The Task Of The Church
by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001)
And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. Genesis 24:1-4
And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor... And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water. And he said, 0 LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink; and I will give thy camels drink; also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master. And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink; my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink; she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. Genesis 24:10-19
Abraham told his servant to go to the far country of Mesopotamia to choose a wife for his son, Isaac... He had to go several hundred miles away and find the woman who was to be the bride of Isaac. Notice what the servant did...
The servant got on his knees and asked God to help him to find the one who was to be the wife of his master's son... In those days, ladies came down to get the water... They brought bottles made of skins, filled them with water, and carried them back on their heads. He was going to ask the women coming for water to give him a drink of water. If one offered water to his ten camels as well, she would be the one who was to be the bride of Isaac. A camel drinks an enormous amount of water, so the lady would have to go down to the well repeatedly in order to get enough water for all of his camels. That was to be the way God showed the servant the right bride for his master's son.
When the servant found her, he took out earrings and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave her two bracelets and talked her into coming back and marrying Isaac, sight unseen.
In this story ,Abraham is a type of God the Father... The eldest servant is a type of the Holy Spirit. The wife is a type of all Christians. Isaac is a type of Jesus. The far country, Abraham's home land, is a type of the world.
The Heavenly Father told the Holy Spirit to go to the world and get a bride for His Son. Everything the Holy Spirit is commissioned to do in this age, is wrapped around getting a bride. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts, but the gifts are to help us get the bride... The Holy Spirit gives us the fruit of the Spirit, but the fruit of the Spirit is to help us get the bride. The Holy Spirit comforts us, so we can be comforted while we get people saved... The Holy Spirit strengthens us, so we can get people saved...
The job of a Christian is soul winning. The consuming passion for God's people should be to get people saved. Jesus went to a great effort to get people saved. The Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost.
Charismatic people often make a drastic mistake. They get more concerned about the comforting than they do about the purpose of the comforting. They get more concerned about getting the gifts than they are about getting the bride... Every child of God is supposed to get people saved... That is the purpose of our existence. That is why we have the church... That is to be the purpose of every ministry of the church... Everything we do is to be wrapped up around getting the bride.
The servant gave her a bracelet and earrings. When the Holy Spirit chooses a bride for Jesus, the first thing is to tell them how to be saved. That is the earrings. The next thing is for them to reach out and accept it by faith. That is the bracelet. A person is saved by hearing and then taking.
In the Old Testament days, when priests were anointed, oil was placed on the lobe of the right ear, on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot. The progression goes from hearing the Gospel, to taking the Gospel, to spreading the Gospel...
The servant was nice, courteous, and friendly. We should do the same, but our master did not tell us to go to the far country and be friendly. He said to go to the far country and get a bride. Being friendly is a tool to get the bride. We must talk people into marrying somebody they have never seen...
In Bible, we have what we call the fruit of the Spirit. Here is where Charismatic people get confused. They get the fruit of the Spirit mixed up with the getting of the bride... They forget that the purpose of the fruit of the Spirit is to help us in getting the bride. They make the possession of these fruits an end in and of itself, rather than the means to the end of getting a bride. We are supposed to be kind in order to get the bride.
Some people like to talk about love, yet never or seldom win souls to Christ. They are unfaithful servants. God did not send them to the world to smile and be happy. God told them to be loving, kind, peaceful, gracious and gentle in order to win more souls. The fruit of the Spirit is simply a soul winning tool. It is a course on how to get the bride.
Every gift of the Spirit is given for that one purpose. If I talk in tongues and do not get the bride, I am an unfaithful servant. If I heal forty people from thyroid trouble, and cast out thirty tumors, but do not get the bride, I am an unfaithful servant. No matter how much we get the gifts of the Spirit, if we are not winning souls, we are unfaithful servants. The Holy Spirit came to this world to get a bride for Jesus. That bride is to be composed of all believers at the rapture who will be married to Him. The purpose of the fullness of the Holy Spirit is to get the bride...
The servant did not talk about himself. The servant talked about the son. When you get the Holy Spirit, you love Jesus more... That is His purpose... The Holy Spirit's purpose is not to be magnified, but to magnify Jesus. The servant praised his master and praised the master's son.
When RebeKah agreed to go with the servant, it was a picture of people accepting Jesus Christ as their Saviour. They like her are agreeing to marry someone they have never seen. The purpose of every church in America is to get the bride for Jesus. I do not care how rich a church is, how many missionaries it sends out, or how much Bible the people know, if it is not getting people saved, it is not right with God, and is not doing what it is here to do. The one purpose for the servant going to the far country was to get the bride.
I have more respect for a hard-boiled fundamental soul-winner than I do for a sweet and kind compromiser. Being nice is important, but not as important as getting the bride. I would rather see a person do right wrongly, than wrong rightly. I would rather see a person have the right position and the wrong disposition, than to have the right disposition and the wrong position. The reason he sent the servant was to get the bride...
The Charismatic movement is popular because it is built around the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit, but not on the purpose of the Spirit. It is built around the tools to get the bride and not on the getting of the bride. The job of the servant is to get the bride. Without the servant, we are in trouble. The father sent the servant, just like the Holy Spirit was sent by the Heavenly Father, to find a bride for the son.
Rebekah had a long journey ahead... They were going to go through some pretty dangerous and lonely places. Rebekah did not know the way to the son, but the servant did. His job was to lead her safely to the bridegroom. He knew every spot between them and the son. The secret was for her to follow and obey him...
That is what we must do to be happy as Christians. Between the time that we receive Christ as Saviour, and the time when we meet Him face to face, we must allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and to tell us what we ought to do.
Imagine the journey Rebeka took in order to get to Isaac. Sometimes the journey went down into the valley and was foggy and dangerous... The secret was to follow the servant. Sometimes they had battles... Sometimes wild animals came. Often they could hear the hissing of serpents... Her only hope was to follow the servant. His job was to get the bride safely to the bridegroom. Sometimes the journey was crooked, and sometimes the journey was straight.
We do not know the journey to Heaven God wants us to take... We must simply follow the Holy Spirit.
One day, they got close... Isaac had come out to kneel and pray, and they got a glimpse of him. When they got close enough, the servant introduced her to Isaac, his master's son. The Bible says Isaac took her to his tent. What happened to the servant? He drifted away into the shadows because his job was done. It was his job to get the bride for the groom...
That is my job... The Holy Spirit lives and dwells in me, so it is my job to get the bride for the groom. For these many years, I have spent my life trying to get the bride to the groom. At the rapture, all the people I have won to Christ will get their first glimpse of Jesus, and I will get to see them meet the one I told them about.
It will be worth it all, when we see
Jesus.
Life's trials will seem so small, when we see Christ.
One glimpse of His dear face, all sorrow will erase.
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.
The tragedy is that many of the churches in America today have either forgotten the servant altogether or misinterpreted the purpose of the servant. Most Christians do not understand the purpose of the Holy Spirit. I believe in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, but the reason I believe in the fullness of the Holy Spirit is to get the bride for the Groom. I believe in the fruit of the Spirit, but all of those are simply tools to go soul winning. I believe in the gifts of the Spirit, but the gifts of the Spirit are simply ways to get the bride.
The earrings and bracelets were simply tools to get her... We ought to teach our children to be kind to one another. Why? Because the kinder they are, the more souls they can win. We should have love because the more love we have the more folks we can get to the Saviour.
Ours is an impossible task, humanly speaking. How can I possibly convince somebody who has never seen Jesus to put his faith in Him! The servant does it with love and with the gifts. Many go to church to shout, not to see people saved. My Bible says they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. You do not sow in joy, you sow in tears... They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
She goes to Isaac, and the servant steps back into the shadows.
The joy of getting the groom and the bride together is all the servant needs. That is the job of the Holy Spirit, and that is the job of the church.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREVIOUS
|
NEXT
