Learning of Christ

“Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me: for I am meek and lowly of heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls.” — Matt. xi. 29.

All Bible study is learning. All Bible study to be fruitful should be learning of Christ. The Bible is the school book, Christ is the Teacher. It is He who opens the understanding, and opens the heart, and opens the seals. (Luke xxiv. 45, Acts xvi. 14, Rev. V. 9.) Christ is the living eternal Word, of which the written words are the human expression. Christ’s presence and teaching are the secret of all true Bible study. The written Word is powerless, except as it helps us to the Living Word. No one has ever thought of accusing our Lord of not honouring the Old Testament. In His own life He proved that He loved it as coming out of the mouth of God. He ever pointed the Jews to it as the revelation of God and the witness to Himself. But with the disciples it is remarkable how frequently He spoke of His own teaching as what they most needed, and had to obey. It was only after His resurrection, when the union with Himself had been effected, and they had already received the first breathings of the Spirit (Jno. XX. 22) that we find Him expounding the Scriptures. The Jews had their self-made interpretation of the Word: they made it the greatest barrier between themselves and Him of whom it spake. It is often so with Christians too; our human apprehension of Scripture, fortified as it may be by the authority of the Church, or our own circle, becomes the greatest hindrance in the way of Christ’s teachings. Christ the Living “Word, seeks first to find His place in our heart and life, to be our only Teacher: thus shall we learn of Him to honour and understand Scripture.

Learn of Me for I Am Meek and Lowly of Heart. Our Lord here opens up the inmost secret of His own inner life. That which He brought down to us from heaven: that which fits Him to be a Teacher and a Saviour; that which He has given to us, and which He wants us to learn of Him: you find it all in the words,” I am meek and lowly of heart.’’ It is the one virtue that makes Him the Lamb of God, our suffering Redeemer, our heavenly Teacher and Leader. It is the one disposition which He asks of us in coming to learn from Him: out of this all else will come. For our Bible study and all our Christian life you have here the one condition of truly learning of Christ. He, the Teacher, meek and lowly of heart, wants to make you what He is, because that is salvation. As a learner you must come and study and believe in Him the meek and lowly One, and seek to learn of Him how to he meek and lowly too.

And why is this the first and all-important thing? Because it lies at the root of the true relationship of the creature to God. God alone has life and goodness and happiness. As the God of Love He delights to give and work everything in us. Christ became the Son of Man to show in what blessed unceasing dependence upon God man is to live: this is the meaning of His being lowly in heart. It is in this spirit that angels veil their faces and cast their crowns before God. God is everything to them, and they delight to receive all and to give all. This is the root of the true Christian life: to be nothing before God and men; to wait on God alone; to delight in, to imitate, to learn of Christ, the Meek and Lowly One. This is the very key to the School of Christ, the only key to the true knowledge of Scripture. It is in this character that Christ has come to teach: it is in this character alone you can learn of Him. How little in the Christian Church, humility, the meek and lowly heart, has had the place that it has in the life of Christ and the teachings of God’s “Word. I am deeply persuaded that this lack lies at the root of a very large part of the feebleness and unfruitfulness of which we hear. It is only as we are meek and lowly in heart, that Christ can teach us by His Spirit what God has for us, and that God will work in us. Let each of us begin with ourselves and count this as the first condition of discipleship, and the fir&t lesson the Master will most surely teach ns. Let us make all our Bible study a learning of Christ, a trusting Him, who is so meek and gentle and kind, a waiting for Him, to work His own spirit and likeness in us. In due time our morning watch will be the scene of daily fellowship and daily blessing.

I know what difficulties I have to contend with in pleading thus that the meek and lowly heart be made the first consideration in Bible study. It is hard to make men realise that, in intercourse with God, disposition and character are everything. It is harder to show them that of all Christian disposition and character, a meek and lowly heart is the very seed and root. It is hard to convince them that without it the profit of Bible study is very little. It is above all hard to lead them to understand and believe that the meek and lowly heart is to be had, because it is the very thing Christ offers to give, teaching us how to find and receive it in Himself. In face even of all these difficulties, I, nevertheless, urge all Bible students, thoughtfully and prayerfully to enquire whether the very first question to be settled in the inner chamber is not this: Is my heart in the state in which my Teacher desires it to be? And if it be not, is not my first work to yield myself to Him to work it in me?