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 The Remnant - Gleanings from Isaiah - Part II

The Song of the Remnant by Oliver Peng - Continued from Part I -

Enlargement – The Heading Up, Summing Up and Filling Up
in Christ

Much has been shared from the book of Ephesians by brothers like
Watchman Nee and T. Austin-Sparks concerning God’s eternal purpose
that His Son, Christ, would be all and in all, that He would sum up all
things in Christ and put all things in subjection under His feet. The
thought of the supremacy, centrality and universality of Christ fills the
entire Ephesian letter. God wants His Son to head up, sum up and fill
up all and in all. In Isaiah, we find that the notion of “enlarging your
tent” dovetails nicely with the thought of the Ephesian letter.

Let’s consider Isa. 54:2-3 again, “Enlarge the place of your tent;
stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; lengthen your
cords, and strengthen your pegs. For you will spread abroad to the
right and to the left. And your descendants will possess nations, and
they will resettle the desolate cities.” Now let’s read Eph. 1:10:
“with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of times,
that is, the summing up of all things in Christ….” And Eph. 1:22-23:
“And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as
head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of
Him who fills all in all.” And Eph. 3:17-19: “…so that Christ may
make home in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted
and grounded in love, may be able to apprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know
the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled
up to all the fullness of God.”

The enlargement spoken of by Isaiah was not merely a prophecy
concerning the nation of Israel; more significantly, it is prophetic of
the Church. On a physical level, the Church is to be enlarged and
spread throughout the earth. On a spiritual level, the enlargement
points to the heading up, summing up and filling up of all things in
Christ. The Church is the vessel for such an enlargement of Christ.
Today, the biggest problem facing the Church is not the want of
converts and numerical increase. The greatest problem facing the
Church is a serious shortage of Christ! We can fill a cavernous
cathedral with thousands of Christians and yet have very little Christ.
We can busy ourselves with successful mission works and have a
serious shortage of Christ. For two thousand years, the Church has
expanded and spread throughout the earth, but there has not been a
corresponding enlargement of Christ in her.

When the Church is taken into captivity, she is able to flourish just as
the children of Israel did in Babylon. Her outward success and
greatness betray her inward poverty due to the lack of the substance
and character of Christ. It takes the travail of the remnant to recover
the testimony of Jesus. The remnant are simply a people who yearn
to “enlarge the place of their tent” – to have Christ as head over all
things to the Church summing up, heading up and filling up all and in
all.


The Cost – Stretching

This enlargement of Christ does not come without cost. Notice the
words “stretch out” and “spare not” in Isa. 54:2. A desire for the
enlargement of Christ will most definitely be challenged by our
natural man and the love of our soul life. It takes little effort to love
brethren who are like-minded and like-dispositioned; it requires much
“stretching” to love those who are not. We will be so stretched in the
process of being enlarged that the only way to get through will be to
“spare not” (lay down) our soul life. Jesus said, “For whoever wishes
to save his (soul) life shall lose it, but whoever loses his (soul) life
for My sake shall save it” (Luke 9:24). In a family life among the
husband, the wife and the children, or in the assembly life among the
saints, the Lord has decreed some “stretching” in order to enlarge us.
Though it is unpleasant to our flesh, the stretching is actually not a
misfortune. No matter how like-minded and like-dispositioned, and
no matter how well-intentioned, we still get on each other’s nerves
and rub each other the wrong way. We know we cannot get out of
being stretched, but we do tend to look for ways to minimize the
hardship. Many Christians gather on the basis of race and culture,
because the “cost” is much lower to be around their “own kind” who
are brought up in the same culture, who think alike, speak the same
language and savor the same cuisine. Oh yes, there is no denying
how importantly food weighs in on our scale of fellowship
preferences.

The reason we find it easy to love those who are like us is because
we are in love with ourselves. Many believers choose their place of
worship based on cost alone: the less costly the better. Sadly, the
popular cliché “Pay now, or pay later” holds true spiritually as well.
Each lesson postponed only gets harder later on. Each cost deferred
always comes back to exact a higher interest.

Sometimes the Lord will divide up the cost in “installments,” if you
will. Paying the first installment does not guarantee we will pay the
second. The remnant who returned from Babylon did pay a
tremendous “first installment” leaving their careers, properties and
relatives behind. But amazingly, a few years after arrival, many
settled into a contentment to building their own paneled houses while
the House of God lay in ruins prompting Haggai to stir up their spirit
to refocus on what they came back for – the rebuilding of God’s
House.

Today, a similar scenario seems to unfold before our very eyes. Many
precious saints paid a high price to exit the Institutional Church
leaving ministries, fruit and relationships behind, but they are
unwilling to reinvest themselves in new relationships. Some stay out
of fellowship altogether. Some hopscotch from group to group
enjoying their freedom of fellowship but would not pay the additional
installments of having their vision re-calibrated, developing intimacy,
travailing in prayer with the saints, or shouldering the burden of
building up a testimony with any one group, to say nothing of getting
balanced and adjusted by other saints.

This new trend does look enticing with its cloak of spirituality because
of its association in a somewhat larger circle of fellowship involving
multiple Christian families and groups. But the problems are: 1) they
become spiritual Lone-Rangers, 2) they can never develop meaningful
relationships by church-hopping, 3) no spiritual building can take
place. A few saints looking for broad spiritual experiences with a less
“costly” price tag have hopped on this bandwagon.

David knew well what “paying the full price” meant. After being
punished for numbering the people of Israel, David was told to offer
burn offerings. Ornan the Jebusite graciously offered his threshing
floor to the king for free with wood for burning and oxen for sacrificing
thrown in. What an offer! Any good Israelite would jump at such a
deal. But not David. He insisted on paying a full price. Very
significantly, the threshing floor for which David paid a full price
became the very foundation of the Temple later on. I am afraid many
so-called churches, relationships and even those of the remnant are
today sitting on threshing floors purchased at a discount.

The Fellowship – Lengthening

Another important element in the enlargement of Christ is the
“lengthening of the cords.” To lengthen the cords refers to the
longing to expand fellowship. There is no possibility of having Christ
enlarged among us if we keep an elitist and exclusivist mentality in
our fellowship. We must reach out – “lengthen” our fellowship – to
include brethren of all backgrounds, learning, experiences, ethnicity
and cultures. Church historians tell us that the groups that did not
reach out for fellowship suffered the fate of “spiritual incest.” Every
time!

Paul expresses the need to reach out for fellowship this way: “to
apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and
height and depth” in order that we may be “filled up to all the
fullness of God.” In other words, the remnant must not stay in a
cocoon but reach out for fellowship with all the saints in every
dimension that Christ may be enlarged in fuller measure.

The Anchor in Christ – Strengthening

A crucial factor in this enlargement is found in the last phrase of Isa.
54:2: “strengthen your pegs.” To strengthen the pegs, they must be
driven into solid ground, and what solid ground is there besides
Christ? Yes, all else is sinking sand. There is no shortage of
Christians and groups who are willing to be stretched and
inconvenienced, or to reach out for fellowship even to the point of
laying down their soul life. Most cultic groups meet this requirement.
The crucial question is: Do all the stretching, laying-down and
reaching out result in the stakes being firmly driven into solid
ground? In other words, are our efforts to stretch out, reach out and
fellowship resulting in being “filled up to all the fullness of God,” or
are we merely satisfying our own religious zeal and good intentions?

Often our effort to reach out comes with a hidden motive of either
trying to bring others into a sectarian fold or in line with a certain
religious stronghold, or simply to feed our insatiable desire to
“minister.” Yes, our reaching out should be to receive all the saints
for fellowship, but we also must ask the Lord to anchor our fellowship
firmly in Christ – this is how to “strengthen the pegs.”

There is a dangerous tendency among those who have seen the
degradation of religion. They detest religiosity but have not seen
enough of the positive elements of Christ. “They know what they don’
t want,” as a brother pointed out recently, “but they don’t know
enough of what, or more appropriately, Who they do want.” It seems
that everything they do is motivated by their intolerance for the
“institutional church.” Sometimes their gathering can be devoid of the
anointed presence and the sweet fragrance of Christ, yet they still
pride themselves for having the “real church” experience just because
they did not conduct it in a traditional or religious venue.
Unfortunately, doing church outside of institutional environment and
having church (or even being church) without a clergy-laity system
becomes their only criteria for having the “real church” experience. As
long as the church is gathered “organically” and “spontaneously”, they
are satisfied. If everyone shares, the meeting is considered
“excellent.” The weightier issues of the Lord’s presence, utterance,
and anointing are all but neglected.

We must not only speak, Christ must come out of our speaking.
Lance Lambert commented a few years ago, “Two people can play the
same piano, one plays and his gift comes out; the other one plays
and Christ comes out.” This is in essence what “prophesying” means
in I Cor. 14. Prophesying is not merely to speak for Christ or to fore-
speak future events, more importantly, it is to speak forth Christ!

In my limited observation, the Charismatic circle has a penchant for
fore-speaking future events calling it “prophesying.” In the House
Church movement, folks have a strong tendency to urge everyone to
speak for Christ citing I Cor. 14 as basis for prophesying. Alas, bona-
fide prophesying is rare these days! Brothers and sisters who have
not yielded to the dealings of the cross, and fellowship not anchored
in Christ will not speak forth Christ and can lead to confusion,
contention, chaos, and the formation of another religious system. It
is anything but the “real church”! A people that set their sights on
being “non-institutional” instead of the Lord is just as religious as
they come. A congregation where ALL speak but without Christ
coming forth in their speaking has ventured hardly afield of the
congregation where only one person speaks.

As mentioned earlier, many precious seeking saints have been led
outside the camp and discovered the value of their priestly functions
in small house churches. A great number of such dear saints have
given themselves to analyzing the mechanism and duplicating the
practices of the Early Church. Armed with Bible verses, Greek
renderings, historical documents…some groups have dissected and
taken apart every component of the early Church meetings and
practices. They scrutinized every detail under a microscope,
reassembled them, certified themselves as experts and set up shop
to authenticate and mass-produce their brand of the early church.

It’s the Great American Way, isn’t it? The irony is, the very “camp”
that the saints came out of has come full circle to entrap them
again! When Christ is replaced by the church as our focus, we are
right back in the “camp,” whether we meet in a large cathedral or a
cozy living room. May the Lord help us to anchor our fellowship in
Christ.

The Building – The Full Expression of Christ

As the cords need to be lengthened for the tent to have any hope of
enlargement, our fellowship needs to reach out if we want to have an
increased portion of Christ. Furthermore, as the lengthened cords
need to be firmly staked in solid ground for the tent to be raised, our
reaching out for fellowship needs to be firmly anchored in Christ in
order that the building, the House of God, may go up. The ultimate
issue is the building up of the House of God.

From the Tabernacle to the Temple to the Church to the New
Jerusalem, the issue is abundantly clear: God is after a building – the
full expression of Christ. As a matter of fact, the divine thought of
building emerged almost immediately after creation. In Gen. 2:22
God “built” a woman out of the rib He took from Adam. As the
typology of Adam and Eve points to Christ and His counterpart, the
Church, so does the building of Eve point to the Lord’s building of His
Church from the pierced side of Jesus. And the thought of building
continues throughout the Bible to the end of Revelation.

Therefore, every Christian group being part of the Church should
consider the eventuality of something being built up. A fellowship
should be open to all born-again believers; there can be no
denominational, doctrinal or cultural restrictions placed on anyone.
Fellowship is a matter of life – since we have been born-again we
share the same life, and this life enables us to have fellowship with
each other. All differences in doctrinal understanding, meeting styles,
experiences, races and cultures, visions, preferences,
personalities…must be set aside. Any failure in this regard endangers
the nature of fellowship and causes divisions.

Having said that, the church is not a free-for-all either. A brother
(Ron) in San Francisco pointed out, “If we do not stand for anything,
we would fall for everything; a fellowship where everything goes
would be no different from a social club.” A young brother from
another city near us made a sobering assessment about the
fellowship he attended, “When we get together, we are gathering
unto each other, not unto the Lord.” It is a serious dilemma, isn’t
it? On the one hand, we need to embrace all genuine believers into
fellowship, on the other hand, our fellowship must never become a
free-for-all. A fellowship unto each other will find the Lord on the
outside looking in. The key to this problem is, we need to be built
up, and building up takes light.

We need the Holy Spirit to cast light on the living word of God to
illuminate our fellowship. Every fellowship that is enlightened by the
word through the Holy Spirit leads us closer to the “unity of the faith”
(Eph. 4:13) and produces Christ. As T.A. Sparks said, “more Christ,
more church.” This is how spiritual building is formed – through
enlightened fellowship that produces more Christ and bonds believers
together. On the flip side, church-hopping requires no light at all
because the basic requirement for fellowship is life. As long as we
have the life of Christ, we can fellowship and enjoy the Lord with
even a company of strangers; hence some saints prefer to church-hop
from group to group. But, in order to be delivered from mediocrity
and for fellowship to be full of Christ that would give birth to a
spiritual building (and indeed all fellowship should lead to spiritual
building), we desperately need light.

Herein lies a paradox: among most groups, whenever “building” is the
issue, fellowship fades, for the most part. This is why the Baptist
Church cannot “build up” with the Methodist Church, the Lutheran
Church, the Charismatic Church…and vice versa. Each one having its
own doctrinal understanding, vision, goal and agenda preclude them
from building together. The Word of God is the same, the Holy Spirit
is the same, but their visions are different.

A while back, a former pastor of a Vineyard Church in our city visited a
number of groups that assembled outside of institutional parameters
with an intention of bringing them all under one umbrella. When he
came into our midst, we were able to have the most wonderful
fellowship and worship before our glorified Christ. But, his idea for
the building of God’s house was clearly different from what the Lord
revealed to us through His word. Were we able to enjoy fellowship,
and can we continue to fellowship? Most certainly! Could we
acquiesce in becoming part of his vision of God’s building? I am
afraid not, with all due respect.

Given this unfortunate paradox, all Christian fellowships must still
seek divine light which produces spiritual “building,” because without
light, anyone with a doctrinal bias and a personal agenda can come in
and hijack the fellowship and inflict damage. If our fellowship group
were a “free-for-all” without an anchor in the word of God and the
light of what the Lord desires, then the aforementioned ex-Vineyard
Pastor could easily enlist our group and make it into another trophy to
adorn his umbrella group of house churches.

Great consideration must be given to “building,” because it gives
expression to fellowship. The more Christ-centered a fellowship
becomes, the more built up it gets. So, how are we to build? Upon
what basis do we build? Building is based on light, among other
things. The more light we receive, the more solid is our building
because light calibrates and sharpens our vision of Christ. Moses’
work of building the Tabernacle was based entirely on the “pattern on
the mount” (light) he received. Down to the minutest details. There
was no room for religious ideas, good intentions, fleshly zeal, human
ingenuity, compromise or any other considerations. That building
work was based 100% on divine light. David’s blueprint for the
building of the Temple was also based exclusively on divine light.
The Lord Jesus’ work of building His House (the Church) was
exclusively according to His Father’s revelations – “upon this rock (the
revelation of who Christ is) I will build My Church.”

Since both the Tabernacle and the Temple are important types of the
Church, it goes without saying that the Church is not just a
fellowship, it should also become a spiritual building as more light is
received and more Christ comes into focus. All Christians who gather
regularly in their respective groups are engaged in a building up in
some fashion whether they know it or not. They labor (or more
precisely, the Lord labors through them) toward a common goal under
the light of a common vision to build up their fellowship.

King Solomon declared, “Unless the Lord builds the House, they labor
in vain who build it” (Psm.127:1). Notice that Solomon did not say,
“Since the Lord is the One building the House, the laborers needn’t
bother; since the Lord is the One watching the city, the watchmen can
go to bed.” The watchmen still need to keep watch, but it is the Lord
who guards the city. The laborers still need to build the house, but it
is the Lord who builds in and through them.

Paul said, “Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will
become evident…” (I Cor. 3:12-13). There is no question that the
Lord is the One who builds His house, yet He has decided that we all
become His co-laborers in this endeavor, because His building work is
done through men. George Cutting once told Watchman Nee, “I can’t
do it without the Lord, but do you know, the Lord can’t do it without
me?” God’s entire business is wrapped up in man, but man has
utterly failed. The sooner we realize our complete untrustworthiness
and total incompetence, the better are our chances of being fashioned
into vessels useful in the Master’s hand.

The question is not whether we have a part in His building work. The
questions are: 1) How much have we allowed Him to mold us into
useful vessels so that He can labor in and through us? 2) How much
of our co-labor is based on divine light?

Regrettably, a great number of the brothers and sisters who have
received a vision of God’s purpose for His Church care only for the
external technicalities of the church. They split hairs over whether
the Lord’s Day begins at sundown Saturday or sunup Sunday, whether
the Lord’s Supper should be a full meal or just crackers and tiny cups,
over scheduling meetings versus meeting spontaneously, over how to
be un-religious, over the “proper name/proper ground” for the church,
and even over certain version of the Bible! At the drop of a hat the
saints quarrel, and the points of contention soon lead to point of
departure if their “biblically sound” resolutions are not respected and
adopted into practice.

For sure, these and other issues are very important and ought to
receive careful considerations. We most certainly should search the
Scriptures for light on these things. But do we really allow the light
of the word to expose us, search us, change us, and fill us with His
character first; or do we zealously read our religious biases and
concepts into God’s holy word and call that “light”? All too often, we
are ready to withdraw or cut off fellowship over some pathetically
minor trivialities. There is a tendency among brethren who are gifted
and zealous to major in the minor and minor in the major, and in so
doing tear the fellowship apart and inflict great harm to the innocent
members of the body of Christ.

In the New Testament economy, our greatest source of light comes
from the word of God through the illuminating of the Holy Spirit.
Some Christians may argue that the Holy Spirit is the only source of
light, citing the fact that the patriarchs did not have the benefit of
the written word, yet they came into God’s will either through the
revelation of the Holy Spirit or direct divine intervention. Others also
claim to have the leading of the Holy Spirit without the written word
in matters related to jobs, marriages, etc.

While it is true that the patriarchs did not have the written word of
God, it is equally true that they did not have a comprehensive view of
the light and revelation contained in the written word of God which
we have today. The same can be said about today’s leading of the
Holy Spirit independent of the written word. While the Holy Spirit can
certainly prick men’s conscience and convict men of sins without the
written word, the questions are: 1) How much longer can such people
go on without relying on the authority of the written word and not
suffer spiritual delusion, deprivation and darkness? 2) How much
“light” can one claim to have in being solely “led by the Holy Spirit”?
3) Can anyone come into the revelation (light) of the “fullness of
Christ” and the “whole counsel of God” without the complete record of
the word of God being illumined by the Holy Spirit? The answer is
obvious.

Therefore, any claims of comprehensive divine revelation that do not
conform to, and are not consistent with the word of God must be
questioned and discarded. Even more importantly, if we have not
allowed the light of the word to penetrate, expose and cut our egos
down to size first, our un-dealt-with natural man will either puff
ourselves up or slay each other, no matter how much “light” we claim
to have!

So the first order of things in the building of His testimony is the
need for divine light and for us to be completely arrested and cut
down in His light. Isaiah cried out upon seeing a vision (light) of the
Lord high and lifted up, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!” (6:5). Then and
only then can Isaiah be commissioned for service. No service or
building of any kind is possible aside from a complete surrender of our
natural man under His light.

Fellowship and Building

Then, in our willingness to be “stretched” and in our desire to reach
out for fellowship unto the enlargement of Christ, it becomes
necessary to see how “fellowship” and “building,” “life” and “light”
harmonize in concert together. Missing “fellowship,” our Christian
gathering becomes a lifeless, lethargic, legalistic and exclusive
entity. Neglecting “building,” our gathering becomes a visionless,
aimless free-for-all, and is subject to being “tossed to and fro, and
carried about by every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men, by
craftiness in deceitful scheming” (Eph. 4:14).

The relationship between fellowship (life) and building (light) is
fascinating. No Christian group can flourish without a good balance of
life and light, fellowship and building. The shortage of either could
seriously inhibit proper growth. Usually, in groups where doctrinal
issues, experience issues, personality issues or cultural/racial issues
divide Christians into different camps, serious Christians will discover
the tragic error and start looking for fellowship across doctrinal,
experiential and cultural lines. Eventually, they will grow so detached
from their original groups that they may either have to leave or can
no longer fit in and be built up with the brethren even if they stay.

No Palace of Strangers

It is commendable when Christians discover the errors of division, and
long to reach out to all God’s children. Driven by a burden to be
enlarged, they “stretch” themselves and “lengthen” the cords of
fellowship. However, the most common mistake at this juncture is
the reluctance to becoming relational with any one group, and the
resultant lack of building up with brethren of like vision and kindred
spirit.

Isaiah warned in 25:2b, “A palace of strangers is not a city; it shall
never be built.” Two important thoughts are underscored here: 1)
the need to be relational – “a palace of strangers is not a city,” 2) the
importance of building – “it shall never be built.” Perhaps nowhere
else in the Bible are these thoughts as graphically portrayed as in
Nehemiah chapter three. There we find the people of God rising up to
rebuild the walls and the gates of Jerusalem by sections. Two words
keep popping up: “next to.” “Next to him built the men of Jericho;
and next to them built Zaccur…. And next to them repaired
Meremoth…. And next to them repaired Meshullam…. And next to
them repaired Zadok…. And next to them…and next to them….” And
so it goes. What a picture of the saints becoming relational to each
other! No “palace of strangers” here! No spiritual Lone Rangers
either; they all had someone to become relational with. And since
these men in Nehemiah “built” next to each other, and the “palace of
strangers” in Isaiah will “never be built,” can there be any doubt that
building comes out of relationship at least in this context?

I am eternally grateful that the Lord has given us a section of the
wall to rebuild and has stationed a few of us shoulder-to-shoulder,
“next to” each other on our section of the wall. And it was exciting to
discover that as we reached out, there were other relational groups of
saints building on their sections of the wall! My joy could hardly be
contained as the Lord graciously allowed our different groups to
fellowship and experience oneness together. At the same time, I
must say, I am also alarmed that the Enemy has relentlessly attacked
the fledgling building. It seems that any time the degree of light and
revelation concerning God’s full purpose intensifies, the Enemy’s
attack ratchets up a notch. If we want to become relational and
burdened for the building, rest assured that the attack will come, but
also rest assured that God’s ultimate rout of the Enemy will be great!
The Evil One’s attack on the building of God’s testimony will be his
own undoing. Make no mistake about it.

The Original Foundation

As an important side-note, please notice that all the families
stationed “next to” each other on the walls had to come back to
Jerusalem – the place of the original foundation – for the building;
they couldn’t build just anywhere they wanted. In order for genuine
“next-to” relationship to exist among the saints, we also have to
return to our original foundation – Christ. Any talk of relational
experiences or building outside of Christ is wishful thinking.

Regrettably, some precious saints with religious concepts and high
and lofty ideas that are not founded upon the “original foundation”
come into a group and expect their concepts and ideas be accepted
before they are willing to become relational. On the other end of the
spectrum, some saints will settle with any group with no regard for
the “original foundation” as long as they can feel warm and fuzzy for
being “relational” with each other. And still there are others who
decide to form their own relational groups only because they cannot
get along with certain brothers and sisters, or because their religious
bias precludes certain biblical teachings….

Sad to say, some of these “next-to” relational groups are not founded
upon the “original foundation” and may suffer loss. I’m afraid that
many zealous saints casually start a new group and have no idea just
how serious it is to do so without returning to the original
foundation. While many seeking saints have awakened to discover
the cold and ritualistic conditions of the Institutional Church and
longed to be relational in simplicity, only a small remnant have truly
returned to the “original foundation.”

On the one hand, an assembly must have a “big heart” to accept all
God’s people for fellowship regardless of their level of life and light,
but it must not become a cesspool of all sorts of ideas and strange
teachings. Our “big heart” must be balanced by our “small feet” to
return to Jerusalem – the original foundation for the building. A
building outside of the original foundation of Christ is no building at
all.

The church is a relational entity, but I’m afraid many have settled far
short of the “original foundation.” I firmly believe that being
relational takes fellowship to a deeper level. With today’s
technological advances in multimedia, internet and
telecommunications, one can fellowship with a multitude of believers
all over the globe in real time without stepping out of the front door.
Even though one can fellowship across geographical, denominational,
doctrinal, cultural and racial boundaries, he may not have entered into
deeper or more intimate relationship at all with anyone.

One of the subtleties of the Enemy is to blur our relationship with
each other by taking away the “next-to.” He knows better than
anyone else that stirring up oppression and persecution will never
destroy the Church. The Roman Empire persecuted and oppressed
Christians for three hundred years only to make them stronger. But
herding Christians into those cold, cavernous cathedrals (under
Constantine) and making them all pew-members did the trick. Just
make the Christians “Sunday Morning Spectators,” and the church is
paralyzed. Just take away the “next-to,” and the building collapses.
Just isolate the Christians into contentment with their keyboards,
modems and dish-networks, and the testimony is over!

I am sure we all appreciate these modern technological wonders, but
what a price we are paying. With some folks, I am afraid they may
have given away much more than they gained. Relational! Brothers
and sisters, we need to be relational with each other. We urgently
need to find others we can be “next-to” with. We also urgently need
someone who can get close enough to chip away some of our sharp
egos. Without the “next-to,” any talk about the building is wishful
thinking; unless of course the Lord puts us in a situation of isolation
to teach us some valuable lessons. After all, the Lord did send Moses
to the “back side of the desert” for 40 years, and Paul to the Arabian
desert for 3 years.

Just as the returned remnant were each assigned a section of the
wall, we, the New Testament remnant, also have each been given a
section of the wall to rebuild. Dear brothers and sisters, have you
seen the deplorable condition of the burnt gates and the breached
walls? Has the Lord granted you light on the building of His
testimony? Do you have a burden to “rise up and build”? Are there
brothers and sisters “next to” you on your section of the wall? I am
afraid most Christians have not seen the deplorable condition of the
“breached walls and the burnt gates” of God’s testimony. Just as in
Nehemiah’s time when he rose up in the middle of the night to
inspect the walls, God’s people today are also soundly asleep with
regard to the degradation in Christendom.

Before you get all stirred up to build the testimony of God, may I
humbly suggest that you repair your own dormant or damaged
relationships first? Do you have some feelings against certain dear
children of God? Have you offended someone? Has someone
offended you? Are you just staying aloof? Do you stay away because
you think your doctrines and practices of the church are superior? Do
you think you have received better light and revelation than others?
Ask the Lord to help you. Nothing pleases Him more than seeing
brothers and sisters reconcile and restore those damaged or dormant
relationships, because the restoration of relationships comes straight
from the very core of the character of the Lamb. And it is the Lamb’s
character that affords the Lord a perfect platform upon which to build
His testimony.

Recently, the Lord mercifully restored a divorced couple’s relationship
in a town just north of us. The testimony that came out of their
reconciliation greatly strengthened and encouraged all the saints in
their fellowship and beyond. As a result, the brothers and sisters
there experienced tremendous building up in life, joy, faith and love
for each other. More recently still, another young divorced couple in
another fellowship in our city got restored, and great rejoicing and
encouragement fell on all the saints. Praise Him!

The Need for Light

It is one thing (and a good thing) to want to stretch and lengthen our
cords, but if there is no one on the receiving end of the cords of
fellowship to drive them firmly into solid ground, our fellowship will
fall seriously short. Cords of Christ-centered fellowship must be
mutually understood and received or they cannot be firmly anchored;
and firmly anchored they must be, or any winds of teaching will send
the tent crashing into the dust! Also, many precious saints who
chose to stay in the Institutional Church have withered on the vine
because their fellowship concerning the vision of Christ and His
eternal purpose was not understood and received. The problem was
not the lack of fellowship; it was the lack of light and perception that
directly resulted in the lack of building.

This is where the need for light comes in. As mentioned before,
fellowship is based on life, not on light. Consider how a 60-year-old
grandfather can have the sweetest fellowship with his 3-year-old
grandson not because of light (which the child has none) but because
of life. If fellowship were based on light, then the old man could
never fellowship with the young lad; and Jesus could never have
fellowshipped with His disciples (who were largely in a fog most of
the time). Yes, fellowship is based on life, but fellowship must be
issued from and received in light to be firmly anchored in Christ, or
there is no building! Please notice that it is only when the cords are
firmly staked into solid ground that the tent (the building) can be
raised up. Notice, too, that Jesus’ fellowship, though fully in life, did
not immediately result in building until Pentecost when the Holy Spirit
came and flipped the “light switch,” so to speak, and brought the
brethren out of the fog and the Church into being.

Just like the grandfather, those who are spiritually mature must still
reach out to the spiritually younger and find the fellowship sweeter
than honey. It is Jesus’ life that makes our fellowship sweet. At the
same time, the remnant must labor to pursue light on God’s eternal
purpose, and travail on behalf of the younger brethren that they too,
might see light so that the “stakes” can be firmly anchored in Christ
and the “tent” of testimony raised up. Fellowship, as important as it
is, does not by itself result in building; fellowship in light facilitates
building.

Now, isn’t the relationship between fellowship and building, life and
light a most fascinating one? On the one hand, the remnant should
reach out to fellowship with all God’s children. On the other hand,
they must forsake not the gathering together with like-visioned and
kindred-spirited brethren in order that those “cords” are not only
stretched and lengthened, but also firmly anchored into solid ground
so that the “tent” (the building) can be raised up unto the testimony
of Jesus. Fellowship without building will not produce real testimony;
life without light leads to sloppy-agape. Building without fellowship
will result in legalistic division; light without life ends up in arrogant
exclusivism.

The Remnant, a Work in Secret

Finally, the Lord’s work in preparing and enlarging the remnant is
done inwardly and in secret. You rarely find the remnant making
headlines. You won’t see them plastered on billboards or glowing
under spotlights. In fact, if we saw them, we would be utterly
surprised, as Isaiah bemoaned: “Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who
has begotten these [the remnant] for me, since I have been bereaved
of my children, and am barren, a captive and a wanderer? And who
has reared these? Behold, I was left alone; where did they come
from?’” (49:21). Just like the Jews who missed their Messiah because
He was so hidden, humble and lowly, likewise when the lowly and
humble remnant do appear, many Christians will let out a collective
cry of surprise: “Where did they come from?”

It is so sad that Christians are constantly being bombarded and
enticed with the desire for outward greatness and success, they no
longer pay attention to the intricate work of the Holy Spirit enlarging
us for more Christ within. It is ironic that Christians today are so
quick to point out the failure of the Jews to recognize Christ, but do
not see that the same danger also lurks in our failure to detect and
embrace the work of the Holy Spirit in producing and enlarging Christ
in us inwardly and secretly. When the lowly remnant, the ones who
have been enlarged and constituted with the character of Christ
appear, may we not be those caught astonished, “Where did they
come from? I thought we were the remnant….”

If there is one thing that captures the essence of the remnant,
perhaps it is in this verse, “The children of whom you were bereaved
will yet say in your ears, ‘The place is too cramped for me; make room
for me that I may dwell here’” (Isa. 49:20). Oh, how delightful it
must be to the Lord that His remnant is so in tune with the divine
thought of yearning for the enlargement and fullness of Christ! Dear
saints, do you feel “cramped”? Do you need more “room”? Do you
yearn for more Christ? Are you willing to be stretched? Do you long
for fellowship, relationship and building up? May this be the heart-cry
of all God’s children, “Lord, how very little of Your character and
essence do we posses! How much we need You to enlarge our
capacity until Christ heads up, sums up and fills up all and in all!”

Lo, the old creation is passing away, the new creation will soon be
consummated in His glorious return. The remnant is standing in the
gaps (unseen) by His enabling grace and by His might. Soon we shall
hear the shouts of joy: “Grace, grace unto it” as the top stone is
being laid when the building of His Church is finally finished. Hark, it
is the song of the remnant: “Therefore the ransomed of the Lord shall
return, and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be
upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and
mourning shall flee away….”

Part I - https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=35448&forum=34&2

Oliver Peng

 2010/10/12 12:53
dab
Member



Joined: 2008/8/8
Posts: 50
Kentucky

 Re: The Remnant - Gleanings from Isaiah - Part II

Please pardon this intrusion to rid another thread.


_________________
David

 2010/10/12 13:46Profile









 Re:

The moderators know how to do it..

 2010/10/12 13:52









 Re:

Part I - https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=35448&forum=34&2

 2010/10/12 14:41
KingJimmy
Member



Joined: 2003/5/8
Posts: 4419
Charlotte, NC

 Re:

Good thoughts.


_________________
Jimmy H

 2010/10/12 23:11Profile









 Re:

Folks, excuse me. I would like to just bump this up one time, if you don't mind.

 2010/10/13 9:57





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