"The new man, which is being renewed after
the image of Him that created him. Where there cannot be Greek and Jew,
circumcision and uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman, but
Christ is All, and in all" (Col. 3:10,11 NASB).
This is the all-comprehending, all-embracing
Christ. And here, once more at the end of the Apostle's earthly life and
ministry, he brings before the Lord's people that great purpose, vision and
intention of a corporate man: "after the Image of Him that created him."
The man here, while of course being individual, is presented as corporate. He
mentions the many aspects of the great schism that has been wrought in the whole
universe by which the human race has been split up, broken up, and put into a
state of conflict with itself. Then he says that vast work of disintegration,
confusion, conflict, schism and frustration is destined to be entirely overcome
and all that state removed in a corporate man, a corporate Christ. All the
marks of this terrible thing, which started in heaven and split heaven in two
and set up the rivalry in heaven, which registered even in heaven something of
frustration, and that is the arresting of God's purpose. It came from heaven
unto this earth, and destroyed the unity of the human race, and developed this
terrible history in all directions and connections - this history of a
fundamental schism in the very constitution of things and this terrible
frustration.
Now the Apostle here says that vast thing is
destined to be destroyed, and put aside and supplanted by a humanity in absolute
harmony, agreement, unity, oneness and fellowship. And therefore, believers are
called upon in the process of this renewing, this bringing back the
process of renewing by the Holy Spirit, they are called upon themselves,
on the one side to exclude all that Christ excludes, and to embrace all
that Christ embraces. It is commonplace to say that for this reason, any
semblance of genuine true spiritual unity, and any expression of real fellowship
and oneness, is the enemy to all that satan has done. Therefore, fellowship
becomes the battleground between heaven and hell. It is centered, as Paul
teaches, in the Church. This is a marvelous statement, the depth and fulness of
which we shall never compass, where but but! Over against all this other, Christ
is All, and in all. The principle and law of power, of unification, of
integration is just meeting on the ground of Christ, and refusing all other
ground. And if people will not come onto the ground of Christ, then that limits
our meeting, our fellowship. Not on any other ground at all, not what meets our
eyes.
The Lord has done some very deep and drastic
work in you and in me in relation to certain things. Those things become
anathema to you as you find it very difficult to be tolerant in their presence.
But let me say again, we have got to close our eyes to a whole vast realm of
things as things, and not allow them to stand in the way of fellowship,
if only there is the right ground. It may be a very small measure of
ground in comparison with all the other. But if there is just that Christ, that
is where our eyes are to be set and not upon the other things.
You will have to read a lot into what I am
saying, but you will find, as I find, that if I am going to get anywhere with
anybody at all in spiritual things, I have got to focus and determine to keep
focused upon what measure of Christ there is there. Let these things excluded be
a guide to a lot of other things. I don't suppose that you will ever be very
much troubled or bothered by circumcision and uncircumcision. You may not even
be very much bothered as a practical problem with Jew and Greek, as such. It is
possible you will go through life and never even meet a Greek. And you might,
the probability is less, but you might go many days without meeting a Jew. I
mean in practical and literal matters, you may not be bothered about this and
this scripture taken literally, "Where there is neither Jew nor Greek,
circumcision nor uncircumcision," you may not find that that constitutes any
problem for you, whether the others do or not, it need not come to us literally
for any consideration, but what they represent.
If Paul were writing today, he would add a lot
of other things to this sum. He would perhaps speak about Jew and Gentile, he
might speak therefore about circumcision and uncircumcision, he might speak
about Barbarians, and Scythians and the rest, but he would add a lot more. I am
quite sure he would say, "Where there cannot be Baptist and Methodist and
Brethren and all the rest of them." He might mention the whole lot. No, no,
they just cannot be as such. It would rule out a lot of things, which man
makes the basis of a relationship and a fellowship. He would tell you, "No, not
one of those is the basis at all." The basis on which and on which alone we can
meet, but must meet and determine to meet is, whether it be Baptist or
Congregationalist or Methodist or Lutheran or any of the others, even whether it
be Roman Catholic, the basis on which we can have fellowship, and must seek to
have fellowship, is the measure of Christ. And you may find some in a Roman
Catholic. Really, you may find something of Christ, oh indeed you will, in many
cases; it may not be in the system, but in the person. And so you just have to
say, "Where there cannot be this and that and that, for that is not the basis,
but Christ." If I can find Christ, if Christ is there, I must search Him
out, and I must make everything that can be made of any measure of Christ
that is there and dismiss the other things, God said, shut your eyes to it.
I could give you some very practical examples
of this. I am tempted to, but I think perhaps I had better not. But I think
you see the point, Paul lists a lot of things, a whole lot of things, which
divide men, which are the causes of the schism and of the frustration, because
men will hold to this ground and that ground and another ground which is
either other than or extra to Christ. We are saying, here in this man, created
by Christ, this new man which is corporate, only Christ obtains, Christ only:
that is the ground. Now friends, this is not just teaching, this is not just
things being said again, it is a positive challenge to us, a positive challenge
and a real battleground. And it is not always easy to close your eyes,
definitely and deliberately close your eyes to the things, and only focus
upon any modicum of Christ that there may be and make everything of that. It is
not always easy, there is something to be done and only as we do that shall we
find integration, shall we have fellowship, and will there be an expression of
Christ.
It is this kind of manhood, which is so
different. It is not a composite manhood, which is made up of this and that and
a hundred other things, by certain titles, designations, denominationally or
anything else. It is not a composite man, Paul is not saying, "Where Jew
and Greek, circumcision and uncircumcision, and all these things are included."
He is saying, "they are all excluded, they are not to be taken into account; but
the inclusiveness, the comprehensiveness is Christ Himself, the kind of Man to
Whom the Holy Spirit is seeking to conform us." And it will search us very
deeply and very thoroughly, it really will.
Let us ask the Lord to very, very thoroughly
deliver us from those elements which only bring frustration and death. If we
have a critical disposition, an attitude toward everything and everyone; it is
deadly, it is just deadly! It is so easy to get into the habit of finding at
once the flaws, the weaknesses, but it is deadly, and it is frustrating. Let us
ask the Lord to save us from such a disposition, to see where everything comes
short and everything is different instead of taking a more positive line of
making the most of what there is of the Lord. I say, this is a searching thing,
and a very testing thing. And, after all, the measure of our true Christly
manhood, Christly and heavenly humanity, will be the measure in which we do
this: make all that is possible of Christ.
This desire and concern of the Lord to have a
man after this kind is everywhere in the Scripture. And if you would notice how
in a number of cases the phrase, "the man," is used in relation to
something of God, illustrating very often, Christ. I will give you one or two
examples of what I mean. Moses. Now it says, "Now the man Moses was
meeker than all men on the earth... the meekest of men, the man Moses." And in
that statement and that definition and explanation of Moses, you have such a
clear and wonderful example of Christ on that particular line. "I am meek
and lowly of heart" said the Lord Jesus, "meek and lowly of
heart." Now the man Moses was meeker than all men on the earth. This is
the manhood, you see, the manhood that God underlined. You can say what you
like about Moses, and there are many things that you can say about him as a
leader and a lawgiver and much more, but when God looks upon him, upon his
manhood, He puts the circle around this: "Now the man Moses was meeker
than all men on the earth." That is where God's eye is: on the characteristic
of Christ - meekness - by which that terrible thing that disrupted this
universe, the pride of Lucifer, is undercut in the meekness of a New Man. We
don't often think that the mighty, terrible devil is undone by meekness, but
there it is.
Take Isaac again as another example. There is
that very simple statement that you read, and you overlook and don't mark,
"Now the man Isaac was very great." The man Isaac was very great. What was
Isaac doing when that was said? Isaac was reopening the wells that had been
filled up by the Philistines. It says that Isaac was sowing and reaping.
Isaac, as we know, is the type of resurrection. And the resurrection man is
concerned with and occupied with the opening up of the wells of Life. He is not
occupied with things that are becoming stuffed up and shut up and shut down;
dead ends. The Philistines did that, he is countering this work
which is robbing the people of the water of Life. He is sowing and reaping, he
is on the line of fruitfulness, that is what the resurrection man does. Oh, how
he foreshadows Christ in this in resurrection, opening up the wells of Life for
the people of God, and producing fruitfulness. That is the way of life; that is
the manhood.
Here is another case out of many we could
mention: Mordecai. Mordecai in the Book of Esther. Before you are through with
that wonderful story, you have it stated, "The man Mordecai waxed greater and
greater." You recall the story don't you, I need not remind you of the Book
of Esther, "the man Mordecai waxed greater and greater?" The man did,
greatness in a man.
But what did Mordecai do? How did he come to
that place and that measure of stature, "greater and greater?" How? First of
all, he sat in the gate and watched, and found out the evil that was at work.
You remember the two who plotted against the life of the king in order to
assassinate him? An Mordecai watched, got the information about that and saved
the king's life (6:2). Mordecai, it was, who kept his eye on Haman, the wicked
Haman. He was watching him very closely in the gate, and his mischief, his
evil, as Haman plotted for the destruction of all the Jews, the people of God.
It was Mordecai who acquainted himself with all this and watched and worked
against the evil which was plotting death; evil working out in death. Mordecai
countered that by watchfulness and carefulness, in self-abasement, in a place of
humiliation as he sat at the gate.
Now these are the things that characterise true
manhood - set against all evil that works in the direction of death; to counter
it, to destroy the enemy's plots and purposes to bring death amongst the people
of God. It is a hazardous business; so much so that Haman got his eye on
Mordecai to destroy him. But here is an interesting thing, and this is so close
to what we are saying. Here's this interesting thing, it says that "Haman was
afraid to destroy Mordecai." So, he plotted to destroy all the Jews in
order to engulf Mordecai! If he can destroy the corporate man, he will
destroy the Man Who is at the heart of things. By destroying the Lord's people,
you see what a blow is struck at the Lord Himself. The corporate man involves
The Man. But here is the point: "the man Mordecai waxed greater and
greater," the man, that is the phrase, "the man," manhood is doing
this. And so we could go on. It is all very interesting, but it is all so
instructive. You come to The Man and look at Him, Hmeek, above all men,
meeker than Moses. Yet in His meekness, He is active in two directions: for
Life against death.
For Life
Now, you see, these are statements that can be
taken objectively as belonging to something else, but let us bring them right
home to ourselves. What is the effect of my Christian life? Is it, on the one
hand, a studied, considered and determined registration against all those things
that would produce spiritual death? And is it, like Isaac, something committed
to bringing out the life which the enemy has tried to smother in the wells?
This tests our real Christianity, and the effect of our spiritual manhood.
Meekness, yes, but all working against the work of the Philistines, the enemy
out to rob the Lord's people of the means of life, and working quietly,
prayerfully, diligently against the works of the devil to engulf the Lord Jesus
in a bad testimony amongst His own people.
The Book of Esther, you see, leaps into that
one inclusive issue. The last chapter is a wonderful chapter: the Jews are
delivered, the Feast of Purim set up forever, the enemy's work overthrown, and
it says, "They had a good day." And they had a good day... the Lord's people
over against the evil day that the enemy had plotted. But it was a kind of
manhood that brought that about. You see through. Yes, the Lord needs His man,
not only as in His Son: the Greater Mordecai, but in the people who are
according to or after the manhood of the Greater Mordecai.
May I underline something that I have said:
that the whole of the people of God embody the testimony of the One Man; and He
stands, He stands as representing the Body. And what happens in His Body
affects Him tremendously. Well, anything that speaks of death and disruption is
set against the Lord Jesus, and we must take that to heart. And let us ask the
Lord to put us on the line of Isaac. He is not made a great deal of in the
Bible characters. Abraham, yes, Jacob, yes, and we will put Isaac in between,
we will sandwich him somewhere, but we will not say very much about him; but
Isaac, the man brought back from death, the man who is the embodiment of
resurrection, and who proves it by undoing the works of the enemy and
opening up the fountains of Life for the people of God, and providing bread for
them. The Lord make us like that, really on positive lines. And, also like
Mordecai, who are alive to the activities of the enemy, and who work against
them for the sake of the Lord's people.
Now I want to close by bringing this where it
ought to be brought: this great, this wonderful conclusion of the Apostle to the
whole: "where Christ is All, and in all."
I wonder, dear friends, what you covet and pray
for more than anything else. For my own part, my coveting, my praying is more
than for anything else, a fresh and mighty captivation of the Lord Jesus, a
captivation of Christ. Oh, it is quite true, and we know it, that He is
our life, He is our Saviour, He is so much to us and we are right when we
say that we could not live without Him. And yet, is there not some margin
between that and what I am calling an absolute captivation with Christ? That He
is a passion in our lives, that He is a dominating power in our
lives. Language fails... that He has just so captured us, so utterly captured
us, that not only is He our Life in the sense that we couldn't get on without
Him, but that He is a passion for living. This man who wrote these
words, just look at him in this way: somehow he had seen Christ at the
beginning and through his long years he had seen more and more of Christ, until
in prison - with all those terrible sufferings and afflictions and adversities
and sorrows and disappointments that had come upon him through those years, his
catalogue of adversities right at the end; Christ is more than everything.
Christ is in the ascendant, it is "Christ will be All, and in all." Now I say,
language fails , I cannot put into words what I mean, but oh, for the
positiveness of this passion of Christ.
I do not know how many of you may have read F.
W. H. Meyer's great poem, "St. Paul." It is very largely an imaginative thing
as all poetry is, of course, but there is a fragment, a line or two, in that
great poem, depicting the life of the Apostle. And he, in an imaginary way,
finds Paul meeting a pagan woman in all her misery, possibly one of those temple
women, like the woman in Philippi, the demon-possessed woman of the temple. And
Meyers pictures such a woman in her misery, in her frustration, in her
hopelessness, and all her sin and degradation, she is before him. When Meyer is
telling of all this about her, he puts into Paul's mouth these words: "then I
preached Christ. And brothers, if you saw it," he said, "never had my
Master been so wonderful to me until I saw what He could do for a woman like
that." How she leapt out of her misery, her wretchedness, her frustration, all
the horrors of her life, into new hope. He said, "I saw my Master in a greater
way than ever I had seen before."
Now I say, that may be poetic, imaginary, but
there is an essence of truth in it. What Meyer is trying to say through that
wonderful poem is: "Oh, the captivating power of Jesus Christ in the life
of that man Paul, the mastery of Christ." You can feel what I cannot say, the
desire that it should be like that with us... Christ! Christ! Seeking out
Christ, making the most of Christ, increasing Christ, all Christ! "For me to
live is Christ!"
You may think that that is true of you, but oh
how we fail, how we fail. How little, after all, has Christ gripped us? And if
this is true where "Christ is All, and in all" that is the End, that is how it
is going to be; how vastly great Christ must be! If He is going to give
character to the whole humanity composed of a vast multitude, which no man can
number, ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. Language is
beggared to try and describe and if Christ has given character to that, to
that in a universe of redeemed humanity, how great He must be: in
character, in work, in power. How great He must be!
I leave it with you, but this is the kind of
knowledge unto which we must be renewed! Such a seeing, a grasping, an
apprehending and being mastered by the Greatness of the One to Whom, by the
grace of God, we have been united, called into the fellowship of His Son
Jesus Christ. May it be more than a mental grasping of Christ;
that we know He is Great, we believe He is great, we have experienced something
of His Greatness. May our hearts, more than even our minds, be
mastered by this Man Jesus Christ and we be His abject slaves in
worship and adoration. He is so great!