It is absolutely essential that Christians come
under the teaching of Christ. Indeed, I do not see how you and I can
have any true part in Christian testimony unless we are daily under
the Lord’s tuition. The fact that He is no longer on earth but in
heaven does not prevent Him teaching—on the contrary, it widens His
sphere, and enables all that belong to Him to learn from Him. In His
pathway here, the Lord taught directly and this instruction was
constrained by physical limitations, but now He teaches through the
Spirit, and His teaching is universal in its scope. It was to this
end that the Holy Spirit was given, for it is said of Him that “he
shall teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all
the things which I have said to you” (John 14: 26). But this gift
of the Spirit is more wonderful than it at first appears. Christ has
put His own Spirit into us—the “Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8: 9)—in
order that His own thoughts may be formed there. Hence “who of men
hath known the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is
in him? thus also the things of God knows no one except the Spirit
of God. But we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the
Spirit which [is] of God, that we may know the things which have
been freely given to us of God” (1 Cor. 2: 11, 12). The Holy
Spirit’s teaching is therefore no mere academic thing—as we are
taught, so we are formed according to the teaching. He teaches
in us. Thus Christ’s
teaching becomes part of our very being.
Furthermore, the teaching is
Christ Himself. What
the Spirit teaches has been first presented in the Lord Jesus in His
pathway here. Every principle that God delights in has been set
forth in Christ. All that is morally right and blessed was expressed
in Him, and God will not go outside of Him for anything. Everything
therefore that Christ teaches His people must be the expression of
Himself and it is only this that the Holy Spirit can teach in us.
The Spirit cannot encourage anything in us that was not in Christ.
He is grieved the moment we allow any thing or any way contrary to
the Lord Jesus (see Eph. 4: 30). The Spirit is in perfect harmony
with Christ, and Christ is in perfect harmony with God. We must not
then, neglect the teaching. We must never be content with knowing we
are forgiven and saved—we must go to school. We must learn daily in
the school of Christ. The great lack with us is that we are not
taught by the Spirit. We may go to a great many Bible readings, and
yet neglect the school itself. We may read a lot of books but yet
not really be learning. Are we avoiding the Lord’s living influence
over us and listening to something else instead of Him? It is a fact
that we always find time for what we want—let us then find time to
learn from Christ. Thus Mary chose “the good part” (Luke 10: 42) by
sitting at His feet and hearing His Word.
Take a lesson from daily life: suppose a
child absents himself continually from school. What is the result?
He finds that when the examination comes he is far behind the
others, and that it is impossible to make up for lost time. So it is
with us. How can we make up for the lost hours which we gave to the
world and to our own pleasure instead of to Christ? Why are we so
spiritually impoverished? Because we neglect the school! We should
be ashamed that others who have not had the advantages we have had
are far beyond us in the knowledge of Christ.
Again, I would notice that a man or woman is
known by his school: it marks him. Now there are many schools of
thought, and men like to have disciples or followers. The Greek
philosophers had their schools, and the Pharisees and Sadducees
theirs, but all such schools of men interfere with the school of
Christ, and are on altogether different lines from the teaching of
the Lord Jesus. Every Christian ought to attend the same school, and
that school is the school of Christ. Of course I am not speaking of
the education that is a necessity in connection with our daily
occupations and ordinary lives here. No, I am speaking of the moral
teaching by which we are formed as we go through life—it is in this
that we need to be taught by Christ. Only He can form the mind
aright. All the thoughts of the world are destructive to our souls.
Its ideas are on the line of the glory of man, of self–sufficiency
and self–importance. The teaching of the Spirit is exactly the
opposite. He teaches us to distrust ourselves, and to find our
sufficiency and competency in Christ. He teaches us to seek the
glory of God and not our own.
The world marvelled at Christ’s teaching and
said: “How knows this [man] letters, having never learned?” (John 7:
15). They could not possibly claim Him as one of their students—and
yet Christ made more mark in this world than any other man. He
received His education from another source altogether. Nor did the
Lord claim that His teaching was His own. He said, “My doctrine is
not mine, but [that] of him that has sent me” (John 7: 16). He
received all his thoughts from God. No wonder that they “wondered at
the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth” (Luke 4: 22).
Here was One who never desired His own will or pleasure, but that of
the One who had sent Him, and One who did not seek His own glory,
but the glory of His Father. In John 7: 18 He declares that “He that
speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but he that seeks the glory
of him that has sent him, he is true, and unrighteousness is not in
him”. There is thus nothing false about Christ and nothing wrong. He
is altogether what He says He is (see John 8: 25).
Christ was the greatest of all teachers because
he was the Son of God. He alone could reveal the Father. There were
other teachers raised up of God before Christ came, like Moses,
David and Isaiah. They taught a great deal about God and about His
will for man, but none of them could make known God as Christ did.
Only the Son could do this—He Who is in the bosom of the Father.
What an immense privilege it is then to be a student in the school
of Christ! Such pupils are soon discovered. The blind man in John
chapter nine was found out the same day that Jesus opened his eyes.
The Pharisees said after they heard him give his testimony: “Thou
art His disciple” (v28) and they reproached him with it, whereas
really they were doing him a great honour in detecting that he was a
disciple. It would be well if you and I were as easily discovered
and manifested to be in Christ’s school!
When Christ began to teach, all other teachers
had to retire. All previous teaching was elementary and preparatory.
It presented types and shadows and promises, till the Antitype and
Substance came in Christ. God has now spoken “in [the person of the]
Son” (Heb. 1: 2). Christ’s is the only school that God recognizes
today. He alone knows how to expound Moses and the prophets—“the
things concerning himself” (Luke 24: 27). No one ever taught so
clearly as Christ. All was plain, all was light. He said: “I am the
light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life” (John 8: 12)—and Christ teaches as
clearly today as ever He did. His students are well taught for the
Holy Spirit teaches the soul, not just the mind. He also teaches
with the utmost patience, and never gives up anyone as hopeless.
Why? Because the Lord’s plans for His own are nothing short of
glorious! Furthermore, Christ’s students are more intelligent than
any. Sometimes you see quite young people doing and saying the most
astonishing things. You inquire where they have learnt to act and
speak and you find they have been with the Lord and under His living
influence and teaching. The Spirit of God has free way with them.
Other believers get their thoughts from the literature and media of
this world, or from mixing socially with unbelievers. No wonder then
that they do not know how to act for the Lord when the time of
testing comes. It is the man whose daily food is Christ rather than
the thoughts of men, and who is with the Lord rather than with the
world that gets direct guidance and light by the Spirit, and has his
answer from God when the difficulties come.
Why then is this school of Christ often
avoided? Because there is no room there for the glory of man, or for
our own will. The will of God is taught in the school of Christ, not
the will of man. “If any one will come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9: 23).
That is the only way to be a follower of Christ. Now what is it to
take up one’s cross, if it is not to drop self, not simply in
certain ways and habits, but entirely? This will mean suffering and
shame in this world, but a compensation of honour and glory in the
coming day (see John 12: 26). Christ’s word to all is “learn from
me” (Matt. 11: 29). There only do we learn to be meek and lowly, and
there only can we find deliverance from restlessness. He teaches us
to take up His yoke—the will of God—and thus find rest for our
souls.
This leads me to say that discipline is
necessary in the school of Christ. He has to break our wills in
order to teach us, and this He does by chastening: “I rebuke and
discipline as many as I love” (Rev. 3: 19). Many of the most
precious lessons learnt in life have been learnt on the sick bed, or
when passing through some tremendous trial or affliction. A man
cannot learn whilst he allows his own will to work and carry him
along. Christ came to do the will of Him that sent Him, and if we
would learn from Him, we must not follow our own will but His. We
need to walk in the Spirit and not after the flesh. We need to be
constantly learning from Christ. Wisdom says: “Blessed is the man
that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of
my doors” (Prov. 8: 34). This does not mean that we have to neglect
our work and duties here, but we ought to order everything so that
we are not hindered in attending the school of Christ every day. The
Holy Spirit gives no holiday from school so long as we are in this
world, though in our folly we may often take one. We can make no
progress away from the Lord, and there is no true life except in
learning of Him.
Next I would remark that Christ’s school is marked by divine light
and certainty. The world’s philosophers say, ‘We think’ but no one
could say like Christ: “We speak that which we know, and we bear
witness of that which we have seen” (John 3: 11). In the world’s
schools you get opinions, but nothing sure; with Christ you get
absolute certainty. He said: “If any one desire to practise his
will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is of God,
or [that] I speak from myself” (John 7: 17). Of course that is often
the difficulty—we may not desire to do His will. Thus our own wills
may hinder us getting light. But the one who really desires to do
the will of God, that man shall know what His mind is. The subject
here is doctrine, but the principle applies to every facet of our
lives. Whilst others only
think this or that,
the Christian can
know—he can be
certain. Hence we read that “If therefore thine eye be single, thy
whole body will be light” (Matt. 6: 22) and “they that seek Jehovah
understand everything” (Prov. 28: 5). It is not a question of great
reasoning power, but of whether there is the desire to do the will
of God. Some may have naturally very little intellect and yet
understand when clever people are quite in the dark. There are
hundreds of opinions in the world, but only the Spirit of God can
teach you the truth. It is not simply a question of examining God’s
Word. Often when Christians want to know how to act, or what to do
in a certain difficulty, then they search the Bible for a text to
help them—but they do not seek the Lord Himself. As a consequence,
they miss their way, even though they may know the Bible from end to
end. Yet let them first get with Christ Himself and under His
present living influence and teaching and they will hear His voice
and get the guidance they need. Of course Scripture has divine
authority and ought to have more weight with us than any other
writing in the world, but we need to read it in dependence on the
Lord, and looking to Him for light. He will never guide you contrary
to the Bible, but it is sadly possible to be a reader of the Bible
and yet never really learn from Christ, never get His mind, and
never be a student in His school.
There is no reason why we should not all make
progress in the school of Christ if we would but allow the Spirit to
teach us. None is at a disadvantage, for at the very beginning of
our Christian history, God gives us His own Spirit—and the Spirit’s
great work is to teach us Christ, and to form Christ in us. Christ
says of Him: “He shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine and
shall announce [it] to you” (John 16: 14). If you walk in the
Spirit, you are sure to find the path of Christ, even if all around
you advise you differently. You will get clear of all that is false
if you let Him have His way with you. That is why Christ’s teaching
leads to unity. If we are taught by Him we shall all be found in the
same path and we shall walk together in happy fellowship. His
teaching is altogether different from the teaching and spirit of the
present day. He teaches love and His disciples are marked by it: “By
this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love
amongst yourselves … ye yourselves are taught of God to love one
another” (John 13: 35; 1 Thess. 4: 9). Christ never encouraged His
disciples to quarrel or point out each other’s faults but instead
said: “If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your
feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13: 14). It is
impossible to look down on your brother from that position!
Let us see to it then that we are characterised
by sitting daily at the feet of Christ. It is only in His school
that we shall “grow in grace, and in [the] knowledge of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3: 18)—and it is only under His
teaching that we shall be of use to Him in this dark and evil world.
