THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH
[p. 300] THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH
My object is to make plain the connection of truths — or rather of the detail of truth — for there is no such thing in scripture as truths, it is the truth: though in revealing it God accommodates Himself to us, for we can only know in part or detail. Truth is that which may be known of God — it is the light of the revelation of God. We have suffered from detaching one part of truth from another.
Now I have previously sought to shew how the revelation of God brings us to the kingdom; I want at this time to shew how you are brought by the kingdom to the church, and by church I do not mean the clergy, nor an ecclesiastical building, nor do I speak of the church even in the sense of an ecclesiastical formation down here — but of what it is in the mind of God — the mystery; that is really the thing that is of value to us, not the coming into any external and outward association, but reaching by divine teaching the thought and mind of God in regard to the church. Indeed in a day of ruin you cannot attach very much value to what is outward, but God helps us in giving us to see the reality of things in the divine thought; and I hope to shew how the truth of the kingdom in its practical working and bearing, leads to the church.
God’s kingdom is brought in consequent upon His having broken the power of Satan — the authority of darkness. The power of Satan was really annulled in the death and resurrection of Christ, for there life and incorruptibility were brought to light, and a deadly blow struck at the kingdom of Satan — just as at the Red Sea a deadly blow was struck at the kingdom of Pharaoh; it was not annihilated at the time, any more than is Satan’s kingdom, but when God’s kingdom is brought in manifestly, Satan will be bound and cast into the abyss,
[p. 301] and then Christ will reign for ever and ever. But for those who have eyes to see, a deadly blow was struck at Satan’s kingdom in Christ’s death — as we read in Hebrews 2 “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil”; men were to be thus delivered from Satan’s power, and the fear of death; they are translated from the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
Now I want to speak of God’s kingdom as connected with His discipline, the kingdom is characterised by the rule of grace, grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life — grace is the great controlling principle of God’s kingdom; but there is also discipline. The parable I read in Matthew 18 proves this, so also that of the labourers in the vineyard. If the kingdom is the rule of grace, man can set up no claims nor rights, for the reason that it is the rule of grace. If you come into the truth of the kingdom, you must be prepared to surrender every idea of claim, because the kingdom is characterised by the grace of God. The truth is that if God took up the kingdom on any other principle but that of grace, we should have a poor time of it! There is no room, however, in it for any claim of man; grace reigns, the kingdom is established through righteousness. The man that was obnoxious to God has been removed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The principle of the kingdom is, “is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good?” The occasion of discipline is our failing to shew to another the grace in which we have ourselves been acted towards; we may come thus under discipline; the Lord says, so likewise will your “heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every man his brother their trespasses”. We come into the kingdom on the ground of being forgiven, and we have to act on that principle with regard to others, and if we do not, we bring ourselves under the discipline of the Father. If you take the ground of being under the sway of heaven,
[p. 302] you will have to take care as to the kind of spirit you cherish. You enter into the kingdom by appropriating the Lord — by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ; He is at the right hand of God, and we confess Him as Lord, and thus come under His lordship, and with this — His lordship — is connected His nurture and admonition. This expression is brought in as to dealing with children, they are to be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord — and I judge that the nurture and admonition of the Lord applies to all those who have appropriated the Lord — and what do we come under this discipline for? That all that is contrary in us may be removed. The kingdom does not tolerate opposition; for the establishment of the kingdom of God outwardly, Satan has to be cast into the abyss; so with us, if we are in God’s kingdom, no opposition will be tolerated. In the christian the will, the mind of the flesh has to be set aside; he has to be free in himself from that which God has removed in the cross. Our will and the purpose of it have to be set aside to the end that we may prove God’s will; when our own will is set aside, by the nurture and admonition of the Lord, then we are free for the will of God. It is easy to understand this in connection with children; if there are eight children in a family, there are eight wills, and to allow them means confusion; in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, you have before you the practical setting aside of the will. The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. When the will is practically subdued, then we yield our bodies a living sacrifice, to prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. What do you use your body for? What do you use your eyes and ears for? If presented as a sacrifice, they are used only for the will of God. The path of peace down here is to be for the will of God; the working of the human will only and ever brings in moral confusion — the mind of the flesh is death; we must be free of the mind of the flesh, and that is the object of the nurture and admonition [p. 303] of the Lord. Supposing the grace of the Lord, His nurture and admonition, have become effective, and the control of the flesh is broken, the will practically set aside, the next thing is that the soul apprehends the Spirit is here as witness from Christ. The power of the Holy Spirit in the believer doubtless carries into effect the nurture and admonition of the Lord, but His great purpose here is to witness of Christ. He is here to form the believer in the divine nature. Many would endorse this, that if the will of the christian is not set aside, he is not sensitive to appreciate the presence of the Holy Spirit. It was a great moment with many of us when we became spiritually sensitive enough to appreciate the presence of the Spirit. In christendom the Spirit is regarded as an influence, but the Spirit has come down from heaven to conduct saints to the glorified Man, and that in the PRESENT; the Spirit will not conduct us to Him in the future, for we read, “I will come and receive you to myself”.
Now to refer to John 14: 15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” — if we keep the commandments of Christ (which is a habit of soul) it is a proof that our will has no place, we are as the apostle says duly “subject to Christ”, and when we are so, we are free from our own wills. The husband is the head of the wife, and thus Christ is to us, we are married to another that we should bring forth fruit unto God. If we keep His commandments, it is a proof of the will being subjugated, and the evidence of loving Christ is that we keep His commandments, and that means the practical surrender of our will; the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then all were dead: “and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves [for their own will], but unto him which died for them, and rose again”.
I could not press this too much: christians are too often governed by their wills, but to be really subject to Christ is to be absolutely so. We cannot appreciate the [p. 304] presence of the Comforter if we are not subject to Christ — we see this connection in John 14: 15, 16. The Holy Spirit was coming as a Comforter, what Christ had been to the disciples, on condition of their keeping Christ’s commandments. It is an immense thing to be here in the consciousness of the Spirit’s presence; and it is when the will is practically subdued that we are conscious of His presence. It is not enough to speak of the Holy Spirit as an influence; He is here as a Person, “whom the world cannot receive”, but He continues “with you, and shall be in you”. The Lord could not continue with them, nor was He in them; but the Spirit would continue with them — “and shall be in you”. All flesh will come under the subduing influence of the Holy Spirit when poured out, but I want to shew you what hangs upon our recognition of the presence of the Spirit. So surely as we do recognise His presence we come to unity — there is one body; if there is one Spirit, there must be one body. What shook one’s confidence in christendom was the recognising the presence of the Spirit; the next thing one saw was that there must be unity if there is one Spirit; and thus you recognise the obligation to keep the unity of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost and formed the saints into one body, “by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body, whether ... Jew or Gentile, whether ... bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit”.
Connected with this there is another truth, and that is, that the one body is Christ’s body, and the idea of that shuts out the notion of pre-eminence in any one member. It is a body of which Christ is the Head, and this shuts out the idea of any other head. I refer to what was going on among the Corinthians; they were divided into parties following party leaders, and the apostle asserts that they are Christ’s body, and in that Christ alone is pre-eminent, not even an apostle could claim pre-eminence in that body.
[p. 305] Now we all learnt these lessons in recognising the presence of the Spirit here, the existence of the one body, and the fact that that body is Christ’s body; when we come together, we own that Christ is Head — He is pre-eminent. When we speak of Christ as Lord it is as He is presented to us on God’s side, in the administration of the kingdom; but as Head, He is on our side, one with us, the Firstborn among many brethren; but there is no more difficult lesson for us, than to give Christ His place as identified with us. In the assembly where He leads the praises, He says, “I will declare thy name unto my brethren”. He takes thus a place in identification with His brethren down here. He, the Sanctifier, and the sanctified are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren. It is in that light that we have Him in the assembly; in the purpose of God, Christ is the centre of all on our side, He becomes the leader of the praises of the universe. He has not only the place of Lord and Administrator, but of Head as identified with man, where He can say, “in the midst of the assembly will I sing praise unto thee”, “my praise shall be of thee in the great congregation”. Now this is what we apprehend when we are sensitive to the presence of the Spirit, which we are not until the nurture and discipline of the Lord have been effective in us. The place that Christ has taken in connection with man down here according to the purpose of God is wonderful. He is the Mediator, but He has the place too of Head, as the Firstborn of many brethren; He is the Leader of our salvation — our Joshua — the Good Shepherd who leads His flock in. Christ is Head to the church, as the husband is head of the wife — they are one, so Christ and the church are one; now that is what the kingdom leads to. So long as we are here, we never pass away from under the hand of the Lord; we are under His discipline, that we might give more place to the Spirit and be led into that into which the Spirit leads.
I add one word by way of contrasting Peter’s and Paul’s ministry — Peter speaks of the presence of the Spirit here as the proof of Christ being at the right hand of God, and Paul was raised up to testify that Christ is the Son of God, and to unfold all that has come to pass in virtue of the presence of the Spirit here — the house of God, and the body of Christ. Many confess Christ as Lord who know nothing of the reality of the assembly where Christ is Head, the Firstborn among many brethren, and where He leads the praises.
May we accept more simply the discipline of the Lord that we may be more sensitive to the Spirit, and thus be led into the reality of the church, the body of Christ.