CHURCH PRINCIPLES
[p. 323] CHURCH PRINCIPLES
Exodus 33: 7 - 11 Deuteronomy 21: 1 - 9
I thought this passage would help us in regard to fellowship. In the first passage Moses had the light of God’s mind in his soul, and it was a question as to that with which he would connect it. The testimony really has a universal bearing, and what is in connection with it locally must be in accord with it. You cannot have one set of principles in one locality and another in another locality, you must have uniformity. In the second passage read we get the thought of local responsibility, in the city next to the slain man. It is not only a question of what I can connect myself with, but having the testimony of God in my soul, I am concerned as to what it can be connected with. Moses came down from the mount with the desires of God in his heart, and what was he going to do? It calls for consideration as to the persons you can connect yourself with and principles which are to govern you.
What decided Moses to take the course set before us in Exodus 33 was the knowledge he had acquired of God. He considered for God and what was suitable to God. The wonderful experience he had had with Jehovah since He first revealed Himself to him, added to the experience on the mount would greatly increase his sense of what was due to God. He had received from God on the mount communications which typically referred to Christ; so Moses would increase his sense of what was due to God, and his action was governed by that, rather than by a specific commandment.
This chapter is interesting, because it gives us the principles of God in regard to the people. You have to take the previous chapter to get the bearing of it; indeed, you have to consider the whole section [p. 324] beginning from chapter 25. Holiness, the law of the house, influenced Moses. He must have had a wonderful sense of what God was. The whole environment in which the communications were made affected him. In Exodus 19 your mind is impressed with the particular care with which God guards His righteousness; there was a boundary set round the mount. Of course, there are other sides to it, but God would impress upon His people what He is. Then in Exodus 24 they saw the God of Israel, and the pavement of sapphire under His feet. But Moses was received up there alone with God; for forty days he neither ate nor drank; his soul was sustained in the presence of God; that is, he was sustained outside of nature. A man like that coming down into the camp, as it was at that time, was very serious. His ear was exercised, and he discerned that it was not the voice of war, but of pleasure, in the camp; so he broke the tables; he could not bring them in there. He takes the tabernacle and pitches it outside, indicating that there was a receptacle for the light he had in his soul. He could not connect that with the camp. The light was more to Moses than himself. These are the kind of exercises which govern us as to fellowship not only that I am in fellowship; but I have exercises as to what is of God, and the circumstances with which it is connected. We have to remember that the ark of the covenant was long without a resting-place. Every right minded Israelite would consider for that. Under Samuel and Saul it never had a resting place. That is the thing to consider for can you find circumstances suitable for the ark; suitable for Christ?
The same kind of feeling governed David when he said, “I will not give sleep to mine eyes”. Psalm 132:4. He had heard of the ark at Ephratah, no doubt when he was very young; that was the controlling object of his [p. 325] life. It was one thing to hear about the ark, and another thing to seek a place for it. He would not sleep until he had found a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Moses had the same sentiments. He had not had time to construct the tabernacle; the material was not available; the people had given their ornaments for idolatry; whatever tent he pitched it was provisional for the moment. The wonderful thing is that God put His approval on what he did. “The Lord spake to Moses as a man speaks to his friend”. Exodus 33:11.
The tent Moses pitched became an interest to the people. Those who sought the Lord went out to it. The first consideration is the testimony and the place for it. I have thought that if we take care of the principles God will take care of the people. To have a place for the testimony you must, in Christianity, have the people; but if you look after the principles, God will look after the people. Even the putting off of their ornaments did not qualify them to have the tabernacle; the tabernacle was taken away from them. They worshipped at the door of their tents; that was not what God wanted; and those that sought Him went out. God wants us to worship at the door of His tent, and for that you must go out.
Divine principles are abiding; they are eternal; the principles we stand for will be public in the world to come. They will hold good, and will govern the people then. God’s thought is that we should stand by them now. If you stand by the principles, He will look after the people. We have a seal with two sides, “Let him that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity” 2 Timothy 2:19; that is our side, that is the principle we are committed to; to withdraw from iniquity. The other side is, “The Lord knoweth them that are his”. 2 Timothy 2:19. He will take care of them.
We have to see that the testimony is maintained in a clean place. That is the idea. You would not [p. 326] commit it to anything unclean or unsuitable. Here is a man fresh from the presence of God; he comes into the camp which is permeated with idolatry. What does he do? The Lord did not tell him what to do, but he had principles in his heart produced by his knowledge of God. He had a great regard for what was due to God. That is what is seen in this passage. Moses had great love for the people, but he considered for God first. He called it “the tabernacle of the congregation”. If he gave the tabernacle that name, it showed that he expected the congregation. The second epistle to Timothy is most interesting; our part is to consider what is due to God, to withdraw from iniquity. On the other hand, the Lord knows them that are His. You have the congregation there too, for you follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. The congregation will always be there. We should never expect to see ourselves without the congregation. The great point is that God is enshrined in the tabernacle. To find our way today we have these principles. The knowledge of God comes through the gospel, but popular evangelists send their converts to different religious systems, but that is not God’s mind. The idea of the assembly is called out ones. The call is the gospel. We are called out to something. Christ becomes the Centre for the mind and heart; the gospel is concerning Him. Every divine principle flows from what God is. If you take them up, God will be with you. That is what you get here. Moses had been on the mount with God, and when he comes down his action is established by God.
Paul in similar circumstances says, “at my first answer no one stood by me”, 2 Timothy 4:16 and the next point is “the Lord stood by me”. 2 Timothy 4:17. If you stand by the principles God will stand by you, and the congregation will come. But you will only stand by the [p. 327] principles as you appreciate them; as you appreciate them you are set for them. Moses did more than that, he would die for the people. That is the next thing. If you are in the Spirit of Christ, you will stand for the principles and stand by the people, but the principles come first. It is a great mark of favour when trouble comes if the people are saved as well as the principles. Paul withstood Peter to the face. He stood for the principles, and Peter was saved as well.
Holding the truth in love is the great thing. If you do that you will not let the people go. You hold the truth, but you hold it in love. I think one of the most remarkable instances of divine wisdom is seen in the letters to the Corinthians. We should study them if we wish to serve in the house of God. They show us how a man acts who stands by the principles of God, and who loves the saints. He said, in effect, ‘If I go to Corinth, I shall have to use severity, and I do not want to do that. I want to get all the Corinthians’. So, instead of going, he writes a letter and sends it by Timothy, one not only converted through him, but one who knew his ways, and who would put the Corinthians in mind of them. He sends the letter, and the result is the mass of the Corinthians are saved. We do not want to lose the saints, and if we are not to lose any of them we are to act wisely, and love is the most skilful of all things. This raises the question as to how we are to conduct ourselves when difficulty arises. What are you going to do? The study of these two letters in connection with Moses’ act here affords wonderful light as to how to act. Paul did not stand afar off from the Corinthians; he went through the exercises with them, which is a mark of priestly service.
Christianity is a system established in wisdom. The four gospels give us wisdom as seen in Christ. Divine wisdom is seen there in relation to everything [p. 328] that existed on earth. In other words, they are the book of Proverbs personified. The epistles give us the children of wisdom; they give us examples of persons who had learnt from Christ how to act. Christianity is not like the old system. We have not a prescription for every difficulty, but we have the Holy Spirit here, which those under the old system had not. Now things are more established on precedent than on commandment; it is more a question of discovering how Christ acted and how the apostles acted. We have not commandments exactly, there are such, of course, but we have principles, and how you face difficulties brings out what you are spiritually. The Lord lets us expose ourselves.
Moses here saves the situation. His conduct shows what a knowledge of God he had. The best test of a man as to where he is with God is how he acts in a case of discipline, especially if the persons are known to him, if he has lived with them. If he is not a spiritual man he will be governed by partiality. If we had a prescription for every difficulty there would be no need for exercise or spirituality. The punishment would just have to be made to fit the crime. Now the Lord allows things to arise, as if to say, ‘Now what are you going to do?’ And what you do proves what you are spiritually. It is a question of love to God and to your neighbour. The question of local responsibility all lies in the commandment, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. Leviticus 19:18. It all hinges on that. If you have to deal with your neighbour, and you are not under the influence of the love of Christ, you will be governed by partiality, by some personal feeling.
The second scripture we read, Deuteronomy 21, gives the idea of what is local. I have thought that no conditions can arise which would prevent the working out of assembly principles. That is saying [p. 329] a great deal, but I am assured that we are never shut up. Love is the one thing that has never yet failed. No matter how bad the conditions are, you can carry out assembly principles. Things could not be much worse than in Corinth. It is remarkable how the apostle on the one hand considered for God, and on the other hand considered for the saints; they were all saved. On the other hand, if the conditions are so bad that flesh rules absolutely instead of that which is spiritual, you are not shut up. If such conditions arise the apostle supposes in 2 Timothy, that there is still a way for us; we withdraw from evil.
The foundations were untouched at Corinth. If the foundations are not destroyed you can go on, but if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? If the foundations are destroyed, then it means that Christ is given up, as in the public systems of men. They may not become absolutely apostate, but if Christ has no place there, the righteous must withdraw from that; but then, you do not give up assembly principles. You can go on because you have the congregation. It is beautiful to see the way Paul acted, and his basic principle was love. If he had considered for his own authority and fame he would have gone there. That is what lies at the bottom of many of our difficulties, our fame and reputation. There were those who said that Paul was not truthful; those who said his speech was contemptible; the enemy’s attack was to set aside his authority. He did not consider for that, he considered for God.
The difference between the state of the Corinthians and that described in 2 Timothy is, that the saints had not given up the foundations at Corinth. In the main they still held the truth; the Holy Spirit was there; they were still regarded as the body of Christ. “Ye are God’s building”, says Paul. 1 Corinthians 3:9. They [p. 330] had not given up the foundation truths of Christianity. 2 Timothy supposes that the foundations are given up. Luke 10 shows the character of the true neighbour. If you are in the nearest meeting to the one in trouble, the question is, have you the oil and the wine? That is the obligation; the neighbour is to be a neighbour.
The passage here reads “And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near ... and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried” Deuteronomy 21:5. What we see there is that alongside the principle of local responsibility is the priestly thought. The priest is to determine things. What you find, where difficulty arises, is that it is really a question of the constitution of the meeting. It is the outcome of the underlying state of things, and what is required is to build them up. Where difficulty arises locally you will often find that saints are feeding on controversy, and if you do not bring in good food there is very little hope for them. If local difficulties arise, what is needed is a priestly state. I think that is the point, and that is where Christianity comes in. The priest is the man who loves. The leading feature of the high priest is the breastplate and the shoulderpieces. The priest says, as it were, I have you on my heart to speak well of you. The judgment of Israel was to be according to that. Your judgment is not to be based on your feelings but according to your love for the saints. It is the judgment of the breastplate.
The difficulty such as this Scripture has in mind develops where the priestly state is low. The only hope in Israel was the priest. Everything hinges on the priest. If the priest is not there there is no hope. The priest is able to minister Christ to the saints it is in the priestly state that you can minister. Of course, it is Luke that records that. It was Christ Himself who was the Samaritan. He was [p. 331] attendant upon man here. It required the priest to do that; to bring in oil and wine. Evidently it is Christ who is Priest. It is remarkable that the apostle can take account of the Corinthians as he does when there was division there. But the foundations were still there. If you go to the place with the ministry of Christ, that will revive the saints’ spirits. What souls need when they are hungry is food. They want ministry to lift them out of ruts; even when they say, “I am of Paul, and I of Apollos” 1 Corinthians 1:12. Ministry is the great thing. If the priest is active, there will be help.
The working out of the thing in Corinth produced the spirit of self-judgment. He says, “In all things ye have proved yourselves to be clear”. 2 Corinthians 7:11. They proved themselves to be clear, but they had to accept the responsibility of what existed among them. That is the first thing. Now this chapter establishes the fact that the nearest meeting is the one held responsible; it does not say that the others are excluded, because fellowship is general as well as local. So it says, in Corinthians, “To all that in every place call on the name of the Lord” 1 Corinthians 1:2; it is universal as well as local. That is important, because there is danger in applying it only to the local side of things, and people outside of that are not in touch with it.
This chapter guards us, but in a general way, the nearest meeting is held responsible. If we acted wisely, we would act on this principle; you may not have to wait. If the nearest meeting is not acting in a priestly character, try and get it right, because if you go over their heads you may lose them, and then you will not gain much. You act on those lines and maintain that fellowship is general as well as local.