A SERVANT OF THE LORD IN DIFFICULT TIMES
A SERVANT OF THE LORD IN DIFFICULT TIMES
A servant of the Lord does not know the true character of his service, until he is so near the Lord that his heart has been deeply affected with the fact that the Lord is not here, that He is rejected by man, and that He is sitting down at the right hand of God. Thus while the servant has to do with the Lord outside of [p. 340] everything here, his service is addressed to those of His own who are here. So he begins with learning the Lord where He is in glory, and then conveying His mind with all diligence to His people down here. This is the servant’s preparation for his work.
Next, the more he surveys and knows the state of the church, the more he is awakened to a sense of its grievous departure from the Lord, though his heart rejoices in finding here and there those who really are attached to Christ; the more also he is filled with zeal of heart to be a true help to His weak ones scattered amid the confusion. Like Nehemiah, he not merely sees the deplorable ruin, but he sets himself to strengthen the things that remain - to feed the sheep and lambs. In order to be equipped for his work, the servant’s resources must be all in Christ; he must be like Elisha when Elijah was taken away; he must act as if everything depended on himself. The first thing is to be “strong in the Lord” (Ephesians 6: 10) and “strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2: 1); not looking for any one to support him, but so helped by the Lord that his one thought is to care for the sheep and lambs of the flock.
Though the gentile power has cut off even the apostle, the servant for difficult times feels responsible to maintain what the apostle communicated, and as he maintains it, he is of real help and use. Among men, if a great general is cut off in battle every loyal soldier would be zealous in making up for the loss; but with the soldier of Christ, the Timothy, it is not only that he feels charged with the communications of the apostle, but he has this amazing comfort, that the Lord will give him “understanding in all things”, 2 Timothy 2: 7. Many are careful students of the word who are not effective in their ministry, because they trust more to their knowledge of the word than to the present help of the Lord, giving them “understanding in all things”. It is a fact that those who are great [p. 341] students of the word often depend so much on their knowledge of it, that they have not the mind of the Lord for the time. Though the study of the word and the knowledge of it are most necessary, yet it is not the knowledge of the word that makes the servant a true help to the sheep, but the Lord Himself giving him the “understanding”. Many are satisfied with the knowledge of the word, and unintentionally make it a substitute for the direction which can only come from the Head.
The guide then is not only strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, but he is independent of all human resources; and in maintaining God’s word and counsel for His own to the end, he receives direct light from the Lord Himself as to what suits them for the time. The servant is called to war; he is in conflict with all the things around; therefore he must not be entangled with the affairs of this life, “that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier”, (2 Timothy 2: 4) but he has to go through severe drill before he is a soldier. His first conflict is with the world; I do not refer here to the conflict in his own soul before be has learned deliverance, because he cannot enter on the duty of a soldier at all until he is established in grace; hence his first public conflict is with the world as such, and his usefulness much depends on the completeness of his victory. Like Moses, he esteems “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward” (Hebrews 11: 26); his heart is so deeply affected by the fact of Christ’s rejection here that possessions or prospects have lost their hold upon him; he may not be called on to surrender his possessions, but he does not use them to maintain a position here.
His second great conflict is with the religious world, amidst all the systems and denominations for which religious men assume to have authority from Scripture.
[p. 342] To investigate each would be profitless; the simple duty of the servant is to stand clear of them all, and to wait on the Lord for guidance as to the path. It is quite possible to quote Scripture in support of a human opinion which claims to be derived from Scripture; and this, backed up by the sayings and writings of pious men, has very general acceptance, whereas a spiritual judgment can only be apprehended by the spiritual, because while the human mind can take in a human opinion, the spiritual mind alone can understand the things of the Spirit of God, or form a spiritual judgment. “Which also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual [things] by spiritual [means]”, 1 Corinthians 2: 13.
No soul with any sense of nearness to God could survey the fellowship of religious meetings around us, without being pained by the little sense there is of the holiness which belongs to the house of God - how, as we see in the Old Testament, that even touching a dead body defiled the tabernacle of God. In the sects, though people are not received into fellowship unless agreed on certain points, yet there is little or no discipline to keep the house of God even up to the light of a pious Jew; hence, the first result of enlightenment in a soul true to the Lord, is to purge himself from the vessels to dishonour, and to “pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”. (2 Timothy 2: 22) The Scripture intimates that such are to be found. It is not to set up some new thing, but to follow righteousness, etc., with them who have already separated from the unholy mixture in the church.
Next, the servant or guide must be unfettered in his own house. If his wife is heart and soul with him, she is no hindrance but a help and solace to him. When she is not quite up to him, but is silent and prayerful, watching diligently that nothing in the house [p. 343] should disturb or hinder him, he is free for the Lord’s concerns. When she is not in concert with him, he must stand firm and uninfluenced, though in all tenderness and consideration, giving honour unto her as unto the weaker vessel. It is when she assumes to be in concert with him, but without real exercise of heart before the Lord, that she breaks down in an emergency. But the great snare is when the wife has an ascendency over her husband, and, like the much-loved Rachel, who secretly pursued her own ways, she so leavens him, that though he does not give up the calling of God, yet he is powerless and without faith in it. Like Jacob (Genesis 33) his altar El-elohe-Israel, as is always the case, indicates the state of his soul with God; he can get no further than that he himself is an object with God. So there are many now who can speak much of the goodness of God to themselves, yet know very little of the blessedness of Himself. At length the voice of the Lord recalls the servant to His presence, and then he becomes clear of the leaven, and says to his household, “Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments”, Genesis 35: 1 - 3.
As to his children, the servant’s simple duty is to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. There is no entanglement while they are young; the danger is when they are grown up and start for themselves: then he is sure to be entangled, if he is either patron or partner in their interests. When he is so, he returns in heart to the world he had renounced, and his separation to God is more or less compromised. It has been said, You can refuse the world for yourself, but not for your children.
Now that you are a soldier, you must “strive lawfully”, and you must fulfil every relation of life according to the will of God; there is nothing eccentric or extreme about you, you should be known as incomparable in your relationships as husband, father,
[p. 344] and master. Finally, you have to labour as the husbandman before you can partake of the fruits. “He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully”, 2 Corinthians 9: 6. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him”, Psalm 126: 5,6.
Now that you are fitted to fulfil the responsibility of a guide, your beginning is of the greatest importance, hence the apostle writes: “Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel”, 2 Timothy 2: 8. The risen Christ in glory is the only source of blessing to the Jew as well as to the gentile; hence it is most necessary that a servant who would lead on souls should see that they have begun according to God, that they are not only assured of their forgiveness and acceptance with God, but are so delivered from the old man that as “in Christ” the “best robe”, they can joy in God. No soul is established in grace until he knows that he is received by God in Christ risen from the dead, and that in himself he is in practical deliverance, by the Spirit made free from the law of sin and death; Romans 8: 2.
A guide is very dependent on the evangelist who has preceded him, for, if souls are not established in acceptance with God and in deliverance the guide must do the work of an evangelist; he can make no advance until this is effected.
I need not pursue the gradual way in which souls are led on, but I close with one remark: that while every true-hearted christian desires to partake of the Lord’s supper in remembrance of Christ’s death, very few are led into the gravity of fellowship with His death. If your heart really enters into the fact that the One who is so endeared to you has died out of this scene, what a sense of desolation must press upon your heart, as to everything in this world! The dearest one here may be removed, but no desolation [p. 345] can be so great as that of having fellowship with the Lord in His death here. Your sorrow would not be less because of the wrench death may make in your circle, because the one who knows the deepest sorrow is the one who feels every successive sorrow the most deeply.
I need not add more; thank God there are many devoted ones who can help a little, and though all cannot take the place of guides, yet every true-hearted man or woman can help, and it is a great thing to be able to contribute to those who are most in advance, and great responsibility attaches to him who is a guide or leader, not to make a false step. “Give heed to thyself and to the teaching; continue in them; for, doing this, thou shalt save both thyself and those that hear thee”, 1 Timothy 4: 16.
Scarborough,