There are two major reasons, not unrelated, why there
is so little spiritual power and life in the Church, (Assembly),
today: The first is the failure to realise that the Church belongs
to Christ; the second is the failure to recognise practically the
presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church.
In Matt. 16 the Lord announces the
formation of His Church with these words: “Upon this rock I will
build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”
(v18). Now note the words carefully: He does not say the Church, but
my Church. How is it then that many a believer speaks of “my church”
or “our church” or others speak of the Methodist church or the
Baptist church when there is only one Church and that Church is
Christ’s. IT BLEONGS TO HIM. But even when the doctrine, as such,
that the Church is Christ’s is loudly proclaimed, the behaviour of
such in the Church show that they deny it has any practical force.
Let us all ask ourselves how often we carry on as if it was our
Church, and this precious doctrine of the Church being Christ’s is
only claimed to be held in order to confer greater dignity upon what
is, to all intents and purposes, controlled by us! Now these are
strong words, and some will be inclined to reject them out of hand,
but be honest my brethren and let us ask ourselves if our actions
show that very often the doctrine is only theoretically held.
To be governed, in assembly, by the
truth in Scripture concerning the Church is one thing, but to have
the further understanding in the soul that it is His Church is quite
another! If I take on this last truth with all its full practical
force, I will not dare to do anything in the Church without His
sanction. The moment I admit it is His Church, I must accept that I
can do nothing in that Church without His approval. It is His
Church, and He controls. Men speak much of “rights”, but the
Christian has no rights in the Church of God. He is there for the
pleasure of the One whose Church it is.
It is quite clear then, that we are
not at liberty to speak or act in the Church as we like. (I am not
denying that the Christian has liberty of course, but we must see
that liberty, as taught in the Scripture, is not liberty to do as we
see fit in Christ’s Church!) I may feel that I have just the right
word for the moment, but I have not the right to speak unless
instructed to do so of God. I might believe that the hymn I am about
to give out, or the comment I am about to make, is most appropriate,
yet unless the directions are from the Head in heaven, and my words
in the power of the Holy Spirit, it is but an utterance of the
flesh. Rather than, (as we sometimes think is necessary), a lot of
activity, a little more of the spirit of the psalmist is to be
desired: “be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm, 46: 10).
If we examine the first gathering of
the Church (Acts2), we see that there was a great deal of public
speaking, yet it is carefully recorded that it was all “as the
Spirit gave them utterance” (v4). THEY WERE UNDER DIVINE CONTROL. If
we hold the truth practically as to the Church being Christ’s, all
our speaking that Church will be governed by God.. If it is His
Church, who are we to speak in it without His authority? Christ is
the Head of the Church (Col. 1: 18), and a head does not advise or
guide, but dictates to its body, prompting the members to follow the
Head’s directions, (The holy Spirit does not give instructions
independently of the Head—see John 16: 13), we, as members, are
there simply to obey.
That brings me to the second
important failure. Consider carefully the fact just mentioned: that
the Holy Spirit is there. As really as Christ was present with His
disciples on earth, so really is the Holy Spirit now present in the
assemblies of the saints. The presence of the Spirit of God is a
fact, not merely a doctrine. And surely if in fact He be present—God
Himself—when we are gathered together, no fact can compare in
importance with this. It is surely the grand, the all–absorbing
fact, from which everything besides in the meeting ought to derive
its character. What one desires is that the presence of the Holy
Spirit Himself should be so realised as that none should break
silence except by His power, and under His direction; and that the
sense of His presence should thus restrain us from all that is
unworthy of Him, and of the name of the Lord Jesus in which we meet.
Take the worship of God. The Lord
Jesus Himself clearly taught that it must be in spirit and truth
(John 4: 24). “In truth” means simply that it is “true”, that is
according to the mind of God. (This is no doubt in contrast to the
false worship of the Samaritans to which the woman of John 4
adhered.) However, worship in “truth” on its own is not
enough—witnessed to by the outwardly correct, yet spiritually
barren, worship in Judaism. WORSHIP MUST ALSO BE IN “SPIRIT”! Let us
not descend to a mere ceremonial form! It is not an optional matter:
“God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in
spirit and in truth” (v24). If we are to worship God there is only
one way and that is in spirit and truth!
Spiritual worship cannot be
manufactured, because man, any man, is incapable of forming right
thoughts towards God. Take Hebrews 2: 12: “I will declare thy name
to my brethren; in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy
praise”. Now it is commonly asserted that this is Christ leading the
praise to the Father, but a closer inspection of the verse reveals
that this is not only inaccurate, but completely lower the sense.
What we have here is one person only singing praise to God, and that
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our praise is through Him, and if we
really believed this, we would be extremely careful to see that all
our utterances had their origin with God.
Furthermore, the matter of gift
bears heavily upon what we do and say in Christ’s Church, yet very
often Christians go on completely unaware of its importance. To
illustrate this let us take a simple example from the world about
us: if we look at politics we can see three basic principles
operating, namely dictatorship, democracy and anarchy. Dictatorship
is one man having absolute sway, democracy is the participation of
all, and anarchy is the philosophy of every man for himself.
NOW IF ANY OF THESE IDEAS CROSS OVER
INTO THE CHURCH THERE MUST BE AT LEAST A PARTIAL PASSING BY OF GIFT.
The counterpart of dictatorship in the ecclesiastical sphere is
clericalism. There, though I many be gifted of God to teach for
instance, I cannot do so unless I am “ordained” a “minister”, (or at
the very best with the express permission of the clergy). On the
other hand I may be “ordained” a “minister”, and thus expected to
teach, yet in fact not have the gift! There is thus a definite
hindering of the Spirit, an over–ruling of the headship of Christ,
and a stunting of liberty.
How, under such a system, can Rom.
12; 5–8 be put into operation? “So we being many, are one body in
Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts
differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether
prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or
ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on
teaching; of he that exhorteth on exhortation: he that giveth, let
him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that
showeth mercy, with cheerfulness”? I cannot be done! We are to be
under the control of the Giver of the gifts, not man!
Many, alas, whilst acknowledging the
errors of clericalism have gone wrong in the opposite direction and
allowed democracy in the Church, viz. the idea that we can all try
our hands at anything. Gift is therefore completely overlooked, and
the result is virtually a state of anarchy in God’s sight, where
everyone does what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21: 25).
Granted, not all our actions in
assembly are related to gift, but this does not mean we are at
liberty to ignore the matter altogether! Scripture teaches that “all
members have not the same office” (Rom. 12: 4), and it is imperative
that we recognise this. The gifts are given for the edifying of the
body of Christ (Eph. 4: 12), and so if we ignore this divine
arrangement, and take on service for which we are not suited, it is
quite likely that damage rather than edification will ensue! The
hand cannot do the work of the eye, and neither can the eye do the
work of the hand—they were never designed for it. Generally
speaking, (for there could be exceptional circumstances in which
this would no longer apply), I am to stick to the gift and the
corresponding service that God has given me. The teacher is to
teach, the shepherd to shepherd and so on. To do otherwise would be
to be guilty of not holding fast the Head (Col. 1: 19).
Oh my brethren in Christ what a
difference it would make to our assemblings together if we really
believed that the Church belongs to Christ on the one hand and that
the Holy Spirit is present in that Church on the other. The great
need is not just to hold these truths doctrinally but to act as
those who do believe them. The there would be spiritual life and
power because God would be in control.
