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THE WORK OF THE LORD AND THE SERVICE OF GOD

Haggai 2:1 - 9, 20 - 23; 1 Corinthians 3:9 - 11; 1 Corinthians 15:58 Hebrews 12:26 - 29; Malachi 1:11 - 14; Malachi 2:1

I wish to say a word on work and service; that is to say, the work of the Lord and the priestly service of God. We are, each and all, called upon, and privileged to have part in both. As to work, Paul says to the Corinthians, "So then, my beloved brethren"; he does not leave anyone out. The whole company at Corinth, men and women, old and young, are included. He says "my beloved brethren, be ye firm, immovable, abounding always in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord". That word should come home to every one of us. How do we stand in regard of the work of the Lord? Are we firm and immovable in it? Are we abounding in it? Is it the chief work of our life? If not, we are not alongside Paul. I would like to be truly amongst Paul's beloved brethren. What a worker he was! How he abounded in the work of the Lord, the great example indeed for us all! Then, as to the service of God, the word in Malachi is, "ye priests, this commandment is for you". Every one of us who has received the Holy Spirit is a priest. It makes no difference whether we are men or women, old or young. God is giving the Spirit to young people, boys and girls, and they are thus constituted priests, priests of God and of Christ. What could be a greater concern

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to anyone who loves God than the service of praise and worship to Him? If you have received the Spirit, you are a priest. How do you stand as regards the service of God? Are you functioning in it? Mary and Elizabeth functioned in it in their own homes. What a testimony praising women are -- silent in the assembly as to thanksgiving, but vocal in the hymns and in the amens, and able to take up the service of song in their homes! So we should all be in this matter, men and women, young and old.

I go back now to the question of work. It may be some of us are not very fond of work -- let us beware of being slack in the work of the Lord. This is the time for work. It is the time for toil. Toil means hard work. How little we know of it compared with Paul and others, to whose labours we owe so much! If Paul had not toiled as he did, where should we be today? How much we owe to him! Above all, how much we owe to Christ, and the unspeakable toil that He undertook! And so it is a question of being prepared for work, as Paul said, "whereunto also I toil". What was he toiling about? Presenting every man perfect in Christ. That is the work of the Lord. It means securing people through the gospel, and then seeing that they are fitted into their place in the assembly. No-one is perfect in Christ who is a free lance and on independent lines. Paul is speaking of himself as minister of the assembly. He filled up that which was behind of the sufferings of Christ for His body's sake, which is the assembly, of which he became minister. And he says "Whom we announce", that is Christ, "admonishing

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every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, to the end that we may present every man perfect in Christ". Paul did not cease his work when persons came to the Lord and knew the Lord Jesus as their Saviour; he went on labouring, toiling, to present every many perfect in Christ. "We, being many, are one body in Christ". If a man does not recognise that, how can he be perfect in Christ? We are "one body in Christ, and each one members of the other". Paul's example would surely stimulate us all to work with one another. We ourselves are the material for the house of God. The truth of the one body in Christ underlies the truth of the house of God, and the material we have to work with is one another. Much of the work today is on mutual lines. Thank God He has given us some material. We would like to have more, but He has given us some. Let us get to work with one another, as it says, "in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another". Paul speaks of teaching every man and admonishing every man in all wisdom. He was specially gifted to do it. But we can do it for one another. We can teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, helping one another to find our place in this corporate vessel and to fill out our function in it. This is a great work; it is the greatest constructive work that has ever proceeded on this earth. The work of building the tabernacle and of building the house that Solomon erected, was great in its way, but those houses were only figures of the true. Now the true house is here and the saints are the material. And it is a question of getting to work, so that the features of the true house might come into

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expression for the pleasure and glory of God at the present time.

That was the position typically in Haggai. A remnant had returned from captivity in Babylon and had begun to build, but the enemies had got to work, and the king had issued an order that the work was to stop. Historically it would appear that the king's order was the reason the work stopped. But the prophet tells us the real reason. The work stopped because the people became half-hearted in it, and a half-hearted worker is of no use to God. They began to consider their own things. It is remarkable that in Philippians, the most exalted epistle as to Christian conduct, where Paul speaks much of the work and those engaged in it, he says, "all seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ". What a statement to make! And that was the state of the returned captives within a few years of their return. Have we got into that state? It is a terrible state for returned captives -- brands plucked from the burning, brought back from captivity in the pure mercy of God and recovered to His own thoughts. How base to use their release from captivity just to devote themselves to their own matters! There is a great system around us, which claims catholicity, and which exacts so much from its devotees that nations under its sway become poor. God has, in mercy, released us from that fearful domination. Men, too, are led captive by their lusts. How much they spend on lusts and pleasures from which we have been delivered! From all these captivities we have been set free. What then are we doing with our time and our money? Are we spending it just for our own

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gratification on earthly things? You say, I am not spending it on anything that is wrong. No, perhaps not wrong in itself, but utterly wrong if what you are spending it on has become an object to your heart and has displaced God and His claims. Paul speaks in Philippians of those who were enemies of the cross of Christ, who minded earthly things. Delivered from worldly things, they gave themselves up to earthly things; and what is so astonishing is that these returned captives, who should have had such a sense of mercy in their souls, with all the love for God which that engenders, should so quickly have slipped into occupation with earthly things. The king's decree to stop the building would never have stopped them if God had been supreme in their hearts. It was just a test of their state. When the prophets aroused them, they did not wait for another decree from the king, but began to build before the decree came. It was all a question of state. The prophet says, "Is it time for you that ye should dwell in your wainscoted houses, while this house lieth waste?" Think of returned captives living in wainscoted houses, adding luxury to their dwellings, as it were, while God's house was lying waste.

I want to raise the point with us all as to whether God is our first love. I would challenge my own heart as to that. Is God my first and supreme love, my all-commanding love? "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thine understanding, and with all thy strength", Mark 12:13. You say, If I give God that place in my life, how will it affect my other relationships?

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They will not suffer. Give God His place, and every other relationship will fall into its right place. The perfect One said, in spirit, "I love my master, my wife and my children". It could not be put in any other order. Did the wife and children suffer because the Master came first? Not at all. Who has been loved by Christ like the wife and children? The challenge is, dear brethren, whether God has the first place with us. As returned captives, surely, in a special way, that should be His place in our affections. If He has the first place, no fear of man will stop us going forward. We shall fear God and not man. That is the first thing these people are brought to: "And the people feared before Jehovah", chapter 1: 12. They no longer feared the king and his edict; they feared before Jehovah -- reverential fear. Immediately Jehovah spoke to them again and said, "I am with you". How gracious God is! Before they began to build, He said, "I am with you". And then the word comes, "Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah.... But now be strong, Zerubbabel, saith Jehovah; and be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith Jehovah, and work: for I am with you, saith Jehovah of hosts". That is the thing I want to stress -- work. We may not like the word much, but work -- that is what is needed. Not the taking up of the Lord's things as a hobby, but as a work. You say, Where am I to begin? Begin with your local brethren, work with them. Visit the sick, visit those who are waning in their affections, go after them. Keep company with those who are going on, and help them

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forward. Keep the pattern before you, the plan of the assembly. Paul was the wise architect. He had the pattern before him. Keep in mind what the objective is, that the saints should be set together as one body in Christ, all functioning in their place, all available according to Corinthians, as vessels of the Spirit for manifestations of the Spirit; all available according to Colossians as holding fast the Head; all available according to Ephesians to fill their place in the service and praise of God in the assembly. Keep that in your mind and work to that end. Work in your local company, to achieve these features there. There is plenty of work to do. I would encourage the young people to work. While you have your youth and energy, work. The Lord has plenty for you to do. Find out what there is to do and do it. Visiting is a thing which can be taken up in youthful energy, and those who do it will receive great profit in their souls. They will minister comfort to the aged and the sick, but the aged ones will minister even more to them.

There is work to be done. Let us be always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. Everything else is in vain. God says, "Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land". You may be labouring for other things, but be assured that everything except God's building is coming down. You may be aiming at becoming a captain of industry, a prince of commerce or something of that kind. Let me turn your attention in other directions. You may build up a big business here, but it will come down. God will shake

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everything. I am referring to the danger of making these things an objective. That is where the damage is done, in minding earthly things, making them your objective. You may be house-proud, business-proud, clothes-proud, and so on. The sin comes in in making these things an object. God may be pleased to give you a house. Why does He give it to you? For the testimony. Houses are needed in the testimony. In the early days the assembly often met in houses, and much goes on in houses today. God needs houses and He will provide us with the houses that He needs if we are simple with Him. But do not make your house your object. Let God be your object and His house. The moment I make earthly things an object, I am in the path of sin. According to Leviticus 11 things that crawl on the earth are an abomination to God -- an abomination indeed when the church was in pristine beauty, but how much more among returned captives! And the serious thing is, if I am unclean in this way, I contaminate others. That is the meaning of the latter part of this chapter. If an unclean person touches another they become unclean. The thing spreads. There is a danger of this kind of thing spreading amongst us, the minding of earthly things. God may entrust you with things; He entrusts some men with riches. Joseph of Arimathaea was a rich man; a rich man was needed at that time. In the course of the testimony rich men are needed, and, if God entrusts a man with riches, all well and good. But let him not make his riches an object. Let God be his object always, and let him understand that what he has been entrusted with in material means is for the

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testimony. If God gives me a house, it is in view of the testimony. If God gives me means, it is in view of the testimony. It is to be used in the work of the Lord, not to hinder me in the work of the Lord.

Haggai's message is a wholesome word to us, as to what we, as returned captives, are occupied with, as to whether we are clean in this respect. You say, I have come out of Babylon, I have left all the religious systems, I have left the trade unions, I am clean. But if earthly things are your object you are not clean. And you are carrying about with you a contamination which is most insidious, and which can corrupt the brethren. We need persons who are heavenly minded, who are prepared to give themselves up to this great matter of the rebuilding of the house in order that there should be, in every locality, the true features of the assembly in expression. Such were badly needed at Corinth. Paul had laid the foundation, but they were each to see how they built upon it and were exhorted to be "firm, immovable, abounding always in the work of the Lord", and to "be vigilant; stand fast in the faith; quit ye like men; be strong". So it says here in Haggai, "Be strong and work", and then, "the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit, remain among you: fear ye not". If we know what the divine plan is, and if our hearts are right with God, giving Him the all-commanding place in our affections, and if we are set for the furtherance of what is pleasurable to Him in His house, we have nothing to fear. And I would say that, if we are convinced as to what God is doing and what will

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stand, it will save us from being apologetic about our Christianity. We have nothing to apologise for. We stand before the Lord of all the earth. We are concerned about His rights. We are working on a building which will stand when everything that man has built has come down. We have nothing to be ashamed of. We can afford to be bold in the gospel, bold in speaking of Christ. "Proclaim the word; be urgent in season and out of season". Let us give up an apologetic attitude. Let us speak to people boldly of Christ as those who know where they stand and what they are doing, and that what they are engaged in is going to abide when everything else is shaken and comes down. Let us tell people that they should be in this matter, too. A bold front is needed, because more material is needed for the house. An apologetic attitude will not help to deliver our brethren from the systems around. A bold attitude will help them. I do not mean fleshly boldness or aggressiveness, but spiritual boldness. "Quit yourselves like men; be strong. Let all things ye do be done in love".

The prophet closes with another word as to the shaking, in view of encouraging us to go on with the building. I believe God is shaking at the present time, as He says there, "I will shake all nations". Both the Eastern and Western camps of the world are shaking at the present time, and God is behind that. There is more hope of reaching men through the gospel, and of delivering our brethren from the systems. When the world appears strong, we are all liable to be caught up in it, and to devote ourselves to our own wainscoted houses, because things down here

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appear more secure; but when God shakes the nations it is for our good, to release us, and to release others, for His house. That is the view of the first shaking here, and the result of it for us is that the latter glory is greater than the former. Outwardly the recovery will never be like Pentecost, or Ephesus, when the saints were publicly one. And yet there is a glory about it which is all its own. Features appear which are not mentioned originally and which could only come to light in a day of recovery. We are moving on to the latter glory. Publicly the latter glory will be when the heavenly city comes down, and that will indeed be greater than the former; greater than anything. But the light of that is shining upon us, so that there might be a moral glory about the present moment that is unsurpassed. But the shaking referred to in chapter 2: 21 is final and will result in the overthrow of all the kingdoms so that God might put the impress of Christ upon everything. Zerubbabel is a type of Christ as God's signet, and God will put the impress of Christ on every throne and lordship and principality and authority. But that is to be known now in the assembly, Christ everything and in all. That is the objective in this prophecy -- that what will soon be universally true, the impress of Christ on everything, might be true among the saints at the present time; Christ, and Christ alone, in evidence.

Now I pass on to the second part of my subject, the priestly service of God. In that connection Paul quotes Haggai in Hebrews 12:26. He brings in the shaking to show how it is intended to help us as to the priestly service of God. The more things shake

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here, the more joyful and thankful to God we are that we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. That is the point in Hebrews. "Let us, receiving a kingdom not to be shaken, have grace, by which let us serve God acceptably". What is already shaking is soon going in order that what is not shaken may remain. The only things that will remain are the things we are privileged to be engaged in. All that the great Gentile monarchies have built up, their institutions, their culture, and so on, all is shaking now and all will be removed. There will not be a trace left of what Caesar did, but what Paul did will shine in glory for ever. And we, "receiving a kingdom not to be shaken" -- what a joyful people we should be! We "have come to mount Zion; and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem; and to myriads of angels, the universal gathering; and to the assembly of the first-born who are registered in heaven; and to God, judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant; and to the blood of sprinkling, speaking better than Abel". How have we come to them? We are just a feeble company building in our localities. Yes, but the more we build, the more faithful we are on Corinthian lines in building something here, in a concrete way, in our localities, the more free the Spirit will be to lead us into the truth of Ephesians, where, in the Spirit's power, we apprehend what is ever present to God. What is before His mind and heart in purpose, and is ever present to Him, becomes present to us. But if we are not prepared to build on Corinthian lines and secure conditions for God locally, the Spirit

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will not be free to transport us into the realm of purpose. If we are true builders we shall, by the Spirit, be continually and increasingly transported into that kingdom which cannot be shaken, especially at the time of privilege, and we shall realise, as a great practical reality, that we have come to these things. What is present to God, to His mind and affections, becomes present to us. Think of what we have come to, what we shall have all through eternity, and, in the light of it all, let us "have grace by which let us serve God acceptably with reverence and fear". We are going on with the work of the Lord, but, concurrently with it, we are going on with the priestly service of God.

I read in Malachi because he was the last prophet and his word is for the priests relative to the service of God. The house had been finished. The word to Malachi does not relate to the work of the Lord, but to the service of God. "And now, ye priests, this commandment is for you". I suppose most of us here are priests -- this commandment is for us. "If ye do not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith Jehovah of hosts, I will even send the curse among you", chapter 2: 2. God is not sending a curse today, but we shall suffer leanness of soul if we do not take it to heart to give glory to His name. What a joy it is to give glory to God's name! Surely there is no higher level of priestly service than to give glory to God's name. Let us serve God acceptably, with reverence and fear. We know His name, we know the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and we bring into that glorious name

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the glories attaching to every previous name by which God has disclosed Himself. What a wealth of disclosure, culminating in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Surely our hearts are roused as we think of the glory of that Name, and of our privilege to give glory to it. So the word here is "from the rising of the sun even unto the setting"; it refers to local companies in every place. It is remarkable that the Old Testament could look forward to the present day -- "in every place" -- not now Jerusalem as an earthly centre. "From the rising of the sun even unto its setting my name shall be great among the nations". That refers to the Name to which the nations were to be baptised. "My name shall be great among the nations; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure oblation". The altar of incense and the altar of burnt-offering are both functioning.

How can we serve God acceptably? Malachi tells us how we can serve Him unacceptably. "Ye bring that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye bring the oblation: should I accept this of your hand?" This raises the same question that I have already raised as to the work of the Lord. Has God the first and supreme place? He is prepared to accept no other. How could God accept anything less than the first place with anyone? You bring something torn and the lame. "Cursed be the deceiver", he says, "who hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing". You have reserved the male for yourself. The best of your energies have been reserved for your own things

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instead of being devoted to God. God feels it. He will not have it. It is not acceptable. "Let us ... have grace, by which let us serve God acceptably". How can we serve God acceptably? By bringing all we have without reserve to Him. "For I am a great King, saith Jehovah of hosts, and my name is terrible among the nations". He is a great King and He cannot accept anything but the best. The whole of our energies, the whole of our lives, must be dedicated to Him. What we do in our ordinary work and ways must all be subsidiary to His work and His service; held as incidental to it, to support it.

May the Lord help us in this, that we may have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably!

Edinburgh, June 16th, 1956.

(From Words of Grace and Comfort 1957, page 11)