(iii) ENRICHING MANY
Keith Samways
2 Corinthians 6: 10 (from “… as poor, but enriching many”)
This scripture is not about money, not about pounds, shillings and pence, but about the physical sufferings of one man, Paul the apostle. He, I suppose, as among many men, suffered physically for the sake of the testimony, the sake of his Master. What was in him as a Christian shone out. In another account it speaks about what happened to him, ship-wrecked, three days in the deep, night and day, he physically suffered. I want all here present to understand that this is not about money. He speaks about, “as poor, but enriching many”, that enrichment would have been as a result of the goodness of God, to put Paul’s ministry into the canon of the scripture. Outwardly the Corinthians said as to him that he was physically weak … contemptible, they said all sorts of things about him. Outwardly what was visible in Paul, in man’s eyes, was nothing; you could point at him from many ways. There is a complete difference, amongst Christians; certain persons carry in presence what they are. What they are can be seen in effect as they are amongst men. Paul was just that. Where did he get that? He got it from His Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have had the privilege of having our brother in my home, and what always marked him was that he left something with you. You felt enriched as a result of his company. You felt better having simply entertained him for a few days. He was no trouble, always ready to do his bit in the entertaining, to help. It was refreshment to my spirit; he always left some spiritual deposit with us all. There has been testimony rendered as to the way our brother preached, the way he was able to express the greatness of the glad tidings. God’s glad tidings, how enriching that is. You say he has been taken out of the way, the Lord has taken him to be with Himself; there is a gap left, we shall miss him. Who is going to stand in that gap? Am I ready for it? “As poor, but enriching many”. I love to think of what was in that physical vessel. What was in our brother. Paul speaks about it elsewhere, “this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Cor. 4: 7), God’s investment in men, women, and children is so great that He sent His only begotten Son that there might be something for His own praise and His glory. Am I prepared to fill the gap that has been left? Our brother’s physical body is with us now, but there is a gap left, he is with Christ. Somebody has to step into that gap, let us be “as poor, but enriching many”.
The next statement Paul makes, “as having nothing, and possessing all things”, I want to take you into the court of Agrippa in Acts 26. Paul was standing there in chains, he had just been brought out of the Roman jail. To look at him you would say, that man literally has not a thing on earth; yet his heart was so full that he almost persuaded the persons that were listening to him. I would love to fill the gap, taking up the responsibility that is left to be able to express, “possessing all things”. It speaks about an inheritance amongst the sanctified. What a company that is! This is not a question of what is sectarian; this is an inheritance amongst the sanctified. Our brother had his part in that. How do we have our part in the inheritance amongst the sanctified? Outwardly you would say he had nothing, but in that human vessel, in that body, the spirit now with Christ, he had nothing yet he possessed all things. What our brother has spoken about, the trophy of divine grace – what a trophy it has been, so precious, just one individual taken to be with Christ. Relieved from suffering, pain, all these things, our brother went through it all – he is now with Christ which is very much better. But what that brother possessed from that earthen vessel was of such a character, that it refreshed us in his love, and imparted something of the things that were actually within that human vessel. He had nothing, you might say, and yet he possessed all things. These things have been put within the grasp of men, women and children. The gap is now open, and there is one gone in whom these experiences were true as with the apostles, one man of like passions with ourselves (see Acts 14: 15); another man who we knew and knew well expressed these simple statements in scripture “as poor but enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things” – it is open to us all.
Grimsby
18 February 2003
Burial of John Franklin