JESUS ALONE
I got the impression on Lord's day as to the Lord Jesus being alone. As a Man here He was alone because He was another kind of man, alone in that sense. We often say He was a Man of another order. How true that is! He came from heaven. He was not of Adam's fallen race. He was a different kind of man, and here He was alone. But then in Genesis 2 Jehovah Elohim said, “It is not good that Man should be alone” (v 18), but Jesus alone was not the full thought of divine purpose. Divine purpose planned that others should be like Him.
So we have here the grain of wheat, “Except the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, it abides alone”. It is by means of death, “but if it die, it bears much fruit”. This is death, not exactly in the suffering character of it; the suffering is not emphasised. The death of the grain of wheat is in view of other grains of the same kind, and so that is an aspect of the death of the Lord Jesus that it is productive. It produces others like Himself, and we as believers, dear brethren, have that character of belonging to His order, those whom He can call “my brethren”, His kindred. Wonderful thing which is of divine purpose! Then it goes on, the Lord says, “He that loves his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal”. Now this would be the moral character of that order. It is one thing to be assured of being of that order because of divine purpose and because of the death of the Lord Jesus, but then a moral character is meant to mark persons who are of His order, and that is, “he that hates is life in this world shall keep it”. “He that loves his life shall lose it”. If there is indulgence in ourselves, if we love our life in that sense, if we love self and indulge self, we shall lose it. “He that hates his life in this world”, that is, he does not indulge himself, he does not think of himself, he thinks about others. After all the Lord Jesus pleased not Himself. He became the means by which God's purpose was brought to pass and others like Him secured. Think of His going down into death, His sacrifice in that sense. Adam sustained that deep sleep in order that there should be a counterpart, His counterpart. It is the same idea. It is the Lord's death, not exactly the suffering side of it but in the going down attitude, “falling into the ground die” in order that there might be others like Himself and I would emphasise the moral character of His kindred, not loving our own life, not indulging in self. The Lord pleased not Himself, did not indulge Himself, but “he that hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal”. Then the Lord says, “If anyone serve me, let him follow me”. Well, follow Him! Follow Him in this attitude, follow Him in not pleasing ourselves. “If anyone serve me—what a privilege to serve Him, available to Him now—“let him follow me”; and where I am, there also shall be my servant”. Well, that will be true eventually, where the Lord is, His servant shall be. But then we are to be where He is now in any situation, in any circumstance, where He is, “there also shall be my servant”. That follows the moral character of His order, that is, not loving our own life, not indulging self, but following Him. And it says, “there also shall be my servant”. “And if anyone serve me, him shall the Father honour”. Think of how the Father honoured our Lord Jesus Christ. We sometimes sing,
… honours rare,
Are heaped upon His Son's blest brow
(Hymn 350)
and those who are of that order, and morally of that order, will share the Father's honour, “him shall the Father honour”.
Well, how attractive that is! We speak of brethren, kindred. According to John 20 the test is to be His kindred according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, that is, he that does the will of my Father who is in the heavens, (Matt 12: 50), he who hears the word of God and does it (Luke 11: 28). It is the moral character of that kindred which is so important and should mark each one of us.
May it be so! For His Name's sake.
EDINBURGH
5th November 1991
This article is first published here, not revised by Mr Renton
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