Matthew 3:7 - 12; Acts 1:4 - 8; 1 Corinthians 12:12 - 13.

One feels the importance of paying attention to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist refers to it in each of the gospels. The Lord Jesus in the 1st of Acts, and Paul in 1 Corinthians 12. One feels that the Lord Jesus would have us learn what immersion means in this respect. We are all tested as to whether we are prepared unreservedly to commit ourselves to the Holy Spirit in the way He may be pleased to move at any time -- to be wholly in the current of His movements. The figure of baptism helps. It is in the acceptance of it that we come practically into the gain of the body. In actual fact the body is formed and we are members of it. "In the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body". (1 Corinthians 12:13). If we understand the meaning of baptism the truth of the body would work out practically and vitally amongst us, and there would be no persons moving independently or in any way that causes concern to the saints. Such movements are not compatible with the truth of the body nor with the truth of the Spirit being here.

It is important to see that in Ephesians 4 it says "There is one body and one Spirit". We might have written it in the reverse order, but scripture says, "There is one body and one Spirit, as ye have been also

called in one hope of your calling", showing that if we are to get the gain of the Spirit we must recognise the truth of the body. The baptism of the Spirit, if understood by us, would mean that we are moving bodywise. John the Baptist brings in the great truth to magnify the person of Christ. "I indeed", he says, "baptise you with water to repentance, but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not fit to bear, he shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire". (Matthew 3:11). I am not sure that any such suggestion is made earlier in scripture. John brings in a remarkable new unfolding of the truth, that there was to be such a thing as this, the baptism of the Spirit. In announcing the coming of Christ, this is how he introduces Him, this is what would mark Him off -- "He shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit". He is indicating that the baptism of the Spirit is one of the most outstanding events on the divine calendar -- an outstanding feature in connection with the coming in of Christ and what He would effect. The mystery hidden throughout the ages in God was to be brought to pass, that is, the formation of the saints into one body.

Then when persons receive the Spirit they partake in the baptism of the Spirit, they become members of the body, but it is quite a different idea. The moment you think of the baptism of the Spirit you have the corporate thought in mind. It is as an individual that I receive the Spirit. Our bodies are spoken of as "temple of the Holy Spirit", (1 Corinthians 6:19). But then have I apprehended that, the Spirit having come to dwell in me in that way, I have part in the baptism of the Spirit?

That links me on with the saints, as it says, "For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body". (1 Corinthians 12:13). So that the baptism of the Spirit is not an individual matter. I am brought vitally into what is corporate. We are baptised into one body.

In Acts 2, the description of the coming of the Spirit greatly helps: "And there came suddenly out of heaven as of a violent impetuous blowing and filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them to speak forth", verses 2 - 4. Those who were together on the day of Pentecost were not only thinking the same thing, but saying the same thing. The intention is that we should all be immersed in the current of the Spirit, and then the body becomes a practical matter. We are all moving together.

John, in Matthew 3:11. (Matthew, being the assembly gospel), though he would not have known it, is really prophesying of the formation of the body -- the assembly. But first of all he speaks of the axe as applied to the root of the trees, then he brings in the baptism of the Spirit, and following that he refers to the Lord's service in thoroughly purging His threshing floor. Do not these things bear on one another? He says, "Every tree therefore not producing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire". Has not every kind of tree been tested? We might speak of the Jewish tree. The fig tree had been cultivated,

but it had produced no fruit. Then the Gentile tree -- there was no fruit there. So that whether it was Jew or Greek, bondman or freeman, whatever kind of man, socially, racially, or in any other way, he had been found fruitless. Have we not to recognise that, if we are to value the baptism of the Spirit? So it says in 1 Corinthians 12:13, "In the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bondmen or free". Is not the axe a sweeping matter, showing that the ground is to be cleared of every kind of man after the flesh? It says, "Already the axe is applied to the root of the trees". If independence of thought or movement come out, it shows that the fact of the axe being applied to the "root" -- not only to the trunk -- has not been accepted. It is every feature belonging to the flesh that has to be cut down.

We can understand God not bringing in the truth of the body, until every kind of man had been tested -- man's will lying at the root and the trees are the evidence of it. Among the features of the flesh in Galatians 5 -- "contentions, disputes", etc. is "schools of opinion"; and that is what we are troubled with at the present time -- schools of opinion or heresies. They come about through persons who never accepted that the axe is laid to the root of the trees. They are still trying to cultivate one of the trees and therefore have not learnt the truth of immersion in the Spirit. They have not let themselves go entirely in what Ezekiel describes as "Waters to swim in". (Ezekiel 47:5).

The baptism of the Spirit in Matthew being the Lord's operation involves the Lord's authority, and

only our recognition of His authority brings us vitally into the truth of the baptism of the Spirit. And it is of no avail for anyone to claim he is moving under the authority of the Lord if he is not accepting the baptism of the Spirit. The Lord's rights require that we should suffer ourselves to be immersed in the Spirit. There is nothing more blessed than to move along with the brethren as immersed in the Spirit.

It is remarkable how closely baptism with water is linked with the baptism of the Spirit -- they both come in the same sentence: "I baptise you with water ... he shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:11). In the case of Cornelius the baptism of the Spirit comes first, but was immediately followed by water baptism; but in the more normal cases as in Acts 2:38, water baptism comes first, "Repent and be baptised each one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit". All those baptised in water that day were also baptised in the Spirit. Then we are inwardly carried along in our thoughts and affections with the one great current that is flowing. To be indwelt by the Spirit is one thing, but it is another thing to understand that I am in the Spirit. That is the divine thought, that I should be moving along in that current. It is a wonderful thing that the Spirit should be pleased to dwell in me, but, in a way, it is more wonderful that I should be privileged to move as in the Spirit.

To be filled with the Spirit is to recognise the baptism of the Spirit. It is seen in the figure we have often used in other connections as to the ocean.

If we put a vessel into the ocean it is not containing the ocean, yet the ocean is in the vessel; but as in the ocean it can be carried along with the current. If we are really immersed in the Spirit, we shall certainly be filled with the Spirit. What wonderful seasons we should have bodywise, if that were true! But it is well to pay attention to the fire, as in Matthew 3:12, "The chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable", and then in Acts 2:3, ".. Parted tongues, as of fire". It shows that God cannot tolerate the flesh in any form. Man in the flesh has been tried in the fullest way, and has been found fruitless. God cannot tolerate any feature of the flesh, and in no setting are they more distasteful to Him than when they intrude into divine things.

In Acts 15 where the question of circumcision comes in, there where schools of opinion, but afterwards at the end of the chapter we read, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us", (verse 28); that would be merging together. There is always the danger of heresies or schools of opinion dividing the church. Their tendencies are always to divide, because they are propagated by persons who do not recognise the truth of the Spirit and the body. Therefore they can only divide the saints. In that chapter christianity was taking form, but it is a beautiful result, because they were all moving in the current of the Spirit. We function bodywise as we are prepared for immersion in the Spirit, because we are all moving then as wholly amenable to the Spirit. So that in verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 12 the Spirit distributes to each as He pleases. He has sovereign rights, and if we are submissive to Him, and

allow ourselves to be led by Him, does it not make way for those rights? There will be nothing then to hinder or quench Him. So we are enjoined to "Keep the unity of the Spirit, in the uniting bond of peace". We are to "use diligence" to do this, it says. No independence of any kind allowable. The saints in Antioch were moving undoubtedly bodywise, so that the Spirit was free to say: "Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them".

It says in 1 Corinthians 12, "God has set certain in the assembly ...". That is with a view to this unity. In Ephesians 4:12 the gifts are "For the perfecting of the saints, with a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ". One purpose of the gifts is to help us to understand the truth of the body and to fill out our part in it vitally. Take Antioch, how manifestly that assembly was in the gain of the truth of the body! The Spirit said: "Separate me now Barnabas and Saul". I presume that He spoke through some brother, but nobody criticised what was said. They might have said, Why take Barnabas, the one at the top of the list, and Saul at the bottom? But they were prepared for whatever the Spirit was pleased to say. That is a great point at all times. It meant that any predilection or self-importance that I might have has got to go, and things are under the control of the Spirit. In the first scripture we read, John the Baptist stresses the greatness of Christ -- Who He is. The first thing is for us to have an immense impression of the greatness of Christ; it is in the recognition of His lordship that we really submit to the baptism of the

Spirit. But when the Lord refers to the matter in the Acts, He does not say: I shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit -- that was of course true. But He says: "Ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit after now not many days". (Acts 1:5), That is, He would now specially impress them with the Holy Spirit. The first thing is to be impressed with Christ and His greatness, and then that makes way for us to be impressed with the wonder and greatness of the Person who has come from Christ -- the Holy Spirit. So that the Lord does not bring Himself into the matter there, but says, "Ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit". And further on He says, "The Holy Spirit having come upon you". Then when we come to Paul's doctrine in Corinthians, we have, "In the power of one Spirit", (1 Corinthians 12:13). In other words as we go on in this matter, we learn more and more to value the Spirit. Our valuation of the Spirit never displaces Christ, but the point is the Spirit is becoming greater to us.

The greatness of the Father also comes before the soul, as the Lord Himself makes much of Him in John 14 in connection with the gift of the Spirit: "Whom the Father will send in my name". (verse 26). Then at the end of Luke: "I send the promise of my Father upon you". (Luke 24:49). It shows the unselfish love that marks the Persons of the Godhead. The Lord thus stresses the greatness of the Person that is coming, and Paul stresses His greatness as having come. In 1 Corinthians 12 he refers to the sovereign will of the Spirit, "Dividing to each in particular as He pleases". (verse 11). Then lower down in the chapter, "In the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised

into one body". (verse 13). Then the Father's love is shown in the expression of "The promise of my Father" -- in giving us the Holy Spirit. And also that, as "The Holy Spirit of promise", He would link up with every promise God has made to men.

The precious sufferings and death of Christ should greatly affect us when we consider what we have been brought into -- things that were never conceived in Old Testament times. Although there are types of the assembly there, yet we should be impressed with the fact that we are brought into something entirely new. The axe is applied to the root of the trees. What was ever in God's mind in purpose is brought in -- the baptism of the saints by the Holy Spirit into one body. As we move together in the Spirit, we come into a realm of things which can never be compassed by human language -- waters to swim in (Ezekiel 47:5) -- and we can never say that we have reached finality. That is the test of the moment. But the secret of the working of the organism lies in the fact that each, in love, esteems the other more excellent than himself. That gives the Spirit room and right of way. There is nothing to obstruct Him. That would be a great experience for us. And in the spirit of mutual love and respect we prove the word: "But much rather the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those parts of the body which we esteem to be the more void of honour, these we clothe with more abundant honour". That would give the Spirit of God a free hand to bring in that which He desires.

The twelve men in Acts 19 (at Ephesus) were in the

gain of John's baptism, and when they came into the gain of christian baptism and the baptism of the Spirit, they make rapid progress, more rapid than we are accustomed to in these days. Paul says to the elders at Ephesus, "I have not shrunk from announcing to you all the counsels of God". (Acts 20:27). How rapidly they entered into things, showing what a great place they were giving the Holy Spirit. The Philippians too had made rapid progress, "If any fellowship of the Spirit .. that ye may think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking the same thing". (Philippians 2:1 - 3). And so the secret underlying the working of the body is in chapter 13 of Corinthians love -- as it follows on chapter 12.

A third point is in Matthew 3"Whose winnowing fan is in his hand, and he shall thoroughly purge his threshing-floor". The baptism of the Spirit has to do with what is corporate -- the body -- but in order that we might fit into our place in the body, the Lord deals with us severally in connection with His threshing-floor. He is dealing with us all with a view to helping us to fit together bodywise. We are all in the threshing-floor, and the Lord has His winnowing fan in His hand. Extreme measures may have to be taken by the Lord with some of us, so as to free us from the chaff. And in John 13 too the Lord's washing of the feet of His disciples, is with a view to setting them together; it is really a "body" chapter. The Lord uses the words 'yourselves', 'one another', 'Love one another' and 'love among yourselves'. These are body ideas. And He is seeking to rid us of the chaff;

we naturally love the chaff, it makes a good show -- the world lives on it. So that the word 'fire unquenchable' is used in Matthew, because these natural features about ourselves are the greatest hindrance to the work of God in us, in merging us together. So let us not resist, let us submit ourselves to the Lord and let the fan do its work. Let the chaff go. This all precedes the garnering, it is all pure wheat there -- and if we view the body abstractly, it is wholly of Christ, nothing but pure wheat there.

We have 'one body' in 1 Corinthians 12, and later in the chapter it is called 'body of Christ', and in Colossians we see its relation to Christ. He is the Head of the body; the body is a basic matter. There would be nothing for Christ in the way of bridal response apart from it. Persons that go off on independent lines are damaging everything that is precious to Christ. We need to wait on the Lord and on the Spirit in all our gatherings. We do not want to launch out even into a reading without the Spirit. Much of the independent teaching has not been in a collective setting, and we can only get the Spirit's help in guiding us into the truth as we are in the recognition of our relations with our brethren -- then He will confirm us. The gain of the anointing in 1 Corinthians 12 is proved bodywise; that dies not shut out what is individual. We are anointed and as we serve God in the power of the Spirit, the grace of the anointing is seen in the service. But 1 Corinthians 12 show that in a peculiar way the anointing is linked up with the saints bodywise -- the anointed vessel. There the grace and power of the anointing is seen in a unique way; it can be named -- "So also is the

Christ". Then, "In the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body", then the apostle says: "Have all been made to drink of one Spirit". So that it is a very full idea. There is what is seen in the saints in the power of the anointing, but what underlies it is the baptism of the Spirit, and the inward satisfaction in the drinking. All these things are seen as the saints are moving together. Then, also in 1 Corinthians 10, there is another thought: "We being many are one loaf, one body". We feed upon one another bodywise. Referring back to Peter, in Mark 14, Peter would not be the kind of brother to help the saints bodywise. He says, "Even if all should be offended yet not L" He is putting himself above the others. In John 21 the Lord tests him. He says: "Lovest thou me more than these?". After the test Peter would become a real "body" man. He would regard himself, not as the best brother in the meeting, but as the least. And as restored, he would be prepared to "confirm thy brethren".

"MY BRETHREN"

Matthew 28:9 - 10; John 20:16 - 18; Romans 15:14; Philippians 4:1.

The passages we have read, dear brethren, all contain the words "my brethren". The Lord Jesus uses those words; a most remarkable thing when we think of who He is that He should use words such as those in resurrection. He says, in Matthew, "Go, bring word to my brethren", and then to Mary of Magdala in John He says, "Go to my brethren". It is wonderful that the Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call us "brethren", but then Paul also uses the expression. In the scriptures read he uses it to the Roman Christians, most of whom he had never seen; and he uses it to the Philippians, those he knew well, those who had him in their hearts, those who had continued in fellowship with the gospel from the first day until that moment. He says, "my brethren, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown". It is a great thing that we should be numbered amongst those whom the Lord Jesus calls His brethren, nothing could be greater than that; at the same time there is a certain challenge as to whether we can be numbered amongst those whom Paul calls "my brethren". I would like to be numbered amongst those whom Paul calls "my brethren". I would like to be numbered amongst them, especially amongst those of whom he could speak as "beloved and longed for", his joy and crown.

To begin with one would refer to these words as on the lips of the Lord Jesus. The viewpoint in Matthew and John is different. The word in Matthew is, "go bring word to my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there they shall see me". So that Matthew had the position of testimony in mind. Matthew would link in this respect with "the generation of Jesus Christ". The book opens with, "Book of the generation of Jesus Christ", and at the end of the book there were those whom the Lord Jesus could own as His generation. The word in Isaiah is, "who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living" (Isaiah 53:8). The book of Matthew shows how His life was taken from the earth. It gives us a good deal of detail as to the cruel circumstances that surrounded the death of Christ, and the sufferings into which He went; but in resurrection the "generation of Jesus Christ" were there; He could own them. He says, "Go, bring word to my brethren". It reminds one of what was said to Gideon in answer to his enquiry that all those slain were like him, "each one resembled the sons of a king" (Judges 8:18), and Gideon says "they were my brethren". I think that is the idea in Matthew. The Lord had those who were like Him, and think of Who He is -- Who Jesus is! Peter had confessed Him, "thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God". (Matthew 16:16). Now He has those of whom He can say, "go, bring word to my brethren". Seven weeks later they shone out truly as the "generation of Jesus Christ" in Jerusalem. He had been cut off from the land of the living, but in the very city where He was cut off, the "generation of

Jesus Christ" came to light, and as He was, so were they in their measure, each one of them resembled the son of a king, no one could withstand them. Of Stephen, coming into the testimony later, it says, "And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke". (Acts 6:10), truly the son of a king, and that is what Matthew has in view to produce, dear brethren. We are all, through grace, of the "generation of Jesus Christ" as believers here. Jesus Christ is in us unless we "are reprobates". Let us be true to our generation, let Jesus Christ be manifest in us, let us accept the truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified which Matthew brings before us in such a powerful and affecting way. "I am crucified with Christ", Paul said. Let us not be occupied with our old man or cater for him in ourselves or in anyone else. Let us not feed upon that man, let us look upon the brethren as the generation of Jesus Christ. The word to Peter was "Rise, Peter, slay and eat". (Acts 10:14). That meant that he would not be feeding on those creatures according to their natural uncleanness, but as those whom God had cleansed, and that involves what I am saying, "the generation of Jesus Christ". In these persons that the Lord own as "my brethren", there is a work of God and that is the thing to discover, and that is the thing to feed upon in one another. If we discover it we shall find plenty of food. All the creatures in that vessel became food for Peter, he would not be hungry any more. May the Lord help us all to answer to the truth as Paul did. Jesus Christ was portrayed crucified among the Galatians, for He was expressed in Paul. They saw a man who, as to

all that marked him by nature, was crucified with Christ, and no longer did he live, but Christ lived in him. They saw Jesus Christ in that man. It is a wonderful thing when we see Jesus Christ livingly in a man because he is in the gain of "Jesus Christ and him crucified". Would to God there were more persons in whom Jesus Christ were portrayed crucified! It affected the Galatians so much that they were willing to pluck out their eyes and give them to the Apostle; and it was in a man like that that they saw the truth of sonship in all its liberty. God's Son was revealed in that man. How could God's Son be revealed in a man who was not in keeping with Jesus Christ, because God's Son is Jesus Christ. If God's Son is to be seen in others, the true expression of sonship, it can only be as Jesus Christ is manifested in that person, and so God's Son was revealed in Paul -- they saw the truth of sonship livingly expressed in a man amongst them, but on this principle that I have spoken about, "Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified". All that would bring us into bondage has gone in the cross of Christ, the hand-writing in ordinances that stood out against us. Let us beware of making ordinances for ourselves that are not of God; let us beware of anything that tends to going back to law and law-keeping. Let us keep to the truth of christianity, the liberty of sonship; all legal regulations belong to the man that was crucified, we are called into liberty, and they saw it in Paul.

We have referred today to the boards of the tabernacle of acacia wood. Acacia wood is typical of Jesus Christ, that order of man. The whole tabernacle

system was based on acacia wood, and therefore the assembly is based on that, and Matthew is the assembly gospel. Matthew links on with Corinthians, the assembly here in the place of testimony. What is the basis of the assembly in the place of testimony? Typically the acacia wood, Jesus Christ. "For I did not judge it well" the Apostle says, "to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified". (1 Corinthians 2:2). If we accept that, all those things which cause friction and hinder our moving together bodywise in unity are eliminated. On the one hand if we accept the truth of "Jesus Christ and him crucified" all that would hinder family relationships is eliminated. We shall have brethren dwelling together in unity and sons of God in liberty. But then there is what we spoke of today as the more testing relations, body relations. You may say, I do not think they have ever tested me. That is because you have never taken them up. There are ever so many christians who have never attempted to take up body relationships yet in any practical way; so, of course, they have never been tested by them. You may have been tested on family lines to move in a brotherly way, we all have been. The elder brother of Luke 15 is in all of us, who still attached past history to the one who had been forgiven, refusing to be brotherly, as much as saying to his father, if you kiss him you shall not kiss me. What a pity to take that attitude! If you refuse to be a brother to your brethren you miss the father's kiss. How can He kiss someone who will not kiss his brethren? But then you may be right in family relations, and yet not in body relations. I hope you

will begin to take up these matters. If you have not begun to take up body relations you have not started yet as to the mystery of God's will -- you have not started on the road which leads to finality as to that purpose which was hidden in God through ages and generations. You have not started on that wonderful path which requires all wisdom and intelligence, which God is prepared to give you; a path which will tax your highest spiritual faculties as given by God; a path which is worthy of manhood according to God. Why not make a start? Relations body-wise test us because the sovereignty of God enters into them. He has dealt to each a measure of faith. He does not ask us what we would like to be in the body; He sets for Himself the members in the body as it pleases Him. That tests us. It is a question of what pleases God, and He has a right to do what He likes; we have no rights, we are taken up in mercy. If we understand that we shall never quarrel with God and His rights. He has secured rights in mercy at enormous cost in order to have us available for His eternal plan, and as to that plan, it is of Him and through Him and for Him. He takes counsel with no one but Himself, He does all according to the counsel of His own will, and He is forming the assembly. It is time we were all alive to it and were exercised in the liberty of sonship to find our place in this great vessel and to function in it. Let me ask you to take this matter up in a vital way, every brother and sister. Do not think it is a brother's matter, it is a sister's matter too. The gifts set out in Romans 12 where it says, He "has dealt to each a measure of faith" refers to things in

the widest way, and the order in which they are put shows that it is not in an order of priority, it is the order of mutuality, the order of mutual respect. It speaks of "service" as a gift. Phoebe is the example in Romans of a servant of the assembly, she had a function in the body -- every sister has a function in the body, as well as every brother. It goes on in that list, "he that shews mercy, with cheerfulness" (verse 8). A sister can shew mercy! God fits certain ones especially and gives them faith to go and show mercy to people who are needing mercy. How much scope there is for that kind of service! Then "he that gives, with simplicity" and leadership is put near the end of the list. It shows that it is the list of mutual respect, that we are not saying that this gift is more important than that, although in another setting you might say, first apostles, and second prophets and third teachers, but that is not the point in Romans 12. The point in Romans 12 is mutual respect, that we are "each one members one of the other", and we cannot afford to do without anybody. I would gladly take the lead in paying honour to a person who can go and show mercy to somebody, because I am conscious of my own inability. I am conscious that I am a left-handed man in so many things, that I am thankful when I find the person who can do it properly according to God, a person that God has equipped to do it, a person that can give with simplicity, a person that can show mercy with cheerfulness, a person that can go and serve, wash a floor it may be, or do something which edifies a member of the body. You may do a simple act, but in helping a soul according

to the faith God has dealt to you, you have nourished a member of Christ's body, you have added to the warmth of the whole company; you have stimulated indirectly the whole company by what you have done to that one. As we serve one another in these ways each member would function to the best of its capacity, so that all would get the benefit. This is the elementary side of the truth. Our relations with one another make way for our relations with the Spirit and these make way for our relations with our living Head, and these for the Assembly's service to God. What a lot of things there are to go in for! If we have not made a start it is time we began on this road, and in moving along it we do not leave Romans 12 behind, our relations with one another continue all through; things are cumulative. And we need the truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified so that the man who causes all the discord is excluded and Jesus Christ alone seen. Think of what the Lord was prepared to do. He would go down and wash the feet of the disciples. He the greatest Person of all. If we are in accord with Jesus Christ nothing will be regarded as too menial. He commanded that as He had done to them they should do for one another. Have we been as low as that yet? Paul delighted to be called a slave of Jesus Christ, that is how he addresses the Philippians "Paul and Timotheus" he says "bondmen of Jesus Christ" -- (Philippians 1:1). We ought to love the idea of being slaves of Jesus Christ, and if we are like Him nothing will be too menial or too much trouble to do for the saints. There will be no difficulty in each one of us filling our part in the body. No one need be

unemployed, because that is not the thought of God. No member of your human body is unemployed, every member is always functioning, and that is God's thought of the body, it is a functioning vessel. The highest idea of its functioning is that it is "the fulness of him who fills all in all". That is the top note. It is a vessel entirely descriptive of Christ, towards God and towards the universe. But if it is to be that there must be the functioning towards one another first.

These are great matters, but "the generation of Jesus Christ" has a great place in all this as you can see, and when the Lord says, "my brethren" at the end of Matthew, it is this kind of thing which is in His mind. We are like the boards of acacia wood, standing up, ten cubits high, higher than any natural man could ever be; and a cubit and a half wide as ready to be set together. That is what His brethren were at the end of Matthew, they were ready to be set together assemblywise. Earlier in the gospel He speaks of the features of His brethren in this aspect, He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens". (Matthew 5:3). A person who is poor in spirit will never sow discord in the family, nor upset the working of the body. "Blessed they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed the merciful, for they shall find mercy. Blessed the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed the peace-makers, for they shall be called sons of God". It is what you are

called. We are all sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, but you are not fit to be called that until you become a peace-maker; you must travel a certain road and then you are worthy to be called it. It is one thing to be it and another thing to be called it. Not every son in this world is worthy to be called the son of his father. The Lord had in mind in the early part of Matthew those who were fit to be called the sons of God, and so He goes on to say, "Let your light thus shine before men, so that they may see your upright works, and glorify your Father who is in the heavens". (Matthew 5:16). It is the public position of the sons of God. They are the sons of the Great King; the Lord refers in that same discourse to "the city of the great King". (verse 35). Who is the great King? God Himself. The assembly is the city of God. He is delineating the features of the citizens of that city, "As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the sons of a king". "Go, bring word to my brethren that they go into Galilee", He says -- He is not ashamed to call persons like that brethren.

But now I pass on to the gospel of John, and I would say at this point that it is most interesting that in Matthew the message is conveyed by women and in John it is conveyed by a woman. I believe that the Lord used women in these connections to indicate that the assembly was in His mind. I have already referred to the fact that the assembly was in His mind in Matthew, "go, to my brethren". They were those who, as "the generation of Jesus Christ" were ready to receive assembly truths, and to be incorporated in that vessel. John has in view the heavenly levels of

the truth. We come out from these heavenly levels into the sphere of testimony. It has been said that you can arrive at Corinthians which views the assembly here in testimony in the wilderness by way of Romans, or by way of Ephesians. The fact is we are intended to arrive at it both ways. We must arrive at it by way of Romans and Matthew, but on the other hand, as we are privileged to touch the heavenly side of our relationships, we can bring heavenly influence and glory to bear on the testimonial position, and so in John 20 after the Lord has manifested Himself, He says, "as the Father sent me forth, I also send you". (verse 21). It is a wonderful thing that we can approach the testimonial position from both standpoints, one as having been secured by the gospel, having faced moral issues and having been formed after Jesus Christ, but on the other hand as bringing the grace of heaven as those who know what it is to be up there, as it were, and have come down into the position, and that is what the Lord has in mind in what He says to Mary. He says, "go to my brethren and says to them, I ascend". How much was in the Lord's heart when He used the words, "my brethren", in this connection! It is true it is still the same persons, it is "the generation of Jesus Christ", but He is thinking now of what they are according to divine purpose, what they are according to heavenly origin and destiny.

He has spoken of them to His Father in chapter 17 as the men that the Father had given Him out of the world, and He says, "They were thine, and thou gavest them me". (verse 6). He makes no reference to

their sinful origin. If you read the Lord's prayer in John 17, and had nothing else to read, you would not know that these persons ever had a sinful origin, unless by inference, in that the Lord says, "I have glorified thee on the earth, I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it". (verse 4). That refers, among other things, to the work of redemption, in which all the earthly and sinful history was dealt with. But apart from that reference the Lord is speaking of His own according to their heavenly origin and destiny, and their origin according to that prayer, is "They were thine, and thou gavest them me". That links with Ephesians 1, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, marked out beforehand for sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself. Further down He says, "They are thine". In virtue of redemption accomplished He can say, "they are thine and all that is mine is thine and all that is thine mine" (verse 10), and He goes on to say, "they are not of the world, as I am not of the world" (verse 14), and He says, "I desire that where I am they also may be with me" (verse 24). From the standpoint from which we are speaking, it is their proper place to be with Him where He is, and so we can think of the words "my brethren" in John 20 as linking up with the cedars of Lebanon. They take character from the Lord Jesus as the heavenly one, "such as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones". (1 Corinthians 15:48). The idea of the cedars of Lebanon is the grace, glory and dignity of the relationship as belonging to heaven. As we have said already today as to the Lord, "His bearing as Lebanon, excellent as the

cedars"; (Song of Songs 5:15). See Him there speaking to Mary; He says, "I ascend". Think of the bearing of the Lord! One Who could say such a thing! "touch me not" He says, "for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father; and your Father, and to my God and your God". Ascending to His own place, and yet, as ascending, not ashamed to call them brethren. "For both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren" (Hebrews 2:11).

In saying "my brethren" in John 20 the Lord has the highest levels and relationships of the assembly in mind; that is why the message was sent by such a person as Mary of Magdala, representative as she is of the hind of the morning, representative of what the assembly is as a vessel that can move with the Lord in high places, the vessel that can say to Him at the close of the Song of Songs, "Haste, my beloved, And be thou like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices" (chapter 8: 14). She is so with Him in mind and affection that He has not any longer to urge her to come away and move upward, but, as the hind of the morning, she urges Him to move up on those mountains of spices. The message, sent by Mary, has in view that we should be free to merge in the assembly in its highest aspects; first of all as in union with Himself. So that when He comes amongst them He immediately shows them His hands and His side. In the light of the message they were ready immediately for the further disclosure of what the assembly is as the vessel which is wholly of Him, the vessel of which it could

be said, "this shall be called Woman, because this was taken out of a man". (Genesis 2:23). Union is with an ascended Christ, so He says, "go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend". Ephesians 5 says, "because of this a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be united to his wife"; that is a horizontal movement. Those to whom he is moving are already "raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies", they form a vessel adequate for the ascended Man; and so this message prepares us for these heavenly relations between Christ and the assembly which belong to the sphere of ascension, and which lead on to all that the assembly is to God in the greatest sense. We need the Spirit's power in a peculiar way to enter into what relates to ascension. We are only creatures, we cannot ascend to a higher level than a creature can go, but at the same time, we have not yet experienced how far a creature can go as indwelt by the Spirit of God. We need to be available to go as far as the creature can possibly go. Who of us could say we have gone all the way? The Lord says, "I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God, and your God". He is not speaking here of ascending to a place, but to a Person. How much lies open to us, dear brethren, in this realm, and yet, of course, if we are not right on the Matthew side, if we are not truly here as "the generation of Jesus Christ", there will be discordant elements, hindering things which prevent us moving over to these high levels of the truth which are in mind in John 20, the liberty and glory of the ascended sphere. So, as I said, the Lord is speaking to His own as the cedars of

Lebanon, which Jehovah has planted and all that would flow out of our apprehending the liberty and glory and dignity of the highest levels to which any creatures will ever be called upon to go, because as has been said, we are not united to God, but we are united to the Man Who is God.

I would add a word now as to Paul. He says, "my brethren", as I said at the beginning I would like to be among those who can be called Paul's brethren. I believe Paul would use this word "my Brethren" to those he was completely free with in the consciousness that they were fully with him in relation to the whole of his ministry. What we have had before us today is all included in Paul's ministry, and I would raise the question with us, as to whether we are wholly committed to Paul's ministry, whether it is in our minds to go the whole way in relation to it, and not to fall short of any part of it. He uses this expression to the Roman christians, most of whom he had not seen, bearing out what I have already said, the respect with which he approached the brethren. He is giving them credit for this. We do not help one another unless we give one another credit. I would not put anyone out of the company of Paul's brethren until it was absolutely proved that he was out of it. Until then I would give him credit for being in it. See how Paul approached these brethren that he had never seen. "But I am persuaded, my brethren, I myself also, concerning you, that yourselves also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge". He was hoping to come to Rome, but this was how he was going to approach the brethren when he came to Rome. He was not going

to say, I am an Apostle, you are nobody compared with me. He was not going to treat them like school children who knew nothing. He says, "I am persuaded ... I myself also, concerning you". He is persuaded because of his own experiences, "I myself also". He is persuaded that other believers' experiences, if they have really gone on with God, would be like his. They had not the gift he had, but their experiences would be like his. God has in mind that we should all have experiences which would yield the same result, that we should all be full of goodness, and "filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another". So Paul would come and sit down in that company as having great respect for them. He would not be amongst them as a know-all, he would give them credit for being filled with all knowledge, and how it would draw out their affections to him; how it would make way for what he had to say to them. And he would get benefit from them too. Paul never had the idea that it was a one-sided matter, that he was the only one to give, and the others were only receivers. He said, "to have mutual comfort among you" (Romans 1:12), and in this chapter he speaks of being refreshed by them all. He was going to get comfort, he was going to get refreshment. Even in our small day, those who minister the word, I am sure, would say that they get more from the brethren than they ever give because they are ministering to those who are filled with goodness, "filled with all knowledge", and who are able to admonish one another. Of course, alas, there are those who turn aside, there are those at the present time who are

turning aside. We could not exactly number them amongst Paul's brethren. We would not shut them out from being Christ's brethren, but we could hardly number them amongst Paul's brethren, they have left Paul. What about those in Asia? "all who are in Asia ... have turned away from me". (2 Timothy 1:15). Are you going to leave Paul? I hope nobody here is going to leave Paul. I hope the result of being together today will be that we shall value Paul more than we have ever done, and leave this room with the idea that we are going to make the following up to its full conclusion of Paul's ministry, our life's matter; that compared with it nothing else is of importance. Thus we will be numbered amongst Paul's brethren, like the Philippians, who had gone all the way. All in Asia had turned away from Paul he says to Timothy, but not the Philippian brethren. They had him in their hearts -- let us have Paul in our hearts and his ministry. He speaks of the joy he had to think of their "fellowship with the gospel, from the first day until now" (chapter 1: 15). You may say, that is just the gospel. It is not just the gospel, it is the whole of Paul's ministry. Paul does not always distinguish between the two parts of his ministry, but his ministry was one whole. At the end of Ephesians he asks them to pray that boldness might be given Him to speak "the mystery of the glad tidings" (chapter 6: 20). That expression, "the mystery of the glad tidings", I believe, is the whole of Paul's ministry. In the end of Romans he says, "now to him that is able to establish you, according to my glad tidings, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the

mystery" (chapter 16: 25), it is all one thing. One is according to the other, and in Ephesians he says, "to announce among the nations the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ, and to enlighten all with the knowledge of what is the administration of the mystery" (chapter 3: 8 and 9). These Philippian brethren, I am sure had followed up Paul's ministry in its completeness, from the first day until then. From that very day when the Lord opened Lydia's heart "to attend to the things spoken by Paul" (Acts 16:14), they had never given up attending to them. So he says, "so that, my brethren, beloved and longed for, my joy and crown". If you are among Paul's brethren, specially those who are "beloved and longed for" the truth lies open to you, you will come into the gain of what we have been saying, and think of the joy the Lord will have in you. If Paul could have such joy in the Philippian saints, who can measure the joy that was in the heart of Christ. Here were saints who were truly worthy of His own words, "my brethren", whether we view it in the Matthew aspect or in the John aspect, here was a company who had followed the truth fully. May the Lord help us all to be like it for His Name's sake.