UNITY OF MIND
Eric Burr
John 17: 22,23; Romans 15: 5,6; Philippians 4: 2
We have, in Mr Raven's teaching, which most who have ready his ministry will have read because it is in the first article in the first book, that there are certain scriptures which bear particularly upon Christians and that the spirit and end of them all is unity. Our beloved brother had sorrowfully to experience in his own time that the company with which he was then in fellowship was not maintained in that unity, and that over a matter of the interpretation of Scripture and of doctrine which now seems quite simple to us all, that is Mr Raven's teaching as to eternal life being in the Son of God and involving a sphere of things outside the world where such life can be enjoyed.
It is astonishing today, some eighty years later, that that could become a matter of division, and yet it did, and it lingers down to the present time. It may suggest to us that it is not in this scene that we shall experience that total unity which Jesus had in mind. In fact, if we think of the general public position in Christendom and the profession of Christianity, we would hesitate to say that it could even be so. There is a hymn which says:
Though with a scornful wonder
Men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder,
By heresies distressed.
That is the public position of the church.
It would be a sorrow to any true-hearted believer (Mr Lyon used to speak about broken-hearted churchmen) to reflect at all on that present position when it is so manifest in the Scriptures that the divine intention is that there should be unity amongst the people of God. We find it, of course, in John's writings. We find it in the scripture I have read, to which I will come back, but we find in chapter 10 that there should be one flock, one Shepherd. Would that we experienced it more! Do our hearts stretch out to other believers with a longing that they should be embraced at the present time under the care of that same Shepherd? Of course, He cares for them circumstantially and providentially in the blessedness of the present disposition of God, but what it would be for all the flock in the present time to be under the gain of His headship. Our hearts should weep over it, that there is such division, such sorrow, and that we ourselves have contributed so much to it. One may quote a brother again who said that if we were not the humblest people in Christendom, then we had learned nothing.
Then, the thought of unity runs of course through Paul's ministry. One God and Father of all; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one Spirit, one body; one hope of your calling (see Eph 4: 4-6). One could, given moment or two, think of more references in Paul of which unity is the great objective.
There is however a glory in John 17, and a unity which I believe it would be right to speak of as a conferred unity. Think of that! There is a unity in that chapter on which nothing can trench. "The glory which thou hast given me I have given them". We can look at that, beloved, only in the light of what is open for all believers on account of the present position of Christ. That is where God sees them. He sees them in Christ. We distinguish, perhaps sometimes over-particularly, about "in Christ" and "in the Lord", but God sees them all in Christ Jesus, and He sees them in the glory which He has given to His Son. How blessed that is! What room for expansion, and what a sphere of unity, where there is nothing to detract from and nothing can detract from it. Would that our own spirits were more in the power of that sphere. It would preserve us from any inappropriate attitude of exclusivism, that we realise the place that we have in the glory that God has given to Christ that we have a place there, as have all those whom God has given to Him. Think of Jesus saying "those thou hast given me", John 17: 12. What a wonderful thing! What a great presentation: "those thou hast given me", and there is that sphere of unity into which nothing can intrude. It does not depend on our responsibility. It does not depend on anything we do. It does not depend on the maintenance of anything. It is something established by God in Jesus glorified. "Jesus ... lifted up his eyes to heaven" (v 1). I have begun to savour more than I used to the references in the Scriptures of Jesus, and it was Jesus who lifted up His eyes to heaven. We take up the official titles very readily, and very rightly, but the glory that God has given to Him in this chapter is glory that is given to Jesus. Beloved, there is unity there which - I use the word, I cannot think of a better one - is as it were conferred, because the unity flows out of the glory. "The glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one"; you see, the unity flows out of the glory. The glory is conferred, and there is a unity there which is part of it. That does not belong to the sphere of our responsibility.
But there are other scriptures, such as the two that I have read, which touch on unity in the sphere of our responsibility. I have been struck with how much in Paul's references of this kind it depends on our minds. Unity in practice depends on our minds. It says in Romans 15 "be like-minded", and to the two sisters referred to in Philippians: "be of the same mind in the Lord". It says in chapter 2 of that epistle: "If then there be any comfort in Christ ... ye may think the same thing, ... thinking one thing ... let his mind be in you". Therefore beloved, I think the Lord might call our attention to the spirit of our minds in relation to unity. We speak about things, and we discuss things, and so on, and rightly so, but often what these conversations bring out is where our minds are, and minds - would it be wrong to say? - not necessarily formed under the power of the Spirit, but minds formed according to an opinion reached on other grounds, for I suppose no individual would claim that he alone had the mind of the Spirit. The mind of the Spirit is in the company. The mind of the Spirit, as Paul teaches us, is life and peace, and if in any way life, and above all peace, are intruded upon, one might wonder if the mind of the Spirit is there - the mind of the Spirit. I was struck with the fact (I take it to myself) that Paul attaches unity in the sphere of responsibility to our minds. That suggests that we need continually to be in the gain of Romans 12: we are transformed by the renewing of our mind, and if there is any element of disunity it may be that minds need to be transformed: not opinions. Opinions will be changed when minds are changed. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind", Rom 12: 2.
In the two scriptures that I have read from Paul there is a standard given for unity. In Romans 15 it is "according to Christ Jesus", "like-minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus". Now that is not according to anyone's view of anything; that is not according to any particular aspect in which I or anyone else might see something. There is the divine standard, which is absolute, "according to Christ Jesus". I think you have in some way to be able to go up to heaven, where Christ Jesus is, to discuss what is according to Christ Jesus, because He is there, exalted in a sphere where nothing can detract from His glory, but nothing can detract from the fact that the mind of God is established in the Man that God has exalted: "according to Christ Jesus". So beloved, it behoves me, behoves you, behoves anybody, brother or sister, that if I speak on any matter, is "according to Christ Jesus" my standard? Paul helps us. He does not say just that you should be like-minded one towards another, because that might leave the door open for natural friendships, natural prejudices, natural relationships with those whom we might find acceptable or who share our own opinions, or anything like that. Paul puts in this guarding expression, "according to Christ Jesus".
In Philippians 4 he says "be of the same mind in the Lord". Paul will have unity in the sphere where our responsibility is guarded, and he guards it again. He does not say that these two sisters (one makes nothing of the fact that they were sisters evidently), but these two brethren (because 'brethren' includes brothers and sisters) should not just be of one mind, because they might be able to agree about anything, they might share an opinion about anything. Paul says "the same mind in the Lord". He guards it again. I am struck, as I say, with the fact that in the first place, when Paul speaks about unity in the sphere of our responsibility he brings it home to our minds. We should think about that. But then he guards what he says by these standards: "according to Christ Jesus" and "in the Lord".
Now this might make me, might make anyone, slow to speak, might make them slow to express an opinion; might make anyone feel that if there is a sphere where the mind of the Lord is known and where the manifestation of the presence of the Lord is known it may sometimes imply that my mind is silenced in the presence of the Lord. "Be of the same mind in the Lord". "Be like-minded ... according to Christ Jesus. As I say, it has come to me that there is a sphere outside our responsibility where unity exists; unity exists because of the glory. Our beloved brother has just been speaking about the glory of the Lord, the Lord manifesting His glory, but here He has been given glory as Man, and that glory He has given to us. Sometimes we say that is the glory of sonship. Well, certainly it is the glory of sonship, but it may involve much more than that. The glory which He has been given as Man, that glory He has given to us, and the consequence of that is unity. That is, I believe, a kind of conferred unity. But when it comes to our responsibility, our responsibility in regard to unity in the sphere in which we have fellowship with one another is immense. Let us not diminish our responsibility in relation to unity; but Paul hangs it on our minds, and he would test us, Where is your mind? How does your mind run? What is your mind governed by? Is it governed by Christ Jesus? Is it governed by the Lord? Is it governed by any other consideration? Because if it is any other consideration Paul would rule it out.
Well beloved, these things affect us. They will affect us all the time. They will not affect us just in relation to any particular matter that may be current. If we wish to maintain unity in responsibility, in the sphere where the light of the unity that comes from the glory that we have been given is taught, spoken about, something known about it, then we have to bring our minds into agreement with what is in Christ Jesus, "according to Christ Jesus" - I think that is the only place where Paul uses that expression, "according to Christ Jesus" - and we have to bring it "in the Lord". This is continuous, and it requires, indeed it brings about, a state of submission, and from that kind of submission flows contentment. I believe, beloved, the Lord will help us in these things. One thing I am quite sure of in the city is that there is a desire for help, a desire for help in enabling us to go on in this kind of unity. Paul would enjoin us to take care of where our minds are in every matter that may arise.
One speaks of these things, not in any way to diminish occupation with the glory of Christ, of which our beloved brother has spoken, but because the enjoyment of that glory can easily be detracted from by any sense of disunity in the company. Well beloved, may the Lord just help us, for His Name's sake.
LONDON
7 March 1989