APPRECIATION OF THE ASSEMBLY
Robert Renton
What our brother has said has touched a chord. In the measure in which we appreciate Christ, we will value and appreciate the assembly. The Lord has been pleased to give us light as to this wondrous august vessel, unknown in Christendom and yet we are the custodians of this wonderful inheritance as to what the assembly is to the heart of Christ and, may I add? for our enjoyment. It is a challenge. Where is my chief joy? That is a challenge to me. We enjoy family life and many things, but I wonder if the assembly has the place that it should have. Oh, what it is for the heart of Christ! He speaks of "my assembly". What feelings, what emotions must have been in the Lord's heart, when He said, "on this rock I will build my assembly", Matt 16: 18. It is nearest to His heart.
And so the psalmist begins in a downcast way: "We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof". Well, you do not hang harps on willows. You use them to play, to make music. "For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that made us wail required mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How should we sing a song of Jehovah's upon a foreign soil?" Then he says, "If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill". It seems that there is an area of buoyancy in his soul as he speaks of Jerusalem. They had been carried away captive, but the very suggestion of Jerusalem seems to bring something living and vital into the heart of the writer. "If I forget thee, Jerusalem..." - oh, may we never forget Jerusalem!
Dear brethren, that is a heritage we have, handed down to us, the truth and value of the assembly and the joy of participating in assembly life. Again I say, in the measure in which we appreciate Christ, to use our brother's expression, in that measure we will value increasingly the assembly. You look around and think of persons who could be here and are not here. That causes sadness and sorrow. Where is our life? Why do we live? What is our objective? Is it Christ and His interests and His assembly? What privileges we enjoy! And then he says, "If I do not remember thee," - that is Jerusalem - "let my tongue cleave to my palate: if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy". We have many joys, but the assembly and all its interests and outgoings is to be preferred above our chief joy. I think if this were true of us there would be rapid progress with us, Christ's interests, my interests. What a privilege we have! May we value it increasingly and every time we meet together, add our quota. Some of us have little to add, but let us bring our tribute and our appreciation of all that into which we have been brought and value one another in an increased way. This would be normal in our lives, to value one another in an increased way. May it be so, for His Name's sake!
EDINBURGH
6 March 1995