"LET NOTHING BE WANTING"

Colossians 1: 24-26; Ephesians 3: 1-21

A.A.B. What was stated yesterday as to the twelve superintendents of Solomon, that "they let nothing be wanting" (1 Kings 4: 27), has since grown in one's mind and was confirmed largely by the experience this morning. I wondered if we could consider how that comes into expression in Paul. It could be traced in others, in Peter and John, I suppose in measure in every true minister. The verses in Colossians seem to extend the thought a little. Paul speaks of filling up what is behind of the tribulations of Christ. He seemed to be extended in suffering and then in his service manward. It was given to him to complete the word of God, but he says "the dispensation of God which is given me towards you". We have therefore Paul's service manward in the communication and delivery of what was committed to him; he had an administration, things were laid upon him. So we have him extended in suffering and in service. In Ephesians 3 is really the culmination of his ministry - "all the counsel of God", Acts 20: 27. It is a very compressed thought, but it is greatly extended in chapter 3 of this epistle. So we see Paul extended in the exercise of his gift, and how, in being extended, he turns to prayer, being unable to bring the saints any further; and in bowing his knees to the Father we see him extended in the service of God. In Romans 12 he is alone in the doxology but in Ephesians 3 we are brought into it as in the assembly in Christ Jesus. These are waters to swim in!

E.C.B. These scriptures refer explicitly to the mystery; in fact, that is largely the substance of the scriptures you have had read. Have you something particular in mind as to that in regard to Paul letting nothing be wanting?

A.A.B. That is exactly what was in one's mind. In your prayer you used the word 'acme'; it is the pinnacle of Paul's ministry that is our concern. At Corinth he was limited because the state was such; he had a measure to reach them - God gave him that measure - not to over-reach them, but nevertheless to reach them on moral lines. But in Ephesians he is writing to "the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus"; there is a capacity and a state which is capable of taking on what was entrusted to Paul. The mystery is really the key to everything.

E.C.B. As the scripture was being read I was thinking of the familiar verse in Romans 16: "as to which silence has been kept" (v 25), as if it was all in the divine knowledge but waited a day for its full exposition.

A.A.B. And that is the day we are in, is it not? There never was a day like it before and we must not lose sight of this and the greatness of the assembly. We are not to take our bearings from the breakdown, nor even from the consideration of matters involving judgment, save that judgment may be by way of approval - there is judgment in Philippians 1: 10, judging and approving "the things that are more excellent".

A.J.E.W. We were impressed last weekend with the fact that this reference to the mystery in Ephesians 3 leads into two lines of thought: the administration (v 9) - that is something which, we might say, comes from God - and then the response in the latter section of the chapter which is towards Him. I wonder if that links with what you are thinking.

A.A.B. It does. I trust we may be deepened in what you refer to in Ephesians 3. But I think the importance of being extended in suffering is great; if the truth of the mystery was to reach the saints it reached them by means of the sufferings of Paul testimonially. The testimonial sufferings have been referred to in relation to these verses in Colossians and Paul was concerned to fill up that which was behind of the tribulations of Christ in his flesh. But you could say something about that.

A.J.E.W. Only to confirm the point that you make, that his reference to the completion of the word of God is linked on with the sufferings and an evident feeling that suffering needed to be taken on more, something in which he gives a lead.

A.A.B. Yes; the commanding principle, I think, in his life was that what had been entrusted to him should reach the saints, and whatever that entailed he was prepared for. He refers to his sufferings in writing to Corinth, but apologetically. He says you have made me a fool in boasting. But there they were. One feels so measured by it. How comfortable our Christianity is generally!

J.C.E. In our own circumstances we do not have a measure of suffering by any means such as Paul had, but we have what we speak of as limitations. They are not intended to limit the extent of the work of God but rather the reverse, are they not?

A.A.B. That is right, I think. I am not saying that there is not suffering among the brethren; there is. But these are testimonial sufferings that Paul speaks of: "sufferings for you". Of course Paul is Paul, there is no other quite like him, but it is only just to see that there is such a thing as letting nothing be lacking on that li ne. One has to turn against oneself in the ability often to evade suffering publicly.

A.H.M. The testimonial sufferings are sufferings that we can take on, are they not? whereas the Lord Jesus undertook the atoning sufferings and no one else can do that.

A.A.B. Yes, that is important. Peter witnessed the sufferings of the Christ in testimonial character.

J.M.W. Would a verse in Acts 20 support what you are saying? Paul says "But I make no account of my life as dear to myself, so that I finish my course, and the ministry which I have receive d of the Lord Jesus, to testify the glad tidings of the grace of God" (v 24).

A.A.B. Yes, that is appropriate. You see how far on Paul is, that his life was not dear to him. We have to know what is meant by losing our lives, and hating them too. "He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal", John 12: 25.

D.J.H. Are you connecting this with what we had yesterday - the word of the cross - as applicable to us?

A.A.B. That would come into it I think, but there is more than that here; it is the word of God, the opening up of the whole mind of God and light as to God and as to His purpose.

D.J.H. I was thinking of the application of the word of the cross on our side, as taking our place in the testimonial sufferings that we have been referring to; would all that is in the word of God for us then open up?

A.A.B. Yes I think so; in that sense there would be nothing wanting. 'Nothing wanting' is an extensive matter to consider. Of course we need it ourselves; the man of God is to be complete, "fully fitted to ever good work", 2 Tim 3: 17. There is nothing wanting in the man of God in that sense; but then to reach on to what is for God and see an order of things in which there is nothing wanting, an eternal order, and to know that it is extant. This little word 'now' in Ephesians 3 is very significant: "now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies might be made known through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God, according to the purpose of the ages."

D.A.B. Paul says in relation to Ephesus that "a great door is opened... and an effectual one, and the adversaries many", 1 Cor 16: 9. Has he these things in his mind? There was a need for conflict in view of this way that was opening up being put into the possession of the saints.

A.A.B. Yes, and he himself was in circumstances of limitation. We have the acme of his service as being in those circumstances in prison.

E.P. What would you say is the motivating power to take this on?

A.A.B. Love.

E.P. Yes, I can understand that. Could you say how that works out? Love would be a great general matter, the knowledge of God I suppose, but do you think that there might be some specific features of that love that would help us?

A.A.B. I think what is towards us is the first thing: "We love because he has first loved us," 1 John 4: 19. That I think is the motivating power, that the holy love of God affects us, it is towards us. Paul uses the expression 'towards you'; we have what is towards man, in that sense. But then there is what is to God· it is still love, love in response.

V.H.B. Does it link with the Lord's words in John 16: "In the world ye have tribulation; but be of good courage: I have overcome the world" (v 33)? That is followed by chapter 17.

A.A.B. Yes. The understanding of that would be behind us, I think, in what we are seeking to reach, that so far as the world is concerned, as John says, it knows us not because it knew Him not.

C.B. Love at home first.

A.A.B. Yes, chapter 1, then away from home in chapter 2; now chapter 3 as we have often noticed is a parenthesis. It seems that his mind was to exhort, according to verse 1 of chapter 4, but then being such a vessel of the Spirit Paul's mind is turned into what is contained in this parenthesis.

E.C.B. In 1 Kings 4 to which you are referring, it does not appear that commandment of any kind was given to the superintendents. Solomon had them just as he had princes. I suppose it was some apprehension of the scope of Solomon as king that led them to work in unfolding and bringing into effect everything that characterised the kingdom; therefore it starts with appreciation.

A.A.B. Yes exactly, the sense of obligation: "a necessity is laid upon me", 1 Cor 9: 16. He was not a spare time man; most of us have been that, we do a little when we can, but Paul is wholly committed as having a necessity laid upon him. Now the spirit of that would be conveyed in what reaches us through him, would it not?

E.C.B. Yes; and would you think that Epaphras - I think Mr Darby has described him as not a gifted man - is on this line? He is evidently bound up in love with the Colossians where he was local, but he prays "that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God", Col 4: 12. He is turned to prayer within his own scope.

A.A.B. Yes, that is instructive, how he turns to prayer, as Paul does - the truth conveyed in his prayer. Truth comes out in the prayers of Scripture and in the songs of Scripture.

E.C.B. You referred to the words in Colossians: "I rejoice in sufferings for you", and in Ephesians 3 he beseeches the brethren not to faint on account of his tribulations for them. Could you say something about that as bearing on the aspect from which we enter into these sufferings at all, because it seems almost as if Paul would spare the saints.

A.A.B. Well, it is just a touch. Verse 13 is a complete verse and it shows Paul's consideration for the saints that they should not faint through his sufferings. It shows the tenderness of Paul in the course of unfolding what had been entrusted to him, that for a moment he could turn aside and beseech the saints not to faint through his tribulations. I think it is very affecting.

A.H.M. I was wondering whether something more could be said as to Mr Welch's remark, that the principle of suffering is something which we need to take on more.

A.A.B. Well, we will ask Mr Welch to enlarge on it.

A.J.E.W. He speaks of that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ. There was evidently something lacking, as you have remarked, and it seems to affect the spirit of Paul in the sense that he is accepting a fuller line of suffering himself and giving a lead in this matter among the saints, because surely the wifely side of the assembly's relations to Christ involves that she has, not only a full appreciation of, but a full part in, the sufferings which what is of Him occasion.

A.A.B. Yes. In that way she is suitable to Christ - the bride, the Lamb's wife. So the whole vessel, so to speak, comes in there, what the assembly has been as a suffering vessel. Many of our sufferings are comparatively minor, but there are some of our brethren as we know, not very far away, who are under actual persecution; they go in fear of their lives; and the privations are another feature of suffering. Paul was deprived as he wrote to the Corinthians; he speaks of nakedness, and hunger (see 2 Cor 11: 27). Think of him writing an epistle in those conditions of deprivation. At such a cost the truth of the mystery has reached us.

J.S.G. Do you see any link with the reference to 'generation' in Isaiah 53 which follows "He was taken from oppression and from judgment" (v 8)? The footnote to 'oppression' refers to having the moral force of detention or constraint. I wondered whether several references in that chapter would involve this kind of suffering in the Lord's case, and whether there is an allusion to the continuation of it morally in the reference to generation.

A.A.B. Yes. That chapter concentrates our attention upon Christ the Sufferer and the offerings: His soul made an offering for sin. But with the sin-offering there is the oblation in Isaiah 53. It is that kind of manhood which is needed for suffering. You see it in Paul, his spirit is not disturbed by the imprisonment: "I, the prisoner in the Lord", and "I Paul, prisoner of the Christ Jesus". It does not take much to get our spirits disturbed in suffering, but the consideration of what you speak of in Isaiah 53 greatly helps us; it is food for us.

W.H.S. Is the expression of Paul here in Colossians "Now, I rejoice in sufferings for you", calculated to affect the saints? Most of us get doleful if there is anything in the way of suffering or even anything on our spirits, but he says "I rejoice in sufferings for you", as if he is totally buoyant and above the circumstances.

A.A.B. Yes, and the compensation for suffering is glory; they are related matters. "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us", Rom 8: 18.

D.L.S. Would that expression "which is your glory" in verse 13 fit? The apostle seems to be suggesting that the line of suffering, in himself at any rate, was a mark of favour for these Gentile believers.

A.A.B. "Which is your glory", yes. I think it is to counteract the tendency to faint, that we should see that in Paul's sufferings there was something in which we can glory.

D.L.S. Is it not so that, throughout the dispensation and the time of the recovery, so much has come in the way of suffering?

A.A.B. I think that is right. And in the recovery there has been suffering; the men of God - there is no doubt about it - understood Paul's intelligence in the mystery. Paul's intelligence was Paul's intelligence; it was Paul's, but he says "by which, in reading it, ye can understand my intelligence in the mystery". It puts a premium on reading.

E.C.B. Would you think that verse 13 is an example of what Mr Darby describes as 'Paul's abrupt style' (see note to Rom 10: 1), that the ultimate objective of "my tribulations" is that the saints might understand what their glory was?

A.A.B. I think so; and he has no need to enlarge on them as he does to the Corinthians. It is very wonderful to see how Paul hastens to hide himself in this chapter. The greatest thing was revealed to him. He speaks of the revelation of the mystery, and then he hastens to hide himself; "To me, less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given". Partially, he does it in referring to the apostles and prophets; he says "it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets"; that involves others. The apostles have gone but the prophets remain; and that is how, I believe the revival began and took place and continues.

E.C.B. Would you think that Paul's reference to announcing "among the nations the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ" might raise with us the question whether in preaching we let anything be wanting? Not that we can cover the full scope of Paul's glad tidings every Lord's day evening, but we should preach, as you were suggesting earlier, not from the background of breakdown and weakness but in relation to the fulness.

A.A.B. That is clear, I think, that his allusions to the glad tidings in that verse, and earlier to "the administration of the grace of God", involve that he would allow for the truth of the mystery even to come into his glad tidings. The glad tidings is the greatest thing; it includes the truth of the mystery.

H.A.H. It involves that administration would be at the level of the glad tidings and the grace of it in the assembly, does it not? One has concern - and I heard of an instance of it in an interview only this week - that there is sometimes a lack of the spirit of grace. We sing the hymn 'No reproach, no condemnation' (No 321) and yet might approach one another as if there were.

A.A.B. Well, it is "the administration of the grace of God", Paul says, "which has been given to me towards you". And then later: "To me, less than the least of all saints, has this grace been given". It comes to Paul and through Paul to us - grace, and power too: "according to... his power".

D.A.B. We do not have this other letter that he referred to in verse 3. I was just thinking that we need the Spirit to enter into the fulness of what Paul outlines in this chapter.

A.A.B. I think the fact that he says "briefly" means that it was brief; but chapter 3 is not brief, it is the matter in the greatest possible depth, the mystery He is not writing briefly here; this is the letter we have. It is wonderful, is it not? We must not miss the mystery.

D.A.B. I was thinking of the way that he had perhaps taken this occasion, as you say; as it is in parenthesis it was not immediately before him as he took up writing to them, but in order to give us the fulness of what may be ours.

A.A.B. I thought that, and that in the principle of it he is letting nothing be wanting. He could have held it back, but he did not. He held back nothing of what was profitable. That is a great concern in the publication of ministry I think, the printed ministry at the present time if I may say so, that nothing that is profitable should be held back. There is plenty of what is profitable but it should not be held back.

E.C.B. I am very glad of that encouragement. The counterpart of that is that there should be a readiness to receive it and to read it, is it not?

A.A.B. Yes, that is true; and as I said, there is a premium on reading. It is not everything, but Mr Lyon said to me in my youth, If you do not read before you are forty, you will not read after. I did not take much notice just then, but I found that to be true. Read and ponder and keep; things will grow in the soul like that. So there is the revelation of the mystery and the administration of the mystery. Not the mystery of the administration - alas, that has to be thought of, but that is not here; it is the administration of the mystery. Now there is something for the angels and principalities in that connection.

E.C.B. Perhaps you would say a bit more about what we are to understand by the administration of the mystery, because as you read straight through there, it almost seems as if creation has been in view of these things being observed in the assembly.

A.A.B. Yes, it seems that: "who has created all things" - that is really the expanse, I think - "in order that now to the principalities and authorities in the heaven lies might be made known". The mystery is made known to Paul and the apostles and prophets, but this is something made known, "the all-various wisdom of God", through, "through the assembly". It magnifies our conception of the assembly as an administrative vessel.

E.C.B. Do you think Paul was striving to reach this in Corinth in chapter 1 where he speaks of Christ as God's wisdom and of His being made to us wisdom? Is he seeking to strengthen the Corinthians in relation to the administration of the mystery?

A.A.B. Yes, it would be in his soul as much as it is here. He is unfolding, he is extending himself, I think, as a minister here. It is a wonderful contemplation to see a minister extended.

J.C.E. There was another way in which he was extended; he speaks of 'all saints' so much. I wondered if sometimes in our thinking there is something lacking; in our prayers maybe it is not easy to form an apprehension of all saints, or of all men for that matter, but it is to come more and more into our affections and prayers, do you not think?

A.A B. Yes. This is all to broaden us, to give us in our apprehension "with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height". I think we feel ofttimes how restricted, how withdrawn, we are; that is not so in this chapter; it is the expanse really.

E.P. Does the initial touch that the Lord gave Paul colour what he has to say here, and is it carried forward throughout his ministry? The Lord said "Why dost thou persecute me?" when He was speaking about the saints.

A.A.B. Yes, it is; that is the tender side of things, is it not? - tenderness in administration. Solomon was young and tender, probably the greatest administrator personally that has ever been - Moses, too, but in the wilderness - but Solomon at the zenith of his power, not only typically, but personally, what he was as a king and a judge. There was not a case that he could not adjudicate upon, but so tenderly. He needed a sword; we do too; David needed it, but it was not to divide.

J.S.G. Do Paul's feelings come out when he says "Who is stumbled, and I burn not?", 2 Cor 11: 29?

A.A.B. That is it. In this very epistle he comes down to the feelings of a child; a child is not to be provoked (see chap 6: 4). He is feeling for the children. Well, we do not want to make too much of Paul; this matter of administration, the administration of the mystery, requires the assembly.

T.J.B. Do we see the side of extension that you are speaking of in the reference to enlightening all? I was thinking of what entered into Paul's ministry in the way of enlightenment, and of what you said earlier as to Paul being able to take the saints no further, that when it comes to a question of what is bestowed upon the saints in verse 16 he bows his knees to the Father that He might give.

A.A.B. Yes, I think what you referred to in connection with enlightening all is consistent with what was referred to just now as to the gospel. Paul would enlighten all "with the knowledge of what is the administration of the mystery". He would do it. If he met a man on the street he would do that. I do not know whether we look at men, those around us, like that. If our souls were fuller, if we were bathed in this matter of the mystery more, what testimony there would be! But the assembly is required, it is a necessity; not only the creation but the assembly.

E.C.B. In the letting of nothing be wanting you have referred to Paul being extended. Do you think that in the working out of things and in service, the saints have a part in extending the servant? I have wondered sometimes whether that may have been lacking in a meeting, and thus the saints have not received all that they might have done. Do you think that is so?

A.A.B. Yes I do; I think it is evident that in what Paul ministered he was affected by the environment in which he was. Now at Ephesus he writes to "the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus". That is an allusion, not simply to their status, but their state. Hence there was there the capability of receiving and liberating Paul, I think. He is so free, is he not, in certain environments?

E.C.B. It is what was referred to earlier as a great door and an effectual "opened to me", 1 Cor 16: 9. I have wondered sometimes, speaking quite practically, whether in meetings such as this, the saints, that is really to say the brothers, could not contribute more by way of extending the servant. You have served a long time; I have in fact noticed in your own ministry occasions when I thought that more might have come out of what you began with than did come out.

A.A.B. Well, I think that we do find that. Did not Mr Stoney say that he knew the state of the saints in a place by what the Lord gave him for them? I do not know that I could say that. But there it is, it confirms what you say.

J.C.E. Do you think on this line of what might be lacking we need to know how to pray more intelligently? I was thinking of the man who went at midnight and said "let me have three loaves" (Luke 11: 5), because the testimony had reached him and he needed something to sustain it with.

A.A.B. That is very interesting. That passage shows what happens among friends. Someone does not want to be disturbed, but the knock comes at the door and he says, I want something, I do not want it for myself, I want it for someone else. It is like the servant in Genesis 24, it was not for himself, it was for another. So he gets up and he gives it to him.

J.C.E. I was thinking, too, of the women that came out from Galilee with Jesus and ministered to Him. The sisters can take comfort from that, that the Lord will reveal to them what is needed, or they will find out what is needed in the course of the testimony, just the same as those women did.

A.A.B. Just so; they had substance.

R.W.F. In connection with what was said as to extending a servant, it says in Proverbs 27: "Iron is sharpened by iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" (v 17). ls the point there, not so much the hardness of the iron, but the maturity of manhood which will bring out the truth?

A.A.B. Yes. "Counsel in the heart of man is deep water, and a man of understanding draweth it out", Prov 20: 5. What readings we would have, dear brethren!

D.J.H. Is that what Paul has in mind when he says "Our mouth is opened to you, Corinthians, our heart is expanded"? He says "Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your affections... let your heart also expand itself", 2 Cor 6: 11-13. Did he want the Corinthians to expand so that his expansion could be used to the full?

A.A.B. Yes, that is right. Move on: Rome, Corinth, Ephesus; that is the route. Move on into Ephesus. What are the weather conditions? It is raining at Corinth, it is cloudy at Colosse, it is overcast in Galatia, but there is shining in Ephesus, shining from a cloudless sky. Is anyone asleep? Well, do not shout at him, but give him a word as you go by; "Wake up, thou that sleepest", Eph 5: 14.

C.G.H. Does the administration of the mystery largely reach the saints now through gift?

A.A.B. That is true. I think it is to be in all the saints too. Gift is a provisional matter, it will not go into heaven; the assembly will. So the great thing is the assembly and its administrative glory, finally as a vessel of glory Godward, but firstly it is administrative glory, the administration of the mystery. Every occasion of administration should bring into our minds the august character of the assembly, especially where judgment is required, not of evil only, but the judgment and the approval of excellent things. Take a scripture like Daniel 7: 9; "I beheld till thrones were set, and the Ancient of days did sit: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was flames of fire, and its wheels burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him" - that is a million - "and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set". It is a scene of judicial glory; that should be in mind as we go to the care meeting, should it not?

E.C.B. Very much so. Lower down (v 14) it says “And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom"; we are immediately directed in our minds to the mystery of the Person of Christ. The administration of the mystery bears on what we speak of as administration, but it also bears on "they let nothing be wanting", does it not? It is the spirit of 2 Corinthians 3.

A.A.B. I thought that; "they let nothing be wanting". So that matters are rounded off; the throne that Solomon made, it says, "was rounded behind", 1 Kings 10: 19. It had steps; you arrive at judgment, not by taking steps two at a time but step by step; and then the throne was rounded behind, there is nothing projecting; it is the completion of the matter in that sense.

E.C.B. In the secular world administration properly is giving effect to policy in the best way. Now if for policy we substitute the purpose of God - the giving effect to the purpose of God in the most effective way currently - that would be the administration of the mystery, would it?

A.A.B. Yes, I think so; and then the recognition and application of divine principles and the avoidance of expediency. Finally the thought of nothing being wanting, I think, is fully seen in what the prayer leads to, especially the last sentence of Ephesians 3; there is nothing wanting now in what is to Him.

J.C.E. Do you think that the corresponding exercise to let nothing be lacking would be that nothing be lost, as the Lord said. I think we are in danger of letting things slip away from us.

A.A.B. Yes, that is another great principle, that nothing should be lost. That comes in in relation to the feeding of the multitude, so we need the hand baskets to take it away with us on a journey.

E.P. Do you think that the whole matter of administration devolves upon the fact that things are going to work, otherwise they may be set before us as a plan sketched out, but the administration of that makes the thing practical and workable.

A.A.B. And that requires power. There is "the power of the Spirit" (v 6), and "according to the working of his power" (v 7), and then "strengthened with power" (v 16) and "according to the power which works" (v 20). If things are to work power is needed, active internal power. The old illustration of the steam locomotive is suitable; it is not the steam that comes out that is doing the work; that may create the noise, but the power is in what is within in the boiler and in the cylinders. That is how the thing works - active, internal power.

 

(Revised by the Editor and not by Mr.Bellamy - with Christ 18 February 1981)

 

London

18 January 1981

 

Key to initials

(All local unless otherwise stated)

A.A.Bellamy, Buckhurst Hill; C.Beale; D.A.Burr; E.C.Burr; T.J.Burr; V.H.Browne; J.C.Evershed;R.W.Flowerdew; J.S.Gray; C.G.Hitchcock; D.J.Hutson; H.A.Hutson;

A.H. Munster; E.Palmer; D.L.Stewart, Edinburgh; W. H.Shephard, Bedford; A.J.E.Welch; J.M.Wallach