THE SERVANT
THE SERVANT
It is deeply interesting to see how Timothy was fitted to be a servant. It is a great blessing that every one is prepared inside with the Lord in order to serve outside among men, that is, he is not like an earthly soldier to [p. 479] do the best he can as opportunity offers; but the Lord knows all that is before His servant, and as he is with Him He prepares him for the work - no man goeth to war at his own charges. You get this principle in Psalm 23: you are made to lie down in green pastures before you are led in the paths of righteousness. Stephen realises his own portion first, showing that the Lord prepared His servant for His work, as the two breakfasts prepared Elijah. The work of Christ had secured this new place for him, and he must set forth the new centre, the new testimony of a Man at the right hand of God, who was there because He was rejected here, and now Stephen’s testimony was that the Son of man was in heaven. The witness has to confront everything which opposed our Lord down here, but it is in His power, and therefore as triumphant as Stephen was. The Man in heaven is now the centre of all God’s ways. I long to see a more engrossed enjoyment of Him in His own place. How Rebekah bore up on that long journey because of the object before her heart! The journey is long in order to exercise our hearts (Romans 5: 3). It might often have occurred to her: Have I done right to leave all for Isaac? If the heart is set on seeking Him, how must His presence be desired now! This we may enjoy privately and collectively. Oh, how little we enter into our union with Him! We are united to Him by the Spirit. Stephen was united to Him though he did not know the truth of it; he enjoyed it though he had not the word for it.
The servant must attract you to Christ by making known the love of Christ to you; he must know it himself first, love must be felt, not seen, and the more the servant attracts you to Christ, the more he leads you on to union with Him, and this is the great purpose of God for every believer now. The servant must come from the Lord, thus he brings you something from Christ Himself.