(Editor’s Note: In these “perilous times,” it’s good to be reminded of the responsibility of those who minister publicly among Christians. Failure to follow the principles of Scripture can hurt the beloved sheep and lambs of Christ. The following adapted excerpts from an article by our late brother J. L. Erisman are presented with the desire that they might be a help and encouragement.)
Ephesians 2:20 teaches us that the church was built “upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.” After the apostles left this scene the canon of Scripture being thus completed their ministry is seen as continuing until the Lord comes, through the Bible, the written Word of God.
When the Apostle Paul took his leave of the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:32), he does not commit them to the care of those who had associated with him in his ministry such as Timothy or Silas but to “God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.”
Peter, speaking of his great exercise in writing, desired that believers might be “always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth” (2 Peter 1:12-21).
Jude also teaches the necessity of having the Word, spoken by the apostles, before us (vs. 17), to fortify against the time when mockers should come, “who... walk after their own ungodly lusts.”
The Lord has given gifts to the church as a whole not to the local assembly showing that the one who has received the gift is responsible to the Giver as to where and when he is to go and what he is to give out. Also there is the servant’s responsibility regarding the right time, place and suitable state for ministry he gives (John 16:12; 1 Cor. 3:13).
There are times, too, when the desire of the servant may not be the Lord’s will. Even the beloved Apostle Paul was “forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.” And “after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not” (Acts 16:6-7).
Ephesians 4:15-16 teaches us the great importance of “speaking the truth in love” that there might be supplied the “effectual working in the measure of every part,” which “maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Thus, gifts used apart from love become nothing more than “sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal” (1 Cor. 13:1). The Lord is in the midst of His assembly and all are to be subject to Him those locally gathered as well as a visiting servant of the Lord.
In a letter dated January 31, 1839, J. N. Darby mentions: “With regard to speaking, those who speak in error ought to be stopped and those speaking from the flesh ought to be [lovingly] warned.... I could never understand why the church of God is to be the only place where flesh is to have its way unrestrained. I desire fullest liberty for the Spirit, but not the least for the flesh.”
Years later in 1867, Mr. Darby wrote: “Real subjection to the Holy Spirit with a sense of the Lord’s presence would at once put a stop to the thought of ‘exercising gift.’ A sense of His presence at once displaces all thoughts of self. It is indeed most grievous, when we go to wait upon the Lord and to enjoy His presence, to find some forward, all-sufficient one, making himself the center of the meeting, occupying the time, filling the minds of the brethren with painful thoughts about himself instead of happy thoughts about Christ, thus marring communion, interrupting worship and hindering blessing in every way.”
It is possible for one to mistakenly think he has a gift or to not be in a suited state of soul to use a real gift. This shows the great importance and value of having the fellowship of one’s brethren in such a path of service.
J. L. Erisman