WORSHIPPERS FOR GOD
Reading 1
A.J.G. The book of Revelation is addressed to the seven assemblies that are in Asia; these assemblies are actually named in verse 11. The idea of seven assemblies is a complete idea—the assembly seen down here in its responsibility. The Lord has a distinct word to each assembly, which shows that He takes account of local conditions. But everything is governed by what we have in verse 6, to know that the Lord holds His saints as priests for His God and Father. He would that His appeal of love should be heard by all. He has washed us from our sins in His blood so that we should abandon all such thoughts, to know that He holds us for the service of God, and that we should serve Him as priests, which emphasises the necessity of holiness. The fact that all the assemblies are named would have a present application to ourselves. It is as if the Lord said that He takes account of the conditions that exist in St Etienne, or in Bronac, or again in London, and in every place where He has saints who move together in the light of the assembly. Conditions are not the same in detail in each locality, but the Lord has a particular word for each assembly, and not only that, but He takes account also of individual saints. He says, for example, in chapter 2: 14, in addressing the assembly in Pergamos: “Thou hast those who hold the doctrine of Balaam”, that is to say that there were persons who retained certain thoughts in secret. The Lord took note of it. Then He says in verse 23, “and all the assemblies shall know that I am he that searches the reins and the hearts; and I will give to you each according to your works”. The Lord desired that we should be impressed by the fact that He not only takes account of each assembly, but also of each brother and each sister who forms part of these assemblies, for He is jealous in this regard with a jealousy of God. He would remind us of what is said in verses 5 and 6 of the first chapter, to know that He loves us and has washed us from our sins in His blood; He has made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father.
Having before us this thought of the service of God taking form in each local assembly as that to which each brother and sister must give themselves, we could well consider the passage in John 4 because that passage has in view the way in which worshippers are secured for God. The Lord has to do with a single woman, but that is indeed the character of the first chapters of John’s gospel. The Lord is occupied with individuals, but with the thought that these individuals should learn to take their place in the assembly.
P.G. Is there a moral reason for us why He begins with Nicodemus in chapter 3?
A.J.G. Yes. The Lord shows that there can be nothing for God unless by new birth; that is very important for each of us. Even the fact that we have some appreciation of Christ and that we have believed in Him is evidence that God has begun a work in our souls. We might very well ask why He has done that. It is quite evident that He has in mind to secure each one among us for His pleasure and for His service.
P.F. Is there a difference between new birth and being born of God?
A.J.G. The thought of being born of God is a more complete thought. New birth is an initial work without which we could have no appreciation of what belongs to God. But to be born of God is a complete thought implying that we have received the Holy Spirit. Thus the Lord suggests to this woman that He is ready to give her what will satisfy her and would introduce her into life eternal—what can be already enjoyed, and over which death has no power. The Lord speaks in this way with the object of attracting her. There is what is very attractive in the proposition that the Lord makes in verse 14: “whosoever drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst for ever”. How attractive that is. The Lord had in His mind that it should be so and the result is that the woman asks the Lord to give her this water. What was in the Lord’s mind, as we see in the verses that follow, is that the Father is seeking worshippers. Each person who is attracted by Christ must be a worshipper “in spirit and truth”, which signifies that God has no pleasure in what is marked by forms, no pleasure in what is not real. He desires worshippers “in spirit and truth”, and the Lord would show us how we can each be established in that character.
G.R.W. Would you therefore explain the expression “in spirit”?
A.J.G. I believe that it is in contrast with what is formal, there is around us a formal system of service to God.
G.R.W. That implies what is truly in the soul?
A.J.G. It implies feelings, affections, intelligence. The spirit is evidently a particular allusion to intelligence, I suppose, but often in the Scriptures, the spirit implies the soul, and the soul carries the idea of affections. That is why we can say that to worship the Father in spirit would imply that it is with intelligence and affection.
A.R. It is in contrast with the woman’s conditions. The Lord says to her, “ye worship ye know not what”.
A.J.G. It is exactly that, but the Lord shows that it must equally be in truth, not only governed by the truth according to which God is known, but that we ourselves are true, that there is no darkness with us. David says in Psalm 51: “Behold, thou wilt have truth in the inward parts”, which shows that we must be really what we appear to be before Him. He is not only looking to have appearances.
P.G. You have spoken of satisfied hearts. Would it be right to say that it is satisfied hearts that worship?
A.J.G. I do not believe that there would be true worship unless the heart is satisfied. Worship is produced when one is in the presence of God in all His blessèd character, or perhaps the Lord, who is God, but it is that which produces worship: the blessèd character of God is before the soul.
P.V. In Revelation, John says, “I became in the Spirit”. What would the difference be?
A.J.G. That shows how the Spirit is ready to help us, because He is available to us so that we may move as to God with intelligence and with the affections of which we have spoken. It is quite clear that all that is acceptable before God is only in the measure in which it is in the power of the Spirit. So we have in the epistle to the Philippians, “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in flesh”. That is the true character of worship that pleases God. It is very encouraging to think that the Spirit is available to us. John says, “I became in the Spirit on the Lord’s day”, which shows that he desired to be apart from natural things and that he had placed himself at the disposal of the Spirit, so that the Spirit could sustain his thoughts and his affections in relation to the thoughts of God.
G.A. Hezekiah says, “the living, the living shall praise thee”.
A.J.G. That is a very important fact. It is why the Lord speaks to this woman of life eternal, because it is only in the enjoyment of eternal life that we can really be for God’s pleasure. Eternal life is typified in the Old Testament by the people of God entering the land, enjoying the fruits of the land; then they had to bring the first-fruits, the tithe to God. The more they cultivated the land and the more they enjoyed it, the more there was for God in the land, the first-fruits and the tithe. It is very important to keep in mind that the more we enjoy what God has prepared for those who love Him, the more there will be for Him in the service. The Lord introduces here the thought of the Spirit in speaking to the woman because it is the Spirit who flows out in eternal life.
P.F. All that shows that the enjoyment of eternal life is for now.
A.J.G. Yes, it is to enjoy now. There is evidently the side of facing our responsibilities here and the Spirit helps us as to this, but the Spirit helps in a particular way in what is heavenly because he has come from Christ in glory and all that concerns Christ and what belongs to the Father is in His hands. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ; our blessings are not therefore natural or earthly, but spiritual and heavenly. There may indeed be a certain poverty in our service towards God, that proves that we are not sufficiently in the land, in the power of the Spirit, but it could also be that there is a moral reason if we are not in liberty towards God. That is why in this chapter, as soon as the woman shows her interest and asks the Lord to give her this water, the Lord says to her, “Go, call thy husband, and come here”. The Lord indicates that her life had to be in good order so she could act as a worshipper of God; He casts light on the secret of her life, but at the same time He says, “come here”. He says to her, “Go, call thy husband, and come here”, as if the Lord would say, bring the whole secret of your life into My presence; the Lord is ready to deliver us practically from every form of iniquity and to hold us under His own influence so that we should be available for serving God as priests.
M.V. Would there be a difference between priests and worshippers?
A.J.G. It is worshippers that God desires, but the idea of priests emphasises holiness, for the service of God has to be carried on while we are in an evil world and while we have the flesh in us. We are surrounded by impure conditions; but in spite of that, the Lord is ready to maintain us as priests. I think that wherever priests are mentioned, it is in view of holy conditions in the midst of impurity.
P.G.B. It is very interesting to see that the Lord Himself has made us priests.
A.J.G. Yes. And not only that, but He has also made us a kingdom, that is to say that all the power of the Lord as being at the right hand of God is available for our protection and our support in this position, so as to serve God.
P.G. In Colossians, we find the kingdom of the Son of His love.
A.J.G. That thought is more elevated. But the kingdom here is not described; it is simply to emphasise the idea of power and protection, which shows that the service of God is of great importance in the Lord’s mind. It is said that He loves us, not only that He has loved us, but that He loves us now, and that He has washed us from our sins in His blood. It is His personal action and He desires that we should grasp the fact that we do not have to continue with sin of whatever sort it may be. We have to be delivered from all self-will so as to be available as priests for the service of God.
A.R. Would you be able to give a thought about the expression: He “has washed us from our sins”? Ananias says to Paul: “have thy sins washed away, believing on his name”.
A.J.G. The Lord has washed us from our sins in His own blood, but Paul had to make his personal position quite clear and he had to be baptised, which signifies that he had to separate himself from his preceding course; in this way, he washed himself from his sins; it is a matter of the position that he had taken publicly.
P.B. I thought of what you have said about the Spirit. The Spirit of God who is necessary for the priests. There is no capital letter when the Lord says that the true worshippers must worship the Father in spirit and truth, so that our spirits are used under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
A.J.G. Our own spirits must be used in the service of God. God finds no pleasure in what is mechanical. He desires persons. The person includes spirit, soul and body, the intelligence, the affections, and then the vessel in which all is expressed. The whole person is secured for God’s service. But besides, the Holy Spirit is come to dwell in us; He becomes the power for all movement in relation to God, and also the power. He develops intelligence in the thoughts of God and the affections as well, so that He takes the character of the Spirit of God’s Son in us, but they are our own spirits that He uses.
P.B. In Romans, we read, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirits, that we are children of God”. So we have every possibility for worship.
A.J.G. That shows the marvellous link that exists between the Holy Spirit and our spirits; that sets before us how God loves that persons should be in movement in an intelligent way. What is mechanical or automatic gives no pleasure to God.
P.G.B. It is said that the Father seeks worshippers, not only worship.
A.J.G. Exactly. The Father seeks worshippers, not exactly service, but the persons who are engaged in the service. Each brother, each sister, must be available for that. This is why Peter speaks in his epistle of a spiritual house composed of living stones, which shows that each saint is a necessary part of the structure.
G.R.W. In worship, it is not a matter of what is said.
A.J.G. No, although it finds expression evidently in what is said. But it is quite important to see that the Lord really desired to establish this woman so that there should be no reserve about what concerned her, that no element of darkness should remain. In his first epistle, in writing to us, John says, “And this is the message which we have heard from him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all”. He desires that we should be led in accord with that, that there should be nothing secret or hidden with us. So it is in the gospel of Mark that we read that “he began to cast out those who sold and who bought in the temple, and he overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of the dove-sellers, and suffered not that any one should carry any package through the temple”. It is the idea of something covered up, wrapped, and the Lord did not allow that whatever it might be of that nature in the house of God. So, He says to the woman, “Go, call thy husband, and come here”, and the impression the woman received is that she had to do with One who told her all things that she had done; all was brought to light. Apparently, this woman had thus appeared before the judgment seat of Christ. It is said that we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, “that each may receive the things done in the body … whether it be good or evil”. This woman in the presence of the Lord, could we say, had seen all that she had done in the body exposed, because she had had the Lord’s judgment on all that she had done. It is important that we appreciate that, with the result that transparency is developed as to what concerns us, and as a result attaches our hearts to Christ. At the same time, that helps us to be transparent in an absolute way, and this is important so that we should be priests in the house of God.
P.P. It is said in Proverbs that “Man's spirit is the lamp of Jehovah, searching all the inner parts of the belly”. Would that help us with what you say?
A.J.G. I believe that is the reason why the Lord says here, “come here”. It is important to face up to these questions in the very presence of the Lord, and we are indeed to do this because we have the Holy Spirit. He is on our side to support us, so that in Psalm 139, David begins by saying, “Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known me”, and he is very conscious that it is the Spirit of God who has searched him; he says in verse 7, “whither shall I go from thy Spirit?”, which expresses how he is conscious that the Spirit of God is searching him, but at the end of the Psalm, he prays to be searched: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; prove me, and know my thoughts”. David is someone who had a great place in the service of God and he shows in this Psalm 139, as also in Psalm 51, how he is qualified to serve God. The Lord, in speaking of the service of God, introduces the thought of the Father. We are well accustomed to the thought of the Father and perhaps we do not understand how that was entirely new at this time. Probably this woman had never heard the Father spoken of before, and now the Lord speaks to her of Him, and He sets before her this thought, not worshipping a God far off, but worshipping the Father. The Lord presents Himself thus in a very attractive way, while insisting that moral conditions should be set right first. He says, “For also the Father seeks such as his worshippers”. We recently read in Luke 15, about the feelings of the Father: “for this my son was dead and has come to life, was lost and has been found”. He shows these profound feelings; the Father seeks worshippers for Himself.
P.F. Why is it said that it is the Father who seeks and not God?
A.J.G. The Lord goes on to speak of God. He says, “for also the Father seeks such as his worshippers”, and He adds, “God is a spirit; and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth”; so that He leads on to the idea of God as being the great end of worship. But to reach God, we have to know Him under the Name of Father. It is in that way that God sets us at ease in His presence; He takes pleasure in being known as Father.
P.F. Do you think that this expression, God, includes the three persons of the Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
A.J.G. God implies the whole Godhead. However, in the Economy in which God is known, it is the Father who retains the place of God. The Lord says, “My Father is greater than I”, and in John 10, “My Father who has given them to me is greater than all”, so that in the Economy, the Father retains the supreme place, but essentially, the Son and the Spirit are equal with the Father. As to the Son, it is said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, absolutely. Essentially, He is equal with the Father, but in the Economy in which God is revealed, the Son takes a subordinate place, and the Spirit takes a place of service so as to maintain this light of God as Father and so as to sustain the response among the saints. But while thinking of these movements of the Persons of the Godhead, the Father retains the supreme place in love and the Son and the Spirit serving in a subordinate position in love, we are given a complete presentation of love before our eyes—for God is love—and of love in an absolute unity in the three Persons of the Godhead. This is what is contemplated. If that is considered, it produces worship to God.
G.A. How the Persons of the Godhead have grown in the heart of this woman; she can say: “Is not he the Christ”, and “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done”.
A.J.G. It is very interesting, because she goes to the men of the city and says to them, “Come”; she desires that everyone should have the same experience as she had had. This is what we seek, in speaking humbly, that all the brethren should grasp that. God desires that all, brothers and sisters, old and young, should be worshippers, freed from all hindrance, so as to be happy in God’s presence. I think that the very act of the woman, in saying, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done: is not he the Christ?”, shows that she had now understood that the mind of God was that Christ should be Head to her. God’s end is that He should be Head to every one among us, that is to say One who can influence us and hold us for God’s pleasure. The Lord says, in speaking of Himself, “I do always the things that are pleasing to him”, and in being held under the very influence of Christ, we will learn to be practically for God’s pleasure. This woman had understood what Christ would be for her.
L.D. It seems to me that we cannot see the features of the worshipper with the woman, but she accepts to be set under the features of Christ so as to be formed as a worshipper?
A.J.G. This is what is in God’s mind; that each of us should be led in relation with the Lord as being One who must be our Head, not only under His authority, His lordship, but as being One to whom one looks to have wisdom, direction, and influence. There are many who do not recognise Him as Head, but especially where some are led under Christ’s influence, they become practically for God’s pleasure.
P.G. The Lord says, “the hour is coming and now is”: What is to be learned from this expression?
A.J.G. The Lord is speaking of this day of the Spirit. I believe that we have not sufficiently recognised the distinct and glorious character of the present time when the Spirit dwells in believers, the Father giving them in His affections with Christ.
P.G. So that the expression “now” would cover the whole Economy?
A.J.G. It covers the whole period in which the Spirit dwells in believers.
P.B. Do you not think that the word “in truth” has a great significance?
A.J.G. I think so. Where the Lord uses this expression, He introduces what is of great importance. Here the Lord says, “Woman, believe me”, which is something similar, “the hour is coming when ye shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father”. It is said that the woman left her waterpot. It has often been remarked that that implied that she recognised now that she herself would become the vessel of the Spirit; she did not retain things outside of herself, so to say, but she herself became a vessel now in which the Holy Spirit worked in response as to God.
ST ETIENNE
11th November 1952
Translated from the French magazine, ‘Ondées’,
September 1953
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