T. Austin-Sparks · 1 of 3

The Nature of This Ministry

The second letter to the Corinthians, second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 4: "Therefore seeing we have this ministry..." those two words will be the key to our meditation and consideration this evening, and probably, if the Lord wills, for several evenings to come.

"This ministry". This ministry. As you know, we are using these few evenings for the purpose of restating and clarifying what we believe to be the Lord's meaning and purpose in the church and in our having been (by His grace and mercy) brought under His hand as a people here. It is very necessary that from time to time as the years go on and the company changes, that we keep very clearly before us that full purpose of God into which He has called us.

While we are always seeking new light and to be open to new instruction and counsel from the Lord, we must preserve the original vision and keep in line with that which has been the object of our apprehending. And it is the church's ministry - a ministry for which the church is chosen of God and for which the church is equipped by God. It is a ministry. So far as we here are concerned, we feel that the Lord has laid it very much on us to seek to be in line with the ministry of the full counsel of God. And, as things are in these times, it is very necessary that there shall be preserved a ministry amongst the Lord's people, for the Lord's people, that they shall the better be fitted with spiritual wealth and larger measures of Christ to strengthen all the Lord's people to the fulfilment of their holy vocation in this world.

Now, Paul here says, "We have this ministry". I think it is quite clear from the larger context of those words, that when he said "we", he was including the Corinthians as well as himself and his brethren who were with him in the ministry. Later, for in­stance, he will say: "We all with unveiled face, it is the ministry of the whole church that the apostle has in view. "This ministry" is what the Lord would have the whole church fulfil and it is of very great importance that the whole church (and that includes every one of us here this evening, while it goes far beyond), it is very important that every one of us should realise that we are called of God not only unto salvation and unto ultimate glory, but particularly unto a ministry - a ministry from the Lord for the Lord; from the Lord, unto the Lord. We have this ministry! And when the apostle says "this ministry", you notice that the whole context of this letter defines what he means by "this ministry". It is a ministry of a certain nature, character, and constitution so that, if this is true that the church is here particularly and pre-eminently to fulfil a ministry, and we are in that, we must know what that ministry is, and we must be in line with it.

The apostle first draws attention, then, to what the church is, in itself, the "we", and then he proceeds with the vocation of that church. The church is affected as to its character by its calling. If we were to clearly apprehend our calling, we should the more forcefully realise what we have got to be. The impetus, the motive, the dynamic of "being" is found in the vocation, in the calling, in what we are here for; that is, in the Divine purpose. Have you grasped that? Let me repeat that: that we shall find our inspiration to be what we ought to be, when we adequately apprehend what it is the Lord has called us for, that is, to do, because we cannot do that and fulfil the vocation unless we are of a certain kind, of a certain character - it does not just happen willy-nilly. The Lord requires a certain kind of "we" for this particular kind of ministry. That is the whole force of this letter, as you know. The apostle is seeking to show what the ministry is, and by showing that, inspiring, and encouraging, and admonishing the church to be worthy of that ministry; to be the kind of church necessary to fulfil it.

So we begin this evening to consider:-

The Nature of This Ministry

What constitutes it... there is very much to be said, and I confess to you that I am so full that I am most eager to get on; my peril will be to overrun the matter, but we will seek to confine ourselves for this little time this evening to one aspect or phase of this ministry. It is what the apostle means when he repeatedly speaks of "God's purpose". Notice that was a characteristic conception in the apostle's heart and mind. We are very familiar, for instance, with the words of Romans 8:28, the last clause of which is: "called according to His purpose". Called! According to His purpose. And again in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 9: "Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him" - that is, in Christ. Verse 11: "In whom also we were made a heritage having been foreordained according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His will". It is with something that the apostle terms "the purpose... the eternal purpose" in mind, that the church has its existence.

When we come to look at these Scriptures and break them up, analyse them, we find that this purpose has several aspects. Firstly, it is shown to be consummately, all-inclusively a gathering together of all things in Christ. That's the purpose: comprehensively, to gather together all things in Christ.

And then, in the second place, the purpose is to manifest, or express the fulness of Christ in, and to, this whole universe. That is "the counsel of God's will".

And then in the third place, we find that, for that, for that, God, before times eternal, chose, or elected, the church (that which is called "the church") to be the vessel for this purpose.

Look at that a little more closely, those three things. "To... (and it is put in several different ways in different translations) to sum up all things in Christ", or "to gather together all things in Christ", or again, "to re-unite all things in Christ", or, once more, "to gather up into one all things in Christ". That is the pre-eminent explanation of the Lord Jesus.

Paul was mainly interested in the eternal significance of Christ and of His vocation in the purpose of God. Therefore, there is very little indeed in Paul's writings throughout, of the earthly life of the Lord Jesus - practically nothing from His birth onward to His cross. Paul does not give us any account of the journeys of the Lord Jesus when here on earth; of His miracles; of His discourses - he says practic­ally nothing about that whole period. If he has anything to say about the Lord Jesus in that connection, it is almost entirely about the meaning of the incarnation, that is, His self-emptying, humbling Himself and taking on Him the form of a bond-slave, and being found in fashion as a man - well, that goes back to the beginning. From there onward he has practically nothing to say until he comes to the Cross - he has a lot to say about that.

Paul is not concerned with the earthly or historic Christ; he is concerned with the eternal significance of His Person and His work. And that is very largely why he so often uses the title "Christ" and "the Christ", which is a larger title than "Jesus". He often speaks, of course, of Jesus, but Paul's great title for Him is "Christ", and "the Christ", that relates to His anointing for His vocation, to fulfil His great purpose in this universe. It is the eternal Christ that Paul is concerned with. And he it is who, in this unique, peculiar and particular way, brings us to that eternal vocation. He shows us that in those eternal counsels of God, the Son was intended to be the sum of all things, and all things to be the sum of Him: "He should fill all things", and "in all things have the pre-eminence", "in Him all things should consist" and all things in this universe should find its integrating centre and power in Christ. That was the Divine intention.