“A BONDMAN OF THE LORD”

W.McKillop

2 Timothy 2: 24, 25 (to “oppose”); 1 Corinthians 4: 17; 16: 10, 11; Philippians 2: 19-22

The passage in 2 Timothy 2 opens the door for all of us to take up the Lord’s work. Paul in writing says, “a bondman of the Lord”; not the bondman but “a bondman of the Lord”. That would open the door for every one of us to come into the Lord’s work in whatever way we can. We all belong to the levitical family; we all belong to “the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven”, Heb 12: 23. Belonging to that family affords us, of course, great distinction and great spiritual privileges. It also affords us the privilege of having part in the Lord’s work. Under Moses, the levitical families were to carry on the work of the tabernacle system, and they are only a type of ourselves. What Moses wrote, as Paul would tell us, was not really for Israel but for us (see 1 Cor 10: 11). We have things broken up and amplified in type by Moses so that we should understand how to come into the work. A bondman of the Lord has certain moral characteristics, as the apostle writes. He says, “A bondman of the Lord ought not to contend”. This feature came in early in the history of servants of God. The servants of Abimelech, the Philistine, violently took away a well that Abraham had dug. And although Abraham reproved Abimelech, he really met the matter by setting before him seven ewe-lambs (see Gen 21). That would be a very full presentation typically of the Spirit of Christ. The Philistine asked, What mean these? Abraham understood what he had presented to Abimelech, and he said that it was a testimony that he had dug this well. He did not contend with Abimelech nor did he contend with his servants. The same thing came up in Isaac’s day; the shepherds of Gerar strove with shepherds of Isaac (see Gen 26: 1). It does not say that Isaac’s shepherds strove with them, no doubt as affected by the influence of the heavenly man. What they did was that they removed themselves - at least Isaac did but they would have gone with him - and dug other wells. Although Isaac did not set seven ewe-lambs by themselves, yet his action in removing himself and not contending meant that the spirit of the seven ewe-lambs was there. But he named those wells to bring out the character of the opposition; one meaning strife and another meaning quarrel. He removed himself from persons who claimed the water. They said the water is ours - it was not theirs of course for Abraham and Isaac had dug the wells - but there are persons who claim that the water is theirs. The test is always how to meet that. I think the Spirit of Christ is what comes out typically in Abraham and Isaac. Paul adds here, “but be gentle towards all”, a feature that would mark us regardless of the provocation, regardless of the contention. We know what it is to be accused of being contentious and controversial, but typically Abraham and Isaac would show us how heavenly persons meet that line of things. It is in the Spirit of Christ and in removing themselves from the area of contention. Then Paul goes on with other things, “apt to teach; forbearing; in meekness setting right those who oppose”. We would always like to set right those who oppose if we could, but really, as he goes on to show, it is God’s matter, “if God perhaps may sometime give them repentance”. But our part is to be characterised by meekness in setting them right.

In thinking about “a bondman of the Lord”, I have selected Timothy to speak about because of the things that the apostle says of him. In the passage in 1 Corinthians 4, speaking about his sufferings and about the partisan feelings there were in Corinth, he says, “For this reason I have sent to you Timotheus, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord”. The Lord is administratively in charge. This title “the Lord” involves not only authority but administrative function. The Lord is always active administratively in regard of His work. The fact that He is spoken of as over the work is to affect us; not only is He over us in that sense but He supplies richly what we need for whatever little part we have in the work. Proverbs tells us “A master roughly worketh every one”, Prov 26: 10. That would only mean that, as the Lord asserts His authority in order to make us usable and useful, and to help us to become more skilled in the work, He is not governed by our natural feelings or thoughts or desires. So “a master roughly worketh every one”; it is not rough to your spiritual feelings, to your subject mind and heart. It is only rough to your natural desires, because naturally we like to determine what we will do and how and when. Even Paul had to say, if not of my own will. There were certain things he would rather not have taken up, but the Lord did not accede to Paul’s desire. Even Apollos did not yield to Paul’s entreaty to go to Corinth; he refused to go because he knew that the Corinthians on account of their state would set Apollos over against Paul, and Apollos would not have Paul’s great ministry in Corinth interfered with or damaged in the Corinthians.

But I am speaking really about Timothy not Apollos. So he says, “my beloved and faithful child”. He is someone who was nurtured in Paul’s affection and he showed by his faithfulness that there was a real answer morally to the affection that Paul lavished on him. He says, “my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ” - a remarkable thing that this relatively young man could be sent by Paul to Corinth. He would come in faithfulness to Paul and conscious of Paul’s affection, to set out in Corinth Paul’s ways as they are in Christ. You can understand that he might have had great trepidation in doing this because there were persons there who thought they were equal to the apostle and they would no doubt regard Timothy as just a youth; as Goliath regarded David. “Thou art but a youth”, Saul says that to him (see 1 Sam 17: 33). Saul is really a figure of the natural man in divine things and there were some like that at Corinth and they would have regarded Timothy with scorn. But what was to shine in him was not that he was going to contend with these persons but that he would put them in mind of Paul’s ways as they are in Christ. As they saw Timothy moving in and out among them it would remind them of how Paul had moved in and out among them. I do not know how long Paul wanted Timothy to remain there, (he himself had been there eighteen months teaching the word of God), but he sends Timothy, a bondman of the Lord, and a beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and what he puts on him is to set out Paul’s ways as they are in Christ. No doubt that would be like the seven ewe-lambs. As these self-important persons in Corinth saw Timothy they would see a ewe-lamb coming in among them; what would shine would be the Spirit of Christ - not only the spirit of Paul but the Spirit of Christ. So “my ways as they are in Christ” would point to the elevated character of Timothy’s movements among these Corinthians. It is a great help to us as we see persons who in some measure are setting out Paul’s ways as they are in Christ, an elevated line of things that comes out in the way they move among the saints. Of course the divine thought is that all of us should be on this line because we all ought to be beloved and faithful children of Paul. That is one of the great urges of the Spirit at the present time that, when most in Christendom have forsaken Paul, there should be persons here and there who set out his ways as they are in Christ.

In the sixteenth chapter, where he refers again to Timothy, he gives admonition to the Corinthians; he says, “Now if Timotheus come”. Earlier he had said, I am sending him; here he says, if he come, meaning that there might be a change. There was not, he went there; but he says, “see that he may be with you without fear”. That would not be a word to the household of Stephanas and Chloe and persons like that; it would be a word really to the Philistines in Corinth, these big persons in their own minds who would try to intimidate Timothy. So he says, “see that he may be with you without fear; for he works the work of the Lord, even as I”. Paul had had to say to them “ye have reigned without us” (chap 4: 8). You can understand how the suffering apostle would say that reproachfully to these Corinthians. He says, “I would that ye reigned”. So over against that line of things he sends them a worker, He says, “he works the work of the Lord, even as I”. That is a remarkable thing, that the same character of workmanship would be seen in Timothy as in Paul. It would not of course be the same measure and perhaps not the same quality, but the character would be the same, “he works the work of the Lord, even as I”. It would be a very great commendation for any one of us if Paul could say about us that he or she is working the work of the Lord even as I.

So it would be helpful to us, I think, to search out privately how Paul worked, what characterised him. As we have often heard, he could do the lowliest service, such as gathering a bundle of sticks; on the other hand, he could do what we cannot do, he declared unto the Ephesians the whole counsel of God. That has been done; there is no need for it to be repeated. But there is plenty of other work between declaring the whole counsel of God and gathering sticks that is open to all of us a belonging to the levitical family. So he says of Timothy, “he works the work of the Lord, even as I”. That means that Paul is Timothy’s model; it would be Paul under Christ of course. In all that we are saying we would always keep in mind that everything is seen uniquely and superlatively in Christ Himself. But the fact that things are seen in persons of like passions with ourselves is to help us. God comes down in His consideration for us and sets persons among us who are the same in flesh and blood as we are and helps us to see that there is something there that is worth going after, worth taking on even if it costs something. As was said in the reading, things have to be acquired on the basis of buying and selling. Timothy undoubtedly had sold certain opportunities that he had; his father was a Greek, he could no doubt have had prominence in the Greek world in some way, whether commercially or academically, but he became a disciple of the apostle and he learned how to work. This is work that is worth doing and work that abides. So the Preacher tells us, “I know that whatever God doeth, it shall be for ever; there is nothing to be added to it, nor anything to be taken from it”, Eccl 3: 14. That is what the work of the Lord is. The Lord comes down in grace and uses persons like ourselves and in what He does there is nothing to be added to it and nothing to be taken from it. So we can understand why Paul says to the brethren in an earlier chapter, “knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord”, chap 15: 58, that is it is worth doing because it will remain.

I move on to what Paul says in Philippians about Timothy. No doubt what he says in Philippians is written a good while after what he said about him in Corinthians. You notice the affectionate way in which he speaks. “I hope in the Lord Jesus” - he uses that affectionate assembly title of the Lord, the Lord Jesus - “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus to you shortly”. Here it is not on any corrective line but “that I also may be refreshed, knowing how ye get on”. That is another fine feature of a bondman of the Lord as exemplified in Timothy, that he can give an accurate and commendable report of how the brethren are getting on. He is not, as we were saying in the reading, someone who would only see the size of the barrel with a handful of meal and know about that, but he would see the value of the pot of oil and the use the saints are making of it, and he would say the very best he could. I have no doubt he learned that from Paul too, because Paul told the Corinthians that they were his letter, written in his heart, known and read of all men (see 2 Cor 3: 2). Wherever Paul went he spoke well of the Corinthians; that is what I gather that passage means in 2 Corinthians 3. It does not mean that he did not in priestly concern say certain things, but that he was not an habitual critic of the saints in one place or another. So he says, “that I also may be refreshed, knowing how ye get on”. Not that I may be depressed knowing how you are not getting on. We want to see the very best in our local brethren and the brethren in every locality where we may be. I recall Mr Taylor many years ago in a meeting quoting a poet. He said it is not scripture but it has a certain value. So he quoted Alexander Pope in the three-day meetings, and what the poet wrote was:

        Be to their virtues ever kind,

        Be to their faults a little blind.

He thought that was good advice. So I pass it on. I would not quote it otherwise but he did, so I feel free to do it. I do not think anybody will find fault with it. It is not scripture but it contains a germ of truth. Anyway he says here as to Timothy, “I have no one like-minded who will care with genuine feeling how ye get on”. Now I wonder why he had to say this to the Philippians, because they were a spiritual, heavenly-minded company, marked by a great deal of love, and yet he has to say this, “I have no one like-minded who will care with genuine feeling how ye get on”. Perhaps they did not realise the depth of Timothy’s priestly concern as to how they got on. First Paul says, “I have no one like-minded”; that is, Timothy’s mind would be the same as Paul’s about the Philippians, and he cared with genuine feeling how they were getting on. I think that is a great tribute to Timothy, because this was probably the most spiritual company to which the apostle wrote; yet here is Timothy and what he is concerned about is how they get on. So he says, “all seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ”. What often shuts us out of having part livingly in the work of the Lord is that our own things govern us. Further he says, “But ye know the proof of him, that, as a child a father”, that is Timothy would be marked by the filial affection toward Paul, and Paul would be marked by fatherly affection toward Timothy. And he says, “he has served with me”; a great privilege you would say for Timothy and so it was. But he was equal to it. Think of serving with Paul in the glad tidings! And he says, “in the work of the glad tidings”. The work of the Lord would include the work of the glad tidings. It really takes a heavenly-minded person to be engaged in the work of the glad tidings. Mr Leslie McFarlane was speaking to me the other night about the glad tidings as coming from heaven involving glory; that would be the way the glad tidings would be in Paul’s mind in writing to the Philippians, and Timothy is with him in that. The Spirit of God would help us as we seek to have part in the work of the glad tidings to show that they involve heavenly light. They are not only the meeting of need - thank God they do meet need - but they also bring light from heaven about the purpose of God. Here is Timothy who was with Paul in the work of the glad tidings and he was like-minded. It would be a great thing to get alongside someone like Paul and see what his mind was about matters. That has been seen in the recovery of the truth. You will find, for instance, that Mr Stoney records visiting Mr Darby on his deathbed and speaking about his departure. And what did Mr Darby say? He said, ‘Let us have a little prayer, Stoney, for the church’. That is the kind of mind that he had. And of course Mr. Stoney was like-minded because, as we know, his great theme in his ministry was the mystery, union with Christ.

I have mentioned these things, beloved brethren, in a rather scattered way to interest us and stimulate us to be on this line, and to see that we can also be in measure what Timothy was through grace. You might say, We do not have Paul. No, but we have the Spirit of God, we have the Spirit of Christ. Mr Raven said that Timothy is the characteristic servant who remains until the Lord comes. That means that there must be persons who are going to carry on what was seen in Timothy, and I would like to elicit your interest and stimulate your desire to be in this as Timothy was. Paul is not here to take account of it but the Lord is looking at it and the Spirit of God will surely come alongside of you and say, ‘I will help you in this. I see the bent of your mind and I am going to strengthen that with you and help you so that you will become a real worker in the work of the Lord, and as a result of that you can say how the saints are getting on’.

Well, may the Lord enable us to see the value of these things, and in whatever time we have left, to go in for them increasingly. For His Name’s sake.

NEW YORK

12 June 1999