Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 2

Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 2

The Peril of Sidetracks

For those who, like the New Testament writers, have a real burden and sense of responsibility for the spiritual life of God's people, one of the most heart-breaking things is the way in which so many who gave promise of going right on with the Lord are caught in some side-track and turn to something other or less than He meant for them. Not necessarily to sin or to the world, but to something which, while it brings them a great deal of gratification for a time, eventually proves to be a diversion resulting in arrested spiritual growth, and they are found in a backwater, a cul-de-sac, occupied with an alternative to "the whole counsel of God." Their "new discovery," or "light", or "guidance", as they speak of it, by reason of the let-up of some tension, solution of some problems, promise of release into self-realization, and escape from pressure, when the novelty and glamour have worn off, is found to have been "deceitful waters", producing Jericho's fruits which fall before they are ripe.

The pathway of God's eternal purpose is strewn with such tragedies. The Bible, in both of its Testaments, records the sad story of many who have missed the way, turned aside, and - to use the language and fear of Paul - not attained "unto the prize of the high calling." The New Testament is predominantly occupied with warnings, admonitions, exhortations, and entreaties, because of this possibility, and with the tragic contingency as the ever-lurking peril and threat.

~T. Austin-Sparks~
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The Divine Idea of Ministry

Our technical, professional conceptions of "the ministry" are mostly external: that is, you give a title, you more or less put on a uniform; and so you are "the minister." It is all put on the outside, therefore it can be artificial. But what the apostle is saying ... is that the ministry is not something that you put on, but something that comes out from within. Any special application of that word "ministry" would only be permissible, in the New Testament, in measure, and not in kind. That is, some have a special ministry, and they are God's ministers in that particular way, with that particular measure. It is not that they are a class called "ministers", and other people are "laity" - such ideas are altogether foreign to the New Testament.

The apostle is clearly saying that the personality and the ministry must be one. How searching that is, but how very meaningful. The ministry must not be some "thing" - preaching, teaching, and all those things that are called "ministry" - something just done, while the man himself is different, and the person apart. What Paul is saying so emphatically is that when you meet a truly Spirit-indwelt and Spirit-governed man or woman, what they say comes out of their life - is a very part of their life. Their teaching can be seen to have been wrought into their history and their experience. When that man or that woman seeks to teach, to "minister", to say something to someone else of a Christian character, it is known that that has come out of some secret history with God, something that the Holy Spirit has done in them. Their ministry and their character are identical.

The "ministry" with Paul is nothing less than, nothing other than, what is true of Christ coming out of the life of His servants, of His people, being there, and coming out.

~T. Austin-Sparks~
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The Prophet as Troublemaker

It is essentially a part of the ministry of a prophetic instrument to cause trouble. It is inevitable, it is the very nature of things. For the very function of the prophet came into view when things were not right. If things had never gone wrong, had never needed adjusting, correcting, or bringing to some greater measure of spiritual fullness, there would have been no need of prophets. We should know very, very little about prophets if things had gone right on as they should have done. The function of the prophets was to keep and hold before the people of God His full thought concerning them, especially in the face of certain things that worked very definitely against it. And it is just because of that clash and conflict that the trouble arises.

~T. Austin-Sparks~
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Food In Due Season

Most of us who have sought to go on with the Lord to the full end know how, at different stages, certain kinds of spiritual food have met our need. But the time has come when a certain kind no longer helps us and we look for something more. The Lord has His provision along the road suited to the particular point of progress.

The spiritual life follows closely the course of the natural infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, maturity. It is, however, necessary to note that the Word of makes it very evident that the last governs all the others. "Full growth" governs all in the mind and will of God, and it is subnormal or abnormal to stay unduly long at any stage short of that end. A consideration should be given by every normal Christian - not to what he or she likes or fancies, but - to what is necessary to carry the life forward beyond its present measure. All the Lord's dealings with us in discipline and ordering are governed by this end - to increase the measure of Christ in us, and He would have us to be concerned about the food question in this direction.

We should not write off as valueless certain food, because at present we cannot understand it. If we go on with the Lord, that which at this stage is beyond us may come to be our very life. The point is, let us be always going on, reaching forward.

~T. Austin-Sparks~