THE WORK OF THE LORD
David J Wright
I desire, with the Lord’s help, to stimulate us all to have our part in the work of the Lord. This verse in Ecclesiastes is very striking; “Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do with thy might”. That raises the exercise as to availability; whatever comes to your hand, you do it with your might. The work of the Lord is not to be carried out in a negligent way. It is important that your motive in taking up the work of the Lord is love for the Lord Jesus and love for His people. If that motive is in place, the Lord will give you grace in what comes to your hand. Many things may be done out of sight of which no one knows, but all is taken account of by the Lord. The exercise would be as to availability.
Isaiah says, “Here am I; send me”, chap 6: 8. In 2 Timothy this verse brings out the necessary underlying moral state to be a vessel fit for the Master’s use. “If therefore one shall have purified himself from these, in separating himself from them, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work”. You will notice that is an individual action; “If therefore one shall have purified himself”. It goes on to what is collective in pursuing “righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”; but this is an individual action. In a way it proves your genealogy. It is a path of separation here from a world that crucified your Saviour and mine - separating from vessels to dishonour; and in doing so there is an underlying moral state in which you are useable under the Lord’s hand.
I would like to concentrate on the householder who had a treasure. He brings things out of that treasure, “things new and old”. The first question would be, ‘How did he get that treasure?’. I believe it involves a living, healthy link with Christ, cultivated in a secret way. We often speak about secret history with God and that secret history is known only between you and God. The effects of it come out. It involves prayer, it involves daily intercourse with the Lord; I am tested by these things. It involves giving place to the Spirit, and giving time to read the Scriptures. The importance of the Scriptures; they stand as one whole. The exhortation that Paul gave to Timothy was to, “Have an outline of sound words”, 2 Tim 1: 13. Particularly those who are younger, look at the good teaching that has come down to us in the recovery. All these things will contribute to the treasure.
The next thing is, where is the sphere in which that treasure is to come out? It is to come out in the Christian circle. I am challenged sometimes as to what contribution I can make. There were two persons on their way to Emmaüs; they loved the Lord but they were downcast. The Lord drew alongside of them and said, “What discourses are these which pass between you as ye walk, and are downcast?”. Things had not worked out the way they had thought they were going to work out and they lost heart. It is an experience I have had myself. “And 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 would have been Old Testament scriptures; if you like, they were something of the old treasure. He goes along the path with them, turns in with them, and He broke the bread among them, v 29, 30. Immediately there was some touch which quickened them; they had seen Him do it before. Then it says, “he disappeared from them … And rising up the same hour, they returned to Jerusalem”, v 31, 33. There is no reference to say the Lord told them to do that. There was an instinct in them; they go back. To where? The Christian circle.
As finding the eleven together, they came with a fresh, a new impression, something new in their treasure that they had not had before. They departed despondent and downcast; they returned with their heart burning in them. They had something to contribute to that circle. Everyone there would have said the Lord is risen; what hope! All these experiences add to the value of the Christian circle. The Holy Spirit is here indwelling the assembly, and something of these things can be known even in a day of public breakdown and ruin. They are very precious things.
When Peter was about to put off his earthly tabernacle he said to the saints that he wanted “to stir you up”, 2 Pet 1: 13. He brought out something old from his treasury: it was impressions of the Mount of Transfiguration; things that he had carried through his whole life, which had become of antique value. We all know that antiques increase in their value. What is antiquated is worthless but an antique increases in its value, and Peter says he would stir them up. Peter was experienced enough to know that the only thing which would stir the saints up was some impression of Christ. It is interesting that he speaks about “the excellent glory”, v 17. He speaks about the “holy mountain”, v 18. All these positive things remained in his soul and had grown. It is also interesting to note that there is no mention of three tabernacles, one for the Lord Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elias, Matt 17: 4. He had been left with an impression of no one but Jesus alone. It has been left in the canon of Scripture for us to be stirred up, and that One is soon coming again.
At the end of Malachi it says, “they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another”, chap 3: 16. What do you think they were talking about? I think Luke 2 would give us a clue; Simeon and Anna would no doubt have been two persons like those referred to in Malachi that feared the Lord. They were waiting for their Messiah. They had been in the temple each day; one day their Messiah came as a Babe. Simeon took Him up in his arms and blessed Him, v 28. What it says of Anna is interesting. It says that she “spoke of him to all those who waited for redemption in Jerusalem”, v 38. That gives you a clue to what that little company at the end of Malachi were occupied with: they spoke of Him. There is a book of ministry we have, given by our brother Norman Meek, who many here would remember and love. The title of that book is ‘Raising the Level’. I would suggest that this line brings out the treasure new and old in relation to Christ; it is what will raise the level.
We are gathered together today, and we enjoy speaking about Christ to one another: what is our conversation together outside the meeting? Is it about Christ? He is the One we will be occupied with eternally. He is the One who can hold us now.
What holds Thy people now while here on earth
Is what Thou art in all Thy wondrous worth.
(Hymn 229)
What I have in mind as to having your part in the work of the Lord leaves nobody out; it does not leave the sisters out; it does not leave the young people out. I would soberly say that we could do more in our table talk indoors as being occupied with the Lord Jesus.
One of the old worthies said that he spoke to the Lord Jesus about the saints and to the saints about the Lord Jesus. I believe this would raise the level, and I think it would increase our valuation not only of the Lord Jesus Himself, but of one another, to see the work of God in one another, the treasure that is there which can be brought out, “things new and old”.
In Matthew 25 you have a situation where the Lord went away. It is like the present dispensation; the Lord Jesus has gone away. It is a great comfort that, subsequent to His ascension on high and His glorification, the Holy Spirit came and is still here. The Lord had given these persons something of His substance before He left, one five talents, one, two and one, one. We have all been given a measure of faith. God in His sovereignty may have worked in you and me, and you can thank God for any work of God you can take account of, not only in yourself but in one another. The great thing in this scripture was that the talents were to come into circulation; they were to be trafficked with. Is this what happens in your local assembly and mine? If it is, it makes it a very attractive place. If a brother brings in an impression of Christ that you had not thought of before, that becomes your impression. It enriches the Christian circle. That is the way it works practically. It will enhance the Lord Jesus in your affections. It will increase your value of the brother or the sister that passed that impression on to you. These things are living and they are real because of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. Things are becoming enriched all the time. Are we having our full part in that? You say you know Mr So-and-so will be there tonight; he always has something to bring in; but what about you - and young persons as well? No one is to elect themselves out of this. We can all be contributors to the enrichment of the Christian circle.
There came a time in this parable when the Lord returned. We are looking for that. Can He witness and observe the increase in the work of God in you and me? Can He observe the fact that the Holy Spirit has a free way in your heart, so that you are formed in what you may speak of; and so that there is an increase in moral power? There is no power in speaking about something that you clearly do not display in your walk and ways here. We ought to know how to behave ourselves in the house of God. The Lord returns here and the one who had five talents had gained five other talents. He gets the word, “Well, good and faithful bondman, thou wast faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things: enter into the joy of thy Lord”. Have you ever thought about what it means to “enter into the joy of thy Lord”? I think the Lord Jesus finds great joy in seeing the increase of His work in one and another. The master left those men with five talents and two talents and they doubled it. They put it into circulation. We are not talking about theories here. We are talking about experience. I think the more we enter into it the more our valuation of the Lord Jesus, and of the Christian circle, and of one another will be. It raises the level.
There was one who did not put anything into circulation. I do not want to speak so much about him; only to learn from it. He just put his talent away and waited for His Lord to return; a “wicked and slothful bondman”. My desire is that each of us might be stimulated to have part in the work of the Lord whatever that may be, whatever comes to your hand. It is not a question of volunteering, but it is a question of availability and suitability, and the Lord will be pleased to take you up. As bringing things into circulation, it works the other way as well: you receive something that you had not thought of before and that becomes part of your treasury.
That entire treasury will go through; we have the “treasure in earthen vessels”, 2 Cor 4: 7. We take account of an old saint, the strength gone physically, and yet there is a treasure in the earthen vessel and that treasure will go through. As we said earlier, nothing that is unsuitable to heaven will go into heaven. The treasure that you may have is what will go through and it is a reality to know it, as the Spirit is free.
It says in Luke 10, “after these thing the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to come”. There was the twelve who were already workmen and He sends seventy in addition. That would not make any difference to the power: the power is in the Holy Spirit. Any limitations to that power are on our side. Sending out seventy others brings in variety but brings to my mind the greatness of what the assembly is - “star differs from star in glory”, 1 Cor 15: 41. Each star has some impression of Christ. They are sent out two and two; I do not think they chose each other. The Lord put two and two together, and they worked together. Can you work with your local brother? Can I? The work is to go on. Paul said to Timothy, “do the work of an evangelist”, 2 Tim 4: 5. Timothy is not called an evangelist as far as I know in Scripture; very few are. He is told to do the work of one. The work is to go on. It will take the whole assembly to reflect what is seen in one Man; impressions of Christ in the assembly, a vessel that is suitable to Him in every way; Christ says that it is Himself all over again. Let us value increasingly the truth of the assembly brought to us by the apostle Paul, the teaching of which has largely been turned away from in Christendom; I desire it may be more precious to us.
“The harvest indeed is great, but the workmen few; supplicate therefore the Lord of the harvest that he may send out workmen into his harvest”. Would you or I be ready to go? He says the harvest is great. In this area, there is a call for preachers, and some labour at it very heartily, and we thank God for it; but I would seek to stimulate a desire that if it comes to your hand, if you get asked to take on that service in a simple way, do it. Do it with your might; be available to the Lord. It will enrich the Christian circle. Your impression of the Lord Jesus will be enriched with speaking about Him in the gospel, and your valuation of the Christian circle will become more precious. May what has been said stimulate us to be available and to be suitable; that involves my moral state to have part in a circle of things in which we find our life and our joy.
May God bless the word.
London
16th January 2016