The Recovery of the Lord's Name In His People # 17

The Ground of His Presence and Power (continued)

Dear friends, I am beginning upon this very strong note, that there is a very great need in you and in me and in the people of God and in the servants of God today for more of this terribly fierce jealousy for the Name, the honor and glory of the Lord's Name. Well now, this whole thing commenced we see with a Motive, but that motive led to a reckoning, a reckoning, in the motive was an accounting. It says, "He counted it not a thing to be grasped, to be held onto, to be equal with God. He counted it not.." A reckoning took place with Him, that is the suggestion or implication. On the one side, here am I in a place of equality with God, I have the glory of which He spoke in His prayer, "The glory which I had with Thee before the world was." I had that. Here I am up here in possession of all this. Down there my Father's Name is dishonored, robbed of Its glory and another name is put in its place. Is this - My having this position, and all this possession and all this glory of greater importance than My Father's Name being glorified down there? And He came to the conclusion, No. Putting these two things into the balance, my own glory, my own personal position, is far, of far less importance than My Father's Name being glorified down there. He weighed it out, the one thing against the other, put them both into the balances, and the honor of the Father's Name in the creation or with Him altogether outweighed His own glory and His own personal fullness. It was a reckoning, He counted, He counted, He reckoned.

Now dear friends, when the Apostle says, "Let this mind be in you," and he sees the issue, the wonderful issue of this, God committing Himself, committing Himself. I think we may say rightly, in a way, in a way fuller than ever before to His Son and it says, "He gave Him the Name which is above every name that now, no in the Name of Jesus,  the Incarnate Lord, every knee shall bow in the universe, and call Him the Incarnate Lord, Lord of all."  With that in view, the apostle says, "Let this mind be in you." In other words, he says, "If God is going to commit Himself to you, if God is going to presence Himself with you, as with His Son," for it was written, "and God was with Him." And if the power of God is going to rest upon and work through you, you have got to have a Fundamental Reckoning. This is something which every servant of God has to face at the outset, for this after all is the thing which constitutes a servant of God. This is the very essence of service.

What is service? What is the essence of service? What is it that makes a servant of God? We talk so much about the Lord's service, sometimes we substitute the Lord's work. We are concerned and anxious to be "in the service of the Lord" and then we think about missionary work and ministry and one thing and another and this really is what we mean by the service of the Lord and by being the Lord's servant. But what is the heart and essence of service? What is a servant of the Lord? it is nothing more, because there can be nothing more, and it is nothing less in truth, than bringing glory and honor to the Name of the Lord. That covers and compasses all service and that makes a servant of the Lord. We may do a thousand things, but unless it results in the Lord's Name being glorified it is not service to God. Jesus is the Great Servant of Jehovah. There never was such a Servant of the Lord. He has served the Father as none other has ever served or could ever serve the Father. But how has He done it? He has brought back the Father's Name to Its place of honor and glory. He has come down and entered into the dispute with the other name, and now He is far above every name that is named. He has dealt with the challenge to the Father's place and in that way He is the Greatest of all servants, let this mind be in you. We have got to weigh all our Christian activities and efforts in this way: how much real glory is coming to the Lord in this? How much is the Lord coming into His own, His place in this. Not how much am I doing but how much positive glory to the Name of the Lord is bound up with what I am doing. That is followed out in the fuller analysis of this great statement in the Letter to the Philippians.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 18)