“HOLDING FORTH THE WORD OF LIFE”
E. C. Burr
These verses remain in my mind, especially since this was the part of the scripture that entered into our reading in this room last week. They remained there especially because, while I do not specifically refer to murmurings and reasonings, one characteristic for which I remember, and shall remember, our sister, is the continuous uncomplaining way in which she was amongst us. Many a time most of us who have seen her here would have thought she was quite unfit to be out, but not only had she overcome to be amongst us, but she had no complaint about her condition either. I carry this lesson myself from our sister, and I commend it to the brethren, that doing “all things without murmurings and reasonings” is a reflection of that. The word as to murmurings and reasonings is not a word to some of the brethren, it is a word to them all, and we would bear in mind that Paul is addressing the whole company. Since his letter has come down to us, he is addressing us all. Therefore his injunction as to murmurings and reasonings bears on all the brethren.
But it was not that side of the verses that I had so much in mind, although it was because of that that I was thinking about them, but the closing words that Paul uses, “holding forth the word of life”. I think that they particularly bear on us at a time when death is so markedly before us, and when, if we are sober, we have to say that death may be even more before us unless the Lord comes. I wonder sometimes whether we sufficiently
carry the degree to which death might be amongst us if the Lord does not come. None of us, of course, knows whom the Lord might take next, but we are in a scene that is characterized by death and in a condition that is characterized by death, and death is all around us. It is not so much, although it is true, that we are in a crooked and perverted generation—that describing the general moral characteristics of the day—but that we are in a scene which is characterized by death, and in that, Paul says, “holding forth the word of life”.
Now, beloved, what an injunction for us. It does not matter how old we are or how young we are, but it is “holding forth the word of life”. That is to say that in a world characterized by death, and in a condition characterized by death, we are to be here as bearing Paul’s word; we are to be here with this, not only in our minds, but in expression in us, that we are holding forth the word of life. That is to say that believers, the saints, the brethren, are to be characterized by that which is the reverse of what is around us—in a world of death we hold forth the word of life.
Now what does that mean? I suppose we could link it with chapter 1 of John’s gospel, where we have “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1: 1), “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1: 14), but “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1: 4). We could say, I think without straining the scripture, that in Jesus the word of life was held forth; in fact, not only was it held forth in testimony, but it was actually conveyed to persons. When we consider the three persons that He raised from among the dead, the Word of life was there effectively in its current operation; not only in testimony—that is, not only in what was said—but something communicated, communicated, of course, by Him as the Son of God in divine power.
having power to raise the dead. It raises the question with us whether we have ourselves the power to communicate something. On this account Peter would not leave Jesus at the end of John 6; “To whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal”. The fact that he knew Jesus as the One in whom, I might say, the word of life and the words of life eternal were held forth was enough to retain Peter for Christ when many of His disciples went away backward.
I trust, beloved, that all of us have found the word of life in Jesus. May it be so, and may it increasingly be so. I have been somewhat concerned as to myself as to whether more is held in doctrine than is held in relation to the Person of Christ as a known Person; and the word of life is in Him. So Peter in the Acts was enjoined to go into the temple and speak “all the words of this life”, Acts 5: 20. Of course, he actually spoke, but people would see in Peter something that was characterized by what was different from the world all around him, that there was a man who was characterized by the knowledge of a life that was not to be constrained or hindered or held back by what characterized the world in which he lived.
Beloved, that is open to us, to be the expression of life. I believe that one thing the Lord would do with us in the present day is to enlarge our understanding of divine things and give us greater energy in relation to them. May this happen, beloved, and then it will be clear that the word of life is held forth. It is the answer to death; in a certain sense it is the only answer that we have to death, the holding forth the word of life, ourselves held in relation to Jesus glorified, and finding in the word of life which we hold, forth not only satisfaction for ourselves in what is permanently living, but also that we have an answer to the whole environment in which we live.
If you relate this to Numbers 17, you will find that it is actually the answer to the murmurings and reasonings. In that chapter God said, Lay up the staves one for each of the tribes of Israel, and He said, I will make the murmurings to cease. How did He make the murmurings to cease? In a certain sense, by application, He held forth life. He held forth the word of life, the staff which budded and brought forth buds and blossoms and ripened almonds; there in a sense you have the word of life held forth; it was that condition of life which was the answer to every murmuring and feeling amongst the children of Israel.
Beloved, I think that the Lord would stimulate us, even in the presence of death, that there is life. As I say, none of us knows who may be the next that the Lord takes and how much we may have to confront death if the Lord leaves us here, but in the midst of it all there is life.
And not only is there life, but there is the word of life, and that is to be held forth. We could not then fail to be a light in the world. May we be encouraged by this that in the presence of death there is the word of life and it is open to each of us, young or old, to hold it forth. Paul here says it will be a testimony to him in Christ’s day, that he has “not run in vain nor laboured in vain”. None of us is looking for that kind of return the glory will be Christ’s; but let us be sure that the word of this life is what we are holding forth in this dying scene.
Word at the burial of Mrs. J. S. Pugh, London
11 January 1980