THE ASSEMBLY (4)
[p. 323] THE ASSEMBLY (4)
1 Corinthians 14: 26 - 40; 1 Corinthians 16: 1 - 9
My thought was that we should consider how the vessel of the testimony receives its dignity by the anointing and by divine love. It is an important matter for us to see what dignity is conferred on the saints through this anointing. What all religious systems try to acquire through training and human learning, the saints receive through the anointing. What emerges as the fruit of the anointing is necessarily superior to everything which man can bring about. It says of Stephen: “they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke” (Acts 6: 10), and this was before the most learned and most prominent religious assembly on earth at that time, the law-making council in Jerusalem. Stephen’s face shone as the face of an angel. Stephen is a type of a real christian. He began in all lowliness by serving tables, but he qualified for a great place, through his faith and courage. This speaks of the power of a heavenly dignity and is something which is open for every believer. It says of him that “all who sat in the council, looking fixedly on him, saw his face as the face of an angel” (Acts 6: 15). It is through such vessels as Stephen that God addresses Himself to men, and in them shows the power that is of God. Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit.
“The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham”, Acts 7: 2. This speaks of the great dignity of our calling. “The most High dwells not in places made with hands” (Acts 7: 48), but He will dwell in a vessel filled with the Spirit, and anointed vessels like Stephen, and He commits His testimony to them; they compose His dwelling. What I desire we should see is that, when we have received the Spirit of God, we are quite independent of any religious training that men can give us, and which is so common in the religious systems around us. This can come in, not only in professing christendom around us, but also amongst those who serve in the assembly where only [p. 324] the Spirit ought to govern. 1 Corinthians 12 shows this. 1 Corinthians 13 presents to us the love which finds its home in the assembly of God and is active there. This is another feature which distinguishes the saints from the world. In the great counsel at Jerusalem, nothing of this character was found. The assembly, as characterized by this love, became in Acts 9 the object of Satan’s most bitter enmity; Saul persecuted the assembly.
Ques For what testimony is the assembly the anointed vessel?
The testimony is the presentation of God as He has revealed Himself in Christ. As the anointed vessel, Christ went about doing good down here. Wherever He went He revealed God, and the thought is that the assembly, in the same way down here, should give expression to what God is.
In Acts 18: 11 it says of Paul that he remained in Corinth a year and six months. The testimony ought to take character from the teaching the saints have been under.
The word of God is a revelation of the mind of God, and this ought to come forward in the assembly.
It was “the word of the Lord” which characterized the ministry in Ephesus. “Thus with might the word of the Lord increased and prevailed”, we read in Acts 19: 20, and in the same chapter, verse 10, we read, “and this took place for two years, so that all that inhabited Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks”. This was the power which would overcome the spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenlies, just as Israel fought against the seven nations of enemies in the land of Canaan. This power is the word of God expressing His mind, and should be found in the assembly. What God is in Himself is revealed in His word. The word of God has a reference to the tabernacle as God’s dwelling, where He is revealed. He dwells among men. The tabernacle was outwardly a very unimpressive building, just as the assembly in Corinth was not much to take account of outwardly, but God was there. The apostle says in 1 Corinthians 1: 26: “For consider your calling, brethren, that there are not many wise according to flesh, not many powerful, not many high-born”, but, if some unbeliever came in, he would understand that God was there. How important that we should make room for the Spirit so that He might be free to strengthen us, as He will do, on the way of more surpassing excellence, that is, the way of reciprocal love towards one another, so that spiritual understanding and discernment might mark us as we take part at the Supper in the service of the assembly. Chapters 12, 13 and 14 speak of how the testimony of God gets in and affects people.
The epistles to Timothy are based on the presentation of the house of God as we find it in Ephesians, in a universal way, that is, as embracing all the saints in their different localities, where prayer goes up to God for all men; but here in 1 Corinthians it is a local thought, and is a question of the saints in a particular place representing the house of God. This looks at the saints as assembled. They are called the assembly of God in Corinth (chapter 1: 1) and this gives them dignity. It is wonderful that the assembly of God can be found in many different localities, for example, here in Copenhagen, and many other places.
Ques Does the anointing mean that the saints can approach God as priests, or does it stand in relation to the testimony?
We have received the Spirit, and we approach God, “we have both access by one Spirit to the Father”, but the Spirit as the anointing is for testimony.
Ques What do we depend on to be able to affect people? We begin with announcing the death of the Lord, a serious matter for all to pay attention to, and the Spirit distributes gifts to whom He will, in order to call attention to the power of God. In the circle where these things are found there is also love, not merely brotherly love, but the same love that shone forth in Christ down here. This is the way of more surpassing excellence, and that which shone forth in Christ in a most wonderful way. Love abides. This love should mark the saints; therefore Paul says, “if I ... have not love, I am nothing”. The question for us is, therefore, Have we love? It is not only brotherly love, but [p. 326] the love which comes out through Christ, God’s love, which goes further than brotherly love (2 Peter 1: 7). John says in his first epistle: “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us”, chapter 3: 16: Love was expressed in Christ, and comes out in the saints by the Spirit. If we have not love we have nothing, no matter how much knowledge of the truth we may possess.
The death of Christ becomes for us the proof of this love, but God makes it active in our hearts by the Spirit. In 2 Corinthians we see that all the glory of God consists in making this love active in us. He is the Spirit of the new covenant. John says in his first epistle: “Beloved, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another”, 1 John 4: 11. 1 Corinthians 13 shows us how we drink of one Spirit, and chapter 14 speaks of spiritual understanding. In verse 15 of this chapter we read, “I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray also with the understanding”. This should preserve us from long prayers and long speeches which are not for edification. We ought to be able to take part in discourse, prayer and song in a manner which leads to edification. When it speaks in verse 15 of the spirit, “pray with the spirit”, it refers to my own spirit. It is not enough that I am in liberty in my spirit, but what I express ought also to be in keeping with my spiritual understanding and my spiritual discrimination.
Ques Does having spiritual understanding mean that we are like Christ, that we have His mind?
Yes, that is what lies behind everything that comes forward in this chapter. When the apostle says that he speaks “with the understanding”, he is suggesting that there were those who behaved as if they were out of their minds.
We ought to wait upon one another, and be simple in everything. If we come together for prayer, to read the Scriptures, or to break bread, then let us do it. We read in Luke 22: 14, “and when the hour was come, he placed himself at table, and the twelve apostles with him”.
Verse 23 in our chapter speaks of the assembly coming together in one place, for ministry of the word and the like.
The full meaning of the word “assembly” implies that those who compose the assembly have come out from something; they are called out. Such souls have an understanding of what it is to be gathered to the name of the Lord. Although we cannot say that we, in this period of break-down, constitute the assembly, we can nevertheless conform to assembly order, and this order ought to apply to all occasions as we come together. On an occasion such as this, we cannot say we are together as in assembly. We should give place to the Spirit so that He can be free to operate. We acknowledge the order which according to Scripture ought to govern the assembly, for example, the women keep silence in the assembly. The order which belongs to the assembly ought always to mark us.
Ques Could not the sisters ask questions in our more private meetings in the home?
It is best not to lay down hard and fast rules, but we must always acknowledge assembly principles. In the courts we can have happy times together, but that is more occasional, and not a recognized or fixed meeting. What is spoken about here in this chapter refers to when we come together for prayer, ministry, or Bible readings. In verse 33 it says that “God is not a God of disorder but of peace”; in verse 34 we read “Let your women be silent in the assemblies”; then in verse 40, “let all things be done comelily and with order”. If we have private meetings in our homes, we ought as wisdom’s children to know how we should behave ourselves. “Love ... does not behave in an unseemly manner”, 1 Corinthians 13: 5. There is yet another matter which we ought to think about, namely, to have regard for one another, and not tire the saints. We ought not to drag our meetings on past a reasonable time, and so tire out our bodies. Therefore it says, “Let two or three prophets speak”. Chapter 12 gives us the different gifts, and chapter 13 the power to carry things out, which is love. When I understand what my own measure is, then I appreciate what others have and can wait on them. We gladly wait on a brother who is humble and not so richly gifted. It thus makes room for the youngest among us, and [p. 328] that being so, we are glad to hear his voice, so long as everything is in the direction of edification and is according to good order. We can all contribute, but, if it is to be for profit, then there must be found with us spiritual sensitiveness, and this we will have if we drink of the same spirit, that is, love.
Ques How do we understand the leading of the Spirit? Is it by spiritual instinct, that is, that I am governed by spiritual understanding regarding what is suitable for the time?
Yes, the latter, that I am governed by spiritual understanding. The word in verse 15 refers to my sp. While the Spirit is the power for edification, He operates also through my spirit. We wait on the Lord for leading, not on the Spirit. The measure of our love is tested in chapter 13, and the measure of our spiritual understanding is tested in chapter 14. Understanding refers here, however, to the subjective work of the Spirit in us, and I cannot go further than what the Spirit has formed in me. It is important not to go past what I have received by the Spirit, so that I do not try to present what I have only learned in an objective way. That being so, the Spirit has had to form the vessel.
JBS used to say, nevertheless, that when we acknowledge the Lord as Head and have received from Him, He can lead us further than we have really come in our soul, and that is what causes growth.
One has heard of those who fall into a kind of trance, and they say it is the Spirit which is leading them, but that is contradicted in this chapter. The assembly is composed of those who have spiritual understanding and know what they do or say; they do not get into such a condition as a trance.
Ques How do we understand the Lord’s leading?
The Holy Spirit works in my heart, but through my spiritual understanding I ought to judge if it is suitable to the present moment or not. We are governed by the light that governs the position in its completeness, all that belongs to the christian dispensation.
Ques How are we to understand verse 30?
[p. 329] This verse deals with the service of the prophets. Everything is to take place with order and according to what is suitable. “And spirits of prophets are subject to prophets”. No matter how much a brother may have to bring forward, he will nevertheless give place to another brother. But it is difficult to say much about these things at the present time, when we perhaps do not have the spiritual power for them. What corresponds most to it is what we call an open meeting — “each of you has a psalm, has a teaching”, etc., verse 26. If the saints are to receive what is suitable and of help, then one must make room for the other.
Ques Is prayer in its proper place at the breaking of bread?
If we are conscious of a lack of spiritual power, it is then right to ask the Lord to come to our aid, but it is better to do that for which we have come together, to break bread, and the Lord will help us.