ASSEMBLY MATERIAL
[p. 23] ASSEMBLY MATERIAL
Luke 8:15; 1 Peter 1:23; 1 Peter 2:1 - 5
I was thinking of the assembly and the material that is requisite for it, all God’s operations at the present time having it in view. Luke has his own way of dealing with this material and so has Matthew; indeed, all the New Testament writers deal with it directly or indirectly. Matthew makes the material the result of revelation; it was a matter of revelation, and revelation is not a moral process; whereas Luke has the moral process in view, and so he deals with “the word of God”.
The word of God is not exactly a revelation, although involved in it; revelation is by a divine Person directly. We have it with Peter, and we have it with Paul; in Peter’s case it was revelation ‘to’; that is to say, the Father had revealed to Peter who the Person was that was before him; in Paul’s case it was revelation ‘in’. If we go by the record of the same incident in Luke and Mark, we should conclude that Peter’s answer to the Lord’s query was based on what he saw in Christ, but Matthew refers not to that but to revelation by the Father. No doubt, when the Lord propounded the question as to who He was, they reverted back in their minds to what they had seen and heard in Him. Were He to put such a question to us we should revert back to what had come under our notice in Him. So we may assume that all the disciples, including Peter, were concerned on those lines, but then the Father acted sovereignly in relation to Peter’s case. But each of them would be concerned to answer, for the question was not put to Peter specifically; it was put to them all, “Whom say ye I am?” (Matthew 16:15). So that in their exercises (which I [p. 24] may remark are those which would be wholesome and educative) the Father acts specifically in regard of Peter. He revealed to him that the Person before him was His Son, the Son of the living God. That He was the Christ Peter might have arrived at, as I said, otherwise; Nathanael arrived at it otherwise, and according to Luke and Mark doubtless Peter also, but it is quite another thing to have the truth by revelation. This Matthew presents.
We have to distinguish between revelation and declaration. In taking account of what had come under their notice in the Lord’s words and works and ways, they had been occupied with declaration, and that is the sum of what John presents in saying, “the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. It was what was public and general. But in what the Father had revealed to Peter, and in the Lord’s comments we learn that the material was the outcome not of the declaration, but of the revelation, that is to say, the material in result is something outside of man’s ken; it comes directly from God; it is spiritual.
Now all that has to be borne in mind in connection with what I am going to say, and that is, that Luke deals with the word of God and this refers to the mind of God, not only as to who Christ is, but as to the mind of God spoken. It is a question of what is spoken, and so completely has it been spoken by Christ, that He is called definitely “the Word”. He is called that both by Luke and John; (Luke 1:2; John 1:1).
Now the word of God, beloved brethren, coming in thus, involves a moral process in us, and I wish to show the bearing of this on assembly material. Luke in treating of the parable of the sower, regards the seed not as the word of the kingdom, but calls it “the word of God”; (Luke 8:11). Matthew calls it “the word of the kingdom”, (Matthew 13:19) and Mark calls it simply “the word”, (Mark 4:14,15)
but Luke calls it “the word of God”. Hence it is a question of God’s mind and involves a moral process in those who receive it. They are to be affected by it, it is to change their whole outlook; it is to change their taste and their feelings; in a word it is to produce in them a wholly new moral being, and that being is to be “of God”. They are to be like God in understanding and intelligence. It is not exactly a question of His attributes, but of His mind. Think of being let into the mind of God; it is not even His commandments. Commandments are imperative; we may not understand them, but we have to obey; but the ‘word’ gives us understanding, so that we know the why and wherefore of things. Thus Luke in treating of this parable of the sower arrives at the good ground. In all the evangelists the other ground is valueless; the only ground which is of any value is that which produces fruit that remains, and so Luke goes to the root and says, “an honest and good heart”.
Now it is well to face this, beloved brethren, especially young people, because God intends you for great things. He has great things for you, and He intends you to face them, and to have to say to them. One of the greatest things is that we have to do with Christ, I mean that we are to be Levites and priests. Luke brings that out in the early part of his gospel; he brings out one person who had to do with Him most intimately; that was Mary. It was not merely that she was blessed; she had to do with Christ in the most intimate way, and she was prepared for it.
And so you get Simeon in the temple; he was to have to do with Christ; I am not speaking now of what he would get through Christ, but I am referring to his having to handle Christ. The apostle John speaks about handling the Word of life. What holy hands they must be, what intelligent hands! And so Simeon stands out as a model for us. It is said that [p. 26] the Holy Spirit was upon him; his early history is not given to us; he appears suddenly as qualified to handle that blessed Babe. He was to have to do with Him. What training he must have had with God, what experience with God! He was a man who was in communion with God; the Holy Spirit was upon him, and it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit (the most intimate communication, not through an angel but by the Spirit) that he should not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Subsequently to that he came by the Spirit into the temple, and being in the temple by the Spirit he received the Babe into his arms; he had to do with the Babe; he had to do with Christ. And as he takes the Babe in his arms he is qualified. The mind of God comes into his soul; he blessed God; he is a consecrated priest now; his arms are filled with Christ and he says to God, “now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word”,. (Luke 2:29). Note what respect he had for the word; he would not wish to leave before the time, “for mine eyes have seen thy salvation”, and then he proceeds to unfold the mind of God with regard to the Babe.
I refer to all this that you may see that we are called upon to have to do with Christ. I am not referring to what you receive from Him as the result of His death, but that we have to do with Him. How important therefore to be formed by the word of God, that is to say, the whole moral being formed by it, every part of the being. Hence the word here is that an honest and good heart receiving the word brings forth fruit with patience. It is not here the quantity of fruit as in Mark and Matthew; in Matthew we have a hundred, sixty and thirty-fold, that is to say, there is decline, but still there is fruit. In Mark it is the reverse, the hundred comes last but Luke is not concerned with the quantity of fruit, but the kind of fruit, the state of soul in which the [p. 27] fruit is borne, that is in patience — one of the scarcest qualities perhaps that we possess — and I am speaking for myself.
Here we are confronted with all sorts of difficulties, “difficult times”, as the scripture says (2 Timothy 3:1); they are here now, and patience is required, so that it is a question of the state of soul in which the fruit is borne. You can understand a farmer looking at his land, at the depth of the soil, at the quality of the soil; you say, ‘You will have a fine crop here’, but he is looking at the soil; it is a question of the soil. So Luke is occupied with the soil, not the quantity of fruit, but the kind of soil in which the fruit grows, the precious outcome of the word, in an honest and good heart. What patience God has had! The patience of God is one of the greatest of subjects. Think of God rising up early, as He says in the Old Testament, to send prophets, and that to “a disobedient and gainsaying people”, (Romans 10:21). We have to be like God if we are to represent Him when we have to do with a disobedient and gainsaying people, and we have to bear fruit in these circumstances. We see this in Noah; he preached; we are told he was a preacher of righteousness. What patience was required as the fruit was so small — the results so little!
Now I pass on to Peter’s epistle, because I want to show you how he regards the new birth. In the epistle to the Hebrews you get something that throws light on the subject as showing how the word operates as received into the soul of the believer — into “an honest and good heart”; it takes account of the component parts, as I may say, of a believer. There has to be inward adjustment, not only outward, and so we are told in that epistle that the word of God is living and operative, it is sharper than any two-edged sword, it divides asunder between soul and spirit; it is a question of its inward operation. There [p. 28] is nothing in the whole universe like it. No surgeon, however clever, can attempt to do what the word of God does. Only God Himself understands man; man is fearfully and wonderfully made; there are inward influences and movements that are beyond the cleverest of men, but they are not beyond the word of God. The word of God knows how to divide between soul and spirit, but He divides it for me, not for Himself. In Philippians we read that the saints were to be joined in soul as well as in mind. We come together and enjoy the word of God and we go home, and our souls are perhaps not much in it, but it may be are in our families. In the beginning “the heart and soul ... of those that had believed were one” (Acts 4:32); all their goods were in the community. Now the word of God divides asunder between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, alluding to the body. There is spirit, soul and body. The word of God helps me in regard of these, so that there should be adjustment in me, that I may be intelligent as to myself. You say, ‘That may mean introspection’, but introspection is good; it is wholesome if it be a question of the word of God, for I know by it the principles that are operating in me and I am adjusted.
The result of all that is that there is a birth, as it says, “being born again”. Now this is not the “born anew” of John 3. There are those who reduce the things of God as much as possible; they reduce them down to a minimum so as to avoid exercise, and to avoid study and contemplation, but “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed” (2 Timothy 2:15) must rightly divide the word of truth, and the word of truth enables me to discern a distinction between John 3 and 1 Peter 1. In John 3:6 there is nothing said about being born by the word. It is the initial thing, simply born of water and of the Spirit. The result is not a person, but “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”. We have to note these things, dear brethren, so as to be [p. 29] intelligent. In John 3 it is that we should be born anew, and that refers to the whole person, for it is from the top throughout. There will thus be spiritual instincts, for these are the outcome of the birth in John 3. But in 1 Peter 1 it is by the word of God, and we get more than instincts, we get intelligent affections that recognise the brethren. I know whom to love, I know when to love, I know how to love; all these are the outcome of being born of the word of God, that is to say, I love with intelligence. It is a question of my mind; my mind is instructed, but then my whole intelligent being is affected because I have been born again by the word of God; “being born again ... by the living and abiding word of God”. The result is you have a family of persons who are intelligent; they are of God. It is not exactly “born of God”. You may say that I am making fine distinctions, but I am going by the scripture. In the epistle of John you have the expression “born of God”; that is the complete thought, as it brings God Himself in. But what I am speaking of is His word — the effect of the word of God as bringing about this state in believers, that they may be said to be “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the living and abiding word of God”, all flesh being as grass. Family status, money and all that gives distinction according to man are left behind. “All flesh is as grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass”. That is the way it should read, I think, not simply the glory of man, but the glory of flesh. Flesh has its own meaning in Scripture, and it has to be taken in its context; here it is flesh as the outcome of natural birth, and its glory; whatever it is that it may regard as glory is as grass. Do we accept such a judgment as that? “The grass has withered and its flower has fallen; but the word of the Lord abides for eternity”, (verses 24,25).
Now I want you to see how all this bears on the [p. 30] assembly, upon assembly material, and in order to make the thing clearer in its application to the assembly I shall point out in Acts 18, where the work at Corinth is recorded, that Paul was pressed in respect of the word, for that is how it reads in verse 5. He was grieved in his spirit on account of the idolatry that he saw at Athens, but in chapter 18 he is in Corinth; we are told he arrived at Corinth and found Priscilla and Aquila and abode with them, because they were of the same craft. He wrought with them six days of the week, as it appears, and on the sabbath he went into the synagogue and preached to the Jews; but when waiting for Timothy he was pressed in regard to the word. We should notice that, because it is so urgent that the word of God should have its full action among us. Paul was pressed as to that, not as to wickedness as at Athens, he was pressed on account of the word of God. So the Lord comes to him by night and says, “Fear not, but speak and be not silent; because I am with thee, and no one shall set upon thee to injure thee; because I have much people in this city” (verses 9,10), then we are told that he remained in the city for “a year and six months, teaching among them the word of God” (verse 11). Now in the next chapter, which deals with the work of God at Ephesus, it is “the word of the Lord”, and you may wonder why. I believe the explanation is that in chapter 19 it is a military idea; it is a question of the inheritance, and the assembly in that relation and the conflict that arises in connection with taking possession; so we are exhorted to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might”, (Ephesians 6:10). But in Acts 18 at Corinth it is a question of the action of the word of God with regard to the “much people”, for these people were to be formed into an assembly at Corinth — and how? By the action of the word of God, for God had come in and spoken; He had revealed His mind in the word and [p. 31] the saints were to receive it and understand that they were the assembly of God in that city. And thus the word of God as allowed to act among us brings about local conditions in connection with which God can dwell. Tabernacle conditions are brought about by the action of the word of God.
In saying that I want to link it up with 1 Peter 2 and 3. You observe the exhortation is that they should lay aside “all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings”. Need I comment on this? How applicable it is to persons who are born again by the word of God. In the light of that fact you lay aside these things: malice, guile, hypocrisies, envyings, and evil speakings. These are to be laid aside; they are unfit for people born by the word of God. And then he says, “as newborn babes”. It is not that they were that, there is no reproach here attached to the word ‘babes’; in Corinthians the word is used reproachfully; (1 Corinthians 3:1). Paul does not say newborn babes in Corinthians; Peter does here because he is dealing with taste for milk — with unaffected, unadulterated taste. “Newborn babes”; we are to be like that; it is a question of what taste there is for “the pure mental milk of the word”. You may say there is not enough for the young among the saints, not enough literature; we have to go outside to get books. Beware of that; there is no “pure mental milk” in any of those books that you get outside; you go to feed your mind, but you will feed it with something impure; it is not pure. We read in Proverbs 2 verses 12 and 16 of “the man that speaketh froward things” and of “the strange woman, the stranger who flattereth with her words”; the books of this world represent these things to us christians; they are froward; they are against God.
Now what we are enjoined here (and I speak for young christians) is to desire earnestly the pure mental [p. 32] milk of the word, for the mind needs to be nourished, and the word of God is intended for that. The nourishment is the pure mental milk of the word, “that by it ye may grow up to salvation”. It is one thing to be born again by it, but it is another thing to grow by it, that ye may grow thereby; the growth is to salvation, so that one is free from every other controlling influence.
We were speaking this afternoon of the unconquered virgin — the virgin daughter of Zion and of Jerusalem. It means that you are in salvation, that you are uncontrolled by anything in this world. If you have come under the influence of anything in this world that leads you into bondage, you cannot be said to be unconquered by it. You grow up to salvation here by the pure mental milk of the word, “if indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is good”. He is good; you see every day the instances of the goodness of the Lord.
Having arrived at that point, it only remains to show the connection with the assembly in Peter’s way. Peter uses the word ‘stones’, the figure, no doubt, arising from the revelation to himself, and what he was as being a stone; he says, “To whom coming, a living stone”. I hardly know any passage that tests us like this as to whether we are material for the assembly. To whom are you coming? To One who is good. You have tasted it; the word ‘taste’ refers back to the “newborn babes”; you have tasted that He is good. Now in coming to Him you recognise that He is rejected of men, cast away as worthless. Are you prepared for that? That is the test. He is held to be of no account at all by men; He was presented to them, they had every opportunity of proving Him; then they cast Him away. They were building, but they cast Him away as worthless. That is the One you come to; it is in that connection the passage lies. The members of the assembly come to [p. 33] Christ knowing that He is rejected, and rejected in the most scornful way “as worthless”; that is the way men look at Him and, of course, I am reckoned worthless as identified with Him. But He is chosen of God and precious, so that in coming to such a One as that, we are owned of God. He says, ‘You will do for Me; whatever they think of you, you will do for Me’; you are “being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”.
Well, that is the relation, as I understand it, of the word of God to assembly material, and God is looking for assembly material. He is not looking for quantity, it is not a question of show in the way of numbers, it is a question of suitable material; all the workings and the operations of God today have that in view, that He might have material for the assembly. May God help us to pay attention to the word, that it may have its action in us individually and in relation to the assembly.