Programme: School of the Spirit (SOS)
Date: Thursday, 16th February 2023
Transcript Summary
1. There is a question that ministers of the gospel or pastors are often asked, “how is the work of God?”. However, brethren who are not serving in the fivefold ministry are not often asked this question. This tells us that many (both in the church and outside) do not really know what the work of God is. “And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.” (Exo. 32:15-16). In the Old Covenant, the tables that contained the writings of God were what was referred to as “the work of God”.
2. Paul broke through Moses’ glory by the visitation and appearance of our Lord Jesus to him. Paul saw the abiding glory of the New Testament and knew that it was far greater than that of Moses (2 Corinth. 3:7). Therefore, he had the boldness to say that Moses’ experience on Mount Sinai was a ministration of death. So a Jew must be saved or separated from being a Jew in the flesh. So also, a Gentile must be saved from being a Gentile in the flesh. Both a Jew and Gentile in the flesh are still under sin (Romans 10:12). Scriptures say that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). So, what will move man from the corridor of sin is firstly the ministration of Christ. This was why Paul had to firstly labor on that in his early ministrations to the Gentile churches. However, the Jewish churches did not have this ministration of Christ.
3. The ministration of Christ is the preparation for glory. It is to prepare hearts for glorious conversations. Paul said, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Christ is not the glory; it is the hope of glory. Paul was not being boastful by referring to the ministration of Moses as a ministration of death. It was by experience, encounter, and judgment that he made such a conclusion. Paul could see a higher glory and could only refer to the ministration of Moses as the ministration of death. This is because it is a ministration that cannot change man from within. Nothing is glorious if it cannot change the state of the soul of man. A ministration that can only provide for man’s carnal needs like clothes, shelter, healing, even supernatural clothing etc is not a glorious ministration. All that Moses displayed to the children of Israel were all ministrations of some kind of glory. However, this is not an enduring glory.
4. It was a terrible warfare for the Jews in those days to discern that the ministration of Moses was a ministration of death. The same warfare is still intact till today. We must understand that anything that cannot change man from within (in order to become like God) is not a ministration of glory. Even in our days, it is still a struggle to believe that anything that does not change man’s soul state is not glorious. Anything that does not bring profit to God is not glorious. The inward change of man is ‘the profit’ to God. A man who is not changing is not profitable to God. God will not release that kind of ministry of Moses on earth again; this is because it will cloud the judgement of New Testament believers.
5. Ministrations around physical healing, miracle, signs and wonders etc are still a cloud to the true glory. This is why some people will encounter ministries that will change them inwardly, but they will despise it and say that nothing is happening in such ministries. They will tell you to go to places where you will see things happening. However, those things we see that interest men are not the works of God. The work of God is not the increase in the number of the congregation or the enlargement of church buildings. Many ministers of the gospel are not yet workers of God. This is because the work of God is not without the writings of God. If there is no writing in you, God has not started any work in you.
6. “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philipp. 2:12-13). When God is working, it is a work within. For Moses, it was a writing of stone which was a glorious writing. God does not write anything less than glory. The glory of that writing shone on Moses’ face; he reflected it. Paul said that God works “in'' us, and not “around” us. The sign of the New Testament is not a physical cloud or pillar of fire; it is an inward change of soul. A new job, car, house can come to us in a day. However, to move a nature like impatience out of a man’s soul is not a day’s job. God employed a new technology in the New Testament; it is a work that He will do in us.
7. However, God expects that we are responding as He is working in us. It is a two-way thing, that is why it is called a covenant. Covenants means agreement (John 5:17). Paul commanded that we work out our own salvation. The work of God is the salvation of our souls.
Blessings!
Damilola - 1 year ago