A Faithful Witness.
After the ascension of Christ, John stands forth as a faithful, earnest laborer for the Master.With the other disciples he enjoyed the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and with fresh zeal and power he continued to speak to the people the words of life, seeking to lead their thoughts to the Unseen.He was a powerful preacher, fervent, and deeply in earnest.In beautiful language and with a musical voice he told of the words and works of Christ, speaking in a way that impressed the hearts of those who heard him.The simplicity of his words, the sublime power of the truths he uttered, and the fervor that characterized his teachings, gave him access to all classes.
The apostle's life was in harmony with his teachings.The love for Christ which glowed in his heart led him to put forth earnest, untiring labor for his fellow men, especially for his brethren in the Christian church.
Christ had bidden the first disciples love one another as He had loved them.
Thus they were to bear testimony to the world that Christ was formed within, the hope of glory."A new commandment I give unto you," He had said, "That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."John 13:34.At the time when these words were spoken, the disciples could not understand them; but after they had witnessed the sufferings of Christ, after His crucifixion and resurrection, and ascension to heaven, and after the Holy Spirit had rested on them at Pentecost, they had a clearer conception of the love of God and of the nature of that love which they must have for one another.Then John could say to his fellow disciples:
"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us:
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."After the descent of the Holy Spirit, when the disciples went forth to proclaim a living Saviour, their one desire was the salvation of souls.They rejoiced in the sweetness of communion with saints.They were tender, thoughtful, self-denying, willing to make any sacrifice for the truth's sake.In their daily association with one another, they revealed the love that Christ had enjoined upon them.By unselfish words and deeds they strove to kindle this love in other hearts.
Such a love the believers were ever to cherish.They were to go forward in willing obedience to the new commandment.So closely were they to be united with Christ that they would be enabled to fulfill all His requirements.Their lives were to magnify the power of a Saviour who could justify them by His righteousness.
But gradually a change came.The believers began to look for defects in others.Dwelling upon mistakes, giving place to unkind criticism, they lost sight of the Saviour and His love.They became more strict in regard to outward ceremonies, more particular about the theory than the practice of the faith.In their zeal to condemn others, they overlooked their own errors.They lost the brotherly love that Christ had enjoined, and, saddest of all, they were unconscious of their loss.They did not realize that happiness and joy were going out of their lives and that, having shut the love of God out of their hearts, they would soon walk in darkness.
John, realizing that brotherly love was waning in the church, urged upon believers the constant need of this love.His letters to the church are full of this thought."Beloved, let us love one another," he writes; "for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."Of the special sense in which this love should be manifested by believers, the apostle writes: "A new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes." "This is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."It is not the opposition of the world that most endangers the church of Christ.It is the evil cherished in the hearts of believers that works their most grievous disaster and most surely retards the progress of God's cause.
There is no surer way of weakening spirituality than by cherishing envy, suspicion, faultfinding, and evil surmising.On the other hand, the strongest witness that God has sent His Son into the world is the existence of harmony and union among men of varied dispositions who form His church.
This witness it is the privilege of the followers of Christ to bear.But in order to do this, they must place themselves under Christ's command.Their characters must be conformed to His character and their wills to His will.
