SERVICE
SERVICE
We are all Christ’s bondmen, we and all ours belong to Him - wife and children, too. Hence an unbelieving wife is sanctified in the believing husband. It is a matter of righteousness, not of grace - we are His bondmen, bought with a price. There is a righteous foundation for the kingdom and for all else - so here.
Jonah’s will (chapters 1 and 2) and his heart (chapter 3) are broken. Jonah is a student at college - Paul, in Philippians 1, a graduate.
It is our duty to serve Christ, but if I love my Master my duty will not be irksome. In Proverbs 31 the wife does the work; the husband (Christ) gets the credit. She provides food and clothing (for inside and outside), nourishing and cherishing.
Gifts are more connected with the assembly than we are aware; Acts 13; John 20. This was when in order, but I must know order (1 Timothy) to know how to act in disorder (2 Timothy). It is more now like the time of the Judges when the servant is prominent; there is a distance between the servants. Men of God and the gatherings - so different from Acts 13.
A thought gets expression in the assembly. In my own room the Lord may come to me, but it will be more in relation to my own affairs; but “in the midst” I get Him in relation to His own affairs.
Anything that pleases the Master is service.