Easy Summaries of John Nelson Darby on God’s Grace, the Rapture, Dispensations, the true Church etc.
Author: Sosthenes
Once the ruler of the synagogue at Corinth
Then a co-writer of a letter by Paul - just a brother - no longer an official
Now a blogger seeking to serve the Lord by posting some words that the Lord has given His Church.
The Lord showed Nicodemus. a Jewish rabbi who should have understood new birth, that what was of the flesh could not inherit God’s kingdom. It was necessary to be born anew (from above). We learn that as having died, we are quickened. Our delight is in looking to the perfect Man, and being partakers of His own things. Our goodness is in desiring to be like Him.
The Lord showed Nicodemus. a Jewish rabbi who should have understood new birth, that what was of the flesh could not inherit God’s kingdom. It was necessary to be born anew (from above). We learn that as having died, we are quickened. Our delight is in looking to the perfect Man, and being partakers of His own things. Our goodness is in desiring to be like Him.
There is a lot of erroneous teaching in the present day. The true believer’s safeguard is Christ and His work, together with the truth of the Holy Spirit. Satan is working, and his craft must be met by the truth of God.
In the early chapters of John’s gospel, people saw Jesus was the coming One sent from God. We have the work of the Spirit in quickening souls (ch. 3), and this contrasts with man’s mere recognition of the outward evidence. There might be a sincere profession of Christ, even as the Messiah, but without the quickening life it was nothing in the sight of God.
Mere professors wanted to have Christ on their own terms. There are none so hostile to truth as those who know what the truth is, but refuse it. The cross is not pleasant, of course, and it never was intended to be pleasant. When I see that Christ has a right and claim on my conscience, my nature rises to resist His power. He ought to have the first place, but other things get in the way. I do not like taking up the cross, though doing so is infinite gain.
Christ spoke to Nicodemus about the things that he, as a Jewish rabbi, ought to have understood. In Ezek 36:26 it says, ‘And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you’. That is why He says, ‘If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?’ (John 3:12). God’s earthly things were not evil or fleshly things, but the promised earthly portion which the Jews were looking for. In the latter day they Israel will have a new heart from the Spirit. Nicodemus should have known this.
The Lord then talked about heavenly things, which are better. He spoke about the wind blowing – the sovereign actions of God’s grace. God takes poor sinners, Jews and Gentiles, and blesses them. ‘For God so loved the world [not just Israel], that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (v. 16). For everybody, Christ was needed; for the best, the Son of man was lifted up; for the worst God gave His only-begotten Son.
So the Lord met Nicodemus with the declaration, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except any one be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3 – Darby). The KJV says ‘born again’ but ‘anew’ is a stronger word, and is ‘from above‘ (ἄνωθεν – anothen). It is certainly not ‘renewed’. New birth is just that, totally new. You may find lovely qualities in human nature; but the natural man never loves Christ – it loves creation; it loves nature. One might have a very amiable disposition, but the most amiable person the can be last to turn to God. Christianity does not alter the flesh. To see the kingdom of God, we must have a nature altogether distinct from the one we have got – we must be born anew.
When we have been born of God, we can appreciate how the truth sanctifies and cleanses us –‘the washing of water by the word’ (Eph 5:26). But we must be born of the Spirit first. otherwise we would be washing man’s nature which is unwashable.
Man has fallen and creation is ruined. He proved what he was in the treatment he gave the Lord Jesus. Adam was innocent before the fall. He did not know good and evil, only that it was his duty to obey God. His sin was in trying to be like God. In sinning he got a conscience, and was ruined in getting it, because it was a bad conscience. Hence he was afraid of the God he wanted to be like.
By contrast, we are renewed after the last Adam – Christ. In Christ we have all that God delights in, displayed perfectly in a man. Man was created in the image of God, and Jesus expressed that perfectly. After the image of God, we are created in righteousness and true holiness, made partakers of the divine nature, learn to judge sin as God judges it, and to love holiness as He loves it. So we delight in what is of God, and are satisfied with Christ. Our goodness is in desiring to be like Him. We are ‘holy and without blame before Him in love’ (Eph 1:4).
Because sin is unchangeable, God has passed the sentence of death on all flesh. This is a positive blessing, for the flesh, the first man, has been condemned. But the condemnation was born by Christ, the second man (or last Adam). Now we can live in the power of that new Man. There is an important point as to this, which is often misunderstood: we must live that we might die – not die that we might live. Death, morally, is the consequence of having life. This is the difference between a monk and a true Christian. A monk mortifies himself in order to have life; a Christian, having life from from God, reckons himself dead unto sin (see Rom 6:11). This is liberty.
The woman at the well in John 4 received the living water. The Lord’s word had a cleansing power. It made her realise what was in herself, and she hated it. Instead she delighted in the Man who told her all things that she had done, and judged everything contrary to it. Similarly Christ said to His disciples, ‘Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken to you’ (John 15:3). The figure of this is in baptism – not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We must not look at, or take pleasure, in ourselves. As renewed we need an object outside of ourselves – Christ Himself. This is perfection – to be so occupied with Christ, as to be forgetful of self.
Having been quickened by the Spirit, we see how God and man can be connected. There had been the inseparable barrier of man’s will on one side, and the power of death on the other. So in the blessings of Ephesians 1, those who were ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (ch 2:1), have ‘the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge … the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead .. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.’ (ch 1:17-20 and ch 2:6-7. In the joy of resurrection we can be set together.
Here is the double revelation of God: Christ as a divine Person, and as a Man who had seen divine glory. ‘No man hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him’ (John 1:18). He knew, and saw, as was at ease with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And though we were fallen creatures outside of it all, as born of God we are brought into such wonderful blessings. We are one spirit with the Lord, having resurrection-life in Him. This is not a renewal of good qualities, but it is Christ, the Son, Himself making us partakers of His own things.
In John 3, the Lord emphasises the fact that He came from heaven. He works with men from that point of view. He testifies to man as to what is of heaven, from heaven, and what is man needs to be fit for heaven. That requires new birth.
Nicodemus had a mere human conviction of Christ; he knew that He was a teacher come from God because of His miracles. The Lord told him that he had to be born again. Of course, as he looked on things according to man, albeit a religious man. He did not understand what the Lord was talking about.
Being born again is not like some say, having a new nature. That would again be human. If a person has only a human conviction, his or her conscience is not affected, and has no desire to be with Jesus, because Jesus is not attractive to the natural man (see Isa. 53:2). Indeed, he doesn’t even care; he is just interested in what is here – family, politics, sport etc. Although he hopes to go to heaven when he dies, he does not find news from heaven interesting. But how will he be in heaven if Christ, the very centre of heaven’s delight, has no attraction for his heart? Unless, of course he has a totally wrong impression of heaven and thinks of it as a purely earthly paradise [Sosthenes’ addition].
On the other hand, the first thing that a person who has been born of the Spirit realises that he is lost and all wrong, like a bad tree which can never get better. He will be very anxious about that: sin is pressing on his conscience and plaguing his heart. But there is not a sin that Christ has not died for. He has put Himself in the sinner’s place before God. ‘He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him’ (2 Cor 5:21). So the born again sinner sees Him on the cross, answering for him because he could not answer for himself. Christ has done everything that could bar his access to God.
Christ lifted up
God gave His Son – this is the glad tidings of grace. ‘And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up. … For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3:14,16. Nothing but the crucifixion of the blessed Lord could meet the sinner’s case.
He had to be lifted up. He knew everything that that would necessitate. He had came to do His Father’s will, and that will was our salvation. Consequently He drank that cup of wrath in love and quietness in order that the sinner might not. He made peace by the blood of His cross (see Col 1:20)
God set His seal in righteousness when He said, ‘Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool’ (Psalm 110:1, Heb 1:13). Grace now reigns through righteousness (see Rom 5:21) – righteousness having been made good before the whole universe.
Go in Peace
Let none of us doubt the efficacy of what Jesus has done. Have we heard in His quiet voice that the ‘Son of man must be lifted up’ (John 3:14)? Let Him tell us why. Let us learn how blessed it is to live in the light of God, where light shows us (not just our sins) to be white as snow. (see Isa 1:18). May we learn what it is to walk in the light of His countenance.
In this short article, based on a lecture by J N Darby entitled,32 p ‘This one thing’ – Collected Writings vol. 32 (Miscellaneous 1) page 347 , he goes over Paul’s experiences from his arrest on the Damascus road till his writing the epistle. He saw the Lord in glory, and at that point everything that he had trusted in was smashed.
There are two ways in which we may look at the Christian. One is according to the counsels and thoughts of God (Hebrews – in respect to the grace Christ obtains for us as Priest on high)
The other as walking in this world (Philippians – down here, and the energy and power of the Spirit of God working in him). Philippians is the book of experience, the Christian on earth.
We have to pass through the world, and there are difficulties in our path. As we walk in the power of God’s Spirit, we rise above these difficulties.
In Philippians, we have a person entirely above it all the troubles; one who can ‘rejoice in the Lord always’ (ch 4:4). Paul had been four years in prison at that time, which must have been very trying, as he could not engage in his missionary service. He could have reproached himself for going up to Jerusalem, but he remained positive saying, ‘I can rejoice in the Lord always’ (see Phil 4:4).
We know Paul’s early career. He used to have an earthly righteousness, and he boasted in it. He said, ‘touching the righteousness which was in the law, blameless’ (ch 3:6). But the Lord met him, and he discovered that all that had been gain to him had brought him into open enmity with God. All that Saul of Tarsus could clothe himself with outwardly, was utterly smashed[1], and he was left to dwell in darkness three days. During this, he discovered in his own soul what this terrible revelation meant.
Seeing Christ in glory resulted in his setting aside and putting away all that was of man. Whereas the first thing we need as sinners is ‘redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins’ (Eph 1:7), with Saul of Tarsus it was different. His own righteousness had kept him away from God, and that had to be put away. The upright, honest, law-keeping Pharisee had been full of enmity against God. Now he learned the end of the first man, not just as a doctrine, but practically. The best man in the world (best as man goes) was the chief of sinners. Now he knew what redemption through the blood meant.
The law had required righteousness from man for God, but, nobody had attained it. So it does not say, ‘not having my own sins’, but ‘not having mine own righteousness’ (see ch 3:9). Paul saw that God would not accept him clothed in the human Adamic robe of his own righteousness..
He needed Christ who appeared to him on the way to Damascus and said, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth’ (Acts 9:5).’ He saw the Man in the glory – the rejected carpenter’s son. Paul was totally and entirely condemned. But he soon learned that Christ had taken the place of everything, and that everything he had counted gain was finished. He came to that ‘There is … now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus’ (Rom 8:1). The whole standing of the first man was judged in his soul; and another Man, Christ in glory, would now be for him.
When Paul was writing to the Philippians many years later, it was still a present reality to him – ‘I… do count them but dung’ (Phil 3:8). Right from his conversion, Paul was a man whose whole course and career were marked by one object before him. That object was Christ.
Having judged all that he was naturally, Paul was brought him face to face with all kinds of difficulties. An example of this was his death sentence[2]. He was going to be tried for his life; but he had done with the old ‘Paul’. He no longer trusted in himself, but in God: in effect he says, ‘The God I know, has raised Christ from the dead, so I am not afraid of death or of anything that might come on the road; I can glory in it all.’
Have we had a revelation of Christ? Are we following Him? Is He our only object? As we follow, we are called to suffer in a small way for Christ’s sake. But as we go through the world of sin and sorrow that crucified Christ, we also learn what it is to suffer with Him. It may be a difficult road, and we might get distracted, but we get refreshment as we go: it is the road that He travelled.
A term used by some Christians is ‘higher life’. But in reality they are following the world. The Christian has no calling to anything down in this world. His calling is to a risen, glorified Christ – this is the only Christ. Christ down here is a pattern for our walk, but we cannot attain Christ down here. Attempting it only lowers the standard of holiness: instead of being ‘higher Christian life’, it is lower life. It is the hope of being like Him in glory in glorified bodies, that makes us purify ourselves even as He is pure (See 1 John 3:3). I may get to heaven now in spirit, and be happy there with Him, but I never attain to or win Him, until I am with Him in the glory. Then I shall have won Christ.
In these days, when people are giving up Christianity everywhere, it is well to know what Christianity is. Christianity is perfect peace, perfect reconciliation with God, perfected for ever before Him. Then as regards my path in this world, it is having our eye on Christ Himself in glory, with all our energy in following Him. In every step we take, we get to knowing Him better, and we become more like Him.
Of course, when it says, ‘as many as be perfect’ (ch 3:15), it does not mean being being perfect like Christ was, when He was down here. But in walking with Him up there, we become like Him down here. That is what is meant by being a perfect, or fully grown, Christian. He knows that all his debts have been paid, and in running the race, he says, ‘I have seen the excellency of Christ Jesus, my Lord, and it has set aside everything here. I have done with it all; I belong to another place, and no longer own this old man’.
Paul contrasts the Christian life with mere profession. Professors are ‘enemies of the cross of Christ’ (v.18). They carry the name of Christian, but go on with the world, not perceiving that Satan, its prince, is against Christ. The world is subject to Christ’s execution of judgment. It does not know HIm as Saviour.
As Christians, our conversation, or citizenship, commonwealth or relationships of life are in heaven (See ch. 3:20). Though we live, our relationships up there, because Christ is up there – He is our life. A Christian’s life is not here at all. Christ is there, and we await our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our hope, therefore, is not to die, for our Saviour to ‘ change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body’ (v. 23).
We are running the race towards the place where our standing is? Can we say with the apostle, ‘The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God’ (Gal 2:20)? We are in earthly Is circumstances, but are we living by them, or are we living to Him? Time presses on; His return is near. Each of us is to take up our cross and follow Him. May we have a conscious relationship with the One whom we love. We look for Him to come from heaven to change our vile bodies because they will not suit that place. May the Lord give us so to have our eyes set on Him in His love, and that we might know real deliverance from the power of sin and the world. The Lord fix our eyes on Him in steadiness and earnestness of heart, so that we may say with David, ‘My soul followeth hard after thee’ (Ps 63:8).
Summary by Sosthenes
February 2016
[1] Note that it is not that Paul was smashed, as some have erroneously affirmed. It is what he could boast in according to flesh, and the whole system he relied upon.
[2] Paul says that he was going to be tried for his life, according to JND. That raises an interesting question as to what is meant, Was it:
As a sinner, in the race, he is guilty and death is the consequence.
As Paul, it would be the legal judgment for the murder of Stephen
As having to do with sin, and the man who sinned, he was passing the death sentence on himself.
Rouse yourselves, therefore, Christians. Trust not in man, nor in any child of man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in man.
Rouse yourselves, therefore, Christians. Trust not in man, nor in any child of man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in man.
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in princes. I expect them to have much success. It is a day in which wickedness is allowed to have much success, that it may meet its reward: but if we are faithful to God, they can have no success against us.
Christians, therefore, exert yourselves; it is the wily effort of infidelity to poison and destroy your children, and the children of all around you. There is no help in your effort, I warn you so, but in God. Trust not in yourselves; lean upon God, and He will be with you. I have told you, nay they have told you themselves, that the governments of the earth with which we are concerned are infidel. Do you think they will care for the truth, or those who hold it? They do not pretend to it; but there is strength and favour in God. I say, trust in Him, act as Christians, and God will own you.
I beseech you, by the mercies of God, that you bestir yourselves, that those who have ears to hear may escape this engulfing effort of infidelity. This is a question of Christianity: let every man do something to rescue the children from them. I do solemnly warn you all, Christian friends (and I think I have proved it, if proof is needed) that this is the effort of infidelity to destroy the public profession of the truth, and the souls of the children that are ensnared in it, and I warn those that are engaged in it, that they are involving themselves in the final judgments of God.
J N Darby wrote a short paper ‘Progress of Democratic Power, and its Effects on the Moral State of England*’ sometime after the Reform Act of 1832. It is interesting to look back and to see how perceptive that servant of God was maybe 170 years ago. Some things have certainly come true. Other things he did not directly foresee.
J N Darby wrote a short paper ‘Progress of Democratic Power, and its Effects on the Moral State of England*’ sometime after the Reform Act of 1832. It is interesting to look back and to see how perceptive that servant of God was maybe 170 years ago. Some things have certainly come true. Other things he did not directly foresee.
The Reform Act served to create the democratic structure that we enjoy in Britain now, with the primacy of the House of Commons (in theory anyway), and the weakening of the House of Lords. It moved voting power from the landed gentry to the cities, evening the voting power. Universal suffrage and other reforms followed naturally. Then the two main parties were the Conservatives (or Tories, largely ruled by the upper class and the Church of England) and the Liberals (or Whigs, largely urban, non-conformist and middle class).
Here is a short summary of the points he made.
A Christian ought not to meddle in politics.
No political party can be trusted.
Politicians have no idea of principles, but only of existing influences to which they must be subject.
To conform to the politics of the time, the Church (of England) would descend into ritualism on Popish lines, and semi-infidelity.
With universal suffrage the ‘poor’ would cease to be that, and be the masters.
The aristocracy, no longer governing, would lapse into luxurious living and pleasure.
Religious dissenters would have little effect.
Man’s efforts and success would be vaunted. God would be left out.
Violence would not be used to bring these things about.
Power would move to central government.
An unpaid magistracy would have considerable influence.
Let us look at these individually.
A Christian ought not to meddle in politics.
This was true in JND’s time; it is true now. I must confess to an undue amount of interest in politics and if I were not a lover of the Lord, I would probably have become involved in politics. We must, of course, be politically aware in order to pray righty for those in authority. It is clear that Darby was.
As we have been taught our citizenship is not here. We belong to another kingdom and we are waiting for the rightful King to take up His universal rights here.
No political party can be trusted.
Few would dispute this. Indeed we can see how the main political parties have changed their ground over the past few years to appeal to marginal voters in the electorate. Modern parties with their professional politicians and advisors, all look at the polls and focus groups.
Politicians have no idea of principles, but only of existing influences to which they must be subject.
This seems an extreme statement. But the main bent of politicians is to be elected, or re-elected at the next general election. The result is a focus on short-term issues and what would appeal to those minority sections of the community whose vote would swing on the basis of their vote. Politicians have been found to be untrustworthy, witness the expenses scandal.
To conform to the politics of the time the Church (of England) would descend into ritualism on Popish lines, and semi-infidelity.
This would appear to be prophetic. Synods debate issues, seeking to adapt the church to modern ways of thinking. This includes women priests and bishops, attitudes to homosexuality including the practice of it in the clergy. Scripture is seldom referred to, and no account is taken of God’s rights.
As to ritualism, there are those who are ‘evangelical’ but most would regard themselves as ‘traditionalists’. Moves to reconcile the Church of England to Rome are well known, as is the ecumenical movement.
With universal suffrage the ‘poor’ would cease to be that, and be the masters.
This is an interesting thought. Having been brought up in a one-man-one-vote democracy, it is difficult to think of this. But the effect of it can be appreciated by some of us who are a getting on in years. We can look back to the 1960’s and 70’s when the trade unions were holding Britain to ransom. Both main political parties yielded to their demands.
We can be thankful for the welfare state in providing for the basic needs of all, paid for by taxation. However even this has led to less dependence on God, and a lack of charity on those with means.
The aristocracy, no longer governing, would lapse into luxurious living and pleasure.
Maybe it is not just the aristocracy. We now have this ‘celebrity culture’. These as well as the high profile aristocrats have become icons leading to the popularity of magazines such as ‘Hello!’ They are pictured in parties, yachts etc. People like it this way. Darby noted this trend even in the 19th century.
Religious dissenters would have little effect.
This seems true. Evangelical Christians are regarded as marginal. Some showing their faith are taken to court. Little attention is paid by the unsympathetic media who love to mock Christianity and Christians.
Man’s efforts and success would be vaunted. God would be left out.
Technological advances, for which we are thankful, have served to make people more and more independent of God. Men (and of course women) regard themselves as master of their own destiny. They see the results of some of their action in climate change, but think that they can do what they can themselves to avert catastrophes. The earth is the Lord’s and He will not allow things to become intolerable – that is until the judgments in Revelation.
Violence would not be used to bring these things about.
When we look at the earlier part of the 20th century with two world wars things are relatively safe now. Indeed, there are claims that man has improved himself and such lawlessness is a thing of the past. Getting people’s hearts and minds is achieved by peaceful means. This is over against Islamic terrorism.
Power would move to central government.
This has been true. Local authorities are very weak, and much has been taken out of their control. Health and education are largely national matters. Currently there is alarm over the amount of control there is from the European Union.
An unpaid magistracy would have considerable influence.
Whilst only the lowest level of the judiciary is unpaid, i.e magistrates, the move to see the magistrates and judges playing to the secular agenda is alarming. Human rights, inclusivism and non-discrimination have been used to outlaw even criticism of evil practices. Without money the motivation is power.
What did JND miss?
Islam – he did not predict the effect of large scale immigration especially from countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Middle East. There are only three passing references to Islam in the Collected Writings.
Promotion of Homosexuality – I suppose the subject was not even talked about – as it was not when I was a boy. But its promotion, along with the acceptance of sexual promiscuity and adultery, are just witnesses to the decline of moral standards, even beyond that which Darby had imagined.
Nationalism – There is no reference to independence movements such as Ireland (in the early 20th century) and Scottish (currently). However I am sure Darby would have recognised this, especially with his Anglo-Irish background.
What is the Antidote?
Darby wrote ‘The Christian may walk in peace through it all, waiting for God’s Son from heaven, and keeping the word of His patience; yea, he may have a specially blessed place of testimony in the midst of it all, but a lowly one, content to be nothing in a world which has rejected Christ and is ripening for His judgment. Our part is to keep His word and not deny His name.’
Do you think that because things are in a disorganised state, that Christ has less love for the assembly than He once had? …. Her very feebleness draws forth fresh expressions of His love.
I raise the question – How many mothers in Israel are there? I even said, ‘Are there any left?’
Last week we attended the burial of a dear sister. For many years she had been in our gathering, and was indeed the mother, grandmother or great-grandmother of several in our company. A couple of years ago she moved to be close to one of her daughters, so we had to travel to Scotland to be at the occasion. I will not give her name: she would not have Many who know me personally know who I am referring to.
Like the prophetess Deborah, she was a mother in Israel. For me she was one to whom you could go with any problem. If you needed some advice, she had it – and if she had a word from the Lord for you, she gave it. She was not afraid to speak her mind. We missed her, but she was always available by phone. Now she is not: she is with Christ which is far better.
Deborah was a leader, a judge. That would not have been normal. You would have expected a man to hold that position. Perhaps there was not a man in Israel who had the qualifications. There was Barak, but he lacked faith and was timid. She encouraged him, and there was a victory.
I raise the question – How many mothers in Israel are there? I even said, ‘Are there any left?’ Maybe that is lack of faith on my part. Maybe part of the reason is that her generation had to face the hardships of the second world war. Those of us who were born at the end of the war or afterwards did not, and really we have had things pretty easy.
This is a greatly needed service. Paul talked about being a nursing mother, normally a service for a sister. Gifted brothers have the public services of preaching the gospel and serving in ministry. Prophecy, or the ability to bring God’s mind into a situation, is a gift, open to all. But it has a particular effect when vested in a sister. She does not give a word publicly, but gets near, like a mother, one-to-one. Indeed it is a greater gift according to 1 Cor 14:5.
It is wonderful to see how God reveals Himself in certain passages of scripture. Nobody could manifest God in thoughts, words and actions like the Lord Jesus Himself. We see that in the parables.
The brightness of God’s glory is too much for man. Consequently, He graciously hides His brightness in the Person of the Son of man. Man rejected Christ, constantly finding fault and carping at things with which he could not agree. This however moved God to show that He really was God, clothing Himself in flesh in the person of Christ and showing His heart to man here. Whilst here He used parables.
In many of them we have the Lord seeking persons in need. We sometimes tell people to seek Christ. Doing that is right in one sense, for it is quite true that ‘He that seeketh findeth’(Luke 11:10), but the Lord never said to people, ‘Come unto me’, until He had first come to them.
So in Luke 15 God tells all the truth. God will be God. In this parable God welcomes the poor prodigal son, making God merry and glad. God would have His own joy in spite of the men’s objections. People object to God’s acting in love, prefering to look on God as a judge, believing in pride that their own righteousness will satisfy God. But God operates in grace, making nothing of man’s righteousness: ‘There is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God’ (Rom 3:23).
The Woman caught in Adultery
People like to compare one person’s righteousness with another’s. The scribes and Pharisees criticised the Lord for eating with publicans and sinners. In this they slighted God’s righteousness and magnified their own. In John 8 we find the woman caught in the act of adultery, being brought by the scribes and Pharisees. By the law she would have been justly condemned to be stoned: she was undeniably guilty. Their motive was that He might be obliged to deny either mercy or righteousness. They thought to place Him in an inextricable difficulty (we might say today, a catch-22 situation). If He should let her off, He would break the law of Moses; but should He say, ‘let her be stoned,’ it would not have been grace. How does the Lord act? He says, ‘He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her’ (John 8:7). Their consciences begin to work, they realised that they were all were sinners. From the eldest to the youngest, all went out: only Jesus was sinless. It was not time for Him to execute the law, for He had not come not to judge, so He concludes, ‘Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more’ (v. 11). That was grace, and nothing but grace.
Luke 15
We have three parables in the chapter. Each teaches us something of God’s love: ‘The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost’ (Luke 19:10).
The first parable is that of the shepherd who sought the sheep that was lost.
The second, that of the woman who sought the piece of money that was lost.
The third, the father’s reception of the son who was lost.
The Shepherd with 100 Sheep
The Lord Jesus justifies God in being good to sinners. He appeals to man’s heart. ‘What man of you, having an hundred sheep?’ etc. (v. 4). The sheep is lost and the shepherd goes and finds it; he puts it on his shoulder and brings it home rejoicing. That is like the Great Shepherd of the sheep who would say. “Have I not a right to seek lost sinners? Is it not a right thing for God to mix with publicans and sinners?” This may not suit a moralist, but it suits God.
The Woman and the Coin
In the second parable we have the woman’s painstaking, eagerness to find the lost coin. The woman lights a candle, sweeps the house, not stopping till the piece was found. And then we have the joy when her possession is recovered. ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost’ (v. 9). That is the way of the Lord in love.
The woman is typical of the Holy Spirit. We see grace operating without anything moving in the heart of the sinner: we also see God’s own joy. Man’s pharisaic objection to grace only served to emphasise the energy and activity of God’s love. The piece of money and the sheep could do nothing. The shepherd and the woman alike did all; it was their joy. Worth nothing, in a certain sense, to God’s love the sinner is immensely valuable.
The Prodigal Son
The third parable shows the feelings of the wanderer and the way he was received back. Both the father’s and the prodigal’s hearts are laid open. What was important was not the prodigal’s estimate of the love of the father, but the real manifestation of the father’s heart.
Picture the situation: a man is brought to the utmost degradation – voluntarily eating husks with the swine (and we must remember what swine are to the Jew). Looking at the case in more detail, the rebellious younger son was far happier when leaving home than he was when returning – he was doing his own will. The young man was as great a sinner when walked out of his father’s house, as he was when feeding the swine in the far country. He had chosen to act independently of God – that is sin. He reaped the fruits of his actions, and in one sense, the very consequences of his sin were mercies, because they showed him what his sin was. It is like us: whether we are living in vice or not, we have all turned our back on God.
When he first left the house, he showed where his alienated heart was. He had turned his back on his father and his father’s house, and his face was towards the far country, typically the world. He went there to do his own will. Parents understand that. Our child sins against us and we feel it. But the child does not feel it the same way, if at all. So when we sin against God we do not feel it. We are all like children: “we have turned every one to his own way’ (Isa 53:6)
Having reached the far country, the prodigal went on gaily in his own will for as long as he could, wasting his money in riotous living (See v. 13). Any person from a Christian home, who lives beyond his means looks rich and happy for a time. But if he thinks he is happy, he is so only because he has gotten away from God. His will is unrestrained. But then, after all, he is in the devil’s country, and enslaved to him. Liberty of will is just slavery to the devil.
Hearts are not easy in the world; leave a man for a few hours to himself, and he will soon be in want (young people nowadays would say they were ‘bored’). The prodigal had begun to be in want, but his will was not touched yet. There ‘And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks which the swine did eat: and no one gave unto him’ (v. 14-16). There is no giving in the ‘far country’, not even of husks.
Satan sells, and dearly – our souls are the price. You must buy everything. The world’s principle is ‘nothing for nothing’; every gratification has its price. If you sell yourself to the devil, you will get husks: he will never give you anything. If you want to find a giver, you must go to God.
The prodigal awoke and thought, ‘I perish with hunger’; and then he thought of his father’s house – the very place he had been so anxious to get away from at first. ‘He said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.’ (v. 17-19).
He did not know how he would be received, yet he knew there was happiness and love in the father’s house, even extending to the bondmen and hired servants. He also knew that there was plenty of food there, and where he was, he was perishing with hunger. His abject need brought him to value the house. He knew it was a good place, but did not yet know the extent of that goodness – God’s goodness.
He went back to the father’s house without a true knowledge of the heart of the father, who had seen him already while he was a long way off. He had prepared his speech: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants’ (v. 18-19). He measured the father’s love in by the sense of the evil he had done and he thought to get into the place of a servant. Many hearts are in this state, even dictating to the Father what sort of position that would be fit – this is legalism. God can only receive us in grace. Had the father received him at a lower level, he would have been miserable. Having a son in the position of a servant would remind him of the sin that had been committed. The father cannot have sons in his house as servants. He rushed to meet him and did not even give him time to say, ‘Make me as one of thy hired servants’. He confessed his sin, ‘I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son’. When his father is on his neck kissing him, even though all the rags of the far country were still on him, how could he ask to be a hired servant?
The father did not stop to ask him anything. He knew his son had acted very wrongly, but it would have been no use to say, “You have disgraced me and dishonoured my name”. It was not a question of fitness or worthiness on the part of the son – love does not reason that way – the father was acting from himself and for himself. He fell on his neck, because he loved to be there. It is God’s love, not the sinner’s worth, that accounts for the extravagant liberality of his reception.
The servants are called to introduce him into the house fittingly. ‘But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry’ (v. 22-24). God shows His love towards us as wretched sinners, and then clothes us with Christ. He brings us into the house where the servants are, with nothing less than the full honour of sonship. We read about the robe, the ring, the shoes, the fatted calf, and the feast of joy that welcomes the returning prodigal. The father’s mind was that a son of his was worth it all, and that it was worthy of him to give it.
Some might think it humility to desire the servant’s place in the house. But that is only ignorance of the Father. In read in Eph 2:7, ‘That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus’. It would not have been worthy of the Father to leave us as servants. We would have had a constant memorial of our sin, shame, dishonour and degradation, whereas, ‘The worshipper once purged has no more conscience of sins’ (Heb 10:2). Our condition must be worthy of God for us to enjoy now.
This requires faith: faith judges as God judges. We see sin in the light of God’s holiness. But as our sins and iniquities are not remembered any more, we learn grace and what our Father’s heart really is. Faith is the only thing that gives me certainty: reasoning does not. Reasoning may be all quite well for the things of this world; but if God speaks about anything, we believe it by faith. Faith sets to its seal that God is true (See John 3:33).
If I do not believe what God assures me of, I wrong Him. It is a sin not to believe that I am a son – in God’s presence without a spot of sin – through the blood of the Lamb. If it were only my own righteousness, it would be torn like rags, but it is the blood of the Lamb has cleansed every single sin.
The question is, ‘What is God’s estimate of the efficacy of the blood of Jesus?’ If my soul knows the value to God of the blood of the Lamb, I know the extent of His love. It would be an evil thing to doubt that, just as it would have been for the prodigal to say, “I have the rags of the far country on” while his father was kissing him. Like the prodigal, I must be silenced by such grace.
The Elder Brother
It might be said that divine grace sanctions sin. That is the spirit of the elder brother. Grace pleaded with him: ‘He was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him (v. 28). We see the the father’s patient love towards this wretched man who refused to share in the joy. The servants were happy; they say, ‘Thy brother is come, and thy father has killed for him the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound’ (v. 27).
His heart turned sour to the love and grace that God showed to a fellow sinner. He would not go in. The father reasoned with him – ‘It was meet that we should make merry and be glad; for this [not my son, but] thy brother was dead and is alive again; and was lost and is found’ (v. 32) In vain, he could not enter into the joyful spirit that pereated the house, from the father down to the lowest maid. He remained outside, and had none of the happiness or joy. Despite his outward faithfulness and obedience, he refused his father’s grace: this is man.
Conclusion
Let us each ask ourselves, ‘How can I know God’s heart?” We do not get to know it by looking into our own heart. The God we have to do with is the God who has given His Son for sinners, and if we do not know this, we do not know Him at all. ‘He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?’ (Rom 8:32). Let us not say to God, “Make me as one of thy hired servants”. Let us not put our own value on God’s goodness. Let us not turn back to legalism, and think that it is humility. The only real humility is to forget self in the presence of God. It may be a humbling process; but it is not in thinking evil of self that we are truly humble, it is in forgetting ourselves completely in the manifestation of the love of God and our Father, who is love to us, and blesses us.
May we poor sinners, know through Jesus, God revealed in love!
This made me think – God has revealed Himself in Christ. We know this by the Holy Spirit. Our own thoughts get in the way, and the results are a disaster to us and those closest to us.
Last Saturday my wife and I visited some gardens in the south of England. These displayed exquisite Autumn colours at this time of year and we took some beautiful photos. What a Creator!
While there we bumped into a brother and sister whom we had not seen for some time. We asked after the brother’s elderly parents. They live in almost squalor, despite not having any finaancial problems. Simply speaking, our brother’s father just refuses any help. My friend made an observation. Not only does he refuse help, he does not seem to be at peace with God, despite being in Christian fellowship all his life. He insists on working things out himself.
It is sad that a Christian, in his mid 80’s, should insist on his own way. No help from his family; no help from God. His wife suffers in silence, having decided years ago just to let things take their course. And what misery!
On a practical level the couple could have all the help they needed, whether they remained in their own house or moved to somewhere more suitable and closer to their family. But more than that, our brother’s insistence in working things out himself has impeded God’s revealing His love by the Holy Spirit.
This made me think – God has revealed Himself in Christ. We know this by the Holy Spirit. Our own thoughts get in the way, and the results are a disaster to us and those closest to us.
‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts’ (Isa 55:7-9).
Many Christians have only a vague notion as to worship. They may have turned from clerical formalism with its superstitious rituals, but they do not have a true understanding of what worship is. What, then, is it?
Worship is the honour and adoration rendered to God, by reason of what He is in Himself, and what He is for those who render it. Worship proceeds in heaven, and we have the privilege of entering into it here collectively. In doing so we have joy and blessing, our hearts feeling and responding to God’s love. We love Him in return.
Of course an isolated individual can worship, but not in its fullest sense. He or she can bless God for His goodness. But it needs more than one person for true worship.
What is, and what is not Worship
A testimony respecting God and His grace is not worship.
Preaching the gospel to the unconverted is not worship.
A sermon is not worship.
Prayers addressed to God as to our need are not worship.
Referring to God’s glory, but not addressing Him is not worship.
The gospel might produce worship for it is God’s testimony to man. No Christian worship could exist without it, for the gospel makes known the God who is to be adored. The Holy Spirit leads the soul into the state in which it is able to render true homage to Go in spirit and in truth. It is sweet to rehearse, one to the other, the excellences of Him whom we love with God Himself in our thoughts.
But in worship Christians delight to address themselves to Him.
They to speak to and converse with Him, adoring Him personally.
They speak to God of His attributes and acts.
They open their hearts to Him, to tell Him that they love Him.
They delight in their relationship and communion with Him.
They testify to His greatness and goodness.
In worship communion is between ourselves and God, and God is more precious to us than even our brethren. Our affections have a higher tone and communion is more complete.
As to Israel
The children of Israel worshipped God, but they could not draw near to Him. God had redeemed them out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm and had borne them as upon eagles’ wings, and had brought them even to Himself (See Ex. 19:4). God had promised that they should worship Him upon Mount Sinai, but it was amid thunders, fire, and the voice of a trumpet. Even Moses trembled.
Under the law God placed man in a position where he could bring forth fruit to His glory. He showed what man ought to be and blessed him if he was faithful and judged him if he was not. Under such circumstances God could not fully reveal His holiness and love. Either have had to tolerate iniquity, or banish those who sinned absolutely and eternally from His presence. So, under the law, God concealed Himself.
The people did not even enter into His house. The high priest alone went in once every year in order to carry in the blood of the ram and the bullock — the propitiatory victims — and to make reconciliation for the people with a God who could not endure iniquity. The people sought His protection, and worshipped Him for the benefits He conferred. This was a foreshadowing of Christian worship, but the principles of its exercise were totally different.
Christian Worship
It has all changed now. God has not changed, the revelation which He makes of Himself has. Although there is a light to which we cannot approach, He has revealed Himself in Christ.
Christianity is based upon an altogether new relationship between God and man. It was in God’s counsels before the world’s foundation, but it waited for the height of man’s enmity against God: Christ appeared, and man crucified Him!
Now if there is to be a relationship, all must be grace. If God’s goodness and grace is rejected there can only be judgment. This dark background throws into relief the perfection and brilliancy of grace.
Thank God, we are now occupied with grace. There is no longer any question of guilt between the worshipper and God. Christ has abolished it by His sacrifice. The work of Christ has provided the meeting-place between God and the sinner: love has free course, and we can enjoy all God’s blessings. We are reconciled to God and have been brought to enjoy a new relationship.
We have a striking expression of the consequence of the death of Christ in the rending of the veil of the temple. The holy of holies was hidden behind the veil, so no one could draw near to God. Who would dare to present himself before God if all guilt had not been removed? But the veil has been rent from the top to the bottom: now we can enter the most holy place freely. The stroke which rent the veil, smote the Son of God, when He took our sin upon Himself. He has cleansed our consciences by His perfect and eternal work. Hence we are able to enter the holiest joyfully and without spot.
The relationship of God to the Church is presented to us strikingly in the title ‘God of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ When God is called the God of any one, it indicates that a tie of intimacy. Christ is viewed as a man, the head of a new family, who has ascended to His God and our God. We see this truth in Ephesians chapters 1 and 2 Those who were ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ (Eph 2:1) are to know ‘what is the hope of the calling of God, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints’ (Ch. 1:18). We learn the true power and extent of that glory: ‘the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places (v. 19-20). All that is His is ours – we have a place then in the presence of God! Even the glory that God has given Jesus, He has given to us, in order that the world may know that we are loved as He is. (See John 17:22-23).
The Holy Spirit
Another truth connected with the work of Christ is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit shows, reveals, and communicates divine things to us. We are ‘strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man, in order that, being rooted and grounded in love, Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, and that we may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fulness of God’ (Eph. 3:16-19). ‘That which eye hath not seen, which ear hath not heard, which came not into the heart of man — the things which God has prepared for him whom He loves — God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God (1 Cor 2:9-10).
The Holy Spirit is “the unction” by which “know all things” (See 1 John 2:20).
He is the seal which God has put upon us unto the day of redemption
He gives us the full assurance of the efficacy of the work of Christ.
He imparts to us the knowledge that as cleansed by the blood of the Saviour, we are without spot in the God ‘s sight.
He reveals to us the glory of Christ as presented in the scriptures.
By the Holy Spirit, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.
He is the originator in us of all the thoughts and affections which respond to this love.
He gives us the consciousness of our union with Christ on high
But He is more than all this. “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Cor 6:17). This is not merely an imagination; it is a fact. The same Spirit abides in us, and we are united to Christ as members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. ‘By one Spirit are we all baptised into one body (1 Cor. 12:13). The Spirit is not only the power of this union, but He gives us the consciousness of it. Christ is the Head of the body, so each Christian is a member of it, united by the Holy Spirit. The Christian’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (See 1 Cor. 6:19), and believers as together as a whole, they form God’s temple and dwelling place (See 1 Cor. 3:16).
The Father
We must know the character of the Father in order to worship God ‘in spirit and in truth’ (John 4:24). God is a spirit: but it is as the Father” that He seeks worshippers.
To worship ‘in spirit’ is to worship according to the true nature of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit.
To worship God ‘in truth’ is to worship Him according to the revelation which He has given of Himself.
This is in contrast to religious forms and ceremonies.
The Samaritans did not worship God in spirit or in truth. The Jews worshipped God in truth, according to their imperfect revelation but not in spirit. They did not know the gentle and loving name of ‘Father’. By contrast, we are in a position of freedom before a majestic God as the children of His love and sons by adoption. The Spirit, who is the spirit of adoption cries ‘Abba, Father.’
The Christian, however simple, who understands the grace of God and has received the spirit of adoption, is entitled to enjoy all these privileges. Like a child, he or she does not reason things out, but knows, loves and enjoys its father’s love without describing it. This relationship is in Christ, and with Christ, He being ‘the first-born among many brethren’ (Rom 8:29). And we, who were formerly strangers, know that He is the only-begotten Son, the firstborn, the Eternal Son* of the Father, revealing His love to as He Himself knows it. [*]The feeblest Christian is therefore perfectly competent to worship.
We worship the God of glory, in whose presence we have confidence, not terror.
We worship the God of love and kindness, whose will it is that we should be perfectly happy in Him.
We worship our Father who blesses us with all spiritual blessing.
We worship our Father who knows all our present needs.
We worship Him for that which He is in Himself.
We adore God for that which He is to us, the children of His house for eternity.
But the effect of the presence of this ‘one Spirit’ goes much further. Not only does He give us the consciousness of being in Christ, He also gives us the consciousness of being ‘baptised into one body, (1 Cor. 12:13) – the body of Christ, and as such, ‘members one of another’ (See Eph 5:25). In the Church, which God has newly-created in Christ (the one new man), the redeemed worship in ‘the unity of the Spirit’. The Head has ascended up on high, in order that the members of the body may worship freely and joyfully before God, by the unction which is from Him.
Some practical Effects
God cannot admit sin into His presence, so only those who are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and who have received the Spirit, can draw near to God to worship Him. An unconverted man cannot please or worship God. He may pray for something and his prayer might be answered, God having tender compassion for him, as a poor sinner. However he does not yet know God, has not the Spirit, and is not washed in the blood of Christ. Therefore it is utterly impossible for him to worship God. If he thinks he can draw near to God, he is ignorant of what he is in himself, and of what the God is whom he thinks to serve. He does not have the Spirit, and is not of the body.
To enter into the sanctuary, we must be sanctified. Before entering, we might measure the value of the work of Christ by reference to our load of sin. But now, brought into communion with God, we taste the sweetness of His love, and value the work of Christ by the grace and love of God. Our consciences are set at liberty, free to draw near to God, by virtue of the efficacy of the work of Christ. We may be timid in drawing near, and need encouragement. But if we do not have a real knowledge of the efficacy of the work of Christ, we will be ill at ease in approaching God, because he will still have a guilty conscience.
Even if there are just two or three present, we can worship in common, because we are united in one body by the same Spirit. Each can say, ‘We’ in sincerity, when addressing God.
The two great elements of Christian worship are the presence of the Holy Spirit and the remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ. The Holy Spirit, who acts in the body, is the source and energy, of genuine worship. This is clearly established by 1 Corinthians 14: the assembly being formed as the body of Christ. The Spirit acts through spiritual men to express the love of the assembly. This is the way in which worship is rendered to God.
Our joy in the presence of God, worshipping Him in love is our eternal goal. Gifts will cease in heaven, and nobody will be ignorant or lazy. Worship will never cease.
The Value of the Cross
Instead of seeing the work of Christ as saved sinners, we contemplate its value according to God’s estimate – the greatness of Christ’s love for us. The death of Christ is of such value in God’s sight, as to constitute, so to speak, a new claim on the affections of His Father. His confidence in God, devotedness, patience, love, obedience, submission and sacrifice united in the cross. It was for us He suffered all. Satan was overcome; death destroyed, the veil removed from before the presence of God, making us heirs who enjoy the love of God. This must lead us to worship. At the cross God was glorified, otherwise His glory could not have been fully displayed.
But we are not dazzled by the glory of the cross. Christ hung upon the cross for us. It is the expression of love stronger than death for us. He loved us to the end. In doing so, He undertook to render us happy in the presence of the Father. ‘I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also’ (John 14:3). He said, ‘With desire, I have desired to eat this passover with you, before I suffer; for I will eat no more thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God’ (Luke 22:15-16). As the passover was Israel’s memorial of the deliverance out of Egypt, so the supper is the memorial, not only of our deliverance, but of His love.
If Jesus attaches value to our remembrance to Him and produces deep affection in us, we can understand how the Lord’s supper is the centre of our worship. In the supper, united in one body, we show forth the Jesus’ death ‘until he come’ (1 Cor 11:26). We recall the act in which the Saviour has testified His love in the most powerful way. Other activities – hymns and thanksgivings are grouped around it. The worshipper is thereby reminded of that which is the most precious of all things in the sight of God — the death of His beloved Son. We enter with spiritual affection into the perfection His work. ‘He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him’ (John 6:56).
The peace-offering and the passover present the most vivid images of the true character of the Lord’s supper. The peace-offering was a feast following a sacrifice, the partakers being God, the priest who officiated, the priests, the worshipper, and those who were with him. In the passover, Israel fed on the sacrifice, the blood of which was their safeguard against judgment. This expresses the full satisfaction of God in the sweet odour of the work of Christ. Thus God Himself has His part in the joy, so has Christ: His joy is in our joy.
The Spirit’s Service
The Holy Spirit is the source and power of all true Christian worship. The unity of the body formed by Him, and in which He acts, necessarily holds a prominent place in the worship. The interceding presence of the Holy Spirit produces the consciousness of this unity. ‘We, [being] many, are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of that one loaf’ (1 Cor 10:17 Darby). Jesus Himself is present in the midst, according to His promise. If the bread broken represents the broken body of Christ, the unity of the bread represents the unity of His spiritual body, embracing all the saints in love. We are united to them, wherever they may be, in the unity of the body of Christ. We have all the privileges which attach to it by reason of the love of Him who ‘nourishes and cherishes it’. Consequently, we have a sense of what we owe to God. We have received grace; now we desire to glorifying Him, expressing this in worship.
In the early days they broke bread in private houses, maybe daily. In Acts 20 it would appear that they broke bread on the first day of the week. It is clear from 1 Cor 10 that the supper was to be something special. They had been abusing it, and their lives reflected that. What sort of life should we be careful to lead in order to render suitable praise to God.
As there are two great subjects about which Christian worship is occupied, namely the love of God our Father, and the love of the Lord Jesus, seen in His work, and as Head of His body the Church. Those who give voice to worship will concentrate on different aspects. At times the Lord Jesus will be especially before the mind; at other times thoughts of the Father will be more present. The Holy Spirit alone can guide us in this; but the truthfulness and spirituality of worship will depend upon the state of those who compose the assembly. If the majority in the company are untaught and ‘babes in Christ’ then this will be reflected in what is said. Those with more experience depend on the Comforter — the Spirit of truth — for true united service to God, bringing in nourishment promoting spiritual growth. Nothing, however, is more simple or evident than the truth that the worship which is rendered should be the worship of all.
Hindrances
If there is evil in the company, or even in an individual, it will be felt in the service of worship. If a hypocrite is present, he will be a hindrance in the worship; but the unity will not be destroyed. If most have cultivated a delicacy of spiritual feeling, they will feel that the Holy Spirit has been grieved. If there is true spirituality and the Holy Spirit fills the assembly with His presence, evil of every kind is quickly discovered. God is a jealous God, and He is faithful. Fleshly pride loves to make much of a gift, claiming lordship over God’s heritage and arranging things humanly – this gets in the way of the free flow of worship. Likewise do narrow sectarian views. Achan was discovered at the commencement of the history of Israel ; a single lie in Ananias came in in the beginning of the Church’s history – and what has happened since! May God make us humble, watchful, and true to Him with a sense of the efficacy of the work of Christ, in order, despite the failure, to render spiritual worship. Even with two or three gathered together in the name of Jesus, He is there as the joy and strength. The name of Jesus unites us.
There is another hindrance to worship. In Philippians 3:3 it says, ‘We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.’ This is about the religion of the flesh, which is altogether as evil as its lusts, religiousness being one of them. Religion of the flesh does not tend to the glory of Jesus. It is occupied in good works, ethical conduct, outward piety and humility, talking of the love of God, but more of our love for God. In circumscision the flesh is cut off. We can judge these things if Christ is our all. As in Deut 26, the worshipper professed aloud that it was God that had accomplished everything for him.
Another thing which marks carnal religion is that, it does not ‘seek those things which are above’ (Col 3:1). The soul that has truly learnt that he was dead in sins, and that the Saviour has come down and been made sin for him and has died and been raised up for him, knows in God’s sight just one sole thing – that God has placed His delight in Jesus.
We should not mingle carnal religion with that of the Spirit. The effort of the adversary, at the commencement of the Church, was, not to substitute the law and circumcision in the flesh, in place of Christ, but to add to it. Paul saw clearly, by the Spirit, that if this were admitted, everything would have been lost. Instead of being in Christ and happy in God’s presence by virtue of a completed work, man tries to find a way of making himself acceptable to God. May God grant us to have no confidence in the flesh, but to rejoice in Christ Jesus (See Phil 3:3).
Conclusion
Let us revert to the subject of collective worship. What a sweet and precious privilege it is to anticipate that which will be our eternal employ in heaven! There our worship will be perfect. There, all the Church, in its completeness, will be assembled to render worship in the midst of the general assembly on high. There, without distraction and without fear, worship will be the Church’s eternal joy in the perfect favour of God. What a privilege, even here below, to close the door for a moment upon all the distractions of this world, and by the Spirit to satisfy the desires of the heart in rendering to God the thanksgiving which He is worthy to receive, and which in His grace, He has breathed into our souls!
[*] There are those who might object to this expression. But I have no difficulty. He is Son; He is eternal. As Man he is that now. Scripture does not go into the relationship prior to the incarnation. See Heb 1:5, Acts 13:33 and Psalm 2:7.
The Lord showed Nicodemus. a Jewish rabbi who should have understood new birth, that what was of the flesh could not inherit God’s kingdom. It was necessary to be born anew (from above). We learn that as having died, we are quickened. Our delight is in looking to the perfect Man, and being partakers of His own things. Our goodness is in desiring to be like Him.
J N Darby wrote a short paper ‘Progress of Democratic Power, and its Effects on the Moral State of England*’ sometime after the Reform Act of 1832. It is interesting to look back and to see how perceptive that servant of God was maybe 170 years ago. Some things have certainly come true. Other things he did not directly foresee.
