HOW GOD USES INDIVIDUALS
J. Strachan
Nehemiah 2: 11–17; Acts 12: 11–16; 23: 16–22; John 20: 11–
I had in mind to say something as to how God uses individuals, and therefore I have read about these four persons—Nehemiah, Rhoda, Paul’s sister’s son, and Mary of Magdala. God is able to accomplish things through individuals. There is one thing that stands entirely by itself—the great work of redemption was accomplished by one Man, Jesus Christ. It was taken up on behalf of the whole human race and accomplished by one Man who Himself came in and dealt with the devastation on the race. There was one Man only who, perfect in His obedience, was able to accomplish the work of redemption, to glorify God in it, and give God a basis to bless. That is how we as believers have come into blessing, through the work of the one Man Jesus Christ. I trust He has become endeared to every heart here, the one Man Jesus Christ who has wrought the work that provides for our eternal blessing and our blessing even now. That great work stands by itself, stands in all its glory, in all its uniqueness; there could be no other, no other saviour, no other lord, than the Man Christ Jesus.
Then I think that God, as He proceeds in His ways in the testimony, may call upon any one of us to stand in a certain situation at any given moment. The question is, would we be ready for it? Would we be prepared to stand in a situation as if everything depended on us, depended on me or depended on you? in another sense, of course, God does not need us; He could do without us; but the way He operates is largely through human vessels. God would take up someone to stand in the breach and to hold the position that He has in mind.
Now Nehemiah was a man like that. He lived in a day when the saints had been taken into captivity, when the walls of Jerusalem were in ruins, and when he got a message that those who were still there were under great affliction and learned about the state of Jerusalem, his feelings came into expression. He mourned and wept and was in great sadness and in prayer.
That has happened in the recovery. The truth of the assembly was recovered largely through the faithfulness of a man. The other side is that God works in His sovereignty; but from Nehemiah’s standpoint I think we see recovery brought about through the faithfulness of one man.
I wanted to apply this scripture to how things work out in local assemblies. If there is any expression of the truth of the assembly in our localities, dear brethren, I think in some sense it has to come down to the faithfulness of someone who is with God, feeling the breakdown that exists, and concerned to see something emerge that is according to the divine thought. So Nehemiah went down and looked at Jerusalem; he went round it in detail. Think of someone in our localities looking around to see the present state and condition of things in the testimony and feeling it with God. Nehemiah went round the different parts and viewed the wall of Jerusalem. He says, “but I told no man what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem”. The man who typically had light as to the assembly had it in his heart, not only in his mind but in his heart, he was a man who had a heart for Jerusalem. God can use such a man in relation to local assemblies. It would afford pleasure to God to see in local assemblies territory held for Christ. That is one thing that a local assembly means, that there is a bit of
territory down here held for the heart of Christ; God can find pleasure in that. As there are a few believers who want to go on in the light of the assembly, that means something to God, and it means something to Christ, to look down on a certain place and see that.
I think heaven would be looking on as Nehemiah went forward with these exercises. He looks around and then the question arises in the presence of failure and breakdown—how is the situation going to be met? What is the answer to it? What Nehemiah came to was—“Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach”. What is needed is separation from evil, and separation from the world. That is the only way something can be secured in our places for God, some real answer to the light of the assembly—build up the wall of Jerusalem. The enemy will be against that. Later in the book certain ones sent saying,
“Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono”, (Nehemiah 6: 2). ‘Let us come and see if we can take some common ground. Let us have an interdenominational meeting; we know we have differences of opinion and doctrine, and differences of practice, but let us find some common ground’. Is that the way? With Nehemiah it was not; he had the divine thought in his mind that the securing of the truth of the assembly is by way of the rebuilding of the wall.
The principles of separation from evil and separation from the world are essential in a day of breakdown and confusion. It is the way out of it. Four times it says they came after this manner; Nehemiah says, I am doing a great work and cannot come down (Nehemiah 6: 3).
You have a positive work before you, a work according to the mind of God where the confusion is. You build up the wall; it must start with the great principle of separation
from evil. You cannot have the work of God and the world all mixed up; they just will not mix; you cannot arrive at the divine thought that way. You have to maintain the divine thought, and if God has someone around who has Jerusalem in his heart, who has the assembly in his heart, and is committed to this great thought of rebuilding the wall, insisting on the principles and practice of separation, then you can start; you have the means for reaching practically in the present day the great divine idea of the assembly.
Now Rhoda is a younger person, she is called a maid. I would like to encourage our young people that they may have a part in what the Lord has brought them into. We have been brought into an area where He wants us to have part in things. This was a difficult time in the testimony. James had been slain; Peter had been put in prison and he was just about to be taken out to gratify the expectation of the people. Then at that point God intervenes. It says,
“but unceasing prayer was made by the assembly to God concerning him” (Acts 12: 5). Peter was released and comes along to this house, “the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where were many gathered together and praying. And when he had knocked at the door of the entry, a maid came to listen, by name Rhoda”.
It would appear that, although they were praying, there was an unbelieving condition there. It is a very sobering thing to think of. It was right to make prayer in the matter, but there was unbelief operating and that is what makes Rhoda so important at this point. Someone could discern the voice of Peter. She must have had some previous knowledge of the voice of Peter.
It is a great matter to get experience of the voice of the Lord’s servants so that you know that voice, because the situation may arise where you cannot hear it any longer. She would probably not have heard it in the prison. Peter was not free then, but as he comes to the door she recognises his voice. It is a good thing to be going on with divine things in the ordinary experiences of your soul, just in your ordinary everyday experience, because there may arise a time, a critical time, when your experience will stand you in good stead.
So she recognises the voice of Peter. It is not worthless you see to go on day by day reading the Scriptures, listening to and reading ministry, praying and having to do with the Lord; these are not worthless pursuits; some time, dear young brother or sister, that experience will stand you in good stead. So she recognised the voice of Peter, but she was not the door keeper, she was not there to open the door. We need to be careful what we open the door to; but she ran in and reported that Peter was at the entry. The others said, “Thou art mad”. Well, you have sometimes got to be prepared to be misunderstood, but though you are misunderstood, if you know something stand by it. It is not very flattering when the local brethren in their unbelief turn round and say to a young sister who is bringing them the answer to what they were praying about, ‘You are mad’. They said, “It is his angel”, but she maintained that it was Peter.
However, they come to it; “Peter continued knocking: and having opened, they saw him and were astonished”. Dear brethren, we want to be realistic about our prayers; we pray, but then let us look for the answers; let us not be casual and go away and forget what we have prayed about. We come to the prayer meeting on Monday evening; will we remember on Tuesday evening what we were praying about on Monday evening, will we be looking for some answer, and continue looking? Let us be with the
Lord not only in praying but in following up our prayers in exercise looking for the answer.
Then not only should we pray but we should give thanks too. I think the reality of thankfulness comes as we see these answers coming, and our hearts go out to God in gratefulness for them. So Rhoda was the link at this time. The company were praying, but unbelieving, but Rhoda was the vital link. Now, dear young sister, could you stand in a situation like this and be the vital link, with your ear, you might say, in tune with the voice of Peter? Then we find that the brethren are coming round to see and accept that the Lord is working.
Now Paul’s sister’s son is also very interesting. Here again it is a young person, he is a youth.
The previous night the Lord had told Paul that as he had borne testimony in Jerusalem so he must bear witness at Rome also (Acts 23: 11). You might say, Well, things are perfectly sure in the Lord’s mind; He has told Paul what He is going to do and therefore He is perfectly committed to it. Quite so, the Lord is able to carry things through, but then He is pleased to use someone as an instrument to do it, to see that what He has in mind will be effected. That is where Paul’s sister’s son came in. So you get this banding together of these Jews with a murderous intent against Paul who at this point was the distinctive vessel of the testimony.
We are in days marked by the combinations of men, and some of our young people are having to stand on their own feet and give testimony to their conscience in the face of these combinations of men. I wonder how you would act if you had to stand up at one of those tribunals and be a witness and give testimony as to your own conscience.
Well, I think this youth put his life at risk. It reminds us of the spirit of Christ in Esther; she said, “and if I perish, I perish” (see Esther 4: 16), and I think it was the same spirit which was active in this youth at this point. So he came and reported the matter to Paul, and Paul was able to have it brought to the notice of the chiliarch.
The youth is brought to the chiliarch to explain what he had discovered; he finds there is a certain element of sympathy there, and it works out for the salvation of Paul from the murderous intent of this combination of men. Now the Lord used this youth, dear young brother. If you were in a situation like that could the Lord use you? This youth would have known Paul; he would have loved Paul; and the way he acts would be in keeping with that.
So it is a great thing to develop an affectionate link with those who are older in the testimony than you are, for a moment may come when the Lord wants to use you to stand in some breach in the testimony.
Now Mary in John 20 is somewhat different; she is one who could get a vital communication because she was there to receive it. The other disciples had gone to their own homes but she remained at the tomb. What held her there? Affection for Christ. She was a woman with affection for Christ and she stayed there. Well, you say, it was not a very intelligent thing because the tomb was empty; but that was the last place in which she knew He was and she remained’ there out of affection for Him—“They have taken away my Lord”. Do you have that affectionate link with Christ that would hold you at the last point where you knew He had been? Affection for Christ, that is what Mary represents. Think of the personal way she speaks. It is not just the Lord that the brethren knew, it is ‘ my Lord’, and she speaks of Him later as Rabboni, my own Teacher. It is that link with Christ that Mary had which is, so essential; it is to be in the fibre of our beings, and not only in the sisters. I have taken up Mary because she represents what the Lord can do with a woman. Mary had her own distinctive place, and at this point she could take up this situation when the others had gone home.
Now the Lord comes to her and He gives her this distinctive message for His brethren, “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. What a message for a sister to get! The Lord was indicating that He was going, you might say, immediately. Oh the wealth of relationship that that would open up to us—“My Father and your Father”; the saints are to be brought into that relationship; “and to my God and your God”. The declaration of God is there in its fulness and the Lord is giving this message saying He is ascending. Well, that is very fine and Mary comes and conveys it to the company. I think that in this there is something of the spirit of the assembly working.
It reminds me of what the Lord would communicate to us in a word at the Supper in the service of God. It says she “comes bringing word to the disciples that she had seen the Lord”; it is “bringing word”. That delightful, informal way is, you might say, the spirit of the assembly working. It is the informal way in which the Lord would convey something, and a brother stands up and conveys the thing informally in a family setting. It is not formal teaching; that has its place and there are brothers fitted for that kind of service, but then, are we available as the Lord might indicate something, just to bring word to the disciples, to communicate simply what the Lord has in mind? Sisters have their own place in being able to convey something, privately, but then I think it would include us all, that we might be available in affection for the Lord. At the moment when He has something to communicate there is someone there to communicate it. Oh to be in that situation, just to be available!
Well, that is simply, dear brethren, what I had in mind; there are times when God will use an individual in a particular way and the thing is to go on steadily in ordinary exercises so that when the occasion arises we are ready for it.
Address at Redbridge
16 September 1978