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"IN THE SAME SPIRIT"

Andrew Burr

It is evident that, if the inheritance is to be possessed, it must be in the power of life. Only to have title to the inheritance is not enough, nor is it sufficient simply to have the form of it. God has called us to the inheritance of a living God, and the great elements of the truth that He has revealed to us relate to living matters. I do not know if I speak for others in saying that it is easier - I will not say easy - to master something of the form and the doctrine than it is to be maintained vitally in the life in which the inheritance is to be enjoyed. We often speak together about how we might be maintained more vitally. I do not think that there can be a text book answer to that question because life does not really manifest itself in that way. Indeed, Paul says "the letter kills, but the Spirit quickens", 2 Cor 3: 6. And it is apparent also that there is no room in these matters for the flesh. The Lord Jesus says that "It is the Spirit which quickens, the flesh profits nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit and life", John 6: 63. If I may speak for others, we long, I believe, to be more invigorated by the power of that life. I do not think that the scripture gives us any assurance that it will be easy. We have the flesh in us which wars against the Spirit, and Satan is set, perhaps above all things, to hinder and obscure and corrupt the manifestation in life of the truth of the present day. We will remember that a brother once spoke to us about the God of the mountains and of the valleys (see 1 Kings 20: 28). I think he said that Satan may not focus upon the great salient truths because they are established like the mountains, but he will defy us to work them out.

We live in a day which is different from the one in which these letters were written, but that does not mean to say that that day was easy. The state in Corinth was manifestly very difficult. One of the things that concerns us in the present day is the proliferation of sects and the way that that impedes the communion of believers in the great truths which are the heritage of all. In Corinth the sects were within. How difficult it must have made the working out of assembly life that the local assembly was itself sectarian. Things have become more openly divided now. The people to whom Paul wrote these letters were themselves very difficult people. They were naughty and rebellious children, they were marked by quite hurtful ingratitude. Paul loved them abundantly and he was willing to love them more abundantly, but he reckoned that if he did that he might yet find that they loved him less. He says that "if even in abundantly loving you I should be less loved", 2 Cor 12: 15. We might have said to Paul, Is it not time we lowered the standard? is it not time perhaps to make do as best we can? I think it is very fine to see in these passages how Paul is able to maintain the truth as he held it, and that he had those with whom he could work it out. If the truth is to be worked out it must involve the availability of those with whom we can walk. It is one thing to say that these great truths are true of all and how we rejoice in it! There may be many people of whom things are true of which they are not aware confined as they are in systems where the light of those precious truths but dimly shines. But we hold the truth we know for them. It would be right to say that we have to hold the truth abstractly because not all are available. Even if only one was not available it would still be right to hold the truth abstractly for the sake of that brother, otherwise he has to be excluded. Would that our outlook encompassed in a right way all those to whom the precious truths we hold belong. Let us think, for example, of brethren who have left us, who will not walk with us. We hold these precious truths for them. Maybe it would give God a basis to recover them if we held this more positively.

I draw attention to these men of whom Paul writes, the three of them. I am very attracted by this reference to Titus - "have we not walked in the same spirit?" He does not say, Have we walked by the same rules? He does not refer to anything outward at all, at first, but "have we not walked in the same spirit?" Titus is commended. It is interesting that he did not have much in common with Paul naturally: Paul was a Jew and Titus was a Gentile, Paul was circumcised, Timothy was circumcised, Titus was not circumcised. Their unity together was not an outward thing, it was not a ceremonial thing, it was not a ritual thing, it was a spiritual thing. I do not want to imply in any way that this makes it unreal; I believe it is proved by us. We may say that things arise and we do not always agree, but it is possible still to walk in the same spirit. It is not the spirit of the world, it is a spirit that has been given to us of God. It is a spirit in which we can walk and walk together. Beloved, it is a great comfort to know that, however difficult things are, there will be those with whom we can have this kind of communion, and through it to enjoy and experience the truth of what we hold. This truth, I believe, is proved to be true by being able to experience it, and that is done practically by walking in the same spirit. As we walk in the same spirit we shall also walk in the same steps. What a precious thing it is to be able to walk together! Let us value more and more the privilege of walking together. Let this walk not simply be a matter of assent, let it not be uniformity or conformity, but let us pray that it might increasingly be the fruit of walking in the same spirit.

I make reference to chapter 8 because I want to draw out how much there might be in a brother. What commendation these men are able to bear. Of the first one it says ''whose praise is in the glad tidings through all the assemblies" and he was "our fellow-traveller with this grace". I suppose that refers to the money that he was taking, but how Paul elevates it. I think they were going to Jerusalem with a gift, but Paul says of this brother that he was able to bear what was "ministered by us to the glory of the Lord himself". What a commendation that is, to be a brother in the work of the Lord Himself. Then we have this other brother. I hesitate to name any who might qualify in this way, but I could - thinking of a brother who has not long been taken from us - "often proved to be of diligent zeal in many things, and now more diligently zealous through the great confidence he has as to you". What a brother: "diligent zeal in many things"! How could you say of a brother like this that he held anything in the letter? His concern in taking up the precious truths of fellowship and the assembly would be to hold them in the same spirit as Paul and to do it zealously.

I believe that it is people like this who ride the storms. It is people like this who come through the kind of difficulties that were faced at Corinth. It is people like this who we need in a day of breakdown, people who are steadfast, who are ready to go on. They do not just endure but go on zealously. They are an evident testimony that they are quickened persons. They walk in the power of the truth they hold. Let us make it a subject of our prayers that these things may mark us more and more. Thus we may be drawn closer together and helped to go on in power.

LONDON

15 December 1992

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