THE SPIRIT OF THE BONDMAN

THE SPIRIT OF THE BONDMAN

John 13: 13 - 16; Galatians 1: 10; Exodus 21: 1 - 6 Genesis 44: 33, 34

S. McCallum My thought is to refer to the spirit of the bondman, having in mind the different ways in which it acts and reacts upon the people of God. It is important that in a selfish age, such as we are in, where all are seeking their own things and not the things of Jesus Christ, we should come under the influence of the Lord Jesus in regard to this spirit of bondmanship. And I have read the passage in John 13 to begin with the Lord Himself. He wants to help the disciples by way of the model or example He has given, and we are all to be helped by this way. Our Lord is the Model in many things. Peter tells us of the model that He has left for us in regard to suffering, so that we should follow in His steps. Many of us shirk suffering but the Lord went to all the pains of leaving us a model that we should follow in His steps. A model involves a good deal of expenditure, and a good deal of care and forethought, and a good deal of energy and labour. And the Lord has undertaken all this, so that we might be fully furnished with that which we can follow in Himself, follow in His steps. And so in regard to the great thought of bondmanship, we have an example and a model in the Lord Himself. It is inscrutable to the human mind to think that One who had co-equal, co-eternal part in Deity with the Father and the Spirit, should not only come into the condition of humanity, in the marvellous stoop in grace that He took, but that He should take on what is more, the form of a bondman. Because bondman’s form is not proper to man, ordinarily, normally; it is an additional thought. And the Lord emptied Himself, taking a bondman’s form. We might well pause in the presence of that, and marvel at Him whose name is Wonderful, Mighty God, as Isaiah refers to Him, coming before us, as He does, in bondman’s form. And having taken that form, serving in it so devotedly, so faithfully, with no consideration for Himself, but with every consideration for others. We are tested by Christ, dear brethren, every one of us is tested as to how much we are in His presence, as to how much our souls absorb the spirit and grace of that glorious Person that came in such unselfish love, into these circumstances of limitation. They were not imposed upon Him, never for a moment could we contemplate that. He voluntarily, being who He was and who He is, entered upon bondman form. In emptying Himself He took it; it was not laid upon Him, it was not imposed upon Him. He took it. Think of the grace of it, dear brethren.

Now in this chapter that we have read from He is seen in the exercise of service towards His own; they are referred to as His own in this world in this chapter: “having loved his own who were in the world”. How delightful to nestle into the blessedness of that expression “his own” - those loved by Christ, in a world where antichristian influences are so strong, and where we have been cast out from the ordinary society of men! What a wonderful thing to nestle into the sweetness and preciousness of being part of “His own”, that wonderful circle where Christ has those that love Him, still in the world, but not of it. And He is on the way out of it. I believe, dear brethren, that in the service that He carried out in His love in this chapter, He is conscious that He is going out of it, and I believe it is very near and next His heart that we are going out of it too, and He wants to help us out of it. Feet-washing, in this sense in which I am speaking of it, would be to help us out of the world, I mean morally and spiritually. And the Lord sets out the example for us in this lowly bondman service. The spirit of the bondman shines so lustrously in this chapter; Satan is so near, evil is in such proximity, unfaithfulness in Judas is so apparent, yet we are in the presence of the lustre of a love that will not be dimmed, however strong the force and power of evil may be. We are in the presence of a love that is concentrating upon its own, and will serve us, not only in the particular circumstance we are in, but serve us right through to the end. Oh, dear brethren, the love of Jesus our Lord, our Teacher! It is not only that He can lay out the teaching, that He can disclose for us in the wondrous character of His doctrine that He refers to in this gospel, “My doctrine is not mine” (chapter 7: 16), and who could be more able to lay out the wondrous teaching that Jesus laid out in regard to God? But, dear brethren, He is showing us an example here, in the laying aside of His garments, and the girding of Himself; He is taking up the attitude to serve. We like to be served, and it is wonderful to be served by the Lord, but in regard to one another, the Lord wants to inculcate the desire into our hearts to serve one another. It says in Galatians, “but by love serve one another”, and the spirit of bondmanship enters into this. The Lord is free from all the selfishness that marks us, for He stands out unique, not considering Himself or what was due to Himself, but removing His garments and getting down to the feet of the disciples, because I believe He wants us out of the world, dear brethren. And I believe He wants us to help one another to get out of the world, morally and spiritually. The world has a great hold on us in more ways than one, and, on the eve of translation, the Lord is seeking to loosen the hold of the world upon us, in whatever form it may be. If it be material thoughts and material matters, as to which Laodicea is increased with them, the Lord wants us to be free of the world in this sense. What matters all this social security we may build up, and the reserve for social security, if we have not come into the gain of the truth as He is about to unfold it. And the feet-washing preparatory to it, in this section, is that we can have part with Him.

All these references to this spirit of bondmanship stand at the portal and on the threshold of certain things. In John 13 we are at the portal, or on the threshold, of the opening out of the truth as to the new and the heavenly order of things; and the Lord wants us there, to have full part with Him in it. He is on the way out of the world, and He would impress our hearts that He is going out of the world, and as our affections are entwined around Him, dear brethren, we will want to go out of the world too. Soon we shall go out of it actually and literally, but we need to go out of it morally and spiritually now. It is needful that the links that hold us in it might be more and more loosened, the power of what is material, and all that is linked with the material side, and the Lord would help us. He is going to the Father, He came out from God and He is going to God, and Satan comes into the way, to stand athwart it, operating through one so near to Christ, a familiar friend, one who carried the bag, one who knew what it was to have a place amongst those that were with Jesus. How the enemy operates, not only from the outside in, but from the inside out. And every one of us, dear brethren, is to be conscious of the need, the constant need of self-judgment in the power of the Spirit of God, that the doors of our hearts may be shut against any entrenchment of Satan on them, to displace the place that Christ has. And the Lord washes their feet, and He says, “I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also”. Do we help one another along this way, this way that leads to glory, that way which is upward still, where life and glory are? Where are our interests? Where are our affections? Where is our time? Where is our energy spent? Is it concentrated on this way which is upward still, that leads to where life and glory are? Or is it in our families, in our businesses? We were speaking about wives working today; how sad it is to see persons that want to be independent; they want to build up material goods, and sacrifice the interests of Christ to do so. I have always found, by careful observation, dear brethren, that those who have moved on that line, in the final analysis, years afterwards, they are no better off. Indeed, they are worse off than those that have accepted the path of sacrifice and surrender to devote themselves to the interests of Christ. How many cripple themselves in relation to the heavenly and eternal order of things by taking on far more than they are intended to take on, piety is sacrificed for the desire for what is natural, and the desire for what is material. Young people getting married, as you get engaged, and have in mind marriage, let piety come into your lives, and let piety come into the ascendancy, be satisfied with such things as you have. The spirit of the world that is around us wants more and more of what is material. Let it be gone! “He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. If any one serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall be my servant. And if any one serve me, him shall the Father honour”, John 12: 25, 26. That is said after the bringing of Lazarus out of the tomb, and the glory of the resurrection scene. Another world is in view, Hebron, that world of resurrection from among the dead.

The Greeks come up, and they want to see Jesus; and the Lord sounds the death knell to all Grecian hopes, and Grecian aspirations, “He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal”. Think of the wonderful merging in that expression “shall keep it to life eternal”. Life eternal is an out-of-the-world condition of relationship and being that John emphasises, and he wants to have us in it. Years ago, 1890, in proximity to that date, the conflict as to eternal life was severe and bitter, and thousands on the Continent and other parts were lost over it. The doctrine of eternal life was the issue; but at the present moment, dear brethren, the issue is not the doctrine of eternal life, the issue is the practical bearing of eternal life, as to whether we are prepared to go out of the world, to know the blessedness more and more of part in that order and condition of blessing that lies in the knowledge of God outside of this world, where the pressure of death is lifted from our spirits. There is a lot of sorrow in bereavement amongst us, a lot of ill-health and sickness, the pressure of death bears in heavily. We feel it, dear brethren, not only in this country, our beloved brethren in Cheltenham, and elsewhere, and to the south of us. But the Lord wants us to be free from that sphere and realm where the pressure of death is felt; He wants to lift us in our spirits into a realm where the pressure of death is lifted - the realm of eternal life. And the more we see that, the more we shall value the assembly, because the assembly is the great realm in which eternal life is enjoyed. Eternal life is not linked with the wilderness, it does not belong to the wilderness, its effects may work out in the wilderness, in various relationships; but eternal life belongs to the assembly. It belongs to the land, it belongs to the glory of what God has before Him in Christ; it is there in His Son, in the best setting God could possibly give it. He has not placed it in heaven exactly, He has not placed it in the assembly, He has placed it in His Son, as John says, “This life is in his Son”, 1 John 5: 11. It is in that wonderful order of things, in that setting where divine affection is seen at its best, if I may speak reverently.

Well, I feel the importance in my own soul, dear brethren, of this matter of the upward way that leads out of the world. All the issues as to associations and unions, professional or otherwise, the Lord is raising these matters with us, dear brethren, because He wants us on that upward way. He wants us so that there will not be too much to leave, when His great shout will be heard calling us to be with Himself - when He Himself shall descend from heaven with archangel’s voice and with trump of God. We are going to be with Him, and He wants us with Him now. He wants us to be with Him for ever, but He wants us to be with Him now, morally and spiritually. And I believe the spirit of bondmanship in John 13 has in mind, as the Lord would inculcate it into us, that we should serve one another in this light, that we should help one another more and more, to get out of the world morally and spiritually, to get more into the spiritual and heavenly side of things where the truth is so wondrous. Think of John 14, 15, 16 and 17; what a holy realm and environment opens to the view of faith, and for the spirit-taught mind! The Lord wants us in it; He wants us in it with Himself, as having part with Him, dear brethren. The holy devoted servitude in love which marked Him is to mark us in our relations with one another, as He says, “I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also. Verily, verily, I say to you, The bondman is not greater than his lord, nor the sent greater than he who has sent him”. Well I leave it, dear brethren. May the Lord help us to serve one another on this line, with the best thoughts in mind, not with the worst thoughts in mind, not to draw out the flesh in one another, not to irritate what is natural in one another; but with the best and most holy thoughts in mind, that we should know what it is to enjoy part with Christ more and more. It is not our heads, not our hands, but our feet, the last part that touches the world, as it were, the earth! The Lord wants to have our feet free, and if there is anyone that is in an association, or has a link, in whatever form it may be, that is inconsistent and incompatible with the new and heavenly order of things that the Lord is opening up in all its blessedness, may we make room for love to serve us in the spirit of bondmanship, to wash our feet, and to set us free.

Now when we come to Galatians, I love to think of the spirit of the bondman in Paul. It is not now the spirit of the bondman at the portal, or on the threshold, of the opening up of the truth, but at the portal and on the threshold of conflict for the truth. When we enter into conflict for the truth, what is needed is the spirit of a bondman. Paul says “For do I now seek to satisfy men or God? or do I seek to please men? If I were yet pleasing men, I were not Christ’s bondman”. What a sense this man had in his soul of being Christ’s bondman! Do we have a sense of being a bondman of Christ in this way? You can see Paul as he moves about in Jerusalem, how they would look at him; they had never seen a bondman like him, outside of the Lord. How he would remind them of his Master! He was a man that was moving in relation to his Master, who would never come under the influence of man as man, naturally. As he says, “Do I seek to please men?” If there is anything that we need to be delivered from in the arena of conflict, in the maintenance of the truth, it is from pleasing men! How easy it is to say something to please men, or to temper up or modify something to please men. It is not a question of not having an appreciation of what is in one another. Think of Paul as he goes up to Jerusalem, think of his appreciation of Peter! Did he not appreciate what there was in Peter? He certainly did. He went up, as it says, and remained with him fifteen days. I am certain of this, that Paul was not looking at the furniture that Peter had; I do not think he would look at how much there was indication in Peter’s circumstances of the means that he had. I do not think so. I think Paul was occupied in Peter, and other bondmen, with the treasury of divine knowledge, what there was divinely made and divinely formed, and he wanted to get the most gain out of that treasury that he could. And he goes up, and remained with him fifteen days. What good personal relations would be promoted in those days. I wonder how you would like someone to come and remain with you fifteen days. Think of it, not two days, or one day; some of us these days visit a good many places, one day here and one day there! But think of remaining fifteen days with Peter. And he says, “I saw none other of the apostles, but James”. I do not know whether the others were visiting Peter or not; it would not seem to be the case at that moment; but anyway, Paul was visiting Peter; and he was visiting him as Christ’s bondman. Would he come under Peter’s influence? It would be easy, staying with a brother fifteen days, to come under his influence. He might be well-to-do, or, as in Peter’s case, he might be poor, for Peter was poor materially: “Silver and gold I have not”. But Paul would not come under Peter’s influence in this sense in which I am speaking of it. When it comes to the truth, what about that fifteen days with Peter? Would Paul say, Oh well, Peter entertained me, he did the best he could for me, I had better watch what I say, I had better modify what I say? Never Paul! “If I were yet pleasing men, I were not Christ’s bondman”. The Spirit of bondmanship would preserve us from getting under the influence of men. It would preserve ministers and servants from tempering and modifying their ministry because of the influence of men. If there is any influence that we have got to bring in in our service, it is the influence of heaven, the influence of Christ. As Paul says, “If I were yet pleasing men, I were not Christ’s bondman”. His whole outlook was to serve Christ faithfully, in the spirit of the bondman, fully committed without a reserve. Oh the reserves that we have, dear brethren! I speak feelingly, the word of God presses one in ministering it, the reserves that we have. Think of Paul, think of the fearlessness that marked him in the midst of the personnel at Jerusalem, conspicuous as some seemed to be, conspicuous as others were. Did it daunt Paul? No! his roots were in heaven, his roots were in Christ, he was walking in Christ. He had received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, and he was walking in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and he would not suffer the features of any other man to appear. What liberty he had! Was he in bondage to man? Never! Peter was affected by the influence of James, but never Paul. I speak soberly, guardedly about Peter, that honoured servant, such a choice vessel as Peter was; yet, the truth was modified in his mind and his soul because of external influence. Oh, dear brethren, we want to beware of the influence of man as man. We want to be without respect of persons. If there is anything that is baneful in the assembly, it is respect of persons. Paul loved Peter, and as he served Peter, it was because he loved him, that he was so faithful to his face and those good personal relations would stand in good stead. They would stand the strain. What a bondman Paul was! How free of the world he was. Crucified unto the world, and the world unto him. Bearing in his body the brands of the Lord Jesus. The scandal of the cross testified to in all his walk, in which we see the refusal of every feature of the man of sin and shame. His pride and his wilfulness and his folly all refused by Paul. But oh, the liberty of the servant. You can understand as they looked at him, and watched him, how impressed they would be with him as formed in the spirit of the Master. I believe, dear brethren, especially in regard to those of us who serve as Christ’s bondmen, we must be free from human influence, as mere human influence. What I say does not mitigate or militate against the influence of the assembly, because the influence of heaven is there. Or the influence of the brethren in relation to us. I am speaking of mere human influence, mere natural influence, mere influence of personality on human lines. Paul says, “If I were yet pleasing men, I were not Christ’s bondman”. Paul had to suffer, and how he suffered, how scurrilously they spoke of him at Corinth. He had begotten them through the glad tidings, and yet they spoke most contemptibly about him. Did it bind his affections up? No! The spirit of bondmanship shines in brightest lustre over against the darkest background in Corinth. Although the less loved, he was prepared to more abundantly love, and to spend and be spent. Does that mark us, dear brethren? Is the spirit of bondmanship with us in this sense? As Christ’s bondmen what governs us? Where do we go to serve? How do we serve? Are we under the influence of heaven, and free from the influence of men? We want to see to it, each one of us, for to our Master we stand or fall. Some might say, Oh well, they seem to be under the influence of men. But we want to look into matters, and especially does Christ’s bondman want to see that he is free from all earthly and human influence in regard to his ministry.

Now I want to say a word from the next passage.

I come to the types, which the servant always has a certain amount of latitude in doing, and I have read a well-known passage in Exodus. I suppose few passages are more gone over than this passage in Exodus. Often has one used it before, and one makes no apology for using it again tonight. But I want to refer to something in it that perhaps we do not speak too much about. It is not now standing at the doorway of conflict for the truth, and it is important as we have said, that in that setting we should be free from all human influence and respect of persons; otherwise we shall be biased and prejudiced, and lose our way in a conflict. But when we come to Exodus 21, it stands at the door-way of the working out of difficult problems in our practical lives. In the chapters that immediately follow you get ox-goring, you get men stealing, you get misplaced affections as we have been referring to them in Samuel. But at the very portal, or in the very doorway of the section, there appears this spirit of the bondman. “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free”. You may have a lot of things in your locality that are depicted in these three chapters, 21, 22 and 23, you may find a lot in them that is extremely testing. When things get out of control, when things are difficult to handle, where stealing comes in in regard to persons, in order to gain an unfair advantage, and where stealing comes in in regard to property (and I am speaking of it morally and spiritually), you may perhaps be discouraged, you may perhaps be disconsolate, but the Lord would have you tonight to take full account of the spirit of the bondman. How are these conditions to be met? Are they to be met by running away from them? Are they to be met by staying home from the care meeting, so that you will not have anything to say that night and will not therefore come into reproach on account of it? Never! The bondman in Exodus 21 would never be away from a care meeting. And what I want to point out is that he is brought before the judges. Now we often think of the Hebrew bondman in relation to the assembly meeting, and the Lord’s supper, and the love of Christ as suggested in it, but I want, dear brethren, to dwell a little on the matter of the judges, and the bondman coming before the judges. The judges are mentioned through these next two chapters. They have to do with the adjudication of matters; they have to do with equity, and the dispensing of justice in matters, whether it be restitution or compensation - persons and things come up before the judges. But what they are faced with first and what we all need to be faced with, is the spirit of the Hebrew bondman, “I love my master, my wife, and my children”. He is above all personal considerations, he is above all selfish motives, and as his master brings him before the judges, the master would tell the judges, no doubt, what had happened. This man will not go free, he says, “I love my master, my wife and my children”. What a reaction that would have on the judges! What a spirit, they would say, to be seen in a man, that puts his master, his wife and his children above every other consideration, his own liberty, his own independence. What a thing it is to see brothers and sisters that put God and His will, the assembly and the brethren, above every natural and selfish consideration! Think of that man before the judges! “His master shall bring him”, as it says, “before the judges” - not to the judges, but “before the judges”. They would have a good look at him and they would say, Well, we have never seen a man like that before! And, dear brethren, we want to be like this man, this Hebrew bondman, as seen supremely in Christ. It is to affect the administrative position, the position of judgeship, the position where adjudication is necessary in regard to matters. This spirit is to enter into it, that there should be no impure opaque motives with us, no selfish ulterior motives with us, that we should be completely free from all self-consideration or self-centredness. We are thinking only of the Master, we are thinking of God and of Christ, we are thinking of the assembly and the brethren, it comes into the assembly above all other things. So that if a matter comes up where an ox has been doing some goring - well, maybe you have had something against a brother or sister, and if you are not careful it will enter into the care meeting and bias your judgment. You are quite ready to pass judgment, because you have got something against him. Not the Hebrew bondman! The saints are in his eyes as the wife and the children, the assembly you see, is in the ascendency in his view. If they fall beneath the level of the wife and the children, into the lower practices linked with goring and stealing, and setting on fire things, he still holds them in the light of the wife and the children, and he would serve them in that way. In principle, dear brethren, the spirit of the Hebrew bondman merges in the judges and colours the administration, and that is what is needed in our localities.

Now I just refer to the spirit of the bondman in Judah, standing as it does, at the portal and the doorway of the release of family feelings and family affections. Judah says “And now, let thy servant stay, I pray thee, instead of the lad a bondman to my lord”. Someone has come to it, there were ten of them, they had all kinds of arguments and reasonings, all kinds of excuses, all kinds of defence put up. Ten men, sons of one father, all true men, and each, of them was wrong. But now someone comes to it. What was lacking was the great idea of bondmanship. They were selfish, they thought of themselves. You remember how they sold their brother for a bondman, in chapter 37; Judah was involved in that matter - one so near, as we might say, to Christ, as we project Judah and what he sets out typically, in the extended way, on to the view. J.N.D. says of Judah in the prophets, “guilty, but beloved, Judah”, delivering Christ. As Samson was delivered by Judah to the Philistines (Judges 15: 9 - 13) so Christ was delivered by the Jews. Think of Judah having part in the delivering up of Joseph! Reuben and the others were also in the crime. And as the following chapter opens up, how serious is the darkness that settled on Judah’s soul, as the consequence of having part in that awful crime of selling Joseph for a bondman. Genesis 38 opens and down, down, down Judah goes. He links on with Hirah the Adullamite who is called his friend in verse 12, and the shameful results of degeneration in the things that are said to be evil in God’s sight, through not having been faithful to the truth and the light presented in chapter 37. But out of it all, God sovereignly brings Pherez, like He brought Solomon, that which means the continuance of the testimony. But here in chapter 44 Judah has got the gain of the reducing character of the government of God, in the death of his two children and all the sorrow linked with it. He dissociates himself, we might say now, from the man of sin and shame, just like Levi has to dissociate himself from the man of sin and shame. He says, “let thy servant stay, I pray thee, a bondman to my lord”. He is prepared to take on full responsibility, to preserve the family side, and to make way for the Lord typically, in Joseph, to come in and release his affections among the brethren. What a need there is for the spirit of the bondman seen in Judah amongst us, dear brethren. May the Lord bless the word.