LOVE SEEN IN DISCIPLESHIP
[p. 163] LOVE SEEN IN DISCIPLESHIP
John 13: 21 - 26; 2 Chronicles 10: 6 - 16
I was thinking, dear brethren, of love and how it may shine in discipleship, that is, in those who are learning or have learnt. Pupils are not always lovable: many, too, have ability for acquiring knowledge, but are by no means more lovable because of that ability, indeed, in the learning they are apt to be irritable and impatient. So I have selected these verses in John because they show love working out in discipleship. Of course one is not always learning; it is a poor thing if it has to be that and only that; indeed, in such a case it is very likely that we develop into learners who never arrive at a knowledge of the truth. It is in application that we become intelligent as to the truth in its parts. And so John is singled out here in this chapter as one who could answer a question, or who could cause, by his nearness to the Lord, the question to be answered. There is indeed such a thing as “knowing of whom thou hast learned them” (2 Timothy 3: 14), a very important matter. It is well, especially for young people, to trace back anything presented to be learned and see the source. But still, if the question is answered, if the light is sought, our desires under the circumstances are satisfied. But the desire for the light here was satisfied by a certain person who was in the bosom of Jesus, and we are carefully told that he was there at that particular time. He was reclining, as I suppose, at table, which was a great privilege in view of all that comes out in the chapter, but he was in the bosom of Jesus; and then we are told that Jesus loved him. So we see the result of this enquiry on the part of Peter, who, if he was not near enough to the Lord to direct the question to Him himself, knew who was — another [p. 164] important matter. The Lord respects any acknowledgement of distance with us, and He respects, too, any acknowledgement of nearness in another. Acknowledgement has a first-rate place as a word in the divine vocabulary, and one need not be afraid of an acknowledgement when an acknowledgement is necessary. So that Peter knew that there was one nearer than he. You say, ‘Well, it is not easy to judge of things’ — nor is it perhaps, but the obligation is there nevertheless. Certainly, as far as I am concerned, I seek to have a judgment before God about everybody I know, especially the Lord’s people. And Peter evidently had a true estimate of his brother disciple in this case, and, without saying anything, he beckoned to him — a mode of enquiry or communication that indicates a certain nearness, a familiarity.
Now the incident is a jewel in its proper setting, beloved; that is, the jewel is set in relation to other jewels. John is the great love gospel; we say it is the fourth gospel, but it is properly the love gospel. The great things in it could hardly be said without such conditions as are indicated. The more the love, the greater the thoughts, the greater the communications. In this gospel we have, of course, to do with Deity; let no one be afraid to have to do with the Deity. I mean to say the way is open to have to do with It, with God. And, as entering on the ground in this gospel, you feel at once that you have to do with God, and, as you proceed, what strikes you throughout is love. It could conveniently be said that the explanation of these great facts in these last days is that there is one thing that does not fail in the history of the assembly — I am not referring to persons, but things — and that is love. I believe that is one of the features that is brought forward in our times, that there is that, a thing which does not fail. Indeed, one is greatly impressed with the thought of the advantage there is in the perusal of [p. 165] this gospel from the standpoint of love, and the query in oneself is, Can I fit into that picture? Have I any place at all in it, or have I to be ruled out? I may do a little in Matthew. Matthew will let me go to the care meeting, as we say, and make it imperative on me to go. Mark will say to me, If there is anything to be done, do it. Mark will not listen to me if I say, ‘I must wait for a certain condition of soul’. No, if a thing is to be done, do it and do it at once. A lazy christian is intolerable to Mark. “Cursed be he”, says another, “that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently” (Jeremiah 48: 10) — that is a very strong word. You say, ‘He is doing a little;’ but he is not doing it well, he is doing it negligently, and God resents it. Luke would say, Well, you must be ornamental; ornament is a great point with God. Jerusalem of old was said to be the ornament of the earth, and it will be that. And I think Luke is the evangelist who would help us out in that way that, if one has to do with anything of God, he does not detract from it by his clumsiness or his way of doing it, he enhances it. But I think John sets out the wonderful ground we are on, the wonderful position it is. Can I stand in that position? One great person after another is caused to pass before us, indeed the great testimony is from God — “Love is of God, and every one that loves has been begotten of God, and knows God” (1 John 4: 7). It is a question of origin; the word ‘children’ in that sense is a matter of whence you have come parentally. He that loves is born of God and knows God, we are told in the epistle, and so, “God so loved;” that is what John brings out.
Then, as regards persons, personal love, we have “The Father loves the Son”. It is not, ‘God loves Jesus;’; of course that is true, but it is “The Father loves the Son”, not ‘loved’ or ‘will love’, He loves the Son. It is “God so loved the world”, but “The Father loves the Son”. That is a great objective thought, beloved, for the mind, for the intelligent mind, the renewed mind, of the christian: “The Father loves the Son”. And the Lord says of Himself that He loves the Father. What a picture for us, dear brethren, in this gospel — “The Father loves the Son”. ‘Well’, you say, ‘He will have Him eternally to love’, but He is not speaking of that, He is speaking of how things are to be done down here when He says that. So that if you are going to do what Matthew says or, indeed, if you are going to do anything, you must remember that is the principle, “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things to be in his hand”. And then you find things coming in as bringing out the love of Christ. I am just touching on certain points, so as to bring out what God has in mind for us, something that will never give way, that is the idea of divine love in its working out amongst us. Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus; He loved the three, but He loved them severally as well. I believe the lesson, dear brethren, is as to what we find in a brother’s house; it is a question of a household. God is bringing out the idea of a household; He would furnish every feature of love so as to fortify us in these last days; that is, in entering a brother’s house, a sister’s house, or the house of two sisters and a brother, you find love. That is the sort of thing that John brings to our attention; what is done for love, what is done because of love under all circumstances. Be the world what it may, be the wind what it may, it is a question of what love will do. So this wonderful chapter which I have read brings out that the Lord Jesus loved His own, “Having loved his own”. To add anything to that, ‘His own disciples’, or ‘His own brethren’ will not really add to it — He “loved his own who were in the world;” that is, He loved them there, where they were, and because (in a sense) of where they were. Let no one [p. 167] assume that external circumstances can in any way interfere with his spiritual progress. If you are in the path of the will of God, you are loved there where you are. “Having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end”. It is the persistency of it, and this action appears to bring it out. But the bringing of it out, the expression of it in such a way, also brings out the evil, and the presence of the evil brings out the question. The disclosure that evil was there brings out the question. That is to say, beloved brethren, if anything happens we must go into it, we must question; and let us not be afraid of questioning, but go to the right person with your question, for you are likely to get much talk about these matters. And Peter leads the way here as to the person of whom he enquires; he knew him, knew his nearness to the Lord, and, not only that, but John was actually there in the bosom of Jesus at the time. So that love is tapped, as it were, and the truth comes out. He is ready to do the service indeed, and he does it with full result, that is, the complete clearance of the evil. I believe it had been hidden, you know; I think the real trouble in our cases of difficulty is the want of transparency, and hence the necessity of going to the right person. Peter went to the right person and he got the light that is needed; the whole matter is cleared.
It only brings up, dear brethren, what some of us have been engaged with elsewhere, that is priesthood. “Ye that are spiritual”, that is the word. John was spiritual; he was where the light was, that is, in the bosom of Jesus; it was no question of his mere mental knowledge. The Urim and the Thummim were not on the turban of the priest, what was on the high priest’s turban was “Holiness to Jehovah”, as much as to say, ‘Be careful what is underneath that: be careful in your mind’. The divine thought of my head is that it is to be holiness, for the working [p. 168] of the natural mind in the things of God is most insidious. “Holiness to Jehovah;” be on your guard, it is a warning. The Urim and the Thummim were in the breastplate; and in Deuteronomy 33 where the blessing of Levi is pronounced by Moses, the man of God, he puts the Thummim before the Urim, meaning that Levi had proved the thing, that he had proved a certain perfection, and hence, a certain light. For the perfection must precede the light, that is John’s principle, “in him was life”, he says of Christ, that is the principle of the Thummim. The Thummim is perfection; it is perfection in man; that is to say, it is a man who can be trusted, his life is reliable, he has proved himself to be of God. “We are of God”, says the apostle John. If the man has the Thummim, he gives you the mind of God, you can trust him. So that the Thummim comes first in Deuteronomy 33; and it is in John’s gospel that the life is the thing, and the life is the light; light is inseparable from life. So that Peter knew John’s relations with Jesus. Let us therefore, dear brethren, know one another. We shall know one another in heaven, there will be no dark part in any one of us there, thank God, but there are dark parts now, hence the difficulty of disclosing what is going on, that you cannot be sure in making your enquiry, and hence things remain hidden. Peter knew John had the means of getting at things, and he beckoned to him, and he said, “Lord, who is it?” Will the Lord hold back an answer? Never! As we seek His mind we shall get it; and, as we obtain it, as it is out, there is a solution of the matter; the whole matter is solved, and Judas went out, and behold, it was night. The matter is solved and there is a purified company walking in the light in this way.
I now want to show how all this failed in Rehoboam. He is one of many types, and his history helps us as to the New Testament when we see it is a question [p. 169] of young brothers and young sisters coming into evidence in the service of God. They may have been learning in the school, in readings and in attending meetings, but they are tested, as Rehoboam was and failed. He began well; it says he went and enquired from the old men, and that means that I, as a young brother, a young sister, want to serve the Lord, and I am called to serve Him. Rehoboam was called, he is spoken of as the king here in fact — and something comes up, and I go to the old brothers. They certainly have the best counsel to give, and they ought to have. What I may say here is that old age in itself does not count for much. The days of the years of David counted for much, the times that passed over him are spoken of: what an experience he had! The days that passed over Solomon counted for much; the days that passed over Joshua counted for much, hence the elders that outlived Joshua influenced the people of God after he had died. I only make that remark so that we might understand that it is not mere age, it is a question of what the man has been. Well now, who are these old men? They are said to have stood before Solomon. You may say, ‘Solomon did not do as well toward the end of his life’, but it does not say they stood before him at the end of his life. I do not suppose he was more than sixty when he died, so they were not so very old, but they had stood before him. And a spiritual woman comes up to Jerusalem in her day, and she says of Solomon, “Happy are thy men! happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, who hear thy wisdom” (1 Kings 10: 8). What a life it was! The Spirit of God enlarges on it, what his wisdom was, and these men had stood before him, we are told, and they heard his wisdom. So that Rehoboam makes an excellent choice, a very fine example for young people, because we are so apt to think we know better than the old ones. I am not [p. 170] pleading for the old ones, because they think at times perhaps they know everything; but the balance must be kept. As we were seeing this afternoon, the Lord sat on the colt, on the ass and the colt. So Rehoboam selected the old men at once, and you will observe, dear brethren, that the old men, in answering him, make no reference at all to the charge of Jeroboam and his people that Solomon’s reign was an unduly rigorous reign. It is a very wise thing to say nothing if it is apt to irritate unnecessarily; they did not say anything about this charge; they just said to Rehoboam, ‘Now you can reign and be satisfied if you speak good words to these people’. They spoke very few words to him, but they were excellent words, they were just what were needed. I say to the young people, you do well to weigh what an old brother or sister may put before you; and moreover, do not fail to ask them, do not think you know best what to do. “With good advice”, we are told to “make war” (Proverbs 20: 18). The enemy is watching us and any mistake we make will be used of him against the truth, hence the importance of getting good counsel in what we are doing. But it says he rejected the counsel of the old men; let no one do that! — I mean counsel that is recommended as the Spirit of God recommended this. Certainly you can do no damage, you can do nothing out of the way to anyone by speaking good words, speaking kindly to people. Unnecessary harshness will attain nothing for God — nothing. So it says he went to the young men, and mark what it says of them, they “who had grown up with him”, not with Solomon. Of course they were brought up in Solomon’s time, and Rehoboam was brought up in Solomon’s time, but they grew up with him, and they “stood before him;” that is a most mischievous thing, when a young man has a coterie around him who think as he does. He has something about him perhaps to distinguish him [p. 171] from them and give him the lead. Rehoboam sends for these, and they are glad to come and to give counsel; they know what Solomon’s reign has been, ‘These old men just want to support themselves’, they said, as it were, and they said, You tell this people, “My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins ... my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions”. See the proud boast of those young men; they put the words into his mouth that he was a greater man than Solomon, and the advice suited him and led him to disaster.
I only speak of this, dear brethren, so as to show you how, in discipleship, when we should be learning we may not be learning as those who are lovable. We may be taking in knowledge but not putting on the Spirit of Christ, what becomes knowledge, for “knowledge puffs up”, we are told, “but love edifies”. The love makes you attractive, so that in the time of learning you are growing in beauty, you are of the disciples: for notice, it is not one of the brethren whom Jesus loved, it is one of the disciples whom He loved. It may be, of course, that the word ‘disciple’ was a sort of general title for the followers of Jesus, but it is not used for nothing; it is a word denoting persons who are learning. It is a young man of whom it is said several times he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. So the disciple is taking on instruction, he is taught of God, but he is also becoming like Jesus, he is becoming lovable, so that you can take things in from him. You would not say, ‘Well, he has the truth, but look at his ways, look at the kind of spirit he has!’ That is a poor thing to have to be said about any of us. We want to commend the truth as we minister it, to adorn the doctrine, as the scripture says.
That was all I had to say tonight, dear brethren, and I am sure you will agree that it is of practical [p. 172] value. It is a time of light, thank God, and of help from the Lord, but this is what, I believe, the Lord intends to shine in the apostle John, that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved, and that in his learning days he was in the bosom of Jesus.