THE SERVICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE ASSEMBLY
THE SERVICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE ASSEMBLY
Acts 13: 1 - 4; Acts 20: 22,23; Acts 21: 4; 1 Corinthians 3: 16
Our subject this evening is the Holy Spirit. This subject is very comprehensive. My thought is to show how the Spirit’s activity makes itself felt in the local assemblies. As we have already considered the Lord’s operations, both universal and local, I think it would help now to consider the Spirit’s activity.
One of the great basic truths of christianity is the presence of the Holy Spirit here personally. John presents in his gospel the truth of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the saints, for their joy and help; and Luke presents the service of the Spirit as available for the furtherance of the testimony, as well as operating for the blessing of men. Only John speaks of Him as the Comforter. In general, John uses the title “the Spirit”, but Luke usually says “the Holy Spirit”. Luke has in view the public result of the Spirit’s service, and says therefore in Acts 2: 3 that the Holy Spirit “sat upon each one of them”. The public vessel of testimony is in view in Luke’s gospel, and is the vessel through which God, by the gospel, will speak to men. Therefore the added word “holy” is very significant in this connection, because men can very well understand that the power which is now active is a holy power, which cannot be linked with the flesh in man. It was never God’s intention, when He sent the Holy Spirit, to give something to man that would exalt him. But, as I have said, John rarely uses the expression “the Holy Spirit”. It is true that he says that the Lord would baptise with the Holy Spirit, but there it is in line with Luke’s presentation, because this involves that the believer rejects the flesh and merges in the circle of the saints, But, as I said, John uses the title “the Spirit”, both in connection with the individual believer and also when the Spirit is referred to as a divine Person amongst the saints.
The Lord speaks of the Spirit as “another Comforter”. The Lord Himself has gone to heaven, and the Father has sent another Comforter to the saints, who would be with them for ever. Is it not wonderful that, just as there is One in heaven who serves as well as represents us there, a divine Person who is our Patron and takes up all our affairs there, so also is there another divine Person down here who in the same way looks after us and all our affairs here. He has been here since Pentecost in His wonderful service to the saints. It is wonderful to think that He actually has care of all the affairs of the saints and their needs. I do not say ‘the assembly’s needs’, for John does not use that word. The scripture in question refers more to those who compose the assembly, and we, beloved brethren, who through God’s grace belong to the saints, have such a Person amongst us. As such He has to do with the whole christian company on earth. There is not one among the saints on earth who is not the object of the Spirit’s interest. So the Lord says that the world did not know the Spirit, “but ye know him” (John 14:17). Beloved brethren, do we know the Spirit? Sometimes we make the mistake of taking Him for another spirit, and sometimes we take another spirit for Him. We must therefore be watchful so as to recognise and to acknowledge the Spirit. As the Lord said to His disciples, “ye know him, for he abides with you and shall be in you” John 14: 17. I would therefore like to ask again if we know the Spirit, this Comforter, who has come down from the Father.
He performs His service in different ways. I speak of Him now as a divine Person amongst the saints, and therefore thought to say something of His universal service, which has in view the whole assembly. To appreciate Him in this way, we must keep the unity [p. 434] of the Spirit. The unity of the Spirit is a universal thought. It involves that I understand His universal service. Different places may enjoy different service, but the service is one, because there is only one Spirit. The apostle says in Ephesians 4: 2, “with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace”, and then he continues to say, “one body and one Spirit”. In order to keep the unity of the Spirit, we must understand what His universal service is. There are other features of this service which also apply to the whole assembly; one could name many, but one feature specially comes out in 1 Timothy 4: 1, where it says that “the Spirit speaks expressly, that in latter times” (the time in which we find ourselves) “some shall apostatise from the faith, giving their mind to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons”. I mention this so that we may be on the look-out for it, as the Spirit speaks of it expressly. If the Holy Spirit emphasises any special service, or any particular matter, it is in order that we should pay attention to it. What the Spirit says to the assemblies has this character. So we find the final view of the Spirit’s service in the Revelation, last chapter, where the Lord speaks of His own service in the character of “the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star” Revelation 22: 16, and where He adds, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come” Revelation 22: 17. The Spirit has then won all for Christ; His service has not been without result. He has won the bride for Christ, and the bride is here in harmony with the Spirit for “The Spirit and the bride say, Come” Revelation 22: 17.
Having said so much as to the Spirit’s universal service, I wish also to say something as to His operations as they come to light in a particular place. The assembly in Antioch forms an introduction to our subject; the beginning was there because the local conditions in that place were suitable for the Spirit’s service. The Holy [p. 435] Spirit was personally active, He was, I may add, there in His limitless, all-powerful activity. And so the importance of His personal rights becomes prominent because, even if He be sent to this earth, He is nevertheless a divine Person who has divine rights. Chapter 13 begins by speaking of the persons who were in the assembly in that city. Note that it says that they were in Antioch, for when the Spirit is not exercising His universal service, we find that local operations are spoken about. “Now there were in Antioch, in the assembly which was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen, foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul” Acts 13: 1. How interesting this city was to heaven at this time, not the city itself, but the people who dwelt there! We see here how God takes note of cities, towns and villages, but especially cities. In another place we find, for example, that elders should be established in each city (Titus 1: 5). No matter what government may be found in a city, God regards that city in the light of His testimony in that place. Therefore it says of the believers in Corinth that they were “the assembly of God which is in Corinth”, and they are called “Corinthians” (2 Corinthians 6: 11). We have thus a special responsibility to fulfil in the place where we live. The Spirit operates in a certain place and wants order there, and every one of the saints in that place must recognise and acknowledge that as they take their place amongst the people of God there.
In Acts 13: 1 the names are given of the persons whom the Spirit specially marked out in Antioch, and it says that they ministered to the Lord and fasted. While the principle of mutuality and uniformity exists in the assembly of God on earth, we see nevertheless that some have a special place, and such are named here, those whom the Holy Spirit especially marked out. Such saints give character to the place where they live, and we do well to pay attention to those whom the Spirit [p. 436] of God marks out, those who speak the word of God to us and minister to the Lord and fast. They ought to be greatly valued and their voice listened to by us.
Accordingly we find in this scripture a wonderful chain of circumstances which open the way for the Holy Spirit to operate amongst the saints freely and without limit. Therefore He says, “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and prayed, and having laid their hands on them” (that is to say, the saints thereby expressed their confidence in Saul and Barnabas), “they let them go” Acts 13: 2,3. Thereafter it says that they were “sent forth by the Holy Spirit” Acts 13: 4. Yes, dear brethren, it is when we in a place acknowledge the principles of the Spirit that He can do great things for us. We will find that a gift is constantly on the move, because a gift is not restricted to (placed in) a certain place, but is for the assembly as a whole.
In chapter 20 the apostle says that he went to Jerusalem bound in spirit. It was very serious for him to go there and at the same time be bound in his spirit. It is not becoming for us to criticise the great apostle, as we could find ourselves in a similar position where our spirit was bound and the way not clear for us. “And now, behold, bound in my spirit, I go to Jerusalem, not knowing what things shall happen to me in it; only that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and tribulations await me” Acts 20: 22,23. I desire that we might pay attention to this, as every word in this scripture has a meaning. The apostle could have said, ‘the Holy Spirit testifies and says that bonds await me’, but he says, “only that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city”. We see in this the great profit in having local assemblies which are subject to the Lord and ready for the service of the Spirit, because this testimony came through the saints who lived in those cities. This clearly follows from chapter 21:4, where the disciples spoke to him “by the Spirit”. How [p. 437] wonderful that the Holy Spirit was available in this way to the saints, and that they could speak thus to Paul concerning his ministry! It was as anointed by the Spirit that the Lord began His wonderful ministry, and I would bring this home to the young who take part in the service of the assembly that they might specially think of speaking by the Spirit. David said, “The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue” 2 Samuel 23: 2. The Holy Spirit is available to us. He is, so to speak, at our disposal, and we are therefore not thrown upon our own capability and competence. May we learn to make use of the Spirit when we serve the saints!
In chapter 13 we saw that the Spirit was active as a divine Person, and in chapter 20 He ‘testified and said’ to Paul, but in chapter 21 He speaks through the disciples. When the Holy Spirit speaks to us, He speaks through the saints. He did not become man like the Lord Jesus, but it says, “it sat upon each one of them” (Acts 2: 3). “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave to them to speak forth”. The voice of the Spirit comes to us therefore through the saints.
In 1 Corinthians 3: 16 we have presented to us the temple in its local character. This has the greatest meaning for us in the place where we live, and in our own circle, It says, “Do ye not know that ye are (the) temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” When the apostle says “ye”, he means the saints who dwelt in Corinth, but when he uses the word “we” he means all the saints. Here he speaks to the local company which was in Corinth. They were God’s temple, and it is a question of their character. It says, “ye are God’s temple”, which involves what the character of the company is as having the Spirit of God. The saints are “temple of God”. We do not get the thought of several temples of God either. The Corinthians had, so to speak, temple character.
[p. 438] Every local assembly has therefore the privilege to be marked by this, and the consequences will be that we will be independent of man’s natural gifts. The Corinthians were familiar with the thought of the temple. How great it is to have the character of being God’s temple! It is in the light of this that we can sit down and read the Scriptures together, for, when we do this as really subject to the Lord, we then get light and have God’s thoughts about everything.
We all remember how Joshua, in connection with the children of Israel, on a certain occasion did not ask counsel of the Lord, and how they were thus deceived by the Gibeonites (Joshua 9). Every local company of the assembly should be the temple of God in character. The psalmist says, “One thing have I asked of Jehovah, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire of him in his temple” (Psalm 27: 4). We see here how the psalmist makes a difference between “house” and “temple”. The temple is a place where one can enquire of God. We know from David’s history how he enquired of the Lord. Saul also tried to enquire of the Lord, but he was not in a right state. David enquired, and the Lord answered him through the Urim. We thus experience the wonderful way in which God sees to all our needs in the place where we live. We can enquire in His temple, and if we in humility seek to know His will, we shall never be disappointed. The answer we need can come as the result of the exercises of a spiritual brother or a spiritual sister. The Lord knows the answer to give us and, by the Spirit who dwells in us, God has a way of doing this. God can in this way make known to us His will. The apostle says, “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2: 16); that is to say, we possess the ability to distinguish spiritually in a way which corresponds to Christ. The Lord can thus make known His will, both for us and through us.