ONENESS
A. J. E. Welch
1 Chronicles 12: 38; Philippians 4: 2, 3; Numbers 7: 84–88
I want to speak briefly about oneness. A mighty company of people had one heart to make David king; two sisters, in a place where conditions were happy, were enjoined to be of the same mind; and a company of princes, representing all the tribes of Israel, had a single thought in bringing for God the dedication-gift of the altar and offerings in abundance. It is a lovely assembly feature at which the bitterness of Satan’s attack is constantly aiming—
oneness, unity of thought, unity of purpose, singleness of heart and mind as to what is precious to Christ. It is a favourite tactic of the foe to begin and to continue to attack it. The attack may have small beginnings, but tends as the foe has place to lead to very grievous consequences.
It would seem from the Scriptures that this feature of oneness is a feature of sonship. The Lord would, it seems, have this in mind in what He said in John 17, “The glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one” (John 17: 22). Sons characteristically will think as one in relation to what concerns their father. One of the dignities, I suppose, of a company in sonship is that they think the same thing and move in the same way, yet each brings in something by way of fragrant personality, which makes each one distinctive before God, though all move as one.
The writer of the Ephesian letter enjoins the saints to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we have been called; he then proceeds to speak of the unity of the Spirit, to be kept in the uniting bond of peace, as if the real character and experience of the calling would set us in oneness together as we are true to it (see Ephesians 4: 1–3). What a wonderful thing to be true to our place in sonship! .What a wonderful thing to be in the true experience and expression of the place and portion into which we have been called of God, bringing out in the company of the saints oneness of heart and mind as to everything.
This was no mean company of saints, typically, that came to anoint David king. If you read the earlier parts of the chapter, you see what a mighty throng this was, with one heart to make David king. How attractive David had become! Conflict had waged long, between David on the one hand and Saul on the other, and at every point of that conflict the attractiveness and moral worth of David had shone, leading to hearts being attached to him. The features of Saul, so degraded as we read of them, remind us, beloved brethren, of what our flesh is; the features of David attract us unerringly to Jesus, to Christ. This mighty throng was of one heart to make David king. Is there anyone here who would not yield Christ His place, His royal place and glory, His royal rights unchallenged? I verily believe every heart would be at one in this company to exalt Christ; that is the root of the whole matter of which we are speaking. If Christ has His place there must be oneness. If there is lack of oneness in any sense we are right in asking the question, and asking it as to ourselves, Has Christ His place?
Along with that is a cognate, necessary matter; Has the Holy Spirit, the one Spirit, His place?
Is there anything hindering the Spirit of God in His speaking and authority at any point, anywhere? It is the unity of the Spirit that is to be kept.
This is a remarkable scene where there are all these persons, men of war, persons of some eminence in Israel. The chapter makes most interesting reading in showing what had risen up in support of David, despite the influence of Saul working away in Israel. This is what is to be happening, and it is what I believe, thank God, is happening. Let us attend to this matter of the place Christ has; may this favourite tactic that Satan has so often sought to employ, sometimes, alas, with a certain success, not again get headway. Oneness of heart and, following that, oneness of mind and thought in relation to divine things, are to be substantially found among those who love Him.
Let us think of this starting point, in which every heart in Israel is committed. It says, “all of them men of war” first, then “all the rest of Israel were of one heart to make David king”. Let us see that the glory of an exalted Christ is an operative point amongst us, so that we are affected by it. It is not merely assenting to the features of His glory as we dwell upon them, but being affected by the exaltation of Christ. His place up there at God’s right hand becoming powerfully operative to affect the whole outlook in which we move together; “one heart to make David king”.
It was evidently a matter of sorrow to the beloved apostle that there were two sisters in Philippi, two named persons, whom he felt necessary to enjoin to be of the same mind in the Lord. It would no doubt strike right home to these two dear sisters as this letter came to Philippi. What a sister there had been in Philippi in Lydia! What a place the beloved sisters have in the working out
of what is precious to Christ. It is not an audible place in the gatherings of the saints, but a place, I would say soberly, of very great influence for Christ and in His interests. That is what the beloved sisters have. You think of Lydia and the way she received Paul in Philippi, the Lord having opened her heart to attend to the things spoken by Paul. Manifestly she did attend to the things spoken by Paul and brought out some fitting expression in answer to them in herself. So that Paul and Silas afterwards “came to Lydia” a lovely expression that is—as if there was something with that beloved sister that furnished a basis for God to bring in increase in that city, as He evidently did.
Now Paul has to speak to two; he does not speak negatively, nor does he speak in any sense accusingly. He just exhorts these two sisters “to be of the same mind in the Lord”. The skill of that is manifest; the uniting touch of it is manifest. How thankful we would be to show this touch of skill which the beloved apostle shows. He did not attempt to discriminate between them, which he would not be ready to do in the position in which he was, but he enjoined them to be of the same mind in the Lord. What a conversation this would, I judge, produce between these two sisters, which would search out the whole position. If there was a bad spirit with one of them, it would show itself. If I were the one of them at fault, it would show itself. Some misunderstanding that had led to some kind of discord between them would show itself. The power of this exhortation from the beloved apostle, from such a man as he was, would open out the whole situation between those two sisters, and they would get right, whatever that involved.
It is the skill given of God to this beloved writer that touches this matter positively before it develops, before a major difference of judgment comes in. The difference, based maybe on some small matter initially, might tend to set the saints on the one hand or the other hand in respect of it; the skill that comes in to meet the matter, whilst it is yet of small consequence in the general position, is a masterly point which we should see. Let me ask myself, let me ask everyone here, Have we any element of difference with anyone? Is there something which the enemy could use to damage what is so precious to Christ, to hinder the substantial expression of the assembly for the delight of His heart? Is there any such thing? Let us get right. The Spirit of Christ will operate so that matters may be got right. The whole point in the assembly is to get everything right.
And there is the means in the headship of Christ and the supply of the Spirit to get everything right. The assembly is furnished in view of maintaining, and constantly maintaining, what is right in the sight of God. This gives so wonderful a basis for God to go on and expand in the hearts of the saints His greatest matters.
There are differences between these cases, but the point here is that it is just two sisters. The thing has not, it seems, reached great proportions yet, but it might reach great proportions.
The apostle meets it. Let us be watchful, dear brethren, as to any intrusion that would lead to the least estrangement, far less bitterness, between any one of us and any one of the rest of us.
Let us be watchful (a matter in which the Lord and the one Spirit would help us) that nothing may come into the economy of local assemblies that would hinder the progress of what is dear to Christ, responsive to His heart, and representative of Himself in the course of the testimony.
In Numbers 7 there was a rich answer to God in the dedication of the altar and the dedication-gift of the altar, related as they are to the service of God and the setting up and sustaining of that service. We have the gifts that were brought by the twelve princes, and as you read down the long chapter (even though it seems to be at the cost of repetition) every prince’s offering is described. You find that they are substantial, but they are just the same; there is none greater than any other. The offerings of the princes in relation to the dedication of the altar stand together, as if they are all supporting the setting up of the service of God.
A prince is a very attractive thought, involving for the saints nobility of a heavenly kind. You read of saints in one place being more noble than the saints in another place for a stated reason (Acts 17: 11). I come back to the point again of the dignity of sonship, which enters into this because the prince is a son. Think of our calling, marked out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to the Father. Think, too, of the immensity of divine thoughts, reaching right back before time, and the bringing into expression of them through the grace of the Spirit in this time of reviving in which we are. Where things are on the line just of what is religious—I speak in the widest sense—very little is known, if anything, of sonship. It is where Christ has His place, and where a spirit of adoption, the Spirit of God’s Son, has place, that the saints are brought into the experience of sonship. The experience of sonship is the basis for bringing out the features of sonship into expression. We long that they may not only appear but increasingly appear and have their due place in the circle of those who love Christ.
So there are the princes, distinguished persons, and they bring their offerings, and the offering of each prince is the same. There is great wealth—silver and gold, fine flour mingled with oil, incense in great volume; but the offerings are the same. The point of the scene is not exactly variety, it is to bring out this feature of oneness in the saints in reference to their links with God and what is due to Him in His service. What we read of is the immense aggregate of all these gifts. It is exactly the aggregate of the twelve princes’ gifts that you see in this section, as if the Spirit of God gathers it all up into one great volume of offering, accrediting it to all Israel, for His glory.
That is an immense suggestion, not in any way to militate against variety in the service itself; the suggestion is that the calling, the measure of the calling, gives the measure of the offering that is to accompany it. God receives a fitting answer in the oneness of movement in His beloved saints, in that which is particularly to bring out for His heart the preciousness of Christ, and the glory of the one offering by which our God has His cherished portion in those who love Him.
Well, dear brethren, may there be oneness, may there be unity of purpose, unity of heart, unity of thought—not seen in the affairs of men in our day. It is unobtainable in the affairs of men in general, for they have not Christ and they have not the Spirit; but we have Christ and we have the Spirit, and God would bring out this very precious feature of oneness among His saints. May there be an answer thus for Him, for His name’s sake.
Address at Birmingham
24 March 1978