THE SELECTION AND FORMATION OF SERVANTS
[p. 306] THE SELECTION AND FORMATION OF SERVANTS
Acts 9:15,16; Matthew 4:19; John 13:23
I have in mind, dear brethren, to speak about service, and to show, in so doing, how it entered into our dispensation and became diversified there. The best features of everything are seen in this dispensation, and so, whilst service and servants appear throughout the Old Testament, they do not rise to the level of our times. In our dispensation we have the idea presented in perfection in our Lord Jesus Christ, “who”, as we read, “subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form”, (Philippians 2:6,7). So that we have One here in whom the idea of service is fully and perfectly presented, according to the prophetic word, “Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth!” (Isaiah 42:1). I commend that word at the outset, for it conveys to us how deeply divine feelings were engaged and moved as Jesus appeared here as a Bondman.
I wish to show from the three servants mentioned in the passages read, the prominent varieties, such as were intended to give character to the dispensation from the beginning to the end, the first representing election, for the Lord in answering Ananias says, referring to Saul, “Go, for this man is an elect vessel to me”, (Acts 9:15). I wish to dwell on the Lord’s word as to this servant before he began to serve, as conveying what I may call the most unique feature of service, namely, that it is the outcome of divine selection. But then to go over the other points briefly; in Simon Peter we have one who was made a servant, which is the second point; the Lord saying to him with his brother, “I will make you fishers of men”; the third feature as seen in John, being lovability.
I wish to speak to you under those three heads, because they enter importantly into service, and must combine if service is to be effectual; the first corresponding strikingly with Christ Himself, who is formally said to be Jehovah’s elect One, in whom His soul delighted.
Election as to the servant is not the same as election for eternity. The latter refers to all believers. The former is very special and has the testimony in view; but it implies great forethought on the part of the Lord and preparation of the vessel, the word ‘vessel’, in this sense, being peculiar to Paul. It implies that the Lord has gone a long way up the stream, so to speak, and looked after the forefathers, the training and the environment of the person selected. So that the apostle Paul was in the Lord’s mind long before He called him. He had elected him, and He had elected him with a view to a certain use, in which only he could be employed, and He had in mind that no one should displace him. In the course of his testimony, he became very much disliked by many, even some whom he had served at the cost of his life. They might not object to his ministry and teaching, but they would in time prefer that some one else should be doing the teaching and the preaching. But the Lord had elected this servant. He had a work for him to do which was special, and He was determined that no one should displace him. So, at the end of his ministry, he says that the Lord stood by him — to deliver him from the lion’s mouth, but not only that, but rather that by him the preaching might be fully known. Some might think that others could preach as well as he, but this was not the Lord’s mind; He determined that the preaching should be fully presented in this great vessel that He had elected. No one else could have done it; there was not a man in the whole world that could preach like Paul. I do not say that as a gratuitous statement, but that we might [p. 308] see that his preaching was peculiar to himself, a preaching that the Lord intended to use, so that the thing preached should be fully known. I do not believe that in any address of Paul’s there would be anything to detract from the preaching. In fact, so emphatic is he about this that he says, “But if also our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those that are lost”; and he says further, “we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus Lord, and ourselves your bondmen for Jesus’ sake”, (2 Corinthians 4:3,5).
Those first mentioned by the Lord to be served by Paul are the nations; then kings, and then the sons of Israel. He was to bear the Lord’s name before nations. The world under the government of God is composed of nations. God intervened according to Genesis 11, early in the history of mankind, after the flood, to separate it into nations, meaning that a centralised combination as at Shinar, would hinder the testimony. Then you find with the nations thus formed, that the Spirit of God returns to the posterity of Shem, that being the line in which the testimony should come to the nations. It is as if God were to say, ‘I have created circumstances in My government, which will admit of the nations, in due course, being reached’. But each of the nations had its own interests and aspirations, and so it required skill, that the preaching, in the name of the Lord Jesus, might be carried to each of them. Paul used the utmost care in preaching to the nations, so that there should be no prejudice aroused, and yet that he should be able to take out from each of them, a people, detached from its own national traits, so as to be linked on with those taken out of the other nations. It was a wonderful piece of work, and he speaks of it as “the offering up of the nations”, (Romans 15:16). He was carrying on a kind of sacrificial service, “that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit”. It was no question with him of numbers; you will not find specific numbers in connection with Paul’s converts, whereas you do find numbers specifically mentioned in connection with the preaching of Peter and the others at Pentecost, for numbers have reference to the ‘treasure’ (Matthew 13:44). When you come to treasure, then the idea of counting comes in, and this came out at Pentecost. The Lord had secured the field, and He was now asserting His right to take the treasure out of it, and so you find numbers — one hundred and twenty first of all, then three thousand, and so on. But with Paul, it is one idea; it is not a question with him of numbers, although of course there were numbers. What is in mind with him is the pearl, that is, one idea. How little we know in service about one idea; but I can see that a man governed by one idea, is sure to be effective. There was with Paul this controlling thought, to secure one thing — the church — for Christ. That involved great care in preaching to the nations, that those taken out of each should be detached from it and linked up as one, with all believers from the other nations. All this is a feature of Paul’s ministry.
Then in regard of kings, you see how he bore the name of Christ before them. I do not know how one would do in the presence of a king, but I believe that the Lord never intended that the gospel should come in among men by the back door, so to speak. This is very practical, because if we are to bear the Lord’s name the idea is not to go to the servants or to the poor only; the idea is to go to influential men, and that needs courage. Hence you find in the types that Moses is directed to go down by the river in the morning, the Lord telling him that Pharaoh is going down there. The morning thus mentioned would mean that there was much to be done in the day opening up, and the instruction to Moses was to “stand ... in front of him”, (Exodus 7:15). Now look at that scene! There is a man classified as a Hebrew, under reproach, and he is to take up this attitude before the [p. 310] King. Indeed no one is any good in the service unless he is consciously under reproach. I should never approach a king on the ground of my identity in this world, however great it might be. A man might be called out of great dignity in this world, and think he could go and preach to a company like himself, but that is not the divine thought. The divine idea is that the preacher is under reproach — the reproach of Christ. This Hebrew is by the river with the word in his heart to stand in front of the great monarch of the world!
That is the second feature of Paul’s service mentioned by the Lord — that he was to bear the name of Christ before kings. Mark, it is “the name”, but what a Name! It is the Nazaraean, involving reproach, but also of Jesus Christ, the name in which salvation is (Acts 4:10 - 12). I do not know how many kings the apostle Paul preached to, but I do know he preached to one, and I do know too what he said to him, and I know also the spirit in which he said it, and I think it was magnificent! The spirit and substance of his address before Agrippa forms one of the finest incidents of Paul’s service. He was in conscious dignity, not a dignity that he acquired at the feet of Gamaliel, or as a Pharisee of the Pharisees, but a dignity that flowed from the consciousness of his election as a minister, and of his calling as a christian, so that he says to Agrippa “I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds”, (Acts 26:29). He was the greatest in that hall; no one could compare with him; he was truly bearing the Name before kings.
Then too, the apostle had to bear the Lord’s name before the sons of Israel. These require the greatest care in the preaching. They were full of prejudice, although referred to by their Messiah in this respectful way. It is not “the Jews” here, but the “sons of Israel”. How would he approach them? He would approach them, as we know he did at Antioch in Pisidia, as ‘Israelites’, a [p. 311] term involving dignity, and in keeping with the Lord’s reference; he was one of them and he could speak to them. But, as entering the synagogue, before addressing them, he sat down; I wish to note this because it is very practical. In the fulness of his apostolic mission he might have brushed everybody aside when he had something to say, but he sat down until he was asked to speak. It is well in service to await opportunities and not force ourselves. It is wise to wait to be asked to speak and then to address the hearers in such a manner as to inspire confidence and not provoke prejudice. Paul’s manner of service at Antioch of Pisidia had good results for God.
Then the Lord also speaks of sufferings. The Lord says, “I will shew to him how much he must suffer for my name”. The Lord, showing him the sufferings, would not deter him from the path of devotedness.
The next feature of my subject is based on Matthew 4:19. The Lord says, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men”. The Lord can make a servant in spite of crudeness, in spite of roughness, in spite of crookedness, in spite of ignorance, in spite of prejudice — in a word, in spite of everything that attaches to an uncultured, unlettered, uninstructed, unsophisticated man — the Lord can make out of him one to whom He can give the first place in His service. Now that is Peter! I connect it with Peter because the Spirit gives us his full picture in this respect. It applies to Andrew, it applies to Paul and to every true servant, it is a second feature. It is therefore a question now of whether I am ‘makeable’, for the Lord can do nothing with us whilst will is active, whilst personal motives are active, whilst prominence in the ministry is the motive. All these things stand in the way. We are told in Proverbs 26:10, “A master roughly worketh every one”, so that He can take one like Peter and make him something in His service. I would say that the Lord wishes to take each of us into His hands and make something out of us. “I will make you”, He says, “fishers of men”. So you find, one may say, a life-sized picture of Simon Peter, in Matthew. I think Matthew has in view the service for which the Lord intended him, that is, the circumcision, and Matthew gives us the man in his roughness and then the making process. The finished product is properly in the Acts. The Lord has great pleasure in a finished product, and I would especially speak to my young brethren here, to those who are in the making time. It is a time when the Lord is making servants. Each one of us may rightly ask, Am I in His hands?
You get here in chapter 4 the first mention of Peter by Matthew. He is Simon, but he is called Peter, that is to say, Matthew is looking backwards; it is the well-known Peter he is speaking about. The well-known Peter as seen in the Acts is the finished product. He is finished as a minister. The next prominent thing you get in Matthew about Peter is that he is first; “first ... Peter” (chapter 10:2). He is the only one who is called first in the ministry; and if he gets that place in the Lord’s mind, the making has this in view. The Lord is going to produce a minister who will occupy that position to His glory. “First ... Peter”, it says, and so you find in the Acts, that he is in every way first. There is nothing forced about it. If you saw Peter in his service you would discern that he had the lead among the apostles. Who made him first? The Lord. He intended him to be the leading man amongst the disciples. So you find that in the first position mentioned in the Acts, the upper room, Peter is first; and then in ministry to the brethren, Peter is first; also in preaching the gospel, Peter is first. Look at him standing up there in Jerusalem! God gave him not only the gift, but also the audience. We find there were dwelling in Jerusalem, people from almost every nation; and they are all marvelling at the effect of the Spirit’s presence. There are some mocking, and Peter begins with them. Standing up with the eleven he so speaks that three [p. 313] thousand were converted. Comparing the great minister seen here with the rough fishermen of Matthew 4 we may well exclaim, What hath God wrought!
So Acts shows that Peter was first, and he is so perfectly made of the Lord, that he can be in unjealous obscurity when others, like Stephen and Philip, come forward. But he is there to be called upon, which is a fine feature; hence in Acts 8 he is actually sent by the apostles with John. Peter and John were sent down to Samaria by the apostles that were at Jerusalem. I mention that, because it shows that whilst he was first, he was ready to be merged among his brethren, his fellow apostles, and to be subservient to them to do their bidding. That is the workmanship of Christ. How elastic, so to speak, it is in the subject of it. The body of spiritual wealth and experience seen in Peter in the later chapters of Acts is a further but most important feature of the making power of Christ in His servants.
The next thing is the lovability of the servant, and that is John. And what I would mention first about John is that he can take a second place. Now it is a hard thing with some of us to do this, but John is almost invariably seen in that position, and he fits it beautifully — “Peter and John”. It is a very fine quality in service, to be able to take a second place, or, if necessary, a third place. Of course, in a sense, you do not want a place at all, but I am speaking of the Lord’s ordering. If Peter is first, then somebody must be second; there are not two firsts. That is a test. So it is “Peter and John”, and I think the Lord greatly honoured John because of this quality. I look at him in that well-known chapter in Acts 3, how he went up with Peter to the temple at the hour of prayer. I suppose since the walk of Jesus on earth, heaven never saw anything so beautiful as that, the one that was set ‘first’ as the workmanship of Christ in the service, and then the one that was second. There they are; what a pair for heaven’s eye! It was the hour of prayer; it was [p. 314] the ninth hour. Need I comment on the sentiments that governed those two hearts as they moved up that day to the temple at that hour? It was the hour in which our Lord Jesus Christ died. Peter says to the man, “Look on us”. It was Peter that spoke; John does not say anything.
I think John would bring forward persons who can be silent in the service. It seems to me he has in mind something of that kind in the way he mentions Lazarus. Lazarus never says anything, as far as Scripture records, but in spite of this people are believing on Jesus because of him (John 12:11). Now that is a very fine thing. What kind of man must he be — he is not saying anything, and yet people are believing on Jesus because of him! Others sought to kill him because of this. The next thing you get after that is that the Lord found a colt and sat on him; the Lord found him. Can we say in fairness that the Lord had Lazarus in mind when He got the colt? It was His own finding. Lazarus was the Lord’s immediate product. He raised him. He was the Lord’s friend. Is it not lovely to be the Lord’s friend? “Our friend Lazarus”, He says, (John 11:11). Moses called his firstborn, Gershom — “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”. That is what the world was to Jesus. He made it: “the world was made by him, and the world knew him not”, (John 1:10). How strange it must have been that there was no response — but now He had a friend in it. Lazarus is a friend of Jesus in this strange place that He had to do with. I believe the conditions He found in the world caused the Lord constant sorrow; the whole scene was blighted and opposed. Every step He took aroused strange opposition. It was most unfair and uncalled for, as He says: “They hated me without a cause”, (John 15:25). How valuable was a friend in it! That is what Lazarus was, and what the disciples were according to John: “I call you not servants ... but I have called you friends”, (John 15:15). Wonderful, indeed, to be a friend to Jesus in a strange [p. 315] place like this! I wonder if all our dear young brothers and sisters look upon the world as strange, or is it just what you like and where you aspire to be? When Jesus came into it, it was a strange place to Him. Ah! it was very strange, but He found a friend and He finds friends. The colt He found and on which He rode into Jerusalem is in keeping with this.
Well, I am speaking of taking a second place and how one shines in it although another may be speaking. It really works out in the assembly when the brothers speak and the sisters are silent. The sisters cannot say anything, but Lazarus did not, and yet people believed on Jesus because of him. The point is not speaking; it is a question of what the person is. Sometimes in the wilderness the church is not at all lovely typically. Moses married an Ethiopian woman, and she would not be lovely. I think she is a type of some of our meetings, which are not always very lovely. Miriam and Aaron persecuted Moses because he had married the Ethiopian woman, but the Lord rebuked them and Miriam became a leper. It is a solemn thing to turn away from the brethren because they do not seem lovely to you. The Lord bears with them in their unloveliness, and you may find perhaps that your judgment is not quite right, that what you consider is unlovely is lovely in the eyes of the Lord. At any rate, if He is pleased to go on with His people I must go on with them. All this shows the importance of being lovable. In John’s gospel Jesus is seen as lovable from the outset, and so Lazarus is testimony without speaking or without preaching, and that testimony is effective. It is a very important and searching word for persons who cannot speak in the assembly, and the women are enjoined not to speak there, but they are to be in such an attitude and manner and spirit that they are a testimony, and others believe on Jesus because of them.
Lovableness is the feature stressed by John in his gospel. He is mentioned by name, of course, elsewhere,
[p. 316] but he is presented in his own gospel, in this way, and that he had access to the bosom of Jesus. That is the thing; I am not preaching, I am not teaching, I am not speaking — I am in a second position, but I have access to the bosom of Jesus, and there I am loved by Jesus, and that is worth all the dignity, and more than all the dignity of what might accrue to us from speaking and preaching and teaching. I do not say John did not speak and preach and teach. Every one of the apostles had a gift, and every one of them used it too. You may be sure of that. In fact scripture speaks of it, that with great power ‘the apostles witnessed’ — every one of them. After Peter and John had fulfilled their great service in Acts 3 and 4 they returned to the place of meeting, and merged among the other apostles. But John represents, as I say, the feature of lovableness and the ability to take a second place, and in that place to bear testimony, for he was, in that way, essential to Peter’s service at the temple gate: “Look on us”. The lame man would not have seen the same in Peter alone, as he saw in the two, and he discerned this, for he ‘held’ them both. He held Peter and John, and on account of his presence the opposers could not say anything. He was a testimony, an evidence of the result of their testimony.
Well, that is what I had to present to you, and I commend this three-fold feature of service as converging necessarily in every servant, so that our testimony should be effective. We were seeing here this afternoon, that the mighty men of David in 1 Chronicles are mentioned immediately he is anointed king over all Israel, and they helped to establish him in the kingdom; but in 2 Samuel they come in at the end of his reign, meaning evidently in a typical way, that every mighty man from Pentecost to the coming of the Lord is included in the list. If there are to be such today what I have been calling attention to must have a great place with us. The Lord has gone up on high, and having led captivity captive He has given [p. 317] gifts to men; but there must be the qualification of the vessels. Gifts will continue to the end, and every mighty man will appear in the list. He has had something distinctive to do; every mighty man did something distinctive, and so comes into recognition as God writes up His people.
May God bless this word to us, and all that we have had before us in these meetings, for His name’s sake!
Pages 318 - 343 “Priesthood as in Numbers”, London, 1931. (Volume 110).