WHAT GOD FINDS PRECIOUS
John S Speirs
Matthew 17: 1-5, 8
Genesis 24: 15-22
Ezra 8: 26-28
Malachi 3: 16, 17 (to “hosts”)
Luke 21: 1-4
I am conscious that I have read a lot of scriptures and, although I am not able to go into them in detail, I felt encouraged just to say a brief word as to what God takes account of and finds precious. That is why I began in Matthew 17, because we see how God took account of the Lord Jesus and found Him infinitely precious. Our brother has been speaking about the standard. This is God’s standard, you might say, the gold standard, the Holy and the True, the One who never failed, the One in whom God found His delight: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”. Think of all that God had found His delight in, in this One in His time on earth, up to this point and what He would yet find His delight in!
I wondered if we might be encouraged to see that God is still taking account of those on the earth; and I think, that, although only the Lord was perfect, God takes account of what is in measure precious to Him on the earth at the present time in believers; it is features of Jesus that He finds precious. That is what He finds His delight in and, beloved, God is taking account of each one of us here tonight. He is taking account of this gathering, and if there are features of Jesus in evidence in any one of us, God is finding that precious. It speaks in the psalm of “the saints that are on the earth, and to the excellent thou hast said, In them is all my delight”, Ps 16: 3.
Think of God, the One who took account of His well-beloved Son - you might say, the perfect Assessor, assessing the perfect Object. God did not miss anything, not underestimating, not overestimating, but making a perfect, true assessment; and what He took account of in Jesus was perfection. How He delighted His heart, “in whom I have found my delight”. But, beloved, because of God’s grace, He has provided Him as a Saviour for us; He has provided the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, and also as our Model. Not only that, He has provided power in the Holy Spirit so that we are able to follow Him as Model whilst we are here. It is wonderfully encouraging to think that when the Lord Jesus was here as a dependent Man, everything He did was in the power of the Holy Spirit. That same Spirit is available to us; what a wonderful fact!
So, I wondered if we see in these various passages different features in persons that God takes account of and finds precious. In Genesis, I thought Rebecca was one who was marked by service and willingness in service. How beautifully we see that in Jesus, the willing Servant! Think of His willingness to undertake whatever His Father’s will was. I think the Holy Spirit loves to take account of willing service at the present time, those who in their measure are like Jesus, willing to serve. It is a feature of the assembly. It says, “And the man was astonished at her”. Of course, we could never say that the Holy Spirit was astonished exactly, but I think we might say that the Holy Spirit, typically, delighted to see these features in this woman; He loves to see them. Have you done something willingly for the Lord Jesus? The Holy Spirit has taken account of that; it would have delighted His heart, and reminded Him of Jesus. Well, may we be engaged in willing service! May we be reliant on the power that God gives us to serve. It maybe something very simple; this woman drew water. Have you done something simple to refresh a fellow believer? God finds that precious; He is looking on and He is assessing it. With His perfect assessment He is finding what is pleasurable to Him in service.
In Ezra we see these copper vessels. In amongst all the substantial quantities of gold and silver vessels there are these “two vessels of shining copper”. I wonder if there may be the suggestion of these being representative of those who have endured suffering, suffering on account of righteousness, suffering for what is morally right in the testimony. These were recovered vessels; we are all recovered vessels. Thanks be to God in His grace and His mercy that He has recovered us through the giving of His well-beloved Son. Well, beloved, who suffered like Jesus in His pathway here? How precious it was for the Father to see the Lord Jesus doing His will even despite all the suffering He endured at the hands of man! The scripture says, “consider well him”, Heb 12: 3. Think of how God considered Him! - how His Father saw Him do His will in perfection, suffering as a result of it at the hands of men. As Peter says, “If ye are reproached in the name of Christ, blessed are ye; for the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you”, 1 Pet 4: 14. I thought about these two vessels of shining copper: it suggested to me something corresponding to “the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God” resting upon them. They were vessels, they were usable. They were “shining … precious as gold”, that is God’s assessment of them. You might have said they were of insignificant value compared to all the gold and silver, but if you are suffering for the name of Jesus and willing to accept suffering in the pathway here for His Name, “the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you”. There is something precious that God takes account of.
In Malachi, we see these persons who are speaking together. I wondered if God would have a valuation of the speech and conversation of believers: “Then they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another”. How the Father delighted in the words of Jesus, those “words of grace which were coming out of his mouth”, Luke 4: 22. “Thy speech is comely”, it says in Song of Songs 4: 3. The beautiful speech of the Lord Jesus, His words, what He said and how He said them, everything was perfect, delightful to the Father! Are we able to say something about Jesus, about His glory, to one another for our encouragement or to God in praise? Think of how the Lord Jesus said that “I praise thee, Father”, Matt 11: 25. What a model for us, perfection in praise, but then how He spoke to men here as well! He spoke to them about His Father. He spoke about God’s love to man. Are we able to do that? I think the gatherings of the saints are precious to God too. “Then they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another; and Jehovah observed it, and heard”. God is not only looking on us, but He is listening to us, listening to everything we say. Are you speaking words about Jesus to your fellow-believers, to your fellow-men? Are you speaking of His glory to God Himself? God finds these things precious. He is taking account of your speech and if it is of Jesus, and if it is in the power of the Holy Spirit, it is precious to Him.
This woman in Luke was one who was marked by sacrifice. Of course, when we think of sacrifice, there was no greater sacrifice than that made by Jesus. What a sacrifice! It says of this woman that she cast in all of her living. “She out of her need has cast in all the living which she had”. Think of the Lord Jesus, the One who “sold all whatever he had”, Matt 13: 46. There was no sacrifice like His. We cannot comprehend what it meant to Jesus to descend into manhood’s form and then to descend into death itself. What a Saviour, the descending One, His willingness to sacrifice, “offered himself spotless to God”, Heb 9:14! How delightful He was and is to God! Well, beloved, in our measure, if we are marked by sacrifice, seeking to do it for the Lord, not to make anything of ourselves, for I do not think this woman was doing this for show, He takes account of it. I do not think she was even aware that anyone was watching, but the Lord was taking account of her. No matter how small a sacrifice you might be making for the Lord, He is taking account of it. It is precious to Him. It is precious to God because it reminds Him of the supreme sacrifice! “We love because he has first loved us”, 1 John 4: 19.
May we be willing to be marked by these features, conscious and reassured and encouraged that God is taking account of us; not that we might make anything of ourselves but simply and dependently seeking to do God’s will in the power of the Holy Spirit, and as these features come out that are like Jesus, God will take account of them and find them precious. May we be more encouraged to go in for these things for God’s glory!
May the Lord bless the word.
Grangemouth
6th March 2024