LUKE 12
WE have been occupied with the divine intent that there should be a lamp lighted here and set upon a lampstand to shine for God, and thus to anticipate morally and spiritually the shining of the holy city; and we have noticed how the Lord draws attention to that which would darken the shining. I suppose nothing could be more darkening than hypocrisy; therefore it was the first thing that was on His heart to say to His disciples. If every form of hypocrisy was got rid of, we should be like the city. We read in Revelation 21: “Her [p. 150] shining was like a most precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper stone” (verse 11); “and the city, pure gold, like pure glass” (verse 18); “the street of the city pure gold, as transparent glass”, verse 21. It suggests a medium that in no way obscures the light; and that is the Lord’s thought for us spiritually now.
Hypocrisy is passing off as having a character which is not that is the leaven of the Pharisees. Hypocrisy is a principle to which we naturally gravitate, so that we need to take heed to the wholesome words of the Lord. The character of Christianity is indicated in the river of the water of life: “He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, going out of the throne of God and of the Lamb”, Revelation 22: 1. Every darkening influence will be gone when the city is displayed, but then it will be gone, as I understand it, not only by a mighty act of divine power, but through a process of spiritual exercise which brings about this crystal-like clearness so that there is no need to pretend to be what we are net. As Christians, we are not under the slightest necessity to pretend to be what we are not. The gospel in its own native power would make us all crystal-like so that there is no darkening element. It is the character and nature of God that we begin with. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”, and the gospel which has come to us has that character. It comes in such grace that it dispels all the spirit of hypocrisy. I do not think any man can be saved as a hypocrite.
In the verses we see two dangers. The leaven of the Pharisees is to pass off as being better than one is; on the other hand, one may not shine in the light that is in one’s heart; one may hide it through the fear of man. There are the two dangers. The first is illustrated in the action of Ananias and Sapphira, and the second in the dissimulation of Peter recorded in Galatians 2. In Acts 6 there were those who wanted credit amongst the brethren for devotedness which was not in their hearts. It was a very solemn thing, and was visited by instant judgment. Then on the other hand Peter changed his course, “fearing them of the circumcision”. He had the light of the gospel in his heart, but he allowed it to be obscured by the fear of the circumcision, and I suppose at the bottom of it was a desire to keep up his own reputation as a good Jew. Paul speaks of it as dissimulation — a very strong word, certainly of an apostle. Peter at that moment was not free of the system that darkened the light.
[p. 151] The revelation of God in Christ received in its proper character would take away all desire to appear different from what we are. Everything has come out into the light; there was a whole history of covered and secret things with every one of us, but the gospel has shown us how God has dealt with all those things; He has brought them out into the full light in the judgment-bearing of Christ, and dealt with them so effectually that there is not a single jot or tittle of that kind of thing remaining to obscure the light in which He shines. We should not be ashamed to have everything told out in the most public way possible. Things covered are going to be revealed, and secret things, whispered in the ear, are going to be known publicly. We move in the light of that.
Ezekiel (chapter 1: 22) speaks of the crystal, but he says, “the terrible crystal”; it is the idea of being shone through by divine light. Who would like to be made of crystal so that the most hidden thoughts and secret motives could be seen by everybody? No natural man would like it. But then Ezekiel shows that there is something for God in the terrible crystal, something on a higher plane. He sees a throne and the appearance of a man upon it, and the throne surrounded by a rainbow. God is able to act in the faithfulness of His own covenant towards sinful men, because the very Man who sits upon the throne has died on the cross for them, and everything the light has exposed love has removed, so there is no need for covering anything up; it is all out. That is where the gospel puts us. So now the covered up and secret things with Christians are such as we should be very happy to think of being brought out in the most public way possible. It will come out, What were you doing in secret? The Christian was on his knees in the secret of his chamber seeking a better knowledge of God and of Christ and praying for his brethren. Those are the new kind of secrets going to be manifested in a coming day; there is a new kind of secret history now.
If we are going on with things that we should not like the brethren to know, these are certainly things which we ought not to go on with, and it will all come out. It is a very bad business for any of us to allow the leaven of the Pharisees, and it will have a very short history; it is all going to come out publicly. If a saint is pursuing an evil course it would very likely come out now. If a man had never been converted it might be left in the dark. If we are content to be just what [p. 152] the grace of God would make us, it would simplify everything. Paul could say, “By the grace of God I am what I am”. That is what he was and he did not want to be anything else. He could also say: “We are made manifest before God, and I trust to your consciences”.
The judgment of God is the way God regards things. When He said, “Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I have found my delight”, that is the judgment of God. It is the appreciation of Christ; He has formed a judgment and expressed it, and our wisdom is to pay attention to the judgment of God; then we come into the apprehension of the love of God, and then go on to the wisdom of God.
The light is the revelation of God. We see that in the previous chapter; the revelation is there, and in the light of the revelation of God a man prays. True prayer would eliminate the darkness. If one prays, the darkness goes, because prayer means that you get near to God, and near to God there is no darkness. John Bunyan said that either prayer makes a man cease from sin, or sin makes a man cease from prayer.
Now in verse 4 the Lord says, “I say to you my friends”. It is beautiful that the Lord can address us in that character. In their heart of hearts they are His friends. Now the danger is that they might allow their friendship to be hidden through the fear of man. We do not want our friendship to Jesus to be obscured through the fear of man; that is a very darkening influence. The most they can do is to kill us. I have often been hindered from coming out as a friend of Jesus by a very little thing, just the thought that one would make a fool of oneself, or be laughed at. But what a privilege it is to come out as a friend of Jesus, and to fear only the One that can cast into hell! The fear of God would preserve us from vain-glory. It is wholesome to remember the character of God as the One to be feared. He has authority to cast into hell. That would set aside all self-importance and bragging. We are walking in the fear of God as One who has authority to cast into hell. The Lord would have that present with us; like Peter when he says, “If ye invoke as Father him who without regard of persons judges according to the work of each, pass the time of your sojourn in fear”, 1 Peter 1: 17. We have to do with God as the Judge of all; He is scrutinising our motives all the time, and there is no toleration of evil with the God we know.
[p. 153] Then on the other hand the friends of Jesus are much better than many sparrows. The friends and confessors of Jesus are not forgotten; the hairs of their head are numbered. The Lord is instructing us in the minuteness of the care and protection of God, so that while there is profound reverence in the sense of His authority, there is profound confidence in the sense of His care; the friends and confessors of Jesus are the objects of the greatest care and interest of God. Suppose one is in the presence of worldly people, and in the sense of great weakness one is just trying to stammer out the Name of Jesus, God thinks so much of it that He counts every hair of the head of such a person. He would not let the enemy pull out one of the hairs of his head unless it was going to further the testimony. If there is one hair less He knows it, and it is a question here of confessing. The extraordinary importance of confessing the Son of man is brought out here. One might be in a shop, or an office, or a school, and the temptation is not to confess the Son of man — not to confess Jesus. But then think of all that hangs upon it: there is a day coming when the Son of man is going to tell the heavenly hosts how you behaved. There is a young Christian, perhaps in an office or school, and the Son of man is going to tell all the heavenly hosts about your just confessing His Name.
All this gives us such a sense of the minuteness of God’s care. We do not think much of a sparrow, but the Lord tells us that not one is forgotten before God. He does not forget a sparrow, not for a moment! It is wonderful. So nothing in our lives is small. There is nothing small about the confessor of Jesus. Every time you mention His Name with reverence in the face of the world it is going to be told to the thousands and ten thousands. It is worth doing. I would say to young Christians, Mention His Name; it does not matter how you say it. Do not say, ‘I am not interested’, when asked to read a novel, or to go to the pictures; do not get out of it by a backdoor way; it is missing a privilege. Mention His Name and never mind how stumblingly and weakly you do it; you may shake like an aspen leaf but get His Name out. Say why you do not go to the pictures. Mention His Name; you hoist the flag of the kingdom then, and all the power of the kingdom will support you.
“He that shall have denied me before men shall be denied before the angels of God”. It supposes that in the end that [p. 154] is the character of such a person; but a rather different form of words is used in this connection. Such a man’s character is summed up as a denier of the Lord Jesus. Peter denied the Lord, but that was not Peter’s character; he did not deny Him on the day of Pentecost.
The friends and confessors of Christ are viewed here as identified with the testimony of the Holy Spirit. I think what the Lord said here of the Holy Spirit is to encourage His friends and confessors that they might be emboldened to share with the Spirit the witness to Himself, and that they might have a sense of the exceeding gravity of the Spirit’s testimony being disregarded or insulted. Being the time of the greatest grace on God’s part, it is also the time of the greatest guilt on man’s part. The testimony of the Son was not final; there still remained in reserve the testimony of the Spirit; but there is nothing for those who reject contemptuously the testimony of the Holy Spirit. There is no remedy if the testimony of the Spirit is refused and rejected in a violent way — the Spirit insulted.
It might be illustrated in Acts 13, where the testimony of remission of sins was announced, and those who heard it spoke injuriously; then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said distinctly: “It was necessary that the word of God should be first spoken to you; but, since ye thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the nations”. In the principle of it this applies to the Spirit as having His place of witness in the saints. It is not exactly, as in other Scriptures, the Spirit as the power by which the Lord did His mighty works, but it views the testimony as passed into the hands of the saints, though really the testimony of the Holy Spirit. It is most serious to think of the testimony in its true character as being the witness of the Holy Spirit. Mr. Stoney used to tell us that we were either in the dock with the world or in the witness box with the Holy Spirit (see John 16).
Those who speak against the Son of man are forgiven, but to speak injuriously against the Spirit is not forgiven. It shows the extraordinary importance and seriousness of the presence of the Spirit in witness. Where the apostles’ testimony was deliberately rejected and spoken injuriously against, there was no forgiveness. That would not apply to any particular preaching now; the apostles preached the gospel with the [p. 155] Spirit sent from heaven, but we would not take the place of doing that like the apostles. The Lord said this as encouragement so that there might be no shrinking back from being identified with the Spirit’s witness; even if brought before magistrates and rulers the Spirit would teach them what to say. I might preach as well as I can according to my measure of knowledge, but it might not be the direct witness of the Holy Spirit. The idea here is that there is deliberate wicked hatred of the Spirit as rendering testimony to Christ; and there is no forgiveness for that.
Stephen, in Acts 7, reviewed the whole history of the past and concentrated divine light on the present position; there was not a word he said that was not the result of the teaching of the Holy Spirit, so it was an exceedingly solemn thing to reject it. If a man preached absolutely in the power of the Spirit it would be very solemn to speak against it. The Spirit’s witness is not to be trifled with, and if it brings out nothing but deliberate enmity it is very solemn. Then it would give encouragement to the friends and confessors by giving them a sense of being identified with the most wonderful, and at the same time most responsible, testimony — that is, it brings the greatest responsibility on those who reject it violently and contemptuously.
There is a crowd who are not confessors, or those who speak injuriously; they occupy a neutral position. That is where most are today in Christendom. Rejecting the testimony would not go so far as speaking injuriously; I think the latter is the expression of wicked hostility which would not be found in every person. In the Pharisees it was wicked hostility to the Spirit as manifested in the Lord Himself; but I think the principle of it is passed on to confessors to encourage witnesses that they are identified with the Spirit’s witness. The Lord says in John 15, “The Spirit ... who goes forth from with the Father, he shall bear witness concerning me, and ye too shall bear witness” — that is, He identifies the witness of the disciples with the witness of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit’s testimony was purely of God; there was nothing of man about it, and it brought out a diabolical character of opposition.
Paul speaks of himself as a blasphemer, a persecutor and an insolent, overbearing man, but he adds a saving clause: “I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief”. What is done ignorantly is a different thing; it would come in [p. 156] as a sin of ignorance; but this enmity and wickedness is deliberate, with eyes open.
Then the Lord turns to another darkening influence, the desire to get possessions here. The Lord would call attention to a life of a different character from anything that consisted in possessions here; that does not constitute life, but to be rich towards God, that is life. To be rich towards God is surely an object of desire for all of us. The Lord disclaims the position of a judge or divider, but I think He brought home to the person who spoke to Him that he as well as his brother was moved by covetousness. Covetousness often presents itself as prudence; the great corrective would be to seek to be rich towards God. If a thing is not adding to my wealth towards God, it is not contributing to my life at all. It is very important that we should not handle business in a covetous spirit as wanting to increase possessions here. We want the things that will increase life Godward, so that: there may be more joy, and more praise, and more consciousness of divine wealth — that is the great object of desire for us. If we are on the line of covetousness, of pulling down barns and building greater, we do not want the Father’s care; it means we are able to care for ourselves. To be rich towards God is to be in the appreciation of mercy; a person who appreciates mercy is rich towards God; he appreciates that in which God’s riches consist. There are outgoings towards God, his wealth is for the pleasure of God, there is the sense of divine favour in Christ, and the acquisition of what lies in the Spirit, getting possession of an inheritance that no selfish brother can deprive him of. All these things make us wealthy towards God. What is the gain of ministry if it does not increase our wealth God-ward? One might be making self a centre even in regard of spiritual things; but anything that ministers to life makes us rich Godward, and we are more furnished to contribute to the pleasure of God. That is the object of ministry. One who is exercised to be rich towards God becomes a special subject of the care of God, because anxiety about circumstances here might be a very darkening influence, It would be sad if we found we had been working hard for ourselves, taking up the responsibility of caring for ourselves and missing the blessed privilege of being cared for by God. A friend and confessor of Christ, and one rich towards God, becomes of the greatest interest to God; there is life there and a body there that are [p. 157] of deep concern to the blessed God. If He cares so much for a flower or a bird, what will He do for a friend or confessor of Christ, or one rich towards God?
There is a difference in this chapter between what we have need of and what the Father gives us. The things He gives us are far superior to the things we have need of; but as long as we are here we have need of food and clothing, and the Father knows that. It is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom, and that is far greater than feeding and clothing us. If He will give you the kingdom, a whole realm of blessed things perfectly in accord with His own mind, He will assuredly give you bread to eat, and clothes to wear, so that you may be perfectly free for that kingdom. On the Father’s side it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom; and on our side it should be our pleasure to seek it, and to be relieved in the sense of divine care so that the provision for temporal need is not the ruling principle of life. The principle of covetousness does not rule, but we are perfectly free in the sense of the Father’s care to seek the kingdom. The Father’s kingdom is a wonderful thing; that is what is to be sought, and we can all seek it. There is nothing that has any kind of prior claim. People say that they have not time for spiritual things, but there is nothing that has a prior claim to the Father’s kingdom. The little flock are a select company, suited to receive such a gift as the kingdom; they are apart from hypocrisy and covetousness, and free from all fear; they are friends of Christ, identified with the testimony.
The Father’s kingdom is a realm ordered according to the Father. It is the place where God is known in supreme grace as Father; and the saints are in the place of dependence, praying in the light of that revelation, and having the gift of the Spirit out of heaven. These things constitute the principal features of the Father’s kingdom. The Father’s kingdom is an order of things morally according to His mind. God is known there in the relationship of Father: “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” and “Your Father knows you have need of these things”. All is now being worked out in conditions of outward smallness — in a “little flock”.
On the Father’s side it is His good pleasure to give us this wonderful realm of spiritual good; all the good in the heart of the blessed God is brought out to overcome every influence of evil here. On our side there is to be seeking in contrast to care and covetousness. “Sell what ye have and give alms” — the testimony of God comes out in giving; we are here to give away spiritual riches, gospel wealth, but we are also to give alms. It is obvious from Scripture that alms-giving is very acceptable to God, because it is the expression of His own character of goodness and bounty.
Let us get our souls steeped in the grace of the Lord’s words and think of what is positive, so that, if there were not one consistent Christian on the face of the earth, the privilege is open to each to be the first. The Lord does not come down from the elevation of divine thoughts to suit us; He would elevate us to them; we must begin on that side. If there is a lack in the spirit of giving, it arises from the poverty of the saints, and we must get the saints enriched. Are we all conscious of being rich towards God, and of having received the illimitable wealth of the realm He has given us, a realm where everything is marked by beauty and suitability to God? If that is in our souls we shall look at possessions here in the light of their relation to heaven, and we shall go definitely into business, so to speak, in view of heaven — selling and making purses which do not grow old. Our concern is nor to be in the spirit of a covetous man who wants all he can get, or of the man oppressed with care, afraid of not having enough and of what he may lose. We are to take up business in the light of heaven. Our heavenly-mindedness depends, I am convinced, on what comes from practical every-day life. The moment we get to business, as we have been speaking of it, we become heavenly-minded and have Jesus as our “own” Lord (verse 36). That means that if He is not Lord to any one else on earth, He is to me. It is open to us all to be on this line, and if others do not take it up it is still open to me.
I think that giving alms is far too casual a matter with us. The giving of alms and prayer are linked together, showing how important it is that giving should be done in active dependence on God, and not on the line of human kindness and benevolence. It is easy to give money or goods away, but nothing demands more grace than to give so that there is a real shining of the character of God. If we are distributing gospel wealth we have to pray for open doors and access to souls; we are concerned to have someone to receive. Now in giving alms we are just as dependent on God as in giving gospel wealth; we should pray for opportunities to give in [p. 159] such a way as would glorify God. We are not to be marked by covetousness or care, but to hold all things in relation to God. As a man begins to have treasure in heaven he becomes heavenly-hearted. What we are possessed of here is an opportunity to give. Treasure in heaven is very safe, and it is also the way we become heavenly-hearted. We need this in order to be qualified to be His bondmen in charge of His establishment while He is away; it is preparatory to our being able to take charge. He has an establishment, and He leaves it in charge of those to whom He has become their own Lord. Mary said, “They have taken away my Lord”, and Paul said, “Christ Jesus my Lord”. It is good to individualise ourselves sometimes.
The Lord has a household, an establishment, and He has left His bondmen in charge of it. He may come at any time, so everything is to be ready to receive Him. The wedding is merely a general figure; the point is that on any such occasion every servant is to be on the alert. We are to be on the alert, so that when the Lord comes we open to Him immediately; He has not to wait a moment. The bondmen are in charge; it is part of the condition contemplated. The knock shows that the Lord will intimate His desire to come in. We must disabuse our minds of any thought of the rapture in this scripture; it is not the Lord’s coming to take His saints away. It is the Lord’s establishment here; He is absent and may come at any time or repeatedly. The parable suggests His coming more than once: “if he come in the second watch and come in the third watch”, verse 38. Visitations are in view here. It is solemn that Laodicea kept Him outside.
A house is contemplated in verse 39 where the Lord is not expected. In regard of that establishment the Lord is unwelcome; it is like what He said to Sardis, “I will come upon thee as a thief”. This is in contrast with the house where there is no authority but the Lord’s, where every bondman is girded and illuminated, and ready at any moment to let Him in. For those who are in the house with another authority set up like Jezebel, the Lord has to say as He did to Sardis, “I will come upon you as a thief”. If we are not looking for Him He has to take the thief character.
Diotrephes had taken the Lord’s place (see 3 John) and was casting out of the assembly people who were the friends of Christ, to whom He was “their own Lord”; there was no [p. 160] room in his mind for such persons, for he was master of the house. Diotrephes would not have welcomed a visit from John, much less a visit from John’s Master. John represented the true Master of the house, and when he came in with authority it would soon be settled as to Diotrephes. This verse gives a clue to the whole position: these two houses still stand; the Lord’s establishment entrusted to faithful and prudent bondmen who cherish Him as their own Lord, with loins girded and lamps burning, ready for instant service at any moment of the night — for it is a night scene, we do not need lamps in the day time — and then there is the other house which has a master. When we come together we should recognise that we are the Lord’s household and that at any time He may visit His household. We see what He says, “If he come in the second watch, and come in the third watch” — that suggests repeated visitations, and however often He came they were to be ready.
These faithful bondmen are made to sit down at table and their own Lord comes and serves them. I do not think that is in heaven, for He says, “coming up he will serve them”. It is the idea of coming up to serve; it is intended to show us the extraordinary blessedness that awaits those who are maintaining conditions during the Lord’s absence. If He comes in He comes to serve, and if we are in the spirit of these bondmen we shall hear His knock, and when we open He will come in and serve us. We want to get a sense in our hearts that we are holding a place for the Lord in the world that has rejected Him; it is a place He loves to visit, and when He comes He knocks, and when we open we get the most wonderful privilege. Our service is to hold a place collectively for Him, to stand with loins girded and lights burning ready for instant service. We have not to get ourselves into trim when a knock or call comes. We so often stand ungirded; we let our thoughts and affections go ungirded here and there after other things. One has so often felt one had a splendid opportunity for service and one has let it go. The thought is that we stand ready for instant service; our lamp is to be burning so that we are not in the dark. No one in the Lord’s service is groping in the dark.
The reference to the Son of man coming brings in His universal rights. The household is a little narrower thought than what is universal. He leaves His own household and [p. 161] His bondmen to hold it for Him: there is a sphere which is held for His pleasure during His absence, and He is entitled to come there, and to be received whenever He comes. It is not exactly an administration entrusted, but more the personal relation of heart to Himself; they are waiting their own Lord and cherishing the thought that He may come at any hour, or repeatedly; and whenever He comes they are to open immediately. The reward is not a place of administration, but His personal act of love towards them; the reward corresponds with the place of trust. Nothing could be more precious than that the Lord should serve us, giving us a sense of the love that delights to serve. He comes in and the result is the servants are made to sit down and He comes up and serves them.
If the Lord serves it is without measure because He would feed us with all He enjoys Himself. It is a great thing to look for it and not to put it of to some future day, to look for it now. Then as being served by the Lord we know how to serve the household. He is the first One to serve the household, and it seems to me He sets the pattern for all the service in the household, so that anyone who had been served by Him would know the manner and style suitable to the household — there would be a grace about the service that would bring the Lord into evidence. I think it would give character to all the service in the house. “I am among you as one that serves”. That was His attitude and character all the time He was serving.
The fact that the Lord speaks of coming twice shows that the experience might be repeated. The setting of the picture seems to be simple; the Lord has a place here which is held for Him by His affectionate and faithful bondmen; the place is to be so held for Him that at any moment of the night He can come and be welcomed, and He tells us the result that when the door is opened He comes forth and makes them sit down and serves them. The Lord in John 14 says, “I am coming to you”, as if to say it would be characteristic of the time when He would be gone to the Father; He would be coming to His own and they would look out for Him and be ready for Him, and welcome any visit from Him. It suggests visitations.
The second and third watch intimate the progress of the night; the night is going on and He may come repeatedly as it goes on: If He comes once they are not to sleep for He may [p. 162] come again. Every visitation of the Lord should quicken the desire for more, so that if we have one visitation we want another.
Peter raises the question as to whom this instruction is for, and the Lord says, It is for those to whom responsibility has been committed. “Who then is the faithful and prudent steward?” — it applies to those who have been entrusted with the ministry of food to the household. Personal responsibility is emphasised. The apostles in the first place were faithful and prudent stewards, and they fed the household in full measure and in a seasonable way. Both measure and seasonableness are important. Paul, speaking of coming to Rome, says, “I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ” — the measure would be full. Epaphras wanted a full measure for his beloved Colossians; he prays that they “may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”. Then the teaching is seasonable; we cannot transpose epistles. We could not send the epistle to the Corinthians to the Philippians, or the epistle to the Philippians to the Colossians. If we want to understand the seasonableness of the corn measure we should do well to study the epistles and see how the faithful and prudent stewards fed the household; we have actual examples of faithful and prudent servants who did it.
The steward introduces the thought of administration. There is nothing administrative in the first thought of waiting and watching for the Lord; it is His own place before the hearts of His servants. But here (Verses 42 - 44) it is an administration entrusted, servants set over the household to minister food, and the reward is in keeping with the service: “Blessed is that bondman whom his Lord on coming shall find doing thus ... he will set him over all he has”. The Lord gives him a great place of administration. It suggests the thought of prudence and fidelity; the Lord may give great enlargement, so that if a servant begins with a small sphere of service the Lord may give a larger sphere. I think there is the principle of a widely extended sphere of service, though actually when the Lord takes up the inheritance His faithful servants will have a great place in it,
Now is not the time for exercising rule; our capacity for rule depends on our ability to feed. The wicked bondman takes up the place of rule, and feeding stops and beating begins, We see in the epistles to the Corinthians Paul’s beautiful spirit;
[p. 163] he would not take the place of having dominion over them but as being helper of their joy; 2 Corinthians 1: 24.
The corn would suggest what is made good in Christ as risen and even glorified. Peter had a feeding commission for the lambs and for the sheep; and the elders at Ephesus had been made overseers by the Holy Spirit to shepherd the assembly of God. There are those who have responsibility in that way, and there are different measures of responsibility according to what is given to us; we are not told to make bricks without straw, or to go to warfare at our own charges. It is a question of handling what has been given to us. It was said to Archippus, “Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord”. The thing has been received; we have not to work up something out of our own resources. The corn is given, the stock is there; it has only to be served out with fidelity and prudence. Peter says in his first epistle (chapter 4: 10), “each according as he has received a gift, ministering it to one another, as good stewards of the various grace of God. If any one minister — as of strength which God supplies; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the might for the ages of ages”. This brings out how everything is supplied. The servants have not to find the food for the household; it is put in their hands, and the ability to serve is God-given, so it is for each one of us seriously to face the question as to what we have. My measure is the measure of faith and grace which God has dealt to me. I have not responsibility for the measure you have, but I have as to my own, and the Lord would raise the question with us what measure of grace has been allotted to each brother or sister, for whether large or small that is what we have to use for the good of the household. If we want to know how the lambs and sheep are to be fed and shepherded, we cannot do better than study Peter’s epistles; we shall see there the kind of food that a man served out who had a special commission and the ability to exercise it.
The hindrance with us often is that we do not really take stock of what has been entrusted to us. The grace of God is “all various” or “many-coloured”, 1 Peter 4: 10. In Romans 12 we are exhorted to think soberly according to the measure of faith which God has dealt to each of us. Now what measure of faith has He dealt to me? It is no use to say He has not dealt a measure of faith to me, because He says He has; and [p. 164] so it is well to take stock and find out the measure. Peter says it is grace given us. When we have taken stock we must realise that what we have is for the benefit of the household; it is not given for private consumption. The spiritual stock that we have lies in the knowledge of God which has come to us through Jesus Christ. If we have not any stock we had better look into the matter and find out why it is. There is a great deal of stock that is being, as it were, shut up in a store-room instead of being served out. My impression is that there is an immense amount of latent gift, a great deal of divinely given ability not exercised through different reasons. It is for every one of us to take that to heart and see to it that if there is ability it is exercised, and that we are good stewards of the manifold grace of God. The increase of the knowledge of God goes on; the result of the brethren coming in contact with one another is a constant increase in the knowledge of God, and a greater and fuller volume of praise when we come together in assembly. The measure of that is the measure in which we are fed. Peter is much on the line of addition and increase and growth. We want to give an impression to the brethren of great stores as we come into contact with them — not that it is a lean time, but a very fat time. The true character of the house is that there is a full measure of corn seasonably served out. We cannot admit for a moment that anything else will do for the Lord’s household; His household is so beautifully ordered that nothing less than full measure and perfect seasonableness will do. Am I doing my bit in this wonderful establishment? If I am a scullery maid I cannot do the work of the head cook or the chief butler, but every servant has his bit, and it is not reproach to me if I cannot do what you do. Nothing gives one greater joy than to see a brother or sister doing something which one cannot do oneself. It gives one profound joy and one thanks the Lord for it, for we all feel how restricted we are; we can only do our little bit, and the household needs the accumulated service of all. We do not want to be beating our fellow-bondmen, finding fault with them; we are thankful to see them doing their bit. There is a ministry in the Lord as was said to Archippus; and the more we pray the more our service will be purified. For instance a brother might be able to speak very well and might get a place by his speaking, but that might be natural ability. The ability to charm people by the way you put things [p. 165] out might be merely a human quality; but as a man prays he would seek more and more that his ministry might not be a human impression; he would not like to impress people by human personality, but he would long that his ministry might be in the Lord. He would not want his ministry to command admiration and applause, but that it should do the work of God — that is what is wanted.
The Lord in His administration had accorded a certain place of service to Archippus, and he was not disposed to fill it up. Most of us are guilty of that. I believe for every one who goes beyond his measure there are nine who do not come up to it; and the reason that one goes beyond is that the other nine are not coming up to it and so leaving room for the one.
Then there is the bondman who says, “My lord delays his coming” and the sense of responsibility is relaxed; it leads to fault-finding, beating other servants and taking the place of authority. He is marked by self-indulgence, eating and drinking and being drunken — he is the wicked bondman, and his end is to be cut in two. It is a great contrast to verses 44 and 45. The principle of responsibility is very important; we are apt not to think enough of it. The Lord’s support depends on our definitely taking up responsibility.
There is such a thing as knowing the Lord’s will and not doing it. We see the principle of government here; the Lord exercises it even now. It is a very serious thing to be well acquainted with the Lord’s mind. To receive light means responsibility and more “stripes” if we do not prepare ourselves to do the Lord’s will. I think the Lord in His government deals out stripes where they are due. His government goes on; and I believe the Lord will not suffer in us what He suffers in some of our brethren who have less light. Some of our brethren do things with a good conscience and the Lord suffers it, but if we do them we come under His discipline. His government goes on and we are all under it, and it is a mercy that we are.
The grace in which the Lord came is greatly magnified in this gospel, but it is not less true that He came to cast a fire upon the earth. It necessarily follows that if God brings in what is of Himself it judges everything not of Himself. It must be so. It is a very serious consideration that, the whole light of what God is in grace having been brought in, it now [p. 166] becomes the judgment of everything contrary to it. Paul speaks of the law not having its application to a righteous person, “but to the lawless and insubordinate, to the impious and sinful, to the unholy and profane ... and if any other thing is opposed to sound teaching, according to the glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted”, I Timothy I: g. That is, everything contrary to the glad tidings is brought under judgment by the glad tidings coming in.
Grace reigns in the soul of the believer to bring about self-judgment; that is the normal effect of the light of God. In that way the fire comes into the soul of the repentant sinner; the fire burns in the way of self-judgment, but if the fire does not cause self-judgment it makes manifest the necessity for judgment. The fire is cast on the earth; the Lord says, “what will I if it be already kindled?” He, as it were, shrinks from the thought; it excites feelings of distress and almost horror in His mind, but it was so.
Nothing manifests the lawless state of men like this gospel. The law does not do it; the law says, Do this and do that, and you must not do this and that. But in the gospel God comes out and says, See what provision I have made for you, see what I have done for you; and man’s answer is, I do not want you and I do not care to be reconciled to you. That is how the gospel manifests the state of man, but it produces self-judgment where it is received; it brings about repentance, but it throws a solemn light on those who do not receive it; the fire is cast on the earth. God coming near to man is casting fire on the earth; it has brought such light that it casts the fire of judgment on those who do not repent; they can escape by repentance. The whole system of darkness is judged, and the only way men can escape from it is by repentance. The scribes, the Pharisees and the lawyers were judged; the whole system was judged by God being there in grace, and those who repented turned away from it all; they turned to God in grace and repented of everything in the system of darkness. And it must be so today. I do not see how there could be repentance without everyone being salted with fire. Isaiah said, “Woe is me, for I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips”. He felt he must get away from self and from his associations; they were all as bad as he was, they were all unclean — [p. 167] that was the effect of the fire coming in. If the light comes in with one person it exposes others. If any one of us begins to fear God and walk in His ways, it condemns those who do not fear God. One praying man in a town condemns all the town because they do not pray. If a few saints seek to walk in the truth they condemn all those who belong to the traditional religion of Christendom; a few walking in truth bring judgment on all contrary to it.
The blind man of John 9 condemned the synagogue. There was the work of God in him and the Pharisees were against it and so were condemned by it. The proper effect of any testimony for God individually or collectively is that it judges everything contrary to it; so it brings not peace but division. The Lord says, Do you think I am come to bring peace on earth? “Nay, I say unto you, but rather division”. His coming would divide families. If a household is not subjugated to Christ there will be division. The time has not come yet for universal peace, but the bringing in of what is of God will bring division. In Genesis we read that God divided the light from the darkness. It is God’s principle; if He brings in light it must make division.
In verse 59 the Lord calls attention to going along with an adverse party before the magistrate; when the case comes before the magistrate it will have to be dealt with, and a righteous judgment given, but on the way there is opportunity for reconciliation. God is saying now, If I am in the position of the adverse party there is opportunity to be reconciled. The Lord is saying this to Christendom now. The time has not yet come for judgment and final condemnation. It is in keeping with what He says to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3; He tells them to repent. He is the adverse party; He says, “I have against you”. If there is anything about any of us that is not in accord with Christ, He says, Repent of that, have done with it, get it judged, be reconciled. It is very searching. The whole principle is that man is offered opportunity to repent; every individual has opportunity to repent, and the church has opportunity to repent.
“This time” (verse 56) is the character of the dispensation. They could look round and say, It is a fine day; they could understand natural things, but the great spiritual character of the moment they did not see. Jehovah was there in the Person of Jesus and they could be reconciled to Him on the [p. 168] simple principle of repentance. Now this is a universal principle: it is a time when everyone can be reconciled on the footing of repentance. God says, I am compelled to be adverse because your ways are not Mine, but you have only to repent and I am ready to be reconciled. The Lord has a controversy with the assembly as He had with Israel, and there is opportunity now to be reconciled, but it is always on the basis of repentance.