Notes of an Address at Catford 1990
When I was a teenager I loved watching football and supporting a certain team in our area. That team had a great history, in the past it had won many trophies, had excelled in many ways, but when I supported it, its fortunes were very low. There was nothing wrong with the externals. It had a beautiful grandstand, a lovely pitch, the team played in a very attractive strip, they played attractive football, all the externals were good. The only thing that was wrong was that they could not win! So what was wrong? The eleven men. I want to use this little figure as the background to what I am going to say tonight. The cry went up then, ‘What is wrong with the Hearts?’ The answer was, ‘The eleven men on the field’; there was nothing wrong with the externals.
Today the cry is going up continually from all quarters ‘What is wrong with our meetings?’ We are declining in numbers, there is weakness, there is confusion, there is disobedience. What is wrong with our meetings? The people in them. This is perfectly evident. Our externals are all right. In the main we have quite decent rooms, we carry our Bibles to the meetings and we have good hymn books. We have great traditions too; we can look back on great victories, great successes, great men, great ministry. But what about today? What is wrong with our meetings? Each of us must squarely face up to the fact that the blame lies on our shoulders, each one of us.
It seems to me that the framework of the Christian testimony lies in three areas—individual (what pertains to us as individual Christians), our homes, and then the assembly. Most would agree with that. It seems to me that the most important for progress is the first. It is absolutely basic to all the rest. John Bunyan said in one of his books that there was nothing wrong with the world, it was the people in the world that are wrong; get the people in the world right and the world will be right. We might say this is very naive, but basically it is true. And so it is with our meetings. If we are right individually then the rest will very soon fall into place. And when we say individually we mean brothers and sisters alike. So now I want to consider Romans 12 very briefly because it is there that our individual commitment comes in.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” (Rom. 12:1)
Paul is writing to Christians at Rome, but it does appear that they had not made this definite commitment, otherwise it would have been nonsense for Paul to make this exhortation. If they had made the commitment then everything would have been all right, but there must have been this lacking on the practical side of definitely committing themselves once and for all to a life of sacrifice to the will of God. I have to ask myself, as you have to ask yourselves, have we all made that commitment? Is there a precise moment in our lives when we have kneeled in the presence of God and said (in the words of the hymn) ‘Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to Thee’? A definite, once and for all commitment. This is a challenge. In the Old Testament, anything laid upon the altar could not be taken back, it was a once and for all commitment, and so our commitment to the will of God is something that God holds us to every moment and every day of our lives. This is what the Bible says that each and every Christian has to do. Paul beseeches the saints that they make this definite commitment to the will of God. Again I say, have we done this? A once and for all commitment? Someone may say ‘Does that mean you will be a perfect Christian?’ By no means! We still make our mistakes and we have to get down on our knees and confess them. But, having made the commitment, it is binding upon us, and our whole lives then belong to our God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I understand the Moravian brethren have a very interesting motto. In the centre there is an ox, on one side there is a plough and on the other side there is an altar—you can understand what the motto means—ready to serve, ready to be sacrificed, ready to do what the will of God demands. What a wonderful, honoured position to be in, to be at the behest of God, that whatever God desires of us we are ready to do it. It is a great challenge and a great responsibility. It simply means that my will has to go; and what strong wills we have! This evil nature that we all possess is very, very strong indeed, and we are all very reluctant to give up our own opinions and our own desires and our own wills, but they have to go when we sacrifice those wills to God. His will becomes paramount. His will becomes binding upon me in every moment of my life. What a tremendous challenge this is.
So Paul says “Brethren, I beseech you”, but he does not stop there, he beseeches them by the mercies of God to take account of all that God has done for them and in them through their Lord Jesus Christ. The early part of this epistle describes all the wonderful things that God has done in Christ for our present and eternal blessing; not only what He has done in delivering us from sin and its power, but bringing us into relationship with Himself so that we can cry “Abba, Father”, bringing us into the greatest possible blessings (and they are all ours, and all to be appropriated by faith). Paul is saying ‘Brethren, think what God has done for you, think of what He has produced in you, and because of these things do not hesitate to give your life to God.’ Again I say, dear brethren, this is something we do once and for all, and this is binding upon us every moment of our lives.
We will see how necessary this is in a moment, but Paul goes on to talk about presenting our bodies as “a living sacrifice”, that is, we are to be marked by the energy of life in accomplishing this sacrifice for God. It is something that is to be expressed livingly, to be seen in testimony, to be seen everywhere as this life is expressed in the power of the Spirit, “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God”. We find in the early chapters (chapter 6 in particular) how this body of ours, presented to God as a living sacrifice, becomes a holy body, that is, that as we obey the teaching that the apostle lays down, these members that were once given over so readily to the service of sin are now subordinated to the will of God, to holiness, and the end is eternal life. This is produced in the members as the persons are subject to the truth, obeying it as it is presented, first of all in baptism, and then coming to light in a practical way. Each member of the body, the hands, the feet, the eyes, the ears, the tongue, everything that was once used in the service of Satan, now in the power of the Spirit, is used in service to the will of God—a holy, acceptable sacrifice. What a tremendous thing it is to be set free from the power of sin! We have all known something about striving against sin. It is something every believer has to face in his life—the powerful, evil, ugly thing—sin; but it has to be fought against and conquered, and how encouraging are the words of the apostle “Sin shall not have dominion over you” (Rom. 6:14). Again and again the statements ring out that the Christian can be victorious over sin, and the Christian can offer a body that is serving God in holiness, something that is acceptable to Him.
There is no good us gathering together as believers, though the ground of gathering, our functions outwardly and our phraseology are all absolutely correct, if underneath there are lives that are not victorious, lives that are affected by sin, lives that are affected by the world. The externals then do not matter in a sense. If we go back to our picture of the football team with all the externals being correct and the crowd gathering to watch the game, but before ever the players came onto the field they were playing fast and loose with no discipline in their lives, having no care about what they ate, all sorts of things being allowed, and not being in a fit physical condition to play the game, then the externals do not matter. It can be the most wonderful place to play in, but if they are not fit to play then they are defeated; and the same applies as individuals when we gather together. If there is any deliberate sin in our lives, if there is any deliberate wilful worldliness, any refusing of the claims of God in our lives, how can we possibly function in power, how can there possibly be anything attractive to the Lord or to others? There must be this delivering of our bodies to God as a holy sacrifice, our “reasonable (or intelligent) service”. It is absolutely necessary. It is basic to the testimony of Christianity. You do not need to be very well taught to know this either. All through the Bible there is this insistence on a correct life before God and in His presence. It is absolutely essential in every dispensation. “By faith Moses… chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (Heb. 11:24-25), and this means that Moses got a great deal of pleasure out of sinning, and there are many, many features in the Bible such as Romans 1:24-32 which tell us this. If bank robbers get away with a lot of money then they are chuckling to themselves that they have all this money and do not have to work for a long time, they are delighted. If this delight in sin is in our lives how can there be any power in our gatherings? How can there be any workings of the Holy Spirit? You may say ‘That is severe’. No, dear brethren, we live in an ugly, filthy, depraved world, and unfortunately, Christians can be marked by it. The Bible tells us this. Corinth was a wicked, wicked city, and there was a brother breaking bread in the church there and committing incest, so that he had to be put out from the company. So, dear brethren, this matter of delivering our bodies to God as a living sacrifice is a tremendous thing.
But this delivering our bodies is not only to be clear from sin (this is the negative side), it means that my time, my interests, my talents, my money, all that I am, all that I have, must be available to the will of God. If God makes this plain upon me, and God indicates that there is something that I have to do in relation to His will, then my duty, as an individual Christian, is to obey. I have given my body, I have given myself, I have given my all, because that is what a sacrifice means. Then I must be ready to use whatever I am, and all I have, in the service of God. This is a tremendous challenge.
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Rom. 12:2)
This world has certain principles and values and thinks it very uncharitable of you or me if we do not conform to what they want. But the Bible says that we are not to be conformed to the principles of this world, we are not to be pushed into a mould like them. I do not need to tell you that you will face this every day of your lives, as I do. There are many, many appeals that the world makes to us so that we conform to their pattern, but the apostle says ‘No, if you have given your body to God then you must fall into His way of thinking. You must be governed by His will, you must be pressed into His mould, and that mould is Christ. That is the standard’.
Pressures are coming upon us from the outside, in the form of the world with all its appeal, its power and its attractions, trying to press us into their way of thinking and their way of acting. ‘No,’ says Paul, ‘your mind is renewed, you have now the power of the Holy Spirit to operate in you inwardly so that outwardly you are transformed in the opposite direction. God is working in you’. That working in us produces this outward transformation so that we are pleasurable to God. What a wonderful thing that is. It is not our endeavours exactly, but our minds being taken over by God’s will and it is declared to us in His word what He wants us to do and what He wants us to say, and so as this is in us and governs our thinking then the transformation takes place. This is a marvellous thing that goes on in our hearts and in our minds as we allow the Spirit of God to control them.
It is very gracious of God to inspire the apostle to say “that [we] may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”, because it must be right to say that if we are doing God’s will it is bound to be best for us. Paul says that you will prove this. Once we give our bodies over to God as a living sacrifice, and get rid of the world’s influences, and let the influences of God through the Spirit take over, we will prove how good that will is; how acceptable and pleasurable that will is, and how perfect it is to suit our way of life as it glorifies God and our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank God we have known a little of this in our lives, that good, that perfect and acceptable will of God. How Paul rejoiced in doing the will of God! He speaks of being “prospered by the will of God” (Rom. 1:10, J.N.D.). What a tremendous desire there is for material prosperity today in the world, but spiritual prosperity comes by doing the will of God. So we must get this firmly fixed into our minds, that individually we have given our lives to God and we have no will but God’s.
“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Rom. 12:3)
Now Paul begins to speak about something else. He begins to speak about one measure of faith, two facts and many functions. The measure of faith is given “to every man that is among you”, and Paul warns them, ‘Do not be high minded, but think soberly. If you have been blessed according to the mercies of God, if you have a place amongst the saints, it is not because you are special, it is because God has done this for you. It is God who has bestowed this favour upon you.’ If we substitute the word ‘favour’ for ‘grace’, it helps to make it clearer. This is a tremendous favour that God has conferred upon us, that He has given us each a measure of faith, and that faith is to operate in the functions that we see later on in the passage.
“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” (Rom. 12:4-5)
In these verses we have two tremendous facts. Firstly, “that we, being many, are one body in Christ”, and secondly, “and every one members one of another”. Being one body in Christ is a tremendous blessing. We have been speaking a great deal about gathering on the ground of the one body, and in actual fact there is no other ground for gathering. If I meet as a Presbyterian, then that is my ground of gathering, and that only embraces Presbyterians. If I meet as an Episcopalian, that embraces only Episcopalians, it shuts out all others. If I meet as a Roman Catholic the same principle applies. And you can go down all the bodies in Christendom and the same principle can be applied, if I meet on that avowed ground then I only embrace those who belong to that particular company. If I meet on the ground of the one body I can embrace every member in the body. Ah, you say, but there are times when we have to exercise caution, and that is true, but as far as the ground of gathering is concerned, when you meet as members of the body of Christ, that can embrace the whole body. If you make it any narrower then you become a sect. This truth of our being one body in Christ is a tremendous thing. We are not one body with a particular name or label, but one body in Christ, the Man who is at God’s right hand—a position secured by His death, His resurrection and His ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit. It is a divine formation, a divine creation. We did not make the one body, we could not, it is impossible for us, it is something God has created, and thank God it will go through in power to the end, because, although we might see breakdown, the Head in glory (this is the teaching of Colossians 2:19) sees all the greatness of the body and can feed, and look after every member, and that is His distinctive glory. We are one body in Christ.
Then Paul says, we “are members, one of another”. Let us go back again to our simple figure that we had at the beginning. Suppose these eleven men were fit, but they had not the intelligence or skill to blend together as a team to produce the results. They could not then move together or play together. If one player says ‘I am going to do all the work. I am going to score the goals, I am the man that is going to get the applauds of the crowd’, then what a mess that will be, hopeless! One man against the other eleven? He is doomed to failure straight away. But if he blends with the other members of the team then something can be achieved. Scripture speaks about team work (striving together in the faith of the gospel is teamwork). Here the apostle is saying is a divinely constituted team, we are members one of another, we need each other, and we have to work together as a team, and that is why it is so necessary that we first have the teaching of the earlier part of the chapter, my will has to go and God’s will become the governing principle, so that when we are members one of another we are coalescing in this tremendous truth of an individual sacrifice and a collective conscience. Does that sound too simple, dear brethren? It is absolutely essential that we get the first part right, that I deliver my body to God, that I have no will of my own, that I have not high thoughts, but rather that I am prepared to walk with my brethren, I am prepared to function with them, to integrate with them, in order that we have the proper function of the assembly.
Some time ago I wrote a letter in the circular, and in it I said that the trouble in our meetings was not wrong doctrine, nor was it gross immoral conduct, the main trouble was that we could not get along with each other! Those who know the condition of the assemblies will know that I am speaking the truth, and very often the trouble is that the first part of Romans 12 has never been experienced or followed, too much of my will, what I want, what I press, is seen. Now if it is the truth that one is standing for, do not give way, not one inch, but when it is the pressing of one’s particular view in some external, then let it go; it is not worth causing trouble amongst the saints for it. Naturally, we do not like our pride humbled, we do not like our particular view turned aside, but I say this again, dear brethren, do not contend for externals, when they are not essential things. “Contend for the truth” says Jude, do not give it up, hold on to what is true, but do not fight over things that are not worthwhile, and if things have been going along reasonably smoothly, do not endeavour to bring something in that has never been countenanced by the brethren simply to press one’s particular view or one’s desire. Strive to be peaceable, pursue the things that make for peace and things whereby we build up each other, the essential things of Christianity, and do not tear ourselves apart over things that are not really worthwhile. Again I say, dear brethren, if we learnt the first part of this chapter we certainly would avoid a great deal of trouble in our assemblies. We need each other, we need to help and support each other. We get this expression “members one of another”, and there are at many more such exhortations, Paul speaks of “one and another”, or “exhorting one another”, “loving one another” and so on, in this epistle1. It is absolutely essential to see this first one; “members one of another”. The other exhortations will be reasonably well followed if we understand that we need each other. Humility is needed, not to think highly of oneself, but to blend with the saints, to merge together: all members one of another, striving to do the things that are important. So we see two facts, 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; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulnesss.” (Rom. 12:6-8)
Verses 6 to 8 detail the various features of service. Each one has to serve as one is led by the Lord. There should be no harsh, cruel criticism of each other. When the disciples came to the Lord and said ‘We saw someone casting out demons in thy name and we forbade them’ the Lord replied ‘No one can do that and speak evil of me’ (Mark 9:38-40). The Lord did not approve of the disciples acting in this way. If one is serving the Lord and glorifying His name, then we should thank God for their desire to glorify the Lord. It may not be in the particular way that we choose individually, but each one must follow the way his conscience leads him or the way he feels the Lord has led him. However, in the functioning of the body, there is a very definite part for each to play. How wonderful it is to see harmonious action in the assembly. Perhaps if I am doing a particular thing then I think everybody should be doing it, and I criticise others for not doing what I am doing, but this is a wrong attitude. If I am doing something then I am to get on with it, I am to do it heartily as unto the Lord, this is my particular responsibility. If someone else is doing some other feature of service then thank God that is being done; obviously I cannot do it because I am fully occupied in another feature. If we are all doing something and it is blended together it means there will be a functioning for the Lord’s glory and there will be testimony to the Lord. Is that in activity amongst us? As we return to our respective assemblies are we pursuing the things that make for peace? Are we pursuing the things whereby we edify each other? Is our whole desire to glorify the Lord that His name might be honoured, that we might find our true place in the body, in a functional sense, subject to the will of God?
In Romans 12 the truth of the body comes in as a check against independency. In 1 Corinthians 12 it comes in as a check against clericalism, both are wrong, either where one member acts in independence of the others, or where one body thinks it is the whole body, respectively. So we have to find our true place. The will of God will teach us where this is and help us there. If we are subject to His will He will direct us into the proper function in the assembly that will be for His glory and the blessing of all concerned.
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.” (Col. 3:18-21)
There are many passages in the word of God that teach us the importance of our homes, but I have chosen to speak on this in Colossians 3. If we go back to what we have said at the beginning, that it is possible to come together in a room with our Bibles and hymn books, with all the externals right and yet our minds occupied with the world or having unjudged sin in our lives, making the externals then meaningless. In such a case there can be no true movement Godward nor testimony. One of the areas where Satan has been so successful is in the home. Sad it is when the husband is devoted to the interests of the Lord and his wife is not with him one hundred percent; sad if there is a sister who desires to represent the Lord and her husband could not care less, and yet this kind of situation prevails far too often. How much ministry we need as to the household. We have had a lot of ministry as to the greatness of the church, and prophecy and many other features of truth, and thank God for them. We must not discredit that one bit, for how much ministry we need as to the practical features of Christianity in our individual lives and in our homes. The Bible is full of instruction in relation to it. Thank God for the books that are available too, both those written a long time ago and recent ones, all calculated to help us in this very important matter.
Two things we must try to maintain in our home are prayer and the study of the word of God, not individually, but collectively. Husband and wife together, kneeling down and praying and reading the word of God and discussing it together, desiring to get help together. Peter speaks of our prayers being not hindered (1 Pet. 3:7), which seems to indicate that here is a togetherness in married life. A brother described this, saying it is not simply the act of coming together, the man and woman, but having a community of interests is involved also—this oneness of mind in relation to the Lord’s will, where we go, what we do, what we say, our object, what our home is for, etc. Are all these for the Lord’s interests, or are they for our own natural desires and pleasures? If we give our bodies to the Lord we give our homes to the Lord. Scripture says the house of Stephanas that it was “addicted (devoted) to the ministry (service) of the saints” (1 Cor. 16:15). The saints were welcomed there, for joy or for sorrow, the door was open and the brethren knew that, that they were welcome to come uninvited. The home was available for the interests of the Lord. Oh, how tremendous this is. This devotedness to the interests of the Lord in our homes.
I should say, first of all, that the main requisite in any marriage is love. You cannot possibly mistake this. “Christ loved the church and gave himself for it” (Eph. 5:25), and His love is the perfect pattern for husband and wife, particularly the husband. The husband is to love his wife, also the wife is to love her husband and to love their children and to do everything for their health. Oh, how much heartache has been caused in the homes! What sorrows have begun in the homes—harsh, cruel criticism, evil things said and done in the home that would never have come to light openly. In the shelter of the home things are said and done that are a positive disgrace to the Lord. No wonder there is weakness when we come together. The home is the bastion of the assembly. What takes place in the home spills over into the assembly. Devoted homes lead to a devoted assembly; careless homes lead to a careless assembly. It is inevitable. Oh, what a tremendously important thing it is.
I have never had children and so I cannot speak of the responsibility of rearing them, but by observation I can see that many things require to be done. I see in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, that in the homes the children might ask questions. “What do these stones [monuments] mean?” (Josh. 4:21-24) and other similar questions. The parents in Israel were responsible to give an intelligent and accurate answer so that the children were reared up in the knowledge of the history of Israel and what it meant. I wonder how many parents take the time to explain to their children the ground of gathering, explaining to them why we meet as we do and showing to them the pitfalls that come when the truth of God is ignored, and also showing them the glory of the position, a glory that belongs to God alone and our Lord Jesus Christ. I can see the necessity. How often children have listened to their parents ridiculing the brethren! How often have they seen their parents doing things contrary to the truth that they profess. Is it a wonder that the children go away? Is it a wonder that they follow a different path? What a joy for parents to bring up their children in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. Also, we must not forget the reading of the Bible, prayer, and a practising of the truth before the children. There is a poem which reads:
“My little boy confessed to me
Some childish wrong, and kneeling at my knee
He prayed with tears, Dear God, make me a man
Like Daddy, wise and strong, I know you can.”
“And while he slept I knelt at his bed,
Confessed my sins and prayed with low bowed head,
Oh God, make me like this child here,
Simple, trusting thee with faith sincere.”
Oh, if we had humility like this! To get down to the child’s level, and show them true humility, true practice, what a tremendous effect it would have upon them. We do have to recognise that children have strong wills. Sometimes they take their own way, but parents can be satisfied that they have taught them the right way, and showed them the right way, and practised the right way, and if they do go astray then the parents are not to blame. What a tremendous opportunity to be able to guide young people in this way.
On a practical point, when I was in the West Indies I was very much struck by the parents, how they brought their little children along, and I was especially thinking of the little girls. From the very smallest up to teenagers, all wore a headcovering. Strange that in our meetings some parents think it does not matter when the young girls come into the meeting without a headcovering. If they are brought up when they are young they will understand what it means. Strange that the children are ‘too young to come to the meetings’, but old enough to go elsewhere. It is good if they are brought to the meetings, and brought up in the atmosphere of the meetings, and get to know the brethren, and give the brethren opportunity to love them. This matter of the home is so important. Husbands acting in a proper way in loving their wives, wives in their proper place, not under tyranny, but under the loving direction and control of their husbands, who give the lead as head that is proper in the home, each one in their proper place, husbands, wives and children.
A brother referred in the Bible reading to “the husband of one wife” (1 Tim. 3:2), and I did not get the opportunity to back him up on what he said. As I see it, this verse is not a barrier against polygamy, but a barrier against divorce. Those who are acting as elders and deacons in the assembly must be men of good repute, living outstanding, honourable lives, not persons given to the prevailing attitudes of the day, but persons beyond reproach, having a very high standard indeed if they are to seek to live amongst the people of God and help them. If you read the passage carefully, it enunciates the things that I mentioned. We are to be right individually, right in the home and right amongst the saints of God. This is what Scripture teaches, and I believe it with all my heart.
Dear brethren, as I close, and I appeal to my own heart as well as yours, let us seek to do this in practice, so that we might find the revival of interest and testimony. Let us seek to work together, live together, pray together and have that moral condition that is so necessary for the free working of the Holy Spirit. Remember, He is the Holy Spirit, this is His characteristic name. How happy it is when we see the evidences of that control and direction when He is free amongst us. May we be helped for His name’s sake.
1 Romans 12:10, 16; 13:8; 14:13; 15:5, 7, 14; 16:16.