3. The Light and Leading of the Life
The “Go” of Unconditional Identification
Mark 10:17-24††
Then came a slow
And strangling failure. I
Yet felt somehow
A mighty power was brooding, taking shape
Within me; and this lasted till one night
When, as I sat revolving it and more,
A still small voice from without said,—Seest thou not,
Desponding child, where spring defeat and loss?
Even from thy strength . . .
. . . Know, not for knowing’s sake,
But to become a star to men for ever;
Know, for the gain it gets, the praise it brings,
The wonder it inspires, the love it breeds:
Look one step onward, and secure that step!
When the rich young ruler saw Jesus, he wanted to be like Him, he had the master passion to be perfect. Anything less than the desire to be perfect in a profession or calling is humbug, and so in religion. Beware of quibbling over the word “perfection.” It does not refer to the full consummation of a man’s powers, it simply means perfect fitness for doing the will of God; a perfect adjustment to God until all the powers are perfectly fitted to do His will.
1. The Look and the Loving of the Lord
And Jesus looking upon him . . . (rv)
(a) Who Is the Lord?
This question must be answered by every man—who is ruling me? In our Lord’s calling of a disciple He never puts personal holiness in the front, He puts in the front absolute annihilation of my right to myself and unconditional identification with Himself—such a relationship with Him that there is no other relationship on earth in comparison. Luke 14:26 has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification, it has to do with unconditional identification with Jesus. None of us know the absolute “go” of abandon to Jesus until we are in unconditional identification with Him.
Have you ever realised Who the Lord is in your life? The call to service is not the outcome of an experience of salvation and sanctification, there must be the recognition of Jesus Christ as Lord and Master as well as Saviour. “Who say ye that I am?”†† (rv). That is the abiding test. Jesus Christ makes human destiny depend absolutely on Who men say He is. Membership of His Church is based on that one thing only, a recognition of Who Jesus is and the public confession of it. Any man who knows Who Jesus is has had that revelation from God. “Blessed art thou, Simon-Bar-jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church” (rv). What rock? The rock of the knowledge of Who Jesus is and the confession of it.
“And as He was going forth on His way [mg], there ran one to Him, . . . and asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? none is good save one, even God” (Mark 10:17-18†† rv). “If I am only a good man, it is of no more use to come to Me than to anyone else; but if your coming means that you discern Who I am, then comes the first condition: “If thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments”†† (rv). The rich young ruler had to realise that there is only One Who is good, viz., God; and the only “good thing” from Jesus Christ’s point of view is union with that One, with nothing in between, and the steady maintenance of that union.
(b) What Is His Look?
“And Jesus looking upon him loved him” (rv). When Jesus saw the sterling worth and uprightness of the rich young ruler, He loved him. Natural virtues are lovely in the sight of Jesus, because He sees in them remnants of His Father’s former handiwork.
Has Jesus ever looked at you? Get rid of your experiences as you ask yourself that question. Experiences may be a barrier to our knowing Jesus; we forget Him in being taken up with what He has done for us. The look of Jesus transforms and transfigures. His look means the heart broken for ever from allegiance to any but Himself. Where you are “soft” with God, is where the Lord has looked upon you; where you are hard and vindictive, insistent on your own way, certain that other people are more likely to be wrong than you, is where whole tracts of your nature have never been transformed by His gaze.
(c) What Is His Love?
The love of Jesus spoils us for every other interest in life save as we can disciple men and women to Him. It is woe to every other ambition when once Christ fixes His love on a man or woman consciously. The love Jesus fixed on this man resulted in the biggest sorrow he ever had—“and he went away sorrowful”†† (rv).
2. The Lack and Longing of the Loved
(a) What Lack I Yet?
Our Lord instantly presses another penetrating IF—“If thou wouldest be perfect . . .” (rv). Entrance into life is the recognition of Who Jesus is, and we only recognise Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. Unless this recognition of Jesus is put first, we shall present a lame type of Christianity that excludes the type of man represented by this young ruler. In the majority of cases recognition of Who Jesus is comes before conviction of sin. This second “If” is far more searching: “If thou wouldest be perfect”—then come the conditions.
Do I really want to be perfect? Do I really desire at all costs to every other interest that God should make me perfect? Can I say with Murray McCheyne—“Lord, make me as holy as You can make a saved sinner”? Is that really the desire of my heart? When we are right with God, He gives us our desires and aspirations. Our Lord had only one desire, and that was to do the will of His Father,††† and to have this desire is the characteristic of a disciple.
(b) One Thing Thou Lackest
Go, sell that thou hast, and give to the poor . . . and come, follow Me.†† (rv)
These words mean a voluntary abandoning of riches and a deliberate, devoted attachment to Jesus Christ. We are so desperately wise in our own conceit that we continually make out that Jesus did not mean what He said, and we spiritualise His meaning into thin air. Jesus saw that this man depended on his riches. If He came to you or to me He might not say that, but He would say something that dealt with whatever He saw we were depending on. “Sell that thou hast,”†† strip yourself of every possession, disengage yourself from all things until you are a naked soul; be a man merely and then give your manhood to God. Reduce yourself until nothing remains but your consciousness of yourself, and then cast that consciousness at the feet of Jesus Christ.
(c) One Right Thing to Do
Our Lord is not talking about salvation, but—If you want to be perfect, those are the conditions; and you need not accept them unless you like, you are at perfect liberty to say—“No, thank you, I am much obliged for being delivered from hell and the abominations of sin, but this is rather too much to expect, I have my own interests in life.” Sell all you have, said Jesus, barter it, obliterate it.
Never push an experience you have had into a principle by which to guide others. If you take what Jesus said to this man and make it mean that He taught we were to own nothing, you are evading what He taught, by making it external. Our Lord told the rich young ruler to loosen himself from his property because that was the thing that was holding him. The principle is one of fundamental death to possessions while being careful to use them aright,
Am I prepared to strip myself of what I possess in property, in virtues, in the estimation of others—to count all things to be loss in order to win Christ? I can be so rich in poverty, so rich in the consciousness that I am nobody, that I shall never be a disciple; and I can be so rich in the consciousness that I am somebody that I shall never be a disciple. Am I willing to be destitute even of the sense that I am destitute? It is not a question of giving up outside things, but of making myself destitute to myself, reducing myself to a mere consciousness and giving that to Jesus Christ. I must reduce myself until I am a mere conscious man, fundamentally renounce possessions of all kinds—not to save my soul, only one thing saves a man’s soul, absolute reliance on the Lord Jesus—and then give that manhood to Jesus.
“Go thy way, sell . . .”†† Jesus did not say—Sell all you have and give the proceeds to the deserving poor; nor did He say—Consecrate all you have to My service. Jesus Christ does not claim any of our possessions. One of the most subtle errors is that God wants our possessions. He does not; they are not of any use to Him. He does not want my property, He wants myself. “Sell whatsoever you have and give the proceeds away; but as for you—you come and follow Me.”
3. The Light and Leading of the Life
And thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow Me.††
(a) The Reduction and Renunciation
But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sorrowful: for he was one that had great possessions.†† (rv)
When he “heard the saying. . . .”†† When we hear a thing is not necessarily when it is spoken, but when we are in a state to listen to it and to understand. Our Lord’s statements seem to be so simple and gentle, and they slip unobserved into the subconscious mind.
Then something happens in our circumstances, and up comes one of these words into our consciousness and we hear it for the first time, and it makes us reel with amazement. This man, when he heard what Jesus said, understood what He meant, he did not dispute it, he did not argue, he heard it, and he went away expressionless with sorrow. There was no doubt as to what Jesus said, no debate as to what He meant, and it produced in him a sorrow that had no words. He found he had too big an interest in the other scale, and he drooped away from Jesus in sadness, not in rebellion.
(b) The Revelation and the Riches
And thou shalt have treasure in heaven.††
It is the trial of our faith that makes us wealthy in heaven. We want the treasure on earth all the time. We interpret answers to prayer on the material plane only, and if God does not answer there, we say He does not answer at all. “Treasure in heaven” is faith that has been tried, otherwise it is only possible gold. “Oh yes, I believe God can do everything.” But have I proved that He can do one thing? If I have, the next time a trial of faith comes I can go through it smilingly, because of the wealth in my heavenly banking account.
(c) The Regulation and the Road
And come, follow Me.†† (rv)
“Come, follow Me,”†† not, Find out the way, but—Come. You cannot come if there is any remnant of the wrong disposition in you, because you are sure to want to direct God. “Come unto Me”! these words were spoken to men who had felt the appeal of the Highest, the aspiration, the longing, the master passion to be perfect—“Come unto Me,” and I will rest you, stay you, poise you; “take My yoke upon you and learn of Me,” and you will discover rest all along the way. “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”†† The road is the way He went. “I will make the place of My feet glorious.” Where is the place of His feet? Among the poor, the sick and sorrowful, among the bad and devil-possessed, among the hypocrites. And He says, “Follow Me—there.”