What’s more amazing is that he only knew these people for
THREE WEEKS (Acts 17:2) before he was forcibly expelled. Despite this, he loved
them so much that he couldn’t stop praying and worrying about them.
As I was praying through this passage, I realized that Paul had
been knit to these people. He would later write to another church, praying that
“their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all
the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery,
which is Christ…” (Colossians 2:2). He also noted that a mark of the gospel is
a singular-soul, or as the ESV translates it, “one spirit” (Philippians 1:27). He
exhorted the church that if Christ is actually God and the Spirit is actually able
to work in his church, that the result will be one like mind, joined in soul,
and one purpose (Philippians 2:2). The body is knit together (Psalm 139:13),
and so is the church body (Colossians 2:19)!
I have always loved the way that David and Jonathan practically
became brothers upon their first meeting (1 Samuel 18:1). I have told many
pastors throughout the years that they need to pray that God would give them
such a love between brothers. By the grace of God I have many such men in my
life who I’ve talked to just this week (and others who would talk in an instant
if I called or texted) and who have continually lifted me up in prayer and
spurred me on through encouragement.
But it has only been recently that I’ve realized that this
should not be a singular occurrence; the whole church should be knit to our
souls. If they hurt, I should hurt. We all suffer together as we press onwards
towards the upward call of Christ.
And hurt it does. Paul’s intense care for the churches led him
through many dangers, toils, and snares. As he loved more, he found he was
often loved less (2 Corinthians 12:15). Men who ran off into sin and apostasy
broke his heart (2 Timothy 4:10, 14). His heart was in constant anguish hoping
that they would be saved (Galatians 4:19).
There is a union between all true
believers, which is closer than any earthly tie. They are all members of one
body... They sympathize with one another in joys and sorrows. ~ J. C. Ryle
God has allowed me to delve the depths of this recently. I
was on my way to a doctor’s appointment, only to find out was canceled at the doctor’s
office. Before heading back to work I made a quick run into Walmart. Outside the
store was a homeless man sitting on the curb with a Bible open on his lap. I
asked what God was teaching him and he looked at me longingly and replied, “Not
much.” I asked if I could sit with him and we had a very difficult
conversation. Bitterness had consumed him and everything in his life was
someone else’s fault. I attempted to wound him gently with the Word, and while
I didn’t get far, I was able to pray with him. Then I grabbed him something to
eat inside. I prayed for him throughout the week. A week later I ran into him
at a ministry and initially didn’t recognize him because he was so cleaned up
and in his right mind. His bitterness was still rampant, but God showed me who
he could be. It wasn’t long before I heard that he had let his anger and malice
consume him again and he had probably moved to his home state, but I intend to
pray for him as long as I live that Christ would be—or has been—formed in him.
Please add him to your prayers.
He who has a heart of flesh will
have his heart broken... If you love the souls of men, you will be ready to
weep over them, to carry their burdens, and to suffer in their afflictions. ~
Charles Spurgeon
There is a movement by divisive people running rampant right
now, claiming that unity is a human work and that relationships should be
destroyed and abandoned for self-preservation. I was interested to learn that
the New Testament says so much about being of one mind and being knit together
among brothers. The opposite is this idea of “boundaries” and “self-preservation”.
That’s not the church, and that’s not Jesus. Paul didn’t get
this idea from his own experiences but from the teachings of Christ. In what is
called the High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prays for us repeatedly that we would
be one (John 17:11, 21-23).
This is hard, because church is hard. But it’s how he puts
his church together (Galatians 3:28, Romans 12:4–5, 1 Corinthians 12:12–13,
Ephesians 2:14–16, 4:4–6). If you love Jesus, you’ll love his brothers and
sisters. If you don’t love his brothers and sisters, it’s because you don’t
love him.
In that day you will know that I am
in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ~ John 14:20
Is God knitting your heart to others? Do you want him to? Take
a moment and pray about it. This is how the world will know that God sent
Jesus, and loved his church. Is your heart knit to Christ? To your brothers and
sisters? To the lost?
Don’t you care, don’t you care? Are
you gonna let them drown? ~ Keith Green
Why does it hurt so much? Because it’s worth it for Christ’s
sake, and the joy and glory to be gained are worth the cost.
The deepest sorrow in human life comes from the deepest love. Paul loved the church so profoundly that her failures, defections, and apostasies broke his heart. To minister effectively is to live in a state of massive, loving vulnerability. ~ John MacArthur
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