SONSHIP AND THE HOUSE OF GOD
[p. 306] SONSHIP AND THE HOUSE OF GOD
In all I have to say my wish is that through it we may be led into a clearer apprehension of the house of God. This book of Proverbs should be read with that in view, and that those who are to occupy that house are to be known and addressed — for we should be addressed as we are known, as sons. In Hebrews the writer reminds his hearers of this, that this book of Proverbs addresses the saints as sons (Hebrews 12: 5). In remarking thus I would refer to the kingdom, for the writer of the book, although he presents himself as a son, also speaks of himself as king in Jerusalem (Ecclesiastes 1: 1). In other words the son is King. His kingship is therefore subservient to his sonship. The kingdom under his influence subserves the house. So that this book should be read in the light of the family and the house and may be rightly connected with John’s gospel, as the book of Ecclesiastes may be rightly connected with Mark. In the book of Ecclesiastes the writer presents himself as the preacher, and as the preacher he was king. His kingly authority and resources would be subservient to his preaching. So that the preaching is sustained, in that way, with abundant resources. Right of way is guaranteed to all preachers, for the King has supreme control. So that in the shelter and protection of the kingdom He forms an assembly. Indeed, every preacher may be taken to represent one who forms an assembly, that in which divine intelligence and divine order and administration should appear. But, in Proverbs, it is, as I said, the Son, who not only is the Son of David, as born to David, but one peculiarly loved, as he says, “I was a son unto my father, tender and an only one in the sight of my mother”, Proverbs 4: 3. We have suggested therefore, the Son of the Father’s love. The Father, we are told, has translated us from the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love, and in that kingdom, beloved brethren, we come under the influence of that Son. It is the kingdom of One who is styled the Son of the Father’s love.
I would speak to young people here, knowing there are many of them. There may be those who are seeking light, and who are perhaps held under the authority of some darkness; some darkness. The most terrible bondage is to be held under the authority of darkness. It may be some system established by imitation, or on false principles, or influenced by men’s minds. Whatever it is it has authority over your soul. It would have no authority over you were it not that you did not believe that the system was right. Its authority lies in the power it has in your conscience, in your life; and the Father’s work throughout the world today is to deliver His people from all such authority, whatever it be, and bring them consciously into the kingdom of the Son of His love. It is an advanced side of the kingdom, I admit. It is the Colossian point of view, the point of view that must be attractive to every lover of Christ. The Son of the Father’s love has a kingdom. He has a kingdom, and all that kingdom, all the power of it, is subservient to His love. In His love He has brought love into the world. According to John it did not exist until He came into the world, “We have known love, because he has laid down his life for us”, 1 John 3: 16. He says to the Father in that wonderful prayer (John 17: 24), “Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”. And that love is brought in here. Not only did He possess love in His own Person as divine, but He knew and enjoyed the love of the Father and He brought that in here. Indeed, John presents Him from the very outset as in the Father’s bosom; He was in it.
[p. 308] Think of His being here in the lowliest and most ordinary of circumstances, and yet in the Father’s bosom, in the enjoyment of the Father’s love. And as He went about, as John says, “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”. Dwelt among us. Who are the ‘us’? Fishermen! What love! Drawn to Him! He dwelt among them and John says, “We have contemplated his glory”. Would that one had the ability to present such a subject. It is one that should detain our hearts as it detained his heart, as he says, “We have contemplated his glory”. He had come within their range. He was dwelling amongst them. He went into Peter’s house. He would sit down with them in the most ordinary manner. He would converse with them; He “dwelt among us”, John says. He had come, as I said, within their range. And so through God’s grace He came and opened their eyes. They contemplated His glory. They saw beneath that lowly exterior a Man in unclouded relation with the Father, continually the Sharer of that love. He was indeed the Son of the Father’s love.
Well now, you see, the Father has translated us into that kingdom, the kingdom of such a One as that. And what will He do for you? Well, He would take you up and, as you notice at the beginning of this book, He would address you from the outset according to the dignity of your relationship. You are a son from the beginning, “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son ... come under law ... that we might receive sonship”, Galatians 4: 4, 5. The youngest believer here may take that up. It is a question of reception. It is not a question of attainment; it is a gift. As the word says, “Thanks be to God for his unspeakable free gift”, 2 Corinthians 9: 15. It is unspeakable; yea, meeting all the desire of our hearts. And so I would say to the youngest here, the love is here that we might receive sonship. And then it says, “Because ye are sons”, not ‘ought to be’. It is no question of attainment, because we are sons. Being sons He has sent out the Spirit of His Son into our hearts; so now our strength is equal to our day, and as I said that is within your reach, of the very youngest here, for sonship is conferred and the Holy Spirit is given on account of our being sons. And so the book of Proverbs opens with this word, “My son”. You will find it all through the book that the address is to sons. The Son is, as it were, speaking to those who are brought into relationship with Him, the same dignity; and one never surrenders that. The believer, as he moves on in the Spirit, never surrenders that dignity, be his outward circumstances what they may. But then if he addresses me as son what is it in view of? “Ye have quite forgotten the exhortation”. Alas, how true that is often. The exhortation he cites addresses you as sons. That is the point, you see, the address is to sons. But then if it is addressed to sons, what is the import of it? That we might be truly that. That we might be sons in our walk, in our circumstances and in our associations. And so you find that the Son is connected with fellowship, “Called into the fellowship of his Son”, 1 Corinthians 1: 9. The Son, as I said, is connected with the kingdom, and the Son is connected with the house. He has built it, and having built it He is over it. How delightful, that we, as sons, should be there with the Son over us. Not under the rule of darkness, but under the rule of love. How delightful is that rule!
Well now, in coming to my scripture, you will understand that the word is addressed to a son. Verse 13, “My son”, again in verse 21, “My son”. He is addressing a son, and I do urge on every one here, as a believer in Christ, to accept it. Do not hesitate to accept it. It is for you. The One that is speaking to him, typified in Solomon, was with God from the beginning. He was there when the foundation [p. 310] of the world was laid. All that God did was done by Him. The very heavens were made according to Him. The mountains and the hills and all that we see around us, all were made by Him.
Well now, beloved, all that is available to you. He is going to bring out the most wonderful thing that has been in the universe, the assembly. That is what is in view in this book. And in order to do that every resource of wisdom is available. How important, therefore, that we should listen. And now, what I want to say is, the book is full of wonderful instruction. It is full of blessed items intended for those who are sons, that we might be in the house. Wisdom built her house.
Well now, the first thing is, “Prepare thy work without”. God has had to do this. He prepared His work without. In order to do that His Son became a Man and wrought, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work”. Well, He says, ‘I did nothing in secret’. You see all that He did while here. Everything was right; it was all there. The Lord was the very essence of simplicity and transparency; even the cross in all its meaning was a public thing. God, in other words, justified Himself in Christ in regard of everything, in regard of every claim, every question. God justified Himself in all His work. There was the utmost simplicity in all that God did. He has justified Himself. His work has been prepared publicly. We come into the benefit of it. But then I have to follow that course. God, as I said, did things in public. He prepared His people for Himself too. A field is that which yields in the way of profit. If there be stones to remove, if there be weeds to remove, the point is to have a crop. It is to be for yourself. God’s field is His people. He has justified Himself in all that He has done. He has His field in which He sows and in which He reaps. But then, He also built His house. He has His field prepared and then He [p. 311] builds His house, the coming down of the Spirit of Christ from heaven. Then, I think it is not for God; it is for us, and the great principle for us is to build to God, by example, and therefore, I would say to young people here, ‘What are you doing’. You see, you are a son, and have to be regarded in dignity. And then I would put it to you to look into your affairs. What have you been doing? Moses says to Jehovah, “The work of our hands, establish thou it”, Psalm 90: 17. What have you been doing all these years? What is there for God? What is established for God? or has it all gone to the wall, gone for nothing? Well, if that is so, it is because you have not prepared “thy work without”. Look to your public works. See these fences around the field, are they thrown down? These outhouses, what about them? Are you looking after your cattle? What about that field from which you expect a crop? You see what a man sows he reaps. It is not only what a man sows, it is where he sows.
Hence the instruction of wisdom is that all these things have to be looked to. Suppose my house is in disorder; suppose my business is in ruin; all that is beneath the dignity of a son. You see the idea of a house is to have peace. Your house must be according to your public works, according to your field. Hence, how entirely incongruous it is to be living with God’s people with all my public affairs in disorder. Well, it may be my associations are not right. I have got to see to that. But then the field is particularly interesting to notice because it is that from which you are expecting yield. “Mine own vineyard have I not kept”. Song of Songs 1: 6. What about that? You have to drink the water of your own cistern in that way. What is in the field? I only make a suggestion; you have to work it out. “Put thy field in order”. In order to have an income spiritually the field has to be set in order. You have to remove all [p. 312] these stones and all these weeds. You have a plough and a harrow. God gives the increase. It is for you. Set it in order for yourself, so that your brethren will see that you have an income of your own. You will share it happily if you have more than you need but the thing is to have a field, an income.
“Afterwards build thy house”. Now, building your house is taking your place in sonship. There is in truth only one house. When Scripture speaks of building a house it has reference to the individual side of my responsibility; what I do and what I have in it. So that it becomes then a question of my participation in the house of God.
And now, let me ask what understanding have you about the house of God? You say it exists. It is not simply an institution that has come and gone. No, beloved, the house of God remains. It is available as long as the Holy Spirit is here, as long as the sons are here, and there is a place in it for you. No one should be outside of it. The house is for the development of the affections. It says of God that He places the solitary in a house. And who is the solitary one here? God would place you in a house. He set up the sons together, as I remarked, when the Holy Spirit came, and then Peter preached and three thousand were converted and the Lord added them. The word ‘assembly’ should probably not be there. The point is that the converts were added to these one hundred and twenty persons, named persons. Every one of them was distinguished; having a name means distinction. And the Holy Spirit came upon them. What affection there was there. When another came in he would meet Peter, he would meet John, he would meet Mary. What holy conversations they would hold. What times they had in those days, “They received their food with gladness and simplicity of heart”. That was how things began. You will not find such power today. Nevertheless [p. 313] there are those who correspond to these names, and if there is one here that has not found his place in connection with these names, the Lord would help you. The Father would place you in a home, for He places the solitary in a house or a home. That is what God is doing. He is drawing His people together and placing them in that holy sphere of affection. The Son who has built it, He is over it. So that it is permeated as one might say, by the light and affection that radiate from Christ as the Son. I hope there is not one here that has no field. The great thought that God has in view is that we should be led on to come into the house, as sons who have been instructed by the Son of the Father’s love.