PARTNERSHIP

PARTNERSHIP

Zechariah 13:7; Ephesians 2:19; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Philemon 1,2, Philemon 23-25

In alluding to these scriptures, I want to call attention to the various ways in which we are bound together, and share things in common. There is a great partnership existent, beloved brethren, and one has felt that while we maintain what is distinctive — as for instance, the relative position of the man and the woman, and the responsibilities that are properly local — the Lord would help us to realize that there is a very great deal that we share together in a universal way. One feels with oneself the tendency to be extreme in one way or the other.

Partnership in the conflicts and limitations of the testimony mark the closing moment; and I would like to dwell a little on the partnership that exists amongst the people of God. Though the word is not used in scripture it is implied in such expressions as fellow-citizens, fellow-labourers, fellow-soldiers, and fellow-prisoners, and then, last of all, there is the word in Peter referring to the elders, in which the apostle speaks of himself as a fellow-elder.

I am sure we would not overlook the fact that in some respects it pleases God to put people and things in grades; and so it says in connection with the twelve, “first Simon, who is called Peter.” They were not all on the one level though they were all apostles. The first was Peter by the Lord’s appointment. So when you come to the gifts it says, “first apostles, secondarily prophets,” etc., and the apostle asks, “Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers?” showing that there is diversity in gift. Then too, in relation to responsibility — that which the Lord attached to Ephesus was not that of Smyrna; and the responsibility of Pergamos was not that of Thyatira, each local assembly having its own responsibility. The Lord has called attention to that, but on the other hand, we need to see that there is a very great deal in which we are all partners, and it is on that line that I wish to speak to you.

First of all, I would like to speak of the Lord Jesus as God speaks of Him through the prophet, saying, “the man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hosts.” There is the side from which He is viewed as in subjection to God, and in which He takes a subordinate place, and one of relative inferiority to the Father, as He said, “My Father is greater than I.” Indeed, the scripture says that He was made “a little lower than (that is inferior to) the angels for the suffering of death.” I know some do not like the word inferior, but the Spirit of God has indited it, for that is the word used in Hebrews 2: 7. Angels cannot die,

but man can die, and the blessed Lord Jesus Christ became man, in order to die. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,” Hebrews 2: 14.

John says, He came “by water and blood,” 1 John 5: 6. His very coming into the scene of testimony involved death for Him. Again, He Himself said, “the Son can do nothing of himself,” and “as I hear, I judge.” In Mark 13: 32, He says, “Of that day and that hour knoweth no man... neither the Son.” These references show clearly that the Lord is viewed in manhood, and as accepting in infinite grace a position of relative inferiority. The apostle in 1 Corinthians 15: 28, says further, “when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.”

There is also another side of the truth, and one was impressed in this connection with the import of that word in Zechariah, where the Spirit of God says, “Awake O sword against my shepherd” — He is God’s shepherd, and He suffers thus for the sheep. But then it says, “against the man who is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.” He became Man to die. He came to bear all that the sword required, but in His own blessed Person, He is the Man who is Jehovah’s Fellow. Now that is another view of the Lord in manhood. The One who is in manhood, is equal to Jehovah, for that is what “Fellow” means: it implies equality. It does not say “who was my Fellow.” He ever was God before He assumed manhood, and He was with God. He speaks to His Father in John 17: 5, and says, “glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” In the past eternity He was there, He was God, and He was with God, but here in Zechariah, it says, “the man that is my fellow.” The One who is now in manhood, is Jehovah’s Fellow.

I think that is a fact that becomes greater and greater to one’s heart. We have been disposed at times, I feel sure, to put limitations upon our Lord Jesus Christ, but that cannot be right. His glory knows no bounds, and while it is true He accepted limitations in grace, we cannot impose limitations on Him. On the one side He is presented as in subjection, and yet on the other hand, God speaks of Him as the “man that is my fellow.” The Lord in manhood here, says, “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before?” Where was that? — where was He before? He dwelt in “the light which no man can approach unto” — no man can pass within that barrier.

Now it must be manifest that no creature could go outside the sphere in which God had placed him, but the Lord Jesus said, “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” — and that is what He has done! He has “ascended up far above all heavens.” He has gone there in manhood. The Lord is not bound by the limits of creation — that blessed Person, though come into manhood, could go outside all its boundaries. The Lord speaking to the Father in John 17: 5, addresses Him from the platform of equality and says, “glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” Such is His greatness personally that He can say to the Father — “along with Thee” — as the New Translation reads. What a claim He has upon our hearts! The Lord would I am sure, give us an increasing sense of His unspeakable greatness, though Man, He has His part in the Deity; the One who “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God... but took upon him the form of a servant.” The One “who descended, is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.”

I want now to speak of what we share together, which is on a totally different platform. There is that which we have in common, in partnership, and I would like to speak first of citizenship. Men glory in being citizens, it is a great thing in the world, and it should be a great thing to all the people of God. The apostle says, “Our citizenship is in heaven,” and again, we are “fellow-citizens with the saints,” Ephesians 2: 19. What a citizenship! One would appeal to any who are still mixed up with the cities of this world which all found their origin in the city which Cain built in order that he might forget God. It was as a vagabond and a fugitive that he went out from the presence of God and built his city.

Fellow Christian, let me tell you that there is another city, the “city of God” — “Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God!” This is the city of which we are said to be “fellow-citizens.” And what a city it is! Speaking of the heavenly city, the apostle John says, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb.” That is to say, there is no distance from God in that city, for God is there. Think of the blessedness of being in the presence of God! David having tasted it says, “A day in thy courts, is better than a thousand.” I would rather have one day in the presence of God than a thousand days anywhere else. In this great and holy city, God’s presence is known, and the presence of the Lamb. The glory of God enlightens it, and the lamp of it is the Lamb; all the glorious light of God radiates through the One who suffered. And there is a river in it whose waters are clear as crystal. There is not a defiling element in the influence that flows from that city. The tree of life is there bearing its various fruits every month — fresh presentations of Christ in living power to maintain in life the inhabitants of that city. And there is a great and high wall that keeps out all evil, and, dear friends, we are fellow citizens of that city! I wonder how much we know about it? You say, That is all future. No, it is not.

The apostle says, “Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” We have come to it. I wonder how much we are in the living good of that. I would just like to leave the thought with you, that if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a citizen of the city of God, and you are to share in the rights of citizenship with all the saints. There is one thing that is needed for present entrance into the city: we must wash our robes. We cannot pass in with unclean robes. Revelation 22: 14, according to the best authorities should read, “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life and that they should go in by the gates, into the city.” That is what the Lord wants us to do. If we do not know much about that city it may be because we have not washed our robes.

I do not dispute the right of any believer to be a citizen, but no one can go through the gates except with washed robes. Oh, you say, “That was done when I was converted.” No, washing our robes is something further. What the Lord did when you were converted was to give you to be able to say, “Unto him that loves us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” Revelation 1: 5. That is what has already been done; but in Revelation 22, it says, “Blessed are they that wash their robes” — that is continuous, and it is what you do. The Lord does not do that. Our robes are what surround us — our ways and the circumstances in which we are known. Literally and typically, they are what we are seen in, and God uses the figure in that way. A man is seen and known by his apparel; you do not see what is in his mind and heart, but you do see what he does, and where he goes, who his friends are, and what he reads; that is how you know him, that is how he appears. Those are his garments — his associations, his friendships, and his actions.

David said in Psalm 109: 18, of the wicked man, “he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment.” But the Lord said to John, “Blessed are they that wash their robes.” It means that you bring the import of the death of Christ to bear practically upon your actions, your friendships, your associations,

your books, indeed, your whole environment, and the things that are not in keeping with it, you refuse; and thus the robes are washed and clean, and you have right to go through the gates of the city, as a fellow citizen with the saints, and as of the household of God.

There is another city, Babylon, of which the Lord speaks in the Revelation, saying to His own who are still in it, “Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins.” Then there is the great city which is called spiritually, Sodom and Egypt, “where also our Lord was crucified.” Think of a city in which is concentrated the awful spiritual corruption represented in Sodom, the independence of God represented in Egypt, and the hatred to Christ expressed in His being crucified. The apostasy which is fast increasing is marked by men crucifying for themselves the Son of God, and putting Him to an open shame. That is what it is in the sight of heaven, and all these abominations are spreading in Christendom, man is giving up God, and many of the so-called leaders in the professing church, are foremost in it. The Lord appeals to His own to “Come out of her.” If there is one who is found identified with the system where confusion reigns as in Babylon, or where spiritual corruption and independence of God and the rejection of Christ exist, the Lord’s word to you is “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

I will now refer to what the apostle says in writing to Philemon; he calls him “our dearly beloved, and fellow labourer.” I do not think the Lord ever intended to have any of His own unemployed. The apostle speaks of “working with his hands, the thing that is good.” The hands are for work. What a vast field for labour there is! We are all to be in it as fellow labourers, partners in the work of the Lord. You say, What can I do? Well, the Lord gives to “every man his work,” Mark 13: 34. He does not give to all the same work, but to every man his own work. In those days, one might have been a slave. What could a slave do? He could “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things,” Titus 2: 10. He can make the doctrine look magnificent; he can adorn it. The doctrine of God cannot be improved in any way, but the apostle says to the slave, Adorn it — show up its lustre by expressing the character of Christ in your work, in all good fidelity adorning the doctrine in everything.

The apostle speaks of sisters, “I commend to you Phoebe, our sister which is a servant of the church... a succourer of many and of myself also,” Romans 16: 1-2. She was a fellow-labourer; many had turned away from the labour, so that writing from the prison in Rome, Paul says, “these only are my fellow-workers,” Colossians 4: 11. The Lord wants us all to share the labour, for there is much to be done. “Happy are these thy servants,” said the Queen of Sheba when she came up and saw the magnificence of Solomon, his greatness, and his wisdom and the food of his table. She saw that it was a most blessed thing to serve such a king as that, and the Lord would call everyone that loves Him into His service, so that we might become fellow-labourers, fellow helpers with the truth.

Then the apostle speaks of fellow-soldiers. God grant that we may all have that character, for the war is on. Every believer as having the Holy Spirit is enlisted as a soldier, to take his place in the ranks as a fellow-soldier, in confessing the Lord and in supporting the truth. You say, I do not know much about the battle. Well, you may not have gone very far yet, and you may know little of it, but it is well to face it. You remember Moses speaks of “The book of the wars of the Lord,” Numbers 21: 14. There are many wars which the Lord is conducting. He is the great Captain, the Captain of our salvation, the Captain of the Lord’s host, the whole conflict is in His hands. He is the Commander-in-chief, and all His people are to be soldiers, sharing the conflict together under His leadership. That is the divine thought.

The first war is the one in which we are weak; the war with Amalek. It never ceases while time lasts. It does not go on in eternity, but throughout all the generations of time — when you are just converted, when you are a young man, when you are a father in the faith — that war is still on, and it goes on while time lasts. It is in that war that we begin to qualify as soldiers, and learn the gain of victory. We are to be soldiers — the battle is on with the flesh every hour, every day, every month, every year, till the end. Every one of God’s people should be at war with the flesh, never making peace — that is where Saul went wrong, he spared something from Amalek; but God makes war with him, He wants every one of us in this war, and we will never get on in our souls unless we keep it up. It is the conflict of the Spirit against the flesh.

The Spirit as in the believer, is “against the flesh.” “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit... these are contrary the one to the other,” Galatians 5: 17. I would entreat every believer never to make peace with the flesh. We may be defeated at times, but never let us make peace. If we want to make progress as fellow-soldiers, we shall qualify for conflict, and learn what victory is, as we stand firm in this war against the flesh. Let our attitude towards it be that of continual warfare.

When the Amalekite said to David, “Here is the crown and the bracelet” from Saul, the answer was “Fall on him.” No quarter for an Amalekite. Then there is Mordecai sitting in the gate, and the king said, “Bow down” to Haman (an Amalekite). The king said it, but Mordecai did not bow. Mordecai would face death, for he was a soldier, he would not make peace with an Amalekite. The Lord has declared war on Amalek throughout all generations.

I cannot touch on the other wars of the Lord, there are many of them, but the reason we know so little about the others, maybe, is that we have not maintained the conflict with Amalek. That is the first war, and unless we learn how to be on the side of victory in the first war I do not suppose we shall ever meet Sihon and Og, or the Philistines, or the seven nations in Canaan — those spiritual wickednesses in heavenly places that the apostle warred against. I only mention that to show that the position of all believers together, is one of fellow-soldiers in the battle.

Then we have fellow-prisoners. The position at the end of the Christian dispensation calls for fellow-prisoners. It calls for those who are prepared to accept limitations and reproach — who do not glory in being “free-lances.” I met a believer, the other day, who said, “I am one of the broad-minded brethren, very broad!” But he knew nothing about the chain, about accepting limitations because of the dishonour that has come upon Christ through the unfaithfulness of those who profess His name. What is precious to God, and to Christ, is held now in reproach and under restrictions, as the apostle says, “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,” 2 Timothy 1: 8.

When the apostle was in prison he spoke of my fellow-prisoners. He said of Onesiphorus, “he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain,” 2 Timothy 1: 16. “When he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me,” verse 17. He shared the reproach, and how Paul appreciated such! The Lord is looking for those who will be fellow-prisoners in the testimony, prepared to accept the limitations and reproach which are upon the people of God, and which will continue till the end.

We have finally, the fellow-elder. Sometimes one hears it said, “This is our matter, this is a matter of local responsibility.” Well, where will you put Peter? He says, “I... who am also an elder.” I recognise that scripture connects elders with “each assembly,” and “each city,” Acts 14: 23; and Titus 1: 5. Paul and Barnabas ordained them in each assembly, and by the instructions to Titus, they were to be ordained in each city, the normal responsibility extending to the whole city.

Nevertheless Peter gives us another side of this, he writes, “The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder,” or as it might rightly read, “their fellow elder.” While no doubt, Peter had a local setting at Jerusalem, and Paul at Antioch, you could not limit the extent of such spiritual influence. It would rightly extend to wherever there was need for counsel or care. So Paul speaks of having the care of all the assemblies. You could not deny his right to come to the care-meeting in any locality where he might be. He had the care of all the assemblies, he cared for all the saints. What an asset he would be in any place. Then the apostle John when writing to two individuals says, “The elder unto the elect lady”... and “to the beloved Gaius.”

Eldership according to God is far reaching in its influence and we need to value such as are marked by it and make room for them. I mention this that we might be balanced, and that we might see that while the handling of local matters belongs primarily to those who in each locality seek to care for the saints and the testimony, we must not assume independence, nor suppose that others who care for the saints have no right to enquire, but we should recognise such as have moral qualifications according to God, and who can be truly regarded as sharing in the care of the saints everywhere.

The Lord would help us to see that the real kernel of Christianity lies in what we have together. Scripture recognises what is distinct to each of us severally, but beside all that, and greater than all, there are the blessed privileges of being fellow-citizens, sharing the liberty of that great and blessed city together; fellow-labourers, each in his measure doing the Lord’s work; fellow-prisoners, accepting the limitations and reproach of the closing hour; and, as seeing the great importance of caring for the saints, getting the gain of such as may be able to help in this, even from those outside our own localities.

May the Lord encourage us in what we share together. The Lord says in one place, “Have ye here any meat?” And they gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. I do not refer to the fish, but to the honeycomb, which suggests what is found in mutual affections and activities together. If you want an illustration of a fellow-labourer, you see it in a bee-hive. The Lord ate the honeycomb before them, that is, it was food to His own heart to get the sweetness of that which was secured in the mutual, happy relations amongst the saints as together.

The Lord grant that we may be able to give Him that which answers to the honeycomb today.