CHRIST AND THE ASSEMBLY

CHRIST AND THE ASSEMBLY

Ephesians 1: 19 - 23; Ephesians 4: 10 - 16; Ephesians 5: 25 - 32

I have in mind to speak a word on Christ and the assembly. It is a very exalted subject, and in approaching it we are made to feel how much there is to be learned in regard of it. I believe the Lord is helping us to see more and more something of the greatness that is linked with Christ and the assembly, and if tonight as under His hand some impression is left on some heart by the Spirit as to the greatness of it, the meeting will not have been to no avail. It is a subject that is especially full, and I particularly want to refer to certain features in the passages that we have read together, in which there is a constant reference to the assembly as the body - the body of Christ.

This epistle is remarkable for the light that it brings to us in relation to Christ and the assembly. And the great aim of all the ministry is that we should reach the divine end in mind. The apostle seems to have had a very peculiar right-of-way amongst the Ephesians saints to open up in the way he does, in his ministry in relation to the great counsels of God, a liberty that he did not seem to have with the saints at Corinth, although he did indicate, on the basis of his commission in the second letter to the Corinthians, the great place that Christ and the assembly had in all his service, for he had espoused them as a chaste virgin to one Man - Christ, in the carrying on of his service.

Now I have in mind to speak first of all of the assembly as sharing with Christ in administration. Then I want to refer to the assembly as the direct object of the activity of Christ through the gifts. And then I want to refer to the assembly as particularly the subject of the present activity of the love of Christ. It is a wonderful thing to take account of the verses that we have read in Ephesians 1, and to think that we are part of that wonderful vessel that is referred to as the assembly, His body, the fulness of Him that fills all in all.

I would especially enlist the interest of the younger brethren in regard to the immensity and greatness of this subject, because the greater the thoughts that occupy our minds in the dispensation, the greater will be our progress, the more manifest will be our progress, because generally we are formed by what we think about, by what is in our minds, and I would especially desire to impress every one of us, young and old alike, with the greatness of Christ and the assembly being in our minds all the time. It is in the mind of heaven. It is the great theme of heaven at the present moment. Every other feature in God’s ways is held up at the present time in order that all might be concentrated on this wondrous family of which we form part, as having the Spirit, this glorious vessel, that we are part of through divine grace; everything is concentrated on this unique vessel, the assembly, because of the greatness of her part and place in the purposes and counsels of God.

It is especially important that we should realise that if divine Persons are so concentrated in their interest and activity on this wondrous family and vessel, that we should be concentrated too in our interests, in our outlook and thoughts in relation to this great vessel. It is essential that Christ and the assembly should be first and foremost in all our thoughts. The prosperity of the work of God on this island largely lies in the fact that there have been men and women whom God has honoured, who have put Christ and the assembly first; and dear younger brethren, it is important that Christ and the assembly should have a paramount place in our outlook in relation to the ways of God at the present time. It is God’s chief interest on earth, the Father’s chief interest at the present time. It is the chief interest of Christ. It is the chief interest of the blessed Spirit. All three Persons of the deity engaged with this wonderful vessel and family of which, through grace, we form part, beloved brethren. It is not an ordinary matter. It is not a matter that we can idly think of. It is not a question of light that we can be indifferent to, but it is a question, dear brethren, of seeing that the prime interest in heaven’s view, and which is to be in our view, is Christ and the assembly. There are illustrations of course in the scripture of men of God who had Jerusalem as their centre of old. But however great Jerusalem, the earthly centre of God’s ways was, it will never have the greatness that the assembly has - although the greatness of Jerusalem is wonderful! Indeed, it seemed to occupy such a place in the minds of godly men and godly women of old, that the very mention of the name Jerusalem sent a spiritual thrill through their beings, as witnessed in the marks of exclamation in the Psalms when Jerusalem is referred to.

And thus it is, dear brethren, as we think of Jerusalem as a type and transpose the figure to the assembly, the very mention of the assembly should touch a note in every one of our hearts that nothing else would in the same way. And as I have said, all the Persons of the deity are engaged with this wondrous vessel. The Spirit, unfailing, untiring, in faithful, active and devoted love, to bring us, in the light of the assembly to the ultimate goal, of union with the heavenly Man - the true Isaac, our Lord Jesus Christ. And that chapter of typical glory, Genesis 24, abounds with references to the faithfulness of the servant who would not give up his mission until he had found the woman that was suited to Isaac. You will remember that when Rebecca went in and told her mother’s house of the contact with the servant, that Laban came out, and what did he see? He saw the man standing by the camels, by the well. Wonderful note in the chapter that, dear brethren, showing how the love of the Spirit held Him to His wondrous mission, and nothing would deviate Him from the path of search for the woman that was suitable to be united to His Master, to the heavenly Man. We are to be impressed with that, dear brethren, with the unselfish and faithful service of divine Persons, and to see that it is something that we are to hold to tenaciously - the light of Christ and the assembly.

Now in this chapter the assembly is referred to as Christ’s body, “the fulness of him that fills all in all.” It says of God that He gave Him, that is Christ, to be Head over all things to the assembly, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all. Words fail to convey the greatness of what is in mind in this wondrous passage, but may the Spirit leave an impression with us of the greatness of what we belong to, as belonging to the assembly. It is the body of Christ, “the fulness of him that fills all in all.” The allusion, of course, must be to the Deity of Christ, when it says, “who fills all in all,” for who but a divine Person could fill “all in all”? No ordinary man could. But the assembly is not the fulness of Deity, the reference is to the exalted Man. The expression “who fills all in all” is said of the exalted Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, while referring us back to the greatness of the Person that it is said of, as One who fills all in all. The assembly is said to be the fulness of the exalted Man - a wonderful reference, dear brethren, as we take account of what the fulness means! The completeness! It is important to take account of the fact that there is a Man in glory tonight. That Man in Christ has entered heaven, and is in heaven. It is wonderful! It is immense! He has been exalted there. He is the exalted Man. He is the heavenly Man, for He is the second Man out of heaven, and as in that position the assembly is said to be the fulness of Him, “the fulness of Him that fills all in all.” What a touch that is, dear brethren, that we should be part of such a Wonderful vessel, in such intimacy with Christ, the exalted Man, that the assembly is said to be His body. Think of the affinities between the assembly and Christ in this matter! And it is all in the setting of His headship, the administration of all things, and she shares with Him in that blest administration. A wonderful thing to think of it, dear brethren. In Genesis 1 we have an intimation of this in God making man, male and female. The Woman is to have part in the administration, in the government of all things. But it is just referred to. We get the principle suggested. But when we come to the second chapter, what fulness enters into the second of Genesis! As we take account of all that comes out in wondrous detail there! It is a principle with God to give us a suggestion as to something, as He does in Genesis 1, and then to open it out in wondrous detail in all that may follow, and Genesis 2 in relation to the man and the woman is a wondrous opening out in fulness of the suggestion of the assembly’s part with Christ in administration and government. And as we go through the Scriptures, in all the typical teachings we can see typical suggestions of the part the assembly is to have with Christ in sharing with Him in the blest administration that will be under His hand. Joseph’s wife, Solomon’s wife, they all remind us in type of the wondrous part that the assembly has with Christ in administration and government. The very suggestion of it, dear brethren, should elevate our thoughts, that we are to have part as of the assembly. We are to share, as of the assembly, with the exalted Man, in the administration of that wonderful scene, where every issue as to good and evil is solved. And so the assembly is viewed in the Revelation, chapter 21, as the Lamb’s wife, as coming out of heaven, descending out of heaven from God to share with the Lamb, to share with the great and unique One who suffered. She herself is qualified to share in the administration by the part she has had in sufferings here now in the ways of God.

May the thought of this, dear brethren, touch our hearts more and more. We may have heard it before, we may have thought of it before, but let the thoughts tonight infiltrate our minds and our hearts in the power of the Spirit with fresh and renewed power, and help us to see the immensity of the thought, that we are to share with Christ in the exalted administration of all things that are put under Him. It would help us to see that everything now in the ways of God is not haphazard; everything in our lives is not a matter of what occurs by accident, without design, but every feature in our education has in view our refinement as belonging to this wondrous vessel that is so blessedly fitted to have part with Christ in administration. The third chapter of this epistle shows us the great interest of the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies in this vessel where they are now observing the all-various wisdom of God. Think of the matchless grace that has given us, such as we are as called out of this world, to have part in this wondrous vessel. Can the world cast any spell over the mind and heart that apprehends and appreciates by the Spirit these glorious thoughts? I am sure, dear brethren, that the fuller our apprehension of the light of this is, the lighter we will move through the world, the less hold it will have on our minds and affections.

Now I want to speak for a moment of this wondrous vessel as the direct object of the activity of Christ through the gifts. Surely, dear brethren, it must impart some sense of the greatness of this family and this vessel, when we think that, having ascended up on high as Man, Christ has given such gifts as are named in Ephesians 4, with a view to the building up of this wondrous organism, the body of Christ, having in mind the perfecting of this wondrous family: for we are going to enter heaven, not in any way as an unfinished article, or unfinished in our education, but we are going to enter on the final state of things as perfected through divine workmanship. There may be much to be done. Undoubtedly there is a tremendous lot to be done, as you think of all the souls ensnared in the systems of men around us, the imperfectness of the knowledge. Think of what will have to be done! But with God, dear brethren, all things are possible, and in that moment, in the twinkling of an eye, what things will be done! How great is our God, as we think of the perfecting of the work in regard of every one who belongs to the assembly.

Think of what enters now into the ministry. That the Lord Jesus, in the greatness of His love for the assembly, has furnished in these persons that have been named, channels through which He can enrich the assembly, enrich our hearts and build us up in view of the arrival at the final and perfect thought in His mind. As it says, “For the edifying of the body of Christ, with a view to the work of the ministry” - dear brethren, think of the work of the ministry! It is the work of the ministry. It entails work! Think of all that lies behind the ministry. Think of what Paul delineates in 2 Corinthians, what lies behind all that comes to us in the ministry. It is not a matter of merely filling certain offices, or persons who stand on the platform and say certain things: but as we think, in this time of revival, of all the wealth that has come to us through the service of Christ in the ministry, mediately - think of the work, the labour that enters into it! Paul says to the Corinthian saints, they were reigning as kings, adorning themselves with their gifts, forgetting the idea of the work of the ministry. Paul says, “Death works in us but life in you,” and it is well, dear brethren, that we should all be reminded that behind the ministry lies this great thought of concentrated activity on the part of Christ, with a view to our arriving, not at unfinished thoughts, an uncompleted end, but to arrive at fullness and perfection, and this is in mind, in 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 God.” Notice these words, “until we all”! Oh, these delightful references, dear brethren, in this wonderful letter and in Corinthians too, where Paul refers to, “we all” - “we have all been given to drink of one Spirit,” he says, and “we all partake of that one loaf,” and “we all beholding the glory of the Lord.” A wonderful thing to take account of, the “we all,” it is love’s language. Love delights to speak thus. And it is a great thing, dear brethren, that we should see what is in mind - all the saints. There is nothing narrow, nothing bigoted about this great outlook, it is with a view to elevated things, until we all arrive at the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full grown man. Are we content with the forgiveness of sins? Are we content with being justified from guilt? We are justified in that Man that we have been referring to, that is in glory, in heaven. We are not justified in Adam, we are justified in a Man in the glory. So that we have no right or title to live in this world morally, because we have been justified from our guilt in the blessed Man that is out of death and in the glory.

Well, are we just content to have justification? Are we content with salvation from the world, and from the law and from the flesh? This letter has in mind, dear brethren, all that and more, that we should be saved from the earth, from the place, and won over to Christ as the Centre of the heavenly realm, everything as it were having lost its hold upon us here. Our hearts and our eyes are together on the great divine objective - the assembly for Christ, for that is the bearing of the light of this wonderful epistle. Nothing less than that to be reached in our souls. The assembly’s position is before us in this epistle, as united to Christ the heavenly Man. I say, dear brethren, there is nothing alters and changes our viewpoint in life like the arrival at the apprehension and enjoyment in our souls of union with Christ the heavenly Man. As beloved Mr. Stoney said, it changes all our interests. You see persons who make their business their interest, they make their families their interest, but once we reach, as the light of this epistle has in mind we should reach, the great thought of being united to the Man who is the Centre of the whole heavenly domain, it changes every outlook in life we have. We see that the supreme interest of heaven is Christ and the assembly. The supreme joy of Christ as Man stands related to the assembly as united to Him in the heavenly realm. And the supreme joy of the assembly femininely is in her link of union with the heavenly Man, and the ministry has all this in mind. It speaks of the body and wonderful organism that the body is, how love pervades it, and that is what it should be, dear brethren. If the truth is to prosper, if divine aims are to prosper, love should pervade the gatherings.

The great thought in verses 15 and 16 of this chapter is that we have a wonderful organism that is working automatically, as we might refer to it, as it says of it, “works for itself.” Think of the greatness of this organism that we are part of, working for itself, its self building up in love. It seems as if the saints in the light of the body, as I may speak of it reverently, are contemplated as intelligently arriving in the apprehension and appreciation in their souls of what the ministry has in mind. The ministry has in mind our being built up to Christ, and the assembly works and operates with the same thing in mind. So it is a wonderful suggestion, dear brethren, of the correspondence between Christ and the assembly. In the mediatorial position of service think of love as it is seen in Jesus, and let us take account of love in relation to this wonderful organism, the body, as it says, “to its self building up in love.” As it says, “Holding the truth in love.” Not in an arbitrary fashion, but holding the truth in love, as if love is the fructifying, fertile soil in which the truth as it were expands and increases with the saints.

And then, in the reference made to the body, dear brethren, allusion is made to every joint of supply. Oh, if there is a brother or sister that does not think they are of much account, let us think of the part that we have, however obscure, however hidden, in this wonderful organism that is the direct object of heaven’s interest and heaven’s supplies as viewed in this chapter, coming from the ascended Man through the ministry. Indeed the body is so wonderful that in the opening of this chapter the first thing that is mentioned in the great moral, fixed system is, “there is one body and one Spirit.” You know the body is a wonderful thing to the Spirit. The Spirit has not become incarnate as Christ has, but the Spirit is here, not in the world but in the assembly, and He has found in the body, a vehicle, a vessel, for unhindered, uninterrupted right-of-way of operation with a view to the accomplishment of the counsels and purposes of divine love. Is it not wonderful, dear brethren, that we are part of this organism?

I want now to refer briefly to this wonderful reference to the body as the direct object of Christ’s present love in chapter 5. We have the most exalted references to the assembly in her link with Christ as wife, but it says in verse 28, “So ought men also to love their own wives as their own bodies.” “He that loves his own wife loves himself,” think of that! Think of Christ looking on the saints, looking on the assembly, loving Himself as it were, a reference to His wonderful Manhood, and what the assembly is to Him as linked with Him in manhood. “For no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, even as also the Christ the assembly, for we are members of his body,” verse 29.

In a gathering like this, and in all the gatherings throughout the world, at this time, think of the active service of Christ in such holy activity, having Himself before Him as in the intimate link of the assembly with Him as His body, “nourishing it and cherishing it.” Think of the value of the assembly to Him! The greatness of what we are in His eyes! There is no one like the assembly in His eyes! There is no family, no vessel so wondrous in His eyes at the present time, and yea, we may say, in all eternity, that is quite like this wonderful vessel and family that we form part of, that is said to be His body, for we are members of His body. Think of how we enjoy with such warmth and in such a full way the ministrations of His love! Whatever has come into the dispensation publicly, whatever failure and breakdown may have obtained, in all the unwearied, unselfishness of His devoted love He carries on with unabated energy this wonderful service, nourishing and cherishing the assembly. It is delightful to think of it! Such grace that has given us to have part in such a wonderful vessel, such a wonderful object of Christ’s affections, that even now we are conscious that there is no one like us in His eyes,

and all His energies, we might say, at the present time, are directed and expended in the constancy of that love that historically led Him to give Himself in death in order that we might be His forever. All the wealth of that love is directed in constant, abiding, unhindered activity in view of our being fully secured in the apprehension and appreciation of the assembly’s part in union with Him.

May God help us to see these wonderful thoughts, the greatest thoughts in the universe that we have been called to have part in.

Chapman Street, Bridgetown, Barbados.