To Do and Teach

To Do and Teach

“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen . . . .” Acts 1:1-2.

Jesus began by first doing, and then teaching. This is the correct order. He learned obedience by the things He suffered. This is what He taught the others. His personal life was behind every word; therefore He could also speak with authority and power. He laid a solid foundation for His life; thus He became immovable.

Jesus also had a beginning in His life. He is the author and finisher of our faith. The little word “do” was the beginning of all the fullness of God in Jesus’ life: all wisdom, knowledge, and power. He began by doing God’s will as a small boy, in the little things that were right at hand. In this manner He grew in wisdom and stature, so that already as a twelve-year-old boy He could speak with authority and power, because His words rested on the foundation of His own life.

Jesus kept all the commandments. The entire Sermon on the Mount was spoken on the foundation of His own life. Now He also gives His laws and commandments to us as a glorious inheritance and possession. There is life and light in the commandments. By following them we partake of the same life that Jesus lived. If we reject the commandments, we also reject the life Jesus lived. If we reject the commandments, we reject Jesus Himself. The commandments are an expression to God’s good and perfect will for us. This is love for God, that we keep His commandments.

Jesus was the first among many brethren, and we shall live even as He lived. We must also begin by doing, and then we can teach. Such words become spirit and life. All other words are not edifying; they are lifeless. The Word of God contains divine powers that have the ability to create something. Therefore if anyone speaks in the church, let him speak as the Word of God. 1 Pet. 4:11. We read in Psalm 12:6, “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.”

When this pure Word of God melts together with faith in our hearts, we begin to do God’s will, and we will receive God’s Word as an abiding and eternal possession. Then we can speak these words that have become life in us with all boldness and power, and they will also impart life to others. We will become immovable and unassailable; we will grow up to be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19), and our teaching will drop as the rain and our speech will distill as the dew, as raindrops on the tender herb and as showers on the grass. Deut. 32:2.