CHRIST'S FEELINGS TOWARDS THE SAINTS EXPRESSED IN PAUL

CHRIST’S FEELINGS TOWARDS THE SAINTS EXPRESSED IN PAUL

2 Corinthians 13: 11 - 14; Colossians 4: 7 - 18

We were speaking this afternoon, dear brethren, of Joseph in relation to his brethren, and all the feelings which were found with Joseph, and I have read these scriptures as indicating, I believe, something of the feelings of Christ in regard of the saints as finding expression through Paul, because every right feeling in regard of the saints has been derived from Christ.

In Exodus 28 we have in Aaron clothed with the garments of glory and beauty, a type of Christ in His present position and service on high as personally sustaining the whole service of God in the assembly down here on earth. If you will remember, on the skirts of the cloak of the high priest were pomegranates and bells, the pomegranates being very suggestive of the local assemblies, each pomegranate being complete in itself and yet each setting out the idea of unity in itself. Then along with the pomegranates, suggestive of the local companies in their unity and fruitfulness under the eye of God, there were golden bells, suggesting that there is not only what is for the pleasure of God in the local companies, but also there is to be testimony, the bells undoubtedly referring to that. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians, “the word of the Lord sounded out from you.” The remarkable thing is that all these are presented as on the skirts of the cloak of the high priest; that is, they are all sustained and supported by the high priest personally. When you begin to think of what there is in the world today of true assembly character in all but one, at any rate, of the continents, you can understand how immense is the service of Christ in sustaining that for the pleasure of God day in and day out, and I might say night in and night out,

for “He that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep,” Psalm 121: 4.

Another thing to be remembered is that it is supported feelingly, for the people of God were carried on the high priest’s shoulders according to their birth, referring, I believe, to what the Lord Jesus is doing as interceding for every one of us individually at the present time. Romans 8: 34 states that and adds, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” All finds its answer in the intercession which the love of Christ is carrying on at the present time, and not only so, but the names of the children of Israel were borne in four rows of three on the breastplate of the High Priest, the breastplate of judgment, and the four rows of three undoubtedly allude to the four camps of three tribes each in which the people of God were set around the tabernacle; that is, it refers to the saints as committed publicly to the testimony of God in their various local settings, tribal settings, using the type, and in that setting also, not merely in the individual needs and pressures and testings of the saints, but in connection with the exercises which they have as seeking to move together in their respective localities, the saints are being borne up before God by the Lord Jesus continually on the breastplate of judgment, meaning that He has a perfect judgment as to the conditions that exist in every locality. He has a perfect knowledge of them, and a perfect judgment as to them; a judgment as to what is the cause of anything that is lacking or unsatisfactory; a judgment as to what is the need in each locality.

It is a great thing to have a sense, that the heart of Christ is caring for the saints, but caring for them, if I may venture to use the expression, feelingly and intelligently; that is caring for them in relation to what the thoughts of God concerning them are, and having no less desire than that there should be a complete answer to those thoughts amongst the saints. We see that in Epaphras in Colossians. He had learned from Christ, for he continued urgently in prayer that the saints at Colosse should stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. He was not content with half measures; however far they might have attained, he wanted them to go still further, and we may rest assured, dear brethren, as knowing something of the Lord Jesus, as knowing how characteristically He is devoted to the will of God, that He will not rest content until a perfect answer to God’s thoughts is found amongst His people.

Now, I have said that much by way of introduction, but also to impress us with this thought of the feelings of the heart of Christ, and how those feelings will find expression and reproduction in those who are near to Him. That is particularly seen in Paul, for I have no doubt Paul stands out head and shoulders above anyone else in this matter of feeling for the saints. He says in 2 Corinthians, “the crowd of cares pressing on me daily, the burden of all the assemblies,” and at the same time it was not limited to the state of the assemblies, but his interest in the saints was individual as well; so he says further, “Who is stumbled, and I burn not?” If he heard of one stumbled soul, one young brother or sister it might be, who was stumbled, his heart burned at the thought of it, his spiritual indignation, so to speak, was awakened as he heard of even one soul amongst the saints being stumbled. So if Paul could be marked by similar feelings, there is no reason why we should not be also, in our measure. I do not think it was exactly apostolic, although no doubt his position as apostle largely contributed to it, but feelings of this kind are not a matter of gift, they are a matter of being near to the Lord, and of getting an impression in nearness to Christ of what His own feelings are in regard of the saints. So the apostle, as concluding his second letter to the Corinthians says, “For the rest, brethren, rejoice.” That is his final word to us. The Corinthian epistle, as we know, deals with the saints in their local settings as committed in the locality where they live to the testimony of God; whereas the Colossian saints are viewed in connection with heavenly truth, the universal setting of the assembly, and in both settings we get the apostle’s feelings in regard of the saints coming out in these verses we have read.

In writing to the Corinthians, Paul had addressed them in both epistles as “the assembly of God which is in Corinth.” Brethren will, I am sure, understand that in nothing I am saying am I assuming that the saints in this place, or anywhere else, moving together in the truth, claim to be the assembly of God, or can claim to be that. That would be presumption, because we represent only a fraction of the whole number of saints that there are, but in the mercy of God we have been delivered from captivity; for the church as a whole is in captivity to the world, but we are living in days in which God has wrought to deliver some of His people from captivity, and we are among those set free, that is our position. Just as in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, those who came up from captivity were enabled of God to build the house and to set up the service of God in it; and to build the wall and dedicate it with the gates proper to it, so in this our day those saints who have been set free from what is contrary to God, are in a position, if they will go on with the Lord and with the Spirit, and govern themselves by the truth that relates to the assembly; to enjoy every feature of the truth, although it be only in outward smallness and weakness. Therefore we may take up humbly the thoughts of God regarding the assembly; and, indeed, dear brethren, if we do not, we are unrighteous, for there is no other truth than the truth of the assembly that can possibly regulate saints going on together. It is a matter of positive righteousness as we seek to go on together to regulate ourselves by the light that governs the assembly.

Having said that, I return to what I was saying, that the apostle addressed both his epistles to the Corinthians to “the assembly of God which is in Corinth.” That is something to rejoice in, dear brethren; he says, “For the rest, brethren, rejoice,” the idea being that at Blenheim, or any place you like to name, where any saints are available as delivered from what is opposed to the truth, there should be in that place something that answers to the thought of God’s assembly. There should be a vessel in the place which the Lord claims as His own, “My assembly,” and which He is prepared to sustain provided the conditions necessary are there; and in spite of all the evil that is around, in the very presence of it, that there should be what is available under the hand of Christ to maintain the service of God for His pleasure, and to maintain in the midst of the evil around a true light as to God, light as to His holiness and faithfulness, in unity amongst ourselves, and with the ability to deal with evil, if it should show itself, in a way according to God. All these things are features of glory, things that properly belong to the assembly of God, and it is a matter to rejoice in, dear brethren, that it is open to us to have our part in these great things. The time for it will soon be gone, the opportunity will soon be past. The days of our receiving up are near, and therefore the urgent need that we should all be of one mind, to provide under the hand of the Lord the conditions in which He can maintain the service of God and a true testimony to His name.

So the apostle says, “For the rest, brethren, rejoice.” In each epistle he had linked a brother with himself, Sosthenes in the first epistle, and Timotheus in the second, in each case calling him “the brother.” That is, these two elements are always necessary if there is to be a prosperous condition of things in a local company. There must be what is authoritative on the one hand, not in the assertion of authority on the part of one not having it, but authoritative in the sense of the apostle’s doctrine, and what is brotherly on the other. So he says, “For the rest, brethren, rejoice; be perfected; be encouraged; be of one mind; be at peace.” There is only one mind that is properly characteristic of the assembly, dear brethren. The apostle develops it in Philippians. He presents it in a most exalted form in Philippians 2, saying, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men.” No reputation! and a bondman! What a mind to shine out in one who is God, yet did not claim for Himself the glory and dignity proper to Deity, but took a bondman’s form. It is possible that this mind should be in us. You will remember how Abigail was attracted by the light of God’s anointed as found here in wilderness conditions, and how David sent a message to her that he wished her to become his wife. That is exactly what the Lord would say to us. He is here in testimony in wilderness conditions and He wants His assembly to be thoroughly united to Him in one mind and one thought; and Abigail said, “Let thy handmaid be a bondwoman to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” She was, so to speak, of one mind with Christ who became a bondman, who assumed that form. She says, ‘All I want, my greatest aspiration, is to be a bondwoman to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.’ That is the spirit in which things will prosper in any local company. How that will develop mutuality, and affection, and consideration for one another, just one or two moving in that spirit, with no other thought before them. And so she became united to David. So the apostle says, “Be of one mind, be at peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.”

Then he says, “Salute one another.” He is concerned about mutual feelings among the brethren. “Salute one another with a holy kiss.” It is a salutation that is to be holy. One is not suggesting that it be taken up literally in an actual kiss, but whatever form the greeting may take, whether kiss or handshake, greet one another with it in holiness. Let love be expressed in the salutation. “Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the saints salute you,” that is, the saints at the place from which he was writing. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” So he brings in the whole Godhead, beginning with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, I believe, a subduing influence. It is a remarkable thing that he should not begin with God. One would have thought that as he was going to bring in the activity of the Godhead, he would have begun with God, but he begins with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a subduing influence. You will remember how the dew comes down from heaven, even Nebuchadnezzar was bathed with the dew of heaven. There was that subduing influence, so to speak, interwoven with God’s governmental ways with that man. “His body was bathed with the dew of heaven till seven times had passed over him.” And so the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is a kind of subduing influence.

The apostle says in this epistle, “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he being, rich; became poor, in order that ye by his poverty might be enriched,” 2 Corinthians 8: 9. All that is to be carried in our minds. The apostle, with great feeling, as one expressive of this grace, brings it to bear upon us. You will remember how he appeals to them, saying in the first epistle, “For if ye should have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the glad tidings. I entreat you therefore, be my imitators,” 1 Corinthians 4: 15. How the feelings of Paul come out in that way as expressive of the feelings of Christ! “I entreat you therefore, be my imitators.” He says in that same passage, “Railed at we bless; persecuted, we suffer it; insulted, we entreat; we are become as the offscouring of the world, the refuse of all, until now.” That is what he brings to bear upon the Corinthians, so that they might have before them in himself the pattern of true Christianity, and in order that it might be strengthened, he sends Timotheus, who, he says, “is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in mind of my ways as they are in Christ, according as I teach everywhere in every assembly,” 1 Corinthians 4: 17. It is a most important thing that the assembly is to be according to one pattern. Paul, like Moses coming down from the mountain with the pattern of the tabernacle, had the pattern in his mind before ministering and before coming to Corinth. He had the whole plan as a wise architect and he laid the foundation. A builder does not start to build until he has the plan. The plan is first drawn up, and then the work proceeds according to the plan, and Paul had the whole plan of the assembly as God had it in His mind; and not only did he minister the truth but he exemplified it in his ways as they are in Christ, as he says, “according as I teach everywhere in every assembly.” Every assembly was intended to take on the same pattern of ways as they are in Christ. He sent Timotheus into their midst as one who, by his own ways, would remind them of Paul’s ways as they are in Christ.

Then he brings in “the love of God.” The love of God is like a rock, it stands true in everything and sure for ever. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 8: 38, 39. It is a kind of home we can all retire into. The world knows nothing of it. It belongs to the saints. The very thought of it should draw us together, and it does so, to think we have part together in these things that the world knows nothing of. “And the communion of the Holy Spirit.” We know something of the blessedness of that at a reading meeting when the Lord helps us; we are conscious of the communion of the Holy Spirit, we partaking together happily in the things of the Spirit. The Spirit is operating and making divine things real and living amongst us, and we are partaking in it, and we are to increase in that more and more, it is proper to the assembly. The apostle says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” These are his feelings as expressed toward the Corinthians and toward us all in the local settings in which we are as in the presence of hades’ gates. All these resources are available to us so that we may be rejoicing, may be of one mind, and live in peace; and we shall find that God, known as the God of love and peace, will be with us.

When we come to Colossians, the apostle is writing to the saints not viewed exactly as in a local setting,

but more as holy and faithful brethren in Christ who were marked by faith in Christ Jesus and love towards all the saints, and he introduces one after another, all marked by different spiritual features, for their encouragement. He says, “Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-bondman in the Lord, will make known to you all that concerns me; whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that he might know your state, and that he might encourage your hearts.” He is sent to them for the purpose, primarily, that he should declare to them all that concerned Paul. All this is most interesting, as showing the mutual feelings subsisting between the apostle and the saints; that he counted upon them to be interested to hear about him, and he on his part would be most interested to hear about them. So he sends Tychicus to them, whom he commends to them as a beloved brother and faithful minister, one prepared to do anything in the service, a fellow-bondman in the Lord. How beautiful all these things are. It is a great stimulus to us, dear brethren, to be able to take account of the work of God in one another, and specially to see it in a wider way than what is merely local. By all means let us know and value one another locally. That is an important feature in binding us together; in fact I know of no other way to esteem others better than ourselves than by concentrating our attention on the work of God in each other. It is the only way to do it. We may look on someone and say, that sister is a great deal more patient than I am; and another brother is a great deal more faithful in testimony among men than I am; and someone else is more devoted than I am. You feel these things as you look on one another and take account of the work of God in them. Paul says in Philippians 2: 3, “in lowliness of mind, each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves.”

This is a most important element if we are to go on happily and unitedly, and the secret of it is to fix our attention on the work of God in one another, and if need be, to ask the Lord to open our eyes to see it. Paul speaks in this beautiful way of Tychicus. Tychicus seems, from this epistle to the Colossians and also the epistle to the Ephesians, to be one particularly near to the apostle, able to show the Colossians how Paul was getting on. And he would also ascertain for the apostle’s information, how the Colossians were getting on, and further he would encourage their hearts.

Then Paul brings in Onesimus, whom he calls, “the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you.” You can see how Paul is fixing his eyes on the work of God in one and another. Onesimus, the runaway slave of Philemon had been converted and brought into touch with Paul while he was in bonds at Rome, and became converted. He belonged to Colosse, we may assume that Philemon lived at Colosse by comparing this with the epistle to Philemon. There seems to be no doubt that the two epistles were written at the same time and conveyed at the same time, probably by Onesimus himself. So Paul says, “Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you.” He had not been that when the Colossians last saw him, but now he was to return to them as a faithful and beloved brother, “who is one of you.” He would evidence amongst them the work of God who had taken up one from their very midst and converted him. We know how cheering it is when the work of God in an unlikely person in our midst comes to light in an unlikely way; how encouraging and stimulating it is to the hearts of the saints. Paul is not only ministering the truth, but bringing things to the notice of the brethren that will all help to stimulate their interest in divine things, and link them on in their affections with the work of God outside their own locality as well as in it.

Then he says, “Aristarchus my fellow-captive.” That is another commendation, suffering for the truth’s sake with Paul. That is a great commendation. “And Mark, Barnabas’ cousin, concerning whom ye have received orders, if he come to you, receive him.” He is an evidence of recovering grace. Onesimus is expressive of the grace in the gospel to pick up an unlikely person and set him amongst the brethren, making him a faithful and beloved brother. Now, Mark, sister’s son to Barnabas, is evidence of recovering grace. “If he come to you, receive him, and Jesus called Justus ... . These are the only fellow-workers for the kingdom of God who have been a consolation to me.” It is a good thing, beloved brethren, to fix our eye on the features of the work of God in one another, and on what God is doing, not only in our own locality, but in every locality. It all helps to stimulate interest in what is going forward, and what is going forward is the truth of the assembly in all its features, and we are here for that very thing and for nothing else. When Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee but my Father who is in the heavens,” Matthew 16: 17. That is that God had wrought in Peter’s soul and given him light as to Christ. So the Lord tells him he was blessed by reason of that fact, and that is true of everyone here. It may be that there are plenty of people we know who have no light in their souls as to Christ, and no appreciation of Him. How is it then that we have? Simply because God has operated sovereignly, and thus we can take account of ourselves as blessed, and rejoice in it. Why has He done it? After the Lord said that to Peter, He said, “I also, I say unto thee that thou art Peter.” That is to say you are a stone. God has not wrought in you in order that you should fritter your time away in the transient things of this life, but that you should fulfil your responsibility in relation to the assembly. That is what the Lord said to Peter, and that is what everyone is to understand, that the sole reason we are here is to fill out our place in the assembly of God.

So the apostle brings forward these different features for their encouragement and joy. “And Jesus called Justus.” I suppose he was one outstandingly known as righteous in all his ways, so he is surnamed Justus. We all should be righteous, but some are outstandingly so, they have that reputation publicly, a very good feature. So it says, “who are of the circumcision. These are the only fellow-workers for the kingdom of God who have been a consolation to me.” Then he comes down to a local brother. “Epaphras, who is one of you, the bondman of Christ Jesus, salutes you, always combating earnestly for you in prayers, to the end that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” You might say Epaphras had a high standard before him, and he had, dear brethren, and the Lord has a high standard before Him, and God has a high standard before Him, and God is going to reach it. Let us be with Him in it. This can be filled out by anyone in any locality. Epaphras was a local brother, “one of you,” not exactly brought forward as an outstanding gift although a servant of Christ, and in the first chapter spoken of as a faithful minister of Christ and a beloved fellow-bondman, but what characterised him was his earnest prayer for the saints in his own locality that they might “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” What is the reason for telling us this? Is it to no purpose? If I know that one brother or sister in my locality is constantly day and night praying fervently that we in that locality might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, is it not intended that it should start an inquiry on my part as to what the will of God is for the saints, and what it means, to stand perfect and complete in it? That is what is intended, that we should have our faces in the one direction with nothing else before us than what is perfect and complete according to all the will of God. That involves every feature of the truth of the assembly. That is the will of God for the present moment. Then he brings in Luke. “Luke, the beloved physician, salutes you.” He is one whose influence would be healing, binding, a comforting influence, a brother who always kept himself out of sight, always in the background, content to be one of the ‘we’ that we hear of in Acts; hiding himself behind Paul and his company, but going along with Paul and supporting him to the last, as it says in 2 Timothy, “Luke alone is with me.” He goes right through with Paul to the very end. “Luke, the beloved physician,” Paul says, “salutes you, and Demas.” It is most sorrowful the way he says “and Demas.” He has nothing to say about him. Not long afterwards he writes about Demas and says, “Demas has forsaken me, having loved the present age,” 2 Timothy 4: 10. Paul had to say that not long after he wrote this epistle. Here, we might safely say, Paul was sensing something of that sort, and so he says, “and Demas.” He wanted to be included in the salutation and Paul includes him, but says nothing about him. It would be with sorrowful feelings that Paul added, “and Demas.” There are sensibilities amongst the saints, “the spiritual discerns all things, and he is discerned of no one,” 1 Corinthians 2: 15. You can almost sense the feeling of sorrow that the apostle Paul had as he just said “and Demas.”

Then “Salute the brethren in Laodicea, and Nymphas,

and the assembly which is in his house ... . And say to Archippus.” First of all they are to see that this epistle is read at Laodicea, and the epistle to be sent from Laodicea is to be read at Colosse, showing the importance of inter-communication and of seeing that anything of spiritual value is passed on and circulated and shared. Pass on this epistle to Laodicea and see that you read the one from Laodicea. Then he says, “Say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, to the end that thou fulfil it.” It says in Ephesians 4: 7, “To each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ.” Everyone has received something whatever it is; whatever we are fitted for in relation to the testimony, take heed that we fulfil it. It would seem that Archippus had received definite gift, and the brethren were to use their influence to urge him not to fail in his responsibility regarding it.

“The salutation by the hand of me, Paul. Remember my bonds.” There is this touching appeal for sympathy and affection on the part of the saints with Paul, and all that he stands for, and he stands for the truth of the assembly in relation to Christ and in relation to God, and all that enters into it. Paul stands for that, and he wants us to be thoroughly sympathetic with the heavenly truth that he ministered. I have called attention to these two passages simply as illustrative, I believe, of the feelings of Christ toward us as reflected in Paul. May we be stimulated to answer to His desires for us, for His name’s sake.