New Thoughts (04/06/12-04/10/12)
As I noted in my attempts to join the disciples on the scene of this passage, Jesus develops a particularly well-plotted message in this case. His points are set out in precise order, each set atop the last. That He opens and closes this particular lesson on the same point ought to impress upon us just how central that point is to all that He teaches. Indeed, neither of these declarations constitutes the first time He’s said it, even in the course of the Last Supper. That pride of place came in John 13:34, just after Judas departed.
Remember the events that have brought us to this point in Jesus’ discourse. Prior to the meal, there had been that shocking demonstration of foot washing; shocking, I say, because no disciple would ever expect his teacher to take upon himself such a lowly role, far less the Son of God! No, if anything, the teacher ought to be demanding such service of his students. But, Jesus has once more set the normal order of human relations on its head. Yet, even with that demonstration, He did not set this command upon them just yet. He merely emphasized that this was an example to be followed. “You also should do as I did to you” (Jn 13:15).
The commandment, as I have noted, is not delivered until that one branch had been cut away to wither. Love, even the love to which we are commanded, does have its limits. Jesus did not bind upon His disciples the command to love that one who went to do the devil’s bidding. I don’t know that we ought to read too much into that point, but it is telling to me that He waited until Judas was gone before He set out this final lesson for His disciples.
To be sure, the commandment to love as He has loved is fully expected to put the disciples back in mind of that foot washing event. That is the example they are to follow, it is the visible model of the depth of love they are to exercise. Now, we have come to the end of that Passover meal. If I am right in my thoughts as to the flow of things, Jesus may very well be holding the final cup of that meal in hand as He is speaking. If so, given earlier comments, we must suppose that He sets it down undrunk when He has finished that closing prayer. But, there is something of a closing speech and benediction to be found in this lengthy message of His.
And in the course of that, we have this point now repeated and then repeated again. This is My commandment: Love each other as I have loved you. Indeed, this point is imparted with the full force of His office behind it. If you deem yourselves disciples of Mine, heed this command. If you desire My friendship, heed this command. If you would be counted Mine at all, heed this command. It is the singular mark of the real disciple. Notice how the Apostles stress this point in their own teaching. Paul is very explicit on this point in writing to the Corinthians. “If I have prophecy, if I possess every last shred of knowledge as to the mysteries and knowledge of God, if my faith is so great that I truly can move mountains, even with all of these things, if I don’t have love, I am nothing. Worthless” (1Co 13:2). John, of course, carries this point through to his letters. It is not without reason that we think of him as the Apostle of Love. He is more properly the Apostle of Truth, but that Truth commands Love, and so love is very much in evidence.
But, let me stay with the present passage if I can. Note again how Jesus develops and emphasizes this point. For everything between the two repetitions of the command serve to give force to the command. You are commanded to love (v12). Love is defined by its extreme: giving up one’s own life to aid a friend (v13). Obedience to this command shows that you are My friends – with the implication that you would lay down your life for Him, but also that He would lay His down for you (v14). Now: whether you would dare to call yourself His friend, He has already called you that, having given you complete instruction in all that Father authorizes to be known (v15). Note the direction! I chose you, not you Me. In that sense, it matters little whether you would call yourself His friend. He already has. And having done so, He has also made an appointment, put you in an office to serve Him. He has further determined beforehand that you shall succeed in that appointment to lasting effect (v16a). All of this preconditions the promise that the Father will give you what you ask for on His authority (v16b). And, returning to the theme, central to the whole matter is that command: Love each other.
Do you see the flow? Every point depends upon the last. Every point depends upon the next. There is so thorough an interconnection in all of this that it becomes impossible to separate any single part from the whole. Now, that’s sound doctrine! It also makes it unavoidably clear that what is said in these few verses must be taken with utmost seriousness. To that end, I expect I shall be spending the next several days in consideration of the import of what He is saying here. From this vantage, it appears I shall consider it primarily under three broad heads: The commandment to love and the need to obey, the graduation from slave-like discipleship to graduate comradery, and the full extent of what He has taught first the Apostles, and through them, has also taught us.
Love a Commandment (04/08/12)
What better day to begin considerations on the commandment to Love as He loved us? Here we are, arrived at Easter Morning, the day we celebrate the reversal of that act which this passage brings nearer. Our Great Friend did indeed lay down His life for us. That we can call Him friend depends on that fact. But, there is that second fact, the proof of His accepted sacrifice that came on the day that shouted, “He is risen!” Yes, the day shouted it out, for those who first learned of His absence from the grave were as yet to stunned and too fearful to shout about it. For them, the mystery was as yet too great to comprehend. Whether His absence was cause for rejoicing or cause for anger at the government had yet to be resolved. But the day knew, and all creation rejoiced to see that God’ plan had reached this point. The outcome, if it had ever been in doubt, was in doubt no longer. He is risen, and death has been defeated.
In all of this, Jesus has set the example for what He has commanded. This is love. This is what I command. This is how much more you are to value your neighbor. I would like to note here, that while the death Jesus died was a very real, and very painful – spectacularly painful – death, it was not a permanent one. I am certain that Jesus knew this as He faced the cross. I dare say the evidence shows that knowing this did little to ameliorate the trial of that sacrificial death. But, there would at least be the knowledge that this, too, must come to an end. “I also have authority to take My Life back.”
I bring this up as a balance for any sense that we are lesser Christians for not becoming martyrs to the cause. There was a period in the history of the church where this was a more visceral, more immediate issue, than for us. But, even in our day we know there are vast regions of the world where proclaiming your faith is not just going to bring derision upon your head, but is truly tantamount to a death warrant, or a suicide note, depending on your perspective. I have little doubt as to our relative weakness here in the western church, for we cave to the culture far too readily. We have far too much concern for our prestige rather than maintaining that concern for God’s perspective.
But, the love Jesus commands here is not a love that goes out seeking some way to die heroically. That’s not the point. Look: Every one of the Apostles save John would face death in service of Christ. John faced it as well. It just didn’t take in his case. But, that death was not primarily in service of friends. The death they faced was not going to save even a fraction of humanity. That was not theirs to do. Jesus already did it. The laying down of life for friends had happened long before the death sentence came. It consisted in every day they had lived since the time of Christ’s Ascension. It consisted in the sacrificial life spent exhaustively in promulgating the Gospel, in making news of Life, of what Jesus’ Atonement had procured for us, known far and wide. That had already fulfilled this commandment. That already demonstrated the depth of concern for others, the extent of service commanded in this love.
Love as I have loved you (Jn 13:34). Recall that this commandment was first delivered prior to the meal, subsequent to the washing of the disciples’ feet. That is the primary example. That is the model. Serve one another. Care for one another. Consider no possibility of service beneath your station, but count yourself the lowest of the low. If you would be great in this kingdom of Mine, seek to be the least. If you would leave, then become the servant of all, for that’s the only way it’s going to work. There cannot be a true pastor out there who does not feel the Truth of that statement. If the pastor is all about position, he is no pastor, but a false shepherd. By the same token, if we are true parishioners, we will recognize our own responsibility to this commandment, and seek to set no greater burden upon our pastor than is absolutely necessary. Indeed, we will seek by our own service to the King to make the pastor’s task easy, and to give him cause to be joyful in the Lord, seeing his charges actively serving the Master of us all.
This commandment is absolutely central to the ancient faith. The commandment Jesus delivers is not really new, but has always been central. Yet, as John would later write in regard to his own teaching, it is new, and for the same cause: Because the darkness is passing away, and the True Light is already shining (1Jn 2:7-8).
For the last week or so, I have been getting to know Amos in preparation to teach on his prophecies beginning next week. As ever, one finds these unexpected parallels between seemingly unrelated studies. As a few of the texts I’ve been reading have noted, the woes with which Amos opens do not concern themselves with offenses against God directly, with the first table of the Law. They are all of them focused on offenses against the second table. We might say they are failures to love one another. Consider, in this regard, the answer Jesus gave as to the greatest Law. Love God completely and love your neighbor as yourself (Mt 22:37-40). Isn’t it telling how He completed that point! “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Indeed. This commandment to love one another is so essential to the faith that without it all the rest falls to ruin. If this love is not present, then quite frankly, neither is faith. Neither is Christ. If this love is not present, then all is pretense. Again, the comparison with Amos’ message is all but inevitable. Yes, we still go about the ritual. We’re still in church every Sunday, still praying at meals, still going through the motions. But, the reality has departed. Without love of this sort that Jesus commands, we are all just as self centered and egotistical as the ones we decry for that crime. We are busily judging ourselves with every nod of the head in agreement with what we read in the Scriptures.
This love, this command, it is to set aside all of our personal desire, all of our concerns for achieving something, making something of ourselves, in favor of supporting the advancement of those around us. What does that even look like? Does it mean we don’t support ourselves? Does it mean that we go on the dole so that others can earn the big bucks? No. That’s not the point. But, let us suppose we are counted amongst those earning such a good living. What are we doing with the proceeds? Are we building manses for ourselves, or are we using as much as we can afford to use in support of spreading the Gospel?
Take it on the corporate level: Is the church more concerned with its physical plant or with its mission? Are we, singly and communally, living sacrificially, focusing all our energy and resources on the assignment we have been given by God?
Take it back to the personal. Why are you at church? Are you there to be fed, to be entertained? Are you there out of some sense of obligation, or to satisfy some desire for fellowship? But, the purpose of the church is proclaimed from the pages of Scripture as being to equip you and I for service! Missions work is not the sole province of the missionary, unless we are willing to enumerate every last one of us as missionaries. Preaching is not the sole province of the pastor. We are all of us set in this world as evangelists, all of us under the command of the Great Commission, all of us bound by this commandment to love just as Christ loved us.
Oh! Think upon that Love! While we were yet sinners, while we remained enemies to God, He loved us enough to die for us. Now, when Scripture says that we remained enemies to God, it does not simply mean that we chose to ignore Him, pretend He didn’t exist. It means we were actively, violently opposed to Him, fighting Him tooth and nail, doing our utmost to shake Him off and be rid of Him. And yet, He loved us enough to die. He loved us enough to take on humanity, to become one of the lowliest of His own creation, to suffer humiliations such as few have ever known. He loved us enough to walk steadfastly towards His own demise because He knew that this was the only way to save the likes of us. Wonder of wonders that He found the likes of us worth saving! Deserving? Hardly. Thankful? Rarely. A good bargain for Him? Not even close!
Now, think upon this: This commandment cannot be satisfied with outward form. It’s not sufficient to put on the happy face with our fellow believers. Making a show of loving one another won’t cut it. You know, I hear it bandied about in church circles how, “I have to love you, but I don’t have to like you.” Well, I suppose there’s a grain of truth to that, in that the love to which we are called is far and away beyond some emotional attachment being formed between us. At the same time, it strikes me that to love without liking is a case of outward form without inward reality. It stinks to high heaven, and is as sure to be rejected by God as were those empty rituals in Israel upon which Amos was sent to comment.
Look! This love to which Jesus points is commanded! I find that mind-boggling. How can I command love? My flesh tells me this is ridiculous. I cannot just force myself to love somebody, to like somebody, that I frankly don’t find likable. Can I? Well, as much as my fleshly mind would tell me otherwise, the fact of Christ’s command insists that I can. If I could not, He would not command it. Yet, He sets this before us as the fundamental proof that we are His disciples. This is the proof that the world won’t be able to deny. This is the cause for the world at large to marvel. They love each other! They care for each other! As different as they are, they ignore the differences. Or, perhaps they don’t ignore them, but they find not cause to distinguish because of them.
Look around the news of the day. We see racial strife being fanned to flame. Celebrate diversity? Oh, by all means. Let’s celebrate it as a way to figure out who’s with us and who’s against us. Democrat or Republican or Libertarian or Greenie? These things matter. We’re pretty sure the faithful are all in one camp, and those of the other camps must be found suspect. Come on! Even if you’re for the wrong sports team, you’re trouble, or the wrong sport, for that matter. Why, we’ll even mark out divisions based on which newscast you’re watching, or your refusal to watch at all. We live in a world that, for all its proclamations of tolerance and equality, is all about making distinctions, marking out tribal boundaries, and forcing compliance to the terms of membership in whatever club we’ve joined.
Over against this mode of life stands the Church. In the community of the Church, we are not allowed these cliquish distinctions. There can be no lines drawn to separate black from white, male from female, employer from employee. Name your marker. Declare your distinguishing characteristic. It does not matter. It cannot matter. In our local bodies, we ought to be finding every such line blurred and erased. Degree of education? Who cares? Millionaire or homeless: It doesn’t matter. Racial background – if ever there was a place that is required to be color blind, this is it! And, I think that we are recognizing some success in this regard. Admittedly, there are congregations that will turn out to be less mixed than others. If this is a conscious effort, then that congregation is to be called to task for their failure to heed the fundamental commandment of Christ. At the same time, to demand such mixed demographics for the sake of the demographics is foolishness. If the local region is, shall we say, 1% minority, then to expect the church to be 50% minority is nonsensical. If the region is well to do, then to require some minimum weekly requirement of the destitute is foolishness. But, if we are neglecting the minority, the destitute – or turn it around, it’s just as abad – if we are neglecting the majority, or the well-heeled; we’ve blown the commission. We’ve failed of first principles.
Love is a command. As odd as that feels to us, it’s real. The first problem we have to address is that we don’t really understand what love is. Even the romantic bard who penned the song, “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” didn’t know what love is. It’s not that emotional attachment we have with our spouse, or fiancé, or ‘love interest’. That’s eros. It has nothing to do with agape. The nearer emotion to apage is compassion, caring. But, even there, the emotion falls far short of the matter. For compassion to truly approach agape it must lead to action. Agape is an action. That is exactly why it can be commanded. We cannot command an emotion. But, we can command an action. We can insist on doing what is needful for another. We can insist on doing that, as God did, even when the one for whom we are doing it isn’t appreciative, isn’t even particularly willing that the thing should be done.
This has always struck me about the definition of that particular love which God expresses, and which He in turn commands from us. It is that love that is willing to do for you what you don’t even want done for yourself, simply because it is what you really need. It is that love which is strong enough to do what’s best for you even when you would prefer the worst. God love is tough love in its truest form. It’s tough enough to love through the rejection and ugliness. It’s tough enough to keep working in the face of a lifetime of resistance. For God, that toughness lies in the fact that He is doing as He does from His own determination and in pursuit of His own purposes. Those purposes are good, to be sure, and good for those who experience His love. But, He is neither coerced into loving, nor can He be cajoled into loving. He loves because He loves and that’s all there is to it.
For our part, we can only love like this as we allow God’s love to find its outlet in us. We can love like this because He has called us friends, and because His choosing us to be His friends means everything to us. My friend Jesus, my friend, the King of kings, desires that I be this way, and because His friendship means everything to me, I do my best to be this way. Because I have been informed that my being this way makes His fame that much greater in the world around me, I am pleased to be this way. Indeed, I will do all that’s in my power to demonstrate that love which shows the greatness of my Friend.
This is our defining characteristic, folks! It’s not that we hug when we meet. It’s not that we wave at each other on the road. It’s not even, in the end, that we get along so well together in spite of our differences. It’s that we take care of one another regardless of those differences. It’s that we do what’s right for each other even when doing so comes at personal cost. It’s that we prefer living well within our means so that our means can be used to greater purpose. It’s the fact that there’s nothing we wouldn’t do for another, no effort that’s too much of a demand on us, no service we could render that we won’t gladly render.
This is the command we must obey. Apart from that obedience, all the rest is less than worthless. It has become deadly to us. It is the more deadly because we don’t recognize our true condition. If we are not loving as we are commanded, then we are at best walking in willful blindness. More likely, we are walking with a thoroughly false sense of security before God. We count ourselves His, but every moment of our lives declares the lie. It didn’t work for Israel in the days of Amos. It didn’t work for Jerusalem in the day of Christ. It won’t work for us.
Love and obedience are inseparable. We cannot claim to love God and fail to love our neighbor. How often does John make this point in his letter? “Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother” (1Jn 3:10). If you see a brother in need, and have the means to help, but you don’t; how can you suppose the love of God abides in you (1Jn 3:17)? If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. If you can’t love the brother you see, you surely can’t love the God you haven’t seen (1Jn 4:20)! The one who loves God must surely love his brother, too (1Jn 4:21). There is no escaping this command! It is the very definition of the Christian.
Indeed, it is not just the fundamental requirement set upon the Christian, it is his daily habit. The command is given as a perpetual statute. It is not a do this once in awhile thing. It is not a do this on Easter and Christmas thing. It’s not even a do this on Sundays thing. It is a this is who you are thing. And, note well, what Jesus appends to the command. “Whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you” (verse 16). That promise is firmly, permanently connected to the command. Like love and obedience, obedient love and answered prayer are inseparable concepts.
If you are habitually doing ‘that which I AM enjoins upon you’ (to borrow Wuest’s phrasing), then you are demonstrably of such a mindset that your prayers will naturally accord with His principles. A heart set on actively loving is not inclined towards selfish prayers for personal profit. That one’s prayers are focused on kingdom priorities, on the Gospel and on Life. Thus, they are truly in His name. Such a praying soul need not append the signature Christianese clause of, “in the name of Jesus,” because that one’s prayers are the stuff of His authorizing. They are solely in pursuit of His purposes, and have nothing of self in them.
There is no room in this connection of obedient love and answered prayer for that name it, claim it, health and wealth pseudo-gospel that has such popularity. All of that claptrap is self centered, me oriented, pop culture wrapped up with a bow of false spirituality. It’s garbage in wrapping paper. Let’s be clear. There are surely promises of health and prosperity to be found in Scripture. Israel was given such promises: a land of milk and honey, every man with his vineyard and fig tree, enjoying the fruits thereof. But, all of those promises hinge on a much greater issue: Obedience. Nowhere will you find God granting His children permission to seek for themselves. Selfishness has no place in His order. Just contemplate the Law, and that must become clear to you. Love your neighbor as Christ loved you. Where do you find Him seeking His own profit instead of yours? Where do you find Him looking to make sure He has a comfortable lifestyle? You don’t. How can we have arrived at a faith that supposes the servant ought properly to be better off than his master? Who can suppose that makes any sense whatsoever?
Rather, “You are My friends if you habitually do that which I am enjoining upon you.” No. Jesus is not pronouncing His love conditional here. Not at all. But, there is a natural outward marker of His friendship. It is not that you earn your status of friend by obedience. It is that this obedience flows naturally from being His friend.
Used to be you could spot an engineer by his pocket protector, or maybe the slide rule forever at his side. It was an outward sign of what the person was. The pocket protector and the slide rule did not make that one an engineer. If one gave such items to a bus driver, he would not be transformed in that instant into an engineer. But, being an engineer, it was natural to have such items. They were so much a part of the trade that one wouldn’t likely be caught without them. Today, not so much, for we have moved on to calculators and computers, and frankly, I wouldn’t even know what to do with a slide rule. But, the point remains. They are outward marks of the inward condition.
So, too, with our obedience to the law of love. It is the outward mark of our inward condition of friendship with Christ. It is so much a part of our Christian life that we wouldn’t be caught without it. Does that sum you up? Does it sum me up? I wish I could say unequivocally that it does. I know that it should. And, I would like to think I am drawing nearer that goal with every day. There are days, though, when it is distinctly not so. There are days when the sacrifice is unwilling, grudging at best. There are days when the flesh is in full rebellion. But, the love of Christ yet compels me to new effort, to greater compliance. The love of Christ enfolds me, feeds me, and sets my feet back on the Way.
Graduation (04/09/12)
Moving into the first half of verse 15, I read what strikes me as a graduation notice. However, before we can properly consider what the graduate’s situation is, we must first understand how he was situated as a student. Jesus refers to them as slaves. The nearest I can find to Him having done so before is in the comment made earlier. “Truly, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one sent greater than the one sending” (Jn 13:16). There is a similar equating of position made in Matthew 10:25, where Jesus says, “It is enough for the disciple to become as his teacher, and the slave as his master.” In neither case does He directly call His disciples slaves, but it might be seen as implied in those two passages.
What is evident is that there is a principle that is common to the three relationships noted, and as the slave / master relationship is common to both comparisons, it is the one we ought to look to for understanding. Considering the term doulos which is translated as slave, there is a basic definition of being one given up wholly to another’s will or dominion. That is the connecting thread. The one sent, the ambassador, is wholly constrained by the will and dominion of the government he represents, at least so far as it concerns his office. He is not free to propose and offer whatever may come to mind. He can only propose and offer that which accords with the will of his president.
Likewise, the relationship of disciple to teacher is one of utmost submission. In his case, the submission to the teacher’s governance is much greater, much wider in scope, than that of the ambassador. The ambassador, when not pursuing the functions of his office, is his own man in great degree. Not entirely, it is true, at least not while on the turf of that country to which he is assigned; but his choices as concern his own pursuits and entertainments are not constrained as are his official duties. The disciple has no such boundary beyond which submission is no longer required. He has set himself to model his life and character upon that of the teacher. It is all-encompassing. In thought, in feeling, in action, he is determined to, as Jesus put it, “become as his teacher.” This is the point that we need most to have in mind as we consider what Jesus says in these verses.
The disciple, the slave voluntarily given over wholly to the teacher’s will and dominion has become a friend, a familiar companion. Now, the familiarity would be rather a foregone conclusion at this point, wouldn’t it? They’ve been together day and night the better part of three years at this point. They’ve labored together, rested together, dined together, traveled together. There can be very few secrets left between these men. But, the companion part: that’s something fresh and new. One thing we have seen in Jesus is that however much He is committed to training up these disciples, He’s always kept Himself just a little bit separate. There have been those points throughout the course of training where He would take Himself off by Himself. We understand that these were times for Him to draw strength from Father, to recharge. But, they remain times into which the disciples were not invited.
If we glance forward just a bit in the story, to the evening’s events in the garden of Gethsemene, the difference is suddenly quite plain. When Jesus goes for that final recharging communion with Home, He is not alone, at least not so alone as He has arranged to be before. His friends, His familiar companions, are nearby this time. They may not have stayed awake, but they are not far from Him. He has not gone to a desert place for solitude, or up some other nearby mount. He is with friends. They have graduated. They are not masters in their own right, but they have graduated. The season of training is come to an end, and in the days and years ahead they will be processing that which was injected into them as disciples, internalizing, understanding, and applying it to the situations they face.
I have doubtless written of this before, but I am again mindful of those days in college when information was coming in fast and furious, and there were always the next few tests that had to be faced. So many formulae, so little time! I recall well the discussion had with one of my fellow students, who was struggling with the onslaught of information. He wanted understanding. He wanted to know the how and why of these formulae. But, the schedule did not allow for that depth of knowledge. There was a test to pass, and to pass the test did not require how and why, only which – only knowing how to select and use the formula that applied. For the student, it was a matter of prioritizing. Understanding could come later. That is, after all, part of the value of experience. But, for the immediate future, the focus must be on developing the access paths, storing away the data and knowing how to retrieve it.
That, to me, is very much where the disciples are at this stage. They are nearing the end of this process of data storage, of knowing how to retrieve it, which bits to retrieve when, and how to apply it to the situation at hand. At present, things that don’t follow the textbook pretty closely, as it were, may yet throw them. They have the data, but the experience is still in process. It will come. The evidence shows that it did come. The evidence also shows that it did not come overnight. When the situation departed from pattern, they were utterly thrown, new hires in the ambassadorial department, unclear on what to do in the situation. Fortunately, they had a very understanding employer, and an Advisor of vast experience aiding them in retrieving the memories most needful to the moment. The Holy Spirit was sent, you will recall, to bring to mind all that Jesus had said, done and taught. He is, in that sense, the great Librarian of our theology department, the best gift ever a graduate had as he steps into the adult world of employment and responsibility.
As much as this imagery may help me to sympathize in degree with the disciples in their present situation, in the end, they simply cannot compare. To hear the Son of God speak of this promotion, to have been there around that upper room, and hear this One say those words, “I call you friends”: Wow! I can think of moments with my father, when he has spoken of our relationship along these same lines. When he officiated at my wedding, for example, he commented afterwards that it was less like marrying off his son and more like marrying off his friend. You know, that is a comment that registers as few others. It’s like one has finally arrived at a stage of maturity, a rite of passage, if you like. It’s one of those, “this changes everything,” moments of life. Well, take that sensation and magnify it several orders of magnitude and maybe we can get a sense of how these men were feeling just about now.
He’s calling us His friends! We’ve made it! We’ve learned what He has to teach, and we’ve become sufficiently like Him that He considers us close companions. If ever there was a graduation where the graduates deserved to throw their caps in the air, this was surely it! Yet, they had no caps, no crowds to applaud their achievement, no parchment or sheepskin inked in careful lettering to mark the occasion. They had only this word from their Master.
It is interesting, on this occasion, to consider just what it is that Jesus offers as the distinguishing mark. The slave, He notes, does not know what his master is doing. We’re speaking of that oida sort of knowing in this case, the intuitive rather than the experiential knowledge. Wuest chooses to stress this matter in his translation, saying, “the slave does not have an instinctive perception of what his master is doing”. That’s a very reasonable thing to make special note of. After all, we have learned in the past that the doulos was highly attentive, if he was good at his job. He was extremely aware of what his master was doing, carefully observing the signs that he might know his duty and be about it before even the command is issued. That would hold particularly for the servants of a king. The servant that wanted to please his master would be that servant who was on task without having to be told. How different is it for the employee / employer relationship today? Very little. The employee that’s going to be noticed and promoted is that one who requires no supervision, who is not only jumping on the things assigned to him, but also recognizing other things that need to be done, and dealing with them as well.
The slave, though, or the employee, is not, as Wuest put it, instinctively attuned to what his master or his employer is doing. In other words, he has not the why. He knows the boss’ habits, has a sense of how he operates, but the reasons behind that don’t enter his mind. A friend, on the other hand, a companion, a confidante, he knows what’s going through the master’s head. He understands how that one thinks, why he does as he does, what he feels about any given situation. He knows it instinctively, because he thinks, feels, and acts in the same way. They are of shared character. In the case of disciple and master, this is the expected outcome, is it not? Isn’t this why they set themselves as His disciples in the first place, so that they could become as He is? Then surely, it is the mark of the graduate, when the Teacher says, “You are now My friends, familiar partners, kindred spirits.”
Oh! Can there be anything more pleasing to the ear than to hear these words from Jesus? This is even better than, “well done, good and faithful servant.” By comparison, that is but an attaboy. This is the mark of true achievement and worth in heaven’s eyes. Yet, there is something that Jesus must stress, lest we get all swell-headed over having arrived. “You did not choose Me.” The disciples of other teachers would have been petitioning that teacher for the privilege of being discipled. The apprentice seeks out a master to which he might apply, and must, in some way, prove himself to that master, show his worth, cause the master to think him worth the effort. Not so with Jesus. “You didn’t choose Me. I chose you!” And, this He did not do without purpose.
You would be hard pressed to find cause in these men, just as you would be hard pressed to find cause in yourself. It was not that any one of these eleven had shown some particular adeptness in matters of faith and theology. It is not that they had previously shown Jesus what they were capable of spiritually. No. They were capable of nothing. They remain capable of nothing, apart from Jesus. That hasn’t changed. He called. He chose. And, that changed everything. Now, they are graduates. But, the truth remains unchanged. “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” The diploma doesn’t mean independence. It means, if anything, a deeper comprehension of one’s true dependence. Fortunately, that warning comes with a commiserate promise: “Lo, I am with you even to the end of the age.”
Next, we must take note that not only does Jesus choose. Jesus appoints. Jesus has put each of these men in position for the executing of His purpose. That didn’t stop with the eleven. That doesn’t stop. In each generation, in each neighborhood, He places us in position for His purpose. It’s not just the pastors and official workers in the church who have assignments. It’s every member! It’s every man, woman and child that has taken up the name of Jesus, that has been called by Him and thereby proclaimed a Christian.
I am jumping, necessarily, forward into verse 16, with the full intent of returning to the end of verse 15. But, at this moment, on the subject of graduation, we must recognize that having graduated, we go directly into full employment in the kingdom. “I appointed you to go. Go and bear fruit.” If you cannot hear the echoes of Genesis 1:28 in that, you have become deaf to heaven! God blessed man – them, male and female – and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it.” And now, we find the Apostles given the same basic order. “I have appointed you to go and bear fruit. Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” And, that fruit shall remain!
Now, this is a new addition. Adam and Eve were indeed fruitful, and the earth is filled with their offspring. If we consider the achievements of mankind, we have indeed subdued the earth in many respects. We have conquered the seas, conquered the skies, and in so many other ways declared our primacy on the planet. But, it is also very evident that much of the fruit of mankind passes away. So few of the progeny of Adam and Eve survived the generations leading to Abraham. So many chose the degrading path rather than the heavenward climb. So many continue to do so.
Indeed, as I’ve been reading Amos of late, and thereby been reminded once more of Israel’s sad history, so little of that nation’s greatness survives. Think of the marvel, the majesty of David’s kingdom, and then of Solomon’s, and what remains to be seen of it? A few fallen walls. A bit of masonry, and some potshards unearthed here and there. Where is that wealth beyond all that was known before or since? It’s gone. Where is the empire? Nothing but dusty memories. Admittedly, Israel retains an outsized importance in the world. But, it has never again been what it was, nor has it ever been what it was supposed to be.
One could, of course, say the same of the Church, that prides herself in being the New Israel. Aye, it’s apt enough. Sadly, it’s as apt in the failure of the Church to match its purpose as it is in the idea of the Church being God’s chosen people. Yes, we are chosen. He chose us, we did not choose Him. And, He appointed us to go and bear fruit that remains. Yet, many of us won’t even go into the vineyards. We’re too comfortable back at the house. We’re too busy enjoying our own salvation to be worrying ourselves about the lost around us. Trust me, I am addressing myself first and foremost by this. It needs addressing. I have no doubt whatsoever that as this upcoming study of Amos unfolds, addressed it shall be. Knowing that, it is all the more wonderful to walk onward with this assurance: “I have called you friend.”
Lord, thank You. I find nothing in myself deserving of such an honor, and that only leaves me that much more honored to hear You say such a thing. Jesus, I would that I knew myself fruitful on Your behalf. I would that I felt more certain of serving that purpose to which You have appointed me. Perhaps it is true that I am doing so in the capacities I serve. But, I find it equally probable that I am trimming my service to suit my preferences. If that is so, Lord, wake me up! Point me in the way I should go, and set me to the purpose You have for me. If, on the other hand, I am doing as I ought, then I pray you would give me the restfulness of mind, the peace, of knowing I am truly directing my steps in full accord with Your will.
Thank You yet again, Jesus, that You have called me friend, and that I am able to likewise know You as my friend. Oh! How Your perfect love casts out fear! How grand to know that I can come to you not as groveling supplicant, but as boon companion. Truly, in all history, there has never been the like, that God and man could walk together as friends. Except, You have made it so. You have made it so with those You choose, and You have granted those You choose the capacity to walk in ways pleasing in Your sight.
Truly, my God, I am humbled to discover myself in that number. Keep me mindful of the shock, the awe that You have called me friend. Never let me think, Holy One, that I have somehow deserved such a thing! Only, that You have been so gracious as to pour it into my lap.
Revelation (04/10/12)
Returning to the final portion of verse 15, we face yet another term for knowledge and knowing: gnorizo. Related to ginosko, it has the particular shading that is brought out in this passage – to make known. Another way we might say that is to reveal. If I can accept what Zhodiates says of the term, it is primarily used of just that sort of knowledge, revelatory knowledge. Why does this catch my eye? Well, over the years, I have often wondered at the Reformed position concerning the gifts of the Spirit, and particularly that gift which is prophecy. It’s closed! The canon is closed, Scripture is complete and whole, and there shall be no more speaking in terms of, “thus sayeth the Lord!”
I have often considered the few passages that I know of that are used to support this perspective, and found them wanting. But, today I come face to face with the words of Jesus. “All things that I have heard from My Father I have revealed to you.” That sounds pretty complete. Nothing has been left out. The whole of the message He was sent to proclaim is proclaimed and, in these graduates gathered ‘round Him, it has been received. It is also assured of going forward from them to reach the nations, because it is to this mission that He has appointed them, and because it is in His own power that they shall go serve their appointed offices. In short, it is God’s doing and therefore it is as certain as the sunrise.
One immediate argument that comes to mind is that, if He has already revealed everything, why is there so much of the Scripture that was comes later? Why, indeed, is there a sixteenth and seventeenth chapter to John’s gospel, if He’s already finished the lessons? More specifically, how can there be a revelation given to John if everything’s already been revealed? That is perhaps the more challenging point.
In general, which is to say, exclusive of the Revelation, the writings we have from the Apostles are exposition upon that which Jesus taught. I suppose it could just barely be offered that what John received out there on Patmos was also exposition upon what had already been taught, but that feels a bit of a stretch to me. Yet, here are the words of Jesus, and they must be taken seriously. “I have told you everything that My Father has given Me to hear.”
We must ask, I suppose, what limits there were upon what He was given to hear. We know that, for the duration of this earthly mission, there were indeed things He was not privy to. He could not, for example, tell who it was that would be given the honor of position in His kingdom, who would sit at His left and right hand. He could not give indication as to the precise timing of His own return. It is not that these things weren’t knowable. It is that the Father has not authorized the divulging of that information. Consider that there are those occasions in the writings of the prophets when they note instructions as to when they are permitted to speak or to write of what has been revealed to them. Write it in the scroll, and seal it for such and such a time. Do not write this part down. Such instructions are to be noted. I must suppose that there were some such instructions given even to Jesus on occasion. They are not to be taught this bit. It is not given You to hear.
Yet, as to that which is to be revealed, all has been said, all has been taught, all has been revealed. That, I should think, certainly covers everything pertaining to salvation and holiness. As Peter writes, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence” (2Pe 1:3). That everything corresponds to the all that has been said. If, then, there is reason to believe that the revelation of God is complete, signed, sealed and delivered, in Christ, this present verse would certainly seem to be reason. I’ve told you everything that is given to be told. I have taught it to you.
Now, let’s understand, as I commented in yesterday’s notes, that His having taught everything was not to say that the Apostles as yet understood everything. It would be years before the full import was properly understood by them. Thus, we find their letters from later years exploring meanings that in the present moment were lost on them. It required reflection. It required cogitation. It required the experiment of living as He had taught, of teaching as He had taught, to really drive home many of the points He had made. “You can only possess what you experience.” I know I often return to that particular Charlie Peacock line, but only because it’s so apt. They had the information, but they needed to experience the reality before it was truly internalized and made part of their being. That would come. Like my example from college, there would be time to lay hold of the why later. For now, what was important was that the data had been delivered to them and stored away for the Spirit to bring forth later.
So, then, let me accept that Jesus truly means He has completed the revelation – at least so far as it pertains to living the Christian life, to the rebirth, the regeneration, and the sanctification of the adopted. There may be those apocalyptic aspects waiting for John to capture later, but honestly, even if that were not given, we’d be in pretty good shape for Christian living, would we not? That later revelation comes as a corrective for the complacent, yes, and as encouragement for those who would face trials seemingly beyond the bearing. But, that closing revelation is more of a reinforcement, a strengthening of the bastions of faith, than it is a guide to life as a child of God.
What is perhaps more problematic for me is this which Jesus says not very long after the claim at hand. “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now” (Jn 16:12). Well, if You’ve said all that You heard, what remains? How can there be more if You’ve already told all? And, there is also the following verse. The Holy Spirit will speak whatever He hears. “He will disclose to you what is to come” (Jn 16:13). Don’t these statements suggest that the revelation of God’s message is not complete after all? Alternately put, doesn’t this leave the door open on further revelatory writings?
Not necessarily. While Jesus says He has more to say, He does not say that He has more to reveal. Indeed, the overall flow of those two verses suggests that what remains to be said is going to have to wait until after His ascension before they can bear it. Thus, it is relegated to the Spirit to speak to them on those other things. Now, looking at the nature of what the Spirit will do, there seems an emphasis on disclosing what is to come. Yes, there is the notice that He will guide them into all the truth, but the primary function appears to be disclosing what is to come. That seems something of a precursor to John’s experience, doesn’t it? But, it would also seem to entail more than that. It seems to me to entail the general gift of prophecy as it was experienced, as it ought to be experienced today, if it is truly still extent.
The role of prophecy, as we see it active in the New Testament, certainly differs from what the office was shown to be in the Old. The Old Testament prophet was sent primarily to correct a wayward people. Yes, there were words of encouragement contained in their messages, particularly for the remnant within that wayward people. Trial must come. Corrective punishment must come. But, there is something yet on the far side of punishment. Hope remains. The Covenant God stands. But, an honest encounter with their writings is enough to make it clear why the true prophet was never particularly welcome. They didn’t come to shout encouragement and cheer on a faithful people. Faithful people don’t really need cheerleaders. They came to denounce the false security of a complacent society. They came to correct false conceptions of religion, just as we have Jesus doing amongst the Pharisees of His day.
In the New Testament, the gift of prophecy, as we have it recorded in Scripture, seems more particularly to operate as a bit of a temporal telescope. Events in the near future are made clear to the present so that God’s people walk prepared. Think the message given to Paul as he rode towards Jerusalem. This is what lies ahead on that road, Paul. It’s not going to be good for your health to continue. This is not, then, a revealing of God’s will any longer, but an exposing of the opposition. In as much as God’s will contains and constrains even that opposition for the working of His good purpose, we could say that the prophet still revealed His will. But, it has moved from the corrective purpose towards His own people to that of forewarning. Note that Paul did not change course based on what was revealed, nor was he expected to, at least not by God. That wasn’t the point. It wasn’t, “Paul, you’re going the wrong way.” It was, “Paul, as you go, be aware that this is coming. But, fear not, for I am with you.”
Consider that business on the way through Asia Minor, as well. He thought to go in one direction, but found his travels hindered. Then came the prophetic vision. But, it wasn’t a call to repent. It was a call to action. “We need you over here.” Likewise, Peter’s vision on the rooftop. Perhaps there was a note of correction there, but it was really a call to action. Go to that man and let him know that I AM for him, too.
What I am getting at is that God is no longer using the prophetic office to shout warnings at His wayward people, but rather as explainers of certain details of what lies ahead. That certainly fits the nature of John’s revelation. True, there are the letters to the churches that begin the text of that book. But, the bulk of it consists in revealing the trials ahead, and revealing, more particularly, that God remains actively behind and in front of those trials. Purpose remains and the Covenant stands.
Note also, that this revelatory knowledge which Jesus has expounded to His apostles, and through them to us, He has expounded for a distinct purpose. I come back again to verse 16. “I appointed you to go and bear fruit that remains.” Never mind the business about asking and receiving. We have an assignment, a purpose. We have had this Good News of the gospel revealed to us so that we can go. Let’s stop on that point for just a moment. We did not receive the good news so that we could take it home and bank it. We were not given the Gospel so that we could stay put, horde it to ourselves, celebrate our great good fortune, and pity the fool outside who has not been granted what we have been granted.
No! The appointment, our office, is to go. We may not need to go far, but we need to go. We need to carry the message forward, just as the Apostles did. Notice that in going, it is not the going that is the point. It is the bearing of fruit. We are back at reproduction. A Christian who does not reproduce is to be counted amongst those branches that are cut off and burnt (Jn 15:6). At the very least it must be said that if such a one is truly a Christian, and not merely a poseur, then he had best expect some severe pruning ahead! The purpose of that branch which grows from the Vine is to bear fruit, and if it is fruitless, it is not long for this world, is it?
Now, I don’t recall if I’ve made this point already, so I’ll make it here. The nature of the fruit has changed somewhat from the imagery that opened the chapter. In its first mention, it seems to me that the fruit of which Jesus speaks is that fruit which is reflective of rebirth. It’s largely a question of character. Does your life – your way of thinking, your worldview, your response to stimuli, your treatment of others – reflect the indwelling presence of God? Or, do you go forth week by week largely unchanged? I’m not going to ask whether, having been home an hour after church, you can recall the point of the sermon. I often draw up blank on such occasions myself. Even stepping away from these morning studies, I am oft times dismayed to realize how swiftly I can all but completely forget the important lesson I learned. Why, by the time I’m getting my breakfast, it may as well have been that I spent no time with Scripture and with God at all.
But, I know better. I have learned. I have seen change happen. It’s slow. It’s like the positive side of that old frog in boiling water exercise. The character changes don’t come as some shocking, overnight reversal. They are gradual, so gradual I often wonder if there’s any change at all. But, there is. I may not recall the details of what I wrote yesterday. But, it’s in there. Things from ten years ago are in there. They are brought back to mind as the Spirit sees fit to recall them to my attention. I’ve known it happening. I’ve had to go out on the web and search my own stuff to find the point He is reminding me of.
I am, I see, no better than the Apostles in this regard. They had all the teaching, the completed revelation Jesus came to deliver into their hands. But, they didn’t get it all. They doubtless didn’t remember it all just at that moment. If you’d caught them out there fishing in the days after Jesus was crucified, there were probably entire swaths of His message that they could not have called up for recitation, or even a clear statement of His main points. But, the data was in there, stored away, and the Spirit would, over time, pull bits of that data and bring it forward for active thought, for meditation, for chewing on and digesting such that it informed the character, even if active thought no longer dwelt upon it.
That, after all, really is the goal for us: That these things God desires of His children are no longer matters that we need to agonize and sweat over, as though cramming for the mid term. They are so much a part of us that they really don’t need to arise to conscious deliberation. There is no deliberation. There is only ingrained, natural response.
There are any number of like examples that are often given. The sports analogies are popular. A basketball player, for example, practices things like dribbling, shooting baskets from various positions and situations, until they are reflex reactions. Ball hits hand, feet automatically get moving, and the dribbling happens. Assessing the field ahead of him is not a matter of analysis and assessing options. There’s no time for that. The image of the field hits the eyes, and the whole body goes on auto-pilot, driving through the weak spot, passing as needed, whatever the situation calls for.
In music, there is a similar phenomena I find. The soloist who is pondering every note and every associated fingering as he goes is not going to go very far. If I am wholly focused on recalling which notes are in the current scale, what those mean for my fingers, how I need to manage my intonation, and so on, I will rapidly fall apart. If, on the other hand, I am practiced to the point that these are no longer matters of thought but rather matters of reflex, then I am free to pursue the tune in my head, and my mouth and my fingers will just follow along. They don’t need me directing any longer. They just need me pursuing my purpose.
Even driving can fall into this model. If we’ve been at the same job for sufficient years, making the same commute day in and day out, we will discover that we have arrived at a point where, if we are not consciously thinking about going a different way, our body will automatically follow the course to work or to home. Perhaps you’ve experienced this. I know I have. You’re driving along, not really paying much attention to where you are, or thinking much about where you’re headed. Maybe you’ve got better things on your mind. Maybe you’ve not got much on your mind at all. Maybe you’re just really tired. But, you look up and realize that you’ve taken the exit to head for the house you no longer live in, or you’re almost at the parking lot at work, but you were heading for the mall. What happened? Reflex. Your very being has been trained to just do this. It’s what you do. It’s who you are.
All of these are examples of the physical aspect. There is mental process involved to a degree, but it’s more a physical matter. But, in the realm of spiritual growth, of character development, the same concepts apply. We are trained by these times spent with God, in His word, in prayer, in contemplation. Paths are being established through our synapses. Habits are forming even as we go about all but unaware of their development. We are coming to the place where responding in righteous and godly fashion just happens. We are coming to that because it is who we are becoming.
We are not perfected, not by a long shot. But, we are improving. We often over think it. Like the example of the musician, we suddenly realize that our fingers are moving without our direct involvement, and the moment we notice, it all falls apart. We can get the same way in seeking to walk in righteousness, I think. We’re doing well with it, in part, because we’re not so focused on the mechanics of it. It’s just flowing naturally as God is working in us. And, suddenly we notice we’re doing something right without really working at it, and it all falls apart. We feel the need to work at it, and the harder we do, the worse mess we make, until we once again more or less give up. But, we don’t give up as in deciding it’s not worth bothering with anymore We give up as recognizing that we’ve arrived back at, “apart from Me you can do nothing.” Oh, yeah. Forgot that again, didn’t I. I was out there flying solo again. No wonder I crashed. Sorry, Lord. Want the stick back? It’s all yours. Let’s fly again.
I think I need to take this same philosophy when it comes to going and being fruitful. The more I try to be intentional about it, the less I am likely to achieve, for I am more and more likely to be seeking to do in my non-existent power.
Lord, teach me in this. Teach me to rest in Your power, Your working in and through me. Teach me how to get out of the way, so that Your spiritual sap in me might bear the fruit You seek. And, Holy Spirit, if I am wrong, if I am just making excuses for myself, do please correct my thinking. Turn my eyes upon those things necessary to snap me back to proper understanding, lest I become complacent and lazy in my faith. Into Your hands, my God, I commend my being.
