INTELLIGENCE IN THE ASSEMBLY
[p. 17] INTELLIGENCE IN THE ASSEMBLY
1 Corinthians 11:17 - 26; Acts 1:1 - 5
— The apostle addresses Christians, in the epistle to the Corinthians, as intelligent persons, in connection with the subject of the assembly. “I speak”, he says, “as to intelligent persons: do ye judge what I say” 1 Corinthians 10:15. So that we see it is a matter of spiritual intelligence to understand the truth regarding the assembly. The Corinthians were lacking in spiritual intelligence — the intelligence that accompanies spiritual growth. The apostle is obliged to address himself to these Corinthians “as to babes in Christ”. Being in that defective state, they were not capable of laying hold of the depths and hidden wisdom of God. Consequently, the apostle laboured to lead them forward in their spiritual intelligence. He says to them, “In malice be babes; but in your minds be grown men” 1 Corinthians 14:20. And again, “Quit yourselves like men” (1 Corinthians 16:13), that is to say, persons who have their senses exercised for distinguishing both good and evil.
It is said of Samuel that he “grew before Jehovah” 1 Samuel 2:21. His mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year. The coat of the past year could not serve for the following year. The child had developed. The first epistle to the Corinthians is like this little coat. It was made for them. They were very small, undeveloped; the apostle could not address them as grown men. In the second epistle, we see, so to speak, a larger coat. They had made progress, and they are clothed with more spiritual and deeper thoughts. It is said of Samuel that he “grew on, and was in favour both with Jehovah and also with men” (1 Samuel 2:26); he continued to increase in stature. Then, when later [p. 18] he began to speak for Jehovah, it is said that Jehovah “let none of his words fall to the ground” 1 Samuel 3:19. The words of grown men, fully developed, are to be kept; they are of value. On the other hand, the words of a Christian who is not developed fall to the ground and remain there. Many things which we say are quickly forgotten, even by us who say them; but when it is a question of a grown man, like Samuel, the Holy Spirit notes that none of his words fall to the ground.
With regard to the assembly, the Corinthians could not be praised. They did not assemble together as they should have done. They were no doubt accustomed to come together regularly in the same place; but it is not sufficient to come together. It is a matter of coming together “in assembly”, and as thus coming together “in assembly” of knowing how the Lord’s supper is to be taken with dignity.
— What is the difference between coming together and coming together in assembly?
— Coming together into one place does not necessarily mean coming together in assembly. To come together is one thing; to come together in assembly is another. To come together in assembly means that each one of those who come together thus is intelligent as to what the assembly means. For example, we have come together this evening, but we have not come together in assembly. In the gospel of Matthew, the disciples were taught of the Lord to discern what the assembly means. The Lord taught them that it was necessary to refuse carefully the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees and Sadducees came up and asked the Lord for a sign, but He answered them: “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall not be give to it save the sign of Jonas” (Matthew 16:4), that is to say, that of death and resurrection. Then it is added that “He left them and went away”.
[p. 19] Not merely that He left them, but He put a distance between Him and them. “He ... went away”. Thus, there is a distance, a clean separation, between the Lord on the one hand, and the Pharisees and Sadducees on the other. But the Lord went away with His own to the other side. This voyage tested the disciples. They had forgotten to take bread with them. In the assembly what is suitable must not be forgotten. It is the place of spiritual activity and intelligence. The Lord said to them, “See and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” Matthew 16:6. That is to say that it is possible for us to leave them and to carry away their leaven with us. We may carry away the religious leaven of the flesh and of that fleshly intellect, that is to say, of infidels and of religious persons. It is perhaps in that that the brethren have suffered most from those who brought with them the leaven of associations. The disciples thought the Lord was speaking of bread; but in reality the Lord was speaking of what is spiritual. We have to learn and to speak spiritually in connection with the assembly. Then it says that “they comprehended” finally that He was not speaking to them of leaven in connection with bread, but in connection with the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. The word comprehend is important; it is a matter of looking around to measure and take in the things relating to the assembly. There are two words: ‘understand’ (verse 11) and ‘comprehend’ (verse 12). “How do ye not understand that it was not concerning bread I said to you, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? Then they comprehended that he did not speak of being beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees” Matthew 16:11. As an illustration, I can understand the thought of the universe, but I cannot comprehend it; for that is beyond my capacity. In approaching what concerns the assembly we must [p. 20] examine everything, measure everything, weigh everything, in order to arrive at comprehending. When it is a question of a case of discipline, it is necessary to take account of all that characterises the man and what are his circumstances: it is necessary to understand and to comprehend.
In chapter 15 of the Acts, there was a conference concerning the nations; it was a question of knowing whether they must be put under the law. There were many discussions. The apostles and elders were gathered together to consider and examine the situation, and it was examined from all sides. Then, the apostles, the elders, and the whole assembly, arrived at a decision, and finally it says, “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28). We are therefore to be divinely instructed to take our place intelligently in the assembly and to act there in a suitable manner, according to the Lord. The assembly is something very great and nothing can be compared to it in the whole universe of God.
Now, in Matthew 16:15, after having spoken of the leaven, the Lord puts this question to the disciples: “But ye, who do ye say that I am?” The question is not, What have you read and heard from the fathers? But, “Who do ye say that I am?”. And Peter answers, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” Matthew 16:16. Peter did not learn that from the books he had read; he did not learn it from meetings; but it was a direct revelation from the Father. Thus, my place in the assembly means that I am in relation with God and that I profit by the revelation that He has made to me of His thoughts. And the Lord said to him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens. And I also, I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and Hades’ gates shall not prevail against it” Matthew 16:17,18. Thus, Peter was like a [p. 21] sample of the material that the Lord would use to build the assembly. “I ... on this rock, I will build”; the thought of the rock is expressed in Peter’s confession, and it was the expression of the measure in which he had perceived and understood the Person of Christ.
In the first epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle labours to lead the Corinthians into these truths. They were “as babes” who were coming together in a human way. It is true that they came together regularly into one place, but there were sects among them, and the way they acted, their behaviour, caused the assembly to be despised. That is why he said, “When ye come therefore together into one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper”. They were not approaching this sacred memorial in an intelligent way, and the apostle recalls to them what he had received from the Lord Jesus and had communicated to them. He explains and unfolds to them the features and spiritual meaning of the Lord’s supper. It is a question of approaching it with spiritual intelligence, as a spiritual memorial. It is the Lord’s supper that opens the way by which the Lord can come in and take His place with His own. It is not merely coming together; it is much more. By means of the Supper, we recall the Lord in a living way to our remembrance.
— In instituting it, the Lord Himself would maintain His place in the heart of His own.
— So that these passages in 1 Corinthians 11 link up completely with the beginning of the Acts. We read in the Acts: “Being assembled with them, commanded them” (Acts 1:4) — Jesus “commanded them”. The four evangelists do not use such expressions in their gospels. They do not say that the Lord assembled with His own. Luke, at the end of his gospel, relates that when the disciples were gathered together, the Lord stood in their midst. But he does not say in [p. 22] the gospel, as he does in the Acts, that the Lord assembled with them: that is reserved for the Acts of which the object is to lead us into the assembly. The Lord would make His disciples understand how they could assemble after His resurrection. So it says, “Being assembled with them, (he) commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem” Acts 1:4. He assembled with them in order to command. That is to give us to understand that He comes into the midst of His own to direct everything.
— When it is a question of the Pharisees and Sadducees, He indicates the sign that will take place, and leaves them there. The death of Christ separates us from this world. Between His own on the one hand, and the Pharisees and Sadducees on the other, there is the death of Christ.
— He assembled with them; that is very important because, if the Lord acted thus, He did it in order that His disciples might understand it, and come together, and act later in assembly.
— The Lord assembles with His disciples during those forty days before leaving them. They depart the same day that they had seen Him go up into heaven, and gather in the upper chamber; Peter stands up with intelligence as to the Lord’s commandments, and says, An apostle is missing; an apostle must be found; that apostle must have characteristic features. “It is necessary therefore, that of the men who have assembled with us all the time in which the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day in which he was taken up from us, one of these should be a witness with us of his resurrection” Acts 1:21,22. These verses show that Peter had laid hold intelligently of what the Lord had wished to teach them in assembling with them after His resurrection. Peter had acquired intelligence to know what needed to be done after the ascension of Christ while awaiting [p. 23] the descent of the Holy Spirit, when the disciples were alone. When we are left alone, the test shows whether we have learnt what should be done at the moment when there is something to do. Peter answered to the test and said, There must be an apostle who has been among the witnesses from the beginning. Since the day of Pentecost the assembly is the great interest of God upon this earth; and He is working by His Spirit so that His children may be led into the understanding of what the assembly means, and that all may take and fill out their place in the assembly.
— The Lord did not name the twelfth apostle, but left the care of doing this to His own.
— Why was another necessary?
— Because the number twelve speaks of administration according to the thought of God. You have twelve tribes, twelve apostles, twelve foundations.
God never gives up any of His thoughts. The Lord would have in each locality a vessel at His disposal, a local assembly which can function in testimony in a manner worthy of Him: “My assembly”. He has here, at St. Etienne, His assembly, and He desires that His assembly may be in evidence, composed of all those who are intelligent so that He may use them in testimony as a vessel at His disposal. Thus, the epistle to the Corinthians is addressed “to the assembly of God which is in Corinth” 1 Corinthians 1:2.
— To learn the mind of God, one must be in the assembly. It is impossible to know it if one is outside.
Reading with J.T. at St. Etienne, 1st May, 1926, evening.