The Ministry of the Unnoticed - Chambers, Oswald

I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall blossom as the lily. Hosea 14:5 (rv )

The new testament notices things which from our standpoint do not seem to count. For instance, our lord called only twelve disciples, but what about all those other disciples of his who were not specially called? The twelve disciples were called for a special purpose; but there were hundreds who followed jesus and were sincere believers in him who were unnoticed. We are apt to have a disproportionate view of a christian because we look only at the exceptions. The exceptions stand out as exceptions. The extraordinary conversions and phenomenal experiences are magnificent specimen studies of what happens in the life of everyone, but not one in a million has an experience such as the apostle Paul had. The major- ity of us are unnoticed and unnoticeable people. If we take the extraordinary experience as a model for the christian life, we erect a wrong standard without knowing it, and in the passing of the years we produce that worst abortion, the spiritual prigan intolerant un-likeness to jesus christ. The man or woman who becomes a spiritual prig does so by imperceptible degrees, but the starting-point is a departure from the evangel of the new testament and a building up on the evangel of protestantism.

1. The unaffected loveliness of the commonplace

blessed are the poor in spirit. (Matthew 5:3)

Literally: blessed are the paupers in spirit. (a pau- per is exceedingly commonplace! ) the average type of preaching emphasises strength of will, beauty of characterthe things that can be easily noticed. The phrase decide for christ which we so frequently hear is too often an emphasis on the thing our lord never trusted. Our lord never asks us to decide for him: he asks us to yield to him a very different matter. At the basis of our lords kingdom is this unaffected loveliness of the commonplace. The thing in which i am blessed is my poverty. If i know i have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then, says Jesus, blessed are you, because it is through that poverty that i enter into the kingdom of heaven. I cannot enter the kingdom of heaven as a good man or woman; i can only enter the kingdom of heaven as a complete pauper.

(a) the influence of disadvantage

As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. (song of solomon 2:2)

The lily Solomon refers to is as common as our daisy, but a perfume pervades it. The illustration is as if a traveller were passing a field and suddenly a fragrant aroma was wafted to him from a bush; marvelling at the sweetness, he looked into the bush and found a lily growing in its bosom. People come to a good but worldly home, and say, what a beautiful influence comes from that home! But begin to draw aside the ordinary commonplace things of the home, and you discover that tucked away somewhere is a mother or a daughter who is really a lily of the lord. Or take it in connection with individual lives, we may see a man who is generally disadvantaged in appearance or in education, a thoroughly commonplace man, yet a marvellous influence radiates from him. Our lord is spoken of as a root out of a dry ground thoroughly disadvantaged, that is what isaiah says the hero of god will be like.

The true character of the loveliness that tells for god is always unconscious. Conscious influence is priggish and unchristian. When we begin to wonder whether we are of any use, we instantly lose the bloom of the touch of the lord. Jesus say she that believeth on me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water. If we begin to examine outflow, we lose touch with the source. We have to pay attention to the source and god will look after the outflow.

Our lord told the disciples not to rejoice in successful service, but to rejoice because they were rightly related to him (see Luke 10:1820). The danger in all these things is that we are apt to make the effect the cause. Who are the people who have influenced us most? Certainly not the priggish men and women, but our mothers, our fathers, our sisters the ones who had not the remotest idea that they were influencing us.

(b) the inspiration of detail

And the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily work. . . . (1 kings 7:19)

The lily work added nothing to the strength of the building; many would notice the strength and the majesty of the whole building, but the inspiration of it all was in the detail, in the lily work. In architecture it is not so much the massive strength that counts as the finely proportioned ornament, and that is never obtrusive. If we look at men and women who have been long at work for god and have been going through chastening, we notice that they have lost their individual harshness, lost a great deal of their apparent go-a headness for god; but they have acquired something else, viz. , the most exquisite lily work in their lives, and this after all is the thing most like jesus christ. It is the quiet, undisturbable divin- ity that is characteristic of jesus, not aggressiveness, and the same is true of gods children. This does not mean that our lord is not aggressive, or that gods children are not aggressive, but it does mean that there is a danger of making so much of the aggressive that we neglect the more important aspect, viz. , the ministry of the unnoticed. God will use any number of extraordinary things to chisel the detail of his lily work in his children. He will use people who are like hedgehogs, he will use difficult circumstances, the weather; he will use anything and everything, no matter what it is, and we shall always know when god is at work because he produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.

(c) the implicitness of distinction

consider the lilies. . . . (matthew 6:28)

When our lord described the spiritual life, he always took his illustrations from his fathers hand- i work, never from mans work. We take our illustrations from motor-cars, or aeroplanes, or electric light, or something go-ahead and self-advertising. We illustrate by means of things which compel our attention; jesus mentions things we are not compelled to look at, things which we would pass by. How many of us notice sparrows and daisies and grass? They are so plentiful that we ignore them, yet it is these things jesus tells us to consider. The characteristic of each of these things is implicitness, not explicitness. Imagine a lily, if it could speak, saying, i am going to be a lily! A lily obeys the law of its life where it is placed, it is unconscious in its growth. In Isaiah 47:7, we read: and thou saidst, i shall be a lady for ever. The characteristic of a lady is implicitness, not explicitness, and in the same way a christian is one in whom the indwelling spirit of god shines out all the time. In the christian life the implicit is never conscious; if it becomes conscious, it ceases to have the unaffected loveliness which is the characteristic of the life of jesus christ. Prudery is the outcome of obedi- ence to a principle; whereas, according to our lord, purity is the outcome of an implicit relationship. If we look upon purity as the outcome of obedience to a particular standard, we produce the opposite of what our lord intends. He said, except ye . . . Become as little children . . .

2. The unconscious light in circumstances

If i then, your lord and master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one anothers feet. ( john 13:14)

What were the circumstances here? A supper table, a dozen fishermen, a basin of water, a towel, and our lord washing the feet of the fishermen. Notice the extraordinary climax to john 13:3jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from god, and went to god . . . Had the transfiguration scene followed on, we would have felt it to be the right order; buthe riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples feet. Could anything be more sordid and commonplace? But it takes god incarnate to do the most menial task properly. We may often use a towel to exhibit a characteristic totally unlike jesus christ. Whatever our lord touched became wonderful. Some people do a certain thing and the way in which they do it hallows that thing to us for ever afterwards. When our lord does anything, he always transfigures it. Notice the words that our lord glorified. A word that was scorned when he came was the word servant, yet jesus said: i am among you as he that serveth, and, whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. Our lord took words that were despised and transfigured their meaning; he did things that were commonplace and sordid and ordinary and transfigured them. Our lord was the unconscious light in the midst of the most ordinary circumstances conceivable.

Many who knew our lord while he was on earth saw nothing in him; only after their disposition had been altered did they realise who he was. Our lord lived so ordinary a life that no one noticed him. The disciples were first attracted to jesus by their sense of

The same thing is true with regard to the pas- sion for souls, the great craze for successful service.

The heroic and the holy, but it was not until they had received the holy spirit that their eyes were opened, and they knew him. Could anything more startling be imagined than for someone to point out a naza- rene carpenter and say, that man is god incarnate? It would sound blasphemous to a pharisee.

Our lord did not say to his disciples: i have had a most successful time on earth, i have addressed thousands of people and been the means of their sal- vation; now you go and do the same kind of thing. He said: if i then, your lord and master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one anothers feet. We try to get out of it by washing the feet of those who are not of our own set. We will wash the heathens feet, the feet in the slums; but fancy washing my brothers feet! My wifes! My husbands! The feet of the minister of my church! Our lord said one anothers feet. It is in the ordinary commonplace circumstances that the unconscious light of god is seen.

(a) the trackless waste

Ye are the light of the world. (matthew 5:14) in the new testament world means the system of things which has been built on gods earth, the system of religion or of society or of civilisation that never takes jesus christ into account. Jesus says we are to be the light there. We need to take on us the pattern and print of jesus christ, not the pattern and print of the world, and immediately we try to be what jesus wants us to be, we shall find the truth of what he said they shall . . . Cast out your name as evil. The camp to which we belong will do it, not the world. It is easier to remain true to our camp than to jesus, easier to be loyal to our convictions than to him. Ye are the light of the world. We have the idea that we are going to shine in heaven, but we are to shine down here, in the midst of a crooked and per- verse nation (philippians 2:15). We are to shine as lights in the world in the squalid places, and it cannot be done by putting on a brazen smile, the light must be there all the time. Ye are the light of the world. We ourselves are to be the light wherever we go; but if ever we became conscious of it, we should be amazed, as Mary of bethany must have been amazed at jesus christs interpretation of her act of devotion. Mary simply discharged her over-burdened heart in a demonstration of affection for jesus christ, and he said that wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.

(b) the trifling ways

It giveth light unto all that are in the house. (mat- thew 5:15) the light is to be shown in all the trifling ways of home life. The average evangelical presentation is apt to produce a contempt for the trifling ways. A preacher of the gospel may be a most objectionable being at home instead of giving light in the ordinary ways. Our lord tells us to judge the preacher or the teacher by his fruits. Fruit is not the salvation of souls, that is gods work; fruit is the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, etc. We get much more concerned about not offending other people than about offending our lord. Our lord often offended people, but he never put a stumbling-block in any ones way.

(c) the truthful witness

. . . That they may see your good works. (matthew 5:16)

Our lord did not say that you may preach the right thing. It is an easy business to preach, an appallingly easy thing to tell other people what to do; it is another thing to have gods message turned into a boomerangyou have been teaching these people that they should be full of peace and of joy, but what about yourself ? Are you full of peace and joy? The truthful witness is the one who lets his light shine in works which exhibit the disposition of jesus; one who lives the truth as well as preaches it.

3. The unadvertised life for the community

And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 john 3:16) a mother lays down her life for her child and for her home, but there is nothing advertised in her doing it. If the mother were to tell her child what she was doing, it would be an abortion of motherhood. The child will never recognise what the mother has done until in years to come the child herself is in the same place, then she will recognise the unadvertised substitution of the mothers life and love. This is what jesus christ has done in his redemptive workhereby perceive we the love of god, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Jesus christ was made broken bread and poured-out wine for us, and he expects us to be made broken bread and poured-out wine in his hands for others. If we are not thoroughly baked, we will produce indigestion because we are dough instead of bread. We have to be made into good nutritious stuff for other people. The reason we are going through the things we are is that god wants to know whether he can make us good bread with which to feed others. The stuff of our lives, not simply of our talk, is to be the nutriment of those who know us.

(a) the submissive days

And he went down with them, . . . And was subject unto them. (luke 2:51)

An extraordinary exhibition of submissiveness! And the disciple is not above his master. Think of it: thirty years at home with brothers and sisters who did not believe in him! We fix on the three years which were extraordinary in our lords life and forget altogether the earlier years at home, thirty years of absolute submission. Perhaps something of the same kind is happening to you, and you say i dont know why i should have to submit to this. Are you any better than jesus christ? As he is, so are we in this world. The explanation of it all is our lords prayer that they may be one, even as we are one. If god is putting you through a spell of submission, and you seem to be losing your individuality and everything else, it is because jesus is making you one with him.

(b) the solitary desertions

And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of satan; and was with the wild beasts. (mark 1:13)

The divine, the desert, the devil, and utter desolation with the wild beasts. If our lord endured solitary desolation, why should we consider it strange when we are solitary externally and without comrade- ship internally? Thank god we have a shallow life, but we also have a solitary life, and it is in the solitary life that we prove whether we are willing to be made the unadvertised life for the community to which we belong whether we are willing to be made bread or to be simply the advertisement for bread? If we are to be made bread, then we must not be surprised if we are treated in the way our lord was treated.

(c) the substitution devotion

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever i command you. ( john 15:1314)

For a man to lay down his life is not to lay it down in a sudden crisis, such as death, but to lay it down in deliberate expenditure as one would lay out a pound note. Nothere it is, take it out in one huge martyrdom and be done with it. It is a continual substitution whereby we realise that we have another day to spend out for jesus christ, another opportunity to prove ourselves his friends.