“THEY TELL JESUS”
These incidents seem to give cause for the disciples to come and to tell Jesus. It says in Matthew 14 that they brought word to Jesus, and then as to these two disciples in John 12 it says, “and they tell Jesus”. That must surely always be right; indeed it would be fraught with danger not to go to Jesus, particularly in circumstances that test us. I want very briefly, dear brethren, to refer to this and the way the Lord came into these circumstances where the disciples brought word to Him. We have the certainty that He will not fail us in this the hour of our need, nor will He ever fail us, nor has He ever failed those that call upon Him.
How deeply this matter of John the baptist must have affected the disciples and burned into them the awfulness of his martyrdom; the callousness of the hands that did it would have deeply pained these beloved disciples. Possibly they included those that had been led by John to Jesus; you remember it says they heard John speaking and they followed Jesus, John 1: 37. That would be a feature, surely, of every true servant; indeed, anyone that does not lead to Christ would become an occasion of concern. Alas, we have seen too many that have led to themselves. John the baptist was a man sent from God. What a man he was! What went ye out to see, a reed moved about by the wind? the Lord says, Matthew 11: 7. He was not that; he stood firm and gave his life for the truth.
Thank God for such that have stood and given their lives for the truth. But we are still here, in the scene of the testimony, and these things rightly burn into us with a challenge as to absolute reality. What these disciples did is what we need to do, and I think maybe are doing; we tell it to Jesus. What does He do? What He does becomes a guide to us; there is instruction in what He does. He does not take issue with what had happened. He rather indicates that the whole bent of His mind is out of this world. I just want to touch this very briefly because that is why I went to John; the whole bent of His mind, if you will excuse that expression, is out of the world, and He leads His own out of the world. He says, “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants had fought” (John 18: 36); they would; but the time for that is not yet; you remember He says to Peter, You put your sword back; it is not the time yet. The damage that Peter did, He healed it; what grace! Oh above all things we need rightly to represent God in the character of the dispensation in the circumstances that test us.
I am sure the awfulness of John the baptist’s martyrdom would have affected those beloved disciples exceedingly, and we would be no different. Thus they tell Jesus, “And Jesus, having heard it, went away thence by ship to a desert place apart”. Oh let us find that desert place! Let us find a secret area that is not influenced by anything but the One who is there. I suppose it would be a place of prayer. Luke brings that out, how the Lord could spend a night in prayer. Our outlet is prayer; let us tell it all to Jesus; “they tell Jesus”. Let us get that, dear brethren; whatever comes, take it to Him in prayer. However simple, however many the details, however young or old we are, whatever our problems, let us take all to Him in prayer and He will lead us, and guide us, and His way is out of the world into an area that is free of the influences of the world; it is a desert place, it is apart, and it is by ship. How much could be said, but I just want to call attention to the fact that we want to find a place alone with Jesus away from the influences of this world. Paul found it in Arabia, Gal 1: 17. We each need to have our Arabia, a secret history out of sight, unknown by anyone, but known by Jesus, and known by you with Jesus, and He will give us direction how to move, how to act in the face of the discipline that otherwise could often, and so easily, overwhelm us.
In John there is another situation, and the Lord is giving a similar direction; it is going out of the world. It must have been very nice when these Greeks came; they wanted to see Jesus. Oh, thank God for every such enquiry. They tell Philip, and Philip is not sure; he tells Andrew, and then together they come and they tell Jesus. Now the instruction would be in how the Lord handles the situation. These things are very searching and are very, very current. Much could be said of these Greeks who came up to worship; they wanted to see Jesus. I would say simply, thank God for every enquiring soul, whether a Greek or a Jew, whether bond or free; the blessing of the glad tidings is towards all, and upon all who believe. I think what these two disciples did was commendable. It would seem one was not too sure, so he had a little ‘care meeting’ with his brother. It is quite good to confide in one another; we need to be near to one another and learn how to work together with one another—every servant does. But then the secret of effective power is that we go and tell Jesus. What does He say? “The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified”. How profound that title! He is available for men whether it be Greek or Jew, bond or free; He is able for every situation and it is His glory to resolve it. Then what does He proceed with? A going out of the world in view of another world; not a world that the Greek would build up, or the Jew, or whatever nationality. The Greek would build up this world; Ah! the Lord says, “Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone, but if it die, it bears much fruit”, John 12: 24. What depth there is in that! The Lord could bring in the simplest agricultural figure to nullify the Greek mind, saying, as it were, I am going to terminate all those things by falling into the ground and dying. Oh, beloved, let us keep near to the death of Jesus. The fellowship is the fellowship of His death; let us remember that and be conformed to His death. How searching! I search my heart; is my life conformed to the death of Jesus? You see the whole build-up of the first man is completely set aside at the cross; there is nothing retained, whether gentleman or criminal, it is all gone, there is neither Jew nor Greek; it is all finished and, we are established by faith and by the Spirit in another Man who is out of death. Oh, if we could just get a view of this, dear brethren, it would give us guidance amidst depression to see that the whole trend of true Christianity is out of the world. Why? Because the One who is its centre has gone out of the world by way of death. The cross is our point of severance from this world, and loyalty to Jesus would take me away from this world in all its influence and all its ramifications, all that is about to be destroyed in judgment; the whole desire of our hearts as loyal to Christ should take us out of the world.
I feel ashamed that the Lord has had to raise so many things dealing with separation from the world. Loyalty and love for Him should have settled every, matter, and still should, so that we follow Him where He is and so learn to hate our life in this world. You might love your life and lose it; let us not do that; we cannot do it if we understand the way the Lord has taken; we are not of the world. He says, I am not of the world and ye are not of the world, and He has gone out by way of death. There is much in this; the grain of wheat falling into the ground is one of the most affecting references to the death of Jesus. Let us ponder it, let us feed upon it, and as we do we will find we are connected with a risen Man. Really that is where Christianity begins; we are justified in a risen Christ; let us learn it and prove it; that is how it works. So your whole course, your whole outlook on things here, is changed and you learn to find your life in a different way; as He says, “He that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal”.
Then there is recorded an appeal here—“If any one serve me, let him follow me”. Can we answer that, dear brethren? Are not the last words of the Lord to Peter, “Follow thou me”? What need there is in days of such outward departure to improve the position just by one. I think that was said to beloved Mr Darby by his father—You can improve the position by one. Let us do it tonight; “If any one serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall be my servant”. And then, “And if any one serve me, him shall the Father honour”. We can leave that; that is in the Father’s hands. I think in a sense He honoured John the baptist. He honoured every martyr; He honoured Stephen, and He will honour us; but now it is to follow Him where He goes, and it is out of the world, for His Name’s sake.
CHRISTCHURCH NZ
13th October 1980
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