“Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do” (Acts 15:3636And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. (Acts 15:36)). A motto for the evangelist is the expression, “To preach the gospel in the regions beyond” (2 Cor. 10:16). This is the grand object of the evangelist, let his talents or sphere of action be what they may. But the pastor has his work as well as the evangelist, and his motto can be found in the words, “Let us go again.” This is a model of what ought to be done, so long as there are brethren to be visited. The evangelist forms the vital connection; the pastor maintains and strengthens that connection. The one is the instrument of creating the beautiful link, the other of perpetuating it. It is quite possible that the two gifts may exist in the same person, as in Paul’s case, but whether this is so or not, each gift has its own specific sphere and object. The business of the evangelist is to call out the brethren; the business of the pastor is to look after them.
The order of these things is divinely beautiful. The Lord will not gather out His sheep and leave them to wander uncared for and unfed. Hence, He not only imparts the gift whereby His sheep are to be called into being, but also that gift whereby they are to be fed and maintained. He has His own interest in them and in every stage of their history. He watches over them with intense care from the moment in which they hear the first quickening words until they are safely in the mansions above.
If His desire to gather the sheep is expressed in the words, “The regions beyond,” His desire for their well-being is seen in the words, “Let us go again.” The two things are intimately connected. Wherever the Word of the Lord has been preached and received, there you have the formation of mysterious but real and most precious links between heaven and earth. There may be many things to hinder our spiritual perception of this link, but it is there. God sees it and faith sees it likewise. Christ has His eye upon every city, every town, every village, every street and every house in which His Word has been received.
Heartfelt Care
Now, our gracious Shepherd would fill the heart of each one acting under Him with His own tender care for the sheep. It was He who animated the heart of Paul to express and carry out the design embodied in the words, “Let us go again.” It was the grace of Christ flowing down into the heart of Paul and giving character and direction to the zealous service of that most devoted and laboring apostle.
Observe the force of the words, “Go again.” It does not matter how often you may have been there before. It may be once or twice, or more. This is not the question. “Let us go again” is the motto for the pastoral heart, for there is always a demand for the pastoral gift. Matters are always springing up in the various places in which “the word of the Lord” has been preached and received, demanding the labors of the divinely-qualified pastor. This is especially true in this day of spiritual poverty. There is immense demand on the pastor to “go again and visit [his] brethren in every city” where “the word of the Lord” has been preached, “and see how they do.”
Using Your Gift
Do you possess anything of a pastor’s heart? If so, think of those comprehensive words, “Let us go again.” Have you been acting on them? Have you been thinking of your “brethren” — of those “who have obtained like precious faith” — those who, by receiving “the word of the Lord,” have become spiritual brethren? Are your interests and sympathies engaged on behalf of “every city” in which a spiritual link has been formed with the Head above? Oh! how the heart longs for a greater exhibition of holy zeal and energy, of individual and independent devotedness—independent, I mean, not of the sacred fellowship of the truly spiritual, but of every influence which would tend to clog and hinder that elevated service to which each one is distinctly called in responsibility to the Master alone.
Let us beware of a false economy which would lead us to attach an undue importance to the matter of expense. The silver and the gold are the Lord’s and His sheep are far more precious to Him than silver and gold. His own words are, “Lovest thou Me? . . . Feed My sheep” (John 21:1616He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (John 21:16)). And if only there is the heart to do this, the means will never be wanting to carry us to “the regions beyond” to preach the gospel or to “visit our brethren” in “every city.”
C. H. Mackintosh