LOVE-FEASTS CONTINUED
[p. 483] LOVE-FEASTS CONTINUED
What I have before me is to speak about love-feasts as they are alluded to here, and also to show how these are to be maintained so that there should be a continuance of them until the end. The subject cannot be without interest. I desire to show you how the Lord introduced love, and I need not remind you that the Lord introduced it into this world. It took form in Christ, so that if we love, it is because He first loved us.
Now I assume that every genuine Christian loves, and the first movement of love in your heart is taken account of by God, and though that love may become obscured, covered up in your soul, it is known to God; He remembers it. He never forgets the first movement of love in your heart. That is seen in the history of God’s people of old. What is said of them at the beginning of their history is that they loved God, and God said of them, “I remember for thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness”, (Jeremiah 2:2). What is said of God at the end of the wilderness journey is that He loved them: “Yea, he loved, the people”, (Deuteronomy 33:3). Wonderful thought; it spells the wilderness: the end of the wilderness is He loved the people. That love which has taken root in your heart God nourishes, and so I take it that the seventy palm trees and twelve wells of water at the beginning of the wilderness is that He would nourish their affections. The Lord had a place in the hearts of the people; they sing of Him as a “Man of war”; they recognised what God had done for them, and they attributed His power on their behalf to His love.
You will remember the statement in Ecclesiastes 10:2:
“A wise man’s heart is at his right hand”, and so it is with God, speaking reverently; He loved His people, and His right hand was at the disposal of His love. “I remember for thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals”. (Jeremiah 2:2) God takes account of that and remembers it. Israel was thus holiness to the Lord; holiness depends on love; Israel was “the firstfruits of his increase”. (Jeremiah 2:3) What is the increase of God? The increase of God is love. There is nothing at all in the way of increase from God’s point of view apart from divine love. Now God would cultivate that as a tender plant in this world. Consider the wilderness conditions! There was nothing in the wilderness as such to culture that plant; all was against it, but God brings in a means of preserving it, and I believe that the seventy palm trees, affording the shelter in which it is developed, and the twelve wells of water by which it is refreshed, represent this. God in that way provides for the continuance of love in your heart. It is a question of the continuance of the love, not simply of the beginning. God would see to it that love is continued. Now, when we come to the Antitype, that was all contingent on the Lord Jesus bringing it in; it was in Him that God’s power and God’s love were made known; He set it forth, so that it might be learnt. We have to acquire the ability to love. John 13 teaches us how to love.
Now the Lord Jesus not only introduced the thought of love, but He introduced a love-feast. I do not say that the supper mentioned in John 13 was the only love-feast, but that is specially recorded for us, as it was the last, because in it the Lord provided for its continuance. Whilst He was here amongst them He provided that there should be a continuance of love-feasts; He would see to that. With what pleasure He would surround Himself with his loved ones; He would never fail to take [p. 485] advantage of every opportunity to afford His loved ones such privileges. But when we come to the last supper with Him we have added there the means by which it should be continued, even though the Lord were not present; He was to be absent, but the feasts were to continue. You remember that it was after the supper the Lord rose from the table. The supper was ended, and now He says, as it were: I want to show you how you can have this continued amongst you. He rises from supper and lays aside His garments. If the love-feasts are to be continued, we have to do that; we have to be prepared to divest ourselves of whatever dignity we may think we possess. I do not deny that we possess dignity, for God has dignified us; wonderfully He has dignified us in such manner as that we are suited companions for His beloved Son.
I think God loves dignity, but it is dignity according to Himself. What an undignified sort of person Jacob was, how undignified his behaviour when he displaced his brother! How undignified, indeed, was his whole course, until he returned from Laban and Syria and God met him; he was going to God’s house, he was on his way to Bethel, and God says, as it were: If you are going to Bethel, you are to go in a dignified way. I am going to put dignity upon you. So God meets Jacob, and He cripples him! It is a wonderful moment when the touch of God cripples you; you are rendered weak; you are now undignified in the eyes of men; you are limping about. But that is all well. God takes away all natural dignity from you, and now He ennobles you. God changes Jacob’s name. “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed”. (Genesis 32:28) God loves to dignify us.
Now the possession of the Spirit is dignity. What can exceed the dignity of such a gift as the Holy [p. 486] Spirit? It renders you a prince, and God intends to surround Himself with such. Hence Jacob is constituted a prince before he reaches Bethel, so that there is no lack of dignity in him now! Think of what the disciples were; they were the companions of Christ; think of the dignity of that!
Now the supper table was clearly the circle of privilege, they were His companions there, and think of His dignity! Well, the Lord rose up from supper and deliberately divested Himself of His garments. He laid aside His garments. Now why does He do that? He does that to show how the feast is to be continued. He lays aside His garments, that is one thing; and He girds Himself with a towel, that is another thing; He becomes a servant. Now the continuance of the feast depended on that. He provided the water; you must have that too; you cannot wash without water; you cannot dry without a towel; the Lord provided both, and He proceeds to perform the most menial service. Well, why is all that? It is to continue the feast. Now, He says, You see what I have done; there is the supper table; we have enjoyed mutual affection there; I want that to be continued. You call me Master and Lord; you say well, for so I am; He maintains His dignity in the action. “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet”. (John 13:14) It is not that you are to wash the feet of the brother or sister whom you prefer; it is wash one another’s feet.
I am speaking of very simple things, but the Lord says, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them”. (John 13:17) He does not say, Happy are ye if ye know them. I doubt if knowledge makes you happy; at any rate, the Lord’s remark shows that it is not the knowledge, it is the doing that makes you happy. It is remarkable what happiness you acquire in serving the saints; there is a wonderful satisfaction [p. 487] from it, a certain, happiness which arises in the soul in the service of the saints; so the Lord says, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them”. (John 13:17) I want to appeal to you as to whether you take account of things in that light, as to whether you see that the continuance of what is of God is made to be contingent upon ourselves. You will understand that I am not in the least detracting from the Lord’s service; He carries it on; but the service is dependent upon us; the service has to be carried on by each one of us. You say the meeting is very dull, there is very little love amongst us. Well, what about that? If there is not love, then you see that there is; you see to the continuance of the thing. The Lord has introduced it; it is for us to see that it is continued, and He shows us how.
Well, now, that service is light. Love is light. The divine nature in its activity is light. Think of the brilliancy of the light that shone at that supper table, what brilliancy there was in it! The brilliancy was so great that the spots were driven out. Judas was a spot. “These are spots in your love-feasts”, says Jude. We know of spots in the sun. There are no spots in Christ; the reflection of the light that shines in the face of Christ suggests no spots. But there was a spot at the supper table when the Lord introduced this feast, but the light was there; the light that shone in that wonderful service of Christ, the brilliancy of that light forced, we may say, Judas out, and the company was free. Light is a most practical thing; light is the shining out of the, divine nature; it shone out in Christ on that memorable occasion, but it was to shine in the company. See what a shining! Now, how does the divine nature show itself? It shows itself in descending. It descends. You cannot fail to observe that the Lord’s action was a descending action.
I refer for a moment to Luke 14 for the reverse of [p. 488] this. A man is bidden to a wedding: well, what does he do; what does the natural man always do if he is bidden to a feast? He takes the highest room, but he becomes degraded. Climbing is dangerous work; the world is marked by climbing; there is the ladder of fame. The ladder of fame in Christianity is reversed; it is the going down. Sometimes the Lord graciously bids us to come down from our climbing; then all is well; He helps us down in His grace; but as sure as possible if you climb, you climb for a fall. See that man climbing for the highest room; he has to come down. That is what marks Christendom. But then the man who takes the lowest room is elevated.
The Lord descended here. You understand what I mean; He was in a position of dignity. He was the head of the family, so to speak, at the supper, but He rises from that; He lays aside His garments; He takes a servant’s form. Think of Him moving about in that company and washing their feet. But see the end of it; what a result! He has set before us a lesson that was to continue during all the centuries of His absence, and it should result in the perpetuation of love-feasts among the saints. It is not only that one Man loves, as it was in Christ, but that a circle of men should love one another as He had loved them. What a result! That circle is like the moon. It is the reflection of what is in Christ, and there is no spot.
Now Jude contemplates spots as not merely failing Christians; spots are men like Judas, who have not the Spirit. If love is not amongst us the door is open for anything; but if there is love, it is the great preservative, you cannot have the spots. Love drives out the spots. “These are spots”, he says, “in your love-feasts”. What a terrible thing a spot is in that sense; these men that are described here as spots are awful men; the worst beings, perhaps,
[p. 489] that could be spoken of. Jude outlines them, and he says, “Enoch prophesied about them”.
Now one cannot but think with pleasure of Enoch; it does not appear that he had anyone to walk with on earth; he was alone; God loved him, and he loved God and he walked with God. He pleased God. That which God had been denied in Adam He found in Enoch. God came down to have holy converse with Adam. How He set His heart upon man! He would come into the garden at the cool of the day when all things would be advantageous to Adam; but, alas! Adam was hiding, and God’s love was left unreciprocated. But what He was denied in Adam He found in Enoch; He found one who would walk with Him. In that way God found companionship in man on earth. He translated that man to heaven. But before the eternity in heaven God looks for the walk with Him on earth. Enoch did not have human companionship, but he had it in faith. He saw the Lord coming with the holy myriads; these are the kind of people he would delight in. Do you not delight in holy people, the holy myriads? These are they with whom the Lord comes to execute judgment on the spots. You know the whole of Christendom is dotted with these apostates; but the Lord is coming to remove them; the scene is to be cleared of them; but in the meanwhile the circle of love is to be free of them, and I urge upon you to accept the obligation to see to it that so far as you are concerned there should be no spots. How does it take place? It is by what I may call a descending service; you go down.
I was speaking a moment ago of how the Lord often helps us in His grace to come down when we have climbed up. It is a wonderful thing to be helped by the Lord to come down from a position that He has not put you in, yet He would help you down. You remember how Zacchaeus went up; he [p. 490] was little of stature; that is the kind of man that goes up. But why should you be little of stature? There is the means of growth; if you are rooted and grounded in love, you are sure to grow. God shelters you, and He refreshes you: with water, that you may grow. Zacchaeus climbed up, and the Lord encouraged him down, and he came down. It is happy to come down; if you come down, the Lord will come into your house. He encouraged Zacchaeus with that; He would abide in his house. In whose house? In the house of a man who comes down. It is a wonderful thing to me to see the grace of the Lord, so that we might be helped; He would have us here in lowliness, for it is in lowliness that the feast is continued.
Jude here points out the character of the spots, and then he goes on to show how things are to be preserved. I do not go over what I have already spoken of in John; what he says here is: “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit”. Now you see the principle: “building up yourselves”. How is that accomplished? It is accomplished by love. Love descends. “Building up yourselves”. The Lord has introduced the thought of love; it is here; He did not take the love back with Him, He left it here. The Holy Spirit came down and made it all real among the saints; there could not have been anything more real than that circle, and the Spirit came down. But now look: “Building up yourselves”; you all know how Scripture speaks of building. “Knowledge (we are told) puffs up”; (1 Corinthians 8:1) knowledge by itself is sure to lead you on to a pinnacle from which you will fall, for it puffs up. I am not excluding myself, you know, for one knows the danger. What does love do? Love builds up. What is built remains, and so Jude says, “Building up yourselves on your most holy faith”. There is the foundation; the [p. 491] foundation is laid in the death of Christ; that is holy faith; that is where the faith rests. You are to build on it. You take heed to yourself first and to the doctrine. Why? You want to save yourself and those that hear you; that is a word from the apostle for all those who minister.
There is the greatest need to take heed to ourselves and to our circumstances. We must remember that we have not only our own safety at stake; there is the safety of the saints. If a minister has any ability to serve, it is for the saints; but I must not speak of ministers: it is, “Ye, beloved, building up yourselves”. Think of the mutuality of Christianity — “yourselves”. In order to build you have to go down, and love enables you to go down. Love never fails. It is the greatest thing in the world; it is the one thing that never fails It is the most untiring and the most skilful of all things; it sets itself for the promotion and prosperity of its object. The apostle speaks of “self-building up in love”, (Ephesians 4:16). That is the collective sense; we see to the building up of each other, in love. “Praying in the Holy Spirit”. There is the recognition of the blessed Holy Spirit in us and we pray in Him; thus we keep ourselves in the love of God.
I would just say a word about the love of God. In Romans 5 it is said to be shed abroad in the hearts of the saints. In chapter 8 it is said to be in Christ, “the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. (Romans 8:39) Now, as I understand it, you taste it in your heart; it is shed abroad there; but then you do not see its entirety in your heart. Where do we see the entirety of the love of God? In Christ. Think of the vastness of it, the far-reachingness of it, it extends to the whole universe. It shone in the death of Christ, and what shone in the death of Christ in its entirety is in the Person of Christ now; He can make it effective in us. The apostle says. Who shall [p. 492] separate us from that? We need to keep ourselves in that, “the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. (Romans 8:39)
May the Lord help us, beloved brethren, as we draw near to the end, that things may be bright, as they were at the beginning; not so great, we do not look for that, but we may look for the same kind of thing. Let us be “awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”.