SPIRITUAL WEALTH
[p. 386] SPIRITUAL WEALTH
2 Corinthians 8:1 - 9; Titus 3:5; Deuteronomy 26:1 - 11
I have in mind to speak about wealth, that which as known in material things men of the world strain after, not indeed so much because of itself, but because of what can be acquired with it; whereas that which the Christian thinks of is spiritual. I wish to speak of the latter, mainly in its ability as qualifying us for approach to God, but I wish also to speak of it as qualifying us for divine representation in this world.
What I would desire first of all to dwell upon is the passage in 2 Corinthians, connected as it is with material giving on the part of the saints, for whilst wealth through material things has become defiled, called indeed the “mammon of unrighteousness” (Luke 16:9), yet in the hands of the Christian, as held in relation to God, it becomes sanctified, for “every creature of God is good” (1 Timothy 4:4), and there can be no wealth apart from the creatures of God. The believer regards them as from God, and what comes to him through them he holds normally in relation to God; and so they become sanctified, and may, indeed, become the very expression of divine love operative in him. Those who bore the bounty given by the saints for the relief of the poor are regarded in this epistle as messengers of assemblies, Christ’s glory; 2 Corinthians 8:23.
In what I have to say, therefore, I am in no wise disparaging what may be in the hands of the saints in a material way, as held in relation to God and used for the promotion of His interests at the present time, but the riches spoken of in the verses I read are not these. Material things perish in the handling, whereas the riches which God has in His mind for us are [p. 387] durable, imperishable; and it is of these that I desire to speak at this time.
Whilst recognising fully the value, relatively, of material things as used for the Lord, we have always to remember the warning to those who are, or would be, rich, that whilst riches may be honourably used for God, as they were in the case of Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a rich man, yet it is to be noted that the Lord was with him in His death — not in His life. He was “with the rich in his death” (Isaiah 53:9) — a very solemn reminder of the relative value of riches. They were useful in that case to procure the tomb; it was the fulfilment of prophecy, and it is a very remarkable reference to the use of riches in a material sense, but nevertheless the word is that He was “with the rich in his death” Isaiah 53:9. The death of Christ, beloved, in no sense enhances the riches of this world, possessed by whomsoever; the death of Christ signifies the end of them; they can go so far and no farther; useful at His burial, they have nothing to do with His resurrection.
As I said, therefore, I would desire to speak about the spiritual, the durable riches, those which set us up before God, and what is to be noted is that the Lord Jesus had to become poor in order that we might be rich; not surely that we might be rich in this world’s goods, for thousands and millions of people had been rich in these before He died, before He became poor. There was a man who had been rich, of whom indeed He Himself speaks in a most touching manner. One came to Him saying, “Teacher, speak to my brother to divide the inheritance with me” Luke 12:13. What inheritance? Not the inheritance of God, but some property that had come down to them both from their forefathers. The Lord had nothing to do with that. He was not here in connection with that. “Who established me as a judge or a divider over you?” (Luke 12:14) the Lord replies, and then He [p. 388] speaks the parable about the rich man whose riches had increased, the ground having yielded plentifully for him. How much would enter into the Lord’s mind as He thought of God and the earth, and as He spoke of the ground — the ground that had come up out of the waters of death, the ground which at His command brought forth fruit — the grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit; and that man had gained the profit of it. But what was all that when He had to fall into it and die? And so He speaks witheringly about the rich man; his soul should be required of him that night. He was not rich towards God. The Lord came that man might be rich towards God. We are reckoned in heaven as rich, beloved, on these lines, not according to our financial ratings in the commercial world. The question is, what are our ratings in heaven? There are ratings there; men are taken account of as rich according to their spiritual wealth Godward; and so the Lord, as it says here, became poor. I need not speak of His wealth before He became man, and even after He became man, for all that was of God came down to Him. Being the Son, everything that was of God in the creation came to Him; He was the Heir, and being also the Son of man, all that belonged to man from God came to Him — He was the Heir of all.
But He became poor. One would love to be able to depict the poverty of Christ! Can we understand it? How His bones stuck out, as He says; instead of being clothed in His own fat, He felt His leanness as in His vicarious position before God. He became poor. It is for each of us to look into the word and understand the poverty that He entered into and to feed upon the holy food which is involved in it, and to note that it was that we might be rich: “That ye by his poverty might be enriched”.
Before proceeding to Deuteronomy I want to speak [p. 389] briefly of certain features of spiritual riches which God would have appear in us. First there is faith. I shall only touch on one or two features. James speaks of certain who were poor in “the world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom” James 2:5. “Rich in faith” involves that I take in richly the light presented to me in Christ, that I am not living according to sight, that I am not looking at seen things at all, but that I am apprehending the things of God in Christ; in other words, that I am in another world. I am laying hold of God, I am laying hold of His power, of His love, of His counsels, and I am resting in regard of everything on what has come out in Christ on the part of God. Apart from these things there is no definiteness in us at all, nor any moral power in our words, in our walk, or in our ways. We are to walk by faith, to walk in the light of the mind of God, of the power of God, of the love of God, of the counsels of God, and as knowing that I am included in the counsels of God. I am living in a divine unseen system instead of a system that is seen.
I pass on to another feature, and that is what the apostle speaks of as marking the Corinthians in what I may call a semi-objective way — they were enriched, he says, in all knowledge and word of doctrine; 1 Corinthians 1:5. 1 do not say that the Corinthians were characterised by these, but the presence of the Holy Spirit in them had brought all that to light — in everything, it says, they were enriched in Christ, in all knowledge and in all word of doctrine according as the testimony of the Christ was confirmed in them, so that they came behind in no gift.
Now I want to dwell for a moment on these two features — all knowledge and word of doctrine. At the present time the world is full of teaching, full of books, full of theories. What is called science is simply knowledge. It is the same word. But what you will find in it is the absence of finality, the [p. 390] absence of definiteness. One would wish that the Lord’s people, as possessing the Spirit come down from heaven, should be marked by definiteness, by knowledge, by finality, that is to say, that they know something, and that they are not dependent upon what man has said, or upon theory, but that there may be, as the Lord says, something of “We speak that which we know” John 3:11. I do verily believe that the Lord would impress upon us the importance of definiteness in what we believe, in what we say, in what we profess to know, so that there should be the word of doctrine amongst us, and that as we come together there should be something definite. It is surely not the Lord’s mind that there should be the absence of help of this kind, that there should be poverty amongst us. The apostle says to Titus that God has shed the Holy Spirit upon us richly. If the Holy Spirit has been poured out on us richly, why should there be poverty?
The saints are to be enriched in all knowledge and word of doctrine, so our Bible readings should be simple, dignified, and take on a spiritual intelligence. Nothing can ever come out of discussion. You will remember that when the Lord came down from the mount of Transfiguration the disciples were in a discussion. The scribes were discussing with them — there was a sort of controversy, but nothing in it! A poor man had come with a child who had a demon, and he says to the Lord, “I have brought to thee my son ... I spoke to thy disciples, that they might cast him out, and they could not”. It is a question of being able to help. “O unbelieving generation”, He says, “how long shall I bear with you?” Mark 9:17 - 20. If the Holy Spirit has been poured upon us richly, why should we be in poverty? It is a want of industry, a want of drawing from the right source, so that there should be knowledge and the word of doctrine and [p. 391] thus the testimony of the Christ confirmed; that is to say, we understand, we know, we are sure that what we hold is the truth. Hence it says, “If any one speak”. How is he to speak? Is it a theory? There are no hypotheses at all amongst the people of God. “If any one speak — as oracles of God” 1 Peter 4:11. If the testimony of the Christ is confirmed, why not speak as the oracles of God? Now this is an important matter; for if the meetings are to be profitable and attractive, there must be that which is governed by knowledge, by spiritual intelligence and by word of doctrine, conveying the thought that the testimony of the Christ is confirmed in us.
Now I refer to another thing, namely, richness in good works. We are to be “rich in good works” 1 Timothy 6:18. The need around us is very great, and to be representative of God there must be something of this nature; if there is to be any testimony it must be according to what shone in Christ. It is said of Him that He “went through all quarters doing good ... because God was with him” Acts 10:38. I have no doubt that the good works spoken of in Ephesians which God has prepared that we should walk in them, refer to the works that shone in Christ. If the assembly is to be the fulness of Christ, the expression of Christ here, there must be something in the way of good works, and these are to be taken up as an obligation. I do not understand simply giving what may be put in the box, as we speak, as answering to good works. What I understand by good works is a reckoning as to the need, a taking account of the need and meeting it to the utmost of our ability. If thy brother hunger you must feed him; if he thirst, you must give him drink. How dwells the love of God in him who disregards a hungry or a naked brother? You must take account of his hunger and his nakedness and meet them; the divine thought in Christ is to meet the need. “Good [p. 392] works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them” Ephesians 2:10. And if we are rich, we shall. We are to be rich in them; and to be rich in them, we must have riches; and God has shed forth the Spirit richly that there should be nothing lacking of these features among His people.
I want to go on now to Deuteronomy, because what I have in mind is what is due to God. If we are to worship God and carry out the service of God in the sanctuary, the entrance to which is thrown open to us, we must go in by the priest. “We have such a one high priest who has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens” (Hebrews 8:1), and it goes on to say that, being a high priest, He must have something to offer; in other words, He must have means. The point there is not what He offered, but that He had something to offer. There were infinite riches in Christ; there was nothing lacking in Him, I need not say, as to the service of God; it was met in every way. Hence in Hebrews 9 we have what is called the “eternal inheritance” Hebrews 9:15. The way into the sanctuary is indicated, but who are to go in? We go in by the priest, by the new and living way, but then, who is to go in? Those who are possessed of the eternal inheritance. Now I wish you particularly to notice this, because the service of God in Scripture is made to depend on the wealth of the saints; not that they can be a source in themselves, surely, for whatever we have is from God. He has shed upon us abundantly the means of wealth, and so you find in the book of Exodus that the very material of the sanctuary came from the people, and then too in regard of the temple the abundance came from the people. All the material came from the people. Hence, in Hebrews 9, as I said, we have an “eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15), and in Ephesians 1:14 the Spirit is said to be the earnest of it, so that in possession of the inheritance we have means.
[p. 393] We do not appear before God empty. The possession of the inheritance furnishes us with the means. In Deuteronomy the males were to appear before God thrice in the year and in no case was any male in Israel to appear on those occasions empty. He was to come with something in his hands.
Now I believe that God looks for this in the most practical way. He looks for a state marked by a certain amount of wealth amongst His people; so that in coming to Him in the light of the sanctuary, in the light of the new and living way, we come there with something, we come with some measure of spiritual wealth, and hence the inheritance, the eternal inheritance, of which the Holy Spirit is the earnest. Thus the believer is enriched, he is enabled to draw near to God with something in his hands. Is it so with us? Is it so that every believer nominally in fellowship has accepted the obligation of drawing near to God with something in his hands — some wealth? This is a very searching question.
You see an Israelite, for instance, coming down from Dan, which was a long way to Jerusalem. His land may not have been so fertile as the land on the plain by the Mediterranean, but, nevertheless, he comes down all those miles to Jerusalem. He arrives at Jerusalem; his mind is to draw near to God, to worship God. He has got that in his mind all the way down and he arrives at Jerusalem. The priest is there, the temple is there, the way in is plain, but what has he got? He goes in by the gate of the temple, but if he has got nothing in his hands, there is no place for him! The priest is not there to look after an empty-handed worshipper, he is there to take what he has got in his hands. He may as well have stayed at home, he has added nothing to Jerusalem, he has brought nothing. The command was that he was not to go empty. Have we ever taken that home to ourselves? It is a command to us, that we are not to [p. 394] appear before God empty. Another man comes from Beersheba; he has a good farm, he has been prosperous; he may drive some cattle before him, or he may take money in his bag — sell his cattle at Beersheba and buy others at Jerusalem. He has got means, he arrives at Jerusalem, he buys his sacrifice — his bullock or his sheep, or his goat, or whatever it may be; he draws near to the priest; he is accepted. He has added to what is there. There is food for God there and there is food for the priest.
Do you see how the thing stands? God has not changed. These things were written for us, and if we draw near to God we must have something to offer. This man contemplated in Deuteronomy 26 has entered upon the inheritance; that is the secret of it. It says, “When thou comest into the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein” — that is the secret. You have entered on the inheritance by the Spirit, you have taken possession of it by the Spirit, and you dwell in it. You are living in the light of the mind of God for you, in the light of the purpose of His love, you are enjoying it by the Spirit, you are enjoying these holy features, and you are growing rich, and immediately you fill your basket with firstfruits. The firstfruits signify the freshest; the very best and most spiritual thoughts you have are put together. The most energetic affections you have are all brought together and you come to God, and you give; you are occupied for the moment with what you have got, not with what others may have when you get there. And now you give, and you give it to the priest, which indicates that God has to be approached, not simply by a wealthy person, but by a holy person, for we must have holiness. True enough, our great High Priest, Christ, is there, but nevertheless we draw near to God as priests ourselves — a holy priesthood, it says, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
[p. 395] acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; and we set down the basket.
Now the basket is yourself. The woman of Samaria got the idea from Christ; she understood that she was to be a vessel, and so it carries right through that the believer is himself a vessel — a vessel of mercy. What he had been is another matter. He says, “A perishing Aramaean was my father”. He knows fully what he had been, but then he goes on to speak about his exercises. How did the change come about? God works through a moral process, and the change came about by the sense he had of the oppression of the Egyptians. He began to feel it, and in the oppression he spoke to God; he began to be a priest then, although he did not know it, for we begin to be priests when we speak to God. In truth, the believer begins to acquire wealth as he learns to speak to God. As a new-born babe he desires the sincere milk of the word, and he grows by it. I would speak for the encouragement of any young people here — that you begin to put by a little wealth by thus feeding on the pure mental milk of the word, and you add to it until you become wealthy; you get fresh joys, the firstfruits, and you draw near to God with these in your basket. How fresh you are! Inside are all these precious thoughts of God by the Spirit — the precious thoughts of the inheritance, and so as you sit down in the meeting, you are full of life and energy, only waiting your opportunity to give expression to them in a priestly way. It may be through others, but it is from you, that is the point; you have brought your basket and the priest will take account of it and use it; he will use what you bring. You are the basket — the vessel of mercy “prepared for glory” (Romans 9:23), and withal a holy vessel, as David says, “the vessels of the young men are holy”, 1 Samuel 21:5. We are to possess our vessels in sanctification so that when we appear before God we are usable; our [p. 396] basket is there and the contents are full of Christ, full of precious thoughts about God, and about Christ, and about the inheritance. What rich meetings we should have if all present were filled thus! And so the service of God is to be continued, not in the poverty of mere threadbare expressions, but in the richness of a full basket of firstfruits. Whence came they? From the inheritance you have entered on, and possess, and dwell in, and you are accepted. Thus the work of God and the worship of God proceed, and God is glorified in His people.
In the closing verse I read it says, “thou shalt rejoice in all the good that Jehovah thy God hath given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in thy midst”. God has His portion now and you get yours. You rejoice in every good thing that He gives you. You see how happy, and free, and dignified the spiritual man is; he thinks of the Levite, the minister that ministers the truth to him, and the stranger; he is like God.
And so it is that the Lord would help us to understand the riches that He intended for us, that which was in His mind for us when He became poor, that through His poverty we might be rich.