Its Sustenance

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth hath eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world.” — John 6. 47-51 “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the truth: for He shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak: and He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall take of Mine, and shall declare it unto you.” — John 16, 13, 14 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” — Col. 3. 16 “Be filled with the Spirit.” — Eph. 5. 18

eee word life suggests development. Arrest placed

upon the development of life surely results sooner or later in its cessation. The Christ life is not a factor held separately from the believer’s life. It is my veritable life if I am indeed a Christian. There are certain methods of speech and of thinking which may sometimes be interpreted into the false idea that a Christian is one who has a personality separate in some way from his Christian life, that the Christ life is a deposit, something given to him in some mysterious way for him to guard, and yet separate from him. Hence we hear of the doctrine of the two natures. I am not proposing to discuss that doctrine here and now. There may be an element of truth in it, but it is perfectly certain that the Christ life is not something in me, separate from me, of which I have to take care, and of which if I do take care I am saved notwithstanding myself. The Christ life in the believer is his own life. There are forces in the will, the emotion, and the intellect which need to be brought by patient perseverance under control, but the life of the Christian is that of the Christ. That is what the apostle surely meant when he wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.”* Not t —

1Gal. 2. 20.
27

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28 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN

but Christ liveth in me. The same personality, but a new life, a new impulse, a new reason, a new force, a new outlook. The life of the apostle was the Christ life. The Christ life was the life of the apostle.

While it is perfectly true that the Christ life in the believer will grow and develop, bringing all the territory of the personality under its sway, and power, and control; yet it is equally true that there is a responsibility resting on the believer, certain laws of life which must be obeyed. And the first is that of securing proper sustenance. Created life, from a flower to an archangel, is dependent for the sustenance of life upon forces outside itself. All resources lie within the mystery of Deity, but God alone is self sufficient. In other words, the creature makes demands upon the Creator for the preservation of the life which He has caused to be, and in the economy of God there is perfect provision for the sustenance of all life which He has created.

Therefore my life in Christ is not self-sufficient. It is only as it receives from the outside that it can continue and develop. As in the physical life of man, so in the spiritual, there are two elements of necessary sustenance, namely, proper food and proper atmosphere. Both the food of the Christian and the atmosphere in which he is to live are indicated in the passages at the commencement of this chapter. Christ says, “He that believeth hath eternal life. I am the bread of life.” That is to say, that He is the sustenance of the life we have received from Him. The Christ life can only be fed by Christ. Not by something He gives me as apart from Himself, not by blessings He bestows upon me, but by the fact that the values and the virtues and the victory of His life are mine in Him, and - are all available for the sustenance of His life in me.

Christ, then, is the bread of life, and the soul having received the life of the Christ, is now to be fed and sustained by Christ. The atmosphere of the life is the Holy Spirit in all His powers. Neither of these means of sustenance can be neglected without peril to Christian life. In the full use of both there will be constant development and growth without effort or undue consciousness.

In order to an understanding of the nature of this heavenly bread, let us think first of the perfections of the Person of

Christ, and then of the provision of His propitiation, and

finally of the programme of His purpose.

First as to the perfection of His Person. Christ is the realisation and manifestation in history of the essential facts in Deity which are necessary for the sustenance of spiritual life. In Christ the world has had the one and only revelation of the absolute perfection of human life. It is remarkable, and never to be forgotten, that even those who have not been able to receive certain truths about Christ that we hold as fundamental and most dear, yet acknowledge the absolute beauty and perfection of His charcter. Jesus said, “Which of you convicteth Me of sin?”? and that question still challenges the ages, and has never been answered except in the way in which Pilate expressed himself when he said, “I find no crime in Him.”* Books intended as criticisms of Christ invariably recognise the beauty of the ideal realised in His life. Strauss affirmed that

the story of Jesus must be a myth, for no such human life

was possible, because it was too sweet, too glorious, too

beautiful. The brilliant Frenchman, Renan, has given us

one of the most marvellous pictures of the human Christ

on record. These men denying revealed truth concerning 1John 8. 46 3John 19, 4 x me) hae also. Infinite weit in many of ie tee. -: He said, human limitation in a few of the things He uttered.:

‘Infinite strength dominating all His life, and yet human: Ree weakness, making Him tired when the er s work was ove: pad Ee -

ness ae God, and entire enabled Him to touch all aie here Ve -familaly Think of that submissiveness of spirit which was always under the control of God. Think of that keen = and quick sympathy which enabled Him to project His own —

consciousness into that of others, so that in the sorrow of 3: others He was sorrowful, and in their joy He was joyful. hs:

Think of that marvellous strength that made Him the un- eo hesitating One, never deliberating, never perplexed, never wondering; but with calm, sure tread, marching through 3. all the difficulties and obstacles of life, until at last He uttered in quiet and dignified assertion the words, “All 4

puiority hath been given unto Me.” These are simply notes +

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Pee the perfections of the Christ, not now fully examined, if 1 Matt. 28. 18 The “great ia of as prinielacion jy eae ark by which He has opened the kingdom of heaven. to ais mi

all believers, and through which He takes hold of utter ae failure, and turns it into glorious success; His pardon for ee

q the sinner upon the basis of righteousness; His purity for ee “the i impure, by the communication of life; His peace and power and promise, that light the darkest day with glory; ‘i i all this comes within the compass of His work, and all is at 4 our disposal, and part of the sustenance of our spiritual fee we The utterance of scientific philosophy which reveals the ae a measure of its conclusions during the last half century is ae 3 the doctrine of the survival of the fittest. I do not deny - the accuracy of this deduction from observations made. s It undoubtedly has in it a great element of truth. Jesus ee Christ, however, in the middle of this great century, again % i faces men in the hopelessness born of such a philosophy, 7 and declares to them that He came not merely to aid in the strengthening of the fit, but principally for the salvation of 1a the unfit. Just at the point where human science and human philosophy break down, Christ enters; and by the pathway 8, of His perfect life, and the mystery of His atoning death, and the victory of His triumphant resurrection takes hold of human life, and saving man, enables him to do the things — he could not do, and mekes him master of the forces that = have mastered him. Christ is a perfect Saviour because a b He is a perfect Person, Who through the process of the — suffering of His death has provided a new force for the Se remaking of the ruined. y eS And finally, the great programme of His purpose, wich 3 a is the utter and final salvation of man, the lifting up to Himself of everything in human life, the building up of a

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God-redeemed society, the reconciliation of all things to God in this age, and in the ages to come, in the heavens, and in the earth. Salvation does not merely mean that a human being is saved from the punishment of sin to find the way into the after-glow of glory. It means all that, but it is also the process by which everything in human life, as created by God, is to be found and realised and crowned to the glory of God in the perfecting of man.

These are the great facts, feeding upon which the new life of the soul is to be strengthened and sustained. Christ is not a small matter! All the infinite mystery, and the radiant majesty, and the overwhelming magnificence of that Person are for us.

The question may now be asked, How is the soul to feed upon Christ? How are these things to become ours, not merely intellectually, but to enter into the fibre of the being, and to remake us? Three words mark the method of the soul’s feeding upon Christ — contemplation, meditation, and dedication. - First, the contemplation of Christ, then meditation upon the things seen, and finally the yielding of the life to the claim which always lies within the vision granted, the dedication of the life to Him.

Christ is the bread of life. We are to feed upon Him. To this end our first responsibility is that of contemplation. There must be time taken to “consider Him.” What a suggestive word that is! We must contemplate Him. We must see Him. We must know Him. We must make ourselves acquainted with Him. This is perhaps the most restless age that has ever been. Oh, the passionate movement of it; how it catches us, and sweeps us along ere we know it! Its perils are great, and constantly amid the stress and strain of work we long for those days of old when it ‘iS

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ITS: SUSTENANCE 33

was possible to get away from life’s activity, and spend some time in lonely contemplation of the Lord and Master. How little time we spend in the quiet, earnest effort of contemplation! In this connection it must be remembered that the fact of life is of supreme importance. Any attempt to see Christ, even in the Word, without the gift of life, will prove abortive. It is possible to study the New Testament intellectually and systematically, and never to see Jesus Christ. For the proper reading and interpretation of

the inspired Book it is necessary that there should be -

inspired readers. If we are Christ’s and the Christ is in us, then the inspiration of His inward presence will enable us

to see Him in the Word as we read it; and it is that contemplation of Him in the place of quietness and submission that is necessary if we are to feed upon Him, and He is in growing measure to become our very own.

Then secondly there must also be meditation, the thinking in the presence of the thing seen, and the bringing of the truth and the glory we have looked at into immediate relationship with all the details of our everyday life. As the glory of Christ breaks in upon the waiting soul, we must hold ourselves in the light of the glory, until the glory searches and tries us. Our life must be measured by His life, and it is a part of the process of the soul’s sustenance that we should take time to set all our life in the light of

the glory and beauty of His.

And yet once more, there must be added to contemplation and meditation honest and whole-hearted dedication. It is impossible to spend even an hour with Christ without being rebuked. The vision of His glory seen, must always reveal the shortcoming, the failure of our own life, It is impossible to commune with Him without hearing His the vision is seen, by obeying at all costs. Those wh« Christ best are most conscious of the infinite wealth, infinite glory not yet explored; and perpetually to the soul 2 who considers Him, and meditates in His presence, there will come the sound of His voice calling to something higher,

to follow Him into yet larger realisation of Himself, So when our attitude is that of a constant dedication, an ever- 2 ready answer to the claim of each new outbreak of glory from the Person of Christ, we shall feed upon Him, takeHim into our being in ever-increasing measure, and as He thus is formed in us, we shall grow up into Him in all things.. Before turning from this first thought concerning the hg food of the Christian life, let it be remembered that there a. are two things necessary, regularity and system. Tocontrast. our habits in the matter of physical and spiritual feeding 4

will often be to reveal the reason of the weakness of our “spiritual life. Some people seem only to feed upon Christ on Sunday, imagining that this is all they need of spiritual food. Others only give themselves to such feeding upon Christ when affliction overtakes them. The result is that

: occasional and spasmodic communion with Christ results “Ae. in like manifestation of Christian character. It is far more: important that the Christian should feed on Christ regularly ee: than that the physical life should be cared for. If on the a - morning of any given day through press of circumstances there is only time for one thing, the meal which supplies the necessities of the body, or the hour of communion s which sustains the strength of the spirit, the breakfast should 4 be abandoned, and the time of fellowship retained. It may safely be affirmed that where this rule is observed, the:

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conventions and conferences for the sustenance of Christian es life, under the impression that such special occasions will supply all that is necessary, perhaps, for a year. It is not by — a and regular supply of necessities. So also great conferences or conventions will by no means take the place of regular

oe er eect, meditation, and dedication. Feeding upon - iy the bread of life must be a perpetual process if indeed we a

would grow into the likeness of Christ.

Moreover, there should be system in this matter, ales here is the true work of the pastor and teacher, that of the the sheep of the pasture into that particular part thereof which is most adapted to their age, capacity, and — requirement. Every Church. should be one great Bible 3

school, and the minister’s supreme function that of teaching the Word, and so feeding the flock of God. This cannot be done by the preparation of literary disquisitions on philosophical subjects, but by careful, systematic, constant study of the Word of God, and its exposition and enforce:

ment in the companies of the saints.

The question of atmosphere is quite as important as ahae* of food. The Christian must live in the true ‘nee which is the fellowship of the Spirit. There is no essential — - difference between the indwelling Christ and the iadwelbeg ee

=+Spirit. These two phrases reveal complementary aspects s

of one truth. The Spirit’s indwelling reveals’ the Christ, and thus Christ indwells us by the Spirit. Yet if we are to understand the laws of our life, we are bound to recognise eke 8? Gorge and work of the se Spirit. When His

great banquets that physical life is maintained, but by quiet — is

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36. THELIFE OFS THEY CHRISTIAN

disciples were gathered around Him, just before His depar- - ture, Jesus breathed on them, an action at once prophetic and symbolic, indicating the Holy Spirit as the living link between Himself and those disciples. The Spirit of the Christ outbreathed by the Christ and inbreathed by the believer, becomes the link between the believer and the Christ, between the Christ life in all its fulness and the need of the believer.

The true atmosphere, therefore, of the new life is that or the Spirit of God. Life in the Spirit is life in the atmosphere which will enable us to see the Christ, to understand Him, to dedicate ourselves to Him.

The method of the Spirit may be indicated again by three words — revelation, explanation, transformation. The Spirit first reveals Christ. As the vision is seen, the Spirit explains its meaning, and applies it to the necessities of life. As the vision is obeyed, the Spirit transforms the obedient one into the likeness of the Christ revealed.

These two sets of three words stand over against each other. The Spirit’s revelation of Christ answers to the attitude of contemplation. The Spirit’s explanation of the revelation answers to our meditation on that revealed glory. The Spirit’s transformation answers to our dedication of ourselves to the explanation of the revealed glory.

Jesus said of the Spirit, “He shall take of Mine, and shall ° declare it unto you.”* The work of the Spirit is to reveal Christ. He has nothing to say to us about Himself. All that was necessary to. be said concerning Him, Christ Himself said. The method of the Spirit is at once simple and sublime. Christ in all His glory can never be revealed to any one individual at any moment. Through processes

1John 16. 14 re pon revealin is made to those given to conte new manifestation of the Master’s glory is we may ponder it, gaze upon it, look deeply into it thus occupied the Spirit continues His gracious work. Je opens the mind and heart that we may understand the — ‘vision. This explanation is the Spirit’s response to earnest meditation, applying the light and glory to all the recesses. of our life, and to all the habits and conduct of the days Such exercise will ever mean, as we have said before, the eS revelation of things to be corrected, and of new duties to be undertaken. Here is our supreme point of responsibility. — If for fear, or in response to selfish motives, we fail to obey 5 we grieve the Spirit; and not until there has been repentance and obedience will any further vision be granted. ‘lf oh the other hand we dedicate ourselves to the light by obeying ‘

its call, the Spirit completes the gracious process of His

eZ rae Thess. 5. ie ee yperation by transforming us into that which we have

seen of Christ and obeyed. ies Take one illustration only. In some moment when the heart is set upon Christ in contemplation, the Spirit reveals. the fact of His compassion. In my own experience the ‘most startling revelation that ever came to me of Chris was this revelation of His compassion. I can never forget

: the hour when the words, “He was moved with com- passion,”® long familiar as words, as a general declaration

of a truth flamed out, and flashed, and burned with a nev light and meaning that I had never seen before. When sucl revelation comes, it is ever the work of the Spirit, and our duty is not to withdraw ourselves from the fierce light, ah ee 1Jsa, 28. 10, 13 Matt. 9. 36 ees se i our service. So ipeeie, as thet cote ie responc to light, the Spirit will make that very compassion of: — part of the experience of the one thus yielded. - So also with His purity, and with everything in an a ae perfections of His person, His passion, and His Si power. We contemplate, the Spirit reveals. We meditate, the Spirit explains. Then we answer with new dedication,: and the Spirit transforms us into the realisation of the truth s revealed. So life grows into the likeness of Jesus Christ. The relation of these two facts in the sustenance of the spiritual life is as close as is the relation of atmosphere to food i in the realm of the physical. We know that aye life cannot be maintained apart from proper sustenance and —; fresh air. Shuta person off from air and he will soon lose his appetite and sicken and die, even though the best of food be; provided. There must be, and there is in Christ, perfect provision for the strengthening of the Christ life in the believer, And yet this can only be appropriated as the child of God lives in such relation with the Spirit of God as fulfils the apostolic injunction, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit.”*; ‘The two complementary injunctions in the Colossian and Ephesian Epistles reveal most clearly the inter-relation between these two phases of the subject of sustenance, The Word of Christ, standing for all the wealth of His a glory, must dwell in us. That can only be as we are filled with the Spirit Whose sacred office it is to interpret to us and realise within us the facts and forces of the life of Christ. lee life of the Christian is the Christ life. So far as our

1 Eph. 4. 30 no eee of the Grad of heaven Said, $0 ie ‘must os - there be no descent to the malarial valleys. Life must be lived on the mountain heigkts in unceasing relation to the — Spirit, Who is the one and cenly Interpreter of Christ. ae fe Some years ago I met in the south of England a dear oe friend, and looking at him was filled with sorrow asI saw at once that he was in the grasp of that insidious disease 7 a. which with deadly certainty saps away the life: After a long interval, when I was in Colorado, I saw him again and hardly knew him. The rare air of the mountains had — given him back his old strength and had made impossible —

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x ae the spread of his disease. He told me, however, that, while feeling perfectly well, it was necessary for him to stay upon 1% o those mountain heights, or the old trouble would return. Y

Let us keep ever in the mountain air. If we descend into

* the old valleys the paralysis of the past will come again. We must live in the atmosphere of the Spirit, high on the — 6s. Be coanisins of vision, and there the appetite for the bread of heaven will be strong, and feeding upon Christ we shall - “grow up in all things into Him.”* eee 2 “Tet the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” “Be: 4 filled with the Spirit.” Do not let us treat these words and 7 this study as theories merely, to be discussed and understood — “s

intellectually. From this day forward let us, as never a before, take time to contemplate, to meditate, and to

dedicate; these all, moreover, in perpetual relation to the Great Spirit of God Who grants the vision of the Christ oe and realises in all submissive souls His glorious victories. =

LEph. 4. 15