STABILITY IN THE ASSEMBLY
[p. 318] STABILITY IN THE ASSEMBLY
Acts 14: 23; Titus 1: 5 - 16; Titus 2: 1 - 10
These scriptures relate to the government of the assembly, and that is why they have been read. What I have in mind is local gatherings, and stability in them. Government itself is intended to promote stability, and prevent chaos, and never was there a time when it was more needed than the present: the stabilising of conditions which are severely shaken among the nations. In early days when faith was developing, especially in the one said to be the father of all who have faith, it will be recalled that this man, Abraham, in a time of shaking such as we are experiencing now, resided by the oaks of Mamre. It was war time, one might say a world war, four kings against five — nine kings engaged in deadly conflict. Abraham was on neither side and only came into the conflict because his brother had been affected by it, carried away, as many christians have been in recent years. Our concern as believers is their recovery; not exactly in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense. And in this effort, if we are in faith, we are wrestling. Persons who have faith are taught how to wrestle. It is said that an angel wrestled with Jacob, and of christians it is said that “our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the universal lords of this darkness, against spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenlies”, Ephesians 6: 12. It is a very real exercise, and it has in view that we belong to the heavenly calling; also to the heavenly army. Our concern is the rescue of our brethren, but that, whilst not ignoring the conflict, we may be kept free in our spirits from its influence.
So Abraham, we are told, dwelt by the oaks of Mamre. That is how the passage should read, (Genesis 13: 18). That was in Hebron. Hebron represents what was before the world, and this is what holds our minds [p. 319] normally, what was before the world and what will be after it. Think of what happened before the world was! — divine counsels, and promises, too, for promise had a place before the world, the promise of life “before the ages of time”, Titus 1: 2. Abraham lived typically in those relations and was stabilised in them. The oaks of Mamre denote what is stabilised. How sure he was in the storm that raged! He had divine light in his soul; divine promise, too, and was restful in the presence of the storm; stabilised, as I may say.
Now, the verse read in Acts 14 corresponds with what I am saying. The apostles, Barnabas and Paul, were active and successfully so; but they were sufferers, for the enemy raised a storm as usual when God is working. He is the prince of the power of the air, and God allows him to stir up strife and storm. You know how he used it against Job and his family. He also used it against Paul and Barnabas. They were successfully engaged in the blessed service of God, many being converted; and Paul was stoned. Such was the storm of opposition. He was drawn out of the city as dead; so that he was laid aside by the power of the devil’s winds, bitter north winds of persecution; but he was encircled by the brethren, as we have been saying here today. How precious it is to be encircled by the brethren! And he rose up and entered into the city. He did not flee the city; he rose up, not a coward, but a victorious soldier of Jesus Christ, a good one, enduring hardships of the severest kind. He and Barnabas returned to these meetings that were mentioned, and as you will observe in verse 22, they were “establishing the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to abide in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God”.
That is what they had in mind, confirmation of the disciples; so that the winds of persecutions were not deterring the apostles, they went on, steady against the wind, as it were; and in view of its effect on the [p. 320] disciples, they confirmed them, as the verse read says. Note it says “that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God”. Not ‘perhaps’, but ‘must’. So that we are not to be in any way discouraged or upset if persecution arises. It is a question of ‘much’ tribulation. It is a question of ‘must’ too, that we enter into the kingdom of God. It is the kingdom now in its moral sense, and the present entrance into it that is in mind.
Then this verse that I read, that “having chosen them elders in each assembly, having prayed with fastings, they committed them to the Lord, on whom they had believed”. They saw that the tender plants planted in those towns were exposed to the bitter winds of persecution. What will happen to them when we leave? would arise in the minds of these great servants, for they cared with genuine feeling about them. They must leave and visit other parts, and what will happen as they depart? Will the disciples lose heart? Will they be discouraged? Will disintegration set in? Will the assemblies in these towns be effaced? These solemn considerations arose or were in the hearts of these devoted men. And so they chose “them elders in each assembly”. Evidently there were several that might be able to serve in these churches, for there was a choice. They were not limited to one. In fact, we never find only one elder in an assembly. In these assemblies there was a choice, and elders were chosen in each. Earlier, if an apostle was required there was a choice, too. There were two nominated. Doubtless there could have been others; but it was regarded that two were sufficient, and Matthias was selected, but it was by the disposition of God on the principle of the lot. They cast lots according to Old Testament procedure and God honoured this. But there is not casting lots for these elders, nor is there any election of them, nor is there any appointment of them by a superior elder or bishop. It is the word ‘elder’ here, not ‘bishop’; but it is the same idea. The word ‘ordain’ is not in it either. It is a question of choice, what these great servants would decide in the emergency, which brothers they would choose in each assembly. We are not told how many they chose in each assembly but we are told that they chose elders, not an elder in each assembly. So that the idea of a bishop of a city is foreign to Scripture. Here it is a question of choice by great servants who represented the authority of Christ, with the wisdom that He gave them to represent Him. They chose from what was there. They did not go to other districts to get men of experience to exercise oversight in any of these assemblies; they chose them in each assembly. That is to say, the persons chosen were resident in the town, in the assembly there.
Well now, I have said all that about the verse read in Acts 14 to show you how concerned the apostles were about stability; so that before they left they chose them elders in each assembly. Thus the assemblies were furnished in so far as the wisdom of God in these two men could furnish them. But as elsewhere, the Spirit would have part in the choice. When the apostle Paul sent for the elders of Ephesus, he said to them that “the Holy Spirit has set you as overseers” of the assembly (Acts 20: 28). And the same would apply here, that whilst they were chosen by the apostles, the Holy Spirit was there. There can be no assembly without the Holy Spirit, no assembly according to God, nor can there be any christian according to God without the Holy Spirit. Someone will say to me, Well, every christian has the Holy Spirit. If he is a full christian he has, but there are many who are only half, may be not even that. The teaching abroad is so defective that persons, although subjects of the work of God, are often unfit for the reception of the Holy Spirit. But any one who is truly a christian, that is to say, his sins are forgiven, he is justified through the death of the [p. 322] Lord Jesus, he is a believer in Christ risen and glorified — if he is subject, has the Spirit. It is said that God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey. Well, someone says, does Scripture not say, If you believe you receive the Holy Spirit? It says, After that you believed. It is not automatic. But still, the Holy Spirit is available, that the believer might serve God, that he might by the Spirit glorify God in his work, and worship Him. The Holy Spirit is also available in the local assembly, and if elders are there the Holy Spirit is there to support them, so that there may be a stabilisation of their services. It can only be in the power of the Holy Spirit. As the apostle said, “Wherein the Holy Spirit has set you as overseers”, Acts 20: 28.
And now I go to Titus, so that we may see what is in mind in this selection of spiritual servants. We are down in Crete in this passage, and Titus was there, a worthy disciple and servant, and a companion of Paul, a trustworthy man. The apostle says to him in this letter, “For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou mightest go on to set right what remained unordered, and establish elders in each city, as I had ordered thee” (verse 5). It is not here choosing. He does not say ‘choose’ here; it is ‘establish’. That is to say, the thing must be done. He does not say, If there be any suitable persons. There is no ‘if’ about it. You may dismiss the ‘if’ when God is working. God will not fail to provide what is needed, but He is pleased to use trustworthy persons. And that is one of the most important things to keep before us, trustworthy persons in the service of God; that heaven can rely on one in a crisis, that the brethren can rely on him, too.
Well, Titus was reliable. The apostle says, I left you in Crete for the purpose of setting things in order that were not in order, and to establish elders in each city. That, of course, does not mean every city or town or village in Crete; it means cities or towns in which there were assemblies. Not that these men were such as [p. 323] aspired to the office, as the letter to Timothy says. They were to be appointed or established. It was an imperative matter. They were not suffering from persecution here; that is not the point. The Cretans were conditioned as a race of people that rendered them unstable and untruthful. As converted, they were likely to carry their old characteristics with them, and among them such a characteristic as untruthfulness; “always liars”, as he says (verse 12). This could not but cause disintegration in the assembly, hence the imperative need of the establishment of elders; “establish elders ... as I had ordered thee” (verse 5). Then the apostle changes the word in verse 7 to “overseer”. Elder and overseer are the same in effect, an elder has the same responsibilities in office as an overseer. There are two words in the original to designate the office of bishop or elder, the word for bishop is used by the apostle here. It means overseer. An elder suggests age and experience. The object is, dear brethren, stabilisation, that the saints should not be carried away by every wind of doctrine or other influence. Elsewhere we read of “being rooted and founded in love” (Ephesians 3: 17). If we are rooted and founded in love, the necessity for elders is not so great, because ‘rooted’ means I am drawing from the divine source, and growing; ‘founded’ means I am steadied, I am not overturned by the wind. The roots go out horizontally as well as down to steady the tree. Where these conditions exist the necessity for elders or overseers is not so great, but still they were to be in Ephesus as well as in Crete. But you can see from the two letters, the first to Timothy and this one to Titus, that the assemblies in Crete were not on the same level or of the same quality as the assembly in Ephesus; but elders are enjoined to be appointed in both places.
I am concerned now about what is said of Crete, because of this matter of lying. The apostle was specially concerned about it. There is such a disposition to [p. 324] misrepresent the truth. And so the apostle says to Titus, “If any one be free from all charge against him, husband of one wife, having believing children not accused of excess or unruly. For the overseer must be free from all charge against him as God’s steward; not headstrong, not passionate, not disorderly through wine, not a striker, not seeking gain by base means; but hospitable, a lover of goodness, discreet, just, pious, temperate, clinging to the faithful word according to the doctrine taught, that he may be able both to encourage with sound teaching and refute gainsayers. For there are many and disorderly vain speakers and deceivers of people’s minds, specially those of the circumcision, who must have their mouths stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which ought not to be taught for the sake of base gain” (verses 6 - 11). This is what the overseer has to deal with, what confronted him in these meetings in the island of Crete; and hence the qualifications required. They are imperative. It is no question here, as at Ephesus, of a person aspiring to be an overseer. It is very happy if a brother does aspire to be an overseer, just as it is for a brother to aspire to have a gift. It is quite right, but then the next question is whether he is qualified for the gift or for the office. To have an aspiration to be an overseer is one thing, but to have the qualification is quite another. And God is not ready to appoint unqualified persons for offices such as are indicated here. There is not a word in this instruction to Titus of one aspiring to be an elder, whereas in the letter to Timothy it is intimated that one might aspire to be an elder, but that he must be qualified. That is to say, dear brethren, God is not allowing anyone to come into His house or His service on his own terms. God makes the terms, and we are safe only as we abide by divine terms. As said before, God says to the saints at Ephesus, If a man aspires to a gift or aspires to be an elder, very good; but he must qualify. Here there is no thought of that.
[p. 325] The need was so great because of general conditions, and because of persons that had gone out upsetting souls, that there must be elders, there must be overseers; but God says, ‘They are there’. As I said before, if there must be elders, God provides them. One might speak of the wonderful activities of God, one has often spoken of them. He governs the universe; worlds we know nothing of are kept going by Him. In the field He is active with the corn, giving it a body; in the sea He is active with the fish, and the cattle on a thousand hills are His; not a sparrow falls without Him; and how much more when His dear people are exposed to the awful conditions that are here described! God, therefore, provides persons that can be appointed.
And now, I want to come to chapter 2, to Titus himself; what was he to do? Not, certainly, to sit on a throne and say, You must obey me; for he was not the bishop of Crete. There is no such idea as that in Scripture. Timothy is said by some to be the first bishop of Ephesus; it is not so. He never was a bishop. He appointed elders by apostolic authority, he was apostolic delegate to do it, but he was not himself it. And Titus was simply here, left here purposely to look after certain matters because of the need that the assemblies in Crete should be stabilised against the awful influences that characterised the place. God is not going to leave His tender plants exposed to these influences. He did not even leave the garden of Eden uncared for. He put Adam there to dress it and to guard it. You say, What was there to guard it from? there was no sin in the world. But that is the word used. There was a serpent, liable to satanic power. God knew that. Eve, alas! was amenable to that power, and so, through her, was Adam. They were both driven out, but Adam had been placed in the garden to dress and guard it. And so it was that these overseers at Crete were appointed by the apostle’s delegate. Titus, to keep and to guard the assemblies.
[p. 326] The feminine speaker in the book of Canticles says, “They made me keeper of the vineyards” (chapter 1: 6). Who are “they”? They made a mistake, because she says, “Mine own vineyard have I not kept”. And so you see, dear brethren, how we may be very active in looking after gatherings in other parts and forget our own. The first obligation is myself, to rule my spirit; then to rule my house; and then to have part in the assembly in which I am set locally. Have I kept it?
And so it is that in this city the gatherings need attention. If ever there was a Crete, it is this city: lying, deception, corruption of every kind rampant in it, and the saints are in it; gatherings are in it. Not simply the saints individually, but the gatherings are in it. They are the divine planting. God took Israel out of Egypt, a vine, a noble vine, and planted it in Canaan, but it soon came to naught, it was not kept; it was not looked after. And so the urgency of looking after these gardens that have been formed over many years, through great exercise and toil. Are they going to disintegrate? They certainly will unless there be the spirit and principle of eldership in each of them. I quite own there is no such thing as appointing elders today. There are no apostles here, or apostolic delegates, but the Holy Spirit is here, and the great final act and confirmation of all appointments in the assembly was by the Holy Spirit. As the apostle says, “Wherein the Holy Spirit has set you as overseers”, Acts 20: 28. He had himself appointed Timothy to make them overseers in Ephesus, but it was the Holy Spirit finally. If the Holy Spirit does not confirm the appointment it should never be made. It is the confirmation that tests. If a brother gets some little bit of service, whether we think he is very well fitted for it or not, the test is in the confirmation of it. See what he does, whether he looks after the bit of business put into his hands according to God. So this second chapter tells us what Titus himself should do. Is he going to be just a little king with a throne?
[p. 327] The archbishops of the Church of England have thrones. I will not go any further, there is no need to attack people. But Titus was not like that, not a man with ecclesiastical authority that everyone must bow to.
Now I take him at the present time as an example of a person able to minister. One is doing it now, and there are many here able to do it, thank God. But the first thing is this: “But do thou speak the things that become sound teaching” (chapter 2: 1). Not only sound teaching, but the things that become it; the things that go with it. I may be able to set out the doctrine, but fail in the things that are suitable to it, and if I do, I am disqualifying myself and I am discrediting the truth. I speak of this because it is so important. There are so many that can minister, and we thank God for them all; they are increasing, and the word is: “But do thou speak the things that become sound teaching”, that become it. Many things are said and done that are entirely out of keeping with sound doctrine. Morally those who preach and teach are certainly under the eyes of the brethren and they are to be exemplary. Christianity is not a system of doctrine only; it is to be exemplified. It is what is in persons; and men like Timothy and Titus, obviously having such authority in their hands, must speak the things that are in keeping with sound teaching. It is said to Timothy, “Let no one despise thy youth”, 1 Timothy 4: 12. If you are actually young, be like those who are older or more mature. Be as old as you can, so to speak, in your ways. If you are to carry the confidence of the brethren you must be sober and balanced as one who has experience.
And so after Titus is enjoined as to himself it goes on here, “That the elder men be sober”. I must go through this because it is so practical at the present time; each composing element of every meeting, as I may say, is segregated, each in its class, and the first is old men. I see some of them here, quite a few. I am included in them now, and there is a word for us aged men; we are to be “sober, grave, discreet, sound in faith, in love, in patience” (verse 2). Now mark it, dear brethren, if elder brethren are not coming up to this standard in some way, we are failing in stabilisation, because the young ones are patterning themselves on us. Hence there must be what is given here; sobriety, gravity, discretion, soundness in faith, love and patience; all these. Let us write them down, at least in our minds; write them down and examine them every morning and every night. When challenged as to Himself, the Lord said He was “Altogether that which I also say to you”, John 8: 25. And He is urging me now to pay attention to what I am ministering of the truth and be in accord with it. Perhaps I am keeping up to the mark fairly well, but there is something unattended to, something unjudged, and this is out of keeping with what I am saying, and the truth is discredited. There is not total accord with my service. Well, let me see to that. Let me pray more about that than anything else, and I shall soon be exemplary of the truth, and I shall soon be a stabiliser to the assembly. Another thing is that I cannot be unduly away from my local setting. If I am to be a stabiliser to my local assembly, I must be there. I am not ignoring that the idea of gift runs parallel with this. Eldership is not gift, nor is even Titus spoken of as a gift. He comes before us rather as a reliable man, a useful man. He was a converted gentile, and Paul took him up to Jerusalem; as there he was a testimony to Paul’s work — what God was doing among the nations. As one of a class, perhaps he could not be equalled in Jerusalem. But the point is not gift; it is reliability, trustworthiness. There are tender plants in this town or that town in Crete and Titus is to see that suitable persons are appointed or established in each of these gatherings as overseers. Gift, of course, has a great place, and it is set, not only in the local assembly, but in the assembly generally. “God has set certain in the assembly: first, apostles; secondly,
prophets; thirdly, teachers”, and so on (1 Corinthians 12: 28). They are not set locally; gifted men are universal in their bearing, but elders are never universal, they are always local. So that you must be a local man to be an elder. A gifted man may be an elder too. “If he is apt to teach” he would have some gift, but then an elder must be a local man characteristically. He is set up there; he is chosen there; he is established there to look after the local company, and looking after it that it may be what the local company should be. Everyone of us, I trust, can see the divine mind as to the overseer. And there are the qualifications. As I said, it is well for each of us to note them down.
The next thing is aged women. There are a good many of them here today, too. What is said about them? “That the elder women in like manner be in deportment as becoming those who have to say to sacred things, not slanderers, not enslaved to much wine, teachers of what is right” (verse 3). It does not say here ‘becoming sound doctrine’, but ‘sacred things’. How necessary that is in experienced women! “that they may admonish the young women to be attached to their husbands” (verse 4). There are a good many young women here. We may thank God for the young people that are married. It is an entire mistake to dissociate the marital idea from the testimony of God, it has a great place in that testimony. And the elder women are to be an example to the young women that are married: “not enslaved to much wine, teachers of what is right”; it is not a question of gift, it is a question of practical knowledge and moral power to be able to teach younger persons what is right in their spheres. “That they may admonish the young women to be attached to their husbands, to be attached to their children, discreet, chaste, diligent in home work, good, subject to their own husbands”: first to love them, and then to be obedient to them, “that the word of God may not be evil spoken of” (verses 4, 5). See what is over [p. 330] against all these simple, practical things, that the elder women teach the younger ones; over against them, if these are not present, there will be blasphemy (verse 5). See how serious it is! Things may run riot where these things are disregarded. “Diligent in home work”; young people will never get any help in their souls in shopping. If you have to shop, of course, do it, but if you go into the shops for sight-seeing and spend a day there, you are sure to suffer. The authorised version says, ‘keepers at home’. I think the word is ‘workers at home’. I think the meaning of it is something like home work, as the children do, but that is work for school, done at home. But the wife — her work is at home and do the work of the home. The old sisters are to teach that. You may say, This is too much detail, and too personal; but you see, this is Paul’s letter to this trusted brother called Titus in the island of Crete, where the people are just as I have said, and where there is such exposure to corruption, and he is saying to Titus, You urge this matter of the old sisters and the young sisters.
And then, finally, the passage goes on to say, “The younger men in like manner exhort to be discreet” (verse 6). You will observe that these are the component parts of every local gathering in the city — old men, young men, old women, young women. What about the young men? “The younger men in like manner exhort to be discreet”. You might ask me where they begin, at what age do you commence this lesson? With young persons of fourteen? fifteen? sixteen? seventeen? eighteen? I would say that the times are such, and people run to and fro so much, and knowledge has become so increased that people are older now at fifteen than they used to be at twenty, and we must take account of that. So that it is a question of when we are to take account of young men. I may say fifteen or sixteen, in high school. They know more than men [p. 331] in some places know at twenty-five, and they are responsible accordingly, and they have to be guarded accordingly. So that I would begin with them at a literally young age. The direction is, “The younger men in like manner exhort to be discreet: in all things affording thyself as a pattern of good works” (verses 6, 7). The minister himself is here again. We will, say a brother is preaching the gospel, and very often he says, I want to say a word to the young. Of course it is easier to talk to the young, but then I must begin with myself even when speaking to the young. The thing comes back on myself. I may not be so very old myself. Am I sober? As I said before, Paul said to Timothy, “Let no one despise thy youth”. If I am light-hearted, if I am wanting in sobriety and am marked by all that goes with youth, I am no example to young people. So that Paul says to Timothy, “Give heed to thyself and to the teaching”, 1 Timothy 4: 16. “Till I come, give thyself to reading, to exhortation, to teaching” (verse 13). “But youthful lusts flee, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”, 2 Timothy 2: 22. I would that each of us thought of that in coming into fellowship. With whom am I coming into fellowship? “With those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”. If I want to find them I shall have to hear them pray. I shall try to get an invitation to their houses and see how they do at the head of their tables; how they regard the young children; whether they are occupied with things of this world, story-telling and all that, which is corrupting and damaging. If I am a Titus, I shall see to myself. It is not only that I can preach a good gospel and put plenty of fire into it, but what is my life? What is my conversation? Where is my sobriety? That is the point in regard to these young men I am ministering to. So that our chapter goes on to say, “In teaching uncorruptedness, gravity, a sound word, not to be condemned” (verses 7, 8). This is the [p. 332] minister, the one that preaches the gospel, the one that ministers in the ministry meeting, takes part in the Bible readings audibly and freely; these words are for him. We rejoice in the many that can serve, preach and teach; but then, dear brethren, the Lord is saying a word to us. What about our conversations? So the apostle goes on further, “a sound word, not to be condemned; that he who is opposed may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us”. That is, a young brother that preaches, that teaches, that gives a word, as we call it, should be such that no evil thing can be said about him. This is Titus, not the young men he is speaking to, but Titus himself.
And then the apostle says, “Bondmen to be subject to their own masters, to make themselves acceptable in everything” (verse 9). There are very few bondmen now. There is hardly one in America. Slavery was abolished many years ago and one is thankful for it. So that there are no such persons now, but there are persons who have to serve masters, though, of course, trade-unionism is breaking that down. As their principle works out, the servant is the master. That is the false principle that is being set up, insisted upon, sometimes backed up with force and violence, an awful state of things. Still there are servants, and they are here exhorted to be obedient to their own masters in all things. That is for the servant, and I know that a great proportion of this audience are in that class. Not bondmen — the word is intolerable now; it is simply not admitted in the world, the idea of being a bondservant. We have an eight hour day, forty hours a week. But then, most workers have a master; and we thank God for any element of mastership that remains. It is of God. It is a sobering, limiting influence to be under, if one is with God. If one is a master, he is to learn from God how to be a master; to learn from Christ. The very word ‘master’ or ‘despot’ is applied to God and to Christ; and if I am a master, then the thing is to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”, to show all due respect and care and fairness to those who serve for wages. But the word here is not to the master, it is to the servant; and what I want to finish with is that he is to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. So that we have in all this: the brethren, old, young, male, female, minister, preacher, elder, are all in mind; but it is to this one end, that there is not only stabilisation of the local company as we follow these lines, there is also adornment. It is a great idea, because one feels the poverty that marks oneself as to the dignity of the assembly, the dignity of the truth, what we are dealing with. If it be a brother in need, let not the assembly be charged. Well, you say, is the assembly to have a bank account? The idea is that the assembly is a great dignified thought, and the things that are under its hand, the financial means, are to be held in dignity. It is no mere benefit society. Far be the thought. We lose the idea of the assembly if we do not see the dignity that attaches to it. Instead of that, we adorn it by recognising its dignity and we adorn the testimony that is contained in it by humility, by subjection. Some of us here were speaking last week about subjection: a great point in it is subjection one to another: “all of you bind on humility towards one another”, 1 Peter 5: 5. The brethren are clothed in my mind as having such dignity that I am ready to adhere to a word of another brother. His advice may be good; it may be worth my while to think over and be subject to what he says. I must therefore not assume to be too superior to listen to another. This attitude will lead to peace, it will lead to self-judgment, it will save us from independency, and it will be the adornment of the doctrine which is of our Saviour God.