Training For Service

by Guy Jarvie | Category: Training For Service | Sept 1960

This article and those to follow have been written to help all those who wish to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. As in every other service, training is also essential in the service of Christ. But this training can only be done by the Holy Spirit, working upon the willing and humble spirit of the disciple. The kingdom of God is not something imposed from without, it is the yielding of our wills to Him. So also the training which the Spirit will give us is training in the secret of our own lives. In this training, we shall of course,

learn much from those who have been servants of Christ before us. Training for the service of Christ involves more than the head knowledge that we get from reading books, or hearing lectures or addresses. It is the training or discipline that comes from hearing the word of God and doing it. "Exercise thyself unto godliness," wrote Paul (1 Timothy 4.7). Gymnasium thyself.

In the service of Christ, we must know positional truth, that is, truth regarding the kingdom of God. It was concerning this the Lord Jesus spoke to His disciples during the forty days He was with them after He rose from the dead (Acts 1.3). This truth includes such subjects as the Church which is the Body of Christ, and the churches of God, and it is essential that we should know the vital difference between these. We must also understand the truth of the house of God, and its testimony and worship, or we shall be confused by the many denominations around us. We must be clear on the truth of baptism, so that we can see the errors of infant baptism, and "household baptism" (as it is called). These are unknown in the Scriptures. We must also know the truth of the breaking of the bread, as it has been given to disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. All these truths are contained within the teaching of the kingdom of God.

The servant of Christ must be equally clear on devotional truth, or his testimony will be " clear " but " cold." His life must be a yielded life, and he must know the presence of Christ day by day in his life ; that is, Christ dwelling in his heart by faith (Ephesians 3. 17). Without His presence our lives will be fruitless and disappointing. Equally, he must know the fulness of the Holy Spirit, directing and empowering him in all his service. God has put the treasure in the earthen vessel (the servant), that the exceeding greatness of the power should be of Himself (2 Corinthians 4.7).

Not only so, we must have a clear grasp of dispensational truth. We must know what God has revealed in His word concerning His marvellous ways and purposes in world events. As these are revealed to us, our hearts will be filled with awe and love, and with the longing that we may be used of God in some way in the fulfilling of His purposes.

The subjects dealt with in these articles are only a part of those in which the servant of Christ must learn and discipline himself. Some other books will help, and especially the Word itself. He must be a man of the Book, the Bible.

There is a very helpful verse in 2 Timothy 1.7, which every servant of Christ should keep in his heart. Here it is: "God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and discipline." These three things are essential in the service of Christ.

Power is essential in any kind of work; and in the work of God nothing can be done without the power of the Spirit of God. But God will not grant us this power unless we are able to bear it, therefore there is great need of humility and of earnest prayer in every servant of Christ. God Himself will humble us, and mould us according to His mind, before He grants us His power.

Love, that is, God's love, must constrain us in all things. But those who love will often be grieved, as God has often been grieved. Have you thought about that? (Psalm 78.40 and Ephesians 4.30). If we wish to be God's servants, then we must love as He loves, and we must be able to bear grief as He does, in some small measure.

We must also have discipline, that is, sobering, or wise discretion, in our lives. God's servants must be sober-minded and wise men and women, even though they are young. Our own lives must be changed by the Spirit of God before we can be used of God to change the lives of others.

We shall try to learn together, month by month, some of those vital lessons that mean so much to us in the high calling to which God has called us.

Guy Jarvie | Sept 1960
Training For Service