WORKING WITH GOD
[p. 16] WORKING WITH GOD
John 5:17 - 21; 1 Corinthians 3:9 (first clause); 1 Samuel 14:45
I have in mind to speak about working with God. Service is useless, or worse, unless we have this in mind; the Lord says, “He that gathereth not with me scattereth”. Matthew 12:30, Luke 11:23. This very remarkable passage in John 5 brings out what is in mind, for we have to learn everything from Christ. If it be a question of grace and acceptableness in our service we have to learn from Him as Son. All dignity and glory in operations stand in that connection, so that with God it is not simply that things are done, but done well, and done with adornment and glory. So the Lord here begins answering His own; having done one work, of which He speaks, He says, “My Father worketh hitherto”, and then He adds, “and I work”. They were working together. No more glorious thought as to operations can come into our minds than operations jointly by the Father and the Son. This brings out, dear brethren, that we should not only learn, but admire. It is a good acquisition — the ability to admire what is transcendently beyond us, or even what is on our level. So in the divine operations as presented to us; indeed, as Jehovah Himself describes them to Job, and requires of Job to answer Him. “Gird up now thy loins like a man”, Job 38:3, Job 40:7. God says. It is worth noticing, for if we are less than a man we scarcely admire what is beyond us; we are apt to be jealous of others. So that we see in a man like Peter admiration and praise for a fellow-worker with God: it is expressed in his remark, “Our beloved brother Paul”, 2 Peter 3:15 he acknowledging Paul’s writings as on the very highest level, as Scripture, and according to the Lord’s thought they would work together as one. So Jehovah says to Job, “Gird up now thy loins like a man”, Job 38:3, Job 40:7.
[p. 17] for although he might find speeches to overcome his critics, his so-called friends, he was really speaking like a babe, like a Corinthian: they were babes in Christ, but still babes. God, in speaking to a man like that, would raise him to a higher level; He would speak to him as a man, and therefore would have him answer as a man. Jehovah says, “Where wast thou when I founded the earth?”. Job 38:3. Job would have to say, ‘Well, that is enough, I have no status on that line’. Jehovah says, “when the morning stars sang together”. Job 38:7. It was a living state of things there when God began to operate, “and all the sons of God shouted for joy” — not one exempt. It was a jubilant state of things. It pleased God, and He did not forget it — it rejoiced His heart as His creatures were created. Their creation is not recorded in Genesis 1, but they were there before the earth evidently, as if God would have sympathetic creatures in His great undertakings, in the sphere in which love would show itself, even on this very earth where we are. There were a great many sons of God, according to Revelation, and are still. So we have a clue as to the work of God, and if angels are to join in, they are to understand and join in sympathetically. But they, like ourselves, would see the complete thought in Christ. That must be so for He is the Firstborn of all creation, Lord of angels, and so on. So He is before all things, coming in later historically, but He has precedence morally of everything and every person, save God Himself, of course.
So one should admire a workman. John the baptist said of Him, “He ... is preferred before me, for he was before me”, John 1:15 that is as to His Person. No one can be with God who has a doubt as to the personality and deity of Jesus. There is to be no tolerance at all of any difference of thought as to [p. 18] that, nor can there be any sympathy with God as long as there is a doubt as to the personality of Jesus. He is before all things; that is what Colossians would teach us. If we are to operate we are to learn from Christ, not angels, for He, though coming in later in manhood, was before all; and hence throughout Scripture, in this manner, we have the father and son, not only father. That is the supreme thought in relation to that which answers to the mind and affections of God; it is in connection with the Father and the Son. You do not get the full glory of a father without the son, or the full glory of a son without the father. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt [or tabernacled] among us (and we have contemplated his glory ... )”. John 1:14. That is the idea to get into our souls. So we get the thought in Abraham and Isaac: how beautiful is the thought as they move to the mount of Moriah; they had a conversation between them, reciprocal exchange of words. Then in Jacob and Joseph — father and son; the father loved the son, for Jacob loved Joseph. It is in the radiation of the light that the spiritual charm is seen. “We have contemplated his glory”, John the evangelist says, “a glory as of an only-begotten with a father, full of grace and truth”. John 1:14. So that we get Jacob and Joseph. Joseph was not always equal to the position; great man though he was, he was not equal to the position in Genesis 48, when he said, “Not so, my father”. Genesis 48:18. That is not the glory of sonship. That is what Joseph said, but Jacob, as it will be seen, is right, but still he blesses Joseph as a son. Then we get David and Solomon, beautiful representation anticipatively of the Father and Son, David rising at the end of his life to the full thought of father and son, as I might say. He honours Solomon and places him on the throne beside him. What a picture if we can discern; it is for us to see it, to be charmed with the beautiful [p. 19] pictures of Scripture of the coming in of this wonderful relation between divine Persons so that they are working together. Solomon was a young man, but David is handing over to him a wonderful matter, administrative, structural, and there is no discrepancy as far as Scripture presents. The father and son are there, royalty in the father and the son; every presentation has its own particular glory; it is one glory after another in which the Son Himself appears.
So the Lord says, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work”, the announcement of a great fact, that God was His Father; the Jews did not like that. We have to be on our guard about the Jews, hence, at the time of the great announcement of our being introduced into the circle of the Father and the Son (John 20) the disciples shut the doors against the Jews. These legal elements spoil the whole matter. Paul says we are working with God, and that is what is needed. If we take the history of christendom it is not that; it began with that, with men of like passions as ourselves. The Lord would show in these wonderful men the handiwork of the past, what workmanship is, and we must grasp the divine mind, what the Father and the Son are really going on with. I have no doubt that the allusion in John to the glory of the Son, the glory of an only-begotten with a father, full of grace and truth, alludes to the matter on hand, namely, the work of God. Full of grace and truth — these are the great requisites if we are to work with God, as we have in the twelve apostles and Paul. John shows us the Persons in their holy relations into which they have come: Luke also does, but enlarges on this matter of grace and truth. Grace first. No one can work with God unless he has grace in his soul. “By grace ye are saved”. Ephesians 2:8. The conditions here in which we are to operate require the supply of grace, then truth. They [p. 20] are not to be reversed; it is grace and truth, so that they subsist in Jesus Christ; they are there. He is now full of what is requisite; they must be there, namely grace and truth. So that the apostle Paul, in saying that he and Silvanus were fellow-labourers with God, meant that they were furnished in this way. If a man presents himself for employment with God he must have requisites. Matthew in chapter 20 presents men coming in early in the day; they bargained with the householder and he took them on, but they were not the kind he wanted. God does not want those who make a bargain with Him or ask for a salary. That feature does not belong to the work of God. He is a wonderful Employer, I speak reverently, but He has His own requirements, and Paul says, we are amongst His workmen. Let no one think he can do as he wishes, as if God has nothing to say to him. Working with an archbishop is not working with God; there may be christians doing this, but the point is are you working with God. God has work to be done, and Paul says, I am amongst those workers; God made him that; so he says in the next epistle, “Giving no manner of offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed”. 2 Corinthians 6:3. He would not do anything which would discredit the position but “commending ourselves as God’s ministers”. 2 Corinthians 6:4. We learn all this from Jesus. The Lord worked in humility, as the Father works (John 5:19).
You can see, dear brethren, the level on which these operations are going on. What the Father does the Son does, and what the Father does He shows the Son. One takes off one’s shoes, as it were, when one thinks of a divine Person speaking in this way. It is a question of what the Father does, and the Son works in line with the Father. He does nothing of Himself. The lowliness of Jesus is food for our souls; and yet in the same text there is the assertion [p. 21] of the equality with the Father — the Son with the Father. There is no danger of any doubt as to the personality of the Lord Jesus, but we learn how things are to be done. The apostle Paul understood that it was a matter of Father and Son; it is the dispensation of grace, that is, Father and Son, and all workmanship must be in that connection, otherwise we are not working with God.
In 1 Samuel we see how a son worked, but not with his father. Jonathan undertakes the work, and he tells not his father. There are many different religious authorities, and the word ‘father’ has a great place in these bodies. The authority of these so-called fathers is asserted in those circles. The leading personalities are called fathers, even holy fathers. Think of a man assuming such a title, one which was ascribed by the Lord Jesus Christ to His Father. If I were in such an association as that and I was concerned about what was due to God, I would not tell any one of those so-called fathers what I was going to do. It is just as well not to tell them at all; you will be the worse off if you do. They will tie your hands and feet if they can. Understand, I am not attacking, but speaking the truth for the benefit of all of us in our service, and if one here has a father like Saul, do not tell him; he will hamper you. He hampered Jonathan. Saul forbade anyone to take food, the very thing they needed. Hunger will not help a soldier. This professed leader forbids these soldiers to eat; Jonathan did not hear it. The less you hear of such injunctions the better.
What I am speaking about is how a christian, one who is potentially a workman of God, may escape from the domination of such authority as Saul represents. Many of our brethren suffer from such and if light of God comes into our souls about the Father and the Son let us ignore these other influences. Jonathan did not tell his father, but the [p. 22] situation was desperate as to the people of God. Philistines were everywhere and had all the instruments of warfare. None of the Israelites had swords except Saul and Jonathan. What is to be done? Well, if God works, the workmen will not tell such a father as Saul. God has intervened for the deliverance of His people; we are sharing in that now. We know how it happened. Those who wrought at the outset did not tell those fathers; they did not ask leave of their superiors. They went and did the work. They had recourse to private houses and the like instead of cathedrals. They would open their Bibles and understand what was to be done. They looked at the prophetic map. They prayed to their Father in secret and came in for the knowledge of His mind. He will say in secret, ‘Well, My Son is the pattern’. On the mountain Moses was shown the pattern. So the Son of God is a pattern for the labourers. The relation between father and son belongs to the labourers; we are brought into it. True sons are workmen and will work as bondmen, for they have the affection and intelligence of sons and know what to do. No others do, save sons. So the Lord is the pattern. I am making due allowance for His personal deity in all these things. He has the pre-eminence.
Saul is floundering about and the people are at their wits’ end. One pities them; they had refused the light of David which had already come in. A true exercised christian in such an association would say, ‘I am going to take the matter in hand’. Jonathan no doubt had a time of prayer with God. It does not say so, but we have the Spirit of God who lets us, into the secret of what is behind. It says Elijah prayed for rain, but he prayed also for drought. Jonathan had been with God; God is his Father in truth; Saul would tie him up, he did as far as he could. Then we find Jonathan is busy [p. 23] working with God. There are two rocks in the path, one on either side, but it does not deter him; he is working with God and he has an armour-bearer who is with him, and he is ready to give a lead, a great thing in the work of God. The spiritual lead is so essential for brothers and sisters. All are led on. Everyone can be in it. Everyone according to the gift of grace can come into this wonderful state of things. See Luke 8, for instance. In Luke 7 the woman partakes of the grace of Christ and gets forgiveness and serves. She loves much and so she is forgiven much. This woman is the idea. She is serving and becomes part of the administrative system. In Luke 8 we find the Lord preaches the kingdom, going from city to city and village to village, and the twelve and the women are with Him. I am speaking to the sisters now. Amongst them is Mary Magdalene, out of whom went seven demons, possessing such a state of soul that there is no room for the demons now. They were not cast out; they went out. She is now for the Lord’s service. They will never come back. Her state is reversed and it is impossible for the demons to come back, and instead of the demons she is serving Christ with her substance. You say, I have no gift, but you are part of the system and have been given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, and the next thing is to use it. She used it and so should every woman minister to Christ of her substance. No one can say he has not substance.
Jonathan gives the idea of leading the brethren into workmanship with God. Every one of us can come into it. Jonathan has given the lead. Wherever love is this is the outcome. How humbly he serves. He crawls on his hands and feet. All things are possible with God. See how the workman loves to lead to it, so we can see here how we have to be humble. How lowlily the Lord moves on until He comes to Gethsemane. “Thy will be done”. Matthew 26:42. He is working with His Father, so is Jonathan — he is working with God. Many of our brethren are working with Saul, but he binds them up hands and feet. He has not the truth of sonship, it is not the father and son, in the true sense, but the kind of fatherhood that would hinder, and the man that will not tell them will soon be out and in the truth of the true Father and Son.
Now as to this matter of the honey, Saul forbade them to take it for food. Think of the folly of it; think of the folly of mere religiousness, to what lengths it will go to gratify its own pride at the expense of the workmen and testimony of God! But here was a true man working with God. There was honey, we are told. You may say that was forbidden, honey, the characteristic food of the land of Canaan which was flowing with milk and honey. No one could take it and yet he must fight. Is it not well to creep out and deny them any information about it? Say nothing to them. Jonathan crept on his hands and feet, filling a lowly place and creeping away from them. God was with him in doing it. One man and his armour-bearer and a great victory for the Lord.
We are told that the honey flowed 1 Samuel 14:26. See here is the folly of Saul’s system, forbidding a warrior to take that food that God so bountifully provided! Jonathan heard not — thank God he did not. If all Israel’s warriors had heard not, there would be a victory, but they are not allowed to take of the food of the land of Canaan. The oath is upon them and hence the result is that they cannot fight as warriors. Well now, the crisis comes and Saul is ready to put his son to death, but the matter was not in his hands. God does not allow it. As we hold to the truth of the Father and Son, and work in that light and truth, and we are not afraid, we shall [p. 25] continue in the work. Jonathan shows the way and God takes account of it. So the verse says, “The people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? God forbid: as the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he hath wrought with God this day” 1 Samuel 14:45.
Well, that is the sequel of all that I have been saying. We need not fear. It is the dispensation of grace. It is a matter of working with God or our work is of no use — not telling the ecclesiastical authorities. The Lord Jesus gave the authority to His bondmen, not to the church dignitaries. His bondmen are to use it as the great and blessed Bondman used it, even as the Son working with the Father. Thank God there is that.