Paul was a Pattern of Living and Ministering Christ as the Spirit in his spirit

A picture is worth a thousand words, and as we read the New Testament we see how Paul was a pattern to us, the believers; he was a pattern of living and ministering Christ as the Spirit in his spirit for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Paul enjoyed and experienced Christ, and to him Christ was so rich, wonderful, and real; he realized that Christ is in His heavenly ministry doing many things, and he, Paul cooperated with Christ to shepherd people for the building up of the Body.

On the one hand the Lord Himself is the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, and the Shepherd of our soul, and on the other hand He is seeking to not only shepherd us but to gain us to cooperate with Him and shepherd others according to God for the building up of the Body of Christ.

By shepherding the saints, we carry out our ministry in cooperation with Christ’s heavenly ministry to build up the Body. In cooperating with Christ’s heavenly ministry and in God’s work what matters most is not what we do but what we are.

God is not after people who can do so many things for Him; He wants to gain proper persons who would live Christ, express Christ, manifest Christ, and shepherd others according to God. Many times I wondered how should we shepherd the saints, what is the best way, and what are some examples of doing this.

It is easy to talk about shepherding others, but what does it really mean, and how is it practically done? First of all, as seen in 1 Thes. 2 and Acts 20, Paul’s person was fully one with the Lord, and his heart was for the shepherding of the saints.

He was a pattern of living and ministering Christ to shepherd the saints according to God. He imparted to the saints not only the gospel and the truth but even more, his own God-filled and God-constituted being. He took care of the saints both individually from house to house and corporately in the meetings, and his living was his pattern to them.

He fed the saints with his own living of Christ, and then he wrote them to remind them of his living. Paul was a pattern of one who imitated Christ and lived Christ, and he encouraged us to imitate him and those who live Christ. Today we want to see more of how Paul was a pattern to the believers in living and ministering Christ.

Paul was a Pattern of Living and Ministering Christ as the Spirit in his spirit

Paul was the chief among sinners, and he used to ravage the churches and put the believers into prison, but the Lord met him, saved him, and brought him to the church; now he became a pattern to all those who believe (see 1 Tim. 1:6; 4:12; Acts 26:16-19).

He told Timothy, a younger brother who was under his perfecting and shepherding, that he would not allow anyone despise his youth but that he would be a pattern to the believers.

Yes, he had to teach the saints, speak the word, read the Bible, but above all be a pattern, so that the saints would not only hear him but also see his action, word, conduct, love, faith, and purity.

The Lord appeared to Paul to make him a minister and a witness of the things in which Paul had seen Him and of the things in which He would appear to Paul (Acts 26:16-19; cf. 1:8; 23:11; 20:20, 31).

First, the Lord appeared to Paul; He revealed many things to him, and as Paul witnessed the riches and wonderful things concerning Christ, he simply had to testify again and again. Then, all those who saw Paul could witness of him that he was one who was living and ministering Christ as the Spirit in his spirit for the building up of the Body of Christ (1 Tim. 1:6; 4:12; Rom. 8:16).

So Paul took Christ as his everything – he took Christ as his living, his pattern, his goal, and his secret.

In Phil. 1:19-21a we see that Paul took Christ as his living, and his yearning and aspiration was that he would live Christ and magnify Him in everything. In Phil. 2:5-16 Paul took Christ as his pattern, and he encouraged us that the mind which was in Christ would also be in us.

In Phil. 3:7-14 Paul pursued Christ to gain Him, taking Christ as his goal; the fullest enjoyment and experience of Christ was the goal of Paul’s life. In Phil. 4:11-13 Paul learned the secret – Christ; the secret of Paul’s living and contentment was Christ and living Christ.

Paul lived and practiced what he preached, taking Christ in all these ways; by doing this, he was enabled to be a pattern to us, the believers.

Paul lived by the Spirit, walked by the Spirit, sowed unto the Spirit, and ministered the Spirit as a spiritual man who lived and served in his spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25; 6:8; 2 Cor. 3:6; 1 Cor. 2:15; 2 Cor. 2:13; Rom. 1:9; 8:16). Paul was a spiritual man, one who lived in Spirit, walked in Spirit, sowed unto the Spirit, and ministered the Spirit wherever he went; everything he did was in the mingled spirit.

Paul was infused with God to shine forth God in the ministry of the new covenant, which is the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of righteousness, and the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:1; 3:6, 8-9; 5:18-20).

He was entrusted with the ministry of the new covenant, which is of the Spirit, of righteousness, and of reconciliation; all these, in application, were carried out through Paul’s shepherding. He sought to shepherd the saints that they would be further reconciled to God, and he was a pattern of living and ministering Christ to others for the building up of the Body.

We need to possess the reality of living Christ, taking Him as our everything, and living in the Spirit, and then we can also live and minister Christ.

Finally, Paul lived and did everything not for his own ministry or glory but in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body (see Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 4:1-6, 15-16; Col. 2:19). The Body is the goal, and Paul worked together with God to raise up churches, edify the saints, shepherd the saints, and perfect the saints for the building up of the Body.

In the last chapter of Romans where Paul sends a lot of greetings to the saints in the Mediterranean area, he blends them into the Body so that the new man would come forth.

May we be those who not only know the Body and speak about the Body but practice the Body, flocking the believers, and being blended together in the Body.

Lord Jesus, thank You for the pattern of Paul – a pattern of one living and ministering Christ as the Spirit in his spirit for the building up of the Body of Christ. We take You, Lord, as our everything – we take You as our living, our pattern, our goal, and our secret. Amen! We want to live by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, sow unto the Spirit, and minister the Spirit as spiritual men who live and serve in our spirit. Infuse us, Lord, and shine forth from us in our shepherding of others to reconcile them further to God. Amen, Lord, may everything we do be in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body!

Learning from the Apostle Paul to Shepherd the Saints as the Flock of God

Paul, the top sinner – who was saved by God’s grace – became a top apostle, and he was set by God to be a pattern to us, the believers in Christ.

He took the Lord’s appearing and His kingdom as the incentive and goal for his living and work (2 Tim. 4:1), and we also need to realize that the Lord’s appearing will be for our reward or judgment, and His kingdom will be for His reigning with His overcomers.

He contacted and took care of people – whether sinners or believers – and so should we; we need to contact people, care for their need, and shepherd them according to God.

Paul even said that, besides all the cares that are pressing upon him daily, he is anxious for all the churches, and he becomes weak to the weak, and he burns for those who are stumbled (see 2 Cor. 11:28-29). What a genuine care and concern he had for the people!

We may have the attitude that others are weak – but we are not weak; others may be stumbled – but we are standing strong. But Paul, the top apostle, said, To the weak I became weak that I may gain the weak (1 Cor. 9:22).

This means that we should come down to the level of the weak ones and sick ones so that we may live Christ and minister Him to them in a shepherding way.

If someone is stumbled, we should not be self-righteous or criticizing but we should burn in sorrow and indignation over the cause of the stumbling of the fallen one.

We all need the Lord’s shepherding both directly and through other members of His Body, and we all need to cooperate with the Lord to shepherd others according to the shepherding that He has given us.

We need to learn from the Apostle Paul to shepherd the saints as the flock of God. When he was on his way to Jerusalem, he sent word to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church, telling them that they should shepherd the flock of God which He purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28).

What is on God’s heart is His flock, the Body of Christ; what should be on our heart is the saints, the church of God.

We shouldn’t aspire to do a great work like the spiritual giants in the past, but we should follow the pattern of Paul to be those living and ministering Christ as the Spirit in our spirit to others, shepherding them according to God, so that the church as the Body of Christ may be built up.

Lord Jesus, grant us to have a heart to shepherd people according to God, as we see the apostle Paul did. Save us from thinking we are not weak but strong. May we learn to lower ourselves to the weak one’s level to minister Christ to him in a shepherding way. May we have a caring heart for those who are stumbled, for the weak, and for the backsliding ones. Lord, put the saints and the church on our heart that we may shepherd them according to God. Shepherd us, Lord, that we may shepherd others also.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru C. for this week, and portions from, The Vital Groups, msg. 7 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Cooperating with the Heavenly Ministry of the Ascended Christ (2017 Spring ITERO), msg. 3 (week 3), The Pattern of the Apostle Paul in Cooperating with Christ’s Heavenly Ministry to Shepherd People for the Building Up of the Body of Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Press on, press on toward the goal— / The all-inclusive Christ. / To gain the prize of God’s high call, / Press on, press on to Christ! (Hymns #1205)
  # Occupy us for Your Body. / Grace supplying, You afford. / Always bearing, always caring, / By Your grace we’d be outpoured. / Grant us, Lord, a willing spirit. / To build Your Body we would strive. / By our measure we would function, / Until full-grown we’d all arrive. (Song on being outpoured for the Body)
  # Foll’wing Thee, Good Shepherd, I would feed, / Shepherd those allotted me, / E’er I’d touch Thy heart’s desire, / Live in Thine economy. (Song on shepherding others)