"SIMPLICITY AS TO THE CHRIST"
“SIMPLICITY AS TO THE CHRIST”
2 Corinthians 11: 2, 3; Mark 4: 35, 36; Mark 9: 8; John 4: 6
What I have in mind is to speak of what is seen in the first scripture, namely, “simplicity as to the Christ”. The word ‘simplicity’ has to be understood in its context, even as every word of Scripture has to be understood. We are not to add to Christ in our thoughts or ornament Him in any way according to man. The circumstances at Corinth called forth this expression of feeling from the apostle, for corrupting influences were at work there. In the first epistle the temple of God was in danger of being corrupted, the corruption implying destruction in a moral sense. And so here the apostle was concerned, because a corrupting element was affecting the minds of the saints in regard to Christ, which would result in something being added to Him in the minds of the saints, as if He was not to be regarded and spoken of and loved as He was.
The Lord has been treated indifferently throughout the history of the assembly. The danger the apostle had in mind soon became prevalent, the danger of adding to what scripture says of Him, as if Christ in Himself as presented in testimony was not just enough. Other things, and ideas, certain ornamentations according to man, became the fashion, and this has spread abroad throughout christendom, so that the true Christ has been largely lost to view. If the clergy were questioned as to Him, the answers would be varied and generally beside the mark, even as when the Lord raised the question as to what men were saying about Him; however respectful the answers may be, there will be few that are not largely short of the truth. It is unquestionably true that corruption is abroad, corruption of the minds of men, and of nominal christians, as to the truth of Christ. The danger has [p. 527] always been current even in such a spiritual meeting as at Colosse, for it was a spiritual meeting. The apostle Paul could say that although he had not been there, he rejoiced in beholding their order. He did not need to write to them as to their public order. It was right there, and it was a joy to him having heard of the conditions among the saints. It was a faithful minister and one of the local men at Colosse who had been to the apostle and had given him an account of the conditions of the assembly, giving him certain satisfaction because the order of God marked them; they had much beside that that was of God, but they were in danger of admitting the thought that something could be added that had not been presented to them already in Christ. He was concerned about them and it was one of the principal burdens of the apostle to call to mind and point out the danger of anyone practising among them philosophy and vain deceit. That involved what is called the rudiments or elements of the world, and the same word is used to the Galatians in which the word despicable or beggarly is added: “beggarly elements”. The Spirit of God pours contempt on these elements, and yet the proposal was that they should be added, as though the Christ who was presented in the gospel was not just the full Christ, but that something was needed additional to Him. That, dear brethren, is what I have in mind. That was in the apostle’s mind when he said “I have espoused you unto one man”. That Man was Christ without any human ornamentation, without any attempt to make Him different.
At Corinth there was a threefold presentation of Christ, the Son of God. He was preached among them, and Silvanus and Timotheus had part in the preaching at Corinth during those eighteen months in which the apostle laboured in that city, and it was the Son of God that was preached. The Son of God [p. 528] is great enough and glorious enough to occupy every position in heaven, to occupy the heart of God without any ornamentation at all, and it is that Person that was preached, as the apostle says, “preached by us among you (by me and Silvanus and Timotheus)”. There was a threefold presentation so that there could be no question that the Person presented to these people was the real Christ, and any lover of His would depict Him as His lover did in the Song of Songs. From His head right down to His feet, He is depicted as all glorious, and this was the One of whom this threefold testimony was presented to the Corinthians. It was the real Christ and Satan would spoil that. Eighteen months these three men laboured at least. Paul laboured throughout that period, and Silvanus and Timotheus certainly for part of it. It was a wonderful work of God. The Lord knew beforehand what the result would be and enjoined upon His servant not to fear, that no one would set upon him to harm him, and he laboured among them for a year and a half and presented a real Christ. There is antichrist, but there is only one Christ presented in the gospel, that glorious Person, the Son of God, who was revealed in Paul, and preached in a three-fold way by these great servants in Corinth.
The apostle says, “I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, so your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ”. The danger really in mind here was of a clerical nature. There were those who were being trusted among the Corinthians who would appear finally to be corrupters. The apostle says, ‘My speech may be what you think it is, rough, uncultured, but not my knowledge’; that is what tells, what a man knows. What a man knows will come out whether it be in broken English or in a polished language; he will find means of [p. 529] getting it out. He told some other christians, that he wanted them to understand his knowledge of the mystery of Christ. What a grasp he had of the knowledge of Christ, of God and of the mystery. He said in effect, ‘They are men who will corrupt you. They want to add to Christ in your minds. I am combating them. That is what I am aiming at. I want you to have Christ as He is, presented to you. I have espoused you to Him’. He said, “I have espoused you unto one man”. Satan would ruin that espousal. He would rob Christ of everything. He could not do anything against Him personally, but he would rob Him of the object of His affections, that is, the assembly. The apostle is saying in effect, that the Christ that he had espoused them to is the same when he wrote as He was then. He was lovable then and He is lovable now; He retains His lovability to us. Do not allow your minds to receive anything against the Christ who has been presented to you.
I want to show you through the gospels how this worked out in the Lord’s lifetime here. The gospels confirm what we learn in the epistles. Education properly begins with the epistles. The epistles were written directly to meet the state in the brethren, and the conditions in certain localities. The gospels were written on a higher plane. The bearing of the gospels is universal extending even to our dispensation, but they afford confirmation in a most striking and living manner of the truth propounded in the epistles. The gospels are books that help us to graduate to spiritual maturity; that is, it is a question of going to them to verify by example what you have learnt in the epistles, and so in regard to this particular matter, the incident in Mark 4 is striking in its example. It was at eventide, the day was over, and Mark being a levitical evangelist, would understand, that a day’s work was a day’s work. It is a [p. 530] marvellous thought that He who made the day, worked it through. He worked through the whole day. In fact, what good is a day unless something is done in it. It is a blank if something is not done in it. There is, of course, the sabbath which comes in its place, but each day the work is done and the day is named. That is its purpose and God sets the example for us; for six days He laboured. Now here in Mark 4 the day is finished. The crowd had been there and the disciples had had their part in what transpired; it was a day’s work indeed. Even was come, and at the finish of the day, they row to the other side of the sea. Every day has its own character, so the Lord suggests that they should go to the other side, for there was other work to be done.
There was no question of a holiday with the Lord; there was the other side, and it says, “Having sent away the crowd, they take him with them”. They understood when to draw the line, an important thing in service; we should know when to stop, when a piece of work is done. Things are to be finished, and it is well that every one serving, every christian should understand when a thing is finished. They had finished this piece of work and they had sent the crowd away. The multitude that listens may, in his mind, add to the glory of the speaker, but here the multitude is sent away, showing that they were learning what to do with them, and it says “they take him with them, as he was, in the ship”. There is no attempt to alter anything; it is a true levitical touch; it is the Person Himself. There is no thought of adding to Him at all. He took His place in the likeness of men. He took an ordinary place among men. He was one of them in that sense, but sin apart. He took that public position of being in the ordinary way among men. He took His place there. He was not forced to do it. He took it as never [p. 531] intending to ornament Himself, never intending to make Himself in any way attractive so that the natural man could appreciate Him. The disciples were learning this. They were saying virtually, ‘We do not want anything different’. That is an immense lesson for every christian to learn. They took Him as He was in the ship, and so as to bring out what He was, we are told that He was asleep at the back of the ship. He was a real man. No doubt He took the opportunity to sleep at a moment when there was nothing else to do. It is important in service to get rest. No one can really take up service in a true levitical sense without a certain rest, a certain repose of mind. The disciples understood that. They saw it there in Jesus; He was asleep. Other work has to be done, and He would be fitted for all the work which would come to Him; He was preparing for it; a very important matter in the service of God. We are dealing with holy things; we are dealing with divine things, with the things of God. They cannot be handled lightly. The physical vessel has to be looked after and that is what you get here.
Now I go on to the third passage to show how all this was cumulative, that the disciples were quietly learning with Jesus alone with themselves. That is how the verse reads, “Jesus alone with themselves”. Let us never leave that out, “with themselves”. As becoming man, the thought is that He is to have others with Him. He is great enough to fill the universe, to fill eternity, but the divine intent was to come into the economy so as to develop a system of things full of men, replete with humanity according to God. How great a thing it is to be brought into this already; the word is themselves, that is, ourselves. They themselves or ourselves is a word of importance in the New Testament and I am increasingly fond of it. I would urge every young christian [p. 532] here to clothe the brethren with divine thoughts. The father of the prodigal said, “Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it”. In a certain sense that is the idea, that you learn to clothe the saints with the best robe, and the more they are clothed with it, the more lovable they are and the more you are likely to love them. Lovableness induces love. Think of the Lord’s prophetic words in Psalm 16: “I have a goodly heritage”. He is referring to what He has among the saints. As to them, He says, speaking to God, “To the saints that are on the earth, and to the excellent, thou hast said, In them is all my delight”. One has often compared them with the Father’s words speaking from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, meaning that that glorious Person is so attractive to heaven that the saints also should come in to that same delight, that same affection from heaven. The Lord says in Psalm 16, “In them is all my delight”. What is suggested to the young believer is that the right society is to be found among the people of God. What a heritage God has provided for us, suitable companionship in the saints. And so, as I said, we must never get away from the saints as seen here. “Jesus alone with themselves”. But what of Jesus; a moment ago He had been transfigured before them; a magnificent scene had burst upon them; heaven itself came down in this Man and two men out of heaven were speaking with Jesus, and He transfigured. The Spirit of God leaves us with an impression of the transfiguration, saying of the garments of Jesus that they were “exceeding white as snow, such as fuller on earth could not whiten them”. Matthew would impress upon us the majesty of the Person, that His countenance was as the sun. Luke says, “The fashion of his countenance became different”.
[p. 533] Such was the scene which burst upon them, and suddenly it was withdrawn and they look round. Now that looking round is to be noticed. The word is, “And suddenly having looked around”, as much as to say, ‘Is all this gone? Are we not to retain this?’ What a change of scenery, and Jesus alone. There is no Moses, no Elijah, no cloud with its brightness shining upon them, no voice. Has that gone for ever? No, it has not gone for ever; it was brought in momentarily to fill their souls with what is to be. We are to have part in that scene. We have had it today already. What a vision it was, and it was intended to convey to these men the power of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. The scene of glory had gone, but the impression remained indelibly in their minds, for Peter as an old man, about to put off his tabernacle, described it with such beautiful language; it would remain upon his heart for ever, so that there was something that was not gone, and that is the thing, dear brethren, that God presents to us. The impression remains although the glory may disappear for the moment and that is to give character to our service here below. They were aroused, they were looking for something. I suppose their look around was akin to Peter’s word as to the tabernacles. We are apt to look round too much. We may think to do better and go into the world. That is what Satan is telling you to do. He knows that if he gets you there, your flesh would be satisfied.
Now I am speaking of looking around; it is common to us to look around especially with such a vision of glory as we have just seen. They looked round and they saw no one, but the impression was there in their hearts to be made indelible by the Spirit, but as regards the outward scene, “Jesus alone”. But what of Jesus; they never had seen Him transfigured before. It was that Jesus, that glorious [p. 534] Jesus, now as it were apart, who came down from the mountain in outward appearance now as a Man and took His place in service. They looked round and they saw Jesus. It is the public Jesus, the Jesus of testimony, and as soon as He came down it was manifest even as when He was in the boat. He slept, but after He awoke He said, “Silence”. Not one sentence, but one word from Him allayed all that storm. There was a great calm, and what did they say about Him? They said, ‘What manner of man is this?’ There is no question of the clothes He wore, no clerical garb would make Him different. ‘What manner of man is this?’ “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” It is a question of the power, not only the word. It is the power that tells. There is no need for frills in relation to the testimony of God, no need for stained glass windows, no need for choirs, not a bit of need for them. It is a question of the power, and not the garb, in which Christ appears. It is the power that tells. His word was the power.
Now to finish I want to point out in John’s gospel how this is seen in relation to the Lord’s Person, how in His loveliness as a wearied man, for that is what is said of Him, He sat wearied with His journey. He was a real man. He felt tired and He sat thus as He was. It was with no attempt to conceal His tiredness. He was a real Person. The scripture says, “The Father loves the Son”. A beautiful statement that is. Of course the Father loves the Son, but the Spirit of God says He loves the Son. “The Father loves the Son”. The Corinthians had had Him presented to them and they had been espoused to Him, and now the Spirit of God says, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in His hand”. That is to bring out the constitution of the economy of love. The preference is on the part of the Father. John the baptist says.
“He ... is preferred before me”. The Father has preferential love and Jesus came in for preferential love. He is before all. The Father prefers Him. He has the first place in love, one in whom the Father has infinite confidence. He has put all things into His hands. Now that is the setting of this passage, and the Lord knows it well, infinitely so. He never lost view of His service and no one stresses it more than John, who at the same time stresses His Deity. He is seen here moving about, going through Samaria to Galilee, and He is weary in the way. Let our hearts be touched, dear brethren. He is not asleep here. He is asleep on the lake where there is nothing to do, but there is something to do here. A poor destitute, despicable person comes out at the sixth hour of the day. The Lord is weary with the journey, but He is not turning aside from work, and the work came to Him. It had come to Him, and in this very chapter He says to His servants, “I have food to eat which ye do not know”. The Lord has to say to us sometimes, that He is going on with something that we do not know of. He says, “My food is that I should do the will of him that has sent me, and that I should finish his work”. He was doing it. Although He was wearied with the journey, He was not wearied with the work. Someone sings, ‘Have in Thy service rest’. The Lord knew that. What rest He had in that work as He discoursed to that poor sinner who came to know Him as a Saviour.
So He became the evangelist. What rest He has in that way. He says, “Lift up your eyes, and behold the fields, for they are already white to harvest ... others have laboured, and ye have entered into their labours”. They had to be reminded of it. One needed to go into the city to buy bread, but they all went, and as we are told in John 8, “Jesus was left alone”. It is Jesus alone here with the woman so as to disclose to her the love of God and make her an [p. 536] evangelist. In the presence of all this He says to her, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”. This instance is to bring out what is there, not simply a person who can perform miracles, but One who is God. That is something that one would point out, dear brethren, in regard to the gospel of John. His ministry is to bring us into the presence of the Deity and it does. That woman was in the presence of Deity. To the outward observer He was a weary man, asking for a drink of water, but He said, “If thou knewest”. I should like to know if the suggestion attaching to this is very attractive to you. What does she say? I should like to know. Zacchaeus wanted to know and the Lord valued Him. But the Lord says, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is”; that is, He suggested the presence of the Deity, and that is what God is helping us in. In the knowledge of His Deity we do not want to add to Him. He is too great to be added to, but the education in these passages is to put the thought of it in our souls. We are brought into the presence of Deity, for we are in the presence of One who is God.
Well, that was what I intended to bring before you hoping that the Lord would help us to go on quietly learning more of this One. May God bless it to us.