READING IN LUKE 9
READING IN LUKE 9
The ministry of the twelve now begins. The Lord does not go with them. He gives them power and authority and sends them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. The idea of apostleship is that the person sent had been with the one who sent him. Having been with Christ, the apostles became acquainted with Him and understood His mind. Thus they could rightly represent Him. Moses is, typically, the apostle. He had been with the Lord on the mount, and there he learnt God’s mind; hence he established the divine system in Israel.
The apostles had a great deal to learn in companionship with the Lord, as seen in chapter 8. They would learn that the “flesh profits nothing”, and then it was most important that they should become acquainted with the Lord’s way of doing things. The instruction in chapter 8 affords all this. That chapter indicates the conditions under which they were to serve. It is of the greatest importance in service that the servant should understand the conditions under which he is to carry out his ministry.
[p. 43] The presence of Christ in Israel brought into evidence a wonderful set of conditions. There was the presence of God in Christ acting in grace, and this must overleap the limits of Israel; and there was the nation of Israel with its ancient privileges, but it was now proved reprobate by the rejection of the Lord’s testimony. To serve intelligently, the apostles should see the adjustment of all these things; the Lord’s work and teaching, seen in chapter 8 furnishes this. The terrible state into which the Jews had fallen is depicted therein, verse 26 - 39, and hence the apostles could expect nothing but constant opposition; but the Lord had demonstrated the superiority of His power, and with this power they are endued as sent out. What every servant needs is power. “The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power”. In the presence of the imposing religious systems of today, which are really hostile, how can we expect our testimony to be accredited apart from God’s power?
It is well to remember that conditions are constantly changing. Christendom is not now what it was fifty years ago. The apostles were evidently successful in their mission. They return to the Lord, relating to Him what they had done, verse 10. They are taken aside by the Lord, which indicates His gracious care for them. But here they are confronted by the multitude, and this becomes a tremendous test for them. It is one thing to exercise power in preaching and the like, but quite another to care for people and feed them. As yet the Spirit of the Shepherd was lacking in the apostles. Their thought was to send the multitude away.
If you rely on gift, that is all very well, but if you have a crowd of five thousand people on your hands, what are you going to do? In a sense it is easy to stand up and preach, but after the preaching is over you have the crowd. Effective preaching [p. 44] must be in power, but feeding and shepherding people is another thing. This involves the sense of moral obligation. The saints are on Christ’s heart, and the faithful servant gives a portion of meat to His household, Matthew 24: 45, 46.
The Lord would not send hungry people away; He tells the disciples to give them to eat. The apostles were to be trained how to act when He was away; but the great thing is to learn to accept obligation to care for others. People are starved for want of care in those who really have food. In Christ there was care for all. If you have a heart at all you do not want to send needy people away. If they come, what are you going to do? You must be exercised before God and accept the obligation. Christ had received the crowds and the disciples would send them away hungry! — this was very poor. It may be thought that preaching belongs to one and feeding to another. Paul did both; he preached and cared for the saints in every other way as well. See Acts 20. The twelve in Acts 6, unburdened themselves of the care of the saints as to temporal things, appointing deacons for this; but Paul accepted every obligation. The point is to accept the obligation to feed, and if you do, the Lord will come in and there will be food.
If you meet a stray sheep in your daily life you direct him to the meeting — where the Spirit is recognised there will be something for the sheep. This kind of service is obscure and will not bring you into such prominence as the exercise of gift in preaching will, but the Lord takes note of it. When Saul came into evidence he was searching for his father’s lost asses; but David is first noted as caring for his father’s sheep; they were not lost. These facts afford an insight into the respective characters of the men. David took care of the sheep and saved them from the lion and the bear; and when called to other [p. 45] service he left the sheep in the hand of a keeper. In obscurity David displayed the spirit of a shepherd, and so was called to shepherd God’s people. The Lord delights in the saints accepting moral obligation. Such an obligation is one that love would accept; legally we may avoid it.
As to food, we may have very little, but if we pass it through the Lord’s hands it becomes an abundance. There is more left over than there was at the outset. After all were sufficed there was enough for full administrative goodness — twelve baskets.
This was a wholly new kind of service for the disciples. They were to feed the multitude. The little they thought they had was taken up by the Lord and increased, we may say, infinitely, and then they are to be the administrators of it. This was great grace on the Lord’s part, and it afforded a wonderful experience for the apostles. We may-note, also, the order which marked the occasion. The people were made to sit down in companies. They were one whole, all feeding on the same food, administered by the same Person, but marked off by fifties; each, we may say, representing a little circle of fellowship. This is the divine way. It does not appear that the Lord intended huge congregations. Of course, one is always thankful to see large numbers of saints together, but, as a rule, we thrive better in smaller companies. The Lord spoke of the “little flock”. We should be humbled that so few are affected by the testimony, but thankful for the little circles of fellowship which God affords us.