SERVICE

^[p. 237] SERVICE

Philippians 2:19 - 22; Genesis 14:14 - 16; Numbers 4:29 - 33

From these scriptures I intend, by the Lord’s help, to deduce certain instruction for us, as needed, I believe, amongst the saints of God at the present time. It relates to service. Service is obligatory on all; as one has light from God in any measure, one can use it and serve. The field, therefore, is wide, including all saints; the levitical family included, in principle, all saints. But whilst we are all thus obligated, dear brethren, to serve, Scripture also speaks of trained servants, and I have selected Timothy as representative of the saints who serve in this way, especially in our time. He represents service in the early days too, for he had to do with things in the assembly before its decline; but he also is in view as representing service in difficult times, the last days. So that he covers in his own person the idea of trained service extending on to our own times; for whilst we are living in a day of small things, broken conditions — yet the thought of God remains; the need of training in the service, and the means for it too, remain, in measure at least. We are all familiar with the idea of trained service; how much training is needed in the medical and attendant professions, for instance. The apostle Paul alludes to this, when he speaks of himself as caring for the saints as a nurse cares for her own children; he alludes to training, withal not shutting out from the trained person the love that will greatly augment the service, and the touch — “a nurse ... her own children” (1 Thessalonians 2:7). Now Timothy is, I believe, representative of this, not indeed as Paul was — and you may wonder why I do not select Paul, as pre-eminently the ^[p. 238] servant, but I have deliberately selected Timotheus because, as I said, his service extends to our own times, that is, the kind of service seen in him; as the apostle says, “As a child a father, he has served with me in the work of the glad tidings”. He “served with me” — this is a suggestion for all young persons, brothers and sisters, who would serve, that they may learn to serve with others. If you are ever to serve according to God, you must learn to serve with others, and with others who have been serving before you in the testimony so that you may receive all the gain possible. So the apostle, finding Timotheus, would have him to go with him (Acts 16:3), discerning, doubtless, what was in the young man; he was not yet to serve, but to go with him. Every one who is in the service, and in any way qualified and owned of the Lord in it, should have this in mind. If there are young persons with qualities that may thus be developed in service, let us have them to go with us. They will not detract from us in any way; they will encourage us. An interested person nearby is a great stimulus, whatever we are engaged in, whereas uninterested persons nearby are a hindrance; they create an atmosphere of hindrance and difficulty. But then there is the thought of these interested persons becoming servants themselves; and I may say here, dear brethren, that, whilst the number of Levites according to Numbers 4:48, from thirty years old and upward, was very considerable — some eight thousand five hundred — yet, as they were presented to God, as they were brought near, and prepared, and presented as a wave-offering to God, He says virtually, ‘I would like the number increased’, for He immediately says, as you will remember, in Numbers 8:24, that they are to enter on the service at the age of twenty-five instead of thirty. He had already said thirty; that was the primary thought, that the service should be carried on ^[p. 239] in maturity, in full manhood, but they are brought near, and presented to Jehovah, and He immediately reduces the age limit and that increases the number; it is as if God intimated that He liked them — that is a matter of great consequence, dear brethren, to be likeable in one’s service. Of the great Servant it is said, “Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth!” (Isaiah 42:1), that was what Jesus was to God, in His service. “I will put my Spirit upon him”, He says; that is to say, likeability in service commends us to God. So as the Levites were presented as a wave-offering before His eyes, He reduces their age: that ought to be a word for every young brother here; God virtually says, ‘I like them’. I am not now speaking of the Levites in their heavenly relations as in Joshua, but of them in service here; for the idea is that they were to be burden-bearers, to do active toilsome service; that is what is presented to us in this book — heavy work. And as they are presented to Jehovah, He says, ‘Let the age be twenty-five’. How many that lets in spiritually! it lets in a great number, and there is a great appeal for this, dear brethren, at the present time — the Lord has need of you. I would say to every young man and woman, ‘The Lord has need of you’. He has need of the elder, the trained, the experienced, ones too; for how are the young to learn save as they observe others? I have no doubt the age, reduced by the five years, suggests a novitiate here in this book, but it is not so stated; it is rather that God approved of the Levites, and it is said very significantly, “God helped the Levites” (1 Chronicles 15:26). They need our prayers, but God helps them specially; He loves them, as pre-eminently seen in Jesus in whom, He says. “My soul delighteth”.

Well now, Timotheus, I believe, was a likeable young man; he was well-reported, we are told, of the brethren; and every one essaying to serve must ^[p. 240] bear in mind that they have to get the brethren’s report. It is not merely a matter of ability, it is a matter of moral qualifications as well as gift; and that is what comes out in Timotheus — he was “well reported of” and Paul would have him to go, as much as to say, ‘This is the young man I need’. He had just lost Barnabas, a great servant too, one of whom the Spirit of God says much, a titled servant, as we may say, a “Son of consolation”, but he separates from Paul; they separated from one another, and though God is with Paul, yet he would feel the loss of his brother. What happy times they must have had together! — in suffering too — in their service. But now it is Timotheus, a young man with little or no experience, but Paul would have him to go with him; it is, as it were, his novitiate, he is to be with a great servant. We heard this afternoon, the twelve were with Jesus; as with Him what wonderful service they would see! Thus they were trained, beloved brethren, they learnt how to serve from the great Servant.

Now I just want to show how this trained service bears on the persons of the saints, for that is what Merari represents. His service alludes to the persons of the saints. Gershon’s service alludes to the principles that govern us — a great matter. It is not that one serving today is a Gershonite, and another a Merarite; these services are to be combined in the servants. That is to say, if we think of Merari, we have to have an eye to the saints personally; they are valuable as the work of God; they are valuable because of the purchase price; even “the weak brother”, we are told, is one “for whom Christ died” (1 Corinthians 8:11) — we are valuable in that light. There is not much in the way of the work of God to be seen in the weak brother, but Christ died for him and he is to be nursed; invalided he may be, but he is to be nursed and watched over; he is to be guarded and ^[p. 241] not to be stumbled. So Abraham stands out at the outset in the household of faith — for it is a question of the household — as leading out three hundred and eighteen persons in an emergency; that is how it should read, he led them out. Who are they? They are trained servants. What a trainer he must have been! how experienced! There is this thought, beloved, at the very outset of the household of faith, for that is what Abraham stands for among other things — the head of the household of faith. He led out three hundred and eighteen trained servants, all born in his house; they were not hired, for the hireling is not in view. Not that the servant who labours is not partaker of the fruit, not that he has not hire, in a sense, but they are not contracted wages; the idea is what love would have for wages — if you put it that way. There is no such thought properly, in the household of faith, as hired servants; they are not to be relied upon; they are treacherous servants. The prodigal had in mind that his father had hired servants and he would be one of them; but when he got there, there is not a word about hired servants! No real lover of God wants to be viewed thus; he is a slave, if you wish to call him that, indeed that is what they were called. There were bondmen in the house of the father of the prodigal, and the father addresses them under the personal pronoun ‘us’; see the beautiful relations in the household of faith between the master and the servant! The Lord Jesus leads the way in that too, as you know, in the type: He was a slave — a bondman — He took that place; nobody ever imposed slavery or bondmanship on Him; it is His own election; it is the length to which love will go; that is the idea. He could have gone out free, but love will go that way; it is not imposed, but it is nevertheless real service; and hence the servants may take that place. Paul was that, a “bondman of Jesus Christ”, but he was an ^[p. 242] honoured official servant, too. He is a bondman, it is love’s own election, and that is what the prodigal found in the father’s house — he found such as these, who could go inside, into the treasury, as it were, and bring out the best things that were there — they had access within. That is the beautiful state of things, dear brethren, in the economy of God; and it is very attractive that one should have part amongst the bondmen of God, the bondmen of Jesus, and to be able to say, “Ourselves your servants” — that is, the servants of the saints, “for Jesus’ sake”. So that Abraham “led out his trained servants” we are told, these three hundred and eighteen persons, born in his house, and he was successful in a military way. The Spirit of God mentions the skill and great energy which marked him, for he had a long way to go, from Hebron to Damascus is a good distance, but he pursued them there, and set his forces in array, and was successful. He divided himself against them by night, with true military ability, his servants being trained; but I wish not to speak of military exploits, dear brethren, but of the fact that these trained servants were employed in regard of persons. Lot had been captured, and many of our brethren, most, alas, are in captivity; but there is this encouragement in regard of them, they are prisoners of hope; it is possible to rescue them. The prophet Zechariah indeed speaks of the pit in which they are, as having no water; they can be rescued, as Joseph was, so that there is hope, it is not impossible. This seemed an impossible undertaking of Abraham’s, for these were mighty kings relatively, and the distance they had gone was great; that he should pursue them and overtake them seemed almost too much to hope, but he was successful. Let us not therefore be discouraged, dear brethren. Our brethren need to be rescued, and Lot was rescued, and his family — persons were rescued, and the property. Now I do not speak ^[p. 243] of the property; that is not what I have in mind although it is not to be despised: property is necessary; but I am speaking now of persons. It was a great victory, securing persons and property, and when Abraham returned the king of Sodom said, ‘I will take the persons, or the souls, and you take the property’. I have no doubt that the king of Sodom included Lot in his suggestion, for Lot belonged to Sodom, alas; but in these exploits we do not want to recognise Sodom’s claim on the persons. No, we want to assert the claims of Christ on the persons; we want to assert that they are as we are; in fact, as the apostle said, “Be as I am, for I also am as ye”, (Galatians 4:12). Every christian has part in the inheritance of sonship, and other things that one may mention. It is a question of conveying to them what is their proper heritage. “Be as I am, for I also am as ye”; we know well enough there was a great difference between Paul and the Galatians practically, but not in regard to the inheritance. Every true christian is an heir; as Paul says, “but if son, heir also”, indeed, as it reads, “heir also through God” (Galatians 4:7) as if to assert it is immutable, nothing can shake it! God Himself has made us heirs; and you can say that to any christian, whatever pit without water he may be in; it ought to be a leverage in his soul to lift him out of it, that he has such a great heritage. You convey to him that you are enjoying the inheritance; you have the earnest of it in the Spirit, and if he sees you enjoying it, there is some hope of his coming along.

Well now, the persons were secured, and the king of Sodom would have all the souls. No doubt he valued Lot, for these brethren of ours — christians — are valued in the world; they adorn the world, provided they do not pull down the world, that they do not assert the rights of Christ in it. As soon as you bring in the assembly and all it involves, you will not be liked in Sodom; but as long as you keep silence ^[p. 244] about these things, and go on with the world and its ways, you are an adornment to it. There is not one amongst us who might go to any of the denominations who would not be accepted, I believe. They would say, ‘We can offer you more: a wider field’, and so on. Poor Lot was of that kind, the kind that would be valued in Sodom; he sat in the gate, we are told later on, and Abraham does not say anything here about him. How Abraham would feel about him, ‘I have brought him back, but I cannot have him in the household of faith’. The next move should be Lot’s, and there is no move, not a word of any move on the part of Lot to join again with his great benefactor who had been so good to him. How often we see that. That is the setting of Abraham and his trained servants here, and I need not add, dear brethren, there is a great field opened up to us, to anyone who is disposed to serve; the field is very great and large, and anyone who knows of it prays the Lord of the harvest to thrust out labourers into His harvest.

Now I want to show that, as Abraham in his house had trained servants, God has trained servants in His house; that is seen in the book of Numbers. It is said that Moses was faithful in all God’s house; that is what is alluded to. What we get in these typical books, and is included in them, is the training of servants — that there should be trained servants in the house. I have read these verses about Merari that we might see, typically, how the persons are in mind. I may say here, dear brethren, that these books — Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, are what should be called ministerial books, as over against Genesis. What is stressed in these books is ministerial authority, a most important fact for us, in whomsoever it may be stressed amongst us, there is that. Christ is the great Servant, but He is in the house as Son. He has built the house, He is greater than the house as a Son over the house, and ^[p. 245] the servants that He has are all sons, all in liberty, but nevertheless trained. In no service is there more need for skill, for training, than in the service of God; and that is what is implied in the book of Numbers; so the servants’ work is classified under three heads, the Kohathites, the Gershonites and the Merarites. It is not that a Kohathite is one, and a Gershonite another, and a Merarite another today; these three features must be seen in every servant. The Kohathite represents that feature that is careful about the Person of Christ, about His deity; that guards the Persons of the Deity in Their proper relations. Everything of God, of Christ, of the Spirit, and, I may say, of the assembly, is to be guarded with the utmost jealousy, the jealousy of love — that is the service of the Kohathite. And, in order to stress that, the Kohathite, viewed as such, was not even to look at these holy things; they were to be covered by the priests, showing the holiness of what we have to do with, what the things of God are, lest we should be profane in regard to them. How easily we might be this, and treat them lightly and loosely! One feature in this chapter especially, is that the priest is the great ruling principle in all the service. We must look for the priestly element in all service; without it no service is of any value, however pretentious it may be. We must have the priesthood, we must have Aaron and his two sons, and Moses too. Aaron presents the priestly side, for the priests’ lips were to keep knowledge, and his two sons; Eleazar stands out as “the prince of princes of the Levites”, that is the great spiritual, or princely, element amongst us; and without it, professed ministry is valueless among us. When we come to Merari, we get the impression that the things he was to look after are named. It says, “And by name ye shall reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden” (Numbers 4:32). This, I believe, is peculiar to his charge, to ^[p. 246] his service. Not that other things are not named, principles and the like, which Gershon has to do with, the curtains and the coverings, these have their own designation. The word ‘principle’ is a good word; it is very much used amongst us, and rightly so. Believers should be persons of principle, not simply of detail; that is one of the great outstanding thoughts of God. One has often illustrated it by a web of cloth in the loom. What is called the warp is stretched along, very lengthy at times — and the weft, or woof, is thrown across. The principles are like that, they are like the warp of the fabric; the threads that are thrown across are the working out of the thing in detail, so that you have something definite, you have a web of cloth, so to speak — something definite. Now the warp, the principles, I think, is what is to be seen in Gershon; and Merari would work the thing out, and show how things are upheld, so that we have the boards, and the pillars, and the bases, that is what he is occupied with; these are persons; you cannot have the church without persons. Principles alone will not do for the church, it is not a theoretical matter; the Eastern religions are pretty nearly all theoretical, you get no exemplification of them, not even in their authors; whereas in christianity, the thing is exemplified in Christ, and in His servants, too, in measure. Hence the book of the Acts is not simply a book of principles, but it is a book of precedents, what the persons did, and what they were. Well, the question is, What am I in comparison with these great men? Peter takes “great fishes, a hundred and fifty-three” (John 21:11); these are all spiritual thoughts. John brings in the idea of names; he speaks about Simon, that when the Lord saw him He said, “Thou shalt be called Cephas” (John 1:42) — that is He gave him a name. Matthew says the Lord said to Simon, “thou art Peter” (Matthew 16:18). We have often said these things, but we ^[p. 247] forget them, we forget what is told us. Matthew has in mind the building, but John has in mind the persons that are used in the building. How great it is to be one of these persons! ‘great persons’, as John says. So in chapter 20 he says the Lord came to where the disciples — that is, the persons — were. Now that is what Merari has in mind; they are given to him by name. Every saint has a name in the Lord’s mind; I cannot conceive of anything else in purpose; but, as soon as you are converted, when the Lord sees you, He says, You shall be called so-and-so. Surely that is right; we shall all have names in heaven; we shall be distinguishable. I believe the Merarites see that the Lord has something in mind in regard of each; such would say, ‘He has bought him with His precious blood, and I must take care of him; I must see that young man or woman is not stumbled. I must watch over him, nurse him’. He would pull him out of the fire if he is in it, though hating the garment spotted by the flesh, but pulling him out. Then if there is any virtue, you take account of that, you pursue that — and God will be with you. That is the work of Merari, as I understand; the things that he is to look after are handed over to him by name. To be a true Merarite servant, you must know all the names of these things; they are given to you to care for, and that means that, in a local company, I must know the names of the local brethren. In a local gathering those who care for the saints should know them by name. John says, “Greet the friends by name” (3 John 14); and how the apostle Paul in Romans 16 goes over the names! Wonderful that he could remember them with all he had to think of — every day the care of all the assemblies coming upon him; but he could mention all the names of those saints in Rome, and, not only so, but he could say something about each. Is there not some little thing to say about every ^[p. 248] saint? Well — that is Merari; and I commend this to you, dear brethren, in the light of Philippians. The apostle said, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus to you shortly, that I also may be refreshed, knowing how ye get on”. It is a question of the persons, what state they are in; then he says, “I have no one like-minded” — for it is a question of what Paul had, like Abraham’s trained servants. You get the thought of “Paul and his company” very early in Paul’s ministry, and it runs through; so he says, “I have no one like-minded who will care with genuine feeling how ye get on”. That is the kind of man who, as I understand, is a true Merarite; not that he was not a Gershonite, for what the apostle said would indicate he was a man of principle too, but he cared with genuine feeling how the saints got on.

May God help us on these lines!