THE SERVICE OF CHRIST FOR HIS OWN
John 13:1-15; Hebrews 9:24; 4:14-16; 7:25; Exodus 28:2,9-12,15-21 (to “as a seal”);
I seek help to say a little as to the service of Christ for His own. There are many activities of Christ in relation to His own and I do not seek to speak of them all, but my impression is that His service to His own is an activity of His love. The love of Christ for His own has been before me. It is wonderful to come together and see one another as objects of the love of Christ. We were reminded recently as to why He loves His own: they have been given to Him by the Father. Think of that, each one a gift. The Lord could say, “They were thine, and thou gavest them me”, John 17:6. Think of the wonder of that, that all believers, you and I among them, have been the subjects of giving from the Father to Christ. “They were thine”, we were the Father’s as objects of divine purpose, marked for the greatest blessing, and committed to Christ, in order that every divine thought in relation to us might be made good in us.
A gift would suggest a certain understanding on the part of the giver as to what the recipient would treasure, and I think all these chapters of John’s gospel, which are so full, give us some sense of what Christ’s own were to Him. From chapter 13, the Lord’s going away is in view. He had been with His own, He had been with them in the world and He was going out of it. It says here that He, “knowing that his hour had come that he should depart … to the Father”. That movement is characteristic of John’s writings. The other gospels give us the way in which He became the rejected One and was cast out, but John’s gospel gives us One who had come from God and was going to God. Think of the glory of such a movement, One who had come from God and made known all that could be known of God, and was going to God having secured everything according to the divine mind. That was before Him, and yet in these chapters we read of Him being here with His own. He understood what it would mean for them that He should be leaving them: He says, “Let not your heart be troubled”, John 14:1,27. He understood what this would mean for them. He speaks of “another Comforter” coming, (John 14:16); He seeks to assure their hearts that although they would be hated by the world, they were loved by Him and loved by His Father. Then it says in chapter 17:1 that He “lifted up his eyes to heaven” and He speaks to His Father. What is He speaking about? He speaks about His own. I think it is very affecting to see it, and we can be assured that Christ’s own are “a peculiar treasure” (Mal.4:17) to His heart.
The passage says, “knowing … that he came out from God and was going to God”. He knows that the hour is come, and there is this interjection: it says He “lays aside his garments”. Perhaps we have often read this and bowed our hearts to think of such condescending grace. You can see it is characteristic of His love: He saw a need with His own, He would make provision for them, and this was of the greatest moment in His own mind. You think of the glory of that blessed movement, the dignity of the One who had come out from God and was going to God, divesting Himself of His garments and taking His place at the feet of His own. Wonderful love of Jesus!
Peter did not want Him to wash his feet, but what the Lord brings out is that it is necessary. You see, He had been with them in the world, and He knew the character of it. He knew the character of the place in which He was leaving them, and He was entering a new condition, but He wanted them to have part with Him. He says, “Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me”. So great was His desire, that He would lay aside His garments and take His place at their feet that He might serve them.
What a wonderful activity of love that was, and He would do the same for each one of us. We often speak of feet washing as it relates to our service one for another, but it was actually done first by the Lord Himself to His own. He sets it on as an example (v.15), but first of all, let us just wonder at the activity of His own love in which He lays aside His garments and washes their feet. You can understand His own almost being startled by it, but He says “What I do thou dost not know now … Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me”. You see how He bore with them in their ignorance. It says of Him that, “having loved His own … loved them to the end”. Think of that company. There was Peter, Philip, Thomas, whose failings are recorded for us: He loved them, He bore with them and loved them to the end, loved them through everything (see note, v.1). That is the character of His love. How we can be thankful for it. It is not hindered by all it finds, but it acts according to His own heart, “loved His own … loved them to the end”.
He says, “Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me”. He was about to enter a new condition, a spiritual condition, a heavenly condition, He was about to enter a sphere where there was no trace of this world. He Himself personally could enter it, in all the holiness and perfection of His own Person, but He wanted His own to have part with Him, He wanted His own to share with Him. He says, “Unless” I do it, so it was a necessity, while His own are still in the world. We know the defiling character of the world. We go to school, we go to work and we learn the character of the world. We might sometimes be surprised at how easily we take on features of the world, perhaps without even realising it. The Lord shows that the washing of our feet is a necessary service in order that our state might be kept so that we should have part with Him.
He takes His garments again and says, “Do ye know what I have done to you?”. He set that service on in that little company in which He was known, the circle in which He was loved, in order that it may continue. It is the Lord’s own service but it is to be taken up by others in affection. There are two things I was minded to say as to that. First, perhaps, to the young, but to all, to keep ourselves in the circle where this service is known. We perhaps have all been subjects of such service, for which we can give thanks, from brothers and sisters with spiritual substance who have ministered Christ and brought in refreshment and relief. That is the true spiritual character of feet washing. It is needed refreshment in circumstances which are corrupt and defiling. After He sets it on, the Lord says, “ye also ought to wash one another’s feet”.
The second point is that there is an obligation on us to serve one another. I do not think those persons in that company would have looked at one another in the same way after this. They would have looked at one another and said, ‘The Lord washed his feet’. He would give us an appreciation of one another as those who belong to Him, and there is an obligation placed upon us to take up such a service to one another, so necessary a service. This little circle was where the Lord was free. His love was free in activity. The Christian circle provides an environment in which we can be assured there is not only safety, but enjoyment, and where love is free. A related point is that, in that company of which the Lord was the centre, what was of evil withdrew (v.30). There was no place for it there. What a preserving element the activity of divine love is, as taken up by others. In such an environment, where divine love is free and active and where there are holy conditions, evil withdraws. It speaks of Judas going out. We must preserve right conditions of things in our gatherings, by taking up this obligation that He places upon His own, so that evil finds no place.
The passage in Hebrews reminds us that the Lord has departed out of the world and has taken His place in heaven. He has gone into the presence of God, having passed through the heavens (Heb.4:14). Think of the greatness of the One who has gone in. We had that recently, “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession”, Heb.3:1. The writer wants us to consider such a One. He starts by presenting the greatness of One who has spoken, who has accomplished everything Himself, and has gone back and sat down in the presence of God (Heb.8:1). Think of the glory of that, the One of whom it is said, “Thou art my Son, I have to-day begotten thee”, Heb.5:5. That One took up everything here for God and accomplished it all, every divine thought secured, and He has gone back into the presence of God.
It says here, “For the Christ is not entered into holy places made with hand, figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us”. The way that the Scriptures present it is that He has taken that place for us. The aim of the writer is to open up everything that is ours, the greatness of our place, and Christ would maintain us there. It says that He has entered in and now appears “before the face of God for us”. Think of that, He has taken such a place, but we will never be forgotten, none of His own will be left behind, and they benefit from His acceptableness to God and His tireless intercession. His love and its activity continue as He appears before God for us.
I wonder if we have laid hold of that, dear brethren, that there is a Man there in heaven, One who in His Person is beyond us in His greatness. He has gone there in the virtue of all that He has done, and He has done it for us. His appearing before the face of God is for us. The writer is seeking to bring in liberty, or “boldness” as he says in the passage in chapter 4, for our approach. He is seeking to encourage those to whom he wrote to approach; there is the means of approach to God because “We have such a one high priest”, Heb.8:1. We read in chapter 4, “Having therefore a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession. For we have not a high priest not able to sympathise with our infirmities”. The Lord Jesus fills a scene of glory now, but He is not unmindful of the conditions in which He finds His own. He would, as it were, reach down and bring us up; that is His service. He is feeling as to the circumstances and the conditions, we can be assured of divine sympathy. He has been into those circumstances Himself. Think of that, the One who is appearing for you knows about the circumstances in which you find yourself because He has been in them – “sin apart”. What the writer is seeking to bring before those that he wrote to was that their place was secure before God, and that they are sustained there for the service of God and for God’s pleasure. That is really what we mean by maintaining the saints at the height of their heavenly calling.
We may say, there are my circumstances, my infirmities. These are things that we should not pass by. The Lord Jesus is sympathetic as to them, we can be assured of His sympathy. We know what infirmities are, the exigencies of the way, and how they bear upon us. The Lord Jesus has been in such circumstances, He Himself triumphing over them. It says, “but tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart”. We can rest our souls on the One who has been in the circumstances and has remained morally unchanged by them. That is what the heart comes to rejoice in, although we feel the circumstances, the condition of things, and there is much that weighs upon the hearts of the dear brethren. The circumstances of small numbers, and the weakness and illness of many dear ones, can feel overwhelming sometimes. Let us be assured of the Lord’s sympathy, because it says, “he is able to save completely those who approach by him to God, always living to intercede for them”. Think of that, He is “always living”. I trust you will understand if I say it is as if that is why He is there, to intercede for His own. Whatever the circumstances in which He finds His own, He bears them up.
That is why I read in Exodus. The expression, “holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for ornament” arrested me. These priestly robes held the stones on the shoulder and on the breastplate. The stones speak of the saints. I do not know if you have seen any of these stones described here, but they have an intrinsic beauty. Christ is, as it were, bearing them in before God, carrying them in. It says they are “for glory and for ornament”. That is not the saints looked at in all their infirmities and weaknesses, being overwhelmed by the exigencies of the way, or taking on the dust of this world; it is what they are for ornament, they are for glory.
Think of the saints giving ornamentation to the priestly robes of Christ. That is the result of His service, He is always there, living, and He intercedes. I think what that means is that He puts His own character on His own. What wonderful assurance we can have as we come before God, though we may feel weak, we may feel that we are not able for such a place. ‘How may we rise to Thy vast thoughts?’ (Hymn 116). Christ is equal to it, and He carries His people in before God entirely according to divine thoughts. The priestly robes of Christ are for glory and for ornamentation. That is the saints according to the true mind of God, according to divine purpose. Think of the continual activity of Christ as interceding before God for His saints. He puts His own impress upon them. How thankful we can be for His service there.
I would like to say a word of encouragement to those of us who are younger, if we have a touch about the Lord and would like to express some appreciation of it and feel that we do not have the words to express ourselves, or cannot put words together. Now, we have to be careful when we are speaking to divine Persons; there must always be what is due to Them. Some seek to modernise the way in which divine Persons are addressed, and may use language that is not priestly. So we need to be careful, we need to be reverent. But one thing I would say is that if the impression that God has given you is expressed out of a true heart, Christ will put His own touch to it so that as it is heard by God, it is “for glory and for ornament”. You think of the glorious character, the power, and the efficacy of Christ’s priestly service. You do not have to be too concerned about the way you express what is in your heart, because the Lord knows your thoughts and as you express them He puts His own impress upon them, so that what rises to God is entirely for and according to His heart. We have in Revelation 5:8 the golden bowls “which are the prayers of the saints”. How are they golden? It is because Christ ever lives to intercede, giving that golden, glorious character to our prayers, so we can be assured that we are maintained entirely according as we should be.
In Luke’s gospel the Lord is speaking to His own, saying not to be careful about what we should eat, and what we should put on (Luke 12:22), these things that perhaps have a greater place than they should have in our minds. The Father cares for us; we have a heavenly Father caring for us. Then the Lord says “where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. Let your loins be girded about, and lamps burning”. That is how we are to be here; that should be characteristic of how the believer is here. Our affections are to be held for Him and our lamps burning. John in Patmos could say he was there “for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus”, Rev.1:9. That is the character of the way in which the believer should be here, in a state of expectancy, loins girded. The Lord says of the men waiting for their own lord, “whenever he may leave the wedding, that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately”. There should be no hesitation as to our own hearts and affections. They should be in keeping, and held so that, when He knocks, we may open immediately.
In Laodicea the Lord is outside, and He is knocking (Rev.3:20). The knocking goes on, there was lethargy there, there was mere profession; but “loins girded” and “lamps burning” would speak of a state in which there is a spirit of expectancy so that we might be ready for Him. He says, “verily I say unto you, that he will gird himself and make them recline at table, and coming up will serve them”. His activity continues. This is not Christ having to do with the saints in all their need; this is Him bringing, imparting, sharing all the blessedness of divine love. He causes His own to recline, to be at home there, to be at rest there. He is speaking to bondmen, those who have been faithful. Bondmanship goes along with faithfulness, and service too, but this is more than an area of service, this is an area of rest for His own. He says, “he will gird himself … and coming up will serve them”. He brings all that is divinely given to us. He brings the enjoyment of it, and shares in it with us. We take it, as it were, from His own hand. I think that is the character of the way we will always enjoy divine things, love will always be active in that regard. Our enjoyment of the fulness of divine love has Christ’s own impress upon it; we receive it from Him. That is really a place of privilege and immense favour and the love of the Lord Jesus continues in all its activity. His love will never cease to be active in relation to His own.
I will finish with one last thought as to Philadelphia in Revelation 3. You see the Lord walking amidst the lamps (Rev.1:13). He speaks to Philadelphia and He takes account of the character of things there: it was the same character at the end as at the beginning. There is the reference to “a little power”, things worked out in littleness, and then “and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name”, Rev.3:8. He also says in that verse, “I have set before thee an opened door”. I think what we have been speaking of connects with the “opened door”. He goes on to say, “Behold, I make them of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie; behold, I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee”.
Think of that: it is very, very precious. The world has been left with the testimony of His love, the love of Christ, firstly for His Father: He could say in John 14:31 “that the world may know that I love the Father”. There was wonderful testimony to this by what He did, “as the Father has commanded me, thus I do”. By doing everything for the will of the Father He has left an unchallengeable testimony to the world of His love for the Father. Then there is the testimony of His love for His own – He will cause them to “know that I have loved thee”. How are they going to know? I suggest that one way in which the Lord’s love for His own will be known is in how He has unfailingly and unceasingly served them. It says, “they … shall know that I have loved thee”: what a testimony rendered even to those without, of the love of Christ.
May we be encouraged as to these things. We are to prove by experience that the Lord is available, in whatever way He might serve us. He treasures His own, be assured as to it, and He will see us through.
Well, may it be so, for His name’s sake.
Buckhurst Hill
14 October 2023
Robert Webster