WHAT IS KEEPING THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE?

WHAT IS KEEPING THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE?

Before we can endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4: 3), in the only proper way, we must know what it is. The unity of the Spirit is the bond which binds into membership of the body of Christ every believer who has drunk of the same Spirit. We are ^[p. 338] all baptised by one Spirit into one body. We are compacted together by that which every joint supplieth. Some members are of a higher order than others, and yet no member can act independently of the body, if the unity of the Spirit is to be kept in the bond of peace. The body of Christ is to become the system which is to determine my christian activity. I can at no time absolve myself from my responsibility to act; though, when acting as the servant of the Lord - not in the assembly - I am simply responsible to Him, using the gift which He has given me. In the assembly, the most gifted man is a member; he must be under Christ the Head of the church, he must act in relation to the body, and whatever he does, if he be led of the Lord, is accepted and admitted by one and all as if it were the act and sentiment of each one. It is adopted as one’s own, just as the mouth speaks of what the eye sees, and the ear hears what the mouth speaks of as having been seen by the eye, and thus the ear adopts what the eye sees and the mouth speaks. The seeing, the speaking, and the hearing are common gain to all the members. When my natural ear hears an alarm of danger, my feet move away from it. In the same way, when my mouth expresses pleasure at meeting an acquaintance, my hand acts in correspondence with it by a warm salutation. The unity of the Spirit must first be understood, before there can be any true endeavour to keep it in the bond of peace. I could not understand what I am to keep, much less the manner in which I am to keep it, if I did not know it first. The reception of the Spirit is necessarily the first thing. If a believer has not received the Spirit - that is, if he is not sealed - he could never understand the unity of the Spirit; and the acceptance of the truth without the practical knowledge of it leads to very unhappy results; a great truth held as an idea, while the deep moral effect of it is unknown. The idea of the body is accepted, but the nature of the bond is literally unknown; and hence there is neither power nor sense as ^[p. 339] to the way in which it is united together. They, the members, are expected to hold together, but the bond is unknown; and hence many and various devices and efforts are resorted to, to maintain a unity which has been accepted as a truth without a personal enjoyment of the Spirit who forms the unity. Hence the great thing in order to understand this great subject is the simple truth that any and every one to whom this exhortation is addressed is personally indwelt by the Spirit of God. I am, individually, not only set free through the work of Christ from all the ruin and misery under which I lay, but I am united to my Saviour where He is by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. And as this is the privilege and calling of every believer, as we have one Head, we are one body on the earth.

Now the next great truth opens out to the believer’s soul. He is not only saved by Christ and united to Him where He is, but he is united to each one of His members here on earth. This is his new and distinctive position, and one he cannot at any time, or under any circumstances, forego or surrender. We shall see presently the varied positions in which a member of Christ is responsible, though not always in the same way; and, alas! how this great bond may be qualified or nullified by the working of the flesh - the opposite to grace - though it can never be fully abrogated. But as the unity of the Spirit is truly comprehended, the believer accepts and feels that he is in an entirely new position on earth, and one most difficult to insist on and maintain among men, privately as well as publicly, because there is nothing visible or perceptible in the bond. It is unseen, eternal, and invisible, but never obtaining acknowledgement from any of the human senses, in me or around me. It is an imperium in imperio, but while controlling the faithful to the utmost, it neither seeks nor obtains any succour or countenance from the human mind, so entirely is it beyond its scope and region. The believer, once acquainted with this bond, cannot but ever after be ^[p. 340] responsible to it. The greater privileges must have the graver responsibilities. Whatever may be his other duties, or however he may be placed by the Lord in His providence, at no time and in no place can he overlook or disregard this new and supreme bond.

We shall now notice the manner and way of the uniting bond of peace in which he is to keep it. First, in the assembly gathered as such. The existence of the bond, the unity of the Spirit, necessarily precedes the known exercise of it in the assembly. It is in the assembly that the unity of the Spirit is fully and peculiarly in its own place. In it “the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love”, Ephesians 4: 16. Here there cannot be any interruption in any part or member without loss to all. It is not uncommon, however, that some who take their places as really acquainted with this bond have not as yet tasted of it, and they do not enjoy what those do who are in real union or articulation. Nor, on the other hand, do they hinder or mar the fellowship as do those who are really united when grieving the Spirit. The Spirit in the assembly seeks full and unhindered action through every part. So that when one sees, everyone sees; when one speaks, everyone speaks, everyone coincides; when one speaks or prays, one and all are in accord. There is melody in the heart to the Lord. When, therefore, this first exercise of the unity is known and entered into, then this word applies: “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”. Nothing can be more blessed or marvellous than any true sense of the unity of the body of Christ, and it cannot be enjoyed except in meetings simply and entirely under the rule and guidance of the Lord. I may add here that while the reality, like the anointing oil, is incomparable in excellence and virtue, the imitation is the weakest thing, and most derogatory to the name and honour of the Lord.

^[p. 341] While it is seen by many how it is that the assembly is the sphere of the unity of the Spirit, yet it is not clearly or distinctly held that this unity subsists and continues when we are not gathered into the one place. We therefore look now at the second place in which we find the member of Christ, namely, in individual service. In service thus the believer does not forego or overlook his great position as a member of the body of Christ. He is always under the Lord, and as he is always under Him, he must be always under the Head of the body, the church. As Christ’s heart, blessed be His name, is centred in the church - He “loved the church, and gave himself for it” - so the servant subject to Him can never, in his individual service, run counter in any way to the unity of the Spirit. Nay, here also he endeavours to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. That is, in no act or manner of service is he to deviate from the great and paramount duty. It is right and proper for him as an individual to fulfil the service to which he has been called, but this, as it is done under the Lord who is the Head of the body, must be truly and strictly “in the bond of peace”.

Thirdly, in my own circumstances, as I walk with the Lord, I cannot lose sight of my highest duty, though properly and righteously occupied with my lawful calling and duties in my own house. I must make my own personal interest and advantages subordinate to my first and greatest duty, and the place where through divine grace I enjoy the greatest privileges and blessings; and therefore in my family circle I study “with all lowliness and meekness” to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. If I had not this great claim, which entails on me great and untold enjoyment, I might pursue my own profit and advantages without violating in any way the moral law. I feel I must do a great deal more now. “If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend”, 1 Corinthians 8: 13. I must not look on my ^[p. 342] own wealth, but on the wealth of others. I must properly - and this is real charity - though free from all, make myself the servant of all. If I found that anything I was inclined to do, however innocuous to myself, was fraught with any measure of damage to another, I should avoid it, simply that I might adhere to this great new principle of my being, which now ever overrides and surpasses all other.

Now let us turn for a moment and note the chief ways in which this great bond is disturbed or disregarded. We have seen how it must be respected in the assembly and individually, whether in service or at home. Now if in the assembly I either decline to use any functions committed to me for the good of the body, or assume a function not appointed to me by the Lord, I am not in all lowliness, but on the contrary, I am allowing flesh to rule me, and then I am not keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, I am a disturber. If I consult my own inclinations either way, I am not truly subject to the Lord, and therefore I cannot keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. If I refuse to hear the voice of the Lord uttered by a member, I am quenching the Spirit, instead of keeping His unity in the bond of peace. If I impose a hymn, or any ministry which is not of the Lord, however good in itself, I am self-confident, and I am breaking the peace. If I have anything to contribute and refuse to do so, because of any selfish reason, I am checking the Spirit, not only for myself but for all present. Much of this and of a like character is often found in the assembly, as we see from the epistle to the Corinthians. But the greatest hindrance to the peace occurs most frequently and injuriously in one’s individual service. It is quite true that each member has an individual and, I might say, private responsibility to the Lord; but answering to this in the fullest manner could never contravene what is incumbent on us in our higher or corporate capacity, because the Lord under whom we act is the Head of the body. But yet it is here that godly ^[p. 343] men, in the exercise of individual liberty, often exhibit a lack of “all lowliness and meekness” in endeavouring to keep this mutual tie in the bond of peace. It always shows itself in the manner forewarned by the apostle in Acts 20 - “to draw away disciples after them”. Let it be denied or disguised as much as possible, at bottom this is always the labour and desire of everyone breaking the peace. Such an one is independent, and once he has broken away from the claim and control of this new, greatest bond, everything, every act which he does or proposes, is of the flesh, however amiable it may be, because it is apart from and in contravention of the greatest work of the Spirit. If he had never known this work, he could not have disturbed it, or himself be reduced to such spiritual poverty; as Barnabas was when he chose Mark, or worse, as Demas, who, having loved this present world, separated from the apostle, as all they in Asia had done; or as Diotrephes, loving to have the pre-eminence, and casting out of the assembly.

Lastly, I am not keeping the unity of the Spirit in the true way, “the uniting bond of peace”, in my own private circumstances, when I grieve the Spirit, or do anything, such as going into an idol’s temple, by which my brother is offended or made weak. I cannot in any place overlook my responsibility to preserve this new bond, and not only to acknowledge its existence, but in every way to do so in the uniting bond of peace. If I bring in a single element of disturbance anywhere, I fail in carrying out this exhortation, and fail in answering to my highest calling on earth.