SEARCHING AND FINDING
[p. 69] SEARCHING AND FINDING
I desire to show you the effect of being introduced into the home of Christ, a very great subject, as you can readily see. My thought is not to enlarge on the home itself, but to show the outward effect of it upon us, that it produces the spirit of search and recovery. It is characteristic of John’s gospel to suggest that there is a home, or a family sphere, and that we are to be there permanently. In Luke, the Lord’s service is presented more in connection with God coming out to where man was, and he shows that the service of grace which marked Christ here, was to be continued. The illustration of that is found in chapter 4. He was pleased to come into Simon’s house. He was also found in Mary’s house and in Levi’s house according to Luke. He was found also in the house of Simon the Pharisee, but He was pleased to come into Simon Peter’s house. He found Peter’s wife’s mother sick of a fever, and He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and the fever departed from her, and she arose and ministered to them. Now that is the effect of the ministry of Christ as seen in Luke. I do not dwell upon it, only to point out to you that He rebuked the fever, and it left the woman, and she arose and ministered to them; not simply to Him, but to them.
Now John is not forgetful of that, but he pursues the effect of the coming in of Christ till he shows us the subjects of the revelation and the work of God in their own place in the family sphere, in the Father’s house. Bearing this in mind, I wish to occupy you for a little with the immediate effect of it as presented in these verses. I might say in passing that John’s gospel presents Christ to us as setting things in movement. It was as if He found everything inanimate.
[p. 70] All evidence of life had gone, but “in him was life”. John 1:4. In Genesis 2 Adam was inanimate as formed of the clay but God breathed into him. It could not be said of Adam, “In him was life”.
Now John introduces to us the great centre of the moral universe. He is the beginning, and He sets things in movement. Hence you will find that the immediate connection of John calling attention to Christ is that he saw Jesus coming to him. Where was John? He was baptising. Jesus came to him as the baptiser. How perfect that was! How in keeping with the divine requirements! It was the fulfilling of all righteousness, as we learn elsewhere. In figure, it was going into death. John saw Him coming to him and says, “Behold [p. 71] the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world”. John 1:29. He is going to set things in movement, but in order to do it, He removes the obstruction. Consequent on this He can walk. On the next day He is seen walking. The Lord has title to walk in His own domain, but His first movement is, in regard to sin, to set it aside, for it stood in the way of the accomplishment of the divine purpose. Then the next day, John sees Him walking in His own domain as you might say. What a walk! There is in it the idea of setting things in movement. Really, whether it be in an individual soul, or in the world as the sphere of divine operations, there can be no progress till sin is dealt with. If there is stagnation with any of us, we may be assured that sin is the cause of it. If there is no divine movement in going forward, sin is present in some form. Things were, as it were, stagnant in Old Testament times. You can understand that the order of things established at Jerusalem was not a moveable order of things; things there were stationary, but the Lord comes in and removes the obstruction. John sees Him coming to him, that is, to remove the obstruction, and he says: “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world”. John 1:29. What a mighty undertaking that was! Sin stood athwart the divine path, and the first movement of Christ, as John sees Him, is in the direction of the removal of that obstruction.
Now, the obstruction gone, you have movement. It does not say to where He was walking. The point is, that sin being dealt with, the Lamb of God can walk and John sees it, and his heart admires it. It is to be admired. And John looking upon Him said, “Behold the Lamb of God”. John 1:36. Mark you, looking upon Him as He walked, he says, “Behold the Lamb of God”, John 1:29 and the two disciples heard him speak and they walked also — they followed Jesus. Then the Lord turns and tests them, “What seek ye?” John 1:38. It is a very good thing to have a question like that put to us. Very often you find with souls extreme indefiniteness. They do not know what it is they are after. Now the Lord loves definiteness, and He looks for it and gives you the opportunity of giving expression to it. “What seek ye?” Their answer was not far to seek, through grace. John had directed them to Jesus, and He acquired a place in their hearts. They were attracted to Him and their answer was prompt; “Rabbi”; that is, Master or Teacher, for they wanted to be taught, “Where dwellest thou?” John 1:38. They sought the Teacher, but they wanted to know where He abode. That is very fine; it was as much as to say, ‘We want to see You at home’. Have you any such desire as that? One has the greatest sympathy with young people in these days, but it is difficult to find a young Christian with a fixed heart. It is a most difficult thing to find definiteness. The Lord looks for it. Their definite desire here was to find out where He dwelt, and it says they abode there that day.
Before proceeding I wish for a moment to dwell on Luke 15 as a parallel passage. It suggests the divine [p. 72] home. The chapter, taken as a whole, presents to us the activity of divine Persons, with the result that one returns to the home. That is the great point of the Spirit at the present time, the spirit of search. Directly you get into the divine home, you find that spirit. Something is lost and you set out to search for it. The sheep has gone astray, the piece of money is lost in the dust of the floor, and the younger brother is gone.
What I want you to notice is, that from the moment the son left the house there was the spirit of search in it. One was lost. Now that is the present time. The nearer you come to the divine home, the more your spirit is imbued with the idea of search for others. Something is lost, and you are out to find it. You are set in movement. You will remember how Saul the king set out to find the asses, but he did not find them. Somebody else found them. The true idea is that you search and you find. “He sought me out very diligently”, said Paul of Onesiphorus, “and found me”. 2 Timothy 1:17. The shepherd did not come home without the sheep. He found the sheep. The woman did not give up till she found the piece of money, she found it. So the prodigal was found. He “was lost”, said the father, “and is found”. Luke 15:32.
Now the same thing appears here. What I am desiring to emphasise is this, that in the closing days the divine thought is that there should be activity of a right kind. There is a great deal of activity of a wrong kind. The activity of the right kind is started by Christ. It begins with Him, it begins within. They abode with Him for the day; and then it says, “One of the two which heard John speak and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother”. John 1:40. Peter was not there. What I want you to notice is this, that he “first findeth his own brother”. John 1:41. He found him. I think that is very remarkable. It is perfect order. Why go to a distance to [p. 73] find somebody? Begin at home. Now God has respect for every legitimate affection, and if your heart is brought into touch with divine things, who deserves to hear about it first? Your nearest relative. “He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus”. John 1:41. He did not simply tell him about it and let him go himself. I desire to lay upon your hearts the obligation to find and to bring, to effect recovery. He found him, he enlightened him, and he brought him. It is much more easy to bring him after you enlighten him. Let us give people all the light we can, but we must not stop at that.
Andrew brought Simon to Jesus, and he did a good deal more than he thought he was doing. He brought in the great apostle Peter. We little know in our small service how great the result may be. The point is not simply that you can count your converts, we want to see ultimate results. What was the great ultimate result of Andrew’s mission? The great apostle Peter, the man to whom the Lord committed the keys of the kingdom. Think of being used to convert a man like that! But see how simple it is, he was Andrew’s brother. It was the natural thing for Andrew to tell his brother about Christ. Now your work is never done till you bring the result of it to Christ. Andrew brought the result of his exercises to Christ. What will Christ do with it? He will find a place for it. See the place He found for Peter. He gave him the name Cephas, which indicated what he was to be. The Spirit immediately tells us that it means a stone. It signified a piece of material for a divine structure. Andrew’s work resulted in one of the foundations of the heavenly city, nothing less than that. What encouragement there is to take up the spirit of search!
It goes on to say: “the day following”. John 1:43. I might [p. 74] say that this day may be connected with the assembly period. The home influence results in material for the assembly. Peter is the great element or feature, as we may say. He is a living stone, and part of the heavenly structure. Now the next day, the Lord Himself is moving again. It is Israel’s day. I am not wishing to speak on dispensational lines, only to show you how the Lord is introduced in John as setting things in movement, and the movement takes the form of the spirit of search. “The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me”. John 1:43. He found Philip. You may say it was accidental. I do not think so at all. Things are not put that way in the work and service of Christ. There is nothing accidental in the service of Christ. He found Philip. There was a definiteness in the search. As I was saying as to Luke 15 the man was looking for the sheep, and the woman was looking for the piece of money. Now it is said here that the Lord found Philip, and then we are told that Philip was of the same town as Andrew and Peter. There was quite a work in that town, the town of Bethsaida. I have no doubt that the town may represent Israel, because the divine movement began there. It says in verse 45, “Philip findeth Nathanael”. John 1:45. He catches the spirit of search. The same principle will obtain in the last days in regard to Israel. The Lord moves. He found Philip, Philip moved and he found Nathanael. Nathanael is the Israel of God. What a thing to find! Andrew found material for the assembly and Philip found the Israel of God. How remarkable!
Do you not think the remnant of Israel will be exercised about Israel? The Psalmist said, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning”. Psalm 137:5. That is the spirit of the remnant. They never forget Jerusalem. Israel is the one great fact for every true Israelite. Look at Elijah, twelve [p. 75] stones in his altar; the Israel of God. Look at Paul: “Our twelve tribes, instantly serving God, day and night, hope to come”, Acts 26:7, the Israel of God. Look at James, “To the twelve tribes scattered abroad”, James 1:1 the Israel of God. So Philip had it in his heart, he found Nathanael, and what was the result? He brings him to Christ, and Christ, we may say, gives him a name. He gave Simon a name, which indicated the dispensation in which he was to shine. He saw Nathanael under the fig-tree. It says: “Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile”. John 1:47. Philip was honoured in finding Nathanael, he enlightened him, as Andrew enlightened Peter. He says, “We have found him” (it is all finding here), “of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph”. John 1:45. It is not the cedar tree that he presents to Nathanael. He tests him. It is the despised Nazarene. Nathanael says, “Can there be any good thing come out of Nazareth?” “Come and see”. John 1:46. The point is come. Thank God, he came. He was not deterred by the despicable city or the despised Citizen of that city. And Jesus saw him coming. He loves to see us coming. It is a pleasure to see one coming to Jesus. You get a name and the name indicates what you are. What was Nathanael? An Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile. In other words, he represents the Israel of God. So that you have the assembly, and you have Israel, both brought in by the spirit of search, and that spirit resulting in things being found.
I pass on to Philemon just for a moment. In Paul’s ministry you have the spirit of Christ, not only in the way of searching and finding, but restoring the thing better than it was. What you find with David after the catastrophe at Ziklag is that he recovered everything. Now Christianity is better than that, as I want to show you. The prodigal son [p. 76] came back a better man than he left. I need not remind you of that. I see in fact Luke 15 in the principle of it, in Onesimus. Paul takes the position here of restoring something to Philemon that was lost to him, and restoring it in an infinitely better condition than it was when it was lost. I cannot enlarge upon it. I can only leave it by saying a few words about it. The apostle says in verse 15, “For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever; not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved”. Philemon 15. Now think of that. We have nothing in Luke 15 about the exercises of the prodigal after he got into the house. We have a good deal about the father’s and we have a good deal about those of the elder brother. The exercises of the latter were that he was not thought of, he was selfish. What you find here is that Onesimus is restored to his position; he had been a slave, but now above a slave, restored as a beloved brother.
I want to dwell in closing on the magnitude of the work of Paul, going out, into the distance and sending back man, as it were, in the wonderfully changed state seen in Onesimus. “Receive him”, Paul says to Philemon, “as myself” Philemon 17. Think of this completeness of Paul’s identification with the result of his work! Are you prepared to identify yourself with the result of your work? Paul identifies himself with the result of his, and he was to be received as a beloved brother. There are very few people called that in Scripture. One hardly knows whom to address in that way now. It is very rarely that one is addressed that way and rightly I think, for we should not use these expressions carelessly. You do find such persons in Scripture as “faithful” and “beloved”; the highest degree you can get in a way! Now Onesimus is a beloved brother. Paul is so confident about him that he identifies himself with him fully. He says, “Receive him as myself” Philemon 17; and for how long? For ever! Are you content with the brethren? They are to be with you for ever. Can you not live with them now? If he is a beloved brother, you claim him for ever. Do you not treasure the thought that the brethren are to be with you and you with them, for ever? Many of us have come a long distance. What for? I hope it is at least to meet one another. We are not anxious to depart. There is the brotherly spirit and you have a spiritual home for the moment. Now this is only the foretaste of what is before us. Think of being in the society of beloved brethren for ever! Paul brought that in. I just wanted to dwell on that in closing; the magnitude of Paul’s ministry; how he restored men to God as beloved brethren; and as restored as beloved brethren to remain for ever and ever.
There is just one other thought as to Paul’s spirit. He not only paid his own debts but also those of others. It is a great thing to pay your own debts, it is a matter of righteousness. Romans 8 teaches us to pay our own debts, and “live of the rest”, 2 Kings 4:7 like the widow with the pot of oil; she was to sell the oil and pay her debts, and live on the balance. That refers to the Spirit. Having the Spirit, you are able to discharge all your moral liabilities, and besides that you have enough to live on. Romans 8 does not suggest that you are to pay other people’s debts. But in Paul you have the excess. He says, “If he oweth thee ought, put that on my account”. Philemon 18. Now I do not know of anything finer, in a way, than that. You not only discharge all your own obligations, but you are prepared to discharge the obligations of others. That is the spirit of Christianity. Therefore it seems to me that Paul is the embodiment of it. Christianity is not simply that you pay your debts and have a means of living; that will mark Israel. They will pay their debts. Christianity is the excess.
[p. 78] Paul undertook to pay the debts of Onesimus. That is to say, that “beloved brother” must not be encumbered in any way, he must be free, and so far as in me lies, I will see that he is free. That is the spirit of Christianity. I leave it with you.
That is what the Lord would bring to pass in this present time, I think. He would bring about the spirit of search, for a great many of our brethren are lost to us, and if we are near the Father and the Son and the Spirit, we shall be made conscious of that. They are lost, and you are not at rest till they are all found. The man that failed as king is the man who did not find the asses. You may be greater than other brethren, but the test of your efficiency is that you find those that are lost. May the Lord give us to seek our brethren!