Crumbs for the Lord's Little Ones: Volume 4 (1856), On the Ministry of the Word. (10:15)
“Preach the word.”―2 Tim. 4:2.
“How can they preach, except they be sent.”―Rom. 10:15.
“I DETERMINED,” said that blessed servant of God, the Apostle Paul, “not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and in power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Cor. 2:2-5.)
Paul’s testimony (2 Thess. 1:10)―the testimony of God concerning His Son (1 John 5:9, 10)―the dispensation of the gospel―the stewardship of the mysteries of God committed to Paul (1 Cor. 9:17; 4:1,2), he made known, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; not sounds, but living words, virtues, divine goings forth, clothed in the forms of human speech; yet not of man, neither by man. (Gal. 1:12.) Not merely something about Christ, but the ministration of Life, and of Righteousness (2 Cor. 3); yea, the ministration of the Spirit (Gal. 3:2, 6); the revelation of Christ Himself, by the Holy Ghost; the formation (in those who believed the preaching) of Christ in them, the hope of glory. (Gal. 4:19; Col. 1:27.)
Whoever has such a call desireth not his own ease or reputation, but the honor and glory of Almighty God, and the service of the Lord Jesus, the Master, to whom it belongs to thrust forth laborers into His harvest.
To minister salvation through the death of Christ, for the glory of God, we must ourselves be partakers of the efficacy thereof. We must know, not in word, letter, or form, but in power, the dying of the Lord Jesus. The precious treasure must be put into earthen vessels, that the excellency of strength and sufficiency may be of God, and not of us. The kingdom of God, the display of the grace and glory of Him, who, though crucified through weakness, yet liveth by the power of God, is not in word, but in divine efficiency. To serve the Lord Christ, and not one’s own belly, demands the casting into the divine treasury, not that which costs us nothing, not of our abundance, but that whereon we live, even all our living. Thus did He, who was anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, whom God sent, who came in the Father’s name, serve. He gave His life a ransom for many. He laid it down at the commandment of the Father, and took it again, that we might be with Him in everlasting blessedness.
One greater than those who preach must call, must send, must give gifts, and pay wages. No one goeth on such a warfare at his own charges. The servant’s sufficiency is solely of God. Thus to be upheld, and made a co-worker with the Almighty, participating in, and communicating as He in-worketh first to will and to do in the vessel, this is no human institution and arrangement. It is not of men, neither by man, nor through man, but of God the Holy Ghost, and the authority of the risen Head. Who then can prepare himself? Who can lay up in store and forge weapons for such service, and its attendant conflicts with spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies? “To me,” said Paul, “who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I might preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” (Eph. 3:8.)