Transcribed from a message given by T. Austin-Sparks in April 1959.
The spoken form has been retained verbatim.
The book of Exodus chapter 32
and verse 32: Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their
sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book
which Thou hast written.
And in the letter to the Romans
chapter 9 and verse 3: For I could wish that I
myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake,
my kinsmen according to the flesh.
I think, dear friends, in these two
utterances are two outstanding - perhaps the two most
outstanding servants of God - in the two dispensations,
the old and the new: Moses and Paul. We have the very
highest point of service to the Lord represented.
We are all concerned with this
matter of being of service to the Lord and we are ever
seeking to know how that service can be best fulfilled
and how we may rise to the highest possible level of
service to Him. And I repeat, that this statement, this
prayer by Moses (and if you look at the margin of Pauls
words you will see that that also was a prayer, the word
wish is really prayer or pray:
I could pray
) these two prayers of
these two outstanding servants of God do represent the
highest degree of service to the Lord. And that is
because there is nothing beyond these statements, nothing
whatever beyond them in the matter of selflessness. You
cant go beyond this: Blot me out of the book
which Thou hast written; accursed from Christ.
There is no degree beyond that. The utterness of
selflessness is in those prayers. They represent a
greater concern for the people of God than, not only
personal blessing or personal vindication or position or
reputation, but life itself. It is only another way in
which these men were saying, Well, my life begins
and ends with the people of God and I have nothing beyond
that. And if they should lose or suffer, and I in any way
could have prevented it, then I have missed the whole
purpose of life and the very purpose of my own salvation.
That is the sum and the end of everything. What a
devotion! What a devotion. That is service.
There were certain things that Paul
and Moses had in common which are headed up in these
prayers as you see the context of the passages; you see
the sin of the Lords people. This thirty second
chapter of Exodus follows the story of that terrible
breakdown under Aarons leadership and the setting
up of the idol and the worshipping of it and turning away
from God and saying These be thy gods oh Israel;
the awful sin of the Lords people. And then as for
Pauls context, its in the context of what
Israel had done to his Lord, in the killing of Christ.
This devotion
the point is
this devotion was not to a people who drew it out by
reason of their goodness, the fineness of their
substance, the lovableness of their nature. Its tremendously
strengthened, this devotion, by recognizing the kind of
people to whom these hearts so utterly went out. Its
a rebuke to us in our service. Its so easy for us
to give and to devote ourselves to labour for those who
give a return and who show kindness and who are nice
people, we think are worthwhile people
And here, a
love to the uttermost for people who were so utterly
unworthy of it at all. That, Paul and Moses had in
common. But further, they had this in common: that they themselves
were objects of those peoples reproach and
persecution. There had been times when Moses was seeking
to bring the people out of Egypt when they turned on him,
they turned on him and blamed him for their difficulties
and situations. And we know that even after this incident
many times they railed on Moses, they laid at his door
all their troubles. And as for Paul, what a time he had
at the hands of Israel! The Judaizers and all the rest,
what a time he had! They denounced him as a traitor. And
yet, although these men themselves were personally the
objects of the opposition of those to whom they had given
their lives, this was their spirit and their attitude:
Forgive! If Thou wilt forgive
and he breaks off, he
doesnt finish that part, If Thou wilt
but if You dont, if not, blot me out of the book
which Thou hast written. I could wish myself
accursed from Christ for my brethrens sake.
What a spirit of service!
I say again: its a terrible
rebuke to us. Here are these men exemplifying the spirit
of Christ; thats the point. Were in Galatians
and weve only got to remember He was made a curse
for us; "I could wish myself accursed from Christ
for my brethrens sake". He was made a curse
He carried the spirit of service all that way to being
cut off from God, for that eternal moment when the Father
hid His face... for the sake of His brethren. Turn to
Hebrews and we know that it was for His brethren, I
and the children
the brethren. Yes, so utter
was His committal that He, Christ, actually suffered
for that moment the loss of God; the loss of
everything. What Im stressing is the spirit of
Christ in service, how far it must take us.
Now when you look at both of these
passages in their context, theres a lot of
instruction. You notice that in each case, in each case,
the previous chapter is a most wonderful and blessed
chapter. The thirty first chapter of Exodus, Moses in the
mountain in communion with God receiving the pattern for
the tabernacle, and what a wonderful thing that was! It
was the mount of revelation. We can say in meaning, the
revelation of Jesus Christ in all the fullness of His
mediatorial work; for that is what the tabernacle stands
for. This pattern was shown in the mount and Moses was
there with God. Its a wonderful chapter! Presently
that will all be taken up again and put into effect but
theres a dark chapter between.
Look at Romans eight; everybody knows
what Romans eight is about but there are few more beautiful
and glorious things than the closing words of that
chapter: Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through Him that loved us. I am persuaded that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creation, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord". And in Pauls letter there were no
chapters. It ran straight on into what is in our
arrangement chapter nine. A wonderful chapter is chapter eight,
were lifted into the heights of the marvel of
divine love. Presently that will all be taken up and you
get to chapter twelve, everybody knows chapter twelve and onward,
the thing now is coming into effect, but again, in
between: the dark chapter. The dark chapter
Here is
that to which we are called. The service of the house of
God, the service of the revelation of Jesus Christ, the
service of the love of God; all to be brought into
concrete form in the Lords people. But between the
revelation and the realization there is a terrible
battle.
In every case, in these cases, and
its always so, theres a terrible battle
between. Theres always this that we have in chapter
thirty two: the breaking in of the enemy to spoil everything... the
outbreaking of the flesh in men... the spirit of idolatry.
It is about a wider and bigger thing than just the
worship of some idol, this very comprehensive movement to
draw away from God, and its found by the play of
the evil forces upon mens nature and thats
the realm of the battle. Theres something that has
got to be dealt with and got out of the way. When Moses
and the Levites dealt with it and got it out of the way
then they could get on with the tabernacle. Paul
dealt with this thing in Israel, he dealt with it very
drastically. I think that is the point of the
letter to the Galatians, I hope I dont trespass and
make it difficult for any brethren, but do you know that,
if I may say this here, the letter to the Galatians saw a
battle fought through which never had to be
fought through again in that time. Once and for all,
Paul through that letter settled the matter of the
Judaizers in his time. After that it was finished. They
were doing just what these people were doing at the foot
of the mount. It was a battle, a desperate battle to make
the way clear for the purpose of God.
Now that of course provides the very
focal point for this message: Devotion. Utter devotion to
Gods purpose concerning His people is going to make
the uttermost demand upon any servant of God. Its
going to test and find out our spirit of service and it
is going, dear friends, if we are really going to serve
God in this uttermost way, its going to bring us to
this point where weve nothing left to fall back
upon of personal interest, position or blessing; it is
simply a matter of God and God only. And if God
doesnt do it, were finished, weve
nothing to live for. Weve nothing to live for, weve
no alternative, weve no second line, we
are in this matter of the Lords purpose and
interest to the very last drop of our blood. And if not,
then theres nothing more for us.
The, the purpose of God in
His people will demand that. We shall find that, sooner
or later, its no use, its no use, we cant
have any alternatives, we cant have a second
course; its everything or nothing, everything or
nothing, and we shall be and we must be prepared to be
brought to the place where we are prepared to get right
out of the way ourselves, altogether out of the way in
every sense if the Lord can reach His end, if only
He can reach His end; we dont matter. Thats
what Moses said: I dont matter! My
salvation doesnt matter, my life doesnt
matter! Paul said the same. What matters is that the Lord
has His end in His people and if that is not reached then
I dont know what Im alive for. I dont
know what Ive been saved for!
How far removed this is, isnt
it, from being saved to get things for ourselves in time
and in eternity, to get heaven and to get blessing and
all manner of things. These are the things offered if
only we will be saved and we find that we are saved to be
brought into the great purpose of God as His servants.
And its no use, it's no use complaining, no use
complaining, no use saying well this is too costly,
or this is costly, this is hard work and so on; its
no use, were committed to death for this
thing, we are just committed unto death. Now the Lord
said that right at the beginning: he that saveth
his life shall lose it, he that loseth his life for my
sake shall find it. Its a life matter. Saving
or losing what? Blessing? No, your life! No less
an issue than that.
Are our hearts, dear friends, are
our hearts really so bound up with the Lords
concern not for ourselves but for His people, for His
church; so bound up with that that we have
nothing else for which to live. That is our horizon. That
is our beginning and our end. That is all that we are on
this earth for, for the Lord to have what He has set His
heart upon in His people.
Well thats the word, thats
the message: Im not seeking something for
myself in the work of God or in salvation. Im not
seeking place, Im not seeking name, reputation; Im
not seeking any gain whatever. Im committed so
utterly to the Lords concern and purpose in a
people. And far, far from doing those people an
injury, hurting the Lords people - and oh there are
a lot of Christians hurting the Lords people, doing
a lot of hurt to the Lords people and to the Lords
interests in His people - far from that, we would rather
die than that the Lord should lose anything in His
people. Thats the spirit of these words and these
servants. And thats the message, just that: a call
to service, to recognize what that service is. It is the
service of Christ and the service of Christ was
"obedient unto death, yea, the death of the
Cross".
Now this brings to this last very
brief word which is in a way a reiteration of something
said recently. The peculiar and particular sufferings and
trials of the servants of the Lord
we dont
suffer for our salvation, we pay no price whatever for
our redemption, that is all free and we have it without
money, without price. Never attach your sufferings to
your salvation. Keep those two things always apart
but you need not be told that when you are saved
you enter upon a life of difficulties and adversities and
trials and afflictions and suffering. Why? Because you
have been called not just to salvation, youve been
called to service; youve been called to service.
And the servant of the Lord or servanthood
necessitates these fiery ordeals in which the dross of
self interest is removed. That is the effect of our
adversities and our sufferings, if they have their right
effect, just to completely deal with this whole matter of
personal motives and selfish interests and ourselves
as featuring in the work of God.
The fire, the fire deals with the
dross of selfhood which is always the menace to
service. Look at the Lord Jesus. The master
servant. The great servant. One thing that is
clearer than anything else and more outstanding in Him is
being yet what He was, the eternal Son of God incarnate,
could lay aside His robe, gird Himself with a towel, take
a basin of water and wash the disciples feet. There
is the picture of the servant; utterly emptied of all
selfhood, reputation, self importance, prestige,
standing, dignity and everything else! Its gone. Its
the spirit of service. I came not to be ministered
unto but to minister He came to give His life. That
is the spirit of it and it carries us all the way, we
have nothing left of ourselves in this service but, I was
saying, the explanation of our trials and sufferings and
discipline is just this: to make us better servants, make
us true servants. What Moses had in that way, until it
was possible for it to be said Now, the man Moses
was the meekest of all men upon the earth and
therefore Moses stands a giant over the whole of the Old
Testament with one word, one title: Moses the servant
of God. And we need not indicate Paul, the servant of
Jesus Christ, if ever there was a servant in this
dispensation, he was. But look at this man: I could
pray myself to be accursed from Christ for my brethrens
sake. Thats the spirit of service. The Lord
inculcate that in us.