Saltless Salt.
The Lord Jesus never tried to make things look easier than they are. He
wanted you to see the road just as it is, and asked you to look at it
carefully. He knew this was the only right way to do. He knew that so the
sinews would be grown in character that would stand the tests coming, and
only so.
It was never His plan to increase the numbers by cutting down the
doorsills so men could get in more easily. That was a later arrangement.
He was never concerned for numbers, but for right and truth. A man walking
alone down the middle of the one true path was more to Him, immensely
more, than a great crowd wabbling along on the edge, half out, half in,
neither in nor out, and so really out but not knowing it. If they were
really out and knew it, it would be better, for they could see more
distinctly the path they were not in, its straightness and attractiveness.
This sort of thing grew more marked with our Lord Jesus as the end drew
on, the tragic end. The crowds thickened about Him those last months. They
liked good bread, and plenty of it, and healed bodies, pain gone. And He
liked to give them these. He helped just as far as they would let Him. But
He wanted to give them more. He knew this other was only temporary. He was
more concerned about healing the spirit of its disease, and giving the
more abundant life. And full well He knew that only the knife could help
many. And the knife had to be freshly sharpened, and used with strong
decisive hand, if healing and life were to come.
And men haven't changed, nor the diseases that hurt their life, nor the
Master, nor the tender love of His heart. But there's more than knife;
there's fulness of life following. He would have us get the life even
though it means the knife. Most times--every time, shall I say?--the life
comes only through the knife. Yet when the life has come, with its great
tireless strength, and its deep breathing, and sheer delight of living,
you are grateful for the knife that led the way to such life.
One day our Lord entered a vigorous protest against the wrong sort of
salt,[47] saltless salt, the sort that seemed to be salt, and you used it
and depended on it, and then found how unsalty it was, for the thing you
depended on it to preserve, had gone bad. The great need is for salty
salt. There still seems to be a great lot of this saltless salt in use.
It's labelled salt, and so it's used as salt, but it befools you. The
saltiness has been lost out, and the man using it wakes up to find out
how great is the loss, loss of what he thought he had salted, and loss of
time, character and time, the character of that salted with saltless salt,
and the time spent.
It would be an immense clearing of the religious situation to-day on both
sides of the Atlantic, if the saltless salt could be got rid of, either by
removing the unsaltiness in it--though that seems a hopeless task, it's so
unsalty, and there is so much of it, and such a large proportion of it,
and it's so well content with being just as unsalty as it is. _Or_, the
only other thing is put very simply and vigorously by the Lord in a short
intense sentence, "Cast it out." Out with it. And lots of it _is out_ so
far as preservative usefulness is concerned.
And yet with wondrous patience He puts up with a great deal of salt that
seems to have nearly reached the utterly saltless stage, hoping to get rid
of the unsaltiness, and then to give it a new saltiness. For, be it keenly
marked, when the saltiness has quite gone out of the salt, when the
preservative quality has quite gone out from that body of people which He
has placed in the world as its moral preservative,--then look out. Aye,
"look up,"[48] for that's the only direction from which any help can
relieve the desperateness of the situation. And "lift up your heads," for
then comes a new preservative to the rotting earth-life. But some of us
will smell the smell of the decay before the new salt begins to work.
The Thing in Us That Wants Things.
It was along toward that tragic end, when the tension was tightening up to
the snapping point, the bitter hatred of the leaders yet more bitter, the
crowds yet denser, the terms of discipleship yet more plainly put with
loving, faithful plainness, that a characteristic incident happened.[49] A
young man of gentle blood and breeding, and influential position, came
eagerly, courteously elbowing his way through the crowd that gathered
thick about. Our Lord had just risen from where He had been sitting
teaching, when this young man, in his eagerness, came running to Him. With
deep reverence of spirit he knelt down in the road, and began asking about
the true life, the secret of living it. Our Lord begins talking about
being true in all his dealings with his fellow-men. The young man
earnestly assured Him that he had paid great attention to this, and felt
that there was nothing lacking in him on this score. The utter sincerity
and earnestness of his spirit was so clear that the Master's love was
drawn out to him. And He showed His love in a way characteristic of Him in
dealing with those who want to go to the whole length of the true road.
That is, He talked very plainly to him. There were four things to do
beforehand, He said, four starting steps into this life he was so eager
to enter. Four words tell the four steps: "go," "sell," "give," and
"come."
"Go" meant the decisive starting in on this way; "sell" meant putting
everything into the Father's hand for His disposal as _He_ alone might
choose. "Give" meant using everything, everything you are, and have, and
can influence, as _He_ bids you. "Come" meant this new man, this decisive,
emptied, now trusted man, trusted as a trustee, coming into a new personal
relation with the Lord Jesus.
The first three things were important because they revealed the man. But
_the_ thing was that the man, this new-emptied and now God-trusted man,
should come into personal touch with the Lord Jesus. The things he had and
held on to came in between. When they no longer came in to separate, then,
and only then, was he ready to get "in behind" and "follow" along the
"same road." For this is the friendship road. Only friends are allowed
here, inner friends, those who come in by that gateway. There must be the
personal touch. Things that stand in the way of that must be straightened
out.
It was rather a startling answer. The young man was startled tremendously.
The way to come in is first to go out. The way to get is first to give.
The way to buy what you want is to sell what you have. That is to say, the
way for this young man to get what he was so eager for was to get rid of
what he already had. And yet it wasn't getting rid of the things the
Master was thinking about, but getting rid of the thing in him that
wanted the things, getting rid of their hold upon him. Our Lord Jesus
wanted, and wants, free men, emptied men. He wants the strength in the man
that the emptying and selling process gives. This is the laboratory where
the unsaltiness is being burned out, and the new salty saltiness being
generated, put in.
This young fellow couldn't stand the test. So many can't. No, I'm getting
the words wrong. He wouldn't stand it; so many won't. The slavery of
_things_ was too much. The thing in him that wanted the things was
stronger than the thing that wanted the true life. He was too weak to make
that "go" decision. He belonged to the weakly fellowship of the saltless
ones. They are not wholly saltless, but that's the chief thing that marks
them. It's a long-lived fellowship, continuing to this day, with a large
membership in good and regular standing.
I think the real trouble with this fine-grained lovable young man was in
his eyes, the way they looked, what they saw. It was a matter of seeing
things in true perspective. He didn't get a good look at the Man he asked
his question of. He was looking so intently at the _things_ that he
couldn't get the use of his eyes for a good look at the Man. This is a
very common eye-trouble. He was all right outward, toward his fellows, but
he wasn't all right upward toward the Father.
And yet even that statement must be changed. For a man cannot be right
with his fellows who is not right with God. When God doesn't have the
passion of the heart, our fellows don't have all they should properly have
from us; there is a lack. The common law may be kept, the pounds and yards
may weigh and measure off fully what is due them from us, but the uncommon
law, the love-law is not being kept. The warm spirit that should breathe
out through all our dealings is lacking. It's been checked by the check in
the upper movement. Only the spirit that flows freely up, ever flows
freely out.
That young Indian aristocrat we spoke of elsewhere got a sight of _Jesus_.
That settled _things_ for him, including even such sacred things as human
loves. This young Jewish aristocrat couldn't get his eyes off of the
things. So many "thing"-slaves there are, so much "thing"-slavery. If only
there were the sight of _His_ face! His _face_; torn? yes; scarred? yes
again, but oh, the strength and light and love in it!
Do you remember that other young Jewish, university-trained aristocrat? He
got a look, one good long look-in-the-face look of _that face_, one day,
on the road up to the northern Syrian capital. The light of it flooded his
face, and strangely affected him. He said "when I could not _see_ for the
glory of that light."[50] He couldn't see things for Him. The sight of Him
blurred out the things. The great need to-day is for a sight of _Him_.
Lord Jesus, if Thou wouldst show us Thy "hands and feet" again, and torn
face, even as in the upper room that resurrection evening,[51] for that's
what we are needing. And yet, Thou art doing just that, but the things so
hold our vision! And the Master's answer is the same as to the young Jew.
We need the decisive "go"; the incisive, inclusive "sell"; the privileged
"give"; the new-meaninged "come" into His presence. And then we may get
"in behind" Him, and follow close up in the "same road," with eyes for
naught but Himself.
Outstanding Experiences.
I want to follow the Master's plan, and ask you to take a good look at His
"Follow Me" road. You remember that we have had one talk together about
the characteristics of our Lord Jesus' life. Now we want to talk a little
about _the experiences_ of His life. And I do not mean that we are to try
to imitate these experiences, or any of them. The meaning goes much deeper
than this, and yet it marks out a simpler road for our feet. I mean that
as we actually go along with this Master of ours, these experiences will
work out in our lives.
As we let Him in as actual Lord, and get our ears trained for His quiet
voice, there will come to us some of the same things that come to Him.
The same Spirit at work within us, and the same sort of a world at work
without, will so work against each other as to produce certain other
results, now as then. It is not to be an attempt at imitation; it's far
more. It is to be _obedience_ on our part, a real Presence within on His
part, and a bitter antagonism without on the world's part; rhythmic full
glad obedience, a sympathetic powerful real Presence, a tense and
intensifying subtle, relentless, but continually-being-thwarted
opposition. The key-note for us is simple, full obedience.
There were certain great outstanding experiences in our Lord Jesus' life.
Let us briefly notice what these were and group them together. There was
_the Bethlehem Birth_. That was a thing altogether distinctive in itself.
It was a supernatural birth, the Spirit of God working along purely human
lines, in a new special way, for a special purpose. It was a rare blending
of God and man in the action of life. It was followed by _the Nazareth
Life_; that was a commonplace life, lived in a commonplace village, but
hallowed by the presence of the Father, and sweetened by the salt of
everything being done under that Father's loving eye. The Father's
presence accepted as a real thing became the fragrance of that commonplace
daily life. And this life covered most of those human years.
Then our Lord turned from the hidden life of Nazareth to the public
ministry. At its beginning stands _the Jordan Baptism of Power_. In the
path of simple obedience He had gone to the Jordan, taken a place among
the crowds, and accepted John's baptism. And in this act of obedience,
there comes the gracious act of His Father's approval, the Holy Spirit
came down upon Him in gracious, almighty power. And from this moment He
was under the sway of the Spirit of Power. This was the special
preparation and fitting for all that was to follow.
At once the Spirit driveth Him into the Wilderness. And for forty days He
goes through the great experience of _the Wilderness Temptation_. In
intensity and in prolonged action, it was the greatest experience thus far
in His life. He suffered, being tempted. It was a concentration of the
continuous temptation of the following years of action. But the Wilderness
spelled out two words, temptation _and_ victory; temptation such as had
never yet been brought, and met, and fought; victory beyond what the race
had known. Temptation came to have a new spelling for man, v-i-c-t-o-r-y.
It came to have a new spelling for the tempter, d-e-f-e-a-t.
After His virtual rejection by the nation as its Messiah,[52] and the
imprisonment of him who stood nearest Him as Messiah,--John the Herald,
there followed _the Galilean Ministry_. For those brief years He was
utterly absorbed in personally meeting and ministering to the crying needs
of the crowds. Compassion for needy men became the ruling under-passion.
He was spent out in responding to the needs of men. It was not restricted
to Galilee, but that stands out as the chief scene of this tireless
unceasing service. The Galilean ministry meant a life spent in meeting
personally the needs of men.
In the midst of that, made increasingly difficult by the ever-increasing
opposition, there came the experience of _the Transfiguration Mount_. It
comes at a decisive turning point, where He is beginning the higher
training of the Twelve for the tragic ending, so surprising and wholly
unexpected to them. For a brief moment the dazzling light within was
allowed to shine through the garments of His humanity. What was within
transfigured the outer, the human face and form. And the overwhelming
outshining light was evidence to those three men of the divine glory, the
more-than-human glory hidden away within this human man.
Then within a week of the end came _the Gethsemane Agony._ That was the
lone, sore stress of spirit under the load of the sin of others. In
Gethsemane He went through in spirit what on the morrow He went through in
actual experience. Gethsemane was the beginning, the anticipation of
Calvary, so far as that could be anticipated. Anticipation here was
terrific; yet less terrific than the actual experience.
And then came the climax, the overtopping experience of all for Him, as
for us, _the Calvary Cross._ There He died of His own free will. He died
for us. He died that we might not die. He took upon Himself what sin
brings to us, while the Father's face was hidden. So He freed us from the
slavery of sin, made a way for us back to real life, and so touched our
hearts by His love that we were willing to go back.
And close upon the heels of that came _the burial in Joseph's tomb_. The
burial was the completion of the death. The tomb was the climax of the
cross. He was actually dead and buried. The corn of wheat had fallen down
into the ground and been covered up. There was nothing lacking to make
full and clear that Jesus had died.
Then came the stupendous experience of _the Resurrection Morning_. Our
Lord Jesus yielded to death fully and wholly. Then He seized death by the
throat and strangled it. He put death to death. Then He quietly yielded to
the upward gravity of His sinless life and rose up. He lived the dependent
life even so far as yielding to death, and now the Father quietly brought
Him back again to life, to a new life.
And after waiting a while on earth among men, long enough to make it quite
clear to His disciples that it was really Himself really back again, He
quietly yielded further to the upward gravity, and entered upon _the
Ascension Life_, up in the Father's presence. That life is one of
intercession. He ever liveth to make intercession for us.[53] He is our
pleading advocate at the Father's right hand.[54] Thirty years of the
Nazareth life, three and a half years of personal service, nineteen
hundred years, almost, of praying. What an acted-out lesson to us on
prayer, the big place it had and has with Him, the true proportion of
prayer to all else!
These are the experiences of our Lord Jesus that stand out clear above
the mountain range of His life. It was all a high mountain range; these
are the great peaks jutting sharply up above the range.
At the Loom.
Now these peaks, these outstanding experiences, as you look at them a bit,
seem to fall naturally into three groups. There were certain experiences
of power and of privilege, the Bethlehem Birth, the Jordan Baptism, the
Nazareth Life, and the Galilean Ministry.
There were experiences of suffering and sacrifice, the Wilderness
Temptation, the Gethsemane Agony, the Calvary Death, and the Joseph's Tomb
of Burial.
And then there were certain experiences of gladness and great glory, the
Transfiguration Mount, the Resurrection Morning, the Ascension Life, and,
we shall find a fourth here also, a future experience, the Kingdom Reign
and Glory.
These outstanding events, while distinct in themselves, are also
representative of continual experiences. The Jordan Baptism stands not
only for that event, but for the power throughout those forty and two
months. The same sort of suffering that came in Gethsemane had run all
through His life, but is strongest in Gethsemane. So each of these
experiences is really like a peak resting upon the mountain range of
constant similar experience. And these three groups of experience
continuously intermingled, interlaced and interwoven, made up the pattern
of that wondrous life.
Now these same experiences of His are also the great experiences that will
characterize the "Follow Me" life, for every one who will follow fully. It
will always remain true that these experiences were distinctive of Him.
They meant more to Him than they will or can mean to any other. But it is
also true that they will come to us in a degree that will mean everything
to us.
I want to change the figure of speech here. I think it will help. This
invitation, "Follow Me," is the language of a road, the picture of one
walking behind another in a road. And that will remain in our minds as the
chief picture of this pleading call. But there's another bit of picture
talking that will help. That is the picture of a weaver's loom, with the
warp threads running lengthwise, the shuttle threads running crosswise,
and the cross beam (or batten) driving each shuttle thread into place in
the cloth with a sharp blow.
These three groups of experiences are like so many hanks of threads in
the loom, in which the pattern of life is being woven. The experiences of
power and privilege are the warp threads running lengthwise of the loom,
into which the others are woven. These make up the foundation of the
fabric.
The other two groups make up the shuttle threads, running crosswise, being
woven into the warp. The experiences of suffering and sacrifice are the
dark threads, the gray threads, sometimes quite black, and the red
threads, blood red. The experiences of gladness and glory are the bright
threads, yellow, golden, sunny threads.
And the daily round of life, the decisions, the actual step after step in
living out the decisions, the patient steady pushing on, is the beam that
with sharp blow pushes each thread into its place in the fabric being
woven.
As we allow the same Spirit that swayed our Lord's life to control us, He
will work out in us certain of these same experiences. And the enmity
aroused, and working against that Spirit's presence and control, will
bring certain other experiences. Our part will be simple obedience,
listening, looking, studying quietness so as to insure keener ears and
eyes--it's the quiet spirit that hears what He is saying--then obeying,
using all the strength of will, and all the grace at our disposal, simply
to hold steady and true, and to obey, no matter what threatens to come, or
what actually does come. This will be found to be like weaving.
Probably you have often heard of how the weavers work in the famous
Gobelin tapestry factories in Paris. They know nothing of the beauty of
the pattern being woven. They work on the "wrong" side, the under side of
the web. They miss the inspiration of seeing the rare beauty they
themselves are making. All the weaver sees is the apparent tangle of many
coloured threads and thread ends, while he thrusts in his needles
according to the card of instructions. The more faithfully and skilfully
he can follow the directions the better a piece of weaving work is done.
We simply obey. We use all the strength we have, and the skill we can
acquire, in obeying. We are not to depend on what we can see or feel for
inspiration, only on the Master Looms-man; on His word, written, and
spoken in our hearts, and on His answering peace within. Obedience is the
one key-note for all the music. Surrender is the first act of full
obedience. Obedience is the habitual surrender. Our part is to hear right
and do what He bids.
Some day we shall be fairly swept off our feet by the beauty of the
pattern He has been weaving--_if_ we've let Him have His way at the loom.