Gathering With
Christ
"He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." (MATTHEW 12:30).
We are living in a day of hazy standards of right and wrong. The old line of demarcation has practically disappeared from modern thinking. A prominent minister said: "The delineation of sin has undergone a transformation somewhat similar to that which has taken place in the world of painting. The old clear-cut lines have given way to an impressionistic indefiniteness, the black and white contrasts to low-toned grays. The churches have adopted a hush policy on the doctrine of depravity and a rotarian gospel takes the place of repentance."
I like his reference to painting. There was a time when you could look at a picture and tell what it was. Today black and white have become gray. Someone has said: "The religion of China is Confucian; the religion of America is confusion." A country schoolteacher, applying for a job, was asked, "Do you teach that the earth is round or flat?" "Which way do you want it taught?" was the reply. "I can teach it either way." Something like that is the attitude in many a pulpit today.
A late university president said, "We need a reaffirmation, not only in thought but in practise, of the fundamental distinction between right and wrong." And a leading American philosopher has written: "One trouble with America is, our people have lost a clear conviction as to what is right and what is wrong."
The Lord Jesus had no vague notions along this line. To Him evil was not imperfect goodness. It has been said that we divide the human race horizontally, high class, middle class, low class; but Christ divided it perpendicularly, to the right and to the left. He does just that in our text.
Furthermore, He declares Himself to be the Great Gatherer. He is the Gatherer of Israel. In Psalm 106:47 we read, "Save us, O Lord, and gather us from among the heathen." In Isaiah 11:12 it is said that God "shall gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." He promises, "I will gather you from all nations" (Jer. 29:14). Again, "I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel" (Ezk. 11:17).
Our Lord came first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He came unto His own and His own received Him not, and He said, "How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under his wings, and ye would not" (Matt. 23:37). Today He is gathering individual Jews as well as Gentiles, but one day there will be a national gathering of Israel, for God has promised it.
Then He is the Gatherer of Gentiles during this age, while Israel, nationally, is set aside. When Israel refused Him, he turned as a light to the Gentiles. In the Acts you find the apostles turning to the Gentiles with the Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Even Caiaphas, the high priest, prophesied that Jesus should "gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (John 11:52).
He is the Gatherer of the church, the Ecclesia, the out-called ones. God is not converting the world but taking out a people for His Name (Acts 15:14).
One day our Lord will gather up the saints when He gathers the wheat into the barn (Matt. 13:30) at the rapture of the believers (1 Thess. 4:13-18). "He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matt. 24:31).
There will not only be an up-gathering but also an out-gathering when "the Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 13:41, 42).
Finally, we are told of God's purpose "that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him" (Eph. 1:10).
What do we have in all these verses and many more like them? We have Christ, the rejected Gatherer of Israel; Christ, the Gatherer of Gentiles; Christ, the Gatherer of the Church; Christ, the Up-Gatherer of the saints; Christ, the Out-Gatherer of all that offends; Christ, the Gatherer of all things in Himself. Now, look at our text again: "He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad."
It is obvious that Christ is the center of unity. "By him all things consist" (Colossians 1:17). A Christian is eccentric because he revolves around a different center. I do not mean that he had to be queer, let his hair grow long, wear a robe and sandals, and carry a walking stick. He is eccentric because Christ is the center of his life, whereas most people revolve around some other center.
We have never heard more about unity and had less of it than in the past few years. When the first disarmament conference was held in London, Will Rogers said, "Those fellows might get somewhere if it wasn't for human nature." He spoke well, for you cannot get humanity together so it will stay together, except in Christ. There is no other force that will hold them. Organization will not hold them, they unite only in the body of Christ. Babel was man's effort at unity, and God cursed it with tongues nobody could understand: Pentecost was God's plan of unity and He blessed it with tongues everybody could understand. We have denominational differences, to be sure, but I am not speaking of unanimity or of unification but of unity, the unity of the Spirit.
Now, Christ is the Great Gatherer, and if we do not gather with Him He makes it plain that we scatter, we work against Him. The only way we can help Him gather is by winning souls and fishing for men. Mind you, if we are not engaged in some form of this great gathering we are not merely indifferent; we are not neutral. He made it plain that we are instruments of division and discord, that if we are not active with Him we are active against Him. No matter how much you may wave a Bible, if you are not gathering with Christ you are not merely wasting time, you are working against the only unifying force in all existence.
But we cannot gather with Christ if we are not first with Him: "He that is not WITH Me is against me." The believer's position is stated first, then his practise, gathering with Christ: first, doctrine, then duty. Salvation and service are set here in their correct order. We are with Him in the heavenlies, gathering with Him in the earthlies. "Dead with Christ," "crucified with Christ," "hid with Christ," "joint-heirs with Christ," "reign with Christ," such is our blessed position. And we are not here to work for Him but with Him.
To sum it up, anyone who is not with Christ in redemption, regeneration, sanctification, and who is not engaged in winning others to Him is against Christ. He may be working for world peace, civic improvement, social justice, the art clubs, the cultured set, "Who's Who" and What's What, every branch and band of the Amalgamated Sons of Old Adam, but if he is not identified with Christ in position and practice he is anti-Christ.
This terrific text recognizes only two classes. A radio preacher has objected to classifying the human race as saints and sinners, lost and saved. But it is Christ who does the classifying, and here with the sharp two-edged sword of His Word He splits mankind asunder and the issue is our relationship to Him. He did not even say, "He that gathereth not with a church." This leaves some church workers out in the cold and lets a lot of religious activity go by the board. There are well-meaning folk who labor adding names to rolls, proselyting right and left for class or league or union, trying to tantalize the world into the church with a rummage sale, handing out dishes of hot water with one lonesome oyster chasing around as if seeking a lost companion, gathering for a church but unwilling to cross the street to gather to Christ.
You will remember that when Jesus commanded the disciples to launch out into the deep and let down their nets, Peter said, "Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing." Anything that starts with "we" always ends with "nothing" when Christ is not in the boat! But Peter went on to say, "Nevertheless at thy word, I will let down the net." I like to think of "nevertheless" as a bridge over which Peter crosses to put Christ first: "At THY word, I will . . ." After that, things began to happen and fish were hauled in. And when Peter besought the Lord to depart, Jesus answered, "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." And he certainly caught some on the Day of Pentecost!
Are you trying to gather with Christ in your own strength? Have you toiled and taken nothing? Put Him first: "At THY word I will . . ." And "from henceforth thou shalt catch men," for He has said, "Follow me and I WILL MAKE YOU fishers of men."
