WITH GOD IN HIS TESTIMONY
E. M. Walkinshaw
Philippians 4: 4–9; John 14: 1–3, 27, 28; 17: 1–3
I desire to say a word of encouragement, dear brethren, about our committal to God’s testimony and His care of those that are committed to it. So much depends, I think, upon what comes first in our lives. You will remember that Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”, Matthew 6: 33. One person said to Him, “Lord, suffer me first to go away and bury my father” (Matthew 8: 21), but Jesus says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”, Matthew 6: 33.
Now the Lord would encourage us to do this practically, that it might not remain just a word of Scripture, but that first and foremost in our lives might be His interests. It is a challenge, but I think at the same time it is an encouragement, because we have the assurance that in all matters needed here the Father will care for us. Most of us show that we do not really believe that; our practice tests us. We speak of the Father’s care and then act as though it did not exist. But the Lord is not chiding, therefore I must be careful not to do that, otherwise I might be exposed myself. But what the Lord brings to us is for everybody, speaker and hearers alike, and I think He would raise the question with us as to what is first in our lives; what is first in our thinking; what is first in our practice, whether it is “the kingdom of God
and his righteousness” or our own position and prosperity in things which exist here which are but for a season.
I would have to admit that things here engage a lot of my time and attention. If I think of the twenty-four hours in the day I have to confess how little time I give to thinking of what Paul
said or thinking of things that are amiable, noble, and so on. My mind, as I excuse myself is, of course, necessarily engaged with matters here. Now the Lord would raise a question with you and me as to which comes first. If I have to acknowledge that my interests come first, let me acknowledge it and tell Him that the desire of my heart and soul is that His interests should be paramount in my life. Let each of us make a committal like that. Ruth made a committal like that. She had no outlook; she had no prosperous job; she was following a poor old widowed woman. That is what God’s testimony is outwardly. But she said, “Do not intreat we to leave thee, to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go”, Ruth 1: 16. Think of a committal like that!
I would like to appeal to the younger men and younger women as to your committal to the Lord. You will find you will be very tested and exercised. Often you will find yourself deflected, maybe, and discouraged, but fundamentally I would encourage you to make what we might call a vow to put the Lord’s interests first, and He will see to yours. Most of us here will know what Mr. Taylor once told us, that he had found in his experience that the Father was more able to look after his interests than he was himself. I think each of us can prove that, and the Lord would have us to prove it in experience.
But then, added to that, we find the cares of the testimony. We have all been burdened at some time or another by them. Any person committed to the Lord will find the exercises connected with the maintenance of what is due to God. Now I think it is not to be a burden that should overcome us. I was interested the other day, and quite surprised, to see a remark of Mr. Darby which in effect was this. We are often so burdened with the cares of the assembly and matters relating to it that we overlook, or have little time for, the importance of the glad tidings. That rather pulled me up. Energy spent, care carried, burdens perhaps becoming depressing, tend to hinder the proclamation of the glad tidings and to check the spirit of evangelism which should be with every one of us. Because, after all, the testimony largely is the glad tidings, the expression of God towards men and His disposition toward them, His desire that they should be blessed.
Now when Paul says; “Be careful about nothing”, he means ‘nothing’. The Spirit of God uses the word “nothing”. So that we are not to be careful about our own matters, but I think also in confidence in God we should not be depressingly burdened by the cares of the testimony. We are not to be indifferent or careless, nor should we be lacking in exercise about them, but we should not be anxiously careful. Sometimes we act and speak as though everything depended on us, whereas the Father has put everything into the hands of Christ, the only perfect and competent Man, and the One who will carry everything through for God. My part is to relate myself to Him and to those who relate themselves to Him, and in quietness and confidence to go on. So Paul says, “Be careful about nothing”. Sometimes we limit that, I
think, to our own matters, our bread and butter, as we speak of it, and what we need so that we might be maintained in life here; but I think when he says “nothing” he means ‘nothing’, we are not to be anxiously careful about anything, “but in everything … let your requests be made known to God”. You think of opening out your heart to God; tell Him everything. You can tell God everything. What a wonderful God He is “but in everything, by prayer and
supplication … let your requests be made known to God”. That is very wonderful. I think of the word “supplication” entering into scripture. It is said elsewhere a centurion “came to him, beseeching him” (Matthew 8: 5); it is supplication, earnest entreaty. Well, the argument might be then, Is God reluctant to give? You never speak to God as though He were reluctant to give, or that something had to be forced from Him, speaking reverently, but He loves to see the earnest exercises and affection of His people expressed to Himself; so, “by prayer and supplication … let your requests be made known to God”.
Now the Lord would encourage us on this line, but I want to draw attention to this, that He does not say this to the Corinthians, he says it to the Philippians; that is, I think, to persons who were themselves committed. He speaks a little earlier of their fellowship with the gospel
“from the first day until now” (Philippians 1: 5); he is not thinking therefore simply of their circumstances but he is thinking of God’s testimony, and he says this to persons committed to it; so he says “Rejoice”. I could not say that I am a very good advertisement for that, often, not so; but he says, “Rejoice … again I will say, Rejoice”. These Philippians were sharing the burdens of the testimony with him; they were committed not
only to the testimony of the glad tidings but also to Paul who was a prisoner. What a wonderful privilege that is as well as a responsibility.
What I would desire for each of us, dear brethren, is that we might be more with God about His testimony, that we might firstly be committed to it so that we take up the word ‘first’;
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God”, and that then, as committed, we might approach God in this simple spirit of dependence and implicit confidence “with thanksgiving”. Do you find you often forget that? I do. I am so much occupied with what I need or even what the brethren may need that I fail to notice what they have received. You see so many needs among the brethren that you fail to see what the Lord has done. So he says, “with thanksgiving”. Beloved brethren, we have much for which to give thanks; we have brethren to walk with, lovers of the truth, those with whom we can sit down in simple happy conversation and listen to what the Lord would say to us. How much there is for which we can give thanks! This is not simply, I think, that we give thanks for all the material benefits that we have, which of course we have for a time, but we give thanks for the many blessings we have both temporal and spiritual, and give thanks above all for the beloved brethren; when Paul saw the brethren “he thanked God and took courage”, Acts 28: 15. There are some like that in these days, you know, so distant from their brethren that when they do get the opportunity to be among them they thank God and take courage. Let us be not only in the spirit of prayer and supplication but also of thanksgiving. There is an old hymn which says,
‘Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done’. I think it will,
not only in temporal things but spiritual things. If you care to reflect on the positive movements of the Lord and what He has done, you will find many things for which to give thanks; and I think if we look around on the dear brethren here we can say, ‘Thank God’, and we can take courage and go forward.
Then he says, “and the peace of God, which surpasses every understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts by Christ Jesus”. Oh, beloved brethren, what a resource we have in God; here it is “the peace of God”. Is your heart, are your thoughts, garrisoned by the peace of God? You know there is an environment which is marked by peace; wonderful! There is no conflict there. Jesus is there having overcome, He has gone into it, and there is the peace of God which presides in that environment. I think it is known in the assembly, known amongst the saints, and I think as we approach God, and frankly, simply, open our hearts to Him, we shall find that His peace will guard our hearts and thoughts. I know there are many things to cause the brethren anxiety, many sufferings, we think of the loss of loved ones and the like, that while that is carried in the spirit I think at the same time the peace of God is to guard the heart and the thoughts so that the saints should not be overcome, they should not be depressed, feeling that all is lost. How could all be lost, dear brethren, when all is in the hands of Christ? Everything will be secured, our true David will recover everything, there is no doubt about that, then He will hold it all for God.
Then Paul goes on to speak about thinking, What do you think about? You see, to some extent you can govern what you think about. He says, “whatsoever things are true … think
on these things”. Now I think you would have to confess that you could go home and you could sit down and think about these things. You say, ‘Well, I have the dinner to cook’. Of course, but you can still think. There is time for thinking and deliberately giving ourselves to it. “Think of what I say”, 2 Timothy 2: 7. Many things come in, Satan catches away the word, thorns spring up, as we have been saying, but I believe the Lord would help us to be deliberate. It may not be very long, you young men and young women, but if you give time to think about the things that Paul said and to take account of what was seen in him you will be surprised at what the Lord will do for you.
When I was a young man we used to be encouraged to go home to the Lord and go over with Him what we had had in the meeting. Have you ever done that? You will find it is very profitable. Go over it with Him, tell Him the scriptures we read, tell Him the impressions you received, and as you go over it so it becomes enlarged, and at the same time you are giving the Spirit room to form you according to the word you have heard. You try it and see! Taste and see that the Lord is good, Psalm 34: 8. You will find as you are committed to what He is saying in a living way to the assembly you will be formed according to it and become useful to Him in His testimony, and all the time guarded by the peace of God.
Then a little later Paul says, having referred to himself, “and the God of peace shall be with you”. It is not now the peace of God but the God Himself of peace shall be with you. I believe God intends that we should experience this, come what may, dear brethren. How much comes in in the assaults
of Satan against the testimony of God, and I believe, as Mr. Darby said, our simple duty is to do what is right and go on in peace. Do what is right. You will be criticised—sure to be! You will always be able to look back and say, ‘Well, if I had my life over again’! You have heard that, I expect. ‘At this point I would have done that, and I certainly would not have had that
job, I would have taken another job because I have never liked the job I am in, and if I had my time over again I would not have lived in this locality, I would have lived in that locality’; many things we say like that. But that is not to be, dear brethren, and I think the Lord would help us to understand that, despite all our mistakes, where there is simplicity and humility and dependence and confidence in Him. He will strengthen us to go on in His testimony. So here it is, “the God of peace shall be with you”. He is the God of hope, but He is also the God of peace. May the Lord encourage us in this.
Now I want to speak about Jesus, because whenever we speak about Him we see a Person or have a Person before us who is just unique or just Himself. As we have said before, the word
‘unique’ does not really convey what is in mind because the word ‘unique’ can be applied to other people. Paul was unique in a certain way, but Jesus was just Himself. “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe on God, believe also on me”, He says. Sometimes we have thought of this as being a comfort for persons in sorrow, and it has been used that way no doubt, bereavement and the like; but think of the circumstances in which Jesus was. Judas had just gone out and was about to betray Him; Peter was about to deny Him, and the rest to forsake Him and flee. Think of the circumstances in which Jesus was and yet He says, “Let not your heart be troubled”. The circumstances are not like those that we enjoy, they had no Government protection, no policeman to protect them if there should be any trouble or difficulty. They were themselves likely at any time to be destroyed in the same way that persons were seeking to destroy Jesus, and yet in those circumstances He says,
“Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe on God, believe also on me”. I think He is referring to believing on Himself as above, “ye believe on God, believe also on me. In my Father’s house there are many abodes”, they will never be removed or defiled, “I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again”.
I have asked the Spirit recently to revive in my soul the brightness of the coming of Jesus.
What about you? We go on in life and as we get older Satan even uses words of scripture to discourage such as “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick”, Proverbs 13: 12. When we are young we may be bright; we are converted, and think of the coming of the Lord, then perhaps having been on the road for forty years, fifty years, maybe more than that, and still the Lord has not come, and it is natural that gradually the brightness of it recedes. Is it so with you? It has been so with me. But I ask the Spirit to quicken my affections for Jesus and understand that simple word of Mr. Raven that the hope of the church is not really the coming of the Lord but the Lord Himself. It is not simply an event. It will, of course, be an event, but the hope does not subsist in an event but in a Person.
He Himself is the hope, and I think that is why He has given us the Supper, so that if we are left here He will come to us tomorrow morning and those that love Him will have the consciousness of His presence, and when He comes in you find the affections of the brethren are astir because He is present. We look forward to His actual bodily coming, but in the meantime week by week He has given us the Supper so that our affections might be kept fresh until the time when He actually comes to
take us out of this world altogether. What a hope, dear brethren! Not like men; they wonder what is going to happen. You find that if you speak to them; What will happen? Everything is becoming so sophisticated, and there is corruption in high places.
I have had an impression recently that one of the projects that the Lord will undertake when He comes is to simplify everything. Man has got himself into a right tangle with his computers and various machines, but is only showing his ineptitude and inability to handle anything; he has made it all so complicated; but when Jesus comes He will make everything simple. As Mr. Taylor says, man is not intended to have all these machines and go all over the place, but God has put in the earth and in the surroundings in which man is, everything that is needed to satisfy him. So that to find satisfaction you do not really need to go to America or anywhere else because your satisfaction is in the Lord; you only go there to see the brethren, not to see the sights, although you can see them incidentally, especially when you are young, but you go to see the brethren, those precious to Christ, and connected with His testimony. But when the Lord comes, of course, we shall be with Him and all the saints, every one of them and none omitted.
Then the Lord says, still in these circumstances, “I give my peace to you”. Think of His uninterrupted communion, dear brethren, the peace that was His. I have often thought of the Lord when He was in the boat and He lay on the pillow asleep; in such circumstances I would say a perfect Man perfectly relaxed in the implicit confidence that He had in His Father; and yet I find it difficult to relax in the relatively happy circumstances in which I am.
But you think of the Lord Jesus, “I give my peace to you—not as the world gives do I give to you”. This is giving, as the hymn says, ‘Not as the world, but shares all it possesses with its loved co-heirs’.
Then what I wanted to call attention to, is this reference to His Father. “Ye have heard that I have said unto you, I go away and I am coming to you. If ye loved me ye would rejoice that I go to the Father, for my Father is greater than I”. Now throughout this gospel in particular you will find that the Lord’s whole life, His motive and His object, was His Father, not Himself. No matter what circumstances He was in, it was His Father’s will; and as Mr. Darby so touchingly says, If His Father’s will required Him to do nothing, He did nothing except to lay His head on the pillow and go to sleep. You think of that! It is difficult for our minds, being what they are, to grasp the thought of a perfect Man, but that is what Jesus was; and here He says, “my Father is greater than I”. He always had His Father before Him, and He says, “ye would rejoice”; so, dear brethren, we are to rejoice. He has gone away to His Father, but He says this in the context of, “I have said unto you, I go away and I am coming to you”, not for you, but to you; that is, as we think of Jesus coming to us on the morrow, we rejoice because He has gone away to His Father. You see the point; I think in speaking of coming to us
He would have in mind that we should go with Him to the Father; that is what is before Him.
Now in chapter 17, He says, “I have glorified thee on the earth”, but He says, “Father, glorify thy Son”, but then He says, “that thy Son may glorify thee”. That was His object, that was His desire, that in His being glorified He might glorify the Father, and so from the position in which He now is He is glorifying the Father. Again Paul says in Philippians that Jesus has been exalted and every knee is to bow and every tongue is to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord—Why? “To God the Father’s glory”, Philippians 2: 11. All the time you will find the Lord Jesus had God His Father before Him. I wonder if we are like that. He would encourage us by His Holy Spirit to be with Him in what He has before Him in glorifying His Father. I think He is doing it now, and I do not doubt He is doing it among the saints, “I am glorified in them”, and as He is glorified “in them” the Father is glorified. How wonderful this is, dear brethren!
May the Lord help us so that we might not be unduly burdened by the care of things here, nor unduly burdened even by the cares of the testimony, but guarded by the peace of God and conscious of the presence of the God of peace and of the assurance of the Lord’s own words, that He is coming for us so that we might go to our prepared abode. May the Lord encourage every one of us and may we receive some permanent profit from these occasions today, as from all our occasions, for God the Father’s glory.
Address at Barnet
27 April 1974