RELATIONSHIPS

D.J.Willetts

Genesis 22: 2-8; Philippians 2: 19-22; Ruth 1: 6-10, 15-17; Titus 2: 1-8

The fellowship, beloved brethren, is made up of older brothers, young brothers, older sisters and young sisters. The fellowship is here for several things. One aspect of it is that it is for our protection; another aspect is that it is for our enjoyment. I wanted to say a brief word as to the relationships between us which exist in it. None of us can elect ourselves out of these four categories. I just want to be simple in pointing out in this passage in Genesis, not its profound application to the death of Christ, but rather the detail of the simplicity of relationships which existed between Abraham and Isaac.

This chapter is one in which Abraham was tested to the limit. You may feel in the present circumstances in which you are, beloved older brother, that the circumstances are testing you to the limit. One thing that comes out here is the reserves of affection that existed. One thing that is to mark us, beloved brethren, in the fellowship, is love for one another. We cannot have too much of that. Love is the thing that will take us through every crisis; not our intelligence exactly, but our affection. We certainly need affection Godward, but our affection Godward is manifested as John tells us in our affection for one another. (See 1 John 4: 20,21).

So in this section Abraham is a diligent man: he is prepared to go through deep exercise. Beloved brethren, if there is one thing the older ones of us need to do, it is to take on the responsibilities of the testimony. The world has a special attraction for the young people and I think we need to take on the burden of things so that God can work. So it says, "And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son". He was a man of influence. It says of him in the New Testament that he "dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob" (Heb 11: 9) - and we read how many trained servants he had (Gen 14: 14), so I suspect there were a good few tents. Abraham sets forward with his young men and Isaac; then Abraham "lifted up his eyes". That is another feature the elder brethren need, they need to be able to lift up their eyes and see further than some of us younger ones can see. Beloved brethren, it is necessary because sometimes we get bogged down in detail. Abraham could see afar, he "lifted up his eyes"; it was a deliberate act. There is a need in these days not to just drift along but to be deliberate. In type, I think, he saw what God's purpose was for the saints. He knew where he was at that time, journeying on that way, but he lifted up his eyes and he could see further than his feet were, and if we are going to be held in the pathway of the will of God it is essential that our eyes can see further than our feet have reached. "And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son". What a picture, beloved brethren. Was there any resentfulness on Isaac's part? If I could speak to the young people - if the elder brethren lay certain things on us, is there resentment? They are trying to draw us into the testimony. Are you ready for it? Isaac comes forward here as one who is ready to share some of the burden. God will see to it that we are able to carry it. Isaac goes forward; he is a man of energy. That is what John says to the young men, "I have written to you, young men, because ye are strong" (1 John 2: 4), and how do you find your strength? You do not find your strength by drifting along, you find your strength by taking on the burdens in the power of the Spirit. "And Abraham took the wood ... and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and the knife, and they went both of them together". That is a beautiful scene, beloved brethren. There is nothing more beautiful, I believe, than to see in a locality the old and young going on together. It says, "and they went both of them together"; not just that "they went both of them" but that "they went both of them together". We are all moving to the same objective, we are all moving on to the great prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus - a wonderful thing that - and yet on the way there is this great test. "And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, My father!" There was deep mutual respect there and that feature will help the working out of things locally. You can always respect the work of God because it is true and it is perfect. We all know about the flesh and it is easy to see that, but Isaac says in the midst of these circumstances, "My father! And he said, Here am I, my son". May I ask beloved brethren, Are we ready for the question? "And he said, Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the sheep for a burntoffering?". There are plenty of questions at the present time at this point in the history of the testimony. Hebrews tells us that he went in faith counting on God to raise Isaac from the dead (see chap 11: 19). How does Abraham answer? He says, "My son, God will provide himself with the sheep for a burntoffering". What a thing to be able to pass on to the young people, a sense of confidence, a reliance in faith in the God whom we have proved. Well, it may be that even Abraham did not know the way that God was going to work in detail, but he laid hold in faith that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead. May I say to the young people, it may be that even the older brethren cannot fully answer all your questions, but go on, go on together, go on in affection, in respect: as it says, "and they went both of them together". The questions did not break that bond, they did not break that unity between Abraham as an older man and Isaac as a younger man in the testimony.

I refer now, beloved brethren, to Philippians because here Paul as a spiritual father is speaking to the Philippians about his spiritual son. You may have thought it was only what was natural in Genesis, and it may be, in the way that God has worked in the present testimony, that it is natural families that make up a local assembly, but the point is to work out what is spiritual together. Can we do that? Timothy, as we know, came to light in a crisis. He, like most of us, can speak of a believing mother and a believing grandmother. Some of us have had great assets like that, we have had believing grandfathers and believing fathers. Thank God for them. Persons who have come down unobtrusively, maybe, in the line of the testimony but who have stood for God's rights, and have demonstrated to us the will of God, demonstrated to us the purpose of God. Timothy's mother would not find things easy, his father being a Greek. Beloved brethren, that is what marks the present testimony, things are not easy, and no doubt his mother would not find things too easy. But was that any hindrance? He had known from his early years the sacred letters. May I say to the young people, Read the Scriptures, pray, have your own dealings with God, and then, maybe, you will find your place in the testimony like Timothy did, when the crisis comes. You may wonder why it is that good men have fallen out of the testimony? Well, beloved brethren, it is a sobering thought, that spiritual men have fallen by the wayside, but when that happens the point is, Can God take you up? Are you ready? Of Timothy it says, "For I have no one like-minded who will care with genuine feeling how ye get on". He was a man of feeling, and that kind of person can refresh the older brethren. Did you ever think of that, young sister, young brother? The fact that you could refresh the older brethren. It is a wonderful thing that we can look around our localities and see the work of God in the young people and it is refreshing, it is God's own handiwork. Then it says, "But ye know the proof of him, that, as a child a father, he has served with me in the work of the glad tidings". We can work together in the work of the glad tidings. What a scope there is in the glad tidings; we can work together in it, those that are older and those that are still young. Paul was able to demonstrate things, and what he demonstrated came out into expression in a younger man. So, beloved older brethren, do you realise that the pattern you set in the local assembly is the pattern that the young people follow? Is it not so, that a son usually follows in the footsteps of his father? He takes on his character. It is a challenge as to what is coming to light in our localities, and it takes its character I believe not only from the sovereign work of God, but from the way He would use older persons by way of an example to the saints. So we are looking, beloved brethren, to the older ones for an example. I believe we can see them if we look around this room. We can see persons of deep experience. Look at some of the older brethren, persons who have come through two world wars; what problems that would bring; the bringing up of a family on your own, maybe the father was away year in and year out, others who have come through the difficult years of a depression when brethren did not even know what to put on the table. I believe, young brethren, you can take account of what God has built into the souls of the older saints as a result of what He has passed them through. Just touch it, you will find that there is something refreshing about the way God has worked. How many men spend years researching the war, but what a thing to research in the older brethren what God had done in their hearts by way of His work through those sorrowful years.

I read the other sections because I did not want to leave the sisters out. Previously Naomi had not been a very good example. Beloved young brethren, just because some of our older brethren have failed, do not write them off. The call had come, the glad tidings had reached Moab, and she begins to return in the spirit of self-judgment. She who had known intense sorrow is set in movement in the testimony and she was an influential woman. "And she arose, she and her daughtersin-law and returned from the fields of Moab; for she had heard in the fields of Moab how Jehovah had visited his people to give them bread". Notice that, the way that "Jehovah had visited his people". If there is one thing that marks the present time it is that Jehovah visits His people. I do not say that by way of faith only; I say that by way of practical experience, that Jehovah is visiting His people and He is giving them bread. Here is a woman who had returned from the fields of Moab where she probably thought things would be easier for her, but it turned out that things were more difficult, in fact, she lost her husband and her two sons. What a tragic thing! Look round the saints here, and there are brethren whose families have been lost to the testimony. How persons like that must feel it. Lay hold of the fact that God can work, and when one woman moves forward she is influential. Perhaps she had not much power with her sons, but she had power with her daughters-in-law. Beloved sister, what moral influence have you amongst the younger sisters? The influence she had I believe was because she laid hold of the fact that God had visited His people - a wonderful thing to give an impression in your life that you are moving because God has moved. She says the same to Orpah and Ruth "Return"; she gave them both the opportunity to go back. They both had said we will certainly return with thee. Are you going to be an Orpah? See the distinctiveness of God working maybe, and still turn back. Thank God for the Ruths, persons who are prepared to make a committal, a committal unto death, that where Naomi went she was going to go. You may think, There is not much in my locality I can commit myself to; but that is the Naomi side of things, sorrow and discipline. The Lord is absent, in a sense leaving a widow character of things, but commit yourself to it. What did she see in Naomi? I believe she saw something of the work of God. Will you, beloved young sister, commit yourself to that in your locality? Further she says, "Do not intreat me to leave thee, to return from following after thee". What is our conversation about? Between Abraham and Isaac, what was the subject of their conversation? It was about the burnt-offering. What a level of things to converse about! Older sisters, younger sisters, What is the level of your conversation? The level of their conversation was about committal, committal to the Lord's interests. Ruth says, "Do not intreat me". You say, it is not fair for these older sisters to keep exhorting me like this. Bear the exhortation, beloved sister. What it will bring out is that the work of God is equal to the test. She says, "Do not intreat me to leave thee, to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried". There is a fulness about that. What the Lord is looking for, beloved young sister, is a fulness of committal. You say 'There are not many things I can do; I am not a brother, I cannot take an active part in what is administrative in the local assembly'; but there is, beloved young sister, a lot you can do for the Lord in the local assembly. Commit yourself to this widow position, and you will find what the Lord wants you to do. As this book opens up Naomi does not just leave her to her own devices with that committal. You say, That is a safe young sister: she is committed to the Lord's interests. Beloved older sister, do not just leave her to her own devices if you see that. Naomi says later on, Shall I not seek rest for thee? (chap 3: 1). Who art thou? (chap 3: 9). She was not satisfied until Ruth came into the fulness of things. Do not give up asking the questions, beloved older sister; to the younger sisters, in order that you might further the work of God. The Lord is about to close the testimony. Is He going to find you committed like Ruth to the Lord's interests in your locality?

I read from Titus, because it is a beautiful exhortation. It calls for reliability in the older men and the older sisters. It says, "that the elder men be sober, grave, discreet, sound in faith, in love, in patience". Well, let those words just have their own challenge, beloved older brother. Can you say, I am grave, discreet, sound in faith, in love, in patience. Let the penetration of those statements affect you; it will be worthwhile, because there is need of examples in our localities. Then it says, "that the elder women in like manner"; so the older women can take on their own charge. I feel the edge of the word myself. The Lord would challenge us as to just what we are displaying by way of an example amongst the saints. The elder women it says, "be in deportment as becoming those who have to say to sacred things". It involves a certain sobriety. You can see that in the older saints; they do not follow the fashions of the world and the thoughts of the world, and the latest novelties that the enemy would bring in to occupy our time, but they are going on with God in secret. Then it continues "teachers of what is right". Beloved sister, there is an area in which you can teach; the home setting for instance involves a beautiful opportunity for a sister to teach in the family. In fact, it is probable that the children take more of their character from their mothers than they do from their fathers; they spend more time with them. O, what an influence for good a sister can be who is sound in faith, who is able to teach her family! Timothy was one who was taught by his mother and his grandmother; taught to have a love for the Scriptures. These are simple things, but it is the simple things that go together to make up what leads to depth amongst the saints. If we neglect the foundations, beloved brethren, sooner or later the building will collapse (Matt 7: 26).

I just thought of this scripture "young women to be attached to their husbands ... chaste, diligent in home work, good, subject to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be evil spoken of". The testimony is in view. We are being watched, beloved brethren, be sure of this, that what we are speaks louder than what we say. What is coming into expression? Is it those who are subject, those who make a practice of the will of God, those who live a life of piety? It says, "The younger men in like manner exhort to be discreet; in all things affording thyself as a pattern of good works". How much more effective it is, beloved brethren, amongst the saints when we are an example of what we teach. This section is very full, but I would just like to re-inforce what I said earlier, be prepared for these exhortations; it is for your good. Maybe we can look back, and at the time, we resented the exhortation from another brother or sister, but then you proved it was for your good. Well, I have said all that I want to say, beloved brethren, I trust that it is not in the spirit of criticism but rather exhortation, that the older brethren and the younger brethren might go on together and that we might help one another. That the older brethren might be refreshed by what they see in the younger people; and that the work of God in the younger people might be furthered because of the example of the older brethren. May it be so for His Name's sake.

LONDON

18 October 1986