BEING SERVICEABLE

J.Renton

Genesis 22: 1-3; 3: 12-16 (to "my brethren"); Exodus 3: 2-4; Isaiah 6: 1-8

I desire to speak about being serviceable. It is not my intention to speak about service or serving. Serving involves activity, and serving can even become an objective, unduly so, but being serviceable is a state. In Paul's second epistle to Timothy, which was written for the very day in which we live, when there is departure from the truth, breakdown and confusion Paul wrote about being serviceable as a vessel to honour. There are vessels to dishonour who attach the Lord's name to what is unsuitable to Him; that is dishonouring to Him. Christendom is the great house, as Paul speaks about it, and we are all part of the great house. When we speak about Christendom we are not to think of something outside of ourselves because we are part of it; we are part of the great house, but it is possible to be a vessel to honour in the great house. "In a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also wooden and earthen; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If therefore one shall have purified himself from these, (in separating himself from them) he shall be a vessel to honour", 2 Tim 2: 20, 21. 'Separation from evil God's principle of unity' was one of the early tracts written by Mr Darby. Remember, it is separation from evil, not separation for separation's sake but separation from vessels to dishonour, from persons who are dishonouring to the Lord. It goes on to say, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified" - sanctified means set apart for God's holy purposes - "serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work". May everyone of us here desire to be serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work. There are those who have a judgment about what is wrong but feel they ought to stay in it to help others. That is not God's way; it is not the way that Paul indicates in the second epistle to Timothy. He says, "in separating himself from them, he shall be a vessel to honour" and he will be "prepared for every good work".

I have read of persons in the Old Testament, each one of whom said "Here am I"; that is the attitude of serviceability. I would like every one of us here myself included, to be concerned to be in the state of being serviceable. Abraham was a mature man who learned to know God, and one whom God knew. God could say about him, "I know him" Gen 18: 19. He was one in whom God had confidence, whom God could trust. It says here, "God tried Abraham, and said to him, Abraham! and he said, Here am I". He was a vessel to honour sanctified, serviceable, prepared for every good work. What was the good work he was going to undertake? What was the purpose of it? God asked him to do certain things for His own pleasure; God wanted to have pleasure in every movement Abraham made. If we are to be serviceable, the first thing to have in mind is, serviceable to the Master, serviceable in view of the pleasure of God. It is not just doing something that I want to do. We were referring somewhere recently to anyone who may say, I think I could make a good missionary; I think that would just suit me, to go out to some foreign country and be a missionary; I think my qualities would just be filled out in that kind of work. That is the wrong way round. It is a question of being serviceable for divine pleasure, waiting on indications from the Lord what to do, not taking the initiative as to what I think I ought to do, and so with less matters than becoming missionaries. We often have things the wrong way round. But Abraham said "Here am I"; he was in that state of being serviceable. He might have shrunk from what was committed to him but he did not.

As you read these verses you can think of Jehovah looking down from heaven and watching Abraham in every move he made and every step he took. It says, "Abraham rose early in the morning". He might have waited until the afternoon, or the next day, but no, "Here am I", serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work in view of divine pleasure. He "rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up and went to the place that God had told him of''. "On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar". I believe that in every movement Abraham made in this section Jehovah had pleasure, in fact God saw in Abraham's movements and Abraham's feelings how He Himself would feel when His beloved Son was here. How remarkable that Abraham was serviceable in view of filling out something that was for God's own pleasure. "Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, My father! And he said, Here am I, my son". Think of the affection between Abraham and Isaac! It is all typical of the Lord Jesus and of His sacrifice. Abraham was serviceable and prepared to sacrifice in view of the divine pleasure and God's own satisfaction. What an objective to have before us! Is it not worthwhile being serviceable in view of yielding some pleasure to the heart of the blessed God? What a privilege we have! Is it not worthwhile being a vessel to honour, facing exercises of separation, of sanctification. We are to be sanctified persons. A sanctified person will know how to be separate. It is not a question of obeying certain rules of separation, but if I can view myself and continually think of myself as a sanctified person set apart for divine pleasure I will know how to be separate when I ought to be separate, and to be in this state of serviceability. Abraham was serviceable in view of the pleasure of God. Joseph was serviceable in view of the welfare of his brethren, and his brethren were far from being all they ought to be. Abraham was a mature man, over one hundred years old, a man who had learned God over many years; Joseph was a youth of seventeen, a teenager we would say in present day language. He "fed the flock with his brethren; and he was doing service with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought to his father an evil report of them". These are among the very persons that Joseph, at the age of seventeen, is prepared to be serviceable to with a view to seeking their welfare. Joseph was available; he was sent out from the vale of Hebron, from the enjoyment of his father's love, to seek the welfare of his brethren. This exercise lasted over twenty years. Jacob said to him, "Go, I pray thee, see after the welfare of thy brethren, and after the welfare of the flock; and bring me word again". Joseph never brought word again; he was the victim of his brethren's animosity, sold into Egypt; he did not even see his brethren after this for over twenty years. He had a long time of suffering. Did he give up the service because of the difficulties? No, he did not. He had certain light in his soul; Joseph was conscious of his father's love. It is good for every one of us to be conscious of being loved, not only loved by your parents but loved by God, having a place in the heart of the Lord Jesus. In principle that was Joseph here, he was conscious of being loved. What sustained him in all his sufferings, including being in prison, was the sense of his father's love. Another thing that governed him was the light he had in his dreams. He had light as to his brethren eventually coming round, and he had in type light as to the exaltation of Christ and Christ having His true place among His people, and the light of these things sustained Joseph over twenty years of exercise he had to go through. When Joseph saw his brethren after these twenty years it says he remembered the dreams which he dreamt (see Gen 42: 9). He did not remember the ill deeds of his brethren, he remembered the light he had in his soul, that in spite of what did not look promising at all, his brethren were going to come round. Then he served his brethren with remarkable skill. The wisdom with which he operated with regard to his brethren came from the love he had for them. Wisdom is the form love takes in certain circumstances. Joseph knew when to be severe because he spoke harshly to them, but he was not all severity; he acted with them in grace; he gave them money back in their sacks. The fact that they had their money back affected them more than the severe speaking; they were in consternation when they saw they had their money back. That is Joseph acting in grace, there was a balance of severity when needed, and grace when needed. Sometimes in dealing with our brethren we are severe when we ought to be gracious, and sometimes we are too gracious when we ought to stand for righteousness. In working amongst our brethren we need wisdom, skill, and that was Joseph's dealing with his brethren. We need to learn it from Christ Himself. Joseph is typical of Christ.

When he was asked in chapter 37 "What seekest thou" he said, "I am seeking my brethren". This is Joseph serviceable, you might say, in relation to his local brethren, in relation to improvement of conditions in bringing in love and unity. They were a disunited family; they had four mothers and there was contention and hatred. Joseph is with God and in the state of being serviceable and never gives up the securing of his brethren according to God. Are we all prepared to be serviceable for God's pleasure as with Abraham, but prepared to serve our brethren, seeking the welfare of our brethren? Paul was prepared in Corinth not only to spend but to be spent, even if in the more abundantly loving them he was less loved (see 2 Cor 12: 15). Oh, we need this attitude. The Samaritan said to the innkeeper when he left him two pence, "whatsoever thou shalt expend more", Luke 10: 35. We hear sometimes - I have said it myself - I have done my bit, I have done my share. We need to be prepared to spend and be spent, not only what we think would be our share, but be like Joseph here in seeking the welfare of our brethren.

We come now to Moses; he sees the thorn-bush burning. This made an initial impression upon Moses. He speaks later of "the good will of him that dwelt in the bush", Deut 33: 16. He never forgot this impression of Jehovah in the thorn-bush. It would be a common sight in the wilderness to see a thorn-bush in flames and in just a few moments finished, but what attracted Moses' attention was that it was not being consumed; it was burning and burning and burning but it was not being consumed. It is a type of God being with His people, contrary and difficult as they are. Read the Book of Numbers and you see the difficulties, the rebellion, the murmurings, they even tempted God in the wilderness journey, but God remained with them, the cloud remained with them. It is remarkable to know that God is continuing patiently with His people. God was severe, many perished in the wilderness, in fact all who were numbered in chapter one perished but Caleb and Joshua, and a new generation came into the land; but "I Jehovah change not" is what we read in Malachi 3: 6, which may refer to the bush: "I Jehovah change not, and ye, sons of Jacob, are not consumed”. God does not change his purpose regarding His people; He does not change His mind about them because of the difficulties and the way in which he has to contend with them. This is involved in the bush burning, and in the light of it Jehovah calls "Moses, Moses! And he said, Here am I". He is serviceable. But what was committed to him was a responsibility, and when responsibility was put upon Moses he was not prepared for it. He brings forward reasons why the responsibility that God was going to put upon him should not be taken up by him. Are we not like that sometimes? We can find all sorts of excuses why we should not be serviceable in taking up responsibility. It was a great responsibility Moses was to undertake; he was to be responsible for two million people for forty years, but he was so reluctant to take it up that God became angry with him. There is innate with some of us a slowness to take on responsibility locally. You might say Moses had a very low thought of himself, and so he had, and we all need to have, we all need to be aware of our nothingness, but if God lays a responsibility on us do not make too many excuses. I would encourage anyone here on whom the Lord lays responsibility to answer to it. That is the lesson we learn here with Moses. He is immediately serviceable in saying, Here am I, but when the responsibility is laid upon him he is not so sure. So let us search our hearts to be prepared to be serviceable for we ought all to be prepared to take on some responsibility. It has been said, rightly I believe, that if we are not prepared to take on any responsibility we are hardly in fellowship, because fellowship involves some share of responsibility taken on by us.

Now Isaiah, in the verses we read, "saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up". What a sight it was for Isaiah to see Christ exalted! Then he saw seraphim standing above him and each had six wings. Seraphim are not real creatures, they are symbolic, I understand. "Seraphim were standing above him: each had six wings; with twain he covered his face". What is suited to be serviceable to the Lord these seraphim set out. Each had six wings but they were not all used in flying; with two they covered their faces, they are to be out of sight. Oh what a lesson this is to learn! In the light of the exaltation of Christ, one who is serviceable has to be as far as possible out of sight. We were reminded the other day about John the baptist; he sets this out. They sent from Jerusalem, from the centre of the religious world, and asked who he was. Art thou the Christ? He said "No", only "the voice of one crying in the wilderness", John 1: 23. In principle he was covering his face. Paul said, in the light of the glory of the mystery that was committed to him, "To me, less than the least of all saints", Eph 3: 8. The seraphim with two of their wings covered their face. They were to be out of sight in view of the exaltation of Christ. We spoke earlier about service and how ambition to serve might govern us; let us learn this; with twain they covered their face. With twain they covered their feet; they were not occupied with their activity, it is a question of the exaltation of Christ. To be serviceable rightly has to be in view of Christ being glorified, of Him being presented, not the one who serves presented; as far as possible he is to be out of sight. "And one called to the other and said, Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!". Then it says "and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, Woe unto me! for I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts. And one of the seraphim flew unto me, and he had in his hand a glowing coal, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; and he made it touch my mouth". There is the answer in the glad tidings, in the application of the death of Christ. Notice this seraphim took the glowing coal with tongs from off the altar. Only One could meet these glowing coals and the suffering and the cost involved, and that was the Sufferer, the Lord Jesus Himself. But the application of it is the answer to what we are according to the flesh. So Isaiah says here, "I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, Here am I; send me". The emphasis is not on 'me'; it is not 'send me', it is 'send me'. It is a desire to be serviceable on the part of Isaiah. Now I trust there may be, with the young and all of us, begotten in our hearts and minds a desire to be serviceable to the Lord. We can all do something, for God's pleasure, in taking on responsibility, in seeking the promotion of the Lord Himself and His interests.

Another who said, Here am I, was Ananias. When Saul was apprehended on the Damascus road he was led to the house of one called Judas; and then the Lord spoke to Ananias, and Ananias immediately said, "Behold, here am I, Lord", Acts 9: 10. He was serviceable, one who knew the Lord, who knew His word and was prepared to answer to it. But Ananias has to accept adjustment. That is another important matter. If we are to be in the state of being serviceable we have to be prepared to accept adjustment. Ananias' thoughts were wrong. "And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, here am I, Lord", and the word was to "Rise up and go into the street which is called Straight, and seek in the house of Judas one by name Saul, he is of Tarsus: for, behold, he is praying". He is praying; that should have helped Ananias, but Ananias thought he knew better than the Lord. He tried to adjust the Lord; that is how strong we can be in our ideas. Do not let us make mistakes. We think we know better than the Lord sometimes as Ananias did. He says "Lord, I have heard from many concerning this man" and so on. "And the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is an elect vessel to me". So Ananias was prepared to go, having accepted adjustment. Being really serviceable often means that we have to be prepared to be adjusted in our thoughts and outlook. Ananias was only about a day late in his information, but he has to become adjusted by the Lord; the Lord is prepared to adjust us. We need to be adjustable if we are going to be serviceable. May the Lord help us to be more serviceable, for His sake.

TORONTO

10 January 1981