THE OUTWARD ORDER OF THE ASSEMBLY (1)
THE OUTWARD ORDER OF THE ASSEMBLY (1)
JT The assembly is to be characterised by outward order, but also by inward spiritual power. The outward order we find in the first three gospels, specially in that of Luke. John brings in the second characteristic, the inward power. The first three gospels give us a comparatively short account of what happened at the inauguration of the Supper, while John devotes five chapters to it (John 13 - John 17). The outward order in the first three gospels is a matter of our responsibility, whereas in the gospel of John, where it is a matter of the inner side, the Lord Himself takes over the responsibility of everything.
In Matthew and Mark the disciples ask the Lord where they should prepare the passover (Matthew 26:17 and Mark 14:12). They made the proposal concerning the necessary preparations. In the verses read in Luke 22, however, it simply says that the Lord sent Peter and John and said to them, “Go and prepare the passover for us, that we may eat it”. In Luke the Lord initiated the matter. Today also the Lord gives us the incentive to prepare ourselves for the Supper.
In John 13:1 it says, “Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come”. It is not a matter that the hour was come, as in Luke 22:14, where the outward preparations of the disciples had come to a close, but in John 13 the Lord’s hour had come, “during supper”, when He wished to prepare His disciples for the Father. Jesus rose from supper in this His hour, and poured water into a washhand basin and began to wash the [p. 172] feet of the disciples. Then He said to Peter, “Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me”. Instead of the outward order we have here the truth that we have part with Christ in the spiritual blessings of the assembly before God, the Father, and that the Lord must prepare us for it. The preparations for the outward side are left to us, but in what relates to the inward side we must leave ourselves completely in the Lord’s hands, for He alone knows what is necessary before the Father.
Rem Perhaps you will tell us something more as to the outward order of the assembly. I thought we could first consider this.
Ques Have we that in the first epistle to the Corinthians?
JT Yes. The first epistle to the Corinthians is addressed “to the assembly of God which is in Corinth”. It is clear that if God has an assembly in Corinth, it should be marked by outward order. Even the types in the Old Testament show how much God regards order. In Exodus the smallest details are given of the construction and the vessels of the tabernacle of testimony. The same applies also to the temple which Solomon built. With David we see in type the inner side of the truth, for he “built round about from the Millo and inward” (2 Samuel 5:9). This is the ministry of John in whose gospel the disciples on the evening of the resurrection day were behind closed doors (John 20:19). In John’s gospel everything comes to this; it is not a matter of that which is visible outwardly, but of what is inward.
Ques Have we in Acts 2 the outward and inward sides of the assembly?
JT There we only find what is visible outwardly. The parted tongues as of fire sat upon each one of them, while in John 20, the Lord breathed into them.
[p. 173] Ques When have we to do with the outward order?
JT When we are assembled to break bread we must first think of the outward order. The Lord in Luke 22 sent Peter and John to deal with the outward preparations, for these are left to us. At the breaking of bread we begin with the outward and public side and then pass over to the inner side. We announce the death of the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:26); that is a public matter. If we take the tabernacle of testimony as a type, the slaughtering of the sacrifices took place in the court, it was visible from outside. If anyone was not a priest and thus could not go inside, he still could see the outer curtains of the tabernacle, and these were made of the skins of slain animals (Exodus 26:14). In that way death was publicly announced.
Ques How do the two epistles to Timothy fit in with this?
JT The first epistle to Timothy deals with the outward order, and the second epistle the breakdown of christendom. But even in the days of breakdown we must still move in the light of 1 Timothy and 1 Corinthians, for 2 Timothy is addressed to one who had heard Paul’s words (2 Timothy 2:2) and who had been thoroughly acquainted with Paul’s teaching (2 Timothy 3:10).
Ques Is it of special importance that the Lord sent Peter and John?
JT In the early chapters of the Acts Peter and John are frequently found together. Peter is marked by experience and in both of his epistles he stresses the matters of outward order and administration. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, is marked by love and in his gospel he brings in the inner side. It would be well if there were a Peter and a John in every local assembly. They are both necessary to maintain outward order.
[p. 174] Rem The place was pre-arranged, where they should prepare the passover.
JT Yes, that is right. Peter and John asked the Lord, “Where wilt thou that we prepare it?”. The Lord mentions the place, namely “a large upper room furnished”, there they were to make ready. Then even the hour is mentioned when the meeting was to commence (verse 14). It says then, the Lord sat down at table, or more correctly translated, “he placed himself at table”. That is very important, for it shows that we should sit together in restfulness.
Ques Punctuality, I suppose, belongs also to the obedience which is due to the Lord?
JT “When the hour was come”, shows that we should all be punctual. “He placed himself at table, and the twelve apostles with him” shows how we should comport ourselves at the breaking of bread. Anyone who frequently comes late has certainly little idea of what it means to prepare the passover. “The hour” is the time when we have arranged the meeting.
In Matthew, and similarly in Mark, it says, “When the evening was come” (Matthew 26:20), also in John 13 the Lord washed the disciples’ feet during supper, but in Luke 22:14, it says, “When the hour was come”. Many think we ought to break bread in the evening, because according to the first two gospels the Lord inaugurated it on an evening. But Luke, who, as a companion of Paul, has more his ministry in mind leaves the hour open for us. We have arranged the hour for the breaking of bread on Lord’s day morning. When the hour was come Jesus placed Himself at table and the apostles with Him. The Lord showed them and us how we should sit in the meeting and the apostles copied the Lord. It does not say that He took His place with them at table, but they with Him. The apostles imitated all [p. 175] the movements of the Lord. The Lord gives them and us an example of right behaviour in the assembly. We have to learn all from the Lord, even the outward order of the assembly.
Ques Should we at the breaking of bread be sitting in restfulness before Him?
JT Yes. He sat down restfully and we should do the same. To use a figure, if anyone were invited by a highborn gentleman, he would need to know how to behave in his presence. When the Lord at the Supper placed Himself at table and the apostles with Him, we should perceive from that that we are to be outwardly in a condition of restfulness. We should learn everything from the Lord. If we had been present when He was down here, we should have carefully observed all His actions and movements. Every spiritual christian wishes to do all as the Lord has done it. What a path we should tread, if in everything we adjusted ourselves according to the Lord, whom having not seen we love (1 Peter 1:8). Much is written about the Lord and this is very important for us, and we must receive the testimony of those who have seen Him. It is expressly said in Luke 22:14 that the apostles were with Him when He instituted the Supper. The apostles were persons who were in the position to bear a powerful testimony to what they had seen. We read in Acts 2:42 of the new converts that they continued in the teaching of the apostles, for the apostles taught with great authority. They emphasised that they were eye-witnesses of Christ, they were “eye-witnesses of and attendants on the Word” (Luke 1:2). In Luke 10:23 the Lord turned to them privately and said, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see”; they had evidently special eyes. Their words testified that they had actually seen the facts of which they spoke. We have all this in the written Word and also in the Holy Spirit.
[p. 176] Ques Does outward order extend only to the assembly or also to our houses?
JT It should also be seen in our houses, but we are engaged just now with the assembly when it is convened. The first epistle to Timothy and other passages are occupied with our houses, but that is a wider sphere. We have now the assembly before us and what should mark it publicly when it is convened. The house of God in 1 Timothy 3:15 includes not only the assembly in a place as in 1 Corinthians, but it embraces all the believers in the whole world. The outward order which is to mark a local assembly should be found in every place. The order of God’s house is the same everywhere; there is only one assembly over the whole world. If, however, it is a matter of the coming together of the assembly to break bread, that can only happen in many places, as we find in 1 Corinthians, where the house of God is not mentioned. There everything is local, whereas the house of God which is spoken of in 1 Timothy and in Ephesians is universal. In Luke 22 the Lord took His place at table and we can only have that in a locality, for the whole assembly over the world cannot possibly come together in one place and then sit down in restfulness together. The apostles who seated themselves at table with the Lord took care that in all the local assemblies on earth the same customs and practices should obtain, for the Lord sent them into the whole world.
Ques Why did the Lord send Peter and John?
JT Peter in his epistles stresses outward order; he writes about what is seemly in the assembly, but John seeks to bring in love. To use a simple example: If Peter says to a sister who frequently comes late, ‘You surely know the hour which we have agreed upon’, then John says, ‘But the sister has several little children whom she has to attend to [p. 177] before she can come, we must have patience with her’. John prevents the administration of Peter from being too strict. That, of course, applies only to the principles which governed the two apostles. Peter had also love and John also went in for order, but if Peter insisted that this must be done in such and such a way, then John would say, ‘But we must not destroy brotherly love, but must uphold it at all costs, for the Lord has said, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves” (John 13:35)’. That is the preparation which John makes for the Supper. Peter and John set forth a wonderful blending of authority and brotherly love, and the Lord wishes to see this combination in every local assembly. He sent them both to prepare the passover, and only when two of that kind have prepared the Supper can we sit down together in peace.
Ques Why does John in his gospel show that Thomas was absent from the first meeting in John 20?
JT John, in spite of all his love, does not give up righteousness, for love is never weak in the maintenance of order. But if John does write that Thomas was not present at the first meeting in John 20, he does also say earlier that Thomas was ready to die with the Lord. He had, therefore, true love for the Lord (see John 11:16).
Ques Does Paul not hold on to the Corinthians with words of love, in spite of all the reprimands?
JT In Paul we see very beautifully a blending of authority and brotherly love. He writes to the Corinthians, “What will ye? that I come to you with a rod; or in love, and in a spirit of meekness?” (1 Corinthians 4:21). He leaves the decision in their hands. But instead of going himself, he sent to them Timotheus, his child in the Lord, so that through him they might be reminded of Paul’s ways as they are in Christ. Instead of having Paul among them with his rod, they had his “beloved and faithful child” Timotheus in Corinth, through whom Paul gave them his first epistle. I believe Timotheus visited the brethren in Corinth in their homes and admonished them to do what Paul writes to them in his first epistle. Perhaps Timotheus visited a very hard brother and told him that it would be a very serious matter for him to continue further in disobedience. Perhaps he might have referred to Ananias and Sapphira and also called attention to the close of the first epistle to the Corinthians, “If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema”, that is, accursed. Timotheus certainly worked in this way with the Corinthians and he achieved more with Paul’s epistle than if Paul himself had gone with the rod. Paul’s rod is, “Am I not an apostle?” (1 Corinthians 9:1). Timotheus had no such rod; he shed tears, and tears are very valuable; they often bring about better results than the rod.
Ques Had Peter and John only to make preparation for the passover or also for the breaking of bread?
JT The passover and the Lord’s supper are in 1 Corinthians closely connected, even though they are distinguished from one another. In the gospels the two disciples prepared the passover. In Matthew, and similarly in Mark, it says, “As they were eating, Jesus, having taken the bread” (Matthew 26:26). They were actually eating the passover when the Lord made an interruption and instituted His Supper. Luke keeps the passover and the Lord’s supper separate. In Luke 22:17 the Lord received a cup, that is, one of the passover cups which stood there. In verse 19 He took bread and in verse 20 He took the cup of which it says that it was taken “after having supped”. In that way the Supper is carefully distinguished [p. 179] from the passover meal. The Lord says in verse 18, “For I say unto you, that I will not drink at all of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God come”. The passover according to its literal meaning has in that way ceased for us; in 1 Corinthians 5 we have its spiritual meaning and application to us, “our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed” (verse 7); that has happened once for all. But the next verse has its full application to us today, “so that let us celebrate the feast”, that is, the feast of unleavened bread. In 1 Corinthians 10 and 11 we have then the Lord’s supper. The passover and the Supper, although closely connected with one another, are thus kept distinct.
I should like to ask the brethren to receive a few words of adjustment in connection with our breaking of bread this forenoon. I do not wish to criticise but only to present the truth. We were too numerous here this morning, and that is not normal for the assembly. The evangelists Mark and Luke teach us that fifty or at the most one hundred is the normal size of an assembly; Mark 6:39,40, Luke 9:14. Because we did not keep to that, we were compelled to give thanks for a vessel from which however we did not drink; indeed we were even obliged to fill up with wine from bottles for which we had not given thanks. The scripture however says, “The cup of blessing which we bless” (1 Corinthians 10:16), and “as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord, until he come” (1 Corinthians 11:26). We should thus all drink out of the cup which has been blessed. In connection with the bread we should also eat only from one loaf, Of course, we had an abnormal gathering this morning. We should not normally do it in that way.
Ques What would you then suggest doing when as this morning, three hundred brethren wish to break bread in one [p. 180] place?
JT Our Lord had five thousand people to feed and He made them sit down in ranks, in groups of fifty and one hundred. We have to do it according to that principle.
Ques Can that be remedied by arranging several tables in one large room, each with the one loaf and one cup?
JT No, that would give confusion, for the different groups would disturb one another in singing and in worship. We can only remedy it when we divide ourselves into several companies and gather in different rooms. We find this principle in the Scriptures. For example Aquila and Priscilla had in Rome, and in Ephesus, an assembly in their house; Romans 16:3 - 5; 1 Corinthians 16:19. Certainly all the christians in Rome or in Ephesus could not come together in one house. When the company is too large, the brethren should gather in smaller companies in different houses. The Lord would receive far more praise from six companies, each of fifty, than from a large meeting of three hundred brethren.
Ques But were there not five hundred together, for the Lord appeared to above five hundred at one time? (1 Corinthians 15:6).
JT Those were five hundred individual brethren who were together. The assembly is, however, an entity, it is the one pearl of great value (Matthew 13:46).
Ques What would you say about these special meetings of ours in Germany? We only come together once a year in such large numbers.
JT That is something abnormal. But the Lord helps us greatly when we are prepared to divide ourselves up for the breaking of bread. We had for years the same difficulty in America and still have it. But it is slowly disappearing there, because the brethren divide themselves up. In Rochester we have had meetings for years when as large a number [p. 181] of brethren were present as are here. There we come together now in four places to break bread. The Lord always gives us right thoughts, and also helps us in working them out.
Ques Could we not put a large vessel on the table, full of wine, and after thanks had been given for it, then pour the wine into several cups and let these go round?
JT We had that this morning, but that does not agree with Matthew and Mark. The Lord says in Matthew 26:27, in regard to the cup for which He had given thanks, “Drink ye all of it”, that means, out of this one cup which the Lord gave them. In Mark 14:23, it says, “And they all drank out of it”; that means out of the cup for which the Lord had given thanks, and which He gave to them. We are not wiser than the Lord. Thousands were converted in Jerusalem at Pentecost, but they actually broke bread in houses (Acts 2:46). After Pentecost the bread would have been broken in more than a hundred houses in Jerusalem. The breaking of bread was to remain a family celebration, even after Paul had made it an assembly occasion (see Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:18 to 20).