SPIRITUAL SPEAKING
[p. 17] SPIRITUAL SPEAKING
1 Corinthians 2: 12, 13; Ecclesiastes 12: 9 - 11
The present period is a dispensation of speaking. It is marked by the Father speaking, and the Son speaking, and the Holy Spirit speaking; and spiritual persons are speaking, too, as we have been reminded this evening from Malachi 3: 16. We have been reading lately of the treasures of the house of God, and we have had before us now how wisdom fills the treasuries of those who love her.
It is of deep interest to consider that divine treasures take intelligible form by being expressed in words. We are capable of receiving and communicating divine things by means of words, and our intelligent bond with one another is realised as we speak one to another. It may, of course, be truly said that the Lord and the Spirit are our bond, but there is no intelligent bond unless spiritual things are communicated in words. Peter said to the Lord, on behalf of the twelve, “Thou hast words of life eternal” (John 6: 68). Those words, those particular communications, were the link between the Lord and them.
The speaking of the apostle, as referred to in 1 Corinthians 2: 13, was in “words ... taught by the Spirit”, and his service was marked by “communicating spiritual things by spiritual means”. The words taught by the Spirit were inspired words, and we do not claim to use Spirit-taught words in that sense, but we should seek in our speaking to one another to use words that are rightly expressive of the mind of the Spirit. By such communications we can have intelligent links with each other, and come into contact with the work of God in each other’s souls. That can only be brought about by means of words being spoken and heard.
In connection with this subject it is well to observe the method of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes, for he was a model speaker. He was “wise”, and he “pondered”, and he “sought to find out acceptable words”. We are often too casual and haphazard in our speaking to one another. It would be well if our speaking were more the outcome of what we have “pondered”. It would thus take on more of the character of “the words of the wise”, of which we are told that they are “as goads”. Words which stimulate movement are truly valuable, and the collections of them are “as nails fastened in: they are given from one shepherd”. It should be our business to collect as many of “the words of the wise” as we can, not merely as having them in our notebooks, but as having them “as nails fastened in”. That is, they are driven right home, and have a fixed and permanent place in our souls. Let us consider whether our speaking is like this, whether it comes to others with stimulating power, and is so fastened in that it cannot be got out again. Nails truly fastened in remain permanently as part of our structure, if we may so speak.
In this way the work of the Lord would be promoted and developed amongst us. That work is largely accomplished by means of speaking. Our words are to be “acceptable”; they are not to be raw or immature. Our speaking to one another is important, for much depends upon it. Either it binds together, or it tends to disintegrate. Divine Persons have spoken so that we might take on the same character of speaking. It was so in the case of the apostles who learnt from Christ, who, indeed, uttered “acceptable words”, learning from His Father every morning “how to succour by a word him that is weary”. What a Model He is for us! In Luke 4 how carefully He found the words that were precisely suitable for the occasion! It is true that His words were rejected, and therefore we need not be surprised if our words are rejected; but let us see to it that they are “always with grace, seasoned with salt” (Colossians 4: 6).
There is a particular sense in which these meetings for ministry are a revival of spiritual speaking. If prophetic [p. 19] ministry had continued in the church it would have been a great check upon incoming evil. It would have been an effectual barrier to the setting up of the clerical principle. Probably the giving up of meetings such as are spoken of in 1 Corinthians 14 was one of the first proofs of assembly decline, and it opened the way for man to have a voice in the assembly rather than God. Now that they are revived again it is for us to continue in exercise that the speaking is really in the power of the Spirit of God. “Goads” are not spiritual commonplaces; they are words which make it necessary to move forward. And “nails fastened in” are words “given from one shepherd”; they come from the Lord, and remain fixed in the soul.