THE RELATION OF THE GOSPEL TO THE CHURCH
[p. 327] THE RELATION OF THE GOSPEL TO THE CHURCH
It is important for every christian to understand the relation between the gospel and the church.
Paul at his conversion was given the first intimation of the mystery of God, which had been kept secret from the foundation of the world. It is expressed in the words: “Why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9: 4) So that not only is a believer saved by the work of Christ, but every christian is a part of Christ. Hence the first thing known must be the gospel; if the gospel is not clearly known, the mystery of the gospel cannot be known. We do not hear much in the New Testament of evangelists, but the gospel is referred to over sixty times in the epistles, from which we gather the grave importance of the subject, and the responsibility of the preacher who presents it.
Nowadays, when many earnest men give up their secular callings to preach the gospel, it is of deep importance that they should not only know the scope of the gospel, but that they should enter into the reality of what it is to be sent by Christ, the Head of the church. For “how shall they preach, except they be sent?” (Romans 10: 15). From what one hears of evangelists generally, one is forced to conclude that they do not know more than forgiveness of sins, and, while their zeal and devotedness must be greatly commended, the desire and prayer of us all should be that they may be fitted for their work.
As far as I see, an evangelist ought not only to know his own acceptance with God, but he ought to so realise what it is to be “in Christ” that he can say, “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”. (Romans 8: 2) I daresay that as a rule all who have acceptance with God by faith would say that they were in Christ according to the word of God, but deliverance is only realised by [p. 328] the Spirit dwelling in you. The evangelist ought to know what his place is in the church as a member of the body of Christ, before he can be assured that he is gifted by the Lord, and sent forth to fulfil the service of an evangelist, to which he is commended by his spiritual elders, signified (when the church was in order) by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. In christendom (no doubt from giving a natural meaning to the spiritual idea) every one is supposed to prepare for the ministry - to study for orders, as they say. It is evidently the mind of the Lord that His servant should learn of Him in the assembly, not only that he has received a gift and is assured of it, but that as qualified he is sent by the Lord - as we read in John 20: 21, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you”.
It is unaccountable that while most earnest men seek to be evangelists, so few devote themselves to the care of souls; an unseen but most profitable service. Certainly there is even a greater want of pastors and teachers than there is of evangelists. I believe if everyone was quietly and devotedly occupied with Christ’s interests in the assembly, the Lord would before long make known to each what his gift was.
I think we ought all to take it to heart that if the gospel is imperfectly presented there cannot be fruit according to the mind of Christ. If your beginning is imperfect you cannot reach to the finish. If you do not know God’s gospel you cannot reach God’s purpose. The apostle Paul can say, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2: 2) - a living Person in glory, and that Person crucified here. He expected his converts to be according to his preaching. He could say afterwards, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase”. (1 Corinthians 3: 6)
As a rule, as far as I know, the evangelists faithfully present the value of the blood, but I question whether [p. 329] many of them have the gospel that was preached by the apostle Paul to the Corinthians - the living Person in glory, crucified here. I learn from 1 Corinthians 1: 23 that Christ crucified is “unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness”. Many would be glad to listen to atonement by the blood of Christ who are not ready to hear that man has been set aside in the cross so that to a Jew who looked to the law the cross was “a stumblingblock”, for how could he keep the law if the man was set aside? and to the gentile it was “foolishness”, for if man is set aside, where is there a place for human wisdom? Thus the apostle adds, “I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power”, 1 Corinthians 2: 3, 4. Whereas in our days, very often the more eloquent and stirring the preaching, the more it acts on human feelings, the more it is approved, and the greater number of those who profess to be converted, because by faith in the blood they are assured of eternal safety, can go on in natural things here, with the law as a rule of life. The burden of the evangelist’s message is, that God has Himself removed the distance between Him and man, and that He receives the believer in all the nearness and acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that Paul could say to the Philippian jailer in his distress “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”, (Acts 16: 31) and we find him that very night rejoicing in God with all his house. Such a convert would be able to say, “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ”. (Philippians 3: 8)
No one can read the early chapters of 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 without being struck with the grave and solemn responsibility of the evangelist, both as to himself and as to the tidings he announced, and the results were characterised by the [p. 330] tidings. But when we look at things in the present day, there is little of that solemn sense of divine responsibility as sent by the Lord to present the gospel in a given place. Earnest men are satisfied if they can by any means, or anywhere, collect a crowd, and deliver to them an impassioned appeal as to faith in the blood of Christ, and often seem to forget that God converts the soul: it is their duty to deliver the message of His grace. Consequently while there are many conversions, how seldom do we hear of one who breaks from the world, and honestly avows, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world”. (Galatians 6: 14) As far as I see, converts are characteristically like those who preach to them. Apollos was blessed in his work though he preached an imperfect gospel; and when we hear of him again he is fully on the Lord’s side, but not as an evangelist; he refreshed the saints, he ‘watered’ them.
I may add in corroboration of what I have advanced, that no servant can be on the earth for the Lord, as in John 15, who has not come from the Lord inside, as in John 14. † It is inside with Him that the servant is prepared and furnished; then he comes forth to be His disciple, to bring forth fruit, to be so in concert with His mind in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from Himself in heaven, that he is witness for Him here. No servant can be in His confidence or in His power who does not abide in Him. We see that the hindrance in Colossians 2 is the twofold working of the flesh, and
†It is interesting to note that in John 13 and 14 we learn the Lord as with Him in divine seclusion — what He is to us. But in Hebrews we are drawn to Him, as Peter when sinking was drawn to Him. We turn to Him in our infirmities; He does not remove them, but He draws us away from the place where trouble is to His own side, and eventually we find ourselves in the holiest, in company with Him, where we learn Himself.
[p. 331] these come out in 1 Corinthians 1, where the gospel is refused. Christ crucified is to the Jew a stumbling-block, and to the nations foolishness. These are the two great hindrances to the reception of the gospel; the Corinthians suffered from the one, the Galatians from the other; but with the Colossians the two combined to hinder the servant of Christ; we find these two snares full blown in christendom under the names of rationalism and ritualism. But no servant is free from this combined evil in some shape or form who has not entered into death with Christ, “from the rudiments of the world”. If you be risen with Him, you are in the power of His life, you are under His direction as Head; then you truly abide in Him and you are His disciple.
I am afraid the tendency is to enter on the service of Christ very little apprehending the solemnity and blessedness of the calling. If you are not His disciple you cannot be His friend. It is only as you realise your union with Him in heaven that you are in His confidence. You then can come out here in heavenly power to glorify Him according to His pleasure, because you realise the power which wrought in Christ; that power is to usward who believe, according to the counsel of God. You know that you are raised up and made to sit together in the heavenlies in Christ, and then you begin to learn the prayer in Ephesians 3: 16,17, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith”. Many confound this with their own state, instead of seeing that it is His interests that now control your affections, so that you come out here from Him, according to John 16, to find the prince of this world is judged, and that you are made superior to all the power of evil; and it is then truly that you enter into the great fact that your gift is from the glorified Man. When Christ had overcome everything here, when He had “ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men”. (Ephesians 4: 8) It is plain that although the servant may be blessed in the exercise of his gift, he is not in full power with regard to it until he enjoys union with Christ in heaven; and this is not only that we look for the portion of the church as the bride of Christ hereafter, but being so in His confidence now, and so enjoying His place and His power, that as Rebecca was a comfort to Isaac when his mother died, so now when His earthly people are set aside, we are to be to the satisfaction of Christ’s heart in the darkest day here.
Finally I would add that while our progress depends on the measure of the gospel we begin with, the aim and perfection of all ministry is to lead souls into present enjoyment and the purpose of God; this is the finish of His grace. We see from Ephesians 4 that the Spirit of God looks at the saints in their true calling, their normal place for Christ here, that is, in union with Him. But alas! we know that few of those servants who are most before the public really know it for themselves, and if they have not reached it for themselves, how can they minister the truth which would lead others to it? While on the other hand no one can know the gospel of the glory of Christ, and his nearness to Him in glory as Paul preached it, without entering into the reality of union with Him. Then it would be the natural outflow of his heart to preach it; such an one could truly say, “I believed, and therefore have I spoken”. (Psalm 116: 10)
Thus two things ought to be before the evangelist: firstly, the greatness of the subject of the gospel itself; and secondly, that it is by the gospel souls are prepared for the purpose of God; for as a rule everyone is detained or hindered by the imperfect gospel he has received, so that instead of realised union with Christ being the normal state of souls, it is a very rare exception when it is known.
[p. 333] May we all be more interested in the Lord’s servants. We have no right to dictate to them how they preach, but we ought to feel responsible for what they know, May we take it more to heart that it is unworthy of a servant of Christ to undertake to declare the good tidings of God of which he is himself imperfectly informed.
Scarborough,