With men naturally there is usually the desire to have their movements characterised by increase of numbers, for movements among men are so often judged by their size, and, in democratic lands, influence is generally in proportion to numbers. Religious movements are no exception to this, for many are drawn into circles because of their size and influence among men. In Christendom, the same thing is found. There are great religious circles, human systems, in which the will of God has little or no place, and to them the greatest numbers of professing Christians have been drawn. Among these systems there are movements for union, the general idea being that with greater numbers there will be greater influence exercised in human affairs.
The plea used by many for amalgamations is the prayer of the Lord Jesus, “That they all may be one” (John 17:21). What the Lord prayed for was something very different from what these leaders of Christendom are seeking. He was praying for His own, those who would believe on Him through the word of His disciples; not for a great union of professed Christians in which the most had no vital link with Him at all.
Outwardly, among the true disciples of the Lord, there are many divisions, but there is a unity that marks them that can never be destroyed. Every true believer in the Son of God has His divine life and nature, and of this they never can be robbed. The fellowship that they have with each other in divine life, and in which they have communion with the Father and the Son, knows no divisions, for wherever true Christians meet they have this common bond, and communion together, whatever marks them outwardly in the confusion of Christendom.
How good it would be if true believers were all found together outwardly, presenting an unbroken front before the world in testimony for the Lord; but this has never been found since the first years of the church’s sojourn on earth. The twelve, it would seem from Scripture, remained united all their days. There were divisions in the early church, as we learn from 1 Corinthians 3:3, but these existed while the outward form of unity was maintained.
Today, there are true Christians in the Roman Catholic system, and in the many Protestant bodies, which proves that the church is in ruin as to its outward testimony, and that it has grievously failed in its responsibility to God. Even that which began near the beginning of last century as a movement of the Spirit of God, and, in which at the first there was a very real desire to act on the truth of the unity of the body of Christ, is in ruins, and all the attempts to repair the ruin have not produced any real powerful witness for the Lord.
We often hear it remarked, If only the brethren were all brought together what a great witness they would be for God before men. They would indeed be a great witness for God, provided there was a spiritual state consonant with their profession. It would not be enough for brethren to be together outwardly in one body, desirable as this is; there would have to be a real living witness in the lives of the brethren to commend the words they speak in their profession.
Was it not the departure from the spiritual condition that first marked the brethren that was responsible for their being broken up into so many fragments? Different matters may have been the ostensible cause of divisions, or excuses for them, but there can be little doubt that the Lord allowed the divisions to take place because of the lowering of the moral tone among the brethren. If this is so, should we not look for a recovery of moral tone before attempting to have a show of outward strength through amalgamations?
Is there not the danger in seeking amalgamations of ignoring the discipline of God that has allowed the divisions? By all means let us seek the unity enjoined in Scripture, and the divine increase the Lord desires to give to His own, but let us be sure that we are not seeking simply to escape from the discipline the Lord has brought upon us because of our failures. The desire for the “unity of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3) is a right one, but the desire for increased numbers might be little different from that of the men of the world who judge that influence among men is obtained by numerical strength.
It is true that all human societies do not desire great numbers, for some pride themselves on their exclusiveness, and limit the number that can be enrolled. Professional bodies have their own standards of entry, but they seek to have as many as can measure up to their standard; and Trades Unions seek to force into their societies all who desire to work in their respective trades. But the Christian circle is not to be influenced by any of the principles of the world, be they the all-embracive or the exclusive. The assembly of God embraces all true believers in the Lord Jesus, but only those who are holding evil doctrine, is viewed in Scripture as tantamount to being involved in the evil (Rom. 1:32; 2 John 11).
Amidst the ruins of the Christian profession it is still possible for two or three who gather to the Name of the Lord Jesus to walk in the light of God’s word, refusing the principles of the world, and desiring, in their confessed weakness, to keep the word of the Lord Jesus, and not to deny His Name. We are living in “difficult days”, but the Lord still watches over His own, and there are resources in the Head of the body, the assembly, to supply all His own; and the Spirit of God still dwells in God’s house, and will still guide and sustain those who acknowledge His presence.
R. 7.7.66.