“FINALLY, BE ALL OF ONE MIND.”
“Finally, be
all of one mind [harmonious-in accord], having compassion one of another; love
as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous; not rendering evil for evil, or railing
for railing; but contrariwise blessing, knowing that ye are thereunto called,
that ye should inherit a blessing.”-I Pet- 3:8, 9.
HARMONY does not mean
alike-ness. Rather it signifies unity with diversity: and this is the meaning
of the Greek word translated “of one mind” in our text. The Lord’s will
respecting his people does not contemplate exact sameness, wholly ignoring
individual characteristics and peculiarities; on the contrary, a diversity with
harmony is more desirable than a sameness; as, for instance, it is the harmonious
union of the seven colors that constitutes the beauty of the rainbow. So also
in music: one strikes a chord on the piano or the organ and the result is
harmony, oneness, union-the variety of the notes gives a melody which could not
be obtained from any one of them, or from a sameness of equal volume. This is
the thought the Apostle’s words give us in respect to God’s people; they are of
various natural temperaments and dispositions and peculiarities, and the divine
alchemy by which the human is transmuted into the spiritual, the old mind into
the new mind, does not wholly destroy, and is not intended to destroy, the
elements of character and disposition; but is intended to take from each one
its dross and imperfection and discordancy, and thus to permit all eventually
to unite in and develop into a harmonious whole.
The Lord does not expect, however, that this condition of complete harmony,
will be attained by his people the instant of their consecration. On the
contrary, as the Apostle indicates in our text, this attainment of harmony is
the result, the glorious consummation,-rather than the beginning of the work of
grace in the Lord’s people: he says, “finally,” not primarily, we are to
be all of one mind-harmonious. It requires long years, generally, in the
school of Christ, for his disciples to so grow in grace and in knowledge
and in love,-ere they reach the glorious condition expressed in our text, even
“finally.”
The Apostle Paul intimates that we are to continue so to grow in grace and in
knowledge, and in love, as to attain in heart, in will, the stature of a
perfect man in Christ. The “babe” in Christ has not the stature of a “man,”
and requires first the milk of the Word, and subsequently the “strong meat,”
that it may grow thereby, and finally attain to the ideal condition represented
in our text,-a condition of harmony with the Lord and with each other, which
indicates that the work of grace has well progressed,-that the mark of perfect
love has been well attained in the heart, even though it be not possible still
to fully express it in every word and act of life.
The Apostle Paul describes this transformation of life, this growth, saying,
“Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind;” but while it requires only a
short time to give this instruction, and does not require long to agree to
follow the instruction, it, does require patient perseverance in well-doing to
comply with the instructions;-to fully attain to the transformed conditions
even in our hearts-so that we will aright, however difficult it may be
for us to always do right. And here arises a difficulty: many do not
clearly see just what are the requirements, and hence go through life in a
maze, in perplexity, in doubt, in fear, lacking the rest and peace and blessing
which should come from a proper understanding and a consistent endeavor.
No doubt all have been struck with the fact that those who manifest the
deepest interest in the divine plan are not always the most smooth and most
agreeable people in the world: frequently they are so combative as to be
continually distressing both themselves and their friends by their unwisdom or
their disposition to wrangling and contention. The very quality which the
Apostle mentions in this text as like-mindedness or harmony is peculiarly
lacking, naturally, in the disposition of the majority of those who become
deeply interested in present truth. And some have been inclined hastily to
condemn the doctrines and to say, This is not the peaceable spirit of Christ.
Where the spirit of Christ is there should be love and harmony. So says the
Apostle: “Finally, be ye all of one mind.” And this should be borne in
mind as being the final result of discipline and instruction in the school of
Christ; by our attainment of this disposition to harmony (while at the same
time loyal and courageous for the truth), we may safely gauge our growth in
grace, knowledge and love.
We want to suggest an explanation as to why it is that so many of the Lord’s
people are combatively disposed. A wrangling and contentious disposition is
the result of large combativeness-misdirected-unwisely exercised.
Combativeness itself is not a bad quality. On the contrary, it is a good
quality,-a quality actually indispensable to the attainment of the prize set
before us in the Gospel. Those who lack combativeness, lack backbone; lack the
ability to walk an upright life, under present conditions; they are like a boat
on the river which has neither oars nor wheel nor screw-propeller. They can do
nothing but float with the current, for they lack the apparatus necessary to
stem it. There are many goody-goody people who lack firmness, lack character,
lack combativeness, and who could not think of anything else than
floating with the popular current; and these frequently are mistaken for
“saints” when they are nothing of the kind. They are not even of the kind of
material that the Lord takes to make “saints” out of. They are unfit for his
purposes under the present call of this Gospel age; for all who are called now
to be of the elect Church are called to be “overcomers;” called to be victors;
called to stem the popular tide; called to fight a good fight of faith and
obedience; and such as are totally lacking in firmness, in combativeness, in
character, cannot possibly comply with these conditions, and are not in the
race.
So then, if any of those who have grasped the truth, and who have been grasped
and drawn by the truth to consecration to the Lord, have at times felt the
perversity of their natural dispositions-their combativeness, contentiousness
and wrangling disposition, and felt discouraged on this account, let them thank
God and take courage. Let them realize that this very disposition constitutes
one qualification for enlistment and service under the Captain of our salvation;-although
such a service will mean the bringing of this contrary disposition into accord
with the spirit of love, which, in the end, will mean that the wrangling
disposition will be subdued, and the combativeness be properly turned to good
account in another direction.
But while taking all the encouragement we can from the thought that the Lord is
wishing and is seeking and calling out a fighting class of “conquerors,” who
could not be conquerors unless there were something to conquer, and who
could not conquer unless they possessed something of the conquering or
combative disposition, let us nevertheless, promptly take ourselves in hand,
realizing that the good quality of combativeness has in every instance been
misdirected, and that from the moment we enlist as soldiers of the Cross of
Christ our combativeness is to be turned into new channels. We are to learn,
first of all, that our combativeness is not to be exercised toward the Lord,
that we should resist his will; but that, on the contrary, we are to make a
full surrender to him of our thoughts and words and conduct. We are to
remember that combativeness is not to be used toward the brethren; for to fight
against the brethren is to fight against God, against the truth, against the
fellow-members of our own brigade. Instead of fighting against the brethren,
we are to love them, and to fight for them, even as we are to fight for the
Lord and for the truth. We are to remember, too, that our combativeness is not
to be exercised against our friends, our neighbors, or the world in general.
No; all of these have plenty to contend against without having our opposition.
On the contrary, they need our sympathy, they need our help, they need our
encouragement, they need whatever we can render them in the way of uplift.
FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH.
I TIM. 6:12.
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How, then, and against what shall we exercise our combativeness, that it may be
well directed to the Lord’s pleasement and in the service of his cause? We
answer, that our combativeness is to be turned against sin, and that its first
exercise must begin with ourselves: the battle with
self is the greatest battle, and we have the Lord’s Word for it that he that
“ruleth his spirit (his own mind, will) is better than he that taketh a city,”
because he has to that extent learned to exercise the combativeness of a true
character in the right direction, in self-control. It is after we have had
considerable experience in battling with sin and selfishness in ourselves, in
casting the beam out of our own eyes, in subduing anger, malice, hatred and
strife in our own hearts and flesh-it is then, and by means of this severe
battle and experience, that we will be prepared to assist the brethren, and to
assist our neighbors in their difficulties-to help them to overcome their
besetments and weaknesses.
Whoever starts out by fighting even the sins of others before he
has made a vigorous campaign against his own weaknesses and errors, is
making a mistake. He needs humility and sympathy to assist the
others to fight their battles, and this he cannot gain without first battling
with himself and learning to appreciate how strong is the foe to be contended
with, and how thoroughly entrenched is sin and selfishness in all the avenues
of the flesh. He even needs to be worsted in some of his battles with self in
order to have a clear appreciation of his own inability to overcome and to
force him to go to the throne of the heavenly grace to obtain mercy and find
grace to help. He needs this because, as the Apostle says, it is when we are
weak that we are strong; and when we are strong in our self-confidence, and
therefore neglect to go to the Lord, then we are weak and liable to make
failure in the battle, and to be overcome by the enemy-Sin.-Heb. 4:16; 2 Cor. 12:10.
All those who have had any experience in the matter, and who have learned how
and where to direct their combative energies, find that there is full scope for
the exercise of every particle of combativeness he possesses. (1) In
himself, continually; as the Apostle expressed it, “I keep my body under, and
bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to
others, I myself should be a castaway” (I Cor. 9: 27). O, how much of energy
and how much persistency in fighting the good fight of faith, and of loyalty to
the Lord, is needful in the conquering of self-“bringing every thought [and so
far as possible, every word and act] into captivity to the obedience of Christ”
(2 Cor. 10:5). Plenty of room here for combativeness; plenty of room
for all the contention and wrangling we want;-contention with sin and
self-will, wrangling with the will of the flesh and opposing it at every
step-mortifying it, killing its affections and desires. No wonder the Apostle
speaks of these present experiences as a fight; no wonder he tells us that we
must be prepared to endure hardness as a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) As soon as the victory over self has been gained, and as soon as
the new mind has put a garrison in every quarter of the conquered body, to
guard it from rising in insurrection, to hold it in subjection to the King of
kings and Lord of lords-forthwith all the remaining energies that can be spared
from self-control will find ample opportunity for usefulness in battling for
the Lord, battling for the brethren, battling for the truth, battling against
error, battling against all the wiles of the devil, “for we are not ignorant of
his devices,” as the Apostle declares.
(3) As the eyes of our understanding get opened, wider and wider, we
see the great conflict that is progressing throughout the world between
righteousness and sin, between our Lord and the god of this world and his
blinded representatives, who ignorantly think that they are doing God service
and are often found fighting against the truth and against the true soldiers of
the Cross, their brethren, even as in the case of Paul. We remember how he, as
Saul of Tarsus, persecuted the Church, mistakenly misusing his combativeness in
a wrong way. We remember how the Lord called to him in the way, “Saul, Saul,
why persecutest thou me?”-Why are you fighting against God, opposing the truth
and his cause? In Paul’s case we see how that as soon as the eyes of his
understanding were opened he became a most valiant soldier of the cross,
hesitating not to lay down his life in the service of the Lord and the
brethren, who once he had ignorantly opposed.
It was the same combativeness which made Paul a violent persecutor that
subsequently made him the most valiant of the apostles in the defense of the
truth. And so it was also with others of the apostles. Those who had the
largest amount of combativeness naturally, when it was turned into the proper
channels, became thereby the strongest and most valiant for the truth. Peter,
for instance, full of combativeness, and at first seriously impeded by
it, ready in defense of the Lord to smite off the ear of the high priest’s
servant, was very valiant subsequently in the use of his talents to the Lord’s
praise. James and John, two others specially favored and recognized of the
Lord, and specially used in the service of the truth, were of combative
dispositions, so much so that they were known as the “sons of thunder;” and it
was these two who were so incensed at the Samaritans who refused to receive our
Lord into their city, and who were so full of love and zeal for the Master that
they inquired, “Lord, wilt thou that we call down fire from heaven to consume
these men and their city?” They had the combativeness, they had the courage,
they had the zeal; but they had not yet learned how to direct it, and so the
Master intimated, when he said, “Ye know not what spirit ye are of. The
Son of Man came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” By and by, when
they were anointed with the holy spirit at Pentecost, and had learned gradually
what spirit they were of (what spirit the Master was of, and what spirit they
must be of as his disciples), they understood better how their combativeness
and zeal were to be used. And hence we find them loyal soldiers of the
cross, shunning not danger, enduring hardness as good soldiers of the Lord
Jesus, even unto death.
It was this natural combativeness consecrated to God, and rightly directed
through the spirit, that led Peter and one of the others, when threatened, and
charged straitly by the Sanhedrin that they should preach no more in the name
of Jesus, to courageously withstand this illegal restraint upon their
liberties and rights as Jews, under the Law, and to be obedient to, the voice
of the heavenly call, and to declare, “Whether it be right in the sight of God
to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the
things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19-20). The Lord knew whom he was
choosing for his apostles, and we see clearly that weak, vacillating, nerveless
men would not have served the cause as did these whom Jesus chose. And it is
but reasonable that we conclude that the Lord similarly throughout this
age, is seeking for and choosing strong characters, those who dare to do right;
who dare to incur the frown of the world and its slights and sneers, its scoffs
and its jeers, its persecution because of fidelity to the Lord and to the
brethren. This is overcoming;-and to whatever extent any realize that they are
deficient in these qualities let them cultivate this combativeness in this
proper direction-to combat weakness, combat sin, combat subserviency to those
things which are contrary to the Lord and his Word.
FAITH AND THE MESSAGES ALSO ESSENTIAL.
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But combativeness alone would not be sufficient. It needs proportionate faith,
in order to use the combativeness aright. Hence we hear our Lord’s word, “This
is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith.” Faith in the Lord
must be the power that will move his people and energize them. Not faith in
creeds, nor faith in men, nor faith in ourselves, but faith in the Lord and in
his exceeding great and precious promises. As the steamboat wheels represent
its combativeness, by which it battles against and pushes the water, and thus
is enabled to go upstream, so its steam-power, through the engine,
represents faith, which must be behind the combativeness, to exercise the
combativeness-to lead us to endure hardness, to direct us in fighting the good
fight and to hope for the rewards to be attained.
Similarly the fuel and the boiler generating the steam represent the Word and
providences of God, which produce in us the cause, the power of the faith which
energizes us in stemming the current. The exceeding great and precious
promises of the divine Word were given to us as the basis of faith,-as the fuel
to produce the power in us to will and to do God’s good pleasure
(Phil. 2:13). And hence these gracious promises must not be neglected; they
must be continually used and must continue in us to energize us. And the
energy must be applied, and we must progress proportionately against the course
of this world, if we would attain to the glorious conditions to which we have
been called.
While we should ever remember (lest otherwise we should be discouraged), that
the attainment of a control of our own spirits, our own minds, and the bringing
of these into full accord, full harmony, with the Lord and, so far as possible,
into accord with all of the Lord’s people who are in accord with him, is
to be “finally,” nevertheless we are not to delay our endeavor to reach that
final and grand development to which the Apostle exhorts us in our text. We
are to have it continually before us as the standard, the ideal, the aim, and
although we may fail time and again, if we are rightly exercised in the matter
we will be stronger as the result of every failure; for each failure will show
us more clearly than we discerned previously the weak points of our characters,
naturally resulting from the fall. And if each weak point be carefully noted
and guarded against as respects the future we will come by and by, by the grace
of God and under the direction of our great Teacher, by his Word and example,
and providential leadings, to that subdued condition, that harmonized
condition, which would accord to the expression of the text. And to such,
looking back, even the failures which subsequently recognized led to greater
fortification against the wiles of the Adversary and the weaknesses of the
flesh, may be seen to have been overruled by the Lord for our blessing
according to his promise that all things shall work together for good to
them that love him.
As we finally, in larger and larger measure, attain to harmony-to the
subduing of our natural dispositions toward contention, gradually getting these
combative tendencies into accord with the Lord and his Word and his Spirit, and
into accord with those who are his, our fellow-soldiers in this battle
for the right, our condition will be what the Apostle here describes; viz., we
will have compassion one of another. We will expect to see and will see
“the brethren” striving for the mastery over self and we will be sympathetic,
compassionate; so that if they err through weakness of the flesh, we will be
glad to restore such in the spirit of meekness, remembering ourselves also lest
we should be tempted (Gal. 6:1). We will love them as brethren ought to
love-heartily, thoroughly-such a love and such a sympathy, such a compassion,
as would lead us to do everything within our power for their
assistance;-especially along the lines of spiritual assistance, in the
conquering of sin, and in growth in grace and knowledge and love;-but,
nevertheless, also in temporal matters as we have opportunity, as may be
possible to us.
This compassion and brotherly love amongst the spiritual brethren, even as
respects temporal matters, cannot surely be less than it would be
amongst natural brethren. Indeed, inasmuch as the spiritual
relationship is the higher, the nobler, the grander of the two, without
detracting anything from the love and affection and obligations toward
the fleshly brotherhood, it would imply that the spiritual would appeal to us
still more strongly, so that we would do all for a brother in Christ in a
temporal way that we would do for any earthly brother-and more abundantly. The
Apostle sets this standard, saying, that we are to “do good unto all men
as we have opportunity, especially to the household of faith.”
This of course does not mean that we are to be negligent of those of our own
immediate households and our special responsibilities to these; but it does
mean that aside from these, the spiritual brethren should have the first place
in our hearts and in our sympathies and in our love, and in all that this would
imply in the way of sharing with them both the spiritual and the temporal good
things which we enjoy, according to their necessities. Those who have reached
this condition of heart-harmony with the Lord and with his gracious plan will
have had such an experience in attaining to this position themselves that it
will make them pitiful of others,-sympathetic in the difficulties and trials of
others; and it will make them “courteous,” polite, “gentle toward all.”
In a word, according to the Scriptural standard, the
elect Church of Christ should be the most polished, the most refined, the most
polite, the most generous, the most kind, of all the people in the world;-and
should be all these in the most absolute sense; not in the mere sense of an
outward form and appearance of kindness, gentleness, etc., so common in the
world; but a gentleness, a kindness, proceeding from the heart,
proceeding from an appreciation of the Lord’s spirit and the spirit of the
truth, the spirit of love, and the spirit of justice, also. It is a
great matter that we learn to be thoroughly just, and in all of our affairs to
do unto others as we would wish them to do unto us,-that we accord them the
same liberties that we ourselves would wish to enjoy. Truly, the law of God is
a wonderful law, and truly the people who are taught of the Lord and
trained in harmony with the divine will, must be a peculiar people, zealous of
good works.
Combative people will always (while in the flesh) feel a disposition to
retaliate; but those who have learned of the Lord the lesson of self-control,
and who have developed meekness and brotherly-kindness and pity, will thereby
be prepared to fulfill the demands of our text,-to not render evil for evil, or
railing for railing. And looking to the Lord as the pattern they will see how
it was with him, that “When he was reviled he reviled not again.” Not because his enemies had found in him something that
could properly and justly be reviled and evil spoken of;-nor because his
enemies were so nearly perfect that he could find nothing in them to
revile and speak evil of; but because he was so full of submission to the
divine will that he was enabled to take the scoffs and railings of the people,
and to bear these humbly and patiently, and to remember that even hereunto
he was called, that he should endure patiently and learn the lessons, and
prove himself faithful, and develop and demonstrate his true character, and feel
and manifest his pity for the people, in their blindness and ignorance, and his
love for them.
And so it must be with us as we grow in our Lord’s character-likeness.
We also will be less disposed to rail at those who rail, and to revile those
who revile us. We also will be ready to suffer the loss of all things, and to
do so with cheerfulness; yea, even to rejoice in the trials and difficulties of
this present time, knowing, as the Apostle declares, that these are working out
for us a far more exceeding and an eternal weight of glory. We note here the
harmony between Peter’s statement of this matter and our Lord’s
statement of it: “Bless them that curse you; bless and curse not” (Phil. 3:8; 2
Cor. 4:17; Matt. 5:44; Rom. 12:14). So the Apostle says we should rather
render blessing. If we have not yet attained to this high standard which is at
the end of the race, the mark of perfect love, where we love our enemies and
are ready and willing and anxious to bless them, to help them, to desire their
uplifting out of darkness and degradation, and to wish and do all that we can
in harmony with this, the divine plan, let us not be discouraged; but let us
press onward, that as soon as possible we may reach this point, which is the
mark of perfected character. For, as the Apostle says, “even hereunto we were
called, that we might inherit a blessing.”
THE BLESSED INHERITANCE FOR WHICH WE ARE BEING PREPARED.
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We were called to be the Royal Priesthood, under Jesus, the Royal High Priest
of our profession. We are instructed in the Scriptures that this royal
priesthood is to be God’s agency during the Millennial age for bringing
blessing to the World of mankind, and “hereunto we were called” that we might
be fitted for this priesthood. The Apostle tells us that in the preparation of
our Lord Jesus and his testing as to fitness for the position of high priest,
it was necessary that he should be tempted, tried, and caused to suffer, in
order that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest when the time should
come to exercise the authority and power of his office. Similarly it is
necessary that all who would be of this Royal Priesthood should have such
experiences now as would develop in them also these principles of truth,
righteousness-such experiences as would lead them to love righteousness and to
hate iniquity-such experiences in battling with self and in gaining control (at
least so far as the mind, the will is concerned), as would constitute them
victors and develop in them these graces of the spirit mentioned by the
Apostle, brotherly kindness, pitifulness, compassion. All these qualities will
be requisite in dealing with the world during the Millennial age. They will be
merciful and faithful high priests, because they will know how to
sympathize with the poor world in its fallen condition, and how to make
allowances for them in their various efforts toward regaining the standard of
perfection then to be established through restitution processes.
We will be kings as well as priests then. As kings, we will be endued with
power to control the world. This will be a further proper use of
combativeness; but we are not fitted and prepared to so control the world in
the present time; and therefore the Lord directs his people to wait, and long
for, and pray for his Kingdom to come, and his will to be done;-to be enforced
with heavenly power and authority. These “very elect” kings and priests will
be fully qualified to exercise their power in moderation, for then they will
have the new bodies in perfect accord with the new minds;-the new minds which
are now being developed, disciplined and brought to that standard of perfect
love, which is full of pity, compassion, brotherly kindness and harmony. How
necessary, dear brethren, that we learn these lessons, if we would be prepared
to be used in the glorious service of the Kingdom so shortly to be established.