HOW TO HELP THE CHURCH
HOW TO HELP THE CHURCH
No one can be truly right in service who does not understand the interests of his Lord. If a servant does as the Lord has directed him, he is working according to His mind, even though the servant may not know it himself. It is, however, a great loss to the servant not to know his master’s interests, because if he does not, he is ever liable to be drawn away from the direct call to service which he has received, and he becomes influenced by the need of man, or by his own feelings in various ways.
The great truth after that of being sealed by the Spirit of God is the construction of the church. “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body”. The one who enjoys the Spirit of adoption has, even though ignorant, an undefined sense of belonging to a company — that he is not an isolated unit. In Israel there was a national tie, and this gave each a common right or interest which was damaged or advanced by the conduct of any; but there was no spiritual tie which, like the nervous system in the human body, is instantly affected over the whole frame, however distant one part may be [p. 106] from the part where the sensation originated. “If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; and if one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it”. There is individual blessing first, conversion and sealing, but there is no true or intelligent service until one understands one’s relationship to Christ and His people. If a believer is only one of a company to whom special rights and privileges are committed, he loses if he in any way forfeits them; and he can mar the honour of any band of them if he is associated with them in any special service, as in the case of Achan at Jericho; but then the damage or gain is external, affecting their natural position, and not spiritual, affecting their moral state. When I apprehend the greatness and sensibility of the bond by which we are all united together, every one sealed by the Holy Spirit, then, the more I walk in the Spirit, the more I shall be conscious, even though I may not be able to ascertain the cause of it, how I am affected by that which affects the Spirit of God. For I am not only bound by Him to every member in this bond, but I have also drunk of Him myself. As I know that if one member suffers, all suffer with it, I seek, as my heart truly desires to help the church, that it should not suffer by me, nor indeed any one else. I am jealous over it with a godly jealousy, that I may present it a chaste virgin to Christ. This enjoins separation from every kind of evil, everything that would grieve the Spirit or hinder Him. Under this head all contact with the unclean, and all association with that which defiles, is of necessity placed. No one can help the church while he is connected with anything unholy, even in association. Unless I am personally separate, I cannot have the cheering sense of my Father’s favour and care. “Wherefore come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not what is unclean, and I will receive you; and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty”. And if I have not done so, how could I help the church?
[p. 107] On the contrary, the church suffers on my account. But it is not enough, in order to help the church, that it does not suffer, or that it should be preserved from suffering; though were it so, there would be undisturbed health, which would conduce to its edifying itself in love. Each member can promote positive help to the church, which in a day of feebleness and dislocation is very encouraging, “If one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it”; one solitary unit following the Lord faithfully, and receiving honour of God — “if any man serve me, him will my Father honour” — this member is the means of contributing cheer to the whole body. Thus we might say that there are two classes who help the church, one who does not cause it to suffer, the other who really contributes to it.
Let us now see how the latter must act in order to effect this help. While this service is open to any solitary unit, the advantage gained by such an one is not confined to himself, but is contributed to the whole body. Every act or step of individual devotedness helps the church. Hence the one who seeks to help it must not confine his service to the ministry of the truth, but must be a model in himself of the doctrine which he advocates. If the word is not of faith in power, there is not a fresh energy of the Spirit. It is this fresh energy of the Spirit which glorifies the unit, and thus obtains cheer for the whole body. It is not only faithfulness at the beginning, but an unbroken course of faithfulness and surrender. Possibly nothing has so hindered blessing as a great start. The tendency of it has been to lead the person to rest in what he had done, and whenever one refers to what he had done, it is very evident that he is not in the same energy now. The man who helps the church must be like Caleb after forty-five years. “And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore [p. 108] and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fenced; if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel”, Joshua 14: 10 - 14.
Where there is real help there is no resting on former devotedness or conquests. David had indeed waxed faint when one of the sons of the giant, being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain him (2 Samuel 21: 15 - 17). The man who would help the church must extend to preserve. Each day there must be greater faithfulness, and fresh victory by the Spirit, if real help would be rendered. The Lord alone can measure and estimate any devotedness to Him, and He assigns manifold more in this present time for every surrender in faithfulness to Him. Every true surrender is a fresh energy of the Spirit, and this imparts vigour to all. Sometimes, as I have remarked above, very earnest souls have not advanced as they gave promise at the beginning, and thus have not been the help they were at first, because they have limited their devotedness to the surrender of the world. Now the world is generally regarded as the sphere for man’s distinction, and it is thought that if he has retired from it at every point, and neither has nor seeks any status there, he has reached the greatest of surrenders. Of course, to a man possessing or able to acquire any position among his fellows, it is no small power which enables him to surrender it at every point — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. Naturally the man who has most seeks more, and we cannot [p. 109] estimate how much it costs a man of even ordinary ambition to surrender his prospects. Very often, especially with the young and ardent, it is not the difficulty or the labour to attain that is before the eager mind, but the prize itself. Doubtless every surrender which is the effect of the Spirit’s power in me helps the church. “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do”, the apostle could say, “and the God of peace shall be with you”. When the surrender ceases, the fresh energy of the Spirit ceases. I have observed that where there had been a very remarkable surrender of position in the world, there was still a cleaving to the comforts of life, which not only hindered the progress of the person, but he was no help to the church. The mere ordinary comforts of those in a good position are very often the coveted treasure of those in low life; and while there is decided help to all in the first surrender, there is not a continuance of it unless there be a renouncing of the comforts of life, as well as one’s position in the world. Abram, when he went into service in Genesis 14, surrendered all that his wealth had surrounded him with. He put his life in his hand, and went out by night. To help the church fully there must be abnegation; there must not only be a continued surrender, but the abnegation in one’s own circumstances of that which might awaken a covetous desire in another. We were “an ensample unto you to follow us”, said Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, when correcting idlers working not at all. Any one can test what I say by a little observation as to how far he himself, or others, leads on souls. I cannot own anything to be a help which does not lead one on in the way of the Lord. If I am getting on in the world, or seeking to do so, my influence over souls must be to lead them in the same course. Accordingly, as I am turning my back on the world, I am influencing them to their advantage. If comfort here be my study, I am like Israel in the wilderness, not exactly worldly, but longing after the pleasant [p. 110] things of Egypt; and wherein I indulge myself I fail to help the church. Thus many a one who had helped the church by surrendering his position, as Jonathan in his first devotedness to David, has not continued to help the church because he could not abnegate the ease and comforts of private life. He could not, like Ruth, follow the Lord unto death.
Now while devotedness continues increasing, every believer can help the church. There is also a more special way, though not a more effective one. It is by ministry in the word. The believer who has Christ as his one object, whatever be the nature of his gift, helps the church. If he be an evangelist, he has been sent by Christ, and as he works for Him he edifies the body. He searches everywhere for souls to add to the church which is Christ’s body. An evangelist does not help the church if he does not know what it is to Christ. Hence in Ephesians 4 the gifts are not spoken of until after the church, as it is set by the grace and gift of God, has been unfolded. Possibly there has been no greater check and hindrance to the church as Christ’s body, than the evangelist who, knowing nothing of Christ’s circle of interest, uses his gift simply for rescuing souls from judgment, but knows nothing of present relationship to Christ. It may be said, Is it not a blessing that they are converted, at any rate? Surely, but why should the work be spoiled, or the heart of Christ unanswered to, by the darkness in which it has been done? The work bears the mark of the workman. It is easier to prove a positive in Scripture, and anything that departs from the right must be imperfect and entailing loss. It is plain that if the evangelist knows the one object of Christ’s interest here, he works at his calling to promote it, and thus he must help the church. The evangelist who reduces his work to merely rescuing souls from judgment, makes this service according to his zeal the one great aim of his life, and endeavours to interest everyone in this service. All energy and means are devoted to gospel work. There is a new centre of [p. 111] interest, the more pernicious because, while avowedly for the Lord and supported by His own gifts, it sets up, though often unintentionally, a rival to supersede the circle of interest most dear to Himself. Thus we find, in this day, that the evangelicals are, as a rule, contented with their work, and in heart uninterested in the church; and hence when anything of a church question arises among them in any form, they never can see it as Christ sees it. They can see nothing except as it affects their own special work, and without any intention they are as ignorant of what the church really is, and as dissociated in heart from it, as the two and a half tribes were from the land, though professedly supporting those really determined to settle there. Their professions and their advocacy while their heart is elsewhere, cause a moral breach which cannot be repaired, and the church is not helped but hindered. If Christ’s one circle of interest on earth is not mine, I cannot help it, and if not helping, I am not helped. The Lord give us to lay these things to heart.