THE subject for to-night is communion. There is nothing the true heart desires more. And it is not only that my heart desires it, but Christ's heart desires it. This is an immense comfort, and yet it is so little known. We know so little of what it is to be in company with the Lord; walking down here, but in company with Him. It is not only that He is considering for me; but I may be in company with His mind, with Himself. The youngest believer may be in company with the Lord, though he may know very little.
In John 13 the Supper was in prospect, in remembrance of His death. All was in prospect. And now He rises from supper, and begins another work, a new work. He has finished one work, completed it; " there is no more offering for sin;" what the supper represented is over, and He begins another work which is going on now. Washing our feet: " The washing of water by the word." The Lord did not give His word in this way to Old Testament saints; you do not find Him washing their feet. It is Christ's present work for us; and what is the object of it? That we should have communion with Himself.
The object of His work on the cross was that I should be saved; the object of His present work is that I should have part with Him. Relief to the conscience alone does not satisfy the heart. Where there is affection for Christ, there must be longing for communion with Him; but sometimes we deceive ourselves by thinking we have it when we have not really.
There is nothing so gratifying to the heart, or so touching, as Christ saying: I will make it my business, that there shall be no break between you and me. Christ "loved the church and gave himself for it;" but more: "He sanctifies and cleanses it with the washing of water by the word." The word comes out in a new way to produce a new and distinct effect. When Peter objected to having his feet washed, the Lord's answer is: " If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." "Part" is communion. The object of the work which He now institutes, is by the ministry of the word to detach me from everything here, which causes a shade of distance between Him and me.
Look what the thought of His heart about me must be! It is affecting, entrancing, to think that all day long Christ's thought is, I desire that there should be no break between that soul and me. And it is not that He tells me to make it my business, but that He will make it His business. So that I can trace this work, this washing of my feet up to the very heart of Christ; and surely nothing can affect my heart like that. Do you walk along in the sense of His thought: There is to be no break between you and me? He makes those helpers with Him whose feet are washed.
There are three great subjects which we individually have in communion with the Lord. He has gone to prepare a place for us. This is the individual line. He has got a place for me up there. Besides this there are service and testimony. These have to do with others; they are connected with maintaining His name.
There is the individual enjoyment of a soul walking in communion with the Lord, the eye turned to Him. " Ye believe in God, believe also in me." Well, what have I communion with Him about? He has got a place for me there; He says, " I am the way." The moment the soul is liberated by the work of Christ, the question arises, Where is He? So in Colossians we read, "If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth.
This is the action of the Holy Ghost. In Acts 7 He declares to Stephen where Christ is. The delay with souls consists in their not being clear as to the first work of Christ; for when they are, the question must be, "Where dwellest thou?" and the moment the heart rests on Christ and knows that He has got a place for me there, what an effect it has! It is a cheer to the heart to find there is my communion!
Besides this He makes known the Father. I am made acquainted with the One who owns the place. Heaven in a sense is a strange place; but the Father, blessed be His name, is not a stranger. "I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it." He is the way, and He Himself discovers the power.
We will use the word concert, for the word communion has become so common that we have lost the real meaning of it. The meaning of communion with Christ is that I am in concert with Him. We are together in company, we are in the same line of things. No one can follow the Lord save in communion.
The latter part of the chapter brings out two other things connected with communion: obedience to the word, and that He makes Himself known to the soul-He manifests Himself. " He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."
You are going on the very same line in which He goes Himself. He is telling you the true path to take, and not only that but He says, " I will manifest myself to you."
Judas asks, How? And the Lord answers, The Father and I will come and make our abode with you down here. The language is incomprehensible in magnitude. If you are not exorcised as to it, you will not make much of it. If you are, perhaps you will make more of it than I do. It is the climax of the wonderful position the Lord would have us in, going along in company with Himself, we down here in the world, and He in the bright heavens up there. "Abode," in verse 23 is the same word as " mansions," in verse 2.
We talk of difficulties and perplexities! How little the heart is really in concert, in simple concert, with Christ! He has gone up to the right hand of God in greater power than ever, and He is using the elevation that He has gone to, to effect deliverance for me from all things that would separate Himself and me. Christ delights to have me in company with Himself about these wonderful things, and He uses His word to keep me from everything that would interfere with it. It is not a question of union: it is concert; it is the effect of the union.
Let us turn to a few examples to illustrate this. I may have communion according to my intelligence of Christ. In John 12 we find three persons, all three of whom have a measure of communion. Lazarus is sitting at the table; Martha is serving; but the one who was in simple concert with Christ's mind in the secret of His heart, traveling in company with Him, was Mary. She would take her place in company with Him, and He was going to die! The other two were not in full company with Him. Sitting at the table with Him was a great privilege; serving Him was a great distinction; but could anything equal being in company with Himself as to what He was about to do?
Again, in John 21 The Lord deals with Peter as to how he had failed in following Him. He was the first apostle the Lord met after His resurrection, he saw Him, He had breathed on him, had sent him forth. (Chapter 20) Peter had no sense of fear of Him, but he was not in communion. A person may do a great deal without being in communion, but he has not the Lord's mind as to how to act. Moses did not get the Lord's mind for forty years. You may have got out of the path, but not out of grace, and you might have a great deal of blessing, and still not be in communion, not in accordance with the Lord's mind. This chapter (John 21) shows how the Lord brings Peter into communion. If we are true to the Lord, we shall desire to be brought into it. The Lord says, " Come and dine."
It is interesting to mark that Peter is not restored yet, though he had been breathed on and commissioned. You will find that the sympathy of the Lord precedes- communion. He skews the interest He takes in me, before He comes to effect the removal of the thing in me which is a barrier to communion. What barred communion to Peter was self-confidence. His heart was not restored, he was off the line. If we are in communion, we are going on the line. Peter had gone fishing.
It is important to see how a man may be receiving and learning the goodness and truth of the Lord, and still not be in His mind. How do I know when I am in His mind? When I follow Him. " Come and dine" is the sympathy side. Here, the Lord says, all is prepared, here is the fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread; why do you go fishing? If you were in concert with me, you would see that you had a line of things of your own, and had not consulted my line, like Martha.
Communion is, I know the mind of the Lord; I am in concert with it; though I may be very far from getting into the depths of it. You may say, I have His mind so far. Then act on it. The Lord says to Peter, I must touch the thing in your heart which bars you from communion: " Lovest thou me?" And then He adds the true practice of communion: "Follow me." There may be devotedness without communion. Jonathan was devoted, but not in communion. Ruth was in communion: " Where thou goest I will go." When I get into communion my heart is called into fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. There is nothing so cheering to our poor hearts down here. The Lord likes me to go His own way, in concert with His own mind, and He enables me to accomplish what His desires are.
There is a difference between sympathy and communion. If I am afflicted or in distress, the Lord comes to me and says, I know what you are going through; I will give you a hand. He shows the interest of His heart for me. That is, " Come and dine." It is the thing that man wants; to think that the Lord is taking care of my interests; it touches my heart.
But some mistake this sympathy for communion; for instance, the sick often do. There is a sense in their souls of how Christ is considering for them in their weak state, and they think that is communion. He may yet have to touch the sore spot of what hinders such a one from entering into His interests; and it is a bitter process in many souls when the Lord touches the thing in the heart that hinders them from going on in His line. The more you go on with the word and in the path, the more will your tendencies be found out. If Abram goes into the land, he will be found out there. If you keep to the Lord and to the Lord's path, you will learn yourself; you will find out the desperate tendency there is in your heart to turn from that path. But that is directing, not correcting you.
There are two actions of the word: correcting and directing. In Heb. 4 it is directing, while discovering all the treachery that is in your heart, but you are meanwhile going on in the path. We do not enough understand the effect of the word. I see the apostle accomplishing wondrous things by the word. Luke 24 is our side of John 20 There the Lord joins the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, and first opens out the word to them; He next appears to them. These two disciples were not two of the apostles; they were ordinary witnesses, chosen; and He expounds the word to them. This is practically the way souls are enlightened now. But, after He opens the word to them, He appears to them. And this is the practical difficulty in souls.
There is a moment when the soul knows union with Christ. People talk of union, but do not know it. Has your soul ever got a glimpse, by the Spirit of God, of Christ risen? of "the mark " of which Paul speaks? How can you press toward the mark if you do not see it? " The mark " is Christ in heaven; He is the goal I am going to. Have I seen it? Practically it is what souls have lost sight of. They do not look for acquaintance with Christ risen. The first thing is the education of the word; the second, Christ Himself must be seen. The word delights the heart, but till the eye of your soul has rested on the Person of Christ, you have not the model for the word to take; there is no formation.
These two disciples received the word, and they saw the Lord; and now they go in the same road with Him. The moment the word has practical effect on me, I am going in the same road with the Lord. When the word is effective, I am in concert with His mind. It was a blessed effect here; their hearts were lighted up with the word; it was God's view of the life of Christ; He taught them God's view of His life. Next they know Him; and now they start off for Jerusalem which was then the center of His interests. It was too late before to go further; it is not now too late to go all the way back. What a beautiful energy produced by association with Christ! It could not be otherwise.
People often use a high phraseology for low things. A man may be receiving blessings from God without being in communion with Him. In Gen. 26 the Lord was very gracious to Isaac; He had really blessed him in the land of the Philistines, but when he left it all, the Lord appeared to him that same night. When the Lord discloses Himself to His servants He proposes to them the character and line of things they are to pursue, and He is with them as long as they follow it. Take as instances Moses at the burning bush; also Joshua, when he met the man with the drawn sword; and Isaiah, when the seraph touched his lips. If I am in communion with the Lord, even if only a babe, I shall delight in His company. " Blessed are the people that hear the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance." There is an allusion here to being in the tabernacle near enough to hear the bells of the High Priest. The Lord delights in my going in company with Him, and is it not delight to me? It is not only that He pities and helps me in trials.
In Philippians there is a different acquaintance with Christ in each chapter. All of us are in more or less trial and difficulty in which we can have company with the Lord. If I tell out all my difficulties to Him, I shall have the peace of God, chap. 4:7; and what am I to do then? " Whatsoever things are lovely.... think on these things." You could not do this if you were not in peace. If worried by the affairs of life, you cannot display these beautiful traits of character. Unburden then your heart to God; tell Him all; and you will come out in the practical thing with the peace of God; and the God of peace with you.
This is not for any high line of service, but for the daily routine of life. I am not worried by the details of daily life, because I have learned what Christ is to me. So that Paul says, " I can do all things through him who strengtheneth me." Instead of being flurried and worried, I come out gracious and considerate to everyone.
If not, I am not walking in the circumstance in the power of Christ. The 3rd chapter of Philippians is in advance of the 4th. Christ is so good to me, that my heart is set on Him; and if it is, nothing will suit me but association with Him where He is. I can count all things for Him loss; and " one thing I do;" I am set for the mark. I see Him superior to everything. What marks a man in communion with Christ? He knows Him; he is in fellowship with His sufferings; and he is forgetting the things behind. If my heart is set on Christ as my object, and if I am attracted by Him, if I have found out what He has been to me, I am delighted to be acquainted with Him, and nothing but His path down here suits me. What Naomi was to Ruth when she was a widow, bound her heart to Naomi. When I have found out what Christ has been for me, He is an object to my heart. I am occupied with Him; I long to be with Him; and I desire only to have His path down here. Then what characterizes me practically is " forgetting the things that are behind."
Chapter 2 is higher. It is "the mind of Christ." I have communion with Him now about the church; I have got another line of communion. Paul was in them all. Chapter 4 is the lowest; there we get help for ourselves in our circumstances. But while looking for Christ's help, you may have communion with Him, and, if you have found the help, you are actually in the manner of life in which Christ would be here in the same circumstances.
He is the One my heart is attracted to; I want to be in communion with Him. We may have communion with a person without a word passing between us; there is often communion thus about common things.
One great proof of being in communion is that I am not strait-laced; I can enter into everything, but in a godly way. The Lord was the most natural person possible. Most surely God has to do with man as to nature-His own creation. And we read " naturally care for your state."
(J. B, S.)