HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS IN SERVICE
[p. 289] HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS IN SERVICE
Philippians 3:12 - 14; Ephesians 3:21
My thought is to set out the two sides of the believer’s position as illustrated in the apostle Paul who, being a follower of Christ in a unique way, although a man of like passions with ourselves, is set before us as a model. The epistle to the Philippians sets before us his exercises in regard of himself. I might have read other passages relating to levitical service, but I read these because they afford us an insight into his exercises as a heavenly man. I thought we might cover briefly these two sides, firstly, what the believer is here on God’s behalf towards men, secondly, what he is in heaven towards God. Philippians gives us the experimental side and the apostle’s exercises, whereas Ephesians gives the heavenly position.
One would notice that in touching Philippi the apostle went in and out householdly. He was also found with the Ephesians in a household way, but among the Philippians we find his movements were peculiarly of a household character, and this would have the tendency to promote family affections. When he went to Ephesus, in Acts 19, he found twelve men; not in houses, but evidently together; and he raised the question with them as to whether they had received the Holy Spirit. The fact came to light that they had not even heard of It, and he not only enlightens them in this regard but he lays his hands on them and they receive the Holy Spirit. They were set up collectively in a holy state, and become the nucleus of that company to which were made the most blessed announcements in regard of the assembly.
In Philippi his entrance was of a household nature. Our houses are of immense value in the testimony, provided they are available as being baptised. We do not speak of a believer’s household receiving the Holy [p. 290] Spirit. There is no such thought in Scripture. The collective reception of the Holy Spirit involves the assembly. In Philippi the coming of the Holy Spirit is not made prominent, but baptism is. The chapter in Acts that records Paul’s visit to Philippi begins with Timothy, whom we may regard as the characteristic product of household faith. His faith had been inherited. He was a contribution, of household faith, to the assembly. Therefore our houses become of immense value to the promotion of the interests of Christ. From Acts 16 we learn that the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to attend to the things spoken by Paul, and, being baptised and her house, she opened her house.
I speak of this because of the great advantage to the testimony of having our houses open and available to the Lord. Not that He needs them now personally; once He did need them as here in flesh, in circumstances which called it forth. It is said of Martha that she received Him into her house; although her own state was not just right, it is recorded of her that she received Him into her house. So with Zacchaeus, the Lord anticipates his desire and says, “Make haste and come down; for today I must abide at thy house” (Luke 19:5). It is the same writer that records Acts 16, and I mention it because of the advantage of an open house to the testimony. An open house does not always ensure a holy house, but a household as dominated by a godly man or woman affords conditions in which family affections may be developed, such as may lead into the house of God.
Hence I love to think of the children of christian parents graduating from their parents’ households into God’s house. Ephesians may be taken as developing the truth of God’s house. There the saints are regarded as the habitation of God by the Spirit. It is important that our houses should be dominated [p. 291] by godliness, otherwise holiness will be absent. So the principle in a house open to the testimony, is that the heart of the head of the house is opened by the Lord to attend to the things spoken by Paul; the result is that he becomes heavenly-minded. The things spoken by Paul lead to heavenly-mindedness. The house is permeated by that; not that it is as such indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Individuals in it are, but the collective reception of the Holy Spirit involves the assembly, God’s house. The first essential, the head being a believer, is that the house should be baptised, it was so with the Philippian houses. As baptised, it is at least professedly for the Lord. He has need of it, His people are here, and His word is, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). Hospitality extended to the saints is a great service. The initial circumstances are calculated to promote family affections, so that there might be graduation into the house of God, in which flesh and blood have no place. Hence the Holy Spirit in the twelve men would lead to the heavenly side of our position in which flesh and blood have no place. What a company this implies! It involves God’s habitation. If there is one thing that is lacking amongst us, it is spirituality, the ability to withdraw from all that is mere nature and promote what is of God. There is to be the habitation of God through the Spirit; that is what took form at Ephesus.
Coming now to the first point, our position down here; in order to be here for God among men, it is essential that we should know our heavenly position. The apostle, in Ephesians 1, prayed for the saints, that they might have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God; God alone can give that; and, having that, that they might know what is the hope of God’s calling and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the [p. 292] surpassing greatness of His power towards us. All these things refer to God, His calling, His inheritance, His power. Would that we could dwell upon these three things!
Then, according to chapter 3, he bows his knees to the Father of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named. The ultimate end that God has before Him is that there should be “families”. We must see to it that we have in view the divine family, that what obtains in our households is not merely natural but tempered with what is divine, so that we might graduate as it were, into what is heavenly. We belong to one of those families, the family that has the first place with the Father. The apostle bows his knees that they might be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man, and might know the love of the Christ, and be filled to all the fulness of God. Think of the great thoughts in the apostle’s heart! May we not stop at the earthly side of our position, but see fully what God has for us. In Philippians 3 he speaks of Christ taking possession of him, and I want to know what that is, what His end is in taking possession of me, hence the exercises are those of a heavenly-minded man. “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”. It is of advantage to us that such an exercise is recorded. And the writer records it, not as an apostle but as a servant of Jesus Christ, “Paul and Timotheus, bondmen of Jesus Christ” (chapter 1:1).
In Ephesians 3:21 we read, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus”. We often raise the question as to worship, and one is conscious of how little one knows of it, but we have examples of it recorded, and a special one here. The apostle is led to speak of the love of Christ and the fulness of God, and he speaks out in this way, “to him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen”. It is not simply what [p. 293] is millennial, but what is beyond it; what the assembly is to God. Think of being possessed of Christ for that. Is it not enough to lead us to bow our knees? The Lord has been exercising us as to what the assembly should be down here in testimony, particularly in reference to local spheres, but He would also remind us of our great heavenly position, that we might be here according to God. The assembly is a heavenly vessel set down here on earth. The sheet that Peter saw emanated from heaven, an allusion, no doubt, to the ministry of Paul, indicating the heavenly position of the assembly in the counsel of God, and that morally she is from God out of heaven. The same vessel shall be caught up again to its own place; to be for God, for ever and ever, that there might be glory to God in the assembly. Unless we get hold of that we shall utterly fail in walking as we should walk in the light of it.
In the beginning of Genesis we get the first great type of the assembly. One would take account of what it was for God, not what it was for Adam. Adam never asked God for a wife. The need was discerned by God Himself, and the man and woman were to be before Him as a peculiar pleasure suited in affection and intelligence. Eve filled a void that God discerned. With Rebecca the point is she takes up a provisional place, a place that had been occupied by another. In order to occupy Sarah’s tent, she must know her heavenly relation to Isaac. So we must understand Ephesians to come out as seen in 1 Corinthians.
The riband of blue, in Numbers 15, suggests the heavenly origin of the saints. We see in the apostle an example of this. In Philippians he is exercised about his heavenly portion. “The prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”. He begins with “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10.) I wonder if we have all asked that question of the Lord? There is the acknowledgement of the Lord’s right to him; he saw [p. 294] that he belonged to the Lord, and begins with that acknowledgement. Am I entirely available to Christ for His service? Next Ananias instructs him, and he goes into Arabia. Every levite has to go there; it is where the flesh is brought to nothing. Then he is brought to Antioch, where he and Barnabas remained for a whole year, teaching in the assembly. That was what marked Paul in his early ministry; he had the assembly before him. The disciples were first called christians at Antioch. It seems as if Paul by his example and teaching had brought in Christ in a special way; he was not national in his feelings, though a Jew. He evidently made Christ prominent; hence the character of the saints who were taught by him was such that they were called christians.
Then the Spirit says, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 13:2). The brethren did not want them to move away, for they were loved. We should feel the loss of a brother. Here were two spiritual men who had laboured amongst them for a whole year, and the Spirit puts it on the assembly to separate them — they had qualified for service. It is as if the Spirit would say, They have been entirely pleasing to Me: separate them for the work whereunto I have called them. At Antioch they had ministered to the Lord and fasted. It is a model for us, as to our service and manner of life here for God. They had served the saints well, during the year, and the Spirit of God puts in His claim to them; they go away thus with the fellowship of the saints to evangelise the gentile world.
In Acts 13 and 14 we see how one is to be here for God in service and testimony. It is to be noted that they finished their service. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). Christianity is marked by completeness, not by things half-done. God looks for completion in what we undertake to do. They returned to Antioch “whence they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had fulfilled” (chapter 14:26). They finished the work undertaken.
Let us be definite in our undertakings and let there be completion. Barnabas and Saul were models of levitical work. My aim has been to show you what our position is down here and what it is up there for God’s own pleasure, as having part in the assembly that He has named in relation to Christ, that it should be holy and without blame before Him in love.