THE TRANSITION PERIOD OF THE ASSEMBLY
[p. 331] THE TRANSITION PERIOD OF THE ASSEMBLY
Acts 11: 19 - 30; Acts 13:1 - 3
We might consider the change from the conditions under which the assembly was in Jerusalem to what it became through Paul’s ministry. After Saul was converted, much is made of the authority of the Lord, the way in which He protected and ordered things for the assembly, and then a large place is given to Peter’s ministry, especially his visit to Caesarea and the circumstances connected therewith, all to show the great interest that God had in the Gentiles, so that they might have part in His house. What has to be noticed is the care with which God ordered things, lest there should be any feeling or breach, that the work of the Holy Spirit should co-ordinate with the twelve. Barnabas seems to come in as a sort of binding link between Jerusalem and the work of the Spirit at Antioch. We are told that he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith; a man without party prejudice or sectional feeling; a man who began his history as a son of consolation, and so served a good purpose in linking on the work at Antioch with Jerusalem, and bringing Saul, taking the place humbly, as it were, of an inferior, bringing in a man that he discerned to be suitable for the work that was opened up. “Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch”.
Special attention is to be paid to the fact that Barnabas, having secured Saul, brings him to Antioch and they taught the crowd in the assembly. The use of the words “in the assembly” is significant, because it shows the manner of the teaching. One would gather that Barnabas and Paul, being there for a whole year, teaching in relation to the assembly,
[p. 332] would bring in the truth of the assembly. Another feature is that the disciples were first called Christians there, as if to suggest that Barnabas and Paul brought forward the Christ, the anointed, not Jesus of Nazareth. Peter had been accustomed to emphasise “the name of Jesus of Nazareth”. They were called Nazarenes. Philip preached Christ when in Samaria. Christians do not belong to a locality on earth, but to heaven. It would lead from localism to universalism. Christ is in heaven, and the bearing of that is universal. Jerusalem, of course, would fit in with Christ having come from the Jews. The woman of Samaria brought up the question of the difference between mount Gerizim and Jerusalem. The preaching of the Christ makes way for the truth of the house of God, which is a universal thought, neither national nor international, but outside all nations. The significance of the name coming in after the ministry of these two men at Antioch is worthy of note. All ministry now should have the effect of connecting saints with Christ and delivering them from localism and nationalism.
The “whole year” was a good period, a measured period, so that the ministry would have opportunity for effect. The teaching was in the assembly. The opening of the thirteenth chapter is linked up with this, the twelfth is a parenthesis. It shows that the assembly at Antioch afforded liberty for the Holy Spirit. First there was ministry, then liberty for the Holy Spirit to act sovereignly. These are the features that mark the assembly under Paul. I think love is the link that saves us from feeling arising; “Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim”. It is bad to have envy, but it is bad to vex; in either case it is a work of the flesh, but envy is the more serious. At the end of the eleventh chapter you have the evidence of love. A famine is prophesied; they send out [p. 333] Barnabas in a spiritual way, and now he is sent back with Saul with the evidence of love. That was a sure guarantee against any feeling arising; it was the working of love. Paul says to the Philippians, “In the beginning of the gospel ... ... no assembly communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only”. (Philippians 4: 15) There seems to me to be a suggestion of mutuality in the communication, involving giving and receiving. One may be disposed to give, but it requires grace to receive too. The middle wall of partition had been broken down; they were reconciled in one body. It could not be effective unless there was this practical unity. If there is envy on the one side or vexing on the other, there is not that which is pleasing to God. The Lord intended to show that He was not limited to Jerusalem, but Jerusalem might become envious; hence the great care here. The man they sent was sent back again with the evidence of love, but Saul goes with him. Hence the link would be all the stronger. So too the work of God would be co-ordinated. The need in Judea became the occasion for the expression of love. It put to the test at Antioch the men that were well-to-do.
Comparing this passage with the one in 2 Corinthians, we can see what a portion the Lord had in it; they were messengers of the assembly, and were Christ’s glory; God had His own portion in it. Concerning giving and receiving we are all put to the test. It says, “And they determined, according as any one of the disciples was well off, each of them to send ... ... which also they did”. The determination was carried out. Titus was a fellow labourer, but the others were deputed messengers of the assembly. They were carrying the expression of love. It would be an additional link; things were working mutually. It seems to indicate great wisdom on God’s part. We are so prone to become local, to attach too much [p. 334] importance to it, whereas the mind of God is that the work of the Holy Spirit is co-ordinated in the house. The Lord may move here today and there tomorrow, but it is all contributory to the well-being of the saints as a whole. Metropolitanism is contrary to the truth of the house of God. Up to this time the assembly at Jerusalem was recognised as the mother church; now emphasis is given to the assembly at Antioch. There was ministry to the Lord there, and then the Spirit is free to work upon the saints there to have fellowship in the apostolic mission that He was about to inaugurate and send out. The base for the moment was Antioch, but it is little heard of afterwards; the Spirit goes on to Corinth and Ephesus and other places. The point was to bring in the principle of universality connected with Christ in heaven. The great metropolis of Christendom, Rome, is in itself a local idea; it is a locality influencing a wider area. The great metropolis of Christendom is Babylon. God would show His great patience with Jerusalem, and it is shown here. Then in the fifteenth chapter you have it strengthened; when a matter of difficulty arose at Antioch, the Lord overruled it so that no objection arose, and it was settled according to God. National preference is ignored; that is the heavenly side.
The two epistles that specially develop the truth of the mystery, speak of love in those locally addressed, love to all saints. It is well to bear in mind that although there are perhaps only a few who are in the light of the assembly, the many are still to be regarded as of it, you never give them up in your affections. There is at present a great danger of going back to what earlier ministry delivered us from; that is, the setting up a kind of model of the assembly. We should never relinquish the saints, whatever their state or associations may be; they are of the assembly. We are to hold all the saints in [p. 335] our affections; the Lord never gives them up. You do not know them all, but the Lord knows them, and you are with Him about it. We come together in the light of the assembly, but if we are intelligent we do not assume to be a company based on the model of the assembly. You hold all the saints in your affections; you regret their absence; there are only certain ones available, and you go on with them but the others must not be forgotten. It keeps you in the truth of the house, otherwise you are on sectarian lines. If you speak of receiving into fellowship, you are apt to convey the thought of receiving into the company, a company that has an ecclesiastical status. I prefer what was said this morning, someone desires to break bread with us. It is one more available. The attitude of your soul towards all is that they might be with you. Breaking of bread is the expression of fellowship; in that way you keep right in your soul. It is the assembly you are occupied with. You are going on with all that are available, not assuming that you have all, because you have not got all.
You can only hold the Head for yourself, but you think of the members. “The head cannot say, I have no need of thee”. That is what the members say, which is obviously wrong. The cannot there is moral; in the light of the body you cannot say this. The truth of the body held in the soul implies that we desire to have all the members, and we feel it if we have not. If we do not care for the members we do not care much for the Head. The house is for God, the body is for Christ. The body may be more limited in the working out of it. Every stone in the house is in the body. Luke 14 and 15, especially 15, help in regard to the house. The prodigal is not said to be brought into it; he is it in principle. When you come to the concrete idea, the house is the persons that are in it; “whose house are we”.
[p. 336] It is that which is before man, because the elder brother could hear the music and dancing.
Much is made of the Lord after the sin of Ananias and Sapphira; “believers were the more added to the Lord”. So here; not only are they added, but they are exhorted to cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart. It is a question of the company continuing as a company. Acts 13: 2, emphasises the fact that the assembly had been formed among the Gentiles. The Thessalonians became imitators of the assemblies in Judea, showing that they were still in view; but the Lord was leading on to a universal thought. Antioch is divinely addressed as an assembly, and had all the marks of an assembly. It answers to the thought of the assembly, that it should minister to Christ. Fasting is an evidence of great reality; when you have fasting, it shows that you are ready to give up what belongs to you legitimately for the sake of Christ. You might pass muster among Christians even without fasting. It was as if the Lord said, This is the company that I can identify Myself with wholly; they are with Me. It is the sovereign action of the Holy Spirit in sending out the apostles to the Gentiles, but associating those assemblies with Him in the act. There were other companies, of course. The teaching for a whole year is evidently at the bottom of this. The result of the ministry of Paul and Barnabas would be: I must be for Christ; these men are for Him. They became Christians. They went beyond the ordinary; the word had taken effect. If we are for Him, He can take us up and identify us with the work of God down here. “Having fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they let them go”. It does not say they sent them away. They held them up to their time. The sympathy and confidence were very beautiful. The fifteenth of John says, the Holy Spirit should bear witness and that they should [p. 337] bear witness; it seems that this is connected with the Holy Spirit bearing witness. He is now acting sovereignly in the assembly, and always asserts Himself when there is any attempt to rule things from a locality. The mind of the Spirit is emphasised. The saints as a rule are right in their judgment, they get the mind of the Spirit. You can hardly define how it does come about, but it does come about; saints know what is right and what should be done. It is brought in here to establish the principle, that service is to be carried on in relation to the assembly which cannot be ignored in one’s service. The fasting makes special room for the Spirit. “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting”. (Matthew 17: 21).