UNITY
[p. 184] UNITY
It appears to me to be extremely important for saints to get an apprehension of God’s ways. I think a great many Christians lack spirituality because they do not understand them. Moses was led into the secret of God’s ways, and the Spirit of God would lead us too into the same. I want to bring before you the order and continuity of the ways of God. I may say that the whole structure which God is building up with the greatest patience is entirely apart from the present order of things. God holds His hand over the present order of things — keeps in check the different principles of evil at work in the world, but that is not the work of God; not even the ways of God. It is the overruling hand of God, very much connected with His providence, behind which God is hid. Now God would not be hid from us, and He has been pleased to make known to us the secret of His ways.
What has already come before us is the kingdom; then we have had Christian fellowship, that is, the house of God, consequent on the kingdom; then the new covenant, which really means divine teaching. The covenant is the setting forth of God’s disposition towards us, and hence for us is a thing to be learnt; it is that which can only be learnt by divine teaching. The covenant is that to which God has engaged Himself. If a man makes a will, he engages himself, as far as he can, to the provisions of the will; so God has engaged Himself to the provisions of the covenant, and the knowledge of that is the result of divine teaching in regard to us.
Now we pass on to another point, which comes, I think, next in order to and is the effect of divine [p. 185] teaching, and that is unity. It is in connection with unity that we get the idea of our testimony down here: the collective testimony of Christians is bound up with the thought of unity. It is enforced by the great truth of one body: but it is the unity of the Spirit, a unity expressed in mutual sensibilities, and service one to another. Whatever God has been pleased to give for service is to be exercised one towards another in unity. The thought of unity pervades Scripture. Israel and Judah are to be brought together in the future under one king, bound in one, in the unity, in a sense, of the Spirit; in the meantime, the Christ, the body, has come in, by one Spirit we are all baptised into one body. After the covenant, unity is the next great point in the ways of God. In the tenth chapter of this epistle we have the truth of fellowship, which is the principle of the house of God; in the eleventh, the new covenant, as seen in the Lord’s supper; and in the twelfth, unity in the Spirit. If you accept that, you will admit the order in which I have tried to present things to you.
In 1 Corinthians 8: 4 - 6 we get the truth of what exists to us, in contrast to idols, one God and one Lord. In heaven and on earth there are gods many and lords many; many governors, and gods — idols — upon earth, many dominions; but to the Christian there is one God, even the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him — One to whom is committed all that is connected with divine administration. I should be disposed to be in all subjection to the queen of this country; if I lived in another country, I should be in subjection to the ruling powers there; they would be part of the “gods many and lords many”; but nevertheless, it ever remains true to the Christian that to us there is one God and one Lord, and He is Lord in the sphere of the world to come, He has authority over conscience which is put under Him.
[p. 186] Now in the tenth chapter, the point is the table of the Lord — fellowship, and fellowship tests faithfulness. I see further that fellowship is hardly a thought connected with heaven, for in heaven you will not have any test of faithfulness, but fellowship down here is a test of faithfulness. It is true that even the children of saints, are, in a sense, entitled to the benefits of fellowship: they are baptised and brought thus within the sphere of fellowship, and God intends it to be so. But fellowship on the part of saints is really the test of faithfulness. Fellowship depends on an existing bond, and everyone in fellowship is under obligation to be true to that bond. If there is any infringement of the bond of fellowship, we are under responsibility to take notice of it. Our fellowship is to be maintained suitably to the Spirit of God; and if a person proves himself to be unworthy of fellowship, we deal with that person. One word in regard to discipline: assemblies have often made the mistake of judging cases. We are not called upon to judge a case; what we are called upon to judge, in regard of fellowship, is persons. The church of God is not a legal tribunal where the merits of a case are decided: it may have to judge a person, as to whether that person has proved himself unworthy of fellowship. The death of Christ is the bond of fellowship; that is the idea of the table of the Lord, hence the death of Christ is the test to us of everything down here. How could you go on with idolatry in the presence of the death of Christ? The Christian is to judge every association here by the light of Christ’s death. Christ has died to the whole course of things here, and therefore I could not expect Christianity to be in honour in the world. Our fellowship involves separation from the world, and we have to maintain faithfulness to the bond. The great point is to be faithful now, so that we may be entrusted with authority in the kingdom.
[p. 187] Now in the eleventh chapter we get divine teaching; for the Lord’s supper really means divine teaching. We have the authority of Christ Himself for saying that the cup is the setting forth or expression of the new covenant. In the tenth chapter the cup comes first; in the eleventh, the bread; for the object in the tenth chapter is God, in the eleventh it is Christ. When it is a question of God, the blood comes first — He has been met; when it is a question of Christ, as in the eleventh chapter, we have the import of His death, as set before us. It is first His body, our complete setting aside in His death; His body was given for us that we might be put completely out of view as to all that we are after the flesh. The cup is the setting forth of the love of God; and so it is called the cup of blessing. The cup expresses to us the new covenant — the disposition of God towards us, and hence we get divine teaching in the cup. The death of Christ is the revelation of the love of God, to the end that an entirely new individuality might be stamped upon us, that there might be a complete change of “I” on the part of the Christian. The Lord’s supper is simple in that way; you come to the Supper to call Him to mind, that He may have His own proper place with us. We call Him into conscious presence; and we are at the same time in moral accord with the lessons to be learnt from Christ’s death.
After divine teaching comes unity, and unity is impressed in the fact that by one Spirit we are all baptised into one body (Ephesians 4: 3, 6; Colossians 3: 15; John 10: 16; John 17:11; John 17:20,21; John 17:23.) I have read these passages to show the immense importance which the Spirit of God attaches to unity, and our obligation, as being divinely taught, is to unity. In unity really lies practically, to a great extent, separation from the world; and there is connected with it another thought — that of testimony to the world.
[p. 188] There was to be one flock and one Shepherd; testimony lay in unity. The obligation to unity lies in the fact of our being one by the Spirit. You get the truth of the body brought out in chapter 12: there is a body on earth the spirit of which is Christ. I do not here say the Head, for that is not brought out in Corinthians; the thought in this chapter is the body, the complete body is here, and that body is the body of Christ. Saints had been baptised into one body, and the spirit of that body was Christ. Hence in the latter part of the chapter the apostle says, you are Christ’s body. But how could the flock subsist without a shepherd? They were to have the liberty of the Spirit in going in and out, finding pasture, being instructed in the love of God; but there was to be one flock, one Shepherd. That is what has come to pass. Jew and Gentile have been made to drink into one Spirit. There is no true Christian in the world without affection for Christ; for we have all been made to drink into one Spirit. It is a wonderful thing for God to have brought to pass down here the existence of a body of which Christ should be the spirit and principle. Hence the peace of Christ is to rule in our hearts. Bickerings and difficulties are not to be amongst saints; saints are not to be divided in thought and feeling. Do you think that nine-tenths of the things which trouble us would trouble Christ? The peace of Christ is to rule in our hearts; that is a first principle of unity — the uniting bond of peace. Every one that composes the body has part in the life of Christ. The failure of man cannot affect what God has brought to pass. Saints may have failed in regard to fellowship; but the one body cannot fail, and the unity of the Spirit is enforced by the fact that there is one body.
Another point in the truth of the one body is that there is no such thing as pre-eminence; no member in that body can claim pre-eminence. No member of [p. 189] the human body would think for a moment of asserting pre-eminence: every member serves every other member. The figure of the body is brought in here to check a great deal that was going on amongst the Corinthians, tending in the direction of clergy. It is a great thing to apprehend that we are members one of another, and have been made to drink into one Spirit. Gift creates no pre-eminence in the body. The apostle had his place as apostle, but that gave him no pre-eminence in the body.
We are under obligation to keep the unity of the Spirit — to keep out everything that would bring disturbance in. A little bit of grit will interfere with the unity of the Spirit, the cherishing of a little bit of animosity or envy. We are called in one body to the peace of Christ. We have to look to it that we are not ready to take offence. We are to be thankful, and that is a great test. If you are offended and your spirit upset, you are not thankful: if you are continually thankful, it proves your spirit is not ruffled. I do not think there is a greater test to us down here than of abiding thankfulness.
Another point is mutual sensibility: if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it. If you see a brother becoming useful in the work of the Lord, you most heartily rejoice with him. If you see any decline of devotedness in another who has had part in the Lord’s work, you suffer. This is a great principle, illustrated by the human body: there is reciprocal sensibility, because the body is of Christ.
One word more: unity is our testimony. Christ intended that there should be a testimony here upon earth which was not of the world, and the testimony of the church to the world was unity. That is what will be brought to pass in the heavenly city when it comes down from God; then will be witnessed in glory the unity of the church. The world will have testimony thus that the Father sent the Son. It is [p. 190] not simply the testimony of righteousness, but of unity, made good in the heavenly city. In John 17 the Lord first prays for the apostles: “That they may be one, as we are”. I have no doubt that was brought to pass; the apostles did not have divergences of aim or object: they wrought to the same end; the general principle which regulated them in their work was unity of purpose. When difficulties arose they were carried up to Jerusalem, so that perfect unity might be maintained. Peter speaks in his writings of the epistles of Paul, and gives them the name and place of Scripture. The next unity in John 17 is of those who should believe on Christ through their word; that in separation from the world they might be a testimony to it that the Father sent the Son. That unity came to pass too; the saints were so distinctly one that they were a testimony to the world, which the world found it impossible to gainsay. Christianity was established in the world, not simply by preaching, but by the unity of saints. Whatever men may say in the present day, Christianity has been established in the world in divine power. We live in a day of apostate Christianity, but it was first established here in divine power and light: there was unity amongst saints.
I was speaking of reciprocal sensibilities: these sensibilities, and the affections in which they lie, must take precedence of natural obligations. If God has been pleased to bind saints together in this way, so that there is a body here of which Christ is the Spirit, the obligations connected with that body must take precedence of all other obligations down here. I am not seeking to make light of these: I am under them myself; but the obligations which lie in the one body have the priority. If you carry out, by the grace of God, the obligations which properly belong to the body of Christ, you will find yourself greatly helped in carrying out natural obligations. The person [p. 191] who recognises the obligations which belong to the body, and seeks to walk here in the exercise of their blessed sensibilities, knows best how to carry out the obligation of husband or wife, parent or child, master or slave. I beg you to discountenance and to disallow anything which tends to interfere with the peace of Christ, and to covet that your heart may be maintained in continual thankfulness.