THE WAY TO SOUL PROSPERITY
E. O. P. Mutton
We had reference in the reading to prosperity, “they shall prosper that love thee” (Psalm 122: 6), and I would like to use these verses, with the Spirit’s help, to suggest some ways to spiritual and soul prosperity. God would have every one of us to prosper in our souls. I would make the assumption that every one here of responsible years has begun on the pathway of Christian experience. If not, beloved friend, then God would speak to you as to the love of Jesus, and point to Him as the alone Saviour of sinners. It is a wonderful way to start our soul experience with an impress of the Saviour, His preciousness to God, His availability to us, and the fact that He is indispensable—there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved (Acts 4: 12).
God would give you an impression of what Jesus means to Him, and that is your acceptance before God. It is not what I think of Jesus, not what you think of Jesus, but what God thinks of Jesus. May our appreciation of Him increase. I trust every one here has begun, has put his or her faith in the Person and work of Christ, and gone on in obedience, and received the Holy Spirit. These are wonderful gifts that God has given and which are the beginning of soul prosperity. Until you come to know the Saviour you will never prosper in your soul; you may have soul trouble, but you will not have soul prosperity. You may have prosperity in other ways of course, as did the man in the gospels who pulled down his barns and built greater.
The Lord said, “For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?” Mark 8: 36.
That is a word to us. Even if we know the Saviour and have the Spirit, is our prosperity soul prosperity, or is it merely material prosperity? God can give riches, of course; God does that in His infinite wisdom. Not many high-born, Paul says (1 Corinthians 1: 26), but there are some, and God has used them. So we need to be balanced in these things; material prosperity is not necessarily a mark of unspirituality, but some of us may put material prosperity on a higher level than soul prosperity, especially when we are young. You have your career before you, your life, and you see things planning out and you want a nice house, and perhaps even a more suitable house for the saints for entertaining and so on. We need just to be careful that we do not have our hearts on what is material at the expense of what is spiritual.
Now I would like to suggest from these scriptures that there are two matters we need to be occupied with if we are to prosper in our souls. One is the Lord Himself, and the second is the place where He lives, two matters we need to contemplate. We need to be in the company of the Lord, and we need to know what it is to be in heaven—“and they abode with him that day”. I do not think I contemplate enough. I may be alone in that, but from conversations one has I do not think I am, and I do not think we will get very far if we do not contemplate.
Christianity, beloved brethren, and assembly truth and experience are not a part-time matter. Christianity is not just a way of life—no, it is to be our life. Christianity is life centred in another Man in another world, and the only way to spiritual prosperity is occupation with that Man and that world.
These scriptures, written by John, bring it out. We get two Johns here, John the writer and John the baptist. You think of John writing these words. We are told that this was the last book written by a man who would have been very old, probably about ninety, a man who had actually contemplated the Lord in flesh and blood condition, a man who had seen the breakdown, a man who had to suffer; he was in Patmos for the testimony of Jesus because he had been exiled away from his brethren; yet what a revelation he had as he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. That underlines what we were saying earlier, that we do not need externals to have assembly experience. John certainly had no externals there; he did not have the brethren, he did not have a meeting room, he did not have any outward encouragement, yet he became in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and he saw things that had to do with the great thoughts of God and how they finally are going to be brought to pass. He saw the holy city coming down. John must have said to himself, Well, what can I see now publicly? What is left? He would have had some understanding with the Lord that it was going to be a history of breakdown. Nevertheless, he saw that holy city coming down. This is the man who is writing here in John 1, writing for our help, and he starts off with this well-known passage—and what a passage it is—“and we have contemplated his glory”. Beloved brother and sister, when did you last contemplate the glory of the Lord Jesus?
The gatherings of the saints and the service of God are not the only time for contemplation. I think John indicates this would have been contemplation of the Lord day in and day out as He was among them. It was one of the qualifications for making up the number of the apostles to twelve that it must be one that had assembled with them all the time in which the Lord Jesus had come in and gone out among them, from the time of the baptism of John until He was taken up. There was a man who had been contemplating the Lord Jesus all those three-and-a-half years, never thinking it was going to be qualification for something. It was his normal occupation; he was not trying to become one of the twelve, but he was morally qualified through contemplating the Lord Jesus to take his place in the testimony at that point. That is what we should all be concerned with.
We do not go in for the contemplation of the Lord Jesus to make something of us, but that we might be formed by that contemplation—“and we have contemplated his glory”. I would suggest
to us all, beloved brethren, that we need to make time for contemplation. Read through Leviticus 2 as to the oblation; you will see the detail that is gone into as to the fine flour. The oil comes into that chapter too. There is a very affecting reference in ministry (C.A.C. ‘Outline of Leviticus’, chapter 2), that there was no part of the life of the Lord Jesus with which the Spirit could not identify. Now that could be said of none other. Perhaps as we sit here we can think of a part of our life currently, today, with which the Spirit could not exactly identify. What a sad thing that is if there is still some part of my life not available to the Lord.
Well, with the Lord Jesus it was never thus, and we can contemplate that manhood. The contemplation of every believer that has ever lived will never exhaust the glory and perfection that there is in Jesus. Every ray is going to shine eternally for the Father’s pleasure.
Whatever features shone in Him as a Man here, and now as out of death and shining eternally, there is going to be a reflection of them in someone somewhere. What a wonderful thing that is under the eye of God: How many of those rays are we able to contemplate? Just one ray, Mr. Catterall said, one impression of the glory of Christ, is capable of infinite expansion.
So we can start just with something simple. Christianity is not difficult, and it can accommodate to our experience and our age. You may be a young brother or a young sister, and maybe you only have one impression of Christ. That can expand wonderfully under the power of the Spirit among the saints. So do not be put off if you feel that you have only a little. Think of that young boy who only had five loaves and the two small fishes. Even the disciples thought that was not enough, but the Lord was able to make it sufficient. What a wonderful thing! What a service to be able to make something available to feed the saints! Do you come to the week-night reading like that, with something that can expand among the saints? You say, Well, I am only a young man, and there are enough brothers of weight in my locality to carry the reading through, and usually they do! Well, no doubt they often turn and say, Have you something for us? Have you anything for the saints? Or do you just say, I am enjoying what is being said? Maybe you are enjoying what is being said. But what about bringing in something you have contemplated, something you have got for yourself, that can expand among the people of God? Maybe you have not the ability yet to expand it, even in your own thoughts, but the priest can take it, and he can make something of it even if it is just like the young pigeon in Leviticus 1. The priest can make something of it. The Lord would love to make something of it. He took those loaves and fishes, even though the brethren did not really appreciate what that boy had, and He was able to make something of it. It is a great gift in a local company to have brethren who can make something of what a young or simple person has, persons who can take something and can weave it into a reading.
John here goes on to say, “for of his fulness we all have received”. This links with the idea of prosperity. What we receive, beloved, is of the Lord’s fulness; God is not giving us anything second best; no, assembly experiences and the touches we get in the meetings, and the ministry that is given, are of His fulness—“for of his fulness we all have received, and grace upon grace”. I wonder whether we really value what the Lord gives us by way of ministry.
This character of temple enquiry, and current ministry, we can enjoy together, the joys of the fellowship; it is not just that we like being together, but as having the same interest in Christ, and contemplating the same Person, we have this commonality of interest and desire to contemplate the glory of the Lord.
One of the things that I find very testing in my house is the character of the conversation that takes place when we have the saints in the house, and also when we do not. Can we speak of, and contemplate, the glories of Christ? I do not say this in any critical way because I feel very lacking myself. You sometimes go into a brother’s house and you feel the conversation is of a spiritual level, without being forced. There was a brother, in this locality, and you could not be in that brother’s company many minutes without something of what he had contemplated in Christ, and the things of Christ, coming into his conversation. Now he was a man who was not used in platform service, so to speak, but what an appreciation he had of Christ, what a joy he had! You never saw him without a smile on his face either. Well, that is not to eulogize that brother but to show what can be done by the Spirit as we contemplate the Lord Jesus. It will not just happen, it is a deliberate state of heart and soul. And I think what was said in the reading is very true. You try, you taste, and you see that the Lord is good. You begin on this line. Do not begin with the objective of reading Mr. Taylor’s ministry from Volume 1 to 100. Dip into it, with the Spirit’s help and the right desire, and you will find you are contemplating the glories of Christ. It will help you into that. Then make sure that you contemplate. When you get an impression, stop, and remain in the presence of God. We so often go into the divine presence with our needs, sometimes with our wants, but think of the men in Scripture who went in to sit in the divine presence, and to enjoy the company of divine Persons.
Well, this is the way we grow and prosper in our souls, and this is what is going to give strength in the testimony; this is what is going to make stable, assembly-minded persons, persons who are occupied with the Lord Jesus, persons who are prepared to spend time in contemplating the glory of that One. Beloved brethren, it should not be difficult, should it, to contemplate the One whom we love, who has died to secure us? To know Him, as has often been said, is to love Him, and to love Him is to want to contemplate Him. John was still contemplating, still after some sixty years, contemplating the glory of Christ, so much so that he was able to write this gospel. I think that most of us would admit that John’s gospel is probably as difficult a book to read as any because it measures our appreciation of, and entrance into, divine things. The gospels are strong meat, but we should never be far away from them. You can read the gospels as often as you will, and the Spirit will always bring out some fresh ray of the glory of Christ to occupy your soul in contemplation.
Then the other thing that is very important, beloved brethren, is that we are to be occupied with the place where He lives. The Lord says, “Come and see”. This was His dwelling place when He was on the earth. I would like to apply this scripture. We need to be occupied with the Lord Jesus personally, but we also need to be occupied with Him where He is. Our brother reminded us that the assembly’s origin is heavenly. I wonder how many of us have been to heaven, and how long is it since we last went to heaven? We know that well-worn remark of one of the worthies, that he saw many people on their way to heaven, but not so many coming from heaven. I think if we are going to prosper in our souls, not only do we need to be occupied with the Person of Christ, but we need to resort to the place where He lives. We sing that hymn,
‘Our hearts resort to where Thou liv’st
In heav’n’s unclouded, rays’.
Well, how long do we spend in heaven? It would be the answer to a lot of our problems. It is a fine thing to see your brethren from heaven, from the top of the mount. We sometimes look at them from where we are, and we see their difficulties, and we see things that we do not like about them, and we see perhaps features that are not according to God. But have you seen your local brethren from heaven? Have you been into the presence of God, taking with you all the things that you find difficult about them, and seen them as God sees them, and as He sees them potentially? I think it is the principle we have in Corinthians, that if Paul had not had what was potential for God in Corinth in his heart he could never have served them in the way he did. And, beloved brethren, we will never be able to help one another if we do not see one another as God sees us.
And then there is the atmosphere of heaven. Would you not like to enjoy the atmosphere of the place where Jesus lives? If you love someone you want to be with them, and the Lord says that, “That they may behold my glory”, John 17: 4. The Lord’s desire is that we should be with Him, and when these dear men said, “Where abidest thou?”, the Lord answered, “Come and see”. It is an invitation the Lord would love to give. He would say, “Come and see”. Let us get into heaven more. I think it would be the answer to a lot of our problems, and as we become accustomed to living in heaven we shall become heavenly persons, and come out as Moses did with our faces shining. You cannot make persons joyful. That is not the way it works.
You get into heaven and you will come out in joy and freedom, and in the liberty that belongs to heaven. You cannot be restfully there if you have any sense that what is morally out of accord with that scene is marking you. What a preservation that is! Start the day in heaven and finish the day in heaven. Anything that had entered into the day that was not heavenly in character would soon become exposed in the presence of God. God would help me to get free of that and come out here in heavenly blue. The Christian should have that as having been occupied with heavenly things, particularly on the Lord’s day. That is the way you would come into the meeting on Monday night, and the ministry meeting, and the reading, and the care meeting. You would come in as a person who had frequented heaven; and who was prospering in his soul as a result. This is normal Christianity. We sometimes think that someone who appears heavenly and spiritual is abnormal; it is God’s purpose for every one of us. We are going to live in heaven, eternally, why should we not start now? It is a right that we have because He has secured it for us, the new and living way right into the presence of God, to see and enjoy the place where Jesus lives.
If the Lord were to say to any one of us, I am going to take you to myself today, I wonder how many of us would have regrets. There are natural regrets, of course, because we are in flesh and blood and what is natural; in a right sense, is very strong, and the Lord understands that. But I wonder whether we would want to say, Well, Lord, I just want to get a little further in my career; I just want to finish this extension to my house; .I just want to finish this project I have put my hand to. I think the Lord would wean us away from what is here, and on our side the way to that is to be in His presence. There was one man in Scripture,
Ezekiel, who was caught up by a lock of his hair; he had nothing to hold him here. I wonder how many things hold us here; how many ropes would have to be loosened if we really did go to be with Christ. No doubt as we get older these things become more real to us. It is more difficult when we are young and we think we have life to look forward to, and the Lord understands that. Some of us who are not so young still have many of these ties, and the Lord might not be quite so understanding with us. The Lord understands what life, means. He is sympathetic with that, but He would like: to attract your heart into something which is far better. Again we come back to this materialism. Let us not surround ourselves with what is unnecessary that would make it more difficult for us to leave it behind and get into this heavenly sphere. Mr: Lyon said once after a visit to a brother who had a magnificent house and gardens, ‘Well, dear brother, for some of us heaven will be an improvement!’
Well, let us not surround ourselves with things that are going to make it difficult for us. If you surround yourself with what is very comfortable beyond the call of what is really necessary, it will be more difficult for you to resort to heaven because you are living in what is here. Some of us maybe have too much, and that hinders us from having that strong link with God that is really the only thing we shall take with us. . Everything else the Lord has lent us; what is material has been lent to us, and will be left behind. What He has given us spiritually is what is being formed in us, and will be taken when He takes us to be with Himself.
So I see these two matters, beloved brethren, the importance of contemplating the Lord Jesus, and of getting into the sphere where He lives, and knowing what it is to be accustomed to heaven. The Lord would love us to be more accustomed to the place where He lives, and it is the way to spiritual prosperity. The Lord would occupy you with His things. You will have no difficulty about being assembly-minded, and having your thoughts that way, if you have been with the Lord in heaven. You will see what is next to His heart, and you will find the way He wants things worked out here on earth. Think of what an influence it would be if every brother and sister in your locality and mine was characteristically a heavenly person. A lot of these difficulties would just evaporate because when you get into heaven you will find how simple they appear in the divine light. Well, may the Lord help us to get into this line of the contemplation of Christ and enjoying the realm where He lives, that we may prosper in our souls, for His name’s sake.
Address at Bedford
22 September 1990