In a glorious passage of Scripture, instinct with spiritual life and vigour, the great Apostle Paul wrote, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, FORGETTING THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14). He was surely right in forgetting the things which were behind in his earnest desire to make speed on the bit of road immediately before him. He was like the athlete making for the goal. To be occupied with the ground over which he had travelled, instead of that which lay before him, would have been foolish in the extreme.
However, it is good to sometimes take stock of the past. The Apostle did this, on one occasion at least, in his address to the elders of Ephesus when he summoned them to meet him at Miletus on his last journey to Jerusalem (Acts 20:17-38).
We were at a prayer meeting to commend to the Lord a young sister, who was going forth to the mission field. It seemed a fitting opportunity to draw the attention of all, especially the young Christians, as well as for the special benefit of the young missionary, how Paul at the end of his career could speak of his past.
If Paul could speak of a retrospect covering say 40 years, we must remember that such a period of time covers over 14,600 days of 24 hours each. Paul’s speech to the Ephesian elders, as to the past, might occupy a few minutes, but the time described covered over 21,000,000 minutes. It might have been very pleasant for Paul to make a speech of reminiscences, but the time and pains and efforts of the 40 years meant the output of a living sacrifice on the altar of God’s will. It may be that we feel very heroic in a missionary meeting. We are thrilled and, under the impulse of an emotion, we imagine we could do great things for God. The test comes when day succeeds day, hour succeeds hour, when circumstances are monotonous and hum-drum. It is the little things and out-of-sight happenings that test our metal.
The road to be trodden lay before the young Christians present. Would not Paul’s retrospect be superbly valuable to them, if they took serious note of it, and discovered the power of Paul’s life and sought that power in their own?
One of the speakers at the missionary gathering told of a meeting where Robert Moffatt, the celebrated African missionary, the father of David Livingstone’s wife, was present. He could look back as few could. He was asked the secret of success on the mission field. His answer was, “Firstly patience; secondly patience; thirdly patience.” What could his memory not have recalled in the spreading out of that advice in his long life of missionarv labour.
Paul speaks of certain things that marked him in his path. Let us glance at them.
“Serving the LORD” marked him. He did not serve men. He did not serve himself by seeking for praise at the hands of men. He did not seek earthly gain. He said, “I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel” (Acts 20:33). He served the Lord.
Humility marked him (v. 19). Paul was an outstanding man. Highly educated, marked for signal preferment in the Jewish nation, he was a man of great personality. He might have been excused, as men speak, if he had had a good opinion of himself. Yet he speaks of “serving the Lord with all humility of mind.” Humility is a fine Christian grace.
We were told that one of the enquiries of a missionary society, into the character of applicants for the mission field, was to find out if they got on with their fellow workers in the homeland. If it was found that they were easily offended, touchy if they did not get the notice taken of them that they expected, inclined to fall out with their fellow workers, they were turned down. Humility of mind would save us from such touchiness, from taking offence and the like.
What was the secret of Paul’s humility? We believe he took his measure in the presence of his Lord and Master, His Master was none less than God manifest in the flesh, the second Person in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Yet He, who was ever in the form of God, stooped down and took upon Himself the form of a bondslave, and could say of Himself, “I am meek and lowly of heart.” Could Paul be other than humble if his soul was occupied with, and controlled by, such a Master
Perhaps one of the snares of the mission field is not putting first things first. It is often necessary in the work of the Lord among heathen tribes to reduce their language to writing, and teach the natives to read, so that they may read the Word of God. If the supreme idea in teaching them to read is not to make them “wise to salvation,” then the missionary has sunk to the level of being a mere civilising agent. The same can be said of medical missionaries. If their beneficent and admirable work has not the supreme urge of reaching souls through bodies, even as our Lord healed diseases and sicknesses and demoniacal, possessions, then the medical missionary has lost his real meaning in the mission field. Our Lord said, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). He did not say that He came to heal diseases, though He healed them more than any.
What was the testimony of the Apostle all through his career? We are told that he preached “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 21). This he did not only publicly, but he went from house to house with this message. If this marked all Christian workers what a revival there would be of gospel interest, it is faithfulness to the fundamental message of the Gospel that the Lord looks for. Modernism and Ritualism do not breed missionaries, nor produce money to carry on the work of the Lord, in a way that firm belief in the Scriptures, and in the fundamentals of the gospel do. We believe this is a VITAL matter. It ought to be of the deepest concern to each one. And further the line of success in the mission field is just the same line that will bring success in the home field, in indoor and open-air work, in Sunday Schools, in Bible classes, in visiting hospitals and from house to house. Let us see to it that the message is one that God can bless.
Then Paul was courageous. He was told that bonds and afflictions awaited him. These things did not move him. He was ready to die like his Master. He went about testifying “the gospel of the grace of God” (v. 24); preaching “the kingdom of God” (v. 25); and declaring “all the counsel of God” (v. 27).
Then Paul could speak of his tears. He was no milksop nor a sentimental girl, whose tears were easily produced and as easily dried up. He was a strong man, virile, and his tears were manly. They disclosed the depths of his sympathies. They showed the deep care that he had for the work of the Lord, and for those he worked among. He served God “with many tears” (v. 19). He could say to these Ephesian elders, “By the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears” (v. 31) Have we ever shed one tear over perishing souls? Do we really believe in eternal punishment? Do we really care for the straying sheep, or mourn over the grievous wolves that get in among the flock, doing deadly damage
Paul was not proud. He was ready to work with his own hands for the necessities of life, not only for himself but for those that were with him (v. 34). Would this not be a test for many who seek to serve the Lord? Paul was no less a servant of the Lord when he was tent-making for his own support, than when there was no necessity for this.
Finally Paul kneeled down and prayed with them all. Surely he was the Mr. Greatheart of the Pilgrim’s Progress.
To dwell upon his retrospect might indeed give those who are beginning to serve the Lord much direction, and stimulus in the path of service.
Finally the Judgment Seat of Christ will be a last retrospect of our lives. What will it disclose? Shall it be money-making, pleasure-loving, sinking down to mere domesticity, seeking ease that shall have to be faced? Will it be a question of quarrels, unkindness, a careless use of the tongue, that shall have to be remembered and faced? Shall it be found that we were mere doctrinaires, and not doers of the word or shall there be something in our lives for Christ, for God, for eternity? God grant that it may be so.