1
JOHN
CHAPTER VIII.
THE
CHRISTLIKE WALK OF ONE WITH GUILELESS SPIRIT ABIDING IN GOD.
"He
that saith he abideth in him [God] ought himself also so to walk even as he
[Christ] walked." - 1 JOHN ii. 6.
(See footnote, pp. 91, 92.)
To "walk as Christ" walked is essential to our "abiding in
God;" not merely "being in God," as it is put in the previous verse, but being
in him permanently; continuing or abiding in him. It is therefore the test of
our truth when we "say that we abide in God;" it is the very means by which we
abide in him. Jesus tells us (John xvi. 10, 11) that he continued or abode in
the Father's love by keeping the Father's commandments. That was his walk, by
which he abode in God. If we would abide in God as he did, we must walk as he
walked, keeping the Father's commandments as he kept them. Thus this verse fits
into those that go before, and completes, so far, the apostle's description of
the divine fellowship, viewed as a fellowship of holy light, and transforming,
obedient, knowledge. The walk of Christ, abiding in God, is therefore to be
considered as our study and our model.
I. It is sometimes said of Christ simply that he
walked, without anything to define or qualify the expression. "After these
things Jesus walked in Galilee; for he would not walk in Jewry, because the
Jews sought to kill him" (John vii. 1). He says it of himself; "Nevertheless I
must walk today, and tomorrow, and the third day, for it cannot be that a
prophet perish out of Jerusalem" (Luke xiii. 33) Again he says "Are there not
twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day he stumbleth not, because
he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night he stumbleth,
because there is no light in him" (John xii. 9, 10).
Jesus then walked.
His life was a walk. The idea of earnestness, of definiteness of purpose, of
decision and progress, is thus suggested. Many men live as if they were not
really walking, but lounging and sauntering; or running fitfully and by starts,
with intervals of aimless, listless sloth; or musing, or dreaming, or
sleepwalking. Some are said to be fast-livers; their life being not a walk, but
a brief tumultuous rush of excitement, ending soon in vacancy, or something
worse. Others again live as if life were to be all, instead of a walk, a gay
and giddy dance; alas, they may find it the dance of death! It is some thing to
apprehend and feel that life is a walk; not a game, or pastime, or outburst of
passion; not a random flight, or a groping, creeping, grovelling crawl, or a
mazy labyrinthine puzzle; but a walk; a steady walk; an onward march and
movement; a business-like, purpose-like, step-by-step advance in front; such a
walk as a man girds himself for, and shoes himself for, and sets out upon with
staff in hand, and firm-set face, and cap well fixed on the head, and holds on
in, amid stormy wind and drifting snow; resolute to have it finished and to
reach the goal. Such a walk is real life; life in earnest. Such a walk
pre-eminently was the life of Jesus. No dilletante trifler was he; nor a
visionary; nor a loiterer; nor a runner to and fro; nor a climber of
cloud-capped heights - but a walker; a plain pedestrian walker; a determined
walker, whom nothing could turn aside or turn back. It is said of him, on one
occasion, that he "stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." That was his
way, his manner always. He walked. He steadfastly set his face to walk. On,
still on, he walked, unflagging, unflinching; he walked right on. It is a
sublime spectacle to gaze on; this Jesus, Son of God, Son of man, thus walking;
in Galilee; in Jewry ; his face steadfastly set to go to Jerusalem.
Now,
"he that saith he abideth in God, ought himself also so to walk even as Jesus
walked." It was as always "abiding in God" that he "walked." It was his abiding
always in God that constrained him to walk to be always walking. It was that
which would not suffer him either to stand still or to make haste; either to
pause and fall behind, or to run too fast before. He abode in God. He walked as
one who was abiding in God all the while he walked. While his feet were busy
walking, his soul was resting in God. Outward movement, inward repose - the
whole man Christ Jesus bent upon the road - mind, spirit, heart, all bent upon
the road - and yet ever, at the same time, the whole man Christ Jesus dwelling
in the Father's bosom - mind, spirit, heart, all dwelling in the Father's
bosom; as calmly, tranquilly, quietly, as in that unbroken eternity, ere he
became man, he had been wont to dwell there - so he walked, abiding in
God.
So you also ought to walk even as he walked - "abiding in God." Ah,
this blessed combination! Outward movement, inward repose; the feet busy,
active, alert - the soul resting in God; incessant marching up through the
wilderness, amid fightings and fears - but always peace within, peace with God,
peace in God; noise and uproar often to be encountered on the open way, but
silence evermore in the hidden part, the deep holy silence of God's own secret
place!
Oh! to walk as one abiding in God; abiding in him all the while
we walk! Who can look at Jesus walking, without feeling that it is the walk of
one abiding in God? He speaks of himself as "the Son of man which is in heaven"
(John iii. 13) - not which was, but which is, in heaven. It is as the Son of
man who is in heaven even when he is on earth, that he tells of heavenly
things. It is as the Son of man who is in heaven that he walks on earth. Hence
his life is indeed a walk. His being, all the while he is walking on earth,
himself in heaven; abiding in God; imparts that clear outlook and that calm
confidence, without which there may be wandering up and down, but not real
steady walking. Therefore he is neither as one blindly feeling his way, nor as
one in doubt or in despair trying every or any path. He walks,"not as
uncertainly" - even as he fights, "not as one that beateth the air." He walks
as one who has "the mastery." For he walks, abiding in God.
But some
one may say, Is not this too high an ideal? Is it not the setting up of an
inimitable model? Jesus, the Son of man, while walking on earth, is still in
heaven, in a sense in which that cannot be said of any of us. His being still
the eternal Son of the Highest as well as the son of Mary, may well be supposed
to give him such divine insight and assurance as to make his life more like
what life should be - a real walk - than ours can be expected to be.
Not
so. For, first, he fully shares with us whatever disadvantage, as regards his
walking, may be implied in his being a son of man. And, secondly, he would have
us fully to share with him whatever advantage there is in his being the Son of
God. For both reasons, our life may be as much and as truly a walk as his
was.
First, it is a man whom we see walking; one who is true and very
man. His being God also, gives him no exemption or immunity from any of those
annoyances, or difficulties, or dangers, which might be apt to turn the walk
into some sort of movement more irregular and less becoming. On the contrary,
what he saw, and knew, and felt, as the Son of God, made these trials of his
walk all the more formidable. He, in his walk, met with far more that was
fitted to make his feet stumble and his courage fail, than any of us can ever
meet with in ours. And as his divine knowledge gave him a clearer sight, so his
divine holiness gave him a keener sense, of it all. If ever this great walker's
firm step might totter, and his gait grow staggering, and his eye irresolute,
it might well be when, with the full and vivid apprehension he had of their
real meaning and awful horror, he found his walk lying through the wilderness
of satanic temptation, the garden of overwhelming agony, the shame and curse of
Calvary. Truly he was no privileged walker amid earth's dark scenes of misery
and sin; having for his own share to endure the contradiction of sinners
against himself, and, before all was over, to taste the bitterness of death,
with its cruellest sting, for the very men who cried out, "Crucify him, crucify
him!" Think you not that it might have been easier for him to walk calmly and
with composure if, when he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, it had been
possible for him to be led blindfold? No. There was no royal road for him to
walk in. His walk was on the billows of the angry sea.
Then, secondly,
if there is any advantage in the way of imparting firmness and fixedness to his
walk, in his being the Son of God, is he not sharing that advantage with us? Is
it his being in God, and abiding in God, as the Son in the Father's bosom, all
the time he is walking here below, that makes his walk so admirable for its
serene and settled heavenliness? Does he keep that position to himself? Does he
not make it freely ours? Is it not as "abiding in God," even as he abides m
God, that we are exhorted and expected to "walk even as he
walked?"
II. Let some particulars
about this walk be noticed.
1. If we say that "we abide in God," we ought to
walk as seeing God in all things and all things in God ; for so Christ walked.
Nothing is more conspicuous in the general bearing of his conduct, and in every
detail, than his constant reference to God. "All things" to him "were of God"
(2 Cor. v. 18). It was not that he so identified the world around him with God
as to reckon devotion to the world equivalent to devotion to God; making the
world's business God's worship. It was rather that, abiding in God, he so
identified himself with God, that every object, every event, presented itself
to him in its relation to God. What is it in God's point of view? What does it
mean as regards him? What are its aspects towards him? What is his estimate of
it and his mind concerning it? That is always the uppermost, the only question.
And it is the same with persons as with things and circumstances. No man is
"known after the flesh" (2 Cor. v. 16). The young man, with all his natural
amiability and attractiveness, of whom it is said that "Jesus beholding him,
loved him" (Mark x. 21), is yet not known after the flesh; Jesus will know him
only in God, in whom he himself abideth. Even though he has to let him go away
sorrowful - himself more sorrowful still for having to let one so lovable go
away - he will walk towards him as himself "abiding in God." Neither the
youth's great possessions, nor his all but resistless winning qualities, will
counterbalance in Christ's mind what is due to the paramount claims of God and
his kingdom. His walk is still, not manward at all, - however strong the
temptation to decline a little, a very little, in that direction - but Godward
alone, Godward altogether. It is still always God and not man who is in all his
thoughts. Is a woman who has been a sinner behind him, washing his feet with
her tears? Or before him alone, abashed, all her accusers having gone out? Not
a thought of what men may think or say is in his mind; but only how his Father
will feel, and what his Father will have him to do. So he walked abiding in
God." And "he that saith he abideth in God ought himself also so to
walk."
2. He ought to walk as one subordinating himself always in all
things to God; submitting himself to God; committing himself to God. "Abiding
in God," he ought to walk as being himself nothing; God, in whom he abides,
being all in all. So Christ walked. He did not seek his own glory, or do his
own will, or find his own meat, or save his own life, or plead his own cause,
or avenge his own wrong. Self is never a consideration with him, but always God
his Father in whom he "abides."
It is not that he is either a mad
fanatic, prodigally reckless of God's gift of life and of life's loving
comforts; or a mad enthusiast, dreaming of one knows not what absorption of
individual personality in some vast and vague idea of the Godhead. He shared
the joy of the marriage-feast and the hospitality of the common meal. In the
home of Bethany he loved to be with "Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." He
was ever, as the Son, distinct from the Father ; and as the servant, subject to
the Father.
But "abiding in God," he walked as having no mind of his
own, but only to know the mind of God, and to have it done at whatever cost. It
was not self-denial merely, and self-sacrifice. It was the self-denying and
self-sacrificing surrender of himself to God. It was, "Lo, I come ; in the
volume of the book it is written of me; I delight to do thy will, 0 God" (Ps.
xl. 7, 8 ; Heb. x. 7-10).
To walk in this respect as Christ walked,
abiding in God as he did, is indeed to be emptied of self. But it is not that
only. It is to be filled with God. It is to walk humbly, meekly, patiently,
cheerfully - "seeking not our own, not easily provoked, bearing all things,
enduring all things" - not as being insensible to pain and grief, or as if we
affected the stoical pride of indifference to such things ; but simply as
"learning obedience" where Jesus learned it, in the school of suffering and
submission.
3. "He that saith he abideth in God" ought to walk in love. If
we abide in God, we abide in the great source and fountain of love ; in the
infinite ocean of pure and perfect benevolence.
It was thus that Jesus,
"abiding in God," walked abroad among men; the very impersonation of
benevolence; "a man approved of God, who went about doing good." His whole walk
was one continuous manifestation of good will to men. And it was of the
Father's good will to men that his walk was the manifestation; for he was ever
"abiding in God." No good will to men's principles and practices, while at
enmity with God, did his walk manifest; no such good will as would have their
principles and practices tolerated and indulged at the expense of the honour
and the law of that God and Father in whom he was continually abiding. But good
will to their persons, to themselves, - ah! how intense, how unwearied, how
inexhaustible, - was that walk of his incessantly exemplifying!
Can we
say that we "abide in God" as Jesus did, if our walk is not what his was ; a
walk of active benevolence, practically proclaiming our Father's good will to
men as our brethren? Ah! let us not forget to do good, to distribute, to be
kind, to carry food to the hungry, healing to the sick, comfort to the
sorrowful, hope to the sinful; to speak a word in season to the weary ; to
visit the fatherless and widow in their affliction, while we keep ourselves
unspotted from the world.
4. "He that saith he abideth in God ought,"
in a word, to walk in unity with God, as being of one mind with God, and of one
heart. So Jesus walked. For with reference to his human walk on earth quite as
much as to his divine nature, or his being in heaven, he could say "I and my
Father are one" He had no separate interest from his Father; no separate
occupation; no separate joy. Whatever touched the Father, equally and in the
same way affected him. "The zeal of thine house," he cried, "hath eaten me up."
He pleased not himself; but, "as it is written: The reproaches of them that
reproached thee fell on me." This harmony of sentiment, this conscious unity of
desire and aim between him and the Father who appointed his lot, - the result
of his "abiding always in God," - made his life a walk indeed. It was not a
walk through pleasant places. It was no holiday excursion; no easy ramble. And
yet the sense of a high and intimate community of motive, means, and end
between him and the Father, which his abiding ever in God must have inspired,
could scarcely fail to invest the scenery through which he passed, - at its
very wildest and darkest points, - with a certain charm of divine majesty and
awe ; as well as also to impart to his soul, in passing through it, I say not
equanimity only, but a measure also of deep and chastened joy.
For, in
fact, with all its trials and terrors, its agonies and griefs, I cannot imagine
that even to the man of sorrows his walk through life was what could fairly be
called unhappy. When the road led through Bethany's peaceful shades, and
allowed a night's tarrying in the home he loved so well, the hallowed repose of
that familiar friendly circle must have been very sweet to his taste; - all the
sweeter for the thought that, "abiding" in him who put so welcome an
entertainment, so congenial a solace, in his way, he was not solitary in the
enjoyment of it; - the relish of it being common to the Father and to him. And
even when in his walk he had to "tread the winepress alone;" yet not alone, for
the Father was with him; when flesh and heart fainting would have moved him
almost to put the cup away from him - is it conceivable that, "abiding in God,"
he could ever lose the apprehension of the unity of counsel between them in the
great design for which he came into the world? It could not be with any other
feeling than that of relief, of acquiescence, I will say of intensest
satisfaction, that, overcoming in the Spirit the weakness of the flesh, he gave
himself up to him in whom, in that dread hour, he was "abiding," if it were
possible, more closely, more intimately, more lovingly than ever; - "Father,
thy will be done;" - "Father, glorify thy name;" - "Father, into thy hands I
commend my spirit."
So he walked. And so it is our privilege to walk,
abiding, by the power of the Spirit, in God as he did ; saying always, "Not my
will but thine be done."
"Who then is among you that feareth the Lord,
and yet walketh in darkness, seeing no light? Let him trust in the name of the
Lord, and stay himself upon his God" (Isaiah 1. 10,11). Walk on still, in
darkness if it must be so, but abiding still in God. The darkness will not last
for ever. "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." Walk
still on, I say, abiding in God as he did, who, when his walk was as of one
forsaken - through the hell which your sins and mine deserved, - cried still:
"My God, my God!" My God, I abide in thee! Though thou slay me, I will trust in
thee. Who says now I " abide in God" ? See that you really walk as he walked,
who alone is the perfect pattern and example of " abiding in God." Ah ! the
notion of any other sort of abiding in God, or any other way of abiding in God,
than his sort and his way of it, - which his walk so fully verified, - is
wholly false and vain.
You cannot hope to abide in God, and in God's
love, otherwise than as he did; - by keeping his commandments.
I charge
you, then, all of you, to keep the commandments of God; to walk in the way of
his commandments ; that you may have fellowship with him and he with you. That
is the true apostolic fellowship - fellowship with the Father and with his Son
Jesus Christ. I ask you, every one of you, how are you walking? How, and
whither? Are you "walking after the course of this world?" Then I have to tell
you, - or rather Paul tells you, - that you are really "walking after the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience." That is your fellowship, the fellowship of the devil, if that is
your walk, after the course of this world. And "I would not that ye should have
fellowship with devils." But "walk in
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the light, as God is in the light, and have fellowship with
him and he with you, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleansing you from all
sin!"
Go To Chapter Nine - one day, but not yet.
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