Acts 20:28, commentary and pictures

Paul at Miletus called the elders of Ephesus to him and gave them this farewell charge to take heed to themselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit had made them overseers to feed the church of God purchased with His own blood. The Holy Spirit makes men overseers of the flock, charging them to watch first themselves and then all entrusted to them and to feed and tend the church of God. Feeding is a threefold work of preaching the Word, doing earnest personal labor house to house, and setting a right example that declares all profitable truth. The church belongs to God because He bought it with His own blood, the blood of Christ, at infinite and priceless cost, making it His own flock and purchased possession. Watching is solemn because grievous wolves will enter not sparing the flock and men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples, and every shepherd must labor unweariedly for each priceless sheep as one who must give account.

Farewell Setting at Miletus

At Miletus Paul called the elders of the church at Ephesus to meet him and gave them his farewell charge to take heed to themselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit had made them overseers to feed the church of God purchased with His own blood. The watching was urgent because after his departing grievous wolves would enter in among them not sparing the flock, and men from their own selves would arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. That warning met corrupt licentious deceivers in Paul's day who mingled error with truth, taught heresies for truth, excused adultery and licentiousness, and ruined unwary souls, and it applies to the same class cursing the church in all ages. His account of ministry in that parting counsel offers lessons for gospel workers in teaching publicly and from house to house and laboring to meet his own needs and support others.

The charge crowns his preceding example of serving the Lord with humility of mind with tears amid trials, keeping back nothing profitable, teaching publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, preaching the kingdom of God, and declaring all the counsel of God so as to be pure from the blood of all men. It is the pattern for saving lost, perishing souls, meaning ministers must guard their own life and nourish the flock with that same full and faithful declaration of truth. The charge is plain speech, not mystery, appealing to their knowledge of his manner of life, with the call to watch and remember his three years of warning everyone night and day with tears and his commending them to God and the word of His grace. In all ages those who claim a work for the Lord while showing no respect for those God is using, who make wrong applications of Scripture and wrest it to sustain their own ideas, and who draw away from the body to proclaim theories of their own invention, fulfill the warning about perverse talkers and are in Satan's service to divert souls from present truth.

The setting includes his testimony that he coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel and that his own hands ministered to his necessities and those with him, showing that work with the hands does not lower the ministry but belongs with feeding the flock. Feeding and caring for the church includes such self-denying, self-supporting labor, as Paul worked with his toilworn hands day and night so as to be chargeable to no man, even suffering hunger to relieve others. His example as an all-round minister and Christian gentleman of the highest type proves that manual labor is not degrading and is not inconsistent with true greatness and elevation of human and Christian character, and that working with the hands in honorable labor does not necessarily lessen influence or make a man coarse, rough, uncourteous or discourteous. Ministers are not obligated to do in all respects as Paul did, yet his life remains the pattern of faithful ministry.

Overseers Charge to Watch

The Holy Spirit Himself makes overseers of the flock, charging them to take heed first to themselves and then to all the flock and to feed and tend the church of God. The church is God's own because He purchased it with His own blood, the blood of Christ, and that price gives the work its solemn importance. The charge crowns serving the Lord with humility of mind, with tears amid trials, keeping back nothing profitable, teaching publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and declaring all the counsel of God so as to be pure from the blood of all men. Feeding is not preaching alone but home missionary work, becoming acquainted with the different families whether converted or without God and without hope, following public discourses with visits and helpful encouraging words for their well-being. The warning joined to the charge shows the danger to be guarded, that after departing grievous wolves will enter in not sparing the flock and men of their own selves will arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them, so trial and disappointment and apostasy will be gone over again and again yet require standing after having done all.

Taking heed to themselves means their own example must illustrate and enforce their instructions, giving no occasion for the truth to be evil spoken of or discredited. As representatives of Christ they must maintain the honor of His name by devotion, purity of life and godly conversation, proving themselves worthy of their calling and by right example exerting an influence beyond words to encourage faith and holiness, fervent love, devotion and integrity. God requires fearlessness in preaching the word and fidelity in exemplifying its precepts however despised, reviled, opposed or persecuted, so every faithful teacher can at the close say he is pure from the blood of all men. Ministers are accountable to God for the influence of words and actions because the flock looks to them and imitates them, and unfaithfulness is a serious offense showing an unfit or unskillful minister has mistaken his calling. The solemn responsibility requires learning from Christ and serving as examples of faith, confidence and love, seeking grace and power from God to do the work well, with wages not the chief concern but willing faithful service. A man whose conduct shows he is not controlled by God's Spirit is not fit to be entrusted with influence as overseer or preacher, and must be changed before the church can rightly place confidence in him.

Teachers whom God appoints to educate the youth are also overseers of the flock with pastoral responsibility to watch themselves and those entrusted to them for spiritual care. Their charge is to take special heed to themselves and to learn from Christ and serve as examples. They must not use their position to invent plans for exercises and games that train pugilists and bring sacred things down to the level of the common.

Feeding Means Faithful Ministry

To feed the church is a threefold charge to preach the Word, to do earnest personal labor, and to set a right example in personal care for the blood-bought heritage in self-denial and self-sacrifice revealing holiness to the Lord. It is the outcome of serving with humility and tears amid trials, keeping back nothing profitable, teaching publicly and from house to house, testifying repentance toward God and faith toward Christ, and declaring all the counsel of God so as to be pure from the blood of all men. It requires not taking the work easily and comfortably nor merely copying others, but examining self to learn meekness and lowliness, declaring all profitable truth, teaching publicly and from house to house, and laboring to support the weak. Feeding means caring with great patience and perseverance for lambs young in the faith, opening the Scriptures and educating them for usefulness and duty, lest believers have a dwarfed experience exposed to temptation and deception.

Feeding is home missionary work, not preaching in the house of God alone but faithful personal labor from house to house. The overseer is to become acquainted with the different families, whether converted or still without God and without hope, follow public discourses with visits and helpful encouraging words, a work far more effective for well-being than sermons alone. Like a shepherd and like a physician of spiritual illness, he is to visit families, learn the spiritual condition of parents and children, pray with them, give help suited to need, and feed through words and actions while seeking strength from God to strengthen those in care. Pastors are responsible to lead in the path of truth and teach the word in a way suited to the people's needs. Every soul under care being bought by Christ's blood must be loved and treated as precious, with the overseer first a sentinel over his own spirit and then feeding and guarding by love shown in words and actions, exemplifying Christ without conceding principle, considerate and kind, avoiding dictatorial authority, sharp orders, reproofs and sharpness of spirit, giving no cause to be called dishonest, using lent talents in personal notice and ministry that money cannot buy, with voice often kindly, hopeful, tender and loving, because the work is for eternity and will meet judgment. Those precious by purchase call ministers to watch for souls and to teach members how to work for those for whom Christ died.

Feeding builds believers spiritually by feeding on Christ, thinking of Him and obeying His words, with shepherds and teachers living by truth, renouncing sin and deceit, presenting the gospel honestly, and keeping the cross and its call to self-denial prominent rather than hidden. It is preaching the Word with precious saving truth standing clear and prominent, the truth as it is in Jesus, Christ and Him crucified, with nothing interposed between the soul and the Savior. It requires reproving, rebuking and exhorting with longsuffering and doctrine, speaking not as pleasing men but God, avoiding foolish questions and strife about words and gratifying taste for drollery and novelty. Counselors and ministers are not to fasten people to themselves nor seek glory, but to turn sympathies to Jesus, lifting eyes above poor erring mortals to rest upon Christ and Him crucified, the Lamb of God that takes away sin, in clear distinct light. To feed is to give healthful food that builds clean uplifting character and brings peace and prosperity, while to feed poison creates dissension and strife, brings evil into character, and makes later work much harder.

Faithful oversight is done willingly and of a ready cheerful mind, not by constraint nor for filthy lucre nor as lords over heritage tyrannizing with human tests, but as examples with God's Word as the test. It means self-forgetfulness and hiding in Christ, daily lifting by the Spirit to breathe holiness, aiming high and exercising unto godliness, both preaching the Word and ministering in homes, visiting, praying, presenting the heavenly manna, and educating to contemplate Christ's love. Those who so labor are attended by angels, themselves instructed and enlightened in truth that makes wise unto salvation, learn the people's necessities, have sympathies called out, and manifest the tenderness of Jesus' love for blood-bought souls, a love that grows by exercise as self is sunk in interest for the work, including speaking straight plain words where needed. They confess sins, humble hearts, and show tenderness, pity, compassion, meekness and lowliness in appreciation for souls for whom Christ died, watching as those who must give account. More than sermonizing, they give the trumpet a certain sound by instructing churches in practical missionary work, showing each member how to labor, laying out lines of work so each sees necessity of part, selecting able members, placing them under responsibility, and teaching them to serve and bless others so light is put to practical use and churches do not wither for failing to diffuse truth.

Those who appoint shepherds share responsibility and must provide only a faithful shepherd who takes heed to himself and carefully guards every sheep and lamb so no mischief comes to them. The true shepherd acts as a physician of souls, hunting up the spiritually diseased to heal and bind up, not poisoning to death with evil surmisings, criticism and faultfinding. A man of that faultfinding temperament lacks wisdom for clean uplifting thorough work, makes later work harder, while a church has far more peace and hope of prosperity when such have nothing to do with the sheep. Overseers, and conference leaders in their application of the charge, are to have good reputation, know Scripture, have experience in faith and patience, meekly instruct opposers, be persons of integrity, mature rather than inexperienced, able to teach from Scripture, honorable to Christ in character, speech and conduct, teaching and living truth while growing able to bear greater responsibilities. Guardians of the flock must be faithful, wide-awake to perceive evil, reasoning from cause to effect to prevent the sure result of unfaithfulness, not afraid of men yet beware of them, guarding the church against business entanglements that would place it in men's power. Those who credential ministers and pay them from the tithe become responsible for their influence, and must require a minister in a wrong course of dishonesty and misrepresentation to draw money to change, withdrawing credentials unless he changes so authority no longer sanctions his course.

Wolves and Apostasy Foretold

The charge to take heed to self and to all the flock rests on appointment by the Holy Spirit to feed and tend the church belonging to God by purchase with His own blood, and the warning that follows defines the danger to be guarded against. Watching is necessary because after the departing grievous wolves will enter in among them and will not spare the flock, and also from among themselves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. That was the exhortation given to the elders of the church at Ephesus called to meet at Miletus, to take heed to themselves and to all the flock over which the Spirit had made them overseers. Leaders must therefore guard the church against such corruption from without and from within, and warn people earnestly and persistently against twisting truth to draw disciples aside.

This disagreeable experience of trial and disappointment and apostasy is to be expected and has been gone over again and again as a great trial and increased burden that hurts the soul, yet requires standing after having done all. The warning met corrupt licentious deceivers in Paul's day and applies to the same class cursing the church in all ages, who mingle error with truth, teach heresies for truth, excuse adultery and licentiousness, and draw away and ruin unwary souls. Faithfulness to the charge requires the pattern of teaching publicly and from house to house repentance toward God and faith toward Christ, keeping back nothing profitable and declaring all the counsel of God, with watchful warning night and day with tears for three years so as to be pure from the blood of all. Even those belonging to Christ and precious to God may turn away from the gospel, deny His divinity, and trust their own reasoning, only to find such false beliefs fail when affliction and death confront them.

The warning is fulfilled in all ages by men who claim a work for the Lord while showing no respect for those God is using, who make wrong applications of Scripture and wrest it to sustain their own ideas, and who draw away from the body to proclaim theories of their own invention. They are not satisfied to dwell upon the lessons given by Jesus Christ and always seek something strange and odd to present as new light that other men have overlooked. In doing so they are in Satan's service to divert souls from present truth.

A shepherd of the flock must therefore watch for evil and give warning, and watch for every danger lest the sheep be harmed and destroyed by wolves. He must keep the flock in the true pasture and bring back those who stray, and he bears guilt when through unfaithfulness he discerns not the evil, gives no warning, and suffers the sheep to be torn and scattered and devoured. He cannot excuse his failure by blaming the weak, erring sheep for leading him out of the way, and such a plea destroys confidence in him as a faithful shepherd to care for the sheep. Those overseeing the church must take heed to themselves and stay alert to danger so they do not lose opportunity to recognize and warn others, for watchmen's sleepiness and delay leave them years behind. The last-days class that denies Christ includes spiritualists, whose claims of freedom conceal rebellion against God and slavery to sin and Satan.

Guarding the blood-bought flock includes firmly protesting unsound doctrine that would endanger truth by faithful leaders. To misrepresent truth and to turn that flock, if possible, into forbidden paths is a betrayal of the trust entrusted to those placed over it to feed and guard it, and endangers the safety of souls instead of keeping them in the right way.

Church Purchased With Blood

The church belongs to God because He purchased it with His own blood, the blood of Christ, at infinite and priceless cost, making it His own flock and heritage and purchased possession. The Holy Spirit appoints overseers to take heed to themselves and to all the flock and to feed and tend that blood-bought church, and remembering that price gives solemn importance to their work. Their own example must illustrate and enforce their instructions, giving no occasion for truth to be evil spoken of, maintaining the honor of Christ's name by devotion, purity of life and godly conversation, proving worthy of calling, and exerting by right example an influence beyond words to encourage faith, holiness, fervent love, devotion and integrity. They are to labor in word and doctrine with diligence and perseverance to keep the flock healthy and flourishing, willingly and of a ready mind not by constraint nor for filthy lucre, building believers up by feeding on Christ through thinking of Him and obeying His words, living by the truth, renouncing sin and deceit, presenting the gospel honestly, and keeping the cross with its call to self-denial prominent. The charge to guard is urgent because destructive false teachers may come from outside or arise from within, distort truth and lead disciples astray.

The purchaser is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Creator as well as Redeemer, who gave His precious life for people in great cities full of wickedness, for the wealthy and the lowly and the weary and heavy laden, to bear the curse of their sin and impute His righteousness to them. In Him human nature and divine nature were mysteriously blended in one person without change, the human nature of the Son of Mary not changed into the divine nature of the Son of God, with all the fulness of the Godhead dwelling bodily in Him. When He was crucified it was His human nature that died, for Deity did not sink and die since that was impossible. He veiled His glory in humanity so that divinity could touch humanity and reach fallen men, suffered substitutionally in their place and took them into union with Himself, living and working in a fallen world and mingling with sinful humanity, a union of divine love, condescension and substitutionary suffering into which angels desire to look. Because He loved the church and gave Himself for it, the divine Son walks amid the churches as among the seven golden candlesticks, Himself supplying oil to the burning lamps and kindling the flame, for in Him was life and the life was the light of men. No candlestick and no church shines of itself, but all light emanates from Christ and must be received from the throne of God and diffused to those in darkness, and woe rests on the church that walks in sparks of its own kindling instead of deriving light and power from Christ; the church in heaven is only the complement of the church on earth, higher, grander and perfect, with the same divine illumination continuing through eternal ages, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the light thereof.

His blood is the price that secures the human race's emancipation from sin and the enemy's power. By dying for the guilty race Jesus the Saviour of the world purchased an inheritance at the cost of His own blood, and having risen from the dead, ascended to His Father, received all power and authority and given gifts to men, He receives into favor and freely pardons all who come to Him repentant and confessing their sins. His death at Calvary made Him Redeemer and is the basis of His effective plea for guilty people who repent, trust Him and entrust their lives to Him, claiming mercy and reconciliation for them and defeating Satan their accuser. If those He pardons remain true to Him He will exalt them to His throne and make them His heirs to the inheritance His blood bought. That redemption is the Son of God's free gift to be received by faith, a great mystery whose power, greatness and efficacy will not be fully understood until the translation of the redeemed, which the enemy is determined to mystify into nothingness.

The purchase extends to every human faculty, existence and blessing in life, giving people a claim on life that calls them to remember God as Giver rather than live only for appetite and passion. It embraces the whole world and every son and daughter of Adam, with God's message of mercy intended to reach everyone, making the world His field of labor. It gathers those who through earnest God-fearing work may become members of the Lord's family, who belong to Him and may turn from serving sin to unite with Christ and His workers. It includes Israel, those in darkness and ignorance shut away from warning truth over whom the Lord of heaven keeps care, and those outside the faith, so that no one has right to refuse His service.

Because the blood gives Him claim, those bought are not their own but belong to Him, with time, strength, possessions, influence, abilities and talents entrusted for the Redeemer and to be used in His cause rather than withheld or used without regard to God. This ownership calls those who serve Him to give themselves wholly to His service rather than live for themselves or worldly purposes, matching work to light and power received. By the blood of His atoning sacrifice Jesus rescued people from Satan's grasp and set them free, buying powers, bodies and money so that they are the Lord's and the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. That purchase therefore requires strict economy in all things and strict temperance in all things, using eating, dressing, time and talents to His glory and seeking the inward adorning of a meek and quiet spirit which God estimates of great price, improving the purchased life daily. One so bought will not enslave himself to tobacco and cannot be guiltless in spending the Lord's entrusted money to gratify an appetite with no foundation in nature.

Those whom Christ purchased with the price of His blood belong to Him, so that rejecting Him leads step by step toward denying the One who bought them.

Shepherds Answer for Flock

Remembering that the flock was bought with Christ's own blood at priceless, infinite cost gives the overseer's work its solemn importance, for every sheep entrusted to him is of priceless worth. Taking heed to themselves and to the flock means their own example must illustrate and enforce their instruction, giving no occasion for the truth to be evil spoken of, and as representatives of Christ maintaining the honor of His name by devotion, purity of life and godly conversation, proving worthy of their calling and by right example exerting an influence beyond words to encourage faith and holiness, fervent love, devotion and integrity among those for whom they labor. They must therefore labor unweariedly in word and doctrine with diligence and perseverance to keep the flock in a healthy, flourishing condition, constantly working for its welfare in self-denying imitation of Christ. That labor is to strengthen the weak, nourish the fainting and protect from danger, putting the flock's welfare before wages or ease, unlike hirelings who abandon it in danger and trial. God requires fearlessness in preaching the word and fidelity in exemplifying its precepts however despised, reviled, opposed or persecuted, so that every faithful teacher can at the close say he is pure from the blood of all men, and the flock prospers under such care.

Every shepherd will be called to render a strict account of his ministry, watching for souls as they that must give account. He stands between the living and the dead and must answer for his faithfulness, his mission and his influence over those entrusted to his care. Those who credential and support ministers share that responsibility for faithfulness and influence. Taking heed to themselves in this accountability means confessing their own sins and humbling their hearts, showing tenderness, pity, compassion, meekness and lowliness in appreciation for souls for whom Christ died. Those looked upon as counselors and ministers are not to fasten the people to themselves or seek glory for themselves, but to turn sympathies to Jesus Christ and Him crucified, lifting them above poor erring mortals until their eyes rest upon the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, while also teaching church members how to work for those for whom Christ died.

Unfaithful shepherds who feel the burden and care to be a disagreeable task, done by constraint or for filthy lucre and gain, stand reproved, and the Chief Shepherd would willingly release them. Such unfaithfulness includes feeding themselves and not the flock, shutting others from hearing, and wounding and scattering the flock, which then calls for faithful labor to save those harmed by them. When leaders fail in devoted, self-denying, soul-concerned service and in example of holy living and unselfish service, the churches under their care do not prosper, and they must answer to God for their stewardship.

Those found faithful shall receive a rich reward, a crown of glory that fadeth not away, when the Chief Shepherd shall appear. Faithfulness here is humble, willing service of a ready mind, devoted and self-denying concern for souls with holy living and unselfish example.

Care for Youth and Children

The youth are younger members of the Lord's family purchased by Christ's blood at infinite sacrifice, and therefore have a claim on love, patience, sympathy, kindness and self-denying, earnest labor for their salvation. Their eternal interests call for care beyond one's own family and temporal concerns, following the pattern of Christ's self-denying love. Teachers must correct even those with idle or vicious habits without impatience or harshness, seeking to win them to Jesus rather than driving them further into ruin. They are to be won, not driven, for Satan seeks them as agents of doubt and ruin unless vigilant love secures them.

Children are Christ's property bought with His own blood, valued so highly that He gave His life for them, and God has a deep interest in their welfare as their Creator who best understands all their needs. They are placed in parents' charge as a serious trust for which parents will answer in judgment, to be treated tenderly and without partiality, severity or favoritism. They must be patiently, firmly and lovingly trained for Him, that faithful care may help them stand pure before God, become His co-workers leading others to the path of life, shine as lights in the world and a crown of rejoicing, and be fitted for immortal life, while neglectful discipline turns them toward those who oppose Christ. His word is the only safe guide for their care and training, wiser than any human philosophy or plan, and careful study and faithful obedience to it prevents soul anguish over the perverse conduct of wicked children.

Those under a teacher's care are souls purchased by Christ's blood, members of the Lord's family and part of His blood-bought heritage, whose worth requires every soul to be valued and treated as precious without favoritism. Teachers, directors as stewards of Christ and shepherds, masters over apprentices in workrooms, and leaders of publishing workers and Sabbath-school pupils must therefore treat learners with patience, humility, generosity, nobility, kindness, courtesy, tenderness, respect, affection and love. Instruction is to be given with kindness, patience and sympathy, not in an imperious, arbitrary, discontented or dictatorial way that demands knowledge before teaching has been given, makes the learner dread to ask for information, or lords it over God's heritage. No authoritative, harsh, accusing or condemnatory word is to escape the lips, lest the leaven of strife, harshness and contention enter and Christ be dishonored, and a person of ill-balanced character who enforces single ideas must not be placed over apprentices, for God witnesses the least injustice done to them. Overseers must discipline themselves, repress harshness, hold fasting and prayer, make the work pleasant and cheerful, gain confidence and love by companionship and example in respecting learners, and by personal effort, sympathy, entreaty and pitying love seek to save the erring rather than neglecting or casting them off to ruin.

Young people in the flock are Christ's own possession, His precious charge purchased through His life and blood, by whose merits alone salvation comes, without which souls will be eternally lost. Corrupting them is grave betrayal of sacred trust that damages the moral image of God and can lead to destruction of both soul and body. They are like plants in the Lord's garden which He tends with care, especially when weak or with little spiritual life, so no one should be careless in harming or uprooting them. They must therefore be watched over with vigilance against spiritual danger, with decided efforts without delay to break up injurious associations that will ruin souls, and with opportunities sought to do them good and to place youth where they are taught what it means to be a Christian rather than merely learning a trade.

Honor Toward Blood-Bought People

Each soul bought with Christ's blood has a worth that outweighs every other interest, proved at Calvary at infinite, priceless cost. That value is seen by heaven through His sacrifice, for He made a complete sacrifice sufficient for every repentant believer, though few choose the obedient, self-denying life it involves. Every person bears God's image and is valued through that sacrifice, formed in His image, so no nation or people is to be treated with contempt or hatred, and God sees harm done, hears cries, and holds accountable those who lead souls to ruin. Men, women and children are thus purchased, showing His earnest love as He waits for each to throw off Satan's yoke and surrender without reserve, with God ever holding supreme affection even where family love is right, and each person's attitude toward God and truth creating an atmosphere affecting the family for life or death to spirituality, hope and faith. Souls so bought are more valuable than gold, silver, jewels, display or properties, and their loss if finally unsaved is solemn beyond estimate.

Because people are so bought they must be treated with reverence, tenderness, patience, kindness, affection and Christian love, never with contempt, harshness, oppression, slander, suspicion, robbery, cold unsympathy or indifference. This applies even to those outside the faith and to the discouraged and those trying to obey amid unbelief and lack of support at home, who are to be faithfully encouraged and not wounded by careless words and actions. Treating every person as purchased by Christ's blood belongs to obeying Christ and fulfilling God's law, and those who deal with His people are to represent Christ in conduct. Wounding them dishonors God, is charged as done to Christ, is recorded and judged, and calls for repentance and restitution, for driving them from the right path is a grave wrong answerable at judgment.

No human leader may claim ownership of Christ's people or take charge of souls by controlling them, for the church is God's blood-bought heritage belonging to God, not to human rulers. No person is made master of another's mind or conscience, and none may lead souls away from the Word into teachings that endanger them or stand between God and His heritage. Such interference harms those who belong to God, affronts His saving power, and risks eternal loss even for one misled soul. All are real erring men linked together in different service under Christ's and the Holy Spirit's control, given work by God and guardianship of His grace to walk in His light clothed in His righteousness, serving with humility and selflessness without ruling over others, letting the Word be the test, walking humbly, respecting rights, and answering to God for their care.

Faithful colored believers, colored orphans and outcasts, and all of every land and color are Christ's purchase precious to God, bought by the shedding of His precious blood. A soul truly transformed by Christ will not despise anyone He has purchased, and racial prejudice and contempt are incompatible with His presence in the believer. Those He has purchased must not be despised because of color or fatherlessness, for prejudice denies the worth of His sacrifice, and to despise or mistreat them is to despise those He calls for transforming grace to regard with pitying tenderness and the same respect as any of God's children. Their value as those He died for should move believers to deny themselves and provide the privileges He died to give, while religious education with kindness and respect reveals what grace can do. His purchase rests on His humility for fallen humanity, in that though equal with God He took human nature, became humanity's advocate before the Father, and became poor so people could receive an immortal inheritance as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Him.

The poor, suffering, sick, afflicted, aged veterans and orphans are blood-bought and dear to Christ, and even orphaned children difficult to care for are among those precious to Him. Physicians, nurses and caregivers therefore stand as guardians of lives belonging to Christ under the Great Physician's oversight, guided by high and noble principles and carrying out the divine Medical Missionary's will. Their work is sacred for soul and body, not cheap or merely professional, requiring right regard for His purchased inheritance, trust in Christ rather than self, and guarding against sin.

Belonging to Christ lays on every believer individual responsibility that cannot be handed to another, for the bought are not their own and are accountable to God for influence, body and spirit to glorify Him. He has work for everyone, so skill and energy should serve Him rather than be spent entirely on worldly pursuits, with a well-ordered life and godly conduct presenting Christ to the world as the self-denying, spotless Lamb. This calls every church member, not only ministers, to give themselves fully to Him and work with self-sacrificing love for neighbors, idolaters, erring brethren, wayward sons and sinners in need, since Jesus died for every son and daughter of Adam to bring healing and salvation. All can do something by scattering publications and using means wisely near and far, growing in knowledge, made holy through truth, becoming more like Jesus and more desirous to save precious blood-bought souls, learning to work most successfully and methodically, joined to the church to strengthen one another and become pillars with saving influence, with success depending much on words, deportment and manner.

The blood-bought church is the dearest object of God's jealous care and the special object of Christ's love, entrusted with sacred truth and righteousness, longing to clothe her with salvation and share His glory. Its members hold a sacred trust in which betrayal is treachery against Christ, while the Holy Spirit works within to transform hearts, and people treat the purchase lightly when they fail to value and care for one another. She shines only by receiving light from the throne and cooperating with heaven in unity with the church above, gathering straying sheep to refuge, peace and joy, with members to remain open to every light God gives so they may receive and share ever more of the Sun of Righteousness. Education and training of those purchased by the blood of the only-begotten Son, who in body, soul and spirit are God's property, should prepare them for immortal life rather than merely this short uncertain life, not training them to serve wealth, seek human praise or glory, or submit to the world, and causing suffering through religious bigotry is offensive to God. Members must therefore live peaceably, keep unity, and reveal His love.

Church Warns Lovingly Today

The charge to take heed to oneself means overseers who deal with human minds must first place themselves under Christ's discipline and wear His yoke of restraint and obedience, learning His meek and lowly ways and methods before they attempt to labor for others. Only when Christ's grace has softened and subdued their own hearts are they ready to educate and treat each soul rightly, instead of acting in a harsh spirit that is not approved. Taking heed to self requires steadfast purpose to wage eternal warfare against cherished errors and sins whatever loss or suffering it costs, carefully studying God's holy law as the great standard of character and pleading for grace to meet that standard. It requires taking oneself in hand and ceasing to wrestle for one's own way, so that the Lord can teach His better, pleasant and satisfying way and will.

Because each person is purchased with His blood and is of value in God's sight, no one should turn sarcasm even upon self, but should walk as an intelligent, humble person saved by grace alone and wholly dependent on matchless grace for perfection of character. Such self-discipline gives evidence of the transforming power of the Spirit upon heart and mind, manifesting a greater desire to be approved by God as a workman needing not to be ashamed.