THE GREATNESS OF THE ONE WHO IS OUR MODEL
THE GREATNESS OF THE ONE WHO IS OUR MODEL
John 3: 34, 35; Luke 10: 22; John 13: 1-17
I would like, dear brethren, to say a little on the thought of a model or example. The youngest knows that things are learned more quickly and effectually by the consideration of a model, than by mere exposition. If what is being taught can be portrayed in a model, the mind takes it in far more readily. Those who are teachers will confirm that, and we know it from our own experience. It is evident that God teaches like that; He brings before us living examples. The apostle Peter speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ in that way, “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.” The apostle Paul, who was also a great teacher — a teacher of the nations — says, “mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample,” Philippians 3: 17.
As he went from place to place, he was himself a model of what was in the mind of God to be learned, so that he could say to the elders of Ephesus, “I have shewed you all things,” Acts 20: 35. As part of the teaching, he says, “these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.” He could lift up his hands and say “these hands,” not his tongue merely,
but these hands. So the apostle could say to Timothy as one who was to fill the ranks, “let no one despise thy youth, but be thou a model of the believers,” 1 Timothy 4: 12. That does not mean that he said in word, You must not despise me, but that he so acted that they could not despise him. As being a model of the truth he preached, they would have no occasion to despise him.
That is needed today in our households. Sometimes parents mourn the loss of their children who turn aside to the world. Have we been models? I speak sympathetically, as one who under God owes more perhaps to one’s parents than anyone else. Have we been models to our children? All the talk possible avails nothing if what is said is not expressed in our lives. So in the gatherings of the saints, how much we owe to those who are models. Such are needed, and God uses them in the gatherings of His people. I want to speak of the Lord in that light. He says in John 13: 15, “I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you.” “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”
What a wonderful model we have in the Lord at every period of His life here. There was in Him the setting forth of perfect humanity from the outset, in every human circumstance. He went down to Nazareth — a poor contemptible place — not amongst the aristocracy of that day, but amongst the poor, in a town that was reproached and despised. He did not desire to move into better quarters, He went down to Nazareth, and it says, He was subject to His parents. He stands out thus from the commencement in perfect holy humanity under the eye of God. When in the temple He said to Mary, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” the Lord by that indicated that it should have been known, as a result of His twelve years with them.
Then you see Him at thirty, in full manhood, a model for all, especially young men about to take up the Lord’s service. He was waiting till heaven brought Him forward. John the Baptist says, “I knew him not,” but heaven knew Him. God had said to John, “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, the same is he that baptiseth with the Holy Ghost: and I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God,” John 1: 33-34. But up till then, John said, “I knew him not.” The Lord waited those thirty years for heaven to distinguish Him. What a model for young men! Waiting too, for John the Baptist’s ministry to precede Him, for John spoke first. And as He comes forward He is praying. That is the thing for young men, not to be self-reliant, nor filled with a sense of one’s strength, but praying — that is, expressing dependence upon God.
In John 13, we have the Lord as Model, in His supreme magnificence. The first scripture we read, says, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.” The Father is God known in grace and love, and the things belonging to God thus revealed, are put into the hands of the Son because He loves Him. What greatness is there, what supreme greatness! We hear today of some great men who have much in their hands. The modern Dictators practically control all the offices and resources of a nation. Such must be great among men. But how insignificant is all they control compared with the Father’s things, all that relates to God known in grace and goodness and love. How small such men are compared with Christ. It says, “The Father loveth the Son and has given all things into his hand.”
I want to dwell on some of these things, so that we may appreciate more the action of washing the disciples’ feet. God having put all things into the hands of the Son would impress us with the greatness of the Son. In John 4, the Lord speaks of giving living water, “a well of water springing up into everlasting life,” — bringing satisfaction to the hearts of all who drink of it. This is in the hands of the Lord Jesus. If anyone wants living water, there is no one else to go to for it, because it is put in the hands of Christ. As the Lord indicates to the Samaritan woman, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water,” this means that He had control of the living water. Even though He had asked this woman for a drink yet if she would ask of Him, He would give her the living water.
In John 5 it says, “As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” There is no one else in the universe in that position. It says the Father hath given to the Son to have life in Himself, clearly viewing Christ as Man. He has life in Himself and can impart life to whom He will. As the Father quickens, so the Son quickens “whom he will.” Most wonderful statement! Every Christian is a proof that the blessed Lord — the Son of God, has power to impart life, to breathe life into the. souls of men. It is as Life-giver that it says in John 20, that “he breathed into them.” Think of such an One with life in His hands — controlling life.
Then it says, of the Father, that “He hath given him authority to execute judgment also,
because he is Son of man.” Think of One into whose hands all judgment is given; the judgment of everything is in the hands of Christ. All must appear before the judgment seat of Christ; He is the judge who will review the course of every one, in order to convey to us what met with His approval, and what did not; to “receive the things done in his body... whether it be good or bad.” Then He will judge the professing church, spuing out of His mouth that which is false. He will judge Babylon, the great corrupt religious world. He is going to judge all nations; He is going to judge the wicked, for “the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son,” John 5: 22. Then you find in chapter 17, that the Lord says, “Thou hast given him power over all flesh.” That is a marvellous thing. Nobody on earth has authority over all flesh, but the Lord has. That means, mankind everywhere; He has authority given to Him and He can exercise that authority in New Zealand, Norway, China, or Africa. It is not just over one nation that He has authority, but over all flesh. It is given to Him.
The Lord speaks in the same chapter of the “words which thou gavest me,” He says, “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me.” All that was in the mind of the Father to communicate to men. has been given to Christ, that is to say, every detail of the divine mind was entrusted to Christ to make known. Think of One who could be entrusted with every thought of God! As David says, “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them they are more in number than the sand,” — yet every one of them has been given to the Lord as He says, “I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me.” Then the Lord says, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” That is the Father’s work — not the works of creation. Every detail of God’s work undertaken by the Son as He came into manhood is completed up to that moment, and He says, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”
Then the Lord speaks of “the men which thou gavest me.” Think of all the men that belong to God: “Thine they were, and thou gavest them me.” While primarily referring to the twelve, for He says, “Those which thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture may be fulfilled,” yet the Lord afterwards shows that He embraces all who would believe on Him. Finally, in that chapter the Lord says, “The glory which thou hast given me, I have given them.” — Here is the One into whose hands God can give glory, and who can impart glory to men, so that God Himself is glorified thereby.
In the passage in Luke 10, the Lord says, “All things have been delivered to me of my Father” — Who is He? It is Jesus, our precious Saviour. The angel of the Lord said to Joseph, “thou shalt call his name Jesus.” He is also Christ — the anointed One, whom God has set over all as Head. He is the Head of every man; the Head of the church; the Head over all things. He is the Lord, the One whom all shall own to be worthy, to whom every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the Son of man and rightful Heir to everything that man has ever been entrusted with. He is the Son of God, who as man, is in such a relationship to God; the object of His heart, as He says, “My beloved Son in whom I have found my delight.”
When the Lord says in Luke 10, that all things have been delivered to Him of His Father, He then says, “No one knows who the Son is, but the Father.” The One who can be entrusted with everything, is personally greater than the compass of the human heart or mind. No one knows who the Son is. No one can comprehend His Person — who He is. We know Him as the Son, and we worship Him, but the Lord says, “No one knows who the Son is.” There is a greatness in Him that is incomprehensible, that is inscrutable. It is said in John 13, “Knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and went to God.” It says, knowing it — He was conscious of all this, and then acts as a Model, He gives an example. It says, “he laid aside his garments.” Knowing that everything was in His hands, He laid aside His garments, and acted as a servant.
Whatever dignity He had, even from God as having everything committed to Him, He would lay aside in order to serve them. He laid aside His garments and girded Himself with a towel and poured water into a basin and proceeded to wash the feet of His disciples. Peter, who had some sense of His greatness, said to Him, “Lord, dost thou wash my feet?” The Lord said, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” Afterwards the Lord said, “Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you,” John 13: 13-15.
The effort everywhere today, is to get garments, not to lay them aside, but to adorn oneself with anything that will make one look important and great in the eyes of one’s fellows. You could not get a hearing in the religious world without distinguishing garments; men would not listen to you. That is not the Model. The example is that One who was great beyond all understanding, laid aside His garments, and says, “I am among you as he that serveth.” The Lord wants us to be amongst His people in this way; laying aside all claims to greatness and recognition as being the oldest brother in the meeting, and so on — putting all that aside — laying aside the garments, following His example to serve His own. “I have given you an example,” He says. There would be wonderful conditions existing even in this day of public ruin, if every brother and sister in each locality would follow this example, and humbly, quietly, devotedly seek to serve the interests of Christ, to wash one another’s feet. The Lord goes on to speak of the bondman, saying, “The bondman is not greater than his lord.” I do not mean that true spiritual greatness is not to be desired and retained, but that whatever one is, even spiritually, I am to lay it aside in the attitude of my mind, and to serve as one who is indeed “less than the least.”
How the apostle Paul shone as a model; he had garments that indicated dignity according to God. He said to the Corinthians, “Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?” 1 Corinthians 9: 1. He could speak of knowing “a man in Christ,” and of such an one he would glory — “Of such an one will I glory,” — and “in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles though I be nothing,” 2 Corinthians 12: 11. He said in that same epistle, “though I should boast somewhat more of our authority... I should not be ashamed,” 1 Corinthians 10: 8. Yet knowing all this he said, “I Paul, myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ,” 1 Corinthians 10: 1, so that instead of demanding recognition and glory from men, he said to the Corinthians “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved,” 2 Corinthians 12: 15. He would in love gird himself to serve them. He did not preach himself, he did not move about as a great man, with cardinal’s robes or embroidered garments. His claim was “we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake,” 2 Corinthians 4: 5. He says, I have seen that Model, I have seen the One into whose hands the Father has given everything, and I have seen Him lay aside His garments and take a towel and gird Himself and wash the disciples’ feet. So of himself, he said to the Corinthians, “ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
I would commend the Model to each one of us; to follow it would bring the solution to many problems that arise. The working harmoniously of our relationships together will be maintained as we take character from this Model. Difficulties often arise because the place I think I ought to have is the place someone else has, but if I follow this wonderful example I would be among the saints as one that serves. The Lord Jesus is great indeed, greater than anything we could know of Him, nevertheless He says, “I am among you as he that serveth.” As the Lord helps us, dear brethren, to take character from this Model, our relationships together will be like heaven on earth. We will enjoy the days of heaven upon earth. That is what God proposes for His people, but it can only be secured as we follow the blessed Model. The Lord help us to learn from Him. He says, “Learn from Me” — not of Me, but “from Me” — that is as Model, “for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your souls.”
One just desires to bring to our hearts the exceeding greatness of Christ. It says of Isaac, that he “waxed continually greater”
— I believe that describes what the Lord would ever be to us. Not that the Lord could be personally greater than He is, but in our appreciation of Him He waxes continually greater, so that we understand more and more what a wonderful thing it is that He should be amongst His own, as One that serves. He says, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them,” John 13: 17.