THE "WORD OF CHRIST" AND THE LORD'S PRAYER
THE “WORD OF CHRIST” AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
Luke 10: 38 - 42; Luke 11: 1 - 4
I desire to say a few words in regard of the expression, “One thing is needful”. That was the mind of the Lord; and Mary had chosen that good part, which should not be taken from her. The one thing needful is the knowledge of Christ, and this becomes effective in two ways: one, in bringing about the appreciation of Himself, and the other, in our own practical displacement. Martha presented a contrast to Mary. Mary was silent, she had nothing to say; while there is a record of complaint on Martha’s part, and her complaint is often true of us. There was a good bit of self about her. If she had been sitting at the feet of Jesus, she would not have been found complaining. It revealed that though there was real attachment to Christ, there was not practical displacement of self; if there is not that, it indicates that we have not fully appreciated Christ. The two things go together. We sometimes speak about a change from Adam to Christ; that means our displacement on the one hand, and the appreciation of Christ on the other. Hence it becomes a point of moment to us to inquire how that is brought about. That is what I understand by the ‘one thing needful’. We cannot take the ground of being benefactors with regard to the world; and if we do not take that ground, what are we worth here except as having, by divine teaching, the appreciation of Christ? That is what I should call the salt of the earth. Nothing gives us any true character but appreciation of Christ, and if the salt have lost its savour, it is good for nothing.
I would say a word in regard of the light in which Christ is presented in the parable of the good Samaritan. No doubt the true condition of the Jew in the eye of God [p. 382] is indicated in the state of the man who, having fallen among the thieves, was wounded, stripped of his raiment, and left half dead. It is a striking picture of declension, it was on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho; but the point is, that when the representatives of the law could do nothing, the neighbour came in and shewed mercy; he came from outside. Christ is thus pictured in the Samaritan; He did not really spring up among the Jews; He did, in one sense, according to the flesh, but He came from another direction — from heaven — to shew mercy. We have a beautiful illustration of this in the case of the paralytic. All those who accepted Christ were conscious of having received mercy at the hands of Christ, and they knew that they would still receive mercy. When Christ was parted from the apostles, they knew that they could look for the mercy of Christ unto eternal life. They knew that Christ had come on the part of God, to make known to them the grace of God and forgiveness, and that His mercy would be toward them, until the divine result was brought about in them. That is the character in which the Neighbour had come, not to execute judgment, but full of grace and truth, to shew mercy until man no longer stood in need of it.
The picture widens in what follows as to Martha and Mary. The direct application of the parable of the good Samaritan was to the Jew; but now the scene widens, and it is here that we are touched, because the point now is, what is needful for the moment. The one thing is the knowledge and appreciation of Christ. Israel had been tested. The fig-tree spoken of in chapter 13 is a figure of man under culture. Man had been under culture in the Jew, but the fig-tree was about to be cut down. What remains? Christ remains; He has become Man, the Man who has come to accomplish the will of God. Christ has come in according to Psalm 40, and the law of God is in His heart, so that one thing remains. Hence you can understand that the knowledge and appreciation of Christ is the one thing needful. “If [p. 383] one died for all, then were all dead”. What remains? The One who rose. The bearing of this is of all moment to us. It is not simply a question of shewing mercy to us, but of One having come to do God’s will, and who has the law of God in His heart. Both those expressions refer to us in their bearing and import, and we have to learn to appreciate Christ in that light.
Now Mary represents a person whose thought is to enter the holiest. It may be said the holiest was not there, but where do you think the sanctuary was at that moment? In the house of Martha; there cannot be two judgments about it. Christ was the Sanctuary, and Mary pictures one who is set on entering into it. A person seeks to enter the sanctuary, because he wants to become acquainted with the secret of God. When the secret becomes manifest, there may not be the same necessity for entering into the sanctuary to learn it; but it is of all moment that we should exercise the boldness that we have to enter into the holiest, in order that we may gain instruction in the secret of God. Mary evidently had an idea that there were wonderful things in Christ, hence she was content to be silent, and to sit at His feet and hear His word, and the Lord commends her. If we have at heart to enter into the holiest, and to get instruction in the secret of God, the Lord would, I think, commend us, and would say that we had chosen the good part. The secret of God is in Christ, and hence I said that Christ was the Sanctuary, and that Mary’s thought was to enter the sanctuary and learn the mind of God. There were two things in the holiest, the ark of the covenant, and the mercy-seat; Christ is both. He came to do the will of God, to abolish that which rendered sacrifices necessary. The condition of man and his conduct made sacrifice a necessity on his part, but God had no pleasure in sacrifices which were offered under the law, and the first principle of the accomplishment of God’s will was to remove that man whose condition and conduct made sacrifice necessary. Hence Christ Himself [p. 384] became the victim, that He might offer Himself to set aside that man, and with the setting aside of that man, the whole system of sacrifices needful on account of that man’s condition, in which God had no pleasure, was set aside, for One had come in to do His will.
You can only know Christ by His word. Mary heard His word. His word is that which is expressive of Himself. The word of Christ is seen in two things: in the accomplishment of the will of God on the one hand, and in the law of God being in His heart on the other. He does not say, Thy law is within My heart and I come to do Thy will. He reverses it. “I come to do thy will” is first, and appears to be connected with the offering of Himself, as seen in Hebrews 10; then He says, “Thy law is within my heart”. He is going to give that law to the universe, and how has He given it to us? By giving us His Spirit, that we might be in His life, that is, in the love of God. We could not live in the life of Christ if we did not live in that in which He lives. Christ has made us to participate in that which is a well of water springing up in the believer to eternal life. The requirements of the law are fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. If you take in those two thoughts, the accomplishment of God’s will in the removal of the man whose condition made sacrifice necessary, and the giving the law of God to the universe, then you will get an idea of the word of Christ. He has been to the cross to abolish the lawless man; but there is something far more blessed expressed in Christ; the law of God, of divine love, was in His heart, that He might give it to the universe. The practical result of what Christ has accomplished in redemption is that He communicates living water. We ought to be exercised to enter into the secret of God, to learn Christ by His word, and the result would be as with Mary, that we should be displaced by the appreciation of Christ. That is the work now going on.
One word as to the beginning of the next chapter.
[p. 385] The Lord taught the disciples to pray. You cannot suppose for an instant that Christ taught them a form of prayer. The prayer supposes that, like Mary, we have an appreciation of Christ, and accept the displacement of self. That is the practical transfer of the soul from Adam to Christ. How does Christ teach us to pray? By bringing us through His word into concert with His own mind. He says, ‘Father, thy name be hallowed’. That is what Christ was set upon. “Thy kingdom come”. “Thy will be done”. In speaking of these things Christ was bringing His disciples into communion with His own mind and spirit. Think of the greatness of Christ. He will fill all things with the law of God, that all may be responsive to divine love. If we have the appreciation of Christ, we shall say, “Father ... Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done”. That is our attitude here in the appreciation of Christ; we enter into communion with His mind, and look forward to the time when those things will have their accomplishment in Himself, when reconciliation will be brought about, and all things in heaven and on earth will be brought within divine complacency. If we are out of sight, and are looking for the Father’s name to be hallowed, and His kingdom to come, we shall be kept in very distinct and rigid separation from the whole course of things down here. Then “if we suffer, we shall also reign with him”. That will be our part in His day. “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. But what is important for us now is to have self so practically displaced, that we should not think of ourselves and our own part, but really prove the goodness of Christ, and be so in communion with His mind, that we express that which lay upon the spirit of Christ, and which He will bring into effect.