Acts 9:31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord… For the precise meaning and the New Testament use of the term "edified," consult the Exposition. The "rest" secured for the Church at this time followed partly on the removal of Saul from the party of the persecutors, in which he had been the most active member; none seemed ready to take up the work which had so completely dropped from his hands, and by his secession the whole party was depressed and disorganized. But it followed chiefly on the fact that the attention of the Jewish rulers was turned away from the disciples to resist an attempt made by Caligula to have his statue erected in the temple at Jerusalem. The importance of resting-times for nations, Churches, and individuals should be shown, and the ways in which they usually come may be pointed out. Their value is illustrated in connection with our text, from which it appears that when, in a resting-time, the Church was edified, it was found to be also multiplied; or, to express it in other forms, internal culture is the best guarantee of external success. We dwell on two things. I. SOUL-CULTURE. AND ITS INTERNAL SIGNS. Piety, from the Christian point of view, is a new and spiritual life, With which our souls are quickened by the Holy Ghost. But in its beginnings it is young, feeble, untested life, like that of the young seedling or plant. Culture is demanded. The young life must be nourished into strength; and while the expressions of the life, in leaf and branch and flower, need to be watched and guided aright, the gardener's supreme anxiety is to maintain and to increase the vitality. And so, while apostles give good counsel for the ordering of Christian conduct, their supreme anxiety concerns the culture of the soul's life. They would have their disciples "grow in grace and in the knowledge [experimental] of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." It is to such forms of" edification" that Churches are directed in their quiet resting-times. Two signs were given as indicating that this "edifying work was healthily progressing. 1. There was holy walking. Walking in the fear of the Lord." Christian conduct and conversation was "as becometh the gospel of Christ." The relations of the members to each other were kindly and brotherly, and the character of the disciples was increasingly satisfactory. 2. There were signs of heart-joy. The disciples were evidently enjoying the "comfort of the Holy Ghost " - the inward sealing of the Spirit; the power of his impulses to righteousness, and that happy sense of adoption which he gives. When the soul is efficiently cultured, its signs are apparent in these two things - joy in God, and holy living. Joy in God includes joy in his worship and his work. Holy living includes the nourishing of all graces and virtues into fullness and beauty and power. Illustrate by the commendations of the living Christ to such Churches as Ephesus, Smyrna, and Philadelphia. II. SOUL-CULTURE AND ITS EXTERNAL POWER. For evidently the two things, edification and multiplication, are intentionally connected, and the one is, in some important respects, the cause of the other. We may say that multiplying a Church is one of the certain consequences of its edifying, for the well-nourished and truly spiritual Church has power: 1. By its witness. Such life must find expression. (1) There is the silent yet mighty force of its unconscious influence. (2) There are the active labors to which it is inspired. 2. By its attraction. For wherever there is holy walking and evident heart-joy in God men are inclined to join the company. Such heart-joy all would find. Such holy walking seems to say, "Come with us, and we will do you good; for verily the Lord is with us." Distinguish carefully between the spasmodic and impulsive successes of revival times, and the steady witness and work of edged Churches and edified Christians in all ages. And conclude by impressing the moral value of the forces that strictly tend to edification, such as the example and character of our saintly ones, and the labors of those who instruct in Christian truth and duty. Such forces are sometimes most imperfectly estimated and are even undervalued, because their results are not easily counted; yet God's Word teaches us that in the way of edifying comes the truest power for multiplying. - R.T. Parallel Verses KJV: Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied. |
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