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How can we promote unity in the Assembly?
Excerpt:
(Lake Junaluska, N.C. – May 13, 2006)
Let’s turn first of all to Romans 14:19, “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.” And then in Ephesians 4:1-4, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation [calling] wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body.” I refer to these verses by way of introduction. This afternoon I would like to speak on “the things which make for peace.”
In the first three chapters of Ephesians, the Apostle has laid out the truth of the great mystery of Christ and the Church. He has spoken of the nature and unity of the Church as the body of Christ, being composed of believers from among both the Jews and the Gentiles. As members of His (mystical) body, we are inseparably linked together with Him who is the head by the indwelling Spirit of God. Then, in the last three chapters of the epistle, the Apostle exhorts the saints based on the truth he has laid down in the first part. What I have read in Ephesians 4 is the first of these exhortations. It is the first, and perhaps, the most important one. It is that we should walk worthy of our calling by expressing in practise that we are “one body.” This means that God would have His people walk together in visible unity here on earth, and He has given us special grace to do it (Eph. 4:7).
We are to “keep the unity of the Spirit in the [uniting] bond of peace,” which means that we are to keep in practise what is true in fact. And what is true in fact? That we are one body! God would have us to express in practise the truth of the “one body.” “The unity of the Spirit” is a practical unity that the Spirit of God would lead the saints into. Someone put it this way; “It is that which the Spirit of God is forming to give expression to the truth of the one body.”
We are not called to keep the unity of the body of Christ. God Himself keeps that intact, and no force or evil can break that unity. However, “the unity of the Spirit” is a practical thing that we are responsible to keep. God keeps the unity of the body, and we keep the unity of the Spirit. Now brethren, this means that if peace is to exist in the assembly, it must be through our efforts according to the grace given to us. God is not going to do it for us; we are the ones responsible to keep it! And it hardly needs to be said that we, the Church, have failed miserably in keeping this unity. It was first interrupted in Acts 5:1-11, and then again in Acts 6:1-4. And it has been broken many times since!
That peace and unity should exist among God’s people can be seen in the fact that in every New Testament epistle the writer mentions his desire for the condition of “peace” to exist among those to whom he wrote—except one—1St John!
I suppose, in the final analysis, every one of us is either a peacemaker or a troublemaker in the assembly. We are either helpers toward the condition of peace or we are the catalyst behind the disruption of peace. That may be oversimplifying it, but my point is that if we’re not being a help, then we’re probably being a hindrance, because there doesn’t seem to be any middle ground.
Now notice in the verse that I read in Romans 14 that the Apostle said, “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace.” But strangely, he didn’t specify what those things were. Perhaps the Spirit of God has left it that way so that we might be exercised about it.
This afternoon I would like to bring before you a few of those “things which make for peace” so that we all might be exercised about doing what we can to promote peace in the assembly. I am hardly qualified to speak on these things for I have surely failed in this myself, but they do need to be brought before us for present exercise.
Bind on Humility
Let’s turn to an incident in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus when there arose a dispute among His disciples. We will get some very helpful remarks from our Lord on this subject. Turn with me to Mark 9:33-37, “And He came to Capernaum: and being in the house He asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And He sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in My name, receiveth Me: and whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me.”
In the latter half of Mark 9, the Lord put His finger on three great causes for the disruption of peace among the disciples and then laid out a remedy for each. The first thing is wanting to be great.
Just prior to this, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the disciples were privileged to have a glimpse of the coming kingdom. Seeing the Lord in His official glory when He would reign in power in His kingdom gave rise to some carnal thoughts and desires among the disciples. They speculated as to who among them would have the greatest place in the kingdom. But it only created a dispute.
You know, the “desire to be first” has been the cause of much strife among the Lord’s people over the years. I realize that no one will ever come out and say that they want to be great or prominent among their brethren, but their actions will often tell the story. Wanting to have the ascendancy over our brethren—having a place of importance—stirs up a spirit of competition, which invariably results in jealousy and strife, and the disruption of peace. At the bottom of it is that subtle enemy—pride. Proverbs 28:25 says, “He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife.” And another proverb says, “Only by pride cometh contention” (Prov. 13:10).
I’ve been told that Mr. C. Koehler used to say that before he was saved he wanted to make something out of himself in the world. Then when he got saved and came among the Lord’s people he wanted to make something out of himself in the assembly. But he said that he had to learn that both were wrong! He had to learn that “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5). This is a lesson that we have to learn too!
When I worked for my father’s business of wholesale crafts there was a certain character in a competitor’s company that was well known for his self-importance. His name was Morley Brown. My dad had run into him a few times at a mutual client’s place of business, and he used to tell us about him. He was this big, imposing figure that thought a lot of himself. I had heard stories about him from other people too, and I secretly wanted to meet him, to see him in person. But I never did. Anyway, suffice it to say that his reputation went before him. One day we heard that the company that he worked for went bankrupt. We made contact with the receiver and went over and bought up a lot of their inventory at 25 and 30 cents on the dollar. There was just the receiver on the premises and the old head warehouseman who had been with the company for years. So, as we were working, I thought that this would be a good opportunity to ask him about Morely Brown. He said, “Morely Brown! We all hated him!” “We had a name for him that we would use behind his back. We called him ‘Big Fat, Big Shot, Brown!’” The sad part about it is that Morely Brown didn’t know that his swaggering confidence and self-importance made him obnoxious to others. I’m sure he would have been stunned to learn that people didn’t appreciate him.
Now brethren, could it be possible that we carry ourselves in the assembly in such a way that people say behind our backs, “There goes ‘Big shot, brother so-and-so!’” Do we come into the meeting hall with an air of importance? You know, we mustn’t use the assembly as a sphere to exalt ourselves, but our actions tell on us, and we don’t realize it. Others can see it in us, but often we can’t. Let’s remember that “every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:14).
The Lord addressed the apostles’ “desire to be first” by giving them an object lesson on humility. First, “He sat down,” and called them together. Taking a low place to address the disciples was a symbolic action pointing to the need for lowliness and humility. He then “took a child” in His arms and told them to “receive” a child in His name. Isn’t this beautiful? The Lord Jesus was so lowly that He had time for children! I suppose receiving a child means to help the child in some way. It would be an insignificant thing in the eyes of most people. It isn’t something that brings a person into the public eye, but God would see it, and approve of such a work. In this, the Lord was teaching His disciples that they should be content in doing small things in service that may not be noticed by others.
But such is contrary to human nature. We want to do the things that get us noticed. We need to search our hearts about this. Do we want to go to some faraway country to give out tracts because it will get us noticed? You might get your name in the “Notes of Interest,” but that’s not the reason why we should want to serve the Lord. Perhaps your assembly is going to put on some function; it’s interesting to see who volunteers for the jobs that get one noticed! We’ve seen younger brothers in conferences wanting to pray or say something, but when it comes time for the prayer for gospel in the back room, they’re not there! I don’t want to discourage any of our younger brethren from taking part in the meetings, but just think of what it looks like. Such behaviour can’t help but make one wonder.
We had the pleasure of having brother Cam Wilkin and his wife in our home recently. We got to talking about the older brethren who have passed on helpful advice. I asked him to tell me some of the things that were given to him. He gave me one gem of note. He said that old brother Millar (now long with the Lord) said to him, “Cameron, stay small; those who get big get taken away.” What good advice that was!
When we get occupied with our own importance then we’re in a danger zone. We are not thinking soberly. Paul said, “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). I just love the verse, “Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.” J. N. Darby’s translation says, “ ... going along with the lowly” (Rom. 12:16). That’s the path for us.
We’ve been reading through the gospel of Luke at home, and the only person whom we found (correct me if I’m wrong) whom the Lord specifically went to dwell with was a man of little stature—Zacchaeus. Isn’t that significant? The Lord dwells with those who are of little stature, spiritually speaking! It reminds me of Isaiah 57:15, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” These are the two dwelling places of our Lord—in the “high and holy place” above, and with the “humble” and lowly on earth below. It shows us that the Lord will not identify with those who are high and mighty. Jeremiah told Baruch, “Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not” (Jer. 45:5). That’s a good word for us.
Peter exhorts us, “All of you bind on humility towards one another” (1 Peter 5:5 – J. N. Darby Trans.). Should we come to an impasse in the assembly where there may be a dispute over something, the remedy is to go down—to take the low place. Mr. Darby said, “Submission is the healing principle of humanity.” He also said, “Pride is the cause of division, and humility is the secret of fellowship.”
I remember hearing of a man who was traveling on a mountain pass in the Andes with his fully burdened mule. The road was extremely narrow, enough for just one traveller at a time. It was carved out of the mountain with a steep cliff off the side. He went along, winding around one corner after another. When he came around one bend, what do you think he saw? Another man with his fully burdened mule looking at him! What were they going to do? The two men discussed the possibilities. They asked each other if they could remember how far back it was where the path widened so that two could pass. Perhaps they could back the animals up to that point. Another idea was to unburden the animals. But while the men were discussing it, the two mules figured it out. One got down on his knees and got as close as possible to the mountain, then the other stepped around him! Now if that isn’t nature itself teaching you! (1 Cor. 11:14)
It’s really the answer to every impasse we may come to in the assembly. Each one of us is to go down, esteeming the other better than themselves! (Phil. 2:3). It is the way each local assembly is to “work out” its “own salvation with fear and trembling”—which is the real meaning of that verse (Phil. 2:12). We are responsible to work it out by each one imitating the pattern of Christ humbling Himself (Phil. 2:5-8). By each one doing that, the assembly saves itself from the inroads of the enemy who is seeking to spoil the unity.
The problem with pride is that we can’t see it in ourselves. Like Morely Brown, who imagined that he was well thought of by all, we can be deceived by our self-importance. There was a man whom Mr. Hayhoe used to tell us about who was proud that he was humble! It was in the days of the Great Depression, and this brother was criticizing another brother for spending money needlessly. He said, “I’m not going to spend money on clothing; I’ll make do with the clothes that I have!” When the brother folded his arms, his elbow could be seen through a hole in his shirt. Mr. Hayhoe said that you could just see the pride sticking through the hole!
Wanting to be great is a clear sign that we are not truly living in the presence of the Lord, because no flesh glories in His presence (1 Cor. 1:29). Actually, we’re letting everybody know our real state—even if we don’t know it ourselves. So, the remedy for wanting to be great is to get into the presence of the Lord with reality, and then we’ll be humble. The prophet Micah said, “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Mic. 6:8).