READINGS: Isaiah 48:6-11; 2 Cor. 5:14-18.
In the latter passage (2
Corinthians 5) the statement is very complete. It says, in the
first place, that by reason of our death with Christ, in that His
dying was the death of all, "all died in Him,"
henceforth we know no man after the flesh; then that our
knowledge of Christ is no longer after the flesh but after the
Spirit. A further statement follows, "...if any man
is in Christ there is a new creation..." all things have
become new, and all things are of God. Our
knowledge of Christ is after the Spirit, that is, the
relationship is a spiritual one. "If any man be in Christ
there is a new creation." That clearly means that the new
creation is a spiritual creation. Christ is known spiritually.
All our intercourse with Christ now is of a spiritual character.
Christ is a spiritual reality, and all that Christ is is
spiritually known and apprehended, so that the new creation is
spiritual union with Christ. Christ sets forth the nature of the
new creation. The statement is that it is not after the flesh.
The new creation as represented by Christ here is essentially
spiritual. Christ is the new creation. Spiritual relationship
with Christ brings us into the new creation. There all things are
of God. That means that everything is spiritual, as related to
Christ.
That may sound a little
difficult and technical, but we must get the significance of
that, because it is all-important. Let us put it simply. The new
creation is Christ. We come into it when we come into Him, but,
in order to come into Him, and, therefore, into it, there has to
be a spiritual thing done, we have to become spiritual
people.
The word "flesh"
as used here is comprehensive and general. Not knowing Him after
the flesh, and not knowing one another after the flesh means
really what we should think if we were to say we do not know one
another naturally, in the natural realm. Whatever that might be,
that is all-embracing. We know one another as we know Christ,
spiritually. The context here sets forth that our relationship
with Christ in the new creation is purely a spiritual thing, and
therefore our relationships with one another as being in Christ
are spiritual relationships. The whole new creation is a
spiritual matter, because it is Christ.
That leads us to this specific
point, which goes right to the heart of things. In this realm
the thing which dominates is the measure of Christ. Everything
here is determined and governed by the measure of Christ. Christ
fills this whole realm; Christ dominates this whole realm in a
spiritual way; from this realm of the new creation everything
which is not Christ is excluded: all things are out from God. We
might say that God's world is Christ, so far as we are concerned.
The entire sphere of God for us is Christ. For us as believers
there is nothing else whatever in relation to God but Christ.
Nothing is accepted by Him but Christ. Nothing is blessed by Him
but Christ. Nothing is used by Him but Christ. Nothing is seen or
considered by Him but Christ. Here, filling God's entire realm so
far as we are concerned, is Christ, only Christ.
That is the realm of the new
creation. It is "in Christ." That is why the Cross
stands right at the very threshold of the whole realm of the
"all things" of God, "henceforth know we no man
after the flesh..." All died in Him. Everything that is of
the old creation has been, by that Cross, cut off, and not one
fragment of it ever enters the realm of God.
The Fire of
the Cross
The passage in Isaiah 48 is
full of significance when read in the light of 2 Corinthians 5
"I have shewed thee new things from this time, even
hidden things, which thou has not known. They are created now,
and not from of old; and before this day thou heardest them
not." Now you notice certain things follow. One is: "I
have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the
furnace of affliction." Now note! "For mine own
sake will I do it; for how should my name be
profaned? and my glory will I not give to another." That is
New Testament teaching in very essence. A new thing; a new
creation: then a Divine activity in the fire; and the motive -
the object - God's own honour, God's own glory, that all things
may be of God!
Let us put it this way. The
profaning of the Lord's Name, and the taking away of His glory,
is the inveterate habit and course of the old creation nature.
Should you see any of the old creation getting into the realm of
the things of God, what is the result sooner or later? That man
takes the glory, and dishonours God. Is not that the tragic, dark
story of "the Church"; man in his old creation powers
and life pressing into the things of God, and making a name for
himself? The Church has been the happy hunting ground of men for
reputation, position, influence and all such things. The flesh
always does that. It takes God's glory away, it profanes God's
Name. In order that that might not be so there must be a new
creation, where all things are of God. That creation is based
upon the Cross, and inasmuch as you and I have accepted by faith
the meaning of the Cross, and are now in Christ, what is the next
thing? It is the application of that Cross in the terms of the
fire which refines, the furnace of affliction.
Now note - the furnace of
affliction is not for the ungodly. The fire of eternal judgment
is for the ungodly, not the furnace of affliction. The furnace of
affliction is for those who by faith are in Christ. What happens
in the furnace of affliction? What is it that is dealt with in
the fire? Is it you, and is it I, that are refined in the fire?
Are you refined in the fire? Am I refined in
the furnace of affliction? I say, No! emphatically NO!! If we
say, Yes! well, let us look at the furnace of affliction, the
fire with the metal in the crucible. What are you doing with that
metal? Well, you say, you heat the fire intensely and all the
uncleanness, the corruption, comes to the surface; this is
skimmed off, and when that process has been carried through to
its end, there is left pure gold! Then if you say that is you or
that is me you will have to abandon your doctrine of total
depravity, and you will have to come back to the place where you
say there is good in us, after all! You will have to say there is
good and bad in us, and the furnace of affliction is to get the
badness out of us and leave the goodness! Is that true doctrine?
No! The furnace of affliction is not for the removal of the bad
out of us so as to leave the good that is in us, and secure it!
Then what is its purpose? Is it to refine Christ in us? We need
not discuss that! Christ needs no refining! What is it for? It is
to divide between what is us in fallen nature, and what is
Christ, and to get rid of the one in order to give full place to
the other! The furnace of affliction is the application of the
Cross to the getting rid of you and me, in order to leave the
whole place for Christ. It is the measure of Christ that God is
after, not to cut in between the good and bad in us, but to cut
in between what is Christ, and what is ourselves. That is what
the Lord is doing. He is after increasing Christ, and in order to
do that He has to displace self, the old creation. It is all the
measure of Christ in this realm. The realm of God is not going to
be refined self, reformed self, or any kind of patching up
of self. It is going to be none of self, and
all of Christ.
That is God's standard. That
standard has been fixed in the Cross of the Lord Jesus before God
commenced. God is working to a fixed standard. He has applied the
rule from the beginning, and He is working to bring us to that
measure. The measure is none of self and all of Christ.
The new creation is that of all things of God, and the activity
of the Lord in our lives is simply to get rid of us as to the old
creation, and to bring us in full measure into the new creation,
which is Christ.
I want that we should be taken
hold of by clear, precise, definite truth in Christ, and that, if
the Lord will, this shall be fixed upon us in a new way,
so as to grip us. We speak much about the Testimony of Jesus, and
we say the Testimony of Jesus is our concern. Now what we have
just seen brings us back again, perhaps in another way, to the
defining of the Testimony of Jesus. What is that Testimony? It is
simply the testimony to the fact of the utterness, the
absoluteness of the Lord Jesus as in God's sight, that He is
the centre and the circumference, He is the
absolute sphere of the Divine interest and concern, that has
made Him all and in all, and that outside of Christ in the
consideration of God nothing is acceptable, usable,
or a ground of blessing. God's entire concern by the Holy Spirit
is to put Christ in, and to enlarge Christ until there is nothing
but Christ.
This cuts a clear line between
all things being of God and our coming in in some way in the
realm of the things of God, either in life or service. This
explains why it is that in such an absolute realm of Divine
thought and intention it is altogether impossible for man to come
or be brought in any way whatever.
What a True
Believer Is
It is this which first of all
establishes the nature of the believer. What is the believer? In
God's sight the believer is one in whom Christ is implanted, and
God never looks at Christ in a limited way. He always looks at
Him in an absolute way, and when Christ is implanted at the
beginning of our life it is not as though God implanted Him in a
fragmentary way. God's thought was that the end should be bound
up with the beginning, and that Christ should be All and in all.
That is why conversion is never an end in itself. It is only the
first step toward the full end of God. It defines the nature of
the believer in God's sight, that it is of Christ. You cannot
make that. No decision cards can accomplish that. You can never
make men and women Christians by inviting them to make certain
decisions, to assent mentally to certain propositions of
Christian doctrine, though perfectly true as to the Person and
work of the Lord Jesus. There has to be something which
constitutes in that individual, right at the very centre of the
being, a living union with Christ, and a deposit of Christ.
Anything other than that is a false conversion. It is the
depositing of Christ at the very centre of the being, with a view
to His spreading to the very circumference, that is the nature of
a believer.
What the True
Church Is
What is true as to the nature
of the believer is true as to the nature of the Church. You are
taken from Romans to Ephesians, and you find that the Church is
the Body of Christ. It is Christ! It is the fulness of Him.
The Church is Christ, and in God's thought the Church simply sets
before the universe the fact that here is an expression of Christ
in fulness. No one can join the Church. You can never invite
people to the Church. That is so pathetically contrary to the
Divine thought, this spiritual relationship to Christ to which we
referred at the outset. The Church is Christ. Christ is planted
right at the centre in order to fill all, and it is only in the
measure in which Christ is there that the Church realises its
Divine being and purpose. The Church is to be the registration
and impact of the living, exalted, heavenly Christ in this
universe.
What True
Ministry Is
What is true as to the
believer, and as to the Church, is true of every other aspect of
life in relation to God livingly in Christ. What is ministry?
Ministry in the New Testament is not giving addresses, preaching
sermons, taking classes, giving lessons and all or any of the
other aspects of an organised work of Christian activity.
Ministry, according to the New Testament and God's thought, is
simply Christ being imparted; a ministration of Christ. That
requires a living, spiritual relationship with Him. You cannot
fulfil that ministry by writing out addresses and reading them. I
do not say that Christ has never been ministered in that way, but
you cannot do it that way of purpose. No! Ministry is simply the
measure of Christ that is being passed on. It is ministering
Christ. That has to be vital, that has to be living. There is
something more than words in that. It means that through ministry
those ministered to receive an accession, an increase of Christ;
not an increase of doctrinal intelligence, but an increase of
Christ. And as for the minister behind the ministry, what makes
you a minister? It is just the measure of Christ, just in so far
as Christ fills you, dominates you, governs you, just in that
measure you are a minister of Christ.
You see the pathetic
hopelessness of trying to propagate anything by organised means
and methods which really is all of God. It simply has to grow,
it simply has to be. Ah, but when it is so it is mighty,
it is indestructible, it is incorruptible. Nothing can stand in
the way of Christ. It is that which rouses hell and the energies
of the Devil. He does not mind all the other doctrine, work,
profession. That may often serve his ends as a great deception,
misrepresentation; but bring Christ in, bring Christ through,
realise Christ, and then you meet every force in this universe
which is antagonistic to Christ.
The
Unveiling of Christ
The New Testament is occupied
entirely with the unveiling of Jesus Christ to the believer, in
the Church, and through the Church to the universe. The word
"apocalypse" is a very interesting word in the New
Testament. We bind it up with the Book of the Revelation and call
that the Apocalypse, the unveiling of Jesus Christ. But you will
find that the same word is used as to believers. The Lord Jesus
was apocalised in Paul: "It pleased God to apocalyse his Son
in me" (Gal. 1:15,16). Christ has His apocalypse in the
Church. He is revealed in it. Christ has His apocalypse through
the Church unto principalities and powers. Then Christ will have
His apocalypse to the whole universe later on. The New Testament
is occupied through and through with this unveiling of Jesus
Christ.
Without venturing to proceed
along that line we suggest to you that every letter in the New
Testament embodies some aspect of the revelation of Christ, as
set over against the old creation.
Romans. The
revelation of the Lord Jesus in resurrection! The primary factor
in the letter to the Romans is resurrection life in Christ.
Through universal death, sin, judgment, and the curse, at last
you come on to resurrection ground, and then everything which is
of God begins. It is Christ in the power of His resurrection.
1 Corinthians! Christ
in the Spirit, as over against believers in the flesh; or, more
exactly, in the soul. The whole trouble throughout the first
letter to the Corinthians, the trouble which you find indicated
in the first chapters, is in connection with believers living in
the realm of "nature," the word there being
"soul." Recall all that follows in that letter. Believers
- not unbelievers - coming into, or seeking to come into,
the realm of Divine things with their own natural equipment,
intellect, emotion, will, and a terrible mess consequently.
Therefore the emphasis is: "Now the natural man (the soul
man) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because, they are
spiritually judged, but he that is spiritual..." (1 Cor.
2:14). That strikes a note of the "all things" of God.
Therefore, in order that the Lord's Name should not be
dishonoured, and His glory taken away by another, which is the
flesh - "I determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). "Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:24). The
same Spirit is at work to bring Christ spiritually into the full
place, to set aside this merely soulish kind of Christianity. Not
that the soul itself has to be set aside, but the merely soulish
Christianity. Many people think that because soulishness is wrong
the soul is wrong. When soulishness is spoken of, we do not mean
that the soul is wrong, and has therefore to die; we mean that
the domination of the soul in things spiritual is all wrong.
Christ has to be known in the Spirit, and to be lived in the
Spirit, as against that old nature in the realm of spiritual
things.
2 Corinthians!
Here it is ministry. "We have this ministry" is the
governing note. What ministry? "God, that said, Light shall
shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). We are pressed, pursued, perplexed,
cast down, we had the sentence of death in ourselves! What is all
that for? What else is this but the fire of affliction to apply
the Cross, in order that everything should be of God; "that
the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from
ourselves" (2 Cor. 4:7). It is all things out from God. We
have this treasure in vessels of fragile clay, pressed, we are
pursued, we are perplexed, we are cast down! Yes, but it is all
to this one end, "that the exceeding greatness of the power
may be of God, and not of ourselves." It is the undoing of
man by nature, in his strength, in order that the Divine glory in
the face of Jesus Christ might be shown forth.
You will find that every letter
is occupied with the presentation of Christ in some way, over
against the old creation, and the object is to bring Christ into
His full place, because it is that that matters, that is all
important.
I feel that we should recognise
the necessity for real exercise of heart in this matter, that
everything for us in the future should be valued according to
God's scale of values, that is, how much it represents Christ.
You cannot accept me in the things of God on any other ground
whatever save of how much of Christ comes to you through me. You
cannot accept me for the volume of words and ideas, the number of
messages given, and how much truth comes to you through me, or
any other thing, save how much of Christ is ministered to your
spiritual life. That thrusts back upon the Lord, and makes
ministry not professional, but a matter of my knowing the Lord
for your sakes, living on the Lord for your sakes. That applies
to all who in any way minister. It is not the wonderful
arrangement of messages, of truth, or anything like that, but
just the measure in which Christ is being ministered. That is the
standard. An assembly must be estimated according to that
standard, not because of any other thing save the measure of
Christ that is represented there. If we talk about a fellowship,
it will not be simply because we come together and have good
relationships, but it will be fellowship in Christ, which means
that by that fellowship Christ is ministered to one another, so
that we have an increase of Christ. Do you see the principle? It
spreads itself over everything that has to do with God. It is the
measure of Christ, and anything that is not Christ is not
reckoned in at all by God. "...henceforth know we no man
after the flesh..." That means that we can only know one
another in Christ in so far as there is Christ in each other. I
cannot go on with you, and you cannot go on with me, only in the
measure in which Christ is met. Christ is the mutual ground of
our relationship, our fellowship.
I see the appalling state of
things today amongst the Lord's people everywhere; death,
weakness, limitation, defeat, failure, inability to stand up, to
go on; and, without being critical, censorious or judging, you
have to come to the conclusion as you speak with so many, that
the measure of Christ is pathetically small. Sometimes when you
speak about the Lord to people, who have borne the name of
Christian for many years, they gape at you as though you were
talking a strange language.
Let us ask the Lord that, so
far as we are concerned, there may be an increase of Christ in
every way. Let us seek grace for any fiery furnace in the light
of the explanation, that it is neither what is of Christ that is
being tested in us, nor any good within ourselves, but that what
is not Christ should disappear, that it should be Christ, only
Christ. At last this universe will know nothing but Christ. He
will fill all things, and that will be a great day! May He be
fully formed in us.