Well, we come to the last full day of ministry. Tomorrow we return to the Lord Thanksgiving. We gather together for a final time of worship.
And even though this is the last day of ministry, we ask the Lord that He might, by His Spirit, make us attentive to what the Lord wants to say to us, even in this day.
I would like for us to turn to several verses this morning. The first is in Acts 26, our theme verse. We will begin reading in verse 14.
Acts 26:14-23
And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
And I said, “Who are You, Lord?”
And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.”
So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.
Then let us turn to another biographical passage in 2 Timothy 1, beginning in verse 8.
2 Timothy 1:8-12
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
For which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.
Then we want to turn to Isaiah 63 and read a few verses here and there.
Isaiah 63:15-19
Look down from heaven, and see from Your holy and glorious habitation; where are Your zeal and Your mighty deeds? The stirrings of Your heart and Your compassions are restrained toward me.
For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us. You, O Lord, are our Father; our Redeemer from of old is Your name.
Why, O Lord, do You cause us to stray from Your ways and harden our heart from fearing You? Return for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
Your holy people possessed Your sanctuary for a little while; our adversaries have trodden it down. We have become like those over whom You never ruled, like those who were not called by Your name.
Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence!
And then Isaiah 64:8.
Isaiah 64:8-12
But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand.
Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever. Behold, look now, all of us are Your people.
Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire; and all our precious things have become a ruin.
Will You restrain Yourself at these things, O Lord? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?
I chose this passage because, as we are talking about Paul in his last stage—the third eleven years of his Christian life—here is another man who could say, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,” even Isaiah.
He stood nobly before King Manasseh and the people of God, expressing the things that he had seen in his heavenly vision. In many ways, he and Paul had much in common.
Both had been undone by a vision from heaven. Both had been captured by a vision from heaven. Both had been called from this very heavenly vision.
Even more than that, both of them, in their ministry, were basically revealing all that was seen in a moment in their heavenly vision. They spent their lifetime spelling out aspects of the things they had seen: the Lord enthroned above.
With all the revelation granted to them, and all they saw concerning Christ and His redemption and His lordship over His people, ironically, both Paul and Isaiah were called to speak to a people who would not listen—people who had eyes but would not see, and hearts that were dull.
Even as they both stood literally on the precipice of the captivity of Judea, the people had no idea what was going on in their time.
Finally, it is interesting that both of these men stood before reprobate kings as they shared their testimonies and could declare, “I have not been disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Isaiah wrote these things in the reign of Manasseh, that evil king; and, of course, King Agrippa was anything but God’s man upon the throne.
But what I want to emphasize is that both of these men, having served and having been faithful to that heavenly vision, came to a conclusion at the end of their day. It is wonderfully expressed in this intercessory dialogue that Isaiah is having with the Lord.
Basically, what he is praying is, “Lord, You have given us this purpose, but we are just clay. Our confidence is in You. Only You can do that which You have called us to be.”
There is, in the life of Paul, that wonderful verse in 2 Timothy: “I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”
Here is Isaiah, at a very dark moment, praying along with his remnant prayer warriors in intercession: “Lord, do not forget us. How long will You be angry with us? Lord, we have failed. Lord, we are not Your people, but we are Your people, and You are our Father.”
It is not even that we are Your people, but that You are our Father. So we find this heart that knows this Lord of glory so well that he is able to argue and wrestle in intercession, that the things of God would be brought to pass.
Whenever we come to the subject of the heavenly vision, we realize that we are talking way over our heads. By the grace of God, it is the privilege of every Christian to see the Lord of glory, to be changed by that, and to enter into an understanding of His purpose.
Paul states it wonderfully at the beginning of 2 Timothy. We are called to preach the gospel, but this gospel has purpose behind it, and so on and so forth. It is such a wonderful thing. Every Christian should be under the heavenly vision.
But even as Isaiah, with his remnant, was praying, he realized that the twelve tribes—most of the people—did not even know their purpose. They were just living day by day.
So it is with us. As we look at the whole of our Christian brethren, someone needs to pray and intercede at such a time. Many have been saved by the grace of God, perhaps even seen some revelation of the Lord Jesus, but are living their days in this Laodicean age just for themselves, unaware of what they were called to and of the glory of the purpose.
Our Father, as we come to You today in the name of our Lord Jesus, we wrestle with You about this matter of purpose and vision. We use the word so often, and we understand so little.
But we have seen enough and been captured enough that we have been spoiled. We want to pray that, in these last days, in a great unveiling of Yourself, You would rend the heavens and come down and shake the mountains with Your presence.
Grant that Your people may know again why we live: not for ourselves, but for the great and glorious Son of God.
Lord, we would pray together, even as we are gathered in this last time, this last day of ministry, that You would so arrest our hearts through the rest of this day that, as we go home from this place, we find ourselves interceding along this line.
Lord, we would argue with You: this is Your vision, Your purpose, way beyond us. Lord, we know it is impossible with man, but we lay hold of the only One who can draw us in, make us participants, and even bring us where we can say, “We have fulfilled our ministry. We have been found in Your purpose.”
Oh, we want to be found in Christ, and we want to gain Christ. We ask that our ministry, even this morning, would encourage us along that line. We come to You in the precious name of our Captive, our Captivator, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
We have tried to divide Paul’s life into three eleven-year segments and to show both the temptations that befall someone to be disobedient to the heavenly vision, and then, hopefully, to show in some way how the Lord kept Paul faithful through these various stages.
As we come to this last phase—the last eleven years of Paul’s life, and these time frames are approximate—this was the period when he found himself put in jail, languishing for a few years in Caesarea and then sent on to Rome, perhaps released for a while, then re-imprisoned and eventually martyred.
These were years of the prisoner of the Lord: years of limitation, years of suffering, and, yes, again, years of waiting. Many of us here can identify with this third phase.
We have been through much. Perhaps you have served the Lord in some way. Perhaps you have been responsible in an assembly somewhere. Perhaps you have been faithful as a sister, a prayer warrior. You have a history.
But we come to a certain phase where limitation becomes, in a sense, our feeling of destiny. Age, health, circumstances, finances, and family begin to limit how much we can minister.
You can imagine the apostle, once incarcerated, having to learn how to calm his engines down after traveling so far, doing so much, and being able to be in touch with so many things.
When someone comes to this third stage of limitation and restriction, younger ones may think that there would not be such a temptation to be disobedient to the heavenly vision. Of course, the opposite is true.
In the first stage—the first eleven years of Paul’s Christian life—the Lord basically had him in a waiting pattern. He waited in the desert, in Damascus, and in Tarsus. He waited for some eleven years while the Lord gained mastery over this strong-willed, determined young man.
It was a time of great temptation to run ahead of the Lord. Even in Acts, we see episodes where Paul’s desire was definitely to jump right into ministry after being saved, perhaps even with a desire to be a martyr for the Lord Jesus, as a witness, even as he had witnessed martyrs before him.
But these years of preparation were years of the cross. I tried to entitle the effect of the heavenly vision in those years of waiting, “The Years of a Qualifying Devastation.”
Paul had to be devastated—spirit, soul, and body—reworked, reconstituted, built again: a renewed mind, renewed motives, renewed understanding. It was the Lord’s good pleasure to put him through a period when he knew much dealing, even regarding his own sin, his own flesh, and all such things.
Then Paul entered into the running-the-race years. For eleven years or so, he went from place to place and preached the gospel probably almost every day, reasoning with people, worshiping with the saints, moving from town to town, often harassed and sometimes persecuted, with stonings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, and all such things as he gives account of.
We can only imagine the temptations in those years of ministry to be disobedient to the heavenly vision.
We know that our Lord Jesus Himself was tempted by Satan in three very basic areas. These are the temptations of every brother and sister who would truly seek to serve the Lord. The Lord would have us move on with our eyes fixed on Jesus, but there are many things around us to distract us.
Jesus was tempted to turn stones into bread. We Christians, as living stones, are tempted by the enemy to be distracted, to turn aside, and to make a fortune out of our lives.
God’s grace, God’s care, God’s blessing on your life—you can make good money off that. The world is looking for people willing to sell their souls for a fortune. Many servants who had their eyes fixed on Jesus got lost somehow through the hope that they could make money, make bread, and be successful.
Others have had their heads turned by the lust for fame: “If I could just jump off this place and gain a reputation.” Many faithful servants of God had their eyes fixed on Jesus, but their eyes were taken off when fame came their way. They became proud and lost the vision they had at the start.
Still others are distracted by the prospect that we can achieve ends by whatever means—that we can gain mastery over people by bowing down to certain minor things. We can have all we want; we can be successful, if we will just bow down to Satan, who comes to us, of course, in some disguise.
But our Lord Jesus would have nothing to do with these things. He knew the Word of God. Thank God there are many servants tempted to be distracted from the heavenly vision who have said, “No, I live and worship the Lord only.” How precious are such servants. They have been through a test, you can be sure.
Yet perhaps, having passed those great tests, we get distracted by smaller things. More servants of God perhaps get tripped up by some besetting sin, some weight that falls upon them, or some distraction.
It is possible to serve the Lord, to be faithful to the heavenly vision, and then get distracted by a teaching. You find yourself off on the way here, holding to a teaching but not holding to the Lord.
Or some people run the race, and it seems they have been running well, but then they get distracted by some experience. The next thing you know, they have lost a sense of balance and a sense of restraint, running after some dead end of experience.
There are so many things out there to distract the runner. Many are now involved in special emphases which basically have taken them right out of the heavenly vision.
When we come to this veteran stage, as in Paul’s case—now behind bars or waiting—the temptations of past days are still upon us. We can still turn any of those things to our advantage. We can turn the loyalty or appreciation of people to our advantage. Those old temptations never go away.
But a new group of temptations is added because, along with the other temptations, we have the temptations born of our history.
When you have had a history serving the Lord, it raises questions and brings things to mind. As our brother shared regarding Abraham, there came a time in Abraham’s life when I am sure he said, “Now, Lord, You promised me land. I do not have any land. You promised me children. I do not have any children. What is going on?”
Some are tempted to ask, when things go difficultly and coworkers leave, when discouraging situations arise, whether their work and labor were really worth it. You have served faithfully in some assembly somewhere, and the assembly begins to totter and shake and perhaps even fall apart. You start to ask, “Was this really worth it? I gave my whole life.”
“I took a second mortgage out just to help build a building. I spent long hours talking and counseling and doing a lot of stuff, and everything is going down. I really do not know—is this really worth it?”
Add to those problems agonizing infirmities. Sometimes, even when we are in a bad spot health-wise, the Lord still seems to tell us to move about and share. It becomes an agony. We see that in Paul’s life, even in the latter days of his running the race.
There are many temptations to say, “It is time for me to retire. It is time for me to look to myself. It is time for me to settle down. This race has been long. This race has been hard.”
Then you add ungrateful brethren. As I go from place to place, the most amazing people to me are the brothers in leadership. It is the most thankless job I have ever seen in anything in the world. They get no appreciation; they get all criticism. They make no money off the thing. It is a complete losing proposition.
Anybody here who has been there knows exactly what I mean, especially the wives who have given up their husbands for years. You start to say, “Is this thing really worth it? Have I just wasted my time?”
Not to mention the discouragement of having been in a place of serving the Lord and then, because of health reasons or something else, being put on the shelf. “Has the Lord abandoned me? Has He just used me and thrown me away, as the world is wont to do?”
All these new temptations arise, along with discouragement and weariness. There is an interesting phenomenon, hard to describe, that happens when we have seen some revelation of the Lord Himself and have been running after Him along that line, but somehow, in the running, begin to run in our own light.
We have knowledge of the truth. It is still the truth: this is the way we should meet; this is the simplicity; here is the table at the center. We see such things, but what happened to the life along the way?
We find ourselves in a kind of gray zone. We know all the truth; we have heard all these things before. But somehow it is in the light of our own knowledge and not in the fresh revelation of these things. That can be quite wearying, just as much a tradition and as boring as any other tradition you might find.
These kinds of temptations fall upon the veteran, and the veteran is tempted to quit. Paul must have been pretty tempted to quit. But he did not. To the end, he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
Before we note some particulars, let us read two passages: one at the beginning of this eleven years of restriction and one at the end, to get a taste of these very matters.
In Acts 20, Paul swings around on what turns out to be his last journey. He sees the elders in Ephesus and shares with them what lies ahead for him. It has been made clear to him that restriction lies ahead.
Acts 20:17-24
From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; and how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And now, behold, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to solemnly testify of the gospel of the grace of God.”
Acts 20:25-38
“And now, behold, I know that all of you among whom I went about preaching the kingdom will no longer see my face. Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me. In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. They began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, repeatedly kissing him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would never see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.
That was the beginning of the eleven years. Then we turn to 2 Timothy 4, beginning in verse 6.
2 Timothy 4:6-18
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.
In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Make every effort to come to me soon; for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. But Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.
When you come, bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching.
At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished and that all the Gentiles might hear. Then I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Here is our faithful brother: “I have not proven disobedient to the heavenly vision.” How did he do this? How did he remain faithful? Why was he willing to suffer and be poured out as an offering? Why was he willing to wait those years in jail?
There are mysteries in all of this, but I think there are three things that he found at the beginning, in his initial encounter with the Lord in that heavenly vision. These became his secret for remaining faithful, remaining in the Lord, and fulfilling his ministry, even when he was in jail.
The first secret that kept him in life through this last stage of ministry was this: over and above all his ministry, churches, success, reputation, and notoriety—over and above everything—he maintained a devotion to a Person above all.
In the end, he was not devoted to a work, but to a Person. He was not devoted to some church, but to a Person. He was not devoted to his ministry, but to a Person: even the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he met on the road to Damascus.
For sure, the light that struck him down on that road was powerful. For sure, the truth he heard on the road was devastating. But for sure, the Lord he met was a capturing Lord.
He saw the Lord Jesus in glory and was spoiled of anybody else. For all his days, he could say, “I have loved my Master and have served Him, and I love Him more than my ministry.”
There are servants of God who serve, and serve the Lord well, but when they come to a time of limitation—some physical problem or something else—they deal with this issue more than anything else because they have, in fact, devoted themselves to a ministry.
When that ministry is taken away or curtailed, they feel that they have no self-esteem and that there is nothing left. They deal with depression and with feeling worthless.
But somewhere in the midst of Paul’s ministry, he made that inevitable crossover. If you serve the Lord, however you serve Him, in some small or larger way, you want to do for the Lord and serve God’s people. The Lord has given you such motives.
But there must be a crossover somewhere in that ministry where knowing the Lord becomes more important than ministry. Otherwise, you will find yourself disobedient and failing in the latter days.
It is said that many servants of God do not end well. I am not sure that is really true. I think we could prove that just as many seemed to shine with glory as they were going home.
Nevertheless, if ministry is the most important thing—if your ministry in an assembly is the important thing—and it gets taken away, is that the most important thing?
We know from Paul’s testimony from jail in Philippians 3 that there is a devotion to the Lord, an indebtedness to the Lord, and a love for the Lord that just comes shining through.
Philippians 3:12-15
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore, as many as are mature, have this same mind.
There we are: pursuing the Lord. He had to leave some things behind. When he met the Lord on the road to Damascus, he had to leave behind what he thought was gain regarding his heritage.
But now he is in jail, and he has to discard some stuff. This leaving-behind is probably mostly good stuff: the miracles he performed, the churches started, the things achieved, the letters written, and the gospel proclaimed.
He says, “Forgetting what lies behind. I am not in the place of ministry I once was. I put that behind me. Now this is a new phase. Here is my new phase: I am ministering, but it looks like my audience has come down to One.”
“I am ministering to the Lord Jesus. My aim, my goal, is to gain Him. He gained me, and I am going to gain Him. I am going to talk to Him, wrestle with Him, intercede with Him, and ask Him to show me more. Show me Thy glory. Show me Thy glory. I am going to wear Him out.”
Paul had found the secret of life that never lets us down. Ministry may let us down. Situations may let us down. Assemblies may fall apart. If not fall apart, everything eventually gets shaken, and shaken good.
But are you pressing on? There is only one reason you are pressing on anyway: one thing I do. Boy, to get reduced to one thing—this is amazing.
The more history you have, when you look at it aright, the more you are a debtor to His love. With history, you have not only successes to leave behind, but failures.
When you have failure, you discover the mercy of God. Maybe discipline, but He never throws you out. Even if He throws you, He just throws you back on the wheel, where He begins to shape you again. Such mercy, such mercy.
Paul says, “By the mercy of God, I faint not.” Behind those words is a history of self-acknowledged failures and mistakes. But the Lord had been merciful to him.
Then there were times of defeat. As he recounts in 2 Corinthians, he was supposed to preach the gospel in Troas, but he was so constrained in his spirit over not knowing where the Corinthians were that he closed it down and went to look for Titus.
But you know what he said? “God took my defeat and turned it into triumph. He always leads us in triumph.” Even when we suffer defeat, it turns into triumph somehow because of who the Lord is. He can turn anything around—even our defeats.
In the midst of ministry, dear saints of God, perhaps the most precious consolation to us—as we teach children in Sunday school or serve in whatever way the Lord has given us—is those little intimate moments where the Lord lets you know, “You are My friend.”
He reveals little secrets to you, little personal things, little tiny blessings that you would almost feel foolish telling anybody else about. Every once in a while, I get to have, as a consolation of ministry, some pretty good chuckles with the Lord.
How He did that, I will never know. I could not figure out what I wanted to say, and then, boop, something came into my mind because of something, and it just makes me laugh. The Lord is so good.
His tender mercies toward us—those personal intimacies, the little secrets between you and Him—are consolation, even if you are doing jail time like the apostle Paul.
He was pressing on because he had a personal devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. When somebody loves the Lord Jesus with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, things can be hard and you can get weary, but you will not quit.
You have been laid hold of by something that keeps pulling you toward Himself and pulling you toward glory, no matter what is going on. Oh, may the Lord help us always to remember: it is all about Him.
The second secret really has to do with the first secret. Let us turn to 2 Corinthians 3. I find Lance steals a lot of my stuff. I should have disallowed him completely from using any scriptures of Paul’s, but then he just says, “Let us look at a scripture of Saul,” and then he gets me anyway. It does no good.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
Here is the second thing we discover as we come to the latter days, perhaps, of ministry and life. Paul had found the secret way back when. It was not just that he saw the Lord on the road to Damascus and loved the Lord. The whole key was that he kept going back to the Lord and consecrating himself before the Lord.
He came to the Lord: “Oh, Lord, I am thinking about this whole call to the Gentiles. Lord, I need some Scriptures to understand this better. Why is this such an important matter?” He would come to the Lord and consecrate himself before the Lord.
In the Lord’s presence, he was imperceptibly, day by day, transformed from glory to glory, until we find in such a servant that there has indeed been quite a transformation—a spiritual enlargement.
It did not just come through crisis moments, but through daily consecration. As our brother Lance shared last night, this verse in 2 Corinthians 3:18 is claimed by every Christian, but it is actually speaking about those who have given their all and are being led by the Spirit of God. These are the ones in whom you see this transformation.
Paul entered this stage of life in which he was restricted for most of the remaining eleven years, just about the time he had gained the full confidence that you cannot restrict me.
That is interesting. You get restricted just about the time you have learned that you cannot be restricted. So, just about the time he gets incarcerated, he begins to learn some lessons.
When you serve the Lord, His life comes through you. It is so precious. This is what it means to serve by the grace of God. You serve the Lord, His life comes out of you in a situation, and you see the Lord touching some things. You realize, “This is the Lord.”
But Paul had been transformed. His mind had been renewed, and he had come upon a secret: you can throw him in jail, but the same life he had when present with you in ministry, he still has and is effectual in ministry even when absent from you.
We see this in Colossians 1. Paul, now in jail, is still ministering. Limited by not being able to be there in Colossae, he still confesses that he is ministering in an effectual way.
Colossians 1:28-29
We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.
For this purpose I labor, agonizing according to His power, which mightily works within me.
Here is Paul. The church in Colossae is going through some problem, which we will not go into, and Paul says, “I am sorry I cannot be with you. Let me tell you: I am wrestling for your perfection in prayer and intercession.” It is effectual ministry.
In earlier days, when you think your voice is the ministry or your hands are the ministry, then when you are absent from a situation, you are out of sight and out of mind. But Paul realizes, “No, it is the same life of Jesus, and I still have the keys to bind and loose in that situation in Colossae, even though I am not physically there.”
He learned that the life of the Lord, which he had known as the source of ministry, is not limited by time and space. There he is in prison, and he says, “I am in prison, but the Word of God cannot be imprisoned.”
Every time some poor old soldier came by, he was shouting out the window, “Hey, do you know Jesus?” You can just watch the soldiers get under conviction and Caesar’s household basically getting saved.
That is a renewed kind of thought regarding ministry, is it not?
Brothers and sisters, those of you who have been around for a while realize that if there is any progress in our assemblies and any spiritual growth, there are usually dear saints—often thought to be old, limited, and on the sidelines—who are actually praying these things into being.
Sometimes, when you are young, you do not think that if someone has gray hair, they are of much account. But there are folks who have been praying, interceding, and sharing that little word of counsel.
You used to think, “Preaching, preaching—that is what you have to do.” You come to a place where, even if you have wisdom, people do not want to hear you anymore. You are out of fashion, you know.
But does your ministry end? No. Those few wise, scriptural words of counsel are all the more precious to those who are being raised up. The Lord still has use for you.
Paul had been transformed. His mind was being renewed day by day, and he was seeing greater things of glory.
As a testimony, we have to acknowledge that probably his most important letters, at least concerning God’s purpose, were penned while he was in jail.
There he was in jail, still pursuing the Lord who pursued him, coming and saying, “Lord, tell me more about You.” In Colossians, we see what they call the highest Christology of all the New Testament writings.
We see that Christ is not only the Savior, and Christ not only has a kingdom, but Christ is the purpose of creation and the Creator and the Reconciler of all creation. His macrocosmic view of Christ is huge.
How could Christ not be all-sufficient to us when He is everything? He is all and in all. What a revelation: the renewed mind gaining more understanding of that Christ he met on the road—the Christ of glory, the Christ above all, the Christ victorious over all.
Then, of course, Ephesians concerns God’s eternal purpose in His church. Again, Paul saw that right back there on the road, and now he was working it out in such clear fashion that we who would pursue the heavenly vision have some insight as to how the church should function.
These are all things written while he was again in prison.
But more than the change of mind, the growth within his mind, there was a change of character. The Lord does transform us.
Probably everybody here would testify that if the Lord has changed you, you are pretty unconscious of that change. It is imperceptible, stage by stage.
But Paul, by this latter stage of his life, could say with modesty and conviction, “We have the mind of Christ. My affection for you is out of the heart of Christ. I fill up that which is lacking of the sufferings of Christ. I carry in my body the dying of Jesus. Upon my body are the marks of Jesus.”
He did not share these things with the saints for the sake of their adulation. He was just telling the reality of a transformed life.
Paul was Christlike in so many ways. I was recently reading Acts 20 and was taken by those brothers in Ephesus—how they wept and hugged him.
Can you imagine working with Paul for three years? You might think that when Paul left, everybody would say, “Oh, bye-bye, Paul. Finally, this guy is on us every day and night. Ah, a little breathing room.”
But no. There was something obviously so humble and so communicable about Paul. He was not some rough, tough fellow who came in and chopped up the shop. He was so well loved.
After leaving there, as they headed back to Jerusalem, they touched base on a few seashores. He was kneeling down with families and children, and they were all hugging his neck.
There was something approachable about Paul, something of counsel, something of transparency. We miss that sometimes when we try to define who this man was.
He was a man whom, if you knew him and worked with him, you loved like your own soul. It was because he was Christlike.
It was in that very transformation that, even when he went under this time of restriction, he did not sense limitation in his life. It was the Lord’s life, and he continued to minister even in limitation.
The third secret is what I mentioned the first time I spoke. I said that the three stages were marked by three different phenomena. The first stage was a qualifying devastation. The second was eccentric originality, which I understand has still not been successfully translated among the Chinese.
The final thing I want to say is that Paul, in this last stage, obviously manifested what I am calling an inexhaustible emptying.
Let us turn again to the Philippian prison letter and read Philippians 4:10.
Philippians 4:10-20
But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs.
Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Paul had found the secret of the inexhaustible emptying.
In the early stage, that first stage of preparation, there is a building up. You are being founded and grounded. Those first eleven years, when Paul was living mostly in Tarsus, he was being founded and grounded, mastered by the Lord, exchanged in his life, learning the life of Christ in him, and discovering a revelation that became his gospel.
It is a time of increase, preparation, and storing up.
Then the second phase, the time when you are running the race, is what I call a zero-balance time. You go to the Lord and say, “Oh, Lord, fill me. What is this? Give me revelation. Give me a word.” You get the Word, and you share the Word. Freely you have received; freely you give.
It is a kind of zero balance. You keep yourself in a wonderful fullness of the Lord. You receive things and share things.
The third phase is marked for many people by an emptying, a pouring out. Even as Paul’s life was being poured out as an offering in this stage, perhaps it was almost a squeezing out.
But the strange result is that, from this pouring out, emptying, and squeezing out, Paul had never known such fullness.
It seems like a strange mystery. When one gets older and is called upon to serve in some way, you say, “You know, if I really have anything, then I feel pretty empty.”
Ah, but Paul had found a secret. I would suggest that the secret is simply this: have the mind which was also in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:5-8
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
What did Jesus find in that emptying—that saving, redemptive emptying, that pouring out on our behalf? What did He find?
Philippians 2:9-11
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Because of His faithfulness and emptying, He has now been filled full with glory and honor.
Paul experienced in his life, and throughout his life, a continual emptying. He had to let go of things he thought were gain, and even in his ministry experience, he shared and shared and poured out his life.
Even here, at the end of his life, he was pouring out his life on behalf of the Philippians. This whole letter to the Philippians is Paul pouring himself out.
The Philippians are back home. Paul is in jail, and he is in need. But the whole letter is a consolation to the Philippians, trying to help them, encourage them, and give them testimony of how his imprisonment is working out for the Lord’s good.
He thanks them for their gifts. He encourages Euodia and Syntyche, those two sisters, to have the same mind that was also in Christ Jesus. I believe it is ten times in Philippians that it speaks about that mindedness, that attitude, which, simply stated, is being willing to empty yourself.
The secret is that when one is willing to empty oneself, Paul found that you can never be emptied.
Someone who has come to this stage realizes that you do not have to reach up to heaven and sort of suck down something so that you can give something. You have been centered in Christ, who dwells within you. It is that life which can pour out of you at any moment, and it is always full.
As you can see from my thin frame, sometimes I like things like milkshakes. We drove down from New York and stopped at a place called Jess’s Lunch, one of our favorite places in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
They have the best hot dogs there, and they cost about a dollar, so you cannot beat it. We both get two hot dogs, and then we split a milkshake.
They make those milkshakes thick. They give me a big straw, and I want that chocolate. I love that chocolate milkshake, so I suck on it until my cheeks hurt, because the milkshake is so thick and I want it so badly.
Of course, you know what I do: take out the straw. It is too much, too much. I cannot take it.
Maybe in our early days, when it comes time to minister, we go to the Lord, as it were, with this little straw and suck and suck: “Oh, Lord, fill me. I need something.”
But one of the secrets of serving, which Hudson Taylor came to, is this: you are a branch of the vine. It is already there, ready to flow.
Your only obedience is to empty. Empty in Jesus’ name. You will find that there is more stuff that flows in.
You cannot exhaust yourself when you are serving out of the life of Christ who dwells within. What a tremendous secret.
This is an area where the Lord has to discipline His servants, because often we either do things He has not commanded us to do—and, funny, there are no resources for that—or we do things in our own strength. Either way, we become exhausted servants.
But when you realize, “I am just a branch in this thing. The Lord wants me to empty,” then, in Jesus’ name, you empty. You empty with a fullness, and people say, “That is full,” and you find yourself still full.
Oh, precious lessons. Precious Lord. These things are just some of the wonderful experience of running after this glorious Lord.
As we come to the end, I want to return to Isaiah’s intercession one more time. Many here are part of assemblies and groups that have been following the Lord for years. The Lord originally apprehended some people, perhaps, with real vision, and we have been going along.
I want to touch on this one aspect. As I mentioned, it is possible to have begun well with the Lord, and somehow, down in our history, to come to the place where we are living, serving, and gathering under our own light.
We have learned the truth, but we are living out of it and not out of the Lord. We need the Lord to rend the heavens once again and reveal Himself.
When we fellowship around the table and talk here at this conference, it is the same thing I have heard over the years. It goes something like this: “We want to be faithful to the Lord.”
We meet in an assembly over here or there. We see something of the Lord, then go home and serve. In our serving, we serve out of our understanding, but somewhere along the line, life gets lost in the shuffle.
We are doing things the right way, the way they are supposed to be. We know it is true. We understand that knowledge, but we are living just in the light of that knowledge. We need that touch of life again.
If it were not for this conference, where would I be? I come to the conference year after year, and the Lord opens the heavens and kind of reconfigures us.
“Wait a minute, it is not just this knowledge here. It is before Him that we are together.” Having been freshly touched, we go on serving and hopefully are able to say that we are not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
If we want to make such a testimony, then we have to be sure that we are under His life and His light. Even if we received something some years back, we can run in the steam of that.
Habakkuk was told to stay up on the wall and see the vision clearly, so that the people might run under that vision. When we have such vision, we have that restraint, and there is also an impartation of life that enables us to run under it.
But we can get running down the way a certain way and lose that initial understanding, that initial revelation. When it becomes doctrine, we have already come into a secondhand kind of experience.
We all know the talk. Some of you are such veterans; you have been here for years and years. There is no new phrase you can hear, except perhaps “eccentric originality.” But you have heard it all.
The only way it can be fresh and living is if we are under the Lord Jesus again—hearing Him, seeing Him, and seeing the glory of it.
If you have gotten sloppy in your ministry where you assemble—“Ah, what is the use? Sunday morning, you put in a half hour and throw some message together”—you need to get back under the revelation and realize the importance of what you are doing and the purpose behind all that is going on.
We have to see that under the Lord. You cannot just exhort people; they do not see it.
So I come back to the prayer of Isaiah. I believe there are some in this assembly gathered who have such an intercessory heart.
My dear brothers and sisters, how we need to pray for the whole church of God. It may be in ruins, and they may not know who they are. But if we have seen a little about who they are, then let us pray that the Lord would rend the heavens in this last day, come down, and shake the whole thing up with His presence.
That is what we need more than anything else. May that be the prayer of our hearts as we go.
Our Father, we come to You. We thank You for the testimony of our brother Paul—faithful in so many ways, also confident that You who began the good work will complete it, and confident that what he committed unto You will be kept.
O Lord, Paul saw, as he looked in that vision of Your purpose and glory, that it is impossible with man; but he had all confidence that it is possible with You.
O Lord, grant us this same kind of faith to lay hold of You, understanding that You are the One who began it, and You are the One who can end it.
Lord, we believe in You. We have had too much history to believe in ourselves. But we believe You can apprehend the people, You can rend the heavens, and You can come down in Your presence.
Lord, I pray that those people who may be wobbling a little because they are working under their own light may see afresh revelation from heaven and may sense the impulse of that life, as they recognize the value and glory of our life together as saints.
O Lord, do recover us. Lord, we want to be recovered, but unless You recover us, unless You turn us, we cannot be turned. Lord, You turn us, and we will be turned. You open the heavens, and we will see.
We will consecrate, and we will empty ourselves according to purpose. O grant us, Lord, to see again, afresh, what that purpose is.
We give You all praise, glory, and honor. We realize that this purpose is much higher than man. Your ways are so high, but they are full of mercy.
Still You call. You reach even down to us and would draw us up in this heavenly calling. O have mercy on us and help us in this hour, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.