CHRISTIANITY IN ITS MORAL CHARACTERISTICS
[p. 58] FELLOWSHIP, PRIVILEGE, AND TESTIMONY
1 John 1: 6, 7; 1 John 3: 1 - 3; 1 John 4: 12 - 14
On previous occasions I have endeavoured to give the scope and bearing of a particular portion of John’s Gospel, namely, from chapter 7 to chapter 12; and while all scripture in a sense is practical, yet to open up the scope of scripture is a different thing from giving a word applicable to the particular circumstances and difficulties in which we find ourselves; and this latter is more my object at this time.
The point to which we came last week in connection with chapter 12 of the Gospel of John was that, after witness had been given to the glory of the Lord, He, as lifted up from the earth, becomes a point of gathering. In chapter 7 the truth had come out that Christ was going away; and in connection with it, on the last day of the feast, the Lord refers to what may be called another day, namely, the Spirit’s day. I see distinctly two things in connection with the presence of Christ here; one is that He Himself was about to be glorified; and the other that the effect of His presence and work here was to leave behind Him a vessel for the Spirit. You may say the vessel was a small one, and I quite admit it; but still He left a vessel, and the Spirit could not dwell here without a vessel. In chapters 8 and 9 we find the true character in which Christ was here, namely, “the light of the world”; and by the very fact of His being the light of the world, everything here had been brought to an issue. Those who saw, that is those who took the ground of competency, were made blind; and on the other hand those who did [p. 59] not see, saw, for there was a work of grace down here to open their eyes. When we came to chapter 10 (it is all one line of truth), we find the new position in which Christ is as having left the fold, namely, that of the good Shepherd, and the sheep have followed Him out of the fold. There is now “one flock, one shepherd”, but neither flock nor shepherd recognised of the world. An unseen shepherd and in a sense an unseen flock, but all bound together in the divine nature. That is the idea to me of the one flock, and the one shepherd; not a public thing at all, but it is this, “I know my sheep, and am known of mine, as the Father knows me and I also know the Father”. But there is still a further point in chapters 11 and 12, that witness is borne to the glory of Christ as Son of God, King of Israel, and Son of man; but for the moment all closes in death, the world is judged, and Christ, as lifted up from the earth, becomes a point of gathering for all; that is, you have got two essential truths in regard to Christ, what He is to the flock, and what He is as a point of gathering. I spoke of the import of the various titles of Christ last week: that as Son of God, as witnessed in the resurrection of Lazarus, He sets aside death, and raises man up in life; that as King of Israel and Son of David He brings in the sure mercies of David; and that as Son of man He has universal dominion in the world to come on the ground of redemption. These are the three ideas, which are carried into and embodied in the thought of Christ as Lord; as Lord He administers the grace of God, all that God is towards man is presented to man in power in the Lord.
I desire now to present three points, practical in their character, as being given to us in an epistle. An epistle is not quite like a gospel, it has a different character; an epistle is written to help Christians, and is presented to their responsibility; but a [p. 60] gospel is written to present Christ to us. I have observed in regard to the first Epistle of John that the platform is not nearly so large as that of the Gospel. In the epistle we find “that which is true in him and in you” — that is, in Christ and Christians; but in the gospel, what is true in the Son and the Father, and the gift of the Spirit. I think any one must see that there is a very great deal of difference between these two thoughts.
It is possible that you may not see at a glance what my purpose is in the three scriptures I have read; and I will tell you what has led me to these passages. They contain the three main elements of Christianity, namely, fellowship, privilege, and testimony. Fellowship is the first lesson we all have to learn; the second is privilege, which leads to the truth of the assembly; and the third is testimony, so to say, God presented in us. And until souls understand something of privilege, you may be sure there is not much of testimony in them according to God. For I do not regard testimony simply as preaching, but as that which it was in the thought of God that the christian company, that is, the church, should present collectively to the world. John 17: 20, 21, will substantiate that: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: [p. 69] that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. I understand by the passage that the unity of the saints and its character was the testimony presented to the world, though the world did not understand at all what was the secret of that unity; but it was the witness to the world that the Father sent the Son. It is most important to see that there was in the divine thought the idea of collective testimony.
[p. 61] Now I take up these three points, fellowship, privilege, and testimony, as opened out in the first Epistle of John, and I dare say it may be thought that I might treat them more readily from Paul; but I will tell you why I refer to John for them. John does not fill the place of Paul. Paul was the architect, and gives us the structure of the church and the character of the structure. But the structure which Paul was used of God to rear is in ruins, and it is well for us to recognise it; for if we lose sight of the ruin of the church and do not accept the remnant character, we are not of much account in the eye of God. The church is in ruins; and I am sure we ought to be more under the burden of this than we are. I have felt how little sense I have of the defection of the church, of how far the church is from the mind of God in regard to it. I think this ought to press upon us more heavily than it does. The fact is we have had far too much in our thoughts the idea of setting up an expression of the original, and have been pretty much contented with it. That means that we are losing sight of the ruin of the church. But we have to remember that the church is here at the present moment both vitally and responsibly. The body and the house are the two aspects of the church presented in scripture, and I say without any hesitation that the whole body of Christ is here upon earth, just as truly as the Spirit of God is here; and on the other side that the house is here in its responsibility as such, for scripture makes it perfectly clear that Christendom has the responsibility of the house of God. Hence it seems to me that it is entirely out of place for us to entertain the idea of setting up here upon earth a kind of imitation of the church; it means to my mind losing sight of the ruin of the church; and if we are not affected by the ruin of the church, I am sure that we are not in the mind of the Spirit.
[p. 62] The importance of the writings of John is, that though he does not give you the structure of the church, he gives you everything which is essential; for John always goes to what is essential and enduring, both in his gospel and in his epistles. Though the building may be in ruin and decay, John gives us what decay cannot touch, and therefore you can understand the great importance to us of John’s writings. John does not give you the church, as such; I think the expression “church” is only used once in his epistles; but he gives you what is essential to the church, that which lies underneath the ruin, and which the ruin cannot affect. When I come to the first epistle I find these things which may in measure subsist even in the midst of the ruin of the church — fellowship, privilege, and testimony; and it is on those three points I purpose now to enlarge.
First as to fellowship. In chapter 1 we read: “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”. I might call your attention to two parallel passages in Paul: 1 Corinthians 1: 9, “God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”: and 1 Corinthians 10: 16, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion” — it is the same word, “fellowship” — “of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread”. There is no real divergence of thought in these three passages. Being in the light of the Lord, you are in the light as God is in the light. If I were to be asked, How is it that God is in the light? I should say that it is [p. 63] in the Lord that God is in the light; that is, that there is the most complete revelation of God in His thought toward man in the Lord. No one can know what the thought and attitude of God is towards man, except in the Lord Jesus Christ; for it is in Him that it has pleased God to display Himself, and all the thought of God towards man is made good mediatorially in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore in the light of the Lord, I am in the light as God is in the light. We have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now it is the name of the Lord which is our bond of fellowship. And this is perfectly consistent with 1 Corinthians 10, for being in the fellowship of the Lord, of necessity you are in the fellowship of His death; the two things are bound to go together, for you could not be in the fellowship of the Lord and be going on in things to which He has died. He has become a gathering point on the ground of having been lifted up from the earth; and concurrent with that is, “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out”. It is a very great thing for our souls to be in the light of the glory of the Lord; I do not think they are enough there. We should be a different kind of people if we apprehended all that is covered by His blessed name, Son of God, Son of David, Son of man. If our souls were in the light of it we would not care to be in the current of this world, since the soul would be in the light of another world, what scripture speaks of as “the world to come”. The apostle says to the Ephesians, “Ye were sometime darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord”; it is in the Lord you are light, and that is where a soul first gets light — in the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.
Now I do not think we distinguish sufficiently between fellowship and privilege. Fellowship must [p. 64] always be on simple ground. I do not know whether the term “fellowship” is quite understood. What I understand by fellowship is a bond of association which in its very nature separates those in it from the course and current of things around them. There will not be, I judge, any such bond in the millennium, because the outward state of things will be according to God; there will not be any need for fellowship. But here, in the midst of a world which has rejected Christ and is under judgment, fellowship is essential; there must be a bond of association between Christians which binds them together in one common interest. Now that is distinct from the idea of privilege, and depends really upon the name of the Lord, which is always our bond of fellowship: “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all to me”: God has called us to “the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”. There is, on the other side, that which is perfectly consistent with it, the fellowship of His death.
So far I have only spoken of what was the proper fellowship of Christians to begin with. John puts it on this ground: “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light”; that is, if we are really in the truth of Christianity, namely, that God has been pleased to come out in the fullest revelation of Himself, so that there can be no further revelation of Him, that God’s thought and grace in regard of man is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, then, “We have fellowship one with another”. And at the present time, and at every time, there is fellowship, and it is in the true light of Christianity. And the true light of Christianity is displayed in the Lord, you cannot learn it elsewhere. Therefore I can understand the apostle saying to the Philippian gaoler, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”; as much as to say to him, you get into the light of what is displayed in the Lord, and you will be saved and [p. 65] your house. I think it is very beautiful to know that there is one point where you can fully learn what is in the heart of God toward man, and you see it displayed not in weakness, but in glory, in power. There is no power to equal the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Talk about power in this world, and what nations and man can do, it is not to be compared to the power of the Lord Jesus! He went to the right hand of God, and received and sent down here the most mighty power that could be, the Holy Ghost. Christ can effect everything, only He effects it spiritually, not yet in the way of display; but He effects everything in the power of the Holy Ghost. Nothing can stand against the power of the Spirit. We may have so little faith that we are unable to use the power; but if we had faith to use the power of the Spirit, I say nothing could stand before it. A servant might be in the presence of the most godless company that ever was brought together: if he knew what it was to be in faith and in the power of the Spirit, some of that company would be brought down before him. I am ashamed to talk about it, because I know so poorly how to use the power of the Spirit. But the Spirit is here, having come down from Christ, and Christ has all power over man for man’s good and blessing. All the thought of God towards man is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the light of the Lord “we have fellowship one with another”.
Now in a day of ruin, I find exactly the same principle, only that another question comes in, that you cannot commit yourself to people simply on their profession, you cannot take people up quite as they did at the beginning of Christianity. Things have lapsed into a condition of ruin, profession has become common and unreal, there are vessels to dishonour, and therefore you have to look for those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But the [p. 66] ground of fellowship remains unchanged, and the ground of fellowship is calling on the Lord. It is very important to rightly apprehend fellowship, because fellowship brings in a different idea to that of the actual meeting. If people become associated with us in fellowship, it does not simply mean that they have the privilege of breaking bread, but we are bound to do all we can for them, they are received into our fellowship. So, too, if they are put out of our fellowship they are put out of it, it is not putting them away from the meeting, but that you have no more to say to them until God comes in in grace to restore them. It appears sometimes to be thought that in cases of discipline persons are put away from the meeting. It is not simply a question of the meeting, our fellowship subsists whether there is a meeting or not: we might not be able to come together to a meeting, but that would not affect the question of our fellowship; we have fellowship one with another, following righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. The name of the Lord is the gathering point, as it always was. We do not have to exact any amount of knowledge or intelligence from people who desire to be in our fellowship, we have never taken that ground, but have resisted and rejected it; but if we have reason to think that such are really Christians, and calling on the Lord out of a pure heart, we make no difficulty about receiving them into our fellowship, although their intelligence may be very small, because the name of the Lord is the bond of fellowship. It is very important to see that our receiving and putting away is to and from our fellowship. So it was in early days, if they had to put a man out of communion they “put away from among themselves that wicked person”. If believers are brought into our fellowship, what we hope is that they will learn [p. 67] their privilege; depend upon it, people do not learn their privilege very much until they learn the true ground of fellowship. I ask, Did any of you learn very much of what belonged to you as Christians until you found yourselves in a true fellowship? I do not think you did; I did not.
That is the first principle that comes out in this epistle, that “If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another”, and there is no imputation, “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”.
I pass on now to the subject of privilege (1 John 3: 1, 2), “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God; therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is”. Now compare that verse with John 17, “That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee” — now mark the next clause — “that they also may be one in us”; that “in us” marks their place, they are to be one in us. Now turn to 1 Thessalonians 1: 1 “The assembly of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ”. In all those passages we have the place of privilege of the church. And I might say shortly with reference to these two chapters, 3 and 4 of 1 John, that in chapter 3 saints are seen as in God, and in chapter 4 God is seen in the saints, that is just the distinction between the two. When I speak about our place of privilege, then I say saints are in God; when I speak about testimony, then I say the testimony is that God is in the saints. The place of privilege puts you in the Father and in the Son.
We little estimate the privilege which belongs to [p. 68] the children of God. It is the same character of things as seen in the sheep; “I know my sheep and am known of mine; as the Father knoweth me and I know the Father”. The place of children introduces saints, if I may say so, although I feel I understand it very poorly, into that system of affections which subsists in the Father and in the Son. They lie between the Son and the Father. That, I judge, is the meaning of the passage, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God”. Why does Christ love the saints? Because they are given to Him of the Father. It comes out most beautifully in John 6; the Father drew to the Son in order that the Son might bring us to the Father, “No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him”. The same truth comes out in Matthew 16; Peter confesses Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God”: why was that revelation given to Peter? In order that Peter might be drawn to Christ in that light so that Christ might bring him to the Father, and on that rock build His assembly.
If there is to be Christ’s assembly, all that compose that assembly must be in the same place with Christ; the place of the assembly is “in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ”, the system of affections which is proper to the assembly belongs to that circle, that scene. It all hangs on the fact of Christ having become Man, and being able thus to take this place — “In the midst of the assembly will I sing praise unto thee”; and it is His having become Man, and our association with Him as risen, which brings us into the Father and the Son. You are not apart from the Son. And if you are with the Son, how can you be apart from the Father? Of necessity you are there; “As thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us,
that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”; that is our place of privilege. But mark, although it belongs to us individually, and I quite admit everybody is brought into it individually, yet the very fact of our being in it necessarily constitutes us one band, and therefore the apostle speaks in the plural, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God”.
In the same way we are brought in individually as members of the body, we are all baptised into it in that sense, but the very fact of being members of one body identifies us with the body, you cannot be apart from the body. So it is in regard to children. The moment I wake up to the fact that I am a child of God, that that is the place of privilege to which the Father has called me, at once I want to be identified with the company, that is the way in which it works, for there is no such idea as a single child of God. We are brought into that place by one Spirit; it is one Spirit that “bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God”, we are all one by one Spirit. The very instinct of one who realises that he is a child of God must lead him to the truth of the assembly, because he feels he cannot be alone. It is expressed in the line of a hymn with which we are all familiar —
“In him we stand, a heavenly band,
Where He Himself is gone”. (12:2)
That is the idea in scripture connected with children, it is “we” and “us”, a company, not the idea of the privilege of a single individual. The Spirit that bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God is the same Spirit in every Christian. I cannot understand a Christian content to be isolated and talking about how much he gets from the Lord at home; I am certain that person enters [p. 70] little into the privilege of a child, for if he did, the craving of his soul would be to get into the company of the children; because as there is one flock and one shepherd, so the children are all one band. If therefore you want to realise the privilege of the children of God, you must get to the assembly; and it is there that you realise the privilege which is proper to the children of God, they worship the Father.
Now nothing can deny that to us. Just as in the ruin of the church there is the fellowship of “those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart”, so whatever may be the decay and ruin of the church, the children cannot be displaced. I may be very sorry that all do not enter into their privilege, and I am sure we ought to mourn over it more than we do; but if we do come together in assembly, then our place as children is realised, for it is the calling, the privilege, which the Father has bestowed upon us. I can understand in a day of ruin that a person might say, Well, I have got a little light, and it has separated me from the confusion around, I cannot go on with the sects and systems because they are a practical denial of the truth of the Lord, I will stand completely alone. But I do not think a person could stand completely alone, because if he entered into the truth of his position, the very Spirit that witnesses that he is a child of God would draw him to other children of God. Though we are brought into the place of children individually, yet you cannot wholly individualise the children, for they are one company, and one Spirit is in them all. The same holds good as to sonship, it is one Spirit of sonship. I am sure we fail to see how that the scriptures which apply to Christians are instinct with unity, all is to bring us to unity; and if you have the Spirit of sonship, the Spirit that witnesses that you are a child of God, there will be a kind of [p. 71] magnetic attraction towards other children of God, and of other children of God towards you. I believe it is for that reason that John gives us what I should call essential truths when the structure has broken down. The expression “children of God” involves what is vital; the Spirit bears witness, there is the spiritual link, and though you may mourn the fact that you cannot come together in company with the whole band, yet at the same time you cannot lose sight of the privilege which belongs to you in common with other Christians. If the Father has set you in that place of children, the Father’s love is upon you, you are “in the Father and in the son”.
Now I pass on to the third point, and that is testimony, in that God is in us. In verses 12 to 14 of chapter 4 we come to “us” and “we”. And mark what a wonderful testimony that passage presents; “No man hath seen God at any time”. That is an expression which is used first in the gospel, where it goes on to say, “The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”: here it is, “No man hath seen God at any time, if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us” that is, that the divine nature is made good in Christians, in that they love one another, and the character of the love is such that the love of God is perfected in us. The wonderful thing is that God is displayed, not in one Christian, but in the company of Christians, in their love one toward another. Now mark the next passage: “Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us, because he hath given to us of his Spirit; and we have seen” — now you get another thing — “we have seen and bear witness that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world”. It is a wonderful thing that there is a band here in the world in whom the love of God is perfected,
[p. 72] and more than that, they have seen and bear witness that the Father sent the Son as Saviour of the world. I doubt if it is an individual bearing witness, but the testimony is maintained in the band; that is the light that comes out in the band. But then the first point is not what they say, it is what they are; “If we love one another”, that is what I was speaking about at the beginning in regard to testimony. It answers again to that passage in John 17, “As thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us”; that is their place of privilege. But they are to be “one in us”, what for? “That the world may believe that thou hast sent me”.
Of course, in the thought of God, all these things were to have been witnessed in the entire church. But what is perfectly clear to me from scripture is that even in early days comparatively few Christians entered into the proper privileges of the church: the majority were uncommonly slow to accept their true place and privilege. I argue from it that if comparatively few Christians entered in that day into proper christian privilege, there is no reason why a few Christians should not enter into it in this day. It is one thing to have a privilege belonging to me, and another thing to enter into the truth and reality of it. But I maintain that the privilege belongs to all, that the Father has set His love upon us, that the proper place of every Christian is to be of one band, in the Father and in the Son. It is our place, and in the realisation of our privilege we better understand the true character of the assembly. And it is apart from any necessity of ecclesiastical pretension, the point is to have the reality of it in our souls. Things must come out in the order I have indicated; and if saints do not understand the privilege of the assembly in some measure, there will not be maintained in them a testimony [p. 73] which is according to God. It is in the assembly that we properly enter into our relationship with the Father and with one another; you may have accepted the light of it, but it is in the assembly you enter into and understand it. Properly we are all set in our place in the assembly, in regard to the Father and to Christ and to one another; and then we go forth from the assembly to be here in the world a vessel in which God is displayed. You must take these things up in the order in which they are unfolded in the epistle, our souls are bound to learn them in that order, first fellowship, then privilege which places us in the Father and in the Son, and then true testimony in which God is displayed in the heavenly band which stands in Christ; that is the divine order. I could show you precisely the same order coming out in Paul. You could not understand Colossians if you did not first understand Corinthians; in Corinthians you get fellowship, and the privilege of the assembly, and in Colossians you get the other side of it, that is, the divine nature coming out in the Christian company.
I do not want to dwell further on it, but I trust it will be a practical word to all of us. I took it up from this epistle as being suitable to the day of ruin in which we are; and I pray God to grant that we may be more prepared in spirit to come under the sense of the ruin, not to attempt to construct something here which is a kind of satisfaction to us. God keep us from setting up any kind of imitation! May we recognise that the church is here both vitally and responsibly, but so far as the thought of God is concerned, it is here in ruin. I take my share in the shame of the ruin; but at the same time I see, and this ought to be a great encouragement to us, that all that is essential abides, and I believe that if we enter into our privilege, though the company may be very restricted, yet at all events there [p. 74] will be a real witness for God, a real expression of God even in the little company. I feel I am not much of a hand at attempting to give a practical word, but I trust the word may be accepted, and that we may enter more by the grace of God into our proper privilege and into what is the true testimony of saints here in this world.