ASSEMBLY EXPERIENCE
J. Mitchell
2 Timothy 2: 19–22; 1 Corinthians 1: 1–3; John 13: 1–8
It is on one’s spirit, dear brethren, to say a word about the assembly, a very well known subject. What is upon one’s spirit is that we should not only know something about the assembly, and it is incumbent upon us that we should, but that we might have real experience of what the assembly actually is. There has been a tremendous amount of ministry as to the assembly. The first half of this century was very largely taken up with the opening up of this truth. Consequent upon the recovery of the saints to the truth as to eternal life, what came to light was the unfolding of the sphere in which eternal life was enjoyed, that is the assembly.
In 1929 the truth as to the Person of Christ was unfolded, but what followed upon that was the great truth of the assembly. That accords with the word of Paul, “I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly”, Ephesians 5: 32. Now the truth of the assembly is constantly under the enemy’s attack. Indeed, the effort of the enemy at the present time is against the truth of the assembly being held and worked out in a living and practical way amongst us. If there is anything that he is against, he is against that. The assembly, the truth of which has come out in this dispensation, is God’s greatest thought. The light of the assembly is light from God that has outshone every other light that has ever come from God and ever will come from God. Now it is something for us to appreciate that we are in the time when the greatest light has come out. I speak not as to the light as to Christ. Of course He must stand on His own but, apart from that, the light as to the assembly is the greatest light that has come out from God. Therefore we need to value it, and I venture thus to speak of it a little, particularly having our younger brethren in view, that they might really understand how we reach the assembly in a practical way.
I started with Timothy. Some might not think that is the best place to start because Timothy is a word for us in a day of breakdown. But while you cannot really have a true testimony without being in the enjoyment of heavenly things, as separation is given up, so will the enjoyment of heavenly truth be given up, and thus there will be deterioration in the testimony. So it is very important that we maintain the truth that is set out in 2 Timothy which has been described as our charter for a broken day. This scripture is not often spoken about these days, and I bring it forward at this time to remind all of us, and particularly our younger brethren, that there is a way through the present confusion that is abroad in religious circles, and even through any confusion that may arise in our minds. It is a fixed way. Where we began to read it says, “Yet the firm foundation of God stands”. Now that is something to get into our souls. Whatever may come about through breakdown, whatever failure may come in in the history of the assembly, the foundation of God remains unshaken and unshakeable. Therefore there is a clear way through for the exercised soul in a difficult day.
That is something we need to get into our minds and into our affections. Some time ago persons were saying that all is up, but of such, beloved Mr. Stoney said, ‘All is up to those who say that all is up’. Be assured there is a firm foundation of God, beloved brethren. No matter what may come in in the history of the testimony, that stands absolutely inviolate and can never be shaken. We need to be rooted in our souls in the truth of that so that we can take our stand and remain unshaken no matter what the day may bring forth.
Then it says, “having this seal”. Now the seal is what gives credence to a thing. You have a document and you put a seal upon it, that gives authority and credence to it. There is a link between 2 Timothy and Matthew’s gospel; both give us a legally right position, one which we can take our stand on and defend no matter what may come up. So that he says, “having this seal, The Lord knows those that are his”. Now that is another thing which should settle our minds and our souls. If the Lord knows those that are His, we can leave that matter with the Lord. That is what, in effect, the writer is saying to Timothy, a young man. We should, of course, carry in our affections and in our prayers all our beloved brethren wherever they may be, and we should feel that we cannot walk with many, but let us not get too obsessed with them. When the Lord comes for His own He will extricate every one of them from wherever he or she may be; whether they are in the grave, whether as alive they are all mixed up in the terrible religious chaos that is in the world, the Lord knows those that are His, and He will take every one of them out to be with Himself. That will be a wonderful day when for a brief moment in time the assembly will all be together, complete on this earth, before we shall be taken up to be with Him, and then, as the word is, “we shall be always with the Lord”, 1 Thessalonians 4: 17. So let us just bear in mind, “The Lord knows those that are his”.
But then he goes on to say, “and, Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”. Now that is our responsibility. If you want to enquire what your responsibility is in a broken day, here it is. It is a very simple and straightforward matter. Paul does not add anything but just puts it in this way, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”. Now that is essential. As we think of the whole history of the assembly, we can sorrowfully see that what belongs to Christ has almost been taken away, and largely is under the power of the enemy. How sobering that is. It is a matter which we ought to feel. Beloved Mr. Lyon used to speak so feelingly about John as ‘the broken-hearted churchman’. We need broken-hearted churchmen, but such would be resolute in their souls in committal to the pathway of righteousness. The injunction to withdraw from iniquity is never weakened.
Failure may come in, things may become distorted, but let us get our feet on solid ground, that is unchanged and never will change throughout the dispensation. Right on to the very end our direction will be, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”.
Then it goes on to tell us, “pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”. Now that is a very fine thing, you withdraw from iniquity and pursue the principles set out here. Someone may say, But you do not pursue things, you pursue the Lord. Well that is true. The reference in Hebrews says, “let us go forth to him without the camp”, Hebrews 13: 13. But the way the apostle Paul puts it here is that we are to pursue principles, and as you pursue principles you find that there are others pursuing principles, and you can link on with such. That is the ground of our gathering, dear brethren, and let us have that as surety in our souls that there is no other ground. Persons may come out to a company, and then not long after they find that that company fails, and they get disillusioned and breakdown comes in. You come out to principles and principles stand, they never change, they never alter. It is part of the firm foundation of God, and as you come out to principles you can link on with persons who are pursuing those same principles. The first one is righteousness. Now I do not think that is individual righteousness so much, although undoubtedly it would be included, but I think that is righteousness in the circumstances of the great house in a broken day. How much unrighteousness there is, how much sorrow has been caused even by persons who belong to the Lord. It is a sorrowful thing to think how much unrighteousness has been caused, but our path is to pursue righteousness. Then it goes on, “faith, love, peace with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”. Well I trust that I have said enough about that. I have not said anything new; these have been well established matters among us. As you follow these principles you can have the ground of gathering.
Now there is another side to it, a very beautiful side, that as you act on such a scripture you will find the Lord is in the midst of such a company. That is something to be cherished. I wonder if I could ask the question, How many of us have the experience in our souls of the Lord in the midst? That is something that would hold us against all the waves and the winds and everything that would shake us. What I have sought to set out is the basis on which He is in the midst. It is not that we should claim anything. What we are seeking to do is to set out the truth, and then it is up to each one of us to look at ourselves and see in what measure we answer to the truth. As you answer to the truth of this scripture you have a ground for gathering and can know the Lord in the midst. Moses said at a critical time, that links with this passage, “If thy presence do not go, bring us not up hence”, Exodus 33: 15. If there is one thing to be cherished, beloved brethren, it is the Lord in the midst. It is not an official position; there is nothing official about it; it is a matter of following the scripture. In days past there were a number of young men and young women who had to find their way through the labyrinth of evil that was abroad in the profession, and they came through in the experience of their souls to an area that the Lord could acknowledge and in which He could be. Now most of us have been born and brought up in fellowship. But the fact of being born and brought up in fellowship might perhaps weaken the exercise of coming through in our souls to solid ground—to where the Lord is in the midst of a company and where we can be in righteousness. I leave that with you that it might exercise your soul and that you might reflect over matters. Beloved Mr. Raven said it is extremely important that we should understand where we are, and why we are there. (See New Series Volume 2, pages 3–11). And thus I think it is essential that we go over these well established, basic matters. There is salvation in being in the fellowship, for which we are very thankful, and we would seek to preserve everyone in it. But there might be a tendency with us to drift on in fellowship without
the real soul experience that is proper to the position that we have taken up.
Now I come to Corinthians, which deals with “the assembly of God which is in Corinth”, the assembly as it is in the midst of an evil world where Christ has been rejected. It is not the heavenly side of the assembly, we will come to that in John’s gospel; but 1 Corinthians sets out the assembly in its public aspect, how it appears in the world. Paul very largely brings that truth on to view. Luke companies with Paul, and he writes his gospel and the book of the Acts in view of assembly material coming to light. In his gospel Luke says more about a city than all the other gospel writers put together, and when he comes to his second discourse, the Acts of the Apostles, he says even more about a city there. Luke is carrying in his mind Paul’s ministry as to the assembly in a locality. If we are to think of the assembly in its public aspect that means the local assembly. God has set persons in places in view of a testimony to Himself, and in view of having there what is His own, and what can take care of every interest of His in the scene in which we are. Now that is a very beautiful thing; that is why we have been set in the local assembly, and the local assembly has in view that God is rightly represented. The assembly of God which is in Corinth is not derivative. You have to go elsewhere if you want the derivative side, that is that it derives from God. What we have here is representative; it is that here which can represent God.
When the Lord came into this scene morally all was dark, and it says “the darkness apprehended it not”. John 1: 5. There, in a Man, in Christ, was the truth of God, and it was the answer to all the moral chaos that was abroad in the world at that time. Now He went through this scene for thirty-three and a half years, three and a half years of them in public service, and the Lord went out of it. He had to die out of the scene. He had to leave it because there was no room for a righteous Man
here. It is very sorrowful to think about the character of the world in which we are. It has not changed one whit. The Lord had to leave it. Now He is on high. Does that mean the testimony is finished? No, beloved brethren, certainly not. The testimony is going through in the assembly in the power of the Spirit. It is a wonderful thing to think of, that God has in these large cities, such as this one, a company of persons who set out the testimony. It may be in relatively few persons but God has that there which can fully represent Him. I was encouraged, while travelling in America, in these huge cities built up by man, to see that God had a handful of persons who were walking in the light of the assembly of God in a place. In that handful of persons He had everything there that would rightly represent Himself. So that while there is moral chaos abroad, there is moral order even in this world and that moral order is in the local assembly. As I said, Luke speaks of the city more than anyone else.
One of the things that Luke tells us the Lord said before He was taken up is, “but do ye remain in the city till ye be clothed with power from on high”, Luke 24: 49. Now that is very blessed, and brings out the infinite grace of Christ that they should remain in the very city where He was crucified. There is however more in it than that. Luke has in mind the local assemblies that were to come in through the service of Paul and that God had set up deliberately. As you go through the book of the Acts, you find the deliberate way in which the Spirit of God moves sovereignly to take up persons in cities to form them into local assemblies. There is in each place everything that was necessary to represent God and everything that was of pleasure to Himself. It is a very important matter that we have moral order in our local assemblies. One of the first things is obedience to authority. Self-willed persons do not like it but it is the truth that there is authority in the local assembly, and that remains. In the beginning of the Acts, it says, “they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the
apostles”, Acts 2: 42. That shows there was moral authority there. Someone might say, That was with the apostles. But it was authority in a city and the apostles set it out. Now what is authoritative in character remains by way of moral authority in the local assembly. Let us then be subject to it, beloved brethren, every one of us. Let us not be insubject, let us not be questioning and raising issues as to what the Lord has placed in our locality. He has placed it there to take care of His own interests and He is jealous of it. Let us be assured of that, He is very jealous of it. So there is authority, and then the result is moral order.
In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul speaks of the Supper, but before that he brings out the moral order that is in the local assembly. He brings out the truth from the divine side that Christ’s head is God, man’s head is Christ, and the woman’s head is the man. He goes into some detail, which I do not intend to go into now. I leave it for the brethren to enquire into themselves, but only say enough to show there is an area here in the local assembly where there is moral order.
That is a very important matter. Let none of us disrupt the moral order that is in the assembly.
Let every one of us be contributory to it in our measure. It is essential that we become subject to it and contributory to it so that there is that here which can represent God Himself. The result is that, as it says in chapter 14, when the saints are together for prophetic ministry, if some unbeliever or simple person comes in, he is convicted of all, he is judged of all, and he falls down doing homage to God. He perceives that there is an area there in which God is.
That is what he says, “God is indeed amongst you” (1 Corinthians 11: 25). That is what is to come out in our local assemblies. They are to be marked by moral order and authority. I think these are matters that have been weakened. In the world in which we are, authority has grown extraordinarily weak. This country may be the greatest example of it. I am not seeking to be critical, but no one can fail to see the present terrible weakness in government. The danger is that these things can filter in among the saints of the assembly. Let us be in our guard, beloved brethren, let us cherish what the assembly of God is in the places in which we are.
I know we are walking in broken days and that we cannot claim to be the assembly. But in a broken day we have to look back and see what existed before the breakdown, and we have then to govern our walk and shape our course according to that. You do not shape your course according to breakdown, you shape your course according to what is in the divine mind as to the local assembly. I seek to raise the matter with the brethren that there should be a concern constantly to maintain moral order. One thing I might say before passing on, as it comes very much into the epistle to the Corinthians, that is to be very careful about any partisanship or divisive spirit. There is nothing that will disrupt moral order more than partisanship and preferences. That is what they were doing in Corinth and it was disrupting the moral order that God had set in the assembly, so much so that the apostle Paul had to say that when they came together for the Supper it was for the worse. He had laboured for eighteen months in that city and he had unquestionably left them in good state, but divisions had come in, and he has to say to them that their assembling was not for the better but for the worse. He even says it was not really to partake of the Supper they came together. That is a very, very sobering thing, and I leave these matters on our spirits, beloved brethren, so that we may not take things for granted and just drift along, but there should be exercise with every one of us to maintain things according to the right level.
Now I go on to John 13 because I think that is very beautiful. The assembly had not been formed at that time. The Spirit had not come and the assembly was not formed until the Spirit came. Nevertheless in chapters 13 to 17 of John’s gospel, and then again in
chapter 20, the Lord is seeking to instruct His own as to what would be proper to the assembly when the Spirit had come. We can therefore take it up in the light of that. Chapter 13 stands at the threshold of spiritual experience. It is not the assembly in her public aspect in the world out of which Christ has been cast and in which there is evil. In John’s gospel we have come to the spiritual setting and to spiritual experience. In the teaching we have had, John 13 has been likened to the porch in the house of God built by Solomon, and what marked it was a great sea of water and ten lavers. It is not a sea exactly here, it is a wash-hand basin. That might equate more to the ten lavers, but the idea of the sea is to indicate that there is a great resource to meet every matter to enable the saints of the assembly, without any hindrance whatsoever, to enter into true spiritual experience.
Now, what do we know about real spiritual experience? That is not just something in our minds. We need our minds, and we need to know the truth, but it is actual experience. I do not know that one can say much more about it than that, but it is experience; you know you have had it, and no one can ever take it from you. It is something fixed in your soul history which no one can take away, and will stand you in good stead. If we are to be in the testimony outwardly it is certainly essential that we should know something about inward spiritual experience in the assembly. That is what John is bringing forward by the Spirit in his gospel. This chapter is like the threshold of Solomon’s house, and what comes in is the service of the love of Christ in order that there might be nothing to hinder. It is not exactly the removal of matters, although that is involved in it, but that there should be nothing to hinder the saints moving into the great spiritual experience that He has in mind.
There are a number of things that come into this section of scripture but I wish to speak of two. The first
one is the knowledge of the Father. The Lord brings out instruction as to the Father in this section of John’s gospel more than He does elsewhere. He is departing out of the world to the Father. He is going to leave His own, and He is seeking to instruct them in their direct relations with the Father. He says at one point, “in that day ye shall demand nothing of me ...
Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give you”, John 16: 23. You would always do it in His name, but the Lord is seeking to bring out the blessedness of direct experience with the Father. Now that is family experience, and the family is one of the finest things you can possibly have. It is another feature which the enemy is against; publicly there has been terrible deterioration and disruption in family relations. O, beloved, let us preserve family relations among the brethren. I think family relations will be enjoyed as we come to know, in the experience of our souls, the Father, because He gives character to those who know Him. Every family in heaven and on earth is named of the Father, and again I say without a moment’s hesitation, the enemy is active always to disrupt these family relations.
Beloved, I speak very practically and very feelingly, and I trust with some measure of conviction. Let us look to matters to see whether they are going to disrupt family relations among the saints. If it is a matter of principle, of course, that must go through; but something may come up in which no principle is involved, a question of wisdom, should we do this or should we do that? Is it going to disrupt family relations? If it is, you had better leave it alone; on the other hand if you are the opposer, you had better go along with it. The thing is to preserve family relations among the saints.
That is one of the things that comes out in this section in John’s gospel. The Spirit is here to help us. He is the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit of His Son, and as such He would promote right family feelings amongst us. Throughout this century, collateral with the
development of the truth of the assembly, the enemy was out to cause local disruptions. He wanted to disturb the family, to break into family relations, and I believe, beloved, and I say it very feelingly, the Spirit of God is appealing to us at the present time to put these disrupting things away. Put them away, forget them, finish with them for ever, and let us get on together in family affection with one another. I think that would be an appeal of the Spirit at the present time, and I think the Lord would emphasise that in our midst. Let us go on together in family affection.
Now the other thing that comes out in the chapter is what I mentioned as to this great sea. If these things are to be worked out it involves moral cleansing. That was the point of the great sea. It showed the amplitude of the resource to effect moral cleansing among those who approached God’s house, and that is something of which we can avail ourselves. The Lord brings that in here, not exactly as a sea, but He brings it down to a wash-hand basin.
Unquestionably He had taken the water for the wash-hand basin out of a larger vessel, but He pours it into a wash-hand basin. The Lord comes down to where they are. The Lord would do that as we are set to go on in family affection for one another, and with desire to enter into spiritual experience. The Lord will come just to where we are, and He will serve us in His own way. One last remark I make as to chapters 13 to 17 of John’s gospel is that it is the Lord who does everything. Let us not be like Peter. Peter opted out of it, he says, “Lord, dost thou wash my feet?” Let us not allow ourselves to be taken out of the Lord’s hands and the way He would serve each one of us personally in view of fitting happily into the family of God and into the spiritual experiences of the saints. May the Lord bless His word to us.
Address at Barnet
11 May 1996