The Tie_rods

Uniting the boards of the Tabernacle there were four rods or bars of wood, overlaid with gold, which were put through golden rings on the boards to bind them together. Four of these rods could be seen from the outside. The fifth rod was made to go through the middle of the boards from end to end, to keep all the boards united (Exod. 26.26-29). All the boards, put together speak of the whole Church throughout the world. These five tie rods speak of five spiritual bonds which bind believers together into one. To have real spiritual unity in the Church of God, we require five things. And just as there were four rods of shittim wood which could be seen from outside and one central rod, so there are four outward bonds and one hidden central bond to unite us all. We shall look at the four in a moment. The central hidden bond is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ which binds together all believers throughout the world.

Some people are trying to bind Christians together by man-made constitutions. No church constitution — not even the constitution of the Church of South India — and no man-made constitution whatever can truly bind together the Church of God. It is the inward flow of abundant life in the heart of the believer which binds us, and nothing else can. If the life of the Lord Jesus Christ flows in me and flows in you, we are bound together. But if we are not living in the Spirit, there will be disagreement and factions. The Church of Christ cannot be bound by earthly man-made laws; constitutions are often only made for the sake of the power and authority they give, an authority like that of the Brahmins over the Hindus. Christians who want power over their fellow- Christians might truly be called ‘Christian Brahmins’. They make laws to bind people, saying in effect: ‘If you do this or that we will excommunicate you. If you listen to the Word of God and obey God in this or that matter we will deprive you of Church fellowship.’ Such bonds must be broken. But the inward bond of life in Christ will never be broken for with that bond we are bound to every believer in the world.

Earthly bonds are very weak. They will not stand any strain. But spiritual bonds cannot be broken. You see how the work began in the days of the Apostles. There, in Acts 2, three thousand people were baptized, and at once they began to grow steadily. Yet they were mostly very poor people and had to face much persecution, from the Jews as well as from the Greeks and Romans. The Jews were proud of their religion, the Greeks of their culture and education, and the Romans of their Empire; and all these three powers were set against the early believers. These did not have much money and they had no influence behind them; yet the Word of God began to grow and multiply, like fire that went on spreading. And there was a wonderful love among them all, whether they were Gentile converts, or Jewish, or Samaritan. They were not bound together by any man-made organisation or rules. They did not start a Jerusalem Mission, an Antioch Mission, or any other Mission; yet we find among them a true spiritual oneness and unity.

What were the common bonds which bound them? The inward bond of the life in Christ was there first of all, it is true. That is what made them Christians. But there were also four outward bonds. They are mentioned in Acts 2.42. We are told that “they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” That is how they grew spiritually in the grace of God. Now, let us see, one by one, how these bonds can bind us together as Christians.

First there was the Apostles' doctrine (see Gal. JL 10-12; 1 Cor. 2.3-5). They did not preach or teach by man's wisdom. They did not go about to please men. Whether the people liked it or not, their business was to give God's message with God's wisdom and God's power. That is the Apostles' doctrine — the pure Word of the living God, the message of the mighty and true God — and that is why in every place the same teaching was given. How many today are giving man's wisdom and seeking to change thereby even the meaning of the Bible. There are some Bible Schools and Seminaries where the teaching given weakens the faith of those who attend them, who afterwards go forth to please and serve men instead of God.

Once a missionary and one such ‘trained’ Indian preacher went into the Bazaar to preach the Gospel. After a time the missionary reproved him: ‘Sir’ he said, ‘speak more loudly’. And the man replied, ‘Sir, this a Rs. 25/- voice, but if you will pay me Rs. 100/- I will speak four times louderl’ So we have the Rs. 25/- voice, the Rs. 75/- voice, the Rs. 125/- voice, and the Rs. 300/- voice. Such men are only serving money, money, money and not God. They cannot give God's message. Their tongues and lips are tied, for they are out to please their Bishop, or the Chairman of their Mission, or someone else. They kill their consciences and do things to please men. That is why you hear so little of God's Word these days. And when man's word is preached, instead of God's, souls are kept in spiritual bondage.

In a place in Northern India there is a Bible School, and on one occasion the young preachers were expected to give a sermon as a test. One young preacher gave a very good sermon, and the Principal asked him, ‘Please tell me how many books you consulted to prepare that sermon’. ‘Sir’, he replied, ‘I consulted thirty-two books to prepare my sermon’. ‘Now tell me’, said the Principal ‘how much time you spent studying the Bible in order to prepare your sermon.’ The young man replied: ‘Sir, I was so busy with the other books, I had no time for the Bible.’

That is how many preachers prepare sermons. Such a preacher will go into his drawing room and find a very nice comfortable easy chair, hold a cigarette in one hand, have a pot of tea before him, rest one leg upon the other, and in that posture begin to look at books, and write his sermon. He begins on Monday and goes on till Friday; then for twenty-five minutes on Sunday morning he preaches what he has prepared, calling it God's message. What blindness! What darkness! These are the words of men, and not the words of God. They are from men's minds and not from the mind of God.

But the Apostles travailed upon their knees for God's message, and spoke, as God's mouth-pieces, the whole counsel of God—the full Bible. They were not concerned only with a few favourite passages, but with the whole Scripture. This is the Apostles' doctrine and only such teaching and preaching can bring true unity among Christians.

Secondly there is fellowship. First we have fellowship with the Son, our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1.9). Then we have fellowship with God the Father (1 John 1.3). Lastly, we have fellowship among ourselves and with all those who walk in the light of God (1 John 1.7). That is fellowship. It begins with the Father and the Son, and what we have received from God the Father and God the Son, we share together among ourselves. In the early morning upon our knees we talk with God; at midday we talk with God; and before we go to bed we talk with God and He talks with us. Then when we meet our fellow-believers in the street, or at home, we share what we have been receiving. That is true fellowship.

Coming together for gossip or for scandal, or for drinking coffee or tea, or for smoking—these things cannot edify or inspire. They are not fellowship. But the things of God edify, educate and uplift us altogether. The unconverted gossip and waste time talking about earthly things, and when women come together they enquire: ‘Oh, where did you buy that sari? Where did you buy that nice blouse? How much did you pay for that necklace?’ That is not fellowship, it is only gossip. But when you speak of God, and of the things of God and heaven, that is true fellowship. Tell others how God hears and answers your prayers; how He converts, and how He heals. Whenever those early believers came together they were able to share their spiritual experiences, and that is how they were comforted by each other. They forgot their sorrows and trials when they saw how God was working among them. This is the divine plan of comfort.

All of us feel discouraged and downcast at times, but God has given us fellowbelievers to comfort and strengthen and cheer us. Do we see that kind of fellowship these days? Many so-called Christians who come for a meeting are looking at the watch or the clock the whole time. Then, the moment the service is over, they go outside and the men start smoking, and the women start giving their version of all that is happening in the city or the suburbs. That is not fellowship; that is nothing but scandal and gossip. People may be living in the same street or even in the same compound, but they can have no real peace and joy if they do not know what is true fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and with others in Him.

In love and fellowship there is power and strength. By coming together as one body we forget our sorrows and poverty. By bearing each other's burdens we fulfil the law of Christ. By praying together in His Name we bind Satan (Matt. 18.18, 19).

Thirdly, there is the breaking of Bread. When the believers came together Sunday by Sunday, they remembered the Lord's death “till He come”. (See 1 Corinthians 11.23- 34). They were told to judge themselves before they partook of the Lord's Table. They could not take part in the Table unless their hearts were right with Him. They could not take part in the breaking of bread unless they were living at peace among themselves. They could not take part unless they were truly ‘born again’ — unless they could testify: ‘O my Lord, my heart is fixed, I am waiting for Thee’ — unless they were prepared to meet the Lord Jesus face to face.

We can see from the Scripture a deep significance in the breaking of bread. In Luke 24.13-32 we read that the Lord Jesus Christ walked with two disciples on the way to Emmaus, and beginning with Moses, He went through all the prophets opening up the Scriptures. Those two disciples were walking on the road on the day of the resurrection, looking very sad, because they did not know what to think of all the things that had happened. When the Lord Jesus Christ came alongside them and began to talk to them, they could not recognise Him. Even when he began to expound to them about Himself from Moses and the prophets, they could not know Him fully. Yet their hearts were burning within them as they came to_ the village, and when the Lord Jesus was about to go away, they said: ‘Please stay -with us for the night’. So He went in with them, and they sat at meat. Only then, when He broke the bread after giving thanks, their eyes were opened and they recognised their Lord. Then suddenly He vanished away.

That is one significance of the breaking of bread. In it we should get a closer revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can read about Him every day, and pray to Him; yet we do not know Him as we ought to know Him. How great and wonderful He is, and how small and weak we are! His divine plan is that, by the breaking of bread, we might come closer to our Lord and see Him as He ought to be seen, thus entering into the very heart of God, and understanding the height and depth, the length and breadth of His love.

How terrible is the case when it is mere formality to take part in the Holy Communion! There are so-called Christian Churches in India where, before the Holy Communion, the Priest puts on his flowing silk garments and repeats prayers and phrases for an hour. Meanwhile some people will stay outside in the compound smoking, until the bell rings for the ' host' to be distributed, Then they go inside and take part in the Holy Communion.

There was once a man and his son in the compound on a Sunday morning. While the Priest was praying the father was quarrelling with somebody outside. Then the bell rang inside the Church for Communion, and the father said to his son: ‘I will go inside for Holy Communion, and you please stay here and go on quarrelling on my behalf, till I come back. Then you can go inside’. That man went inside and kneeled down very respectfully and ate the ' host'. Then he came outside again, saying: ‘Now my son, you go inside; I will carry on the quarrel!' That is what some people call Holy Communion, and that is where formalism leads you.

How can Holy Communion in such a spirit bring unity? It will rather bring hatred and dis-union. God's Word says that those who eat and drink unworthily come under condemnation. They will be punished by God. That is why many become sick and some die (1 Cor. 11.29, 30). Some people think that by taking part in communion on Easter or Christmas or New Year morning, there is extra blessing. Never I There is no such magic or charm in these emblems. Listen to what the Bible says: ‘Those who eat and drink unworthily, eat and drink damnation to themselves’. That is why you find spiritual weakness in many Christians who disregard God's command. You will find people living in fornication and adultery and sin, kneeling down and taking part with hearts full of covetousness and hatred. How can you take part in that condition? No, there is no magic in the bread and the cup. They merely testify to us that we are the Lord's. Our hearts should be able to say: ‘O Lord, Thou hast redeemed me by Thy Blood, and I have peace in my heart. Because of this I am ready to eat and drink at Thy Table with a pure heart and clean hands; a heart filled with joy and with love for everybody. This bread speaks of Thy body; this cup of Thy blood. Reveal Thyself to me more fully, Lord. I am ready, Lord, to see Thy face.’ That is the true meaning of the breaking of bread.

When God's children take part worthily, there will be unity and love amongst them. Remember it is the Lord's Table and not man's (1 Cor. 10.16). He, and not man, is the Host. At the Lord's Table all believers are equal. No man can say: ‘I am better than so and so’, for, however much power or authority you have been given by God, yet at the time of breaking of bread, you are no more nor less than a simple believer, and can only say ‘O Lord Jesus Christ, I am nothing but a sinner saved by Thy grace’. In this way at the Lord's Table, all the believers understand the one life, one body, one Church, in which all share. Every man-made difference is broken, and we have a bond which keeps His children together.

God wants oneness, and that bond of unity should be peculiarly manifest at the Lord's Table. There all believers become one and Christ alone is preeminent. Then only can true love prevail, and Christians begin to bear one another's burdens and those who are fighting to be reconciled. If there is sin, it is confessed and washed away, and believers are found looking forward together to the coming of Christ. The true and strong bond which binds us together is the bond of mutual love springing from our common life in Christ. That bond is for eternity, and by it believers are bound together throughout the world, whatever their nationalities may be.

Then fourthly—“the prayers”. The early believers used to spend whole nights in prayer. They never fought the enemy by earthly weapons, even though they were cast into prison. When they were being persecuted or hated, they began to pray (Acts 16.25). By prayer they conquered the enemy. How different it is to-day. Even socalled Christians seek to conquer by threats. ‘If you do not fulfil our rules, then we will take certain actions against you’, they say, and they seek to bring pressure by these means.

But we must learn our lesson from those early believers. They had to face many trials and many foes, but it was only by prayer that they fought, and it was only by prayer that they conquered. They won, not by fighting and quarrelling, but upon their knees in prayer. In this way believers everywhere were brought together and united by the bond of prayer, and in this lay their strength.

We have seen the four ‘outward’ bonds. If these four things are manifested in assemblies everywhere we shall see union and strength. Let us go over them again. They are, firstly the Apostles' doctrine, secondly fellowship, thirdly the breaking of bread, and fourthly prayer. We can dispense with none of these.

But the chief and most important bond is that indwelling life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Read Ephesians 3 and mark very carefully the whole chapter, noting that these words were spoken to believers in Ephesus who had grown much spiritually. So Paul said: ‘I have been thanking God on your behalf, and now I am praying for you who are far away. I am praying that the Lord Jesus Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith’. But, you ask, ‘Was not the Lord Jesus Christ living in them already?’ Ah I there is a great difference between coming and living in a house, and taking possession of it. You may stay as a guest in any house, but you cannot have full liberty to do as you please in that house. When you own the house, however, you have freedom and authority in any part of the house at all times. That is how our Lord ought to live in us. He must occupy every sense and every faculty of our being. When that is true of us all, then we will know the full range of the love of God. Then “with all saints” we will comprehend that love.

Paul tells us that the real comprehension of God's love is only possible when all of us are brought together. It cannot be comprehended by our living alone, in ourselves and unto ourselves. If you are confined by the barriers men make between Christians and Christians, your appreciation of God's love will also be narrow, and your attitude to your fellow-Christians will be narrow. You have to ride above all those barriers to be able to love God's children in other parts of the world with a big heart.

But to make this possible, the Lord Jesus Christ must not only dwell in our hearts but must fully occupy all our being. That is the hidden rod going through the boards from end to end. When the Lord Jesus Christ becomes Lord of our being, we cannot help but love everybody because the love of the Lord Jesus Christ goes out from us to all His children. But unless that is so, Telugus will only love other Telugus; Tamilians will only love Tamilians; white people will love white people; black people will love black; and so on. That is not the love which comprehends “with all saints.” That is not divine love. When a true believer meets another believer he will never ask the question: ‘What is your caste or occupation?’ The love of Christ will bind them together immediately, because the life of Christ has taken full possession of both their hearts. May He make strong this hidden bond in the lives of us all.