THE TWO COMPANIES or WITHIN AND WITHOUT

John 13 & 17

There are only two companies—the Christian company and the world. There can be no comingling of the two. I desire to shew the strong contrast between the two. The one is of God, the other is of the devil. The Christian company⁴ embraces all who are born of God. The apostle says of such, “We are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness”, 1 John 5: 19. If we think of the Christian company we cannot present it in a concrete form. It is not any particular body of persons which we can see, hence we must take it up in an abstract way as it is presented in scripture. In this way we see it according to God in its perfection. It is important to take up things in this way, otherwise our thoughts will be formed by what we see. If we think of the church according to what we see around us, what a very imperfect conception we should have of it. When we see things as presented in scripture according to God, we may seek to realise them in a practical way according to our measure, assured that we shall have the support of the Spirit of God in doing so. Indeed, this is the privilege of any company of saints walking together in separation from all that is of the world, and gathering together in the love of Christ. No local company however gathered can be said to be “the assembly”. Those who form it are of the assembly, and may in measure realise its privileges and exercise its functions, but at the best our realisation will be imperfect. Still, we shall have a true standard to aim at. In these chapters the disciples represent the Christian company.⁵

What marks this company is that Christ is in the midst. Everything flows from this fact. Christ identifies Himself with this company, and identifies them with Himself. He claims it as His own; there is nothing else on earth today which Christ claims. Those who form this company are the objects of His present perfect love. “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end”, John 13: 1. They are the objects, too, of the Father’s love. “The Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me”, John 16: 27. They too loved Christ. What marks a Christian off from the rest of men is that he loves Christ. It is not the profession of a certain creed, or taking a position in some special religious body that constitutes a man a member of this Christian company, but that he loves Christ, and this is true of all who are born of God. What characterises the world is hatred of Christ and of the Father, John 15: 24. Another mark of this company is that they love one another. This is my commandment, “that ye love one another, as I have loved you”, John 13: 34. And they were to express this love in serving one another as He had served them. It is the circle where divine affections flow. There is no true love in this world; men naturally are hateful and hating one another, Titus 3: 3. This was one of the first marks of the sons of Adam, as we see in Cain.

Where Christ is is a sphere of divine light; there is no light anywhere else on earth today. In the world all is darkness—the darkness of night. When Judas went out, it says, “And it was night”, John 13: 30. Men are without the knowledge of God, and that is moral darkness. For the world it is night; but for believers the day has dawned, we walk in the light as God is in the light. The Son of God is the light of the church; in Him we have the light of the revelation of God, the Father revealed in the Son, and His purpose declared concerning those who are called to be sons with His blessed Son. There can be no darkness where Christ is.

Then another thing flows from this. The Christian company is a sphere of life; it is there that eternal life is known and enjoyed. Where Christ is there life is, and there is no life anywhere else in this world. In the world, man is in a state of moral death; darkness and death go together. “He who does not love his brother abides in death”, 1 John 3: 14. But the believer has passed out of death into life. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren”. Death reigns all around in the world, but in the assembly we enjoy what is really life. Those who form the Christian company live in the life of Christ, and are thereby capable of following Him into the scene of life in which He lives. It is their privilege to have part with Him. This life is enjoyed in communion with the Father and the Son. In the assembly it is our privilege to rise above our flesh and blood condition—in spirit to leave our present earthly circumstances, and in the power of the Spirit to pass into that scene of heavenly life where Christ is with the Father, and there to share His joy.

It is here that Christ sings, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee”, Heb 2: 12. Those who form the Christian company are the brethren of Christ, and being in His life, associated with Him in His relationship to the Father, they are qualified to share His praises. What a wonderful thing it is that in the midst of this groaning creation, that from this earth there should be maintained by Christ a ceaseless service of praise to the Father; how grateful to the Father that He should get a response to what He has revealed of Himself. There is no praise for God anywhere else in this world. The day is coming when heaven and earth will be filled with His praise; it is the privilege of the Christian company to anticipate that day; there God gets His praise now.

It is here too the Spirit dwells. “For he abides with you, and shall be in you”, John 14: 17. He was not sent to the world but to the saints, “whom I will send unto you from the Father”, John 15: 26. In chapter 16 we see the contrast between His attitude towards the disciples and toward the world: to the world He has nothing to say but of sin and righteousness and judgment; His presence is a standing witness of these things. But among those who belong to Christ His mission is to unfold His glory, and to those who love Him there is nothing more enchanting than to be engaged with the varied glories of the One they love. “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you”, John 16: 14.

In this way another world comes into view, which we may call the Father’s world, comprising the many families named of the Father, and all put under the Son. All this is what is to be displayed in a coming day. “He will shew you things to come”, John 16: 13.

Another thought comes before us in chapter 17. Christ not only sings praise in the assembly, but He also prays there. I believe that today Christ prays in the assembly, and according to the tenor of what we have in this chapter, He leads the prayers of His people, and such prayers must be according to the will of God, and must ever go up acceptable to Him. Thus only could we pray in His name, and if we pray in His name, the prayers go up to the Father as the prayers of the Son. The assembly has the Spirit of Christ and is instructed in the mind of God, and thus is capable of praying according to the will of God.

From this privileged company Judas went out, and many others have done the same, proving that they were never of the company. As the apostle John says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us”, 1 John 2: 19. No doubt a true Christian may for a time turn his back upon the Christian company, and go into the world, but if so, he will be like Noah’s dove; he will find no rest, and sooner or later will surely return. Outside all is darkness and death, it is night. Outside is the world lying in the wicked one who is the ruler and god of this world, where men are utterly under the influence and power of Satan. It is a sphere of sin, sin manifested in its full-blown character of hatred of God and of Christ (see John 15: 24), and if men hate God, they hate one another. This sin has been fully manifested in the crucifixion of the Son of God, and in the world Christ is still despised and rejected of men. In the world men are walking in darkness, not knowing whither they are going; they have refused and crucified the One who came as the “true light”; they have given up God, and are doing so more and more. Being without God is being in a state of moral death. When man lost the knowledge of God, in his soul he died. “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”, Gen 2: 17. “He who does not love his brother abides in death”, 1 John 3: 14, and as the judgment of God “death passed upon all men”, Rom 5: 12.

The world is a scene of lust, it is made up of “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2: 16); it is a complete contrast to a scene of holy love. It is a judged world (John 12: 31), ready to pass away, only ripening for its final doom, when at the coming of the Lord it will be utterly destroyed, and that suddenly like the world before the flood. What a striking contrast all this is as compared with what has been set forth as characteristic of the Christian company. How we should appreciate the grace which has called us out of the one into the other. How ought we to value what belongs to that which is within, and how we should shrink from that which is without. It is impossible to mingle the two. If saints coquet with that which is “without”, they must lose the enjoyment of that which is “within”. ‘‘If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him”, 1 John 2: 15.

Bristol

From Mutual Comfort vol 4 (1911)