THE CHILDREN OF GOD IN THE WORLD
THE CHILDREN OF GOD IN THE WORLD
John 1:10-13; John 6:37-39; John 6:54-58; John 10:27-30; 1 John 3:1-3
I have in mind, dear brethren, to say a word as to the purpose for which we are in the world, and as to the means for supporting us in the world according to the will of God. The verses we read in John 1 are striking because they show that the presence of Christ here in the world brought to light that there was in man no capacity to appreciate what is of God. The true light shone, but there was no ability in man to appreciate or respond to it, so that it says that “He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his own received him not.” But then in that condition of things God wrought. There were certain ones who did receive Him and there are certain ones who have received Him, and that is what I want to call attention to, beloved brethren, that we are here as among those who have received Christ and believed on His name, we are here as the result of the fact that God has wrought, and that we have been born of God. It says, “as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God ... who have been born, not of blood”; that is, not according to the natural order of birth, “nor of the will of the flesh,” the will of the flesh has had no place in it, “nor of the will of man”; that is, it is entirely of God, sovereignly, “but of God.” As we take account of ourselves in that light as born of God in the midst of a world which, apart from God’s operations, would be entirely unresponsive to Him and incapable of appreciating His things at all, it must, I think, raise exercise with us as to what God has in mind in thus working. What has He in view for those who are born of Him? It might be said that He has in view for us eternal blessing and glory in accordance with His purpose, and other scriptures would show that that is true, but this scripture does not put it that way. This scripture says that to those thus born He gave the right to take the place of children of God. To take that place down here of children of God, and linking that with the passage in the first epistle of John, we read, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God.” (The word is children, not sons.) Not merely are we entitled to take the place of being His children, but that we should be called such, that we should be known as such. Evidently what is in view is that the children of God are in this world in testimony. They are here to represent rightly the One by whom they have been begotten. I think you can see, dear brethren, as we take account of it, the moral darkness that marks the world, black darkness prevailing everywhere except where God has wrought. You can see what a privileged position, what a distinctive position, the children of God are in. They are here now as intended to be a testimony to the true God, the blessed God, a testimony in a world which knows Him not, in order that in His children God might be rightly represented and become known - especially in the characteristics which John’s epistle makes so much of - namely righteousness, practical righteousness in every detail of life, and love.
John in his writings traces things to their source and takes account of two generations - the generation that is of God, marked by righteousness and love, and the generation that is of the wicked one, marked by lawlessness and hatred, but in this passage in the epistle, the apostle says, “Behold, what manner of love the father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God.” Not only that we should be it, but we should be called it, known as such. Therefore it says “the world knoweth us not even as it knew him not.” That is a privileged position, that we become involved in the reproach and rejection of Christ in so far as we are in this world marked by the true features of the children of God. Not only so, but we have the distinction of continuing the true light as to God; the true light as introduced by Christ is to be continued by the children of God. It says, “the darkness is passing and the true light now shines.” It shines among the children of God. There are doubtless other thoughts connected with children, but this position of testimony is, I believe, the main thought in connection with the children of God, and we may rest assured that in it we shall have the care of God as our Father; as a father He will care for His children, but particularly so as we are, in our intelligence and exercises, filling out the position that is proper to that of the children of God, and understanding that this is a definite matter of God’s operation and of His sovereignty, that we are born of God, and that must be with a definite object in mind, and the object in mind is that the truth of God might be maintained livingly in those who are His children, in a world that otherwise knows Him not.
Then it goes on to say in John’s epistle, “Beloved, now are we the children of God,” showing the importance of the now. “Now are we the children of God.” It is important to take account of things in that light. If we have been born of God and have believed on the name of Christ, as we have, it is not to be put off to the future as to what is in mind in that. It says, “Now are we the children of God.” It has not been publicly manifested what we shall be, but we know this, that when He shall appear, or when it is manifested, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is, and that is to be in our hearts as a hope. One challenges oneself, dear brethren, as to how far it is a hope. The hope of seeing Christ as He is, and if we are to see Him as He is we must be like Him, and we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is, but it says everyone that has this hope in Him; that is, in the One who is to be manifested, everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is pure. We can see how important this element of constant purification is, beloved brethren, for we are in a world of moral darkness, and hence the necessity, if we are to be in the world true to the position of children of God, the necessity for this process of moral purification, lest we should misrepresent, or convey wrong impressions of, the One by whom we have been begotten. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is pure.
I read the passages in chapters 6 and 10 of the gospel, because I believe they show the lines upon which we may be maintained in this position which God has in mind for us, and while the passage in the first chapter and the passage in John’s epistle are largely a question of God or the Father, in chapters 6 and 10 of the gospel we have the Lord brought in. We have Him, of course, in the chapter in the epistle as the One whom we are to see as He is, but in the passages in chapter 6 and chapter 10 we have the present service of Christ to us, and the whole linked up with His Father’s will. So in chapter 6 the Lord says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.” It is very touching that what belongs to the Father, what is in His hand, so to speak for the purpose He has in mind, has been given to Christ.” All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me, and this is the will of him that has sent me, that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up in the last day.” Now I believe the idea in that is that the Lord is undertaking, as part of the Father’s will, to see that those whom God has given to Him, those born of God, should be carried through and raised up at the last day. There is no thought of their being overcome by the influences of darkness that are in the world. The intention is that they should be carried right through and supported by Christ, as it is the will of God that they should be supported here. So the Lord says it is the will of Him that sent Him that He should lose nothing. As He is going to His Father he says “those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled.” It was a necessity that one of His disciples should be the son of perdition, and therefore he was not carried through, but save for that one He had lost nothing, and He will lose nothing. But later on in the chapter we find that while the Lord has set Himself, so to speak, to carry those whom the Father has given Him right through, and to raise them up in the last day, it is on the principle of presenting Himself to us as living bread. That is to say, our side comes in.
We shall not be maintained in life save as we appropriate the food that is provided for the purpose, and I believe the great thing that is necessary if we are to be in this world according to God is that we should be maintained in eternal life. Eternal life is, according to John’s presentation of it, the means by which we are supported above and kept completely superior to the currents and influences that belong to this world. Here the Lord in chapter 6 proposes that He Himself should become the food of our souls with a view to our being maintained in eternal life. I cannot go into it in detail, I only stress it, that while the Lord says, it is His Father’s will, that of all that the Father has given Him He should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day, it is on the principle of our appropriating the food that He has provided. The food is Himself, the living bread come down from heaven for the purpose of being appropriated by His own in their minds and affections. First in the character of the One who has given His life for us; for He speaks of His flesh and His blood, evidently alluding to His death. His flesh to be eaten, and His blood to be drunk. He says, “my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed,” and also “whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” I believe it is an appeal to our affections, that the Lord Jesus came down from heaven and took up flesh and blood condition, for the express purpose, by means of His death which was vicarious, of closing up that condition of sinful flesh in which we were involved, so that we might partake by the Spirit in His life, in that new condition He has entered beyond death, and hence the Lord goes on to say “He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him.” He becomes a living object for the affections on the principle of our eating His flesh and drinking His blood, and then appropriating Him as the One who has ascended up where He was before. Christ is to be our life objectively, and the Spirit our life subjectively. As He says, it is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. It is an individual matter which each of us must take up if we are to be sustained in life, and kept above currents that would otherwise affect us adversely as passing through this world. We must know what it is to be maintained in attachment to Christ by the Spirit on the principle of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, and then eating Him and living by Him, so that as those who have been born of God we might be sustained in the position of testimony here.
In John 10 another feature comes in; that is, the thought of the flock, which is another very important matter, and while the exercises of chapter 6 have to be taken up individually, the intention is that we should move together, so the Lord speaks in chapter 10 of a flock of sheep. In John’s gospel the sheep are those who are the subjects of the work of God and whose nature and instinct it is to hear the shepherd’s voice and follow. It is important to see that the sheep in John’s gospel are viewed as having that nature and instinct, they discern the shepherd’s voice and follow; they follow in a flock, not individually. Hence the voice of the shepherd in chapter 10 is of the greatest importance. The Lord says “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.” We are to be preserved from perishing in the wilderness, dropping out of the testimony here, and the thought is that as we are marked by hearing the Shepherd’s voice, and following with the flock, we shall not perish. I understand that the movements of the shepherd, indicated by His voice, are discerned by the ministry that He gives in the assembly. That is, Christianity is a living thing characterised by movement, and the Lord’s voice is constantly being heard in the assembly. The Lord is the great Shepherd of the sheep, and He leads by means of His voice. It is important, if we wish to be maintained in eternal life right through to the end, and supported in the position marked out for us, that we should have an attentive ear to what the Lord, the good Shepherd, is saying at any time, and then follow it up with the sheep. It is not contemplated that any sheep should stray. It is one flock and one Shepherd, and the Shepherd’s voice, and the flock listening to the Shepherd’s voice, and moving in accordance with it. “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”
Our position as children here in testimony is that we should be representative of our Father. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God; therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” What a privileged position, and then how great is the service of Christ as presenting Himself as living food, and taking His place as the Shepherd of the flock, so that we should be maintained in eternal life and kept above all the influences that would otherwise hinder our testimony. May we be helped to have a more definite object in mind as to why we are here. The purpose for which we are here in this world is that we may fill out our place in the testimony of God and be here for His will, whatever that may involve.