THE SERVICE OF THE LIVING GOD
[p. 157] THE SERVICE OF THE LIVING GOD
I would offer at the outset a word of apology, as my thought is to speak to you on a subject, and I do not very much approve of speaking on subjects to believers; for a Person — Christ Himself — is evidently the subject of all testimony. But what I want to speak of is important enough, and if I can carry my thought through, you will not think that I have introduced it without the idea of a Person.
My subject is worship. It is important for us to understand something about worship; all the ideas around us as to it are fundamentally wrong, and I will tell you why — it is that people come together for what they find prepared for them. Now that is not a true thought, for in what is true the point is not what you find but what you yourself bring. It is a fundamental difference which most can appreciate. In a large part of my life my thought as to the service of God was of coming to what I found ordained and arranged. In result I found, like many others, that true worship must be dependent on what we bring, for apart from that there is nothing to be found; and moreover you must not trust in any one else to bring anything. People come to our meetings and they have a sort of confidence that somebody will bring something, but the point is what you bring. The true ground of service or worship is seen in this chapter. We often speak of preaching or teaching, which have men in view, as service, but that is not the way in which the word is employed here; it means the service of God. In verse 1 and again in verses 6, 13, 14, it is the same word — to serve or worship the living God. In verse 6 the worship of old is seen to depend on the priests, but who is the “your” in [p. 158] verse 14? It is the believer, the one who attempts to draw nigh. It is that contrast that I want to bring out. The priests went into the first tabernacle, but what about the people? They had no part in carrying on the service, they were lookers-on, all was carried on by the priests. It was in a way (I would say it reverently) ready-made service, the people could bring nothing to it at all, they only came near to what was already prepared. And yet the people were the great concern of God. Now you have to a large extent the counterpart of that in christendom. Whether in church or chapel, certain arrangements are made, and all is carried out according to them; there is a worldly sanctuary and the clergy or ministers go into the first tabernacle accomplishing the service of God. People come to what they find, they are not exercised to bring anything at all. They may be invited to join in it, but it is carried on officially, and the people come to what they find — prepared to accept such an arrangement. Now even in the simplest kind of meeting you may find the same thing prevailing. People come, in their own thought, to a ready-made meeting; the service will go on whether they bring or do not bring anything, they come to a service, and go back in that way to the first tabernacle. That is all fundamentally wrong; there is no such thing in the present day as anything prepared or official priests entering in; there are no official priests. If Christ were on earth, He even would not be a priest; and in regard to the common people, which we all are, we do not come to a ready-made service, our service can only be carried on by what we bring, and if we do not bring anything, there is no power to carry on any service; all is dependent on what we bring; the service will never be above what we bring, a very important principle, which I wish all would lay hold of.
[p. 159] I refer to the other error — the expectation that someone else will bring something. Everyone should be concerned to bring what is necessary. What you can bring will have a very important influence on the meeting. I charge everyone here not to come to the meetings with the idea that you will find a ready-made service, for if you do you are going back to what God has rejected. You may depend upon it that the worship will be dependent on what we bring.
I will say a little as to the preparation: if you have got the preparation, you will bring something, and so the preparation is very important.
Perhaps you will look at verses 11 - 14. Did you ever consider what that passage means? What I understand it to signify is that Christ has formed a platform before God which is available for us. You may say that it is a difficult idea to entertain; but you must entertain it. When He was down here it was not so. He abode alone in His own personal perfection, and there was nothing to hinder His returning to heaven from whence He came. But having accomplished redemption, Christ has entered on a ground which is available for us — a point of the last moment for you and me to apprehend. People may say, Where is the holy place? I believe it is a moral idea; it is the ground or footing which Christ has taken up, and which is available for us, because He has ordained eternal redemption. It is a great thing to see that He has entered on a footing that is available for us. He did associate people with Himself on earth, but as to the platform on which He was, He was evidently alone; but now He has entered in. It is not a question of heaven or earth, it is not a place, but a ground, or whatever word you like to use, available for us, and on that we can stand before God. You do not want to go to church or chapel for that, nor to the meeting.
[p. 160] If you do not find it outside the meeting you will not find it inside; it is the platform that He has found, and it is now the question of the individual apprehension in the soul of the place which Christ has taken. That is the first thing. I cannot talk of worship if that is not apprehended. It was not the mind of the Lord to return to heaven alone, He has found a ground available for us; you do not want a clergy or anything official, it is a question of the apprehension of each soul.
Now there are two points in the preparation — appreciation and purgation. You cannot do without either, and they have to follow in that order; then you have your preparation complete and are qualified for the service of God. You may have an archbishop or a cardinal, but without this preparation he cannot serve God; and if there is appreciation and purgation, a bed-ridden woman may be as qualified to serve as any other. A child might serve the living God, for with a child there may be appreciation and purgation, and no one can serve the living God without them.
Now look at chapter 8: 6 - 13 and turn for a moment to Luke 10: 38 - 42; 11: 1 - 4. I do not suppose you will see exactly the connection in my mind between these passages. I was saying that the first point as to qualification is to apprehend the platform on which Christ has entered.
But I am going to speak now about the preparation. The first thing is to appreciate Christ as the covenant; you cannot understand what it is to approach God if you do not. In your own thought of things your man has changed; you have become another man by your appreciation of the covenant. I will tell you what is essential to a covenant on the part of God — that it should make known what God is in His disposition towards us, as a man’s will makes known his disposition towards his heirs.
[p. 161] I might go through scripture and point to many covenants; the covenant after the flood made known the disposition of God towards man, and so with David, it made known God’s disposition towards him, and the new covenant makes known His disposition now towards man. We only know God by his disposition towards us. Many of us here have children; my children know me by knowing my disposition towards them, that I would do the best I could for them. They cannot read my inmost heart, but they learn me by finding my disposition towards them.
But there is another point, and that is — knowing that disposition I respond to it. My child learns from infancy what my mind is toward it, and knowing me thus it responds to it. Those are two principles which everyone ought to take in.
Now, in the new covenant the importance is that God is known in His disposition towards us, and then that we respond to that. If that passage (chapter 8: 11, 12) means anything it expresses the disposition of God, and thus He is made known. But in the preceding verse it is said, “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people”: that is the response to the knowledge of God. Things are stated in the inverse order to what is the case in their application to us, in that the knowledge comes first, and then the law of God is written in our hearts; that is the principle.
Now how is all that to be brought about? By the appreciation of Christ, for we cannot see the truth except in Christ. We cannot understand the disposition of God towards men except as we see it in Christ. Hence, as I understand it, Christ is the covenant, for on the one hand it is in Him that God’s disposition is set forth, and on the other, He is the perfect response as to all that man should be for God. He is the bond.
In Luke 10: 38 - 42 we see how Mary appreciated Christ, and I think it was founded on this, that He made known God in His disposition towards her; I connect it with verse 22, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son is pleased to reveal him”. The ground and character of her appreciation was that Christ revealed God to her. But in chapter 11: 1 - 3 we get another point. What suggested to the disciples that they should ask Him to teach them to pray? We might have done the same. I think they felt that Christ was everything a man should be for God and therefore that He could teach them to pray; He Himself could spend a night in prayer to God. When He was born there was good pleasure in men. Now if you have followed what I have said, you will see that we get two things in Christ. He declared God’s disposition, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, it was declared in Himself. Those who came in contact with Him felt the grace of God, there can be no doubt about it. I refer to Luke 7: 41 - 50 because it is evident to my mind that the woman in Simon’s house apprehended that God was declared to her in Jesus; in the parable that the Lord propounded He exposed things as they were, but there was grace. He was the creditor, and she felt it; but He was the covenant to her; God was declared to her soul. But my point is, we want to appreciate Christ not only as declaring God, but as being the perfect response on man’s part before God, so that you can ask Him to teach you to pray. He leads us into the response, we get the ability to pray from Christ. Christ is the covenant; we apprehend Him as the One who has [p. 163] declared God; but who is also all that man should or would be for God. It is a true saying that people are pretty much what they appreciate, and if you appreciate Christ as having declared God’s disposition, and as being all that a man could be for God, you have changed your man; you have set yourself aside and put on another man — the new man which is created after God in righteousness and holiness of truth. You could not understand the new man if you did not learn it in Christ. I discard the old man and appreciate the new, and am characterised by what I appreciate. If Christ is appreciated in my heart, God is known, and my delight is in the knowledge of God, I joy in God by our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to glory in knowing God, and we know Him by knowing His disposition. But then there is the other side; Christ teaches me to pray, I pray by His Spirit. I cannot conceive any more radical change in a person, it meant a change of husband, and if so, a change of man morally on my part. I am no longer in the flesh, for the Spirit of God dwells in me. Christ is available for everybody, and He is the covenant to me, and so the believer gets the appreciation of Christ, and if he comes to the meeting he brings his appreciation of Christ. Do not put this aside, and say, somebody else will bring it; take care that you bring it. It is not the exclusive portion of the learned or intelligent, but it is for the youngest and most illiterate. What is there in this Babylonish world that is really worth anything but the appreciation of Christ?
The second qualification for service is purgation. This is not known till you have the first — appreciation. Many here might put it the opposite way, but I believe in the order I have indicated. The one who has appreciation of Christ has purgation, that is my conviction. When forgiveness of sins is preached and one receives the testimony in faith,
[p. 164] it is not that he believes that he has got it, but that it is there for him in Christ, and the Spirit is the seal of that faith. He appropriates it. But when he gets the Spirit he sees that Christ has sealed the covenant in His blood, and he has purgation. We get the covenant in Christ, and the seal of it in His blood, and that brings purgation of conscience so that we can serve the living God. It is what is brought before us in the Lord’s supper. That all may be confirmed by scripture. (See 1 John 5: 6 - 8.) Christ “came by water and blood”. In the order of presentation in the gospel the blood comes first, but when the Spirit bears witness to its application to us it comes last. No one can know the witness of the blood until he has the Spirit. The first thing is the appreciation of Christ in the soul as the covenant, then you get by the Spirit the sense of purgation, so that you can worship the living God. Two things are essential — Christ known in the heart as declaring the disposition of God, and the seal of the covenant in His blood; hence you get purgation from dead works to serve the living God. Those are the qualifications at the service of the simplest and humblest believer. In coming to the meeting it is not a question of coming to find but to bring, and what we bring must of necessity be according to God. You want to understand in your soul the platform that Christ has established, and to have the appreciation of Christ as the covenant, and the sense by the Spirit of the blood of purgation.
I believe the question of worship is a very important one, for we may practically drop down to what is around and look for a worldly sanctuary and ordinances of service. It might have been right once, but it is not so now; now all depends on what we bring; each must bring something; do not trust your neighbour to bring it, bring it yourself.