We have already applied the indispensable principle: trusting God now to minister the Lord Jesus through His Word.
In my study, there are a couple of verses from Jeremiah that a brother gave me, and they are on the wall in my study. Jeremiah 23:
Who hath stood in the council of the Lord,
That he should perceive and hear His word?
He that hath My word, let him speak My word faithfully.
What is the straw to the wheat? saith the Lord.
You know, for years in my life, I just gave straw. Jeremiah 23 goes on to say that it profits them not at all. Your soul knows the difference between grain and straw, and so does mine. So let us trust God to feed us, to give us Christ, to give us grain.
Let me just review. I will ask you to turn, please, to 2 Corinthians 8.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
—2 Corinthians 4:5
I have suggested that God wrote this verse in the life of the apostle Paul. Since that day, to the present day and to future generations, should the Lord delay, the apostle Paul has become a model—an example, God’s illustration—of what it means to be a bondslave: a bondslave toward God and a bondslave toward men.
In 2 Corinthians, Paul shares with us the process by which God brought him into that. God discovered to his heart what it meant to be that kind of person: a bondslave, one who would crown Christ Lord and learn to have a heart poured out, a life poured out, for his fellow men.
If we are serious about finding our slot in the history of redemption, finding our place in God’s program of redemption, then we need to be open to the Lord in terms of these principles—what it means to be a bondslave.
Let me briefly go over again, not to develop it, but simply to say it again. We have looked so far at three principles—three simple truths, really.
If I am going to have a heart, as the apostle Paul had, a heart for God, then the first principle is this: God took Paul beyond Paul and into the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus.
Through many different means and in many ways, God pressed Paul over the line, over the threshold, beyond all of Paul’s natural possibilities. He took him to the place where only the supernatural would do him any good, where he finally cried out, “I am dead.” He learned not to trust in himself, but in God who raises the dead.
On the other side of that line, God opened his eyes to the reality that Jesus is enough, that Christ is all-sufficient, that God is adequate—more than adequate.
In the light of that revelation, the apostle Paul began to see that he was in Christ Jesus. He had a new position: not Paul in Paul, but Paul in Christ. Everything began to take form and make sense as he saw himself in Christ.
For seven chapters, he unfolds all the things that changed when he saw himself in Christ. We only looked at three. I have found fourteen, and I think there are probably more than that. His whole view of victory changed, his view of ministry changed, his view of liberty changed, his view of work changed, his view of Bible study changed, and so on. Many things changed.
Paul was emptied, and Paul was filled. Then, last night, we began to discuss this principle: Is there anything beyond fullness? The answer is, yes—there is flow.
Christ not only must fill my life, but now Christ must be manifested through my life. God has a worldwide heart. He has always had a worldwide heart. It has always been on His heart to have a generation in whom He could put His glory, His name, and His reputation on the earth; and through that people, He could flow to the ends of the earth.
Paul learned that, in order to release the life of Christ and manifest the treasure within, the clay jar had to be broken. There had to be brokenness.
Emptiness, fullness, brokenness.
That brings us to the next principle this morning. We have come to the end of our little series—not the end of the truth concerning these things, but the end of our little discussion.
This morning, I would like us to look at what comes after brokenness. What is the outflow now? What is the outworking? What is the ministry?
We are emptied, filled, and broken. We cannot begin to experience this apart from God working it into our lives by degrees. But when we come to this point, we come to what I would like us to look at this morning.
I do not know how to express in words the importance of this principle we are going to discuss. I believe this is the crowning principle of all ministry. Whatever else you learn about ministry, somehow it is going to be connected to this. It has to tie into this, because there is no ministry without the principle that we are going to touch on this morning.
I praise God that I do not have to depend upon anything I say or any communication I try to give. God is going to work in your life and mind what He knows this means, not merely what I think it means.
He is going to work in our hearts everything He knows this means, whether or not I stumble along on this principle, whether or not I communicate it well. God is moving toward this, and you will get this, because sooner or later God is going to write that in your life if there is going to be ministry. He has to.
When I began a couple of days ago, I suggested a broad outline for 2 Corinthians. I suggested that in the first seven chapters, God shows the apostle Paul what it means to have Christ all-sufficient in him.
I suggested that chapters 8 and 9 are the great chapters which show what it means to have Christ all-sufficient through him. We are going to look at that section now.
These two tremendous chapters contain, I think, that crowning principle of all ministry. This is ministry.
As we come to chapters 8 and 9, I will remind you of a truth with which I am sure you are familiar, but it helps when you are studying the Bible here or anywhere else. Make sure that you distinguish between the illustration of a principle and the principle itself.
God has many illustrations in His Word, and in those illustrations He has fossilized age-abiding principles. Those principles are true in every age and generation. They never change: the truths of God, the ways of God, the principles of God.
But sometimes the illustration is either so great or so controversial that we get wrapped up in the illustration. Sometimes we think the illustration itself is the point.
I got so sick of reading commentaries on 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. So many people think that, at this point, Paul leaves Christ and gets practical. Great day, that is not practical! You cannot leave Christ and get practical.
How are we going to come to chapters 8 and 9 and talk about money, stewardship, and giving? Money, stewardship, and giving are not his point. They are the illustration of his point.
He is going to talk about giving, all right, because he is talking about ministry—giving. In order to illustrate giving, outflow, and overflow, he carefully selects one of the most wonderful illustrations of this principle you will ever find.
So many people just get to the surface, and all they see is the picture. They say, “Now Christ is all practical. See? He leaves all this heavenly stuff, and He comes down and says you are supposed to tithe, you are supposed to give, you are supposed to be a good steward,” and blah, blah, blah. That is not what he is saying.
If you do not see the principle underneath that, you have missed it.
I would like us to begin to look at that principle now. In order to do this, I am going to do a little donkey work, and I ask you to be patient with me. I think it is important, if we can get the illustration clearly before our minds. I think you will be amazed at how the principle will then come into focus.
Since the principle is so basic, it will almost seem as though I am laboring the point. Maybe I am. But after we get through with that donkey work, I want to give you three simple principles that I hope will hold this whole thing together.
I do not think there is any question that 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 are the full treatment of stewardship in the Bible.
I learned a principle some years ago from A. T. Pierson. He suggested that in the Bible there are two principles: one he called “full mention,” and the other he called “first mention.”
Every topic is dealt with fully somewhere. When you study that topic, you need to study that one place. Probably the full mention of resurrection would be 1 Corinthians 15. Probably the full mention of love would be 1 Corinthians 13. It is mentioned everywhere, but there is one place where it is dealt with fully.
Likewise, when you come to anything for the first time, pay close attention to its first mention, because first mention generally gives you the key to how that thing is going to be developed throughout the Scriptures.
I believe you are going to find here a full treatment of stewardship, if you just take the level of the Word—just on the surface. If you are ever going to study stewardship or giving, you would have to come to these two chapters, because here you have the full treatment.
But we are not studying stewardship. We are really not even studying 2 Corinthians. We have been meditating on the truth of ministry. I want to be a minister. I want to serve God. I want to be a bondservant of God and a bondservant of man.
So the apostle gives us this tremendous illustration. Let me give you the background, and then we will get into the principle.
The background of these two chapters has been called the Palestinian Relief Fund. In those days, everything began at Jerusalem. Jerusalem was where God began to raise up His visible church. In fact, because of the sending out of missionaries and so on, Jerusalem was the mother church.
Jerusalem had gone through some hard times. Especially at the writing of this epistle, Jerusalem was really going through difficult times.
There were at least four pressures upon the saints at Jerusalem. One pressure was common everywhere, not only in Jerusalem: when a Jew became a Christian, he had to go outside the camp. To identify with the Lord Jesus, he was cast out of the temple and was not allowed to share in Hebrew society.
According to the historians, the Roman government, which never really loved the Jews anyway, had begun at this time to seize property and impose heavy taxes on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—not only Christians, but all who were not Romans.
It was right at this time also that imperial persecution began to flame up. Christianity was disallowed, and there was a very real possibility that if you identified with the Lord Jesus, you would have a violent death—by fire, sword, animals, whatever you have read of.
Another piece of historical background that ties into this is Acts 11:28. Acts 11:28 speaks about a great famine that took place during the reign of Claudius. Josephus describes that famine, and he takes special pains to tell us how it hit Jerusalem.
Put all that together. The Christians there were being ostracized, oppressed, and persecuted. They were starving; they were hungry; the famine had come. News of the poverty of the mother church, God’s people, reached some of these other churches, especially those in Macedonia.
There were many churches in Macedonia. Three are famous: the church of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. Those three fellowships got together, and they began to rally.
If you want to study that whole Palestinian Relief Fund, you would have to look at 1 Thessalonians 2, 1 Corinthians 16:1-3, Romans 15:26-27, Acts 24, and so on.
Anyway, those Macedonian brothers and sisters heard about their brothers and sisters in need. Willingly, joyfully, and sacrificially, they began to gather relief funds.
The Bible begins to tell us how they gave. They gave not only their gifts, but their time, their talents, and their lives. They gave themselves to the Lord. Food, clothing—they gathered and gathered and gathered.
The apostle saw these Macedonian churches in this tremendous outflow of generosity and liberality, and he said, “I have found myself an example. I have found myself an illustration.”
Now, you might say that is how it should be. Those who have should relieve those who have not. Those who are blessed, when they hear of those in need, ought to rise, ought to dig deep, ought to sacrifice, and ought to give to those who have not.
Except that is not how it was. That is why Paul chose this as an illustration. This is what impressed the apostle Paul.
You see, the Macedonians were in worse condition than the mother church. That is why he selected this as the illustration. This Palestinian Relief Fund was created by and distributed through those who were in poverty—indeed, in more poverty than those they were relieving.
They also were in famine. They also were being persecuted. You know the background of the Corinthian church. Many of those Corinthians were saved right out of the slums. They were heathens, idolaters, ignorant, and backward.
When Paul saw this, he said, “I have found myself an illustration. I am going to illustrate all giving, all ministry, all flow, through these Macedonian Christians.”
Chapter 8, verse 1:
We make known to you the grace of God which hath been given in the churches of Macedonia;
how that in much proof of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
For I testify that according to their power, yea and beyond their power, they gave of their own accord,
beseeching us with much entreaty in regard of this grace and of the fellowship in the ministering to the saints.
And this, not as we had hoped, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and to us through the will of God.
—2 Corinthians 8:1-5
The apostle did not think they should be involved in this because they did not have anything to give. Yet they were begging us with much entreaty for the favor of participation in the support of the saints. And this was not as we expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord.
You already know where we are heading. As I said, the point of these marvelous chapters is not money, giving, or stewardship.
Some commentators dared to say that the apostle was trying to embarrass the Corinthians—trying to show how these folks gave, and asking why the Corinthians could not dig deep. They say he was using a gimmick in order to get money out of the Corinthian Christians.
No. There is a spiritual principle in these two chapters, and it ties in with the great message of the book and with the message of bondservants of Jesus Christ.
Let me spot-check this chapter and give other verses that tie into the principle. Then we will come back and state the principle clearly, and, as God gives grace, see it.
In addition to verses 1 through 5, which tell us of a people who gave out of poverty, look at verse 9:
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor,
that ye through His poverty might become rich.
—2 Corinthians 8:9
So he says, “I have another illustration of Someone who gave out of poverty.”
Now look at 2 Corinthians 9:8:
And God is able to make all grace abound unto you;
that ye, having always all sufficiency in everything,
may abound unto every good work.
Tremendous words—all the superlatives are there. One translation says, “God is powerful to make every grace superabound for you, in order that, having always all sufficiency in all things, you may superabound for every good work.”
Then 2 Corinthians 9:10:
And He that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food
shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing,
and increase the fruits of your righteousness.
Finally, notice the way the chapter ends:
Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.
—2 Corinthians 9:15
In these two chapters, the apostle Paul—the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul—calls attention over and over again to the same thing. He uses tremendous illustrations, but we must distinguish between the illustration and the principle.
The Macedonians gave out of poverty. Our Lord Jesus Christ, though He was rich, yet He became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich. God provides seed for the sower. Christ is the indescribable gift.
But enough background. Let me state the principle. May God give us grace to see what we hear.
If there is going to be ministry from your life, from my life, from our lives, then there must be this principle:
There can be no ministry that does not flow out of poverty.
There can be no ministry—none whatsoever. All Christian giving, all Christian ministry, flows out of poverty.
The apostle Paul had been grounded by the Lord in the truth that Jesus Christ is everything. He had finally come to see that the apostle Paul is nothing. The apostle Paul is deficient; the Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient—altogether sufficient.
Paul saw that in himself there was no adequacy at all. God was adequate, and God was made his adequacy.
The apostle Paul said, in effect, “There is no Palestinian Relief Fund in me. There is no Palestinian Relief Fund in you. There is nothing in us.”
We talk about ministry, brothers. We have nothing to give. We have no ministry, no service, no assistance, no aid. That is what the Holy Spirit has been pounding into us for seven chapters.
God says, “I want to give My Son.” That is ministry. You want to give something? God says, “Let Me break the vessel and come out.” That is ministry.
When Christ is released and Christ is touched, there is ministry. If Christ is not released and Christ is not touched, there is no ministry, no matter what you call it and no matter what you name it.
See how this ties in so closely with the clay vessel we were discussing last evening. Such a great treasure we have in these clay jars. Christ is the light. Christ is the food. Christ is the river of satisfaction. Christ is what they need.
The world needs provision, no question. They need ministry. But quite honestly, brothers, they do not need me. They do not need you. They do not need us. They do not need our little group. They do not need our little emphasis.
They need the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why he ends chapter 9, verse 15: “Thanks be unto God for His indescribable gift.” That is the gift. There is only one gift, and it is Christ. That is ministry: when we release Him.
There is no releasing Christ, and there is no touching Christ, if we do not have this heart principle of ministering out of poverty.
So often we limit this idea of ministry and giving to money and material things—rent, shelter, food, fuel, and so on. It includes that, but chapters 8 and 9 are bigger than that. This is all ministry.
I think one of the tragedies of the church today, and of institutes that are training so-called leaders, is that it is all backwards. We are training people to be wealthy and to give out of their wealth.
In all of our ministry, the question has to be answered: Have I released Christ? Have they touched Christ? Because, quite apart from everything else, if that has not happened, there has not been ministry.
Here is a teacher of the Word of God. He gives out of his wealth—out of his study, out of his background, out of his experience, out of his training.
Do you know what people touch? They touch his background, his scholarship, his eloquence, his training. They have touched a clay pot. There has been no ministry, because he has ministered out of his wealth.
Now, out of brokenness—because it is out of brokenness that Christ is released, it is out of poverty, “I have nothing to give”—Christ is released.
Here comes a counselor. He is going to counsel; he is going to help you. He gives out of the wealth of his experience, out of all the things he has heard, out of his knowledge of human nature, and out of his ability to analyze and put things together logically.
When it is all over, what have you touched? You have touched the human counselor. What has he given you? A new formula, a set of rules, another program.
You might touch his talent, his skill, his scholarship, his ingenuity. But, my brothers, it is not the fancy pot; it is not the refined pot. It is the broken pot that becomes the channel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is ministry.
A man might be very wealthy. A group might be very wealthy in this world’s goods. They might be very generous. They might give money, food, shelter; they might pay for your children’s education.
You know, it is possible that all of that is just clay. When it is all over, what have you touched? You may have touched their generosity, their liberality, and even their compassion. But have you touched Christ? Have you released Christ?
There is only one real minister. God is the only Giver. Christ is the only gift. God is the One who must give His Son through us. He has ordained to do that through the broken vessel.
So there is a question we need constantly to be asking before God: Are they touching us or Christ? Our wisdom or Him? Our ability or Him?
When you have ministered, when you have given, when you have served, when it is all over, are they impressed with your personality, your kindness, your insights, your cleverness? Then what have we given? What have we done?
It is not a little of us and some of Christ. If all they touch is you, they have touched death. If all they touch is me, they have touched death. If all they touch is us, they have touched death.
There is no life in my flesh. There is no life in your flesh. There is no life in our flesh. All ministry must be out of poverty.
Basic for the release of Christ is the firm conviction that all we have is poverty. We need to understand that. We need to know that.
Because in all of our giving, what is the use of it? What is the worth of it? It is wasted time and wasted energy if Christ is not the reason, if the Lord Jesus Christ is not the gift.
If we say we want to be bondservants, the marks of death must be on our service. The marks of death must be on all of our ministry.
Here is a musician, a singer with a beautiful voice. She wants to minister; he wants to minister. They get up and sing. If there are no marks of death on that song, there has been no ministry.
You might have touched beautiful music. You might have heard skill. You might have touched talent. But when that singer or musician comes before God and understands, “There is no relief fund in me. There is no ministry in me. Lord, I have nothing to give. I want to sing unto You,” you will hear the same notes and the same words, but now, inside, you will touch Christ.
We have words for that, do we not? The unction. You know what we are talking about. God has ministered through the broken vessel. God has released Christ, and your spirit touches Christ.
You know every time when you are touching Christ and when you are not touching Christ. You know the difference between life and death. That does not make us judges, so that we go around saying, “Oh, that person has life; that person does not.” That is not our place. But you understand what God is saying.
Here is a teacher. He may have insights. He may speak with power and eloquence. He may use fancy language. But if he is resting in his notes, his study, his abilities, and his illustrations, the question remains: has he ministered out of poverty?
You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might become rich.
A person can be very zealous. But are the marks of death on that zeal? Are the marks of death on that generosity, that sacrifice, that dedication?
Follow this spiritual principle, please. There are many ways to be wealthy—money, gifts, talents, friends, training, background, and so on. There is no ministry out of wealth.
I can hear someone saying, “Well, this is going to be easy for me, because I do not have anything to give anyway.” But giving out of poverty is a principle of the heart, a direction of the heart. It has nothing to do with what you have or do not have.
We need to pray that, with our gifts and our giving, we give Christ.
The poorest person in the world, with no gifts or talents or whatever, can give out of wealth. The richest person on earth, a billionaire, generous as all get-out, can give out of poverty.
You do not have to be rich to give out of wealth, and you do not have to be poor to give out of poverty. Poverty is a principle. It is an attitude of the heart: that lack of self-assurance, self-confidence, pride, and arrogance which says, “I can help so-and-so. Let me give him a call. I have been through that.”
We need to come to the end of ourselves, and we need to allow Him to break us so that Christ is released and people are touching the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, we need to serve, brothers. That is what it is all about. But you need to learn to sing from poverty. You need to learn to teach from poverty, visit from poverty, write letters from poverty, listen from poverty, comfort from poverty. Any ministry you have needs to come from poverty.
Now, that is the part I said I was going to labor, because I have to get that across. As we wrap it up, let me give these three simple principles. Again, we are overlapping. I have already said most of this in order to tie it together.
First principle: in real ministry—spiritual ministry, real ministry—only God is the Giver, and only the Lord Jesus is the gift.
Look at 2 Corinthians 9, beginning at verse 6:
He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly;
and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
Let each man do according as he hath purposed in his heart;
not grudgingly, or of necessity:
for God loveth a cheerful giver.
—2 Corinthians 9:6-7
Then verse 15:
Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.
—2 Corinthians 9:15
I do not want to take time to go into that verse by verse. But in verses 6 through 15, God gives another illustration—an illustration within the illustration—of sowing and reaping.
There are two basic truths about sowing and reaping. The first is that whatever a man sows will be the same in kind as what he reaps. If you sow corn, you are not going to reap checks. If you sow beans, that is what you are going to reap. Whatever a man sows, he is going to reap.
The second truth is that the harvest is always greater than the sowing. Sow a handful; reap a field. Hosea put it this way:
They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.
—Hosea 8:7
The harvest is always greater than the sowing. I call attention to this because God calls the Jerusalem Relief Fund sowing. They sowed.
What did they sow? The harvest has to be the same in kind. You may say, “Well, they sowed money.” That is how this is often applied: if you have money, sow money, and get money ten times or one hundred times over. I could get on a little hobbyhorse here, but I will not.
Look at the end of chapter 9. You know what they sowed because God tells you what the harvest was. Look at the harvest, beginning in verse 10:
And He that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food
shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing,
and increase the fruits of your righteousness:
ye being enriched in everything unto all liberality,
which worketh through us thanksgiving to God.
For the ministration of this service not only filleth up the measure of the wants of the saints,
but aboundeth also through many thanksgivings unto God;
seeing that through the proving of you by this ministration they glorify God.
—2 Corinthians 9:10-13
There is the harvest: the harvest of righteousness, thanksgiving to God, and the glory of God. That is the harvest of their sowing.
Now you say, “Well, did they not sow money?” If they had, they would reap money. They did not sow money. They sowed Christ.
Let us say I gave you a gift for Christmas, and that gift was a fine gadget watch. These watches nowadays do everything. I put it in a nice felt box, wrapped it with wonderful Christmas wrapping paper, put a nice silk bow around it, and gave it to you.
Someone comes along and says, “What did Ed give you for Christmas?” You say, “Oh, you should have seen it—a silk bow! My, that was a nice bow and paper. He gave me beautiful wrapping paper and a felt box.”
That would be true, would it not? But you did not say what I gave you. You missed my gift.
The Macedonian Christians did not give the Jerusalem Christians money. They gave the Jerusalem Christians Christ, and they wrapped it in money.
Do you hear what I am saying? This is so important, because if you do not understand that, you might be giving people wrapping and think you are giving them ministry.
God has called us to give Christ and to wrap it up. You want to be ministry? You wrap Christ up in your feet. You wrap Christ up in your hands. You wrap Christ up in your visits. You wrap Christ up in your sharing.
Those are the wrapping. That is not the giving. The seed has to be provided by God. God is the One who provides the seed for the sowing. All the rest is clay.
Brothers in Christ, sometimes it grieves my heart to think about the labor, the work, the sweat, the programs, and the energy people are constantly expending.
Oh, what waste—studying, writing books, teaching, preaching, evangelizing—if there is no seed of God.
God is the only Giver. He is the One who gives. Christ is the only gift.
All of my teaching, all of my sharing, all of my listening, all of my visiting, all of my counseling, all of my service for the ease of others—these are only ministry as Christ is given through them.
Once again, I know people take these verses merely on the surface and say, “Here is a great passage on proportional giving.” Certainly it is a passage on that. But you have to get beyond the picture to the principle.
Here is what God is saying. It is a little deeper than giving your tithe. It is very simple: You cannot give what you do not have. You cannot give what you do not have.
We are talking about ministering Christ. I cannot give anybody Christ as rest unless I know Christ as my rest. I cannot give anybody Christ as victory unless I know Christ as my victory. I cannot give anybody Christ as comfort unless Christ is comfort to me.
Giving is a spiritual matter. The all-sufficiency of Christ through me is directly proportionate to the all-sufficiency of Christ in me.
If we are serious about ministry, we would get our eyes off ministry and start running to Jesus. We would start running to the Lord, saying, “Lord, just fill me with Christ so that I would be available to minister Him as this need comes up.”
Appropriate Christ. That is how to be prepared for real ministry. You do not have to run off to some seminary—though God may lead you to do that. But you do not get prepared for ministry merely by studying books. You get prepared for ministry by waiting before God and appropriating a very full Christ. That is preparation.
One more: 2 Corinthians 8:13-15.
For I say not this that others may be eased and ye distressed;
but by equality:
your abundance being a supply at this present time for their want,
that their abundance also may become a supply for your want;
that there may be equality:
as it is written,
He that gathered much had nothing over;
and he that gathered little had no lack.
—2 Corinthians 8:13-15
For many years in my Christian life, I thought that meant, “Do not have a savings account.” I lived that way. I believed that was what God was saying: if you have more this week, give it away; then next week somebody else will give theirs away, and it will all work out. Everybody will be balanced.
It is far more spiritual than that. It is not merely concerned with your savings. That is not what this is all about. Money is only the illustration.
What God is saying, at least in one sense, is this: do not think you are always going to be the man. We are dealing with body truth—equality.
God says, “Look, I am going to fill you with Christ. I am going to fill him with Christ. One day you are going to lack, and you are going to need the Christ that he has. One day he is going to lack, and he is going to need the Christ that you have. We are all going to need each other by way of equality.”
Do not think you have all the eggs in one basket. Do not let me think I have all Christ. We need the brothers and the sisters.
God is communicating Himself to each one of us so that together we might be edified, together we might grow, and together we might receive the revelation each of us has received.
In order to clinch this, I am going to ask you to turn to two passages. It is really short, I promise you. Luke 4.
Peter’s mother-in-law—let us see whether we can tie it all together. Look at Luke 4:38-39, and you may want to put a thumb in Matthew, because we will go there in a moment.
And He rose up from the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house.
And Simon’s wife’s mother was holden with a great fever;
and they besought Him for her.
And He stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her:
and immediately she rose up and ministered unto them.
—Luke 4:38-39
We have a wonderful passage here on Christian service. I think it is a wonderful summary of what we have been talking about, because Peter’s mother-in-law was hopelessly useless as far as service was concerned.
You talk about someone with no natural strength—here she is. If anything pictures the sapping of strength, fever does. She is completely immobilized.
I do not know whether you have ever had a high fever. When it is over, you need a little time to convalesce. You do not just jump from a fever to the kitchen. The doctor says, “Stay in bed for a while until you get your strength back.”
I wonder how high Peter’s mother-in-law’s fever was. One hundred and two? One hundred and three? One hundred and four? I do not know; it does not tell us. But the Holy Spirit inspired Dr. Luke to say that it was a very high fever.
I do not think Dr. Luke would use that expression, “a very high fever,” in a meaningless way.
I think it is evident that Peter’s mother-in-law did not rise from natural weakness to natural strength. All of a sudden, she gets up. She is not simply recovering.
I think the record shows that she went from natural weakness to supernatural strength in order to minister, in a moment of time. It was not by degrees. It was not gradual. From a high fever, she immediately ministered unto them.
Most Christian service, as you probably know, is not supernatural service at all. It goes from natural weakness to natural strength. It goes in fits and starts. It goes back and forth.
First you work your head off. Then you go to bed with a fever. Somebody comes along and makes you feel guilty because you are not working your head off again. So you rest, saying, “I am going to get back to it.”
Then you go out again with new drive, and after a while you fizzle again. You are back in bed with a fever. Then someone else comes along and says, “You know, we really ought to be doing this,” and you say, “Okay, new program. Off we go.”
Well, after a while, we all get ashamed and quit, drop out altogether.
It was different here with Peter’s mother-in-law. How could she rise from natural weakness to service?
Matthew tells us. Notice first that Luke 4:39 says she ministered unto them. Now turn to Matthew 8:14-15:
And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house,
He saw his wife’s mother lying sick of a fever.
And He touched her hand, and the fever left her:
and she arose, and ministered unto Him.
—Matthew 8:14-15
We are going to close, brothers, and I want to close with this thought. May God help us to see it.
Peter’s mother-in-law was able to rise from natural weakness to supernatural strength and minister to them—to Him—by the touch of Christ.
May I suggest that, if we are going to be servants, we need the touch of Him. We need God to touch us, to move us from our natural weakness to supernatural strength, in order that, waiting on Him, we might minister Christ.
Oh, may God deliver us from merely Christian service to the ministry of manifestation.
Our Father, we do thank You that You will work in our hearts all that You know this means. Touch us individually. Touch us corporately, that we might move out in supernatural strength and minister Christ. We ask it in the all-prevailing name. Amen.
Thank you, brothers, for the time.