PAUL'S MINISTRY - THE CHRISTIAN'S DISTINCTIVE LIGHT
PAUL’S MINISTRY — THE CHRISTIAN’S DISTINCTIVE LIGHT
My thought is to say a word about Paul and his ministry. It is of all importance that we should pay attention to Paul, for he presents to us in his ministry what may be regarded as our specific light. There is a certain light in which we, as partakers of the heavenly calling, are to shine, and that light is Paul’s ministry. I have no doubt that in the ministry of the twelve, especially in Peter’s address on the day of Pentecost, we have Israel’s light. I do not deny that the chapter presents what is distinctively Christian, for it does, but Peter says, “the promise is unto you”; that is to say, to Israel, it was Israel’s moment. The rejected Messiah was in heaven, and He was in heaven on their account. He gave the Spirit, and it was therefore a moment of marvellous light for them, a moment in which we may introduce chapter 60 of the prophet Isaiah; “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee”. It was a moment of marvellous light for Israel: Peter testified, that as in heaven, the Lord Jesus had “shed forth this which you now see and hear”. It was the moment in which Israel might have shaken themselves from the dust and shone in their light.
Now, I wish to point out that whilst this marvellous light is light for us, it is not our distinctive light. The light in which we are to shine is Paul’s light, and if we do not shine in Paul’s light, we shall not shine at all. I wish therefore to speak of Paul. As another has said, Heavenly light makes all things bright, and in the gaze of that light everything is seen in its true relation. Paul’s light is to endure. In chapter 3 of the second letter to Timothy he calls attention to his doctrine and his manner of life, and [p. 46] I read this passage because it embodies the two thoughts; it speaks of the manner of man he was, and the teaching he presented to the saints. The man who is to stand in the latter and difficult days is supposed to know these things, he is supposed to be acquainted with Paul’s doctrine and with Paul’s manner of life. It is possible to divorce the doctrine from the manner of life, but if the manner of life is not in accord with the doctrine, the doctrine must become a dead letter; they go together. If you have the doctrine and the manner of life in agreement, you have the luminous body upon earth. The person whose soul is in the light of Paul’s doctrine, and whose life is in accord with it, is a luminous body, a heavenly body; he shines in his own light.
Now I wish to show you, if I can, how the Spirit of God in the Acts leads up to this point; that is to say, He leads up to a point where we find a company of men and women to whom Paul could disclose freely all the counsel of God. What a pleasure to Paul to be able to free to bring forward that which his heart cherished, and to speak freely and fully of every part of the divine counsels! My conception of those who shall throng the courts on high is, that they are intelligent; they answer to Abigail, the last type, as I understand it, of the assembly in the Old Testament; they are of a good understanding and of a beautiful countenance. Those courts shall be thronged with such people. On earth there shall be a people, but not their equal; they shall have God’s laws in their hearts, they shall answer in that way to righteousness here, their hearts and minds shall be controlled by God’s laws and their sins forgiven, but in the courts on high we shall see the assembly in its glory as formed by Paul’s ministry. She will be marked by a good understanding, a full, intelligent apprehension of all the divine secrets, and a beautiful countenance.
[p. 47] I wish to show also, if I can, the order in which the Spirit of God leads us to that point. I take the liberty of going back to chapter 6 of the Acts, and here I would remind you that the Spirit of God inserts nothing in Scripture without a purpose, and He omits nothing without a purpose, and what He records in the end of chapter 6 is that a man appears whose countenance is as that of an angel’s; he is a remarkable man. You will all remember that Stephen was one of those deputed by the apostles to serve tables. Beloved friends, if we ever regard the work that refers to the support of the saints as beneath us, those whom we depute to accomplish it shall shine in our stead. Stephen and Philip shone not only as table-servers, but as ministers of divine and spiritual things. See the face of Stephen! He shines with a heavenly countenance, in the presence of the council; that is the significance of an angel’s face. That face did not reflect what was at Jerusalem, it reflected what was in heaven; he shines with a heavenly countenance and he died as a priest. He died praying for his murderers. What a marvellous testimony! It appears at the juncture of the severance of God’s relations with His earthly people, like the death of Samuel. You will all remember that Samuel died as Abigail appeared. The link between God and the people was severed, and at that juncture a heavenly countenance appeared; that is to say, what was earthly is superseded by what is heavenly, and the man who shone in the end of chapter 6 with a heavenly countenance, at the end of chapter 7 dies as a priest. Such is God’s testimony at the juncture when He severed His relation with His earthly people.
Well now, I want to show you the order in which the truth is developed. You will all remember that Saul was present at the death of Stephen; he saw that countenance, he heard Stephen’s testimony;
[p. 48] and what was it? There was a Man in heaven. Peter testified that the One whom they rejected, the same Jesus, the same Man, was anointed in heaven. Of Stephen it is said that “he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God”. The Man who was accepted there had secured the glory. What a triumph! Well, Saul heard that, and he saw the priest; he saw a man kneeling and praying for his adversaries, a perfect reflection of the great High Priest who prayed for them at the cross.
What a testimony to Saul! Well now, in the next chapter the spirit of evangelisation appears. The Lord had bought the field, and He had title to it, the treasure was in it, and that He would have, and hence the activity of Philip the evangelist.
Now in the passage from Isaiah read by the eunuch you have the Man whose “life is taken from the earth”; that is an important element in the development of the testimony. “His life is taken from the earth”, but Stephen saw Him in heaven, and the Ethiopian read about Him. Who shall declare His generation? For He was “cut off out of the land of the living”. He is a heavenly Man. He belongs to heaven, His life is taken from the earth. It reminds one of Isaac walking in the fields. You all remember that Isaac is typically the heavenly man. Directly we have the testimony of his resurrection; that is to say, in type the resurrection of Christ, you have the genealogy of Rebecca. Isaac is claimed from heaven, remember that. The angel called to Abraham out of heaven; Genesis 22: 11. Isaac as typifying Christ belonged to heaven, and he must have a companion, and his companion is to be equal to him, she is of the same genealogy. “Who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth”. Such is the testimony brought to the heart of the Ethiopian eunuch. How Philip would enlarge upon that! We are told that he began there. There is [p. 49] no life on earth now, no earthly associations now in which you can find life. Jesus’ life is taken from the earth. What a start for an Ethiopian eunuch, and how admirably he started! He started rejoicing, he accepted the rejection of that Man, he went down into the waters and was baptised. In the next chapter the Man whose life was taken from the earth is speaking from heaven. In chapter 7 He is standing in heaven, and in chapter 9 is speaking from heaven. Let us pay attention to that.
First of all the light shines out of heaven, and then the voice is out of heaven, all a direct intimation of the change of base of God’s operations. Jerusalem is displaced by heaven, and then the voice is out of heaven. That voice secures the vessel, for round about Paul there shone a light from heaven, his environment was illuminated from heaven and his heart was touched by a voice from heaven. Saul became a vessel of heavenly light. You will all remember how Paul gives an account of the incident; indeed he gives two accounts of it. Luke gives one, and his is simply that it was “a light from heaven”. Paul’s first account is that it was a “great light” out of heaven, and his second is that it was “a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun”. These things are recorded thus doubtless as reminding us of the character of his ministry; it was heavenly.
Well now, the Lord has His vessel. He is the vessel through whom the great treasure is to be brought to light and formed. The field was wide, the treasure was in it, but it was bought in all its extent. I am referring to Matthew 13. The Lord, on the ground of redemption, has secured right-of-way among mankind in order that He should have the treasure. He can seek for it where He pleases and who dares to dispute His right? And hence in chapter 10 the door is opened out into the wide field; Peter opens the door and Paul goes out by the door [p. 50] Peter did not. You will all remember the introduction of the assembly in the gospel of Matthew; Peter got the light of it, but not the ministry of it. He was simply commissioned with the keys of the kingdom of heaven; he got the keys, we may say, to let Paul out. I am speaking now from one point of view, there are others. The Lord had the vessel, Paul, and he was to search the field; he had a message that extended to the whole field, and Peter opened the door. It will be found to be a principle in the Acts, that in every locality where the work of God progresses, some special feature of the testimony comes to light. At Caesarea the door was opened; the Gentiles came in and Paul went out. I am speaking now as you understand in the most general way. “Unto thee”, says the Lord to Peter, “I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven”. Directly the assembly is introduced, the keys of the kingdom are introduced in order to make room for it, and to make room for the vessel by whom it shall be brought in.
When you come to Acts 11, you find Barnabas, he appears earlier as a consolation to the apostles, “son of consolation”, but here he is sympathetic with what God is doing, a great element in the development of the testimony,; and following upon that he was at Antioch. At the end of chapter 11 you will find what is priestly. There was need among +he saints and those at Antioch were equal to it. They lent the shoulder, they gave as each man had ability for the support of the saints; that was manward, that was royal. In the beginning of chapter 13 you have the same people in principle ministering Godward. The priesthood was now amongst the Gentiles; they ministered to the Lord and to the saints. That is the testimony that appears at Antioch. The priesthood is there, and depend upon it, without the priesthood you have nothing; with it you have everything. In the beginning of [p. 51] chapter 13 Paul is not only sent out by the Spirit, but he goes out with the full fellowship of the saints. Antioch is in connection with heaven, it is in full sympathy with Barnabas and with Paul.
I pass on now to Acts 18 in order to show how Paul’s ministry progressed, and I would say in brief that while Corinth presents to us the wilderness side of it, Ephesus, in chapter 19, presents to us the results of his ministry in the heavenly side of it. I wonder if you follow what I mean by that. We have to take account of our position in this world as a company of people that have had their part in the world; we ran riot with the Gentiles, we followed the bent of our own wills, and in doing so we have dishonoured God; but we have been converted; that is the position at Corinth. The Lord says to Paul at Corinth: “Be not afraid ... I have much people in this city”. The Lord shall have a people in heaven, but He has people in a city. You can well understand that it is one thing to see a company of God’s people divinely taken account of in a city on earth, and another to see the same people taken account of in heaven. Now Corinth is the one and Ephesus is the other. There is a company of people in a city belonging to the Lord, and His name is bound up with them. God has been pleased to convert them, to own them, to call them out of the world and to give them a name, the assembly of God at Corinth. They are God’s assembly there.
Now you can readily perceive how many thoughts enter into that, they have come out of Egypt and they are in the wilderness. I need not remind you that Corinth is the wilderness; it was adverse for the saints of God in every possible way, and yet they were in it, taken account of, and called God’s assembly in it. God’s honour is bound up with that people, His order is to be seen there, His government is to be seen there, and every member of that company is to recognise that it is God’s assembly, not man’s and in that assembly there is everything requisite for its support, maintenance and order. It was God’s building, God’s temple, and it was Christ’s body in that city. Now all that was brought to pass through Paul’s ministry. The Lord stood by him until the saints at Corinth were delivered, and then he writes his letter to them, which is left on record, and shows how the assembly is to be governed during all the period of the absence of the Lord. When you come to Ephesus, you have the saints not viewed in the wilderness or according to what is manward, which is Corinth, but according to what it is Christward and Godward; in other words, in Ephesus we reach the treasure, and I might add we reach the pearl.
Now I have come to the point that I desire to leave with us and to enlarge on for a moment. One has great exercise that the saints, as I have been saying, might shine in their own light. See how earnestly and ceaselessly Paul laboured, in order that the Ephesian saints might shine in their own light. Now he was departing and he sends for the elders. The elders were those who were specially entrusted with the responsibility of the flock. He says, Feed the flock of God “which he has purchased with the blood of his own”. It is the strongest kind of expression, showing what Christ is to God. It is not simply the beloved, or the beloved Son, it is a stronger term as expressing affection; it is God’s Own, as though there were not another. In that light the flock is regarded; they are those who are purchased with the blood of One so loved.
Now look at verse 18: the apostle says, “Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons”. Paul, first of all, calls attention to his “manner”. I am exceedingly convinced of this that the Lord would [p. 53] remind us of Paul. He is the only man in the Scriptures who calls upon us to follow him. He says, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ”. Then it says, among other things, he was accustomed to go from house to house. You will all remember that as minister of Satan (Acts 8) he went into houses; he was accustomed then to go from house to house, but in those instances it was to destroy the members of the assembly, and to obliterate every lover of Christ. He went into houses in order to secure the members. What a complete change now! And then it says, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God”; that is the point I would like to lead you up to. Before the apostle Paul was removed, there was not one whit of God’s counsels that had not been brought to light; and mark you, the light was not presented to an unsympathetic audience; the Ephesians were sympathetic with the ministry. They loved Christ, and not only did they love Christ, they were set in Christ’s love. In other words, Paul had placed them in the affections of Christ — what a position! His ministry was completed when he presented the assembly to Christ, he placed her in Christ’s affections. He says, “I have espoused you unto one man to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”. That was his aim and he laboured to this end at Ephesus. Paul had no compeer. Alas! the assembly moved away afterwards; the Lord says, “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love”; they had left the position in which Paul placed them, but the triumph of his work was in this, that he placed the assembly in the affections of Christ. No one could say that Paul is responsible if they move away from Christ. He says, “I am pure from the blood of all men”.
What great pains the Lord has taken, if one may speak simply and freely, to bring forward the divine [p. 54] thoughts and counsels! What are we going to do with them? The word is, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come!” Our light is come, and we are to shine in it. May the Lord give us to loose from our moorings. “Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty”. Separation is the first principle of love for Christ, separation from all that is contrary to Him here, and as the Lord sees it in you, you are covered with beauty in His eyes. “So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty”. May the Lord grant that we may answer to this!