SINGING TOGETHER

P.van den Berg

Job 38: 1-7; 1 Peter 2: 1-7; Ephesians 2: 19-22

What God has in mind, beloved brethren, in the way He operates in the present time is the service of God. We have been speaking together of the way it pleased God to reveal Himself. What God desires in relation to the way He has come out so gloriously is a response that is equal to the revelation, and for that conditions are needed in which God can be served. Hence the importance of an order of things - a spiritual house as Peter speaks of it - where the service of God can proceed; and the need in our day is to come to the foundation, for the sure foundation stands in spite of the day in which we are. What governs us in arriving at it is the word of God. It is by the word of God that the worlds were framed (see Heb 11: 3), and God operates in speaking: "He spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast", Ps 33: 9.

Much enters into the book of Job but the great point that it leads up to is that God cannot be hindered in any of His thoughts and He is bound to have an answer to them. So Job came to an end in himself when God Himself came in and spoke. There was not much help in the speaking of the friends that preceded but help came in through what Elihu sets out and that ministry made way for God Himself to come into the matter. God is able to come into matters Himself but it pleases Him to use ministry. He prepared a way through the ministry of John the baptist, who was His messenger to prepare the way for Christ. So God answered Job out of the whirlwind and said "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?”. We need to be careful in the way we speak and the way we think, that we do not darken counsel. There is infinite wisdom in the counsels of God in the way that His purpose of love is brought about according to the way that He is pleased to take - Jehovah possessed wisdom in the beginning of His way (see Prov 8: 22) - and God is not going to be hindered in any of His thoughts. In the wisdom of His way He is bringing about an answer to Himself. The point that God raises with Job is, Where was Job when these things took place - "Where wast thou when I founded the earth?" God spoke, and it was done and if there is anything that comes into being through this occasion, beloved brethren, it is by the word of God, coming from Him in the Spirit's power. What it leads to is the foundations and the cornerstone. God says "Whereupon were the foundations thereof sunken? or who laid its corner-stone...?"

It is particularly these two points I would like to speak about; the foundations and the corner-stone. Christ is the corner-stone. In the original ways of God in creation you get an indication of the manner in which God operates. The way He operated in creation is typical of what He does in a spiritual way now and what is in mind is the service of praise and there cannot be singing according to God in any locality if the foundations are not established and the cornerstone is not in its place. It is of great importance to be on a foundation that cannot be moved. "For other foundation can no man lay", Paul says, "besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 3: 11) and that cannot be overcome. God has laid it. In the assembly things work out in local companies. Corinth was a local assembly and the foundation was laid. "Other foundation can no man lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ". Paul's ministry brought that in; the preaching was the Son of God, the 'Yea' being in Him - that was the foundation. There was no room for man's wisdom; man's wisdom sought to come in at Corinth. They were seeking to darken counsel but God brings in His own word authoritatively.

So we have this great matter of the morning stars singing together. What a wonderful thing that is, beloved brethren! There is a world around us in which almost everything is shaken, and in the public state of things in Christendom everything is shaken too, but the sure foundation stands and the service of God proceeds in relation to it. Now we want to be in this. We want to see to it that the foundation is there in the locality and that we are established and strengthened in relation to it so that Christ has His rightful place as the corner-stone. Men cannot fit Him into what they are building and the world cannot fit Him into their structure; "the stone which the builders cast away as worthless, this is become head of the corner". Man could not fit Christ in, the world cannot fit Him into their system and the question in Christendom today is whether He could be fitted in where man has had his way, where man's mind is working. There is only one ground of gathering, one ground where the truth is able to have its way. The assembly is the pillar and base of the truth, and the truth, as Mr Raven said, is our bond in the fellowship. The great thing is to be related to the foundations and the corner-stone and then there will be the singing. When the foundations were laid and the corner-stone brought in there was a basis for singing together. The service of God is just that; it proceeds where the foundations are laid and the corner-stone has its rightful place.

Singing means that we are together, that we say the same thing and are in tune, that we are in harmony with the mind of heaven: 'All the mind in heav'n is one' (hymn 14). How wonderful to arrive at such conditions in the assembly, to be in accord with the mind of heaven as set together for the service of song. The Lord Jesus suffered and died in view of it. "Thou art holy, thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel", Ps 22: 3. He went through suffering and death with this great matter in view; "I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises", Heb 2: 12. How He loves to have us in the joy that He has, in the joy that was set before Him, and He sings in the midst of the assembly where His Father's name is declared and where He has His own in association with Himself in sonship in the presence of the Father. "The sons of God shouted for joy"! What a place is ours, beloved brethren! How wonderful is the way the Lord has moved, particularly in the recovery, to bring us back to that, in order that He might have a practical answer at the end of the dispensation to His own thoughts as from the beginning; thoughts indeed that He had before the world was that are finding an answer in the present time. It may be in but a few but it is not a question of numbers; it is a question of what is for God, what He can take account of at any time in the history of the assembly, what He can measure, as we see in the book of Revelation; "measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship in it", chap 11: 1. That is something that God delights to take account of as available for His service.

So when we come to Peter we find how he was drawn out to Christ. Peter had learned the foundation in Matthew 16 when he had that revelation; "flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in the heavens; thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and hades' gates shall not prevail against it", vv 17, 18. That was the foundation Peter arrived at and he had to learn that it was not related to flesh and blood. If there is deviation we can generally relate it to flesh and blood in which the natural mind has its way, and when Peter was on that line the Lord had to say "get away behind me, Satan", Matt 16: 23. With the best of motives, with the best of intentions, we may do the wrong thing, as Peter did at that particular point. Evil powers are operating to silence the praises but God is able to meet it. The Holy Spirit is here and He is greater than he that is in the world. When the Holy Spirit came, Peter came to things substantially that he learned when here with the Lord. One thing he was commissioned to do was to confirm his brethren. What experiences Peter had to go through in view of strengthening his brethren! He denied the Lord and failure came in but Peter was brought back to the corner-stone - "I have besought for thee that thy faith fail not; and thou, when once thou hast been restored, confirm thy brethren", Luke 22: 32. In John 21 Peter deviated again and the Lord recovered the position. He said "Children, have ye anything to eat?". We naturally tend to go a way in which we lose the Lord's presence but He is ever faithful to recover us as he did Peter and those with him. So Peter learned what it was to come to the Lord Jesus as we see in his epistle. He speaks of " laying aside therefore all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envyings and all evil speakings". We want to put aside these things, we want to get through to the foundations, we want to get through to the rock, to what cannot be moved. There is much current that is disturbing the saints and it is not related to the rock. The great thing that sets us together is what is of God, and if we come to Christ as the Living Stone we shall find ourselves on a basis on which we can sing together.

We need to hold Christ as Head of the assembly, and the living relations we have, one with another, can only be realised if you hold the Head and I hold the Head. Then we will find the body functioning. So Peter brings in this point as to coming: "To whom coming, a living stone, cast away indeed as worthless by men, but with God chosen, precious, yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ". The service of God is in view, the service of song. Things in the world around us are being shaken and men will come to a point when they will no longer know what to do, but the saints know and the great thing is to be related to the foundation and to the corner-stone. Paul and Silas were in prison at Philippi and the prison shook; the service of song had come into Europe. There had been divine guidance; the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to continue in Asia; there was a distinct movement; the Macedonian man appeared and Paul moved into Macedonia; the enemy directed his forces against it, and Paul and Silas were cast in prison, their feet secured to the stocks. But they were related to the foundations and the corner-stone as they praised God with singing and the prison shook. The service of praise was there and the prisoners listened. Oh, beloved brethren, how we would long for many of our brethren held in prison at the present time in a state of things in which the service of God is not able to proceed!

Singing according to God is on a moral basis; it raises the question of what is there in spiritual substance expressing praise to God. I remember Mr Wellershaus using the illustration of the Lord going to one meeting where they were experts in singing and He thought very little of it and He went to another meeting and the brethren did not seem to sing so well but He said it was beautiful. It is a question of what is related to the foundations and the corner stone - Christ - having the chief place, and that is precious to God. So it says "Because it is contained in the scripture: Behold, I lay in Zion a corner st one, elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be put to shame. To you therefore who believe is the preciousness; but to the disobedient, the stone which the builders cast away as worthless, this is become head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling and rock of offence; who stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they have been appointed. But ye are a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light". Oh, think of it, dear brethren, how we have been delivered from this prison - the authority of darkness - to be set in liberty and find our place in the service of God!

In Paul's ministry we get the height of things at Ephesus. We have been speaking about the way God has been pleased to come out in revelation and the way He has come out is the way we approach. God came out in Jesus and the Lord's supper is the introduction into the service of God. It is through the Lord's supper that we enter upon our eternal relations in response. You could not have the Lord's supper on your own terms. The Lord's supper is where we relate ourselves to the Lord and it determines where the fellowship is. There are not two tables, there are not two different fellowships. There is only one fellowship, and it cannot be in two companies that are not in agreement as to the truth. It is a question of finding where the foundations are and the place the corner-stone has. Paul brings in the way that God has acted from His own side in effecting reconciliation: we are reconciled to God in one body, set in spiritual relations together and the distance has been removed.

You could not think of a bigger wall of enclosure than the one between Jew and gentile but it has been broken down. It was big because originally God had put it there Himself; He built a vineyard and made a fence around it (see Mark 12: 1) and Israel was in that position among the nations; but now we are in a different dispensation and what God has effected does not give any more distinction to a Jew than to a gentile, and He has annulled the enmity. All that there is in the way of enmity has been dealt with in the cross of Christ. Reconciliation is a matter, beloved brethren, that is much needed; it involves that the distance has been removed. As has been said, Where the distance was, there is now complacency. "Go to my brethren"; how that would rally us together. "I will declare thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises", Heb 2: 12. Think of the way we have been set together in these precious relations and the way God has come out securing an answer, "For through him we have both access by one Spirit to the Father". It is in the order in which God has come out, first in Christ and then in the blessed Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable free gift! When we come together for the Lord's supper the Lord has His own unique place and then we have by one Spirit access to the Father. The Lord takes us on in the service of God. He delights to sing His praise in the midst of the assembly.

So the apostle brings in the way we are set together as fellow-citizens and of the household of God, "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the corner-stone, in whom all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord". How wonderful that is! that God dwells here by the Spirit. Here in this section of Ephesians neither hammer nor axe are heard. You hear plenty of it in the epistle to the Romans, where you are in the process of being fitted for your place in the habitation of God, and God has provided for our being fitted together in order that the morning stars might be singing together. It is of all importance that the brethren should be together on no other basis than the foundation which God has laid and Christ Himself being the corner-stone. May it be so for His Name's sake.

 

VANCOUVER
 

27 May 1978