Proverbs 9: 1-6; 8: 12
Ephesians 5: 24-29
1 Peter 3: 1-7
Exodus 16: 14-10
Luke 6: 46-49
It will be evident that what is on my spirit in relation to this meeting concerns the building of a house. God builds His own house and it is stable. I want to speak about wisdom building a house. It is a very fine house, wisdom’s house, and I would like to apply it to how we build our houses, not with the bricks and mortar, but the moral and spiritual features that should attach to a believer’s house. We all carry in our spirits the catastrophes that have come into households amongst us, and it is on my spirit to say some words that might give guidance in relation to principles as they are followed through that ought to result and, under the Lord’s good hand, will result in stable households in the testimony.
Wisdom has built this house; she has hewn out her seven pillars. Seven suggests completeness, in Scripture. It is a very fine house as all our houses should be morally and spiritually, and perhaps too in hospitality which is associated with the fellowship of God’s Son in its dignity. She has “slaughtered her cattle, she hath mingled her wine” - this house would be a very fine house to go into - “she hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the summits … Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither”. It is a fine thing to have a house like this; you can bring persons into it and they are going to be safe, they are going to rejoice. There is happiness in this house because Christ is there. Wisdom has been made available to us to do this. If you read these sections of scripture it says, “Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way”, chap 8: 22. He used wisdom in building the planets and the earth, and the whole universe. In looking over some things I was attracted to a comment regarding the verses in chap 8: 25, 26: “Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world”, that God made the particles, the dust, before He constituted and made the worlds. He did it by Christ, “by whom also he made the worlds”, Heb 1: 2.
Wisdom is proceeding, but wisdom has a companion. Most houses are constituted with a husband and wife, but some are sisters alone and some brothers alone; but we can all draw on a Companion in relation to the establishment of our house, who can give us counsel. That is Christ. In a marriage we can draw on that wisdom, the wisdom of Christ to establish a household. “I wisdom dwell with prudence” - it is very fine to dwell with prudence. If you want to see how that works out in the New Testament, read about Aquila and Priscilla in Acts 18. You will find them in the epistle to the Romans and Corinthians, and in 2 Timothy - three times Aquila is mentioned first, and three times Priscilla is mentioned first. There is equality and equivalence in a husband and wife. There is ability to draw on the resource from one another, “find the knowledge which cometh of reflection”. That is a mature thought. When you are a child you do not have that knowledge that comes from reflection, but you get it as you grow up. You get the “knowledge which cometh from reflection”, that is, well considered thoughts. Learn to discuss matters together. Those who are married have to learn that. There is the ability in a companion to discuss matters and to make use of the results. Young people who are here and are contemplating marriage; think about that, forming something that will remain. As we will see later, the storms will come, but we would all desire that our building will remain standing. It is a very fine thing to dwell with prudence, to reflect on things, even if you are alone in the house, to reflect on things. Do not act precipitately but reflect on things. Even as a young person who may not be married, but growing up and beginning to reflect: reflect on things, reflect on your decisions, reflect on them, call on Christ, “who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness and redemption”, 1 Cor 1: 30. Christ is available to all and should be drawn upon. Christianity is a living system and deals with living persons; draw on resources that are available to you in Christ. Draw also on the resources that may be available to you amongst the saints of God. The whole matter that is on my heart is the establishment of a house which remains like wisdom’s house where persons can be invited in and find safety. There is a tract by Mr Cutting, ‘Safety, Certainty and Enjoyment’. It is a reality and it is found in Christ, and it is found in the saints and in the homes of the saints where there is food that abides. The Lord has drawn our attention today to food that is obnoxious, but this food in this house would be profitable. Let us see when we invite one another into our homes, and even if when we are not inviting one another in, but living as families or by ourselves, that the food we imbibe will build a constitution which will stand the pressures of life and anxieties of life.
These are divine principles - I am speaking in view of preservation, and the setting out of principles which may be of guidance in relation to matters extant among the saints. It says in Ephesians, “even as the assembly is subjected to the Christ, so also wives to their own husbands in everything” - that is a very delicate relationship, it is not lording it over them, we will see that in Peter, it is not dictating, it is a sharing thought. Husbands are to “love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the assembly”. I do not think in scripture you ever find the woman being told to love the husband or the man, but you will find that the husband or the man is told to love his wife. It is a high standard of love to maintain in a house but it is a standard in view of preserving things. Then it says, “So ought men also to love their own wives as their own bodies: he that loves his own wife loves himself. For not one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as also the Christ the assembly” - it is the husband’s responsibility to love his wife. That is natural love; marriage involves natural love. There may be more than that in it, but it is natural love and the husband has to maintain that love. This is a divine standard. Christ considers for His assembly, He purifies it by “washing of water by the word, that he might present the assembly to himself glorious, having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things”. The husband has to love his wife and maintain her affections for himself, inviolate in a world where attractions may come, so that the marriage may be held together. You may have to work it out for yourself in the detail of your life, but divine principles remain, love remains and the standard as set out in this scripture is Christ and the assembly. How Christ has nourished and cherished His assembly in view of the day of presentation which will take place, indeed in principle it takes place each Lord’s day when we experience the joy of union with Christ. So, “no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, even as also the Christ the assembly” - I leave that word with you, the divine standard is to be seen in the husband here. He has to accept responsibility for loving his wife. Scripture does not allow any diversion from that; it is the husband’s responsibility.
When we come to 1 Peter it is an abnormal situation, “wives, be subject to your own husbands, that, even if any are disobedient to the word, they may be gained without the word by the conversation of the wives”. I do not think that the woman would be looked at here as marrying a man who was unconverted. In the days when Peter lived there were persons who got converted, the wife in this situation was converted and the husband was not, but the point of scripture is for the woman to seek to develop what will morally attract a husband, counting on God to work in this situation. It is also a word to all sisters, that to remain attractive they should cultivate the “conversation carried out in fear”. That is respectful behaviour, not fear of violence in the household. “Whose adorning let it not be that outward one of tressing of hair, and wearing gold, or putting on apparel; but the hidden man of the heart, in the incorruptible ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price”. Dear sister, the Lord would have us all, the sisters in particular - the young women too - to cultivate these moral ornaments. Take character from the Lord Jesus: “the hidden man of the heart” - that is Christ - “in the incorruptible ornament of a meek and quiet spirit”. That does not mean to say that the woman submits to anything; it is the manner of her spirit. If she is related to the “hidden man of the heart”, she is related to the Lord Jesus and she will develop a meek and quiet spirit and will stand by principles. She does not depart from principles to gain a husband; she remains by divine principles in order to gain her husband, counting on God. It may be she will not succeed, but God would bring about within her a reward or the comfort of her own heart, namely, Christ as the “hidden man of the heart”. The pressures of life develop features of Christ. These dear sisters here have a very trying time in this situation, we would all be sympathetic with that and pray for any one like this that she may develop “in the incorruptible ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price”. That is something that will go through, something that will be seen in the eternal day. It will go through into eternity after time has lapsed and flesh and blood condition has ceased, but she is doing this for her husband whom she had and who was unconverted. I suggest they would both be unconverted when they were married, but she was converted, came to Christ, and she seeks to win her husband. But, at the same time it is a good exercise for every sister to develop these features which are most attractive. Not only will your husband see you in your natural beauty, but he will see you in your moral beauty, beauty that belongs to what is going through into eternity, what is moral and spiritual. I do not think the question of Sarah "calling him lord" meant that he subjugated her; I think it means the idea of honouring him. You should always honour your husband.
I want to come on to this, “Ye husbands likewise, dwell with them according to knowledge, as with a weaker, even the female, vessel, giving them honour”. That is the husband’s responsibility; he is to love his wife. Now he is to dwell with her knowing that in certain aspects it is “according to knowledge, as with a weaker, even the female, vessel”. It is a vessel that was taken out of the man, that is in subjection to him. No husband should ever abuse that position but in tenderness seek to nourish the feature of subjection in love, maintaining love. It is the husband’s responsibility to love his wife at all times. It says, “as also fellow-heirs of the grace of life” - that is very important. Adam and Eve are not the full example literally of marriage. “Fellow-heirs of the grace of life” - that is Christian marriage, persons who are in the light of the Lord Jesus as Saviour and Lord and are living their life in relation to Christ in glory and His interests here who find their life in the circle of the saints. They are not only enjoying natural life, but they are enjoying together spiritual life. You take up marriage in the Lord and you have a bond, not only in nature - that will finish one day, but a bond that is spiritual and it enters into the position of husband and wife that they become fellow-heirs of the grace of life. They can share exercises together; they have the same interests, the same Lord. They find your life in the same sphere, not in the things that belong to this world, but in a sphere of eternal life - life amongst the saints - and their whole aspect is related to the Lord’s interest here. Natural love, natural joys are to be enjoyed, but there is more than nature, “fellow-heirs of the grace of life”. That is Aquila and Priscilla: read about them, they staked their neck for Paul at one point (Rom 16: 4), and they considered for the testimony; they had the assembly in their house. Their whole life, the whole sphere of the life of the household, centred in the Lord’s interest. It involves sacrifice to do that, to hold a household and build it in relation to the Lord’s interest. There are things you cannot go in for and do not want to go in for in the world, there are things that you would not have in the house because you do not want to have them there. Young people have to be nourished and cherished with care, admonishing them, not causing bitterness in the lives and hearts of young people because they are going through struggles.
I come to Exodus, and what I had in mind was the fact that you need the manna daily. We are in the wilderness journey, all of us, and we need the manna daily. That is Christ, it is not Christ in His ministry, it is Christ as a Man and how He moved amongst men. How did the Lord move? I have been more and more impressed with the reality of His humanity, when He was here as a Man. It says in the synopsis, if you walked down the streets of Galilee at that time when He was alive, you would meet Him in passing as a Man in His life here, J N Darby, Synopsis Vol 3 p 198. You might have had to do with Him in business as a carpenter; what kind of attitude did the Lord have in His life here? He was here for the pleasure of God and He was in favour with God and men. You need the Scriptures every day; this manna is not to be kept overnight. Who is responsible in the house? It is the head of the house who is responsible to collect the manna and it is an absolute necessity, it is a divine principle, you need Christ every day, you need the Scriptures every day. The husband, or the head of the house, must gather it in the morning. You have to gather it in the morning, but you have to share it with the household. In our own homes, the father, they say, is the breadwinner, he brings home sufficient to buy the food, he sees that everybody gets a portion. If you want to run a house according to one that the Lord can bless, you need Christ every day, you need the word of God. You need to begin the day with the word of God in prayer; everyone here should do that. Young people, you must begin the day with the word of God and in prayer yourself. If you are in a household you have the added advantage of the father, the head of the house, bringing in the manna. He may not be able to share it in the morning, he may be away before you are up, but he will share it with you sometime during the day to help you be established and meet the world that you have to pass through. We have to go out and be for God in the world as it is. The Lord moved in the world as it was in His time, and He was here for God in that world. He said, “He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the instructed”, Isa 50: 4. We need instruction, every household needs instruction. To establish a house you need to abide by what I am saying, it is in Scripture; it is not my thoughts, it is in Scripture. You cannot hold the manna over until the morning, you must gather every working day. It says that on the Sabbath they carried it over. On the first day of the week we are usually all free to gather in the house, and you read the Scriptures together before going to the morning meeting. You are not going into the world to work, you might read a different scripture where you would impart some impression of what you are about to do, “this do in remembrance of me”, Luke 22: 19. It is a wonderful thing to remember the Lord Jesus in the scene of His rejection. Some believers do not do that, but it is not right. Scripture says, “this do in remembrance of me”. Every believer that loves the Lord would do that in remembrance of Him. When the Lord’s day morning comes around, you sit at table and you read the scriptures. We are going to meet the Lord Jesus. We are privileged to remember Him in the scene where He has been rejected, amongst a company who treasure Him. You see the brethren come into the meeting; they belong to Christ. He calls us, “my brethren”. We regard the saints as coming in as Christ’s brethren; that is the privilege, more than responsibility, on the first day of the week; but on the weekdays it is definitely responsibility. The head of the house, the husband, has to secure something for the wife, for the family, whoever is in the house, and the head of the house should do it. Whoever is responsible must gather that food. We need the food, we need Christ, we need the word of God. There has to be some explanation given, some transference of the impression of the scripture to the realities of life and what your family has to face as they go out into the world, to school or business. There needs to be some understanding passed on. God maintains this manna until they reach the land, “the children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came into an inhabited land: they ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan”, Exod 16: 35. For us, that is what I have said, you eat the manna Monday to Saturday, and when you have come to the borders of the land on Lord’s day morning you have Christ, “the old corn of the land”, Josh 5: 11. It is Christ as indigenous to heaven. You are not going out to meet responsibility on Lord’s day, you are going to remember the Lord Jesus and come into the blessedness of the privilege of His headship as He comes amongst us. He comes to us. Christ comes to us; He comes to hearts that are waiting for Him. He comes to hearts that He finds faithful, He comes to hearts who have been in households who are blessed, who have gathered the manna. There is a constitution formed in the believer that is pleasurable to the heart of Christ and in the service of God those impressions are released in an atmosphere of holy privilege where for the time being you can consider the work of God in your soul as being complete, at that moment, yielding to God the fragrance of what it will yield eternally.
Where we read in Luke’s gospel is a very sobering matter. I speak with feeling, dear brethren, and sensitivity of the preciousness and the tenderness of what we have been speaking about, and not in an arbitrary or any hard or legal way. I do not want to convey that impression, but to put us all in touch with the Lord Jesus as persons who have proved the blessedness of the Spirit indwelling us so that our link with the Lord is maintained every day in quickening power by the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is a real matter; it is what we call organic, living. The Lord says to these persons, “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?” - is what I have been speaking about too difficult? Is it not possible in our households to run them in the way that Scripture suggests? I think the Lord will give you strength and guidance to run your home that way, and it will be established, founded on the rock. These principles that I have spoken about are rocks, they are fundamental, the pillars of wisdom’s house. It does not tell us in Proverbs what it is founded on, but you can be assured that it is founded on the rock. What God establishes He established in Christ.
Storms will come, storms come in life to all of us; individually and household-wise, they come. The devil has in mind to break down the house, to break down the house of the believer: the relationship of husband and wife, family, and father and mother too. He is out to destroy the relationship. But if you are founded on the rock, founded in Christ and He is your Counsellor, you will be able to withstand the stresses of life. These are real matters. We have all had experiences in life, the young people too have experiences in life, real experiences, real sorrows, real tragedies, real upsets, but Christ is the answer. The household is the answer too, if secured and kept for Christ. How challenging it is, but if we maintain a sense of love in the house, a sense of appreciation, a sense that everyone in that house is valuable, young or old, they are all valuable, they all belong to Christ; we want to hold them for Christ. You are building on the rock. Build your own house on the rock and you will find as the scripture says, “the stream broke upon that house and could not shake it”. It is possible; it is seen amongst the saints too in large measure. I am not saying that it is not, but continuance in the path maintains a house in suitability to contain the storm. Your own house, your own dwelling place, if you do not maintain it the storm comes and down it comes. This thing gets blown away and that thing gets blown away because you have not maintained it. Morally you have to maintain your house and then, when the storms come, you have an anchor and that is in Christ, an anchor for the soul. You run to Him for shelter, you run to Him for guidance, and you will find that He will give you guidance in relation to your house and the devil will be thwarted. The Lord says that if you do not do as I say it is going to fall.
God allows things in the lives of men and women, and in nature and natural catastrophes in the wisdom of His ways, but it is to draw all to Himself. You will find that you can always say to somebody, ’Cry to God, speak to Him, and you will find that He is a God who hears’, as Psalm 107: 28 suggests. How blessed it is to have One who hears and who never slumbers or sleeps; He is always there available. Christ is always available to you, not only as a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners. It begins that way, but, “there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother”, Prov 18: 24. He is a friend who will impart His thoughts, His intimacy about all things that are dearest and most precious to His heart. He is available to every believer.
May the Lord bless these few words, for His Name’s sake.
London
2nd April 2010