MINISTRY - JOHN
[p. 47] MINISTRY — JOHN
John 1:6-8; John 1:19-37; John 3:23 - 34
JT The subject of ministers and ministry has a great place in the Scriptures; it occurred to me it would be profitable to dwell upon it as involving authority in the presentation of the truth. In the types it comes properly in Exodus — which may be touched upon tomorrow — but it comes in there as affording divine sanction to what was in the divine mind to present to men. Therefore Exodus gives us the history of Moses, the great minister, from his infancy, Leviticus the priesthood, and Numbers the levitical service; the latter bringing out how ministers of the truth as presented to God become acceptable to Him, so that He increases their number. He reduced their age from thirty years to twenty-five with this in view. Humanly speaking the number of ministers is great, but God would increase their number as based on acceptability as presented in Numbers 8.
All that has its place in the New Testament, which we may see later on; but I thought it might be suitable to look at John’s presentation of the subject at this reading. He makes very little of christian apostles, of which he was one, as to their service, but makes a great deal of John the baptist. I suppose he had in mind that the assembly had failed — indeed he records the failure in the last chapter — so that he presents John the baptist to us as representative of the thought of ministry. He records no failure of John at all; he presents him as representative of the thought of ministry; that is, he is to be taken as an example.
FWB John is spoken of as “a man sent from God”; does that go with [p. 48] the thought?
JT That is what I had in mind, the finished product of a minister is as sent from God. It has been given out that the servants of the Lord who are so accredited are only so called by courtesy; whereas John the baptist coming under that head, would be on other ground; it is really an apostolic suggestion.
FWB Is that what you meant by authority?
JT Yes; “sent from God” is apostolic.
WL Do you make a distinction between power and authority?
JT I think you would agree to that. There are two words used, one is authority, and the other is more dynamic, that is actual power.
WL Would authority connect with commission and power with ministry?
JT He was filled with the Spirit from the outset. The history of John is given by Luke; Luke gives us things from the outset, and while John gives them from the outset too, he has the finished product in mind. John does not allude to what Luke does; he begins with this man as sent from God.
FWB Did you say he was sent as having been with God?
JT That is the force of the original. Luke says he was in the deserts until the time of showing to Israel; there is something to show, something to be seen; John does not allude to that, but says he was “sent from God”.
Rem There is the thought that the testimony should be received, and that God is brought in in the testimony.
JT That is the end of our subject in that sense; “He that has received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true” (chapter 3:33). I thought we might see that John leads us on to that, and the voice of the Bridegroom; he is one who “stands and hears” as a friend of the Bridegroom. That will link our subject on with Paul.
[p. 49] JC Is it not solemn that the apostle John alludes to the Baptist on account of the failure?
JT That is how we should take it, as coming in in the last days; the minister of another dispensation is representative of the thought. It is not that the thought is not in our dispensation, but it is a day of great failure, and a man of another dispensation is representative of the idea. Those who minister are really ministers; whatever others may have, the ministerial quality is present, and the first thing is to be sent from God. Let others have what they may, this is what John stresses.
FWB Would he be representative of God?
JT That is what we should see. The principle of ministry might be illustrated by a royal commission from the king, or an officer in the army, he represents royal authority, his title represents the extent of his commission. John has title with limitations, as not being that great light, whatever he may be he has to recognise what he is not.
PL Has he derived that from the God of measure?
FWB How does that apply to us in this day?
JT Everyone who ministers has to bear in mind as to being with God. As John pursues his subject, he brings out service that does not carry a commission outwardly; that is seen in the woman in chapter 4, she goes herself, not as sent from the Lord. John is sent before he qualifies. I believe the woman represents the way to what John presents, in that we qualify and thus are recognised as sent from God. We qualify in what we do.
RDH There is a man sent from God; does manhood enter into it?
JT Quite so.
FWB Is John 4 a person just converted?
JT She is recognised as a result of the work of God; there is no commission, yet [p. 50] she is successful.
ETS She is so full of the Person she could not help it.
JT That is a great matter among the sisters. She does not say anything about the well, or living water, but she spoke of what affected her immediately: “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done” (chapter 4:29).
JTS Would there be a correspondence in the ministry of John and the woman? He came for a witness to the light and she says, “Come, see a man”; both call attention to the Person.
JT That is suggestive. Anyone who does not call attention to Christ, is no minister at all — “We do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus Lord, and ourselves your bondmen for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). There is a beautiful way to present what is in the heart of the minister.
FWB Does that come from John the baptist, in “Behold the Lamb of God”?
JT Yes. The Spirit of God stresses why he was sent, “That all might believe through him”. “John bears witness of him, and he has cried, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me” (chapter 1:15). That is a very striking statement of one entirely free from himself. One that cries; he is enthusiastic about it; he does not whisper. This Person was before him; I think that is a fine testimony of John as free from himself and occupied with Christ.
FWB The end of that is that they leave John for Christ.
JT That is the line of things presented in this chapter: the minister is free from himself, and the result is disciples become attached to Christ.
PL Is the Master Himself free from that — “He shall not ... cry” — do the servants do that?
JT John cries about it. The next thing is that [p. 51] he is tested as to all this, for we may do very well in preaching or ministering Christ, but when people come from Jerusalem and give us the opportunity of being someone, what then? Jerusalem is brought in in verse 19 as representative of religious patronage; it would be a great matter to be recognised there. They would give him a title of some kind; the world is ready to give us titles if we distinguish ourselves; that is the supreme test of the servant.
FWB Do you mean there might be a danger now?
JT I think there might be a tendency with brethren to be recognised. It is a gesture from Jerusalem, and the point is, Are people ready to recognise us?
PL It is better to be registered among the two living at Jerusalem; would they answer to the one hundred and twenty, the number of the names, in contrast to this religious patronage?
JT Heaven would recognise them. The “crowd of names” (Acts 1:15) would mean that each had distinction; it would tend against it to be in a crowd, but it is there that it comes out.
IR How would Paul fit in; he took a long time to be recognised?
JT He says he did not go up to Jerusalem to be recognised (Galatians 1:17). There are those who would distinguish you and make you something.
WL Would consciousness of having a commission from the Lord make the servant not seek recognition from others?
JT The commission from the Lord makes you proof against patronage; you need no such patronage at all. Those who are sent are of the Pharisees; they fully represent this sort of thing.
PL A man’s gift makes room for him.
JT That is the idea. John acknowledged and denied not; he came out fully as he was. He says [p. 52] nothing to that at all and it only served to bring out what Christ was to him.
ETS What about his answer? he says, “I am the voice”.
JT “Voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the path of the Lord”. He is putting the wilderness against Jerusalem; he makes no allusion to training or experience or education such as the world can give him; he was a wilderness-man. It is in the deserts; they are not the place for human culture, and then he was but a voice in it; he falls into line with the prophet Isaiah, “Make straight the path of the Lord”. He added nothing to the world and expected nothing from it.
JCMW Would that indicate that he expected nothing except from God?
JT That is the thought. You owe nothing to the world. The world will say, You have no qualification that entitles you to be a servant of the Lord, and you accept that. Your qualifications are in the desert from God.
ETS It did not satisfy them; they question why he goes on.
JT “Why baptisest thou?”. “I baptise with water. In the midst of you stands, whom ye do not know, he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose”. That was not saying much; he was just baptising with water, but he did not need to tell them everything; he told them what they saw him do every day, but the point is “In the midst of you stands, whom ye do not know”; the leading men of the christian world do not know Him, though He is among them.
FWB Would ‘standing’ imply that he was ready to serve?
JT I think that is it, ready to be active but not active yet.
PL “Behold, I stand at the door and am knocking” (Revelation 3:20).
JT That is true.
FWB It might be true in our meetings; He might be there ready to serve; are we prepared?
JT Quite so. It is withering — One whom ye do not know! Certainly that ought to put us into movement as to Who this Person is; do I know Him? Am I taken up with the servant? He was among them; why did they not know Him?
JCMW John was not the light or the Christ, but brought both into evidence in his ministry.
JT Quite so.
JTS Had they listened to John they would not have said, “How knows this man letters?”.
JWSW John says, “I knew him not”.
JT Quite so, but the Pharisees did not know Him; those with good titles religiously did not know Him; it brushes aside religious colleges and seminaries.
JC Would Simeon and Anna be further on, they knew the Lord, whereas John did not?
JT They were older. They knew Him, of course. John is addressed as a babe spiritually, “Thou, child”, before he becomes a man at all. It is unique. God would see that he knew Him ultimately, but all that is outside of Jerusalem and its education and men preparing themselves to be ministers.
JC Is knowing the Lord qualification for ministry?
JT I think so. “He who sent me to baptise with water, he said to me ...” in that way we get a definite knowledge of the Lord.
JC That is a minister’s qualification.
JT Yes. The minister sees a little more than the needs of his own soul; he is shown things.
Ques He witnesses to the light of the Son of God; is that something [p. 54] further?
JT God saw that John got the vision, the Spirit coming down and resting upon the Son; he saw the Spirit, a wonderful thing! No other speaks of Him in that way, but he sees Him in relation to the Son. The Son baptises with Him.
FWB Seeing the Spirit coming down is testimony to John, how do you apply that to us?
JT That is a great matter. John is not presented as a believer developing through the needs of his soul; he is addressed as a babe in view of the ministry. Even the babe unborn moves in regard of Christ, and his father addresses him, “Thou, child”. He goes before the face of the Lord, and seeing the Spirit bears record; it is in that way a suggestion to the servants how they apprehend the Spirit. I can only understand this wonderful Person as the Spirit makes Him known to me; I learn in the way It came upon Him, that is, Christ, the Son of God. All that enters into the qualification of the minister.
FWB He baptises with the Holy Spirit.
JT Yes.
WAS The words “Come and see” are characteristic of John.
JT Yes.
WL Would the girdle of skins be the way to all service? I thought it might suggest the restrained power of death as applied to myself.
JT That is a good suggestion.
WL He was restrained by that which speaks of death.
JT Very good, the leathern girdle means death.
WL Elijah was girded likewise.
JT Yes, and Peter as in the house of the tanner has the same thing before him, all a voice to ministers; it is death coming close to us.
Rem Every movement of the Spirit would distinguish the Son of God.
JT That is what we gather; we can only arrive [p. 55] at the knowledge of the Son of God by the Spirit. John’s impression would never leave his soul, the distinction put upon the Son by the Spirit; he is speaking now by the Spirit, this is the way he comes into the knowledge of the Son of God.
JCMW He was shut up to the Spirit.
JT He would look for that, and I have to look for it; it is only by the Spirit I apprehend the Son of God. We have the Scriptures, of course, but the understanding of this is by the Spirit.
JGMW There can be no effective ministry without it.
JT That is important. We must come to the knowledge of the Son of God in the appointed way.
Ques Is that what Paul means when he speaks of God revealing His Son in him?
JT Yes, it is by the Spirit.
JR Is the appearing of tongues of fire in Acts 2 in relation to what you are speaking of?
JT I think that is an important suggestion; attention is called to the saints in the sense that the Spirit comes in the way of power, “a rushing mighty wind”, and it sat upon each of them. You can see the difference between those persons and this Person. If the Holy Spirit calls attention to me, it is that I need power, fire is there, to call attention to the fact of sin being in me; with the Lord it is different, the dove comes where there is nothing to judge, no fire is needed.
WAS Do we see the action of the fire in Ananias and Sapphira?
JT If the Holy Spirit comes upon me it calls attention to the need of fire.
JTS Are the words in John 15, “He shall bear witness concerning me”, and “He shall glorify me” (chapter 16) connected?
JT The Spirit would glorify Christ. Do you not think it is important to see the difference between the [p. 56] saints and Christ? On our side it is infinitely great but He comes in the way of fire; but if He came on us as being raised from the dead and going into heaven, there would be no fire.
JTS Would the result be seen in the word from John, “He must increase, but I must decrease”?
JT John felt the difference between himself and Christ. There is a great difference, He is anointed above His companions.
WL The giving of the Spirit without measure was there.
JT He gave Him without measure at Pentecost.
FWB Does the idea of a dove suggest that God has what He desires in Christ?
JT God is working up to Christ. In Genesis 1 the suggestion is perfection so far as what is in hand is concerned; but now God has reached His end in Christ.
Rem The end of ministry is that God shall receive that.
JT Yes.
FWB God has reached His end in Christ, and in the gospel it is that every one else should come to the same thing.
JT Quite so. He sees Jesus coming to him. That is another thing. That is important for any person to see the Lord Jesus coming to him; He comes to the saints, but the point here is he comes to the minister. The Lord singles him out for Him to come to him; it is unique, but there is the suggestion of His coming to the servant.
Rem He comes to the man at the pool in chapter 5; to the woman in chapter 4 and the blind man in chapter 9.
JT He served them, but there is no instance like this in this gospel; John sees Him coming to him, that is something for us to apprehend, to see Jesus [p. 57] coming to you; the bearing of that movement is in regard to what I am doing.
ETS It must have impressed him as having seen the Spirit descending.
JT It would indicate what John’s ministry was to be; there is more in it than that, but I am speaking of the effect on the servant.
WL Would the revelation to Paul be on that line?
JT “What I shall appear to thee in” (Acts 26:16).
JR Is what John says in verse 29 an exclamation or testimony?
JT There is much in the fact that he sees Him coming; there is much to impress John as to his service. If I am to serve I must apprehend His service, the bearing away of the sin of the world, that enters into the service of all. It is a great matter.
Ques When does John bear witness to the Son of God; he calls attention to Him as the Lamb of God; is it verse 34?
JT I think it is a general fact. John says he bore witness; he was not behind what he saw; it is the idea that you are not behind the light you get.
Ques Was it the spiritual impression he got at the baptism?
JT We do not get the voice from heaven here, but it is that he is not behind what he saw. You go and preach the gospel and you think that is all you have to do, but you have to do a great deal more. You are governed by what you see in your ministry, John makes it clear that as he apprehended, so he spoke.
WL Is it John who says, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand” (John 3:35)?
JT That is the evangelist; I think these two verses are the Spirit through the evangelist. John’s [p. 58] record enters into christianity almost; you can hardly tell where he ceases speaking and the Holy Spirit resumes the thread through the evangelist. He is full of the Person, seeing Him walking.
ETS What do you suggest as to the night?
JT It gives time to think over; he has not altered his mind, he rather increased his thought of the greatness of Christ.
PL “Even in the nights my reins instruct me” (Psalm 16:7).
JT Yes, and John sees Him sacrificially. It is not administrative, but he apprehends the Person coming in sacrificially; it is a sacrifice to serve; that should enter into ministry.
ELM Would the reflection fortify me against the influence of those who said, “All come to him”?
JT Quite so. The saints do not always help the minister; the atmosphere was not too good. Reasoning does not help things; it was a low state among the saints; he was in danger of being affected by it.
PL Would the only way to be clear of the contention be to retire into the love of the bride for the bridegroom?
JT You can see how necessary it is. The thought of the bridegroom is an elevating thought. It is a matter of purification, and John is equal to the position. It is something for the servant to be full of the relation of Christ to the assembly.
PL Is the apostle above the party spirit in saying he had espoused them to Christ?
JT You can see that.
ELM Would the receiving of ministry from heaven give character to the ministry today? He traces his ministry to heaven, and would that not be an element of ministry?
JT So much is made of the Baptist. John leaves that and leads to the great thought of He who comes from above, and the joy of [p. 59] the Bridegroom.
FWB He seems to take delight in being a friend.
JT I thought it would allude to our subject tomorrow. Paul is minister of the assembly, not merely a friend.
Rem John is a ‘voice’ to the Pharisees but a ‘friend’ of the Bridegroom.
JT It is very beautiful; there is nothing about the Bridegroom in chapter 1 — John is getting on.
Rem I wondered if it was suited to the company in question.
JT Yes, quite so.