Sit, Walk, Stand: The Process of Christian Maturity (6 page)

Satan’s primary object is not to get us to sin, but simply to make it easy for us to do so by getting us off the ground of perfect triumph onto which the Lord has brought us. Through the avenue of the head or of the heart, through our intellect or our feelings, he assaults our rest in Christ or our walk in the Spirit. But for every point of his attack, defensive armor is provided—the helmet and the breastplate, the girdle and the shoes—while over all is the shield of faith to turn aside his fiery darts. Faith says, Christ is exalted. Faith says, We are saved by His grace. Faith says, We have access through Him. Faith says, He indwells us by His Spirit (see Eph. 1:20; 2:8; 3:12, 17).

Because victory is His, therefore it is ours. If only we will not try to gain the victory, but simply to maintain it, then we shall see the Enemy utterly routed. We must not ask the Lord to enable
us
to overcome the
Enemy, nor even look to
Him
to overcome, but praise Him because He has already done so; He
is
victor. It is all a matter of faith in Him. If we believe the Lord, we shall not pray so much, but rather we shall praise Him more. The simpler and clearer our faith in Him, the less we shall pray in such situations, and the more we shall praise.

Let me say again: In Christ we
are already
conquerors. Is it not obvious then, since this is so, that for us merely to pray for victory—unless that prayer is shot through with praise—must be to court defeat by throwing away our fundamental position?

Let me ask you: Has defeat been your experience? Have you found yourself hoping that one day you will be strong enough to win? Then my prayer for you can go no further than that of the apostle Paul to his Ephesian readers. It is that God may open your eyes anew to see yourself seated with Him who has Himself been made to sit “far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named” (1:21). The difficulties around you may not alter; the lion may roar as loudly as ever; but you need no longer
hope
to overcome. In Christ Jesus you
are
victor in the field.

But this is not all. Ephesians 6 is concerned with more than the personal side of our warfare. It has to do too with the work of God entrusted to us—the utterance
of the mystery of the gospel of which Paul has already had much to say (see 3:1–13). For this it arms us now with the sword of the Word and its companion weapon, prayer.

I want to say something more about this warfare in its relation to our work for God, for here we may encounter a difficulty. It is true, on the one hand, that our Lord Jesus is seated “far above all rule, and authority,” and that all things have been put “in subjection under his feet” (1:21–22). Clearly it is in the light of this completed victory that we are to give “thanks always for all things
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
” (5:20).

Yet on the other hand, we have to admit that we do not yet see all things subject to Him. There are still, as Paul says, hosts of wicked spirits in the heavenly places—dark, evil powers behind this world’s rulers, occupying territory that is rightly His. How far are we correct in calling this a defensive warfare?

We do not want to be falsely presumptive. When, therefore, and under what conditions are we justified in
occupying territory that is outwardly the Enemy’s and holding it in the name of the Lord Jesus?

None can be saved without knowing the name of Jesus, and none can be effectively used of God without knowing the authority of that name. The apostle Paul makes it clear that the “name” to which Jesus alludes in the above passages is not simply the name by which He was known while here among men. To be sure, it
is
that very selfsame name of His humanity, but it is that name invested now with the title and authority given to Him by God after He had become obedient to death (Phil. 2:6–10). It is the outcome of His sufferings, the name
of His exaltation and glory; and today it is in
that
“name which is above every name” that we gather and that we ask of God.

This distinction is made not by Paul alone, but already by Jesus Himself in the second passage quoted above: “Hitherto ye have asked nothing . . . . In that day ye shall ask” (John 16:24, 26). For the disciples “that day” will differ greatly from the “now” of verse 22. Something they do not have now they will receive then, and having received it, they will use it. That something is the authority that goes with His name.

Our eyes must be opened to see the mighty change wrought by the ascension. The name of Jesus certainly establishes the identity of the One on the throne with the Carpenter of Nazareth, but it goes further than that. It represents now the power and dominion given to Him by God, a power and a dominion before which every knee in heaven and earth and beneath the earth must bow. Even the Jewish leaders recognized that there could be this kind of significance in a mere name when they inquired of the disciples concerning the healing of the lame man, “By what power, or in what name, have ye done this?” (Acts 4:7).

Today the name tells us that God has committed all authority to His Son, so that in the very name itself there is power. But further, we must note in Scripture the recurring expression “
in
the name”—that is to say, the use to which the apostles in fact put that name. It is not only that He
has
such a name, but that we are to
use
it. In three passages in His last discourse the Lord Jesus repeats the words “ask in my name” (see John 14:13–14, 15:16, 16:23–26). He has placed that authority in our hands for us to use. Not only is it His, but it is “given among men” (Acts 4:12). If we do not know our part in it, we suffer great loss.

The power of His name operates in three directions. In our preaching it is effective for the salvation of men (Acts 4:10–12) through the remission of their sins and through their cleansing, justification and sanctification to God (Luke 24:47, Acts 10:43, 1 Cor. 6:11). In our warfare it is mighty against the Satanic powers, to bind and bring them into subjection (Mark 16:17, Luke 10:17–19, Acts 16:18). And as we have already seen, in our asking it is effective toward God, for twice we are told, “Whatsoever ye shall ask . . .”; and twice, “If ye shall ask anything . . .” (John 14:13–14, 15:16, 16:23). Faced with these challenging words, well might we reverently say, “Lord, Your courage is very great!”

For God thus to commit Himself to His servants is indeed a tremendous thing. Glance now with me at three incidents in the Acts which serve to illustrate this further: “Peter said, . . . In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6). “Paul . . . turned and said to the spirit, I charge thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And it came out that very hour” (Acts 16:18). “Certain . . . exorcists, took upon them to name over them that had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul
preacheth. . . . And the evil spirit answered and said unto them, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?” (Acts 19:13, 15).

Observe first the action of Peter in dealing with the crippled man at the gate. He does not kneel and pray and ask the mind of the Lord first. At once he says, “Walk.” He uses the name as if it were his to use, not something far away in heaven. With Paul at Philippi it is the same. He senses in his spirit that the Satanic activity has gone far enough. We are not told that thereupon he pauses to pray. No, his is a true walk before God, and because this is so he can, as a custodian of the name, take action almost as though the power were in himself. He commands, and the evil spirit flees “that very hour.”

What is this? It is an example of what I shall call God’s “committal” of Himself to man. God has committed Himself to His servants to act through them as they take action “in the name.” And they, what do they do? It is clear that they do nothing of themselves. They use the name. Equally clearly, no other name, whether their own or that of another apostle, will have the same effect. All that takes place results from the impact of the name of the Lord Jesus on the situation, and
they are authorized to use that name.

God looks at His Son in the glory, not at us here on the earth. It is because He sees us seated with Him
there
that His name and His authority can be entrusted to us here. A simple illustration will help to make this clear.

Some time ago my fellow worker sent to me for a
sum of money. I read his letter, prepared what he had asked, and gave the sum to the messenger. Was I right? Yes, certainly. The letter bore my friend’s signature, and to me that was sufficient. Should I instead have asked the messenger
his
name and age and employment and native place, and then perhaps sent him away because I objected to what
he
was? No, by no means; for he had come in my friend’s name, and I honored that name.

It is a mighty thing that God has done in thus committing Himself to His church. In so doing He has entrusted to His servants the greatest possible power; that of One whose dominion is “above . . . every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (Eph. 1:21). Jesus is now exalted in heaven, and all His work of saving men, speaking to their hearts and working for them miracles of His grace is done through the medium of His servants as they act
in His name
. Thus, the church’s work is His work. The name of Jesus is in fact God’s greatest legacy to her, for where such a self-committal of God is really operative, He Himself takes responsibility for what is done in that name. And God
desires
so to commit Himself, for He has allowed Himself no other means for completing His task.

No work is worthy to be called a work of God if God is not, in this sense, committing Himself to it.
It is the authorization to use His name that counts. We must be able to stand up and speak
in His name
. If not, our work lacks spiritual impact. But let me tell you, this is not something that can be “worked up” at a time of crisis. It is a fruit of obedience to God and of a resulting spiritual position known and maintained. It is something we must have already if it is to be available in a time of need.

“Jesus I know, and Paul I know.” Praise God for the second! The evil powers recognize the Son; the Gospels give us plenty of evidence of this. But there are those also who are in union with the Son, and they too count in Hades. The question is,
Can
God commit Himself thus to you?

Let me illustrate again. If something is to be done in my name, it means that, subject to certain conditions, I give my name to another to use, and that I am then prepared to take responsibility for what he does with it. It may mean, for example, that I give him my checkbook and my signature. Of course, if I am poor, with no personal standing and no bank account, my name is of little moment. I well remember how, as a student, I used to be fond of stamping my name everywhere—on books, papers and anything that came to hand. But when I first had a checkbook and a bank account—fourteen dollars in the post office—I became very careful over the use of my personal seal for fear someone else should counterfeit it and use it.
¹
My name had become important to me.

How powerful and how wealthy is our Lord Jesus! How precious to Him is His name! If, therefore, He is to take responsibility for everything that happens in consequence, how careful must He be as to how that name is used! I ask you again,
Can
God commit Himself—His “bank balance,” His “checkbook,” His “signature”—to
you
? That question must be settled first. Then only can you use His name freely. Then only “what things soever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven” (Matt. 18:18). Then, because of the reality of His committal to you, you can move as a true representative of Him in this world. That is the fruit of union with Him.

Are we in such a union with the Lord that He
will
thus commit Himself to what we are doing? It seems often that we shall be running a big risk in stepping into a situation with only the promises of God to back up our stand. The point is, will God—
can
God—back us up?

Briefly let me outline four essential features of a work to which God can fully commit Himself. The first vital need is of a true revelation to our hearts of the eternal purpose of God. We cannot do without this. If I am working on a building, even as an unskilled laborer, I must know whether the objective is a garage or an airplane hangar or a palace. I must see the plan, or I cannot be an intelligent worker. Today evangelism is assumed by most Christians to be
the
work of God. But evangelism can never be an unrelated thing. It must be integrated with God’s whole plan, for it is in fact but a means to an end. That end is the preeminence of
the Son of God, and evangelism is bringing in the sons among whom He shall stand preeminent.