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MINISTRY IN LONDON (3)

Eric Burr

These two verses have been in my mind a little recently and I am moved to refer to the first of them by what our beloved brother has said to us in relation to our keeping near to the sufferings of Jesus - a most profound subject! The range of those sufferings I doubt whether we shall ever fully compass. We know what we speak of as the atoning sufferings by their result: we do not know the detail of them ourselves. There were other sufferings, sufferings in relation to Israel, with which this chapter is actually occupied; sufferings from man; sufferings in His spirit (as we have been often reminded, He felt in His spirit all that He removed by His power) and suffering of which most of us know very little - what it is in holiness to move through a world of sin. All these things, I believe, enter into "the travail of his soul". There is ministry on the sufferings of Christ which can rightly be described as classical. How much of it we understand I am not sure: I am sure there are others who understand more than I do, but the subject is vast. Let us keep near to them! "He shall see of the fruit of the travail of his soul" - how blessed that is! Everything does not end in the sufferings: there is fruit. He will see Israel restored. He will see the nations under Him. He will see sin taken away from the world. These things are future. But does He not see "the fruit of the travail of his soul" now? What is it? Is it some abstract idea? Is it just something - I speak respectfully - that we read about in ministry? Beloved, "the fruit of the travail of his soul" is you. It is every believer on the Lord Jesus. "The fruit of the travail of his soul" is you . Do you realise that? We use the word 'appropriate', but do you appropriate it? Somebody asked Mr Raven what he meant by 'appropriate' and he said, you assimilate it into the life of your being. Have you done that? In the present time ''the fruit of the travail of his soul" is you.

It seems to me that that has the effect of setting up one another in our minds: we look at one another and we do not say, Well, there is this, that and the other about them, negative things. We look at one another and say, It is the fruit of the travail of the soul of Jesus. Does it not set the brethren up? Does it not set other believers up in your mind? When we read about ''the fruit of the travail of his soul" our minds tend to go quickly to the assembly, but there would be no assembly if it were not for the individuals. What I am impressed with this evening, and have been in reflecting on in this scripture, is the greatness of that fruit of the travail of His soul that I can see. If I look at you, I can see it. Why? Because you have believed in Him: ''who by him do believe on God" (1 Pet 1: 21) as our beloved brother has just referred to. What an elevating thing it is! There is a hymn that says:

And, oh, that He revealed might see

The travail of His soul in me

And with my life contented be

As I with my dear Saviour.

Beloved, we are one and another ''the fruit of the travail of His soul"!

Ephesians 1 refers to the same thing, only it puts it not so much in relation to Jesus Himself, but in relation to God: "the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints". You will not find that by looking at the map or by turning up ministry. You will find it by looking round on believers, looking round on one another. How great these things are! How they elevate our view of one another. You look at another believer and you see there God's inheritance. It is not here God's inheritance in the assembly - that thought is not found in Scripture - it is God's inheritance in the saints, individuals whom He has secured through the work of Christ and, indeed, whom the Father gave to Christ. You look round on those available to you. You try to take a wider view and think of others - the blessedness of meeting another believer is almost incomparable even if you are not able to walk with them - and you see there ''the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints".

This inheritance is rich and it is glorious. Do we look at one another like that? A good deal of our conversation about one another is biased towards the negative. Let it end! (I sometimes think it would be a good thing if we had one day a week when we said nothing critical about anybody. Would that not be interesting?) You look round the meeting and say, This is God's inheritance; it is in these people here; these are some of the saints. We tend to appropriate the word "saints" to ourselves, those we are in fellowship with, but all those who belong to Christ and have the Spirit are the saints. "Apprehend with all the saints" (Eph 3: 18) is, not just the brethren available to you; it is ''with all the saints" - God's "inheritance in the saints " - and you look at it and find that, just as Christ sees "of the fruit of the travail of his soul" and is satisfied, so God looks now, not at some narrow part of the earth - that little part of the eastern Mediterranean - but He looks down and He sees with pleasure the result of the work of Christ. How great it is! He sees it, He looks here, and He sees it, and if you are alone and you belong to Him, He sees it still: ''the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints", and He sees what He is looking forward to coming into fully in another day, and as I say again, God's inheritance is rich and glorious.

If you want to know what God's inheritance in the saints is, discover the work of God in someone else. If Christ looks at it, it is ''the fruit of the travail of his soul"; if God looks at it (as our beloved brother has been saying, Why did God create man?) it is in His view in relation to all, because He "desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth", 1 Tim 2: 4. It is in order that in those who in purpose He has given to Christ He might, even tonight, see His inheritance in the saints. We have obtained an inheritance; we have obtained it in Christ - "in him, in whom we have also obtained an inheritance", Eph 1: 11. But God has an inheritance: He has it in believers.

How great these things are! What a glory there is about a Christian - ''the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints". As I say, if Christ looks at it, He sees ''the fruit of the travail of his soul"; if God looks at it, He says, this is why I created man, in order that I might have something rich and glorious and have it for ever.

May we be encouraged for the Lord's sake!

3 February 1992

PEACEFUL CHILDREN

Few, if any, persons would remember the herald and town-criers of yesteryear who, as their names imply, carried the latest news to the Court and to the people. Some such ancient customs have been maintained by way of local interest and I remember a town-crier at Aldeburgh with his hand-bell and loud voice crying 'Oyez,' - listen. How rather should we be ready to hear the great news proclaimed, that the Lord Jesus has by His death and resurrection secured peace, first to us Gentiles but also to the Jews.

Each writer in the New Testament mentions peace as one of the believer's greatest blessings. In fact, the epistle to a mother and her children tells them that peace comes from the Father and the Son. Also, of the Lord Jesus, it is written that "He is our peace" and is therefore peace personified. Children may have to suffer for the Lord's sake and, may be, for wrong things done or thought. But the preaching and the preaching of Jesus as Saviour are full of help and peace. Is He so to you?

J.C.Evershed

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