DOING AND TEACHING
[p. 22] DOING AND TEACHING
John 1: 38 - 42; John 4: 28 - 30; John 6: 66 - 69; John 12: 3; John 20: 16 - 18
My subject is teaching, and how it works out in the doings and sayings of those taught. For the principle is doing and teaching in the teacher, and learning and doing in the taught. In his second letter to Theophilus, Luke refers to “all things which Jesus began both to do and to teach”. Christianity therefore is exemplified, and then taught. It is a substantial thing, not merely a system of ethics and doctrines, but concrete things worked out livingly first in Christ, and afterwards in His apostles, who as having learnt from Him, were marked by doing and teaching. What I have in mind is to work these things out in John’s gospel, and what is to be observed is that the Lord draws from the Old Testament as to this matter. He says, “they shall be all taught of God”; that is the result of all teaching — whether by the Lord, by His apostles, or by gifted men since the apostles’ time; for one of the gifts given by Christ was that of teaching — pastors and teachers are one gift. In this sense, the teacher not only takes care of the minds of the saints, but of the saints themselves. All is included in God’s teaching, for after all God does everything, whether it be in this wonderful dispensation, in the one that is to follow, or in the one that is past. The great testimony is, What hath God wrought! The more we advance in the knowledge of God, the more we attribute everything to God. So the passage in John 6 is significant, “they shall be all taught of God”. What a joy if it can be said of us that we are characteristically taught of God! — not priding ourselves in the schools and colleges we may have graduated from, but that we have been taught of God; for the teaching of God is the only teaching that goes into eternity.
The first example I wish to use is in chapter 1, verse 37, “And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus”; they are examples for all christians at the present time, especially those who are divided up into sects. The ministry of John is to detach us from all such sects and direct our minds to Jesus, to make Him our Leader, and Him alone. This is a great matter, and it refers to our own time even more than to the time in which it occurred, for the real people of God are, alas! divided into numerous religious associations, and the testimony that John would present has in mind to detach us from all such denominations and to attach us to Christ, so that He becomes our sole Leader. Paul says, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ”, — not in any other sense; for all true leadership is Christ’s leadership. So these two disciples — we assume they are young believers — left John and followed Jesus, and the first title they give Him is Teacher, Rabbi; and the Spirit of God immediately tells us the meaning of this word “Rabbi” (verse 38). They had the idea of learning from Him in close quarters, in family relationship; so they say to Him, “Where abidest thou?” Would that every young one here would ask that question! Whatever your associations, the Lord would give you a definite answer and invite you to the place, for He has a place now where He teaches, as He had then; and spiritually He has a place here on earth where He abides, and where He is loved. He would invite you there, and indicate that you can learn better there than anywhere else, for environment has much to do with education. They go to where He dwelt and abode with Him that day. The idea is a period of testimony suggestive of enough time for a given matter. I have no doubt that the part of a day is a day in Jewish thinking, not necessarily twenty-four hours, but a part which represents that you have had enough time to learn something; to learn above all that Jesus is the true Teacher; and thus, as resorting thither, we are delivered and saved from human organisations.
The next thing about one of these disciples is that he shows what he has learnt; he has learnt to think of his [p. 24] brother. The result therefore of the teaching is that he first finds his own brother Simon. It is not now a question of thinking of John the baptist, for John continued in his ministry. He had a mission of his own — he was the forerunner of Christ. But these two disciples were not concerned about what they had left, for they had definitely left it; and that is what is being effected today in thousands of souls who have definitely left former associations through impressions received from Christ, and who think now of their brother. Whatever his denomination may be, we must begin to think of our brother. Andrew first finds his own brother Simon, not because of his religious affiliations, but simply because he is his brother. “The Lord knows those that are his”. If we are thinking of our brother we shall be effective in finding him, and not only that, we shall lead him to Jesus, who will care for those who are brought to Him. Peter is given a name and is made a great apostle. It is not a case of building up human organisations, but of leading your brother to Jesus. Education shows itself in its result. Jesus will look after the brother, you may be sure He will look after those who are brought to Him. He gives Peter a name — “thou shalt be called Cephas”, which means a stone, that is, a stone in the divine structure. He is to be taken out of human organisations which will perish in course of time; there is not a human organisation existent which will not be dissolved. The Lord Jesus had permanency in His mind — a stone is permanent. What importance there is, therefore, in bringing the brother to Jesus!
The next illustration of what is in my mind is the well-known woman of Samaria. John gives great prominence to women as examples of the truth. He furnishes us with women as well as with men as exemplifications of great principles. This woman had a disreputable history, and you may marvel that the Lord should take up such a person, but it is only to enhance the grace of God. It is a question of the Father. John makes much more of the [p. 25] Father than any of the other apostles do; that is, God revealed in grace in a character to which judgment does not attach — it is entirely stripped of the thought of judgment. It is a question of pure and unmitigated grace, “the Father judgeth no man”. What I am concerned with now is how this woman profited by the teaching. She had a conversation with Jesus. He was alone, and He sat on the well. He was weary, and made no effort to disguise the character of His humanity — a humanity capable of being wearied. He asked a drink of the woman — it was no feigned request — and this asking brought out what was in her mind and what was in His. It opened up the great subject of worship. You cannot connect the worship of God with a merely human organisation, the thing is incongruous. The worship of God is of the Spirit, and they who worship Him, worship Him in spirit and in truth, not by the paraphernalia of current religion in christendom.
What did the woman do? After the conversation it says she “left her water-pot”. She had received an impression from Christ, she became a taught person. In these meetings what impression do you get? — and what do you retain in your soul of the teaching? Do you become taught of God? This woman shows that she had gathered something that referred to her own person, and what her own body was to be used for. Though having little religious education, she had her body. Perhaps I have no money, no religious education, but I have a body and God says I can use that to minister for Him. Jesus tells her that in her body would be a fountain springing up into everlasting life. If you can get one real thought from God and take it home and assimilate it, you have obtained something. This woman received that something, for it says she “left her water-pot” (verse 28). Many of you may have read that, and you may say leaving the water-pot is a mere incident, but it has great significance. That woman had travelled along the road to the well with her water-pot to fill it. The journey would have [p. 26] been futile without it, but now she leaves it without filling it. She received the impression that her body is now the water-pot, and she is not now afraid to go to the men and say, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did” (verse 29). Did she come under their influence? No; she was superior to them, and her body would be used henceforth for ministry; she left her water-pot. Were she to consider what is natural, she would say, I shall fill it in any case. But no, the Spirit of God wishes to convey to us that she learned what God thought of her body, and that it was to be a vessel. God could purify it and use it for testimony. How important our bodies are! We should be careful to keep them pure. This woman used her mouth in an effective way and the men went out to Jesus. What she had learned worked out in effect in bringing them to Jesus. There is not a person in my hearing who may not become a servant of Christ, even the youngest may. It is not only what you say, but what you are; the body is at the service of God. You may speak to your school-mates as to what Christ has done for you, but remember that actions count as well. The woman has living water in principle, she is now another kind of woman.
The next illustration which I have in mind is in chapter 6. This chapter has a great bearing, and alludes to the spiritual teaching of Jesus. It was so spiritual that the hearers said, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” (verse 60). The path is too narrow, the teaching too exacting, too heavenly, and many left him and went away back. They put a distance between Jesus and themselves. There are many christians who are doing this and it is a challenge to us. “Will ye also go away?” Others are going — He does not disguise this fact. Why are there so few, when this teaching is so wonderful? God is teaching, yet people want to go away. This is one of the most wonderful chapters in the Bible, it is full of matter. It is a very long chapter. The teaching is divine and spiritual, yet people are turning their backs [p. 27] on it. What a challenge to every heart! Others are going, are you going too? Peter represents the spiritual instruction of the chapter. He says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal” (verse 68). One would love to have heard Him say that! John certainly says a great deal about eternal life. I do not believe that the disciples understood it at this time. Peter could not have given you a discourse on it, none understood it, but the instinct to perceive it was there; and the words of it, the details of it, the opening up of it was in the Lord’s teaching, and Peter says, I discern this, and where shall I go? What is all the teaching of the world? what are the universities? All come to nothing. Even the great classics, what will become of them? They have no place in heaven. And Peter says, What is the good if there is no eternal life? — Why, there is nothing; tomorrow we die. Life here, at best, is only a few years. Peter would say You have the words of eternal life, and that is what man needs. In Genesis 3 the great thought is life, as death is on man. “In Adam all die”. “Death reigned by one”, as the word says. So today cemeteries and undertakers and coffins are just as numerous as ever they were — men are disappearing into utter darkness without God. Peter goes on to say, “we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”. Not only that He had heard the words of eternal life, but that He was the Minister, the true Aaron to set up the service of God and to maintain it. The epistle to the Hebrews opens up Peter’s remark, what he had believed and known, showing Christ to be the Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle. Peter says, “the holy one of God”, the true Aaron in the tabernacle, pitched not by man but by God. As far as the testimony and the service of God are concerned, he sees it all in Jesus. How delightful this must have been to the Lord’s heart!
I pass on to chapter 20. It is a woman again here, Mary Magdalene, out of whom the Lord had cast seven [p. 28] demons. She was thus a woman who had been under the terrible power of Satan. One passage says they went out of her; their position was rendered untenable in her. The position of the devil in man is rendered untenable as the result of the work of God in him. The other side is that the Lord Jesus cast out these demons, and she would never forget it. This is the Lord’s first great service to her. Now she is concerned about Him. She is early at the tomb, looking for Jesus. Much as she loved Him, she is dark in her soul, but now this chapter shows that she has been taught, for she says, “Rabboni” (verse 16); showing that the teaching had been effective in her, and was a realised thing. She had found her Teacher, and you could not have persuaded her to listen to the greatest teachers in the world now. She says, “My teacher”, and He says, “Mary”. How delightful it must have been to hear her name used by Jesus, risen from among the dead. There can be no doubt that the meaning of that name implies suffering and the Lord cherished it; she says in effect, You taught me! The Lord loved that! Young christians are apt to think too much of the brothers who taught them, they tend to become followers of them; but how much greater it is to have Jesus as your Teacher! A brother may make a party, and include you in it, so be on your guard!
The Lord says, “Touch me not” (verse 17); in effect, Do not connect Me with earth. The point is that we must not connect Jesus, as risen from among the dead, with an earthly position. I am not saying that He does not help you in your circumstances, but He belongs to heaven. The old corn is Jesus as indigenous to heaven. It is inscrutable; this great Person belongs to heaven. “The Son of man which is in heaven”. We must not link Him who is in heaven with an earthly setting. We have to understand something of the inscrutability of this. He refers over and over again to the fact that He “came down from heaven”. “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” He is [p. 29] ascending as a risen Man to His Father. What a great Person He is! To ascend is His own action, and Mary is to understand that she is not to touch Him, for He has not yet ascended (verse 17). Mary therefore shows that she has learned, and she goes to the disciples. The Lord gave her the message (verse 17), and she takes it, not as a teacher, for a woman does not teach men, and public teaching by women is not acceptable to God. We have this definitely set out in 1 Corinthians 14: 34, and 1 Timothy 2: 12. She is learning from Jesus how to act in a comely way, and she goes to the disciples saying that she “had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her”. The Lord would instruct all sisters to be like her, comely in the assembly and in relation to saints generally.
The final word is about Mary of Bethany (chapter 12). The name of Mary has a spiritual significance. I believe it has to do with suffering, with bitterness. No one of us is of any value without having passed through bitter waters in our soul’s history. The Lord Jesus is the true wood cast into the waters, making them sweet for her, and she is now a true worshipper of Jesus. She began to learn early. When Martha is criticising her, she is at school, learning as she sits at Jesus’ feet. And now we have the grand result, for we never hear of her afterwards. She will shine in heaven, but here she shows how educated she is; she is the finished product. She knows what it is to be criticised, and criticism is one of the hardest things to bear. She experienced it from her sister, and now from the wicked Judas. Jesus says, She knows what she is doing, she has kept this for the day of My burial. She has the pound of ointment, which is very costly; spiritually it has cost her bitter experience. She is educated spiritually and has reached the thought of worship. She anoints Him with the ointment, and the house is filled with the odour. She wiped His feet with her hair — she gives Jesus all the glory. She was ready [p. 30] for the opportunity and seized it as it came, and now she disappears, only to appear in the future in glory.
May the Lord help us in all these things! It is a question of being taught, and proving it by what you do and say.