even nurtured into sturdy growth, which were destined, after three centuries, to displace the foetid remnants of heathenism with the fresh young undergrowth of Christian civilization.

We may well inquire into the secret of this marvellous work, to which, after that of our Lord, the position of Christianity in the world at this moment is to be ascribed. And if we do, we shall discover it not in his intellectual talent and eloquent speech, for these were more than neutralised by his physical weaknesses, his "thorn," and his "contemptible" utterance (2 Corinthians 11:6); but in sources of power which are within the reach of us all, however greatly we may come short of that commanding equipment, which, in the words of the great Neander, would have made him, had he sought it, shine in the highest rank amongst the wise and the orators of all ages, so that he would not have been second to any of those masters of thought or of language of whom ancient Greece boasted.

In the forefront, we must place the Apostle's vivid remembrance of the mercy that had been shown him. "We obtained mercy," he says on one occasion, when attempting to explain the sources of his indomitable perseverance through obloquy, smiting down, and daily dying. It was as though he never could forget how deeply he had sinned, and how strenuously he had resisted that very grace which he now proclaimed. He was constantly returning to this precious thought. How could he ever despair of men, since such a one as he had found mercy? How should he faint, when the same grace that had laid hold of him waited to enable him? How could he ever repay the long-suffering which had brooded over his storm-driven nature, and had abounded over his rebellion, until it made him a trophy of its power? Like a silver refrain, it came back on him in all times of anguish, distress, and virulent opposition, "I obtained mercy, therefore I dare not, must not faint."
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XIX.  "MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN THEY ALL"
F. B. Meyer

From the commencement to the close of his career Paul was impelled by the one master-thought that he had been redeemed to serve; saved that he might save others. The memory of what he had been saved from and saved to was the constant incentive of his arduous and exhausting toils. And so it is well for us, if we can get away for a time from the bustle and rush of life, to stand beneath the Cross, where Jesus died, realizing that every drop from his every wound appeals to our every pulse-throb to spend or be spent for the cause that cost Him so dear.

Closely connected with this, we must mention the great and simple purpose for which the Apostle lived. He bent his strength to save men, and for this he was prepared to make any sacrifice. He was equally careful to the very last to institute and organize little Christian communities, which were absolutely necessary to conserve and develop the life that had been implanted. But all such purposes were subordinated to that which he announced in his earliest Epistle, "not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts" (1 Thessalonians 2:4). It mattered comparatively little what were the outward results of his endeavours, or what men might say or do, so long as he had the testimony shed through his heart that it pleased God.

This motive is viewed under another light, when, in the next Epistle, he yearns "that the name of our Lord Jesus be glorified" (2 Thessalonians 1:12). We cannot forget that the passion of Christ's heart, during his earthly ministry, was to glorify his Father; and there was a similar passion in the heart of Paul to glorify the Son. To the end of his ministry that purpose grew even stronger. It was always his earnest expectation and hope that in nothing he should be ashamed; but that as always, so then, Christ should be magnified in his body, whether by life or death.

Would that this also were our single aim! It would greatly simplify our lives. We are apt to set ourselves on the accomplishment of purposes which, though good in themselves, fail of the best; and when we do not succeed in them, when the revival does not ensue, or hosts of souls are not converted, or the church does not heed, we are apt to write hard things against ourselves and God; whereas, if we simply sought the good pleasure and glory of our Master, we should discover that we succeed amid apparent failure, and are more than conquerors when fleeing for our lives.
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XIX.  "MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN THEY ALL"
F. B. Meyer

Happy is the man who can appeal from the verdict of obvious results, of his fellows, of the inner circle of dearest friends, and even of his own heart, and say, "With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby justified; but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Wherefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God" (1 Corinthians 4:3-5, R.V.).

To each of us a stewardship is committed, of wealth, or time, or influence, or talent in thought and speech. With Paul, each of us can say, "I have a stewardship entrusted to me" (1 Corinthians 9:17, R.V.). Now surely it is required in stewards, not that they should realize all the dreams that suggest themselves to their imagination, but that they be found faithful to Him that appointed them. Judge your lives not by results, but by their motives, and by the smile of his good pleasure who appointed you.

His plan of living also greatly ministered to his success. In point of fact, he had no plan at all. For him the way had been prepared in the counsels of God before the worlds were made, and he had only to discover its track. The scheme of the temple of his life had been conceived by the Divine Architect; he had only to get it by communion with Him on the Mount. He need do nothing from himself, in the sense of self-origination, but what he saw his Saviour doing. His one aim was to repeat in the time sphere what He was doing in the unseen and eternal.

This made the Apostle so cautious in referring to his future programme. Whatever should betide, he must keep in the current of the will of God. To purpose according to the flesh, that there should be the Yea, yea, Nay, nay, of human forecast, was foreign to the habit of his mind. He was ever living in such dependence on the Holy Spirit for guidance, and for the unfolding of the Divine purpose, that from some apparently trivial circumstance he would "gather" the movements of the pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night. And interval there was none between his apprehension of the Divine purpose and his endeavour to strike his tent and follow wherever it might lead (Acts 16:6-7).
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XIX.  "MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN THEY ALL"
F. B. Meyer

When, in the present century, the purpose presented itself of completing that magnificent specimen of Gothic architecture, the Cologne Cathedral, it was not necessary to prepare a plan for gathering up and carrying forward the results of previous centuries into a symmetrical and beautiful edifice. The architect to whom the task of completion was entrusted had but to exhume and study the plan as it was first conceived by Meister Gerard in the thirteenth century, and as it is still preserved in his own pen-and-ink outlines. So Christian workers should never forget the injunction, four times repeated to Moses, of making all things according to the pattern shown them in the Mount. The pattern of the Body of Christ, of the position of each individual believer among its members, and of the work which each should accomplish, was fixed before the worlds were made. "What didst Thou mean for me, O God, in my creation, redemption, and the ordering of my life? Teach me to do thy will, for Thou art my God. Thy Spirit is good: lead me into the land of uprightness." Such should be the prayer of each Christian worker.

But, perhaps, the secret of Paul's success lay most of all in his faculty of extracting power from his weaknesses. He had eminent gifts of character, of energy, of power to command and lead and organize, of thought and speech; but had it not been for the presence of his infirmity, he might never have become the great Apostle of the Gentiles, or accomplished such splendid work. He might have yielded to self-confidence in his heart-depths, and relied on these extraordinary endowments, instead of casting himself absolutely, as he was compelled to do, on the power of God; in consequence of which his life-work was accomplished, not by himself, but by God operating through the frail organism of his mortal body.

Judging from the words of his detractors, which he seems to endorse, his bodily presence was weak, and his speech contemptible (2 Corinthians 10:10), the former phrase referring to his thorn in the flesh, of which we have spoken; and the latter to a lack of those graces of oratory which the Greeks were wont to expect in their public teachers. It was very humbling to the flesh; but it drained away the last remains of human pride, and left him, as the forty years in the desert left Moses, a vessel meet for the Master's use, because so utterly dependent on the Master's hand to direct and empower.

In early life he was one of Gamaliel's most promising pupils, strong, self-reliant, vehement, clear in thought, incisive in speech, swift in action. Among the men of his age few could outmatch Saul of Tarsus, who earlier than was customary became a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin. Would you recognize him in the weakness, the fear, and the much trembling of this broken man? Or, if you did, might you not be tempted to regret that he had opposed Christ in his strength, and had brought only his weakness into his service? But such regrets would be wholly unnecessary. Had Paul been strong, he might have been -- we borrow the expression  -- an Apollos, a Chrysostom, an Augustine, a Luther, but never Paul. Because he was weak he was strong; because he bore chains he was the great emancipator from chains; because he was poor he succeeded in making so many rich.
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[nChrist]

PAUL A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST
XIX.  "MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN THEY ALL"
F. B. Meyer

After this, let no one complain. The only thing of which we need to be sure is whether we have been called of God to certain work for Him. Then, if limitations and hindrances suggest the impossibility of ever accomplishing it, let us dare to glory in them, and discover in their presence the ground for believing that we have been selected for the work to which they might threaten to become a fatal barrier. In other words, let us do by faith the work which others do by human might.

Another element in the success of the Apostle's work must be found in his self-abnegation. He had large and liberal views of truth and life, and could probably have permitted to himself many things which he carefully eschewed, lest his influence for Christ should be impaired. In 1 Corinthians 8:13 he tells us that if meat should make his brother to offend, he will eat no flesh while the world last. In 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 he explains that, though as far as his own conscience was concerned, he could eat in an idol's temple without condemnation, yet he dare not do it, lest he should cast a stumbling-block before the undecided, halting, feet of some weak disciple. In 1 Corinthians 9 he alleges his determination to forego the delights of wife and child, though his was a very tender nature; to forego the support which his converts might voluntarily offer, though he had as much right to take it as oxen their corn, or priests their share of temple-offerings. And at the close of that chapter he explains how carefully he kept his body under, bringing it into subjection, lest he should fail to do the utmost possible for the souls of men, and compel the Lord to substitute an instrument more suited for his purpose. Again in 2 Corinthians 6:3 he speaks of giving no offence in anything, that the ministry might not be blamed.

This, too, is a path in which we may follow the steps of this great servant of Jesus. All Christian workers, zealous for the coming of God's Kingdom, must at once forego indulgences and practices which are not in themselves unlawful, that the ministry may not be blamed, nor souls hindered. Consideration of the effect which may be produced upon others is a very real and urgent factor in determining our action with regard to matters that lie in the great twilight borderland, between what is clearly defined as right and clearly defined as wrong. The more widespread our influence over souls, the more absolute the necessity of considering the effect on others of methods and actions in which we are left with large liberty of self-determination and choice.
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