THE FULL-GROWN MAN
[p. 283] THE FULL-GROWN MAN
1 Samuel 17: 40 - 54; Ephesians 4: 8 - 16
Manhood is in mind at this time — what is spoken of in the passage in Ephesians, the full-grown man. It will be remembered that the saints residing at Corinth addressed in the first letter were not full-grown, they were said to be babes, not in the sense referred to in our passage in Ephesians exactly, but they were babes in Christ. That is, they had the full christian status, but were very wanting in their growth, stunting conditions had overtaken them, so that they were hindered. In Hebrews the Jewish believers were in like condition; when they should have been teachers they needed to be taught, they needed the very first principles of christianity, and the explanation was that they had not exercised their senses to the discerning of good and evil, a sure trait of persons who have not gone on normally in the truth. Very often they call evil good and good evil, and they are quite assured of their accuracy, for such persons are generally self-confident.
So I have begun with David as representing typically what I have in mind, manhood according to God. Goliath would be manhood according to man, indeed one of his kindred is said to have been a six-fingered man and a six-toed man. He is set down as over against the principle of five in David; five is the basic thought of manhood according to God. Six would be manhood according to man, and the world is not wanting of such — what are called supermen. They stand over against Christ and against christians normally, for christians are normally like Christ. Disciples, believers, were first called christians at Antioch. Antioch was signalised in that way, men developed after Christ, not only in love, but in intelligence.
[p. 284] It was the outcome of a year’s service by two great servants of Christ, Saul and Barnabas; they served a whole year, we are told, in that town teaching in the assembly. The word ‘assembly’ as used thus — not simply as in the original meaning, but as used by the Spirit of God — represents manhood normally. When it is said these great servants in the assembly taught the crowd, the meaning is not that the assembly is a building such as we are in now, and certainly the crowd was not a building; the point is that the idea of the assembly is present in these great servants, the abstract thought of it. So that, as they proceed in their work of teaching, there would be a gradual diminution of the crowd, that is, as to the state of their minds, and practical representation developing of the assembly. That is, the crowd would develop into manhood, understanding the assembly. That calls for instruction throughout the four seasons, an important matter in spiritual education, for we should go through the whole course. Climatic conditions involve discipline and have interchanging effects. The winter bears on spring, and the summer bears on autumn, they have modifying effects, so that the education is equalised with the thought of a balanced state of things, balanced men; for manhood implies balance, a man is one who can stand on his own feet and is not carried away unduly by the influence of others.
So in David’s case we have this basic thought of five. It is simple, yet most important, for it is basic. He is not a six-fingered man nor a six-toed man; yet these great men, called the giants, all fall by his hand and by the hand of his servants. So that, as believers, we need not dread these men that are regarded as leaders, abnormal men — supermen, as they would like to be called. Some of them figure in politics, others in commerce, others in manufacture, but mainly in politics. These latter are the prototypes [p. 285] of the coming man with that terrible designation, the man of sin, the son of perdition. It is well to have all these things in our minds. The Philistine giant was like them; he made a great show, both of himself, his size and his armour, his military weapons. We read in Scripture of a “stronger than he”, that is One stronger even than Satan himself, who takes away his armour in which he trusts and overcomes him and divides the spoil. We belong to that Man, the Stronger than the strong man, we belong to Him. Christians normally too, are all men, and as such, we accept our limitations. Not that the Lord Jesus would ever be limited, but He accepted limitations. The power of compression in Christ is one of the great features of manhood according to God. So Paul tells us that Christ was “crucified in weakness”, a statement that is to be observed with reverence and understanding. There are many other statements like it, especially in the Psalms, that are intended for our spiritual food, but food for men of Christ’s order, food that keeps us little. We need to be built up for that. “For when I am weak”, the leader of these men after Christ says, “then am I strong”, 2 Corinthians 12: 10. So David is set over against the six-toed, six-fingered men. Note that it does not say six senses, for it was a question of their exploits, what they could do, not basic power. The strong man comes under the power of Another, a stronger than he, One who really has power. With all these men it is a question of their exploits, not any real power, for what they are in themselves is another matter. They are characteristically weak in themselves. These great men live to show their armour, their military weapons, the glamour they display. A man after Christ, the man in Christ (I have been speaking of the babes in Christ, but I am now speaking of the man in Christ) is ready to hide, to be concealed, to be nothing, to conceal himself. Think [p. 286] of the greatest, I may say, under Christ, saying, I am “less than the least of all saints”. Ephesians 3: 8. I can scarcely understand that as to my own feelings, perhaps none of us does, but it is there. The Spirit of God has recorded it and it must have been the apostle’s feelings — “less than the least of all saints”!
David selects these five stones out of a brook. Saul had endeavoured to make a show in his armour, but David, after consideration, as a subject servant having respect to his suggestions, finally deliberately refused it. A very fine trait, dear brethren. For with it we shall come under flattery. Beware of a king’s armour, what an armour! Anything borrowed is to be avoided. He was not giving it to him, he was putting it on him, and David declined. Beautiful representation of lowly dependence and the avoidance of borrowed things, of others’ weapons and armour! He would select his own, for originality spiritually belongs to a man, the real man according to God. He is never dependent on imitation, on what others wear. He has his own secrets, it is a question of secrets. Relations with God in secret are really what is behind David, and so it is in Matthew that, in view of the assembly, we are to enter into our closets and pray to our Father in secret. That is how manhood is developed. Accompanying this idea of five in David is real dependence on God, not on himself. What if the stone missed, that would be the exercise of his heart. What disaster! That would be the natural thought, but David seemingly had none of these thoughts. He was dependent on God, he clave to the name of the God of Israel, whom the Philistine had defied. What a spectacle! and withal, he retained his loveliness to God, not perturbed, his visage unchanged, anxiety absent in the whole picture. He is there in his ruddiness and in his beauty of countenance in the presence of such [p. 287] antagonism. That is manhood. I need not enlarge on the thought because it is a well-known chapter, but to go on to verse 54, which is the sequel, he took the head of the giant to Jerusalem. That is, he has God in his mind. Not only that God would help him, but that he would prepare something for God.
Psalm 68 was written by David, you know, and quoted in the passage I read in Ephesians. The link between Ephesians 4 and 1 Samuel 17 may not have struck all of us, but there is a remarkable link. It is manhood in David carried through. Psalm 68 is a lengthy and very full one, full of great and glorious subjects; amongst them is the thought of ascending on high, leading captivity captive and receiving gifts in Man, that there might be a dwelling there for Jah Elohim. You see how the Spirit of God links on the early manhood of David with the greatest thoughts in Scripture. It is a question of ascending on high and gifts received in Man, for that is how it reads, received in Man, that is Christ. Christ, as it were, is the antitype of all this. It is He who ascended on high, but David took the giant’s head to Jerusalem. What is the intent, what is the end of any victorious service? What is the end of any service, any believer’s service, any service carried on according to God? What is the end in the mind of an intelligent servant? It is that God might dwell among His people. If He be dwelling a little, that He might have more scope. It is manhood that is needed, as I hope to show from Ephesians, but Psalm 68 shows, it being David’s composition, that he is linking up his own exploits with Jerusalem and with the temple. Applied antitypically it is Christ in real power, moral power, dealing with the adversary, the strong man. How beautiful is the link between the five smooth stones selected in the valley by David and the weapons of Jesus, the Son of God, in His encounter with Satan. What a model, dear brethren, of manhood! — “It is written”. How important that all young brothers and sisters should read the Bible. We are surrounded by these so-called supermen and their emissaries, in the schools, in the business places, in the offices and workshops. This sort of thing is all around us, how are we to meet it? It is upon us to meet it. So the need for the Scriptures. Satan knows well how Jesus met him by the Scriptures, by what was written. You can understand Satan would say, If I can only get rid of what is written, and that is what he is doing, trying to get rid of the Bible, to set it aside. I need not follow up the wretched phrases used, but it is simply the effort of the devil to get rid of the Bible, especially, of course, the book of Genesis in which all the roots are. If he could only get rid of that! I am speaking of the importance of young people reading the Bible. I have been speaking of prayer, the word of God and prayer go together, reading the Bible for yourself without note or comment of others, not that I am disparaging note and comment, but still the naked word, which is the actual framework of the Spirit of God, has its own voice. God has graciously brought to us a wonderful translation of the original, not half appreciated by us. No christian should be without a copy, so that he might read aright, that he might have the divine weapons and know how to use them in meeting these terrible blasphemies.
So, as I am saying, David chose five smooth stones, carefully selected for the overthrow of these supermen, for that is what Goliath was, and all like him, too. The whole family of the giants fell at the hand of David and at the hand of his servants, the total extirpation of these wicked men, and God is about to deal with these wicked men. He is dealing with them, graciously helping His people from the Scriptures in the power of the Spirit, and He would appeal to everybody here today, young people especially, to [p. 289] read the Scriptures, to be thoroughly furnished, as it is said. Indeed, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works”, 2 Timothy 3: 16, 17.
One loves to dwell on these holy compositions. Five books of Psalms — the number five, how significant! Five books of the Pentateuch, too — how significant! Is it for nothing? No, it is that the reader might understand what this number five means, and so how wonderfully full of holy matter David must have been when he wrote that 68th Psalm, cited by the apostle Paul in this wonderful epistle, the greatest of the epistles, I mean, the most spiritual, the most exalted. He brings David into it, not by name but in his words.
So Paul has in mind to put before the Ephesians something as to edification in order that the assembly there should be self-edified, for verse 16 speaks of that and I wish everybody to pay attention to what is written in these verses, because it applies to all gatherings. That there are gatherings answering to the assembly at the present time is a miracle, a supreme miracle. God has done it, brought His people back; we had it this afternoon: “That he should also gather together into one the children of God who were scattered abroad”. Into one, that is unity, “Using diligence”, he says, “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace”. As I said, it is a supreme miracle; God has done it, Christ has done it. He speaks of Himself as having done it. The book of Revelation says He intended to do it, and He has done it. There are these little gatherings, some of them extremely weak in the rural districts of the world where they are, and these scriptures are intended for them, that is the idea of self-edification. How can it be unless we have manhood? If we are [p. 290] only babes in Christ, every gathering will be marked by feelings of envy in one way or another. I hesitate to say that; it is humbling to have to say it, but it is the truth, and the secret is the want of spiritual manhood. Babes in Christ, as Paul says, acting like men, not the kind of men I am speaking of, but the natural men in this world. And so the apostle says, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, ... using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace”, and then, so as to base the thing on firm ground, there is this oneness of the Spirit, for the unity of the Spirit is not simply local, it is universal; for “There is one body and one Spirit, as ye have been also called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all”, a marvellous widening out of the position. These things are to be in our minds; that is the idea, what this wonderful basis is of unity. Over and above all is the thought of the Father, “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in us all”. How fixed we are, how protected we are, as we accept these things in our minds fixedly.
And so then the apostle goes on to call attention to what David said. Of course, it is God by the Spirit that writes these Psalms, but it is what David said in verse 8, “Wherefore he says, Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men”. That is how Paul quotes it, for he has in his mind to speak of the things of Christ as actually given to the assembly. What David had said by the Spirit was slightly different, but the apostle Paul proceeds to apply it in its actual form, how it has taken form, that is in the christian dispensation. David says, “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts in Man”. That is more basic, as I said, that was what was in his mind, while the Spirit is speaking [p. 291] of Christ ascending into heaven as Man, and He says, He has received gifts as a Man; precious thought that we have One up there as Man (I speak reverently), Head over all things, of course, yet still a Man; He received these gifts as Man. He had by this time gone through death, He was crucified in weakness, but He was raised by the glory of the Father. What manhood entered into all that, and it brings out in the forty days here after He rose, what was there. He has gone up on high and He has received gifts in Man; the allusion really is to the reception of the Spirit from the Father. Christ received them as Man, but what manhood! So the Spirit is come down, “He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you”. He has been doing that all the time since Pentecost. He is doing it now at the present time, bringing in here the greatness of Christ as Man. So the apostle Paul says in the following verse, “But that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same who has also ascended up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things”. Think of the compression there is in these two verses, 9 and 10. How the apostle’s heart was touched in quoting David to the Ephesian saints. It is a remarkable connection, dear brethren. How his heart was touched, to amplify what David said. That is as to Christ, these two verses are the amplification of it, and Christ is God. He is Man, but He is God; who else could go beyond all heavens! The greatest of servants tells us he was caught up as far as the third heaven, that is the creature limit, but not so with Jesus, for the Spirit of God in all connections brings in the deity of Christ. In manhood He is God as to His Person; He is Man gone beyond all heavens, but still as Man.
The apostle goes on in verse 11, “And he has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers”. These are the gifts; they are not gifts in persons but the persons are included. Paul says it is a question of men that Jesus gave. He has gone up so far; “he has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers”. Let us measure ourselves. There are those who call themselves evangelists, and so forth, but manhood must underlie all these offices. These are men of His order, they are like Himself. The idea of babyhood and gift do not correspond. Gifts are received in Man and given to men, but really they are included in the gift. That is, it is an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, it is a pastor and teacher; that is a man, each is a man. And so with Paul as he moved about it was as a man after Christ, a dependent man, as David was dependent in his service, always ready to turn to God, and God always ready to answer. Let us get to God in secret in regard of everything; He is ready to answer. So the apostle Paul, so the Lord Jesus: what a praying Man! Think of a whole night in prayer, whatever the length of the night was! think of the Lord, hour after hour on His knees! What Manhood! Heaven proclaims Him as the Son; the heavens delight in praying men; our local gatherings depend on these men, not on babes. Men are needed, teaching requires men, whatever is needed requires manhood. We shall not get on together; we shall not be in unity, locally or universally, save in the presence of this feature, namely manhood. It may well be said by the apostle, “Quit yourselves like men”; I call you babes, but quit yourselves like men, and be strong.
The apostle proceeds to tell us that these men, these gifts are “for the perfecting of the saints; with a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ; until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of [p. 293] God, at the full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”. That is the end, to be full-grown. We must not assume that it is not workable. The Spirit is here, the assembly is here, all these meetings are based on the Spirit. We are in circumstances which are suited to the growth of manhood, full-grown man, the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ. It is the fulness, His fulness, what has come out here in Him as Man, all these beautiful traits that are so depicted in the gospels, psalms and epistles, what is suitable to man.
Then as he further says, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love”. How beautifully depicted the thought is by the apostle. As to persons who are not growing normally, he would say to such, Be no longer like that, exposed to every wind of doctrine. There are those who lie in wait to deceive. We hardly realise it, but it is so. The enemy is at work in this way, concealing himself for an attack. It is constantly coming up and we need to be fortified on these lines, it is a question of manhood. So the growth is to be universal, not on one side, but in all things, that is in myself, “I myself”, as the apostle says. I come to myself and come to my standing on my feet according to Romans 7. I grow that way in all things and one of the most important things is to recognise what the apostle Paul says there, “So then I myself with the mind serve God’s law”. In my own consciousness, I decree with myself before [p. 294] God that the will of God will prevail with me, that I with the mind serve the law of God. Then it widens out; in the family, I am growing as a father, growing as a wife, growing as a child, as a son, or as a daughter. In my business, I am growing as a servant or a master; I am growing unto Christ in all things. Let no one think his office is not to be a place of growth. It will not be a place of growth if it is the first thing with me, for business becomes a pleasure when we earn more than we need. As soon as it becomes a pleasure, it is a snare, and we never grow in it. People speak well of us because we are growing in business, but we are to grow in all things, so that I take advantage of every circumstance in which I am to grow to Christ, to grow up to Him in all things. And so above all in the assembly, the assembly should not seem strange to me in coming from my office or my workshop. I come into the place of growth in the assembly, it is not different in that sense. My business is a place of discipline indeed, a place of care and worry, but it is a place of growth; let no one forget this. In every sphere I am to grow. It is a universal thought, grow up to Him in all things.
Then he goes on to say Christ is the Head. “Which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love”. That is the saints in any locality or universally, making increase of the body. As I grow myself, the body is growing and I grow in relation to my brethren, the most important of all. I am less critical than I used to be, more ready to suffer attacks than I used to be, that is the idea. Take my measure and see the difference. I may not see myself growing, but I see from month to month I am growing, and if I cannot see it, it is time to get down before God about it and [p. 295] see what is hindering the growth. As Paul says to the Galatians, “Who did hinder you?”. If he were to come into a commercial city and see the saints dwarfed, what has hindered them? — commerce. We are robbing God in that, you see, so that we are to grow in all things up into Christ, that is the Head. Then the organism, the most wonderful thing, what is called the mystery, hid in God from all generations, that a few saints in a given town are growing up into Christ in all things and that they are self-edified; they love one another. There is a steady building up of one another on these principles; they have renounced babyhood, renounced the smallness of the natural mind in relation to one another; they have become men, and so the steady growth of this wonderful organism goes on. What does it mean? It is for the dwelling place for God; that is really the thought that David had, so did Paul, so everyone that takes on manhood.
The closing chapters of Ezekiel are very striking. The land is divided; measuring across, every brother, every tribe, has a width, no depth to his strip mentioned. What does it mean? It means he is accepting things in love. He has got no difficulty, he is not urgent to get more, he is accepting what there is. It is beautiful resignation to the divine will, because these are the tribes of Israel and each gets his strip without any depth. There is depth, of course, but for us, just the width. Fill it out. His name will be seen, the name of the tribe, his name will be seen in the way he has filled it out, “Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ”. How am I using it? It will become wider and wider as I use it rightly. Then as looking down the tribes with all these strips, no borders mentioned, an immense part of the territory is given to God for a heave-offering. Proportionately a very large part of the land is given to Jehovah as a heave-offering,
[p. 296] meaning that God is all in all. Love will have it so. There is something for God, for a dwelling place of the Lord God. That is the idea of the gifts received by Christ in heaven and given to men down here, that God might dwell among them. What can be greater? The epistle to Ephesians works it out, “For a habitation of God in the Spirit”. That may apply to two or three of us; it is a question of the state we are in, whether we are men and thus afford a dwelling place for God.
Well, may these thoughts help us, as the Lord would use such an occasion to help us generally, that there should be something for God in every one of our districts.