A TIME TO SEW
Andrew Burr
Ecclesiastes 3: 1; 7; 1 Corinthians 1: 9-10; Matthew 4: 18-22
I would like to say a simple word about this word in Ecclesiastes "a time to sew". The list of things is interesting but it needs to be rightly understood. I do not think Solomon means that at one time one should do one thing and then at another stop and do the opposite. His observation is that there are settings, or times, in which quite opposite things might be appropriate. They may have little to connect them. I can take an example from verse 5 - "A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together". We read of Jerusalem being left without one stone upon another - stones cast away (see Mark 13: 2); we also read of Jesus as a stone cast away (see 1 Pet 2: 7). But in that same passage it speaks of coming as living stones: there is a time to gather stones together. We could not say this is a counterpart of the judgment on the city. We see how the different things in this chapter are viewed in their own setting. If we look at verse 7, there are settings in which it is never a time to rend, although there are other settings in which there has been a time to rend. God says to Saul that he had rent the kingdom from him and given it to his neighbour who was better than he (see 1 Sam 15: 28). We read of the veil of the temple being rent (see Matt 27: 15). There is no sense in which the veil is restored, God has come out. Then we read of Samson rending the lion as one rends a kid (see Judges 14: 6), speaking of the way in which the Lord Jesus has triumphed over the power of death and Him who had it.
I would like to suggest that the setting and time in which we are is a time to sew, that is a time to stitch. We are not necessarily called upon for great works all at once, but we should be occupied in this positive way.
I read the passage in Corinthians, as much for the note to it which we have no doubt all read. Paul had very much in mind in Corinth that it was a time to sew. I read verse 9 along with verse 10 to see that Paul combines statements of truth that relate to the assembly as a whole, with a more practical exhortation as to the working out of those principles in our local gatherings. In verse 9 I think we have what is proper to the fellowship as a whole: in its broadest sense it embraces all. After all, if there were any not in this "fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ" one might wonder what fellowship they are in. It is universal and it is not just a local idea. Whether it is rightly entered into by all is another matter, because every divine institution is marked by certain divine principles. God is a God of order and an institution such as the ''fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord" is marked and characterised by certain principles that God Himself has established in order to give the thing its true character. I am reminded by verse 9 of the bodycoat that Jesus wore. It says “the body-coat was seamless, woven through the whole from the top. They said therefore to one another, Let us not rend it", John 19: 23-24. That is interesting in the light of our first scripture: there was something that could not be rent and had not been sewn. It was woven, and it had no seam. A seam would have been sewn, but there was no seam. We might say it corresponds to what we have here. It expresses a divine idea associated with the body of Christ. I think it has some connection with fellowship viewed from the divine side. The body-coat was seamless, woven through the whole from the top. That is, if fellowship is to be rightly taken up, if what the body speaks of is to be rightly expressed, we must, as Paul says to the Colossians, hold fast the Head (see Col 2: 19) - "Jesus Christ our Lord". How precious it is that things are presented in perfection to which we, in our responsibility, have been called to contribute nothing. There is a unity that Satan and his agents dare not rend. What a precious thing to hold on to in a day when things outwardly seem so broken up! We are entitled to regard ourselves as part of something that Satan will not touch - he cannot. He may try and claim it for his system, but he cannot violate it. However, if we are to enjoy this we must hold fast the Head. There must be that connection with the top. That was one of the difficulties at Corinth.
Paul then goes on, having made that statement of the divine standard, to examine how far the Corinthians locally were conforming to that standard. He says "I exhort you ... that there be not among you division; but that ye be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same opinion. For it has been shewn to me ... that there are strifes among you". The word perfectly united means - Where all the members have each its own place, or make a whole; or, if broken, are restored to one complete whole. It is to be seen that this is presented to a meeting like Corinth where there was so much disorder. Paul exhorts them to revert to the divine standard. He has in mind all who are in every place "who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 1: 2), that is those who hold the Head. I think that links with this note. Each has his or her own place, each is associated with his or her own local gathering and local assembly and each one has a place in that gathering. The perfect expression of what is here for Christ is to be found in the working of that our.
We find, naturally, that it is otherwise. It is a sorrow to me how easily points of division and divergence are allowed to take root. How jealous I am, or tend to be, about my opinion! How grievous these things are! If that is our occupation, we are not sewing. Is it not the time to sew? We will never come to the same mind if that mind is to be my mind or your mind; the only mind in which there is any unity at all is, as Paul says in Philippians "this mind ... which was also in Christ Jesus", 2: 5. There is a way to unity in the adoption of the mind "which was in Christ Jesus". I do not think I can say very much about it, but it is a wonderful thing to contemplate, “this mind... which was also in Christ Jesus". As Mr Darby says in another note in that chapter, it is the very opposite of Adam's mind. Christ Jesus had a right to claim everything as one whose it was to exercise the rights that belonged to equality in Godhead, and yet think of what He surrendered in going even into death and that the death of the cross (see Phil 2: 8). I find that even to think about such things measures the value of my opinions and puts them to shame. What is the value of my opinion of any matter? What does it add? What does it bring, alongside the mind which was in Christ Jesus? That mind was not much in expression in Corinth and disunity resulted. I do not suggest that there is disunity here but I fear in myself that unless the mind "which was in Christ Jesus" is in me, I am exposed to the assertion and influence of my own mind. To allow that mind in us is the secret of sewing. It has a wonderful effect. It was most attractive. Mr Darby says He was the most affable of men (Letters Vol.1, p.164) - that is, He was the most approachable, the very attitude He expressed to people banished distance. It drew them together around Him, it made them nearer to Him. This, I believe, is how the perfect uniting that Paul speaks of here is arrived at.
It is very testing how much that mind is really in expression, how much does the Holy Spirit really have room in me to bring it into expression. It does not exactly compete for the place that my mind would otherwise claim: I must actively displace what is contrary to it if it is to be arrived at. These things are important. It is observable that in a small company the temptation to express my own view of a matter seems to be stronger and less easily restrained, but how wonderful it would be in the intimacy that we enjoy with one another if there was to be an expression of "this mind ... which was also in Christ Jesus".
I read this verse in Matthew's gospel because it is referred to in the note in chapter 1 of Corinthians; the word for mending their nets is the same as the word for being perfectly united - if broken they are restored to one complete whole. The Lord found these brothers mending their trawl-nets, that is they were sewing. It has laid hold of me very much recently that the Lord is not in any sense required to manifest Himself at the inception of any matter. The time of His intervention into any matter is His to choose. That does not mean that He is ever caught unawares. It is a wonderful mark of divine power that every moment is propitious for an intervention by the Lord. He does not have to wait for hat we would judge to be a favourable opportunity, He can come at any time. So once He came in "about the fourth watch of the night ... walking on the sea" (Mark 6: 48). The wind was contrary: it is clear that He walked into the wind. If the wind was contrary to the disciples it must have been contrary to the Lord as well because He was walking in the same direction as they were rowing. We could think of many other times when the Lord has chosen His own moment and expressed His power in doing so. But, if He chooses to wait, as He often does, we are tested in two ways. The first is whether we can wait. It is not easy to wait, but if His mind was in us, we would wait. The other test is, what does He find us doing when He does come in among us? How does He find us occupying ourselves? Does He find us preoccupied and in some sense not ministering to His interests? Or, as He says in relation to that importunate widow, ''when the Son of man comes, shall he indeed find faith on the earth? " Luke 18: 8.
It is interesting to see what He found these men doing. It says "Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea". Then it says "he saw ... James ... and John his brother ... mending their trawl-nets". That is how He found them; they were sewing, that was their occupation. You would not, of course, expect to find fishermen rending a net. I believe these things require an attention to detail involving the use of time. They demand some ability to work patiently and skilfully to gather up detail that may not appear at first to make much of a contribution to the whole. We must have an eye for the whole and to work towards it patiently in everything that we do. Paul says to the Corinthians "Let all things ye do be done in love", 1 Cor 16: 14. I believe that as that spirit is promoted among us, something of the whole will begin to emerge for us to see. There will be a gathering in. There will also be the capacity in the mended net to gather more. There must be a mended net before we can fish. I believe that now is a time when we should be occupied in such a way, not allowing people to escape, but rather to gather them together so that there is more for Christ and more for His glory here.
LONDON
7 September 1993
AT A BURIAL
(i) Andrew Buchan
Psalm 68: 13; John 14; 2 Timothy 4: 5-8
I am encouraged, dear brethren, to read these scriptures. Our brother's prayer took account of the work of God in our brother's soul. I think there is nothing, in view of our comfort at this time, like the substantial character of God's work in the soul because it is going through to eternity. It is here in the scene through which we pass but untouched by it, drawing nothing from it, belonging to this scene of life and glory. It is wonderful to take account of the work of God by itself. It has a grandeur all of its own. Nothing of the world can add to it. It draws nothing from it: it is somewhat like the tender sapling, a root out of dry ground. What is said prophetically of Jesus becomes the portion of the saints, but it belongs to a sphere on the earth presently that has to do with death. That is the local assembly. Where death is, the ashes are there. If you read the footnote (Psalm 68: 13), you will find the ashes there. I think they are the ashes of the red heifer that brought about a condition of things in purification amongst the saints at the end of the wilderness down here. There is a sphere where these things are being worked out and where the work of God is developing and being brought to a conclusion, as we witnessed in our brother's closing days.
This scripture he referred to on Friday and I thought I should read it: "Though ye have lain among the sheepfolds, ye shall be as wings of a dove..." It is the Spirit's work. Wonderful thing that! Not the work of man, but the work of a divine Person here in the assembly working out into a great final result, and I would say what was witnessed was this: the completion of the work of God in a man's soul. It says "wings of a dove". I think that is a reference to the Spirit of God, the One who works subjectively in us and brings about this great result for the glory of God. And then he says further, ''wings of a dove covered with silver". That is the great work of redemption: "in whom we have redemption through his blood...", Eph 1: 7. The basis of everything for God lies in the precious blood of Jesus, the blood our brother put his trust in, the blood that sustains everything and will sustain everything for God's delight and pleasure, not only now but eternally. Further he says, "and her feathers with green gold". I wondered when our brother referred to this but I think it is the completion, the grandeur of God's work: “feathers with green gold" or 'greenish-yellow', what the Spirit is working out currently in the hearts of the saints in an area in which He has liberty and where death is applied, the death of Christ. That is what the local setting is. Now, these are wonderful things the triumph of divine workmanship. But you need to be in the sphere where it is known and where room is made for the Spirit in view of its enjoyment. You see it is on the wings, "the wings of a dove", not attached to anything here, ready to be transported to the realm where it belongs. And what was witnessed was unattached down here, but what belongs to another realm, to a scene where Jesus is, in heaven above.
I turn to the scripture in John 14. I think our brother frequented this realm. Very often he spoke to us from John's writings: "and if I go and shall prepare you a place", a place for what is being wrought out presently in the assembly. It is in view of the assembly. What a wonderful thing that is. Oh that we would value it more! It says, ''for I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be". The impression I received was simply this: it is "you" and "myself". No-one else matters. It is you, the assembly, and myself. This is of God! No disparity! That is a wonderful thing that is being wrought out now, a vessel in which there is no difference, no disparity between the Lord and His own and He is preparing a realm for that kind of thing. Our brother mentioned this two weeks ago in giving thanks for the emblems. No disparity! How does this come about? It comes about, I think, by drinking into the spirit of the new covenant and looking upon the glory of the Lord and hence the glory of the work of God takes on its own distinctive character.
I pass on. Paul has written to Timothy and he says, “the time of my release is come". Not that he wanted to be away out of suffering, but he longed to be back in the sphere that he had once touched. Paul was a man who was caught up to the third heaven, and he longed to get away into that realm. He says "But thou", addressing himself to a young man - and it may be to us today - "But thou, be sober in all things..." Be sober! Note the footnote: do not come under influence! We are in a day when influence is at work against the great thought of what the assembly is, and Paul is warning Timothy: Do not come under influence! See that the pure mind is maintained. Then he says, "Do the work of an evangelist". Do it! You might say our brother sought to do the work of an evangelist, and that will have to be filled up. I never ever heard our brother when he was asked to preach but that he gladly put his hand to the work. Do the work of an evangelist! "The time of my release is come", the time of his release!
The blessed Spirit, "wings of a dove", hastening in relation to the heavenly realm. Beloved brethren, the Lord would attract us into it. There is nothing belongs to it but the work of God and it is formed substantially in us by the Spirit and presently the urge is onward. The voice of the Spirit is saying, "Send me away to my master", Gen 24: 54, the work almost completed, completed as far as our brother is concerned, brought to completion by the Spirit, soon to be completed in all the saints in that glorious rapture to be in the presence of Christ, the One whom we have learned to love.
Well, may our hearts be encouraged and strengthened and comforted, especially those who mourn, for His Name's sake.