“YE HAVE DONE IT TO ME”

W. S. Chellberg

Matthew 25: 31–40; Acts 9: 1–5

I think, dear brethren, that as we find our affections are bound up with Christ, with Jesus, we find that there is an area in which we can display our affections for Him at the present time in a real way. There is extensive prophecy in this scripture in Matthew, but I wish to make an application of this to ourselves at the present time. “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me”; I think that applies at the present time.

Hungering, thirsting, naked, in prison, stranger; that was Jesus. And as we appreciate that in our spirits our hearts are moved; then what the Lord says is that He will account what we do to each other as done unto Himself. “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?”. Who was Saul persecuting? He was persecuting the saints. How affecting it is to think of our links together on this level. We tend to resolve our links into family ties, and links in natural matters, and I suppose that is not entirely wrong. Paul says that he dwelt with some because they were tent-makers (see Acts 18: 3), so there was a certain common link in their craft. But what about our links with each other in the truth, in Christ? It is very impressive and important to me that they be right, because of what Jesus says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren”, one of the least of these. No room for class, no room for a caste system as there has been in years gone by in various countries, but the least of these.

Have we thought about this enough? Hebrews 13: 1 says, “Be not forgetful of hospitality; for by it some have unawares entertained angels”. These things are important in our localities, in our links perhaps on the closest level, where we are together often, and it is often in this area where difficulties arise, misunderstandings, and other personality matters that enter into our links together. It should not be, dear brethren, and I think the Lord would attract us into another line of things, not attempting to make another brother conform to my personality, or my way of things. We are working together, we are all together, we have one object. What is that object? Our business, or our home? What is our object? Our object is Christ, it is Jesus; He is the centre. The apostle speaks to the Philippians about “thinking one thing” and thinking the same thing (Philippians 2: 2). I think the Lord is going to get at these matters by our affections—“Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it to me”.

How attractive it is to think of the Lord feeling thus as to whatever is rendered. Another scripture speaks about giving a disciple a cup of water in His name (see Mark 9: 41). So the Lord speaks about one of the least, that is, simple in faith, simple in the teaching. You might say, ‘Well, they do not know all the ministry; how can you work things out with persons like that?’. The Lord says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren”. It is just affecting me, dear brethren, as to our being moved in our hearts in an affectionate way toward Christ, giving Him comfort, as did the woman in Luke 7, and sympathetic with what is proceeding in the testimony. We had that at Indianapolis, the thought of bearing, carrying matters, and the Lord is saying now that in our links together this thing has to be worked out. It is not just something for us to think about, to go over mentally, but it is something that is to work out practically. He is saying, ‘Now this must be worked out’.

How are we going to work it out? You may say, ‘I am a comfort to Christ, but I cannot stand that brother, and I cannot have him in my house’, and so on. Can that be? It says, “If any one say, I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar”, 1 John 4: 20. John speaks in black-and-white terms; he does not minimize anything; he says, “He is a liar”. So the Lord would encourage us, whatever the circumstances, whatever the need. Here are some examples—He says, hungering, thirsting, a stranger, naked, ill, and in prison. These are some extreme things, but I think there is much room for this to be applied at the present time. There are many who are in prison, many who are ill, many who are hungering and thirsting. Can we come in, dear brethren, like the householder who brought out of his treasure “things new and old”, Matthew 13: 52? Can we supply what is needed for each other? It says, “Two are better than one” and “a threefold cord is not quickly broken”, Ecclesiastes 4: 9, 12. That is, if one of us stumbles you can pick him up. I think that is an attractive thing.

What a powerful thing it is in a locality where the saints work together in this way; what a powerful testimony it is. The Lord says, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine”, John 13: 35. Why? Because you have the highest teaching, and have the most books on your shelves? No; in that “ye have love amongst yourselves”. What an attractive thing! It is irresistible; a locality like this is irresistible, and the Lord is urging us to move into it. But it must begin with myself; it must begin with my relations with Jesus Himself, my comforting Him, my total absorption with Him, that He is the centre of everything. Then I am not concerned about the little matter that a brother irritates my personality, or he just kind of grates against me, or something. I hesitate even to mention these things, but the Lord is speaking about them in principle, persons who are naked, and who are ill. The apostle says in Corinthians, “Many among you are weak and infirm, and a good many are fallen asleep”, 1 Corinthians 11: 30. That is an impressive thing to think about, that because of the way they had come to disregard the Lord’s supper they were actually physically infirm, and some had even died. I suppose we have, not thought enough about the reality of that, that this can be so.

So here He says, “I was ill”, and then He transfers it to the least of the brethren. You find a brother who is ill; I am not speaking physically exactly, though that may come into it, but he is a person in whom something is not right. Peter’s mother-in-law had a fever; she was all agitated, all excited about things. What can we do? How can we come in, dear brethren? You and I, each one of us, are to bring out, as it were, from our spiritual bank account what is needed for a brother or a sister, helping them in whatever way we can. Paul says, “I became to the weak, as weak”, 1 Corinthians 9: 22. Paul said that, and how strong he was,

but he says, ‘To the weak, I was weak’. He could get near to a brother. So we read about Paul persecuting the assembly. What a beginning, dear brethren, and I think it goes back to what we were saying in the reading, that our beginning is so important; the foundation of this whole thing is important, my own sense of personal forgiveness, the sense of what the Lord has done for me. How important that is! Then it just goes on and leads to a powerful testimony here at the present time to the name of Jesus, that “ye have love amongst yourselves”.

So the Lord’s own words to Saul, right there, stricken down on the road to Damascus, stopped in his tracks, were, ‘Why are you persecuting Me?’. Saul says, ‘Well, I did not know I was. I was just getting some christian people over here and hauling them to prison’. “Why dost thou persecute me?” What a powerful word! The Lord stops him right there, and shortly Saul has to do with one of them, Ananias. Shortly he comes, a brother we never heard of before and we never hear of again. What a storehouse Ananias had, that when the Lord spoke to him he could go to “one of the least of these” and raise him up, and it was Paul.

Well, how simple it is, dear brethren, if we only have our affections right. I know it is a testing thing for us, but it is clear that in the testimony there is power in persons who are moving under the Lord’s direction and who are together in love. It is clear that that is so. I think that the Lord has manifested it to us in some sense; we would not boast, but in some sense we have seen it; we have seen it happening in other localities and in this locality. I am conscious of it here, that the saints are working together in love. But can we expand this thought, can we treat of it, as

being persons of wealth, as householders who have a storehouse, a treasure house which is full? It is full of things new and old, but it is full of what is needed.

It is like the Samaritan, who found the man on the road to Jericho. Why would he be carrying oil and wine with him? You might say, ‘He was journeying and you do not usually carry this sort of thing’. But he had it, and I think, dear brethren, that we are finding more and more that we have it, and it is just a matter of using it, of having the heart, the affections, right, centred on Christ, focused on Him our Object; then we are prepared to expend ourselves for our brother or sister, one who is a stranger, one who is ill, who is hungering or thirsting in a spiritual sense. What does this mean, hungering and thirsting? Have you seen someone hungering, someone thirsting? I think we have. The Lord is looking at the present time for persons who can help, persons who have wealth. They may be the persons with the least money; the wealthiest persons may be the ones with the least money. But at any rate they are wealthy persons with a storehouse that has all the things that are needed for anyone in trouble.

Well, I trust, dear brethren, that these few thoughts will help and will encourage us not to stop at saying, ‘That is a good thing, and I would like to think about it some more’, but rather, ‘I want to put it into practice’. In Corinthians the apostle speaks about the members that are least esteemed; “Those parts of the body which we esteem to be the more void of honour, these we clothe with more abundant honour” (1 Corinthians 12: 23), we clothe them. Can we do this as we function together in each of our localities? Can we clothe these parts with more abundant honour? I think we can; we

have the power of the Blessed Holy Spirit, and I would credit each of us with having affection for Christ. I trust that this will be developed amongst us, with myself as well, that we might be able to function as one, affording a powerful testimony, that there might be an area where God is pleased to reveal things prophetically. It says, “The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 19: 10); so there is an area where a person coming in falls down and says, “God is indeed amongst you”, 1 Corinthians 14: 25. Well, thank God that we have some sense of that, “a little power” (Revelation 3: 8), but I trust it will be developed and increased amongst us, for His name’s sake.

Address at Toronto
12 February 1977