Harry Foster
"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord."
Acts 15:38
THE psalmist did not mean that for him life consisted of just one thing. It was rather a question of priorities. Nor do his words signify that he was asking to go to heaven, for what he wanted belonged to this life in which he still needed help from his enemies. The true import of his words, as they come down to us through the Scriptures, is that here on earth there is an experience in "the house of the Lord" in which we can enjoy some real appreciation of the loveliness of Christ.
Note carefully that such an experience, though truly personal, is described as being in close association with the rest of God's people. Which Tent was David referring to? Or was he looking forward to the Temple which was yet to be built? It does not matter for, all through the Scriptures, from Jacob's vision at Bethel (Genesis 28:17), through Tents and Temples, through the spiritual temple of the Church and into the eternal glory of Revelation, the essential feature of God's house is that it consists of the spiritual enjoyment of fellowship with God -- not "A Fellowship" that men have set up, but the fellowship in which God's sovereignty appoints us all a place.
Now it so happens that from time to time in a Christian gathering, we may be caught up in an overwhelming sense of the great beauty of Christ. Such a glimpse of glory may be rare but it is very real, as I myself can testify, and it is by no means necessarily associated with eloquent preaching. What I would like to suggest here, though, is that the "one thing" which is to be sought is not so much an inward vision of the Lord as an inward transformation into His likeness. As Paul wrote: "We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18) and as we used to sing:
In the home and in the throng;
Be like Jesus, all day long:
I would be like Jesus.
This was the prayer of Moses -- truly a Christlike man -- "Let the beauty of our God be upon us" (Psalm 90:17). This is the feature which must have absolute priority for all of us at all times. Above all else it must be "the one thing".
In the New Testament there are at least three references which take up this theme of the "one thing". They are Luke 18:22, "One thing thou lackest", Luke 10:42, "Only one thing is needed", and Philippians 3:13, "But one thing I do ...". These are all the same thing. It seems to cover all age groups, the young ruler, the mature housewife and the ageing apostle. What is this one thing? What is the absolute priority above all else from the first step of faith in Christ to the final stages of service for Him? Surely it is Christlikeness, the beauty of the Lord in the human soul.
1. The Rich Young Ruler
Seeing that the Evangelist's subject matter was carefully chosen under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, how came it that all three synoptic Gospels record the sad story of the great refusal? What can we Christians learn from it? No-one will suggest that the Bible teaches us that a person must give up all his possessions if he wishes to experience eternal life. Why was the noble enquirer so challenged? And what is the "treasure in heaven" which might have been his?
Some have suggested that in this way the Lord Jesus was reminding the ruler of the commandment which had not been included in the list, namely, "Thou shalt not covet". But can it seriously be thought that if the man had answered that challenge by giving away all his possessions, he would then be able to claim that he was keeping the whole law and therefore eligible for eternal life? That cannot be. That is not the gospel. It was not just that he had kept nine of the commandments and lacked just this one to be "perfect", but the thrust of what the Lord said was that the young man was missing the whole point. [61/62]
It is a reasonable explanation that the significance of these words could have been to destroy the enquirer's self-confidence and bring home to him the fact that after all he was a sinner. The Lord deals with each one of us as individuals and perhaps this drastic demand was necessary to make the point. But what does it mean to us? And again I ask, what is the "treasure in heaven" which we all do well to covet? Can it be that the Spirit's purpose in thrice recording this incident was to alert all of us to this issue of the one thing! And is not that one thing, likeness to Christ? That is the one item of value that we can take with us to heaven.
