PERSEVERANCE IN THE FELLOWSHIP

R.D.Plant

Nehemiah 2: 20; 4: 1-4, 7-11; 6: 2,3,15,16

I would like to speak a little about perseverance - perseverance in the fellowship. It is one of the things said of the saints in the early part of Acts, that "they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers", chap 2: 42. We can understand something of perseverance in prayer, and perhaps we know something of persevering in the fellowship. It is a very important thing that we should be committed to the fellowship. They persevered, it says first, in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles. I am sure there is some order for us in that, for no scripture is written haphazardly. You may get those in our day who would like to break bread on their own terms, but the order of that verse is important - they persevered in the teaching and fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers. Perseverance in the fellowship involves your life's work and I think it is set out in Nehemiah. We are well taught that the walls of Jerusalem represent the fellowship. The setting up of the altar and the house are in Ezra. Both are interesting books to read, and I commend them to the brethren, especially to those who are younger, that we might get an impression of men whose hearts moved them to do things for God. How thankful we are for the degree of energy and enthusiasm there is amongst the saints, but would that we got more of a present view of Christ, and that our hearts were burning a little more in relation to His interests here. As the hymn says,

'Who tasted Thy love, and whose hearts were on fire'.

Is your heart on fire? Is your heart burning for Christ? As you read some of these books in the Scriptures you wonder almost if you have started at all, as you read of those who have laid down everything for Christ. Has Christ seized hold of you like that? It is a wonderful thing to start early in life in relation to Christ. It is important to get the ministry, for I do not think you will ever get any power without the light; but important as that is, the most vital thing, dear brethren, is to become acquainted with Christ. That is the heart of things, to keep in nearness to Christ. I wonder if we are before God enough, that there may be not only a generation coming on, but a generation whose hearts are burning for Christ. In Isaiah it says, "For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her sons", chap 66: 8. Have you travailed, dear older brother or sister, that there might be not only a generation following, but that there might be quality for Christ? I do not think the brethren are concerned in these days just for statistics; it is not only numbers, or recovery just for the sake of numbers; no, they are looking for quality for Christ. Thank God for what there is. I commend to all the younger ones here to set themselves in relation to the Lord Jesus. Set yourself, not just technically, but fill your heart, ask the Spirit to give you a sense of the greatness of Jesus. Wonderful thing to have! Certainly read the ministry and above all read the Scriptures, but ask the Spirit, to help you to get your heart full of Christ - what a basis that is in the testimony! You get the sense, as you read these books, of men who felt things deeply. Do you feel things like that - the shame, reproach and breakdown that has come into the testimony? You find different men connected with the recovery, and their deep feelings are recorded for us. You get Ezekiel for instance; he was speaking God's words, you may say, from outside the city. Then you get Jeremiah who was speaking from inside the city; then Daniel, who continued right through the captivity; he represents another feature. It is very interesting to read about these men and look at the dates and the problems and exercises of the days they lived in; you will find that there is a fulness comes into your study and your appreciation of things when you read contextually. You find that Jeremiah for instance prophesied during the reign of the last three kings of Judah. What a prophecy it was! What an extended appeal it was! We are in the last times too, dear brethren. O to have a heart like Jeremiah! - to know what it was that moved him when he could appeal to those kings to turn to God. Then in his Lamentations he could say, "see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow", chap 1: 12. Dear brethren, let us not stop short of feelings in God's things.

Nehemiah was a man like this, a man who felt it that the walls of Jerusalem which had stood so stoutly had all been brought down through the unfaithfulness of man. Have you ever felt that? Do you in any way feel how God feels about unfaithfulness? You think of the walls, and divine feelings entering into the shaping and building of them, and through man's unfaithfulness they have all come down, burned with fire. All the gates were burned, all the walls were brought down, all the stones that they were built of were laid in the rubble. We need to feel the breakdown in Christendom, not to become occupied with it, but to provide tone in our souls. These men were all men who as before God felt things deeply and took responsibility in relation to all that had come in. Now there comes a point where there is a man not only feeling the breakdown but concerned that there might be recovery, and that is the day we are in, the day of recovery, and the brightest things are to be known in it. Nehemiah is a man we can learn from; it is not said that he was a gifted brother, but he was one who felt things, and all of us can be in that. He had a good job, and sometimes when people get good jobs they tend to lose their fine edge, but Nehemiah had a good job yet his sadness of heart was apparent to the king who enquires why it was, and Nehemiah in his fear and deep concern turns to the God of the heavens. That is one of the greatest privileges we have. You can turn to your bookshelf and pick up the greatest truth, that is a fine thing, but one of the greatest privileges we have is that at any time we can turn to the Lord. Do you ever just turn to the Lord? You may say, it sounds very simple. Well, it is very simple but very profound. You can be going along in your job at work and you can at any time just turn to the Lord. We need to be accustomed to turn to the Lord if we have to give a word like this; you feel the need of it, you are conscious you could not do anything without Him. I do not know that we feel like that all the time, yet He is available all the time. It is a Christian’s privilege as one who belongs to the Lord Jesus, who knows Him as his Saviour, what ever your age or occupation, to turn to the Lord. The thief on the cross in his extremity may only have said those few good words in his life, but on turning to the Lord he finds salvation - wonderful thing! You will find a history of it all through the Scriptures, persons who turned to the Lord away from all that surrounded them, away from the heart-break, and as turning to the Lord finding solace and peace and rest and help in His presence. Paul says as to the Jew nationally that when Moses is read "the veil lies upon their heart", 2 Cor 3: 15. You find yourself admiring them in one way, you admire their drive, the way they can get things done, the way they hit back for instance. Do you find that? And yet that is Israel in unbelief. You admire them that way because that is the way we are made naturally, and yet Israel's blessing will come when in utter dependence with nowhere to turn - no America, no great power, no money, no resources, no arms, no aircraft, no bombs - they turn to the Lord. Then the veil will be taken away. O what it is, dear brethren, to arrive in your soul at something of the greatness of the things you are connected with, yet in one way the simplest thing that you can do at any time is to turn to the Lord.

Nehemiah was a man who turned like that and he went on to persevere in the fellowship; and we need to persevere. In Ezra, when some came back from captivity, the first thing that they did was to put up the altar; no walls, nothing to protect it, just rubble all round, but they set up the altar. Think of the feelings of God then. He was not outwardly in relation to them at that point, but can you think but that God found His pleasure in them on that occasion, when they came back from unfaithfulness and from captivity and erected the altar? I think we have known something of that; in 1972 for instance, when brethren in devotion to Christ in a way erected the altar, not knowing what the next day would bring, perhaps knowing that there would be only one old brother or one old sister in a place, having had to leave many behind. Let us remember those things when we see that brother who may be difficult at times, and remember that he is one of those who had to do with the erecting of the altar; and it was done in faithfulness. Then there came a point when that altar needed protecting, and the fellowship is for protection; you will not need the fellowship in glory, it is to protect what is precious now. The fellowship involves the Peter side of things, it involves administration, it involves things which are kept out, it involves things which are kept in. It is not a wall like those round the cities of the land; think of a system of things like that where it says they were "walled up to heaven", Deut 1: 28. Things got so out of hand and so abnormal, you may say, that not even heaven could get in. Think of some of our brethren who are caught up in a system of things that not even heaven can get in. The wall of Jerusalem was not like that, it was for protection and strength and was to be so strong and so broad that the saints could walk round it and sing. Do you ever sing in relation to the fellowship? Do you know what it is to thank God and to sing His praises in relation to the way in which He has maintained this great matter in our day?

So Nehemiah was concerned as to building the wall, but first he went and saw the ruin, and I would urge the brethren to go and see the ruin, not merely to talk in platitudes like 'we are all part of it', of course we are; but go and have a look at it as Nehemiah did. It says that he went by night with a few others, and there was no beast with him except the one he rode on. He comes to a point where he could not get past because of the rubbish. O feel it, dear brethren, that in the public ruin of Christendom, the beast - perhaps we could apply that reverently to the Holy Spirit - the beast that was under him could not pass. That is what Christendom is publicly; the stones are there but they are buried in the rubbish, and there was no way to get past. He went down to the fountain gate - no refreshment there. He viewed what it was, all those places suggesting features of spiritual power, all brought down to ruin by man's unfaithfulness. But then he is not a man to give up. You know, I think it is very easy to give up, for there is a lot of opposition today in relation to the fellowship. You say, but surely the opposition is against Christ always. Yes, but in recent history there has been much opposition brought out by the truth of the fellowship and ultimately that is against Christ.

Sadly what you find in this book is that persons who were connected with the testimony by natural relationship became opposers when the wall began to be built, persons like Tobijah, knowing the truth, knowing all about it, but not really genuine, and the pursuance of the fellowship sorts out what is real and what is unreal.

Where we read in verse 20 brings out that there needs to be first of all clear speaking as to the fellowship. "The God of the heavens, he will prosper us, and we his servants will arise and build; but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem". What I wanted to illustrate from that is that the fellowship exists and there needs to be clear speaking in relation to it. Things are clear, things are not a mixture, things are not watered down, and we are not making a wall in a different way from God. Let us be established in it that love for Christ and love for the truth involves that there is clear speaking as to the fellowship. Then you get these various characters of opposition. In chapter 4 we get those who mocked, and we may have to accept that, it comes from outside. You get some interesting questions. I have always been struck with this little section of questions - What do they? - Shall they be permitted to go on? How many times have persons written off the recovery? How many times have they predicted it would fade out - I will give them six months, and this sort of thing? These things have their effect upon us. These points of weakness that we have been referring to are very real, dear brethren. You know what it is in the quietness of your home, not at the three-day meeting; not at the fellowship meetings, but in the quietness of the weeks in between, when the meetings go on, and sometimes it is not so easy, when at times the brethren are absent for one reason and another and we feel numerical weakness, and when sometimes we are not as bright as we might be; these are times when our points of weakness come to the fore. Shall I be permitted to go on? There needs to be strengthening in perseverance in the fellowship because it is a prime thing to be occupied with today. The woman in John 20 went through the fellowship into privilege, and I think that is the way we go, through the fellowship into privilege. As you looked at the tabernacle system from outside you would see the badgers' skins; inside you would see the gold but outside you would see the badgers' skins which would cover the whole thing over. It would not look very imposing from outside but it would look protected. Let us be thankful if what is in our local places looks protected; and may it be protected and let us see to it that each one of us perseveres in the fellowship at the present time.

So it says "Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day?" How challenging these things are! Will they offer sacrifices? Will things just fade out? Will that meeting ultimately fade out when the brethren get old? What a day it is! but think of the support that is to your hand. Think of Nehemiah; when they came in mockery what did he do? Did he rail on them? He turned to the Lord. When things become difficult and do not go so well, O dear brethren, turn to the Lord, do not complain about the brethren to someone else, turn to the Lord. "Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish?" What stones these are; they stand for what is permanent, for what is of God. What stones have come to light! Some of them may not have been noticed before. Have you seen them in your place? You say there is only a few of us and we feel our weakness, but have a look at the stones - walk around Jerusalem and mark well her bulwarks. Go and find them; if there is something in a locality there are some bulwarks somewhere, have a look for them and mark them. I have found a few stones in recent years which I never knew were there. They are persons who can endure, who have been revived, who have gone on, who have known what the endurance of wind and weather has meant, persons who are stones in character; they are standing today in the fellowship and I would like to continue with them. "Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish?" Is there any rubbish about our circumstances or our local meetings that is covering up the stones? Get it out of the way that each one may become a strong part of the fellowship in relation to protecting what is precious to God.

Then as the work goes on you get another attack, that is this matter of hindering in verse 8. The devil uses different means of attack; he used mockery from outside, and then if it is not working he will use something else, a hindering line of things. The way they were hindered here was by a sort of guerrilla warfare, a constant deceptive kind of attack so that the people had so much to do that they could not move the rubbish. It is not a very well understood thing, that if you are building you have to be constantly moving rubbish away. It is well to think of that when we say, Why cannot we have a more constructive line - more building. Well, if you want to build you have to move the rubbish every day and that involves self-judgment, it involves exercises of displacement and moving things aside. Paul speaks of laying aside every weight and sin that so easily entangles us. But here a point is reached where there is so much hindrance to occupy their attention that their strength began to fail and the rubbish was not moved. Let us see this, that in the fellowship we have always to be concerned as to moving our share of the rubbish. I think it would be a daily matter to move it out of the way. We know the sort of things it may be, the things that arise from being together in small companies, the kind of irritation that comes in by differing personalities working things out together. Sometimes we talk about this kind of thing in our families or to brethren who tend to think like ourselves, but that will not move things out of the way. You may say, Surely my irritation with a certain brother does not mean that ultimately, if allowed to continue and grow, the wall would stop. If you do not move the rubbish the wall will stop, and if the wall stops it is not complete and if it is not complete it will be overrun. "The strength of the bearers of burdens faileth". How thankful we are for persons who move burdens in places, and for those who take on responsibility even for seeing that the meetings go on, those who, as we have been reminded, are available and ready. Thank God for persons who look after and care for the brethren, and keep them comfortable and all these kind of things. But that this line of things might be maintained the rubbish must be removed in me and involves that there is the judging of a constant accumulation of small things because of the flesh in us. So Nehemiah puts them to work with the sword and the trowel. You may say I am a specialist bricklayer. Some are skilled at certain things; some brethren can put over the truth in a wonderful way, how thankful we are for them; but these persons had a trowel and a sword; it does not say they used them but they had them. Have you a sword? Would you be prepared to use it? These are difficult days, dear brethren, and one thing is certain, the enemy has not ceased attacking right the way through the recovery and is attacking yet. We need the sword and we need the trowel.

So in chapter 6 there is this further approach which I think is the most subtle of all, to come down to the plain of Ono and meet there. It is very difficult when you see brethren with whom you once walked, many of them very devoted persons; and many amongst us are especially tested as to those of their families, and here are some who would say, Why not come down to the plain and have a look at things from there, they look a bit different? Then they bring an open letter in their hand, saying in effect that the whole base of this movement you are going on with was not right from the start, it was not really faithfulness to God but rebellion. That is what they said in this chapter - what happened a few years ago should never have happened, come down and have a chat about it. This line of things is very unsettling. I think it is true to say that there is no basis for any merging of companies. Christianity involves individuals and it involves the recognition of the truth, and although we love all our brethren (and never let us fall away from that line of Joseph that "I am seeking my brethren", Gen 37: 16) let us be sure of the dignity of the work we are committed to and the security of the wall. Nehemiah says "I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down". Let us be preserved in that, that the work we are doing in the fellowship is a great work and we cannot afford to go down. If you lose the wall you lose everything. If you decline, Mr Stoney says, you surrender the best bit of truth you have received (see Vol 2, p.502). You will find that is true, if you give up a bit you will give up the best bit, and ultimately if you give up a little you will give up all. Dear brethren, it is a great work; do you regard it that way in your locality? You cannot afford to go down to the plain to talk about it. Things in Christianity demand elevation. They demand elevation to speak about them, and you get a sense of that here in Nehemiah's answer: "I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down". It was a vital point here because the gates were formed but they had not put up the doors. I think the door would be that things not only are known objectively but they work, persons can go out and come in. The sheep gate was there, there are no bars or locks on the sheep-gate; wonderful thing, God's sovereignty! Fellowship is not a bar to God's sovereignty. The fish-gate was there and all the other gates that went round the wall. The dung-gate was there - I think it has been said that the first gate that was burned after the setting up of things in pristine glory was the dung-gate, the principle that things had to be got out of the way was very quickly burned in the history of the church. We can read about the gates, read about the people who worked on them; goldsmiths worked on some of them. Think of that! brethren who could speak of the highest truth, those who deal with gold in refinement, who could show a shade of difference between the highest points of the truth. I could not do that but there are persons amongst us who are able in some measure for that; how thankful we are for them! But the goldsmiths were doing repair work at the gates. Nehemiah is an interesting book; I commend it to all of us on the line of persevering in the fellowship, and that involves your local meeting; it means that the wall is being built, the gates are being formed, the doors are being hung, all locked and barred except the sheep-gate, and it involves ultimately the choirs seen on the wall. Dear brethren, I would like to touch more of the greatness of the fellowship and the distinctive side of the fellowship. We are acquainted with the toil of it; let us persevere in it until we see something of the glory of it, for His name's sake.

GILLINGHAM

23 October 1976