THE ASSEMBLY DIVINELY EMPLOYED (2)
[p. 344] THE ASSEMBLY DIVINELY EMPLOYED (2)
1 Corinthians 11:17 - 22; 1 Corinthians 12:28 - 31; 1 Corinthians 14:23 - 31; 2 Corinthians 8:23,24
What is before us today is the assembly as representative of God here. The scriptures read indicate various uses made of it as a vessel here. The first use is for the celebration of the Lord’s supper, as in chapter 11. The second use to be called attention to is that it is the vessel in which God has set the gifts for His use here. The third is its use in a local setting for ministry, specially prophetic ministry, that is in chapter 14. Then in the second epistle, in chapter 8, it is seen as used for collections for the benefit of the saints. There are other uses that we may call attention to.
Brethren will all be helped if they examine these epistles in connection with the frequent mention of the word ‘assembly’ in them. In the epistle to the Ephesians, the assembly is viewed generally in its heavenly relationships and services; there indeed it is said to be the habitation of God by the Spirit down here, but that depends on its heavenly relationships. In the epistle to the Corinthians it is viewed generally as subdivided; for example, “the assembly of God which is in Corinth”. The word ‘assemblies’ is used in that connection. There is only one assembly properly; that is told us in Ephesians. In the eternal state and in the millennium it will be seen in the heavenly city as one. So the word ‘assemblies’ as seen in these epistles and elsewhere refers to the subdivisions of the assembly in various localities throughout the world; and the apostle makes it a point that all these assemblies should be characterised by the same principles and customs.
Now it may be pointed out that the greatest service of the assembly is that in it the Lord’s supper is celebrated, and out of the Lord’s supper develops [p. 345] the great and general service of God. According to Acts 2 the Lord’s supper was celebrated in houses, but in this chapter (1 Corinthians 11), it is said to be celebrated “in assembly”, the saints gathered in assembly.
Ques Would you explain the expression, “come together in assembly”?
JT It is an allusion to what is concrete; that is, the saints, in this village or in any place, are assembled in this attitude of mind; not simply that they are in a particular room together, but that they are in this attitude of mind — “in assembly”.
Ques Does this take place in connection with the breaking of bread, prayer, edification and prophecy?
JT In this sense, the expression is used only in relation to the Lord’s supper. (It says in chapter 14:35, “it is a shame for a woman to speak in assembly”; it is the same expression, but that is only an allusion to the conduct as we are together in assembly). Chapter 11:18 has a very specific force: “For first, when ye come together in assembly, I hear there exist divisions among you”. Verse 20 is in view of that condition: “When ye come therefore together into one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper”; the inference is plain that coming together in assembly refers specially to the breaking of bread.
Ques To the exclusion of the other meetings?
JT Certainly: it does not refer to meetings for prayer, nor to meetings such as this. The meetings that would specially come under the head of service in the assembly would be the Lord’s supper, which is the main thought, and meetings for discipline.
Ques Do you make a distinction between being gathered together “in assembly”, and being gathered together in an attitude that is proper to the assembly?
JT The expression “in assembly” has no article in the original, which means that we are in assembly characteristically, and the comments the apostle makes on their conduct in it indicate that normally [p. 346] it was for the celebration of the Lord’s supper and nothing else. Acts 20:7 would confirm this: “We being assembled to break bread”. That would not cover a meeting such as the present. “In assembly” we are together with dignity, with the light and intelligence in our souls of what the assembly is for God’s use here.
Ques Then, in the Supper, the one loaf would speak to us of what the assembly is?
JT Yes; and the expression “in assembly” directs the mind back to the Lord’s words, “My assembly”. It has a great dignity as first pronounced by the Lord, in Matthew 16. Thus when we come together in assembly according to this verse, it is to eat the Lord’s supper, and the attitude of mind towards the Lord and towards each other is governed by this verse. “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Christ? Because we, being many, are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of that one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:16,17). The allusion there is to the body, not exactly the body of Christ, but the saints viewed as one body. That of course implies that we respect one another, and love one another, and are intelligent as to the organism in which we are. These remarks will indicate how great and how glorious in a moral way is this position, as we come together in assembly to celebrate the Lord’s supper.
Rem The Supper seems to be of great importance to the heart of Christ, and should be to us, seeing it is the first feature of the service of the assembly, as you point out.
JT What follows on this Godward is not outlined in this epistle; we have it elsewhere, and it rightly continues the service after the celebration of the Lord’s supper. It is well perhaps to remind all that it is ‘the dominical supper’ as in the French translation, so that all our hymns and thanksgivings in [p. 347] relation to the Supper should be addressed to the Lord, for it is the Lord’s supper — not God’s supper, nor the Father’s supper. According to John’s account of the Lord’s closing discourses, attached evidently to the institution of the Lord’s supper, there is a great deal said of the Father. This epistle says,. “To us there is one God, the Father, of whom all things, and we for him” (chapter 8:6). The Lord’s closing discourses would indicate that both He and we are for the Father. This epistle further says, “There is ... one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him”. So that the position in assembly, after the Supper and all connected with it is finished, is that God is before us; we are here for God, for the Father, by the Lord Jesus Christ; we have been created by Him for this position; He is on our side and introduces us to God, to the Father.
Rem You say that in the breaking of bread it is the Lord who is before us, and thanksgivings are directed to Him; afterwards the character of the meeting changes: the Lord leads us to the Father.
JT Yes, after place has been given to the expression of marital affections between Christ and the assembly. But in many of our meetings brethren fail to recognise this, and after the Father has been worshipped they return to the worship of the Son, which is confusion.
Rem It is easier for us to remain on the work of Christ, than to enter into our privileges as priests.
Ques When gathered for the Supper we have before us the Lord’s supper, and we address the Lord, but in the cup of the new covenant do we not have occasion to address God, according to the principle of the new covenant?
JT Both the bread and the cup, being the Lord’s supper, are connected with Him, and I think that in speaking of them, we should address Him. He is Mediator of the new covenant and, as the Lord’s
[p. 348] supper is before us, in referring to the Supper we should address Him. The new covenant is in Christ’s blood. It is to be connected with Him; He says, “The new covenant in my blood”, the blood of Christ is more than the new covenant. When the time comes for us to speak to God, of course we can speak to Him about the new covenant; we can speak to Him about His love in all its fulness, and that would include the new covenant, without specifically mentioning it.
Ques Would it be right to bring in the Lord’s name in our addresses to the Father, to speak of Him as the One who has brought us to the Father?
JT It is surely quite right to speak to the Father about the Son. In the passage already quoted, it is said that we are for the Father; then it is said that everything is by the Lord, and we by Him, so that we are there alongside of Christ; He has brought us in before the Father. The more one considers the wording in which the Lord’s supper is couched in Scripture, the more one is impressed with the fact that it is exclusively in relation to Christ. The wording in 1 Corinthians 11 differs from all other presentations of it, whether in the gospels, or elsewhere; it is the Lord’s own wording delivered to His great servant Paul, who is the apostle to the gentiles, to whom was given the mystery of the assembly; so that all that is said elsewhere about the Lord’s supper should be considered in the light of this particular presentation of it.
Rem Paul does not say he received it from the apostles, but from the Lord.
JT Quite so.
Ques In the bread we see the body of Christ; but is it His body of flesh, or His mystic body, the assembly, or indeed both?
JT It is both. It is first His body in which He died; He said, “This is my body, which is for you”.
[p. 349] But it is also symbolical of the saints as being one body, “we, being many, are one loaf, one body” (1 Corinthians 10:17).
Ques Would what the apostle says, “not distinguishing the body”, be connected with what is being said now?
JT That is what made their conduct so solemn; it is said in verse 27, “So that whosoever shall eat the bread, or drink of the cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty in respect of the body and of the blood of the Lord”.
This matter of the worship of God is particularly stressed by the Lord at the present time. The Lord in speaking to the woman of Samaria called attention to the worship of God and the worship of the Father; He says the Father seeks such as His worshippers; and if the Lord is free amongst us as His Supper is celebrated, and after place has been given to affectionate relations between Him and the assembly, He will lead in this direction.
Ques As to the second part of the meeting of which we have spoken, is it not important that the spiritual state should be up to the level of the position?
JT Yes. It was after the woman had been searched by the Lord and had called Him a prophet — “I see that thou art a prophet” — that she brought in the question of worship. Hence prophetic ministry is calculated to bring about a suitable state for the worship of God. It is the one point that the woman makes to the men, that the Lord Jesus had told her all things that she had ever done. So then, as searched by this prophetic ministry, she begins to speak of worship. The Lord does not turn the subject, He admits of it, and proceeds to speak to her of worship. The state suitable for worship amongst the brethren being not much in evidence, there is the need for prophetic ministry. In chapter 14:23 we read, “If therefore the whole assembly come together in one place ... if all prophesy, and some unbeliever or simple person come in, he is convicted of all, he is judged of all; the secrets of his heart are manifested; and thus, falling upon his face, he will do homage to God, reporting that God is indeed amongst you”. This confirms what has been said with regard to the woman of Samaria — that prophetic ministry leads to the worship of God. The epistle to the Philippians confirms what is needed in regard of state: “for we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in flesh” (chapter 3:3).
Ques Would it be necessary to come together specially for such ministry?
JT As you will be aware, brethren in almost every country now are adopting what is seen in these verses in chapter 14, and the Lord is helping us to a better state — the state needed for the service of God.
Rem We should like a few words on what you understand by prophetic ministry.
JT It is spoken of here as that which edifies the assembly — the apostle says that they were to covet spiritual manifestations, “but rather that ye may prophesy”, and later on he says: “He that prophesies edifies the assembly” (chapter 14:4). It evidently brings God in in a moral way before the conscience, as illustrated in what the apostle says here, that the secrets of a man’s heart “are manifested; and thus, falling upon his face, he will do homage to God, reporting that God is indeed amongst you”. It would require several meetings to go over the ground of what we are speaking of now.
Ques We spoke just now of a certain weakness in our meetings for the breaking of bread; might not the reason be in the absence of such meetings?
[p. 351] Ques Would such a meeting stand related to the Lord’s day or to the week?
JT You will find that, rather than on the Lord’s day, they are more necessary during the week. The Lord’s day affords better conditions and richer sentiments, but the need for this, that is the whole assembly coming together in one place, is greater during the week. If the brethren at Valence think it well, we might look into this subject, God willing, on Tuesday.
The connection between the subject in John 4 and these verses in 1 Corinthians 14 is very striking, and if it is linked on with the Lord’s discourses related in John 13, John 14, John 15, John 16, it will become clearer and clearer that the Father is to come into evidence as soon as the Lord’s supper and what is in relation to it is over. The Lord said to Peter that unless he allowed Him to wash his feet, he could have no part with Him — “thou hast not part with me”. Part with Christ is opened up in John 13 to John 17. Chapter 17, where the Lord speaks to His Father, shows the climax of the instruction; He says: “Father, as to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (verse 24).
In connection with the passages read in 1 Corinthians 12, it is important to bear in mind that God has set the gifts in the assembly; and the suggestion is that they are not so many individuals, but that they are in a particular setting. The dignity and support of the assembly, and the liberty implied in this, greatly augment the exercise of gift. Thus God has a wonderful institution, so to speak, in this world — He has the assembly, and He has set the gifts there. “God has set” — the verb is in the middle voice in Greek, and it means that He has set them there for [p. 352] Himself. Like heavenly orbs, the gifts are placed in the assembly to render glory to God who placed them there for His own glory. God has them for Himself as representative, so to speak. There is in the English version of the New Translation [earlier editions] a note on the form of the word ‘set’ which is important as to what the gifts are as set in this environment — ‘the form’ (middle) of the verb here has a peculiar reflexive force, causing the thing done to return on to the doer, throwing back the glory of it on him, ‘having done it for himself’. It is a matter here, not of Christ’s glory, but of what reflects back to God.
There is just one other thought, in chapter 8 of the second epistle, I wanted to call attention to. You will note the recurrence of the word ‘assemblies’. The messengers carrying the bounty are said to be “messengers of assemblies, Christ’s glory”.
Rem It was not a case of Paul wanting to get money out of them, but of his desiring the saints to understand the great privilege of acting thus, that is, for Christ’s glory.
Ques Would it be right to say that every material thing, done in love in the assembly, may contribute to what is spiritual?
JT Take chapter 6 of the first epistle, to which we alluded this morning; if a man, least esteemed in the assembly, in settling matters of this life has God with him in it, he will be the gainer by it. In his judgment of the matter, he carries the dignity of the assembly.
As to this matter of collections, the apostle touches on it in the first letter, and enlarges on it in the second letter. It might be questioned, Why should all this come in in the letters to the Corinthians and not to the Ephesians, for there was more love with the latter? It would appear, from the facts mentioned in both letters, that the gifts of the saints,
[p. 353] of which the poor had need at that time, would help the Corinthian saints. In view of the giving, they were to lay aside at home, as God had prospered them, on the first day of the week. That injunction directs the minds of the saints from their business to what is more spiritual. God has prospered them in their business, and now, on the first day of the week, they are laying a certain amount aside; that will help them spiritually.