SONSHIP IN THREE ASPECTS
SONSHIP IN THREE ASPECTS
Ephesians 4: 14 - 25; John 12: 36; Luke 19: 1 - 9; Galatians 4: 6, 7
What I have before me on this occasion is the subject of growth. I am thinking of spiritual growth, assuming that this is expressed in the idea of a son as in contrast to a child or babe; and I have selected these passages which I have read in order to develop, by the Lord’s help, the idea of sonship.
I wish first to enlarge a little on the idea of a son of the light. Around us we have developments of a similar nature to that which I hope to speak of, but in a bad or a worldly sense. We have, as an example, the expression from the Lord’s own lips, “a son of hell”. Speaking to the Jews He says, “Ye compass the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and when he is become such, ye make him twofold more the son of hell than yourselves”, Matthew 23: 15. Again we have from the Lord’s lips, when speaking to His Father, the expression, “the son of perdition”. These expressions refer to maturity in what is evil; a very serious consideration for those who are in the world, for such developments are proceeding, and young people entering into the world are exposed to the influences which are at work in maturing such persons as the Lord refers to.
But we have over against that the expression, “sons of light”. John in his gospel uses the word “light” probably more frequently than any other of the evangelical writers. He contemplates darkness, darkness intensified, and so he records more of the Lord’s service in Jerusalem than any of the others, having in view our own times, when the service [p. 2] of God has to be carried on in the midst of intensified religious darkness. The apostles had to do with such darkness as the Lord Himself did in Jerusalem.
Now we are called upon to serve in corresponding darkness, a darkness which is augmented by religious claims, claims of apostolic succession, claims of superior intelligence and investigation, and these darkening influences are no longer confined to the few, they are permeating the masses. They are not only found in the centres of learning, they are found in the workshops, in the minds, in the homes of men and women. It is becoming fashionable to believe in a lie. We are, therefore, to serve Christ in the face of the most intensified darkness that has ever existed. Hence it behoves us, not simply to take up the truth in its initial features, and to clothe ourselves with the armour of light, but to develop in our souls in the apprehension of the light, so that we become sons of the light, and as sons of the light not deceived by any of the darkening influences that are presented to us. We can see that they are of the darkness; they emerge from their own source and author, and a son of the light is not deceived. So John prepares us, as we understand his gospel, to shine in our day and to confront the darkness as sons of the light.
It is to be noted that in this gospel we have no wholesale cures or miracles accomplished. The other evangelists speak of the Lord curing every one who came to Him, and there were many; the number is not given. In Mark the Lord cured at sunset all who came to Him from every quarter, whereas John gives us but a few instances, and those are isolated ones; they are not in groups. We can understand that, because of the sterility of the soil in which He had to sow, for darkened religionists afford the most sterile soil there is, but nevertheless He wrought, and not without results. We find Him content to speak to one, and He was successful in securing that one ([p. 3] I refer to the woman of Samaria), so that she became a son of the light. She discerned by what He said to her that her body — even a body such as hers — could become so purified and energised by the Spirit of God that light could shine out of it in the darkness. She left her waterpot, we are told, and went into the city.
I refer to this woman in a practical way, because she illustrates the feature of the work of Christ as seen in John. She immediately moves in service and in successful service; she was in accord with John the baptist, who pointed to Jesus. The Samaritans came to Him; they did not flock about her and make her an oracle after modern fashion; they said, “We have heard him ourselves”.
Again, in a man like Peter we have another son of the light. He was “one of the twelve”, we read; for John never uses official titles in referring to the servants of God. We have to be content to serve without a title; he who makes least of his titles is likely to be the most successful. Peter says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal”. Would he turn to those we hear spoken of as the great leaders of modern thought? Would he listen to the man that speaks “froward things”, as many of the people of God, alas! do, in reading their books? He says, “Thou hast words”. How many? Think of the treasury of words, words of eternal life. A son of the light knows where these are; his soul seeks after these words, his mind craves for them, and he knows to whom to go. As the Samaritans went to Christ, so would he, for Christ alone had them. Some of us may be able to speak a word or convey a thought, but all the words of eternal life are stored up in Christ.
And so again in chapter 9 another son of the light is true to the light, and we see what it cost him. Honoured man indeed! How few of us have been so [p. 4] honoured; and why? For want of being sons of the light. “That which makes all things manifest is light”, and as our bodies are full of light, we are not wanted in the circles of this world. “They cast him out”. One of the finest spectacles morally is seen in the Son of God and an outcast from the religious world being together; how perfectly they agreed; for He was an outcast Himself from the very outset according to this narrative.
As I think of the Son of God, I think of One who takes account of everything in relation to God, but I think of One, too, who can associate me with Himself; as He says to Peter elsewhere, “That take, and give it unto them for me and thee”, Matthew 17: 27. Peter was a son. How wonderful, as an outcast in this world, to hear His voice, “Dost thou believe on the Son of God?” A true son of the light will believe on the Son of God, and so he says, “I believe, Lord: and did him homage”.
I mention these instances, but there are many such in this gospel, in whom this principle of matured spiritual apprehension is set forth, and I may say, dear brethren, that nothing else will stand by you in the presence of the darkness. A son of the light knows what to do; he is never at any disadvantage or inconvenience by the actings of the darkness; his path is plain and clear. So in chapter 12, from which I have read, you have sons of light acting for Christ in Bethany; “There they made him a supper”. You see in that incident what the Lord has at the present time in the sons of light moving locally. They know what to do, and they think for Christ; they are concerned for Christ — they made Him a supper.
I feel I cannot be too emphatic in commending to you on this occasion the importance of this gospel, not only from the standpoint of which I am speaking, but from other standpoints, but I especially commend [p. 5] it to you as presenting to us sons of light. “While ye have the light”, He says, “believe in the light, that ye may become sons of light”.
Now in the Gospel of Luke we have a son of Abraham, and a son of Abraham is one of the most interesting personages that we can consider. His ancestry is very old, and it is very honourable. I speak of it thus because the apostle Paul says that Abraham is the father of us all, so that you can understand how the idea connects itself with every Gentile believer as well as with every Jewish or Israelitish believer. A son of Abraham takes character from his great progenitor, and perhaps it may not be amiss to be reminded of what is patriarchal in Scripture.
The patriarchal idea has a very prominent place in Scripture. You will remember that in Peter’s address on the day of Pentecost he refers to David as a patriarch. You can understand the spiritual connection of David as a patriarch and his Son by whom now as exalted in the heavens all the wealth of heaven is being administered to men. Surely the blessing of Abraham had come down and the administration of David had taken effect in Him of whom Peter spoke. And so with Zacchaeus, he is here called by the Lord a son of Abraham. A son of Abraham has inherited things; the patriarchal principle is to pass on an inheritance. Let us take care of the wonderful inheritance that has come to us; let us not be like Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. No true son of Abraham will relinquish the least part of the inheritance — he values it.
But I want to dwell for a moment on Abraham’s patriarchal care and affection. He began with the glory of God. He is the first person in Scripture to whom it is said that God appeared; and He appeared to him as the God of glory. Think of what it is to be [p. 6] a son of such a father, for the great principle in a patriarch is to transmit things. Much has come to ourselves in this way, hence the great importance that has to be attached to what we have received, to what has come down to us by way of inheritance. How are we to pass it on? Abraham was concerned in regard to those who should come after him. God said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? ... For I know him”, Genesis 18: 17, 19. How blessed it is to be conscious that God knows our hearts; He knows that we love Him, and that we love Christ, that we love the truth, and that we desire to see all the testimony transmitted into safe hands. Hence it says of Abraham that “He dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise”, Hebrews 11: 9. Were they not worthy sons? They were, and so was Joseph.
The book of Genesis closes with a threefold testimony to the effectiveness of Abraham’s patriarchal care and affection. We have in Isaac one who transmitted the blessing; we are told that he “blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come”. Abraham looked on to the future, and so did Isaac; every son of Abraham looks on to the future.
And then we have in Jacob a worthy son of a worthy progenitor. True enough he was the product of discipline, but nevertheless he was a true son of Abraham. In Jacob we have the discernment that passes by the firstborn; no son of Abraham will put his family before the saints. I say that considerately, beloved friends. Jacob crossed his hands wittingly; Genesis 48: 14. What a son of Abraham he was! He discerned and recognised sovereign choice; every son of Abraham recognises the sovereignty of God. What a man he was! How he shines, beloved! When he heard that Joseph was coming he strengthened himself and sat upon his bed. He was not there a perishing Syrian; he was in the energy of [p. 7] life. As he had begun at his birth to reject Esau in taking him by the heel to supplant him, so now he supplanted Manasseh, who was the firstborn. We have to learn how to supplant, how to set up what is of God in preference to what is of the flesh; that marks a son of Abraham.
And Genesis closes with Joseph, also a true son of Abraham. We see what a patriarch Joseph was; he had learnt it from his forefather. The great patriarchal principle was set up in Abraham, it was transmitted to Isaac and to Jacob, and now to Joseph. Joseph brought the children, when they were to be blessed, out from between his knees; they were not running on the streets; they were not allowed to go hither and thither as they pleased; they were kept within the bounds of affection by that patriarch. Then, again, we find those same knees occupied in nursing his posterity to the third generation. What a son of Abraham was Joseph!
So with Zacchaeus — despised as he was by the religionists about him — a publican, the Lord discerned in him, beneath his publican’s garb, a son of Abraham. Was he not like Abraham? You say, Very little. But there was something there; it says, “he sought to see Jesus who he was”. Would that every one here with our Bibles in our hands, were exercised in the same way! “Abraham rejoiced to see my day”, the Lord said, “and he saw it”, John 8: 56. He whom Abraham saw in his prophetic vision is now under the eye of Zacchaeus and he wants to know who He is, and the Lord says to him, “Make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house”. It was the house of a son of Abraham, and he in whom all the light of Abraham was centred and deposited was in his house.
Zacchaeus was honoured more than Abraham, for it does not say that the Lord entered into Abraham’s tent as He drew near to him. We see what is available [p. 8] to us as sons of Abraham today. He says, “I must remain in thy house”. How needful it is that He should come into our houses so as to impart to us the great patriarchal principle in order that our houses might be according to God. Of Abraham it is said that he “will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment”. Are these things, beloved, in our houses? These are the things that mark every son of Abraham.
“Today”, the Lord says, “I must abide at thy house”, and he received Him gladly — so did Abraham. Abraham received the Lord gladly at his tent door, but He did not go in; but now, the Lord Himself comes into the house of this publican and he received Him gladly. What a moment for him! Have you any doubt that he was a son of Abraham? You need not have; you have it from the Lord’s own lips. Is there no other evidence? Yes, there is; He sought to see Jesus who He was, and he called Him “Lord”. He says, “Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I return him fourfold”. See the righteousness that was there! And the Lord immediately pronounced him a son of Abraham. How He dignified him in the presence of his traducers!
Now I pass on to the last thought. I think you will see that what we have been considering is constructive, that is, if we are sons of light we shall be sons of Abraham; we shall cherish the inheritance and we shall aim to pass it on unencumbered. We shall aim at being like our great spiritual progenitor, Abraham — the believer. There is more said of Abraham’s faith in Hebrews 11 than there is said of the faith of any other. And as we lay hold of the idea of a son of Abraham, we readily enter into the idea of a son of God. One hesitates in drawing near to this great subject. It is truly wonderful that it should be said of us, “Because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father”. A son of God thinks for God, and hence the great end of all ministry is that we are to arrive at the knowledge of the Son of God, for how are we to be sons save as we understand sonship as set forth in Him?
We are to be brought to speak the truth in love. What a word that is! How easily we slip into the idea of studying Scripture in order to shine in ministry, but that is not “holding the truth in love”. If I hold the truth in love, I hold it in relation to every saint on earth, and I regard what I may have of it as the property of every saint on earth, for that is what it is. “Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas ... all are yours”, 1 Corinthians 3: 22. And so a son of God values his ability, values his intelligence, in the measure in which these are effective to the help of the people of God, and only that. He belongs to the people of God, and he holds the truth in relation to them, and so, as I said, a son thinks for God.
The first evidence of the consciousness of sonship is in the expression, “Abba, Father”. What a great result for God as we arrive at sonship in the true bearing of it. He has sent out the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, Abba, Father. The movements of the Spirit in our hearts as sons have reference to the Father.
It is a wonderful thing, indeed, to know the Father. The Holy Spirit, I believe, is working at the present time to bring about results for the Father, and as the Father is apprehended the Son is apprehended. John says, “We have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father, full of grace and truth”. It is thus that we apprehend Christ in His relation to the Father, and we see that all His affections are set on bringing about results for the Father, and hence, what an immense thought is that of sons. “So thou art no longer bondman, but son; but if son, heir also through God”. We have there the thought individualised, so that one can regard oneself as a son of God. The thought is usually in the plural, but we have it here isolated, so that each one of us may enter into the blessedness of our relationship with the Father and with the Son, and thus value, as those entering into sonship, the Lord’s promise to him who keeps His word, that the Father will love him, “and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him”, John 14: 23.