THE ADVANCE OF THE TESTIMONY AND PETER'S RELATION THERETO
[p. 493] THE ADVANCE OF THE TESTIMONY AND PETER’S RELATION THERETO
It is well known to those familiar with the early part of the Acts that while the record of Peter’s service practically ceases at the end of chapter 5, the thread of it is resumed in chapter 9, and what I have in mind is to show, by the Lord’s help, the result of this new service, or new exercise of apostolic power. The early chapters, as we all know, are full of Peter’s service; indeed, so prominent was he and so effective, that even his shadow was looked to and reckoned upon for relief; and yet notwithstanding that, and the great effectiveness of his service there is a break, chapter 6 introducing a development among the saints of a certain sectional feeling. The Hellenist believers murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Notice it was their widows, those in the Greek provinces. If they had complained about the neglect of widows in general, it would have been a different matter, though, indeed, it is serious to complain at all in regard to the things of God; any complaint must be established on a solid foundation to be justifiable at all. I think the word “murmuring” is used for the first time in Scripture in this chapter in relation to Christians, and it certainly is a sinister feature in the things of God. Now, the Hebrew widows were of just as much interest to Christ as the Hellenist widows, both were equally precious as believers to Christ; He has no sectional feeling at all. You will recall how John in alluding to John the baptist in his gospel says. “He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world”; (John 1:8,9) or, as it should read, “which [p. 494] coming into the world lightens every man”, John 1:8,9. That is what Christ is; He is concerned about all. And so the house of God, being a general thought, and embracing all the saints, is cared for by Christ, watched over by Him; and He has, as I said, no preferences of any kind as regards persons, nations or cities. Hence the development recorded in chapter 6 is a very sinister one, for the element of murmuring is introduced as the result of divisional discrimination.
Now, I mention this at the outset as giving rise to the new movement on the part of the Lord, for if the enemy moves, taking advantage of a low state among the people of God, the Lord will also move and His movement will more than outwit and withstand that of the enemy. So here we have a completely new departure. The apostles meet the complaint raised by suggesting to the brethren that seven men be appointed to take up the matter. We have other business to do, they virtually say, than serve tables, our business is to minister the word and pray. Most worthy work, surely! But they were circumscribing their activities, for widows and needy ones have to be attended to; we cannot evade that. The need of the saints, whether spiritual or otherwise, is of paramount importance. Indeed, there must be no need; as Paul says, things are to be “on the principle of equality”; there is to be a levelling up, as one might say, so that need may be met. Even the apostle Paul himself was ready to carry the saints’ bounty to Jerusalem, in order that all that was necessary might be supplied. So here the twelve, realising that there was sectional feeling working amongst the saints, said, “Look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business”. That was very wise. The saints were put on themselves, so to speak, they were to select [p. 495] seven men from themselves, and what is to be noted is that the Hellenists got the advantage, showing that the Spirit of Christ was, as yet, dominant among the saints. We may thank God for that. The Hebrews did not arrogate anything to themselves, they did not supply all the persons; the deacons, judging by their names, were mostly Hellenists. So we see the Lord triumphs here, as He will in relation to anything that arises as the product of a low state among the people of God. The wrong feeling referred to appears to have been met; right men came forward to deal with the matter, and among them Stephen, a man, the word tells us, “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit”. We may well accept in a humble spirit things that are humbling among the people of God, sensible that the Lord triumphs, as He does here, taking occasion by the very complaint to introduce a man like Stephen.
So now the work develops under two of the deacons, Stephen and Philip. The former was found with a face like that of an angel. What a face was his! First, we are told, the men who disputed with him could not resist the wisdom and spirit with which he spake. The Lord is pleased to put him forward, and indeed the enemy compelled him to come to the front, for he was attacked, and the very attack brought out the spirit of his Master. It says that they could not resist his wisdom and spirit, and then it adds, that as he stood in the council, “Looking steadfastly on him (they) saw his face as it had been the face of an angel”. It is a wonderful outcome and triumph from the petty murmuring and national feeling existing among the people of God. The enemy is defeated, the testimony develops, and is marked by this remarkable address of Stephen recorded in chapter 7, ending with the wonderful reflection of his Master already referred to. He “kneeled down”, the word says. Think of a man in [p. 496] an atmosphere rife with murderous hatred, his life being beaten out of him with stones, kneeling down and crying to the Lord for the pardon of his murderers!
Then in the next chapter we have Philip. He goes to preach, though without a commission; and the apostles are introduced in verse 14 to link on with Jerusalem the work which the Lord had been carrying on in Samaria apart from them. They pray and the Holy Spirit is given through the laying on of their hands. What I wanted to bring out is what we may look for where there is any retirement on the part of those immediately responsible in the house of God. The Lord proceeds in His own way, for the work must be done. If we impose limits on the sphere of our activities, the Lord says, as it were, If your sphere is not as great as Mine, I shall go on with Mine. “Lift up your eyes”, He said to the disciples, “and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest”, (John 4: 35). The harvest belongs to Christ and if my service does not extend to the whole field, the Lord will bring in others, for the harvest must be attended to and He is Lord of it. A very great obligation rests on those who have light from the Lord; if He impose limits we must abide by them, but let us not impose limitations for ourselves, let our sphere of responsibility not be any less than the whole house of God. The word says that the light is set on the candlestick “to give light to all in the house” (Matthew 5:15) — all, not merely as to those in your locality. The great thing is to hold yourself as in relation to the whole house.
Now, that was the divine intent for the apostles, but they imposed limitations on their service, with the result, as we were seeing, that the Lord moved on without them. Not only the widows, but the Samaritans and the eunuch were met and ministered to, and the work goes on, until Saul of Tarsus is [p. 497] broken down, all showing how the Lord had Himself intervened at this peculiar juncture. Satan had endeavoured to bring in schism in chapter 6, now he is attacking the assembly from without; he would destroy what he could not corrupt, but the Lord steps in. We may always reckon on His intervention, for He will deal with anything that lifts up its head against His way and against His people. Happily, in this instance, the man who opposed is himself secured; grace is ever active on that line. Saul the great champion of evil is met and challenged: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” the Lord says. He calls this man by name; it is a beautiful touch, and Saul is brought down and secured in his affections, so that immediately after receiving sight he announces in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. Wonderful trophy for the Lord to carry away from that conflict! The great opponent of the saints is completely won over in his affections so that, as the word says, “straightway in the synagogues he preached Jesus that he is the Son of God”.
Such is the effect of the Lord’s gracious way. If we in any way impose limits on our responsibility or on our service, He can get along without us. We may lay that down as a fundamental principle. If we are not available He will secure those who are, and probably the most unlikely men, men who “have purchased to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus”, as Stephen did. Note, it says “purchased”, It cannot be gainsaid, such a degree is acquired through serious exercises and humiliations. Then you get such a trophy as Saul brought in by the Lord, one who is subdued and loves Christ. That is what counts, dear brethren, love for Christ! Saul loved Christ and so he was able to present Him as the Son of God.
[p. 498] And now the assembly is at rest; happy result of the Lord’s intervention! Everything must give way to Him, and does give way, the effect being that the assemblies had rest and were edified and multiplied. At this juncture, you get the thread of Peter’s service resumed, and what one would remark is, he seems to have gained greatly by his experience. The reason I give for saying this is, that he says to the first man he helps, “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals thee: rise up and make thy couch for thyself”. What he virtually says is,. Now, Aeneas, you must learn to help yourself; the time has come for that. ‘Make thy bed for thyself.’. I would suggest the question to everyone here; What can you do for yourself? You cannot trust to anyone in this world, you must learn to do things for yourself. Certainly you can trust the Lord, and I am not disparaging what God may do in us; but it is quite obvious that what Peter had in his mind was that this man should be set up in his locality able to do something for himself. For eight years he had been a paralytic, and so a burden to others, but this state of things was to come to an end.
May I ask, How much do you rely on others for spiritual life? Many live, I fear, on what they get at meetings and they have little outside of that. Now, the Lord has indeed ordained that there should be meetings for the dispensing of food and it is a very great honour to be able to supply food for the saints; that is of the Lord without a doubt. The faithful and wise servant provides food for the household, in season, but notwithstanding that, each member of the household has to learn to do something for himself. In saying this I am not turning anyone away from Christ or from leaders He raises up, for He does raise up such, but I believe I am correct in assuming that Peter discerned that the time had come when souls should learn to do [p. 499] things for themselves, hence he says to Aeneas, “make thy bed for thyself”; learn to do that much, do not wait for someone to do it for you. I believe we have arrived in a peculiar way at this moment: a moment when saints have to recognise their direct responsibility to God, each to do some thing, if only in relation to their own personal need, that they look to that. I am not denying the fact that there are others there to help you, as Peter was here, but it would alter the state of things greatly among the saints if the significance of the apostle’s words to Aeneas were taken in.
The next case is Dorcas, and she does not need to be told to do anything like this, for she was a woman of very great activity, so much so that her name has been handed down in connection with work done for the poor and needy; and what a place it has both in the world and among the Lord’s people! We have Dorcas societies today, and these are societies that do things; and not only do their members look after themselves, but they also look after others. It is very remarkable that this and the preceding incident should be put together. But what we find is, that in spite of her good works and almsdeeds, this woman Dorcas dies; her activities do not keep her alive. Understand, dear friends, I do not wish to minimise what she did, but I do wish to emphasise this, that she died; and I would elicit from this passage that we, too, may do much, and yet come short of living, so to speak. What is made prominent at the close of the narrative is that Peter presents her to the saints and widows, living, and it is no longer the idea of Dorcas, not a word is said as to what she did then; all that we have is a living woman presented to the saints, and that is enough. If you have a woman alive spiritually you do not need to say much. Making garments is all well, but that is not life; God’s great end, looking at things [p. 500] in this connection, is that there should be life. Worldly societies make garments, but they are not alive.
You will notice here also that widows are spoken of. They were there and weeping, but it has to be acknowledged that widows’ tears are not always spiritual tears. You will understand I am not speaking of anything personal, but of known facts. The Spirit of God puts things down for a definite purpose; it is not recorded merely in a historical way that this woman was mourned for by widows. It was not surprising that it should be so, for Dorcas had befriended them; but it is noteworthy that before Peter meets the situation he puts them all out. Now, spiritual people are not put out. You will also notice that it says in verse 14 that Peter, “having called the saints and widows presented her living”. Saints are distinguished from widows in this verse, and the widows were the weeping ones. You will wonder, I dare say, why I dwell on this, but I want you to recognise that what you do must not be simply something that calls out the sympathy of unspiritual people; what is of interest is the sympathy of spiritual people, and the Spirit of God distinguishes between widows and saints. Widows are obviously not always saints in that sense; they remembered the good deeds of Dorcas, praiseworthy indeed they were; I am not belittling them in any way, but the fact remains that in spite of their tears the widows were put forth. It is searching. The Holy Spirit is working through Peter, there is a spiritual movement, and I may be faced with this that I can have no part in it in spite of the fact that I am moved and weeping. My very emotions might become a hindrance spiritually. It is a serious matter here, a question of death and life, and tears avail nothing. Let us ask ourselves the question: What are our activities? What is the end of them?
[p. 501] Peter here puts the widows forth, then he kneels down and prays; he needed the power of God, and that is just what is needed.
So, conscious of this, he must not be interfered with, the atmosphere must be cleared of all natural sentimentality which avails nothing, it hinders. And now he turns to the body and says, “Tabitha, arise, And she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, sat up”. I suppose Peter represented for the moment God’s power, and Tabitha, opening her eyes and looking upon him, sits up. Then it goes on to say, having given her his hand, he raised her up; there was the power of God exercised through a man. This woman would never forget this wonderful touch, and the effect of Peter’s hand lifting her up. And Peter “having called the saints and the widows, presented her living”; she is a living woman now, that is the thought. Life is a great thing. To my mind this fits in with John’s ministry, and it seems as if Peter in this lapse between chapters 5 and 9, had been spiritually helped of God; one speaks of it with great respect for the apostle, for he says in effect, Now it is a question of life, people must be known as living. So he presents her to the saints, as if to say, Here is a living Dorcas for you, not now a garment maker, but a living woman spiritually. It is spiritual life, I need not remind you, that is contemplated, that which would answer to God. “The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day”, Hezekiah said (Isaiah 38:19). If there is anything one would love, it is to be among the saints as alive spiritually. We want that, as the apostle says, “God ... has quickened us with the Christ”, (Ephesians 2:5). He quickens each of us in our souls, so that we live Godward. But we are quickened together also; (Colossians 2:13). This woman is presented living to the saints, and henceforth they have a living woman in their midst, whose heart from that [p. 502] moment will be wholly for God, for Christ, and for the saints.