Matthew 10: 24-26 (“… therefore”)
John 13: 13-17; 15: 11-21
I seek the help of the Lord and the Spirit to convey an impression as to bondmen and friends of Christ. The two are often put together in the scriptures and sometimes in contrast to one another. One striking example in the scriptures where the two are brought together is Moses. The Spirit of God speaks of him as “bondman of God”, Rev 15: 3. He is not spoken of there as a great leader, which he undoubtedly was, or a prophet; indeed Moses was a king, “he was king in Jeshurun” (Deut 33: 5); but he is spoken of as “bondman of God”. Yet, of such a one, it says, “And Jehovah spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend”, Exod 33: 11.
I would like to exercise our hearts, firstly as to bondmanship. It has been given its character in that a divine Person whom the scripture tells us was “subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form”, Phil 2: 6, 7. In the society in which we live that is an old fashioned word, but the word translated ‘bondman’ here was used at that time to denote a slave. He Himself said, “For I am come down from heaven, not that I should do my will, but the will of him that has sent me”, John 6: 38. He said of Himself that, “the Son of man did not come to be ministered to”, Mark 10: 45. We all enjoy being ministered to, being served by others; and our brethren here are serving us in the provision of this occasion and much labour has entered into it; but, “the Son of man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and give his life a ransom for many”. In taking a bondman’s form the scripture tells us that He “learned obedience”, Heb 5: 8. He learned what it was to obey. He came into the condition of manhood; you cannot improve on the words of the Spirit of God - indeed if we venture out of them, we become greatly at risk of falling into error; but the Spirit of God says He was “found in figure as a man”, Phil 2: 8. He “did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men”. The expression “likeness of men” preserves the fact that He was no mere man, but He was a real Man. Elsewhere the scriptures tell us that He was sent “in likeness of flesh of sin” (Rom 8: 3) - what an extraordinary expression to be applied to a Person of the Godhead, that He was sent “in likeness of flesh of sin”. How near God has come to us in Christ; and not only has He drawn near to us but He has set out in His life here something for us to take account of: He “learned obedience”. He was accustomed to command; the scripture tells us that, “he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast”, Ps 33: 9. Think of one word of divine power in creation and millions upon millions of stars came into existence, and of such a One it says that He “learned obedience” - what it means to obey. The scripture draws attention to His obedience as something distinctive, “the obedience of the Christ” (2 Cor 10: 5), is referred to by Paul. There is something distinctive about it; a Man here in flesh and blood conditions apart from sin, but a life that was devoted in its entirety to the will of another, and “becoming obedient even unto death”, Phil 2: 8. That is, that the will of God required that He should lay down His life sacrificially, and He obeyed.
That is the great feature of a bondman - he has no will of his own; he is there to do his master’s bidding. One man, as he came in contact with Christ, recognised that and he said, “I also am a man under authority”, Matt 8: 9. He recognised Christ as One who was under authority, “I also am a man under authority”, but also he had under him men and he says, “I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my bondman, Do this, and he does it”, Matt 8: 9, 10. That epitomises bondmanship. The bondman does not question what he is asked to do, he certainly does not negotiate it, he certainly does not say he will do it at some other time: “Go, and he goes … Come, and he comes … Do this, and he does it”. I say, with the greatest reverence, such was the life of Jesus here. He says, “On this account the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again”, John 10: 17, 18. Think of the Father’s affections drawn out by the perfection of Manhood in flesh and blood conditions. Everything that God ever sought from man was found in that One blessed Man, who unquestioningly moved, “he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem”, Luke 9: 51. The will of God required that He should enter into circumstances that for Him were personally distasteful. At one point the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness (Mark 4: 12), and he was tempted of the devil and, at a time when He had not eaten, and in the reality of His Manhood, the Spirit of God said He hungered, Matt 4: 2. The will of God required that that blessed Man should move into conditions that would not have been of His choosing as a holy, sinless Man here on earth. Ultimately, as He faced the awfulness of being made sin, He asked, “My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me; but not as I will, but as thou wilt”, Matt 26: 39. What perfection of Manhood is seen in Jesus. At one point, as He confronted the awfulness of what the will of God required, He said, “Father, save me from this hour. But on account of this have I come to this hour. Father, glorify thy name”, John 12: 27, 28.
I want to appeal that we might commit ourselves to this character, the spirit of a bondman. He said prophetically, “man acquired me as bondman from my youth”, Zech 13: 5. Think of the Lord here in obedience to the will of God but serving men in grace, and as we have read, serving His own in feet washing, in doing menial service. Some of our brethren here today come from India, and in that country there is a caste system and there are persons of a particular caste, the untouchables or dalits, who perform menial work, that is their lot in life. If they are born into that caste, that is what will be expected of them; and the Lord of glory, He who was above all, came into the position where He washed the feet of His own. It is difficult to conceive of a more menial service; a common courtesy in those days for those that travelled on hot and dusty roads was that water was provided for feet washing. When He entered into one house, where He was despised, the host said, “This person if he were a prophet would have known who and what the woman is who touches him, for she is a sinner”, Luke 7: 39. The Lord said, “I entered into thy house; thou gavest me not water on my feet” (Luke 7: 44); think of that; think of the conditions into which Jesus came in bondmanship. I think we are intended to be affected by it, and not only affected by it but to take character from it.
In Matthew 10 He says, “The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the bondman above his lord” - what I am saying springs from coming to know Jesus as Lord. Most, if not all of us here, I trust, know Him as Saviour. We know Him as the One who bore our sins and has washed us from our sins in His blood, and we love Him for that. One preacher said that when we think of Him as our Saviour we remember that He gave His life for us personally. That is, He did something for us that no one else could do or has done. Therefore, He has a claim upon us that is superior to every other claim. Many persons have claims upon us, legitimate claims, claims of nature, claims of employment and so on, but there is one claim that is to precede them all and that is the claim of the One who gave His life for us. To come to know Him as Lord is that I give my life to Him. That is why I think there is a shortage of bondmen. The Lord said, “The harvest is great and the workmen are few” (Matt 9: 37), and, if I might speak practically, attending recently the burial in Scotland of a beloved brother who has served the saints well, is a reminder that they are few, perhaps getting fewer The Lord has need of bondmen. You will remember that the ass and the colt were required and the word was, “The Lord has need of them”, Matt 21: 3. It may be that in this company someone might hear that from the Lord, that He has need of you. The work of the Lord is going to continue until the Lord comes, in its many and varied ways. The question that would be raised in the hearts of those that love Him would be the question that was raised in the heart of Paul when He was converted, “What shall I do, Lord?”, Acts 22: 10. Have you ever raised that question with the Lord? If He has taken you up for blessing, if He has given His life for you that your sins might be washed away, it is that you might become His servant, His bondman; He has something for you to do. It is not a question of envying what others are doing, but finding what He would have you to do. In a great system over which He presides for God’s glory, He has something for each of us to do. You will remember that He said of one woman, “What she could she has done”, Mark 14: 8. That was the greatest commendation that anyone could receive from the Lord. He is not asking you to do what you cannot do. The servants of Naaman said to him, “if the prophet had bidden thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he says to thee, Wash and be clean?”, 2 Kings 5: 13. There is one thing that we can all do that He has put within our reach, and that is to remember Him in the breaking of bread. Remember the sacrifice that He made when, as He says, “No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends”. He has asked to be remembered, not in any great complicated way, but as they sat and had a meal, bread and wine were there on the table, and He said, “this do in remembrance of me”, Luke 22: 19. Do not only have it as an ordinary common meal but do it as a memorial. He invested those emblems, so simple in themselves, with a meaning so profound when He spoke of His body and of His blood, and He asked to be remembered. If my circumstances or my exercises lead me into conditions where I cannot remember the Lord, I think it would raise a very big question with me. He has asked us to do it, and it is within our reach to do it. He has not bidden us to do some naturally great thing: He has asked us to remember Him in the breaking of bread, and if we recognise Him as Lord, His word is a commandment to us. He is Lord of all. He is the One of whom the scripture says, “whose right it is”, Ezek 21: 27. The right to reign has long been denied Him publicly, but He is Lord of all. Soon He is coming to take up that right and exercise it publicly for God’s glory.
Then, those who have been faithful to Him and serviceable to Him in the time of His absence will share with Him in that. Indeed, there is a certain mystery attaching to it, but He speaks of His servants, “coming up he will serve them”, Luke 12: 37. Think of a day to come when those who have been His bondmen, who have been obedient to His will even into circumstances that might not have been of their choosing, will learn His appreciation of what was done in His Name when He serves them. It is a very touching thing. He said too that, “if any one serve me, him shall the Father honour”, John 12: 26. Think of the Father taking account of those that are committed to bondmanship. It was infinitely pleasurable in His beloved Son, how much it must appeal to the heart of the Father to see those that are devoted to the work of His beloved Son.
He speaks of it in Matthew in relation to the public scene, the persecution, the insult and abuse, and He says, “The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the bondman above his lord. It is sufficient for the disciple that he should become as his teacher, and the bondman as his lord”. "It is sufficient..." That is what the work of God, the work of the blessed Spirit in our hearts, is directed towards that there might be formation after Christ. The work of the ministry has that in mind, “until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”, Eph 4: 13. What a statement that is. What pleasure for God to see us arriving, to see a work of formation after this blessed Man going on, so that He is preserved in testimony. The cry went up, “When will he die, and his name perish?”, Ps 41: 5. The divine answer is, “I will make thy name to be remembered throughout all generations”, Ps 45: 17. That is not only in the remembrance of Him at the Supper, but it is in the formation of that blessed Man in character in testimony. So He says, “It is sufficient”; it is sufficient for God: God is not looking for anything more than that, but that you should be formed in the pattern of Christ. Is it sufficient for you or would you like something more than that? Is your heart set on some greater objective than that? Or, is it sufficient for you to become like Him? Perhaps the Spirit of God might raise that question with you inwardly. Will it suffice your soul to be here where Christ was and to be like Him here? He says, “It is sufficient … If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub” - what a term to apply to the Lord of glory - “how much more those of his household?”.
In John, it is not the testimony; it is the inner circle. It is the circle where He is known and loved and where He performed this menial service. He says, “I have given you an example”. He says, “Ye call me the Teacher and the Lord, and ye say well, for I am so”, but then He reverses it, “If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher”. What I am saying relates to whether we know Him as Lord. We may know Him as Saviour, but have we given our lives to Him, have our bodies been presented as a living sacrifice to Him? How challenging these things are. It is only as coming to know Him as Lord personally that we will know Him as Teacher. It is only as we know Him as Lord personally that we will begin to experience and appreciate His headship in the local meeting. If we are not subordinate to Him in our wills and outlook personally, these things will be a closed book to us. It is as He is enthroned as Lord in our affection that these things become blessed realities, things that you might have read about in the ministry, or heard the brethren speaking about in the reading, suddenly become the experience of your own soul. That is a very blessed thing, to find truths that you may only have heard and understood in their terms becoming actual experience in the place where you are. He says, “I have given you an example … The bondman is not greater than his lord, nor the sent greater than he who has sent him” - the Lord Jesus is spoken of in this gospel as the ‘sent One’, the One who was sent of the Father to do the Father’s work, to find the Father’s men, those that the Father owned. He said to the Father, “They were thine, and thou gavest them me”, John 17: 6. As He looked at the woman in John 4 He recognised one of the Father’s persons coming to Him. In chapter 9, the blind man is another one, and he became a bondman; he became not only a bondman but a friend. The Lord Jesus said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is interpreted, Sent. He went therefore and washed, and came seeing”, v 7. He went, he did not argue, he did not suggest that he could go somewhere else and get the same blessing, he did what he was told and his eyes were opened. Then he discovered, as many have discovered, that there is no room in this world for people whose eyes have been opened. He was not wanted; he was maligned. “Thou hast been wholly born in sins, and thou teachest us?” (v 34), said the religious rulers of the day as they cast him out. But Jesus found him and, as has been pointed out, his casting out by them was really the Lord leading him out. He could be led, he was leadable. As the Lord unfolded to him who He was, he was leadable, “And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?” (v 36), and he came to know the Son of God. He became attracted to Him and attached to Him; he came into the greatest secrets that could be known at that time as He came in contact with the Son of God. What about you and me? Are these things real with us? The Lord says, “The bondman is not greater than his lord, nor the sent greater than he who has sent him”.
In chapter 15 He speaks of commandments. That is why I think the great question of bondmanship precedes the matter of friendship. He says, “If ye shall keep my commandments”; and then he says, "Ye are my friends if ye practise whatever I command you”. That is a great test. Is His word law to me? If I could venture a practical word (I do not want to be critical), sometimes I ring up, and ask a brother to come and serve in the preaching, and I hear some extraordinary things - ’I only preach once a month’, or ’My wife is not up to it at the moment’, or ’I have some relations coming’. Is this the language of a bondman? I just put that simply to highlight the point. A bondman does what he is told when he is told; he has no will of his own about it. His object is to serve the Master. He is a Master that surely we would all own is worthy to be served by us. That word "Master" - is He that to me? Is He my Master? Paul writing to a young man, to Timothy, speaks of the Lord as “Master”, 2 Tim 2: 21. We speak of Him in many ways, as Head, as Minister of the sanctuary, but it begins with learning Him as Master. He writes to Timothy that he might be a vessel, “sanctified, serviceable to the Master”, 2 Tim 2: 21. “Serviceable”, that means that he is handy. If the Lord has need of him to preach the glad tidings on a particular day, he is handy; he is available to be used. And he counts it an honour, not a chore, to speak well of the Master that bought him. He is available, “sanctified, serviceable to the Master”, ready and fit for the Master’s use. Paul speaks in that epistle of one who is, “prepared for every good work”. In the next chapter, in speaking of the scriptures, he says, “that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work”, chap 3: 17. There are two things there for us to think about as we think of the Master and the needs that He has in the testimony. What a privilege to think that He has put within our reach some way in which we can honour Him, in which we can express our personal appreciation of Him. In that epistle we have - prepared, ready, willing and then fitted.
There were great men in the Old Testament that baulked at the prospect of serving God. One man said, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit”, Amos 7: 14. Moses himself who is described as the “bondman of God“ said he could not speak well, he brought forward all sorts of excuses why he should not do what God was asking him to do, and we see our own hearts in that. He persisted in it until God was angry with him about it and He said, “Who gave man a mouth?”, Exod 4: 11. We have been speaking about God’s mouth, but “Who gave man a mouth?”. What a remarkable feature the mouth is, that wherewith you take in what you eat and drink, but then what can come out of the mouth. James speaks a good deal about that, what can come out in a negative way, what can be dangerous and damaging and inflammatory, James 3: 5, 6. Then the Spirit of God speaks about what can come out of the mouth in the power of the Holy Spirit, “Let no corrupt word go out of your mouth”, Eph 4: 29. The mouth needs to be controlled. James teaches us that; it is an elementary lesson in Christianity that I have an inward spring in me that, if it is not judged in the power of the Holy Spirit, is capable of doing a lot of damage and defilement to myself and to others who hear, “lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it”, Heb 12: 15. It has a great potential for damage and negativity. But then the Spirit of God says, “Let no corrupt word go out of your mouth, but if there be any good one … do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God”, Eph 4: 29, 30. How wonderful to think that the Spirit of God should take up a human mouth to convey a good word. A good word would draw attention to Christ, a good word in the power of the Holy Spirit would engage your own soul as well as the souls of those who hear you with the greatness of Christ and of the realm that He fills.
Paul says to Timothy, “doing this, thou shalt save both thyself and those that hear thee”, 1 Tim 4: 16. To take up bondmanship in fidelity to Christ is a great self- preservative. If you acknowledge your calling as a bondman of the Lord, you readily see what is inconsistent with that, and it is a means of practical salvation; you save yourself. But how blessed to be used, possibly, under the grace of Christ, for the saving of others, for their practical salvation in the testimony. How many of us here - I certainly have - have experienced a good word that has saved us from our own folly on many, many occasions. I trace it to the Lord Himself in His grace and in His love, but it came through a human mouth. How wonderful to be a bondman.
But then as we practice His commandments He says, “Ye are my friends if ye practise whatever I command you”. I want to come to the thought of friends. I think I am right in saying that there are not many bondmen, but I think that there may be even fewer friends of Christ. He Himself was a friend of the friendless; He was criticised for being a friend of tax gatherers and sinners, Matt 11: 19. He drew near to persons in great need and distress, and He drew near to them in their circumstances. That is what a friend does. But He is looking for friends. Not just that He should come into my circumstances and support me in them and comfort my soul, but that I might share with Him what is in His heart. I wonder if you have ever thought about that? How few there were in the days of His flesh that shared with the Lord what He had before Him. He spoke often of the cross, the means of His death; He also spoke of going to the Father. John says, “They knew not that he spoke to them of the Father”, John 8: 27. The Lord had all this in His heart and desired to share it with His friends, but they were concerned with place and position, who would sit at His right hand, who would be first and so on. These things are there in the scriptures for our education, not to criticise them, for they were very great men. I am sure we would acknowledge that they were much greater than any of us, men who had given up everything for Christ, and most of them martyred on His account. They formed the nucleus of the assembly. I think when the Lord looked at this little company here, He was looking at the nucleus of the assembly and He said, “Ye are my friends” - how wonderful that He should have friends, those with whom He can share His things. They are not only persons that want Him to come into their circumstances, but those with whom He can share what is in His own heart. He says, “Ye are my friends … I call you no longer bondmen, for the bondman does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends”. That is a more exalted thing, but it is reached through bondmanship, the preparedness to be obedient to the will of God and active in His service, whether in public testimony in the world, or amongst the circle that is so precious to Him, the circle where, “Christ is everything, and in all”, Col 3: 11. He looks for willing bondmen. The work is great, the facets of it are very varied, there is something in that work that is within your ability, with His help, to perform. Then He is looking for friends that know what He is doing. I think He is looking on to the assembly. Paul says of the assembly, “we have the mind of Christ”, 1 Cor 2: 16. How wonderful to be in the secret of what He is doing, to be His confidant. That is what He looks for in His bride. It is a wonderful thing to have a companion with whom you can share what is in your own heart. He is looking for that in His bride, but He is looking for that in each one of us, that we might be His friends, that we might seek His company, and seek it above the company of the world. He goes on to speak of the world, the world where He was hated and where they would be hated. It is a very real thing and we shrink from it. We do not like to be hated: “ye shall be hated of all on account of my name”, Matt 10: 22. These men were prepared for it; they valued their friendship with Christ and they were prepared to be hated, even to be martyred for His Name. What an example we have before us in these things. He says, “If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on account of this the world hates you”. Does the world hate us? Or do we find a place in it? He was “cast away indeed as worthless by men” (1 Pet 2: 4); there was no place for Him in this world. There was no place for a meek and lowly Man in the counsels of this world. There was no place for Him in the great commercial enterprises of this world: what part would a meek and lowly Man have to play in an international conglomerate? That is not the kind of man that they want to promote, that is not the sort of chairman they would look for; they are looking for somebody who is aggressive and assertive - a meek and lowly Man could not be built in anywhere in this world. You could not make a politician of Him, because scripture says of Him, “neither was guile found in his mouth”, 1 Pet 2: 22. He would never make a politician; He would never make a director of a commercial enterprise. You could search the various opportunities in this world, and there would be no place in it for Jesus. There was no room for Him at His birth, and He was “cast away indeed as worthless by men”. And He gave His life that we might be delivered from this present evil world. Scripture tells us that, “Whoever therefore is minded to be the friend of the world is constituted enemy of God”, James 4: 4. What a solemn word that is. I would not wish to be one of God’s enemies, but I think the Lord would appeal that we might become His friends, friends of the lowly Man of sorrows, friends of the One who gave Himself in obedience to the will of His God and Father. He is looking for bondmen, but He is looking for hearts, like the heart of that woman who sat at His feet, into whom He can pour things that are peculiarly His own. What a blessed portion. He said, “Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me”, John 13: 8. What a blessed thing to have part with Him in His things. May we know something of it dear brethren.
For His Name’s sake.
Malvern
28th August 2010