All My Will

by J.L. Ferguson, Barrhead | Category: General | Nov 1973

Spiritual growth in the assembly of Antioch was both rich and rapid. And little wonder, as we consider the fertile soil of that grace of God (so evident to Barnabas) which characterized the early disciples there. In an exceedingly short time it was endowed with men of profound experience in the Word, prophets and teachers of high quality. In a day when the Faith was coming in all its freshness to seeking hearts, here were men with a deep insight into the mind of God for the new dispensation, who had also a clear understanding of the teaching of the law and the writings of the prophets as fulfilled in the coming of Christ and in the inauguration of the new era in the ways of God.

From this spiritually enlightened group the Holy Spirit called for the separation of Barnabas and Saul to the work. These two servants of the Lord had already been commissioned by Him; in contrast, the brethren sent them away; the sense of the word "intimating that they would gladly have retained them". There was a conscious sense of loss in the local assembly, then as now, if the wider need was to be met.

Saul immediately took the lead his great potential for God was evident to Barnabas from early days. Barnabas must have been a delightful character. It was his insistence which led to Saul's reception into the slightly apprehensive church of God in Jerusalem. His vision and leadership sought Saul out in Tarsus to come to Antioch for the development of the church there. Now that they were teamed together Barnabas was perfectly happy for Saul to be the chief speaker.

In their first journey together, Paul gave the address at Antioch of Pisidia, his first recorded message. It is a model of condensed, relevant thought, of identification with his hearers in an illuminating exposition and direct application of Scripture. No unnecessary words. Paul had doubtless been present in the Council when Stephen, in his orderly presentation of the nation's history, dealt largely with the era of the leadership of Moses. Paul, for the purpose of his argument, came quickly to the raising up of David, and in particular to the ancient testimony, "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who shall do all My will" (Acts 13:22). This was made up of quotations from Psalm 89:20 and 1 Sam. 13:14, with the statement "who shall do all My will" added by the Spirit's guidance as the expression of the divine mind in relation to David (a comparable expression being used in the case of Cyrus in Isa. 44:28).

The word "will" here is plural, translated "desires" elsewhere. God's will is composite. To David, for example, it had many facets. To king Saul by contrast it had but few, if any. He may have had an exercise of sorts in relation to the enemies of Israel but as touching the sacred ark, Israel "sought not unto it in the days of Saul". The sanctuary service of God evidently meant but little to Saul. But with David it was different. To him the will of God made several claims. It involved the destruction of the enemies of the Lord and the extension of the territory of His kingdom. But it involved also the finding of "a place for the LORD" (Psa. 132:5), the restoration of the ark of the covenant to the oracle in a magnificent temple, worthy of the Name. David's consuming desire was to bring about all God's desires. It involved him in much affliction, but the counsel of God was a thing to be served, and the cost incurred in rendering this service did not deter David.

Men after God's heart in any generation will wish to do "all My will", in total, not simply certain parts of it. When Paul, the old warrior, was bidding farewell to the elders in Ephesus he reminded them that he shrank not from declaring unto them "the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). Already there was evidence of a desire among certain saints for "teachers after their own lusts". Paul could have pandered to these. He could have dropped from his ministry those parts of the composite will of God which did not appeal. He could have gone for numbers and many would have said that the end justified the means. But the God of his fathers had appointed him "to know His will", and when he learned that will he refused to shrink from teaching and practising it in all its varied aspects.

Men after God's own heart should still maintain the whole counsel of God. Men "approved unto God" should still handle aright the word of truth; hold a straight course in it; rightly divide it; distinguish between things that differ (see RV marginal readings to 2 Tim. 2:15). If, for example, God has clearly established the difference between the Church which is Christ's Body and the churches of God which form the house of God, they will regard that difference as a fundamental part of the Faith. There must be no shrinking from contending in love for both lines of truth as vital if we are to be wellpleasing to the Lord, no matter how strong the ecumenical insistence around to drop such differences for the sake of unity. The Faith has many facets. They are all shown in operation in the New Testament as aspects of God's will and He expects His children to discern from Scripture the characteristics of each and give effect to them uniformly, and not one at the expense or to the exclusion of the other.

In his day, Isaiah lamented that truth was lacking in Israel. Today there is a great lack among God's children of giving effect to the differentiation which the Spirit has clearly made in certain aspects of the divine will. Take, for example, the word "church" and its various presentations in the New Testament. A well-known evangelist, whose personal love for the Lord we do not question, says in the current (as we write) issue of a religious periodical:

"I want to tell you that the moment you receive Christ, whether you like it or not, you are in the church. Become identified with a local church where the gospel is preached and where you can get to work for Christ.... The church is God's organisation upon earth. It is a place where we worship God, learn His Word, and fellowship with other Christians. The Bible calls the church 'a holy nation', 'God's own people', 'the household of God', 'a holy temple in the Lord', 'a dwelling place of God in the Spirit', 'the body of Christ'. These are all figures of speech, symbols, or pictures used to indicate the spiritual reality of the church."

Now frankly that just will not do. To mix in this way what God has clearly distinguished does less than justice to a God so precise in all His ways and so measured in all His words. Here "the church" is viewed as both an "organisation" and "a place", the term being used also to describe as synonymous the Body of Christ and, to select only one of the other things, "a holy nation". Yet the holy nation of 1 Pet. 2 is presented in chapters as under the rule of elders. How then can it be another term for the Body of Christ? This is a typical case of no distinction being made between things which differ in Scripture.

As a consequence varying aspects of the composite will of God become lost to view in the writing and preaching of otherwise faithful men and their followers are not taught to contend for the whole counsel of God.

At this point we might indicate one or two lines of truth which differ the one from the other in the New Testament. At the new birth we become members of the Church which is His Body (see, for example, 1 Cor. 12:13). It was clearly the Lord's will that the living members of this Church should be united in a corporate, visible expression, in powerful testimony to the world (John 17:23). Thus His teaching would be preserved and taught with firmness and the members of the Church the Body would be seen by men to be together in an outward unity corresponding to the spiritual unity of the one Body. So the disciples first came together as a church of God in Jerusalem (see, for example, Acts 8:1 and Gal. 1:13). To be in this church, however, involved more than membership of the Church the Body. There had to be baptism by immersion and addition with a view to steadfast continuance in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:41,42).

As the word spread, so churches of God were established on the Jerusalem pattern in many towns and villages. But the work grew in unity. So much so that in Acts 9:31 we read of "the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria". In this territory there were by then a number of churches of God. But these churches were in the unity spoken of in 1 Tim. 3:15 as "the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth". It was this spiritual house, composed of the existing churches of God and conditional in its continuity as seen in Hebrews 3:6, which formed the "holy nation", the "people for God's own possession" (see 1 Pet. 2:1-10). Further, the "dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (to which our contemporary writer refers) is clearly shown in Eph. 2:22 to be the church of God in Ephesus, established by Paul as we read in Acts 19.

Scriptural terms are confused by many believers today, and as a result emphasis is placed on one particular aspect of divine truth to the exclusion of others. The two defects go together. Many see the truth of the Church the Body and the devotional side to the believer's walk. But they have never had shown to them, or resist when shown, the basic call to believers' baptism by immersion; or the local assembly under the care of elders, the gifts functioning without one-man ministry; or the fellowship of these assemblies in a world-wide unity in the care of a united elderhood. Yet these vital matters are all taught in the

Faith once for all delivered to the saints, essential parts of "all My will".

We therefore renew this plea to our brethren in Christ elsewhere. The Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, has today to be lived, taught and contended for in the face of massive opposition and declension. It expresses on the one hand the standards of Christian life and conduct which the Lord expects of us all. These are patterned on the manner of life of His beloved Son while here, and moulded by our bearing in our own lives the fruit of His Spirit. On the other hand it presents to the disciple the way in which God wishes to be served by a people together, a priestly people with a sanctuary service Godward and an outgoing service manward. The divine expectation is the whole man for God, saved, sanctified and serving in the Spirit's power according to the pattern of New Testament teaching.

Thus the unrescinded word of all authority still holds good from the risen Man on the mount, "Go ... make disciples baptizing ... teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you". These are the "all things" of "all My will", and the Lord would have us keep each of them in balance, losing sight of none, but pressing on with the development of each in its own sphere - whose will is still "that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth". Let the reader examine, in the light of the Scriptures, his present ecclesiastical association. Men must still "depart from unrighteousness" to give effect to the will of God, as taught in 2 Tim. 2:19 ecclesiastical unrighteousness in this case, not moral. The cost may be great but the reward is sure. So may we all echo Keble's words, and

Never again our loins untie,

Nor let our torches waste and die,

Till when the shadows thickest fall

We hear our Master's midnight call.

J.L. Ferguson, Barrhead | Nov 1973
General