THE SERVANT OF THE LORD - HIS ENLIGHTENMENT
[p. 318] THE SERVANT OF THE LORD — HIS ENLIGHTENMENT
What is brought before us in this chapter is the way in which the apostle by the Spirit of God is instructing Timothy for his service. I daresay some may think that Timothy had no special need of instruction, having been so long with the apostle. But if Timothy needed instruction in this way, how much more do we who have come into the state of things predicted here; if Timothy needed a path marked out for him we need it much more, and that is the value to us of the instruction here. And this leads me to seek to make plain the way in which the Spirit of God has been working during the last fifty or sixty years; I want to show what the action of the Spirit of God has been in regard to saints, though most of us may be familiar with it. Doubtless there have been mistakes, but what the Spirit of God has been doing is clear to me, and I think it is upon the lines that we get in this chapter. I do not think it has always been apprehended, for many have had an idea that the Spirit of God was doing something which I doubt if He has been doing. I think if you follow the course of the chapter it will make clear to you what the Spirit’s line is; and you will see that such a state of things has come to pass as the Spirit of God predicted, that is, that the church of God has come to have the character of a great house, in which are all sorts of vessels — for in a great house there are all kinds of vessels, some to honour and some to dishonour. The great point in the chapter is instruction to the servant. It has often been said that in the first Epistle to Timothy the apostle gives instruction for the servant when the house is in order, and in the second Epistle marks [p. 319] out the path of the servant when things are all in confusion; and that is the word for us.
I was saying last time that I believe it to be of moment to see that it is impossible for any one of us to change his ecclesiastical position. If you want to change this you must needs go outside Christendom, which has in a way the place of the church of God. Otherwise there you are and there you must remain; and, if you apprehend that, you will not think about establishing any other ecclesiastical position, you will be free from any idea of setting up any kind of thing here upon the earth. I believe that the last chapter of Hebrews has sometimes been a little misconstrued. It has been thought that to go forth to Christ outside the camp meant to go outside the professing church. To the Hebrews it did mean leaving Judaism, which was a religious position, and they left Judaism for Christianity. They did change their position, they had to leave all that was connected with the temple order and to “go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach”. Religiously they were no longer Jews. Well, the same thing almost has been urged upon us; but though Christendom to a large extent has the character of the camp, you cannot really leave it, though you may do so in spirit and morally — you cannot go forth literally. Christendom has the responsibility of being God’s house, and you cannot go outside of the responsibility of the house of God; you have therefore to be a little careful in applying such a scripture as Hebrews 13. You may stand apart from a great deal that is going on in Christendom and bear the reproach of Christ, but at the same time you can hardly construe the exhortation in Hebrews 13 in the way in which the Hebrews would construe it. I believe one great thing is to escape the bondage of Babylon, and you cannot escape that unless you are prepared to bear the [p. 320] reproach of Christ. What I mean is this: you must no longer care to be accredited religiously by the world or by the powers of the world. It is a great point when you come to that. That is what I should call bearing the reproach of Christ. I do not care to be accounted of at all in a religious way by the world. If I am looking for that, I have not escaped Babylonish captivity. Babylon represents the great world power. If we go back to the Reformation, the work was only half done. They escaped the corruptions of popery, but they set to work to establish State Churches, and instead of one great mustard tree they set up a good many; that is the kind of thing that went on. In the different breaks that have occurred since — I mean from the established Churches — the religious bodies which we see around us and with which many of us have been connected all look to be recognised and accredited by the world power.
In the history of Hezekiah you have the principle illustrated. The messengers who came from Babylon to congratulate the king on his recovery were shown all the things of the house of God. Hezekiah recognised the power of Babylon, and the Spirit of God predicts that they will all go captive to Babylon. The two marks of having escaped the great world power are that you recognise no power but the Spirit of God, and are prepared to bear the reproach of Christ.
I think this second chapter is leading us on to this, and I wish to point out specially the intense individuality of the chapter, and the great prominence which the Lord has in it. Those are, I think, the two great distinctive features of the chapter. Individuality must be prominent when things are in a state of confusion, and also the very distinctive place which the Lord is to have to the individual, that is to me. But, you will say, the Lord always [p. 321] had to have that place. But when things around are in confusion I think the Lord comes more intensely into view as a resource. The need of the Lord is more realised individually than when things were all in order. The fact is, when confusion exists all round, the Lord is the only resource, and it is no good turning to man, to systems and such like. The great point is to be fit for the Lord, to be apart from all that would come in between the Lord and me, or that would unfit one for the Master’s use.
I just refer for a moment to the order of the epistle. You could not put the second chapter before the first in moral order, because you could not touch the second if you were not more or less established in the truth of the gospel; and when I speak about the truth of the gospel I do not mean the gospel simply as meeting the responsibility of man, but as an unfolding of the purpose of God. That is the gospel which comes out in this first chapter; it is not exactly the gospel which meets the question of man’s responsibility, and shows how he can be justified, but which makes known that Christ has annulled death and brought life and incorruptibility to light by the gospel. That is not on the line of man’s responsibility. I could preach the gospel to people and show them how completely sin has been removed from before God by the blood of Christ, in virtue of which God can justify the ungodly. But that is not all the truth of the gospel — there is the purpose of God, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works” — not on the line of our responsibility — “but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began”. And in the gospel life and incorruptibility are brought to light. You get an equivalent statement in John. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son”, etc. It is there a question [p. 322] of purpose. It was to make good the purpose of His love that He gave His only begotten Son; it is that man may “have eternal life” according to the purpose of that love. There was a purpose hidden behind all the dealings of God, and that is of life, and incorruptibility.
I think we all want that foundation in our souls before we are prepared to have our eyes opened by the Spirit of God to the confusion around. Consequently when the church was in ruin the writings of John became of great importance, and they have been so to us. Special attention has been given to the writings of John, because he brings out, in the failure of all here, the great truth of eternal life according to the purpose of God.
Now I come to chapter 2. I will first give you an outline of the chapter.
The first point I take up is this: You need .to be in a certain line — what I may call the line of considering — and you will get understanding from the Lord. Then you next find the conditions under which you can have to do with Christ as Lord and Master. He is both Lord and Master, and you find how you can be at His disposal as such. Then the next point is that you find your company here if you are with the Lord and Master, and when you have found your company you will find your service. This all comes out very simply in the course of the chapter.
The admonition which the apostle brings before the mind of Timothy is this: “Consider what I say”, and this referred to certain great principles of God’s ways. The first is, that if a man is a soldier his object is to please him who hath called him to it; then, if a man strive he must strive lawfully; and the husbandman must labour to be partaker of the fruits. The fact is, there was ever the danger of Christians settling down into worldly [p. 323] ease, and that is what the apostle will not have, it is what he contends against. If you think of a soldier, there was no worldly ease in the apostle’s day in being that, a man needed to be free from entanglements; if people strove in games they were perfectly in earnest, a man who entered to strive in the games did not give himself up to indulgence; then the husbandman must labour before he partakes of the fruits, he is not going to partake of the fruits before he has laboured. The Roman soldier had not much ease, he had to be in the camp away from home for years on the frontiers of the empire; the great point with a real soldier is to please him who hath called him to be a soldier. Timothy was to consider these things. If you want the Lord to give you understanding you must be in a certain line — you must ponder. Take Gideon for instance, he was pondering over the state of things in Israel, and the Lord came in, called him, and gave him understanding. So with Christians, if we ponder over the principles which the apostle brings before us the Lord comes in — “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things”. What a privilege for the Lord to give you understanding; it is what I should call the soul in contact with the Lord. No fellow Christian can give you understanding, it is the Lord alone, it is His prerogative.
Then a further point. How are you going to be here for the Lord? The first thing is, “Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity”. The way in which I construe that is, that you have to keep a clear conscience, and so to leave many things that you have been accustomed to go on with; for with increased light it is necessary to maintain a clear conscience. If you find yourself identified with things in which unrighteousness is admitted, or where righteousness is not maintained,
[p. 324] you have to leave them, but you do not thereby change your ecclesiastical position. I think that it is simply a question of leaving unrighteousness, because every one that nameth the name of the Lord must depart from iniquity. Therefore if I am mixed up with anything by which my conscience is painfully affected as to its principle, there is no course but for me to leave it; and it is not an ecclesiastical but a moral question. When the church has become a shelter for evil “the Lord knoweth them that are his”. Man may not know them, but the obligation lies on them, “Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity”. What drove most of us out of things with which we were once connected was that we saw that righteousness was not maintained in them. In any system in which discipline is not recognised there will be unrighteousness, for to tolerate evil is unrighteousness; and when such a state of things affects my conscience I have no course but to depart from it; but that is a question of individual faithfulness, I want to be free from all that which has the character of unrighteousness because I name the name of the Lord. Christians generally know very little about the name of the Lord, for they go on with so much that is unsuitable to that name. It is true that they may be ignorant, and the Lord bears with their ignorance; but when they get understanding they are bound to depart from unrighteousness.
I come to the next point. I suppose every one of us would desire to be at the disposal of the Master. There are two titles of Christ in regard to saints, namely Lord and Master, and I suppose all would like to be vessels meet for the Master’s use. I hope that is the case; and if you would wish to be a vessel at the disposal of the Master you cannot be a vessel to dishonour, serviceable for any base purpose. Despot is the literal meaning of the word here [p. 325] rendered Master. Christ is Master over the house, and if you want to be at the Master’s disposal you must purge yourself from vessels to dishonour. Therefore you have to look at other vessels to judge of what they are, that is, to see if they are vessels to honour or dishonour. I see a great many people active in Christendom who are not concerned about the Master’s work; they are concerned to do, to a great extent, the work of man, and it may be the work of Satan; while professedly christian ministers they are propagators of all sorts of false things, they are not vessels to honour. The point that I wish to urge upon all is not to be content to call upon the name of the Lord, but to be zealous to be vessels at the disposal of the Master. I want all to recognise Christ in the two characters, so that as Lord you call upon Him, and as Master you are at His disposal, a vessel for His service, a vessel that He can employ, that is ready for His will, or, as I should put it more properly, for God’s will. Do you believe that the Master does employ vessels down here? I am confident that He does; and if He does, it is imperative that the vessels should be purged from vessels to dishonour. And here again it is a moral question rather than an ecclesiastical one; it is purging oneself from those who have evidently the character of vessels to dishonour, because of the desire to be a vessel fit for the Master’s use and prepared unto every good work.
The next point is finding company, for you are not to be alone. Here again it is not a question of changing your ecclesiastical position or of setting up a new one; it is to “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart”. There is the path marked out, and we get company. I do not doubt at all that it is on this line that the Spirit of God has been leading in these last days.
[p. 326] He has first opened the eyes of the saints to the confusion and ruin around, then He has led them out in their souls to the Lord, to call on the Lord, to place themselves, in that sense, as vessels for His disposal; and then to find a fellowship, and that is to “follow righteousness, faith, love, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart”. We all have to look at what we are pursuing, to see that it is a question with us of following righteousness to begin with, not sin: then faith, which means God’s will, not man’s: then love, which is the nature of God: and peace closes the train. They are all moral qualities or characteristics which God has made known to us, and these things we have to follow. I cannot exactly know who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart, there may be such with whom I am not acquainted; but I can see people following righteousness, faith, love and peace; and that is the line God has marked out, and I seek simply to walk with such.
I want you to mark how simple it all is. If I am going to name the name of the Lord I must depart from unrighteousness. If I wish to be a vessel to honour for the use of the Master I must be apart from vessels to dishonour; and then when I have got so far, if my soul is blessed in that way in close relation to the Lord and Master, I see that there is a company following righteousness, faith, love and peace. This is very positive; it is not only that you are apart from things that are not correct, but are going on with the things that are agreeable to the Lord and Master.
I am sure all will fully recognise the point which I dwelt upon at the beginning, namely, the intense individuality which is seen in the chapter. I quite admit you do come into fellowship with others, but after all, the exhortations in the chapter are intensely individual.
There is one point more. “But foolish and unlearned questions avoid ... the servant of the Lord must ... be gentle unto all, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will”. Here we have the character of the servant marked out. He is to be apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, for in a day of confusion you may be sure you will have to encounter those who oppose the truth. Very few come into the light of the truth without first opposing it. That is the first impulse, because we want to maintain our ground and defend that to which we cling naturally; and if we have ourselves opposed the truth we may come into contact with others who oppose it also; then we have to be apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves. You may be sure that people are not going to receive the truth and give up all their preconceived ideas without defending the latter, and you must expect to meet opposition. The first thing requisite is meekness, and the second inexhaustible patience, never to be confounded and never to weary. It is not that you are going to convert or change people or set them right; when people set to work with that idea they sometimes set themselves wrong. The point is this: “if God peradventure”. I can do nothing. I have to count on God. “If God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth”, etc. The end is that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil for God’s will.
Now I believe you must take up scripture in the order in which the Spirit of God presents it to us. I do not think that any one can properly touch this [p. 328] chapter without first understanding the gospel as that which gives effect to the purpose of God’s love. When once you come to that, you have the light of eternal life, which is the purpose of His love, a foundation upon which the Spirit of God can work; then the Spirit of God opens our eyes. He wants us to listen to what He says to the churches. He opens our ears to receive instruction as to the confusion around. Then the question arises, What am I to do? Well, the answer is, look to yourself, see what you are doing. The point is to get to the Lord, and in order to do that you must depart from unrighteousness, and you must purge yourself from vessels to dishonour if you are to be a vessel unto honour, fit for the Master’s use. And having got that far I recognise the importance of fellowship, and in view of this while fleeing from youthful lusts — everything to which youth is prone — I find myself among those who are following all that which is according to God in abnegation of their own will; and there it is that the Lord may use you in service for the deliverance of others. But you have need to be patient and meek in instructing those that oppose themselves, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil.
May God give us grace to recognise both characters of Christ — Lord and Master. In the one light to call upon Him, and in the other to be vessels sanctified and meet for the Master’s use.