Revised brief notes of an Address by Mr. G. R. Cowell at South Shields, 16th February, 1963.

Philippians 3:13 - 17; Philippians 4:1; Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 4:1 - 6; Ephesians 6:10 - 13; 1 Corinthians 16:13, 14

"They that wait upon Jehovah shall renew their strength ... they shall run, and not tire; they shall walk, and not faint", Isaiah 40:31. The normal Christian path involves running without weariness, and walking without faintness. God is the source of strength to do both, but the enemy is always attacking; and in that connection we have to stand fast in the Lord and in the faith, and having done all to stand. What is fundamental is running the race, the race of soul history with God in the apprehension of His will and purpose. We grow in the knowledge of Himself, and alongside that we grow in the appreciation and apprehension of the death of Christ. So it is a wonderful course we have been set upon, and we should each of us have nothing less before us than to

complete the course, that we might be filled with the full knowledge of God's will. Our feet have been put in the race. The more we grow in the apprehension of this the more we can walk worthily. Paul is an example for us. Let us run the race with endurance. What is needed is energy and endurance. An athlete trains himself so as to have energy; he dispenses with everything that would be a weight, and then things depend on his endurance. Paul could say, I have run the race. Paul covered the whole course. Hebrews 12 shows that God helps us with discipline. No one suffered like Paul: persecutions, dangers, perils, bodily weakness, and all those things were ordered that Paul should be able to say at the end, I have run the race. Of course the Lord Jesus went through the whole course in absolute perfection. He was the Leader and Completer of faith. Paul did not, nor does anybody else, yet he is a great model.

Paul speaks of his own energy in the race in Philippians. The race supposes we are always increasing in our knowledge and apprehension of our calling on high, so that from another standpoint growth is connected with the race, you are stretching out more and more. When he came to the second epistle to Timothy, he said he had finished the race, but to the Philippians he says, "Not that I have already obtained the prize, but I pursue", Philippians 3:12. His eye was on the goal, and the prize for the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing else in life compared with it. It is not always on the surface, but it is a question of our inward energies, letting nothing stop us. They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; so that if we feel that weariness is coming in, the thing is to wait on God. What a

God we have! He will strengthen us for the race to which He has called us. There is the goal and there is the prize, no idea of competition or emulation in Christianity, we want all the brethren to come in at the finish. Let us run with endurance, so that we all come in at the finish. The gift of God is eternal life, but our side is to lay hold of it, and of the whole range of Christian blessing -- true athletes -- our eyes on the goal, forgetting the things behind and stretching out to the things before. The bane of a Christian is a distracted mind, half an eye on something here, and half an eye on heavenly things.

The Apostle brings in the link between running and walking. Your walk is your communion with God, and your behaviour before men which goes with it. Enoch's walk before men was exemplary; we walk according to the part we have reached in the race. You take a family: all are of different ages, but they can walk together and tread the same path, but they have different apprehensions of God and His purpose, so that while they can all walk together their measure is different. They are all in the same path. Wherever we have got to, let us walk in the same steps, all the same calling and the same steps; but the measure of our communion with one another depends upon the place we have got to in the race. It is good to be with those who are farther on in the race. Be ye imitators of me, the Apostle could say, 'keep in my steps, and it is the best way of promoting your own movements'. We walk together and as we are each pressing on, it gets more and more precious.

Ephesians develops the walk a great deal, but says nothing about the race. This is an urgent matter; we should lay all thought of self aside. We walk in keeping

with every divine institution. I am to walk in accord with the truth of the new man. Those who "walk in the vanity of their mind, being darkened in understanding", Ephesians 4:18, to think of Christians getting into that state! You say, 'surely a Christian would never go back to that!' Why does he then say, "darkened in understanding"? We have had experience of it, vanity of mind and arrogance of the flesh, estranged from the life of God and displaying the features of the flesh. In Romans you get the flesh spoken of and in Timothy you get a form of piety but denying the power of it. If you are walking in the truth of the one body you cannot allow sectarianism, and those who go on with sectarianism and independency of local meetings are not going on according to the truth of the one body. If we do not maintain these fundamentals we are not in keeping with the house of God: "one body, one Spirit ... one hope ... one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all", Ephesians 4:4. What a walk this is! Walk as children of light. Walk in love. Walk carefully. It reminds us of the street of gold, and in Ephesians 4:15 it says, "Holding the truth in love". How wonderful the Christian walk is in view of these passages! The further we go on in the race the more our walk will be in keeping. All walk with God is according to His new creation. Walk in love even as Christ loved us.

Finally, the thing is to stand. The enemy is attacking. The Christian position is like a beleaguered city. We often think of the Lord's struggles, and ours do not compare, but they are tremendously serious. We have not got to struggle against death, but we have to meet enemies, "the universal lords of this darkness".

We never believed they had such power until lately: we thought it was a theory. Corrupted in mind and destitute of the truth. Men I have esteemed I have seen become corrupted in mind. The enemy's point is to darken the minds of those who had the most light, so that positively they are destitute of the truth. As far as lies in us the light must shine; we must be more than ever radiant Christians, radiating the light; we must take our share in the evangelisation of men -- to show forth the kindness and love of the Saviour -- we must not give up the gospel; I mean the gospel seven days a week. Let us keep the light shining. What can we do about those who have become deluded and darkened? We can pray and let us shine. Ephesians 6:18 says praying at all seasons, for those who have come under these darkening influences, through which people cannot see the sun; everything being darkened. Mr. Coates said that "when error is first presented to men it is overwhelming in its appearance, but once you give your mind to it you have lost the battle". So we have to put on the panoply of God, the loins girt about with truth, so that we may be able to stand. If the devil made a straightforward attack on the Person of Christ or His work, those enlightened would say, 'No, we cannot have it', but Satan comes in as an angel of light. He says, 'you should be more separate'. He tells such preposterous lies that people believe him, because his ministers make out they are ministers of righteousness, and he transforms himself into an angel of light. It is very subtle. Actually it is segregation and not true separation, which is entirely contrary to the life of Jesus. In God's sight it is most obnoxious. I do not know how to meet it, but let us pray about it

and ask God to come in and deliver from this power. We cannot stand if we are not running the race.

We are surrounded by the enemy, and so he says, "Be vigilant; stand fast in the faith; quit yourselves like men; be strong", 1 Corinthians 16:14. You may be standing for what is right, but you may do it in such a way that gives the enemy a handle. Let your motive be love. May the Lord help us in these three things, running, walking and standing.

"May we here our strength renew.
Mount with eagle's wings above,
Run the race with Him in view.
Faint not here, but walk in love".