CARE FOR THE CHURCH

CARE FOR THE CHURCH

In order to care for the church, we must first be in simple rest of heart in the Lord as to our own place with Him. We can never understand what the church is to Him until we have learned individually the nature of His love to us and consequent interest in us.

The order of growth to this is very interesting. We first know His love in dying for us; and then, like Jonathan, whose soul “was knit with the soul of David”, we are in heart bound to Him for the great and eternal service which He has rendered to us by His death for us.

Next, in all our trials and difficulties He is so necessary to us, and He becomes so endeared to us, that, like Ruth, we can leave our natural place to follow Him to His place; we cannot live without Him. Then we are ready for the truth that we are united to Him, and entranced with it. Then at length we are fully settled, restful; all our own interests perfectly secured, and now communion is the crown of joy to our hearts.

Our union to Him would be only a title if we were not in communion with Him to enjoy the reality and closeness of our alliance. In communion with Him we share in His interests, and are occupied with them as He pleases. It is only as we are in His secret, His “friends”, that we can truly understand how to care for the church. We learn, as I have said, in our own individual experience, the nature and depth of His love and interest in the church, and then we find that His heart “doth safely trust” in us. We are called to share in His interest and care for the church according to the ability which He gives.

^[p. 365] There is, I may say, preliminary to any right service, a measure of knowledge of two things with regard to the church: one, as to what it is in the mind of God, and the other, what it is now in the hands of man. If we do not know what it is in the mind of God, and how it came forth from His hand, of course we cannot see how much it has suffered in the hands of man; but if we only see the church as it is in the mind of God, we are unable rightly to care for it now in its ruin.

Here I must remind my reader that the church is spoken of in a twofold way in Scripture, namely, as the house of God, and as the body of Christ; and it is very essential that we should comprehend it in these two aspects. In the house aspect it is the habitation of God through the Spirit, and as such it was committed to man’s responsibility. It was the sphere where sins were remitted. The true building is Christ’s own work. He says in Matthew 16, “I will build my church”. Each living stone is put into its true place by Christ Himself. This is the church or assembly in its executive character here on earth; and as such, it was committed to the hands of His people here, “the pillar and ground of the truth”. But on the other hand, the house of God has become like “a great house”, where there are vessels, “some to honour, and some to dishonour”, 2 Timothy 2. Through the subtlety of Satan and the remissness of the saints, “there are certain men crept in unawares”. It is still the house, but when it has reached the state of a “great house”, the one caring for the church purges himself from the vessels to dishonour, not to pursue a solitary or isolated path, but to “follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart”. Thus it is here intimated that there would always be in the house those who preserve what is due to God in His own house; and any one who does not comprehend this course, and act according to it, could not truly care for the church. Further on, I hope to refer to the twofold character of the Shepherd’s care for the ^[p. 366] flock, but before entering on that part of my subject, it is needful to say a little on the church in its aspect as the body of Christ.

In its essential state the church is baptised by one Spirit into one body. Christ is the Head of it. But as the house of God, there is individual responsibility, though that action, when of the Spirit, cannot be independent of the other members of the body. The body is never visible, the act of the individual is. Therefore the assembly, as a habitation of God, is the place where the concerns of Christ in connection with this scene are determined; while the essential state (that of the body) upholds and strengthens each individual in acting for the Lord, though visibly he is only a unit. The house is Christ’s council during His absence; and every one built thereon by Himself is a member of His body, and has essentially a corporate position of the highest order, to which each individual, as he is in the Spirit, must defer; because Christ is the Head, and one cannot defer to the Head without embracing every member of the body for its good. In like manner, when he fails, he disregards the Head, and all the members suffer. If a saint does not understand the church in these two aspects, he cannot on the one hand see it in its unchangeable nearness and value to the Lord Jesus Christ, as God’s present object on the earth; and on the other hand, if he does not see how it has become like a “great house”, and how the name of God has been dishonoured in His own house, as it was in Israel of old, he cannot rightly care for it, because he does not apprehend the nature of the position which the faithful must adopt in such a crisis. In the one case he does not see the unceasing interminable flow of grace from the Head to the body, ever and always, whenever and wherever the members of His body seek Him, and own His rightful and natural place in relation to them. It is an unfailing consolation to everyone caring for the church, that Christ’s heart is the same towards it now as it was when He uttered John 17, and ^[p. 367] that He is the same Head to it as ever He was. If one did not know this, where would one’s resource be in a day like this? While if one did not see the house, though in ruins, to be God’s dwelling, how could one rightly consider for His glory, or promote the holiness which “becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever”?

Having learned what the church is in the mind of God, there are next two things in many varied branches which will engage the one who cares for the church, as directed by Him, and in communion with Him. The first is food, or teaching; the second, discipline. We cannot fail to see that these two are closely connected, and that the growth and blessing of our brethren is the one object common to both. We start with this, that we are to love one another as Christ has loved us, and “this also we wish, even your perfection”. Once we ascertain the great principles which are to guide us in caring for the church, it will be comparatively easy to determine the special service of each.

“Meat in due season” is necessary for growth. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby”; and discipline in its full scope is necessary to check the budding or activities of the flesh. The one is to promote the advancement of the newborn babe, the other to remove the leaven or the snare which interferes with and hinders progress. To the servant who cares for the church it is simple and easy, if led of the Lord, to feed the saints with “food convenient” for them. As he is in communion he is sure to be instructed; “out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”; that is, the Lord’s mind, and the truth suited to their state, will be supplied to him from the word, often from the same chapter. He will be led to dwell on one part at one time, and on another part at another time, according to the need of souls. The Spirit leads him to supply through the word the particular instruction which the Lord would impart. Now, though everyone is not a teacher, everyone, as he is walking in communion in word ^[p. 368] and ways, helps and promotes the new nature in each one with whom he is in contact. Here let me say that one caring for the church will not only be watchful in the congregation not to grieve the Spirit, and thus make all to suffer, but he will remember that wherever he is, he is a member; and if the joint be hindered, there is damage to the whole body, though the members may be scattered all over the universe.

It only remains now to add a word on discipline. The aim of all discipline is the welfare of the church, while at the same time it seeks to effect the welfare of the offender. If I care for the church, I must seek to purge out all leaven. So long as the Lord retains His place in an assembly, my duty is to urge on the assembly to look for His help to put away the one who leavens, when there is no possibility of eradicating it. When the Lord has been displaced in an assembly, which is generally when evil doctrine (or gangrene) has been taught and countenanced, then there is no option but to purge oneself from the vessels to dishonour. The necessity for this indicates the disordered state of the house, but also declares the ability of every believer to preserve a space in it suited to God in His dwelling-place; and such a company is ever, thank God, to be found.

So far I have dwelt on what is generally called church discipline, where we can see the principle of it in the clearest way. But besides this, it is incumbent on every saint to exercise discipline towards his fellows with whom he associates. There are some so bad that he is to “turn away” from them; “do not receive him into the house, and greet him not”. There are others whom he must not receive socially; “have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother”. Then, finally, each one is responsible to “wash one another’s feet”; that is, that in love I am charged to remove from my brother the soil on his conscience which interrupts his communion with the Lord, a most blessed service and an endless one.

^[p. 369] Every check to his joy and blessing claims my attention, in order that I may co-operate in helping him to his proper and happy place with the Lord. The ministry of the word, when effectual, is the means by which the cloud is cleared away, and then the word becomes food through the grace of Christ to nurture and cherish.

May each of us enter more into the blessedness of caring for the church for the Lord’s sake.