SERVICE
[p. 450] SERVICE
I desire to speak to you on service. The first thing, and one of all importance to see in regard to the two passages I have read, is that from chapter 13 of John’s gospel a new subject opens, one which is not in reference to our state. Chapters 3 to 10 relate to what we were, and the grace that we required for ourselves. Here it is the Lord’s side and what fits us for being His disciples. As disciples we enter on a new line of things; we are here for Christ. If you are not settled in what you get in the previous chapters, you are not free from yourself to be here for Christ. There has been great confusion in people’s minds from not distinguishing these two divisions of the gospel. Our needs are all met first, and then comes another thing, the Lord opens out that we are to be here for Him, and how. The great hindrance to saints being here for Christ is that they do not see their own interests so perfectly secured that they can be free for His interests. In Philippians 2: 21 the apostle says, “All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s”.
The first mark of decline with Israel in the land was “no rain”; so now, what marks declension in saints is no freshness. It is not that the truth that they had is lost, but there is no adding (see 2 Peter 1: 5), no growth, and consequently no fresh light from the Lord. If you are going on with the Lord, the scriptures you know best yield most to you. I have delighted to hear a man of God take up the same scripture over and over again, and always with increased freshness.
Now, if the Lord has gone away what do you think would be His desire for His own? Is it not that they should maintain for Him here? For that purpose He has sent the Holy Spirit. A great many true christians [p. 451] really do not know what the Holy Spirit is here for. We have it set forth in these chapters. He is here to witness for Christ, and to enable Christ’s disciples to maintain and set forth Christ upon the earth. And this is not a question of duty merely, though of course it is due to Him, but His desire is that it should be from affection. “If ye love me”, He repeats again and again, and He gives the Holy Spirit as the power to carry out their affection for Him. You must know the Holy Spirit, as in chapters 4 and 7, before you can know Him as in chapters 14, 15 and 16. You do not lose the blessedness of chapters 4 and 7, but you apprehend Him in a new way. He is here to witness for Christ; and what is to characterise us is to stand for Christ’s interests here during His absence.
In these chapters the Lord is preparing His disciples to go out into the world for Him. Chapters 13 and 14 are at the supper table inside; chapters 15 and 16 are outside; chapter 17 is heaven. Now I want to show you what you gain by being here for Christ, and what you lose if you are not for Him. Turn to chapter 14: 26, 27, and see what the preparation is. The preparation for a servant is important. In Psalm 23: 5 we read, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies”. How many tables have you found in the wilderness? A table is the sense of a favour from the Lord in your service in the midst of your enemies, in the midst of opposition and difficulties - a distinct communication from Himself in heaven to where you are here as a servant. “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you” (1 Peter 4: 14).
Now the first part of the preparation for the disciples was that the Holy Spirit was to revive to their hearts what Christ was on earth. He shall “bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”. This is their preparation for being here for Him. Have you read the gospels with the thought [p. 452] before you of seeing how Christ was borne above all the circumstances of this world? You cannot be a servant if you do not know this. How can you be a free agent for Him here if you have not learnt how to be borne superior to the things here as He was? It is a great thing to know how the Lord was in this place, how He went through it. Then He says, “My peace I give unto you”. I give you the serene tranquillity with which I moved through all the contrariety here. This is given to us to know as servants and as disciples. It is the preparation for our service. A soldier being enlisted is one thing, but it is quite another thing to be trained to be a soldier. So the Lord is here preparing His own for service to Him. You cannot enter on it without the preparation. A water fowl can oil his feathers before he goes into the water, a land fowl cannot.
If you are to go into the contrariety here, you must have power to be borne above it, and He gives the power. How can you serve the Lord if you are bewildered and perplexed? People only lose time in beginning to serve without being near the Lord. If a man goes to a prayer meeting troubled in his own spirit, he cannot be a mouthpiece of the assembly until he gets out of his trouble; he must be free from himself. It is a great gain to serve, but I do not want you to desire to serve simply for the gain of it, but from affection to Him. Peter left all and followed Him; that was from affection; but see the gain he got, the quality of the gain! He got the Lord’s company for three and a half years every day! Was he not well compensated?
Chapter 14 has nothing to do with a man going to die, as is often thought. It is not to prepare you for going to heaven out of this world, but for serving the Lord in it. How little we understand the greatness of being here for the Lord! Is your heart drawn out in occupation with His interests? Ask yourself that [p. 453] question in your own room. I think it is a great thing for a person to have a room of their own to retire to, to sit before the Lord. Now what is to be the first thing in your service? “Love one another”. How would that work? If you see a defect in a brother you are responsible to remove it. Nothing but the grace of God will enable us to get on with our brethren according to Him; nothing but divine love. A disciple ought to be known as one who would lay down his life for his brethren. That is the first circle of service. He begins with the assembly; he may serve the world also, but the world is not the sphere of his service; his interests are with the saints. “Love one another, as I have loved you”. “Endure all things for the elect’s sake” (2 Timothy 2: 10). It is not pointing out defects, or looking for them, but removing them. Do not talk of them, but remove them. There is a great difference between pointing out a defect in order to remove it, and drawing attention to it. The feeling is so different. Love would see no spot, no mediocrity. “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee” (Song of Songs 4: 7). Love desires perfection for its object. That is the perfection of the Lord’s love, and it is with that feeling that we are to serve one another.
Now another thing is before us in chapter 15: 26. The Holy Spirit came to bring out what He is in glory. In chapter 14 it is what He was on earth. Now it is what He is in glory. John does not speak of union as Paul does, but in this chapter you get the effect of it, for in the power of the Holy Spirit you come out from the Lord, borne above all the contrariety here in the peace of Christ. Who that loves Christ would not like to be a servant? I give a few examples of what real service is. Abraham going out by night to rescue Lot, putting his life in his hand, as it were. If you would truly serve the Lord, you will lose all your greatness here. But what then? “Him will my Father honour”. See how Abraham was honoured, Melchisedec meets [p. 454] him; and if Abraham so acted, how much more may we, who know Him who is worthy of everything.
Look at Moses, see how his heart was set on the Lord’s glory. What a contrast between him and Aaron; one helping the people to make a calf, and the other with God on the mount, and like the righteous, “bold as a lion”. And did not God honour him? Did he not stand on the mount of transfiguration with Christ?
Elijah is another example, How he stood for God in the ruin of Israel! All the prophets of Baal were killed. Then he got discouraged and fled to Horeb, but God showed him how abundant His resources are. And how He honoured him! He took him to heaven, and afterwards he too was on the mount of transfiguration with Christ. What was it made them such servants? God’s interests were theirs. Again, Daniel in captivity about to be cast into a den of lions, and yet his heart set on God’s interests; he opened his window and prayed towards Jerusalem, which at the time was only a heap of ruins. When the remnant had returned from Babylon, God says, “Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?” (Haggai 1: 4) Their cieled houses were not worldliness, but they were occupied with their own interests instead of with God’s, and therefore God blew upon it. I sometimes say to myself, If I did not believe that God’s interests were here, that Christ’s treasure is here, I would rather be a vegetable! I remark that a man who has God’s chief interest at heart has wonderful light as to God’s mind. I rejoice in seeing a man who has nothing to detain him on this earth. I get the sense - what a view that man has of what God is. Again, I ask you, Is there no gain in being a servant? People may regard it as a hardship to go outside the camp, but try it, and see what gain you will have. In John 16: 14 we find, “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you”.
That is not Christ, but Christ’s things, the Father’s things. Is that no gain? I have come to see what the true character of this world is. I have lost the world, I have lost the organisation here, but I have got the Father’s things. A man who is leaning on the Spirit of God is more and more apart from the world, and he it is who will see the Father’s things. I ask you to weigh whether you are here for the Lord; I do not ask you if you are a good subject, or a good husband, or a good father, but are you here for the Lord? If you are, you will fulfil all your duties here better; you will be a better man in every other sphere. You will gain, too, by having greater courage for the Lord, and in helping others; for in the assembly, if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it. It is a great and wondrous thing to know that not only He was here for me, but He empowers me to be here for Him.