PRIESTHOOD AND SERVICE (10)

^[p. 83] PRIESTHOOD AND SERVICE (10)

Romans 6:10 - 21; Romans 7:5,6

JT I propose that we should look at the subject of service as it is set out in the epistle to the Romans. In Hebrews 12:29, there is a solemn passage in connection with service; we are enjoined there to serve God with reverence and fear, “For also our God is a consuming fire”. We should note here very specially that it is our God who is a consuming fire. If we are accustomed to judge sin in ourselves, we shall not be frightened of that, for God in the character of a “consuming fire” will help us to judge evil. Set free from the flesh, we shall be able to serve in a way suitable to Him. Many things go under the name of service to God which are not for His pleasure. Cain wanted to serve God, but his offering was not accepted, and many things which are current today are not pleasing to God. It may be that we give our money and may appear to sacrifice much outwardly, but that is not necessarily pleasing to God. It says, “For also our God is a consuming fire”, which implies that He is also something else as the epistle to the Hebrews elsewhere shows.

We have another character in 1 Thessalonians 1:9,10. The Thessalonians were young believers who had recently been turned to God, and it is remarkable to read that they had turned to God from idols, to serve Him, the living and true God. So although He may be a consuming fire, He is also “living and true”. Hence service is to have a living character, and this is what the epistle to the Romans sets out.

Ques Are you alluding to chapter 12?

JT Yes, we are to present our bodies as “a living sacrifice” (verse 1). The spirit of service toward God is found in Romans 1:4, where it says that the Lord Jesus is “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness”. He died in this spirit; He cried, “My God,

^[p. 84] my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” God is holy, and the Lord says, “But thou art holy”, (Psalm 22:1,3). We find, in the book of Leviticus, the development of the service of God in its character of holiness; God is seen there in His tabernacle, desiring to be worshipped by His people. Yes, God is holy, and we should be holy. The Lord was acting in the spirit of holiness; it was seen on the first day, after His resurrection. His first concern was the gathering of the saints for the worship of God. He led the disciples out, as far as to Bethany, and lifting up His hands, He blessed them and they returned to Jerusalem and “were continually in the temple praising and blessing God”. God dwelt in the midst of their praises, in holiness. The book of Psalms, which gives us the opening of the hearts of the saints to God, is filled with the expressions about holiness. The apostle Paul says too that he served God in his spirit and he exhorts the saints to serve in newness of spirit.

As soon as there is a question of service, the first thing mentioned refers to the members (verse 13). We can consider this feature of service, I think, as being a matter of practical holiness. We are to yield ourselves to God, as alive from among the dead.

Rem Perhaps we do not all understand the force of the word ‘righteousness’ used here, “instruments of righteousness”, righteousness being exercised in our members.

JT It is a question of what is right and that flows from what God is. In this epistle, the righteousness of God is opened out; it is manifested and declared in Jesus. In the second epistle to Timothy, we are exhorted to pursue it. The epistle to the Romans sets it out in a special way; chapter 3 is full of it. God acts unsparingly with regard to sin, but He reckons righteous him who believes in Jesus. We are considered righteous in virtue of faith; that is the essential point of chapter 4.

Rem So in order to be able to answer to what the ^[p. 85] second epistle to Timothy demands, we must first be in accord with the epistle to the Romans.

JT Yes, each believer has to commence with Romans, with the fundamental principles of the kingdom, of which the first is righteousness. “Ye ... have obeyed from the heart the form of teaching into which ye were instructed”, (Romans 6:17). Each of us has to be exercised in heart to know if he is obedient to teaching. It is not a question of an isolated religious thought, but of the whole system of doctrine set out in the Scriptures. The Romans had been servants of sin; they had obeyed from the heart the form of teaching into which they had been instructed. It is important to notice that it is a question of obedience from the heart. We read in Proverbs 23:26, “My son, give me thine heart”.

Ques Would you say that there is no real service until we have arrived at this state?

JT Yes. Exodus helps us as to that: there we are considered as sons. “Let my son go, that he may serve me”, (Exodus 4:23).

Rem They could not serve in Egypt.

JT No; in Egypt Israel was serving Pharaoh.

Rem The Thessalonians had turned to God from idols; that is how one comes into the kingdom, on the ground of righteousness. The kingdom is righteousness, before anything else. The Israelites came into the kingdom, in type, when they crossed the Red Sea; they were baptised to Moses in the cloud and in the sea, that is the kingdom. Service comes into it here in response to what we have further on in Exodus. God said that He had borne them on eagles’ wings and brought them to Himself, and then He opens His heart to them in the covenant. According to their prosperity in their houses, they were to bring from their houses what was for the service of God. Starting from Exodus 25, we have the setting out of what was necessary for God’s service. We see the Israelites bringing from out of their ^[p. 86] possessions, so that the tabernacle could be built (Exodus 35:21). That corresponds to Romans, for it is a matter of uprightness of heart and of serving in newness of spirit. Our service starts inwardly and is continued outwardly. In this chapter the whole body of the believer is taken account of — each member is to be made use of in the service of God as an instrument of righteousness.

Ques What is the application today of the Israelites giving for the tabernacle?

JT I think that the beginning of it is in this chapter. There can be no tabernacle in this world apart from righteousness. We are to be right in all our relations. That goes a long way towards the establishment of a local company. The outward form of the service is without value without righteousness. Whatever is done, whether with hands or feet, God is to be the end in view. “Yield ... your members instruments of righteousness to God”.

Rem So everything is based on righteousness, even grace.

JT Yes. “Bondmen to righteousness” is a much stronger expression than “servants of sin”; it implies that all my conduct is righteous; if it is not, I am not a servant of my Master who is righteous. In verse 19, Paul speaks of righteousness as a master, in order to give more force to his thought. Sin too is a master.

Ques Would you say that holiness is connected with our relations with God and righteousness with our relations with men?

JT Yes. Here it is a question of fruit (verse 22); if I do not bear fruit, I am not serving God in a way suitable to Him. Holiness is not by faith but by the Spirit. Holiness is acquired through righteousness. We can see therefore, how this chapter prepares us for service, for if we bear fruit, we have what is pleasing to ^[p. 87] God. Fruit gives pleasure to God, and the end is eternal life (verse 22).

Ques How do you understand the passage, “and the end eternal life”?

JT From the practice of righteousness, holiness results for the enjoyment of eternal life, as it says, “He that sows to the Spirit, from the Spirit shall reap eternal life”, (Galatians 6:8). Verse 23 of our chapter shows us that it is the gift of God, “eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

Ques Does that refer to the present or to the future?

JT To both; you cannot limit eternal life to our present enjoyment of that life.

Rem We can anticipate it in the power of the Spirit.

JT “A fountain of water springing up into eternal life”, (John 4:14). We see it in its fulness in Christ risen. As long as we are in our mortal bodies, we cannot say that we are in the absolute enjoyment of eternal life; our resurrection is needed for that. That is why full enjoyment is future. Verse 22 gives us the end of what is being effected in our souls; in verse 23 it is a question of the gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is God’s gift, but it must be taken on. Many will say that they have it, according to John’s gospel, but have they got it in an experimental way? This chapter shows how we can arrive at it; we enter into it, in our measure, by the power of the Spirit. We must see it, and learn it, in its proper place, “in Christ Jesus”. In John’s epistle it is said to be in the Son.

Ques Is there a difference?

JT Yes. Christ is the Anointed. Son is a family term; the Son is a divine Person.

Rem In Romans 6:3 we have “baptised unto Christ Jesus”, but in Matthew 28:19, baptised “to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.

JT Matthew gives us the full position resulting from the revelation given. Those sent by the Lord ^[p. 88] had to make disciples of all nations, baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Israel had been baptised to Moses; we are baptised to Christ Jesus, and being baptised to Christ we are baptised to His death, so that we no longer live as men in the flesh, but walk “in newness of life” (chapter 6:4). I have to consider myself as dead to sin, but as living to God, and I ought to yield my members to God as instruments of righteousness. Then it is that I shall produce fruit unto holiness, and having as the end eternal life.

In Romans 7, believers are taken account of as having been previously under law, but being dead to that in which they were once held; they were to serve henceforth in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letter. The whole Jewish system is founded on letter. In Hebrews 13:10, it says, “We have an altar of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle”, that is to say, those who take up the service according to letter. The spirit of service to God has been set out in Christ; He is the minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, “which the Lord has pitched, and not man”. The coming of the Holy Spirit has given a spiritual fulness to all these things. We serve in newness of spirit and for that we have recourse to the Spirit; in doing so the New Testament opens up to us in a wonderful way. The epistle helps us to see the difference there is between “newness of spirit” and “oldness of letter”.

The figure of marriage is taken here to show the relation of Christ with the saints, the assembly being in view. That corresponds typically to the position of the Israelites at mount Horeb, after that God had made a covenant with them. He chose them and entered into relation of a husband with them. We see then that to bring forth fruit to God in this relation goes along with newness of spirit. It is, in practice, what was made ^[p. 89] evident when the Lord was raised from the dead. The disciples turned to Him and not towards Moses. If someone had asked Mary Magdalene how it was necessary to go on in the service of God, she would have said, We must ask the Lord. Ought we to leave the Old Testament on one side, some one may ask. The answer is no, for the Lord Jesus used it to explain the things concerning Himself, and He has made us capable of understanding the Scriptures.

Rem You are alluding to Luke 24, are you not?

Rem We should read the Scriptures in a spiritual way and pay attention to each word, and each expression, for all has its significance.

JT It is said that the Lord “opened their understanding to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27), and we have need to understand what things mean. We know that we have not to take a bullock now to offer to God: Christ is our offering. The Lord spoke not only of the law of Moses but also of the prophets and of the Psalms. If we studied Luke 24 more, we should know better how to read the Scriptures.

Christendom, at least where account is taken of the Scriptures, has returned to the letter as regards the forms of service, borrowing largely from judaism and paganism. It is very important not to lose sight of the great principles of service: “that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter”.