CO 4:1-18{LAST evening we looked a little at the place in which God has set the believer in Christ. This evening I want to set forth what is the practical side of this. We are entirely of a new stock, as we have already seen: " Both he that sanctifieth and they which are sanctified are all of one." It is not now God demanding righteousness from us, but righteousness is ministered from glory. God having found righteousness for us in Christ, a revolution has come in, righteousness is ministered from glory. The Son met everything according to God's mind; He has borne the judgment due to us, and glorified God, and God has raised Ma from the dead, and now comes in a new thing: the ministration of the Spirit.
In these lectures I desire to go over the Christian's history. The first point of which is, that he is placed before God according to the beauty of Christ, and is, according to God's eye, as Christ; nothing less. Stephen was the fruit of Christ's accepted work; he was the answer to Psa. 22
There are three steps in what I call an infant Christian. The first step is, I know that I am accepted in the Beloved. I want to know how God feels about me, and I do know that He delights in me because His Son has cleared away everything that was between Him and me, and has placed me in His own beauty before His eye to be conformed to the image of His Son. The second step is, the Holy Ghost has come down from the glorified Christ, and has united me to the One who has thus cleared all away. The third is, that I am to come back to this scene and not allow in myself one single thing for which Christ died. This is what the Corinthians were defective in.
As the cross has cleared away everything from the eye of God, you must practically go back to the cross, and not allow one single thing in the old stem; as we saw in our illustration of the standard rose. The graft is the pure work—-Christ; the stem is the old thing-Adam. The graft commands all the resources that are in the briar, but gives it no credit at all. The cross must come on every bud of the briar, on every expression of the old thing. It must be " always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body."
We must distinguish between the carnal mind, and that nature which God at the beginning gave man. For instance; my eye is nature, and is given me to be used; but how am I going to use my eyesight? Is it for Christ? That is the question. We must not forget that while Christ is Head of the new creation He is also Creator of the old. So we read: " Commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator." And, " Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body;" the words, " and in your spirit," ought not to be there. The Corinthians were not setting aside the old man; so the apostle presses on them the truth that another person is to be seen now; the whole point is, not is a thing good, but is it Christ! It is to be " Not I, but Christ liveth in me."
We shall see the different ways in which the flesh intrudes, and the different ways in which it is set aside. In Romans we get one way in which the flesh intrudes. Chapter 6:6 shows how we get clear of it all. " Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." The sins were all judged on the cross; but more than that; we get a statement in Genesis fulfilled in Christ, and which was never fulfilled till He came: "The end of all flesh is come before me." For a moment this was symbolized in the flood; all was either covered or drowned; but it never came out fully till Christ made an end of it on the cross. In Rom. 5 there are two headships: Adam and Christ. In chapter 6. all the sin is gone; I learn it in the cross. In chapter 7. we get the new nature, very anxious to keep the law, not perfect, not full grown. It is not here a question of sin, but of good. Am I not to do good? I delight in the law of God; after the inward man I am trying to do good. Take an example of a man, a tenant, over head and ears in debt. I say to him, My son has cleared away all your liabilities; what now? Oh, he says, I hope to live a very grateful life, to manage my farm better, and so on. Then I say that man is not clear of law; he is not out of Rom. 7 But I say to him, I am going to bring you into my house, and make you heir with my son, instead of a tenant whom I had a demand on: " heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ." But the man cannot understand it. Just so, many find it difficult to know what is done with the old farm. At last he comes to: " In me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing;" and cries out," Oh wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me? And it is a wonderful moment when the soul gets there. It is not a question of sin, but of doing good, of trying to be good; it is all constant trouble till I find out that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. I must get there, and when I do, I can never again be disappointed with myself, because I do not expect anything from myself I am transferred to Christ; I have done with the old farm. Now it is to be a model one, and carried on by a new power.
In chapter 8. it is "In Christ Jesus," and therefore no condemnation. A man that is in Christ is perfect, has done with the old man. Chapter 8 brings out the wonderful charter: I am in Christ.
Look at Galatians now. In Romans the flesh is dealt with as it is in the sight of God; but in Galatians it is how you stand with yourself, Pious people dwell on how they stand with themselves. The Galatians put themselves under law, and they were no better off than the Corinthians, who were lawless. The Corinthians were self-indulgent; the Galatians legal; they were putting restrictions on themselves. If I have a bad temper, and I put myself under law, does my temper improve? No; I do not get rid of the inclination that way, and it is this that I want. And the only way to attain it is: " Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye should not do the things that ye would."
I used to say, I believe the flesh is stronger than the Spirit, but I do not say so now, because I have in Christ a greater power; there is in me a greater power than the flesh, and that is the Spirit of God. I have no right to walk in the ways of the flesh. A teacher ought not to speak of what he does not know in himself. The apostle gives himself as a pattern, and I can say it is a wonderful, marvelous blessedness to have done with the briar, and to have the rose occupying my mind. " God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world."
I belong to another Person altogether. I breathe another air, and I am not going to cultivate the old thing at all. "God forbid." You get the world in its relation to you, and you in yours to the world. It is not the gospel that is brought before us in this mention of the cross of Christ. I would rather have the smallest atom of Christ in me, than the most beautiful thing that was ever seen in man by nature. Do you know anything of the beauty of Himself, and can you put anything for a moment in comparison with Him? God has got a man to His own mind; and we are accepted in Him, and are to be conformed to His image.
Colossians gives another form of the way in which the flesh intrudes. It is curious how we are beset by the assaults of the old man. We read in chapter 2.: " Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." This is a very deceitful kind of intrusion. We may designate it Methodism; it is a religious appearance; actions that correspond to the feelings that have been worked upon.
In both Ritualism and Revivalism we get what answers to the working of the feelings to make a man religious. I am always against Revivalism, because it is acting on the thing which has nothing in itself. They say good impressions are produced, but all those good impressions die away like a flower, and leave days of darkness; hence the unhappy state of many we see. There is nothing really solid in the soul but God's work.
That form of the intrusion of the flesh which was allowed in the Corinthians is not allowed in the Romans. In the latter, man's conscience is exercised, though he is not acting according to God. It is an interesting case. The Corinthian was not interesting; he says, I have got the work of Christ, and now am I am going to enjoy myself. The first Epistle was written to shew them, not that their sins were put away, but that the old man was crucified: " I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ," that is objective, " and him crucified," that is subjective. The true heart asks where He is. Many a person has Christ for his sins, who does not say, Where is He? but when my soul has Christ for its object, then it is, T want to know where He is. If you have Christ for your conscience, you have only relief; but if He be an object to your heart, He is not only a relief but a resource; and then the question is where is He? " Where dwellest thou?" You could not have an object to your heart without knowing where that object is. If He is only an object to the conscience, it is the service that He renders that is before you; but if it is Christ for the heart, then it is "No place can fully please us, Where Thou, O Lord, art not."
The apostle said " I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." And what were those he was writing to doing? They were indulging themselves bodily and mentally. They were full of mind and amusement. Therefore in chapter 2:14, he says, " The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." With the natural mind you can never know heavenly things; if you allow the briar, it cannot help you in divine things.
In chapter 8. they were occupied with things belonging to idols, and in chapter 10. the apostle says, I am going to set you straight by the word of God; not by eloquence or logical power. He has wonderful reliance on the word of God. He says, " I speak unto wise men, judge ye what I say." Here is the Lord's table, and what are you doing at it? " The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?"
In the next chapter we get the supper, which brings out His love in dying for us. He died for you, and what are you doing? Are you enjoying yourself? Enjoying yourself in this scene without God is idolatry. In the Lord's table it is not so much my gain which is before my heart, as what it cost Christ to effect this great gain for me. I cannot charge myself with forgetting what Christ has done for me, but I often forget what it cost Him. If we were more in communion with His blood, more in the sense of what it cost Him, we should take a much more retired pathway through such a world as this. " Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks; this shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow." And how can you indulge yourself in a world where all good effects for you come by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ? But how am I to get on? you ask. Carry out 2 Cor. 4:1010Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:10). Do not allow anything that Christ died for. You may say, He did not die for my eyesight. No; but He died for the will that works it. Your body is the Lord's.
In Philippians you find the practical life of a man who loves Christ; of one who gives up, not the bad things, but the best things, for Him. It is not a question of how far he had advanced; the greatest mark of progress is, that I am seeking more of the Lord. It is not accumulation, but the more I acquire the more I seek. I have become so enriched by what I have, that I am going on to learn more. I leave everything behind to go to Him. " I do count them but dung that I may win Christ." It is a sorrowful thing that, as intelligence increases, earnestness often declines. The Psalmist says, " My soul followeth hard after thee."
In Ephesians there is the full outflow of Christ. All natural duties are carried out, but not as in Colossians. In Colossians there is resistance. Is it that we have done with nature in Ephesians? No; but that the treasure is in an earthen vessel. The Lord first 'made the vessel, but the question now is whether the Lord works the vessel. " Children, obey your parents in the Lord." Christ is to come out now. God does not look at us beyond our own house and His house. Every one is tested in his own house; that is where the strain is. " Which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost?" Do not build unless you have got the material that will stand. Christ will stand. "Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church." You will never know a sentiment until that sentiment has been acted towards yourself. No one knows love until it has been acted toward himself. " Servants be obedient to them that are your masters.... as unto Christ.... doing the will of God from the heart." If you are a servant you may be a beautiful specimen to angels that you act here as Christ would act. And if you ask, How am I to get on with the powers that be? I answer, Obey them.
May our hearts be so delighting in the beauty of the Lord, that we may realize something of the language of the hymn we sang, and look for it nowhere else.
" Oh fix our earnest gaze,
So wholly, Lord, on Thee,
That with Thy beauty satisfied,
We elsewhere none may see."
(J. B. S.)