In the
life of the people of God, whether individually or
corporately, there constantly occur times of crisis, or
turning-points. The Old Testament describes many such
times of particular and peculiar peril in the life of the
Lord's people, and shows how God has moved to meet the
situation at such times. This has been true also in the
history of the Church, again and again, ever since New
Testament times; and it is true in the life of any local
company of the Lord's people. When, for some reason,
conditions are critical, and a turning-point has been
reached, at such a time it is very important to know how
the Lord would meet the situation and the need.
The Corner Boards of the
Tabernacle
May I
remind you of a provision which the Lord made in the
construction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness? The
Lord gave instructions that, in the erection of the
boards of the Tabernacle, at the corners there should be
an extra board, reinforcing the turning-points. Of
course, corners are always delicate things, perilous
things; turning-points are always fraught with great
possibilities. You come up to a point where a turn is
going to made, a new course is going to be followed, and
that turning-point needs to be negotiated with much
wisdom and care. Something extra must come in there to
cover it. And in that infinite wisdom of God - the
recognition not only of the weakness of a corner in
natural things, but of the perils connected with
turning-points in spiritual life - the Lord made and
makes a provision; He covers it, prescribes for it. As in
the boards of the Tabernacle, there must be some real
reinforcement at that delicate and dangerous point of
crisis.
Let us
just dwell for a moment or two upon the Tabernacle; we
shall come back to it again presently. You know that it
was, in type, the shrine of God's testimony. It is called
the "Tabernacle of testimony", or "The
Testimony". In type it was what Paul, in his letter
to the Colossians, calls "the mystery of
Christ" - the shrine of the mystery of Christ into
which no natural eyes may peer. And in this shrine of the
testimony of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, there
are these turning-points; and because this testimony is
involved, they are, as we have said, always precarious
places and times. If something goes wrong here, if
something goes wrong at this juncture, it is going to
have very serious effects in the future. The next phase
of things is going to be affected by what happens as we
turn this corner, by just how far we negotiate this
present difficult situation - whether in our lives, or in
the work of God, or in the history of the Lord's people,
locally or generally. The future is involved.
We have
come up to this point: here are the boards all leading up
to it, and from this point onwards a new course has to be
taken; but oh, this new course has got to be very, very
carefully safeguarded. All that has been in the past, all
the labour, the work, the suffering and the cost, may be
hazarded at a point of crisis by any weakness or lack of
care, when we come to this issue. All the future may be
made unsafe, weak, clouded by regrets, if this
turning-point is unguarded.
Paul's Letters to Timothy: A
Critical Point
Now it
is with such a turning-point in the Church's history, and
with the Lord's way of handling it, that we are
confronted when we take up Paul's two letters to Timothy.
We find ourselves at one of the major turning-points in
the history of the Church - a turning-point fraught with
momentous issues; and those issues have thrown their
shadows right down the centuries to the present day. We
need to know what was God's provision - which remains as
His provision - to meet that which came in at the turn of
the road then. For the values that we have given us here
in these two letters - and you will never call them
'little' letters again, if ever you have - were meant to
cover this whole age, because the Holy Spirit, who gave
these letters through Paul, foresaw the far-reaching
effects of what was happening. And what is of general and
comprehensive importance here has its own application to
all those minor crises that occur in our own personal
lives, or in our life together as God's people.
Such a
crisis, then, was the occasion of Paul writing these two
letters to Timothy. And may I say again, for I do want to
make clear this very, very important thing: this is an
inclusive and comprehensive example of all crises in the
spiritual life, an example in principle and in nature:
that is, it has all the features of any spiritual crisis,
and it therefore contains all God's method and means of
meeting any spiritual crisis. We are not just dealing
with Church history - we are dealing with our own
history. We need to be met at that very point in our own
spiritual lives.
Inclusively,
then, the Divine method of meeting any critical situation
is - what? It is the reinforcement of fundamental and
essential realities. That is what these two letters
contain. The reinforcement of the boards at the corner,
in the re-INforcement - and ENforcement,
if you like, for Paul commands here, as well as exhorts -
of fundamental and essential realities, is God's
inclusive method of dealing with any threat, or any
possibility, or any actual change in the course of
things. And there is one all-comprehending fundamental of
true Christianity, and that is spirituality - its
essentially spiritual nature. So that God's method in
meeting any critical situation in the Christian life is
to reinforce, or to recover, spirituality.
Christianity Wholly Spiritual
For true
Christianity, from its very beginning, through all its
growth, to its final perfecting, is wholly spiritual. A
true Christian is fundamentally and essentially, by his
very being and existence, a spiritual person. All our
growth in grace is not the growth of time, of years, or
of the acquiring of knowledge about the things of God.
True growth is just our own spiritual growth, and before
God there is no other stature, no other growth. God takes
infinite pains to see that our growth is spiritual
growth. And the consummation and the perfecting of the
life of the Christian is a wholly spiritual thing. For
the consummation is a spiritual body. "If there is a
natural body, there is also a spiritual body... that is
not first which is spiritual, but that which is
natural" (1 Cor. 15:44,45). Those words, as you
know, apply to the resurrection body. "It is sown a
natural body; it is raised a spiritual body" (vs.
44). So it needs a spiritual person to occupy a spiritual
body; and if the spiritual body is the consummation of
the Christian life, then the Lord would have, not a poor,
little spiritual person occupying a consummate body; He
would have us full-grown, so that the perfecting of the
Christian life is in keeping with its consummation: it
must be spiritual.
Everything
else in the Christian life is spiritual. As the people
are spiritual people by their very birth by the Spirit,
so their work and service are spiritual. It is not a
matter only of how many things we do, but of the
spiritual quality of what we do. There can be tremendous
spiritual value intrinsically in a 'small' thing done in
the Holy Spirit, while very little may come of a vast
amount of feverish activity in what is called Christian
work. Everything is judged in Heaven by its spiritual
value. The warfare is spiritual; you have no need to be
reminded of that. "Our wrestling is not against
flesh and blood, but... against the spiritual hosts of
wickedness..." (Eph. 6:12). Our knowledge and our
understanding as Christians are spiritual. Our fellowship
is spiritual - our relationship with one another is a
spiritual relationship, in the unity of the Spirit.
All
government amongst Christians is spiritual. It is not
autocratic, it is not official - it is spiritual. Very,
very few Christians today are able to discern and
discriminate between human government and spiritual
government in the House of God. They confuse the two, and
thereby bring in many, many complications. Government in
the Christian realm is spiritual government. Guidance is
spiritual guidance "led by the Spirit" (Rom.
8:1-4). The methods and resources of the Church, of
Christians, are spiritual methods and resources. All this
makes up the comprehensive truth that the fundamental
reality of the true Christian life is spirituality: that
is, that it is all of the Holy Spirit.
In one
of the closing chapters of the prophecies of Ezekiel
(47:1-12), there is brought into view the river - the
river rising in the sanctuary, broadening and deepening
on its way - and on its banks trees, bearing fruit every
season, and the leaf unfading. I believe that to be a
foreshadowing, a pre-figuring, of what we have in the
book of the Acts. The trees are men, planted by God,
drawing their life from the river of God. How that river
broke out in the sanctuary in the days of the 'Acts'! And
how we see the men planted then by God on the banks of
that river; and the fruit - how abundant was the fruit!
Trees, sustained by heavenly life, carrying on a heavenly
testimony: in a word, spiritual people, men and women
whose life and resource and everything was the Spirit of
God - for it was the Spirit of God who broke out in the
sanctuary on the day of Pentecost. God's testimony down
the whole course of the river requires spiritual people,
drawing upon spiritual resources, and that is what we
have there.
Spirituality Must Be Recovered or
Reinforced
Now, all
the troubles inside of Christianity - and 'Christianity'
is a big term; it comprehends a very great deal; you can
localise it and personalise it, if you like - all the
troubles in Christianity are due to loss or lack of
spirituality. God's method, ever and always, in getting
over some trouble in us, whether personally or together,
locally or in His Church, is always a reinforcement of
the spiritual life. We never get over any trouble without
some strengthening of our spiritual life. Is that not
true? When we are faced with some crisis, we are not
going to be able to patch it up, put it right, do
something about it outwardly - we have got to come into a
new spiritual position about this. We shall never get
through until we have got a new spiritual position, or
until our spiritual measure has been increased.
It is
futile to try to get rid of any troubles in Christianity
at large, or locally, or in ourselves, along any other
line but God's line: recognising, 'This is a crisis -
everything in the future depends upon how we get round
this awkward corner, this difficult situation - all the
past is going to be jeopardised if we do not negotiate
this spiritual situation triumphantly.' How will it be
done? By an extra board - by the reinforcement of what
has been in the past against the future, holding
everything intact by a strengthening of our spiritual
life. So the Divine safeguard, or remedy, for every
trouble is the reinforcement, or recovery, of
spirituality.
Just
look again at those boards of the Tabernacle. Firstly,
they were made of acacia wood, which is known for its
great strength and power of endurance. Secondly, they
were of considerable height - ten cubits - which is
higher than any man naturally: this is something of
greater stature than you or I are naturally - we who
comprise the House of God. Thirdly, they were upright,
standing on their feet. Those three things are very
significant. Here is something that needs strength that
is more than ordinary strength, for endurance. Here is
something that means stature that is more than ordinary
human stature, to rise above. And here is something that
must really be on its feet, established.
Spiritual Strength of Christianity
at the Beginning
Now you
have the New Testament crowded into those few things. And
these letters to Timothy, from which we have momentarily
digressed, are just full of those very things. How
wonderful these things are seen to be in the beginnings,
are they not? For, you know, even at the beginning of the
Church's history, it was a tremendous corner that was
being turned. The coming of Christ Himself represented
the biggest crisis in all history. It was a universal
turning-point; from that time onward, things were going
to change. And into that tremendous crisis right at the
beginning the Church was thrown; it was a delicate,
dangerous, perilous time. All the succeeding generations
would be coloured by how the Church behaved and got
through those critical days.
Look at
the strength of the human 'boards'! Was it just human
strength? Think of Peter only a very little while before:
how much could he take, by that fire in the courtyard,
with the finger of the maid pointing at him? He just
crumpled under it! But look at him - and the others -
now! Are these men on their feet? are they standing
upright? They are not only standing on their feet in the
Lord - they are putting other people on their feet! Look
at that poor fellow who has been lying there at the gate
all those years, unable to use his feet (Acts 3). Peter
takes him by the right hand, and up he comes - he is on
his feet right enough! The same thing happens again later
(Acts 14:8): they are putting people on their feet.
And out
of that grew the rich ministry that we have in the New
Testament about being "established". Being
established just means 'standing up'. You and I will be
no good to the testimony of the Lord unless we are
spiritually on our feet, standing up. When we lose our
feet, when we break down, when we let go, it means that
the testimony is let down. If you have lost your feet,
been knocked off your feet, or if you have not been on
your feet for a long time, or if you have been up and
down over a long period, you will have to have a crisis
over this. You have got to get round that corner. All
that has been is in the balances with this present issue;
all that the Lord would have in the future is made
possible, or will be all wrong, unless you get round this
corner quickly, and get your feet in the Lord.
You know
what I mean by 'getting your feet in the Lord': it is
having what Paul calls "full assurance" -
"assurance" - that is, about your salvation.
For these boards, as you know, were founded in two basic
things - two sockets - made of silver. Now silver
signifies redemption, and the double testimony under
their feet emphasized or reinforced this twice over. Two
is always sufficiency of testimony, is it not? - and they
were in that. We need to have assurance of our salvation,
certainty about this matter. Until that is so, there is
no strength and there is no uprightness; there is no
endurance, no stature; no measure. And that applies to
many other things besides our foundation, our confidence,
our faith, our certainty with the Lord. These are things
which must really characterize the true Christian. These
are the constituents of a spiritual man, or a spiritual
Church.
A Dispensational Crisis
Now, if
you have been thinking in Timothy's letters, if you know
those letters at all, does it not all come back to you?
Paul's Lord was making him write those letters on these
very things at a time of tremendous crisis. The whole
crisis in Christianity, at this turning-point in its
history, was focused in this young man himself. These
letters to Timothy are nothing less than dispensational
in their significance. They contain far more than those
favourite texts: "Take thy part in suffering
hardship, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus" (2 Tim.
2:3); or, "Fight the good fight of the faith"
(1 Tim. 6:12); or, "That the man of God may be
complete, furnished completely unto every good work"
(2 Tim. 3:17); or, "A vessel unto honour... prepared
unto every good work" (2 Tim. 2:21).
How we
love these fragments! Yes, but do remember that every one
of them is set in the background of a crisis for the
dispensation, for, until you recognise that, you have not
really got the value of the fragments. Why 'take your
share of hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus'?
Because the dispensation hangs upon it, Timothy! This is
not only for you, but for the future. Why be "a
vessel unto honour", why "lay hold on eternal
life", why "fight the good fight"? There
are far, far-reaching issues at stake, right on to the
end of Christianity's history - that is why! These
letters were not written to Timothy just for Timothy's
sake, for the time being, to help this young fellow along
in his own Christian life. And they were certainly not
written just to give us nice fragments for our own
Christian life. These letters were written at a most
critical time in Christianity's history, and all their
fragments relate to that.
Imminent Departure of Paul
Now take
the fragments in their setting, and they acquire new
meaning, new significance. You will understand why Paul
is so serious - his appeals, his exhortations; his
repeated "O man of God", "O man of
God" (1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 3:17). Was there a crisis
on? Well, there are plenty of proofs in the letters
themselves of that fact. You can pick out some of the
indications. First of all, be reminded that these were
the last writings of the Apostle. The second letter was
probably the last thing that Paul ever wrote, and he
wrote it within perhaps hours of his execution. Paul is
going, Paul is passing from this scene; Paul's personal
ministry, in word and in writing, is coming to a close.
There is going to be a real loss and a real gap,
tremendous loss to the Church. It is a crisis. If God
takes away any servant of His through whom He has met His
people in some rich, full way, there is always a great
gap, and that gap does not become smaller as time goes
on. You are always wishing that that servant of God were
back to help; you are always saying, 'Now what would he
say, what would he do?' I do not exaggerate the point.
This letter contains this. Paul says: "I am already
being offered up" (2 Tim. 4:6). Is that a crisis?
Well, if it is - and it is - we need something, Paul,
from the Lord to meet this situation. The Lord must
reinforce us at this turn in the road.
Secession from Paul
And
these letters do that! You see that, as we go on. Ah, but
not only so - the letters reveal a secession from Paul.
He cries: "all that are in Asia turned away from
me" (1 Tim. 1:15). And, although we know that some
did leave him because it was too costly to stay with him,
and that the peril of his death was overshadowing any
association, it is difficult, in looking into this
matter, not to conclude that the turning from Paul by
those in Asia was on DOCTRINAL GROUNDS. You say,
'Where have you the evidence for that?' The evidence is
abundant, and will be brought forward presently. There is
a secession from Paul because of his teachings, his line
of things; because of the standard that he has raised,
because of the level that he has insisted upon. They
cannot go on with Paul, and that is a crisis.
Anticipating somewhat, we may go further, and say that
the outcome of that secession from Paul may be seen in
the first chapters of the book of the Revelation. The
condition of the very churches in Asia that Paul had been
used to bring into being, beginning with Ephesus, of
which Timothy was the overseer - the condition of those
churches in the first chapters of the Revelation is seen
to be resultant upon their turning from the man whom God
had used to bring them into being. It is a very critical
thing to let go something that God has done, to lower
your standard. We shall come back later to consider how
terribly the standard was lowered. It is most dangerous,
it represents a tremendous crisis, to weaken on anything
that the Lord has shown to be His will. So, they were
leaving Paul.
Spiritual Decline
And
then, look at the change in the nature of things
indicated by these letters. They are just full of a
lowering level of spiritual life, in every way, a loss of
spirituality, a decline. It is a crisis. Without going
into details, all I will say at this point is this: that,
where God has given richly, where God has given in any
fullness, where God has called to anything more than the
nominal and shown His mind to be spiritual fullness, the
peril is always present of losing, letting go, declining,
dropping away to some lower level, perhaps because of the
cost of going on, or for some other reason. This peril is
always present.
Now I
come back for a moment to where we started:
reinforcement. The Lord is always seeking to strengthen
our spirituality in order to guard against these threats
and perils which are ever imminent, never far away. And
is it not impressive that, when there is a time of
danger, of peril, of a threat, of a crisis in the
spiritual life, the Lord puts us into such a state of
agony and suffering and distress that we have got to get
a new position with Him altogether, or we shall not get
through? How faithful He is! Because of a threat, because
of a danger, He may plunge us right into a sea of
difficulty and trial, in order to strengthen our swimming
powers, to get us into some fuller measure, so that we
shall not so easily be caught there again. When anything
like that reappears, we shall recognise it for what it
is, and know that we have got to keep our feet, keep our
balance, keep steady.
So these
letters are just full of exhortations to Timothy "Be
strong", in other words 'Be steady'; "Take your
share of hardship"; "Lay hold on eternal
life" - all because of what Timothy signifies in the
whole dispensation.