THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST

J. Wright

Acts 2: 32–36, 41–47; 9: 1–19, 31; 10: 9–16, 48

We have been occupied in our readings with Christ as Head and I want to say something, beloved brethren, on this occasion as to Him as Lord. It is the same Person, but a different thought. I think in our experience we first come to know Him as Head in the sense that He is Head of every man; He is the divinely appointed Head, and then we come to know Him as Lord. He is not Lord to everyone and the Lord Jesus is not asserting His lordship at the present time. If He was asserting His lordship it would the day of the Lord; it would involve judgment, but He is not asserting His lordship in a general way. He has power and authority, and with certain persons He does assert His lordship. With Saul of Tarsus, He asserted His lordship but it was in wonderful grace, and it subdued him. We need to know Him as Lord if we are to come into the gain of knowing Him as Head of the assembly or Head of the body.

The lordship of Christ connects with the kingdom, and the kingdom here was set up in the Acts consequent upon the assembly being formed. We understand that we must have the assembly before we can have the kingdom. In the assembly there is the witness of divine grace and through the operations and the recognition of the Lord Jesus as Lord, and as receiving the Holy Spirit we come into the assembly.

Peter was given the keys of the kingdom by the Lord Jesus when He was here, and before He gave those keys to Peter, He speaks of His assembly, “on this rock I will build my assembly” (Matthew 16: 18), and then He gives the keys of the kingdom to Peter. Peter was using those keys in this chapter, in Acts 2, to let persons in, to bring persons in and he asserts in his address or gospel to these persons that, “God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified,

both Lord and Christ”. God has made Him Lord; God has put Him in that position. He is Lord in His own Person, but God has put Him in that position, as Lord and Christ. He has given Him the place of supreme power and authority, and an administration has been committed to the Lord Jesus as Lord. The first thing the Lord did in going on high in His administration was to give the Holy Spirit, “he has poured out this which ye behold and hear”. He received from the Father the Holy Spirit and He poured it out. What a dispensation we are in, beloved brethren! This is how it began, with the Lord Jesus going on high and being installed in that office. It has been said, and it is right, that the office does not add anything to the Lord’s Person, but He adorns every office and His lordship is an office that He fills out and He adorns it. The witness of this great act of pouring out the Spirit was in these persons on whom the Spirit came, the hundred and twenty in that upper room at Pentecost.

The witness was there before the preaching went out; the preaching was not independent of the witness. The preaching is not independent of the assembly. The assembly was there, the house of God was formed and the preaching went out; and it reached the conscience of the hearers. These persons were secured, their conscience was reached and they accepted his word and were baptised. “And having heard it they were pricked in heart, and said to Peter and the other apostles, What shall we do brethren? And Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”, Acts 2: 37. This is the way we come into the kingdom, as under the lordship of Christ, and the way we come into the assembly. The way is through repentance and believing the gospel; there is a moral road, a moral foundation in the soul.

These persons had come in as fresh converts; it says, “And they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles”, they persevered in the teaching of the apostles.

They recognised that the apostles had authority, they represented the authority of the Lord, and there was authority in their teaching and there is authority in the teaching, beloved brethren. There is authority in the teaching of the apostle Paul because the authority of the Lord is behind it. There is authority in what comes from God and comes from the Lord. The apostles were specially chosen vessels, they were the handiwork of Christ, they exemplified the truth and they rightly represented the Lord. The Lord takes up suited vessels, and if the teaching is from the Lord there is authority in it. They recognised the Lord and were subject to Him, as they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles.

If we are to have fellowship it is in the recognition of Jesus as Lord. He is our bond in the fellowship and that is why we can have fellowship together. Paul says in Corinthians, “ye have been called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1: 9), it is the fellowship of God’s Son, it is not our fellowship, it is His fellowship. He gives character and dignity to it. It is, “the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”. As we have been taught, our bond in the fellowship is the recognition of Jesus as Lord, and there is salvation connected with that. The basis of our fellowship is the death of Christ; we can have no basis for fellowship apart from the death of the Lord Jesus. The fellowship in 1

Corinthians 10 is the fellowship of His death, and the importance of being consistent with that. At the end of 2 Corinthians we have the fellowship or communion of the Holy Spirit; the power to enjoy things in the fellowship is in the Holy Spirit. These persons persevered in these things and then it says, “in breaking of bread and prayers”. It would be normal for a person who really recognises the Lord and His authority and His claims over them to break bread. We understand that at that time, it was something they did every day. Later the saints received help and were adjusted, and they did it on the first day of the week. The breaking of bread was never connected with the temple. The early

Christians had part in the temple, but the breaking of bread was never connected with it. It took place in their households at the beginning, but Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 puts it in an assembly setting (1 Corinthians 11: 18). The “breaking of bread and prayers” go together.

The saints were marked by dependence, “And fear was upon every soul”. There is a wonderful condition of things here, an unselfish state, no one said what he had was his own, and they shared things together. A wonderful condition existed at this time and it says, “The Lord added to the assembly”. The word ‘assembly’ might not be there according to Mr Darby’s note, but the Lord added to what was there. He added daily those that were to be saved. We would desire additions, would we not, and there were the conditions here to which the Lord was pleased to add. Think of the Lord being merciful to persons, “those that were to be saved”; what a blessed thing it is to be among them! Salvation is connected with the recognition and the confession that Jesus is Lord. I understand that righteousness is connected with knowing Him as Head and salvation with knowing Him as Lord. These persons were to be saved from the perverse generation. They were to be saved from all that was around and come into this wondrous circle; they were added. Beloved brethren, we have been added to what already existed. We did not originate anything. Think of what has been here and we have been added to it. I would say what an august company the saints are, but as being added we would have respect for all the saints. There is no company like the company of the saints: those who own the lordship of Christ. The Lord was pleased to add such persons to this company.

I want to speak of Acts 9 because this chapter brings out how the Lord Himself protects the saints and protects the testimony. Saul of Tarsus was bent on destroying the disciples of the Lord, he was “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord”. The Lord takes account of that—they were His disciples and there was Saul of Tarsus out to destroy them.

The enemy is out to destroy disciples of the Lord; he might not use these frontal attacks in persecution, as he has done that down the dispensation against the disciples of the Lord. We do not know, beloved brethren, what we might have to face yet, but he is out to destroy disciples of the Lord. He does not mind how he goes about it but he wants to destroy us, he wants to capture us. There was Saul of Tarsus on this way; he received “authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon thy name”, and put them in prison; he was under the authority of darkness. Not only is there the darkness that attaches to man as he is away from God, but there are influences of darkness and they are operating, particularly religiously, but in other ways too, and we see that today. Saul of Tarsus thought he was serving the Lord and was bent on destroying these disciples, and he was proceeding on this course, but the Lord intervenes.

The Lord would have had a perfect right to intervene in judgment against Saul of Tarsus. It would have been righteous to do that, but it would not have been grace, and the Lord was using His power in grace to bring down Saul of Tarsus. The Lord brought him down Himself, He did not use an intermediary. We often come into things through an intermediary—someone the Lord uses for a gospel preaching or something like that, someone speaking to us, but the Lord did this Himself. There was what was unique about the conversion of Saul of Tarsus because the Lord came out of heaven, corporeally as I understand, to secure him. He says later, “have I not seen Jesus our Lord?”, 1 Corinthians 9: 1. The Lord came out of heaven to secure him; He did secure him, and brought him down. Saul said, “Who art thou.

Lord?”, and He said, “I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest”. That is the Man, “I am Jesus”, the Man who is Lord. I do not know what your thoughts are about the Lord, whether you think He is hard and demanding and austere, but He says, “I am Jesus”. What a name that is! The Lord is not hard and austere; the name of Jesus does not convey that. “I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do”. In another account we read that Saul asked the Lord, “What shall I do, Lord?”, Acts 22: 10. First of all he says, “Who art thou, Lord?”

What a blessed thing it is, and a necessary thing to have relations with the Lord Himself, and have a transaction with the Lord Himself. I trust every one here has had a transaction with the Lord. If you have not had a transaction with the Lord you are in a perilous position, do you realise that? You are in a dangerous position, a perilous position. What a wonderful thing it is to have a transaction with the Lord. This transformed Saul of Tarsus’ life, a complete change, a complete conversion—that is what it is. We need a conversion, we need a change, and the Lord can effect it as we have a transaction with Him. The Lord says to him, “But rise up and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do”. That brings up another matter that I want to speak of, that is that if we have to do with the Lord and own Him as Lord, we also have to do with the saints and become subject to them. The recognition that we are subject to the Lord is that we are subject to His people. Saul of Tarsus had to have this transaction with the saints, as well as having one with the Lord, and he was told by this disciple what he must do in Damascus.

Now, I want to speak about Ananias because he had to do with the Lord. He was a disciple of the Lord and he had to do with the Lord. The Lord had intervened Himself in the life of Saul of Tarsus, the Lord had done that Himself, but there was still something more to be done and the Lord was going to use Ananias to do it. Now, am I available to the Lord? Maybe the Lord has operated in someone; am I available to the Lord in what He might want to do? In the area in which I am, am I available to Him? The Lord appears to Ananias in a vision and said, “Ananias”. And he said, “Behold, here am I, Lord”. You say, well, this is going to be a good meeting, good relations here between the Lord and Ananias. “And the Lord said to him, Rise up and go into the street which is called Straight, and seek in the house of Judas one by name Saul, he is of Tarsus—for, behold, he is praying, and has seen in a vision a man by name Ananias coming in ...”. The Lord wanted Ananias to do something, to serve this man, to serve Saul of Tarsus. This was something Ananias did not want to do. You know, that often happens; I have found that the Lord may lay something on me but I do not want to do it. Jonah was, of course, a great example of it. God was going to send him to Nineveh to preach and he did not want to go; his will was at work. Ananias was telling the Lord that He did not really know about Saul. Ananias was not up to date with what the Lord had done. He says, “And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many concerning this man how much evil he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon thy name”. Did the Lord not know that? We sometimes might speak to the Lord as if the Lord did not know, but He does know; the Lord was more up to date than Ananias was, something had happened which Ananias did not know.

I refer to this, beloved brethren, because it brings out our practical relations with the Lord.

Are we really serviceable to Him to do what He wants us to do? Something has to be done. If I do not do it, He can use someone else; but He did not want to use anybody else. He wanted to use Ananias. First of all, Ananias places an objection to Him. Think of raising an objection to what the Lord would say or ask us to do! If we look upon our histories, we see it has not been an uncommon thing; it has not been an uncommon thing with me. I would rather do something else. The Lord is very gracious with Ananias. He does not say to him, ‘You know.

Ananias, I know all about this, why it is that you are speaking to Me in this way’; the Lord is a very gracious Master. He just says to Ananias, “Go, for this man is an elect vessel to me”, he adjusts Ananias in a very gracious way, not a severe rebuke, but in a very gracious way. He tells him to go, and Ananias went and he was able to represent the Lord. Ananias goes and says, “Saul, brother, the Lord has sent me, Jesus that appeared to thee in the way in which thou camest, that thou mightest see, and be filled with the Holy Spirit”. What a greeting that was! He goes into where Saul of Tarsus was staying, it was not his house but someone else’s house. He is no longer afraid of Saul of Tarsus because the Lord had sent him to Saul and he greets him as a brother. What a bond they had together in the Lord!

Saul had just come under the authority of the Lord and had been delivered from the authority of darkness. Ananias had just been adjusted by the Lord and there they were together, they had a bond together, and really Saul came into fellowship that way. Ananias laid his hands upon him and said, “that thou mightest see, and be filled with the Holy Spirit”. I just wanted to draw attention to that. Acts 9 is a great chapter showing the operations of the Lord; how He operates and how He moves, and how He would get us involved in it too, if we are under His hand because there is work to be done. You may say, Well, we are just a few, there is not much to be done. There is something to be done, and if we are available to the Lord, He will give us something to do, something He sees that needs to be done. There are things that need to be done which are not done—that is the challenge. Are there things that need to be done which are not done? Here it was done by Ananias and it was done well, it was under the Lord’s hand.

I want to refer to verse 31 because the result of this is that “The assemblies then throughout the whole of Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had peace, being edified and walking in the fear of the Lord”. I would draw attention to that feature which I think is needed; I need it, and I think we all need it, “the fear of the Lord”. It says, “God is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints”, Psalm 89: 7. The Lord is to be feared, not to be afraid of Him, but He is to be reverenced and feared. This would preserve us from doing our own things, going our own way regardless of the Lord, but being marked by fear. It says they were “walking in the fear of the Lord”. They were walking in it, they were governed in their movements, and their actions are by “the fear of the Lord”. Then it says, “the comfort of the Holy Spirit”. What a thing that was! Along with the fear of the Lord, there was the comfort of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit here is another Comforter, and it is a wonderful thing, beloved brethren to experience these things.

I refer to Peter in Acts 10. He had done well in using the keys of the kingdom in chapter 2 of the Acts, but he was a bit reluctant to do it here to let the Gentiles in; he had some prejudice.

He was in this place in Joppa and he went up on the house to pray. The habit of prayer is a good thing. I suppose it was a thing that habitually marked Peter, a man of prayer. He was waiting for a meal to be cooked, and while it was being prepared he thought he would go up and spend the time in prayer. How much time do we spend, beloved brethren, in prayer? We can use an opportunity, maybe we have to wait for something for a few moments, we can spend it in prayer. How profitable this was—this time spent in prayer. He became in ecstasy.

It seems as if that is something the early Christians knew, what it was to become in ecstasy. I do not know whether I can say much about it; becoming in ecstasy is to be distracted and taken away from things here. He saw this vision, this vessel, “in which were all the quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth”, and it was “bound up by the four corners”. It came to Peter and the voice said to Peter, “Rise, Peter, slay and eat”. Peter said, “In no wise.

Lord; for I have never eaten anything common or unclean”. He was really just prejudiced, he was not ready for what the Lord was about to do at this time, to let the Gentiles in.

It was a commission given to Peter to do that, the keys of the kingdom had been given to him; Paul was on the scene

now but was not in active service yet. I know Paul was sent to the Gentiles, but Peter had the commission of the keys of the kingdom. It was a work that the Lord had given Peter to do, and Peter had some reserve about it here, but he is adjusted, and he is available to serve Cornelius. What a great moment this was, when the Gentiles were brought into the kingdom and the assembly. What a service he rendered. It is a great thing to be under the Lord’s hand, and render services as under His hand, doing what He would have us to do. Well, the fact is that these persons heard the word, they received it and the Holy Spirit came upon them as Peter was speaking. He did not have to finish his preaching, the Holy Spirit came upon them as Peter was preaching. I just want to add this word, “And he commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord”. I know we are baptised to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28: 19), that shows the wonderful privileges we are brought into through baptism. All that there is in Christianity we are brought into as baptised to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Here, they were baptised in the name of the Lord. That involves power, power for protection to be baptised in that name.

These Gentile believers had just come in and they were to be protected, and prove the power and protection of the name of the Lord.

Well, beloved brethren, the kingdom is for our good, it is not against us, it is for us, it is not against believers, it is for them, and the recognition of the Lord is for our blessing. We see that the Lord’s interests were furthered through the service of Peter, both in Acts 2 and here.

It is for the furtherance of the Lord’s interests and furtherance of the testimony. Has not the Lord power to affect things? He can do things Himself without the aid of any as He did with Saul of Tarsus, but He wants us to be available to Him, and it is in the recognition of Him as Lord. If we have any difficulty, let us speak to Him about it. He is a gracious Person, He will not be hard with us, but He will adjust us and we will get adjustment as we speak to Him. May the Lord help us in it in His name.

Address at Grimsby
9 June 2007