Home of the Soul
It is the cherished desire of every child of God to find a place of fellowship—a spiritual home where rest can be obtained, where the weary soul can relax and find unfailing comfort, guidance, and food. A place down here where he can feel good about things. A place where he can place his confidence and believe that things are fundamentally sound and worthy of confidence.
A child of God who has not found such a place lives with a constant hunger. He knows that down here is no continuing city; that here he is a pilgrim and stranger; but he longs to be in the company of other pilgrims and strangers as he travels toward his long home.
God only knows how many of His trusting children have had to make the journey all alone to the place of the gathering of all of the saints of all ages. And heaven will surely be worth it all. If one must travel alone to make it to heaven, it will be worth it.
This desire for human fellowship in the Lord down here in this present world is one of the things that exposes us to our adversary. He understands the hunger of humans for humans and takes advantage of the fact. He devises enticements with the design of entangling us in things that will hurt us spiritually. If we are hurt by some of these traps and withdraw from all attempts to walk in fellowship with others, then we find that we are hurt by the withdrawal, as well. “My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.” (Ezekiel 34:6) It is a terrible experience to have your faith shattered in others—to realize that people are not what they professed to be—that the place where you were taught and thought you were blessed is really poisoned and false—that you did not perceive the “poison in the pot” for some time. But now that you escaped, it is only too evident that it was there all the time, and that others are suffering, but do not realize—cannot realize—the awful horror from which you have fled. It is a real shock to realize that the love of other people that you believed in and counted on was an illusion in many cases and only extended to you as long as you were in a certain group. As soon as you felt obligated to leave, it was and is as if you do not matter any more. “Yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.”
God puts His little children through a refiner’s fire. “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.” (Malachi 3:3-4) He who knows all things, who never makes a mistake, sees fit to bring His little ones through great tribulation. He knows how to establish that you love Him above all else.
In John 9 we read the story of the man who was blind from his birth. Jesus healed him of his blindness, and this wonderful miracle plunged this dear man and his parents into an awful trial. His parents failed to love and esteem God above all else “because they feared the Jews.” (John 9:22) They kept fellowship with the members of the synagogue, but lost Jesus. The blind man, however, kept clinging to what light and truth he had received. He would not deny it. “One thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” (John 9:25) He would not give up what he knew was right if spite of all pressure brought to bear on him. Finally, in the eyes of many, including his parents, disaster overtook him. The “people of God,” descendants of Abraham, adherents of the one true faith, rejected him and his healing utterly. “They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.” (John 9:34) His trueness to God cost him this. But the story has a happy ending. “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and… he… found him.” (John 9:35) Jesus knew what this wonderful healing benefit would cost this man if he stayed true to light and understanding, and Jesus knew the test was necessary. Yea, “When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.” (Psalm 27:10)
God knows how to regenerate the human heart so completely that a timid, backward little child of His will keep clinging to Him in spite of all force brought against it. In Mark 5:18-19, we read of a man who had been delivered from a legion of devils. This newly-saved man begged Jesus to be allowed to accompany Him. But so confident was the Lord of the strength of the experience of salvation that He had wrought in the heart of this brand-new child of God, that the Lord sent him back to where he had gotten in such trouble before to be a testimony to them: “And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” Nor was this mission in vain, for when Jesus returned to this area later, the people received Him gladly (Luke 8:37-40).
I was raised in a home which was shaped by the decision of my parents to leave a certain church and take a stand for another. This was an extremely difficult step for them. My folks did not attempt to prejudice any of us children toward a certain church or belief, as they reasoned that since they had been raised a certain way, and that way had proven false, then they wanted to leave us children open to decide from the beginning. They meant well by this, but it is not an entirely safe path, either. We can be too loyal to a group of people or not loyal enough. Either way will get us into trouble. Either way leaves out the most important thing of all. What does it mean to be faithful to God?
In the Bible we read, “If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” (1 John 1:6) You will note that it is possible to have fellowship with God. Nothing is as important as this relationship of fellowship with God. It is not possible to have fellowship with God while we walk in darkness. How many professed Christians are in this condition—living sinful lives while professing to walk with God. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3) It is possible for God to change a person so that they no longer walk in darkness. Then God and that person can have fellowship. “Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3)
If our relationship with God is not according to the Biblical standard of purity and uprightness, then our relationships with our fellow man will be less than they could be, as well. For the one stems from the other. If you get things right with God, then it will cause you to straighten out things with your fellow man, as well. Consider these words, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20) The same divine work wrought in the heart by the power of God that causes us to repent and forsake all to love God also causes us to love our fellow man. Salvation in the heart of a person will reveal itself by its fruits. “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
This heavenly fellowship of a soul with its Maker is intended to be the same fellowship experienced of the redeemed toward each other. It is a natural and marvelous fellowship that starts in the heart the very instant that an individual is transformed by the power of God from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His dear Son (Col. 1:13). We are raised above the best of friendships and kin relationships of our flesh to sit together in a higher, heavenly relationship with all the redeemed, both currently living and those who have finished their course and now rest from their labors (Ephesians 2:6). This heavenly relationship supersedes the love of husband and wife or parents and children. It is the highest fellowship that man may know down here. First, fellowship with God, and the attendant fellowship with all the redeemed. It is based on a loyalty toward God and truth above all else, and rejoices above all at our great privilege, by the help of the Almighty, to walk in the light as He is in the light.
The basic principle, then, is the effort of the soul to keep fellowship with God and to value fellowship with God above all, no matter what all others may say or do. In the artificial world of allegiances to different man-made churches and man-controlled churches, this principle is entirely lost, for a great error has replaced it. There it is advocated that one must maintain their relationship with others in the group to keep fellowship with God. As to the results that follow this way of living, Jesus tells us, “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” (John 12:43) And He said, “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5:44) These folks had their own standards of honoring, accepting, and rejecting. They had sought not the honor that came from God only. That is, salvation is the only Biblical standard for accepting each other, and a lack of salvation is the only Biblical standard for rejecting each other.
My wife and I were part of a group of people who had considerable light on the Bible. For many years, there were people who lived to that light and taught it in different congregations scattered about the country. They were the remnants of an even larger group of people who used to be scattered all over the world. Many years ago, the leaders and others of that larger group began to forsake what they thought were minor standards of scriptural conduct. God was faithful to them, and different of His ministers and children suffered at their hands as part of that faithfulness, but they clung to their innovations until their anointing and fruitfulness gradually faded away, and they were left to their own devices. They are still going on today, worldly and bigoted, proud and important in their own eyes.
There were men and women who fled the letting down and outright compromise. They began to find each other, and they valued and esteemed salvation above any other consideration. There were others among them who did not, but the spiritual outlook prevailed and was held in esteem above all other ways of thinking. The question was, “Were you really saved and living for God with all your heart?” If this was perceived to be true, they welcomed you with open arms, extending to you the right hand of fellowship (Galatians 2:9).
For a good number of years, this escaped remnant were very humble. They walked in the light that God shone on their pathway, and He helped them. Then they began to change. They left off the faithful dealings with each other according to Biblical truth, and began to let things slide.
I watched a group of these ministers sin together once. It was shocking. I had never thought they would do anything like what they did. They knew better. An individual had arisen among them who was teaching and practicing things that were plainly not Biblical. Furthermore, these ministers were aware that historically these teachings and practices had destroyed spiritual movements. I expected them to be faithful to God and right. But they were not. To be true to God under the circumstances meant that the group of people would possibly be split. Such was the influence of the individual preacher who was wrong. The ministry of that group of people denied God, their spiritual heritage, and the Bible itself, to hold the group together. That was twenty years ago. There has been no repentance among the ministry of that step. The effects of such sin are very apparent among them today.
There were a few who were not in agreement with the sin that was committed. Some spoke out against it. But the majority prevailed. I realized that I was not in a place where the truth and the Word of God were esteemed above anything else. I was unequally yoked (2 Cor. 6:14-18). Eventually, the Lord helped me to escape this group of people.
One of the characteristics of this people back when they were more spiritual was a closeness that appeared right away in a deep and loving concern about your burdens and needs. It was unfeigned and proved out over time. Well do we remember their sincerity and simplicity. If these brethren felt you were making a mistake, they prayed a lot and waited on God. If they felt the Lord moving them to talk with you, they were faithful to your soul. How I miss these dear ones! They have all finished their courses and gone on to their reward.
As I have said previously, these spiritual men and women were predominant among this group of people, and their burden and standard was blessed of God. There was real deliverance among them. God used them. He was in control of them, and it was a precious place to be.
I remember a time when I was talking with one of these brethren. I appreciated him so much, and was starting to get my eyes on him instead of God. I told him, “Brother C—, if you ever see anything in my life that you feel needs correction, please tell me.” I shudder now at how unguarded I was, and how much trouble I could have gotten into with some people in speaking this way. A lot of people would have taken advantage of my youth and inexperience to load me up with a lot of stuff. But I was talking to a true child of God. I will never forget how he looked at me—a combination of love and pity. “Bless your heart, Brother M—”, he replied, “I think, if I see something, I’ll go and tell Jesus, and let Him tell you.”
There is a great deal of spiritual courtesy and respect in this attitude. I am reminded of the scripture in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” Jesus has a right to come in without knocking, but He extends to you the courtesy; He allows you to decide and choose. “If any man hear my voice, and open the door….” (Revelation 3:20)
There is nothing overbearing about the Lord. He could easily overawe us and overwhelm us, until we would be compelled to go the direction that He desires, but He does not want it to be like that. God values voluntary service. Therefore, the Creator of the universe knocks and waits at the door of the human heart.
This is a beautiful picture, scripturally correct and very real in the dealings of God with His children and those who are dead in trespasses and sins, but it is easily misunderstood. Why? If you have a heart to pursue the world and the flesh, the forbearance and courtesy of God will appear to you as license to live carelessly and negligently. On the other hand, if you are inclined to be very strict, precise, and exacting, then you will not value this respectfulness of God for the right to choose. You will long for Him to thunder at the door if such a way as to intimidate the inhabitant, and you will glory in the steel beneath the velvet, so to speak.
God is both. He is a God of unimaginably exacting judgement and a God of unimaginable mercy and love. He cannot be taught and passed on as a philosophy or concept, for His character is not captured by human reasoning. He is beyond us in the mind; He must be experienced in the heart. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19) Please note that this inner comprehension “passeth knowledge.” In the New Testament, we have reached that precious time when all the saved shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest, in this heart way that makes all outward exhortation unnecessary—which had been necessary in the Old Testament (Hebrews 8:11).
It is this inner awareness of the simplicity and the complexity of knowing God that is so characteristic of any individual or congregation of individuals who hold the truth in righteousness. Any attempt to teach or hold even Bible truths before people without this inner conviction (of the necessity of each one knowing Christ for himself) will result in error. Even if the doctrine is right. Even if much good is done. Even if the intention is good.
A regenerated heart that walks in the light of heaven will be led into a great carefulness of life by the Holy Spirit. That carefulness will be inseparable from a growing and exceedingly precious love for God. It is as when a man and woman become husband and wife, and they began to learn to please each other as they start out in life. The individual services and sacrifices for each other are valuable, not in themselves, but as expressions of given and received love for each other. They are the fruits of love. The same actions, without the love, will become something else entirely. The wife observes that her husband loves biscuits for breakfast. He does not compel her to serve him biscuits. He would still get the favorite dish if he compelled her, but then the emphasis would be on the getting rather than that she voluntarily prepares them because she knows that he loves them. Thus the biscuits are a manifestation of her love for him, and he receives them and values them as the means of conveying love.
There is a humility in this that is very precious indeed. There is an exaltation of love above all works. There is a valuing of works for the love’s sake.
“We gaze in silent awe
Upon the new creation,
Where love is freedom’s law!”*
“Love is freedom’s law” is the very essence of a place of true fellowship down here for God’s children. And with this, a number of attitudes are absolutely necessary to do the work of God.
First, I must acknowledge that I cannot help people as they really need to be helped in order for them to serve God in the only way that is acceptable to Him. To begin with, the church cannot save them. There must be much, much more than just holy influence. The best preaching, personal service, counseling, etc., are not nearly enough. If people do not fall in love with Jesus and have a work done in them by Him that purifies the heart, then nothing is adequate. People cannot know the Lord just through our efforts. We must acknowledge the real limits of what we can do for Jesus when it comes to them being born again.
Secondly, I must acknowledge that I cannot nurture and assist the regenerated soul as the saved man or woman really needs, because they need more than the best I can give them. Only if I am used of God will they get some assistance through the foolishness of preaching. This is very humbling, but it is a true and accurate picture.
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2) This learned and capable man laid aside all excellency of speech and human wisdom, because he knew, from experience, that the only way to know God is through the power of the cross in the heart. “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:5)
To sit under a ministry like this is to be constantly stirred in your relationship to God. It will not exalt an organization or group of people, nor a minister or ministers, but it will amplify and exalt the Lord Jesus and His works in your heart and the hearts of others.
Two men went to hear a preacher preach one Sunday morning. One said to the other after the preaching, “That was an eloquent discourse; he is a wonderful preacher.” In the evening they went to hear another preacher. After the services one said to the other, “What a wonderful Savior is Jesus.”
[Charles E. Orr; Helps to Holy Living, “Lifting Up Jesus”]
“We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” (2 Cor. 6:1)
“Let us sing a sweet song of the home of the soul,
The glorious place of our rest;
It is not far away in the heavens untold,
But deep in the Infinite breast.
“He that dwelleth in love ever dwelleth in God,
Sweet home never clouded by fears;
And this heaven of love is our native abode
Through time and eternity’s years.
“We will enter no door that is opened by men
Who promise a home for the soul;
For in Christ we abide in the church that will stand
While ages eternally roll.”*