FAITHFULNESS IN THE SAINTS
H. Jensen
Colossians 1: 1–5 (to “heavens”); Ephesians 1: 1, 2; Matthew 25: 20–23; 24: 45–47; Psalm 37: 1–4; 119: 30–32
What I have read of, beloved brethren, is connected with faithfulness in ourselves, faithfulness in the saints, as a result of our appreciating the faithfulness of God. We have been considering God’s faithfulness, firstly to us individually, and then in relation to His creature man. We also spoke of the faithfulness of God in relation to His promises, how He has fulfilled them all, and His
faithfulness in relation to the assembly. Then we considered the faithfulness of Christ, the way He cannot deny Himself, how He continues on in perfect faithfulness in every way, both to God in His wondrous place as High Priest, and toward us, interceding for us. All these things, I believe, would attract our hearts and stimulate us to seek to be faithful ourselves as His people; He is looking for that, for faithful persons. Paul was looking for that too when he said to Timothy, “the things thou hast heard of me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men”, 2 Timothy 2: 2. Can we be among them? If Paul were alive today, would he look to me as one who was a faithful man to whom he could entrust things? The Lord is looking for that, and it has been, no doubt, something that the Lord has sought out in every generation throughout the whole dispensation. We have spoken of generations, and it is most wonderful to think of the fact that in every generation since the beginning of the dispensation there have been faithful persons, faithful men and faithful women.
We read in Revelation briefly about faithful persons, one of them being faithful unto death.
What a remarkable matter that was. Antipas “my faithful witness”, Revelation 2: 13. Think of what the Lord felt in relation to such persons in earlier days of church history! There have been faithful persons in the history of the testimony who were prepared to be martyred for Christ in their faithfulness. What it must mean to the Lord Jesus when persons have suffered in a similar way to the way He suffered at the hands of men! They suffered for righteousness, suffered because they stood for Christ like Antipas must have done. So the exhortation that the Lord would give today is, “Be thou faithful unto death”, Revelation 2: 10. What a test that would be! But if it came down to it in my life and yours, that we were facing death to maintain the truth, or to hold the light that has been given us, could we be faithful unto death?
What a challenge that is! Yet I think we need to be encouraged that there are faithful persons in our time, thank God for
that, even faithful unto death.
Paul could write to these Colossians as “holy and faithful brethren in Christ which are in Colosse”. That is in a locality, in a certain place where there were “holy and faithful brethren in Christ “. How fine that was for Paul to consider the saints in that way. We can think of that in relation to so many localities where we have links of fellowship, that the brethren in those localities, like Colosse, are “holy and faithful brethren in Christ”. The apostle along with Timothy, in writing to them, could say, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. That is, he would love to see the favour and blessing of God’s grace and peace among them as those who were faithful in Christ. Thank God there are many localities at the present time, some with so few in them (few in this locality really in comparison to the numbers that could be here in this place), and yet, I think, brethren can take courage that the Lord is looking on and regarding them as holy and faithful brethren in Christ. Think of the Lord Jesus, you might say, breathing this out through the apostle. This is the word of God, is it not? Therefore it is the way Jesus felt about those beloved saints in Colosse. It is the way He feels about the brethren in Denton, and the brethren in Indianapolis, and the brethren in Los Angeles, and the brethren in so many places.
Then he goes on to say, “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ continually when praying for you”. I think that shows the faithfulness on the part of the apostle Paul in prayer for the saints. How faithful he was in so many ways in service to the Lord Jesus, but also faithful in prayer. He speaks so much about his prayers in the epistles that he wrote; how he must have been such a praying man all the time, praying for the saints, and at the same time thanking God for them. We can do that. I think God must take great delight in His people as a praying people, a dependent people, who at the same time are thanking God for one
another, thanking God for those who have been faithful and are maintaining holiness and faithfulness in Christ.
Then he speaks about what he had heard about them, “having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which ye have towards all the saints, on account of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens”. Paul loves to speak of those three elements that relate to our lives here in the testimony—faith, love, and hope. He refers to them in Corinthians, where he says, they abide at the present time. Hope and faith will be done away but love will go on eternally.
Here he laboured to commend them in Colosse because these things were features of the saints—“having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love which ye have towards all the saints, on account of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens”. How wonderful it is that we have a recourse to God about the saints all the time. We can pray at any time and give thanks for the saints. Can we be like Paul? What a test that is. Can I be in any way like the apostle Paul, and be thinking of the saints in this way and praying for them and giving thanks for them?
He speaks similarly of the beloved brethren at Ephesus. He says, “Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by God’s will, to the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus who are at Ephesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ”. How highly he regarded these beloved saints at Ephesus as well as those in Colosse. What depths of truth he was able to bring out in this epistle to the Ephesians as he had in Colossians. Last week at Ormond Beach we were greatly struck by the glory of the truth concerning the Person of Christ in Colossians, and the fulness of the truth of the assembly that Paul brought out in Ephesians.
How wonderful that is, because he realised that faithful believers were ready to receive the fullness of the ministry that he had for them. So he brings out the greatness of what God had in view for the saints in Ephesus, the richest ministry, the deepest truth, because
there were saints and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus who were ready to receive these things.
We can be among such, and the Lord is looking for that. It is a wonderful thing that in our day the richness of what has been brought out in the ministry is available to us. I believe it is because the Lord regards faithful persons as receptacles, vessels, that can take in what He is ready to give us in the richness of the present time. I refer to these collective settings where the saints are. That is, persons who have been called of God and clothed with this dignity.
How fine it is to think of our brethren in this way, to view them as saints, even when difficulties are being faced. I was impressed recently, when the Lord was pleased to take our beloved sister in Los Angeles, that a saint had been taken. The Lord says through the psalmist, “Precious in the sight of Jehovah is the death of his saints”, Psalm 116: 15. How dignified such persons are!
I read in Matthew because it comes down to individuals, and the Lord is speaking about faithful bondmen; He was undoubtedly bringing this forward because He knew He was soon to leave them. He said earlier, “For it is as if a man going away out of a country called his own bondmen and delivered to them his substance” (Matthew 25: 14). The Lord had in view that He was about to leave them, and all the while He was here He was delivering substance to His disciples. The question would be when He was gone, What would they do with that substance? That is the question for each of us; the Lord has given us each something. “God has dealt to each a measure of faith” it says (Romans 12: 3). Each one has received a measure of faith. In Ephesians it says, “to each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ”; Ephesians 4: 7. Each of us has received from the Lord a measure. In this first case he was given five talents, a very great measure, and what would he have when the Lord came again is the question. When he returned this bondman had five additional talents. What had he done with them? He
had been out working and trading with them; it was not just interest on the money, he had doubled the money. If I could double what the Lord has first given me in my life, how fine that would be. So he presents them to the Lord, and the Lord says to him, “Well, good and faithful bondman”. What an encouragement to think of the Lord taking account of what each of us has produced and brought forward; He will do that in a day to come with every one.
Would it not be wonderful if I could bring to Him five talents or two talents, and say, ‘Lord, I have increased it by that much’? His word is, “Well, good and faithful bondman, thou wast faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things—enter thou into the joy of thy lord”.
We have not all been given the same measure. We know that there are certain ones who have a far larger measure and the Lord expects more from them. But the measure that He has given me, can I double it and bring it back to Him in fruitfulness as a result of trading and working with it, and have it available for Him in the end? He says the same thing to the one with two talents, “Well, good and faithful bondman, thou wast faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things—enter thou into the joy of thy lord”. It would be wonderful to receive this kind of appreciation on the part of the Lord, and to enter into His joy. What joy He has in relation to the things that He is upholding at the present time for God, and we shall enter into that fully in a day to come. We can touch it now, can we not? Yet how vast the horizon will be when He says this to His own, “enter into the joy of thy lord”. What joy He has in the things He is upholding for God. We think of the Lord as a Man of sorrows when He was here, but He is a Man of joy now in relation to all that has been brought to pass through His work, and all that is centred in Him now in glory.
I read in Matthew 24 because the Lord raises the question here, “Who then is the faithful and prudent bondman whom his lord has set over his household, to
give them food in season?” He is speaking to the disciples, of course, because they were set over His household. That is the way the Lord left the disciples as set over His household, but they are gone. So the question is, Who will serve like these beloved disciples were expected to serve, giving food in season to His household? I think the Lord is looking for that in every locality, looking for persons who are dedicating themselves to providing food in His household. I have been struck by Mr. Taylor’s letters that he often refers to that very matter, just providing food for the household, meaning God’s household. It was something that undoubtedly was motivation in service all the time, and I think the Lord is looking for that from each of us. These are bondmen, but bondwomen can do the same. They can provide food in the household; that is they bring in something that will be for the benefit of the saints, for building them up, for nourishing them. Cherishing and nourishing, that is what the Lord is at, and He would do that through one and another. “Who”, He says, it is a question, “Who then is the faithful and prudent bondman?” Prudent means that there is wisdom in relation to what is said and done and brought in, and that often is a test to us. Am I prudent in what I might bring in? Is it going to feed the saints?
Then it says, “Blessed is that bondman whom his lord on coming shall find doing thus”. It involves the line of endurance. Blessed is he if he keeps on doing that until the Lord comes and the Lord finds him doing that. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, beloved brethren, to see that the household of God is provided for in the way of spiritual food and nourishment. It means that I have to take time to contemplate the things of God, take time to read the Scriptures and meditate over them, and look for the treasures that are in them, so that they can be brought out among the saints. If the Lord gives you something be sure to bring it out; that is a very important matter too as some persons hold back and do not bring out what the Lord has given them at times.
Mr. Taylor often exhorted the brethren to do that. If the Lord has given you something, do not be selfish and hold it to yourself; He would say, Bring it out.
I read in the Psalms because I think it is a very striking word that David uses, to feed on faithfulness. First he says, in verse 1, “Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, and be not envious of them that work unrighteousness”. We see that all around us. There is a tendency for us to wonder about things that go on among men around us. Even in Christendom, where we know there are many believers, it becomes appalling at times as to things that are allowed to go on. Sometimes unrighteous persons seem to prosper; that is another thing that comes out in the Scriptures. You wonder how unrighteous persons can get ahead and prosper, but the psalmist says, “Fret not thyself” because of them; have confidence in God that He will see to their end as they will be cut off like grass. How often you can see that if you observe men, sometimes suddenly they are cut off and you wonder about it; but it is just a fulfilment of a scripture like this, when that takes place. The exhortation for us is to confide in Jehovah—
“Confide in Jehovah, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on faithfulness”; the footnote says, ‘give thyself to’. It is like what Paul said to Timothy, “Occupy thyself with these things; be wholly in them”, 1 Timothy 4: 15. That is the exhortation we could take out of this scripture, to feed on faithfulness. Feed on the faithfulness of God; feed on the faithfulness of Christ; feed on the faithfulness of the brethren too, holy and faithful brethren; feed so that I am built up myself and become a faithful person. Because what you feed on builds up your constitution. The kind of food we take in develops the kind of persons we become, and so feeding on faithfulness would help us to develop in faithfulness to God, and faithfulness to the saints. Then he says, “and he will give thee the desires of thy heart”. God will see that persons who feed on faithfulness receive the desires of their hearts. We can count on that as one of His promises.
I finally read in Psalm 119, because I believe it indicates that faithfulness as a way of life can be chosen. He says, “I have chosen the way of faithfulness”; that is, I can make up my mind that I am going to do the things that are faithful to God. I am going to commit my life and my ways and my activities to serving faithfully, under the hand of the Spirit among the brethren, doing what good I can. There are so many opportunities for doing good among the people of God and around us too with those that we may come into contact with in our daily lives.
Doing good among men is often a great testimony; and it is surely what the Lord Jesus was doing when He was here, doing good all the time.
So he says, “I have chosen the way of faithfulness”; it means I can make up my mind to choose that as a way of life. This is something to keep before us that it is a matter of making decisions about things, and seeking to go a certain way in faithfulness to God. The casual and unconcerned way of life, neglecting the things of God, must be rejected. That is an easy way that has caused neutrality and compromise, and has resulted in an evil line of things among many Christians, because they are not dedicated to choosing the way of faithfulness to God.
Let us be encouraged that we might choose this way. The psalmist says, “I cleave unto thy testimonies; Jehovah, let me not be ashamed”. Of course, that is the Spirit of Christ prophetically, because the Lord Jesus chose this way in manhood, always cleaving to the testimonies that related to God. So it is a question, Can I be like Jesus, choosing this way, to be faithful to God, and cleaving to the testimonies of God, not being ashamed of them? Then finally, “I will run the way of thy commandments”. Is that not a remarkable word? We have been exhorted to run the race with Him in view, and here it is, “I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart”. I think it simply
means that we are under the Lord’s direction, we are under His command in relation to the place we have in the testimony, and we are prepared to run that way. Others may be running another way, but how will I run? Let us run the race with Him in view and be under His commandments. May the Lord bless His word.
Address at Denton
4 January 1997