COMPLETENESS

^[p. 133] COMPLETENESS

COLOSSIANS 1:25,26; Colossians 2:9,10; Colossians 4:12

I am thinking, dear brethren of completeness. It is a characteristic word of the epistle to the Colossians, and, as I hope to show, ought to be a characteristic word with all of us, as standing “perfect and complete in all the will of God”, Colossians 4:12. The first item is “the word of God”, verse 25. The apostle speaks of being made a “minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given me towards you to complete the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been made manifest to his saints”. Colossians 1:25,26. I am speaking now of the word of God being completed, a part of the three-fold thought that is in mind involving the word completeness; the first being the word of God. It is being attacked, of course, by infidels, distorted and attacked in various ways; in the schools, the colleges, and in the workshops; in the drawing-rooms, and in the churches, so-called, alas! Where the word of God should be conserved, revered, and supported in every way, it is being attacked and discredited by the leading theologians of the moment. Satan understands how the youth and the ordinary man and woman are exposed and likely to fall under the influence of the anti-christian error abroad.

I venture to bring forward the word of God. I am not now speaking of the Scriptures; of course, they are included. What Paul is speaking about is the word of God; its living character as spoken. The Scriptures, of course, are of supreme value, only the word of God here is the mystery, which men ordinarily know nothing of, whereas lovers of God and lovers of Christ make much of the mystery. Hence the apostle here speaks of the mystery “which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been made manifest to his saints”, Colossians 1:26.

^[p. 134] The mystery is in mind. Paul is saying that the completion of the word of God was his matter, given to him, and that it involved the mystery; for the apostles, although they were employed as writers of the inspired page, did not all write about the mystery. They did not understand it themselves. It was revealed to Paul and, involves ourselves, dear brethren. I am free to say that, because we ourselves, our very selves are involved in the term, “the mystery”. It is “the word of God”, but the mystery. It is a question of the assembly and we are interested. So in our reading meetings week by week we have in our minds that there is something wonderful belonging to us, written for us; something that God Himself had concealed for centuries; yea, until Paul; and it is now disclosed to the saints, to the holy apostles and prophets too particularly, but “to his saints”, according to this passage: “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been made manifest to his saints”, Colossians 1:26. So we have opened up to us personally one of the greatest things; and the question is whether we are really interested. It is one of the greatest things belonging to ourselves, not belonging to Israel or the nations, or men in general, but to ourselves; that is, to those of us who form the assembly.

I would seek to enlist the sympathy and interest of the young here in this great matter, so that you may look into the matter to see what this word mystery really means as used here, as referring to the assembly. It is used in other connections, but as used here it is a completion, from Paul’s point of view, of the word of God. The word of God in Hebrews is said to be “living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to the division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”, Hebrews 4:12. This part of the word of God that I have read about tonight includes all that; it includes all the ideas that are spoken about in Hebrews 4 as ^[p. 135] characterising the word of God. So, as I said, I am thinking of it as completing the word of God. I am thinking of it from that point of view; and, as being a reference to ourselves, how interesting it really is, how available. We cannot afford to be ignorant of it. We need to look into it and to use all the aids possible, and there are many, to understand it; because it is a question of being fitted for heaven. We shall understand it there. We shall be the filling out of it; for that is what the assembly is, “the fulness of him who fills all in all”, Ephesians 1:23; and we are to be it. So the question is, where we are as to our interests, and whether we are ready to look into the matter and get an understanding of it so as to fill each his part. All of us are to have part in this “mystery of God”, Colossians 2:2; the “mystery of the glad tidings”, too, it is called, Ephesians 6:19. Why not begin to look into it and pray about it in this way, so that it may become living in the saints? Presently we are to go up; it is a time of getting ready to go up, it is an ascending time. We are to ask, we are to be ready for the ascension and all that is involved in the ascension; so that it is the mystery. I begin my discourse with this thought of completeness in the word of God.

Now it involves our relations with one another, it involves our services; if we have gift, it involves that. So we each contribute to the great matter, and, as opportunity offers to look into it in dependence on the Lord, we are to grow, “by the true knowledge of God”, Colossians 1:10. It is a real mystery and we are essential to it in heaven and essential to it here. It is not simply a theoretic matter, but a real substantial matter; this matter of the mystery, composed of ourselves, so that we may each regard himself in this light. So the apostle begins this thought of completeness with the mystery, to complete the word of God.

We have in chapter 2 completeness in Christ, in whom dwells “all the fulness of the Godhead”, Colossians 2:9 — a ^[p. 136] greater matter still, and then, finally, completeness as to our state. Chapter 2 regards completeness in us as what I may call objective truth; but chapter 4 is really subjective, very subjective. It is a question of our state, completeness as to our state. So it is said of the dear brother mentioned in Colossians 4:12: “Epaphras, who is one of you, the bondman of Christ Jesus, ^[p. 143] salutes you, always combating earnestly for you in prayers, to the end that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”. Then earlier we have in regard to their state: “Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow-bondman in the Lord, will make known to you all that concerns me; whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that he might know your state, and that he might encourage your hearts”, Colossians 4:7,8. So you can see how the apostle had this matter of completeness in his mind in this remarkable epistle. It is an epistle that deals with a carnal condition in the Colossians. It was a question of things being really in the balance, as to whether they were to go on in the truth, or whether they were to be detained by philosophy and vain deceit; but in the meantime they were pleasing to God, as he says: “rejoicing and seeing your order, and the firmness of your faith in Christ”, Colossians 2:5. Their stedfastness in their services Godward was a positive pleasure to the apostle.

This matter of the word of God, the completeness of it, is essential to us so as to fill out our part in this great matter. So I would urge the matter of the word of God, the completeness of it; not merely the Scriptures, but the full scheme that is in the mind of God, to include the whole scope of the assembly and its working out in the service of God in these last days. It is a question, dear brethren, of looking into the matter in its entirety. It is a complete matter. There is nothing missing now as to the scheme in the divine mind; made known in writing, but made known in ministry. Ministry is effected by the ^[p. 137] Spirit of God in the power of gift, and that is where the thing comes in for us; God is opening it up to us through the number of brethren that are capable of ministering. There are those with a knowledge of Greek and the like, and they are needed for translations; but the real point is ministry for the saints, and that ministry requires the full scope of the Scripture, the word of God. So the word of God is known in its effectiveness. These meetings are a prime matter with God and the Holy Spirit is down here, so that we should become accustomed to the divine thoughts and ways in the mystery, to see how it reacts upon us in the service of God. So the service goes on intelligently, and God is pleased as He is served and worshipped; and the Lord Jesus is pleased as He is served and worshipped; and the Holy Spirit has His part. I am insisting on the Scriptures, but I am seeking to keep before your minds the importance of ministry in this book. It is said to one: “Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, to the end that thou fulfil it”, Colossians 4:17. So every one of us has to look into the matter to see whether we have any ability for ministry, and to see that it is fulfilled.

The thing is to get the scope of the word of God, the scope of Scripture, so that our minds may be charged with it, nourished and ministered to in a real way; so as to understand the Scriptures, and then to understand the ministry. Why is so much not understood? Why have we so much in the way of novelties and things said raising questions of no profit? Why should it be? The Lord is challenging us as to whether we understand, so that we may get the knowledge of the whole scope of Scripture, the completion of the word of God, and to read accordingly. So Timothy is enjoined to take heed to reading and other things. What are we reading, and have we the whole scope of the Scriptures before us as in our studies? The things are brought home to us in the ministry, so the word of God must be before us for this.

^[p. 138] Search the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so; let everything be tested out, dear brethren, so that we know what we hold, whether it is the truth, and that we know what is meant by Scripture, and that we are “growing by the true knowledge of God”. Colossians 1:10.

I am just stressing that thought of the completeness of the word of God in all I have said, and I hope the brethren will bear with me. It is no question of criticising, but of getting the brethren to learn and to hold what they learn so that our conversations are of real value, and the saints are mutually enriched by the knowledge of God through the Scriptures and through the ministry.

Now I go on to the second passage to call attention to the completeness of the Deity in Christ. Again we are confronted with the greatest error, unitarian error, whereas what the apostle aims at building up in this epistle is the deity of Christ: that “in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”, Colossians 2:9. In chapter 1 it is “in him all the fulness”, “was pleased to dwell”, Colossians 1:19; the word fulness indicating who the Person is. But chapter 2 is a question of what is in Him bodily; and it enables us to refute and refuse the much error that is current around us, heard constantly in our places of employment, and in the schools, where the children hear it and perhaps drink it in to their loss. So I refer to this matter of completeness in chapter 2 as a sort of objective matter; not a term that is common and threadbare, but a real matter, that is to be understood. So chapter 2 is the fulness of the Deity in Christ, bodily. For that we have to call upon, not only our minds, dear brethren, but our affections. Our minds are necessary, we can hardly understand anything without our minds. They are to be pure, renewed; but our affections are now required. It is a question of the Person and a Person liable to be attacked by perhaps your most intimate friend. You ought to be on your guard, and if you love ^[p. 139] Christ you will be. So that if any matter is raised that casts a shade on the glory of the Lord Jesus you are ready to defend Him. We are to be like those referred to in Song of Songs; three-score armed men keep His bedside: see Song of Songs 3:7. We are to be ready to defend the Lord at all costs; even if it be one of our nearest relatives or acquaintances that might attack Him. The element is so much abroad that the most intimate of our acquaintances is liable to attack the Lord Jesus. So that the threescore mighty men show the readiness with which we should defend the Lord, whosoever it may be that attacks Him.

We have the real Christ, the Lord Jesus, “who is over all, God blessed for ever”, Romans 9:5. That is the Person; and this second chapter is, as I said, to fit us for the service of God. It is a matter of faith, as it is said, “raised with him through faith of the working of God who raised him from among the dead”, Colossians 2:12. That is a matter of faith. The word faith is used in this connection as over against sight, which will be the principle in the millennium. We are not raised outwardly now, but raised “through the faith of the working of God”. Colossians 2:12. It is a real matter in the sense of operation; that the Lord Jesus is really raised. There is no question about that. He is raised and glorified. All the glorification is a part of the dispensation. “Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father”, John 20:17. It is not ‘not yet risen’, but “not yet ascended”. The ascension of Christ is part of the dispensation, and it is the light that was given to Mary Magdalene; and she went to the disciples and told them “that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her”, John 20:18. What an honoured woman she was; not an apostle or gifted woman, as far as we know; not that a woman may not have gift, even as the daughters of Philip, but she had affection. At first she was quite dark, but when she became enlightened she had a pure affection. So she says ^[p. 140] to the Lord, Rabboni; as if to say to us, You ask me about knowledge, He is my Teacher: I get all from Jesus. That is the idea. She would not tolerate any shade cast upon Him by her most intimate acquaintance. So she says, Rabboni; and then she is sent to the disciples, and says to them that she had seen the Lord — a very great matter. We too have to challenge ourselves as to whether we have seen the Lord. It is not a common thing; it is a very uncommon thing; but, at the same time, it is available to the lovers of Christ. It is characteristic of the lovers of Christ that they see the Lord. Then she could say that He had spoken these things to her; and these things implied that the Lord was risen, and not only risen but ascended. Well, you may say, He was not ascended yet. Not literally; He remained on earth forty days after that moment. He remained on earth forty days; but then, if you read Luke 24, you would think He went up to heaven immediately. As far as that chapter is concerned, you might think that He went up to heaven the day He rose. But He means to convey that He is in haste to get to heaven, for administration purposes; to put, as I might say, the moral universe in order. There is so much disorder. What about the sisters in Mark! They did not stand the test at all. They went away distressed when they learned the Lord was risen; whereas the truth was, that it was a time of love, and the Lord would be thinking of what was needed. There were a group of persons that had been drawn to Him, surrounded Him, loved Him; and they all needed to be adjusted, every one of them. There is the Lord too, thinking of the necessity of adjustment; and, moreover, the whole matter of the dispensation, that all should be set in order. So there is no suggestion there that the Lord remained on earth for forty days; it is in the Acts we have that. But in Luke’s gospel the Lord would say, as it were: ‘I want to go up there; it is where I belong. I have to be received up there until the restitution of all ^[p. 141] things. I am going to send you out to preach, but I want you to stay in Jerusalem until the time comes for it to be done’. So, according to Luke’s gospel, as soon as He goes into heaven, He receives the Spirit from the Father and sheds Him forth, because that was necessary, and the Lord would have things put right immediately.

On the other hand, according to the book of Acts, the Lord would imply, ‘I want to stay with you as long as possible, so that you get the right thought from Me and get adjusted amongst yourselves’. So He assembled with them for that purpose. What about Israel? they might say. “Lord, is it at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel”? Acts 1:6 He would say, ‘It is for you to see about the Spirit, for all will stand in relation to the Spirit. But the times and seasons are not in my hands’. The Lord is taking the lowly place in this; and He is bringing them and us now into what He is doing. Do the things first; show the things first; and then teach. So the Lord stayed with them for forty days. The Spirit of God tells us by Paul that He “appeared to Cephas”, 1 Corinthians 15:5; and then again He appeared to the twelve, without saying the word apostles. It was as if He said, You did not get the full impression at the beginning. So it is a constant thing, for there are to be impressions throughout the dispensation. Then He appeared to James by himself; he is a brother the Lord has in mind that He will use; but he must have his own work. Persons are qualified by Himself; taught what to do by Himself; so that they can do things as He does them.

So He appeared to James, a lone man, who was able to do things like a man. That is the gift of government, a very important thing. If there is a brother here who has the gift of government, he has a right from heaven to go anywhere. He is needed, but he is under the Lord’s direction. So he knows what to do if any ask for advice.

If there is a brother that has the gift of government to help the brethren in difficulties, so that he will not ^[p. 142] mislead the brethren (the brother is liable to mislead the brethren if he is looked to too much) the Lord would appear to him to qualify him in his work so as not to mislead the brethren in any advice he gives. Then the Lord appeared to all the apostles. So to all of us here the Lord says, ‘I know you too, and each of you by himself, but also unitedly! I can use you together, but not disunited’. I would lay that down as a cardinal rule with myself; if I am needed by the Lord I am not to be disunited at all from my brethren. So the Lord prayed to His Father for them, “that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me”, John 17:21 - 23.

You see how much hinges on unity amongst us.

I want to go back to chapter 2 so that we may see the objective idea that enables us to carry on the service of God together. It is what God has made us. First, “in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily”, Colossians 2:9, but, “ye are complete in him”, Colossians 2:10, filled full in Him. That is not practical, not active; it is a question of what God has made us. The pattern is used, as He said to Moses, “See”, “that thou make all things according to the pattern which has been shewn to thee in the mountain”, Hebrews 8:5. That pattern means that we are all capable of taking part in the mystery. So he says, “ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead”, Colossians 2:12. It is a question of faith, not sight, not literality. We have faith. We could not serve God if we had not faith. It must be on that principle; and so chapter 2 is qualifying us objectively to have part in the service of God. Every one of us who has the Spirit is qualified to have part in the service of God.

But when we come to chapter 4 we have this matter, “Epaphras, who is one of you, the bondman of Christ Jesus,

salutes you, always combating earnestly for you in prayers, to the end that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”, Colossians 4:12. Now we are coming to actuality, to what we call often the subjective side of things. Chapter 2 is the objective side and it qualifies us to serve God. It is not the moral question, but the objective matter; how we are constituted by the power of God; that we are all made qualified as having the Spirit, constituted to serve God. That is abstract. Pardon me, if you do not understand what I am saying; but it is a question of how we are constituted according to God’s own wisdom, His own power, so that normally, I can serve God, I am constituted to serve God. Therefore, I am raised by faith of the operation of God which raised Christ. Being raised, I am constituted to serve God; I belong to the heavenly places. In Ephesians Paul says, He “has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”, Ephesians 2:6. That is the full thought anticipatively, but Colossians is faith in God’s power, believing in the power of God. If you are a believer at all you believe in the power of God that raised Christ. But that question is not raised in Ephesians; it is a question of being raised up together, not disunited, but united in our minds. The great collective thought that God has in mind: raised up together, and made to sit down together in Christ. These are great matters, true matters; and, as we believe them they enable us to have part in the service of God.

We need these brothers who pray. That is what marked Epaphras. He is a praying brother; and it would appear to me that Paul had made inquiry of him as to Colosse, and he told Paul that they needed instruction as to the will of God. They needed to be prayed for as to the will of God; and that is a very great point. I am sure that God has ordained the prayer meeting. I think of it as beginning on the eastern edge of New Zealand, and running along to South Africa and America down to the ^[p. 144] Pacific. A long prayer meeting. It is most needed to build us up constitutionally, “perfect and complete in all the will of God” Colossians 4:12 — not a part of it, but the whole matter of the will of God. So Epaphras is said to be one of the Colossians, a servant of Christ. What an honourable man! “Always combating earnestly for you in prayers, to the end that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”. Colossians 4:12. That is what I would say is practical christianity, dear brethren; that is what heaven is looking for. There is the objective, the matter of power, the matter of faith; but there is the matter of prayer that the saints may be perfect and complete in all the will of God, and seeking out what it is in any given matter. It is a question of how the will of God affects us, when we may be perfect and complete in all the will of God. That is my message at this time. I commit it to the brethren.