ABIDING IN DIVINE LOVE, CONDITIONAL.
“If ye keep my
commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s
commandments and abide in his love.”
John 15:10.
SINCE ALL MANKIND are
alienated from their Creator through sin and its condemnation, the application
of the text by any individual implies that previously he has come to a
knowledge of God’s grace in Christ, and has accepted his share of the same
through faith and has thus had access to the love of God, as one of the sons of
God, begotten by the holy spirit. This is an important matter overlooked by
very many who think to keep themselves in divine love and under divine
protecting care without first complying with the conditions of admission to
membership in the Lord’s family. There is but one doorway of entrance “into
this grace wherein we stand and [as sons of God] rejoice in the hope of the
coming glory,” and that is the doorway of faith in and acceptance of the
atonement, accomplished for us by our Redeemer at the cost of his own sacrifice
at Calvary. Anyone attempting to climb into the family of God otherwise “the
same is a thief and a robber”-a rejector of the only way and name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved.-Rom. 5:1,2; Acts 4:12.
But our text, like all of the holy Scriptures, is addressed to the Lord’s
people, who once were “children of wrath even as others,” but have come into
divine favor through the appointed way; and it calls our attention to something
that is necessary to us beyond, after our full conversion or consecration to
the Lord. It implies that getting into God’s love is by no means the end of
the Christian way, but merely the beginning of it: after we are in the way the
Lord gives us commandments as his sons, and expects us to manifest the spirit
of loyal sonship by obedience;-full obedience so far as the heart or intention
is concerned, and as complete obedience as possible so far as the control of
the flesh is concerned. Whoever neglects either to learn or to obey the
commandments of the Lord, thereby manifests a lack of the true spirit of
sonship, and thus condemns himself as unworthy to be longer reckoned or treated
as a son of God. Thus seen the commandments of the Lord to those who have
consecrated themselves and enter his spirit-begotten family, are tests, proving
them either worthy or unworthy of the divine favors and promises assured to the
faithful overcomers.
The object of these tests is manifest from the time we come to understand the
divine plan of the ages-to comprehend how the Lord is now making selection of a
royal priesthood to be joint-heirs with Christ the great King, and to join in
the work of succoring, ruling, blessing and uplifting the world of mankind in
God’s due time, the world’s “day of judgment,” the Millennial age. We can
readily see that divine law is necessary, in heaven and in earth, in order that
God’s will may be done-that righteousness, truth and love shall prevail; and it
is manifest that whoever is not sufficiently in sympathy with the principles of
righteousness expressed in the Lord’s commandments, so as to will and to strive
to obey them, would not be a fit person to be used of the Lord in enforcing the
divine laws during the Millennial age, and assisting mankind in discerning
their righteousness and the blessing which will follow their observance.
WHAT ARE THESE COMMANDMENTS?
Properly, we inquire, What are these commandments, the keeping of which is
attended with such momentous results, and the neglect of which would mean the
loss of our Redeemer’s love and favor,-and hence, the loss of all the blessings
specially prepared for those who love him? We answer, that our Lord’s
statement of these commandments briefly comprehends them all in one word,
Love. Dividing the matter, we find that it has two parts-love for God and love
for our fellows. Without this quality or characteristic, of Love, being so
developed in us as to be the controlling influence of our minds, we cannot hope
to abide in the Lord’s favor. True, he does not expect to gather ripe grapes
from the new vineshoot when first it makes its appearance; rather, the great
Husbandman (I Cor. 3:9) waits for the gradual development of the fruit, if
after the shoot has come forth he sees upon it the bud of promise, which
quickly develops, manifesting itself as the flower of the grapes.
Nevertheless, manifestations of a coming fruitage of love are expected of the
Lord, quickly after our union with him; and any smallness of development of
this fruitage would indicate a corresponding lack of love and appreciation on
our part, and would mean correspondingly small love for the truth and its
principles: hence, the Lord’s love for us would be correspondingly less than if
more rapid progress were made.
Love would, necessarily mean the according of justice; because the law or
requirements of the Lord are based upon justice, “the foundation of his
throne.” We are to view the commandments of the Lord from this standpoint,
therefore, and to see first that our love for God is just,-must recognize that
we owe him love, devotion, appreciation, because of what he has done and
promises yet to do for us. Justice calls for our loving, reverential obedience
to the Lord. It is the same with respect to our love for our fellowmen.
Justice, as well as respect for our Heavenly Father’s regulations, calls on us
to do right to our neighbor,-to do toward him as we would have him do toward
us. This is not more than absolute justice, and yet it is the very essence and
spirit of the divine law of love. But while justice
is the first feature of the commandment of love, it is not the end of its
requirements: it requires that going beyond strict justice, our love shall
prompt us to the exercise of mercy and forgiveness. And in thus exercising
mercy, we are again but copying divine love; for our Heavenly Father not
only deals with all his creatures according to justice but going beyond the
lines of justice, in great compassion and mercy he provided in Christ Jesus a
Redeemer for sinners. True, he did not provide this in violation of his
justice; yet so far as we are concerned it is just the same as though, out of
love and compassion, he had overridden justice in our assistance. Hence in our dealings with others, who like ourselves, are
fallen and imperfect, we are to remember this feature and not only be just
toward them but additionally to be merciful, generous, kind, even to the
unthankful,-that thus we may be children of our Father in heaven.
The Lord through the Prophet expresses this thought of how the law of
love is divisible and covers all the requirements of Christian character; he
says, “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8.) That
these are very reasonable requirements will be conceded by all; that God could
not require less from those whom he is educating for the future judging of the
world, is evident: and, yet, all three of these qualities specified through the
Prophet, are comprehended in the one word love. Love requires that we shall
deal justly with our neighbors, with the brethren, with our families, with
ourselves; that we shall seek to cultivate our appreciation of the rights of
others,-their physical rights, their moral and intellectual rights, their
liberties; and that, appreciating these, we shall in no sense of the word, seek
to abridge or deny them.
To “love mercy” is to go even beyond loving justice, and signifies a
delight in yielding personal rights and privileges in the interest of others,
where no principles are involved. It implies readiness to forgive the faults
of others-a disinclination to be too exacting in respect to others, as well as
a desire to be very exacting in respect to our treatment of others. The humble
walk with God is included, also, in the commandment of love; because, whoever
loves his Creator and appreciates his provisions for his creatures, in natural
and in spiritual things, will love and appreciate God in return. And having
such a proper conception of the greatness of the Almighty and of his own
littleness and insufficiency, except by divine grace, he will be disposed
indeed, to walk humbly with the Lord-not seeking paths of his own, but,
trustingly, seeking to walk in the path which the Lord has marked out-in the
footsteps of Jesus.
The same Apostle John who recorded our Lord’s words of our text, commented
further upon this subject of the love of God and of Christ, saying, “This is
the love of God [i.e., proves or demonstrates our love of God], that we keep
his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.” (I John 5:3.) This
gives us the suggestion that the Lord not only expects us to keep his
commandments of love to him and to the brethren, but that he expects also that
in keeping these we should become so filled with an appreciation of the
commandments and the principles that underlie them, that we would delight
therein; not merely because they are God’s commandments, but, additionally,
because they are right, good, proper. This thought the Apostle expresses in the
words, “And his commandments are not grievous.” It is one thing to keep the
divine commands or to seek to do so, all the while feeling more or less of
restraint, lack of liberty, compulsion, duty, etc.; it is another thing to obey
joyfully.
It is not improper to expect something of this spirit at the beginning of our
experience as the Lord’s people, seeking to keep his commandments; but we
should expect, also, that as we grow in grace and grow in knowledge and grow in
love, all these feelings of constraint, duty, etc., would disappear; so that,
instead, we should delight to do the Lord’s will, delight to keep his
commandments of love, delight to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with
God,-and that there should be a total absence of the feeling that the Lord’s
commandments are grievous, burdensome, irksome. This is the higher Christian
development, and can only be found where the individual has become truly “a
copy of God’s dear Son,” where the Father’s spirit has developed and brought
forth the ripe fruits of the spirit in abundant measure-meekness, patience,
gentleness, brotherly kindness, love.
Recurring to our text, we note that our Lord’s words also imply the same
thing;-the necessity for obedience to the commandments of love, and to such a
growth ultimately as would separate them from any feeling of bondage or
grievousness. Our Lord’s words, showing this, are in the latter part of the
text-“even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
As we look back at the beautiful character of our Lord Jesus and see his love
for righteousness, for truth, and his willingness to be obedient to his
Father’s arrangements-even unto death-we can perceive readily that our dear
Master had a love for the principles which lie back of the Father’s
commandments. He obeyed the Father, not through restraint, not through fear,
but from a perfect love. Recognizing the Father’s commandments, but not as
being grievous, using the language put by the Prophet into his mouth, his
sentiment was, “I delight to do thy will, O my God, thy law is in my heart.”
(Psalm 40:8.) We are to understand the Lord, therefore, to mean, that in order
to abide in his love we must reach such a heart condition as this which he
had;-a love for the Father’s ways, for the principles of righteousness and
truth. We may abide in his love at first under other conditions, feeling
through our love the restraints of his commandment of love, but as we grow in
knowledge, we must grow in grace, and outgrow those sentiments, and grow up
into the Lord’s spirit and sentiment in this matter; so that obedience to the
Lord will be the delight of our hearts, and any failure to do his will would
cause a pain, a shadow, an earth-born cloud, to hide us from the Father’s
smile.
Seeing the depths of our Lord’s requirements, many will be inclined to say, Ah,
yes, it is true that we must attain to such character-likeness of our Lord, but
that transformation and renewing of the mind is not our part of the work but
the Lord’s: He must do this for us, else it will never be done. Partly right
and partly wrong, we answer. It is true that when we consider ourselves, how
weak and imperfect we are according to the old nature, according to the flesh,
we have good cause for despairing and deciding that we never could accomplish
such a great transformation from selfishness to love, in our own strength. It
is true, also, that the Lord proposes to work in us-“both to will and to do of
his good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13.) But it is just as true that we have a burden
of responsibility in respect to this matter of overcoming. It is the Lord’s
part to provide the way, the truth, the life,-the means by which we may attain
unto the condition to which he has called us; but it is our part to use the
means and thus to attain the prize.
The Lord has provided for our justification, our reconciliation to himself, our
acceptance to sonship, our anointing with the holy spirit, our instructions
with the word of his grace, the word of promise: He works in us, to will and
to do, through these exceeding great and precious promises and the glorious
prospects and rewards that attach to them; but the amount that he will work in
us and the results that will be worked out through these promises, depend upon
us. As it depended upon us whether or not we would come into the grace which
he has provided for us, and as we could have kept ourselves out of the love of
God by refusing or neglecting the offer of his mercy and love, so we could
neglect the word of his promise, neglect the various means of grace which he
provides for our strengthening, establishing and upbuilding in the knowledge
and grace of the truth. And thus neglecting his provisions we would
proportionately fail to abide in his love-fail to obtain the promised favors.
The Apostle intimates this, saying:-
“KEEP YOURSELVES IN THE LOVE OF GOD.”
JUDE 21.
What, then is the essence of what we have foregoing found to be the divine
instruction upon this subject? It is this. (1) Our hearts from the very
beginning are to appreciate the imperfections of our own flesh and to look away
to the Lord for the needed assistance to abide in his love.
(2) The exceeding great and precious promises must be studied, earnestly, that
we may thus have them constitute in us “the power of God” for good- keeping us
in the knowledge of the Lord and, through obedience, in his love.
(3) This knowledge will profit us only as we put it in practice and seek to
regulate our minds, our thoughts, our words, and so far as possible all our
actions of life, according to this standard which God through his Word,
established before us as an ideal. We are to remember that if we had all
knowledge yet had not love, it would profit us nothing, but we are to remember,
also, that in the divine arrangement it seems to be impossible that our
knowledge should progress much in advance of our obedience to what we already
know.
(4) We are to appreciate every evidence which we find, in ourselves or others,
of such growth in obedience to the law of God,-the law of love with its
connections of justice and mercy and reverence.
(5) We are not to expect the full results of joy in doing the Father’s will in
the beginning of our experiences, nor are we to feel discouraged if in the
beginning the motive be, to a considerable extent, duty-love instead of a love
for principles. We are to seek at the Lord’s hand further blessing and further
filling of his spirit of love. We are to seek to study and to appreciate the
basic principles upon which the Lord governs the universe, and are to seek to
bring our hearts into sympathetic accord with that law and principle and spirit
of righteousness. We are to remember that much of our lack of appreciation of
the principles of righteousness is due to our ignorance; and we are to expect
that as we come to know the Lord and to understand his plan better, the eyes of
our understanding will open the wider so that it will be possible for us not
only “to comprehend with all saints,” but to appreciate with all saints, the
principles underlying and constituting the divine law of love.
Thus we may daily and hourly keep ourselves in the
Lord’s love by obedience to, and a growing love for, the principles of
righteousness. And we are to rejoice in every experience in life,-its trials,
difficulties, sorrows, disappointments, etc., no less than in its pleasures, if
by any or all of these means the Lord shall instruct us and give us clearer
insight into our own deficiencies, and a still clearer insight into that
perfect law of liberty and love which he has established, and to which he
requires our full and loyal heart-submission.