THE INFLUENCE OF HEAVEN - READING 3
[p. 60] THE INFLUENCE OF HEAVEN — READING 3
Luke 11:1 - 13; Luke 15:7 - 10
The subject selected so far in its subdivisions is associated with certain circumstances, the heavenly side appearing to enforce certain other features of the truth. Yesterday afternoon we looked at chapter 10 following on the scene on the mount; chapter 10 dealing with the service of God. The Lord selected seventy others besides the apostles and they were successful over the emissaries of the devil. The Lord introduced the heavenly to balance the experience that the servants had and evidently to influence them in view of further service. The individual example of the effect of the truth in that section is in Mary at the end of chapter 10, as if the Spirit of God would afford us examples of the truth as we look into it. Mary, it is said, having sat at the feet of Jesus, was listening to His word. That is a characteristic feature, an example for us not to be overcome by our own business or household affairs, but to pay attention to what Jesus says first. Then this individual side develops into the collective position into which this heavenly truth should enter.
In chapter 11 we reach the Father who is of heaven, He gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him; it brings out the Father in a characteristic way. He answers us as His children if we seek the Spirit, for we cannot be locally right in the assembly save as having the Spirit. Then chapter 15 is an evangelic position into which the heavenly enters, that is, the joy of it, the joy of heaven coming into the preaching of the gospel.
The “praying in a certain place” would refer to what existed in the place, and therefore now the [p. 61] immediate concern is the circumstances in this district, whether the Spirit has full place in the gatherings. When He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Teach us to pray’. The disciple is like Mary, the learner; she was listening to the word; now He would teach her to pray. He would wish all the other disciples would teach her to pray. The inference is they did not know how. Remitting and forgiving sins by the Holy Spirit has to come in for spiritual help in a local meeting. That is the seeking, leading up to the Father who is of heaven. The idea is, I am of Chicago or I am of New York. The preposition ‘of’ denotes that the person is characteristic of the place.
The Father is characteristic of heaven, it is the Father who is of heaven. He gives the Spirit in that connection to those who ask Him. The last Adam, the second man, is of heaven, or out of heaven; he is characterised by the place. In Romans 8 the Spirit’s position in connection with prayer is adding its help to our weakness, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. It is a chapter unfolding the truth of the Holy Spirit. He makes intercession for us according to God, so that we have an immense means of learning by the Spirit. The first half of this chapter in Romans seems to be especially devoted to the Spirit and what we have in Him, and amongst the things mentioned is that He adds His help to our weaknesses. So that explains the word — “became strong out of weakness” (Hebrews 11:34). It is a subjective condition, so that the Spirit comes into our prayers, things are amplified by the Spirit as you proceed in prayer.
If we are honest men and women we want help locally. The Lord is in some position that required prayer. The link would be what happened in Martha’s house. There is one person there who is governed by the heavenly truth, “This is my beloved Son, hear him” (chapter 9:35); but Martha is entirely ignoring it. Luke is [p. 62] concerned about the public position and Martha is discrediting it in her house although nominally in fellowship; she opens the house to the Lord and receives Him, but as inside she attacks Him and attacks her sister. Her sister is thoroughly in accord with the Lord and what was said about Him on the mount, but the Lord is praying that Martha might be set right.
One line of the truth before us is prayer. The Lord is seen praying after He is baptised; that belongs to the baptised company of persons — praying. The disciples observed Him, as the Lord is not presented as praying with them, they are by themselves. This disciple would have observed the Lord’s attitude in His prayer to His Father. Martha’s attack on the Lord and her sister is grouped with the Lord praying in a certain place and how He taught the disciples. Some members of the household are with the truth and some not; the more talkative are usually not with the truth, there is a divided household. Mary would be saying, I wish I had more power with my sister. The Lord said, Martha, Martha. He announced her name twice, as much as to imply that she was of importance in His mind, and would have her set right. Luke leaves her not set right; he does not say that she hearkened to the Lord’s word. John brings in the abstract side, that she was a true person at heart; he tells us that she got right about the matter of the resurrection; she confessed the truth. There is a counter element that is almost invariably to be found in every local meeting. That element is Martha, she is a sort of responsible one because it is her house. We learn to save such a situation by thinking of the Father’s name first, and then the order of the kingdom. When ye pray, say, Father.
The prayer meeting has come into great prominence. The position really begins in New Zealand, as we [p. 63] have often noted, and runs on to the end of Monday. The meeting for prayer is the culmination on the Monday. This section is to show the importance of the meeting for prayer and that we should know how to pray, whom to address. When ye pray, say, Father, the Lord said. That is what He is teaching here, and He is telling us that the Father is of heaven, and as of heaven with fatherly feelings; He gives the best there is. It does not appear that He prayed with the disciples; in every instance He is seemingly by Himself. He departed from them even in Gethsemane, a stone’s throw away from them. I suppose it is to preserve His personal dignity.
This is a very important matter because the prayer meeting is connected with the house of God, although the house of God is not properly a local thought, there is only one house of God. There are many assemblies, but only one house; the bearing is universal, the prayer is universal. There are certain brothers who are habitually silent, which is a very humbling and sorrowful thing, because Luke would say about the young man of Nain as he comes into life spiritually, that he began to speak, as if that was the idea — priesthood is in prospect. Why should we not all pray if it is open for us to do so? This disciple was concerned about all the brethren praying, and not praying, but knowing how to pray. A brother going about in service never forgets the local position in which he is.
The Lord prayed all night, we are told, but that would not be suitable for a prayer meeting. In a local position brevity is important. Another important thing is the question of forgiveness: “Remit us our sins, for we also remit to everyone indebted to us”. I forgive habitually and look to others to forgive, too. There cannot be wholesome conditions without mutual forgiveness; confess your sins one to another. The Lord is stressing grace, complete pouring out of grace.
[p. 64] Something will come out of it; we confess our faults to one another and pray for one another. You cannot keep on forgiving a heretic, the scripture balances itself. The greatest burden usually in a locality is household conditions. The local condition is supposed to be more or less healthy, that is what the Lord is basing these instructions on. He says, “Lead us not into temptation”. You wonder why that is said; it is a solemn thing if I get into a position under the influence of sin and I sin. Why should it happen? So the prayer is brought into that in this passage. He says further, “Who among you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend ...”. That is the urgency of prayer, what it effects, that it is greater than friendship, it has greater influence than friendship.
There is definiteness in asking for three loaves. The power of prayer is accentuated, keep on praying. It says, “I say to you, Although he will not get up and give them to him because he is his friend, because of his shamelessness, at any rate, he will rise and give him as many as he wants”. Meaning that the man is so affected by being disturbed by this urgency he gives him as many as he wishes. So the Lord says, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds and to him that knocks it will be opened”. That is very encouraging for us locally, the power of prayer.
The Lord will use you as you pray; He will not go past you if he can use you. There is on Monday nights a great demand on vessels for the answers to the prayers. We want to be ready to be used, in the prayers being effectuated.
Verses 10 - 12 bring out fatherly qualities and how they are available, in prayer, to the children, and then he says, “If therefore ye, being evil, know how [p. 65] to give good gifts to your children, how much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him”? So that the Father who is of heaven is the point before us. He is characteristic of heaven, His attitude is giving. The Father is thus available to us and gives us the very best. The local company and the assembly generally are to be reflective of what is heavenly, and the Father is thinking of that. Under the government of God we are set in circumstances that fit us for certain services, and God takes us up and uses us in that way. He groups circumstances or facts to bring out the great truth of the dispensation from the standpoint of grace. Heaven comes into view, that is what Paul had in mind — the heavenly truth. Jehovah says as to His house, “my house is a house of prayer” (Luke 19:46). He made certain persons great there, so that we get well rewarded in going to the prayer meeting. The prayer of faith shall heal the sick. This is a wonderful weapon of service. Luke would understand what diseases mean. We belong to the mediatorial position and as receiving the Spirit we come into it formally and the Spirit is ready to add His help to our weaknesses; so that we should be on the praying side of the matter. The Lord leads the way in it; there is something in it beyond words — it is a subtle thing.
The ordinary father would not feed his children such as is indicated here — if a son ask for bread and the father give him a stone, or a fish, and instead give him a serpent, or if he shall ask an egg, shall give him a scorpion. It is to bring out that fatherhood considers for the children — to bring out what God is. He has the things that we ask for; all the wealth of heaven is at the disposal of the Father and it is given to those who ask Him. The Spirit is viewed as proceeding from the Father — knowing perfectly all that is in the divine counsels and what God is.
[p. 66] He carries all that infinite wealth and it is available to prayer.
The Lord was casting out a demon and it was dumb (verse 14), as if He is making way for brothers who do not speak in the assembly. They are hindering the Spirit. The Lord has to act in another way, not praying, so that the dumb spirit is cast out. The devil would keep us silent because prayer is so effectual. This section is intended to help us locally to bring everything into the meeting for prayer. Heaven is so ready to answer and makes so much of it that the prayer meeting would settle the matter.
Then the next thing is to be a vessel ready to be used in answer to the prayers. So, if a person is going on wrongly in a meeting I am ready to go to see him to rebuke him, Praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God. Chapter 15 is to bring out this matter in relation to the gospel, heaven’s joy over the repentance of sinners. We have been talking of prayer meetings, now it is gospel meetings. The result in our times in gospel meetings is very small in the sense of actual converts, but they are very important in regard to improvement of the saints, the gospel being effective in saints; it should be kept going. What goes on in our meetings Sunday nights is important in the sense that if only saints are listening they get help in their souls. You get some light and you say, I have never repented of something I did many years ago, and you get help to repent of that thing.
It is the time of faith; faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. The word of God is going on and faith acts of itself. Take the meeting in Mary’s house in Acts 12, they needed it because they had lost the way of faith. They had been praying for Peter’s release, but when he did come to the door they did not believe it. The habit of having prayer in the house before the gospel is blessed of God.
[p. 67] It is ruinous to ask a brother to preach as a matter of turn; the preaching must always be based on gift, on ability and on being sent; and so selection of preachers is important because God connects the gospel service with gift. The anointing is like a uniform in the army or navy, a man is appointed to do a certain thing because he is supposed to be qualified. The meeting room should not be a training place. It should be a place of skilled workmen. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach” (Luke 4:18) — that is not a matter of history, but as a model for preachers. The gospel is to be fully made known by Paul. Who is to be the judge in this matter of preaching? The brother who invites him should be the judge.
(Quote verses 4 to 10.) In both cases the sinner is brought in, but the piece of silver is lost in the house, the sheep is in the wilderness. This is clearly an evangelical picture, the other one is something that has happened in the profession, in the house. Sweeping is not evangelising, it is removing dust, making the house as it should be. Her point is to get this lost piece, and the result is that heaven is brought into it. The house is the dwelling place, involving the sphere of the profession and that a person should be lost there is remarkable. Why is he hiding himself in the house? To go out on the mountains you get away from peoples’ view, but here in the house you are in view. Here we have a repenting sinner, he continues repenting. Heaven is a wonderful place and is a sympathetic place, and in the presence of God there is rejoicing. It is the personnel there, notice is taken of repentance. All this is to bring heaven near us, all to bring us near so that we can focus our eyes upon heaven. These chapters in Luke are intended to qualify us as having to do with heaven. Heaven is brought to us, but we are also brought to heaven. These meetings ought to bring [p. 68] us nearer to heaven so that we can visualise it. The woman alludes to the subjective side of things; that would draw all into the matter. The saints as a whole are concerned; the sweeping is a feminine thought.