“LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU”
E. T. Maynard
There is an appeal here to the mind. I suppose it is right to long at any time for a part in a fit answer to God’s approach to us in grace. Not only the way He has come out, but seeking to value our time, as we were reminded of the desire of Moses the man of God, the man whose mind, whose desires for the formation of manhood in the ways of God, were wholly pleasing to God, rising to such features as were seen in Christ personally. The Spirit of God refers to him as “the man of God” (Psalm 90), and He would encourage us to number our days so as to acquire a wise heart—that is the reason for numbering them. It is always a good thing to be able to give a reason for what you are doing, especially if you are doing something good!
This raises a question as to whether my will is at work, because numbering your days is not only so as to act wisely, but so as to acquire a wise heart. It is a question of what God delights in—“My son, give me thy heart” (Proverbs 23: 26) and it is incumbent on the youngest of us here, as well as the oldest, to accustom ourselves to numbering our days because a lad of ten or twelve years of age would not do well to think that he necessarily has more days than a man of eighty. It is a matter of God’s prerogative. No one of us knows how many days he has ahead, so it is incumbent upon the youngest of us to begin, if we have not begun before seriously, to be sober and to think of what is due to God.
I want to remark on this word “also” in this passage. When we think of who the Lord is, how great a Person He is! He is God, and His manhood is real; wonderful His manhood!
Think of the mind that was expressed in Him. Think of the grace of God that would draw you and me into this area where we are privileged to act like Christ, as men, involving the work of God in us—it is not a natural matter—but the word “also” in this passage seems to enhance the graciousness of the stoop of God in love and grace in Christ. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”. Wonderful! It points up, as we have often sung, and shall continue to sing happily and worshipfully—
The glory of Thy manhood,
The charm of Thine own grace.
So the grace of God brings us on, in His wonderful ways, to be expressive in this way of the life that was in this blessed Person who is now at the right hand of God, crowned with glory and honour—what an attraction for the young, as well as the old! Let us be increasingly attracted to Christ where He is. The “also” would too point up in greater measure the distinction between the distance to which He has gone in suffering and in dying (in order that the will of God might be accomplished, and the pleasure of God accomplished in men, the extent to which He has gone and the way He has suffered) and where He is at the present time, at the right hand of God, a glorious Man. But this mind was also in Him. The thoughts of God for all men were no less than what was seen in Christ personally. This is one of the things we gather from this passage, and we need to set ourselves to provide the wherewithal for the extension of this, in these cities so replete with the results of man’s will, every whit being against what God has in mind for men, so that we would covet happily to be amongst the twos and threes who gather to His name.
Notice that it says in this passage that God “highly exalted him, and granted him a name, that which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow”. Later on, and not far distant—we do not know how soon the time may be—every knee will have to bow to the Lord Jesus. But notice now, in the day of grace, in the day when God presents Him to men in the glad tidings, and in the area of His lovers as His ideal in manhood, the Spirit of God says, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow”. There is a difference in the meaning of it. Every knee will bow later; it will have to, but notice what it says now, “every knee should bow”. Every lover of Jesus would say Amen to this, in addition to bowing the knee to this blessed Person.
It would be a normal feature of love for every brother and every sister to feel and to say, without any hesitancy, that every knee in Glasgow should bow—because this is the city today of our responsibility and privilege. Every lover of Jesus in Glasgow would say that not only is the time coming—it sure is when every knee will bow to Jesus, but every lover of His in Glasgow would say that every knee should bow to Jesus. That is the attitude you take as a true lover. A lover claims everything that belongs to its Object, for everything belongs to Christ. That is what our settled disposition should be; and one would be bold enough to say this for everyone here—I trust I would be justified in saying so—that the Father loves the Son and has given all things to be in His hand—nobody else’s, just the one Man, Jesus Christ.
Every lover of His is to be in attachment, with his mind made up, and would readily and happily conclude that everything belongs to Him, and would hold everything in affection for Him. In your affections and mind it is as good now as it will be later. Every iota of opposition is already under His feet. Outwardly it is not so, “we see not yet all things subjected to Him” (Hebrews 2: 9) but we see the Man under whose feet God has put everything, in His power and in His glory, and we covet to know more of His Spirit, the supply, Paul says, of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1: 19. That is the secret he had of everything for God’s pleasure. Paul couples it with a prayer for the saints, and I would urge upon the beloved brethren, especially the younger ones—not that I would make any difference in the way of feeling or committal between the young, as over against the older ones, but when we are young it is peculiarly the time for formation basically—we would urge the young brethren to covet to be along with the old—in the breaking of bread, the Lord’s supper, remembering the Lord Jesus, and then the meeting for prayer. What odour arises to heaven as the beloved brethren are together, two or more, in their affection for Jesus, affection for the saints, prayers arising to God, who delights to hear. He says, I will “make them joyful in my house of prayer” (Isaiah 56: 7) and Paul couples this, the prayers of the beloved saints, with the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. What an apothecary he was! Who could blend these fragrant elements together for the heart of God, but the one who knew, as no one else did, what the assembly is to Christ?
The maintenance of what answers to the assembly in a broken day depends upon you and me allowing this mind to be in us. It is the entrance to everything, involving respect for the brethren—never was there a time in the history of mankind when disrespect on the part of younger persons towards older was so seen. This was mentioned in the reading and it is well to bring it in again, because it is basic, foundational. He gave to His bondmen the authority, and to every one his work, in support of the local assembly. The youngest has his part in it; the oldest has his. He gave to His bondmen the authority; persons who are ready to let this mind be in them which was in Christ—His bondmen—men who readily and happily acknowledge that they belong to Another. Those are the persons who are capable of wielding authority.
We have seen the devastation, not only in the world, but in the public profession—and it has come very near to us—of authority in wrong hands. Authority is safe in the hands of a bondman; they are the only hands in which it is safe and wielded effectively, not for the destruction of the saints, but for their happiness and welfare and growth. It is “the authority”; there is no other, and to every one his work.
Well, one would just encourage the brethren that we might set ourselves for these features, seen pre-eminently in their excellence in Jesus—O, we need to love His name, the name of the Lord Jesus! Let it be everything to us— everything. It will be in a soon-coming day—what delight we shall have! “One harmonious voice”, Mr. Darby said. We cannot forget—it is not only that we must not forget, but we ought to remember these men. We have such cause to value the recovery; to value what has come out of the recent calamity. There is something appearing in the beloved brethren in every place that was not seen for a long time. Basically, the thing was there, the work of God is the same—the same in 1900 or 1902 as in 1973, but it may have been choked, smothered with something. It is coming to light in its normal expression in the brethren, in such as are committed to continue in what is for God, which has been held at great cost by those who have gone before us. It was interfered with; there was an intrusion into what belongs to this blessed Person. Other hands have sought to wield power, but power is only rightly wielded effectively for God’s glory in the hands of a true bondman, and true bondmen. Let us all set ourselves to be this kind of person, men such as we have contemplated, and bondmen, true bondmen, available for the help of the saints and for the glory of God and for His praises.
Well, beloved brethren, let us be encouraged. If God be for us, who against us? Not only so, but the Lord’s hand is over us. Let us experience this individually that He is with us, as He has promised, from day to day, each day having its own distinction, adding something to us that would result in a richness to God’s praise and the continuance in life and in freshness of what has been committed to us at such great cost. Well, may it be so, for His name’s sake.
Address in Glasgow
30 May 1973