PERSONS WHOM THE LORD COMMENDS
J. Renton
Luke 7: 44–48; 10: 38–42; 21: 1–4; Revelation 2: 12–17
I would like to speak briefly about these persons whom the Lord commends. It would be right to desire to be among those whom the Lord approves, whom He can commend. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10: 18, “For not he that commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends”. There are plenty of commendations of men at the present time, but what should concern us is whom the Lord commends, and we would desire to be among such, “whom the Lord commends”. And so this woman in Luke 7 had not been a long time on the road, like one just beginning on the Christian pathway, shall we say, a sinner, but she had an appreciation of the Lord Jesus. One of the Pharisees, who were self-righteous persons, invited the Lord into his house, and no doubt there was a cold atmosphere there and no appreciation of Him whatsoever. You wonder why he invited Him, but he did anyway. But all the warmth was brought in by this woman. This sinner in the city came into the house in all her need, in all her sins, and found One who was able to forgive her. You know, if I had written this incident I would have said that one of the Pharisees invited the Lord to a meal, but he did not do this, and did not do that, and did not do the next thing. But that is not what Luke writes.
Luke writes what the woman did, and then, afterwards, what the Pharisee did not do. Luke expands on what the woman did. She had this alabaster box of myrrh, and she washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. He tells what she did. She had all the warmth, she was the one whom the Lord commended—a sinner. Here she was, she had her own appreciation of the Lord Jesus, of His feet that brought Him in grace to meet her need.
I wonder if we all have that appreciation of the feet
of Jesus, the One who, “emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross”, Philippians 2: 7, 8. As coming this way, treading His path in the cities and villages of this world, He was available to this woman in the Pharisee’s house. The woman came there and just poured out her appreciation of the Lord Jesus. The Lord commends her. She turned all her attention on the Lord Jesus and the Lord turns His attention to her, “turning to the woman he said to Simon”, the self-righteous Simon, the Pharisee, “Seest thou this woman?” What a commendation that was! He expands on what she did. He says, “I entered into thy house; thou gavest me not water on my feet, but she has washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with her hair”. She was all in this—her eyes, her tears, her hair—she was wholly absorbed with the person of the Lord Jesus and her appreciation of Him, and that is open to every one of us. If we have not come a long way in the pathway we can do it here now, pour out our appreciation of the feet of Jesus that brought Him in grace available to us as sinners and offering forgiveness and extending forgiveness.
Not only did He say about her, “Her many sins are forgiven”, but He said to her, “Thy sins are forgiven”. He made her conscious of the fact that her sins were forgiven. For believers now that would no doubt involve the gift of the Holy Spirit because we enjoy and are conscious of our forgiveness by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Now in Luke 10 we have another woman who is commended. She is commended because she, “having sat down at the feet of Jesus was listening to his word”. I do not know about you, but I have great sympathy with Martha, because it was her house, and the Lord came in and His disciples and she immediately thought of service. What will I do to serve these persons? Most of us would be like Martha, I am sure we would. But here was one, Mary, who “having sat down at the feet of Jesus was listening to his word”. She was listening to the teaching. Apparently the Lord was known as ‘the Teacher’ in Bethany, because in John 11 when Martha had her conversation with the Lord Jesus, she said to Mary. “The teacher … calls thee” (John 11: 28). He was known in Bethany as ‘the Teacher’, and you know, dear brethren, there is a great need of teaching.
There has been a lack of teaching. There is a great need of teaching, sitting down at the feet of Jesus and listening to His word. The Lord commends persons who are subject to divine teaching. There is a great need of teaching all over, and Mary chose that good part. The Lord commends her for choosing that good part. I do not think the Lord was rough with Martha. I think He would say, O Martha, Martha. He would not be hard on her. It was not sin on Martha’s part, she was doing her best according to her ideas, but He commends Mary, she
“has chosen the good part”, would just like to emphasise the importance, dear brethren, of divine teaching. The Lord’s commandments, are we interested to know what these are? We need divine teaching to know what His commandments are. Divine teaching is available to us but it needs subjection on our part, it needs interest on our part. Mary had that interest. Mary had chosen the good part and that was being subject to the Lord’s teaching.
Now in Luke 21 we have another woman, and she was remarkable. I have never met anyone like this woman. I do not know whether you have, but I have never met anyone like this woman. It was devotion with her and sacrifice. I have never met anyone who gave all she had or all he had. No doubt it took place at Pentecost; I am sure this woman’s action was fulfilled at Pentecost when no one counted what he had was his own, but they had all things common.
That was wonderful devotion and wonderful sacrifice. We are not living in that kind of day.
We are meant to be stewards of what we have, but this woman was wholeheartedly devoted.
And you know, in her locality, things were not good. Things were not good in Jerusalem. The Lord
had just said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk about in long robes, and who love salutations in the market-places, and first seats in the synagogues, and first places at suppers; who devour the houses of widows, and as a pretext make long prayers”, Luke 20: 46, 47.
That was Jerusalem, that was the locality where this woman was. What was the answer? Did she complain? She gave all she had in devotion and sacrifice. What happened? The whole thing had to come down because of this woman. Before the Lord speaks about the temple and the buildings coming down, He had what He was looking for in this woman, it was devotion and complete sacrifice. I think few of us are like this woman, but the Lord commends her,
“Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow has cast in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have cast into the gifts of God; but she out of her need has cast in all the living which she had”. How remarkable that is! No wonder she had the Lord’s commendation, for she cast in all the living which she had. Have you met a person like that? Are we in any measure devoted, prepared to sacrifice, committed to the Lord’s interests down here? If so, we will have the Lord’s commendation—“For not he that commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends”, 2 Corinthians 10: 18.
Now in Revelation, to the angel of the assembly, representing a responsible person or persons, in Pergamos, the Lord addresses Himself, saying, “These things says he that has the sharp two-edged sword—I know where thou dwellest, where the throne of Satan is ...”.
Although there had been a faithful witness there, Antipas, things had declined. There began to be mixture, there began to be worldly features in Pergamos. There began to be a popular kind of religion in Pergamos. No doubt it refers to the time of Constantine when Christianity became popular, and principles were sacrificed. The principle of separation was given up.
There had been a time of persecution as in Smyrna, but in Pergamos it was the worldly element taking control,
and that is a danger with every one of us. So the Lord calls attention to two doctrines; one was the doctrine of Balaam, and the other one was the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes. It tells us about the doctrine of Balaam, it says, “I have ... against thee that thou hast there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a snare before the sons of Israel”.
There has been a great snare of wrong teaching. We referred to it in the reading, the open principle, “to eat of idol sacrifices and commit fornication”, lack of devotion, lack of separation, and an open outlook. What a snare that has been right down since 1848, the open element, the desire for more liberty for our own wills and all these worldly influences coming in. What a snare that has been among the people of God. There was a conflict then, and there were sentimentalists who were lost in that conflict, and the enemy has attempted over and over again to bring in that kind of teaching. It sounds so plausible, it sounds so acceptable, the liberty for human thinking, because of the lack of principle. We speak of the open principle but really it is a lack of principle, and that is the doctrine of Balaam. Then there is the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes. Well, I am not very clear what that was, but we said in the reading that the two attacks of the enemy have been the open principle and interference in our localities. It has been a plague all down through the history, over and over again. It would seem the enemy does not have many tactics, but he seems to be successful in the same old thing again and again. It seems so many are lost and caught up in these doctrines. You see it speaks of the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes.
Well, I want to speak about the overcomer. This is the kind of day we are in. At the end of Mr Darby’s life he was greatly concerned about the coming in of worldliness. There was an issue in 1879, the Ryde and Ramsgate matter. There was no issue of the truth, it was just a low state among the brethren, and he was concerned about worldliness. He saw things coming in.
I wonder what he would think now. In any case there is a word to the overcomer, “To him that overcomes, to him will I give of the hidden manna”. Oh, it is worthwhile overcoming in this worldly environment, dear brethren, to be given of the hidden manna. It is what God delights in in the manhood of Jesus, the hidden manna. Does not Mr Darby’s hymn say—
‘There on the hidden bread
Of Christ, once humbled here—
God’s treasured store—for ever fed,
His love my soul shall cheer’ (Hymn 79)
Think of the overcomer having the hidden manna, God’s appreciation of the manhood of Jesus. What a feast for our souls! That is available to the overcomer in this worldly conflict,
“to him will I give of the hidden manna”. There is a great deal to say about that, if I could, the hidden manna; I think it is God’s delight in the manhood of Jesus, expressed here and where He is now. It refers to the pot of manna that was put in the ark, I suppose, but it is hidden, it is a secret matter. And then it says, “I will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he that receives it”. And Mr Darby says about that—
‘Called by that secret name
Of undisclosed delight
(Blest answer to reproach and shame)
Graved on the stone of white’ (Hymn 79)
I understand that white stone is a little pebble. It is a very small thing. It is nothing public, but it is just a little sense of the Lord’s commendation and the Lord’s approval to the overcomer in this worldly kind of atmosphere. It is a little thing that the overcomer can appreciate. It is for himself. You cannot boast about it; you cannot tell others about it; it is not a thing you can display or parade before others, it is not public. There is no company of believers which has the Lord’s public acclamation, public approval. There is no company on the earth which has the Lord’s public approval. What we look for is just a little sense of the
Lord’s approval, the Lord’s commendation. That is the little stone. It says, “I will give to him a white stone”, it is a little pebble, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he that receives it”. There is no public approval. I want to emphasise that. It is not public, you cannot prove it to anybody else, but it is just a secret in the soul of the overcomer. It belongs to him, he keeps it to himself, but oh how he values it, a sense of the Lord’s commendation, the Lord’s approval. How we need to overcome, dear brethren, and have this secret name of undisclosed delight, a secret sense of the Lord’s approval. It may be that others do not approve. It may be even some brethren do not approve. But what we can go on with happily and restfully is a little sense of the Lord’s approval.
I would commend that to every one of us, because we are living in difficult times, but I think the Lord would comfort us. Has our time together not been some compensation? Has there not been an atmosphere of the Lord’s presence and the Lord’s help? Has there not been that?
I think there has been. I cannot help thinking of our dear brother who goes alone soon to Brisbane, and another brother who goes alone to Armidale, another brother who goes alone to Perth, deprived of practical fellowship. You need to go with a sense of this white stone and on it the name written which no one knows but he that receives it. It is something by way of compensation, something that is going to support us and sustain us even if we are alone and deprived of practical fellowship. What days we are in, how difficult they are! But oh how precious to have just a little indication that the Lord is approving of us where we are. There are other places where we are very few, just two or three. Well, here we are, “I will give to him”, an individual, “a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he that receives it”. You cannot boast of it. If we had something public maybe we would glory in it, maybe we would have some pride in it, but it is just this secret thing that is so precious and so valuable,
even if others, even if brethren do not approve. Well if the Lord does, is that not all that matters? Does anything else matter at the moment, if the Lord approves? Can we not delight in that, just treasure it? May the Lord encourage us, for His name’s sake.
Address at Sydney
10 October 1992