PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY
PRACTICAL CHRISTIANITY
JT In these general meetings 1 Corinthians usually opens up to us the truth of the Lord’s supper, which issues in the service of God generally, and very often practical Christianity is ignored. That is to say, Christianity that involves everyday life, family life, business life, sickness and death, all of which are of great import in Christianity; so it occurred to me that we needed help in the truth of the preaching of the gospel, involving everyday life. The subject in hand is not finished at the end of 2 Corinthians 3, we should come on to chapter 4, because it is a question of the gospel, and what immediately flows out of the gospel testimony as to our lives. Paul says, “Therefore, having this ministry”; that is to say, the ministry of the gospel, “as we have had mercy shewn us, we faint not. But we have rejected the hidden things of shame, not walking in deceit, nor falsifying the word of God, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every conscience of men before God. But if also our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in those that are lost; in whom the god of this world has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine forth for them”, 2 Corinthians 4:1 - 4. After the third chapter, which is usually taken up as entering into the Lord’s supper, we have this passage in the fourth, which alludes directly to the gospel.
PAH Would you say then, that the effect of the glory is seen in our walk here, as commending the gospel practically?
JT Just so, in our walk; and then if it be our sickness or our death even (we are led on to the [p. 186] thought of these very solemn, facts), are we ready for them?
ENJ The previous chapter we have already referred to may help here. “But our competency is of God; who has also made us competent, as ministers of the new covenant”, 2 Corinthians 3:5,6 and so on.
JT The thought of the new covenant is found in the first epistle in connection with the Lord’s supper, and usually it is treated as the outcome of the Lord’s supper, because we usually regard the new covenant as entering into the emblems involved in the Lord’s supper, whereas here in chapter 4, the gospel is immediately in mind.
LPM Has the reference to “earthen vessels” some important relation, to the section? “We have this treasure in earthen vessels”.
JT Meaning vessels that are breakable, or fragile, of which we are all painfully aware, or should be. The thought does not really belong to the Lord’s supper; it belongs to ordinary life, although the gospel is involved too. The truth we are dealing with will lead us into chapter 5, which refers to our manifestation before the judgment-seat of Christ.
PRP Have you in mind that substance for the service of God is gained in our wilderness pathway here?
JT Well, it is. It is linked up with it, only that we are so prone to be diverted to the matters that treat of the service of God only, whereas other things are in mind too, that involve our sickness and our death, our departure to be with Christ. The question raised is whether these great facts are sufficiently in mind.
JM Do you mean that everything in our lives here is to be made subservient to the shining of this light which God has put in earthen vessels?
JT Yes. The reference being to Genesis 1 where God caused the light to shine, the allusion is [p. 187] to what God brought in. He commanded that light should shine. It is a question of just what is needed in the sense of light.
AM In Gideon’s time the vessels had to be broken for the light to shine.
JT It is alluded to directly here.
AM Does that bear upon the death of the believer, the great end of God’s ways in that way?
JT It bears on the facts that are dealt with in Gideon’s time, how the reduction of those that were engaged in the service was made from thirty-two thousand to three hundred — a most important matter. The allusion here is to that. The vessels were breakable, they were fragile, but the point is the light was in them.
AM I was wondering about the reference that “death works in us”, as if Paul would sympathise with Gideon in that sense.
JT Just so. “But life in you”; that is, life in the Corinthians; but in order to reach that, death had to be wrought out in Paul. It would be similar to the experience of Gideon in dealing with the Midianites. It was a question of dealing with the enemy, and how the enemy should be met.
LPM “That the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh”. Is that in mind?
JT That is the idea. What is mortal, what is liable to death. It is not a question of what is capable of resurrection, but what is liable to death. Mortal means liable to death.
ENJ Gideon was able to say to them, “As I do, so shall ye do (Judges 7:17)”. Would that indicate that the Lord is supreme? Gideon, I take it, is a type of the Lord, but He is supreme in this matter of suffering for the sake of the gospel.
JT Just so. But He is supreme in the matter of death in regard to the saints, too, who are all liable to death, which is a most solemn thing. We [p. 188] know that some may not die; that those of us who are alive and remain will not die; at the same time, generally speaking, we are all liable to death.
AM Is the acceptance of death a great moral feature in relation to the service of God? I was thinking of “Who shall deliver me out of this body of death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself with the mind serve God’s law”, (Romans 7:24,25). Does that underlie the exercise the apostle reaches here?
JT Quite so, “but with the flesh sin’s law (Romans 7:25)”. And that leads up to the Spirit. Eighteen times or so the Spirit is mentioned in the eighth chapter of Romans. It is a question of the Spirit, but then there are these facts that are mentioned in this passage, and every one of us, old and young, has to do with them. Are we ready for them? Not only ready for the service of God — they will work out in the service of God — but are we ready for these things that are mentioned here?
PAH Would you say a little more as to the bearing of these things on the gospel?
JT It is a question of the things themselves, the actual things that each of us has to deal with, that is to say, we are subject to death, and we have mortal bodies. We have bodies that are liable to death. They may not die, but they are liable to death, and the liability has to be faced.
JM So the apostle was not hindered in any manner by the things that are seen, but looked on to eternal things.
JT That is right, and the chapter ends with the most glorious hope. At the same time the actual facts that I mentioned are not ignored or hidden; there is the actual possibility of death at any moment.
LPM Reference to day by day seems to limit it to a condition that is liable to be interrupted. Verse 16 reads. “Wherefore we faint not: but if [p. 189] indeed, our outward man is consumed, yet the inward is renewed day by day”. Does that suggest the temporary conditions in which we are found, all liable to interruption?
JT That is right; temporary, and so in chapter 5 we are in tabernacle conditions, which is also a temporary idea. I hope the brethren will get at the truth as to the working out of the gospel in every person’s life and existence down here, and how the uncertainty of everything ought to affect us and make us real and serious, and fearful too, because the idea of fearfulness is involved in all this.
RGW Do you include the gospel in the term “the service of God”?
JT Yes, but then what about death? What about your child that might die, or the person who is very old and may die at any moment? Is there readiness for all these things? I think these are very practical things that ought to enter into our minds and make us real as to them.
CEJ Is that what is meant in the verse, “nor falsifying the word of God, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every conscience of men before God”?
JT Just so; everyday life, every conscience of men.
JMcN Is the idea that the life of Christ should shine out in our everyday history, even as we are in the sense of acceptance in Christ before God?
JT Yes, the light should shine, but then see all the eventualities that are to be faced in all the members of the family, and in all the brethren in the meeting, and so forth, which God has prepared for in the gospel. Are we utilising what He has prepared, so that we are ready at any time, as the word is, “Be ye also ready” (Matthew 24:44)?
LPM So that the reference to the dying of Jesus seems to spread a lustre over all these matters.
JT Yes, and then, “Death works in us, but life in you”. That is to say, one brother is ready to accept death in order that all the others should be living. It is a practical matter. If we are sick (it may not be sick unto death, but it may be), what effect has it?
CP And all these temporary afflictions work out in us an eternal weight of glory.
JT Well, that is what it says, but they are called light afflictions. Verse 17 says, “For our momentary and light affliction works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are for a time, but those that are not seen eternal”. Now, am I affected by all that? Am I living in the light of eternity, or am I living only in the light of time?
AED By the use of the word “always”, Paul shows how constantly the thing was there with him. “Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body; for we who live are always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh”.
JT Yes, I am glad you brought that in. The first mention of a subject like this helps us and carries us through to the end, because there is an end in chapter 4. There is an end in chapter 3, and there will be an end in chapter 5 if the Lord spares us to come to it.
CEJ Would Paul and Silas in the prison at Philippi illustrate what is in your mind?
JT Yes, it shows they were equal to carrying on the service of God at any time under the most trying circumstances, so that in prayer they sang praises to God. They were not mournful because of prison conditions, they were ready for the greatest things, the service of God.
JM Would verses 8 to 11 bring before us the [p. 191] range of things which would militate against us here, but in spite of all, the light is to continue shining out from us?
JT Yes, the light is to continue shining out, because God called the light Day, not indeed that there was not to be darkness, because there is, but the light is the principal thought. “God called the light Day”, (Genesis 1:5).
AM Are verses 8 to 11 the expression of this great thought of the surpassing power of God working out in the believer’s life here?
JT Quite so. “Every way afflicted, but not straitened; seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up; persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus”, and the end in view is, “that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body”. That is to say, it is not merely life, but the life of Jesus, which I suppose would be what marked Him down here. All that is worked out in these things; it is worked out in spite of these things that are liable to happen, and we are able to go on and manifest the life of Jesus.
FRG What is involved for us in always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus?
JT I think when the Lord went down from the mount of transfiguration, He had that in mind. He was going down to die, deliberately going down to die, showing that He is expecting a thing. It is the putting to death of Jesus. He knew it would happen, and warned the disciples of it.
LPM Are we in everyday life to take on this outlook and habit that we are to bear about in the body the dying of Jesus?
JT That is the idea, I am sure. If we think of what the Lord did, though He did not avoid anything, He did hide Himself at times. He did not throw [p. 192] Himself into the way of danger, but still He would take it if the testimony required that He should.
ENJ There is the principle of one dying for the people. Should that be with us each individually day by day?
JT Just so: like Esther. Mordecai put it on her, and reminded her that she may have come into prominence for that very purpose, to go in to the king, and she took her life in her hand. That was the same principle.
DHB Have you in mind that these thoughts would lighten the sufferings which we are called upon to face in an individual way?
JT I think so; they would make them light and bearable. We ought not to magnify them unduly so as to scare people. We are to treat them according to what they really are in the mind of God as possible happenings; so the Lord says, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give to thee the crown of life”, (Revelation 2:10). The Lord would encourage the brethren in Smyrna to accept death. It was the time of great persecutions, at least ten, in the early days of the assembly, and the Lord urged them to accept death. He said, “Fear not those who kill the body and after this have no more that they can do”, (Luke 12:4). That is how the Lord met all, and encouraged the saints to meet it; and I think there is a reason for us to learn to do that now, because of so many things pressing in upon us by the world, the industrial world, and the social world. Anything of that kind is liable to happen, and the Lord may order it or allow it, so that it is a question of being ready, and the gospel encourages us to be ready, and gives us the means of being ready.
CGMcC Are we to be ready to pass through these experiences so that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, but manifested to us, and in [p. 193] us?
JT Quite so, and to make us independent of human resource, and superior to death, superior to the most terrible sufferings even if they come. The point in that verse is that we have this treasure in earthen vessels; that is to say, we have the truth; without making any pretension, the saints have it in principle, and they have it in earthen vessels; that is to say, in breakable, fragile vessels, and we know they are fragile, and that they are liable to death, but the excellency of the power is to be brought out through that; that is the way it works.
AED Is there a need of resoluteness on this line? The Lord steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.
JT Just so.
ENJ You have referred to ten days; have you in mind, “Fear nothing of what thou art about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give to thee the crown of life”, (Revelation 2:10)?
JT The Lord is very definite about it. The ten days were the ten persecutions that are well known in the history of the assembly, and the Lord is telling the brethren about it, so that they should be ready, and ready in the sense of being faithful, even unto death. A very good word for us at the present time in this city.
PRP Are you thinking of Stephen in this regard?
JT Well, he was the first martyr spoken of in Christianity. Paul calls him the Lord’s martyr. So that he has that honour of being the first who died for the truth in our times, because it is our dispensation.
DHB Is it important to get hold of the fact that he died for the truth?
JT That is it, and died most unfairly; but he put himself into the matter, because he loved the [p. 194] truth. He was not taken on to be anything else than a deacon, which was a very modified service, but he went further, and purchased to himself a good degree, and great boldness in the faith. He had boldness, and died in that boldness as a martyr. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”, (Acts 7:59) he says.
ENJ These persecutions that are allowed to come upon us are not intended to hinder the testimony in any way, but that it might shine more brightly in the preaching of the gospel.
JT That is so, because God causes the light to shine, and He is ready for it. If we are ready, He will use us; He needs instruments, and Stephen was the instrument at that time, and now it may be any one of us, and it is for that that we are to be ready.
PRP It says, “They were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke”, (Acts 6:10).
JT So that he was an excellent divine choice at the time. The enemy was utterly defeated in a man like Stephen coming to the front.
JMcN In chapter 3 the apostle speaks of the surpassingness of the glory; in chapter 4 it is the surpassingness of the power; is that to enable us to allow the surpassingness of the glory in chapter 3 to shine out in our lives here?
JT Yes, and then chapter 4, that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, that whatever gospel there may be, it is attributable to God.
LPM So that the stress, in contrast to that, is on the earthen vessel; the power is of God, but the vessel is earthen. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels”.
JT The word “earthen” would mean it is breakable. It is not stone, or metal, or iron, it is earthen, and the word would allude to what we are as in our present condition.
RGW Does this indicate that we are not [p. 195] to hold the light just for ourselves, it is to shine forth?
JT Just so, and that it might be attributed to God — that God is honoured in it.
CEJ Would you say a word as to verse 13? “We also believe, therefore also we speak”.
JT “And having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I have believed, therefore have I spoken”; so that it would be a question of what we say. We are ready to speak if necessary; there is good cause for it. Many times we speak just for the sake of speaking, but there is good cause for it here. The apostle says, “I have believed, therefore have I spoken”. That was the ground he took himself. Why am I speaking? Because I believe, not because I can give a good address or a good gospel, but it is a question of faith. Am I speaking on the principle of faith? I can hardly speak of anything more important, especially in these meetings.
CW Would James’ epistle encourage one in that, that he is able to save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins?
JT Showing that we can save each other from death at times. He saves his brother, and covers a multitude of sins, which is a very important thing. Because there is too much sin exposed, and the more we can cover according to God, the better. Covering sin according to God is what is effected through redemption.
AM Why does it say, “having the same spirit”?
JT Well, it would be an allusion to the quotation from Psalm 116, and Paul says he has the same spirit as the psalmist.
AM I wondered if he links himself up with the saints and what they are going through, in that sense.
JT Well, he is speaking about what he is quoting, that he has the same spirit of faith as in the quotation; and so he shows how the truth stood which he was [p. 196] working Out in what he was saying, “We also believe, therefore also we speak”.
AM The verse quoted is, “I believed, therefore have I spoken. As for me, I was greatly afflicted”, and so on. It is the same affliction, is it not?
JT I was just going to remark on that. It is a quotation from Psalm 116, showing how we can use scripture in the ministry. We get examples from Paul and others how to use it.
RCMcC Is the Lord the great example for us? I was thinking of Isaiah 53:11: “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant instruct many in righteousness”. Is that practical knowledge entered into by the Lord?
JT I would think so; showing how our knowledge is treated, and what use it can be turned to.
RCMcC By that knowledge here the Lord turns many to righteousness. Is that your thought in the gospel?
JT Just so, how knowledge can be used. If it turns many to righteousness, certainly it is used well.
PBP Do you think this matter of faith is important as having to say to men? You have indicated something on that line as to the matter of the gospel, that is, we speak what we believe. We do not really speak what others have told us, but what we have entered into ourselves.
JT Very good. It is what we believe. It is a question of faith. As the Lord says, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:31).
AED Does it shine out in Paul’s word to Agrippa, and the way he availed himself of that opportunity before the authorities when he was permitted to speak for himself, and then he goes on and the light is shining in all its brilliancy?
JT Quite so, and how many he turned to righteousness! Another illustration is the man in John 9:21 His parents say, “He is of age: ask him,
he will speak concerning himself”. That is a good word, too.
LPM At the end the Lord stood with Paul, and all the nations heard. He is going on this line to the very end. At his first defence no one stood with him, but the Lord stood with him.
JT And the Lord stood with the man in John 9. He heard they had cast him out and found him and says to him, “Thou, dost thou believe on the Son of God? John 9:35” The “Thou” is emphasised, as if to say, the Lord is very interested in the man. And he says, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him? John 9:36” as if to say, ‘I am perfectly ready to believe on Him, if I only knew Him’. “And Jesus said to him, Thou hast both seen him, and he that speaks with thee is he. And he said, I believe, Lord: and he did him homage” John 9:37,38. That is the great end in the speaking.
ENJ Would it be appropriate to ask here for a little help as to verse 17, in connection with “in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory”? The positive side is brought in there.
JT It is a most remarkable passage. “Wherefore we faint not”; that is another thing. He mentions it twice in the chapter, the idea of fainting. Gideon was faint yet pursuing, and so Paul pursued. So here, “For our momentary and light affliction works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory”. Marvellous sentence! That is to say, God turns the affliction to account for us in an eternal weight of glory. It would be hard to get a sentence so full of weight and encouragement as this. “Works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory”.
ENJ The weight of glory would be something different from what might be seen outwardly. It is there in a solid way.
JT Quite so. It could hardly be avoirdupois weight; it is what is weighty in a moral [p. 198] sense.
RG Does it help us in getting a right valuation of things that are temporal in contrast to what is eternal?
JT Just so. Here we are not thinking of what is temporal, or what passes away; it is eternal in its character and weight. We often use the expression, ‘It does not weigh with me’, but the point here is that what we are enduring weighs in eternity to our credit.
PBP Would the realisation that what we are contending for is something of an eternal character, be a great encouragement to us to go through?
JT And the affliction is not only momentary, but it is light; but the result is weighty and will be to our credit eternally.
PAH Really working out to a weight of eternal consequence.
AM Do we need therefore to have this quality of faith like Abraham’s, and then faith as to resurrection, the power of God to raise the dead? Does that enter into this?
JT Just so. It eventuates in resurrection.
AM It says in verse 14, “knowing that he who has raised the Lord Jesus shall raise us also with Jesus, and shall present us with you”.
JT It is a question of faith, and what faith eventuates in; that is righteousness. But we have more here. In Genesis 15:6 it says, Abraham “believed Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness”. But what we get here eventuates in resurrection, not simply righteousness, but resurrection.