THESE two Scriptures contain a very different character of instruction. The first, John 17, is the Lord's mind about us; the second, Eph. 4, is our responsibility in connection with knowing His desires about us. It is direct responsibility in Eph. 4; entirely our own responsibility. It does not give the motive, and is not the side which affects the heart, as in John 17 Here the Lord is going away, and He is thinking of what we are to be on the earth where He is not; He looks up to heaven, and expresses His desires for us.
It is interesting to mark the difference between Paul and John. Paul connects us with Christ in heaven; John declares Him in the present scene. In John 17 the first thing is, how we are to answer to Him here; how we are to know our true place. It describes a person who is in the testimony, which is our subject to-night.
What is the testimony? The testimony, in one sentence, is, that Christ's body is here while He is in heaven; it is fed and nurtured by Himself, in His state and spirit, but His place in heaven is its place also. Now if you are in the testimony you are a witness, and a witness, or a soldier, is one who adheres to it; he is not ashamed of it, he is a soldier of the cross; he comes out a new person in the clothes-the uniform-of it. Practically Christ's state and Christ's place together form my uniform, give me a heavenly aspect, until He comes or sends for me.
To be in the testimony, it is not a question of whether I feel I am saved. If I do not, of course I cannot be in it; but to be a witness or soldier I must be fitted for it. Figuratively speaking, a man must be enlisted as a soldier, he must be admitted to the ranks; and, when he is, he does not appear in plain clothes; he has a new character, and is not ashamed of it. So I am not ashamed of my calling.
The first thing is, that Christ's state at the right hand of God is my state here. The Lord has been in this world for us; He is now in the presence of the Father. His state there is my state here.
The second thing is, that He sets me as Himself in the presence of the world. If you visit the poor, or preach the gospel, or whatever you do, do not go in plain clothes; go as a soldier, as a witness for Christ. What practically hinders the testimony is, that people go into the world without this uniform on; they go forth, not as here for Christ, but for the good of man. You ought not to be ashamed of your colors, of your calling; you must not lose your place for Christ when you preach the gospel; you are not here objectively to serve man, but for Him. The excuse made is, that we must come down to souls. If you do, you have lost the testimony. Christ never did, though He was the most genial of men. A slave may bring glory to Christ; he may " adorn the doctrine of our Savior God in all things." Does he give up the colors? No, he maintains them.
It is said, the unity is broken up. Am I therefore to give up the colors? The true remnant always clings to the colors. It is no question of how feeble we are, or how scattered and broken; but do not give up the colors; do not give up the truth that should characterize you at this time; do not give up what is in the heart of Christ. There may be only one man left of a regiment, but he has the colors; and that is what the remnant is. You cannot arrive at the true action of the remnant unless you first know what the testimony is in itself. There is no use in calling on a person to advance if he does not know what to advance to. True, we shall have difficulties to contend with; but, however feeble we are, let us not give up what is dear to the heart of Christ.
In John 17 we have the expression of the heart of Christ, and it is a summing up of the truth connected with testimony; whilst in Eph. 4 it is our direct relationship. In chap. 13. the Lord is going away from the earth. In chapter 14. He tells of the coming of the Holy Ghost. A divine Person has come down to earth, and is residing here. There is nothing really less believed in than this, and the very levity we witness every day shows that people do not believe in such a thing. As to His presence there is nothing to shew. In Old Testament times there was. There was then no appearance of God without a glare; but now there is nothing for sight. Why? Because flesh is ignored and not appealed to at all. Faith is appealed to. The Holy Ghost is unseen, unknown, and practically repelled.
In chap. 14:26, the Comforter is sent by the Father in Christ's name. His presence is connected with Christ's name here on earth. We are left in the world in this lonely condition in the absence of Christ, but we are not left uncared for; the Comforter is sent to us from the Father. But in chap. 15. we are not only lonely and in solitude here, because the Lord. has gone away, but we are opposed; we are hated by the world, and then we get: " But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father [Christ sends Him now]... he shall testify of me." Thus we get the testimony, because in the face of the opposition, the testimony comes out; and the testimony is not of the church, but of Christ: " He shall testify of me."
When we come to look at the church, when we consider the component parts of this wonderful structure, how mixed up they are with levity and unbelief! Only the living members have got power, for power is only to faith. But, amidst all the failure, it is an immense thing to know that the Lord's mind has not altered about the church because of the general break up. I look to the Lord to get real moral power to stand up for Him where He was rejected, to wear the divine uniform. I come out in a divine uniform to stand for the Lord in the place where my Lord stood for me; and the more we are for the Lord, the more we co-operate with one another. It is a wonderful fact in the church of God, that the nearer we get to God, the nearer we get to Christ, the nearer we get to one another; and the more we find that we are bound up in the bundle of life, the more we co-operate with one another.
There are three things in John 17 connected with the heart of Christ:—
1. What He gives.
2. What He is doing or has done.
3. What He desires.
John did not get orders to write this till long after the break up of the church; not until after Paul had written 2 Timothy. The Lord's mind and feeling about the church had not altered because the church had not acted according to its responsibilities here; and so He tells us of His reserves. In warfare the reserve is the spare forces and ammunition; it is the base of operations; it tells us what the heart of Christ is. The most wonderful thing for me as a soldier of the cross down here is to know what backs me, the base I have.
The first thing is eternal life. (Ver. 2.) This is not only a new state or a new condition, but it meets everything. Eternal life is given. It is not a life that can enjoy earthly things at all, its characteristic is, that it puts me in a new position, it brings me into another scene of interest altogether, to what is natural to me. The apostle Paul lost his sight; he was blind to everything here for three days. When he got the Holy Ghost he got his sight back: " If any man be in Christ he is a new creation." But, as to things here, we groan inwardly, like a bird in a cage. This body is to be kept under, in order to be according to His pleasure who wrought redemption for it. People condemn Wesleyans, whilst they are really often doing the same thing themselves; that is, trying to improve the old nature, not seeing that the man in Christ is an entirely new thing. If we would let the Lord choose for us, He would choose circumstances, climate, friends, relations, everything, for our ultimate benefit; but this is not eternal life. We must rise out of all this, and soar away to the realms of divine glory; we must rise up into acquaintance with God.
It says in John: " He breathed on them and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost;" and in Romans we get: " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." What is the difference between an unconverted man and this? It is that Christ lives in the latter; so that he can say: " The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God." It is a wonderful thing to start with. People have a very faint idea of what eternal life is, we are not in the full enjoyment of it yet-of " the end everlasting life." The body is not swallowed up of life yet; but Christ is our life; and " When Christ our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory." We cannot measure the dimensions of it. People talk of final perseverance in connection with eternal life; but it is the height of it that is before us, not the length.
The second thing which he gives is "the words." " I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me;" the actual communications of God's mind. It is not simply that I have got a new character of existence, a capacity to enjoy God, but I have got another thing; I have got intelligence.
Thirdly, He gives us the counsel of God: " I have given them thy word." What is the difference between these two gifts? The words are the actual communications of His mind; the word is the counsel itself.
The fourth thing He gives is the glory. (Ver. 22.) " The glory which thou gavest me I have given them." This is not His essential glory, it is the glory He was entitled to as a man. Thus there are four things which He gives, and these four form the base of operations. Is that the way you are going to face this world?
2. What He is doing, " That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves;" and-" I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them." I cannot delay to put them all in order, but as we go over the beautiful divine narrative, it cannot but elicit divine melody in your hearts. " That the love wherewith thou hast loved me!" Think what it is to know that love down here! " No man goeth a warfare at his own charges!"
3. What Christ desires. His chief desire is that we should all be one. This desire is the most characteristic. His desire is not unity merely, but all of one mind, of one accord. There is no thought more cheering to the heart than to think that in heaven there will never be a clash of judgment; there will be variety of service, but no variety of opinion; and there would not be now, if it were not for the world in us. The moment I differ from a brother, the world is very strong in either me or him, or in both. If it were not, we should be of the same mind. We are not to agree to differ, that is not the testimony. I cannot accept it, though I suffer from it. It should be the same mind, same judgment, perfectly joined together. He desires that we should be one as the Father and He are one. We all know that where there is no congeniality of mind, there is always grating of the affections. Different dispositions do together; different tastes do not. Tastes must agree. As we sing: " All the mind of heaven is one."
The Father and the Son never had any difference; it is profanity to think of such a thing. We are very far from this oneness, but we are not going to give it up on that account. This desire is the greatest.
Thin there are two others. There is the negative side: " I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." This gives great confidence in praying for sick saints.
Then in verse 17 we have the third desire: "Sanctify them through thy truth." These two last, to be kept from the evil, and to be sanctified through the truth promote His chief desire-that they should be one. A person who desires to keep the testimony is kept from the evil; and the positive side of it is, he is sanctified through the truth. Sanctification is of a very large character: " Sanctified through the truth." The truth is the knowledge of the Father. Thus it is a question of relationship. Two things effect sanctification: 1, I belong to another generation altogether; 2, that the One I belong to has gone out of this world: " The world knoweth us not."
If we really saw what is the manner of His love, we should take courage because of it. As the Lord gives one heart, one has confidence in Him to encourage others, and in company with his fellows such an one can say; Come on; let us be more sanctified. And so we contribute to His great desire, that we should be one In this day there is a great cry for unity; everything is to give way to unity. That is a wrong statement; it loses the divine character of unity. Romanism makes great toast of unity; and the Evangelical Alliance is simply an effort to obtain unity by agreeing to differ. That is not the unity of John 17 There we are united by the Spirit of God; it is the character of the unity between the Father and the Son. What is abroad in Christendom is the false declaration of this great thing where apostasy will spring up.
How can I promote the unity of John 17?
By being kept from the evil, and sanctified through the truth. We are sanctified after a double manner. The more you are in the power of these two, the more you will help those you serve. You must not desert the colors because they present Christ; you must not desert the ranks-truth. The saddest thing of all is the cry for unity-brotherly love, without consideration for Christ. I am prepared for that cry every day; we meet it on all sides. But unity without Christ is not unity according to God's mind.
The more we get hold of what Christ's desires are, the more we discover our own responsibility. We are responsible according to what our resources are. I see what He gives, does and desires, and my responsibility flows from that.
In Eph. 1 find that I am a member of the body of Christ. What a wonderful position! What a holy calling! The body is here, but its place is not here; its place is where His is. That is the calling: " He hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places." If you want to know its characteristics believe in it. Thus will you have Christ dwelling in your heart by faith, "that ye may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth know ledge." You cannot get any further. " Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us."
Have you a cloud on your soul? Do you think if you knew something of your place in heaven you would have a cloud on your soul? Never! You were dead when Christ raised you; that mighty power came down to the extremity of man's weakness! The soul is touched with the magnitude of divine power! And I must know the power first, in order to walk in it.
We have a place in heaven; we are members of the body of Christ; we are bound together by one Spirit; Christ is the Head in heaven. We are the body on earth. The earth is not our place; heaven is our place; we are Christ's body on earth. Be true to your life, then. You must begin from above. If you do not, if the first circle is defective, you will be defective in all. This is where all the practical difficulty lies. If you find a man defective respecting this great purpose of his existence, he is defective in every circumstance of his life down here. The first circle is not my family. Do I neglect my family because I have got this circle? No; I attend to it better: I act like Christ in it.
There is nothing so practical. I have a place in heaven, and I come down here and find my place in the body of Christ. Some say, Keep a little bit of the world in order to win the world. If occupied with service, you are like a person standing on a shore, and landing people on it. If you are obliged to be a little bit in the world in order to help people out of it, then I say you give up your uniform. The nearer you keep to your uniform the better. You are a heavenly man; the place that belongs to you is heaven; you are a heavenly man set in Christ's body on earth. You must have on your uniform, and not come out in plain clothes. That is the great point of the Spirit of God: "He shall testify of me," and the great opposition of Satan is against the body of Christ on earth. I must let it be known to whom I belong. The great moral meaning of the uniform is, I am a heavenly man. You ask, What am Ito do? Go to the Lord, He will lead you out; you will be drawn out of the world without knowing how. It is not a question of getting out of it, but of practically learning the place of the glorified Savior. " He shall testify of me.
The first mark of this is "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit." The great opposition of Satan is against the body of Christ. Do you really believe that His body is on earth? What gives you a depth of interest in a person? Because he is a member of the body of Christ. Has your soul got a sense that His body is on earth? Few know more than that it is broken up.
But you will never be right if you do not go back to the original, and maintain it.
The Lord give us to know His delight in seeing us faithful to Himself in a scene where He was so faithful to us.
(J. B. S.)