Message Title: the Pattern of the Apostle Paul
I. the best way to shepherd people, to cherish and nourish them, is to give them a proper pattern; we need to give ourselves to the Lord so that He has the full way to constitute us with Himself to make us patterns to the believers.
2 Thessalonians 3:9 Not because we do not have the right, but in order that we might give ourselves to you as a pattern that you might imitate us.
the Lord Jesus was a pattern of enjoying the Father as the richest grace and sweet love to live because of the Father for the Father's glory. in the four gospels, especially the Gospel of John, we can see the Lord said that He was sent by the Father and he lived because of the Father. He came to do the will of the Father, and He could not do anything from Himself, did not speak from Himself, that He was in the Father and always one with the Father. the Lord came not to be served, but to serve us, even gave Himself as a ramsom for many.
the Lord Jesus charged us to learn from Him, taking Him as our pattern in being constrained by the Father's will and abounding in the work of carrying out the Father's will.
Ephesians 5:1 Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.
the last three words in this verse "as beloved children" are very crucial and precious. because we have been begotten of God the Father to be His beloved children, we have the Father's divine life and divine nature, which enables us to be imitators of God.
1 Thessalonians 1:5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, even as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.
in the church the most important thing is the person; the person is the way and the person is the Lord's work; what you are is what you do. in the Bible, we do not see much method or way to carry out God's work. but we see many detailed records about certain persons. we can see many examples and patterns, such as Moses, Samuel, David, etc. we have the four gospels as records to show us how the Lord Jesus lived His human life. we need to follow these patterns to pay more attention to life than to work.
II. Paul was a pattern to the believers of living and ministering Christ as the Spirit in his spirit for the building up of the Body of Christ
1. the Lord appeared to Paul to appoint him as a minister and a witness both of the things in which Paul had seen Him and of the things in which He would appear to Pau. A minister is a person who ministers the Spirit and life, for God's work.
2. Paul took Christ as everything - as his living, pattern, goal, and secret. in Philippians 1:21, Paul declared, "for to me, to live is Christ"
3. Paul lived by the Spirit, walked by the Spirit, sowed unto the Spirit, and ministered the Spirit as a spiritual man who lived and served in his spirit.
4. Paul did not base his confidence on himself but on God, who raises the dead, which includes related matters such as conducting himself in the world not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God and being one with the unchanging Christ of the faithful God.
5. Paul was attached to Christ, anointed and sealed by His Spirit, and captured, subdued, and led by Christ to scatter His savor.
6. Paul was filled with Christ so that he spontaneously ministered Christ to those whom he contacted, inscribing Christ in their hearts with the Spirit of the living God to make them living letters that conveyed Christ.
7. Paul was infused with Christ to shine forth Christ in the ministry of the new covenant, which is the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of righteousness, and the ministry of reconciliation.
8. Paul lived and did everything in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body.
from the above points of the apostle Paul, we can see that before becoming such a pattern to the believers, Paul got into touch with the intimate, affectionate, indwelling Lord, and remained in this intrinsic touch.
III. Paul was a proper pattern to the believers by feeding his spiritual children with his own living of Christ
the apostles not only preached the gospel but also lived it; their ministering of the gospel was not only by word but also by a life that displayed the power of God, a life in the Holy Spirit and in the assurance of faith.
Psalm 26:2 Examine me, o Jehovah, and try me; Test my inward parts and my heart.
1 Thessalonians 2:4 But even as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who proves our hearts.
the apostles were first tested and approved by God and then were entrusted by Him with the gospel; hence, their speaking, the preaching of the gospel, was not of themselves to please men but of God to please Him; God proved, examined, and tested their hearts continually.
1 Thessalonians 2:7 But we were gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children.
1 Thessalonians 2:8 Yearning in this way over you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own souls, because you became beloved to us.
the apostles cherished the believers and yearned over them as a nursing mother would cherism and yearn over her own children. to cherish people is to make them happy, to comfort them, to make them feel that you are pleasant to them, easy to be contacted in everything and everyway. to cherish people in our natural humanity is not genuine; we must chersm people with the Lord's presence as the charming factor, as the reality of resurrection.