“WHERE NO WOOD IS …”

Kenneth Pye

Proverbs 26: 20; John 1: 9-14; 2 Timothy 3: 14-17

We read this chapter in Proverbs locally on Thursday night and I was affected by this verse, “Where no wood is, the fire goeth out; and where there is no talebearer, the contention ceaseth”. Sometimes there are lots of stories told, sometimes we say things, speak about things – are they profitable? Man after the flesh likes to live on gossip. You just need to look at the newspapers and you can see that – gossip, talebearers, just saying things. If nobody tells any tales, the contention ceaseth. If there are not tales, if there are only facts there is no contention because facts cannot be refuted. The problem occurs where there is talebearing. But that is not what I want to talk about from these verses.

What I want to talk about is “where no wood is, the fire goeth out”. I would like to apply this to the work of God in you and if you do not feed it, the fire is going to go out. Do not let the work of God be hindered in any way; you need to feed it, it needs to be fed with wood. What is wood? It is the manhood of Christ, that blessed holy One who came into manhood’s form. He took that upon Himself – “Having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself”, Phil 2: 8. Oh what wood was seen there! That is the wood that you need to feed the fire with so that it does not go out. Do not allow that fire to go out, keep it burning by feeding on Him. Do not feed on anything else. There are so many things in the world that the enemy would make attractive, so many things that we can feed on. The enemy would try and allure you, try and take you away with something else so that you are not feeding on Christ. What is your occupation? Is your occupation with Christ? You say, I go to all the meetings. Well, that is fine, but what about when you are not in the meeting? What about when you are not with the brethren, what about when you are on your own? Is your occupation with Christ? Make sure you keep the wood on the fire – “Where no wood is the fire goeth out”. It needs to be fed and fed the right kind of material.

I read in John to show that, because here the disciples were confused. Oftentimes we get very confused. Here the Lord had been with them; they had enjoyed these three and a half years, they had Jesus to turn to at every instance. When there was a storm on the sea and they were upset; what did they do? They find Jesus sleeping on the ship, they go and get Jesus. They had a reliable source of supply and solution for every exigency; there was a solution because Jesus was there. But now they are tested, and so are we, dear brethren, we are tested because the Lord is no longer here corporeally, He is not here physically. It speaks earlier about Simon Peter, he “girded his overcoat on him for he was naked, and cast himself in the sea”, John 21: 7. He was away looking for fish, he could not find any; then Jesus appears and the answer was there. Dear brethren, how much room do we make for Jesus? That is where we find all the answers to everything that we have a problem with individually, collectively, or household-wise. The answer is to look to Christ, the perfect Man, the Man we spoke of in the reading who was wholly dependent on His Father. Are we relying on Him, are we feeding on Him? Verse 7 says; “That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved says to Peter, It is the Lord”. Here is a man who knew Him. I think John was feeding on the humanity of Christ, he was feeding on that Man who had come, that Person, the Son of God who had come in manhood’s form. One who had never deviated one iota from the perfect righteousness of God. That is the One that John was feeding on, and as a result he is able to recognise Him. So what did they find? They find there is a lack. If we make room for Jesus, make room for Christ in our lives, there will be no lack. You say, how did this fire get there? How did they know there were going to be fish there? How was there going to be food? They had fished all night and caught nothing. The Lord had said put the net on the right side of the ship, and there they come, all these fishes, and when they get to the fire some fish are already there. Jesus has an abundant supply, but we have to partake of it – “where no wood is the fire goeth out”. If we do not take the food we will perish. People go on starvation diet; some people in prisons, they go on a water diet, that is all they take, water. They are starving themselves. What happens? They weaken and weaken and weaken. “Where no wood is, the fire goeth out”. That is true of the natural element. What is happening to the work of God in you? What is happening to the work of God in me? Is it growing, or is it going to die? “Where no wood is, the fire goeth out”. Let us not allow that to happen, let us make sure we are feeding it, feeding it with Christ. Here is the fish, it was there. The sovereignty of God is there and it should be known by each one of us. God in His sovereignty has chosen you, He has chosen each one of us. Coals, a fire of coals, a hundred and fifty-three fishes. People talk about having a barbecue; are you going to have a barbecue with a hundred and fifty-three fishes, not just small fishes, great fishes. What a fire that must have been! What is available is the hand of Christ Jesus who is able for every exigency! He is able for everything that may occur in your life, He can take care of it, but you have to depend on Him. You have to come to it that it is the Lord. That is what John said, he said to Peter, “It is the Lord”. And if you make room for Jesus you will find all these other things will be put in their place. What did Peter do? He immediately put his coat on and cast himself into the sea. Why? Because he knew it was the Lord. Do we make room for the Lord in our lives, in everything we do, everything? Not just when we come to the meeting. We need to do that, too, of course, but in everything we do, do we make room for the Lord? Do we look for Him in our circumstances? If you bring Him into your circumstances you find that everything will be under control. Why? Because you are feeding on the right kind of food. Do not be occupied with other things, do not be occupied with all these things the enemy would seek to occupy you with. Some things you might enjoy naturally, the enemy knows that; do not be over-occupied with these things. We have to be righteous, there are things that have to be done, but let us not be over-occupied with them, let us be occupied with feeding on Christ, the right kind of food.

So here is this fire of coals and fish laid on it, and bread. He says, “I am the bread of life”, John 6: 35. There He is, He is the One who is to be fed upon by each one of us. We need to feed on what He has gone through, what He went through in suffering, what He went through as He went into death. Then He says, “Bring of the fishes which ye have not taken”. What have you wrought in your experience, day by day, that you can bring for food? What impression of Christ have you had? You go through the wilderness setting, you come across circumstances, what of Christ do you learn from them? Do you learn anything of Christ out of the circumstances in which you are, and find that there is something there that can be fed upon, something there that can be enjoyed because it is of that character of man. “Bring of the fishes which ye have now taken”. Peter toiled all night and caught nothing. He cast the net to the other side of the ship and it was almost broken. Do we recognise Jesus in our circumstances? Things happen in your life and you say, why is this happening to me? Where is the Lord? Look for Him. We mentioned that in the reading, go into your closet and ask the Father in secret so that you may find out where the Lord is. Let Him into your circumstances and you will find that there is an answer, there is something to be secured for His glory. Here they have a hundred and fifty-three fishes; they are available now, and it would indicate the sovereignty of God. What does Jesus say? He says, “Come and dine”. It is not just a ‘push-me-by’! Sometimes you end up with a ‘push-me-by’. You drive along the road and you need something to keep you going – a snack – but this is, “Come and dine”, the fulness of God’s thoughts. Christ is available, not just as a ‘push-by’ but it is a complete meal, “Come and dine”, enjoy and enter into it. How much you can enjoy by partaking of Christ because you are built up, and there is sustenance for the soul as we feed on that blessed One. None of them dared to enquire, “Who art thou?” because they knew it was the Lord. Well, we need to know the Lord in our circumstances. Jesus comes and takes the bread and gives it to them, and in like manner the fish. How fine that is, to experience being served by the perfect Servant, the perfect Bondman, the One who did everything to satisfy the heart of God. How He would long to feed each one of us. He would love to feed each one of us with what is of Himself. What perfect humanity, what a pathway He laid out in example for us, “I do always the things that are pleasing to Him”, John 8:29. Always. “Did ye not know that I ought to be occupied with my Father’s business?”, Luke 2:49. There He was constantly occupied in His Father’s things. We need to feed on Him because “Where no wood is, the fire goeth out”. Let us not let that fire go out. Let us feed on Christ. The fire, you might say, was diminishing with Peter. There he was, “I go to fish”, the fire was diminishing. But it was rekindled, because he fed on Christ. Let us feed on Him, let us be found being served by Him. How He wants to serve us, how He wants to give us food. He gives us food, but He says, “Come and dine”. The food is there, are we going to partake of it? If you do not come to the table you do not get the food. You have to come to the table, you have to come and dine. We have to partake of it ourselves. We referred earlier to Jairus’ daughter in Luke’s gospel. It says, “He commanded something to eat to be given to her”, Luke 8: 55. Food is necessary so that the fire keeps going. “Where no wood is the fire goeth out”. We need to feed on the humanity of Christ, the One who has done everything in perfection, in manhood, for God. He has done it and He alone has done it. But the characteristics of that blessed One can be found in us as we partake of that food that He would supply.

I just refer to Timothy, because he was a young man who was exhorted to abide in the things which he had learned. This was so that the fire would not go out. He was exhorted to “abide in those things which thou hast learned, and of which thou hast been fully persuaded, knowing of whom thou hast learned them”. Timothy learned things from Paul, and he has to abide in them, he has to know something of what is of Christ in Paul. Paul says, “Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor 11: 1) – not what is of the flesh, Timothy was not to become like Paul after the flesh. He was to become like Paul as Paul was like Christ, and that is so for each one of us. We are to become like Christ, not like anyone else, but we have to see where we have learned them, “knowing of whom thou hast learned them”. Do we know something of that, it is Christ Himself. Where do we learn things? We learn things at His feet. Mary sat at His feet, listening to His word. How fine that is, to listen to His word, and then to abide in these things. Not just to let them go, not just for a passing glance – well I will do that when I go to the meeting – abide in these things, that means it is taken on, it is characteristic and then day by day that is how you live. It becomes something that is characteristic in each one of us and we become as those in Antioch were, Christians, those that were first called Christians in Antioch. They were like Christ. Are we more and more like Him as the days progress? To become more and more like Christ is a challenge for each one of us. To become more like Him we need to abide in these things, abide in the things that we have learned “and of which thou hast been fully persuaded”. “Keep, by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us, the good deposit entrusted”, 2 Tim 1: 14. The work of God in our hearts, we have been entrusted with it. What am I doing with it? We have been entrusted with the work of God placed in our hearts and affections. Am I smothering it or am I putting wood on it, because where no wood is the fire goeth out. We do not want the fire to go out. We want to allow that fire to continue burning. “Was not our heart burning in us as he spoke to us on the way” (Luke 24: 32) – these two on the way to Emmaus recognised that their hearts were burning. Why? Because they were feeding on Christ, they were making room for Jesus in their hearts and affections and their hearts were burning. There was a fire there because they made room for that blessed One as He spoke to them from the Scriptures, “having begun from Moses and from all the prophets he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself”, Luke 24:27. They were feeding on Christ. Do we feed on Christ? It is so easy to feed on other things, to be occupied with other things. Let us make sure we are using the right kind of wood, the right kind of wood so that the fire does not go out. So here is one “that from a child …hast known the sacred letters”. We spoke in the reading about encouraging the young ones to read – even though you do not understand, keep reading. “From a child thou hast known the sacred letters”. It speaks earlier about what was in his mother, “calling to mind the unfeigned faith which has been in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also” (2 Tim 1: 5), unfeigned faith. There is something that is being fed. I think Timothy was feeding that unfeigned faith, and he knew the sacred letters. How fine it is to lay hold of these things, “able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus”. It is not just knowledge, knowledge puffs up (see 1 Cor 8: 1). It is not just knowledge, it is the sacred letters which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. So it is all in Christ, everything is in Him. Where do we learn more about Christ? We learn more about Him in the Scriptures, that is where we learn about Christ. The Man in the gospels, the glory of that blessed One, the manhood of that One shining through in everything that He did, the perfection of His walk, to satisfy the desires of His Father. They way that He was occupied in doing good and healing the sick and bringing men to an appreciation of what God had in mind for them. How fine it is to know the sacred letters! Take these things on because they are able to make us wise but it is through faith which is in Christ Jesus. It is not a mental thing, it is something we have to give our hearts to. It is a heart matter. We have spoken of that as far as the Proverbs are concerned. It is always the heart. Solomon wrote the Proverbs but he asked for a wise and understanding heart. That is where it is to begin, where our hearts are occupied with Christ as Timothy would show us, one who had known the sacred letters. Every scripture is divinely inspired. You cannot go wrong reading the Scriptures. Every scripture is divinely inspired – every single one, and profitable. We need to be exercised to read what is profitable, “profitable for teaching”, so we can learn, learn more of that blessed One. Learn more of what He is for God, what He means for God. If we know what He means for each one of us He will mean more to each of us. He will be the One who would be magnified in our hearts. Then it is “for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”. We need to be convicted of things. We spoke about the eunuch. He was convicted by reading the Scriptures, and he was corrected on the pathway that he was on, “for he went on his way rejoicing”, Acts 8: 39. He was a different man. I think that is what the Scriptures would do, bring in conviction and correction, and then instruction in righteousness, so that we can be occupied in doing the things of God, so that “the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work”. Well, it is available for each one of us, those that are complete, complete as to qualification (see note ‘b’, v.17). There is no doubt as to what this man of God is able for, “fully fitted to every good work”. What are the qualifications? It involves holding fast what thou hast, abiding in those things which thou hast learned. “Hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown”, Rev 3: 11. That is what the Spirit says to the assemblies. “Where no wood is, the fire goeth out”. Let us keep that fire burning, let us keep the work of God active at the present moment. If we do not grow the work of God in our heart and affections now it will never grow. It does not grow in eternity, it grows now, so we have to feed it now and we need to feed it with Christ, feed it with the humanity of that blessed One, the One who came into manhood’s form, and did everything to satisfy the heart of God. The One who “loved righteousness and … hated lawlessness”, Heb. 1:9. Let us make sure that that is the food we are partaking of so that the fire continues to burn. We want the fire to burn strongly so there is an answer for the glory of God, so that the man of God may be complete, complete in all his qualifications. He has done everything that is necessary, he abides in those things, and there is that secured for God so that he is fully fitted to every good work. So he can appear before God. It says, “none shall appear before me empty”, Exod 34: 20. The vessels are full as they go in before God. Why? Because Christ is there, the great High Priest. He is there, and whatever little we may have, it is enough. Maybe we have just two small fishes. The little boy had five loaves and two small fishes, but it was enough. Why? Because it was in the hands of Christ. As we go in before God, the great High Priest is there, Christ is there, and God sees everything through that blessed One, in perfection. No matter what problems you and I may have, there is perfection in that. The testing time is now. What are we doing? What are we feeding on? We must keep the fire burning. “Where no wood is, the fire goeth out”. Let us make sure we feed on Christ and we grow in these things, and we abide in these things so that there is an answer to satisfy the heart of God. May it be so for His Name’s sake.

TORONTO

30 June 2001