Or the True Marks of a Servant of Christ
“Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
“Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample” (Philippians 3:17).
“I beseech you, be ye followers of me” (1 Corinthians 4:16).
“Ye became followers of us, and of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 1:6).
“To make ourselves an ensample to you to follow us” (2 Thessalonians 3:9).
The above quotations from the inspired letters of Paul seem at first sight startling as we place them alongside his fiery denunciation of party spirit when he rebuked the Corinthian assembly in the memorable words, “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Cor. 1:13).
But a careful review of the situation will lead us to the conclusion that to follow Paul is just the way to be free from party spirit and aims.
It may be urged, Why follow Paul? Why not follow the Lord? Are we not told that He has left us an example that we should follow in His steps?
But it is just as Paul followed Christ we are to be followers or imitators of him, and it is in the following of Christ that Paul gives us the example. Never for one moment would Paul take our gaze off Christ, and if in his life Christ could be seen and magnified that were the object of his life. As he could say, “For to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21).
There is, in truth, a special reason why God should raise up a pattern saint and servant, whose teaching and example should influence us. When the blessed Lord lived His wonderful life on the earth He was “God … manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:13). He made God fully known. None could do that but He. It is an axiom that only God could reveal God. No mere man, however exalted, could do that.
But as the result of His death and resurrection a new and wondrous spiritual system came into existence, having for its Head Christ in glory and having for its subsistence on the earth the power of the Holy Spirit. For this system to come into operation Christ must be in glory, and if the effect of it, the right relation to and practice of it, are to be exhibited it must be by some individual on the earth, and this the Spirit of God found in a marked way in Paul. Paul was not the exclusive vessel of this, for he associates others with himself, but he was a special vessel of the Spirit.
We propose to follow our inquiry as to what are the true marks of a servant of Christ on three lines:
(1) Personal Devotedness to Christ.
(2) The Formative Power of the truth.
(3) Zeal in Service.
There is no doubt that the church has arrived at the Laodicean stage of lukewarmness. The difficulties of pursuing true service are very serious. The depressing influence of universal indifference to the claims of Christ upon the servant’s sympathies and zeal is apt to chill.
It is well to be clear that what lies at the root of all intelligence and zeal is …
(1) Personal Devotedness to Christ
In Paul we witness how Christ could inspire this. Converted suddenly and in a miraculous way the whole current of a powerful will was set in an entirely new course. Not only was he converted when the light above the brightness of the sun struck him down on the Damascus road, but the Person who arrested his madness and illumined his darkness became the absorbing Object of his heart’s adoration. It was the revelation of a glorious Person, so absolutely opposed in all His thoughts and ways and glories to the tawdry glory and sordid aims of the world that had rejected Him that captivated Paul’s heart.
The power and impetus of this was seen in the beginning of his career in that “straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God” (Acts 9:20). This was maintained throughout his career as a servant of Christ. Neither perils by land or sea, of the city or the wilderness, of robbers, of false brethren, stripes, stonings, nor shipwrecks were sufficient to turn him aside from his path of service.
Brethren, do we know anything of such zeal? Never was there a day when zeal was more needed. Are we to be overcome by the palpable depressing indifference, or is zeal, fed by the adoring homage of hearts which are captivated by Christ, to give us to break through and conquer.
And if the apostle began well how magnificent was his finish. Hear him in prison; all in Asia had forsaken him, his best work already showed signs of decay, his prophetic soul knew that grievous wolves would enter the flock and work destruction. Yet the person of Christ commanded his homage as at the beginning of his career. He says, “My earnest expectation and my hope [is] that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death” (Phil. 1:20). Again, “Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom 1 have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Again, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:8, 14).
Though the step of Paul the aged might grow feeble, and the eye lose its lustre, and the outward man perish, yet the stride of the spiritual man was more vigorous than ever as the light of victory filled his eye, and the end of his course and the grasping of the glorious prize were at hand.
How truly encouraging to the feeblest and most obscure servant of Christ, brother or sister, to trace the power of Christ in the vessel. If we cannot emulate Paul’s gifts we can his devotedness.
(2) The Formative Power of the Truth
Devotedness and intelligence go together. In natural things as in spiritual this is so. Who knows more about a man than his devoted wife? Devotedness made Mary sit at the feet of Jesus and hear His word. Did not her devotedness lead her to a deeper knowledge of Himself?
We repeat that devotedness leads to intelligence.
In the case of the apostle he displayed a masterly knowledge of the Old Testament Scripture and was used of God in the inspired writing of the major part of the New Testament, especially in bringing out the full truth of the gospel and of the church.
Though doubtless the truth of justification by faith is implied in the writings of Peter and John, yet we owe to the Apostle Paul the clear teaching of this glorious truth. Without a full knowledge of the gospel there can be no liberty in service. Moreover, a full gospel has a formative power. It brings with it the knowledge of being brought to God, which indeed Peter teaches. It brings with it a judgment of this world and of the flesh. How little the knowledge of all this characterizes Christians generally. Else we should find Christians refusing to meddle with the politics of the world, or taking up with the Galatian heresy of putting themselves under law.
Romans is the great gospel-teaching epistle, yet at the end of it we have two verses that give us the double ministry of the apostle, and surely he was formed first by what he taught. “Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scripture of the prophets, according to the commandments of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith” (Rom. 16:25-26).
This double ministry was that of the gospel and of the church.
If the truth of a full gospel is formative, that of the church is none less so.
Again it is a question of affections leading to intelligence. If once the servants of Christ grasps that the church is the dearest object of the heart of Christ it will form his own soul and give colour to his ministry.
It is wonderful to see how the Apostle Paul even in his conversion received the first hint of the wonderful truth as to Christ, the exalted Head in heaven, and His members here on earth, forming one body.
When he was converted on that Damascus road he heard the voice of the glorious Head in heaven, saying, “Why persecutest thou ME?” (Acts 9:4). The Lord might have said, “Why persecutest thou My people?” and that would have been wonderful, but in saying, “Why persecutest thou ME?” He indicated the wonderful truth of the Head and the body, kept secret since the world began. Then the Lord raised up Paul to be the instrument of the revelation of this wonderful truth. How a true knowledge of it would put warmth and earnestness into the ministry of it on the part of the Lord’s servants. We can heartily commend to all who serve Christ the study of this great truth and what flows from it—order in the assembly of God—as seen in the Pauline epistles.
(3) Zeal in Service
We find no faltering in Paul’s zeal from start to finish of his wonderful career.
The Acts of the Apostles closes remarkably with the description of him in his own hired house in Rome—a prisoner, aged, broken down, at the end of his career, yet “preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him” (Acts 28:31).
May all who serve our Lord Jesus Christ find Him worthy of all our energy and devotedness as long as He leaves us down here.
Never was a day calling for it in greater measure. As we find indifference in the world and lukewarmness in the church increasing may each servant of Christ be found more devoted than ever, and let us remember that the Lord’s coming draws nigh.
In conclusion, let us impress upon our readers that Paul as a man stands for nothing on these lines. It is only as the Spirit of God formed him that we can gain encouragement and direction in our own service. What he ministered for our help was not of himself, but of the Spirit, and what is worthy of imitation in Paul is only what is of Christ in him.
Yet we have the record of his “doctrine and manner of life” placed before us, and we should miss much precious encouragement and help were we to say in even the slightest degree that we are not to follow Paul. Read the scriptures that head this paper. Weigh them over. But understand that in truly following Paul we are following Christ and not Paul, save as he followed Christ, and in so doing are well delivered from the spirit that says, “I am of Paul.”