SIMPLICITY

E.M.Walkinshaw

2 Corinthians 11: 3; Romans 16: 19,20

Some one said, dear brethren, that to the simple all things are simple. Christianity is simple, though of course in it there are most profound depths. God has made it simple so that both the simple and the intellectual might be able to understand it. If He had made it suitable to man's intellect then only the intellectual could understand it, but He has made it simple so that everybody can understand. So Paul speaks of simplicity as to the Christ. I think that means that Christ is before the soul; that is simple, and of course it leads to submission to Him, and it leads to that already referred to which is unity. What I think that the Lord would help us to lay hold of is that Christianity is essentially simple. Mr Darby used to say that the cream is on the top of the milk - God does not put it at the bottom, nor has He caused in the creation that it should go there, but it is on the top. So it is in Scripture. As we read simply and in dependence upon the Holy Spirit we receive impressions of the Lord Jesus. One impression of Him is eternal, it is worth everything that man could teach you. I would suggest, dear brethren, that we look at Scripture simply and count upon the Holy Spirit to give us impressions of the One that is its theme. So Paul was fearful, as he says, "lest by any means" - any means - "as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, so your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ". How crafty Satan is! setting snares for our feet, setting all kinds of things before our eyes, trying to appeal to our five senses, in order to turn us aside from simplicity as to Christ. Is Christ before you? That is a question I would ask my brethren, and ask myself of course as among them: is Christ before me? Are my thoughts for Him? Are my affections uncorrupted? This is, I think, what the Spirit would aim at, not a vast knowledge. It might be possible for me to have perhaps some knowledge of the whole scope of the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation but how would I know from where to draw in order to bring the mind of God to bear upon the brethren? I would not apart from having Christ before me and the Holy Spirit operating within so that impressions of that Man reach the saints. That woman in Luke 7 loved Christ, she had Christ before her. If you had asked her what some of the scriptures meant she could not have told you, but she loved Christ. If you had said something to her about the assembly she would have been I suppose in complete ignorance, and yet she is a wonderful expression of the affection of the assembly for Christ. I suppose the same with the twelve - "we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God", John 6: 69. If you had said to Peter, Do you mean the true Aaron? I suppose he might have said, Well that sounds right as doctrine but I am not concerned with doctrine, I am concerned with the Person who has words of life eternal. How simple they were! And how simple were those persons gathered together unto My Name! they had just one Person before them. Now I am not suggesting, dear brethren, that there are not profound depths in Christianity because there are, breadth and length and depth and height, but as another has said you would be lost in it if your soul was not anchored to One Man, that is to Christ who is the centre of it.

Now in the passage in Romans the apostle says, I would have you wise as to what is good and simple as to evil - "wise as to that which is good". Let us go in for what is good, let us think about what is good, let us pursue it. I suppose it must of necessity include righteousness, must of necessity include obedience. Then it says "simple as to evil". Do not try to unravel it. There are some persons who have gone into the various systems of men to discover, as they say, what is there which may be right, rather like a man who wants to go across the mountain, he avoids the signpost and tries every wrong route in an effort to find the right one; he will get lost, and that is what happens, dear brethren, to persons who go into the world to try to find what they think is the right path across the mountain. Be simple as to evil, do not go into it. Mr Darby said, I believe, that the Book of Proverbs helps us to go in this world, which is a labyrinth of evil, without going into it. It gives us a right guide so that we can be simple, not trying to find out what this is and what that is, not handling things which are nothing to do with us really, but simple as to what is evil; let us avoid it and go on and be wise in what is good.

So I believe, dear brethren, that the Lord would encourage us, and I think all these things lead to unity, all these things lead to an environment of eternal life where the Lord commands the blessing. You will notice that in Psalm 132 one of the things mentioned is righteousness - "Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness" (v 9). Then there is salvation, and then in the next Psalm eternal life. Those two Psalms should greatly encourage us. I believe what the Lord has indicated to us in this meeting is that He would reach unity among the brethren, but I think it is reached by simplicity as to the Christ, He Himself just before us, and as we are gathered together unto His Name there He can command the blessing. May it be so for His pleasure and glory.

GILLINGHAM

17 August 1976