Acts 20:32
And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
The words close Paul's farewell at Miletus to the elders of Ephesus after three years of warning everyone night and day with tears. In that farewell he models faithful ministry by teaching the Scriptures publicly and from house to house repentance toward God and faith toward Christ, preaching the kingdom of God and declaring all the counsel of God, serving with humility amid trials, charging overseers to feed the flock purchased with blood and to watch against grievous wolves and perverse men rising from within, and laboring with his hands for his own necessities and his companions while coveting no silver or gold or apparel. The address presents the character of a minister who faithfully performs duty and stands as lessons for gospel workers. Manual work is not shameful or lowering to ministry but belongs with it, for he joined teaching with working at his tentmaking trade.
He entrusts believers to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build them up and strengthen them and to give them an inheritance among those who are sanctified and made holy. Sanctification and the promised inheritance belong together. The law cannot save a person who breaks it; salvation requires a Redeemer.
The inheritance among the sanctified is a crown of glory and an eternal weight of glory, a home and place of residence in heaven among the redeemed as God's chosen ones with an everlasting salvation, a future place in the home above to which God's people are bound. It is a reward shared by the faithful, and its promise gives comfort and hope of eternal life to be looked forward to with great desire of soul through affliction and physical suffering. God's people are now being fitted up and preparing for that inheritance, and the time to prepare for that future life is now. The heavenly universe is more interested than can be imagined in all that concerns them in that preparing work, and all that concerns them concerns God Himself, with whom they and all their interests are one.
The inheritance requires a clear title and safe ground, which many do not have, and requires worthiness to have a place there. The title is decided as every character is weighed in the balances of the sanctuary against the benefits, opportunities, and blessings bestowed, with wanting written against the name where moral character and spiritual advancement do not correspond, and worthiness is to be sought from God by earnest prayer. The title is secured now, while the atoning blood is presented, by putting away all selfishness and all sin through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and by doing earnest, thorough work to be complete in Christ Jesus.
This means striving with all God-given powers and making no mistakes, being pure and holy, learning in the school of Christ while obtaining an education for the useful practical duties of life, seeking daily to grow in grace and the knowledge of the Saviour, and walking in the plain path of duty with the assurance of doing the will of God which brings happiness. It means keeping close to Jesus as Leader and being filled with His divine love to God and to one another, searching the Scriptures daily to understand belief and studying the character of Jesus with humble hearts to reflect His image, and seeking, praying for, and believing for the descent of the Holy Spirit as the present privilege of the church, on a path that grows brighter and brighter as believers advance in the footsteps of Jesus. Seeking counsel from God should be cultivated as a blessing, taking advantage of the wisdom God has provided through Jesus Christ in their behalf, Christ linked with humanity that humanity might link with Christ.