Now, if you would like to turn to Ephesians, chapter 4. We will read from verse 11.
And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:
till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, even Christ;
from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together, through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love.
So, shall we bow together in a further word of prayer? We have already sought to cover this time. Let us very much take what is ours in our Lord Jesus.
Dear Lord, we want to bow here in Thy presence this morning, and we want to thank Thee that Thou hast made a provision for us. We thank Thee for that provision for cleansing. We thank Thee, Father, for that provision for understanding. We thank Thee for that provision of an anointing, both for speaking and for hearing.
Lord, together now we stand into it. We want to recognize again, Lord, that apart from Thee we can do nothing. We can neither speak Thy words nor can we hear Thy words apart from Thee. But, Lord, Thou hast given us the Holy Spirit, that we might know those things which Thou hast given to us.
O Lord, we pray together: take this time now, this morning, and make it live, Lord, with Thy speaking and with Thy working. Take Thy word and make it, Lord, a living reality to our hearts. Maybe, Lord, we understand some of these things; give us a clearer understanding. Where, Lord, it is only an academic understanding, get it into our hearts, Lord, by Thy Spirit.
But, O Lord, we pray that Thou wouldst stand, as it were, against any kind of just mental appreciation of these things. By Thy Spirit, Lord, get it all into us. For we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
This morning I would like to speak about another principle of fellowship: the principle of supply.
We find that in Ephesians 4:16: “From whom”—that is, the Head, even Christ—“all the body fitly framed and knit together, through that which every joint supplieth.”
Every joint supplieth.
Not that which some of the joints supply; not that which the most spiritual joints supply; not even that which most of the joints supply; but that which every joint supplies. Every joint supplies. The principle of supply.
In Colossians 2:19 we read:
And not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increaseth with the increase of God.
Being supplied through the joints, and then increasing with the increase of God.
Turn again to Ephesians 4:16 and notice another phrase. In the old version it is a bit of a mouthful: “according to the working in due measure of each several part.”
The New American Standard, which I think is one of the best modern translations that we have, renders it like this: “according to the proper working of each individual part.”
Through that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part.
Every joint; each individual part. Every joint; each individual part.
Here, child of God, you are constituted by the Lord, through new birth, an individual part of the whole. You are original. You are to be yourself. Yet all that is individualistic is to be dealt with. You are a part of the whole.
You have not got every single thing that you can have in yourself. You are a part of a whole. Every joint; each individual part. The principle of supply: every joint supplying something; each individual part properly working.
Now, the trouble with the body of our Lord Jesus Christ down here on earth is that there are an awful lot of stiff joints. Anyone would think that the body of our Lord is a case of chronic arthritis.
Somehow or other, the joints have become stiff. Somehow or other, large parts of the body are not properly working.
We can talk about all these principles of fellowship. We can talk about the principle of oneness, of unity. We can speak about the principle of continuity. We can speak about the principle of authority. We can think about the principle of the organic. But unless, in the end, it comes down to this fact that every individual part is properly working, the whole is going to be paralysed.
It must be, in one sense, an academic venture—an idealistic venture—because, in the ultimate, it is not only that we need to maintain our oneness; it is not only that we need to see that we are part of something which God has been doing through the whole age.
It is not only that we must hold fast the Head and really know the lordship and headship of Jesus Christ in our midst. But if we are really going to know the organic, every joint has got to supply something, and each individual part has got to properly work. Now, that means you and me.
The first thing I would like to say this morning, as we look at this matter, is to go a little behind. I want to speak about the necessity of being built together. We are talking about fellowship.
Why should we be built with others? Is it not enough to be saved? Is it not enough to be redeemed? Why should we be built with others?
I mean, if some of us feel a little weak, a little in need, there may be a point for being built. But surely, if we are strong in the Lord, and we find everything in our Lord, and we find all that we need in Him, is there really any need to be built with others?
Why should we go through all this being knocked about, all this sort of discipline and limitation of having to be bound up with other believers, some of whom are so awkward and so difficult? Of course, it is always the others that are awkward and difficult. You have probably found that out.
I mean, if they were all like me, it would be such a blissful sort of thing! That is how most of us think. Why should I be built up with others? Why should I contribute to the building?
Why is it necessary for me to contribute to the building up of the body, to the building work of God? Why is it important for me to function? Why is it important that I should take responsibility?
Cannot I go on with the Lord, get to know the Lord personally, get to know His Word deeply in a personal way, grow in grace and the knowledge of Him, and really see the image of my Lord Jesus being worked out in myself—being conformed, as it were, to His image?
If we turn to Ephesians 2:20, we read these words:
Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone;
in whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord;
in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
“In whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.”
Turn to 1 Peter 2:4, speaking of our Lord Jesus:
Unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect, precious,
ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Now mark that: “Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house.” He is the living Stone; you also are living stones. Together, we are built up a spiritual house.
What do all these terms mean? “Fitly framed together”; “builded together”; “being supplied and knit together.” What does it all mean?
One stone does not make a house. A group of stones does not make a house. Many stones do not make a house. All the stones necessary for the building of the house do not make a house.
It is the relationship of stone to stone that finally produces a house. If you have a whole great group of stones, and every single one of them is vital for that house, but they have never been related together, never built together, never been fitly framed together, you have not got a house. You have got all the material, but you have not got a house.
It is the relationship of stone to stone which finally produces the house.
Now, why do you and I need to be built up together with other believers? Why should we contribute to the building work of God?
Because all this is related to what God has desired from before times eternal. In other words, what God has always desired is a dwelling place in which He can express Himself and reveal Himself; a place in which He can find His home.
However we put it—temple, house, bride, body—it comes down to the same thing in the end: a people who have been brought into a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, and then are built together in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible ends with a marriage. We discover that the city, which is the wife of the Lamb—the bride of Christ—is not just personal. Far from it. We find that it is the relationship of things to things in Christ.
We find that it is the way they have been brought together, built together, fitly framed together, living together, growing up, as it were, into Christ the Head together.
Brother Kong has already, in an earlier time, said something about this matter, and I want just this morning to keep to the principle of supply.
But what I do want to say here is this: we can talk till we are blue in the face about the bride of Christ, about the city of our God, about the spiritual Zion, about the wife of the Lamb; but unless you and I find our relationship to one another in Christ, in time and in place, we shall never know the building work of God.
People sometimes come to me and say, “Ah, but just wait. What about those poor saints who have seen something and have no fellowship?” They are the exceptions.
I always say to people who come to me, “Have you got any fellowship?” They always say yes. We are so deceitful. It is like people who have not come to the Lord and who come up to you after your gospel message and say, “What about those who have never heard?”
Leave that to God. You leave that to God. God is infinitely more just and righteous than you—infinitely more. If you have got any sense of justice at all in your heart and mind and conscience, it is because God has put it there. It is the palest reflection of the righteousness and justice of God.
Now, coming back to this other matter: all right, leave those poor saints who are right out in the wild somewhere up in Alaska, or somewhere else. Are there not believers where you live?
Are there not some believers who begin, even dimly, to see some of these things we are talking about? Then, dear child of God, you are caught, and you cannot get away.
If you want to be part of the bride, you have got to allow God to get you into a right relationship with other believers in time and in place.
I can talk about being one with all the saints of God behind the Bamboo Curtain or behind the Iron Curtain—very conveniently, because they are behind the Bamboo Curtain and behind the Iron Curtain.
I can talk even about saints on the other side of the world—how wonderful it is, how one we are, and how the Lord is building us together—because I hear news from the other side of the world. But God says all that is a lot of hogwash.
The real thing comes down to this: what about the saints in the place where you live? Are you finding your relationship to them, and are they finding their relationship to you? Is that not where we have all our problems?
Oh, when we first see each other, we all look such lovely, shining, scrubbed-clean saints. But it is not long before we begin to find that there are a lot of very ugly corners—many, many problems and difficulties we find with one another.
But we have got to find our relationship to one another in the Lord. Otherwise, we make a mockery of the Word of God.
I cannot understand this idea—which is such a comfortable idea, and has been prevalent for so long in evangelical circles—that being fitly framed together somehow or other all takes place up there in a kind of never-never land.
All are being knit together somehow to others, all in the invisible. It has seemingly no relationship to what is happening down here. If God says that we, as living stones, have been brought to the living Stone and are built up as a house, He must mean precisely that.
If He says that a whole building, fitly framed together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, He must mean something. What does it mean? It must mean that we saints have got to find our relationship to one another in the Lord: first to the Head, and then to one another in the Lord.
It is there, in the people of God, in time, on this earth, in locality, that I must be trained by the Spirit of God. It is there that I must be changed into the image of Christ.
It is there that I must know and submit to discipline. It is there that I must learn obedience by the things which I suffer. It is there that I must exercise responsibility through the grace which God gives me.
It is there that I must fulfil whatever ministry, however small and seemingly insignificant, or however great and seemingly significant, it may be. It is there that I must maintain the oneness at all costs. And it is there, and there alone, that by the grace of God I overcome.
The overcomer is not some kind of legend, some kind of lovely idea that you can get away from all other saints because you, and you alone, have seen something. You shut yourself away and become like some monk or nun, some hermit of old, and so you overcome. God forbid.
The way you overcome will be in relationship to other saints. You may have to spend nights in prayer, but no one will know about it. You may have to suffer in your own heart deeply, knowing an anguish and a travail in your heart, but your face is bright so that no one sees that you are spiritually fasting, as it were, unto the Lord.
There, in your relationship to other saints, in the midst of all the problems, in the midst of all the limitations, in the midst of very earthly and human circumstances—there, and there alone, you overcome by the grace of God.
As you overcome in the midst of so often failure and defeat and breakdown, and so much that is not right, God relates you to those other saints, even the most awkward of them.
You discover that it is not for the super and the elite that you get related alone, but to all who are in the family of God. Even if they will not have it, you at least have a right relationship toward them.
The character of true service must be produced there, in time and in place. You know, the most wonderful thing about being a child of God, and about all this building work of God, is that we have an eternal vocation in view.
All this that God is doing in time and in place is really but a kindergarten. It is a training course. Not that we should develop what God is doing here, but it is only a training course.
There is this idea that somehow or other every child of God who is born of the Spirit is willy-nilly going to sit on a golden throne, draping the mansions of heaven. Oh, may the Lord preserve us.
Our Lord never said anything like that. He said, “If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him.” He said, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne.”
The fact of the matter is this: the government and administration of God throughout eternity would be in a mess if it were left to most of us Christians in the state we are.
Where does God do something in our lives? In our relationship to one another. There we learn some of the deepest lessons about God’s character in our lives.
We can talk about the love of God, and it may not mean anything really except that we sit in a self-centred way, feel that we have been saved, and we have been loved. But then we come up against someone who is so difficult, so rebellious, so awkward, who is always, as we say, the fly in the works.
We say, “Out with him! Out with him! We cannot put up with this brother any more. Out with him!” Here is the problem.
God says, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no. You have got it all wrong. He is not the problem. I could blow on him and he would be finished. You are the problem. You are the problem because of your reaction and your relationship.”
Then suddenly: “Oh, but no, Lord, Lord, You have got it all wrong. I am one of the going-on saints. I am one of those who has seen something. He does not even see. Worldly, carnal.”
Then the Lord says, “And I died for him. And I saved him. And I loved him.” Then we understand something about the love of God that we never saw before.
You see, we can talk about the love of God to one another, but until we come up against one another in this way, we do not discover the nature of love, the capacity of love, the infinity of love. We do not really understand love.
Then we begin to understand why. Of course, I would not be here if God had not loved me. I am just as difficult, I suppose, in other ways to other people.
I also wonder what it must be like in heaven when all the various prayers and sighs are coming in—thousands and thousands every single second—and someone is saying about so-and-so, “O God, get rid of so-and-so. They are a problem to this whole place.”
Then there comes in another prayer and a sigh from so-and-so: “I find so-and-so so difficult, Lord.”
We have to find our right relationship with one another if anything is going to be done.
Stones have to be shaped. Stones have to be cut. Stones have to be polished. Stones have to be fitted together. All this work is done where we live now, and in our relationship to one another in Christ.
Why should I be built together with others? I must be built together with others if I want to be in the city of God; if I want to overcome and sit down with Christ in His throne; if I want to possess the inheritance which my Lord has given His whole life for.
Then I must be built with others. Why should I contribute to the building? Because there is no other way for me to be built in until I have got to contribute a little I have.
Have you ever discovered that the moment you start to give, from that moment you start to discover how poor you are?
We can live in a kind of spiritual-food paradise, sitting there, listening to various ones contributing, leading, helping, sharing from the Word, nodding, or saying, “Did not think much of that.”
We do not know our own needs until suddenly we have to take responsibility for someone else. Suddenly, someone comes to the Lord, and for the first time we have, as it were, been used by the Lord to lead someone. We become concerned; we try to help them.
Then we find that we have not got it in us. We help them a little and a little, and then we nearly smother them; then we nearly suffocate them.
Then the one whom we have led to the Lord gets angry with us, which often happens after a while. He says to us, “I think you are stifling me.”
We see something fine when we begin to take responsibility: that there is real need in our lives, and that, in turn, if we mean business, will drive us on to the Lord.
What I am trying to say this morning is that each individual part has got to work properly. Every single part. All increase, all development, is according to the proper working of each individual part.
You know what it is when some small, up to that point almost unrecognised muscle gets a cold in it and seizes up. Oh, you have got pain. Or one joint gets inflamed. Oh, the pain that one joint can cause.
Sometimes it is such a small area that gets infected, but the whole body feels it. Dear brothers and sisters, I just wonder sometimes, in those companies that are represented here, whether you are one of those painful spots.
Because you have seized up. You have got a cold. You have got a spiritual cold. Maybe someone has dealt with you harshly. Maybe you felt that somehow or other someone said something unkind about you. Maybe you have been misrepresented, and you have got a cold.
Your love has just gone cold, and you say, “Oh, what is the use? They are like that. What is the use?” You have got a cold.
Now, you are not really damaging the body; you are damaging yourself.
Or maybe you have been a joint of supply, you have given something, and then got inflamed. Some infection has got in. There are all kinds of infections that can get in, you know: devices of the enemy, imbalance, something else.
A joint gets inflamed, and then something happens to the body as a whole. Not only is the body damaged, but you are damaged too.
Now, what is this principle of supply? I think every one of us here probably sees the need that we should all work together, that every individual part should be properly working, that every joint should be supplying something.
What is this principle of supply? It is found, I believe, in Matthew 10:8. Here it is, the last part of the verse:
Freely ye received, freely give.
Freely ye received, freely give. Give what you have received. That is the principle of supply. You have received; give. Do not give what you have not received.
Ah, there is much problem. That is just where we get so much problem. People are always contributing what they have not received.
Here is someone with a gift of singing. Just because they have a gift of singing, everyone says, “Sing, sing. Please sing.” It is not that their gift, their talent for singing, has gone through the cross, has been broken by the Lord, and filled with the Spirit.
Now, do not let us be silly about this. Sometimes someone’s singing can bring the Lord to us. Do not be afraid of it and say, “Oh, that is all the world; that is entertainment.” Sometimes someone can have a gift like that which has gone right through the cross, and there is something in it of a quality that was never there before.
One person can play the piano, and all you get is them. Another person can play the piano, and all you receive is the Lord. What is the difference? They may both have musical degrees.
One person can be a genius, a wizard on the piano, and yet all you get left with is them—the way their fingers run over the keys, the way it is so beautiful. But all you get is them. Another person: you get the Lord; you receive the Lord. Why?
Because that natural gift has gone into a melting pot. It has been broken by the Lord, and then it has been given back in resurrection and filled with the Spirit. Then it becomes a channel of grace. It becomes a joint of supply.
I have only used two extreme things—singing and music—but it goes into everything. We often think, “Here is a person who can organise. Oh, he is a great organiser. He is a gift to the church.”
Oh, how America has suffered! I have never seen a more organised place in the whole of my life. You go into some churches and they are so organised that you almost feel your greeting has been organised for you.
Every single thing is programmed. The children are programmed, the young people are programmed, the older people are programmed, the money is programmed, the meetings—everything is programmed, programmed, programmed.
We need organising ability. When it has gone into the breaking of the Lord Jesus and when it has come out into resurrection and been filled with the Spirit, what a gift it is.
Here is someone with the gift, as we say, of the gab. That is, they just have a natural gift for talking. They could talk the hind legs off a donkey. For them to talk is the most natural thing in the whole wide world.
They can talk and talk and talk. Of course, once they get saved, they talk—only this time they talk biblical talk, and it is all biblical talk. So we say, “Ah, so-and-so the preacher.”
We immediately get them into theological seminary, and through theological seminary into church, dress them up, ordain them, and now we have got the minister. From then on, he goes on with the gift he began with.
It is no problem to him to speak because it is easy to him. It is natural to him. But, oh, is it not wonderful when God can take such a gift of communication and put it into the breaking, as it were, of the cross, and then bring it into resurrection, fill it with the Spirit, and anoint it with the Spirit?
Then there can be something wonderful under the government and control of the Lord.
The principle of supply: do not give what you have got naturally; give what you have received from the Lord.
Jesus said these words:
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give.
These dear ones went out, and here is an amazing thing: they did not even know the Lord deeply. They had no experience of the cross or the Spirit, yet they went out and they saw the most incredible things happen.
They saw the lepers cleansed. They saw demons cast out. They saw the sick healed. They saw Satan, Jesus said, falling as lightning from heaven.
Why? Because they simply obeyed this one law of supply: give what you receive. Do not give what you have naturally, but give what you have received.
If our Lord has given you something, give it. Dear child of God, if you are born of God, you have something of the Lord, have you not? Give. Give what you have of the Lord. This is the principle of supply.
Do not overreach yourself. Now let me speak to those of you younger in the Lord. When you come into a time like this and hear all these wonderful people talking about overcoming, spiritual warfare, the nature of the church, and being built together, you can think, “I never heard of such things in my life.”
Then you try to overreach yourself. When it comes to a time of praise, you either say, “It is all so good, I cannot open my mouth and praise the Lord. With all those wonderful brothers there and those tremendous sisters, who is little so-and-so to praise the Lord this morning?”
But, you know, there are times when a baby’s cry means more to father than anybody else, than anything else.
If the baby tries to be a university graduate, that would be stupid. Father would say, “There is something wrong with this child.” But so many of God’s children are trying to be university graduates spiritually before their time.
They try to take on the language and try to overreach themselves. They start talking about things they do not know the first thing about. Then the whole thing becomes artificial, and God says, “Oh dear, dear, dear, I do not get any joy out of this.”
When you overreach yourself, what you have done is this: you started by giving what you received, and then you went on to what you have not received.
The principle of supply is to give what you have received. Dear young child of God, have you found the Lord? Why do you not open your mouth next time we have a time of open praise and say, “Thank You, Lord, for saving me”?
That means more to the Lord than if you should say, “O Lord, I so thank You for the book of Revelation, and how the overcomers have got through in those seven churches, and then those standing on Mount Zion with the Lamb, following Him whithersoever He goeth.”
The Lord says, “Look here, you have not seen that. You have not seen that. What do you mean, talking to Me like this? Why do you not just praise Me for what I am?”
Sometimes we have people take part in prayer and give us a whole potted version of the Sermon on the Mount. I feel sometimes the Lord must think, “Oh dear, dear, dear, I gave that. Why does he have to give it all back to Me?”
Why cannot he simply say, “Lord, I adore You”? Somehow or other, some of us cannot do that. We cannot actually say, “I love You, Lord,” in front of all people. We feel we can give a paraphrase of a hymnbook. It is not evil; it is just not real.
Better to tell the Lord you love Him with all your heart and be real. Then there comes out of you a God-given warmth, and there comes back from God a warmth to you, and the whole body is warm.
Oh, if we could be joints of supply. If we would only give what we have got to give. Some of you suffer from a kind of introversion. You hear wonderful things and think, “Well, I cannot rise to that.” Do not worry about that. You will.
The only way you will get to where those others have got is by being yourself in Christ. As you give what you have got, what you have received from the Lord, you shall get more.
Look, for instance, at Luke 6:38:
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom.
For with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
What a wonderful word. Listen again: “Give, and it shall be given unto you.” How? Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.
Do you want to know what the principle of supply is? Give the little you have of the Lord. Share. Share the little you have of the Lord. Do not go beyond. However little it is, share.
If you have just been saved, share that. If your testimony is just to salvation, share that. If it goes further, share more. But give what you have received, and it shall be given unto you.
As you give, you get more back. Give them what you get back, and you will get even more. Oh, now here is a way to be spiritually avaricious!
Give what you receive of the Lord, and you will get more. Give the more you receive, and you will get even more. Give the even more, and you will get even more than that.
Some people sit down and say, “Until the Lord comes to me with a spiritual blockbuster and sort of blows me a thousand miles ahead in the path to the kingdom, I am not going to contribute a single thing.” My dear friend, you never will.
You will go to the Lord without having grown hardly at all, except in your head. You will not get anywhere. The only way to get anywhere spiritually is to be a joint of supply. What you receive from the Head, pass on. Pass on.
I have never failed to be amazed by the Dead Sea, finding all its sources in the snows of the Hermon range. Three or four little sources begin, and always, even at the height of the dry, hot season, those waters are sparkling and cool.
They come from all the melted snow which goes deep down into great wells, as it were, inside Mount Hermon. Wherever that water comes in the River Jordan, it brings life.
Even where they have piped it all the way through the plain of Sharon down to the Negev, wherever it comes, it brings life. You can see an arid wilderness on both sides of the River Jordan, but where the river goes, it is all fertile.
Yet the whole of that river, with all its millions of gallons of water per day, pours into the Dead Sea. Not a thing lives in the Dead Sea—not a shrimp, not a crab, not a fish, nothing. Not even a bit of seaweed. Nothing lives in the Dead Sea.
How is it that it can take all that life-giving water and turn it into sterility? Simple: the Dead Sea takes everything and gives nothing.
The Dead Sea has no outlet. It takes every single thing and gives absolutely nothing. Therefore, it is the Dead Sea.
There are believers, there are companies, that will take every single thing the Lord has for them, and they turn the whole thing into sterility. It becomes sterile.
They can revel in the doctrines of the resurrection of Christ, in the ascension of Christ, in the fullness and anointing of the Holy Spirit, and in all many other matters. But somehow every single thing that comes to them, they merely turn in. No one ever gets fed.
They have never any real movement of the Lord because there is no outlet. The principle of supply is that you have got to give what you receive. This is true individually; it is true corporately.
Now fellowship is just the sharing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
We are sharing what we have of the Lord.
May I say some practical things about this matter? I have sought to explain just a little bit of this principle of supply, whether it is on the corporate and wider level, or whether it is your individual part in the whole.
The fact is that we have to give what we have received, and when we give what we have received, we receive more.
What is the practical meaning? Well, I believe, obviously, first of all, that we need in the life of the church of God, in any given place, not only times of teaching and times of the ministry of the Word. We need times when the whole of our time is open to the Spirit of God.
We need such times for the exercise of the priesthood of all believers. We, brethren, need to see this: that in the life of the people of God, we need to have times entirely open to the Spirit of God to lead.
Then we may learn to follow the Spirit of God, learn to discern the anointing in a gathering, learn to keep under the anointing. Oh, I wish we would speak about that.
How to distinguish the anointing; how to abide under the anointing; how to keep under the anointing and therefore keep in line right the way through a meeting. We learn tremendous lessons this way.
May I say something else about being a joint of supply? All those of us who have not got any responsibility of leadership need to be open to the Lord. We do not just give anything we have got, just like that, because we happen to have it.
There must be a time. Some people come to a meeting and say, “Well, I have got a hymn. I am going to give it anyway. It has been burning in me.” So, the first available opportunity, they give it.
That is not the proper working of each individual part. My body does not just work all independently. I would have what we call St. Vitus’ dance.
In our open times, the Holy Spirit is sovereign. If you have got something, there will come a correct time. You will know it by the Spirit. As we move through, here is the time: you must contribute what you have, however little or however much, under the government of the Spirit of God.
We do not just give what we have willy-nilly because we happen to have it. Even the timing of the giving must be under the Spirit of God and in relationship to the rest of the members of the body.
May I say something to those of you who are more responsible brothers in companies? I believe that to be a joint of supply in this matter means that you brothers, when you have open times, must get together beforehand and cover those times.
One of the great tragedies at present is the way people drift into meetings. They say, “Just because the Lord is with us and it is going to be an open time, no one takes any responsibility.” Everyone just drifts together.
Then we spend the first half hour wondering, and only just before the meeting comes to a close do we get anywhere. Those of you who are responsible brothers, if God has given you responsibility, you have got to lay down your life.
In this sense, it means you have got to give even more time than anybody else. Otherwise, you should not handle responsibility.
We have to meet beforehand, sometimes to govern the time, to proclaim that Jesus is Lord over the time, to use keys to lock up what is not of Himself and to unlock what is of Himself. We must declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, always recognise the lordship of Jesus Christ.
One of the things the Lord has shown us in Richmond is that the leading brethren have no rights whatsoever. We meet always at least twenty minutes or half an hour before every gathering.
We do not spend the time just talking; we get on our knees and really cover that time before the Lord. On Sunday morning, we will be together with any other brothers who wish to come with us before the gathering. On a weeknight, we will meet together before the time begins.
I remember a while ago when we came to the conclusion that we brothers had got to get together on a Monday evening. We thought, “Oh, we cannot do it. We just cannot do it. We are all so busy, and the others are married. How can we do it? Can we give another time?”
But we felt that if we did not, everything was going to happen. To be a joint of supply means that we have got to give. So we began on a Monday evening, just we responsible brethren getting together.
Then we opened it to anyone who had a complaint, a suggestion, needed counsel, prayer, or help to come. I suppose every Monday evening we are there now from half past five to nine o’clock. That is another evening gone.
But if God has done anything amongst us, I believe it is partly due to the fact that there are some brothers who have fallen into the ground and died.
That, dear child of God, is real headship. That is not just throwing weight around and saying, “We are the boss. You do what we say. You do this and this and this.”
It is being pioneers in sacrifice, pioneers in laying down our lives for the brethren. That is what we must do. That is a joint of supply.
What a wonderful thing it is when, in our gatherings together, this principle of supply is evident. We make a big mistake if we think of only the church when we are gathered. We are the church at all times.
We are to be joints of supply, and each individual part is to be properly working at all times. Nevertheless, when we come together, then we can take the temperature of the whole church.
In an open time, you can take the temperature of the church. You can quickly see whether this principle of supply is in operation, or whether it is being contravened.
Be careful, dear children of God, of hiding behind singing. It is a wonderful thing to sing praises to the Lord and, as it says in Ephesians 5, to sing to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
But be careful that we hide behind just endless singing as if that alone is praise. Sometimes we need simply to open our lips and praise the Lord one after another.
Sometimes I do not think it is such a bad idea to all praise the Lord together. It seems to get rid of a lot of ambition that way, anyway. After all, the Lord is hearing all those thousands of prayers at the same time, all through every twenty-four hours, and He sorts them all out.
It is a lovely thing to lead one another in praise. Sometimes it is a good thing to praise the Lord altogether, to praise Him and worship Him in a volume of praise.
But we need to be joints of supply. There are times when we need to have something from the Word, a word of exhortation, when someone has had a revelation from the Lord which takes them further under the government of God.
There is nothing more wonderful than an open time when the Holy Spirit is in charge—how He leads.
But may I say something else, and I will close, about outside our gatherings. I think that we need to be joints of supply outside our gatherings too.
There are all kinds of ways we can help one another. Some people have just been saved, but they do not know what to do. There may be some brother who is so busy in the work of God and so weighed out that perhaps you could go and do some practical job that would release him.
Some of you older brothers can help those who are in full responsibility sometimes by just doing practical jobs which you can do, which would lift something from them.
Some of us can only think of being a joint of supply as far as the platform is concerned. If we are on the platform, that is being a joint of supply; if we are anywhere else, we are nothing.
But God rewards people in the end who do practical things that help others who have got big responsibilities. There are some people who pray for us, and only God knows it. They labour in prayer behind the scenes.
They will share any reward that comes to such ministry because they have undertaken a laborious task which has no glamour, no romance, and no popular recognition. But it is being a joint of supply.
Oh, brothers and sisters, if we could only see this thing. Maybe there is someone who is ill. Now, let me get this right here: sometimes the principle is that everyone should bear their own burden. Never do anything that will make another member of the body lazy.
But, on the other hand, there are times when being a joint of supply is a very practical thing. Here is some sister who is not well. What a wonderful thing it is when some other sisters go and say, “Look, can we help you in this and this? Tell us what we can do, and then we can just help you.”
Is that not a practical way? Do you know what happens? That dear sister who is weighed under, who has not been able to praise the Lord, suddenly, because of this joint of supply, praises the Lord.
I was speaking about this in a company a while ago, and I happened to say that maybe the best way you could be a joint of supply was by going round to somebody and cutting their lawn.
An old sister came up to me afterwards. She had been a prayer warrior in that particular company. She said, “Brother, perhaps I should not tell you this. I have had my whole hip taken out, you know, and this new one put in.”
She said that when she went into hospital, one of the responsible brothers in that company came to her and asked if there was anything he could do. She said, “Well, the thing I am worrying about is the garden. I will not be able to do it now for nine months.”
This brother said to her, “We will touch it.” He charged her. So when she came back, she found it a jungle.
Then, she said, some dear young brother came, and he would not take a penny. She said, “When you said about praising the Lord, at this moment I thought to myself, I was so down.”
She said, “I tried to get over it all, but every time I looked out of the window, all I could see was a forest. I worried and worried and worried. What will my neighbours do? What about my testimony here as a believer?”
She said, “When that young brother came in with his bright face and just cut the whole thing—and it was really hard work, because someone else had taken the money and not done it—the whole thing was changed.”
She said, “I got on my knees and I worshipped the Lord.” Now that is a joint of supply.
So, dear sisters, bake a cake now and again for somebody. Send a bunch of flowers now and again to somebody. Go on a visit to somebody. Do so; you may be a joint of supply.
We tend to think that only if we have got some tremendous spiritual message are we going to be a joint of supply. But sometimes we can do the most practical things, and we become a joint of supply in the body of Christ because we release something precious of the Lord in someone else.
What a wonderful thing, then, to be like that. Dear sisters, those of you who are married, let me just say one thing from 1 Timothy 5:14: remember, your job is your home.
I believe that the home of the married sister is her ministry in the house of God. Remember, it says, “Rule the household.”
The Lord has forgotten nothing in this matter. Rule the household. I have been into places where some husbands will not allow their wives to make a single decision regarding their home.
I know one brother who will not even allow his wife to dress in the colour she wants to dress in. I remember another occasion where a brother would not even allow his wife to pray in his presence. He had the idea that she was not permitted to pray at any time when a man was present.
If you read Proverbs 31, dear sister, you will have a very big shock about the sister who is of price. This sister goes down and buys a field, produces things on it, and she weaves and spins and sells them.
How impractical some of these ideas are in some Christian circles. Here is a sister who is in right relationship with her husband, in subjection to him, but she is ruling her household. She is not letting him have all the worries.
She is ruling her household. That is her ministry. When decisions about policy have to be taken, she is with her husband. But she is ruling the household.
Oh, dear sister, dear joint of supply, your homes can be places of hospitality. Your homes can be places of ministry. If nothing else, your children are a God-given heritage.
May the Lord help us to be joints of supply, not only in our gatherings, but outside our gatherings, and in our homes as well. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, it finds all of us out: the proper working of each individual part. O Lord, Thou knowest how so many of us are not properly working. Lord, by Thy Spirit, spur us.
Dear Lord, we need to know what it is for some of us to stir up the gift that is within us. Others of us, Lord, need to know what it is just to take that step in faith and share the little we have of Thee, Lord, with our brothers and sisters.
Some of us, Lord, need our eyes opened to that great range of practical things that we can do, which make it so much easier for the rest of the saints.
O Lord, help us, that we may be joints of supply in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. We ask it in His name. Amen.