BONDMANSHIP
F. C. Mutton
Luke 7: 6–10; 2 Timothy 4: 5, 9–11; Colossians 4: 16, 17; 1 Chronicles 25: 1, 2, 6, 7
This scripture in Luke 7, I always find very affecting. The Lord Jesus was affected by the way this centurion spoke. The Lord said about him, “Not even in Israel have I found so great faith”. May the Lord find faith in us today! We have been together in this happy season, and a measure of faith has come before us. May whatever the Lord has said to us be received by you and by me in faith! If it is the Lord’s word it can produce wonderful results. We cannot produce any fruit of ourselves, but if there is faith, what we receive can become abundantly and richly fruitful for God’s pleasure.
Now I desire to link on with what came before us as to bondmanship. It is remarkable that this centurion discerned in the Lord Jesus that He was under authority; He was under the authority of His God and Father in perfect sacrificial devotion to the Father’s will. Dear brethren, let us contemplate more and more, in contrast to our own natural waywardness, wilfulness and independence, the glory and blessedness of a life which was wholly devoted to the Father’s will: as we sang, ‘He no service thought too lowly, And, no sacrifice too great’.
He who is at the disposal of men and women and children
was at the disposal of this man, a man placed under authority. Now the bearing upon you and me is this—Are we placed under authority? I think it is one thing or the other—I am either independent and lawless or else I am placed under authority. I come under authority in receiving Jesus as my Saviour and Lord. You remember the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, that proud man with his imperious will, nothing could stand in his way, how at one word from Jesus he was broken down, saying, “What shall I do, Lord?” Acts 22: 10. His will was broken and he became a bondman of Jesus Christ. What an honourable position! He says later, “for I bear in my body the brands of the Lord Jesus”, Galatians 6: 17. He would appreciate the privilege of bearing in his very body the marks of suffering for Christ. He says,
“I fill up that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ in my flesh, for his body”, Colossians 1: 24. How near he came to his Master.
I want to ask you, dear young brother and sister especially, Are you under authority? If not, I would beg of you to place yourself, as we are together now, under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. This centurion said, “I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers, and I say to this one, Go, and he goes”, just like that, it is immediate, no questions, “Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my bondman, Do this, and he does it”. Now that is to prevail among us as bondmen of Jesus Christ. You and I no longer have a right to a will of our own. What a blessed thing it is to come under the will and authority of Jesus and, as presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, to prove the “good and acceptable and perfect will of God”, Romans 12: 2. I can tell you this, that your will and my will, will always get us into trouble; subjection to the will of God will lead us into what is good, acceptable and perfect.
Obedience is an immense test to us. Are we obedient? Are we subject? Are our movements under
the Lord’s direction or are they independent? If they are independent they can only do damage; if they are subject to the Lord they will be beneficial and fruitful. Think of this word, I say to my bondman, “Do this, and he does it”. One thing I cannot refrain from saying is that the Lord Jesus said, “this do in remembrance of me”, Luke 22: 19. Are you doing it?
Are you doing what the Lord Jesus has said? He said, “this do in remembrance of me”. What comfort, what joy it affords to Him, in a world which has rejected Him, that you love Him and show you love Him, and by putting your hands to the emblems, publicly, show forth His death as you eat and drink. The Lord would count on your love for Him, and your obedience, to express, and show itself in the breaking of bread in remembrance of Himself.
Now we could go on to our scripture in 2 Timothy 4, where we read Paul’s words to this young disciple, Timothy. Comments were made in the reading as to the urgent need for younger men and women to be available and committed. The Lord takes one and another who have been faithful, and the responsibility for the maintenance of what is for the Lord’s pleasure until He comes will of necessity depend more and more on the younger generation.
This is a direct word from Paul to Timothy; but from Paul to you and to me, and I would emphasize as Paul does this emphatic “thou”. We are so apt to be influenced by others, to look upon others and what they do, whether it be right or wrong, and if what others are doing may be a bit doubtful, I may say. Well, others are doing it why should not I do it? That is not the point. Whatever anyone else is doing, Paul says, “But thou”, you yourself, you have your own responsibility to the Lord. Someone quoted today Paul’s word to Timothy, “be a model of the believers”, 1 Timothy 4: 12. That is not that you strut about displaying yourself in pride as ‘it’, not at all. It is that in all humility you represent what is normal in Christianity, that you are what you should be by the grace of Christ and the power of the Spirit, according to the age which you are. Jesus was perfect, He was always perfect, of course, but at the age of twelve He demonstrated the perfection of a boy of twelve, what should mark such a one. At the age of thirty He represented what was normal and perfect according to God in the maturity of manhood.
So Paul says, “But thou, be sober in all things”. How important to have a sober mind. Paul speaks of that in the first chapter of this epistle, “For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion” (2 Timothy 1: 7), and that word for ‘wise discretion’ means ‘A quiet, sound, or sober mind’. Be sober in all things—let us take on sobriety. If you are twelve act as if you are fifteen; if you are sixteen act as if you are twenty. I do not mean to be unnatural, but take on maturity, leave childhood; childhood is right and delightful in childhood, but it is humbling and pathetic if it is prolonged. I like that word of Paul, “when I became a man, I had done with what belonged to the child”, 1
Corinthians 13: 11. Let us take on manhood, and this is a pointer to manhood, “be sober in all things, bear evils”. If you are reproached, and the young people know this at school and at work, “bear evils”, do not give up, do not faint under them, do not be discouraged by them, bear them, the Lord will help you to bear them because He bore more evil and reproach than any ever did.
Then, “do the work of an evangelist”; I fail in that I confess, I am not as evangelical as I should be, but let us be more available to help others, to bear witness to them. Now, “fill up the full measure of thy ministry”. Something has been committed to you in the Lord’s name, in His purpose, some measure, some capacity spiritually, some place has been marked out for you in relation to the testimony and the service of God—“fill up the full measure of thy ministry”. I know a boy of whom in his report from school the form master said, So-and-so could do very well if he tried. In relation to what is spiritual, the Lord has imparted something to you, given
you a certain measure; Paul pleads with Timothy, “fill up the full measure of thy ministry”.
He says to him elsewhere as he writes to him, “Let no one despise thy youth, but be a model of the believers ... Till I come, give thyself to reading, to exhortation, to teaching ... Occupy thyself with these things; be wholly in them, that thy progress may be manifest to all”, 1
Timothy 4: 12, 13, 15. Now I would encourage my beloved younger brethren to heed Paul’s counsel. Do not make Christianity a part time interest, a kind of hobby to be taken up and dropped. Paul says, “Occupy thyself with these things; be wholly in them, that thy progress may be manifest to all”. Few things are more encouraging than to see a young person making spiritual progress.
I would just add as to the end of 2 Timothy that it was a critical time. Paul had been forsaken by many, by all in Asia, and he says, “Use diligence to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved the present age”. I trust there is no Demas in this company,
“having loved the present age”. What a fatal thing that is, sapping away at spiritual vitality.
Others had gone legitimately to different places and he says, “Luke alone is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thyself, for he is serviceable to me for ministry”. May we be like Mark at this time available to be brought along and to be serviceable.
Now I just want to comment in that connection on what we read at the end of Colossians, a very personal word. This letter would be read out in the local assembly at Colosse, and it was also to be read according to verse 16 in Laodicea, and yet Paul mentions the name of Archippus; this would be read out. I think it shows the simplicity, purity, sincerity of Paul’s longings as to the work of God, “say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, to the end that thou fulfil it”. Well, that is a word to us; a word to me, a word to you, “Take heed”—it is a faithful warning and exhortation. I trust we have all received some
impressions as together, “Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord”, you see it carries with it the Lord’s authority—it may come through this brother or that brother, it matters not. What blessing, what profit to ourselves and to the saints there is as we take heed to what we receive in the Lord and fulfil it. That would mean it becomes divinely fruitful for the pleasure of the Lord, the profit of His people and the prosperity of His testimony.
May I pass this word on? “Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord”, go over what has been before us, if I may speak simply and humbly, go over it with the Lord to the end that thou fulfil it. The ministry is not to be like pictures on the wall, just there to be admired. We are intended to take heed to it so that it becomes worked out in you and in me to substantial, visible, fruitful result.
We may just finish with what we read in 1 Chronicles; this relates to the service of God.
David in his closing days was arranging for its order; it was to be a glorious service, a musical service with singers and instruments, the instruments of David, and each of us is to be like one of the instruments of David. In chapter 25, David and the captains of the host separated for the service certain persons. I think it shows how what is inward, for David would represent what is spiritual and inward in the service of God, and what we have been speaking of as to contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, how they link on together, because the captains of the host would be like those who contend earnestly, they would at all costs stand for the truth, but the great object is the service of God. So they
“separated for the service those of the sons of Asaph and of Heman and of Jeduthun who were to prophesy with harps and lutes and cymbals”.
This is not so much a matter of bondmanship, though it is a matter of committal and devotion. Are you
and I among those who are separated for the holy service of God? They were to prophesy with harps and lutes and cymbals. What a choice service! If the Lord will we shall enter on it tomorrow; we shall hear what is typified in the harps and the lutes and the cymbals, and there will be holy order. If you read through this chapter the names of all these people are given, and in verse 6 it says, “All these were under the direction of their fathers ... for song in the house of Jehovah, with cymbals, lutes and harps, for the service of the house of God, under the direction of the king”. Why are all these names mentioned? Because each one is valued, every name, every individual separated to the service of God is precious to the Lord, precious to the Father. So I can ask simply, Is your name in the list? Is my name in this privileged list of persons for song in the house of God. May it be! May you and I be prepared to sort out in our lives, and deal with, any element whatever which we are conscious is hindering us from being available for the house of God and the service of God, and the praises of God!
I just leave these impressions. May we have holy desires. It says of these separated ones, “all of them skilful”, verse 7, “the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed in the songs of Jehovah, all of them skilful”. You may say, or I may say, I do not feel very skilful.
Well, the Lord is the Chief Musician, and the Spirit will help us, and there is ministry and teaching to help us to be not only fervent and affectionate, but also skilful in the service of God, to know what is appropriate at any point; to know our way through the hymn book, for example, not mechanically but with spiritual discernment.
May the Lord bless these impressions to us, and may we know what it is to be subject, “I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes”. We are invited to come into the choicest blessings which God has for us, and may we be available for it for His
glory. Amen.
Address at Bendigo, 15 April 1989
THE LOVE OF JESUS
P. van den Berg
I want to say a word on the love of Jesus. It is a love that surpasses knowledge. Paul could say, “the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”, Galatians 2: 20. We read in John’s gospel of the stoop of divine love; the stoop of Jesus when He came into manhood; the stoop when He went into death. In John 8 the Lord Jesus stooped and wrote on the ground, which relates to His coming into manhood. When He stooped again the second time it was in view of His death and when He lifted Himself up it was in view of justification. In John we have this presentation of the way divine love came down in Jesus; the glory of His Person as the One by whom the world was made; the way He came into manhood; the love that led Him into death; the authority He had to lay down His life, and to take it again; the glory of His ascension. The glory of all this is seen in John’s gospel. It is the way in which Jesus moved in the glory of His own Person. In John it is not so much what the Father did, or what God did, it was what He Himself did, in virtue of who He was. He is the creator of the universe, the One who upholds all things by the word of His power. Think of the greatness of the Lord Jesus! He is the One that in purpose and divine counsel committed Himself to come to do the will of God. “Lo, I come to do thy will”, Hebrews 10: 9. Love moved Him to do that. It was the divine arrangement that He should be the One that was to come into manhood and die. This, I think, is typified in the Hebrew bondman.
He says, “I love”. He came in with his body (see footnote ‘b’ Exodus 21: 3). It says in Hebrews, “thou hast prepared me a body” (Hebrews 10: 5). He came in in a body! Oh the uniqueness of the Lord’s coming into manhood! It was His own act, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”, John 1: 14. It was in a body prepared for Him that He did the will of God.
That is before us in the Lord’s supper, dear brethren. We are sanctified unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. The obedience was seen in His body in which He fulfilled the will of God, in perfect subjection to the will of the Father; and His precious blood is represented in the cup. The Hebrew bondman said, “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free”, Exodus 21: 5. That was love’s committal. I believe the love of God was in divine purpose desiring an answer for His own heart and pleasure eternally, and the working out in divine counsel was in infinite wisdom, God taking a certain way in the fulfilment of it in ways that are beyond our understanding; ways that are inscrutable. His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts higher than our thoughts. There are depths of wisdom involved in the way that God has taken in bringing His thoughts to pass. It says of wisdom, “Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way”, Proverbs 8: 22. It was in infinite wisdom that God was working out His thoughts, and they all centred in Christ. They centred in the One who said, “Lo, I come ... to do, O God, thy will”, Hebrews 10: 7. So we see in Abraham and Isaac moving together, the love anticipated in what was to come about in relation to the economy, as we speak of it, the Father and the Son moving together. You see that in John’s gospel. Abraham loved Isaac, and they moved together to the appointed place, and Abraham said, “God will provide himself with the sheep for a burnt-offering”, Genesis 22: 8. Christ was the Lamb foreknown before the world’s foundation, it all looked on to Christ, the coming in of the One who in love committed Himself.
In the scripture we have read, it says of the Lord Jesus, “knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end”. The footnote says, ‘“To the end” does not give the full force, for it makes it refer to time; whereas going through with everything is implied’; it is dispensational.
It is a love that is the same today as ever it will be; the same as it was on Calvary’s cross, the love of Jesus that led Him into death—‘I love, I will not got out free’.
Oh, dear younger ones, this was the Lord’s committal. What is our committal? What can we do in response to such a love, but to commit ourselves to such a One, to Jesus. What a place we have in His heart; what a place in the breast-plate! We need to have a deep sense of that present love of Christ. He is not here now, He is in glory, but that love is the same, operating on our behalf; that love is in activity right now. It speaks here of the way He washed the feet of His disciples. Think of the way the Lord Jesus has in view that we should have part with Him; He has the assembly in view. He has in view to secure the assembly without spot or wrinkle or any of such things, that He might present it to Himself glorious. Oh, dear brethren, what cost, what love, that the Lord as loving the assembly not only gave Himself for it, but He serves it, He cherishes it, it is His love that is ever operating. The ministry that the Lord is giving is to have the effect that there might be in result what is of assembly character for His own heart and pleasure; that He might have a present answer to His love; that there might be a present answer in the assembly to what was in divine purpose, that the assembly should be the vessel in which the manifold wisdom of God might be displayed, according to the purpose of the ages. It was in divine purpose that there should be a vessel in the scene of time, in the scene of confusion, in such a scene as we are in, in which the all-various wisdom of God should be seen in expression. How sobering that is for us! What
we have been speaking about shows the need for wisdom.
Then there is the priestly service of Christ going on throughout the dispensation, a service of love. Love motivates the Lord Jesus in His priestly activities. In Hebrews the Priest goes along with the Apostle. He is “the Apostle and High Priest of our confession” (Hebrews 3: 1).
As the Apostle He has brought out the mind of God. He is the One in whom God has been declared; the One in whom God has spoken, God has spoken in Son. He is the Mediator on God’s side, and He is Priest on our side. We have Him as Priest on our side in a love that ever intercedes for us. However weak we may feel, the word of God, having its own edge as it comes to us, being received in obedience on our part, would be followed by the priestly grace the Lord is ready to minister in all the weakness in which we find ourselves. There is nothing impossible in what we have been called into, what the word of God may present to us, however testing it may be, we have the grace of Christ in activity in His priestly service for us. Such is the love of Christ for us.
Then there is the shepherd service of Christ, and that is His present service too. He is the great Shepherd of the sheep; He is the chief Shepherd, too, and His shepherd service is ever in activity. He has laid down His life for His sheep. What love is seen in Jesus! What the Lord Jesus has in view is the assembly. You see it typified in Jacob; he was with the flock and the house of God was in view. In Luke 15 the shepherd brought the sheep to the house. It is a great thing to see that the Lord has the assembly in mind. He loves the assembly, He has given Himself for it, He is going to have it eternally, but what the Lord is seeking now is a present answer in the light of it. May we be committed to what is so precious to the heart of Christ, and maintain conditions with His priestly help that are suitable to Him, that are according to the divine mind.
There is nothing impossible, and we can count on the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus to see us through.
There is not much more I have to say, but that we may have a sense, dear brethren, dear young people, of the Lord’s personal love for us; not only what it was, but what it is, and what it will be for ever, that we may have a sense that His love will do the very best for us—“having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end”. We can count on Him absolutely—the Father has given all things to be in His hand. So may we just close with a fresh appeal to be committed, that our committal may flow out from the sense we have of the love of the Lord Jesus for us. It is so great, it is infinite, it is a love that will motivate, that will set the whole universe in movement in the eternal day. The breast of the ram of consecration according to Leviticus 8: 25 was given to Moses, the mediator, showing that in the eternal state where the mediatorial side will go through, the whole scene will be set in movement by the love of that Person, typified in the ram of consecration, the Lord’s unswerving devotion to the will of God, securing the will of God. You remember when Abraham offered up his son that there was a ram caught in a thicket. That refers to the devotion, the availability of the Lord Jesus in view of giving Himself to secure the purpose of God, and this will affect the universe eternally. May it affect our hearts now in our committal for His name’s sake.
Address at Kirkcaldy
5 September 1992