(ii)

(ii) Jim Marshall

Acts 9: 17; 1 Corinthians 12: 31; 13: 13

One would just seek help to say something about the way, “a way of more surpassing excellence”. It is a blessed thing to be in the way. In Isaiah it says, “when ye turn to the right hand or when ye turn to the left, thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it” Isa. 30: 21. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death” Prov. 14: 12. That is very solemn. That was the way that we were in. As Isaiah says, “All we like sheep have gone astray and turned every one to his own way” (53: 6). I think people who have had that experience appreciate another way. We should be thankful that there is another way and that is why I read in Acts because there was a man who was on the wrong way, just as you and I were. He was in the wrong way and the Lord intervened and appeared to him in the way. What a thing it is! Have you ever experienced the Lord appearing to you? Is that something foreign to you, the Lord appearing to you. He appeared to Saul of Tarsus. Why did He appear to Saul of Tarsus? Because he was persecuting the saints, he was violent, he was an insolent, overbearing man. That is the kind of man he was, but the Lord stopped him. That is what the Lord can do to you if you are in the wrong way tonight. Saul was violent with his activities towards the saints, but you can persecute the saints in other ways, you can persecute the saints with your own lips. It is a solemn thing that this can be so. We can use our lips in regard to the service of God, and yet the same lips, the same mouth, we can use in regard to the detriment of the saints. It is very solemn. But, the Lord stopped Saul of Tarsus. Saul was going into the city, Why? Because he was told to do so “and it shall be told thee what thou must do” (v.6). It is not only that he was stopped in the way, but he got direction as to what to do and where he would find wisdom. There is a way that is wrong, there is a way of wisdom. This man received that.

That is why I read in 1 Corinthians because he is speaking about “a way of more surpassing excellence”. He had the qualifications to speak about it because he had known the One who had expressed it, a way of more surpassing excellence. This directs our hearts to the Lord Jesus. I do not want to speak about Saul of Tarsus, I want to speak about the Lord Jesus and the way of more surpassing excellence which is expressed in that blessed Man in perfection. At this juncture one is thinking of the Hebrew bondman, how He came in, and how He went out. He came in saying, “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free” Exod. 21: 5. That is how he came, the way of love, the way of more surpassing excellence. Jesus could have gone out free, but He superseded the law, He did not go out free, He gave His all. That is what comes before us every Lord’s Day morning, “This is my body which is given for you” Luke 22: 19. His body was a prepared body. I love to think of how the Lord Jesus came in. It is not only that He came in as a babe, but what surrounded His coming in was inscrutability. There is not only inscrutability in regard to His Person, but there is inscrutability in regard to His birth. These are wonderful things, a prepared body – it was not only a prepared body, but a prepared place. I feel that the manger was a prepared place because there was room for Him there, there was no room anywhere else. It is the same today. We need to know what it is to have a prepared place for Jesus to come to. We should know what that is, that He can come. John 20 is a wonderful chapter, it says, “Jesus came and stood in the midst” (v.19). He did not knock at the door, He had free access. I am impressed with the grandeur of the Hebrew bondman because he speaks of Christ, he speaks of his love, of his bondmanship. Are you a bondman? You say, I know the Lord Jesus as my Saviour, I know Him as my Lord. Do you know Him as a bondman? If you know him as a bondman, you will know Him as your Master. I think we have a wonderful Master! A Master who has laid down His life for us, “This is my body which is given for you”. That is the kind of Master we have. Owning Jesus as your Master is something that you feel thankful for and rejoice in, especially if you have an experience of the other master. There are only two masters, one is the Lord Jesus and the other is Satan, and the question is who am I faithful to? Who am I serving? Is it the Hebrew bondman, the One who is our Master?

In Corinthians 12 we have this beautiful expression, “yet shew I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence”. That is why I referred to the Hebrew bondman. We should be thankful not only for what we hear, but for what we can see. We have been shown a way of more surpassing excellence, and it is all in connection with the functioning of the body.

We had a word on this chapter a few weeks ago and it is impressive what is said about it. It would promote love amongst us, “a way of more surpassing excellence”. Paul goes on to analyse love and what he says is very searching – if you have not love you are nothing (see 1 Cor. 13: 2). For the function of the body love is a necessity. It is a figure of the human body, the arms, the members, and we are members of Christ’s body and that is the sphere of love, love for one another, the working of the body. How can the body work if love is not working? Love must work, wisdom must work and there is plenty of instruction in regard to the wisdom of love. Then Paul adds this beautiful touch at the end of chapter 13, “And now abide faith, hope, love; these three things; and the greater of these is love”. It is the greatest. You wonder why it says it is ‘the greater’, because we all know what it is to have faith, we know what it is to have hope, but the greater is love. Love is what goes into eternity, and I think we should experience eternal conditions now amongst us, but love must be there. How can you experience what is eternal without love, without eternal life? I think of that scripture which says, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Ps. 133: 1), their God commanded the blessing, life for evermore. We want to go in for what is pleasant, what is eternal. We sometimes regard these wonderful matters as just something that is said, but I can remember Mr. Dickson saying in regard to eternal life, referring to Timothy, “Lay hold of eternal life” (1 Tim. 6: 12) – we need to tighten our grips for what is eternal. I think that would be a fair thing to say, we are so prone to be loose, disregarding this thing and the next thing, but let us tighten our grips on what is a way of more surpassing excellence.

6 August 2002