THE DIVINE STANDARD

D. J. Hutson

John 15: 9–13; 13: 12–15; 1 John 2: 6; John 1: 35–38

We have been reminded in our readings of the way that things were set on by the apostle Paul; his concern that there should be found some expression of Christ in the assembly, and that nothing of the world should find its way in there. John writes in order that this may be found among us in the last days; indeed he writes saying that it is the last hour. We are nearer than ever to the end of this wonderful day of the Spirit. John’s concern is that the standard which was set out in Christ Himself should in no way be lost at the end of this time. So he reminds us of “as I have loved you”, “as I have done to you”, and “as he walked”. The standard for each one of us is seen perfectly in Jesus; everything which was for the delight of God was found in Him personally. But John says, Many antichrists have gone out into the world. All around us and even in that which professes the name of Christ, there is that which is against Christ. But over against that John is concerned that there should be a real expression of Christ still here in the world, where He has been rejected.

So I read these scriptures as bringing before us that standard. We may think that it is impossible for us to reach it, but I do not believe that anything that is laid upon us in the Scripture is impossible for us. All is possible for us because of the presence here of the Holy Spirit. When the Lord Jesus was here He could say, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”

(John 14: 6), and the apostle writes that “grace and truth subsists through Jesus Christ” (John 1: 17), but then John writes that “the Spirit is the truth” (1 John 5: 6), and that involves what can be formed in us; the standard is in no way to be lowered.

So how wonderful it is to read of His love—“As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you”, and then again, “No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends”, but between those two references He says, “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you”. That is the love which had its origin in the heart of God Himself, and came into expression so perfectly in Jesus. So that He says, “that ye love one another, as I have loved you”. The Lord Jesus here says, “No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends”, and in his epistle John says, that if He so loved us we should lay down our lives for the brethren (see 1 John 3: 16). How careful the Holy Spirit is in inditing the word of Scripture. The Lord Jesus does not say here that one should die for his friends, nor does it say that we should die for the brethren, but the whole life of Jesus was sacrificial in relation to that expression of the love of God which ended in His death; love was the motive and the spring of everything that He did, bringing Him from the highest heights of glory even to the death of the cross. In that wonderful way there was the full expression of divine love. What a test that is to us as to whether our relations with our brethren are such that we would hold nothing back of ourselves, but lay down our lives for them. This is the standard that is set before us by the Lord Jesus Himself, and as I said, there is power for all this in the Holy Spirit who is with us, who sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts. It is not simply that we may enjoy it for ourselves, but as another has said, if it is shed abroad in our hearts it should flow out, and surely the nearest circle in which it would find expression is the circle of the brethren.

This would find its expression in what we have read in John 13, where the Lord Jesus says, “I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also”. Not simply, what I have done to you, but “as I have done to you”. This suggests to us that wonderful chapter 2

of Philippians, where the apostle Paul exhorts

us how we should be, “each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves”

(Philippians 2: 3), and then he goes on to speak of the mind that was in Christ Jesus, who,

“subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God”, yet emptied Himself taking a bondman’s form that He might serve in love. How He serves in this chapter, and before He served He laid aside His garments. Who can say what it means that He emptied Himself, and what it meant for Him to come from those heights of glory, where sin has never been, into a world where He was surrounded by sin and sinners on every hand. But He left those scenes that He might come here to serve, taking a bondman’s form. He laid aside His garments here in John 13, we may say the garments of any official position which was rightly His. Then having completed His service He took His garments again, and brings in the word of authority, in the appeal of His love, that we should serve one another as He has served us.

He made Himself of no reputation, becoming obedient as Man even unto death, and that the death of the cross. Now God has highly exalted Him, and in that exalted position He has received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and as Peter says, “he has poured out this which ye behold and hear”, Acts 2: 33. There was something to be seen by virtue of the Holy Spirit being here, and I believe something would be seen today as we serve one another as He served His own. What a standard, as I said, and yet not impossible, because the Holy Spirit would ever keep the standard before us. This is the expression of Christ here against which the enemy is set, but we have learnt the Christ as Paul says to the Ephesians,

“according as the truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4: 21). It came into perfect expression in Him when He was here, but “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages to come” (Hebrews 13: 8), and all that came into expression here is now in Him there in glory, and the Holy Spirit would bring us witness of it that it might be found in expression in us,

and thus the enemy who is always against Christ formed in the saints would be defeated.

Then there is the public side of things as well, so that John says in his epistle, “He that says he abides in him ought, even as he walked, himself also so to walk”. Who of us can say that our walk has been like the walk of Jesus? Indeed in one sense none could walk as He walked, and yet John speaks of the way He walked. In another place it says, that He walked in Galilee, and would not walk in Judaea because the Jews sought to kill Him (see John 7: 1).

That would involve for us that we have to have a judgment of much that is professedly religious around us. To walk in Galilee would involve that we accept the reproach of the cross, and to be apart from the world where also our Lord was crucified. In that way we can walk as He walked.

But then there is that which is attractive, and that is why I read in the first chapter of John’s gospel. John the baptist looked at Jesus as He walked, and he says, “Behold the Lamb of God”. Earlier he had seen Jesus coming to him, and he had spoken of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, but now it is not the work which He accomplished, but it is the glory of the Person who accomplished the work—“looking at Jesus as he walked, he says.

Behold the Lamb of God”. He took account of that sacrificial walk here, and it is such a walk that is to be the standard for us. If we say we abide in Him, that is if we claim to have these intimate links with Himself, the result is to be seen in testimony, that we should walk as He walked.

The effect was that the two who heard Him speaking, followed Jesus. What a test that is for us as to whether our walk is so attractive that others around us are interested and ask questions, and desire to find out why it is that we are as we are; having a sense that we come from somewhere which is different from what they know themselves, and that we have a dwelling place

which is different (see 1 John 4: 15, 16). How wonderful it is that we have a dwelling place which is outside of this world altogether, our life is hid with the Christ in God.

So they ask where He dwells. The Lord Jesus was interested in them as they were interested in Him, so are we interested in those around us who may be interested, and what can we tell them? What can we tell them about the things which are not known to the natural man, but which are made known to us by the Spirit of God? What can we say about these things in such an attractive way that others will be drawn into the way themselves? This is the way that Jesus walked, completely separate from the world and yet attractive. Who was more attractive than Jesus? So they ask Him, “where abidest thou?”, and He says to them, “Come and see”. There is to be an expression of love among ourselves, for He says, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves”, John 13: 35. When we say, ‘Come and see’, will they see that love of which we have been speaking in expression in a circle down here? Will they know that we are disciples of Jesus, and be attracted to have their own links with Him for themselves? So it says, “They went therefore, and saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day”. Can we invite persons to come and see the way things are working, not to draw attention to ourselves, but to draw attention to Him? It is as He walked, so that it is not to draw attention to ourselves here, but to draw attention to the One whom we follow.

Again this is the word of the Lord Jesus at the end of this gospel, when He saw John following, and Peter enquired about him. He could say, “If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me” (John 21: 22). We are to follow in His steps. It has cost Him much to give us a Model; He suffered for us, leaving us a Model that we should fallow in His steps (see 1 Peter 2: 21); so that we might walk as He walked,

and that there might be a testimony to Himself left here until He returns. His return is nearer than ever it was, it is the hope of all our hearts; there is little time left for us to answer to His word, and to maintain the standard which He Himself has set in His pathway here. May the Lord help us to follow, and may the Holy Spirit ever keep Him before us, for His name’s sake.

Address at Endbach
11 October 1991