An Old Disciple by Milburn Cockrell

AN OLD DISCIPLE

By Milburn Cockrell

“There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea , and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus , an old disciple, with whom we should lodge” (Acts 21:16 ).

We know nothing of Mnason save what can be gleaned from this single verse of Scripture. Mnason is a Greek name. This suggests that he was a Hellenist like Paul, a Jew born on Gentile soil and who spoke the Greek tongue. He had been born at Cyprus , the native island of Barnabas (Acts 4:36 ), who may have been a friend of his. For reasons unknown to us, he has moved to Jerusalem and is well known to the disciples at Caesarea . These disciples introduced Paul to this old disciple.

The expression, “an old disciple,” has been given various interpretations. Some suppose that he was converted by Paul and Barnabas on their visit to Cyprus (Acts 13:4). This is an improbable supposition, for he is here represented as unacquainted with Paul. Also the visit of Paul and Barnabas to Cyprus had been only fifteen years earlier, scarcely long enough to constitute Mnason “an old disciple.” Others say he was converted on the Day of Pentecost when the church was baptized in the element of the Holy Spirit. This could be so, but I doubt it. It is best to make him either one of the seventy missionaries chosen by Christ (Luke 10:1-16), or a personal follower of Christ. It would seem to me that in order for him to be an old disciple he would have had to be one of the early disciples of Christ, a disciple from the beginning, one of the original group of believers at the beginning of the Christian Era. He had long been a Christian and is now old and full of years.

HE HAD PERSEVERED IN THE FAITH

Mnason was a relic of the original disciples, a survivor of the primitive band, one of the rapidly diminishing persons who had seen Christ in the flesh and been drawn to Him by His own words. He is now privileged to meet and converse with some of the second generation of the church. Mnason had held fast to his early faith and to the Christ he had known from the beginning. He had seen much happen since he first became a disciple--- Calvary , Christ’s resurrection, Pentecost, and the beginning of world missions. His body had passed from youth to old age. Most of his friends were gone. James, John, and Peter remained. His feelings have changed, but not his faith in Christ. He realized that one generation comes and goes (Eccl. 1:4), but that Christ abides for ever.

Perseverance is found only in the regenerate. Superficial professors fall by the wayside; they do not endure to the end. There must be an inward change in the soul of a man, if he is to continue in his profession of faith. A house built on loose earth will not stand the storm of time long. Even so, if the principle of grace is not firmly established in the soul, one’s service to Christ will not be firm and constant. Mnason was a man who had been seasoned by grace. His being “an old disciple” proved he was truly a righteous man. In Job 17:9 it is written: “The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.” Mnason was no stony-ground hearer (Matt. 13:20 -21). Tribulation and persecution because of the Word had not caused him to be offended, for his heart was deeply rooted in the grace of God.

This old gentleman had seen many be persecuted and put to death for their faith, and he had resolved to be faithful unto death. He remembered the words of Christ: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22 ). Perhaps he also remembered hearing James declare: “We count them happy which endure” (James 5:11 ). During his many years as a disciple he had endured chastisement for his sins even from His Lord. But this had only made him to be in subjection to the Father of spirits and to be made a partaker of His holiness (Heb. 12:5-13). Mnason knew only hypocrites fail to endure the tears, turmoils, trials, and tribulations of the Christian life (I John 2:19 ).

This dear old disciple had made all his days as one. His love, his hopes, his treasures, his aims, and his joys, had all centered on Christ. He lived to abide in Christ and, in the main, throughout his life he had been in fellowship with Christ. No doubt Mnason had learned much more about Christ as the years had passed. Surely he had grown much in the grace and knowledge of Christ his Lord. He had not grown away from Jesus; he had gown up in Him. This old disciple had not left behind his first convictions of the Savior. Through much experience he had verified his faith and deepened and perfected his convictions of things. His faith had grown and brightened because his was the path of the just (Prov. 4:18 ). Health is gone and time is crumbling away, yet he holds firmly to the Lord he loved and served all his days.

What a lesson to all of us this old disciple is! Whether you be near the starting point, or near the finish line of your Christian course, don’t cast away your confidence. The Book of Hebrews often stresses the need of endurance in the Christian life. “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward” (Heb. 10:35 ). “But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Heb. 3:6). “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end” (Heb. 3:14 ). “And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end” (Heb. 6:11 ). Like Mnason, let us “continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:23). The example of Mnason exhorts us all that with purpose of heart we should cleave unto the Lord.

HE HAD LEARNED TO SHOW HOSPITALITY

This old disciple received Paul and his companions into his home in Jerusalem . Without a doubt, he heard of the trouble that Paul was likely to come into, which might endanger his own life and household. Nevertheless, he welcomed these missionaries into his home, regardless of the consequence. Here was not only a man “given to hospitality” (Rom. 12:13 ), but also a man who would endanger his own life in order to show kindness to God’s ministers. He gladly received the missionary team that he might be a fellow-helper of the truth they taught. Perhaps he remembered the words of His Lord: “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward” (Matt. 10:41 ).

Here was a man who felt it was an honor to be able to have missionaries to visit in his home. He was not mad because they dropped by to see him. He was not silently praying that they might depart at a very early date to go some other place. The rite of hospitality was shown in a distinguished manner by this old disciple to God’s men. The example of this old brother should cause us to be “given to hospitality” (I Tim. 3:2) and to “use hospitality one to another without grudging.”

HE WAS NOT A NEW LIGHTER

This man had continued in the faith of Christ. No false teacher had been able to lead him astray; his faith had not been shipwrecked by some new theory. While he had obtained much more light on old truths as the years went by, he was no new lighter. No one had deceived him and caused him to embrace another gospel. He was not tossed to and fro of every wind of doctrine. There were many false apostles in the land in his day, but none of them had moved him one inch from the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. In his latter days he had not succumbed to any new-fangled ways. He was acquainted with the old paths and was too old to change; yea, he had no desire to change.

This wishy-washy generation could learn a great lesson here! It is the characteristic of this age that both pastor and people seem to be going after some new doctrine. Our generation is disposed to rend apart what ought never to be separated. There is little faithfulness to the truth. Anything goes if money can be had by believing it and if it makes it possible to get large numbers into the church. God help us! The man who welcomes new light holds to no settled truths and has no root of conviction. He is like a leaf in the wind, a lost traveler without a roadmap, a ship without a rudder. May the Lord give us some old men who have not forsaken the old paths and the good old way. May He raise up some young men who will live to be old men and who will hold a firm grip on the old truths!

I have been in the ministry for forty-five years. At the beginning of my ministry I believed in sovereign grace. As the years have passed, my knowledge has increased in this area a hundredfold, and I trust it shall increase more. But my studies have never made me an Arminian! All of my ministerial life I have believed in the local church to the exclusion of the universal, invisible church. Having heard and read much to the contrary in forty-five years, and having seen many desert this worthy fortress, I still believe in church truth. I still don’t believe in the spooky church. I believe in a local body of baptized believers! Instead of obtaining new light on the subject I have become more and more convinced of a Baptist bride. Throughout my ministry I have believed in the pretrib, premillennial coming of Christ. Having heard much to the contrary, seeing many go from premillennialism to amillennialism, I still remain pre all the way. I started out over forty-five years ago a Missionary Baptist Preacher, and I am still one.

On the doctrine of sovereign grace, on church truth, on premillennialism, and the need of missions, I have learned many things over the years. I have obtained much more light than I originally had at the beginning of my ministry, but I have obtained no “new light” in the sense that I have repudiated my former positions. I am not now an Arminian. I am no universal, invisible church man. I am no amillennialist. I am no Hardshell Baptist. I can not speak for others. I know not what course of action they may choose to take. But I can speak for myself. I have no desire to be a new lighter! I seek only to live and die “an old disciple,” a Sovereign Grace, Landmark, Premillennial, Missionary Baptist!

I will gladly give up error for truth, if one can demonstrate to me that what I hold is error. But no new book or silver-tongued preacher will move me from the truth as it is in Christ. To give up the old paths of Divine truth for the new paths of error is not spiritual growth; it is to become a heretic and a traitor to the truth. Please spare me the new light teaching. I care not for it. I prefer the good old way. I prefer to be a defender of the faith, not a denier of it.

NOTHING BUT A DISCIPLE

As I look at the obscure life of Mnason, I see another precious truth. The stress in my text is not so much on his being an old man as it is upon his being an old disciple. We are not told in the text of the other great things that he did, if there were any more than what is in my text. He not may have been a teacher or a preacher. He had no eloquence or genius. He had performed no heroic deed. No saintly thing is recorded of him in the Bible. We know only that he loved and followed Christ. Is that not all we need recorded? Is it not enough to know that he served the Lord in holiness and righteousness all the days of his life? The world will for ever remember him with one word attached to his name---a disciple.

This old world will in general remember very little of us when we are gone. The histories of men my not even mention our names. The world of tomorrow may never know that we existed. We may only for a time be remembered in some narrow circle of loving friends and family. But what difference does it make? If our names are in the Lamb’s book of life, that is all that is important. If we are owned by Christ before the Father in Heaven, that is all that really counts. Let our epitaph read merely that we were “an old disciple.” A hero? a millionaire? a great man? No! “An old disciple.” That says all that needs to be said. May it be your epitaph and mine!

WHAT A BLESSING!

How blessed was this old disciple! Like Caleb, he had fully followed the Lord. He had not disgraced his profession of faith by drunkenness like Noah. He had not ruined his testimony by disobedience like Moses. He had not shamed his Lord by the sin of adultery like David. He had not dishonored his God by cursing like Simon Peter. Few men end their life in this wonderful fashion. Mnason is the exception, not the general rule. But by God’s grace we all could be like him! We don’t have to be backsliders!

How tragic to see so many young people today ruin their testimony for Christ so early in life. Fornication, shot-gun weddings, and divorce are doing it. Drunkenness and drug are doing it. How sad to see a blot on the character of some who are just beginning in the Christian life, a blot that will follow them throughout their journey in this world to their grave and to the Judgment Seat of Christ. A bad start generally means a bad ending. Oh, be sure to remember your Creator in your youth. Give him the best years of your life.

Youth are not the only ones who disgrace their profession. It also happens to people in the middle years of life. How often after many years of a happy married life divorce comes to hurt the testimony for Christ of married Christians. The husband and wife get so involved in making ends meet that they turn their backs on the Bible, on prayer, on the church, and the cause of Christ in general. The desire for worldly things causes them to rob God of His tithes and offerings. They waver in their profession; they fall in the day of adversity because their strength is small. Failure in the middle of the race also means a bad finish.

But the greatest horror of all is to see “an old disciple” disgrace his testimony in his latter years. How often I have seen some bravely fight the good fight for many years, then drop their shield, and be pierced with one of the fiery darts of Satan. How tragic to see an old soldier finally defeated, a mighty man now become weak, a brave man now given to cowardliness! How it hurts the cause of Christ! How it discourages the young and those in middle life to see one forsake the faith of his youth in his latter years. Be strong in the Lord for the race is not finished, dear old disciples! “The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness” (Prov. 16:31 ).

LODGE WITH AN OLD DISCIPLE

What an encouragement Mnason must have been to Paul and his companions! How privileged they were to be in the presence of a tried and trusted old disciple. The multitude of years had taught him much wisdom. Job 32:7 says: “Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.” This old gentleman had the advantage of long observation of the course of events, and he was acquainted with the beginning of the Christian Dispensation. He may have been privileged to see and talk with Christ face to face.

An old disciple should speak words weighty and worthy of his years. “. . .multitude of years SHOULD teach wisdom,” but, in some cases, they do not. This is why we have hard the old slogan: “There is no fool like an old fool.” The older are to teach the younger (Tit. 2:4), but how can they teach if they are mere babes in Christ themselves? It is a terrible thing to be old and ignorant. Paul upbraided the Hebrews for this: “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. . . But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:12, 14). It should be the case that the oldest would be the wisest and strongest spiritually. At the sunset of life the shadows of twilight should grow broader and deeper upon the understanding.

Our modern world pays little or no attention to the wisdom of old men. It has little respect and reverence for the writings, works, and worthiness of the distinguished sages of the past. It is a mark of true politeness and good breeding, of fine morals and true piety, when we see one showing respect to the aged. These old disciples have seen the results of certain courses of conduct. Age and experience have given them great advantage in judging things. They have arrived at a period of life when they can look at the reality of things and are uninfluenced by passion. In this generation there needs to be a return to the counsels of old men and old women and a veneration for their persons. There is scarcely any thing in which we have deteriorated from the simplicity of the early ages as in the lack of respect for the aged. Of Rehoboam it is written: “But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him” (I Kings 12:8).

CONCLUSION

1. Hospitality has a taint of immortality attached to it. The kindness of Mnason to Paul and his missionary companions has everlasting remembrance in the Book that abides for ever. This reminds us that the smallest service done for Christ is remembered and treasured by Him. Fame-seeking men have spent their lives to win a line in the world’s chronicles, which are written on the shifting sands, and they have died heart-broken because they failed to attain their goal! But this small act of an old disciple has made history. It has made his name a possession for ever.

2. “And seeketh thou great things for thyself? seek them not” (Jer. 45:5). What folly it is to seek things for ourselves in this world where every thing is temporal and uncertain. Let us fill our little corners, doing unnoticed work because the love of Christ constrains us. May we disregard the praise, or criticism of men, and seek the praise of Christ, whose praise is the only fame and whose remembrance is the highest reward.

3. There is a lesson in my text for the young. Become a disciple of Christ early in your life; otherwise, you shall never be “an old disciple.” It is better to become a disciple late in life than not at all, but how awful to give the Devil the best years of your life. The wise man said: “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (Eccl. 12:1). Christ, in whom is all the wisdom of God, declares: “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me” (Prov. 8:17 ).