THE PURPOSE OF THE ASSEMBLY

^[p. 133] THE PURPOSE OF THE ASSEMBLY

1 Corinthians 12; 1 Kings 6: 5 - 30

We were looking last evening at the way in which the Lord educates us for the assembly. The first question before us tonight is, What is the purpose of the assembly? I ask anyone present to answer that question. Well, we see in 1 Kings 6 that the stones that were cut out of the quarry (we might say by the evangelist), were then shaped and brought to Jerusalem to be put each one in its place in the temple - God’s house. The stones were built in noiselessly, and then built up. You can scarcely refrain from connecting this with 1 Peter 2. You must be a stone first; that is the first thing. Peter himself was always a stone (from John 1: 42), but he was not confirmed as one until Matthew 16. We see in 1 Peter 2: 4 that it is those who are already converted that come to Christ as the “living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God”. There are many true christians who have never yet come to Christ as the living stone. But to return: the stones when put in their places in the temple were covered with cedar, and then all was covered with gold, so that there was nothing but gold seen; that which was fit for God. There was no stone seen. The first point then is, that in the assembly - the house of God - everything is suitable to and for God. God, and not man, is before you in the house of God. Then the next question is, How do we come in? Well, we come into His presence with a song; and then the first act in the assembly is to remember the Lord in His death. We revert to what He was here. The One whom we remember had the lowest place for man here, but He has the highest place with God.

^[p. 134] If you are not fit for the Lord’s day morning meeting you are not fit for any other during the week. We begin with His death: that is our starting-point. Just as in Psalm 22 - twenty-one verses tell us what the Lord went through on the cross; then, in resurrection, He declares the Father’s name: “in the midst” He leads the praises.

When we have remembered the Lord (we are with Him in all the virtue of His death) what next takes place in the assembly? You now listen to Him. He declares the Father. The assembly is where the mind of God is made known at the moment. You pass from the brazen altar, where the work was accomplished for you, and you go in as the consecrated company in all the fragrance of Christ. You are now in the holiest of all. You have now come to the “oracle”, and you hear what the oracle says. How could you have the Lord declaring the Father to you from His own side and not be refreshed? You may not understand everything, but you are comforted, cheered, encouraged. And then, what is the result? “Praise unto God” - you then worship. The one who takes part is the organ of the assembly for the moment, and how important that this should be borne in mind; so that the Lord’s direction, and the power of the Spirit should be a present reality to the one so speaking. If not, he simply individualises himself, and acts as if he were at a believer’s meeting instead of in the assembly of the living God. You might be enjoying every bit of Romans 8 up to the very door of the meeting room, and then have to drop it (many carry it in and spoil the meeting). Why? Because Romans 8 is individual. It is quite true that those who are there are individuals, but they are not there as individuals, but in the truth of the “one body” of which Christ is Head. Many estimable christians do not hold the Head. This was the Colossian snare. They were in danger of being taken with rationalism and ritualism,

that is, that man’s mind and body could contribute to Christ’s service. But the apostle tells them that in Christ dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and that “ye are complete in him”, Colossians 2: 10, so that they needed no addition; and that if you are holding the Head there is “neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all (or, Christ everything) and in all”, Colossians 3: 11. The evil at Corinth was laxity; at Galatia, legalism. For the latter he travailed in birth until Christ was formed in them - and that could never be by law, but by the Spirit. There is no such thing as transforming Ishmael into Isaac; the flesh cannot be improved. At Corinth it was man’s wisdom; at Galatia, man’s religion; at Colosse it is a combination of the two; and the truth to counteract this is brought in: (1) “Ye are complete in him”, and (2) He is “everything, and in all”. You see now that when you have to do with the Head, all distinctions of man are set aside, because the man to whom the distinctions apply is himself gone. National, learned, religious, social - all these distinctions, which are so tenaciously held by men as such, are set aside, because you are in that circle where Christ (not man) is everything; and He is in all.