THE CHRISTIAN CIRCLE

Matthew 28:1-10,16-20; John 20:19-23; Acts 4:23-31

I would like with the Lord’s help, dear brethren, to say a simple word about the characteristics that mark the Christian circle. It is a provision that God has made for us in a provisional setting and it is very precious. We are quite accustomed to think of this circle in which we can enjoy the most precious things and where we have the support of one another. I know that in my working days, after a day in the company of godless people, it was very refreshing to come into a company that was your own; and that remains. But I would also like to draw attention to other things that should mark the Christian circle.

In the verses we have read in Matthew’s gospel, we see the importance of recognising the authority of God’s word. Firstly, he said through the angel to these two women, “he goes before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him. Behold, I have told you”. There is authority in that word, and a recognition of that authority is a characteristic of the Christian circle. You might not think of this scripture immediately in relation to this subject, but you can see that there was something that had been formed and there were persons who were ready to get the gain of it as they took up a position of reproach in Galilee.

It is a wonderful chapter; we get some sense of the power of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from among the dead. It says “there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending out of heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it”. That verse reminds me of a verse in Psalm 2 which says “He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision” (v.4). Men did their best to make sure that the tomb was sealed, but one angel came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. The guards became as dead men in fear of this angel, but there were two women there who loved the Lord and they were seeking Him. They would not find Him among the dead. The angel assures them when he says; “Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus the crucified one”. I remember being impressed some five or six years ago, when a prominent religious dignitary visited this country and persons lined the streets with adulation, that it was a far cry from “Jesus the crucified one”. In this world, His position has not changed publicly, He is still the rejected One. But on that resurrection morning, the voice of the angel assured these two women, telling them not to fear, because although they sought “Jesus the crucified one”, the angel said “He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay”.

What a complete and total victory over death it was by the One who could not be held by its power, because it had no claim upon Him! But He went into death and was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt.12:40) on your account and mine! The angel had a word for these two women; he said “And go quickly and say to his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goes before you into Galilee, there shall ye see him”. If they wanted His presence, that is where they had to go. Although Luke does, Matthew makes nothing of Jerusalem. His is a gospel, the assembly gospel, in which things are in small conditions and if the women had stayed in Jerusalem, they would not have had the benefit of the divine presence. “Behold, I have told you”.

That is what I would like to emphasise, dear brethren, that there was authority in the word of the angel; there are no ifs or buts about it. “Behold, I have told you”; the recognition of the authority of those words is something that characterises the Christian circle. The women went, and they had confirmation as they went because Jesus appeared to them. They recognised the authority of the word of the angel and then Jesus came in confirmation on their way. He appeared to them; what an assurance that would have been to them! “And as they went to bring his disciples word, behold also, Jesus met them, saying, Hail!”. That is a salutation of respect for persons who were seeking Jesus the crucified One, and they did Him homage. That was fitting for the One who had broken the power of death and who was now a glorious living Man; nobody else could have done that. Then Jesus says to them “Fear not”; it is a repeat of what the angel had said. This was a hostile scene, but the Lord in His love assured them. “Fear not; go bring word to my brethren”. You will notice the change from disciples in verse 9 to brethren in verse 10. His calling them brethren is far more intimate and affectionate; “go, bring word to my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me”. That was the word that reached the disciples and they were obedient to that word; “the eleven disciples went into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed them”.

We were dwelling in the reading a little on the word of God being the seed and how we receive it. These persons received the word and acted upon it and therefore they had the wonderful experience of the divine presence in a difficult scene. They did Jesus homage but it says “some doubted”; they were at a loss to know what to think. Have you ever doubted? I have. You know, dear brethren, there is One, Jesus, who has His hand on the helm. That hand is not yours or mine, it is His! He does not take up the thought of “some doubted”, He goes on, and what He does say next would be an assurance to those that doubted. He goes on to say “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”. He is the One in whom there is no possibility of defeat. What an assurance that would have been to these disciples in these harassing times! They had nothing to fear; “All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth”. “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”, John 3:35, and they are safe hands. May our faith in the Lord Jesus be strengthened as we read these scriptures together. He says to them “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” – that is a testing thing, for you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself, one who is a follower of Jesus, one who is a lover of Jesus – “baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.

That is the light in which God has revealed Himself in Christianity and all the power and support of that was available to these persons. Why? Because they identified themselves with Jesus in reproach in Galilee. “And behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age”. What a comfort that is; no day is missing! We have good days and we have bad days, but there is no change with Him; “behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age”. For us, that will be when the Lord comes and takes us to be with Himself. In Matthew’s gospel, the ascension is not spoken of, but it is in line with the way that Matthew presents Him as Emmanuel, God with us (Matt.1:23). All the light of Christianity, as God has been made known in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, is there for our support; “behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age”. I trust that these few thoughts may encourage us because we are in difficult days, we are in days of exercise, days that may bring in doubt, but be assured that there is One to whom all power has been given in heaven and upon earth.

In John’s gospel, the aspect of the Christian circle which I would like to draw from is that there was an administration set up which was intended to, and did, rightly represent the Lord Jesus. That is another characteristic which I would suggest is of the Christian circle, that we rightly represent the Lord Jesus. This is more the inside position. Matthew was the public position where there were trials and difficulties, but one provision we have, dear brethren, in the waiting time is that each Lord’s day while we are left here, we come to the Supper to remember the One whom we love, and we show our allegiance to Him in the scene where He was crucified. He went out bearing the ignominy and shame of the cross. Now these persons were together in a scene of opposition; the doors were shut through fear of the Jews. There was religious opposition which had had its full part in putting Jesus on the cross and the doors were shut through fear of that element, but Jesus saw them there and He came to the disciples where they were. Is that not what we will look for tomorrow? What a strengthening thing that is! What a provision the Lord’s supper is, and the service of God which flows from it. That is something which is proper to the Christian circle; “Jesus came and stood in the midst”. It is only Him who could come in that way. The place in the midst is only His, it is no one else’s, and He is surrounded by those who love Him. His place is in the centre. Unless the Lord Jesus is the centre, the circle will not subsist. The Lord Jesus must be the centre and He says to them “Peace be to you”. Think of what those words would have meant to those disciples surrounded by opposition, the doors shut through fear of the Jews. He says “Peace be to you”. He set them at ease, gave them comfort.

I believe that the Lord gives us that sense of comfort as He comes in at the Supper, coming from the wilderness, as we have been taught, completely conversant with the pressures of the wilderness, and He says “Peace be to you”. The Lord would transport us into His own realm where He is supreme, where everything takes character from Him. “The disciples rejoiced therefore, having seen the Lord”. It was the Person; they rejoiced in seeing the Lord, the One in resurrection, the One who was alive to die no more. He is the One who was available to them in the Spirit’s day in which we are, a Man in heaven. And there is now a divine Person here, the Holy Spirit, leading us to the ascended Man in order that we might know something of the experience of true Christianity in its living character. “And having said this, he shewed to them his hands and his side”; He reminded them of His sufferings. Do not let us ever forget the depth of suffering that the Lord Jesus has gone into in order that we might come into the very best, that we might have our part in the Christian circle.

Then He said again “Peace be to you: as the Father sent me forth, I also send you”. There was an administration to be set up under His hand which would be marked by His Spirit. It brings out the confidence that the Lord Jesus had in these disciples. He said “whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained”; He had complete confidence in them. You notice that remittance comes first; remittance is in accord with the dispensation of grace in which we are, and then there is the retaining, showing that there are circumstances in which, sadly, things might have to be retained. I came across a remark by Mr Taylor, in which he said ‘No one, in the spirit of Christ, will retain a sin against any, until all possible means have been used to bring about conviction and self-judgment’¹. It is rightly representing the Lord, and that is a responsibility on us, dear brethren, that we might in all things represent Him. That is a mark of the Christian circle.

Lastly in Acts 4, you will notice that it was a scene of persecution and opposition. How the disciples turned Jerusalem upside down by speaking boldly in the name of Jesus, the One of whom it had been said “We will not that this man should reign over us” (Luke 19:14), and “When will he die, and his name perish?”, Ps.41:5. There they were in Jerusalem days after the crucifixion, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. Their preaching boldly in that Name brought out persecution, and an attempt to silence Peter and John, but they said “God must be obeyed rather than men”, Acts 5:29. When they were let go, they came to their own company; that is the Christian circle.

What I would like to draw attention to in this scripture is that the Christian circle is a place which is used for the support of the testimony. They reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them; they had returned to a circle that was sympathetic and the brethren heard it and “they … lifted up their voice with one accord to God”. We sometimes hear it said, ‘All that we can do is pray’, and I know what we mean by that, but prayer is a very great outlet, beloved brethren. May we have more faith in the God to whom we pray, that He is able to do everything. Nothing is impossible with Him; all power has been committed into the hands of the Lord Jesus. There is no need to doubt, things are in His hands! The company gets the impression here of the greatness of the God whom they know, the One who created the heavens and the earth.

But there was this force that was marshalled against “thy holy servant Jesus”. Those forces are marshalled against Him today and against anyone who would seek to be identified with Him faithfully in the scene of His absence and rejection. The result was that they went out and spoke with boldness, speaking the word, and the result of that was that when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook. It has been suggested that that was a friendly shake. It was not to unsettle them, it was a shake of approval and the saints had divine support, as gathered together. In the midst of such a position, “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness”.

I have been impressed by how often that expression is used in the Acts – certain persons being filled with the Holy Spirit as if there was room for nothing else. I do not know what I could say about that but it is something that may exercise us all. As we said in the reading, it is important to make room for the Holy Spirit, firstly in your own soul, and then in the environment where you may be responsible, both in your house, and then in your local company, so that you are a vessel or vehicle in which the Holy Spirit can express His thoughts for the edification of those that may be present. They “spoke the word of God with boldness”. This gives us an impression that the Christian circle is used in support of the testimony.

I trust we may be widened in our view of these few thoughts, that it is not just a matter of our support, although that enters into it, but there is far more involved in it. The Christian circle involves the recognition of the authority of the word of the Lord, and rightly representing Him in administration so that there is a place that will support the testimony. In closing I would like to refer to a verse that refers to something which should find no place in the Christian circle. I do not want to say much about it, but to draw attention to the verse in Genesis 37 in relation to Joseph. Verse 4 says “And his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, and they hated him, and could not greet him with friendliness”. Dear brethren, that is not an element that should enter the Christian circle and I would trust that none of us would be responsible for introducing it.

That is all I want to say about that, by way of warning, but I would like to emphasise those other things that are positive and which mark the Christian circle, so that we might have our part in it, know the support of it and know the power of it, in the Lord’s name.

Address at Dorking

1 October 2016

D.J. Wright

Published by John Brown and Paul Martin

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