“By this shall all men
know…” (John 13:35). "That the world may
believe…” (John 17:21).
Unity as a Priority in Witness
Some
battles are lost before a blow is struck or a shot fired.
Others are only partly won and much enemy territory
unoccupied because of sabotage behind the campaign. To
change the metaphor, which is quite in keeping with the
matter in hand, some buildings which have cost much in
time, labour, and means, become leaky, discredited and
sometimes disintegrate, because of — as Ruskin puts
it — a lie in the foundations. Sooner or later it
finds the builders out. It is therefore a matter of
considerable, if not absolute, importance that we have a
right and adequate basis of assurance for certain success
BEFORE WE START. For, if a start is made without
this basis, early reverse or arrest may take place, or at
most some way will be made only to find that crippling
troubles bring serious limitations and heartbreaks. The FULL
end can never be reached if the beginning or basis is
faulty.
Let us
firstly look at this matter of Christian unity as it is
viewed today. That there is a real and considerable
regret for the existing condition needs no arguing: there
is! But while that is so, there are different or various
reactions to it. Many feel that the situation is so far
gone and established that it is just pure idealism and a
counsel of perfection to think and hope for an adequate
change. They have therefore surrendered to a counsel of
despair and taken the attitude that we must do the best
we can under the circumstances and make the best of a bad
job. Others have resolved the problem — to their own
satisfaction — by saying that there is good in every
part, however divided the parts may be, and we must take
the good, make the most of it, and try to ignore the bad.
Such a position carried to its logical issue could result
in a rapprochement in the most diverse realms, and there
is no end to it. There are yet others who take a purely
spiritual position and say that we are “all one in
Christ”, and the earthly situation must be ignored.
This is an unreal, unsubstantial position which evades or
bypasses facts which are a contradiction to it, and still
leaves the world without what Christ said is needed
“that the world may believe”. This does not
mean that the last mentioned position is not the true
starting point for the rest; it is, but it is not enough,
and falls short of the world-convincing evidence. There
are other more or less definite reactions to this
situation, but they are all as superficial as those
mentioned.
Many,
taking one or other of these attitudes, because of the
immensity of the difficulty, have decided that the thing
to do is to get on with the job, be
“practical”, and leave these matters to those
whose inclination it is to spend time on them. For such
it is not “practical”, but a waste of time, to
go back to the chart room and make sure that, with all
the good motive, the labour, cost, and devotion, we are
after all on the right course or in a position to achieve
the purpose. To return to the metaphor used earlier, it
is of SOME consequence that we do not carry in our
very make-up, though not realised, the elements of defeat
and disintegration.
Through
the centuries and at this time in a very saddening way
the work of God is handicapped in so many of its fresh
efforts even before they are launched. In his sermon
class, when students were preaching sermons with a view
to advice and instruction on how to preach or NOT to
preach, Mr. Spurgeon listened while a young man built up
a sermon on “The Whole Armour of God”.
Graphically and with some zest the student pictured
himself as taking up and putting on the armour piece by
piece, and waxing more and more pleased with his effort
he flauntingly cried at last: “Now, where is the
devil?” Mr. Spurgeon cupped his hands round his
mouth and called in an audible whisper — “He is
inside the armour!”
Is
this not so very much the case in the church on this
earth? With all the grandeur of her message, the truth of
her doctrine, the cost of her work, she is so largely
defeated. There is something inside telling against her.
The convincingness of oneness, real unity, is sabotaged.
The
fact is that the church — by which is meant
Christians in their relatedness — is much more ready
to do, launch out in, and undertake Christian work, than
she is to secure the essential for its success.
But we
must get to grips with the situation, for this is not an
accusation, or mere statement of a case; we have to do
something to at least indicate ways of healing of this
open sore.
Let us
look closely at the situation at the beginning. It is
clear and needs no stressing that the mission and
commission of Christ was to all the world. That means
that, whether all the world would believe or not, the
appeal was that “ALL should come to a
knowledge of the truth”. There were few, if any, new
facts of an objective kind added to potential witnesses
once the resurrection and ascension or glorifying of
Christ were established realities. All the essentials of
the message were in hand and a full gospel could there
and then have been preached. But the Lord commanded them
that they should wait. The reason given was until the
Holy Spirit should come and they should be empowered for
witness. Yes, true, but we may be too superficial as to
our apprehension of what that meant. We hurry on with a
“power” mentality, and do not look deeply
enough to see what it means. The obvious things are taken
to be all. Tongues, boldness, convincingness in
proclamation, and such like things are regarded as being
the chief marks of the Pentecostal baptism. But there was
something more than public ministry or verbal testimony
with its manifestations bound up with the tarrying issue
— the advent of the Holy Spirit.
The Prayer of Christ
Christ
had prayed about this witness to the world. The issue
involved was the proof that He had been sent from the
Father. He knew what the subsequent centuries have
proved, that it would not get far with men — the
world — to just preach that God sent His Son into
the world; stupendous a fact as that was with all its
implications. And whatever may be the other and
accompanying features of the Holy Spirit’s coming
upon them, the fact is that, in His prayer, Christ
concentrated upon one factor as fundamental to effective
witness — the oneness of His own.
The
convincingness of testimony, the impact and registration
of heavenly truth, the evidence by which reactions would
be judged, was — in His heart — behind the
things said or how they were said; behind their courage
and their ecstasies (which would sooner or later be
turned down as fanaticism, psychological, etc.). That
background to all else was — with Him — this,
“that they may be one”. His prayer went deeper
and to the very root of all else. It is not good enough
to say that He meant something that was a basic,
spiritual, and heavenly fact without any manifestation
and evidence to the world or concrete earthly expression.
We cannot, in all honesty, take refuge from the problem
in such construing of His words. No, we have got to face
the truth and the present problem and be perfectly honest
in our dealing with it. The primary work of the Holy
Spirit would be to constitute a “Body”, and to MANIFEST
its organic oneness. All else would come out of this,
and hang upon it. Apart from this all else would fail of
fullness, and the measure of life and power, therefore of
effectiveness and fruitfulness, would be governed by this
oneness. Any injury to this would be a challenge to, and
arrest of, life, and a contradiction to an undivided
Christ.
When
we take the deeper look we see how very true this was in
those first months of the church’s testimony, and we
are not surprised that to arrest or weaken this mighty
campaign of victory — to say nothing of bringing
reproach upon Christ — the great enemy saw that
discord, division, and internal disaffection was the
essential strategy. The more he succeeded along this
line, so the more difficult became the work, the weaker
the testimony, the less the authoritativeness, the more
unconvincing the doctrine, the fuller the
self-occupation, and so the straitening of resources, and
the creeping in of other unspiritual methods and
institutions. Men have had to take responsibility for,
and bear the burden of, a whole fabric of organisation
and its maintenance extra to that for which the Holy
Spirit once took custodianship. Questions which arise and
must be answered are — Did the Lord only mean a
spiritual or “mystical” oneness apart from
— so far as the church is concerned — an
expression of it? When, at special times the Spirit has
given a wonderful and convincing manifestation of this
oneness and something akin to the beginning has taken
place, many souls saved, all barriers between Christians
completely out of sight as though they had never been, is
this to be taken as the divine idea for all time, or is
it meant to be only in periodic visitations? Is it the
heavenly normal or abnormal?
Sooner
or later such a situation arises, either between two, a
local company, a wider body, or in the world at large,
where EVERYTHING for any future at all hangs upon
a MANIFESTATION of mutual love, SPIRITUAL and
expressed unity (not organised union!). Preaching and the
“Work” may have to be suspended. Public
meetings may have to discontinue. All the external may be
driven from public procedure. Persecution and national
laws may suppress all forms of organised activity. The
very life and continuance of the testimony will then hang
upon this one thing, spiritual and practical unity.
Having
said that, we are committed to the main business in the
present situation of assailing the problem, and here we
must summon up all the honesty and courage possible.
There never was a matter in the church’s history
which called for more honest and courageous facing than
this one, for it makes the most stupendous demands; no
less are these demands than is the magnitude of the
established system which contradicts the Lord’s mind
as expressed in His prayer. To proceed to the practical
demands of the situation without defining the real basis
of unity, and securing an adequate dynamic for action,
would be foolish and futile. Therefore we must look at
the spiritual foundation as we have it in the New
Testament.
We
have seen that the coming of the Holy Spirit upon or into
the first nucleus of the church, or the church at its
beginning, brought about an inward and organic unity and
oneness which was more than — and basic to —
any outward and objective expressions. The statement that
Peter stood up with the eleven is more significant than
perhaps we have recognized. It may have been spontaneous
and undesigned; or it may have been the custom when
preaching, but it at least indicates the dismissal of all
reserve on the part of any one, and that they were really
moving together in a spontaneous way. It was the
impromptu expression of a common and corporate power and
principle which had taken up inward residence and
control. Given this inwardness of union by “one
Spirit”, and fully recognizing that, before all
else, they were baptized in one Spirit, and therefore
themselves of one Spirit, we have our starting point.
There is no hope for Christian unity, and Christ’s
prayer cannot find its answer, apart from every Christian
being definitely in possession of, and possessed by, the
Holy Spirit. The absolute Lordship of the Holy Spirit
sets aside all other lordship. The meaning of this we
have yet to show in our consideration of practical
demands, but it will be hopeless unless this inclusive
starting point is accepted and experienced. Too much is
taken for granted on this matter, and sufficient concern
must be felt for unity as to lead to real exercise of
heart before the Lord that the Holy Spirit shall really
be Lord and produce the fruit of His Lordship. Thus,
before all else, Christian unity is the result of a
definite and mighty work of the Spirit of God in
believers. When this is granted we look to see the first
and predominant feature of this unity as manifested at
the beginning. Is there one thing that can be seen and
recognized as the hallmark of the primal oneness? We
think that there is. It was THE GLORY OF THE NAME OF
JESUS.
Spontaneously
the one expression, unifying passion, concerted action,
and characterizing feature was enshrined in “The
Name”. Christianity was NOT A NEW TEACHING.
Not a New Teaching
There
is nothing in the whole story upon which to rest an
argument or affirmation that the apostles went out to the
world with “The teaching of Jesus”. They were
not propagating new doctrines or a system of truth.
Although they were charged with preaching a “strange
doctrine”, they were really only affirming certain
facts. To Jews they expounded the Scriptures. The
doctrinal parts of the New Testament mainly come out of
the acceptance of Christ, and were for the instruction of
believers. Ninety percent of the New Testament is for
believers. The teaching was a result, not a cause. The
most the apostles ever did was to substantiate their
testimony from the Scriptures, and affirm certain facts
concerning the person of Christ.
Not a New Religion
Christianity
was not set over against or alongside of other religions
and made “comparative”. It was some time before
some of the apostles themselves realised the implications
of their testimony in the matter of their being
emancipated from Judaism. Great as the change was, they
did not realise that they had changed their religion.
They found themselves out and committed against their own
prejudices, and had to do their thinking and discussing
after the thing had become a fact in embarrassing
experience. See Peter in the house of Cornelius, and the
events of Acts 10, 11, 15, etc.
Not a New “Movement”
No
plans were laid. There was no policy. Pre-organisation
was entirely absent, and any which subsequently had to be
admitted was forced upon them by the embarrassment of the
very vitality of things, and then it was of the simplest,
and always spiritual, not merely official.
A
thought-out campaign did not exist. To set up, launch,
form, bring into being, or found a new society, sect,
“church”, community, was not in mind. They did
not set out for such, and although their testimony gave
distinctiveness to all who believed, and outsiders
labelled them and misinterpreted their motive and
purpose, the distinguishing feature was life, producing
an organism.
All-inclusively
it was the proclamation and affirmation of a fact. That
fact was — and is — the universal sovereignty
and Lordship of Jesus Christ as the Son of God
established and vindicated by the resurrection from the
dead; and this was all summed up in “The Name”.
Everything was “in the Name of Jesus”.
The
issue of the first preaching and response thereto was the
command to “Repent, and be baptized… in the
Name of Jesus”. James seems to indicate that this
was the time — i.e. the time of their entering into
Christ — when that name was called upon them (James
2:7, margin). This is in keeping with much in both Old
and New Testaments as to the church — or House of
God — having His name put there. From that point
onward there is a very comprehensive range of activities
in the Name. Healing, prayer, preaching, agreement, being
gathered together, authority over Satan and demons. It
was “for the sake of the Name (that) they went
forth”. They rejoiced “that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for the Name”.
But
with all the activity there was firstly the fundamental
unifying bond of the Name, and then the living, working,
and having their conduct governed by the honour and glory
of the Name. Our point here is that if the passion for
the honour of the Name were as it was then there would be
no room for other names which divide, whether of people
or things, and there would be the most powerful dynamic
for dealing with everything contrary thereto, especially
division. The question which would decide every issue
would be, “Does this glorify the Name of
Jesus?” If not, NOTHING must stand in the way
of that glory. The Holy Spirit — the Custodian of
the Name and its glory — would signalize His good
pleasure by doing again what He did then.
Reverting
to the prayer of the Lord in John 17 it is important to
note that the matter of oneness has two phases. Verse 11:
“that they may be one”. Literally it is:
“that they may keep on being one”. Verse 23:
“that they may be perfected into one” —
perfect state as the goal. There is a basic present state
of oneness which is to be known, recognized, cherished,
diligently preserved, by “all lowliness and
meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in
love”, for “there is one body, and one Spirit,
even as also ye were called in one hope of your
calling” (Eph. 4:2,4). This procedure upon the basic
oneness will issue in a being “perfected into
one”; “till we all attain…” (Eph.
4:13).
It is
at this point that all the difficulty and trouble begins.
Right here we find the gap in which the whole history of
divisions began and has its occasion. Few will disagree
as to the BASIC unity “In Christ”, but
few will agree that the MANIFEST unity is as it
should be. Between the two there certainly is a big gap
with a tragic and grievous history. Argue as we may to
justify much of it, if we are spiritually minded and
honest we shall have to acknowledge that one thing is
responsible for it: that is that DIVISIONS ARE THE
RESULT OF SPIRITUAL IMMATURITY.
Spiritual Immaturity
That
can be said in different ways: delayed or arrested
spiritual growth; a low and weak spiritual condition; a
state of spiritual ignorance or unenlightenment; a
failure to walk in the Spirit; a living in the
“flesh”; a misapprehension, or a limited
apprehension of the real nature and meaning of the new
birth; a blindness to the real heavenly and spiritual
nature of the church; and, inclusively, not seeing the
meaning and significance of Christ as in the eternal
conception of God and heaven. These are all matters of
the most profound and vital importance, and they touch
the issue of spiritual oneness in manifestation most
positively. While in the letters to the Ephesians and
Colossians we have the church presented as in
completeness, and with regard to its calling, conduct,
and conflict; with certain practical features of its life
here: when we want to know something about its building
we have to visit a locality like Corinth, for there we
shall find all the cause of the situation in which the
church so largely is in our time, and the principles by
which alone that situation can be changed. That
divisions, contentions, jealousies, etc. are due to
spiritual immaturity, or unduly prolonged spiritual
babyhood, is definitely and positively stated there. The
whole section of chapters one to four of the first letter
to the Corinthians has to do with this; and chapter
twelve is its remedy.
But
when we have noted all the features of this condition,
one thing is shown to be the key to everything —
malady and symptoms. That fundamental factor and
principle is the mind or mentality of those concerned,
and the upshot or issue resolves itself into THE
DEMAND FOR A MENTAL REVOLUTION.
Renewing of the Mind
That
mental revolution is what Paul calls “the renewing
of the mind”. It was the mindedness of the believers
in Corinth that resulted in ALL the spiritual
arrest and painful disorders. It was Jewish mindedness
and Gentile mindedness, i.e. nationalistic (1 Cor.
1:22,23). It was man-mindedness, i.e. the mind of the
natural (soulical) man (ch. 3:3,4; ch. 2:14). The natural
and carnal mind is continually set over against the
spiritual mind in this letter. It is all a matter of the
“earthly” man overshadowing the
“heavenly” man. It has not yet been
sufficiently realised by the Lord’s people that the
natural mind is the realm in which the evil powers —
Satan himself — have the foothold.
In
Matthew 16 we have a most startling example. Peter, on
affirming Christ to be “the Son of the living
God” had been told that “flesh and blood hath
not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in
heaven”. Only a few verses further on Jesus is found
addressing the same Peter thus: “Get thee behind me,
Satan; thou art a stumblingblock unto me: for thou
mindest not the things of God, but the things of
men.” What a crash from heaven to hell! “My
Father” — “Heaven” —
“Satan” — “Men” —
“Flesh and blood”. In this Letter to Corinth
Paul contrasts the natural man with the spiritual, and
the natural and “earthly” with the heavenly
(ch. 2 and 15), and says, “flesh and blood”
cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. (“Flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee.”)
Satan
is allied to the natural man, and when we live on that
basis Satan can do his work of blinding and dividing. But
we must remember that Paul was writing to BELIEVERS, which
means that believers can live on that “natural”
level and therefore give Satan his ground for his evil
work. What a large field of spiritual instruction this
opens up! But we must come to practical points. It is the
entire mentality which is responsible for the state of
Christianity today, and evangelical Christianity as much
as any other.
Let us
be perfectly frank. The present organised system which
Christianity has come to be has involved Christians and
their leaders in a set of situations which make it —
to say the least of it — exceedingly difficult to
escape a false, totally false, conception of unity and
division. The work of God has become very largely
sectional under names, titles, and designations, which
represent either doctrine, technique, country, method, or
nation. It would not be difficult to arrange
“Churches”, “Missions” and
“Faiths” under such headings, but we refrain.
If the reader will do it, the situation becomes obvious.
But that is not all. The sections have their own
clientèle. They must have their own personal and
financial support. Funds must be obtained for their
maintenance and development. There are many in them as
“ministers” and officers whose livelihood hangs
upon the increase of the number of
“supporters”. The piece of work, the church,
the undertaking just MUST be supported and kept
going. Clientèle is a tremendous factor, relating to
many other factors.
It is
this crystallisation of Christian work into a fixed
system, settled, and so generally recognized and
accepted, AS TO LEAVE NO PLACE FOR ANY OTHER —
any other being at once suspect — that has set up an
entirely wrong and pernicious situation with regard to
unity. It is the “church”, i.e. the
denomination, sect, local congregation, mission,
movement, form, order, doctrine (extra to the basic
essentials of salvation) which now determine unity or
schism. To leave one and go to another, altogether
without a consideration for spiritual values is
immediately named division, “sheep stealing”,
etc. We are going to pursue this to its roots, and seek
to lay the axe there.