SERVICE
[p. 267] SERVICE
I desire to say a few words on service. The first thing is, I am Christ’s bondman. Many dwell on the benefit of Christ’s death more than on what He went through to effect the benefit. Nothing would touch us so much as the Lord’s supper, if we really entered into the death of Christ. If we did, we should shrink from everything here for which Christ died. No death could put me into the same character of isolation as His death; it isolates me more from this world than the death of every relative I ever had.
Under the law there was not the ability, the power, for true service; now I have the power. You are freed, in Christ’s life, from the old man. You are His bondman; everything you have belongs to Him; you ought to be sensible of your duty to Him, and besides this, that your heart delights to serve Him.
Turn to another scripture: Proverbs 31: 10 - 31: “Who can find a virtuous woman? ... The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her”. I am not only Christ’s bondman, but I am in the closest tie of relationship to Him; there is therefore both responsibility and affection; and I am thus ready to do exactly what He tells me, to serve under His direction, and in concert with His mind; not like an officious servant who is always suggesting, instead of waiting for direction.
The Holy Spirit is the only power for service. Anything of man is a hindrance. The Holy Spirit must do it all. You have no link with Christ but in the Holy Spirit. It is not merely what Christ has [p. 268] done, but He Himself, in the glory of God, is the testimony. The servant of Christ has two motives in serving Him: one is that of duty, and the other, that of affection. His service is my greatest gain. The apostle Paul thanked God for putting him into the ministry. “If any man serve me, let him follow me”. You are a true servant in proportion as you follow in the path of death; the servant must be a sufferer. When Abraham heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants and went forth to rescue him. The check to service is the lack of self-denial, and there is very little of it amongst us now.
First, then, I start in service from duty and from affection. Everything right is founded on righteousness. I start with the sense that it is my duty to serve Christ, for I am His bondman to do His will; and, besides this, affection to Him makes His service my interest and delight.
Secondly, I act under His direction, and according to His pleasure; not because opportunity offers. I require His direction, and the knowledge of His pleasure, however favourable the opportunity or the occasion. Opportunity is not to guide me. I see a servant in Acts 8 taken away from an interesting field of work, to meet one man in the desert. It is not a question of how you do the work, or how you succeed; but have you the assurance that you are doing the Lord’s pleasure?
In Numbers 8 we find that the Levites were a gift to Aaron and his sons. They were offered up before the Lord instead of the firstborn. In Hebrews 12: 23 we are the church of the firstborn ones (plural). We are all priests to God and Levites, and we are to be the expression here on earth of what we are inside the veil. No Levite could act but from the priest. You are a priest inside and a Levite outside. It is lamentable indeed when you cannot carry on your business [p. 269] outside, according to what you are inside. The Levites were occupied with heavenly things. A Levite could say, ‘The tabernacle is my business ‘. Though he had a family and secular business, yet he was known as a servant of the tabernacle. Christendom gets out of the difficulty by making two classes: the laity and the clergy. God’s paramount interest here is the testimony to Christ, the exalted Man in glory. That is the Levite’s business. Am I to give up the fact that I am a priest inside to God, and a Levite outside in the place of service? Never! I must be consistent here with what I am before God. If you own the dignity of your place inside, you must be in keeping with it outside. You could not be a canary on Sunday, and a sparrow on Monday. You must sing with one and the same note. The place of service is where the beautiful notes sound out. Everything, the very air you breathe, is against you here; but are you going to give in to it? It has been said that there is no finer sight than a great man struggling with his difficulties: I say it is a far greater thing to see a Christian, a servant of Christ, superior to his difficulties. Some may say - I must give up secular business if I am to serve the Lord. No such thing; Paul worked with his hands while he was Christ’s bondman. Look at our blessed Lord during those thirty years of private life, the heavenly traits which shone out; in the workshop, and everywhere. He was divinely beautiful in every detail.
We are all priests to God. Get hold of what you are inside, and you must bring it out. If you understood the place of unutterable blessing in which you are placed, you could not come out and soil your cloth. Heaven is our element, but we have to do our work down here, like a diver in a diving bell. You cannot live in any element except heaven. If you have been too long in the diving bell, go up, ring the bell, pray.
[p. 270] Now I turn to another point. Where does service begin? With the body of Christ; it is there our service begins. I see deficiency in this. Turn to Romans 12, “I beseech you therefore brethren, .. . that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable”. Now see verses 4 and 5: “we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another”. Your responsibility begins with the body of Christ, as a member of it. You must begin with the top, with the first circle. You will find that if there be a flaw in you as to the first circle, that flaw will surely appear in every other circle. A servant properly begins at the prayer-meeting, not with preaching. The man who begins at the prayer-meeting in the assembly will be the best evangelist. “Separate me Barnabas and Saul”, the Holy Spirit said in the assembly. You get your instructions there. Gift is another thing. Gift, in my judgment, is a certain presentation of Christ. Many a man has a gift not manifested, but which would come out if he were more separate. If you clear off “the bearing”, as they say of a coal mine, you would come out in power for the Lord, and you would also prove His care. Many a one who is now grinding in prison would get signal marks of favour from God if he were more separated to Him. And as to service, nothing produces so much effect as devotedness and separation to the Lord in the servant. It is not truth that has the greatest effect, but holiness.
Some are fresh and bright when they come out from the Lord; but when they lose the sense of what they are inside, they fail outside. If you are not consistent with the light you have, you dishonour the Lord, and you do not receive more light. In Romans 12 there are seven distinct gifts; the first is prophecy, and the last is showing mercy with cheerfulness. Everyone can have this last gift. I would rather have the last without the first, than the first [p. 271] without the last. It is far better to have a tractable pony than a first-rate horse which is unmanageable. The moral quality is higher than the greatest gift.
Turn to Luke 11:36: “If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light”. The servant should be the living transcript of the truth, of Christ Himself. A body full of light is one who is fully brought under the power of the word ‘inside’; everything comes from inside; the Lord begins with us inside. Do you know your dark part? If you are walking with God you will know it. He teaches us by the word and by providence. If you are close to the Lord, and watching His dealings with you, you will know what is the dark part. There is a moral influence about a person whose body is luminous; it does not repel you, but makes itself felt; the company of that person is a help to you. “While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof”. The company of spiritual people helps you, they draw out the good; the natural man draws out the bad, what is of the natural man.
I am seeking to show you what the nature of divine grace is and what is the character of the servant of the Lord. Paul says, “my doctrine, manner of life”, that corroborates the doctrine, is the living proof of its virtue. So, in 1 Peter 3: 1, the unbelieving husband who will not listen to the word is won by the conversation, the manner of life, of his wife; he cannot refuse the effect of the word. There he sees the trace of this new creation; he is broken down. “The manner of life” proves the virtue of the word.
I conclude with Luke 18. In the end of chapter 17 this world is under judgment, and the Lord says, “Remember Lot’s wife”. She was brought out of Sodom, but turned back. There is always a tendency to look back. Did you ever look back? Often perhaps.
[p. 272] Well, how are you to be preserved? Be dependent on God, and surrender every hindrance. In chapter 18 these two things are brought out, “dependence” and “surrender”. There is the widow, the publican, and the little child. In these three we have dependence fully exemplified. The widow sets forth how faith in the power of God is answered. The publican sets forth the blessing of counting on His mercy. The little child is fully dependent, it clings and it cries.
Then comes the young man; he is not dependent; he is sorrowful because he will not surrender his riches. In order to be truly dependent, there must be surrender of all hindrances. Peter says, “Lo, we have left all and followed thee”. Look at Peter in Luke 5; he gives up his time and his ship for the Lord’s service, but in the midst of it all, he finds out that he is a sinful man; his conduct was exemplary, he was highly favoured of God; but, notwithstanding all, he felt he was a sinful man in the presence of Christ, and he cries out, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”. The Lord’s words, “Fear not”, reassured him. “And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him”. Well might their neighbours say, ‘What fools!’ They had left their property, directly given to them by God, for the company of a poor man in human eyes. Company is better than property. Now, after a few years, Peter says here, “Lo, we have left all and followed thee”. And the Lord replies, “Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting”. Never was a promise so fulfilled. When He asked them, “Lacked ye anything?” they could reply, “Nothing”. It is impossible in such a world as this not to be playing a losing game [p. 273] in following and serving Christ; but you will have compensation, the company of Christ Himself. In His company we must not be like Martha acting from our own judgment, but waiting to receive counsel from Him, walking before Him in all well-pleasing.