WHAT IS YOUR OCCUPATION?
J.C.Evershed
Genesis 47: 2, 3 to "occupation"; Psalm 45: 1
We have spoken, dear brethren, of the ministry bringing a challenge. So I have read these verses in the book of Genesis to bring forward this further challenge - as to what our occupation is; that is, of course, what is the objective that we have in view in all that we are doing? Then from the reading of the verse in Psalm 45 you will understand that it is not exactly to engage our thoughts with ourselves but rather to promote the necessary self-searching and help that we need in order to have an enlarged, richer and ready knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
Joseph had brought five men of his brethren here before Pharaoh. They represented the whole of his brethren, so that I think it is right to say that all of us here are now before God in a definite way; we have been brought here; we have been called and assembled together. The question that Pharaoh asked was "What is your occupation?". It seems as if it was his regular question, because Joseph had already warned his brethren that Pharaoh would ask it. So it seems that we can take it to ourselves that it is a regular question that God would raise with us. When we come to the older persons like Jacob the regular question seemed to be "How many are the days of the years of thy life?" (Gen 47: 8); as much as to say, You have had plenty of days: what about them? I thought it was as if He would say to me, What have you to show for your twenty-five and a half thousand or so days? But whatever we can say or show, we can say with Jacob, "the God that shepherded me all my life", Gen 48: 15. But then to all of us He would say "What is your occupation?". We do not know whether Pharaoh spoke individually to Joseph's brethren but they answered quite rightly that their occupation was that of shepherds; in other words, they were accustomed to be engaged in their father's work. Their fathers had done the same thing and they had done what their fathers had been doing, and that, as we know, was one of the oldest occupations in the world. The two oldest occupations in the world are husbandry and shepherding, and I think that they would largely represent to us what the Father's business is. As we know, the Father is engaged in planting. I would like the young people who know the Lord and have the Spirit to realise that they are plants of the Father's planting. We are all that, and are sheep of the Father's tending too. The Lord Jesus cared for the sheep, He took them as His own, but they were given to Him of His Father. These men answered rightly when they said they were engaged in what their fathers had done, and evidently Pharaoh was satisfied.
But then shepherding, important as it is (and we have often been reminded how necessary it is to shepherd the young ones - although young ones can take part in shepherding the older ones, as David and Joseph in their 'teens) is only one occupation of many. There are others which are equally essential, and I think one of the most important is road-mending. It is one of the first mentioned in the New Testament, and the only quotation from the Old Testament which is brought in by each one of the evangelists is "Make... a highway for our God!", Isa 40: 3. Now are we in the occupation of making a highway for our God? It was John the baptist's ministry, we say, and it certainly was. Another thing we might say is that it is the kind of work they give to convicts to do. But if a convict could make a good road, what kind of a road, do you think, would a pardoned convict make? And that, dear brethren, is what we are. We are forgiven convicts, not escaped convicts. We have escaped certain things: "the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Pet 1: 4); but then we are convicts set free because there is no conviction outstanding against us. An expression that I very much enjoy is this: "The Lord's freedman", 1 Cor 7 : 22.
Well, in this occupation we need to have the objective in view. The great point, as I said, is that a highway should be made for our God. Perhaps you say, He can make His own way; and He can and does, but think of the privilege of making a moral way suitable for God to move in in what He is doing in the testimony now, at this very time. Luke gives information as to how to do it. We may not understand much about it, but he tells us that the first thing is to fill up all the low places. Are there some deficiencies we find in our souls, our souls' history? Well, those things have to be filled up. Are there any hills or mountainous places that have to be brought down, ambitions or anything of that kind? They have to be made level. Are there any crooked places? Oh, we find those, do we not? He says, Make them straight then. If there are rough places - I suppose we would have to acknowledge that too - he says, Well, make them smooth then. (See Luke 3: 5). How is all this to be done? It is by the activity of the Holy Spirit and by our setting our minds to what is the objective in view, that there might be a suitable way for God to move in us and amongst us. The highways are in the heart as the psalmist says: "They in whose heart are the highways", Ps 84: 5.
I think all this has a good deal to do with dealing with evil, which is a matter that comes our way. The fact that Paul was able to shake the viper off his hand shows that there is a way in which a certain completeness of dealing with evil can be obtained. It may sound a lot to say that, but the Lord said "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out" and so on, Matt 18: 9. He said in effect, Be urgent about that matter. If there is an offence, have done with it, and have done with it absolutely. I am convinced dear brethren that what we speak of as a mixed condition in ourselves would become very much less mixed if we were to take that more seriously and deal with things in a definite way. Isaac was able to get out of the region of the Philistines by digging the wells; by continuing to make way for the Spirit he was able to out-distance them. How fine it is to be able to get out of the way of the Philistines! Also one of the writers says "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (Jas 4: 7) and we are glad to take that up as a word of Scripture, but always remember what comes on either side of it. On one side it says "Subject yourselves therefore to God", on the other "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you". So that the scripture gives us ample means of dealing with evil in order that we might be able to have this highway for our God.
Another occupation which would probably sound more congenial is fruit-growing. I used to wish, when I was in an office, that I could be a fruit-grower instead; then I discovered that I could work in an office and grow fruit. In fact, I found that I could grow fruit and work in an office. You can grow fruit in a school, or a kitchen, and you do not need a garden for it. You do not even need a flowerpot, but you do need an earthen vessel, and there is no better earthen vessel than the only one you have, the one that God has given you. It may be rheumaticky or one where the nerves seem to vanish when you most need them; nevertheless God has placed His treasure in earthen vessels and it is in view that there should be fruit for Him. We should enjoy it ourselves, I have no doubt, but the point is that there should be fruit for Him. And the Scripture again tells us just how to do it; page 1291 of this handbook tells us exactly. The Lord Jesus said "He that abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit", John 15: 5. Can you think of a happier or a simpler way of being pleasurable to God than abiding in Jesus and His abiding in us? It sounds almost too simple to be true, does it not? Of course, the Father's discipline comes in as well where needed in order that there should be more fruit, so that the whole system is one that gradually increases, not that withers and dies away. I have often thought of the scripture in Deuteronomy where the man has to come with a basket of first-fruits. We each have a basket; it is the same thing as the earthen vessel. He comes and sets down his basket with his first-fruits before Jehovah, and he worships; as we know, it is the only mention of worship in the whole book of Deuteronomy, which speaks of our relations with God. We are not looking at our basket exactly and saying, Well I have a wonderful display of fruit here; we are thinking of the greatness of God, and that is what we need to have more in our souls. But I think, from His point of view, there would be two important things there: one would be His appreciation, another His scrutiny. He would say, as it were, in looking into your basket, I can see the fruits of repentance; I am very glad to see that. I can see in your basket that my discipline has had an effect upon you and you have borne the peaceable fruits of righteousness. But then He might also have to say, On looking through your fruits I do not see all the varieties of the fruit of the Spirit; there ought to be nine there, but I do not see them all. He would surely be able to see the first three, love and joy and peace (see Gal 5: 22). There is nothing, I suppose, without those. But He might say, There is a very poor specimen of self-control, or, a very poor specimen of kindness. He might even have to say that one variety was missing altogether. I believe we need to think of these things, that what God looks for is fulness, and He gives the increase. It is not by effort that fruit is produced. Certain cultural matters are necessary, and the Scripture helps us as to those, but what is produced is produced by the power and operations mightily within the believer of the Holy Spirit, in order that there might be fruit for God.
Well, another occupation is trading - I mention these things to show that Christianity is a full-time matter, and all these occupations are to go on at once. The Lord said "Trade while I am coming", Luke 19: 13. Have you thought much about that - trading? Perhaps you say, I am not a business man, I shall not be able to make any profit. I will give you a little encouragement. In the parables where people were given money, everybody who did something gained something. The only one who did not gain was the man who did nothing with what he had, and he even lost that. So that is an encouragement that we should trade with what has been given to us. We have often been reminded of simple instances of trade amongst believers, the exchange of impressions of the Lord Jesus. As someone has said, if two persons exchange a dollar, all they have is a dollar left, but if they exchange impressions of Christ each has two and so it goes on increasing, and that is the way profit is made.
A brother was telling us recently of those mentioned in Romans 16, as those who had made profit with what they had been given. They had supported the work of the Lord; one had done one thing, another something else, and there they were presented as persons who had made profit in their trading. But here again the Scripture gives us instruction as to how to trade. Take piety: if you want to make profit in divine things there is nothing like piety, because the Scripture says that "piety is profitable for everything", 1 Tim 4: 8. Bodily exercise and the things we need for our bodies are all good in their place, but "piety is profitable for everything". Therefore, if I might put it in a simple way, you cannot go wrong. Piety, being a matter of bringing God into our circumstances, is not only to be applied when they are disagreeable or uncomfortable, but there is the vital necessity of bringing God into our circumstances when they are prosperous; otherwise we might find that the enemy could make us independent, and then we should gradually decline into worse things. But then, if you want to make piety doubly profitable, mix it up with contentment, because the scripture says that it is then great gain. Therefore, when you come with your mina you will be able to say your mina has gained a large amount because "piety with contentment is great gain", 1 Tim 6: 6. Well, these things are simple but they are essential. In a way they lie at the very threshold of Christian life; yet at the same time they penetrate and are in the whole texture and structure of Christian life, in order that when the Lord comes we may be able to say, 'Now, there is something for Thee, Lord;' not just what I have done but, 'Thy mina has gained so much'.
Now, there is another occupation that we ought to be engaged in, and that is athletics. Paul was engaged in it. He speaks of quite a number of instances of it, not only the foot-race, but he speaks of wrestling and of boxing. He even had to deal with his flesh, not as one might shadow-box or fight the air, but what he was doing was a serious thing with him. Not that our bodies need to be pummelled or anything like that, but it is that the workings of flesh within us, and our own wills, need to be taken in hand in a very real and definite way. Paul, as we know, spoke in a very drastic way of how he dealt with the principle of flesh in himself. He spoke of wrestling; wrestling with sin. That may, perhaps, not be a normal thing with a believer, but nevertheless we have all kinds and classes amongst us and we go through various experiences and it may be that some wrestle with sin. I suppose the man in Romans 7, as we call him, was wrestling against sin. He found the principle of it in him, but found release and got the upper hand when he discovered that the Lord Jesus was on his side, and he said "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord", Rom 7: 25. Paul was running, too. Are we running? I remember reading that in the ancient games you could not even put your name down unless you could prove that you had trained solidly for two years. I think that is a point for us, not that we need to leave things for two years or anything like that, but it shows the importance of practice, or if I might put it in another way, of habit; there are those who through habit have gained a moral stature and are able to assimilate strong meat (see Heb 5: 14). Well, Paul was running, nothing was hindering him. I was much struck once when in the course of business I had to go in 1948 to one of the Olympic games villages. I got into conversation with an East European who knew some English and I said 'I suppose you have to be very careful, do you not?' 'Oh, yes' he said, 'I would not even speak to you if you had been smoking'. I thought, Yes, you have a scripture for that: "hating even the garment spotted by the flesh", Jude 23. And that man was so keen, that anything that would have the slightest deleterious effect upon him he would not indulge in but would avoid. Paul was like that, but it was not only that he was avoiding certain things. That is one feature. But he says as it were, 'When I am running I am always looking off to Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, the One who has been in the path before me. He has been in it perfectly but He has met every obstacle that I have to meet'. Others have done the same too in measure and there is a great cloud of witnesses, but nevertheless he says "Looking stedfastly on Jesus the leader and completer of faith", Heb 12: 2. So that these things will not occupy us with ourselves. While we see the importance of all these activities, the object of them is always outside of ourselves. If it is trading, we are thinking of profit for the Lord when He comes. If it is running, then we are looking at Him where He is, having passed through and sympathising with us in all that we pass through.
I read that verse in the psalm because as the note reads, ‘I say what is my occupation touching the king'. What he had busied himself in, his occupation, had been leading and tending always to an appreciation, and a fresh, vivid, accumulated impression of the One who was the supreme object of his heart. We have spoken of affections. Does the Lord command our affections? We would, of course, say, Yes, He should do. But then we can stimulate ourselves as to the measure of it so that our occupation leads us to a deeper knowledge and understanding of the glories of Christ. This psalm is very full, as the heading shows. It is not only one of the fifty-five instruments in the hands of the chief Musician; and it is a great thing in itself that He has a variety of instruments upon which He can call. He is not only the chief Musician in the sense that He conducts what is being done or played, but He has to do with the tuning of the instruments as well, and that is a most important matter. A musician, I am told, will never take up an instrument just as he left it before, and that is one reason why we have our discipline. It is the Father's discipline but the Lord is in it. The Lord comes to us in it and it is in order that there might be greater, better suitability to our taking part in this great praise system of which He is the leader, the Minister of the sanctuary and the Leader of the praises. Other features of the heading I need not go into; they have their importance but what I had in my mind was that the psalmist's heart was welling forth with a good matter. What a good thing it is if that is so with us! As Mr Coates has said, Do we realise that it is possible for us to say something about Jesus in a way that has never been said since Pentecost? And this man had something fresh to bring forward, and his tongue was the pen of a ready writer; not a hasty writer but a ready writer. And that is a feature that we need, dear brethren, in our occasions of gathering and in all matters, that there should be readiness with us to bring in what is of Christ, and what is harmonious with what He is doing, in order that it might exalt Him. One might have read the rest of this psalm, wonderful as it is, but as we read it we can see that the writer's impressions are full of wealth, freshness and vigour; they extend right down to the time when Jesus will come in and take up His rights here, His glory being seen and known of all men and the assembly will be known as with Him. All that God has been doing and is doing in this time will come out into display, and the psalmist is saying, I have all that in my heart and it is just welling forth with a good matter, all centred round the person of the King, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. May He bless the word, for His Name's sake.
LONDON
19 February 1977