SACRIFICIAL AFFECTIONS

W. Dickson

2 Samuel 23: 13–17; 11: 6–11; Genesis 29: 15–20, 30; Galatians 2: 20, 21

The Spirit has stressed amongst us these days the need for our affections being engaged with what we have considered together. I feel simply that I

want to continue that because one of the safeguards against departure is to have the affections livingly engaged, and it also enables you to undertake the sacrificial side of christianity. I wanted to draw from these scriptures to show that in the mighty men we have typified affection for Christ; in Urijah the Hittite affection for the testimony of God; in Jacob affection for the local assembly, and in Paul his love of the truth and how the truth so engaged his affections that he was prepared to enter into what must have been to him one of the most testing conflicts in his ministerial career.

These three mighty men, of course, are enshrined in heaven’s annals. They are often spoken about, but it is quite apparent that what motivated this wondrous act of devotion was their affection for David. No doubt they had benefited by his victories; they had been affected by his movements; they had seen the grace of his spirit, his patience, and his loyalty and fidelity to those who rallied round him. Affection, beloved brethren, is something that has to be generated, and as you contemplate Christ, as you ponder His moral worth and His beauty, the Spirit generates a deep affection for Him.

The Spirit of God comments that it was the harvest time. Many choice positive applications have been made of the fact that it was the harvest time but I trust that for the occasion the brethren will bear with my application. No doubt these men could have legitimately occupied themselves with the harvest. At harvest time, I understand, in the old economy, every man had to be at his work; it was a feature of dwelling in the land that, as the harvest came round, every man had to be at his work—they had a legitimate reason for being in the harvest field at that time. You see, business is one of

the most legitimate reasons. The need to earn a living and provide for yourself and your dependents is legitimate. But these men let the fields lie ungathered as far as they were concerned in the urgency of the moment and what it called for in their expression of love for David.

He was down, at Adullam and the troop of the Philistines encamped in the valley of Rephaim.

“And David was then in the stronghold; and the Philistines’ garrison was then at Bethlehem”.

Now they had garrisoned it; they did not leave a few old people to look after Bethlehem, they garrisoned it—some indication of the spiritual power of wickedness which the enemy would deploy in order to withstand anything that is going to yield something for Christ. And that garrison presented in itself something quite formidable for these men. “And David longed”—

he gave expression to this deep desire that was in his heart—“… give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is in the gate!”. Mr. Taylor often in his ministry drew attention to this sort of request; the request of Elijah in 1 Kings 17: 13, “But make me thereof a little cake first …”—the natural heart reacts and says, What selfishness! But he pointed out that when the claims of Christ come in in that way, He is testing out what is there in affection for Himself and for the truth.

The very character of the request is a test in itself because the human mind can construe it otherwise. They might have said, ‘David, do you know the odds? Do you know what the odds are—a whole garrison and only three of us? Could you not forgo your drink until the odds are different?’. They did not say that, beloved brethren. Oh what a test that is! We count the odds; we think that, well, circumstances may alter and then I can more readily

meet the requirements of Christ; but they did not hesitate. It says they “broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, which is in the gate, and took it, and brought it to David”. I have often wondered how they carried it. How would you carry it today? “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4: 7)—your body, beloved brethren, your spirit, your affections; that is the way you carry the water from the well of Bethlehem to David; that is how they carried it. Will you carry it, you young people?—that body a living sacrifice on the altar—will you carry it? will you carry the water to David? will you satisfy His heart? Oh, the Lord recognises with deep feeling the sacrificial character of such an act. He says, ‘It is worthy of God; it is a sacrifice of the highest order, a drink offering’, and he pours it out. I would say to my younger brethren, The Lord values your affection. He would, so to speak, in the quality of it use it as something that can yield delight and pleasure to the heart of God.

So in regard to Urijah we might see in him affection for the testimony. I have often pondered as to what Urijah would think when he got the recall from the battlefield. Would he say,

‘What is behind this?’. Beloved brethren, the day you feel that you have got a recall from the battlefield, ask yourself what is behind it. The testimony is involved, and there is no recall from the battlefield in that sense. “A good soldier of Jesus Christ”—that is what Paul says to Timothy (2 Timothy 2: 3). Urijah must have wondered; to be recalled from the battlefield, and Israel and Judah dwelling in booths, and Joab and the servants encamped in the open fields. O, beloved, the enemy is behind every suggestion that weakens the rigours of the testimonial conflict. The testimony

is a constant matter; it is not only a matter of meetings; the testimony of the Lord is a constant matter and we in this sense are never away from the battlefield. What comes out in Urijah is his intense love for the testimony. He would not take up what was legitimate—there it was, his house, but in the urgency of matters he maintained his fidelity to the testimony.

You get in the passage a sense that he loved the testimony. Do we love the testimony? Some may sceptically say, ‘How can you speak about the testimony? Look at the history of things’.

Beloved, the testimony of God remains; it will remain until the end. It will be carried on in its purity by men like Urijah, men like Paul, men like Timothy—are we amongst them? Are we prepared, even if we are placed in a position that we cannot explain circumstantially, to keep before us the testimony of God, the ark, Judah, and Israel? What enables you to do so?—

affection for the testimony of God. Despite the outward smallness of things, there is enshrined in many hearts a love for the testimony of God.

Jacob demonstrates love for his wife, or—which I suppose would be a just application—the local assembly, and his affection for her sustained him in his rigorous service. As he recounts it later, he said his wages were changed ten times, “in the day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night”, Genesis 31: 40. You know, when you love your local assembly, you get these experiences—the heat by day—circumstances that are overpowering; the frost by night—love waxing cold; but you have to go through it, heat and cold; seven years you have to go through it, and then you find that what you get is not what you expected. When Leah came on to his vision that morning he did not say, ‘Oh, it has not been worth it’—no, he did not say that; the scripture does not say that he despised Leah. He

was disappointed, but he made the best of her. Oh what grace it needs, beloved brethren, sometimes to make the best of things—in your local position to make the best of Leah and sacrificially devote yourself these extra seven years for Rachel your heart’s desire, your ideal!

Have you an ideal? You will never sacrifice unless you have an ideal. Keep the ideal in front of you, despite all the vicissitudes of the cold and heat and the change in your wages (no unions to negotiate for you, none at all!). It was not always an increase Jacob got, but he went on, and what strengthened him was his affection for his local assembly typically. Could I not leave that word with you, brethren? How are we going to proceed? I think we can only proceed as there is a deep affection for our local assembly, and a willingness to sacrifice in labour and love amongst them.

With Paul in Galatians it was love for the truth. It is quite a remarkable expression in an epistle like this, “I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live, I, but Christ lives in me; but in that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”. Paul said in effect, ‘Nothing will shake me in my affection for the truth, because I have a link with the blessed Man who brought all this wondrous light and blessing to my soul’; “the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”. It was no light matter for Paul to face Peter (see Galatians 2: 14). The historical account breathes the meekness and lowliness of Christ. He established the great principle that the love of the truth is more important than the love of the brethren. Do we accept that? What a test it is that the love of the truth is more important than the love of the brethren! And how can you take that stance? You can only take it if you can say in measure like Paul,

“… the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”.

Paul announced the blessings of the gospel on the principle of grace, and he would withstand everything that would militate against the character of the dispensation. You know, conflicts come up, tests come up, and we try to analyse the issue and the situation mentally. In the assembly, beloved brethren, no situation can be analysed mentally; you cannot analyse anything that happens in the divine realm on that principle. You must search by the Spirit as to what is moral, and what morally bears on the issue that the Lord is raising. That is what Paul saw in this matter with Peter. He saw that underneath this issue there was what was moral in this respect, that the foundations of the gospel were being undermined through respect of persons. So conflicts arise, and we are tested. We can refer to ministry and quote precedents, things right in themselves, but there is the guidance the Spirit gives you on account of the place the truth has in your affections. We are less liable to go wrong when we are guided thus, that the truth of the gospel was sacrificially secured by the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.

The people of God have a great heritage, sacrificially bought at great cost. May our affections be increasingly engaged and thus stimulated in like sacrificial service, for His name’s sake.

Address in Edinburgh
17 June 1978