THE apostle in the previous chapters having laid low all human pretension and headship in the Church, and claimed for God His proper and sovereign place, claims here for himself and his co-workers in the gospel their place also. We are ever prone either to set God aside for the creature, or to refuse the vessel that place which God has assigned him.
“Man in extremes how wide!”
It would be an interesting subject to trace this in Scripture. I only suggest the idea. Let the servant of God have his proper place, and let God have His also. That lawless spirit that would set up or put down man is to be guarded against. To say, “I am of Paul,” &c., was decidedly wrong; it was thinking of men “above that which is written,” and being “puffed up for one against another” (verse 6). There was danger, also, in not accounting of God’s servants according to that which is written. “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God,” urges the apostle on the Corinthian saints (verse 1).
It is well for the servant of Christ not to expect anything from the creature, but everything from Christ. The Lord “is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him,” and their work shall not be in vain in the Lord. Yet the servant is not above his Master: he should be content to be as his Master. He must therefore bear his burden, and drink his cup of sorrow and humiliation. “I think,” said Paul, “that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” “We are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day” (verse 9, 13).
It is sweet to see the servant of Christ performing an unceasing service in the midst of trial and sorrow for love’s sake—as to the Lord, and not to men—in the midst of all that withers the flesh. It is happy, also, to witness those who are served counting their helpers worthy of esteem and honour for their work’s sake. On the other hand, how sad it is where the vessel has in his service an eye to the honour and praise that come from men. How wretched where Christ is shut out by the influence of the servant, so that that which is most considered is the authority and feelings of the vessel. Where such is the case, conscience toward God has ceased to do its work, and the word of God is less esteemed than the word of man. It is a narrow path, and so the saint will ever find it. One truth should not be set aside for another; indeed, it is scarcely possible to hold any truth in power and do this, so blended together is truth in all its relative parts. The secret of holding truth and a good conscience, is to get the flesh in subjection, whether it be timid or forward flesh.
May we, beloved in the Lord, know more and more what it is, in all things to give Christ the preeminence; and while doing this not to forget His commandments in relation to every claim, whether in the family, in the world, or in the Church; so that in all things Christ may be glorified by us, whether in life or death. “The skirt of a Jew” will be important by-and-by, when God is with him, as “the shadow” of an apostle was in former days. The more we have of the presence of the living God, the more ready are we to honor all that is of Him, and all His appointments, and to give the Divine Persons their primal place. Other things take their proper positions in our feelings and judgment, when God has His own foundation-place in our souls. He only is the root of all blessing and power; without Him man is nothing. The words that bind the soul and feed it are those of Jesus, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” How blessed! how happy in these days of endless voices of confusion, to have the words of Jesus opened to us by the Holy Ghost the Comforter, to save us from the will of man, to lead us to the green pastures of grace and love, and give us quiet resting-places beside the still waters.
May we treasure up more and more the words and ways of Jesus, and know how rightly to balance in our hearth every part of His truth, so that we turn not to the right or left till we see His face with joy.