(Acts 20:20)

 

The verse from which the title
of this article is taken sets forth in a forcible manner the intimate
connection between the work of the teacher and that of the pastor. It is
important that this connection be understood and maintained. The teacher
unfolds truth; the pastor applies it. The teacher enlightens the understanding;
the pastor looks to the state of the heart. The teacher supplies the spiritual nutriment;
the pastor sees to the use that is made of it. The teacher occupies himself
more with the Word; the pastor looks after the soul. The teacher’s work is for
the most part public; the pastor’s work is chiefly in private. When combined in
one person, the teaching faculty imparts immense moral power to the pastor, and
the pastoral element imparts affectionate tenderness to the teacher.

 

That there is urgent need of
pastoral care throughout the Church of God, few can deny who know what
pastorship is, and who are at all acquainted with the true condition of the
Church. How rare is the true spiritual pastor! It is easy to take the name and
assume the office; but, in fact, pastorship is neither a name nor an office,
but a living reality—a divinely-imparted gift—something communicated by the
Head of the Church for the growth and blessing of His members. A true pastor is
a man who is not only possessed of a real spiritual gift, but also animated by
the very affections of the heart of Christ toward every lamb and sheep of His
blood-bought flock.

 

How few real pastors are to be
found in our midst! How rare is the pastor’s gift, the pastor’s heart! Where
shall we find those who duly combine the two grand elements contained in the
title, "publicly and from house to house"? A man may, perhaps, give
us a brief address on the Lord’s day, or a lecture on some weekday; but where
is the "house to house" side of the question? Where is the close,
earnest, diligent looking after individual souls day by day? Very often it happens
that the public teaching shoots over the head; it is the house to house
teaching that is sure to come home to the heart. How frequently it happens that
something uttered in public is entirely misunderstood and misapplied, until
.the loving pastoral visit during the week supplies the true meaning and just
application.

 

Nor is this all. How much there
is in a pastor’s range that the public teacher never can compass. No doubt
public teaching is very important; would that we had many times more of it than
we have. The teacher’s work is invaluable, and when mellowed by the deep and
tender affection of a pastor’s heart can go a great way indeed in meeting the
soul’s many needs. But the loving pastor who earnestly, prayerfully, and
faithfully goes from house to house, can get at the deep exercises of the soul,
the sorrows of the heart, the puzzling questions of the mind, the grave
difficulties of the conscience. He can enter, in the profound sympathy of an
affectionate heart, into all the circumstances and sorrows of the path. He can
kneel down with the tried, the tempted, the crushed, and the sorrowing one
before the mercy-seat and they can pour out their hearts together, and draw
down sweet consolation from the God of all grace and the Father of mercies.

 

The public teacher cannot do
this. No doubt, he can anticipate in his public address a great deal of the
soul’s private exercises, sorrows, and difficulties. But he cannot fully meet
the soul’s individual need. This is the pastor’s holy work. A pastor is to the
soul what a doctor is to the body. He must understand disease and medicine. He
must be able to tell what is the matter. He must be able to diagnose the
spiritual condition in order to apply the true remedy.

 

Let us join in fervent believing
prayer to God to raise up true pastors among us. We are in sad need of them.
The sheep of Christ are not fed and cared for. We are occupied so much with our
own affairs that we have no time to look after the beloved flock of Christ. And
even on those occasions when the Lord’s people assemble in public, how little
there is for their precious souls. And then, all through the week, few loving
pastoral calls, few inquiries after soul or body. There seems to be no time.
Every moment is swallowed up in the business of providing for ourselves and our
families. How different it was with the apostle Paul. He found time to make
tents and also to "teach publicly and from house to house." He was
not only the earnest evangelist, ranging over continents and planting churches,
but he was also the loving pastor, the tender nurse, the skillful spiritual
physician. He had a heart for Christ and for every member of His body. Here
lies the secret of the matter. It is wonderful what a loving heart can
accomplish. If I really love the Church, I shall desire its blessing and
progress, and seek to promote these according to my ability.

 

May the Lord raise up in the
midst of His people pastors and teachers after His own heart—men filled with
His Spirit and animated by genuine love for His Church, men competent and ready
to teach "publicly and from house to house."

 

(From Miscellaneous Writings,
Volume 5.)

 

Although we often use mottoes
which say, "Christ died for our sins," the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus is equally important with His crucifixion as the basis of our salvation.
In this day when so many theologians have given up belief in the physical
resurrection of Christ, we should remember that believing that "God hath
raised Him from the dead" is necessary for salvation (Rom. 10:9). The incarnation and crucifixion are essential truths. The Son of God had to become a man
in order to die, and He had to die in order to atone for sins, redeem us from
the power of Satan and reconcile us to God; but it is by the resurrection that
all this is made good to us. It is because of the resurrection that we can have
settled peace with God, since the resurrection proves God’s infinite
satisfaction in the work of His Son. It was the resurrection that demonstrated
the complete and eternal overthrow of the kingdom of Satan and all the powers
of darkness. It is because of the resurrection that we are to "walk in
newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). Without the resurrection we would not have
the High Priest or Advocate whom we need so much.

 

The apostles never preached the
death of Christ without preaching His resurrection. They did not preach it as a
doctrine, but as a fact of history to which they had been eyewitnesses. (Paul
had seen the Lord Jesus not only raised, but ascended into glory.) Their
message usually stated, "God raised Him from the dead" (see Acts
2:24, 32; 3:15; 4:10; 10:40). The fact that God raised Him from the dead
not only shows God’s satisfaction in Christ’s work (as we have mentioned), but
also proves that God is at issue with the world, seeing he has raised, exalted,
and glorified the very One whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Paul’s message
to the Athenians is a deeply solemn passage. The proof that God is going to
judge the world in righteousness is that He has raised His ordained Man from
the dead (Acts 17:31). Paul’s epistles (especially 1 Cor. 15) also show that
the resurrection is an essential part of the gospel and should be preached as
such.

 

"Now the God of peace, that
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good
work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight,
through Jesus Christ:to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen" (Heb.
13:20, 21).

 

(From
"The Great Commission" in Miscellaneous Writings, Vol. 4.)

The cross displays the love of
God, the love of Christ, the righteousness of God, the grace of God, and the
horribleness of sin.

 

The love of God for us was
displayed when God forsook and judged His only begotten Son in order to save us
from our sins. He put His beloved Son through such suffering in order to
reconcile us to Himself. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that
He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John
4:10).

 

            "Who Thy love,
O God, can measure—

            Love that crushed
for us its Treasure,

            Him in whom was all
Thy pleasure,

            Christ, Thy Son of
love?”

 

The love of Christ for us is
shown in the cross. And such love it was—love that was stronger than death!
Only the death of the cross could fully display the depth and intensity of
Christ’s love.

 

            "Nought stayed
Thy love—no sorrows, no taunts, no outrage sore;

 Not
all the fiery arrows of Satan’s wrath and power—

Not
all the stormy billows of judgment’s dreadful hour!"

 

The cross shows the love of
Christ to God. "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as
the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do" (John 14:31). "Christ
also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor" (Eph. 5:2).

 

The righteousness of God is
displayed because of God’s treatment of sin. God could not overlook sin or
lightly forgive it. He must judge it even though that judgment meant infinite
suffering for His Son. When sin had been associated with or imputed to His Son,
He turned His back on His Son. God can have no association with sin directly or
indirectly.

 

            "God could not
pass the sinner by,

            His sin demands that
he must die;

            But in the cross of
Christ we see

            How God can save,
yet righteous be."

 

The grace of God is manifested
in the results of the cross. Man rejected, insulted, and crucified God’s Son.
Yet His death at the hands of rabble-rousing Jews and cynical Romans is the
foundation of all man’s blessing. The last insult, the thrust of the spear,
drew forth the blood which has redeemed us to God. Although man did his worst,
God overcame the evil and caused it all to be for the blessing of man. (If man
would only accept that blessing!) The cross will be the pillar of a purified
and reconciled universe throughout eternity.

 

We realize the horribleness of
sin because of the terrible suffering which Christ had to undergo in order to
atone for it.

"The stone which the
builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner:this is the
Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes" (Matt. 21:42).

 

(Ed.
Note:The three poetry selections quoted in this article are from Hymns of
Grace and Truth, Nos. 197, 42, and 279, respectively.)

If Jesus Christ had not risen:

 

1. The Old Testament would be
untrue. "He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1
Cor. 15:4; see also Psa. 16:10, 11; Isa. 53:10, 11).

 

2. His own words would have been
proven false. "After three days I will rise again" (Matt. 27:63; see
also Matt. 16:21; 17:23; and 20:19).

 

3. We would have no New
Testament. It would never have been written.

 

4. There would be no gospel of
salvation. "I declare unto you the gospel. . . that He rose again. … If
Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins" (1 Cor.
15:1, 4, 17).

 

5. There would be no Church.
"He raised Him from the dead . . . and gave Him to be the head over all
things to the Church, which is His body" (Eph. 1:20-23). "He is the
head of the body, the Church:who [that is, Christ] is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead" (Col. 1:18).

 

6. We would have no
"blessed hope" of His coming again, and of believers’ resurrection.
"Looking for.. . .the glorious appearing of … Jesus Christ" (Titus
2:13). "The dead in Christ shall rise first" (1 Thess. 4:16).
"They that are Christ’s at His coming" (1 Cor. 15:23).

 

7. "Thy kingdom come"
would not be realized, because Christ is the King. "Born King of the
Jews" (Matt. 2:2). There could be no kingdom without the King.