When the people of the Lord look for the men who will be the apostles, prophets, and elders to lead them in this day of restoration, they may find it is natural to look for those who stand head and shoulders above the rest of the people in their spiritual maturity.
But now the Holy Spirit is ministering a fresh realization that the ministry of Christ is coming forth from the little people too. Through the deep moving of the Holy Spirit, God’s little ones, the poor and needy, the lame, the maimed, the halt, and the blind are being brought into the great family of God (Luke 14:15–24).
Through a miracle of faith, people who were totally rejected and did not have a chance are being granted a place in the Kingdom of God.
A lack of concern about God’s little ones who labor in the work of the Lord could create casualties. Those who are more mature must find ways to take care of them. They are not expendable.
In a beehive, the small, expendable worker bees die in a short time, but the queen bee lives a long time. However, the Body of Christ is not to be compared to a beehive in which the queen bee is the only one who is protected. God’s people are not bees. They are sons of God.
Numbers 20:7–13 tells how Moses disobeyed the command of the Lord and therefore was not allowed to enter the promised land. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.” So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels” (notice his attitude toward the people); “shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.
But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.
The exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ is very important in these days. He is to be magnified as Lord before us. Therefore, everything that we do must be done with the awesome revelation of the Lord before us, and our sole desire must be to glorify the Lord. There can be no ulterior motivation.
Why did Moses strike the rock when God had ordered him to speak to the rock? Maybe he was motivated to vindicate himself; or perhaps he was just tired of the rebellious murmuring of the people. Shortly before this, Korah had risen up against him, and there may have been reactions within Moses’ own spirit after learning what it meant to quell rebellion and to see it come down. So Moses accosted the people, “You rebels! Do you want to see what I can do?” Then he struck the rock twice and the waters began to flow. This was the second time that the waters came forth by a miracle. The first time that Israel asked for water, God commanded Moses to strike the rock. But the second time, God did not tell him to strike the rock, but to speak to the rock. Instead, Moses reverted to striking the rock, because of the rebellion of the people. In so doing, he did not sanctify the Lord before the people; he did not make the Lord holy.
This account in the Old Testament portrays a symbolism. When Christ came the first time, He was the rock that was stricken (I Corinthians 10:4). He was smitten of God and afflicted, and the Lord laid upon Him the iniquities of us all (Isaiah 53:4–6). Out of its brokenness, the rock gave forth rivers of living water which we drink. With joy we drink at the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:3). The Lord is all-sufficient for us.
Now we have come to the day in which the living waters must flow once again. How shall they flow? The Lord is saying to His men, “This time, the key is to speak a prophetic Word—even to the rocks. Speak to My people. Let the waters flow.” In this hour, Christ is not to be crucified afresh (Hebrews 6:6). He is not to be smitten and afflicted and rejected of men. In this hour we bring Christ forth in His brethren, not by smiting Him, but by speaking to Him with words of faith, believing that God will bring forth out of Him the rivers of living water. By the creative Word of God from our lips, the Christ-life will come forth.
At Christ’s first coming, God allowed Him to be stricken and smitten. In the wake of that, the early Church was stricken. They fulfilled the sufferings of Jesus Christ. In the Body of Jesus Christ, we are in a position of suffering with Him, that we might also reign with Him (Romans 8:17); but He is not coming forth this time to be crucified afresh. As He comes forth in our brother, He is not coming forth that we should smite Him; but with great faith we should speak the words of the Lord to our brother.
Life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). If we smite our brother with our words, we can destroy what God is bringing forth in him. Just being unconcerned about him will work the same ruin. Sometimes, just doing nothing will destroy your brother. Instead, set your heart to move in love which is vigilant and always diligent to express itself.
Those who lead the people of God today must not respond as Moses did, and begin to smite. While they know their responsibility of authority to rebuke any source of contention among the brethren, there must dwell within their hearts a godly fear, lest anything they do should fail to express total love. There should never be a rebuke without love, or a chastening in which those chastened do not sense the love of the Father. Let us remember what He does: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Hebrews 12:6.
It is easy for leaders to settle into a pattern of authority, until they miss the creative work that God is trying to bring forth through them. Authority means responsibility. Christ had great authority, and He loved His disciples deeply. He never did anything to discourage them. He often reproved them with stern words, but He also broke their hearts thoroughly.
Matthew 24 presents a clear picture of the hour of the Lord’s coming, the hour of His Parousia. “For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. Who then is the faithful and sensible slave” (notice the words “faithful” and “sensible”) “whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?” Matthew 24:44–45.
When the Lord establishes authority, the first consideration of the man who is put in charge over his brethren is to give them their food at the proper time (“meat in due season,” according to the King James Version). That is the foremost requirement. Jesus did not say that a man is placed over his fellow-slaves to get the most work out of them. God sets a man over other people to feed them and to see that they are sustained in the will of God for their lives.
“Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.” Matthew 24:46–47. No doubt this includes the exploits, the greater works, and the breakthrough into God’s promises for His people. The Lord declares, “The gold and the silver are Mine” (Haggai 2:8). “The treasures of the sea will come to you, and your gates shall never be closed, O Zion, as they bring the riches of the nations to you” (Isaiah 60:5–15). These Scriptures will have both a literal and a spiritual fulfillment. But who is the man to whom God will give His riches? Who is the one He shall put in charge of them? It is the faithful and sensible slave who has been taking care of the servants of the Lord.
Notice the warning in Matthew 24:48–51. “But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ and shall begin to beat his fellow-slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and shall cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; weeping shall be there and the gnashing of teeth.” That punishment seems drastic, but Jesus gave its justification in the next chapter: “Inasmuch as you do it to the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me” (Matthew 25:40).
If we say that we are exalting the Lord, we cannot fail, as Moses did, to honor and glorify the Lord in the way which He directs. How do we exalt the Lord in this day? We glorify Him as He comes forth in our brethren. The pastors and ministers whom God has put in charge over His people are in a unique position of responsibility. They are put over the flock to feed them and to take care of them, not to see how much they can get out of them.
The faithful pastor realizes that it is for the people’s good that their capacity constantly expands to give themselves more unto the service of the Lord. God did not say that a New Testament church is to be a beehive of drones who are well-fed by the leaders, yet are accomplishing nothing. A shepherd is not doing his people a favor when he does not insist upon their living a life of sacrifice, walking in total discipleship and submission to divine order, until they come out of themselves and are wholly given to the Christ within them. To release that dedication in the lives of those under his charge, the man of God does not beat them down; instead, he finds the way to minister to each one so that Christ comes forth in them.
This is what moved Paul to write to the Colossians, “I labor to present every man perfect, mature, complete in Christ Jesus. This is the power that works in me mightily” (Colossians 1:28–29). Paul longed to complete in his body the sufferings of Christ for His Body’s sake (Colossians 1:24). He gave of himself to the point of suffering in order to see Christ come forth in His many-membered Body. With the birth of the Kingdom age upon us, we must not do anything less than that.
There must be a liberation in our thinking. Let us enter into a deep love and respect for Christ coming forth in His little ones, in those who have been despised and rejected. As deeply concerned servants of God, let us usher the maimed, the halt, and the blind into the banquet hall to feast upon the supper which God has prepared. Not many mighty, not many great of this world have been called, but God is reaching out to prepare the greatest flood of the Word that has ever been on the earth (I Corinthians 1:26). He is reaching out to feed the hearts of the people, especially the poor and the little ones. It will break through upon them.
Before the Lord, let us repent of any unkindness that has ever been in our words or expressions. Just the wrong inflection of voice or the raising of an eyebrow might destroy one of His babes. How carefully we must strive not to do one thing that could discourage anyone.
How we must hate sarcasm and the ways of relating to one another that leave walls up between us. We must fight against any tendency in our hearts to create walls that alienate and restrain a brother or a sister, placing them in isolation where they feel excluded from the main flow of the Body. We cannot be excluded one from another. The walls must come down. We must all have the same care one for another (I Corinthians 12:25).
God heaps abundant honor on the parts of the Body that lack, on the people who seem to be unimportant in the congregation (I Corinthians 12:23). Maybe you have overlooked them; perhaps you have not noticed them lately. They come to church, they give their tithe, and they go on their way, trying to maintain a walk with the Lord. Do not ignore them or forget them. Open your eyes to the Christ growing in their hearts, because you do not dare to smite the rock this time. Speak to the Christ in them. No child of God is “just another rock.” Speak the word of release to him; do not smite him.
We are to be shepherds to our brothers because we love the Lord. Because we love Him, we love what is begotten of Him. He that loves God loves that which is begotten of God (I John 5:1). Let us relate to those who tend to drift away, and tell them that we love them.