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Phil. 2:5-10; Acts 4:18-20; 26:16-19; 1 Tim. 1:16
I. Jesus Christ our Lord being a pattern for us
II. Peter being a pattern for us
III. Paul being a pattern for us
IV. John being a pattern for us
V. Being faithful to the end for the building up of the church
In this final lesson we will reveal the lives of four men whose human living became our pattern for the building up of the church. These men began to seek the Lord when they were young. Some came at a young age, some came at an older age; nevertheless, they all were considered young men when they first started to pursue the Lord. Therefore, do not look down upon yourselves, but look to these patterns.
Jesus Christ our Lord is our first pattern for the building up of the church. He is not only the Head of the Body, He is also a pattern. He humbled and emptied Himself for the church (Phil. 2:5-10). He gave up His position, status, glory, comfort, and throne to become a man. He was inside Mary’s womb for nine months. He was under the authority of Joseph and Mary for thirty years. He submitted Himself to His own creatures. He allowed Himself to be apprehended, mocked, tried unfairly, and crucified by His own people. He passed through these human sufferings to redeem His chosen people. Then He resurrected that they may be regenerated to be the sons of God and members of His Body. He ascended in order to pour out the Spirit upon the members to form His Body. He went through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension for the building up of the church. He did not sit on the throne in the heavens and command us to build the church. He took the lead in self-humbling and self-emptying to do the Father’s will. There is no other way to build the church. We are not capable of building the church as sinners. Therefore, He took the first steps to lead us through the process necessary for the building up of His church. He was faithful and He is our pattern.
Peter is also our pattern for the building up of the church. Peter is the first one to whom the Father revealed Christ. He is also the first one to whom Christ revealed the church. Throughout the Old Testament, no one was clear about Christ and the church. In Matthew chapter 16, Peter saw the revelation of Christ and the church at the same time. He was very blessed. It is a blessing to see Christ and the church. Have you seen Christ and the church? If you have seen this vision, you are also very blessed.
He was faithful to the Lord’s vision, though not in himself. He failed in himself, yet he succeeded in Christ. After Christ breathed the Holy Spirit into him in John 20:22, and poured the Spirit upon the Body in Acts 2:4, Peter took the lead to preach the gospel to save the Jewish sinners and establish the church in Acts 2. This was the use of the first key of the kingdom of heavens to unlock the kingdom for the Jewish believers. He continued to preach Christ to save sinners for their regeneration in Acts 3 and 4 even though he was threatened by the Jewish rulers and charged not to teach in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). Peter and John were bold and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, you judge; for we cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard’’ (Acts 4:19-20). He also used the second key of the kingdom to open the kingdom to the gentile believers in Cornelius’ house (Acts 10). He continued to preach Christ to build up the church despite the fact that he was threatened, beaten, and put in jail.
When he was older, he wrote in 1 Peter 2:5 that we are living stones being built up into a spiritual house. He did not forget the vision he saw in Matthew chapter 16. Praise the Lord for our brother, Peter, who was faithful to the end, preaching and laboring for Christ and the building up of the church. He certainly is our pattern for the building up of the church.
Paul is a very good pattern for the building up of the church. In Acts 26:19 Paul told King Agrippa that he “was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.’’ If he said that he was not disobedient, that means that one can be disobedient. He was faithful. He did not disobey what he saw. Will you obey or disobey what you see?
What did he see in the heavenly vision? He saw Christ and the church. At that time his name was Saul, and he was persecuting the church (Acts 9:1). On the day of his conversion, he was on his way to Damascus to bind all who call upon the name of the Lord (Acts 9:14). “And as he went, it came about that he drew near to Damascus; and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him; and he fell on the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? And he said, Who are You, Lord: And He said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting’’ (Acts 9:3-5).
[Saul did not have this revelation, thinking that he was persecuting Stephen and other Jesus-followers in the way he considered heresy (24:14), not knowing that when he persecuted these he persecuted Jesus, for they were one with Him by being united to Him through their faith in Him. He considered that he was persecuting people on earth, never thinking that he touched anyone in heaven. To his great surprise a voice from heaven told him that He was the One whom he was persecuting, and His name was Jesus. To him this was a unique revelation in the entire universe! By this he began to see that the Lord Jesus and His believers are one great person — the wonderful “Me.’’ This must have impressed and affected him for his future ministry concerning Christ and the church as the great mystery of God (Eph. 5:32), and laid a solid foundation for his unique ministry.] The wonderful “Me’’ that he saw was the universal new man, the Body of Christ, with the Head in the heavens and the Body on the earth.
The vision of Christ and His church delivered him from everything, and transferred him into Christ. He had been deeply involved with the Jewish religion. He was zealous for it. He tried his best to excel in the Jewish religion even to the extent of persecuting the church with threatening and murder. But he became blinded to all that at the sight of Christ and the church. He dropped everything and came to Christ for His church.
From the vision came a commission from the Lord. [Acts 26:17-18 says, “Taking you out from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’’ These verses show us the five items of Saul’s commission: (l) to open their eyes; (2) to turn them from darkness to light; (3) to turn them from the authority of Satan to God; (4) that they may receive forgiveness of sins; (5) and that they may receive an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in the Lord Jesus.]
He was faithful to the vision and the commission. Immediately after his baptism, he proclaimed Jesus in Damascus, and gathered disciples (Acts 9:18, 20, 26). When he was persecuted, he went to Jerusalem and “spoke boldly in the name of the Lord’’ (Acts 9:28).
He had a strong beginning and continued even more strongly. He went throughout Asia minor and Europe to preach Christ (Acts 13-28), shepherd new believers (Acts 20:18-38), teaching them what he knew about the Lord (Acts 20:18-28), and establishing churches (Acts 13-28; 14:23; Titus 1:5). He was faithful to the end. He said in 2 Tim. 4:7-8, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me in that day; and not only to me, but also to all those who have loved His appearing.’’ Because he was faithful, a crown was reserved for him.
You may say that Paul was special and that you could never be like him. We may never get a direct heavenly vision of Christ and the church as Paul did, but we can receive an indirect heavenly vision through the word of Paul’s ministry. There is actually no difference. The Lord said to Thomas in John 20:29, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.’’ We are those who have not seen and have believed. We are those who did not have a direct heavenly vision like Paul, yet we see from his ministry in his epistles. We are more blessed. But we must be faithful to what we have seen. Paul said in Philippians 3:17, “Be imitators together of me, brothers and observe attentively those who thus walk as you have us for an example.’’ He is our pattern. He went before us. He first saw the heavenly vision. All that he has seen is for us to receive and imitate as a pattern.
[This young man, Saul of Tarsus, is a real example to us. It may be that in the entire Scriptures only the Lord Jesus as a man could exceed this man Saul, who was later called Paul. Paul even told us in 1 Timothy that he was a pattern to the believers (1:16). Saul was religious and natural, yet one day he received the heavenly vision and was converted from all things other than Christ to Christ Himself. From that day he became very useful in the hand of God and had a prevailing impact. The Lord was able to accomplish many wonderful things through him. This is the kind of person whom God can use today. May we all go to the Lord and pray, “Lord, here I am. I am open to You, to Your vision, to Your commission, and I am ready to pay any cost, any price. I want to count all things loss and count only Christ as gain. I am ready to be occupied, possessed, and filled by Christ.’’ If we go to the Lord and spend some time with Him to receive the heavenly vision, we will have a living contact with Christ and be a living, functioning member of His living Body. Then we will be persons in God’s plan.]
John is another pattern for us. You may say that John did not seem to have accomplished much in the gospels and in Acts. That is true. But he was always there, and he was there faithfully. He was there with the Lord during His earthly ministry for three-and-half years. When the Lord was arrested and judged, Peter denied the Lord three times and left (Matt. 26:75), yet John stayed there (John 18:15-16). When the Lord was crucified, the other disciples were not seen around the cross, yet John was still there (John 19:16). After hearing the news of the Lord’s resurrection, John arrived at the Lord’s grave first (John 20:4). John was present at the first meetings to receive the breathing and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. He was also with Peter at the conversion of the 3,000 and 5,000 souls. He was there faithfully in everything that the Lord was doing to build up the Body of Christ. He was not taking the lead, yet he was one with and in full support of Peter, who at that time was taking the lead. He had a clear vision of Christ and the church. He saw the need of oneness (John 17) and kept the oneness of the Spirit.
The Lord preserved him until all the original disciples passed away. He was faithful until the end, even during his exile on the island of Patmos. Then the Lord showed only him the last revelation — the New Jerusalem, the ultimate consummation of the mingling of Christ and the built-up church. John is definitely a pattern for us to follow for the building up of the church.
Have you seen the vision of Christ and the church? Peter, Paul and John saw the vision in their spirit. All you have to do is pray with the Word in spirit and fellowship with your companions. Eventually, you will see the same vision they saw. Based upon the vision of Christ and the church you will receive a commission from the Lord to preach the Word, to bring new members into the Body of Christ, to nourish them in life, to teach them the truth, and to build them up into the church. Together, you will raise up many local churches on the earth to bring the Lord back.
Seeing the vision and receiving a commission is still not enough. You need to be obedient to the heavenly vision, and you need to be faithful to carry out the commission. Peter, Paul and John will receive a reward, and so will you. Do not put them on a pedestal and down-grade yourself. They are our elder brothers. They had the same problems that we have. They also had the same spirit we have. Whatever they had we have. We must be faithful as they were. Hallelujah! One day, we will all line up together to receive a reward having been faithful in enjoying Christ for the building up of the church.
