THE LORD LAYING DOWN HIS LIFE
W. Dickson
John 10: 11–17; 15: 12–15; 1 John 3: 16, 17
It would be a normal effect of partaking of the Lord’s supper each week that we should have a much deeper impression of the Lord’s love for His own, His love for His Father and obedience to His Father’s will. There would also be this impression, some fresh touch as to His own, how precious they are to Him.
These scriptures all refer to the Lord laying down His life, not exactly that He died, but He laid down His life. John 10 speaks of Him laying down His life for the sheep, and then in John 15, He laid down His life for His friends, and what is implied in the scripture in John’s epistle is that He laid down His life for the brethren. A wonderful standard! It has been well said that in these passages you get the divine measure, not man’s measure, but the divine measure of love in the Lord laying down His life for His own.
This, of course, is not intended just to be a matter of contemplation but also an incentive to us, in a greater measure than perhaps we have done, to lay down our
lives for the brethren. It is quite remarkable to trace through Scripture as to how much is given in the way of incentives to us. The laying down of His life by the Lord is intended to be a spiritual incentive to us to be on the same holy level of attachment to the people of God.
In John 10 He speaks about laying down His life for the sheep. Now, how thankful we are for that. Apart from that we could not have been here tonight in this area, we might say, where the sheep find pasture and enjoy life abundantly presently as He speaks of it in this chapter.
Life abundantly and pasture are what we experience amongst the people of God. The Lord laid down His life in order that the sheep might be set free and be brought into an area of wonderful life and liberty. The sheep referred to in the early part of the chapter refer to the Jewish sheep and their deliverance from the fold of Judaism. While the law was a divine ordinance, it was a standard to which they could not attain, and the only way there could be deliverance from it was for the Shepherd to lay down His life for the sheep. Our glorious liberty in this pasture area where food is found is because He laid down His life for the sheep.
It should make us thankful, if I can bring the point of it home, beloved brethren, that these privileges that we have in being gathered together, the fellowship, the company, and the atmosphere, so much above the level of things in this world, have been secured to us by the Lord laying down His life. It also says, “the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again”. The Father loved Him because He laid down His life; having in view what would be for the Father in the service of God. As we touch the heights of the service of God on the first day of the week and are transported in the power of the Spirit, it is because the Lord laid down His life, and the Father loved Him on that account. This wonderful result could never have been secured without that activity of divine love on the part of the Lord.
So in John 15 it speaks of Him laying down His life for His friends, “No one has greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if ye practise whatever I command you”. Well, let us enquire first, Who are our friends? The best friends we have are amongst the people of God, of that there can be no question. We may take the liberty sometimes of cultivating friendships in other areas, but the friendship that exists in the divine circle is something of immense value and help in the way of spiritual prosperity. But the Lord raises a question, He says, “Ye are my friends if ye practise whatever I command you”. Have you ever considered that? It does not say here that the Lord is your friend or my friend. That He is the sinner’s Friend is quite true—
‘I’ve found a Friend, O such a Friend!
He loved me ere I knew Him;
He drew me with the cords of love.
And thus He bound me to Him’ (No. 187)
That is the sinner’s Friend, but are you the Lord’s friend? He laid down His life for His friends. Why? Because He wanted their loyalty, their undeviating trust, their confidence. He wanted a company that He could have confidence in during the time of His absence. The test of friendship is loyalty to Christ. If an issue arises in our local meetings or elsewhere, are we loyal to Christ? Are we His friends? A friend is loyal, and loyalty to Christ is a test as to whether we appreciate that He laid down His life for us.
Now in John’s epistle it speaks of “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us; and we ought”, it does not say we should, but “we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives”. Beloved brethren, it is a sacrificial act to lay down our lives for the brethren.
How it would work out would be a matter of experience. Peter said to the Lord, “I will lay down my life for thee” (John 13: 37); the Lord says in effect, Oh, you will be tested in this Peter. But, if we make a resolve in the light of the Supper every Lord’s day
morning, He will honour that. If we desire in a greater measure than we have ever done hitherto, to lay down our lives for the brethren, He will honour that. We have a standard there, not a legal standard, not something you have to do for the sake of appearances. The divine standard of Christianity is that the Lord laid down His life for His sheep, for His friends and for the brethren, and it is for us in our measure, as motivated by such a glorious example, to take the same path. May He help us for His name’s sake. Amen.
Word in meeting for ministry, Edinburgh
12 November 1991