Psalm of the Day: Psalm 2
Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 1:8-19
Scripture Reading: Luke 1:1-4
Luke draws a beautiful picture of the true position of the apostles in the early church. He calls them "eye-witnesses and ministers of the word."
There is an instructive humility in this expression. There is an utter absence of that man-exalting tone which has so often crept into the Church. Luke gives the apostles no flattering titles. He does not afford the slightest excuse to those who speak of them with idolatrous veneration, because of their office and nearness to our Lord.
He describes them as "eye-witnesses." They told men what they had seen with their own eyes, and heard with their own ears. (1 John 1:1.)
He describes them as "ministers of the word." They were ministers of the word of the Gospel. They were men who counted it their highest privilege to carry about, as messengers, the tidings of God's love to a sinful world, and to tell the story of the cross.
Well would it have been for the Church and the world, if Christian ministers had never laid claim to higher dignity and honor than the apostles claimed for themselves. It is a mournful fact — that ordained men have constantly exalted themselves and their office to a most unscriptural position. It is a no less mournful fact — that people have constantly encouraged this evil, by a lazy acceptance of the demands of priest-craft, and by contenting themselves with a mere vicarious religion. There have been faults on both sides. Let us remember this, and be on our guard.
Prayer for the Day: Dear Lord, help me to be humble and not think higher of myself than I ought to think.
This devotional was taken from The Gospel of Luke by J.C. Ryle published in 1858
and adapted by Pastor Tim Lewis of New England Shores Baptist Church.
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