“So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Acts 20:32
In this text, Paul is speaking to the elders of the Ephesian church. He had laboured among the Ephesian believers. He had taught them. He had warned them. He had preached Christ to them. He had done the part he could do. And now, as he was leaving them, he said, “I commend you to God and to the word of His grace.”
In other words, “I have taught you what I can teach you. I have said what I can say. I have poured into you what I can pour. Now, I am handing you over to God and to His Word.” Because only the Word can continue to build you.
A preacher can preach, teach, guide, prophesy, even mentor and instruct you. But after all that has been done, you must still be commended to the Word.
Let it work
When you go to church and hear the Word preached, you are not supposed to leave it there. You are supposed to go back, study it, meditate on it, and allow it to continue its work in you. The Word of God carries within itself the power to keep building you long after the sermon has ended. It builds your strength, your mind, your faith, emotional maturity, spiritual capacity, wisdom, courage, and discernment in you.
One of the wonders the Word works is that it can build a man. There is no man the Word of God cannot build. It is not possible. If a person will stay with the Word, the Word will begin to shape them, strengthen them, correct them, grow them, and transform them. The Word takes you from milk to meat. But you have to dwell in it. You have to stay with it. You have to keep returning to it.
So when Paul said, “I commend you to the Word,” he was saying, “I trust the ability of the Word to continue what has started in you.”
What a wonder.
So beloved, as Paul said to the Ephesian elders, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace.
May you love the Word.
May you stay in the Word.
May you grow by the Word.
May the Word build you into all that God has called you to be.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Prayer:
Father, thank You for the building power of Your Word. I surrender myself to Your Word. Build me, strengthen me, mature me, and bring me into the inheritance You have prepared for me in Christ Jesus. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Bible Reading:
Philippians 3–4 and Psalm 119:169–176
