SERVING GOD’S PEOPLE

Andrew Burr

Exodus 3: 20-22; Numbers 11: 10-17

I have a simple thought to say a word of encouragement to those who seek to serve the Lord’s people, and to encourage any who may not have yet taken such a service on to commit themselves to it. I do not have any particular kind of service in mind and in particular I do not make any particular emphasis on service in ministry; it is not really my thought to speak about service in ministry particularly although maybe what comes before us would apply to that kind of service. I am thinking more about service in the way it may be needed to sustain the body as it is expressed among the people of God.

There is a scripture which says, “by love serve one another”, Gal 5: 13. I recognise in saying this that many have already taken it up. Many in their spirits and activity are committed to the service of the Lord’s people in many varied ways. The need at the present time is for all of us to be encouraged to remain committed to that service. I also recognise that the thought of the Lord’s people is a very broad one, and indeed it must be so. To imagine that the extent of the Lord’s people is the same as the small number with whom we are able to have full fellowship together would, I think, do the Lord a great disservice.

Nevertheless I trust I would be understood if I limit what I have in mind to those with whom we do have fellowship without wishing to discourage anybody from any other kind of service. However, the Lord has set us together – we have to recognise that – and as being set together I believe that He would call upon us to build up one another and through doing that build up what we share and enjoy together.

The brethren will forgive me if I range a little bit away from this scripture and what I have in mind to just explain why I read these two scriptures. They come at a very significant moment, at one of the main turning points in God’s dealings with the world. One of the most signal moments there has ever been in the history of God’s dealings with the world takes place in the time in the year to which these two scriptures refer. God had not, up to this point, really dealt with the world in a political sense, He did not recognise the national structure that was forming in the world’s affairs but He went on with a man of faith and his family. He was not on the same line as the world. The world was developing politically and God was not, at that time, following or leading that trend. In the beginning of Exodus God calls a people to be His people. That altered the whole structure of the emerging world system because from that moment on there was one nation that was different from all the others, and it was God’s intention that that nation should be a fulcrum around which the world’s affairs should turn. If that never happened it was because that nation failed and fell away and a lot of things might be said as to what has followed on that. The coming of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit have been another major turning point following which God has not pursued that way of dealing with the world, taking up one nation and organising the affairs of the world at large around His relationship with that nation. As Paul says to Athens, “God therefore … now enjoins men that they shall all everywhere repent”, Acts 17: 30. While the structure of national government remains and God uses it to contain the spread of evil and mismanagement of the world, God has actually moved on to dealing with mankind in a universal way.

But this time at which we have read was undoubtedly a very important moment in the history of the world. It may not be so recognised in the history books of the world but it is in this one from which we have read, the Bible. The crux of it is that from this moment on God had a people who were the object of His special care and interest. What we see in Moses, who is very distinctive as a servant, is that God put a lot of time into preparing Moses. Was it to this people? I suppose you could say that, but it was actually to serve them. I am not suggesting that any one here is going to be called to do the kind of work Moses did, but we see in Moses some pointers which we could use as to the way in which we might be prepared to serve God’s people.

These two passages represent the people of God from two opposing points of view and the order in which they are put is interesting. It is of interest that, in the initial instructions Moses was given about the deliverance of God’s people in Egypt, God should go out of His way to make this reference to the appropriation of the gold and silver vessels in Egypt. Why should He bring that in at the beginning? It would have been enough to mention it just before they were leaving, because they had nothing to do about it until nearer the time. I would like to make a suggestion and I think I am safe in suggesting that the gold and silver vessels represented God’s view of the people: they were in Egyptian service like these vessels. But God has always maintained that the silver and gold are “mine”. They do not belong to Egypt in the way in which Egypt is presented here, they do not belong to the world. These vessels to which God had a claim were in fact in service to Egypt, in service to the world. We do not know what use they were put to, no doubt many of the uses were unhallowed and unclean. But, they were gold and silver vessels and they represent something to which God has a claim. They also represent something finished. They were not told to go round and get lumps of gold and silver from people, but to get vessels, utensils, things which were ready to use, or which could be made ready for God to use. If we apply that to the children of Israel, we would say it represented what they were potentially. It represented something that was finished and refined and ready for its part and place in divine service. It is interesting that God should tell Moses that right at the beginning.

I recalled this scripture when we were reading Hebrews 11 on Lord’s Day, where it says, “Moses … esteeming the reproach of the Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt”. That is not these treasures, that was the things in the court. Then it says, “for he had respect to the recompense” (vv 24,26). I think we might say that in the reference God makes here to the vessels, the gold and silver, He is drawing Moses’ attention to the recompense. As we had in the reading the person who builds with gold and silver and precious stones will have their reward. It is not as if God pays people for what they do, but nevertheless there is a wonderful sense of fulfilment and satisfaction when in any way one has the opportunity to realise for God the potential of what is His, especially the potential there may be in the people of God. I think that is what Moses would have included in the recompense. He had the privilege of contributing to the bringing of God’s people into a place and into an understanding of God’s own service. The rest of Moses’ life was dedicated to that end, bringing to light among the people what could be suited and used in God’s service.

The passage in Numbers reveals what Moses felt, or came to feel, about the actual state of the people. It is a very emotional plea that Moses makes to God. He refers to the “burden” and he refers to himself, “have I brought them forth … as the nursing-father beareth the suckling”. Moses is energised and inspired by what God had shown him as to his own end and purpose for the people of God, and the preciousness, value and permanence of it; and then he has to confront over and over again the actual condition of things among the people. What a burden it was for Moses, what a moment of realisation, or discovery when, as he seeks to bring the people into conformity to God’s great thoughts for them, the actual state of things among them comes to light.

So we have to be on the one hand clear and inspired by what God is going to bring to pass among His people. We really do need to have an impression of that. We get it by a sight of the pattern. The Spirit would give it to us, to see God’s people arrayed in the glory of the fulfilment of His own purpose, and standing to form the sanctuary in which the presence of God would be eternally. What a precious thing that is! You get a glimpse of it when you come to the Supper. You look round on however few or many: you look at the saints who have had the faith and the love to come to the Supper, and you might think of the boards standing up. They are there to honour Christ even in the day of His reproach. They have come out of the wilderness and there is something substantial there, something which, under the hand of Christ, can be carried right into the presence of God and used for His pleasure and for His service. What a wonderful thing it is to look at the brethren like that.

But, on the other hand there is bound to be exercise about the practical state of things among the brethren. I am not going to say anything against the state of the brethren. Different local meetings are represented here and everyone knows their local brethren and no doubt they have abundant cause to be thankful for their local brethren. But there is plenty to pray about in every locality. I am not going to suggest now that the general state of things among the brethren is poor. I will come to the reason why in a minute as we look at Moses; but we cannot help but notice that a proportion, a number, of our brethren are passing through some very deep exercise. It is not the kind of exercise which reflects upon the state of those concerned at all but nevertheless there must be a voice to us all in the things through which our brethren are passing. You only have to know what is going on and listen out with a concerned and understanding and loving ear to know that there are sorrows of a variety among the brethren that I believe the Lord would use to speak to us. From one point of view there is nothing unusual about these sorrows, they are not so unique that you will not find them anywhere else, but they affect people we love and for that reason I think the Lord would allow them to speak to us. As I say, none of the things that I have in mind at any rate, reflect upon the people concerned. They do not suggest that there is something wrong with the people who are passing through these exercises, but they do have a voice to us.

I want to be very simple about this, and brethren will forgive me if I sound a bit direct, but we are always concerned when one another of our brethren is seriously ill. When cases of serious illness become protracted, and when they seem to strike in a untimely way and people who have an active and vital part in things are disabled by illness, and when the parents of young children, or children growing up, people who need their mothers and fathers, are affected by serious illness, such as some of our brethren are now; these things are very deep because they affect not only the person concerned, but they affect the relationships in which they are. They do so in a special way. For example, children and teenage people are not accustomed to the idea that mother and father might not be there for support: in a sense it is one of the things upon which they rely, and in nature they are bound to. We have all been in our teens, and we know about starting to stretch our wings and about thinking it is about time we made a few decisions for ourselves and seek a bit of independence, but you only have to imagine alongside those thoughts what you would do if mother and father were not there to recognise that in fact you depend upon them, however independent you may feel and however ungrateful in some of your sadder moments you might be. Illness has struck a number of our brethren in a way that touches just that particular relationship. Therefore the impact of it is magnified. There are also several very sad cases where families have been disrupted by unfaithfulness and where one or another is harmed by behaviour on the part of those with whom they might have expected to have a confiding and moral relationship. I am not as old as some brethren and I have talked to some who are old, and the oldest brethren here, and there are sorrows of that kind among us which are new even in their experience.

I do not say these things because they reflect upon the brethren, I am not suggesting that they represent some element of rottenness and lack of moral fibre among the brethren, on the contrary. The fact that these things arise among us speaks to us. There is a need among us to be concerned in a lively and affectionate way about the burdens that one and another are carrying. It does not mean to say that we meddle or interfere, and beyond a certain point there is nothing we can do; but we ought to feel these things. That made me think (and I nearly read about this but I felt a bit led away from that), about the passage in Corinthians where Paul says, “many among you are weak and infirm, and a good many are fallen asleep”, 1 Cor 11: 30. That seems to me to be a very precious way of putting things. Paul refers to it because he wanted to awaken the spirit of concern among the brethren in Corinth. There were things that they ought to put right, and that has its place in that scripture, but he refers to those who are “weak and infirm” and then he says, “and a good many are fallen asleep”. Is that not a precious thing? I infer from that expression that no suggestion is made of fault on the part of those who sleep. It is rather a voice to those who remain. There is not even a suggestion of pain or suffering. That seems to me to be a wonderful comfort to some of our brethren in these circumstances. There is plenty of cause to be troubled when you are in circumstances like that, but Paul says, “many are fallen asleep”. He uses that expression elsewhere, he refers to, “those who have fallen asleep through Jesus”, 1 Thess 4: 14. Is that not affecting? I just draw attention to this and I trust I am understood just to show that when these things arise it is not necessarily for any judicial reason or because there is a matter of judgment or an issue, but on the contrary when these things arise, there is ground for all of to be concerned about one another.

I also refer in that connection to Lazarus, he fell ill and died. The Lord tells His own that he had died. First of all He says to His disciples, “Lazarus, our friend, is fallen asleep”, John 11: 11. Think of the time in which Lazarus lived, under reproach, with grounds to be afraid to acknowledge the link he had with the Lord. No doubt he was a faithful man, but he lived in times when those who acknowledged the Lord in the place where he lived did so in fear of their lives. It says, “is fallen asleep” – you might say what a merciful thing that was for Lazarus to be taken out of all that pressure and reproach; but then the Lord says, “but I go that I may awake him out of sleep”. We might think it a mercy that he is released from all these exercises and questions. The Lord says ‘no’, “I go that I may awake him out of sleep”, in other words he has got to come back to this scene of testimony. He has to take it up again, but he will take it up again in a new way because the Lord has woken him up. You see the power and the vigour of his testimony and the impact of his testimony, when he emerges in resurrection power through the Lord’s work and for the glory of God. These things have a voice to us and that voice is intended to wake us up. I think waking us up is to give us some sense of the value, and the value to God, of one another; and having been given that sense, also to be given a desire in love, whenever opportunity presents itself, whether even only in prayer, to serve one another.

It was to this that Moses was called. What comes out of the section that follows where we have read is that, in spite of all the education that Moses had already had – eighty years had already passed in which Moses had no doubt learned a great deal – he has more humbling lessons to learn about himself before he is ready to serve. I might think, if I am going to serve the brethren, one of the things I would like to do is to point out some things which I think they ought to do differently. God has to say to Moses that, if that is what you are thinking about, it is you who has to do things differently. He takes Moses through some very painful lessons in which Moses has to learn his fear of the power of the Satan and his fear and loathing of any manifestation of the flesh. Think of that! The first reference is to the serpent that he flees from, and then he is given the power to subdue. Then there is perhaps a more sober and humbling lesson, with his hand, the very thing, the very member with which he was going to serve. A hand might link with one’s ability to serve, and God says, put your hand where your heart is and find out what your heart is really like. It comes out, “leprous, as snow” (Exod. 4: 6), totally disqualifying him from the path of service on to which he was about to embark. How necessary it is to take up the service of one another in self-judgment. It is so easy to gather quite a long list of things to pray about, this person and that person, ‘there are various things one does not like and things that are going on that I think ought to be different, and there is this and that matter in such and such a place which I think could be settled if only people would listen to me’, and so on: and God would say, you put your hand in your bosom. If you are going to serve do it in a spirit of humility – you must! Do it in the power of love but in the spirit of humility. I think the way in which the things that arise among the brethren of which I have spoken which touch our affections are intended to form the spirit in which we serve not only those who are affected, but all those who are within the compass of our service.

So Moses has to recognise that things that he thought he might need to be good at he is not good at, and that is something I certainly feel. I might talk to somebody who is seeking their way, and feel what can I say? I open my mouth to say something and afterwards think should I have said that, did I say too much? Moses says, “I am slow of speech” (Exod 4: 10): some of us are too quick, we say too much and in all our words maybe we do not say what we should have said. I feel my inadequacy and yet how precious it is that in spite of all these things Moses never lost the sense that God was committed to going with him. That is an impression I would like to leave that, as we take up the path of service and the burden of service, we can be assured in everything that we seek to do for the Lord that He will be with us in it. I had an opportunity to go and talk to somebody once and the situation got much more difficult before I had the opportunity to go: and I thought, what shall I say? I thought I could go over everything with the Lord and all the questions I might have to answer when I got there, but what came to me was that all I needed to say in prayer was, ‘Lord will you come with us’. It was all that I needed and He was glad to come.

I just leave this final word from Numbers because we see here Moses comes out with all this sense of inadequacy. He sees what is needed to be done and it is very fine to see the way he expresses the need. He does not say to God, these people need a field marshal, he does not say to the Lord, these people need a chief superintendent of police, or an archbishop, or a prime minister, he says they need someone who as a, “nursing-father beareth the suckling”. How wonderful it is to see the way that in his communion with God Moses is able to put his finger on what these people need. Someone is needed who is totally committed to the welfare and successful outcome of them, one whose very name is bound up with these people, as if they were his own children; whose own future and continuity depends upon this mission of service succeeding, and who speaks of the people as if he was all heart. But Moses says, “I am not able to bear all this people alone, for it is too heavy for me”. In a sense none of us has the power either. It is very affecting that God does not say, well I will find seventy other people and give them something more. He says he will take of what Moses already has and put it on the seventy. The lesson Moses had to learn was that on account of the Spirit of God he did not need to depend on his own capacity, great or small as he felt it might be; he did not have to depend on how exactly he felt about the people or how his patience might bear with them. All he had to do was to count upon the Spirit of God. God says, “I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them”. So the power that was available to carry the people through was not increased. Moses had no less of it than he had before. Had he had eyes to see, as he no doubt did after this, he had all that God thought was needed to accomplish the service which He had given Moses to do. God will never give anyone a service to do without giving them the measure of divine support in the Holy Spirit that is needed to see that service through. If anyone feels in the light of what I have said that they would like to serve God’s people, talk to God about it and be sure that He will equip you with the capacity you need, from the Holy Spirit, to see that service through.

The power was not increased but it was manifested in others. I believe that may be the need at the moment. One of the exercises I carry is that the brethren with whom we walk have been greatly blessed by brothers and sisters who were faithful in a time of division among the brethren and who have carried exercise as to the teaching and welfare of God’s people for a generation; but others need to carry that forward in the same spirit and the same power. Beloved, both can be found from God and let us be assured of this that He is committed to seeing His interests through. We might leave the difficulties to God, and count on Him for the grace we need with one another to help us through with difficulties. The love we need to serve one another is down to us.

God has brought the most precious things to us in the gospel. Corinthians is a wonderful book, a wonderful treasure of things that God has brought us into, but His desire is that those things might come into expression, in His people. He would have all of us desire in our spirits to serve them to that end.

May it be so, for His glory.

 

GRIMSBY

8 October 2005