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THE K I N G ' S B U S I NE S S
January, 1938
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with tremendous conviction upon those who heard them. The implication seemed to be given that He was disowning His own mother. But this, we know, was far from the truth. With Him, the will of God was supreme. And any one who identified him self with that will of God, the Lord Jesus would acknowledge as being related to Him in a deeper sense than could be had through any human kinship (v. 35). The touchstone for companionship with our Lord is simply one’s attitude toward the will of God which our Lord came to fulfill. Our Lord had no will apart from His Father’s, nor can those associated with Him assert their own desires. In the meas ure in which we give ourselves to the ful fillment of the Father’s purposes shall we have the Lord’s power and blessing in our lives. Points and Problems 1. “He spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him” (Mk. 3:9). W e might carelessly suppose that One who had the power to heal men in tantly o f their diseases would not need to call upon men for help to keep from being overwhelmed by the crowd. Of course He had the power to do both. But the rule of our Lord’s ministry, during the days of His humiliation on earth, was not to employ His omnipotent power for Him self, but always for others. 2. "He straitly charged them that they should not make him known” (v. 12). In reading this verse, we generally place the emphasis in the wrong place, stressing the last three words “ make him known.” The words to be emphasized are “them” and “they.” Our Lord did not want testimony from the demonic world, for two reasons: First, He knew that such testimony would only give His enemies further occasion to accuse Him of being in league with the underworld of Satan. And second, He was perfectly familiar with the great principle that to be effective, the testimony of the lips must be reenforced by the testimony of the life. The demons may believe, as James declares, but their testimony has no moral or spiritual value. W e need to re member this. 3. “ And he ordained twelve” (v. 14). The English word “ ordain” occurs a num ber o f times in the New Testament, but nowhere does it ever refer to the special service that we today call “ Ordination.” In this particular passage it should be trans lated “appointed.” 4. Verses 13 to 15 contain a ‘very sugges tive series of actions on the part of our Lord with reference to His disciples. First, He called them. It was a sovereign call— “ whom he would” ; and an effective call— “they came.” Second, He appointed them. And the meaning undoubtedly is to a spe cial service. Third, He brought them into personal fellowship. They were to be “ with him.” Until we have been “ with him,” there is little use in our going out to try to serve Him. Fourth, He sent them to minister to lost men. It is not enough to g o ; we must be sent. Fifth, He invested them with power. The power of God does
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the world could be met in one generation, if Christians would but yield to His leader ship. II. T he C hoice of C ompanions (13-19) Notable honor was bestowed upon these disciples when the Lord Jesus called them to HimJ\,(vs. 13-15). It was His choice, not theirs, for He “calleth unto him whom he would,” and “ they came unto him.” Of the number whom He called, He or dained twelve for special positions. They were to be apostles, and they needed par ticular training. They would henceforth have a new Master, a new message, and a new ministry. He still calls for volun teers for service, and He ordains all who answer that call. These companions are named for us (vs. 16-19), and of four of them some particu lar fact is recorded. W e are told, for ex ample, that Simon was surnamed Peter and that James and John were called “the sons of thunder” ; and Judas is distinguished by the words, “ which also betrayed him.” It is a great mystery that Judas should have been chosen, being what he was, and yet our Lord certainly had full knowledge of what he was and what he would do. From outward appearances, Judas was as fully surrendered to the Lord as were any of the other chosen ones. But outward appear ances have little to do with one’s inner atti tude toward God. The Scriptures, in their prophetic aspect, are history written before the events actual ly take place. But they do not force any individual to act in the way which they assert his actions will take. God is as cer tain of what is to occur tomorrow—more certain indeed-—than we are sure of what happened yesterday. Looking down through the years, God saw what Judas would do. And He declared these facts with as much accuracy as though they already had been fulfilled. Judas might have changed and refused to do what he did, but God knew that Judas would' not change. He is the Omniscient One. III. T h e D istin c tio n of t h e C o m pa n io n s (31-35) When told that His relatives were out side the house “calling him” (vs. 31, 32), the Lord Jesus replied: “Who is my mother, or my brethren ? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!” (vs. 33, 34). The words must have fallen
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