MINISTRY - PAUL
[p. 60] MINISTRY — PAUL
Acts 26:12 - 18; 1 Corinthians 4:1 - 6; 2 Corinthians 3:4 - 6; 2 Corinthians 11:1,2
JT It was remarked yesterday that John’s presentation of the subject of ministry, ignores or slights the apostles. Having the last days in view the Spirit anticipates the breakdown of ministers, those officially known as such; indeed, in the last chapter he records the sorrowful departure of seven of them, including the leading apostle, Peter, but records the recovery at the same time which points to the last days of the dispensation. So John brings in John the baptist, and enlarges upon him as minister, omitting any failure on his part; and pursues his remarks about Christ, until he reaches Him as the Bridegroom, John saying he is the friend of the Bridegroom, who stood and heard Him. That is a minister, who can stand when Christ is brought in, making room for Him. Ministry may shut Christ out; it may be so active and so official as to shut out Christ. So he records John standing twice; he stood as Jesus walked (chapter 1:36), and then, as the friend of the Bridegroom, he “stands and hears him” (chapter 3:29). He finishes by a most striking tribute to the Person of Christ as coming from above, linking all with heaven in that way. All that comes out for men is linked with heaven; it was thought that the link is established between his ministry and Paul’s in the thought of the ‘Bridegroom’.
In the three accounts of Paul’s conversion we have his commission alluded to, he is appointed a servant, a word which, as the note in the New Translation shows, is the dignity of the official servant (1 Corinthians 4:1). The verses in 1 Corinthians [p. 61] show that in exercising his ministry he finds himself in troubled waters, and in both epistles he greatly stresses the thought of ministers and ministry; the troublous conditions amongst the saints indeed give occasion to stress the idea of ministry through the need for it, showing that what is needed is authority from God and the moral weight which should go with it.
FI There seems a difference in regard to John the baptist, in that John is prepared from his birth but not so with Paul.
JT So that John the baptist corresponds more with Moses; although Paul says he was separated from his infancy. God had him in mind, but he is not taken up spiritually from his infancy as John was; he is allowed to pursue a lawless course, though in it he had a good conscience and earned respect from God.
Rem They were both sent ones, both John and Paul.
JT That must enter into all ministry. It is in principle the apostolic thought: “How shall they preach unless they have been sent?” (Romans 10:15), and yet as we noticed yesterday in John’s gospel, we find a woman testifying without being sent, that is the woman of Samaria. In the Acts we find Philip serving without being sent, and afterwards he is sent, indicating that brothers and sisters may serve according to what their hand finds to do, and as they serve effectively, they are taken on formally, and commissioned.
ADD In what way are they commissioned today?
JT I am using the word, as I may say, in the abstract to make the position clear. It is not that brothers should assume to be commissioned in these broken days, but the principle of it must be there. It is a definite understanding with the Lord as to [p. 62] their work, which would be acknowledged by those who are spiritual.
JTS Would “The Levites are at their work” in a day of recovery be on that line?
JT I think so. A man’s service as supported of God will be owned, so that it amounts to a formal commission; anointing is there.
SB Would the Lord confirm them in such a way that the brethren would recognise it?
JT That is what I was thinking. The apostle is challenged in Corinth by some there; he says, “Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me” (2 Corinthians 13:3). Notice the expression, “Christ speaking in me”; they were his converts, and as such, a testimony to his commission and the effectiveness of his service.
FSM Would it work in this way, that the love of Christ would create the impulse, and being found faithful in a simple way, the Lord would confirm that through the brethren?
JT That is how it works. The spiritual ones will discern what a man has, and give scope accordingly; but it is as facing troubled conditions that it tells. At Corinth the spirit of division had come in, and there were those who put themselves forward in the service as rivals of Paul. That is sure to happen in regard to everyone who is commissioned; he will be challenged and rivalled, so that he has to fall back upon divine power for his credentials; hence the apostle brings forward the manner of his ministry which was not in words of human wisdom, this was the case of those that rivalled him, “but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). It is undeniable by all who are right-minded; the minister has to remember that. Paul has his commission from the Lord, according to the three records of his meeting with the Lord, and he says he was appointed “minister” and “witness”.
ELM Would the idea of witness be that what he ministered was livingly exemplified in him?
JT That is what we should see, so that in his absence from Corinth he sends Timotheus, so that they might see in Timotheus his ways in Christ.
ELM The moral side would support the official side in this case.
JT That is the thought. There was no comparison at all between him and his rivals, they were not converted men; doubtless men of parts as we say, but men that would be accepted with non-spiritual people. He is compelled to bring himself forward, his sufferings and what he endured, to meet that condition. It was necessary, and it was well he had the things to bring forward, for the minister has to remember he is to be challenged, and he has to produce his credentials.
FI Is there any sense in which the official side is seen today?
JT In moral power, I think; the excellency of power is of God, it is equal to the anointing.
ELM Would the sense of being sent be the secret support for the servant, but the credentials be on the moral side for others?
JT Yes. You know what transaction you have had with the Lord, but that will not be for others.
Rem The apostle was proceeding to Damascus for destruction, but learnt authority and power from heaven afterwards.
JT I am sure he would. His position is very similar to that of Moses. I think the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, bring out Moses’ position officially and Stephen says, “This is the Moses ... who was in the assembly in the wilderness” (Acts 7:37,38); that is where he gained his testing, where everything is adverse. How did he behave there? One of the severest tests was the envy of Miriam and Aaron; they are linked with him as leaders of Israel and they envied him, saying, “Has Jehovah indeed spoken only to Moses?”. Moses never challenged that; he was justified in it, so that it was a sore attack but he had to face it. I think the position is very similar to Paul’s at Corinth; he was in that sense in “the assembly in the wilderness”, the jealous spirit rivalling him in those nearest to him.
Ques Would you make any difference between challenging the ministry and instructing the servant as Aquila and Priscilla did Apollos?
JT That is another very beautiful side of the position; the brethren help you.
Rem Aquila and Priscilla took Apollos to themselves.
JT Wisely avoiding anything open; they would not have gained anything that way.
ELM Would you see the same grace in Paul going up to Jerusalem (Galatians 2:1)?
JT That is where there are persons of repute to challenge privately, which involves the wisdom that is necessary in the position.
JL Does it always need the two things, authority and moral weight, in order that recovery should come about?
JT I think moral weight should go with the gift; that is all observers have to go by. What you are with the Lord privately they do not know; what you find in Paul in the wilderness position is that he thrusts himself into the position, so that he was one of the elements to observe. “I have transferred ... to myself and Apollos, for your sakes, that ye may learn in us”. The tendency amongst ministers is not always to pull together; it is always a difficult matter. They may pull together in a right cause, but the apostle places himself in that setting with Apollos, to show they were not partisan or had any understanding on any given line, they were moving in the unity of the Spirit. He throws himself [p. 65] and Apollos into the position of rivalry, so that the others might learn in them what is according to God in ministers in those conditions. That is the way out of such conditions. Jehovah said, “Come out ye three” suddenly, and the three came out to the door of the tabernacle. There Jehovah justifies His servant. There is a man God can point to; always a great matter in a trouble. Someone God can approve leads the way out of the confusion. “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Paul points to himself by the Spirit, a testimony to the power the man had.
ELM Does Paul take that up in the second scripture in not judging anything till the Lord comes?
JT That is what he says. The idea is that anyone that thinks of him should think of him in this way; he is open, and says, Let them think of us as “ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God”. There were mysteries and he was in charge of them, like the storekeepers of old under David. There were stores where dedicated things were kept; and the apostle is a steward. As regards ourselves we are yours; that is, the true minister is the property of the saints; he is servant of all.
SB In that way he was morally great enough to reach every condition among the saints to profit?
JT Yes. He was there in a very humble attitude, but on the other hand he had a great charge, and that is to be respected. There is a tendency unconsciously to belittle the one who serves, and that may be overlooking the fact that he is a steward of God. A mystery to look after is a great matter!
PL “And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, to the end that thou fulfil it” (Colossians 4:17).
JT That is it. He is really a custodian of a mystery from God; he has to be regarded in that [p. 66] light.
ELM What is the difference in the thought of servants of Christ, and being in responsibility to the Lord; what would be the relative thought in the two titles?
JT Of course the word “Christ” is more familiar, pointing to the Lord as in the anointing. As Christ, He is anointed to carry out the divine will; but as “Lord” it is His authority by which He governs us. In the first sense you feel you are with Him; If ye seek proof, the apostle says, of Christ speaking in me, it will be by seeing God’s power. It is a precious thing to be alongside of Christ.
ELM You would be in touch with the fulness of that vessel, Christ.
JT So that the commission places you on the same platform as Christ, in measure, and you are towards all in the ministry.
JC So that the idea of the Lord breathing into the disciples in John 20 is that the same power was to be theirs.
JT That is it. Saul was breathing out threatenings and slaughter — what a different breath!
JC Does he come in later, on the line of Moses — “Faithful in all mine house” (Numbers 12:7) — in the support of his ministry?
JT That is helpful. How Jehovah justifies His servant, and not only that, but He calls attention to the fact that he was faithful in all God’s house, a remarkable thing when you think of the assembly in the wilderness. Think of a man set to be faithful in all that; and then, “the man Moses was very meek, above all men that were upon the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). In the exercise of his ministry the man shone.
PL Do we have in his standing before Pharaoh, what he is in the presence of an adverse world? Then in the assembly in the wilderness, in Deuteronomy, what he is in power in the contrary conditions amongst the brethren, loving the christian circle;
[p. 67] and then, on the mount of transfiguration what he is in heaven?
JT Just so. What a field is covered in those books, and it might perhaps be helpful to remark that in Exodus we are on ministerial ground. Genesis is a testimony to God’s work, what results from the work as left to itself; but when you come to the ministerial books, Exodus to Deuteronomy, God is saying, Things must be according to My way now. You have a living picture of Moses from the time he was a babe in Exodus, a history going back eighty years before he began to serve; and what you find is, that he did not fear the wrath of the king. He was not influenced in that way. In New Testament language you are not concerned with them that kill the body. Moses fled, and sits by a well, as if he had learnt that ministry is dependent on the power of the Spirit of God. With that he is disciplined for forty years; what a protracted process of training it is!
FSM Is the servant sent forth conscious of the dignity of the service on account of his training, and yet lowly in the way the ministry is carried out?
JT That is the way it stands. As actually in the service, the Spirit says, “This is that Moses” (Exodus 6:27); he is the product of the discipline of God; that is what God needs in His servants.
ETS “There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face”.
JT I suppose each minister has some distinction. The pronouncement “This is that Moses”, indicates there is only that one; other ministers might get a vision, but not so Moses — “the form of Jehovah doth he behold” — we have Jehovah’s word for it (Numbers 12:8). These appearances underlay the minister; the burning bush is the first one, so far as we can see.
TT Does every faithful servant count upon the appearance, and would the Lord confirm us by fresh impressions from time [p. 68] to time?
JT That is what comes out in Moses. Moses refers to the bush in the blessing of Joseph, “the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush” (Deuteronomy 33:16) — the sense of it never left him.
ELM Is the confirmation increasing as with Paul?
JT Think of the appearance to Moses, and the innumerable speakings; Moses could always enter the holiest and hear the divine voice, and that is open to us. What underlies ministry is seeing God — “the form of Jehovah doth he behold” — I think God is set for more excellent service; He needs servants, and there are a few, but we are enjoined to pray that He will send out labourers into the harvest; but then, He sends finished labourers.
JC Would that be a stay for Moses at the time of the golden calf, what he saw in the bush?
JT It would enhance his horror of the awful sin that had been committed.
ELM Is there not an idea of continuity in the service, and the testimony that Paul gives in Acts 26 was what he had gleaned from Moses? See verse 22.
JT Quite so. Then to move on to 2 Corinthians what may be remarked is that in the first epistle the apostle is speaking of his stewardship, but now as the competent minister of the new covenant. That is an advance in his service, so that he has something positive, not only the exercise of authority, but his hands are filled with something to minister to them positively. He has the love of God to minister; what a precious thought to bring God in in His love! God has made us “competent, as ministers of the new covenant”, he says. “Not of letter, but of spirit”; that is a word we need; we are apt to get too literal about it. It is intended to broaden us spiritually, and enlarge us, so that our minds do not run in ruts in regard to the covenant. It is a question of God’s love; how can you minister that unless you have a broad outlook?
JC Would the competency be for the expression of the covenant?
JT I think so. He says, “Having this ministry”; he had it. He was the minister of the gospel to the church, but also of the new covenant, “having this ministry”.
JTS In speaking of abundantly loving them do you see something of that feature in Paul?
JT That is right; abundantly loving the brethren; if anyone challenged him he would say God knew he loved the saints. He loved the saints as Moses did.
SB Does the mention of Paul’s conversion three times seem to enlarge upon it?
JT He mentions it twice, and the Holy Spirit mentions it the first time. He is able to speak of it according to his audience; he does not present it as repetition. In speaking to Agrippa he speaks of it as dignified; christianity did not put him below that. There is the side of dignity.
ETS Might we have a word on chapter 11?
JT It was the thought of the Bridegroom and the bride. It will be observed he says in chapter 10:1, “I myself, Paul”, there is someone like Moses, without a rival. There is no one like that. Elsewhere, it is “Such a one as Paul the aged” (Philemon 9), it is distinctive, and as the servant gets older it is not a question of years only, but of entering into those years of service, being such a one, calling attention to the outcome of those years. I apprehend his life was very full, for there is no evidence that he was very old in years as David was; it is a matter of what was compressed into those years.
PL David’s life was full of days, riches and honour.
JT Yes. “Full of days”, and what days they were! You marvel at the life of David! war, victories, armies that had to be formed, led, fed, clothed and furnished; and the psalms he wrote, and all the things that entered into his life in forty years. Lives of servants are compressed lives; more enters into them than into the ordinary lives of men.
ETS So that we can be sympathetic with those that break down.
JT It is important that they should not.
ELM Is there a point in the meekness and gentleness of Christ?
Rem Moses felt the conditions too great but not so Paul.
JT Indeed we have to own that with Paul too; but the correspondence is striking as to the men, what they were as having to do with the church in the wilderness.
ELM Can you not think of Paul leading armies and sending servants out here and there, as David marshalled his forces?
JT Think of the “burden of all the assemblies”! If you go over the assemblies now, and pray for them, how onerous a matter that is; but “the crowd of cares” that poured in upon him, besides the five floggings and all that is mentioned in this epistle, is only a part.
ETS Would the thought of what the Bridegroom would get out of it be a stay to the servant in all his conflicts and exercises?
JT “Would that ye would bear with me in a little folly; but indeed bear with me. For I am jealous as to you with a jealousy which is of God; for I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”. That was what was in his mind. John spoke of his joy being full in hearing the voice of the Bridegroom, how much greater to bring [p. 71] in the bride!
HPT You have the idea in occupying us with the servant that it is to lead on to Christ?
JT That is what all servants are for, to lead the saints on to Christ.
FSM Would the apostle be compensated as seeing bridal features in the assembly?
JT So also in the epistle to the Thessalonians, and how the apostle speaks of them!
ELM Is the climax in the end of Ephesians “All them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption” (chapter 5:24)?
JT So that in this epistle, “If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha”. The great point is love for Christ; and then in Ephesians “all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption”. That is the end in view; and I believe Deuteronomy has that in view. Jehovah loved the people; Moses is victorious in Deuteronomy. Jehovah is angry with him for the people’s sakes, never for himself.
ETS So Moses sees the land.
JT He sees the land with the people in it, really. It corresponds with “raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6); you see them there.