ENERGY SUSTAINED BY REFLECTION

N. T. Meek

Acts 3: 1–11; Leviticus 11: 21

This scripture in Acts has often been read, and no doubt many here will recall ministry as to it, which would not be out of our minds as we come together because the ministry that the Lord gives does not ‘date’. We are in this dispensation, this present time, which was inaugurated long ago by the coming of the Spirit, and the ministry that Paul gave at Corinth, Thessalonica, and elsewhere is still living and has current application, in spite of the breakdown. Down the centuries spiritual men have clung to the Scriptures and so should we, dear brethren, cling to the Scriptures. Then the ministry that the Lord gave through Mr. Darby, Mr. Raven, Mr. Taylor, and others we are to cling to. Brethren recall such ministry in their minds in an occasion like this and the occasion is thus enriched.

You may say that is rather mysterious. One may speak, but a good deal is passing through the brethren’s minds as the Scripture is read, and it provides a vein for the Spirit to work at. Therefore we all contribute to the occasion, dear brethren. We are here together, physically together, and normally in our minds and thinking we are together, and thus the occasion becomes augmented.

One may speak, but that in itself is a relatively small matter, what is important is the weight of substance, one might say the weight of gold, that is present in the occasion. The Spirit can take it—such is His power, such is the mystery, the inscrutability, of His ways—He can take what is in your heart and mine and cause it to be actually expressed, to be formulated into words. Have you not known it in the reading of the Scriptures, in a meeting of this kind? This I think would be a normal activity of the Spirit.

I have read this section as to Peter and John and one thing that has been said about the section is that in it there is something of a delineation of the dispensation. In Peter and what he represents, and in John and what he represents, there is something of a pattern of the dispensation, involving both kingdom and family thoughts. I would like to speak perhaps a little differently, that is, not exactly to follow the same ground. I trust it will not be incompatible with what has been said before, in fact maybe it has been said before. I am thinking of Peter as representing energy, and John as representing what is reflective; and I think it is right, dear brethren, to say that these two features are to mark the end of the dispensation. Indeed it has been intended that they should be present throughout the dispensation. In the divine call, in the Lord’s calling of the apostles, He was selective. Although it may have appeared differently, He selected carefully. In one gospel, you remember, He prayed through the night before. He selected Peter and He selected John— Peter, as I say, represents something of energy, living energy. He did not have to be prodded on the day of Pentecost to get up and speak. On that momentous day the twelve did not go into committee to decide to nominate one of their number to speak—Peter in the energy of

the Spirit got up and he spoke.

That is not to be unknown by us, dear brethren. The occasion comes round for the ministry meeting; energy is not to be an unknown element there; it is to be present. Peter was marked by that. Whilst we know that he was marked by it naturally, perhaps a certain impetuosity too, he was also, I think, marked by it spiritually; God made him that way. What he was, God used, and here Peter takes the lead. He was the first to speak here; Peter and John go up and Peter is the one who speaks, representing preparedness to go into things, to set something on. Often in the meeting for ministry one waits for a ‘warming-up word’, if one could use that expression, for someone to start. I think the Lord would help us all to start. It may be simple; perhaps your impression is not very much you might once have asked what were five loaves and two small fishes with all those thousands of brethren. Do you think that, with that little bit, you would have decided to speak in the ministry meeting that day, or do you think you would have said, ‘Let someone else speak; let him start and I will see if my word fits in’?. These things are not unknown to us, dear brethren; we are all the same, though some are ahead of us—thank God for them! To some the experience is deeper and more real, therefore when they speak there is a certain weight, and a kind of inner ability to touch the affections of the saints, that others of us do not have. But in the measure in which we are real we shall touch what is real; “deep calleth unto deep” (Psalm 42: 7); that scripture may have many applications, but it does involve that something that is said from the depths of the heart would affect the depths of the heart in another. On the other hand, if I am superficial, if my part, so to speak, has little depth and feeling (God forbid it should be so!), it is likely to

affect others only superficially.

So Peter represents energy. As I have said, it probably marked him naturally even before the Lord called him. But Peter developed spiritual energy too and this is seen at the beginning of the Acts. It is also seen at the end of his life as he wrote his second epistle; twice there he speaks of stirring up the saints (2 Peter 1: 13; 3: 1). Peter represents the kind of person that stirs you as he speaks. The preaching may have that character. It is good, dear brethren; it should not die amongst us; energy in the service should not die. But let it be real, I mean energy by the Spirit. Peter is prepared to speak, and that element is to go on with us. Especially when we are small and feel weak, we are to maintain an inner fire, if one might so say. How do you maintain that? We sometimes sing—

‘Lord, kindle within us a holy desire,

Like that which was found in Thy people of old.

Who tasted Thy love, and whose hearts were an fire’. Can you not taste His love? Can you not, in your soul, spend a few minutes before the meeting drinking in afresh something of the love of Christ? When you get to the meeting you will not wait five minutes for a hymn, you will have something, you will go with a certain fire, something already ignited. It is intended to be so with us, dear brethren, in brothers and sisters. It should not be lacking; like the wood offering, it should be brought. Keep the fire burning; bring it, so that things go through with a living character. We may feel sometimes that it is not so, but then we are intended to be stimulated; the Lord would strengthen and stimulate us. You see, someone has got to set things on, someone has to carry things, someone has to speak. I confess to my shame that I once sat through a whole ministry meeting and none of us gave

a word, and what I came to afterwards, and I just mention it simply, was that anything that had magnified Christ would have been worth while that night, “For the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus”, Revelation 19: 10. Could no one say something about the glory of Christ? Was I in a rebellious spirit? We are to come together to edify one another, and it does involve a certain energy, spiritually drawn on, and my impression is that John provides the reservoir from whence it is drawn.

So I do not want to speak about Peter and John exactly as two separate persons, but as representing two ideas which are to be present in each of us. There is the reflective John. Possibly, you could sit with him and he might hardly say a word to you; he would reflect, he seems to be of that character. “We have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father, full of grace and truth” (John 1: 14); that is John. That is not to be missing from us either, in fact it is John who supports Peter, John is behind Peter. There is to be with us a chewing of the cud, a moving of the jaws, and things going on inside one. That is the reflective side; things are formed, enter into the constitution, and provide the energy that becomes evident in a person. These two elements, dear brethren, are to develop with us. Do not neglect John; do not neglect this reflective side. When you read the ministry, when you read a monthly book, see if you can put it down and think about it before you go and get the coffee, or whatever has to be done next. Think about it, get the gain of it, give it time to enter into your constitution, let it find a lodging place.

It may work slowly; those cows in the field, you see them sitting there and chewing the cud, over it goes, round it goes, over and over, and it

is assimilated. That word you read, that word you heard, that preaching, learn to ponder it, recall it and think about it again. That is what John did, I think, in principle. There may be some difference between reflection and contemplation, because in the latter you are looking at some one, but with both the idea is there of what takes time, what can go on quietly and in secret, when things are being formed in you and when the constitution is being built up. In due time it will emerge in energy, and the spoken word will exhibit some evidence of life, some evidence of vigour.

These things, dear brethren, go through the whole dispensation, and they are to go through in you and in me, otherwise in some part of us we shall lack, we shall be at a loss, we shall, so to speak, run out of steam. There have been locomotives in the old days of the railways which ran out of steam. Some of the early locomotive engineers built engines with big cylinders thinking they would get more power, but the boiler was not big enough when the locomotive worked hard, to supply the cylinders with steam—when such an engine came to a gradient with a heavy load on, it steadily ground to a halt. The engine was all right but the steam was not there, and a famous engineer (if I might digress, you will pardon me) re-thought the whole idea by building a locomotive with a big boiler and relatively small cylinders. O, you might say, it has not got much power with those small cylinders, but it could steam, it could keep going when the others stopped; it kept going, it had a substantial source of energy in the fire and in the boiler. It was a success, and that class of locomotive lasted for years. That is the intention, that you should have a capacity, a reservoir, so that as we come together there is something that can come out. In divine things there should be with the believer a capacity, a reserve, that will back up and maintain things so that meetings and gatherings go through in power.

Well, perhaps our experience is variable, but the Lord would encourage us. This man in Acts 3 came into the gain of these things, and as coming into fellowship we are to come into the gain of these elements being present—and finally the man provided these elements in himself—he held Peter and John, he clung to these things. They represent, I say again, something of a delineation of the whole dispensation that is to go through. Will we run out of resources at the end, dear brethren? Will the word of God keep coming to us freshly? Will we be maintained by it? It is good to read the ministry, and the old ministries, and the Scriptures, the great framework on which everything hangs, and to keep within its bounds. But let the Spirit so work in you that it comes out, as it were, with the Spirit’s living impress on it. You may say, I am a sister and I do not speak. Yes, but it will show through you; it will show through your attitude, the way you follow the meeting, whether you are fresh. You may be a sister, but you may be adding to this occasion. What is going through your mind may be significantly adding to what is being said. Even if Paul was here and was speaking he would have regard for what was in you and the body of the saints. How true that is! How bound up together we are, dear brethren, what a mutual thing this is!

In a certain sense this scripture represents mutuality, too, a certain sovereignty in Peter and a preparedness to be second in John. These are elements which are not to be unknown to us, but the main thing I felt led to draw attention to was these two sides, energy by the maintenance of this reflective, ruminating kind of character. Learn

to think about things, try in between everything else to get some time for reflection. You will find that your constitution will be better for it, the meeting will be enriched, the saints will be enriched. When you meet someone you will have some water with you to wash the saints’ feet. How often one feels at a loss, ‘How are you today? How is your cold?’. And that is about all you can say, whereas coming together and seeing the saints it is intended that we should be able to touch one another in a spiritual sense.

Well, may the Lord help us in these things, dear brethren. As we take them on, as we get the gain of them, we shall be like this man of whom it says he ‘leaped’, and that is just why I read in Leviticus, because a leaper is to be appropriated. It says of the winged, crawling insects that if they had legs above their feet and could leap, then you could appropriate them. They are fine! That is material for the assembly—persons who can leave the earth; only for a little while perhaps; how difficult it is, is it not, dear brethren, to sustain a spiritual conversation for long? But if you can leave the earth for a little while, then you can be appropriated; the brethren can feed on you; you are really a person that soon will leave the earth, not for a little while, but for ever. You will not do that by leaping, of course; you will be taken, but there will have already been some moral experience of it. You say, Well, we left the earth for a little while. We got abstracted, we got caught up in that enquiry, in that reading, we got caught up just for a little while, and then something brought us back. Yes, but still we did leave it for a little while. You see the idea. This man became a leaper; he held to these two things. How glad the brethren would be to see him leap up to give a word. You can expect a good word

from him, it will contain the knowledge that cometh of reflection (Proverbs 8: 12). So it is intended that we should all contribute, and the evidence of reflection is seen in this side of energy that is continually needed. May the Lord bless these simple thoughts to us, dear brethren, for His name’s sake.

Address at Maidstone
28 February 1976