KNOWN OF GOD
[p. 76] KNOWN OF GOD
There could be nothing greater or of more practical importance than the place that God and Christ have in our affections. Paul speaks in the opening verse of 1 Corinthians 8 of the contrast between knowledge and love, and it is important to note this. He says, “We all have knowledge”; that is, we know a good deal about God, but that does not give us recognition with God. “But if any one love God, he is known of him”. We may know a great deal, but we should be concerned to be marked by that which God values and readily acknowledges. “If any one love God, he is known of him”: there is something there that God can recognise; God can only truly delight in a nature that suits Him. I may say, I know God and I know the Lord, but the question of real importance is, Does the Lord know me? Is there anything in me that God can recognise as being of Himself?
The epistle to the Romans shows the wonderful way in which God has approached us in grace. He has set forth His righteousness, and His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He has made Himself known as the Justifier and the Deliverer; He has given us the Holy Spirit, who has shed abroad His love in our hearts and who witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. The result is that we love Him; God gets a place in our affections.
What is written in verse 6 is of importance, “Yet to us there is one God, the Father”. The apostle is referring to those who love God. There is on earth a company, the product of divine love, to whom the blessed God has become an object of affection. This alone will deliver us from idolatry, which is a terrible snare — not perhaps in the gross form in which it was found in Corinth, though there are still “gods many, and lords many”. There are many influences in the [p. 77] world that are always bidding for a place in the hearts of men; the christian company is to be found in complete separation from these, and that separation is brought about by the place which the one God and the one Lord hold in the heart.
We may never have given God the place due to Him, but if we were to take into account who He is, and what His nature is, and how He proposes to satisfy His love, we would love Him with all our heart!
It is important to weigh the words in verse 6; it is not there what God is in Himself, but what He has become to those who love Him: “To us there is one God, the Father, of whom all things, and we for him”. This involves the whole delight of God in man, the making known of His love to us, and His proposal to find His delight in us eternally — “We for him”. “Of whom all things” brings God before us as the blessed One who originated thoughts for His own pleasure before even He commenced the work of creation, which had in view the satisfaction of the love of God. All that He proposed utterly failed in connection with the first man and his race — all broke down; sin and death came in; but that could not change what was originally in the thought of God: He could not give up the satisfaction of His love.
Scripture shows that this was in mind when it speaks of wisdom rejoicing before Him and delighting in the habitable part of His earth. God’s delight, the satisfaction of His nature, would be found in men. A universe created in wisdom alone would not suffice God. The realisation in our souls that we are necessary for the delight of the love of God would give us to be marked by great dignity.
We are not occupied with the way God is for us, but with the wonderful way God is for Himself. “Of whom all things” — everything that will satisfy the love of God is of Himself — and then the wonderful words are added, “We for him”. Oh, the delight of God in men! This is the one God who is held in affectionate regard by those who love Him.
[p. 78] It is in that character that we love Him; we hold Him in our affections as the One who has proposed to satisfy His own heart of love to the full. Men are necessary for this; He must have men; no other order of being, however exalted, could satisfy the love of God. And we are those who have been called and brought to the knowledge of God through grace so that we might afford Him that peculiar satisfaction which His love seeks. To see this secures a place for the blessed God in the affections of men; it forms the intelligent spring of the Spirit’s cry, “Abba, Father”.
The fact that we are for Him covers every phase of our position and relationship with God; whether we think of ourselves as bondmen, as children, as priests, or as sons, we are for God. Every position in which divine love has set us is for the satisfaction of God. If we all understood this, it would produce a profound effect on us.
The Father is the Source and Spring of everything. He is the Originator of every purpose and counsel of love, but the Son became Man — the “one Lord” — in order to effectuate everything. The one Lord is Jesus Christ; Jesus, the anointed Man; a divine Person in manhood. He is to be held in affection as the One by whom are all things. When we come to the one Lord, it is “by whom are all things, and we by him”. The understanding of the wonderful service and activity that He has taken up for the pleasure of God causes us to give Him His place as Lord, for all that the pleasure of God proposed has been entrusted to the one Lord to be carried out by Him.
“One Lord” is in contrast with many lords; there are many influences in the world, but the one Lord is exclusive. If He is held in our affections as the one Lord in relation to all that is brought to pass by Him, He must be without a rival.
The creation of Adam in innocence did not suffice for the satisfaction of the love of God, because it did not bring out what God was in the depths of His nature. The presence [p. 79] of lawlessness and death in the world has been the occasion for the display of the glory of the Lord; and now the one Lord is held in affection in millions of human hearts. When we speak of one Lord we have a majestic thought in mind, that of supremacy in dominion; no power of evil can stand before or challenge the one Lord. He desires to be held in the affections of the saints in His majesty and greatness as the one Lord. He came into a scene under ruin, and touched the creation that had become subject to vanity, and glorified God in doing it. He touched death with the touch of a conqueror; He rules over the dead and living. What a glorious Person He is!
His dominion is exercised in order that the love of God might be satisfied. The one Lord has proved His greatness — the greatness of a divine Person in manhood. He dealt with lawlessness and death, and He has relieved us of all that was against us. He has exercised lordship in order that the love of God might be satisfied, and that by Him we might be placed in the presence of God for His satisfaction.
The one Lord came out of eternity, saying, “Lo, I come ... to do, O God, thy will” (Hebrews 10: 7). That will is eternal in its character: it embraces more than the glories of the kingdom; it involves the fulfilment of all that the love of God proposed for its own satisfaction; and will have its culmination in eternity.
The distinctive glory of the Father is to originate purposes of love — “Of whom all things”. The distinctive glory of the Son is to give effect to those purposes — “By whom are all things”; and it is by that blessed One that we are for God’s pleasure at this moment, and [p. 80] shall be eternally.
NOTES OF A READING 1 Corinthians 10: 15 - 22 We were noticing that faith is not sufficient if things are to be maintained. Without the Spirit, faith will decline. So the apostle calls attention to the saints that they are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in them and the temple of God is holy. We were seeing that in the temple of God we get much light as to Christ; everything in the temple speaks of Christ, and coming to the truth of the temple we get more light as to Christ. So in chapter 5 we have an increased knowledge of Christ; He is known as “our passover ... sacrificed”. That means we have a spiritual view of Him and see Him not only crucified but sacrificed, which brings out the personal sufferings of His holy soul when He was typically roast with fire. By feeding on Him as the Lamb roast with fire we get strength to get rid of all leaven. So the exercise in chapter 5 is to purge out all leaven “that ye may be a new lump”. Leaven is something that works inwardly causing us to be self-important, something in us that is not Christ. The assembly normally is unleavened, there is nothing active there but the life of Christ. It is only an unleavened company of persons who can truly eat the Lord’s supper.
In chapter 10 we come to the thought of communion or fellowship. It is the question of the adjustment of our associations.
Rem There was a young man in Malta who said his reason for coming to the meeting was because he found more of Christ there.
CAC He was an “intelligent person” evidently as wanting more of Christ. Persons like that are suitable material for the assembly; if they want more of Christ they wish to eliminate what is not of Christ; we must begin personally as leaven works inwardly. “That ye may be a new lump”, that is what the assembly is; a leavened mass could not really be the assembly of God. Persons can go a long way on the line of exercise about themselves and their conduct without being much exercised as to their associations. I suppose every believer who is exercised about personal conduct may not be about associations; but if these are not right we cannot eat the Lord’s supper.
We get the truth of associations in chapter 10 before the Supper in chapter 11. It would seem that at Corinth there were some who could go into an idol temple and eat what was offered, doing it on the principle that the idol was nothing and that it did not make any difference if it was offered to idols. But the question of association comes in, and the apostle shows that they were really in communion with demons. God is very concerned about the associations of His people and not only about our personal conduct. It is a serious matter to be going on with something that, in principle, is evil. A recognition of the true character of christian fellowship would save us from that. The apostle brings out the only kind of association that is contemplated for Christians. They are linked up with the communion of the body and blood of Christ — it is an exclusive fellowship. Nothing could be more exclusive than the thought of the body of Christ and the blood of Christ. If we are associated with that, it entirely precludes any other kind of association. It says, “Ye cannot drink the Lord’s cup, and the cup of demons”; “ye cannot”, that is the true principle of all associations. It is not that there is anything narrow about it, it is a far greater and richer fellowship than any other kind of fellowship. He would impress that on us by speaking of the blood first, which is not in the order of the Supper. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of the Christ?” He has in mind to give us a sense of the wealthy character and wonderful blessing of the christian association. It is well for us to look at it and see that it is the cup of blessing. He supposes that all believers [p. 82] bless the cup and break the bread; the Scripture does not suppose that any Christian fails to do so. If he does not he can hardly be said to be occupying true christian ground. Such are not behaving like the believers in the beginning for they “persevered” in breaking of bread.
The blessing of the cup shows very clearly that we think very highly of it. There is nothing about drinking the cup here; it is blessing it, involving that we look at it. You look at it as a cup of blessing and you bless it. It supposes that all Christians do it. “The cup of blessing which we bless” — he assumes it. He is hardly thinking of the cup in its literality but in its import. It is very large in its import and contains every blessing that comes to us in the death of Christ. In this chapter you look at it; it is a cup larger than any cup you ever thought of, and it contains the love of God that comes to us through the death of Christ. It shows the necessity for purging out all leaven, for it will obscure our vision of the cup. The thing to do is to get rid of the leaven. We see here the immensity of the cup of blessing and we are associated with all that. How can you associate yourself with this defiling world after that? It would be well if some of us came into fellowship! If we were to consider all that the cup speaks of, it would take several readings. It is a great study to consider the effect and result in blessing of the blood of Christ being shed.
Rem It is a feast — the feast of unleavened bread.
CAC I am glad you called attention to that. It is not a fast of unleavened bread. When you can stamp out a little bit of leaven from yourself it is a happy day for you, as making more room for Christ. It is feeding on the holy, spotless Lamb that gives us power to eliminate the leaven that is so ready to be active in us. We shall never eliminate it in any other way.
When our associations have been adjusted, we shall be quite free for the Supper in chapter 11. Our leaven has been purged away and our old associations put away because of [p. 83] the new associations we have entered upon, then we can sit down together to eat the Supper. It was not the Lord’s supper that the Corinthians were eating. It is a very important point that the assets of the fellowship are put first — the infinite gain that comes to us in the shedding of the blood of Christ. We then have no craving for any other associations among men. All of these propose some benefits, but what benefit can it give me if I am in the gain of the benefit of all that of which the cup speaks? It is a fellowship of supreme satisfaction.
Rem There are worldly attractions as well as religious associations.
CAC There are all kinds of things to ensnare us, but we shall have fewer desires for them as we come more and more into the knowledge of our associations.
Then the other important element of the fellowship is the bread: “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Christ?” He suggests to us the thought of partaking. With the cup we are to look at it and bless it, but with the bread it is the thought of eating. The bread which we break — you do not break bread except with the thought of partaking of it, and our object in partaking is that we may become an unbroken loaf ourselves. “We, being many, are one loaf, one body”. In connection with the bread he distinctly brings forward the thought of partaking of it. It was when the bread was going to be partaken of that the Lord broke it. That gives us another view of the christian association or partnership. Christendom has got very used to the word “communion”, and “fellowship” has become with us rather hackneyed, so it is good to use another word. It is a partnership — a most wonderful one, and it brings out what corresponds with the cup of blessing. The blessing that is in the heart of God and in the love of God comes to us in the value of the blood of Christ, that is the side of blessing. But that necessitates something else and that is a moral character with us which corresponds with all the [p. 84] blessing, and I think we reach that through the loaf.
The blood of Christ is a sacrificial thought and intimates the blessing that comes to us from God in the value of the death of Christ. It can never be less and it can never be more.
The body of Christ reminds us of what was in His body for the pleasure of God. It is the other side of the question. There was a Man here in a body, and that body was the vessel of God’s pleasure from the manger right through to the cross, and most of all at the cross. We are to partake of the bread morally, we all partake of the one loaf. The exercise is important. To put it simply, it shows that the fellowship can only be taken up in the life of Christ, only in that character of life that was expressed in His body. There is a moral significance attaching to it — a moral result. The partaking results in our being one loaf, one body. Every Christian normally wishes to move on that line, for we can only move on the line of the life of Christ or the line of the flesh. We can see what the life of Christ was in Psalm 16, “Preserve me, O God: for I trust in thee”. Is it not very attractive to think of partaking of it?
The psalmist goes on to say that his delight was in the saints, speaking of them as “the excellent ..., In them is all my delight”. That is the life of Christ, and we delight in the saints too. As to the idolatrous world he says, “Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, and I will not take up their names into my lips”. He will not touch the idolatrous world, and he finds his joy in God, he has his portion in God. That is all the life of Christ; it came out in His body that was given in death that we might partake morally of it, and then we shall come out as one bread. If this one is a partaker of the life of Christ and that one is a partaker of the life of Christ, if we are all partakers of the life of Christ, shall we not come out as one bread? That is the common partnership of the body of Christ. This is the association in which we are set today, and it is only as we are true to this [p. 85] in principle that we are fit to eat the Lord’s supper. We are not in a condition to eat the Supper otherwise. It is good for us to see what christianity is. Christianity is Christ. All this puts our associations right, we cannot touch any other kind of association. The more clearly we see what true christian fellowship is, the less we shall be influenced or attracted by any other kind of fellowship whether religious, political or social. They are altogether inferior and below what we have learnt to value. There are associations working for the benefit of man, and christians get drawn into them, but they are inconsistent with the true Christian fellowship, and if Christians learnt the true character of fellowship they would have to give them up.
Rem There is the thought sometimes of doing things as an individual.
CAC There is no ground in Scripture for any believer detaching himself from the company of his brethren. I have often referred to the young brother who was on a two-year cruise in the navy. He said to himself as he lay in his bunk the first night, ‘I do not know that there is a single believer on this ship and I do not know that I shall see a single believer for two years, but how I behave myself on this ship will affect the fellowship all over the world’. If you go into wrong associations you take all the partners with you and it is inconsistent with the association in which God has set us in His great blessing.