Spiritual Manhood
SPIRITUAL MANHOOD
I desire to refer to one or two features of spiritual manhood according to God, as that which God would develop amongst His people. The apostle Paul, in writing to the Corinthian assembly, said, “in malice be babes; but in your minds be grown men”. The Lord would lay it upon us, as His saints, that we should be concerned not to remain in a childhood condition spiritually, but to see that God is looking for His people to develop features of spiritual manhood. The epistle to the Ephesians shows that gifts are given to that end, “until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”, Eph 4: 13. The heavenly city, as it comes out, shows that that end has been reached, for the angel with the measuring reed measures it and it is found to come up to the divine measurement, which is said to be the measure of a man, that is of the angel. So God would impress upon us that He has a standard before Him, which I need scarcely say is Christ. The Son of God is the One in whom God’s ideal of true manhood is set forth, and He is steadily working with the saints, with nothing less in view than that that standard should be reached by us. Not that any one of us is capable of setting it forth, for it takes the whole assembly to come up to the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ. Now the first feature which I wanted to touch on is seen in John 19, the feature of accepting the reproach which is connected with the truth of God, accepting it fully and in a dignified way, and not avoiding it. “Jesus therefore went forth without, wearing the crown of thorn and the purple robe”. In Matthew and Mark it speaks of His being led forth, which is in keeping with the character of both those gospels, where He is presented as being “led as a lamb to the slaughter, and was as a sheep dumb before her shearers, and he opened not his mouth”, but in John’s gospel He is presented in all the greatness of His Person and as moving in His own dignity; not as evading or laying aside the reproach which His faithfulness to God incurred, but accepting it fully and moving steadfastly on in the full acceptance of that reproach. Now that is a word for us in this day, for if we are faithful to the truth of God we are sure to incur reproach, particularly in a religious way. Pilate says: “Behold the man!”, as though he calls attention to that feature of manhood, a man who could maintain, in the face of all the opposition and hostility which the world can heap upon Him, what is right according to God, not surrendering one iota to that world through which He was passing. What is the immediate answer?
The chief priests say, “Crucify him”. The religious world of that day identified itself absolutely and whole-heartedly with the scorn and reproach which were heaped upon Jesus.
The Lord was in the course of departing out of this world to the Father. He departed out of this world by way of death, and He was going to the Father; this world was left behind and the Father’s realm was before Him. I allude to that as giving a background to this position of reproach, that the Lord knew that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He came out from God and was going to God. We also are in the light of that—that He has come from God and has brought the light of God to us, and that He is leading back to God those whom He has secured by His coming into this world. Think of the blessedness, in the world to come, of all things being held by One who is loved! “The Father loveth the son, and hath given all things into his hand”. All in the redeemed universe, heavenly and earthly families, as held in relation to their Head, will be conscious that they are embraced in love.
We, of course, cannot go out of this world as the Lord went out of it; for He could go to be with the Father in His own right and in His own power. We have to wait for the Lord to take us, as He will do, but we are entitled to go out of it in mind and affection, and we have our present part in the Father’s love. As we move in that direction we shall incur reproach, but it is to be accepted with dignity, not to be evaded, but to be appreciated, because Christ has led that way. God allows the testing of the present day to develop this feature of manhood in us in order that what is due to God may be put foremost rather than any consideration of what men may think.
We read of Moses who esteemed the reproach of the Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. He left one world, in which, doubtless, if he had remained in it he would have had an honoured place, to identify himself with a people who had nothing glorious about them outwardly, and to move into a position where there was apparently no support. Yet he found, in that position, the whole tabernacle system. What did that mean? To outward appearance it also would be despised. It would appear to the outward eye nothing but badgers’ skins surrounded by a court, but God was there and the anointing characterised the whole system, and inside there were the most glorious things. The ark and the mercy-seat and everything else in the tabernacle system spoke of Christ, and the service of God was there. The presence of God was there, the cloud was there, though to outward appearance it was contemptible. Moses esteemed the reproach of the Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.
In the first epistle to Timothy, the apostle appeals in a most touching way to Timothy: “But thou, O man of God”, as though his heart is greatly concerned about this matter of manhood, and that Timothy should not be a man of the world, but a man of God. What greater dignity could be conferred upon any of us than, in any degree, to have the character of a man of God—one whom God supports, and who, in himself, supports the truth of God, who can stand out as a pillar, as maintaining the truth of God, in a world where God is not known! Paul is not occupied so much here with the religious world, but with the tendencies of the world in its commercial aspect and in the form that man’s thoughts and man’s ideas take, affecting the saints. So he speaks of the great antidote of piety. He speaks of servants not being content with their lot—a thing which is very characteristic of our day. He speaks of those who desire to be rich, a thing which is essentially characteristic of our day. We have to go through the world and mix with men and women with whom these principles are seen working, and the constant danger is lest we ourselves should become affected by them. So the apostle says: “But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, piety, faith, love, endurance, meekness of spirit”.
Righteousness comes first; that is always an essential; for if we are not exercised as to maintaining righteousness in our business life and in our home life, in fact in every relationship in which we are set, we cannot have God with us in support. In Proverbs 8: 20 wisdom says, “I walk in the path of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment”. That has often been a help to me. Righteousness is to be accepted as the guiding principle of a believer’s life in every detail, but judgment is the idea of applying the principle of righteousness to actual matters or questions as they arise. If we are concerned to move on. this line of righteousness, we shall prove the help of God to thread our way in the midst of the paths of judgment without being turned aside, and the Lord is prepared to support us in that. The Psalmist says: “he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake”. It is a great thing to take that up. It is not a question of considering for ourselves, it is a question of understanding that, as the people of God in this world, His name is connected with us and, for His name’s sake, we shall find that He is prepared to support us in the paths of righteousness.
Then, he says, “piety”—bringing God into everything in our lives. It has no place in the considerations of men in the world, but piety is to mark the man of God. He will not look at things in the same way as the prudent man of the world; he will consider things from the standpoint of one who professes the knowledge of God, and that greatly honours God. The Lord went through His life here in absolute confidence in God, and at the end of His life, to outward appearance, it might have looked as though God had failed Him, and so they taunted Him, “He trusted upon God; let him save him now if he will have him”. That must have gone home to the heart of Christ, but He trusted in God right through, and He was “heard because of his piety”. He adopted that as the principle of His life, and He maintained that principle right through to the end of His life on the cross. Then, he says, “faith”. That is more than confidence in God. Faith means that we are governed by the light of another world, and if we are governed by the light which God has given us, we shall shape our thoughts and ways in reference to that and not allow anything inconsistent with it. This leads to “love, endurance, meekness of spirit”—all features that are to mark the man of God.
Now I refer to Moses, because in these two scriptures (Exodus and Numbers) he is spoken of as “the man Moses”. It is, therefore, to bring to our notice that he was marked by features of manhood. In the first scripture his manhood shows itself in his uncompromising repudiation of Egypt. There is nothing apologetic about him; he is in victory over it and he has faith that God intended to bring His people out of every form of Egyptian bondage. Egypt is a type of the world as a system in which the whole intention is to be independent of God. So, in the book of Ezekiel, Pharaoh says: “My river is mine own, and I made it for myself”. That is the spirit of Egypt. The intention is that men should find everything for themselves in their own system and thus be independent of God. I believe, dear brethren, that manhood shows itself in the saints’ refusing to ally themselves with any association that would bring them under obligation to the world or link then up with the world. God’s intention is that they should be brought out of it. “Wherefore come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not what is unclean, and I will receive you; and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty”. Moses was in the faith of this. He said: “against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast; that ye may know that Jehovah distinguisheth between the Egyptians and Israel”.
In Numbers we have manhood in a different setting and showing itself in a different way. This is now the feature of manhood as seen among the people of God, in the presence of a spirit of jealousy among the brethren. Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, obviously in a spirit of jealousy. They said, “Has Jehovah indeed spoken only to Moses? has he not spoken also to us? “And, it says, “Jehovah heard it”. We do well to notice that, dear brethren, for God is very near to His people and He sees and hears all that goes on amongst them. He heard this saying on the part of Aaron and Miriam; but it brought out the man that was there. It says, “But the man Moses was very meek”. It was not meekness which came into evidence in relation to Pharaoh and Egypt. There it was uncompromising repudiation of what deprived God of His rights to have His people for Himself, but here he is tested as to whether he is going to stand for his own dignity or whether he knows God sufficiently to leave everything to Him. He speaks not a word in self-vindication. We are reminded of the Lord Jesus, who said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart”. We know not when we may be tested as to how far we have been formed after Christ. Satan will gladly introduce a personal feeling of jealousy in order to bring in some disintegrating element, but even these things, though sorrowful in themselves, may become the occasion of true manhood, formed after Christ, coming into evidence. When it is a question of self-consideration, manhood according to God shows itself in a spirit of meekness, taking character from Christ, “who, when reviled, reviled not again; when suffering, threatened not; but gave himself over into the hands of him who judges righteously”. We know how greatly God supported Moses and vindicated him. “Then Jehovah spoke suddenly to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tent of meeting”. He speaks of Moses in a most touching way. “Not so my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. Mouth to mouth do I speak to him openly, and not in riddles”. That is how God vindicated one in whom manhood was shining out.
May the Lord help us so that real manhood may be more developed amongst us!
Date and place not given
From Words of Grace and Comfort 1938
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