NOTES ON SCRIPTURE 1895 NO. 24
NOTES ON SCRIPTURE 1895 NO. 24
The true aim and object of ministry is edification. If it be ever so little, so that it edifies the assembly: “I had rather speak five words ... that ... I might teach others also” (verse 19). If you do not understand the truth yourself, you cannot honestly and truly convey it. Exposition of Scripture is only effective so far as the minister himself has appropriated it; if he is propounding beyond his own experience, he cannot insist on it as knowing it himself. “I believed, and therefore have I spoken”. (2 Corinthians 4: 13) The Corinthians, with all their spiritual gifts, did not know Christ as Head. They were occupied with their gifts; they lacked the love which would have sought the benefit of their hearers. In the assembly everything should be done for edifying. In giving out a hymn, it should not be one which merely suits myself, but one which suits the assembly. I am so far the organ of the assembly. No one should come there intending to take a part, but every one should be ready, as every string of a harp is tuned before it is played on. Everyone may be ready, but the Lord may not call on everyone. If the Lord were known as Head, every one would be directed by Him, but if even there were true desire before the Lord to edify, there would not be the state of things that prevailed at Corinth. The assembly is a great test to each of us. No one is in power in any circle beyond what he is in the assembly. There you [p. 68] approach God, you rise to your highest point. If you are lacking in any circle at home or abroad, the defect is in your altar You cannot rise higher than your altar. Jacob’s altar at Shalem was El-elohe-Israel; he could say, like many now, that he was on the right ground, and had the right truth, but he confined God to himself; he was at the time inconsistent with his calling, for he had bought a parcel of a field where he was given no inheritance (see Acts 7:5). He suffered deeply, as we read, at Shalem. Eventually the Lord told him to go up to Bethel. It was more than twenty years since he had been there, but he so recalled it that he said unto his household and to all that were with him, “Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments”. (Genesis 35: 2) The nearer you are to God and the better you know Him, the better you can judge of everything in relation to Him. Inside we are a holy priesthood, and from thence we come out a royal priesthood.