Notes of an Address at Findochty 1969
“And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” (Ex. 40:35)
The greatest feature of concerted action is seen in Revelation 5 when the whole universe is vocal with the praise of Christ and of God, His beloved people and angelic hosts all entering in to this concerted ascription of praise. But I want to engage our hearts for a few moments with what can be accomplished on earth by persons governed by the truth, working together humbly, each in their place seeking the mind of God. God adds His blessing to such an action.
A beautiful picture can be seen in this sense when we see Mary and Martha and Lazarus working together with one object in view, to show hospitality to their Master. They made Him a supper, all worked together, each in their place and produced a supper for the joy and happiness of their Master.
The scriptures that we have read in the book of Exodus (39:42-43, 40:35) provide a picture for us of wonderful action of men and women working together under divine direction, each finding their place in this work, not intruding into someone else’s work, but working together with one object in view that the glory of God might be seen, that the ark of God might find the central place, that the whole construction might be done for the blessing of themselves no doubt eventually, but principally for the glory of God. Moses had the principle place in this work, two other men, Bezaleel and Oholiab, assisted him in this construction, and then every man and woman in Israel also had their part in this wonderful work. Every one of them answered to the divine call and worked harmoniously together and at the end we see the glory of God filling that scene. I believe, brethren, that the features that are attached to those persons can be realised by us today in our local companies with a view to the supremacy of Christ being realised and the glory of God known amongst us. This is not something that is beyond us, it is something that is within the reach of every assembly of God’s people if they are prepared to submit themselves to the directions that God gives in His word. This glorious result can be accomplished.
The Overseer—Moses
“Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.” (Heb. 8:5b)
“… the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.” (Ex. 39:32)
I want to attach some features to those persons who are mentioned and I want to refer to Moses as the one who gives the direction, and we all know where we find this. I do not want to refer to him as a type of Christ, I want to refer to him as the word of God. You can imagine for the moment this construction going on, the Scripture gives us the plain facts of how it was done, but we can, without stretching our imagination, envisage a scene where problems arise and what are we to do? Well, we go to Moses. He is the man who will put it right, he has the plan that God gave him. If there is something wrong or if we are not clear about a matter let us go to Moses, he will tell us what to do.
I believe, dear brethren, in the days in which we live there is a very great danger of seeking expediency rather than arriving at what the mind of God is through His word. This is the most important principle that we have to face in our local companies. It is not a question of what is best for the moment, but what is best for God. He has given us ample instruction in His word as to how a local assembly should function. The first epistle to the Corinthians directs us as to every difficulty that might face the people of God. And it is of the utmost importance that it is in the second epistle to Timothy, where so much declension is referred to, that Paul writes “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16). Here we find the help for the people of God in days of difficulty, in days of weakness, in days of declension, not seeking to do the best we can, but seeking the do the very best that God can do with us, and that means being submissive to His word. Any local assembly that neglects the directions given in the word of God is heading for disaster, but if we humbly submit to the word of God and seek to act upon it, however feebly we may put it into expression, we are on the royal road to blessing.
If you search through the Scriptures you will find this true on many, many occasions, that whenever expediency came in amongst the people of God there was nothing but trouble, but wherever there was submission to the word of God there was blessing. Think for a moment of two wonderful books, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. When the people of God came out of Babylon to build again the wall and the Temple for the glory of God, again and again we find reference to the law that was written by Moses, the man of God. They went back to first principles, right back to the word of God that gave them directions. They might easily have said, ‘We learnt some good ideas in Babylon, see how they organise their temples, think of the beauty of things, we might incorporate some of this into our Temple, into our ideas of the worship of Jehovah’. It could quite easily have been done, but they got back to the Scriptures, back to the law of God, back to the directions given by Moses, the man of God; and “the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off” (Neh. 12:43). What a wonderful moment, dear brethren, in this time of recovery, just to quietly own that we in ourselves are hopeless and inadequate to answer to the things of God, but we humbly seek to follow His word and find His blessing. If you read those last chapters in the book of Exodus again and again you find the expression, “as the Lord commanded Moses”, and Moses never deviated one iota from the mind of God; as God said it should be done so it was done, and consequently we find the glory of God filling that structure. We must have authority, and authority is certainly found in the word of God. It defeats all speculation, it overthrows all the ideas of man and it brings in just the right thing to meet the right need.
The Craftsmen—1. Bezaleel
“And Moses said unto the children of Israel, See, the Lord hath called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge; and to devise curious works, to be set in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work …” (Ex. 35:30-33)
Now when we come to Bezaleel and Oholiab, we find one man of the tribe of Judah, Bezaleel, and one man of the tribe of Dan, Oholiab. I just want to use the fact that they belong to those tribes and the meaning of those names to provide another two features amongst us that belong to the local assembly. God never intended that the local assembly should only be the place where we go along for spiritual comfort and help and fellowship (although, thank God, it is that), the main object in the local assembly, or in any gathering of God’s people such as this, is the worship and praise of God. And in this we find for ourselves the greatest possible blessing. I am sure all hearts here are enjoying the memory of Lord’s day morning. We did not come together to enquire about the truth, we did not come together to help each other, we came together to remember Him, we came together to make Him the central One, and as our hearts went out to Him in praise and worship how our hearts were warmed! Dear brethren, I am perfectly sure that if an impartial observer had come in at the back of the hall he would have said to himself, ‘There is only one man that is important here, and that is Christ’. He was the central figure of our gathering, and our hearts were warmed as they went out in worship and praise to Him; and when we do come together with this object in view that our hearts may go out to Christ and to God, it is something that does us all good, and affects us in our minds and in our desires down here. I remember Mr. McBroom saying, “People are always saying, ‘Give us something practical’, and I reply, ‘As far as I am concerned the highest and most heavenly truths connected with the glories of Christ and God are the most practical truths that can occupy the people of God”.’ For if this is assimilated, if this is taken into the soul, it is bound to affect our lives, because we cannot walk in the presence of such glorious Persons and be unaffected in our minds or in our ways. So Bazaleel of the tribe of Judah stands for the praise that would go out from our hearts as we come together.
Bezaleel was the one who did all the artistic carving, all the beautiful work that garnished the furniture of the Tabernacle, and it is delightful when we hear a brother expressing praise and worship to God, the truth that is so beautiful in itself. This worshipping God “in the beauty of holiness” (Ps. 29:2, 96:9, etc.) is the most attractive thing that we can find amongst the saints of God. Is this not more attractive than all the ornamentation that men and women might devise in Christendom in connection with the things of God? Surely the worship and praise of God as led by the Spirit finding its centre in Christ is more attractive than anything else that our minds can devise. Bezaleel stands for this, all that is beautiful, all that is of worth, all that is of value in the mind of God coming to light as the result of exercise amongst the people of God because although the Tabernacle was given by God to Moses in pattern it was only raised up by the energy and exercise of the people of God.
The Craftsmen—2. Oholiab
“… and he hath put in [Bezaleel’s] heart that he may teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Them hath he filled with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of them that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.” (Ex. 35:34-35)
Now Oholiab belonged to the tribe of Dan. There came a time when Dan was an apostate tribe, but at this moment all was well. His name means ‘judge’, and this feature is so necessary too amongst us. We do not judge each other, we judge ourselves, and there is no joy amongst the people of God unless we come together in self-judgment. How much self judgment do we do before we go to the meetings? Are we too busy, too harassed, that we cannot find a few moments to bow down before we gather together and express to the Lord that perhaps during the day we have been a bit hasty in temper, or perhaps things have been done by us that ought not to have been done, and thus judge ourselves? because we are not only going along to the meeting, we are going into the Lord’s presence. Can we wonder sometimes that things are a bit flat when we come together in an unjudged spirit? perhaps things are in our minds and we cannot get rid of them by trying to ignore them, we have got to get into the presence of God and express how wrong we have been and get rid of them so that the weight of them is gone and then we go to meet the Lord. How necessary it is too in our dealings with each other that this spirit of self-judgment should operate. I am not to act as if I am the chief and another brother is the subordinate, but we are both together in the spirit of self-judgment seeking to help each other in this lowly mind that again and again has been pressed upon us in these meetings, the spirit of long-suffering, forbearance, love, kindly affection towards each other. How easy it is to be cruel, censorious is spirit, how easy to be a taskmaster against others and extremely lenient against oneself. Once we bow our knees in the presence of God we cannot speak to Him as we might speak to each other. He knows us through and through. There can be no sham or veneer in His presence, only the truth is good enough for God. When this is done, when we are judged in the presence of God then we are in a fit condition to proceed into the local assembly to have our part in the Bible readings, in the prayer meeting, the Lord’s supper, or ministry or whatever it might be, but unless this is done there must be a drag, there must be a hindrance in the Spirit’s workings amongst us. This is not only for our blessing, thank God it is, but it is in view of God and of Christ having their rightful place in the assembly.
The Work Force—The People of Israel
“According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.” (Ex. 39:42-43)
Lastly, we come to the men and women. There are three great features that were prominent with them. There was a willing heartedness, they were ready to do it. There was energy, they offered up heave offerings and also voluntary offerings (Ex. 36:3). It says also that they were “wise hearted” (Ex. 35:25, 36:8), they did it in the way they were directed. These men and women did the things that they were told to do, and all contributing to this wonderful construction where God came in in glory. Perhaps one man’s duty was to carry the bag of pegs, but that would be providing something that was absolutely essential to the construction, it would not have been something to be lightly thought about, it would have been his joy to carry those pegs. And as far as I can see there was no rivalry or envy amongst the workers, they went forward each in his or her place doing what was right before the Lord, and the material was all available. What a wonderful moment it must have been for Moses when he said to the people, ‘That is enough gifts; there is plenty here to do the job’. How often we have to say in our local companies, ‘There is not enough to do the job’, there is a holding back, there is something wrong, the supplies are not coming forward.
We hear a lot today from the government about the economic condition, and one of the things they continually refer to is the appalling loss of man hours in industry through strikes and other things. Dear brethren, I wonder if we consider the loss of assembly hours, the ease with which brethren can give up ‘assembly time’; it is appalling. In local companies there are fixed times for the coming together of the saints, these moments are valuable, they have been given to us in the wisdom of God, and this is where the material is gathered, this is where it is brought forward, this is where is it set in circulation, this is the lifeblood of the local assembly. And if there are those who are deliberately and wilfully going to stay away then they are going to miss the enjoyment and blessing of the circulation, and also, which is more solemn, they are going to deprive the local assembly of their contribution, and all will lose. God wants us all to come with a willing heart, to come with a supply and to come with divine energy as led by the Spirit of God.
So in this concerted action whether we may feel very small in our own eyes in what we are doing, in looking after the pegs, or whether we have an exalted place, like Oholiab and Bezaleel, if we are all in the right place and doing what the Lord wants us to do then we will find the approval of God. Now lest any think that we are putting far to much emphasis upon ourselves, let me quote one verse in the New Testament that would support what I am saying, 2 Corinthians 1:20, “all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us”. Is not this wonderful? Those two little words make such a difference, we are essential to God for the expression of His glory. If you would like another verse Ephesians 3:21 reads, “unto him be glory in the assembly by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen”. This is how essential the saints are. Ephesians 3 is the end that God will reach in His purpose. What a wonderful scene it will be, but at the present moment in the time of testimony, in the time of weakness, glory is dependent upon us, every one of us, none of us can be excluded, God is depending upon us for the maintenance of His things here. Oh, how much He wants us, and He wants to be there amongst us. If we could only get away from the idea of a meeting in the sense of a congregation, just coming together, and get fixed in our minds that the gathering of the saints can realise the presence of Christ and the presence of God, it will exalt in our minds the coming together of the saints and give us a desire to come together. In our local assemblies we are being faced with the problem of our young people slipping away from the companies of the people of God and finding their interests elsewhere, and this should be an exercise with every one of us who are older, that the gathering of the saints should be attractive spiritually, that there might be a desire for the young to find their enjoyment there with their parents and with the brethren, and this can only be achieved through spiritual exercise. Dear father and mother, do you want your son or daughter lost to the testimony? Do you not want them to be walking together in the pathway that you are walking? A solemn responsibility rests upon you and me and all of us to make the local assembly attractive for the young, and again I say there is nothing more attractive than worship “in the beauty of holiness”.
The Importance of Collective Work for God
“And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom, and all his household.” (2 Sam. 6:11)
This might be called an abnormal condition. The ark had been taken by the Philistines and had been recovered from Israel and now it had found a resting place in the house of Obed-Edom. The Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom because the ark was there. Now it is a very precious thing to have some measure of worship in our homes. Thank God for every home which has a place for Christ, but it is an abnormal condition. Carry on with giving Christ the place in your house, but I want to say tonight that it is not the divine objective. The time came when the ark had to leave the house of Obed-Edom and find its place in the structure that Solomon reared; this was the proper place for it in the right conditions. If there are any here this evening who may be in a sense isolated, yet still reverencing and worshipping the Lord Jesus in their homes, always keep in mind, however good that may be, that this is not the divine objective. God’s objective is that Christ might be worshipped in the assembly. This is the end towards which we should move, every one of us. I am sorry for the saints who say they get on better in their homes than in the assembly, because there is something wrong. God desires that we should be all together, governed by the Spirit, giving Christ His place, and there we find God’s mind, this is what it will be in glory, this is what Revelation 5 tell us, that there will be a company of redeemed people surrounding the One we love, the One who died for us, and every one will be vocal with His praise.
May we be encouraged then, dear brethren, to provide these features. We cannot provide them all, but let us add our little bit. Let us desire in the presence of God to be concerned about this, that we might come along to the meeting with something in our souls that can contribute to the occasion, something that can make much of Christ, something that can occasion the glory of God coming in amongst us. What a happy time we would have, it would be well worthwhile, the exercise, the concern and the prayer. We often refer to the epistle to the Ephesians as the most blessed teaching that was given to the people of God, the highest expression of the truth, but do not let us forget that was achieved through hard work. In Acts 20 Paul refers to all the work that he did in Ephesus. A great deal of exercise and hard work went on amongst the Ephesian saints, and that is why this assembly was in such a healthy condition, responding to the mind of God, received this wonderful unfolding of divine truth. Dear brethren, let us go in for it a bit more, for His name’s sake.
“And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet and of fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair.” (Ex. 35:25-26)
“Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the LORD put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the LORD had commanded. And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it: And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning. And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary came every man from his work which they made; And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing.” (Ex. 36:1-6)
“And there are differences of administrations [or, distinctions of services], but the same Lord.” (1 Cor. 12:5)
The Lord helping me I would like to say a few things about the service of deacons and to endeavour to cast some lustre about it because I feel it is a truth that has been somewhat beclouded. It’s the most difficult thing to eradicate from our minds: arrangements that have been made in Christendom. These things began early, were continued even in reformed theology and still continue today. Just one simple expression, when Calvin gave his system of church government he gave the minister, the educated man, the elder, the man who ruled and the deacon, the man who looked after temporal things, menial tasks. Unfortunately, that has become very definitely embedded into peoples’ minds and it is very, very difficult to get it out of the mind. As we know only too well, how often we say, well the deacon, yes, he looks after the menial tasks. Now I read those Scriptures in the Book of Exodus just to show that even in Old Testament times there was a variety of work that was done in the construction of the tabernacle. And I commend it to you for a study and I would like personally sometime to be helped to give some ministry upon it because it is a wonderful field. For instance, we read about embroidery work, we read about the work of the perfumers, we read about needle work, those who worked in an artistic way with gold. All sorts of features of work we find mentioned in the Book of Exodus, all in relation to the house of God. But the great thing is that there was unity. The women we read they span goats’ hair, a formal work that was absolutely necessary for the construction of the curtains, curtains of goats’ hair. But then there were men who did every kind of work, there was no particular work that was pointed out as of prime importance, it was all important and it all contributed to the construction of this marvellous building, the tabernacle, where God placed His glory. Now, I used that just to show that in the Old Testament this is something that was extremely important. If we can make a word in passing in connection with elders you remember that to Moses was given advice to select some men to help him in his work. They were to be able men, men of truth, men who feared God and men who were coveters. And I think we could put that alongside the instructions we got for elders in 1 Timothy 3. Now I have read that verse in 1 Corinthians 12 and if you look the word up you find that what I am saying is correct that this word service or administration is really the service of deacons. Whatever it might be in the assembly, every form of service, and it says distinctly there are diversities of service, not one particular service in looking after tables, distributing money or whatever we think is a service of a deacon. No, diversities of deacon service and it all pertains to the well-being of the local company. But I want to start at the top to show what a marvellous truth this it is, the truth of deacons. Now I want to ask you to turn to a few Scriptures, I hope you do not mind, but it is better that we do so. The Word of God can speak better than we can.
“Now I say that Jesus Christ was a deacon of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” (Rom. 15:8)
Now then, dear brethren, does not this phrase deacon service to an extremely great height. The Lord Jesus Christ was a deacon, a special servant in a special way, principally here to the nation of Israel. If we want this confirmed we turn to the Gospel by Matthew. We see there the man who was anointed for service in relation to God’s ancient people. And what a service this was. Now, keep this in your mind. Deacon simply means servant, and this glorious man was serving in relation to Israel. What a service! When we think of His service in relation to teaching, the marvellous teaching that came from the Lord Jesus Christ as He taught His own people, tremendous teaching, the so-called “Sermon on the Mount” and many other features of service in that particular way. When we think of His service of healing, what a tremendous service that was. Those who were in need were blessed according to their need. When we think of His service of condemnation how He scathingly rebuked the leaders of Israel because of their hypocrisy and many, many other features of service came into light in this glorious man. A servant for the circumcision. Now, that to me, dear brethren, raises this truth in a tremendous height. Now would it not have saved a lot of trouble if the word deacon had been put here or if the word servant had been put here we would have seen immediately that it was not connected with serving tables, although we could say it, when the Lord Jesus fed the thousands, He was serving tables in that way, He was meeting the needs of those who were hungry and that was a very great service. But that was not the only part of His service, it was an extensive service, a service that met His beloved people in every possible way.
“How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?” (2 Cor. 3:8)
Now look this word up and you will find that what I am saying is true that this is deacon service by the Spirit of God. I ought to say this, as far as I am aware we do not find this expression used in relation to God. And that is understandable, because God does not serve under any authority, the Lord Jesus does, the Holy Spirit, He does, because coming into the economy of grace they work in relation to God, under Him. But God is never a deacon, God is never a servant, in that sense under the authority of another. Those who have W.E. Vine’s book will find a very interesting distinction that “doulos”, a bond-slave is a servant in relation to his master’s will. Deacon or “diaconos” is a servant to his master’s work, whatever form that work might be. And so, here we find the ministration of the Spirit, if you like, the deacon service of the Spirit in relation to what is glorious. Not serving tables, in direct contrast to the law, a ministration of death, here we find a ministration of glory. And then we find in chapter 4 verse 1 says, we have received this ministry, we have received this deacon-service, we are responsible to carry on this wonderful service of glory that the Holy Spirit has brought to us. Indeed, we find Him saying, able ministers, able deacons of the new covenant. You see, all these expressions bring home to us, dear brethren, that this term “deacon” has a very wide application indeed, a glorious connection, not always connected with menial things. How wonderful to think of the Holy Spirit serving in relation to feature of glory, centred in Christ and connected with His people upon earth. Marvellous! And I think these two features, one connected with the Lord Jesus, the other connected with the Holy Spirit, indicate clearly to us what a tremendous service this is. We come to the apostle Paul. Now I want to read that verse again in Ephesians 3, just in case we missed the import of it this afternoon.
“That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a deacon, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” (Eph. 3:6-8)
Looking after tables, distributing money, far from it here, although it is true that Paul and Barnabas were entrusted with taking money to the poor saints, and this was a deacon service of a noble character, but here we find the very highest form of service, that is the service in relation to the mystery, the great unfolding of God’s purpose connected with the Gentiles and the Jews brought together in one and in Christ, the truth of His body here upon earth united to Him in glory. Marvellous service! We find, if we search the Scriptures out, that he was a minister, a deacon of the minister of reconciliation. He was a minister of the assembly, Colossians 1, minister of the assembly, deacon of the assembly. Did that mean that Paul was always looking after menial tasks, doing menial tasks? Far from it! He was a deacon of the assembly, he was serving the assembly in whatever service was necessary imparting to the saints the great truths of God and doing it well in the help of the Holy Spirit. He also says there in Colossians 1 he was a deacon of the gospel. Marvellous thing that he was able to be entrusted with the truth of the gospel as we saw in 1 Timothy 1 “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God”, entrusted to Paul, and how well he looked after it. So, these are features connected with the apostle Paul indicating how great and glorious and high-reaching were his features of service by no means menial, indeed greatly honouring of the servant of God to be entrusted with these things.
We come to a sister. Let me turn to Scripture.
“I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a deacon of the church which is at Cenchrea: That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also.” (Rom. 16:1)
We read in Exodus that there were the women, they span goats’ hair, very necessary service. Here we find a woman in the New Testament who is described as a deacon. She performed a necessary service, whatever that service was, she was not appointed to do it, she did it and it was a service that was very beneficial indeed. Thank God for the many deacons that we have, sisters who perform many needed services in our little companies. Indeed, we would be greatly impoverished without their service. Thank God for them. Sisters, continue any service that the Lord has given you to do! Think of succouring, think of helping, something that you can do, a service under the hand of the Lord. It’s very, very sad that you find this term connected with Satan’s agents. Ministers, ministers of light attempting to lead the saints of God astray. Deacons, who are they serving? Serving Satan, hell’s agents, in a very subtle and Sidious way, creeping amongst the saints of God to lead them away from the truth and the things that are of value. O, what a debased form of service! And yet the Bible says they were deacons. Now, of course, this clearly destroys the idea of serving tables, that these Satan’s agents can be described in this way. They were serving, yes, serving under a greater authority, an evil authority. And Satan can never promote good, he can only promote evil. And in Romans 13 we find unconverted people are described as deacons. Those in authority, those who are in rule, they are God’s ministers, they are looking after rule, they are looking after good rule, promoting good and curbing evil. But they are deacons. That is the word which is used to describe them. They are serving God, they are directly answerable to God, because God has given them this place. Marvellous thing that these people can be viewed in this way. Of course, it is quite possible that you could get a magistrate or a person in local government or even in the national government, who is a Christian. We know that is perfectly possible. But generally speaking that would not be so. But they are described as being ordained by God and we are all responsible to obey their commandments, whatever they might be, the rules that they make where they are for the well-being for all concerned.
“Bring Mark with you. He is serviceable to me for the ministry [deacon service].” (2 Tim. 4:11)
Now, lastly we have Paul writing to Timothy. We all know that Paul is not alluding to a service that he is going to give to Timothy, to serve tables or to distribute money, or what that is, a form of deacon service. We are not in any form saying that that is not a form of deacon service. Acts 6 shows clearly that that is a form of deacon service, but it is not the only service. And that is what we are trying to emphasize. But Mark, a man who had gone astray, wasted his time, but was recovered. I wonder, is there any Christian here who up to this moment has waisted his time, time that could be spent in the Lord’s service, time that could be spent in helping the things of God. Listen to what Paul says about Mark. Bring him to me, he is serviceable unto me for the ministry. What was the crowning act of Mark’s service? Why, he wrote us a gospel? What a blank that would have created if we had not had the service of the perfect servant. And Mark, he was serviceable to Paul for this particular ministry that Paul had in mind, whatever it was. But we know, it was of an exalted character. Marvellous thing then, that if we have gone astray, if there have been mistakes, there is such a thing as the Psalmist speaks in Psalm 23, praise God for it, He restoreth my soul. And so, if there have been mistakes, we can be restored, we can be serviceable, we can do deacon service that is valuable for the Christian company.
I should say another “last”. I hope it is the last. Tychicus, faithful deacon, faithful deacon in whatever way he had to serve, whether it was in connection with administration, money, financial matters, honesty, integrity, uprightness, no question at all of anything under hand. Faithful minister, if it was a question of the teaching of the Word of God again, faithful in his administration, faithful in his service. What a wonderful commendation for any of us to aspire to. Faithful deacon, faithful servant, faithful in anything that is rendered to our hands. Now, let us say this in passing, if you want some help in this matter get yourselves G.V. Wigram’s “Englishman’s Greek Concordance”. Look up the references to servant “diaconos”, the nouns, the verbs, and you will find a wonderful instruction. What I have said is just a very small portion of it. Do not base teaching on one particular portion. Many, many false teachings have been built upon one particular chapter, on one particular verse. The Word of God is so comprehensive, so great! Study it carefully, look up all the quotations, all the connections and then find it over-all view of this tremendous subject. What a subject and Christ and the Holy Spirit, getting a lustre to it, that shines in all its glory, because their service, their deacon-service was perfect in every detail. May we in our day aspire to faithfulness and integrity for His name’s sake.