ROOM MADE FOR THE CHURCH
[p. 321] ROOM MADE FOR THE CHURCH
The thought in my mind in reading this scripture was, that there might be exercise as to enlargement, that room might be made for the development of church principles, that there might be scope for the working out of the divine principles. The divine principles may be identified with church principles; and my exercise, dear brethren, is that we might be enlarged, so that there may be room for the development and the working out of these. God has been pleased to set His testimony in connection with what is spoken of in Scripture as the assembly, and room should be made for it.
In the Old Testament God was pleased to set His testimony in connection with the nation of Israel. He opened up His mind and deposited His thoughts with Abraham as to what He would do for Abraham’s seed; and in due time He fulfilled His promise and took Abraham’s seed out of Egypt. Egypt was not the scene for the development of God’s testimony; there was no room for it there. So in taking the nation out of Egypt He intended that it should be the vessel of His testimony here in the world, and for that He must make room. It is true that the testimony had its place in the wilderness, but the wilderness did not involve the conditions which existed in Egypt. The conditions existing in Egypt did not exist in the wilderness: the wilderness was in that respect a very great advance on Egypt; but the thought of God in regard to the nation necessitated that they should be in the land; that is to say, the land of Canaan, in the mind of God, was essential to the full setting forth of His testimony in the nation; so that, room had to be made for the nation; and hence God did make room for it; He cast out [p. 322] and destroyed the Canaanite nations so as to make room for His people; the nation of Israel in the land of Canaan. In this we have an indication that the mind of God was that there should be a place suited for the vessel in which He was pleased to set His testimony.
Well, now, when we come to the New Testament we find the same principles at work directly the Lord announced the assembly. You will remember in Matthew 16, that the Lord asked the disciples the question, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?” and Peter’s confession of Him that He was “the Christ the Son of the living God”. That was Peter’s confession. We have often dwelt on that, beloved brethren, and we need to dwell upon it, because, apart from the understanding of that confession, it is evident that we do not understand the assembly, for there you get the foundation of the assembly. The Lord goes on to say, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath pot revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church”. The idea of the church, the assembly, is a spiritual idea; it proceeds from the Father. The very suggestion of that, beloved brethren, conveys great thoughts to us; it is a spiritual conception. The Lord says, “flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father”. It is a spiritual conception, which proceeds directly from the Father; and then the Lord says, “Thou art Peter”. Oh, what a name, what a designation to receive from the Lord, “Thou art Peter”.
Peter says, “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God”, and the Lord says, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona:” of very few in Scripture is that said, “Blessed art thou”. There was the thought; and the Lord conveyed it. That revelation and [p. 323] confession was not obtainable from flesh and blood; it proceeded from the Father. Then the Lord says unto Peter, “I say also unto thee”. The Father had revealed to Peter who was there present before him. He had intimated to Peter who was there; and now the Lord speaks to Peter from His own point of view as here upon earth, and He puts, as it were, a name on that spiritual formation. You may say to me, But Peter had not then received the Spirit and was not formed spiritually; but the principle was there and the Lord designates that; He gives it a name. He says, “Thou art Peter”. In principle that was saying, ‘Thou art of the same kind as the foundation’. He says, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my assembly”. It was to be a spiritual formation, not formed of spirits; but of men formed spiritually. We grow up in flesh and blood, but the assembly is a spiritual formation formed of men, who are formed spiritually by the Spirit of God, and “on this rock”, the Lord says, “I will build my assembly, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it”. It is a formation established upon the ground of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is no power which can touch it. It is a great thought; it was in the divine mind before any material thing was formed, and light as to it entered Peter’s soul directly from the Father.
Well, now, if there was room made for Israel, there must be room for the assembly. The Lord understood what the world was, and that as the world had rejected Him it would endeavour to set aside the assembly. Well, I wish to show how the Lord made provision for that. He says to Peter, “I give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven”. We might have expected, naturally, that the man that had such a name as Peter would be the builder; but no, every servant of Christ is divinely and [p. 324] sovereignly appointed. The Lord apportions the work according to His sovereign wisdom. We cannot exactly say why such and such a thing is so, but we do know that everything is appointed according to the sovereign wisdom of God. Thus, the Lord gave Peter, not the commission to build the church, but the keys to administer the kingdom; and what I understand by it is, that in giving Peter that commission, the Lord’s thought was that he should use it to make room for the church. The Lord’s thought was to have an official clearance so that there might be room for the church. Peter was distinctly official. The Lord said, “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”. Now, that was a very great commission. No other man ever received such a commission from the Lord. He was given the keys of the kingdom, a very much greater kingdom than was David’s, I need not say, or than any other kingdom; it was the kingdom of the heavens, and Peter was commissioned to administer it, and for this he had the keys; and more, the Lord says, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”.
Now, that was Peter’s commission; and I believe the Lord’s thought was to clear the ground, as it were, for the church; there was to be an official clearance so that there might be room for the new structure, which the Lord was about to build. What I mean by an official clearance is that there had been an official system on earth, and God had ended it. Judaism had been divinely appointed; and to that moment God had observed it. Israel had special privileges, and the Gentile was necessarily restricted. As a matter of fact, the Gentile was “far off, without [p. 325] God in the world, strangers to the covenants of promise”, and so on. Well, these special privileges which Israel had on earth necessarily interfered with the inauguration of the assembly as it was in the mind of God. That which was established at Jerusalem under the ministry of the twelve did not suggest the full divine thought of the assembly. So that what Peter was commissioned to do was to set that aside officially. I think it had been morally set aside by the coming of the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit among men necessarily lifted their souls outside all governmental distinctions, but the system of governmental distinctions remained, and those distinctions were not yet formally set aside. The governmental restrictions which God placed upon the Gentiles remained until God officially removed them; and what I want you to see, beloved friends, is that they have been removed officially. Now, Peter was not equal to the commission; I wish to speak of it in the way that Scripture presents it; he was still clinging to the governmental restrictions that God had imposed on the Gentile; he regarded them as unclean. Now, I would say, in passing, that where there is any account taken of national distinctions of any kind that govern men in the world, there is no room for the church. The church is not intended to govern the world. God introduced new principles into the church as a testimony, but those principles were not intended to affect the world as it was; but where distinctions that govern men in the world are admitted there is not room for the church. If the church could not fit into Israel, beloved friends, it cannot fit into any nation, that is evident, be it ever so large and extensive; the idea of the church is too great; because the idea presented is universal. When God comes out and reveals Himself fully, and the church is [p. 326] formed in the light of the full revelation of God, it is due to God and should be recognised, that if He comes out into the light, as He has come, the light must be universal. The candlestick must be free from national distinctions, it must be free from distinctions of every kind that control men here. God had Himself imposed restrictions, and until these were lifted off there could not be the full development of the assembly.
Now, the light of the assembly had been disclosed; and when the time arrived the Lord commands Peter, and gives him power formally and officially to set aside these distinctions. You all remember how difficult it was for Peter to come to it; how God had to let down the sheet filled with all kinds of animals so as to render Peter sympathetic with his commission. It is a wonderful thing to get a command from the Lord, and it is still greater to be equal to it. God graciously dealt with Peter, until He brought him to the point of complete sympathy with the commission which the Lord had given to him as recorded in Matthew 16. Peter goes to Caesarea to the house of one of the Gentiles, and God gave the Spirit to the Gentiles; they were actually brought into the assembly before the governmental restrictions were removed; and Peter acts in accordance with God’s action. He says, as it were, Why should I be behind God; the Gentiles have received the Holy Spirit as well as we. Seeing this, Peter commanded them to be baptised. I understand that action to signify that the governmental restrictions that lay upon the Gentiles were formally and officially removed by Peter; but more, they were not only removed, but room was made for the assembly; protection was given to the assembly; the wing of the Lord was extended over the Gentiles who believed. Peter commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord.
[p. 327] Now, that is the position of the Gentile in regard to the assembly. God has given to us the Spirit; He has brought us into the assembly in that way, and the act of baptism has removed the governmental restrictions that lay upon us; and in connection with that we have the Lord’s protection. In that way we are under the protection of the kingdom, and as under the protection of the kingdom we are free to enter into the assembly; the object of it is that the Gentiles might be free for the assembly. It is extremely happy when you see the place that the assembly has in the mind of God, and the Lord graciously relieves your spirit of every pressure to the end that you might be free for the assembly.
Now, I think the church at Corinth was taken up in a special way, the conditions there necessitating it, so that in writing, the principles, or law, that should govern the church as a whole might be unfolded. You must not think for a moment that the church is without a law; the church is governed by divinely appointed laws. In the Old Testament there was a law; in Exodus 20 you get what was called “the law”, but there was also the law of the house which was distinct from Exodus 20. I think that the saints at Corinth were singled out by the Lord as a Gentile company of believers that He might set forth in connection with them the law of the house. I cannot dwell on it at all in detail, but only call your attention to it.
In the first epistle you will find a good deal said about commandments; naturally we do not like commandments. When a soul receives the gospel, there is settled peace, and consequent happiness; but then God would set you up here in connection with the testimony; and if you are in connection with the testimony you must be regulated by divine principles; and I think that many of us find that [p. 328] these principles are irksome; and it will be so unless there is affection for Christ and the saints.
Now, in the first epistle to the Corinthians commandments are prominent; for that epistle shows that there was departure; and the apostle wrote to correct the departure; whereas, the point in the second epistle was to set them at rest. The apostle’s thought was that the Corinthians were restored, and that there might now be expansion in their affections; he says, “Be ye also enlarged”. The thought I wish to leave with you is that the great need among God’s people is enlargement in our affections. You can see how God has acted in regard to the church and the world, and if the principles of God in the church are to be operative, there must be deliverance from all that restricts us; These restrictions from which we suffer are not divinely imposed; they are self-imposed; and our wisdom is to dismiss them; they have no title to be there.
The third chapter of the second epistle shows how we are set at liberty in the presence of God; and now the apostle says, as it were, If you are straitened it is not on my side. “Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your affections”. The light of the ministry was perfect; the difficulty lay with the Corinthians; they were straitened in they own affections. Where there are restrictions now, they are self-imposed; and where there are such restrictions there is no room for the development of the affection and principles which should mark the church. Where the love of God is flowing; where it affects our hearts, then we are free for church principles.
I felt encouraged to bring this to your attention, and I trust the Lord will exercise our hearts that there may be full scope for the operation of divine principles.