(The Substance of an Address)
How blessed it is for us that God has given us light regarding what He has done, what He is doing at the present time, and as to what He is going to do in the coming ages. The assembly is dear to the heart of God, having purchased it with the blood of His own, and He has been pleased to reveal His thoughts to us that we might find pleasure in them and walk in the light of them. If the church is dear to the heart of God it is also dear to the heart of Christ, for "Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it" (Eph. 5:25). The church is brought before us in different aspects in Scripture; let us look at three of them, the assembly in function, the assembly in testimony, and the assembly in display.
In 1st Corinthians 11 and 14 we see the assembly in function; 1 Cor. 12 and 1 Cor. 13 are introduced as showing how necessary it is to apprehend the truth of the one body, and to allow love to assert itself and regulate our conduct, so that the assembly may function according to the will of God.
The first thing that occupies the assembly when convened is the remembrance of the Lord, and in introducing this the Apostle says, "I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you" (1 Cor. 11:23). Paul had not received this precious truth from the Apostles who companied with the Lord on earth, and who were present at the institution of the Supper, he received it as a special revelation from Christ in glory. It would seem that Paul received it from the Lord to show the place of the Supper when the assembly is in function. This is the normal commencement of the assembly when convened, though in days of weakness one might break bread with an isolated brother or sister on the ground of Acts 2:42, 46.
In chapter 14 we learn that when the assembly is in function there is prayer and praise to God, for in 1 Cor. 14:15 the Apostle writes, "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also," This is the worship the Son of God came to secure, the worship desired by the Father, worship "in spirit and in truth." God does not desire beautiful music, or praise from instruments that men have made, but rather what proceeds from hearts touched by His love as made known in the death of Jesus. What passes for worship in Christendom today has little relevance to what God desires.
After the breaking of bread the "morning meeting" takes the character of an "open meeting," as it is written, "when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation," but everything was to "be done unto edifying" (1 Cor. 14:26). There are no revelations now that the word of God has been completed (Col. 1:25), nor have we tongues, which were given for a sign at the beginning. At the beginning, the disciples came together in the evening, as we learn from Acts 20:7, and on the occasion mentioned the Apostle ministered the word to the saints who were gathered together.
At the beginning the gathering probably lasted for some considerable time, so that there was opportunity for a good deal of ministry after the breaking of bread. In verse 6 the Apostle writes of four kinds of ministry, revelation, knowledge, prophesying and teaching. Ministry in our worship meetings today, being of short duration, takes usually the character of prophecy that stimulates worship to the Father and the Son.
In our fellowship meetings today that are open for the leading of the Spirit of God, there is room for teaching and the word of knowledge, but, where there is the gift for it, prophetic ministry is of great value, for the Scripture says, "he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort" (1 Cor. 14:3). Prophetic ministry brings the heart and conscience into the presence of God. How good it is that in spite of the weakness of the last days it is possible to have ministry that will build up the saints, stimulate them in the things of God, and encourage them.
Revelation took precedence to prophecy at the beginning (1 Cor. 14:29-30), but, as we have seen, the days of revelation are passed. There was a divine limit to the number of speakers when the saints were gathered in assembly, for the Apostle said, "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge" (verse 29). No one was to speak in an unknown tongue unless there was someone to interpret. If a brother goes to a gathering where his own language is not spoken, he is not to speak in his own language unless there is an interpreter (1 Cor. 14:27-28).
We all need instruction in divine knowledge. There is all that has come to us in the Old Testament, but also the true knowledge of God in Christianity, that which came in the Person of the Son of God incarnate, and what the Holy Spirit has brought in relation to the purpose of God that centres in His Son who is seated at His right hand. There is a knowledge that "puffeth up" (1 Cor, 8:1), but there is a knowledge by which we grow (Col. 1:10), and we all need to grow by the true knowledge of God.
Doctrine or teaching is essential for Christians at all times, and never more so than in these last days, for, says the Apostle, "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth" (2 Tim. 4:3-4). Divine teaching brings to us the mind and will of God, and should not be despised. Some have said, We do not want teaching, we want Christ. But we cannot have Christ apart from the teaching of Christianity, the One who said, "My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me" (John 7:16-17).
The church is in ruin today, but two or three gathered to the Name of the Lord can enjoy the blessedness of the assembly in function. Such will not claim to be the assembly, or even to represent the assembly, but as gathered to Christ's Name they can be assured of His presence, and can worship as gathered to remember the Lord. If there is praise and worship for the Father and the Son there will also be something to edify and encourage the saints. There may be little in the way of gift, but where there is dependence on the Spirit of God there will be something from the Lord for the help and blessing of those who act in the light of His word.
God's testimony concerns His Son, and each servant and saint of God has his part in it. Paul had a special part as the minister of the Gospel and the minister of the church, and writes of it as "the testimony of God" in 1 Corinthians 2:1, and "the testimony of Christ" in 1 Corinthians 1:6. God was the source of the testimony, and Christ its subject. As a local assembly the Corinthian saints were "the epistle of Christ," setting forth before the world what Christ is, and in this way being a testimony for God.
Paul in writing to Timothy tells us something of the present testimony, even that "God is one, and the Mediator between God and men one, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Tim. 2:5-6). Of this testimony Paul was "ordained a preacher, and an apostle … a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity." Christ as the Mediator has come out from God to represent Him before men, and to show God's disposition towards men has given Himself a ransom for all.
Then we see the part the saints are to have in God's testimony, the men are to "pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands," and the women are to "adorn themselves in modest apparel … not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array" (verses 8-10), but with good works. What a blessed privilege it is for every brother and sister to have part in God's testimony, manifesting in all the details of daily life what Christ is. Bishops and deacons, and their wives have also their special part in God's testimony, manifesting before the world what God desires His own to be.
Unitedly the saints form "the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15). The assembly is here viewed in its universal character, composed of all saints on earth at any given time. God dwells in His house in order that what He is might be known in this world, so that the assembly is spoken of as the pillar and the support of the truth. In God's house that Solomon built there were two pillars, "Jachin" meaning He will establish, and "Boaz" meaning in Him is strength, and they bore witness to the will and power of God.
The church as the pillar testifies to what God is, His will and His power being manifested in the lives of His people. As the "ground" of the truth, the saints in their lives supported the testimony that was preached and ministered by the servants of God. It is not enough that the servants who preach the word should be the practical expression of what they preach; all saints have the privilege of supporting God's testimony by lives that are honouring to Him.
There has been great failure in the church both as regards its functioning and its testimony, but when we come to the Epistle to the Ephesians, where the church is viewed as the workmanship of God, there can be no failure. At the end of Ephesians 1 Christ is viewed as risen and glorified, and the Head over all things to the assembly, which is His body and His bride. Here the assembly is viewed as the vessel in which the mind and will of Christ will be displayed. Even as Eve was given to Adam as his complement, so is the assembly given to Christ to set forth His glory in the coming ages.
In Ephesians 2 the saints are seen as quickened into the life of God, and raised up and made to sit in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, and this with the coming ages in view, when God will display in those He has so richly blessed "the exceeding riches of His grace." Now we are in Christ, but soon we shall be with Christ, and when we are with Him, and like Him, conformed to His image, in robes of purity and glory, angels and men will behold the grace of God towards those who once were sinners far from Him, and they will see what the kindness of God is. There is a lovely picture of the kindness of God in David bringing Mephibosheth from Lodebar to sit at the king's table as one of the king's sons.
Before the day of the display of God's grace before the whole universe, there is even now the display of His wisdom to the great intelligences of heaven, even as it is written in Ephesians 3, "that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God" (verse 10). The Spirit of God reveals in this Scripture that this is one of the reasons that God created all things. This earth is but a little speck of dust moving in the vast region of space among the innumerable and mighty orbs, but it is the platform on which God is working out His eternal purpose, and even now it is where the wisdom of God, in an entirely new way, is being made known to heavenly beings.
At the close of Ephesians 3 it is written, "Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Here we learn of the eternal display of God's glory in the church. Not one of us had any part in the formation of this wonderful vessel that will display God's glory for eternity, it is His creation, even as it says in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." The workmanship shows the wonders of the divine wisdom and skill that could devise and produce such a vessel in which to set forth God's glory, glory that will be admired by every creature in the universe in the eternal day.
From John 17:22-23, we further learn that when this glory is displayed there will be in it the setting forth of the Father's love. Here we hear from the lips of the Son of God that the glory has been given to Him by the Father, and He shares it with us. In Ephesians 3 it is "to Him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus." The assembly could only be the vessel of divine glory in association with Christ Jesus, the Man of His counsels, the Son of His love; and when the glory is displayed to show what a God our God is, it will make known the place we share in the affections of the Father with His own Son.
How wonderful then are the privileges belonging to God's assembly in this day, the present functions as we gather together, presenting and supporting the testimony of God in the world, and displaying to heavenly hosts the all varied wisdom of God. Then soon the assembly will be with Christ to set forth His mind and will before the wide universe, and be the vessel, a new creation vessel, to display before all the exceeding riches of God's grace, the glory of God, and the Father's love as sharing His Son's place.