THE WAY OF EFFECTIVE SERVICE
[p. 413] THE WAY OF EFFECTIVE SERVICE
Mark 9:14 - 27; Mark 16:1 - 20
I had in mind to speak about the continuance of effective service among the people of God. This gospel is intended to promote such service, and so it presents the Lord in this connection. “Beginning of the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God” Mark 1:1. Effective service can only be in servants divinely fitted and sent forth, and in order to understand the qualifications for it, we need to pay attention to what marked the Lord as presented in this gospel. As I said, He is presented as Son of God. There is no reference to genealogy, either from man to God, as in Luke, or from the roots of promise, David and Abraham, as in Matthew. He is simply introduced to us as the Son of God. He had already been declared, or “marked out” (Romans 1:4) to be the Son of God by resurrection of the dead, but this evangelist shows that at the outset of His service the heavenly intervention was, as it were, for Himself, indicating that for service there must needs be private relations with heaven.
It will have been observed by those who have read carefully that in this gospel the opening of the heavens, the coming of the Spirit, and the announcement from heaven that He was Son of God were for Himself. It speaks of the heavens opening, and the Holy Spirit descending, and then the voice, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight” (Mark 1:11), suggesting heaven’s interest, heaven’s honour, and His relationship to God. In the other two synoptic gospels the incident recorded is not so personal. In Luke the Holy Spirit is said to have descended in a bodily form as a dove upon Him, but it is not said that He saw it; the announcement of the relationship [p. 414] is addressed to Him, but the coming of the Spirit is not so personal. In Matthew He sees the Spirit coming, but the word there is, “This is my beloved Son” (Matthew 3:17); attention is called to Him, whereas in Mark all is personal; He sees the heavens opened and the Spirit coming, and the voice is to Him. And so in aspiring to service, I think we have in Mark an indication of a necessity for a private understanding with heaven, so to speak. There is a power that comes, and you know it is upon you; others will see it presently, but you know it, otherwise there is no moral right to set up as representing God and Christ here. And then in addition to that there is the conscious knowledge of your relationship with God. Service can only be carried on in the dignity and liberty that belong to sonship. So I would emphasise at the outset two features with regard to what I have presented: on the one hand, that if there is to be effective service maintained, there must be the private understanding with heaven of the power and the honour conferred by the reception and anointing of the Spirit, and on the other hand, of the relationship into which we are brought.
The Lord Jesus, I would say, was Son inherently; it was no question with Him of receiving sonship as with us, but of the announcement by God of what was there: “Thou art my beloved Son” Mark 1:11. With us sonship is received, as it says in Galatians 4, “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, come of woman, come under law, that he might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship. But because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:4 - 6), that is to say, with the relationship conferred, the power to enjoy it is conferred, but that is in our hearts; it is not the same thought as the anointing. What I have in my heart is for my own enjoyment and for my own response to God as a son, but for [p. 415] service it is upon, and so the Holy Spirit came upon them all. This has reference to the anointing — the external evidence of divine honour conferred to represent God in this world. We should not be afraid of the idea of representation, for the primary thought of God with regard to man was that he should represent God. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” Genesis 1:26. I think the reception of sonship and of the Spirit of God’s Son in our hearts implies that we are to be like God, but the Holy Spirit coming upon us implies much more; we are to be representative of God in this world. It is the thought of God that He should be represented. God never intended it otherwise than that He should be represented here, and be represented in those who serve. The assembly itself is called “the Christ” in 1 Corinthians 12:12, meaning that there was to be representation here in it as anointed.
Now having said this, I have to come to the dark picture of the people of God exhibiting inability to help in spite of the greatest light and privileges. I refer to the passage in chapter 9. The early part of that chapter, as applied to saints now, supposes the Spirit. Three persons selected by the Lord are taken up into a high mountain apart, where He was transfigured before them, and where the voice of God from heaven spoke to them calling attention to Him. This was a wonderful privilege. And now He comes to His disciples and there is a great crowd around them, and He finds that the scribes are disputing with them; He makes enquiry as to what they were disputing about, and one of the crowd said, “I have brought to thee my son”. Evidently he understood that he would find the Lord with His own. Is it always so, dear brethren, that He is found among us? We speak much of the Lord Jesus in the midst, but is it so that He is found among us always? He was not found amongst them here. There may be [p. 416] circumstances that would forbid His presence. Are there not such circumstances found sometimes in our meetings which forbid the presence of the Lord? Thus we are disciplined or rebuked.
Here is a man in need, and evidently he assumes the Lord would be found among His own, and normally it should be so. Certainly it was not so on this occasion. The father of the child says, “I have brought to thee my son”, and then he says, “I spoke to thy disciples, that they might cast him out”. Alas! they were unable to cast out the demon. The disputation had gone on, but disputation is not power; what is needed to help is power, and the disciples, although they could dispute, could not cast out the demon. It says they could not do it. How discreditable it was, how it denied the great ministry of the Lord Jesus! If the Lord Himself had not come in, the man must have gone away without help; he had come expecting the Lord to be there — he says, I have brought him unto Thee. Where should He be save among His disciples? But there is a disputation, and no power to help. Well, I speak all this so that we may take to heart any inability to help of which we may be conscious. It places us on a level in regard of service with those around us in Christendom. See the Lord’s rebuke! “O unbelieving generation! how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you?” The disciples are included in this rebuke. Unless we have power to help what is it but that we resemble the world? We are like the religious world about us, and so we are condemned with it. “O unbelieving generation”. This includes all; the disciples and the scribes would both be included in the Lord’s words. They had no power to help the man. The Lord says, “Bring him to me”. I need not go into detail, I only wished to touch on one point — the inability in those known to be disciples of Christ to relieve need, to help.
[p. 417] We see in this incident how the impotency of the disciples being disclosed, the Lord Himself takes the matter in hand; He says, “Bring him to me”, for the testimony can never fall to the ground. The Lord will always come in and adjust things by Himself; He will never let things go, you may be sure of that; He is “the faithful and true witness” Revelation 3:14. The work will go on, the relief will be administered; the Lord will see to that.
I turn now to chapter 16, where we see the women with the best possible intent and purpose, and with love to Christ, at the sepulchre at the sun-rising, and they see there on the right side a young man. He was on the right side, and is clothed with a white robe. He is there as a witness to the divine requirements — to the qualifications needed in the service of God as a young man. The Lord is looking for young men. The testimony is to go on, and He looks for young men. There is a wonderful opportunity for such at the present time; old ones necessarily pass away to be with the Lord as the dispensation continues, as it says, “One generation passeth away and another generation cometh” (Ecclesiastes 1:4), but the generations overlap, that is to say, the old and the young have occasion to mingle. We see in Matthew that the Lord finds an ass and a colt and He rides both. The disciples brought them, and we read, “He sat on them” Matthew 21:7. We find frequently a division between the old and the young, but it was never intended to be so. The old have experience and wisdom, the young have the energy, the life and freshness, and so the divine intention is that there should be a happy blending of both. The assembly, I may say, is made up of both old and young, and the young are not to isolate themselves from the old, nor the old from the young; they are to be held together, they are to be so together that the Lord can use both at one time. He rode upon them both.
In Mark it is one young man; and it is not now a [p. 418] piece of cloth cast about his naked body, but a long white garment — a robe. The idea of clothing is suggested. How often our natural nakedness shows itself by the way we allow the flesh in our fashions and deportment. Here is a young man clothed in a long white robe. He is completely covered; speaking typically, the flesh is not apparent, he has overcome it, and then there is purity suggested. These are the essentials of effective service. He is on the right side too, signifying as I understand it, that the power of God had become effective in the tomb. Jesus had risen from the tomb, as the young man said, “He is risen; he is not here”. The power of God had wrought; and it is the same power in which the service of God is to be carried out.
In the presence of all this these women are affrighted and perturbed, and instead of going forth with the wonderful tidings committed to them they speak to no one. It is better, surely, to be silent if you have nothing to say, but when you are entrusted with a divine message it is disobedience to be silent. You all remember how Zacharias is spoken of by Luke; he was serving “in the order of his course” (Luke 1:8), you could not point a finger at the order, or the rectitude of his service, but when the angel Gabriel came to him with glad tidings he was unable to believe; and if one does not believe, one should not speak. Unless you can present something by faith it is better to be silent; and Zacharias was rendered silent (dumb) until what the angel promised should be fulfilled, and then he blesses God and announces the mind of God. If you have a message, it is sinful to hold your peace. These women were silent. How unworthy it is to go about pursuing the circumstances of daily life and saying nothing to anyone of Christ in resurrection! What a wonderful privilege it is to speak of Him thus! How humbling to refrain from it! Are these things not applicable more or less to us? How [p. 419] much are we saying to people about Christ? These women were so disconcerted, so affrighted that “they said nothing to any one”. It is chapter 9 extended — there is no ability to speak about Christ.
And so the Lord Himself takes the matter in hand; He ever does, so that while I speak in the way of exhortation, I turn for a moment to speak of the Lord, so that we may see what He does. In such circumstances He always takes matters up Himself. He appears first to Mary Magdalene. Who is to be the person in any particular meeting to whom He will appear first? He will reveal Himself to one person. He revealed Himself to Mary Magdalene; she was told to speak and she did. Think of God having someone who can speak about Christ! Paul says, “I have believed, therefore have I spoken” 2 Corinthians 4:13. She believed, and therefore she spoke. Nobody believed her. This is a most sorrowful picture, especially as there is so much that corresponds with it today. The ninth verse stands over against the eighth; in the former Mary does not speak, but now she speaks of what she had seen and heard, and yet no one believed her. It is very humbling to speak of Christ and no one believe, but the testimony is rendered (let us remember that) and those who hear us, their blood is on their own heads, not on ours. She had discharged her responsibility; she spoke, although no one believed.
But the Lord says, as it were, ‘I am not going to stop at that’; nor does He ever. He appears in another form; such is His zeal to have the testimony rendered, and so He appears to two of them in “another form”. I cannot tell you what that form was, but it was another one, for the Lord works in a variety of ways to effect His purpose. It was another form, and He appeared to two of them as they walked “into the country”. I am always afraid when believers go into the country, that is, to seek more [p. 420] comfortable houses, gardens, etc. Of course, it is another matter when a man’s calling takes him there. This is not the time for the country. The time for the country is coming; the present time is a time of testimony to men, and men are found in cities. There is a time of suffering and discomfort as might be experienced in the city, in order to render testimony in the city, and so these two returned, and they also bare testimony; “They went and brought word to the rest”. It is the Lord’s doing. First He got one, now He has got two to bear testimony, but we read, “neither did they believe them”. How extraordinary! But is Mary Magdalene’s testimony for nothing, and the testimony of these two? No, they represented the Lord, they performed their service although it was without effect for the moment. “Let us not lose heart in doing good” Galatians 6:9. Let us not grow faint in the service of speaking of Christ. “I have believed, therefore have I spoken” 2 Corinthians 4:13. So the speaking is to go on. It is a time of speaking. There is a time for speaking as we read in Ecclesiastes, and that time is now, so the speaking is to continue. Paul says, “Your toil is not in vain in the Lord” 1 Corinthians 15:58.
Then the Lord comes in Himself. He will not give up, beloved; the Lord will pursue His own line, and results are sure to come. He Himself moves and He upbraids the eleven as they sat at meat. How they needed it! When Mary told them He was alive you would assume their hearts would have burned with joy at the thought of it; but when she came and announced the fact they disbelieved her. Such is the natural hardness of our hearts, and so the Lord upbraided them with “their unbelief and hardness of heart”. He had Mary’s testimony and the testimony of the two to point to, and He could bring these two testimonies forward in upbraiding them with the unbelief and hardness of heart they had manifested. But nevertheless the end is reached.
[p. 421] I speak these things for our encouragement, for the Lord is unfailing as “the faithful and true witness” (Revelation 3:14), and He is on the right hand of God, and the Holy Spirit is here, so the speaking will go on, the service will continue, and results will come. And then He says to the eleven, having reached them and adjusted them, “Go into all the world, and preach the glad tidings to all the creation”. Think of all the world — the wideness of the mind of God in regard to the gospel! And “to all the creation”!
Then further He says, “He that believes and is baptised shall be saved, and he that disbelieves shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow those that have believed”. I wish in closing to emphasise the thought of believing in connection with service. Mark, the Lord does not say, ‘These signs shall follow you’, but ‘those who believe’, that is to say, the word applies to believers at all times: “In my name they shall cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they should drink any deadly thing it shall not injure them; they shall lay hands upon the infirm, and they shall be well”. Now you see the ability to help. I do not go into the detail of these things, I simply confine myself to one point — the stated ability to help, and that it belongs to those who believe. It is a question of faith. The signs imply that there is ability to help every possible condition of need in man.
Then it goes on to say, “The Lord therefore, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God”. Note that the young man sat on the right side of the sepulchre and the Lord sits on the right hand of God. The apostles at Jerusalem gave their right hands to Paul and Barnabas. All these are allusions to power. Power comes from the right hand of God; the power that wrought in Christ when God raised Him from the dead — that power flows out to support those who [p. 422] believe. Our expressed fellowship implies that we are ready to assist those who preach and teach the truth, according to all the means we have got. The right hand means, ‘I am with you according to all that I have got’. The Lord sat on the right hand of God, and the disciples went forth and preached “everywhere”. How perfect was the result as the Lord took the service into His own hands! “And they, going forth, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them”; it is not simply that signs followed them, but there was evident power to help, faith being there. May God bless His word.