James Nisbet Commentary - John 13:13 - 13:13

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James Nisbet Commentary - John 13:13 - 13:13


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

THE CALL TO SERVICE

‘Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.’

Joh_13:13

The underlying foundation for every call to a definite step in the Christian life must be the plain teaching of our Lord Himself.

I. If we ask what Christ saves men for, we find it summed up in a sentence thus: That we ‘might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life’ (Luk_1:74-75). A life of service, fearlessly and happily rendered; with a heart that belongs to Him, and conduct that glorifies Him; lived out in His conscious Presence, and lasting to our last day on earth; that is the purpose He has for His people, that is the aim of His salvation, which must be ours if we would satisfy His heart and fulfil His good will for us.

II. There can be no doubt that the call to service could only be obeyed where the life is surrendered, the will submitted, the heart yielded to the Lord. That the disciples did so obey and follow Christ, shows how they understood His claims upon them; and how His demands took the first place, and all else the second, in their lives. Nor must we put aside the point of the Saviour’s call, by supposing that He may so call some, but not all, of His professed people. That we all owe Him service is a matter granted without controversy; and that service can only be rendered by obeying this call is equally clear, when we hear Him say: ‘If any man serve Me, let him follow Me’ (Joh_12:26). The call to follow Him is therefore binding on all His servants, as the call to serve is on all His redeemed people. Thus His demand, ‘Follow Me,’ lays upon every professed child of God the call to personal consecration.

III. Christ’s purpose for all whom He has drawn near to Him and pardoned, and His claim upon them, is nothing less than absolute submission to His rule, surrender to His demands, service to His will. The very titles He assumes are enough to settle the matter. He is a King: and He can expect no less than His ancestor and prototype received, when ‘all Israel obeyed him. And all the princes, and the mighty men, and all the sons likewise of king David, submitted themselves unto Solomon the king’ (1Ch_29:23-24). He is a Lawgiver, and He is a Leader: so then there can be due to Him no less honour than was given by Israel to their lawgiver and their leader when they said: ‘According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee. All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go” (Jos_1:17; Jos_1:16). He is a Ruler or Lord with a yoke of dominion, real though easy to be borne; and He is a Teacher, with authority over His scholars and a task to appoint them, though it be light for meek and lowly learners. Then He may well say to us, as to His disciples: ‘Ye call Me Master (Teacher, R.V. marg.) and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.… I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.… If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them’ (Joh_13:13; Joh_13:15; Joh_13:17).

Rev. Hubert Brooke.

Illustration

‘The matter was practically illustrated once by Pasteur Theodore Monod under the following figure: A man is passing out of a hall, and sees some one in front of him drop a piece of paper. He picks it up and discovers that it is a five-pound note. He hesitates a moment as to how he shall deal with it, and then says: “I will give that man who dropped it one pound, and I will keep four.” But of course his conscience interposes, and tells him that that will not do. “Well,” he resumes in thought, “I will give him four, and only keep one pound.” Conscience objects again and insists on more than this. At last, with a sigh, the finder says: “Then I will do a grand thing; I will consecrate the whole five pounds to the man who lost it.” But any one who had heard his thoughts would say that it was no very grand thing after all, but a mere matter of ordinary honesty, to give the man what was his own. The story fits well enough for the subject we have in view. In truth the matter of personal consecration is reduced to the simple element of honesty. You have found yourself to be the ransomed and purchased possession of the Saviour; what then will you do with this treasure? Be honest, and you can only do one thing: give the possession to Him Who purchased it, and treat it henceforth as His, not yours.’