Matthew 2:15; Romans 1:7; Colossians 3:15; Philippians 3:12 - 15

Westfield, N.J., 9 November 1957

I wish to say a word on the Christian calling addressing my brethren here tonight as those who are beloved of God, called saints, that is, saints by calling. In thus addressing you, my desire is that the Holy Spirit might give us a deeper sense than we have ever had before of the greatness, the magnitude of the Christian calling, so that our souls may be stirred. Philippians is particularly a soul epistle. We see the longings, the aspirations of soul of Paul as he says, "but one thing -- forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus". His soul was ever stirred, ever in movement. Whenever he thought of Christ, superlative emotions entered his soul, superlative thoughts, so he spoke of "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord"; just as when he thought of God, his soul was prostrated in worship. How many times, when he wrote his epistles, his soul was prostrated in worship! You get in the Psalms expressions such as "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?" and "As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God". It is in the divine mind that our souls should always be in movement after God. It is interesting in that connection that Paul’s final doxology was to the Lord Jesus. He said, "The Lord shall deliver me from every wicked work, and shall preserve me for his heavenly kingdom; to whom be glory for the ages of ages. Amen", 2 Timothy 4:18. Paul’s soul moved even at the close of his life, prostrated in

worship before the Lord Jesus. This is really the soldier’s doxology, one might say; he was on the battlefield, about to enter into his final contest. He had been saved from the lion’s mouth but the final pouring out was still ahead of him: "I am already being poured out", he said. In what a wonderful way Paul went out; his soul still stirred as he surveyed the battlefield, saying, "The Lord shall deliver me from every wicked work, and shall preserve me for his heavenly kingdom; to whom be glory for the ages of ages. Amen". How good it would be if our souls were always in movement in that way!

I want to speak especially to young people. Words fail to express the honour placed upon the man, woman or child who is a subject of God’s calling, "called according to purpose". How great the purpose for which He has called you; how tremendous the destiny! Those called by God at the present time have a destiny beyond any other creature’s; far beyond any archangel, far beyond any Old Testament saint. A little one in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than the greatest in all past dispensations. Not only has He designed for men a greater place than angels, but for men of this period -- and that is yourselves, you young people who have heard the call of God -- He has destined something greater and more blessed than any angelic being or any man of any other dispensation will ever know.

But the first thing is that He calls you out, and that is testing. He says, "Out of Egypt I called my son", Hosea 11:1. God has called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus; He has called you to the place of son.

And what does God say about His son? "Israel is my son, my firstborn ... Let my son go, that he may

serve me", Exodus 4:22, 23. The calling of old, of Israel, great as it was, was but a foreshadowing of our calling, which is by far greater, for we belong to the assembly of the firstborn ones. You know what a great word the word ‘assembly’ is, and that very word means a ‘called out company’; a company called out for the greatest possible purpose. And so God has called us out; and we constitute, as called out, the assembly, the called out company of the firstborn ones, whose names are enregistered in heaven. A marvellous thing to be brought into such relationship -- God has called you out because He wants His firstborn sons; He wants you for Himself, He wants you to serve Him. Where can you serve Him? Not in Egypt. Pharaoh said, Serve Jehovah here; Moses said, We cannot serve Jehovah in Egypt. No service of God can go on in this world where Satan is the god and the prince -- the world as a system serves its god and its prince. God calls His son out of Egypt, calls you out that you might serve Him. And where can you serve Him? In the assembly God called His son out of Egypt that His son might serve Him, but how did He serve Him? As priest. And where is He to serve Him? In the tabernacle. That is all typical. God calls us out of the world to serve Him as priests. And where are we to serve Him? In the assembly, the great vessel of service.

But then it does involve what is testing. Abraham, the father of us all, was called out from a city of the Chaldees which has recently been uncovered and found to be of a culture equal to Paris of the present day, a highly civilized city. Abraham was called out. Jehovah said to Abraham, "Go out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy

father’s house". It is a testing thing, to leave country, kindred and father’s house. But you cannot carry any of those things into the assembly. There are no nationalities in the assembly, neither Jew nor Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free. You cannot carry your kindred into the assembly. You can be thankful for godly forebears like Timothy’s mother and grandmother; nevertheless, natural relationships, as such, do not belong to the assembly. We have to learn in that sense to leave our kindred. Some of us have actually had to leave our kindred. There are those in France and India at the present time who are suffering from the severance of nature’s most cherished links for the sake of the truth. Come out of thy country, thy kindred, thy father’s house. And, what is especially testing, is thy father’s house; but all those things pale into insignificance before the call of God: God, the One who is from eternity to eternity. Think of Him calling me because I have a place in His purpose. He has called me out; can anyone resist a call like that? Such a call comes as a command. If I were called to Buckingham Palace, it would come as a command. I would disobey at my peril. Think of the majesty of God, the King of the Ages; think of Him calling such as we!

So the word in 2 Corinthians 6:17 is "Come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not what is unclean, and I will receive you". Separation becomes a very easy matter.

Our very calling constitutes us saints, which means persons set apart. Everyone here who has been called by God, has been set apart by that calling. You are a saint; God has made you that; He has set you apart by His calling. But the point for you is to answer to it. The Corinthians were

not answering to it. They were going on with evil and yet Paul addressed them as "the assembly of God which is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints". He did not lower the level. He told them what they were. The calling of God had set them apart. This was the basis for the exhortation, "Come out from the midst of them, and be separated, saith the Lord". Nowadays we have also to separate from other Christians. At present Christendom has become in character as Babylon, and the word is, "Come out of her, my people, that ye have not fellowship in her sins, and that ye do not receive of her plagues", Revelation 18:4.

Now I want to speak of what we are called into. The very calling out brings you into what is the greatest thing you could be brought into, the assembly. These two things go together, the very calling out constitutes the assembly, the called out company and that company that is called out is the very greatest thing in the universe. So the apostle speaks of what we are called into-we are called into the fellowship of God’s Son; the greatest and wealthiest fellowship that has ever existed on earth.

But then according to Colossians 3:15 we are called "in one body". I have spoken of sonship, we are called into the family, as we leave our country, our kindred, our father’s house; and what a family we are called into! But then we are called "in one body".

I might say in passing that Leviticus 11, which deals with the clean and unclean animals and fishes, birds and crawlings things, bears on all this. We are called out of religious evil typified by those beasts which have no cloven hoofs, or, if they have cloven hoofs, do not chew the cud. Real Christians who are going on with the truth have cloven hoofs; that is, they walk in separation; and they chew the cud, that is, they take the truth unto themselves. It works inwardly, it is

not just an outward external separation. The most unholy people in God’s sight are those who maintain an outward, external separation but without inward reality. They are represented by the swine; it has a cloven hoof but does not chew the cud. Such were the Pharisees -- outwardly correct, but nothing went in -- nothing affected the inwards which were full of plunder and wickedness. We have to separate and judge this principle in our souls.

Then there are the fishes. The clean fishes are those with fins and scales and represent those capable of going against the evil current of this world. Peter deals with that. "They think it strange that ye run not with them to the same sink of corruption", 1 Peter 4:4. They are the fish going downstream, carried along with the current. In the workshop, in the school, all go with the stream. How sorry you feel for men, women and children, going on with the latest fashion, the latest line of thought that happens to be prevalent at the moment, changing every few years, nothing stable, nothing lasting, all leading to corruption. They think it strange that we do not run with them to the same sink of corruption. Those going on with the truth are like the fishes with fins and scales; they are facing against the current; protected by the fins and the scales. They arm themselves with the mind, as Peter says, to suffer in the flesh. They are prepared to go against the stream. In this world you either go with the stream or you suffer. But the clean fishes go against the stream, prepared to suffer. We must all be prepared to go against the stream, in school, in workshop, in business, and count it a joy to do so. "If ye are reproached in the name of Christ, blessed are ye". It is not a long-faced but a joyous matter. As soon as you show a joyful

countenance in doing it, the victory is won. Men will be afraid to approach you any more, because they know well enough that you have something better than they have, because they have consciences.

Now when we come to the body, in Colossians, we have been "called in one body". "Let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts, to which also ye have been called in one body, and be thankful". We are thankful we are called in one body. It is a great thing to merge in the body. Some who have gone astray of recent years have come to grief through not merging in the body. They have reserved to themselves the right of independence of thought and judgment, which results from a form of pride. Christ is head of the body, the assembly. No one of us is safe unless we have a right appreciation of the body, the assembly, and learn to merge in it. We have been called in one body, each of us a member in it. The thing is to find our place in it, and to take account of the Spirit’s manifestations through the members of the body; then we shall be preserved. But if I trust my own mind I shall go astray. That is the Colossian error, "vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh" -- "philosophy and vain deceit". The working of the human mind leads you to vanity. You deceive yourself and try to deceive other people, your mind intruding into things you have not seen. There are things that are open to you to see and that you should see, and you will see them if you appreciate the body. You will get the gain of the manifestations of the Spirit, and in the light thus shining you will see things according to God. But if you let your mind work, you will not.

And so, most drastic things are said about the unclean birds, birds of prey in Leviticus 11:13 - 19. See that no one lead you away as a prey

through philosophy and vain deceit, bringing his own ideas to bear upon you. See where millions in Christendom are being led away through not recognizing the truth of the body and the Spirit’s activities in the body and thus arriving at God’s full thought of the assembly.

There is an order in which we enter into the truth and we cannot alter it. In Romans 12, we have to learn our place in the body relative to one another. "We, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other". We learn our place in the body relative to our brethren, each having a right valuation of the other. That makes way for having a right valuation of the Spirit, as in Corinthians. If I am adjusted with my brethren, I am ready to recognize the Spirit. If there is no friction amongst us as brethren, but all are happy, recognizing one another, respecting one another, then the Spirit is free. We are right with the Spirit. And that makes way for Colossians, and that is where we learn the greatness of the Head. This must be the order. The unspeakable wealth that is available comes to us by the Spirit. But Colossians is not occupied with the way it comes to us, but where it comes from, the Head. Whatever comes to us on the Corinthian line through the Spirit is coming from the Head because "in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily", and we are filled full in Him. If we do not recognize the truth of the body, we fail to hold the Head, and if one member in a meeting is not holding the Head, he is a potential, dreadful danger. That is the point in Colossians, it is warning you lest there should be even one man amongst you not holding the Head. So, according to Colossians, we are called into one body, and instead of all the notions of the deceitful, vainglorious mind, we have the word of

the Christ dwelling in us richly: "Let the word of the Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God". The result is the whole service can go on. As the word of the Christ, coming down from the fulness that is in the Head, dwells in us richly, and spiritual thoughts and spiritual food, mutually enjoyed, are imparted to one another in all wisdom, then there is the return, an outflow in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to God. And so the service is established. That is what we are called into.

Now all this paves the way for what the assembly is for God as in Ephesians. There it is functioning. This is "the administration of the mystery hidden throughout the ages in God, who has created all things, in order that now to the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies might be made known through the assembly the all-various wisdom of God, according to the purpose of the ages, which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord"; it says, "our Lord" because it relates to the present time, "in whom we have boldness and access in confidence by the faith of him". What a magnificent statement that is! Should we not face the exercises of Romans, Corinthians and Colossians so as to come into the gain of Ephesians? Should we not be fully recognizing our brethren, fully recognizing the Spirit, fully recognizing Christ as Head? Now you have a vessel for God. The service of God proceeds from that vessel; the unsearchable riches of the Christ flow and enrich it with a view to God being served. And heavenly principalities and authorities look on to see such a vessel; a vessel, though physically on earth, yet, through the quickening power of God really, functioning in the heavenlies in Christ

Jesus. The tests and difficulties, as in the earlier epistles, have been faced and are finished. Here is the assembly functioning for God and the service of God in all its grandeur going forward. The assembly under the influence and direction of the true Solomon, having boldness and access in confidence to God by the faith of Him. That addition, "by the faith of him" shows again that it applies to the present moment. Everything is in faith at the present moment. I cannot tell you much of what those heavenly principalities take account of, but I do feel that they stand by in wonderment to see men, who at present as to actual condition, are a lower order of creation, having access with boldness and with confidence in a manner that angels will never have. We can approach God, we have access, I believe, in a way no archangel has ever known. We are anticipating, in the Spirit’s power, our full destiny, because our destiny is an altogether higher one than the angels!

This is what you are called into, young believer. If the Spirit brings this home to our hearts at all, the world will pale into complete insignificance. It is just a cipher, it counts for nothing in the light of this. So God has called us out and called us in. As to the access in Ephesians 3:12, F.E.R. once said that a soul who has known that, wants nothing else. It is the greatest bliss the creature can know, to have boldness in Christ Jesus, boldness and access in confidence to God in His greatness, His majesty. You notice there it does not define the access. It is too great to describe. It is something unspeakable. So in the light of this we come to Philippians because this should stir our souls. Philippians is the great epistle of the soul. It speaks in the beginning of chapter 2 of being joined in soul.

Think of a company joined in soul! What a strong expression of unity, a company whose longings are one; not some of them thirsting after earthly things, some after heavenly, but the whole longings of the company, one; joined in soul, thinking one thing. The word for’ mind’ and ‘thinking’ in Philippians is not the same word as in 1 Corinthians 1:10 where "mind" means the thinking faculty. In Philippians it is a word which conveys the bent of mind. I want to raise the question of what your bent of mind is. In the light of what has been before us tonight, you ought to have only one bent of mind. We all ought to be unified in it, and that is to be seeking with all our might to apprehend the calling on high of God. We have been called, called out, called in, we know something of it, but we do not know the whole of it yet. What is your bent of mind? Well, you say, I’d like to make a good job of business, I’d like to get on well, I’d like to make a lot of money. Or a sister may say, I’d like the most up-to-date kitchen; all the latest things. Well, they may come your way, but if they are your bent of mind, God is against you in that. He has put the very best before you; He has called you to something greater than angels will ever have. How do you think He feels if you put a few kitchen utensils before that, or a little bit of extra money-making, that you don’t really need? God would say to you, you have missed the balances of the sanctuary. You have entirely wrong values. So you see, the thing is, What is your bent of mind? Now Paul is the great example, a man of one purpose. He says, "Forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue" -- he was going forward with all his might -- "looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus". That was

the prize he was after. As many therefore as are perfect, let us be thus minded. We want you all to be among the perfect. You young people, you come into fellowship early, we want you to be among the perfect in this respect; to be thus minded, to have this bent of mind. You have your obligations to fulfil here; God will help you in that; you need not fear. But what He does look for is a right valuation of His calling. All else is incidental to this. You have to be diligent in everything and God will do the best for you as you wait on Him. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path, but He will direct it in relation to His testimony. He will never direct it in such a way as to turn you aside from this because this is the main thing. So if you read Leviticus 11 you will find the most abominable things to God are the crawling things. They are a terrible abomination to God; they represent the kind of people Paul speaks of in this chapter, who have had the light of the greatest things, and in spite of it, they mind earthly things. That is, the bent of their mind is on earthly things. In verse 17 Paul says, "Be imitators all together of me, brethren, and fix your eyes on those walking thus as you have us for a model (for many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ ... who mind earthly things)" Philippians 3:19. He is speaking there, no doubt, of those who go the whole way on this line, they are really apostates, "whose end is destruction, whose God is the belly", a terrible indictment, and we can go a long way on this line. And as far as we go on this line we damage ourselves, and we damage the brethren. We affect one another. Someone sees me pursuing earthly things and says, Then I can do that, indeed, I’ll go one better. One worse, it is

really, of course. So we affect each other. We need to keep our eyes on those who are going the right way. "Be imitators all together of me, brethren, and fix your eyes on those walking thus as you have us for a model". Timothy, a young man, was to be a model for the believers, and I would like to call upon the young people here to start on this line.

See that your bent of mind is right and be a model of a believer. We all need courage to be a model on the heavenly line. So one would desire that we might all be encouraged so that we might all be joined in soul, thinking one thing; that is, having the same bent of mind, and that the upward mind. May the Lord help us, for His Name’s sake.