THE PLACE OF CHRISTIANS IN GOD'S WAYS
THE PLACE OF CHRISTIANS IN GOD’S WAYS
I desire to say a few words in connection with what has been already presented to us as to the place of christians down here upon earth.
I feel one thing, that we need to be much more individual. What I mean by that is, that we need to be more free in spirit from dependence on anything external: that is, upon association, and especially upon association that is peculiar; for our association is more or less peculiar. It is not normal. It is to a large extent owing to the existing state of christendom. But I think we want to be free from dependence on association, or on meetings, or on ministry. While we do not undervalue these things, and while, in a certain sense, the Lord may take account of a company, yet we do not want to take account of ourselves in that way, but as individuals. I cannot make out any defence of our position as a company. It is as individuals we have taken our stand outside the organisations that are accredited in christendom, and we have not done so in order to form a company. We may be found together as being of one mind and one judgment — that would certainly be an effect of the truth upon us — but we cannot set up to be a company or an organisation or anything of that kind.
Our path is peculiarly individual, and I would desire to see that maintained; I think a great many go on in dependence on what is to their eyes an organisation, or on meetings, or on ministry.
It has been said, and truly, if we are witnesses here to anything at all it is to the ruin of the church; and what is essential in this is, that every one of us should be in the faith of the place and should seek to be marked by individual fidelity. Nothing will compensate for the lack of that.
[p. 254] Another thing I want to touch upon is the place which the church has in the line of God’s ways here upon earth. That is a very important point to distinguish. We have already had distinguished the place to which God has called us, and that which He has given us to occupy down here. You must distinguish between these, because when we are actually in the place to which God has called us — that is, heaven — we shall no longer occupy the place we now have down here. The two things are kept distinct in Scripture. It is very important to apprehend the place the church has in the counsels of God as unfolded in Ephesians; God’s calling on high in Christ Jesus. But we want also to have a sense of the place in which we are set here in the line of God’s ways on earth.
It is the place in which we are called on to prove our faithfulness; you must apprehend the place in order to be found faithful in the place.
I can illustrate this by any well-ordered household. My son might count it his greatest privilege to be in communion with his father, in concert with his mind, entering into his thoughts; but I might send my son to be a porter at the door, or anything else, and that is where he would prove his faithfulness. It is very much the same with us. God has called us to His eternal glory — that is true; but we are set in a certain place in the course of things down here, and there we prove our faithfulness. That is where practical righteousness comes in, and that is what we have to look to.
One word I would say, if you do not know how to fill a small place you will never know how to fill a great place. We are not called upon to fill a great place here. There is a great place, and God has called us to it; but we have to do with small and few things down here, and in these we have to be faithful. They are the things suited to us in our present condition, because in that we are not equal to or fitted for great things. But in the small things we can prove our faithfulness.
It is no new thing that I am pressing. You will find it in the history of God’s people from the beginning. Take Abraham for an instance. Great things were made known to him; he was to be the heir of the world and all nations were to be blessed in him. These were large thoughts, but Abraham had to do with small things here; he was a stranger and a pilgrim, wandering about with no settled abode, no land to call his own here, no great things here; though in God’s thoughts he had a large place. So with David. The greater part of his life was spent in suffering and conflict. He had to suffer and have patience before he came into the kingdom. I might go a point further; even with regard to the Lord Himself it was so. He was to go up into heaven to fill all things; everything is to be headed up in Him; but He says, “I have a baptism to be baptised with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” He had to do here with suffering and disappointment — with small things. He had to descend even into the lower parts of the earth before He went above to fill all things.
Paul will have a great place in the day of Christ, he will have a crown of righteousness, and yet, as we have already heard, he had to be a prisoner in bonds. In a sense the beginning of his apostleship was more glorious than the end. He had to be long a prisoner and in the end of his course he suffered martyrdom; but he had a great place in the counsels of God. So with the twelve, they will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel; but they had to do with small things and suffering here.
It is a great principle in connection with what we are down here, that we have to prove our fidelity in small things, and so no doubt we are prepared to enter into the great things which God has prepared for us.
Now in regard to what we have here in Titus: “The grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared”, verse 11. We get a remarkable opening up undoubtedly of the ways of God. All is on the line of God’s ways which anticipated this appearing; they were in view of that moment. It is impossible to go [p. 256] through the Old Testament without seeing this. God was dealing outwardly on other principles with men, but we get glimpses of grace coming out continually in the Old Testament. When God clothed Adam and Eve with coats of skin, and so too in the figures and sacrifices under the law we get glimpses of it. And yet it had not appeared. Now it has appeared with its teaching to us.
But you get also the blessed end and issue of God’s ways, the “appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ”. So we are told elsewhere, “we ... rejoice in hope of the glory of God”. That is what all is going onto, and it is a great point to apprehend that. It is a great thing in this world to know that the glory of God is going to appear. And in the glory of God everything that He has purposed will be brought to pass. When God shines out in the moral effulgence of what He is in Christ, that will bring all out in its train. God presents His grace now in the way of testimony, and allows this to go on, but all will issue in His glory. A world according to God will come into view that will be in the light of all that He is. It is the glory of God that will bring eternal life into this world. The glory of God is the end and issue of His ways; but it is a part of His ways that the grace of God has appeared now bringing salvation.
Well, what is the mind of God for us in regard to all that? You get it here: “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world”. And again, we read that Christ died to “redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works”.
I would like just to touch on three things in the ways of God, which are realised, or are intended to be realised, in christians here on earth: first, a peculiar people, zealous of good works; secondly, the one flock of which Christ is the Shepherd; and thirdly, the house of God where God dwells.
[p. 257] These are not new thoughts. But the remarkable thing is that while christians have properly no place here, these things come out in them morally, and the value of this practically is very great in regard to us. We are left down here to fill up an interval. Israel is set aside for the time being, but the church has come in to fill up the interval; and, while things belonging to Israel are realised in us we look for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ — for the moment when all that God has in view will be brought to pass.
Now in regard to “a peculiar people, zealous of good works”; that is not the height of our calling, I admit, but it is a great thing that we are left down here to be that. What do you learn in that? You get the practical setting aside of the workings of your will; you abide in Christ. The other side is, that Christ abides in us, and that is of the last moment, for if Christ abides in us His mind is in us. We have His view of everything. It is a wonderful thing that it should be possible to apprehend things according to Christ. Our tendency is to look at things according to the outward appearance, but it is a great thing to apprehend things according to Christ.
Then as to the flock. What is the gain of that? You follow the Shepherd, and in following the Shepherd you learn what the Shepherd is. That is the value to us. A flock is not exactly the height of God’s thought as to us. There is no flock in heaven, but it is God’s thought for us down here. Just as I might (to return to my illustration) set my son to something that is not exactly in the height of his position. But the flock is a great thing for us. To learn the goodness of the Shepherd in following Him is a great thing. The Lord says, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand”.
Then in regard to the house of God. I quite agree in what has been said already this morning. It is the place [p. 258] where God is known; and in the house of God you have boldness to enter into the holiest. And in the holiest you learn the resources of God. Christ is there, and all the resources of God in Him. That is the gain in the holiest. The ark of the covenant is there.
We are called to occupy that place in the ways of God here, and while it is a test of our fidelity, it is, on the other hand, of the greatest possible value to us, and the place which God has called us to occupy here is as much as we are equal to. As of old, God had a great place for one and another; the place they were called upon to occupy here was that suited to their then condition; and you may be sure that in our present condition the place we have to occupy is the place suited to us. It is important to see how this comes out in the ways of God down here. Until Christ came all was looking forward to the appearing of the grace of God; now this has come in, and we are looking forward to the appearing of the glory. And when the glory of God is displayed it will be set forth in the church; and the setting forth of God’s glory there will be a great day for the world. The world will be filled with the glory of God. God is coming out in all His moral effulgence, and the glory of God will dissipate the darkness here. The church will come out as the vessel of that glory. God will shew in the church the exceeding riches of His grace. We are learning now, as affected by His grace, to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. We get instruction in the present time, that in the time to come God may be able to shew forth in the church the exceeding riches of His grace. That is the glory of the church. The church will come down having the glory of God, her light like unto a stone most precious.
Well, I just wanted to distinguish between the place to which God has called us and the place He has given us to occupy in His ways down here on earth. It is well to recognise it, and in that view it is most important to [p. 259] understand what the issue of those ways is, namely, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.