2 Timothy 1:13.
It is with great diffidence that one refers to this Holy Scripture which gives us some guidance for these present days. The purpose of God is to have us as the eternal companions of the Son of His love, the risen Man, Christ Jesus; to this all the thoughts of God tend, and all the power of the Holy Spirit leads. In order that we might be suitable companions of Christ, God is working to make us companionable to Him. I hardly know which affects one most, the grace that has elected to make us companions of Christ for ever, or the grace that would work in us that we should be formed to be companionable to Him. God will have no unsuitability, no disparity, between that glorious Person and the subjects of His grace, so that we might be able to enter sympathetically into every thought of His heart, and every interest in which He is interested, and that we might be competent to serve the purpose of God along with His beloved Son for all eternity.
Our training begins now; and do not the Scriptures imply that the purpose of the Spirit of God is to make us companionable to Christ even now? God not only saves us in grace now, but by the teaching of His word, and by bringing before us the grace and glories of Christ, He fits us to be companionable to Him now. I think it is wonderful; beyond all telling. No human language can possibly bring out the exceeding tenderness of the grace, and the deep love of His purpose, that we should not only be the companions of Christ, but in every sense companionable to Him. Therefore one reads this verse, not to argue about the conduct of saints in this particular day with regard to our ecclesiastical position, but that our souls may in some sense come into contact with what Christ is, and be formed by the gracious working of His Holy Spirit that we may be companionable to Him.
Such a happy condition of soul is possible, not only for advanced Christians, but also for those who are young in the faith; and one would seek for the latter especially, as we pursue our subject, to suggest the great possibilities that lie before them, in spite of all the difficulties contemplated in 2nd Timothy.
"Have an outline of sound words" brings us to our starting point. We require to know what we are to stand for; we must have some conception as to why we are left here. What is this outline? If we were to be set to work on an outline of what we have brought before us, where should we start? It would be safe to start where God starts, and He starts with Christ. Long before this world was formed, or the Adam whose earth life was connected with it, God had thoughts in connection with His beloved Son. Therefore, to begin with, we must hold tenaciously to the truth of the glory of the Person of Christ as the Son from all eternity; that must be the beginning of everything, and, beloved fellow Christians, hold it for your life. Assailed as it is on every side, maintain by the grace of God the eternal and essential deity of the ever-blessed Son of God.
Adam came in by the way, the figure of Him that was to come; but in the fulness of time Christ came, made of a woman, made under law, in grace taking that place as a lowly Man. We have to maintain this against all comers — the incarnation of the Son of God — His coming into flesh. "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world" — the denial of the perfect, actual humanity of Jesus Christ. If we begin with His Godhead, eternal, essentially divine and glorious, we must also maintain with His Godhead the fact of His holy, pure, blessed humanity, bringing down into human form all the moral glories of the Godhead, and expressing them down here on earth; so that His humanity was of necessity as absolutely and actively pure as His Godhead. There was no possibility of a taint of sin.
Further, not only the sinless humanity of the blessed Lord, but, His atoning death, is attacked. This is the crucial point of the wondrous revelation of God, because after all, of what avail is humanity and deity for us sinners if He did not as a Man take the place of men in making atonement? All the righteous dealings of God with us depend upon it; and wherever you are this must be the very centre of your testimony man-ward, as it is of your faith God-ward, the precious blood of Christ — the atoning blood of the Lamb of God, the sacrifice for sins, the One, Who, in His own perfect sinlessness, was made sin for us, enduring the righteous judgment of a holy God against sin, in order that God might be just and the justifier of him that believes in Jesus. You must have your outline!
Again we come to our test, "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in flesh is not of God." This applies as much to His resurrection as it does to His incarnation, for the Lord Jesus is a Man in resurrection as He was truly Man before it. He was a real Man in resurrection and in this day He is seated at the right hand of God, a Man for ever. Jesus Christ, come in flesh, is the great test of Christianity, and may God teach our souls the bearing of it. That blessed One has been as Man in the mind of God from all eternity: the result is, He displaces every other man.
One thinks now, just for a moment, of Adam, his life and history, and all that pertains to his nature in ourselves; but all is swept aside, and what God has in His mind is the risen Christ, and a new race, that derives wholly from Him in resurrection, and in no sense whatever from Adam. The bearing of that lesson seems to widen and deepen as time goes on. It seems to me the great difficulty with us all is to grasp that Christ is all and in all; we do want to bring in something of man, of ourselves, of our own experience or resources, instead of fixing our attention on what God has brought in — Christ all objectively, and in all subjectively. Christ then being before the mind of God, there is more in connection with our outline than this, namely, in order to bear testimony to that risen and exalted Man, God has sent down into the world a Power absolutely outside of, and independent of any power or resource in this world.
The power by which God will give effect to His work, whether in the assembly or in the Gospel, is a power that has been brought into the world from outside of it. God has in this way indicated to every listening ear and attentive heart the only power by which He will carry on His work; a power that is foreign to the world's power and all the resources of man. The extent to which we bring in the power and resource of man in the things of God is the extent to which we hinder the power of the Spirit of God. He is the alone power by which God will give effect to all His counsels. In connection with this there is the place we have in association with that risen Man; sons before the Father's face; brethren of Christ; members of His body; set here in the power of the Holy Spirit to be descriptive of Christ, so that by the teaching of God's word and the work of God's Spirit, there should be the displacement of everything of ourselves by bringing in all that Christ is.
One would say to every Christian, young or old, lay yourself out, brother or sister, for learning every atom that you can about your beloved risen and glorified Lord; for in so doing you are in fellowship with the heart of God and the working of the Holy Spirit, and you will have the Spirit's support in your pursuit of Christ.
No. 2.
2 Timothy 2:1, 8, 9, 19; 2 Timothy 3:14-17.
"Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" are words, as we all know, that were written by the Apostle Paul, who pursued a dual ministry. To him was committed the ministry of the assembly of which we read in Colossians 1; but he was also minister of the Gospel. That is to say, if we rightly understand Christ, and how God is working through Christ in blessing, there never could have been, and there never could be, any such thing as a spirit of conflict between the Gospel and the assembly. There never could be, because, on the one hand, they both proceed from Christ; and on the other hand, we have seen that in the case of the Apostle Paul, the two ministries are seen in their full extent in one man. The one in whom God was pleased to set forth all His thoughts for the assembly is also the one whom God has selected to be the great exponent of the throbbings of His heart in the Gospel.
This was no easy service for the one upon whose shoulders fell the care of all the assemblies. And was there ever such a servant in the Gospel? He could say, "From Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ." What a great illustration for us of the perfect compatibility of understanding all that God has to say about the assembly, and, at the same time, being warmly interested in all that God is doing in the Gospel. Beloved fellow Christians, do not suppose for one moment that if you are going to grow in the knowledge of the assembly it will make you coldhearted in the Gospel; nor should we suppose either that a person warm-hearted in the Gospel cannot be interested in the assembly. We must not separate these things; they are the outpouring of the heart of God, on the one hand, in the blessing of His people who are redeemed; and on the other hand, in the Gospel of His grace by which men are brought to Him.
When Paul says, "Thou therefore my son," I think I am right in attributing a good deal of importance to the two words "my son." What was true of the Apostle was reproduced in his son Timothy, and what he received from Paul was to be passed on to others, to faithful men, who should be able to teach others also. It was not intended to be limited to apostolic days; but wherever there is one who by grace seeks to be faithful to the Lord, there may be found consolidated these two services of which we have spoken. As to details one cannot linger, but you will notice the three different ways in which the servant should exercise himself. In the 4th verse you have the warrior; in the 5th verse the wrestler, and in the 6th verse the worker.
The warrior, with undivided heart, pleases Him Who hath called him to be a soldier. The wrestler strives lawfully — according to the rules. We need to study the word of God to learn how to contend. Then with regard to the worker; it is of far more importance for us to study the harvest day, and sow and plough and work in view of it, than to try and rush everything up from the ground all at once. "The husbandman labouring first must be partaker of the fruits" is, I believe, the rendering of this passage. It is the time for working now the labouring in view of gathering in the fruits by and by. One would prefer if we could have a thousand converts in heavenly glory than ten thousand mere professed converts here. We labour in view of the great ingathering of the fruits, and if it be God's will to keep us waiting, we can wait with God, and labour so that our work may have the stamp of reality in the light of eternity. Far better for us that we should wait, so that souls should have the conviction of sin deeply wrought in them; far better they should come right into the light of God that He may search them, than that we should hurry them into a hasty confession of faith. However, the labourer working first must be partaker of the fruits.
Although these last perilous days are not such as were in the 2nd of Acts, nor even as in the 2nd of The Revelation, the principles that govern our life and service and testimony must be the same to the end. So here the Apostle says in verse 8, "Remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David, raised from the dead, according to my Gospel." The first thing that is suggested is that Jesus Christ of the seed of David seemed to have laboured in vain, and to have spent His strength for naught; that all his life and service had been fruitless. When the Lord Jesus was betrayed, handed over to His enemies, and falsely accused as though He were a malefactor, where were all that had been healed by His miracles, the blind given sight, the deaf given hearing, the lepers cleansed, and the dead raised? Where were the tens of thousands that must have been healed by those blessed hands, and blessed through His loving voice? It looked as if the whole of His service had been entirely in vain. But was it? For the time being God permitted that His dear Son should pass through the deep exercises of a servant, and as a true Servant He felt those exercises, and said. "I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain." But His judgment was with the Lord, and His work with His God. If we think of His resurrection, and of the way God turned the tables, and the way all that seed sowing was to produce its future harvest, we see that it was not in vain. Will not eternity be filled with the fruit of the service of that holy, glorious Saviour?
Therefore do you, who toil and labour (and sometimes it does almost seem in vain) see to it that your work is in faith, and that it is the word of God you sow. See that you pray for it, and weep over it, and that you go on in the simple confidence that God will own it, even though for the time being it may seem as though your work shall be in vain. "Your labour is not in vain in the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58).
Another thing connected with the life of Jesus Christ of the seed of David is that this holy One, whose life was nothing but perfect goodness, and who, in every sense, walked to the pleasure of God, was actually condemned as a malefactor. I think that one of the most painful experiences of the Apostle Paul must have been when he was put in prison for Christ's sake. He says, in verse 9, "wherein I suffer trouble, as an evildoer." How very painful for one who laboured night and day to do all the good that lay in his power — the Holy Ghost filled him for it — laying himself out, toiling, waiting, praying, fasting; now shepherding the flock, now in various ways suffering, and at last there was only prison, a soldier chained to him, and he was put there, charged as an evildoer. It seems to me that this is on the line of "Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, raised from the dead, according to my Gospel." The One in whom the hopes of Israel and the world centred was rejected and numbered with the transgressors. "If He had not been a malefactor we would not have delivered Him up to thee." That was said of our holy Lord. So it is possible that you might be the most faithful of servants, and ever abounding in good works, and yet esteemed as an evildoer, and thrust into prison because of it.
How comforting for our hearts is verse 19, "The foundation of God standeth sure." We go on in confidence because of it in these present days, though we are confronted by a great system of profession, and it is extremely difficult to pick our way. But there is this responsibility connected with us, "Let every one that nameth the Name of Christ depart from iniquity." If we are surrounded with a great mass of iniquity there is no way of departing from it but by coming out from it; but when you are thus gathered as separate to the Lord, and really owning this divine, glorious Saviour, this Jesus Christ come in flesh, what do you do? The same exercise awaits you, but there is a different degree.
"Let every one that nameth the Name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness" does not always mean "going out of fellowship." If you find a difficulty coming in among saints, do not imagine that the moment you see something going wrong you have to come out and start a new fellowship. The misinterpretation of this passage has caused grievous harm among the saints of God. The meaning of the word "depart from" is to refrain from, to draw off or away from, to let alone. Suppose there is some matter which you feel is not spiritual and according to God; you accept the exercise, refer it to the Lord Jesus, and seek to be "strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."
Grace is stored in Christ Jesus for every circumstance. If we need wisdom to steer our way through the intricacies of the present time, if we find problems, where is our resource? "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Use your resource at home or abroad. If one feels that a brother or sister is taking a course which causes exercise or difficulty, is one "to go out of fellowship?" Do not let us add to the confusion around us: "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," on the one hand, and on the other hand, stand apart from the unrighteousness. You are not compelled to associate yourself with the mistake the brother makes. What a terrible thing "fellowship" would be if we had to go out of fellowship every time a brother blundered! Have nothing to do with unrighteousness. This does not of necessity mean that you separate yourself from a company.
We learn from 2 Tim. 3:14 that Timothy had had coaching of a wonderful order, and in the things learned he was to continue. There had been the companionship of the Apostle, and he was his "son." He was like the Apostle, deriving, so to speak, from him the same sympathies, the same care of the saints, and, at the same time, the same enlargement of heart in the Gospel. Having the companionship of Paul, he had learned something of the nearness of the Apostle to his Master. Paul could say, "Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ;" and now he says to Timothy, "Continue thou in the things thou hast learned."
As one goes round a little bit, there seems to me to be a very great defect among brothers and sisters converted since the closing years of the last century. There does not seem to be anything like the reading of the Scriptures, nor the reading of that literature which would help them to understand the Scriptures, that there used to be in earlier days. You may find that Christians of our day hardly read anything but the magazines, which, useful as they are, give us little tit-bits of Christianity. Sometimes they give you a little pearl, a little flashing of the gold in the temple of Christ's glory; but the solid building of the Scripture itself seems to be greatly neglected. One would earnestly commend to every younger brother and sister the reading of the Holy Scriptures in dependence upon the Holy Spirit of God, while not neglecting to use such helps as God has given us in these later days, opening out His mind and thoughts concerning the beloved of His heart.
Finally, we come to "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." The object of the Apostle in thus leading us from one point to another is that we may all take our place as men of God. While engaged in the translation of this part of Scripture, I thought in reading about "the man of God," it would be a man, who, like Saul in the Old Testament, was head and shoulders above all his fellows. I thought that the word describing the man of God would indicate some strong masculine character; a man who was a man, courageous and distinctive; a man who never flinched; a man who was something more than a man. I was astonished, however, to find that the word used is that for a simple, ordinary man of God. And I will tell you why it seemed to acquire such importance in my mind from that day. If you have a company of soldiers occupying and defending a certain territory; we will say a thousand in number, and nine hundred and ninety-nine turned cowards, and began running away, like the Israelites in conflict with the Philistines they are not true soldiers. But, if one man stands as a simple ordinary soldier, when all the rest are slipping away not because he is distinctive, nor because he is remarkable, but because he is a soldier; that is the idea underlying "the man of God." It is the man who stands in the simple, ordinary truth, that God has given for this day; not that he is extraordinary, deeply taught, or anything of that kind, but a simple ordinary Christian who stands in the truth of his calling when everybody else is giving up. There ought to be thousands of others with him, but if they slip away, and he stands, he is extraordinary, not because he is extraordinary, but because the others have gone away from what is ordinary.
May God enable us to stand in these last days, so that we may not only be companions of Christ in the coming day, but that we may become suitable to be companionable to Him.
W. H. Westcott.
The Spring of True Devotedness.
The spring and source of all true devotedness is divine love filling and operating in our hearts: as Paul says, "the love of Christ constraineth us." Its form and character must be drawn from Christ's actings.
J. N. Darby.