THE BUILDING OF THE ASSEMBLY
R. Taylor
Matthew 16: 13–18; 1 Peter 2: 1–5, 9, 10; 1 Corinthians 3: 9–13; Revelation 21: 9–14
I seek fresh grace with the Spirit’s help to speak about building. In the passages of scripture which I have read you will notice that the Lord says, “I will build” in Matthew, and in Corinthians there is a word for each of us to see how we build. These two things are going on at the present time. On the one hand there is a building which stands unshakeable of which the Lord says, “I will build” and I would like for my own heart to get some fresh impression of that on this occasion. On the other hand there is what man has a hand in. First of all I speak as to what Christ is building, something that man can never interfere with, and we, dear brethren, are to realise that we have a part in that today.
This section of scripture is very precious; I can understand the Lord’s heart being moved in this incident. Earlier in this chapter, in verse 4, it says that He left them and went away. Think of all that had transpired earlier in the book, the sermon on the mount as we speak, and all that He had done in these succeeding chapters, and saying, “Come to me, all ye who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest”, Matthew 11: 28. Think of all the ministrations of divine grace that had been in Jesus and here it says He went away; His heart was sorrowful.
Think of the joy then when He heard someone saying “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. The first time that Jesus had heard those words from human lips. He had already heard the Father’s voice, but here was a man, who had seen Him in everyday circumstances, saying, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. It moved the Lord to say these precious words, “I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”. It has gone on
from that day and will go on until the rapture through circumstances of great opposition. It is a very wonderful thing to me, that in spite of all the attacks of the devil for two thousand years, of organised, active, power against the building of the assembly, it is still shining in human hearts. It shows the foundation that it is built upon, this great rock, a revelation from the Father.
The Lord speaking earlier says, “Who do men say that I the Son of man am?” The Lord conveyed in those words His feelings about His rejection, and He is feeling it today. He is feeling it grievously I would say. The speaker says in the Song of Songs that when He came His locks were wet with the dew of the night (Song of Songs 5: 2). There was nobody to take Him in; that is the public position, the Lord Jesus is shut out. They do not say anything really bad about Him, in fact they would think they were saying something good, Elias, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. What is your impression of Christ? “But ye, who do ye say that I am?”
Simon Peter says, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. There is nobody to be compared with Him in Peter’s affections. Is that how it is with you and me? The Lord Jesus says, “flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee”. It does not come about through trying to educate our minds or trying to get the best of what men may have said about Him. It is completely outside the area of speculation which is rampant today, and we need to speak more about the Person of Jesus, who He is, “The Christ, the Son of the living God”. When one of the blind men had his eyes opened he first of all saw men as trees walking. It had improved his sight, he had none before, but it is a very confused state of things. He needed another touch and the Lord took him outside the village to get it (Mark 8: 23). We need to get clear of speculation, what others may be saying.
We need to get into the Father’s presence for that is where this impression came from about Jesus. Nobody had said it before. John the baptist pointed to it, but
here was something that had never passed human lips before, an impression from the Father about who Jesus is, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”, that men should know in simple language that He was the Man who could do everything. That is what the woman came to in John 4 that there was a Man there who not only knew everything but could do everything. That is what Peter is saying in that simple expression “Thou”, nobody else, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”, the One who expressed God and is able to hold everything for God. The Son of God is God’s ideal; whatever promises of God there are they are all secured in the Son of God. It was a revelation and it was specific to Peter. I do not want to detract from that, but in the principle of it there must be something gained in your soul from the Father as to who Jesus is or all your life you will be on unstable and uncertain ground. The Lord said the revelation was a rock. He says, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona”. Simon was blessed in that revelation and his confession, and the Lord Jesus says,
“flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens”. It would bring up our relations with the Spirit of God. The Father is in the heavens but there is another divine Person here, who is very interested to hear your exercises about who Christ is, very ready to convey the Father’s impression about Jesus. A beloved servant of the Lord, who served very acceptably among the saints for many years, repeated time and again in his ministry that he often asked the Father to show him what it was that He found so precious in Jesus, quoting “This is my beloved Son—hear him”, Luke 9: 35. And here He conveys it to Peter that He was the Christ, the One in whom everything was going to be established.
It moves the Lord to say, “I say unto thee that thou art Peter”. He distinguishes Peter. Every person who has had this revelation, in the principle of it, and has come to appreciate Christ in His glory as the Son of God has something distinctive about them because it is not only in words. “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God” was something formed in Peter’s soul that was expressed, but it was not only a quotation; it was something formed through his links with the Father. This gospel in a very simple way leads us to develop our links with the Father. It says, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret”
(Matthew 6: 6); on the principle of it Peter had done that. He was past the speculation and the confusion and the Father was very ready to hear his request, “thy Father who sees in secret will render it to thee”. So the Lord addresses him, “thou art Peter”; it is very beautiful what Peter could say about Christ, but think of what Christ said about Peter. I wonder what the Lord says about you and me. We would be humbled but we would be encouraged, dear brethren, that as He looks on what the Father has wrought in your heart and mine He is able to name it.
I may say more about that later, but here I want to speak about what the Lord says, “I will build my assembly”. It was the first time those words had been uttered, “my assembly”. It had been very precious to His heart; it was before Him no doubt in His incoming, but here He uses these words “on this rock I will build my assembly”. The assembly is founded from this point of view on the person of Jesus; there would be no point of it without that. It was because of Adam that Eve was formed; there was a need for a counterpart, one who was entirely suited to him, that was not to be found anywhere else in the creation, “I will make him a helpmate, his like”, Genesis 2: 18. Here the Lord is speaking about that. Eve was to be a suited companion, “his like”. That is what Christ is building, something that is in perfect accord with Himself, the glorious Man. It is something that stands immutable, unshakeable, a building going on that all the forces of hades’ gates will never spoil. We shall see it in its glory in a day to come, of which we have read in Revelation, but I want to say that it is going on now.
I wonder how much it is enshrined in our hearts, how much we really have a view of it apart from all that breakdown can ever interfere with. There is nothing more attractive in the universe than what Christ is building that He calls “my assembly”. He adds, “and hades’
gates shall not prevail against it”. He says, “I will build”, it is what He is doing. It speaks in Chronicles, in relation to the building of the temple, of what David and Solomon did. In the tabernacle, which would be more connected with Corinthians, persons had a part in the building, but in Chronicles, David speaks of what “I have prepared according to all my power”, 1 Chronicles 29: 2. It says what he had done, the things that he had provided;
“moreover, in my affection for the house of my God I have given” (1 Chronicles 29: 3); and then he speaks of all that he had brought, the glory and the grandeur of it; that is something akin to what we have here, the Lord saying “I will build”. It is His own workmanship and what a glorious tribute it will be to Him in that day to come when it is displayed in all its glory.
But then He is using material and so He says to Peter, “thou art Peter”, meaning ‘A stone’.
There was something formed in his soul as to the person of Christ and it was unshakeable.
We all have names, we were speaking this afternoon about names registered in heaven. There is a very beautiful touch at the end of the Old Testament about God recording in a book of remembrance the names of all those who thought upon His name. He speaks of them as a peculiar treasure (Malachi 3: 16, 17). This is what is recorded in the book about Peter. I wonder what the Lord would record in His books about you and me. He could only record what the Father has revealed in His grace, and the Spirit has brought into our hearts as to who this glorious Person is.
That brings me to what Peter says about the material. The Lord is using, I would say, fine material. Peter speaks about laying aside things that the Lord cannot use, things that are unserviceable and unsuitable
to this glorious structure. Then he says, “To whom coming, a living stone”. There is a Living Stone but then there are also living stones; there is something in the saints that is material suited to what Christ is building and that, dear brethren, is you and me as giving room for the gracious activities of the Spirit of God. So Peter says, “To whom coming”. He must have been thinking of these words that he had already said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. He is encouraging those saints who were dispersed and persecuted; most of them had lost their homes, maybe their belongings, maybe their friends, they had lost a great deal. He says, “To whom coming ... as living stones, are being built up”. The Lord is looking for living stones, divine material, the Spirit’s workmanship, for His building. That is going on today amid all the departure, amid all the sorrows, the Lord is building and He is using living stones. It says ye “are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” and “ye are a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light”.
There are the stones, divine workmanship, impressions of Christ in the souls of the saints, that the Lord is fitting into the building. There is great variety in what is going to be displayed, and it is in persons where there is a work of God in the soul. Maybe you had not thought much about that; you maybe thought the Lord’s building was something unreal, but it is not; He is building the impressions of Christ in the hearts of the saints and He is fitting it all together to be displayed to the wonder of the universe. Dear brethren, it is going on today, in this very room. May we be attentive to what the Lord is doing in your heart and mine, another piece of gold, another precious stone. These things are largely formed in suffering; the flesh, man’s ability and charm have no part in it. They come from the Father, divine workmanship and the Lord is putting them together,
awaiting that glorious day, but even now, there may be set forth, “a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession”. It is very beautiful the way Peter can speak of things that may have become ordinary in man’s eyes; he gives them a touch of dignity, “a kingly priesthood”, not just an ordinary priesthood, “a holy nation, a people for a possession, that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light”.
That is how Peter valued it, and he is encouraging these dispersed saints to appreciate the work of God in their hearts; what is being gained through experience, through suffering and through communion with the blessed Spirit of God, of a living character, all being built up by the hand of the Master. He knows where to place each stone; He knows how to form it. You may think you are only one of a great many saints; in the Lord’s eye you are a part of the building, and He is passing us through exercises, both blessed and sorrowful, so that the gold and the precious stones may shine in their true lustre. May we be subject and amenable to the movements of Jesus in the way He is fitting us and building “my assembly”. He will not change His ideal about it. He does not have to alter what He thought about the assembly. It says He “has delivered himself up for it” (Ephesians 5: 25); He has given us some impression of how precious that assembly is to Him. I would appeal to the younger brethren to apply themselves to receiving some fresh impressions of the preciousness of the assembly to Christ.
A very beloved brother ministered for years in the Spirit’s power in bringing out the preciousness of the assembly to Christ, but I fear it is not appreciated as much as it should be in the days we are in. I would encourage us again to speak about it in our local gatherings, to ask the Father to give us some fresh impressions of Christ and the distinctiveness of the assembly as His counterpart. It is being built today and He is looking for you, as a living stone, a piece of silver or gold, to see how He can gently form it to fit into this
glorious vessel.
Well, I speak of something else when I turn to Corinthians but that will not alter in any way what I have already said. Indeed I would say that unless we have an impression of what Christ speaks of as “my assembly”, and what He is building, we shall never be able to have our part in the building that is referred to in 1 Corinthians 3. We must learn things from God’s side, what Christ’s view of the assembly is to function in our local meeting. So Paul here says, “ye are God’s husbandry, God’s building”. It means that God has taken you in hand; He has planted you in a certain place in view of fruit in that place. Then it says “God’s building”; it means that God is doing something from His own side. Then Paul comes here to the foundation; he says, “I have laid the foundation, but another builds upon it. But let each see how he builds upon it”. In what we are coming to now we have to look at the foundation and the foundation is in 1 Corinthians 2: 2, “Jesus Christ, and him crucified”, and in chapter 2
the gift of the Spirit, “Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard ... but God has revealed to us by his Spirit”, 1 Corinthians 2: 9, 10. That is all in the foundation that Paul is referring to here. It is all divine, “For other foundation can no man lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one build upon this foundation”. That is the position that we are in today, we are building upon this foundation, but let us see to it that there is no other foundation but “Jesus Christ, and him crucified”.
You want to bring your contributions into the local meeting. I would say you are missed if you are not there; you are part of the local company that God has set in the place. Each one is to be engaged in the building which requires work and it requires workmen; but the first thing that has to be attended to is that the work is in accord with the foundation. It seems here that some were bringing wood, grass, straw; that does not contribute to the local meeting. What God is looking for
is quality in accord with the foundation, “if any one build upon this foundation’’. It brings us to Paul’s ministry and that is basic to the appreciation of the assembly in its local setting. The Lord Jesus Christ has His workmen and here is Paul, Peter and John, and it is clear that Paul has been specially given light as to the assembly and the expression of it is in localities. Here there are builders in the locality and it says, “if any one build upon this foundation”. I say again, let us look to see that what we are bringing in from our households is all in accord with the foundation, “Jesus Christ, and him crucified”. Paul had to labour in Corinth, where men were very able, to set it aside that what they were doing in the meeting was not in accord with the foundation that Paul had laid.
The local meeting may be small but it is very precious in the eyes of heaven, and our very presence in the meeting is to be in accord with the foundation. The way we sit in the meeting, our attitude, are we just listening casually, are we attentive to what the Spirit may say? In Corinth, Paul says even when you come to the meeting it is not for the better (1 Corinthians 11: 17). Could it be that they came together for the worse? They did. That sobers us as to how we come to the meeting, and how we are in the presence of divine speaking in our various places. So this is the assembly in Corinth and he envisages persons coming with gold, silver and precious stones. These things have to be mined; it is the material that the Lord is using in His building. In Corinth here are persons putting it into the local company. It is not just what may be said on Lord’s day morning, but what about the prayer meeting? The prayers of the saints on a Monday evening are part of the gold, the silver, and the precious stones. I would like to leave an impression on our hearts as to the local company and the importance of our part in it.
We are to be exercised to be contributing to the good of it, like Simeon and Anna corning in with their gold. There was a great deal of speculation in Jerusalem
at that time but it says, “behold, there was a man in Jerusalem”, Luke 2: 25. He knew his place in the local company. It was a difficult time in Jerusalem, it was maybe a night when he could have been at home taking his ease, but there he was with the child Jesus in his arms.
There was a man who brought something of the gold, the silver and the precious stones.
There was Anna at the same time who spoke of Him to all those who waited for redemption.
There were persons in the local company building gold, silver and precious stones. I say these things to show how much is available, to an old man and an old woman, but it is equally available to the youngest to bring in some impression of Christ as gold and silver and precious stones. Well Paul was confident that it was going on in Corinth.
I only refer to Revelation to show that these lines of building coalesce. You may think Revelation 21 is all that Christ has built, but it is both I would suggest, because in Revelation 19 it says “the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready. And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints” (see the plural word there), Revelation 19: 7, 8. It was what they had done, it is what is being built in our localities. It would include contributions in the prayer meetings, the readings and the ministry meetings. It is what Christ has built, and may it be enshrined in our affections; there is also “the righteousnesses of the saints”. Something not much taken account of in the world, maybe even despised, but the Lord sees all the building going on, and I think it is all being put together here. It says, “Come here, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife”. It is not just as a bride, but I will show thee the bride, the great result of the present dispensation.
At the rapture the work of God in the saints will be taken up, when the saints are taken from these bodies of humiliation to be clothed with glory, and formed into this wonderful vessel, the bride, the Lamb’s wife. It is what Jesus Christ has built, what there is that is of Himself formed in the saints, being worked out now in us under the Holy Spirit of God. It says that he “shewed me the holy city”. What workmanship in that! In an unholy world, something is being formed that is divine, “the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God”. Her shining is reflective, but it is something more than that—it is intrinsic. It is the gold, silver, and the precious stones, all put together. It is what Christ has been building, but it is also what the saints have been contributing. It is all here. You will notice there is no wood or straw or anything like that; it says that her shining was like a most precious stone. I will only comment in passing on the emphasis among all these stones to jasper, clear as crystal; that is something that is needed, dear brethren, in our building in our localities, transparency. It is mentioned three times. It seems to be distinguished among those precious stones that “the building of its wall was jasper; and the city pure gold, like pure glass”; again it is transparent. Each of these stones has its own distinction adding to the beauty and the lustre of this glorious vessel.
Dear brethren, may it be increasingly enshrined in our affections, governed by what Christ is building. Today, this very night, I trust in this very room there is something that Christ would appeal to and is building. It says of His service to the assembly, “purifying it by the washing of water by the word, that he might present the assembly to himself glorious, having no spot or wrinkle, or any of such things”, Ephesians 5: 26, 27. You can see the work of the Master, you can see divine workmanship in this glorious vessel, and all the fruit of this present dispensation in which we are having our part. Here is the great end, “Come here, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife”. It is a very remarkable thing that John in the early part of Revelation sees breakdown, but at the end he sees what has been formed in Ephesus, Philadelphia, Laodicea and in all our localities. Here he sees it shining, formed in divine workmanship to be displayed to the universe. Before that, dear brethren, there will be a time in private with the Bridegroom. There is a very beautiful poem by Mr. J. G. Bellett,
‘The glories of the Kingdom are coming by-and-by,
And I shall see the brethren, be crowned with them on high.
I know that I shall reign, but before it all for me,
There’s a time alone with Jesus, the Man that died for me’.
The display will be marvellous, it will be the wonder of the universe, but there will be a time when the assembly is alone with Jesus. For His heart? Yes. The building completed, the work over, the result enjoyed in the intimacy of the Bridegroom with the bride, and then it comes out in display. That is how it is all formed, dear brethren, in deep affection for Jesus. May we all know more about it that there may be something increasingly formed of the gold, the silver and the precious stones in our localities, For Christ’s name’s sake.
Address at Edinburgh
8 January 2005