Love’s Transformations–a Communion Meditation

Love's Transformations–a Communion Meditation

(No. 1871)

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON SEPTEMBER 4, 1881.

"If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, I go unto the
Father." John 14:28.

THE loving Jesus saw a shade of sadness fall upon the faces of the 12
while He talked to them of His departure. Though He was, Himself, to
die, with His usual self-forgetfulness He only thought of them and He
desired to comfort them–to comfort them about the present sorrow of
His departure. See how skillfully, how wisely He drew upon their love
for their comfort. The most common and usual source of comfort is
Christ's love to us, but in this instance the most applicable and the
most influential source of comfort was their love to Him. He said,
therefore, to them, "If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said,
I go unto the Father." It was well and wisely spoken, for He touched
them upon a point in which they were very tender–if anything could
move them to comfort, it would be His appeal to their loyal love. He
had appealed to that, before, when He said, "If you love Me, keep My
commandments," but now, in softer, sweeter, more tender tones, He seems
to say, "If you love Me, cease your sorrow and begin to rejoice."

The Lord may give us drink from that same spring. It is a lower spring
compared with the upper spring of His own sweet love, but He may cause
it to flow most preciously so that when we are not bold enough to drink
of the higher stream, we may taste of this. If we are able to say, "You
know all things, You know that I love You," we may be cheered by that
Truth of God. "So surely as you do love Me," says Christ, "you will
rejoice rather than sorrow because I said, I go unto My Father." Oh,
what a blessed Master we serve, who quotes our love, not to blame us
for its feebleness, but to draw a happy inference from it! So much does
He desire our peace, our restfulness in His own dear Self, that even
the love we give to Him, He gives back to us and bids us find comfort
in it!

Let that stand as a preface. And now I shall deal with the text by way
of making some three or four observations upon it.

I. And the first is this–IT WILL BE MUCH FOR OUR COMFORT TO TRY TO SEE
THINGS IN CHRIST'S LIGHT. Notice the expression, "If you loved Me, you
would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father."

Christ had told them that He was about to die. He had said in very
plain language on a former occasion, "The Son of Man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes and they shall condemn Him
to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to
scourge, and to crucify Him." But now He looks at the matter in another
light. His present view of it is, "I go unto the Father." Their view of
it was, "Jesus is to die." His view of it was, "I go unto My Father."
Oh, how often our hearts would grow happy if we could but see things in
Christ's light! Let us try to do so.

For, here observe, that Christ sees through things. You and I look at
them and we see Pilate, Herod, the judgement seat, the scourge, the
Cross, the spear, the sepulcher–but Jesus looks through them and He
sees the Father's Throne and Himself exalted upon it. Could we not,
sometimes, try to see affairs in Christ's light by looking through
them? Come, Brothers and Sisters, that present affliction which seems
not to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless, afterwards yields the
peaceable fruits of righteousness! Can you not look at the,
"afterwards," and thus discern the end as the Lord does? Your present
estate is tossed about and troubled, for you are on a stormy sea, but
you are being tossed towards the port and driven, even, by the storm,
towards your desired haven! Can you not see through matters as Jesus
did? Why dwell always on this life? Can you not see what it leads to?
"The way may be rough, but it cannot be long." And then comes an
eternity of joy! Can you not spy this out? Your Lord did, for though
His passage into Glory was infinitely rougher than yours–though He had
to swim through seas of blood and breast the breakers of Hell, itself,
in His death-pangs–yet He

looked beyond all and said, "I go unto the Father." See things in
Christ's light! See the end as well as the beginning and the
middle–and you will be comforted!

Do you not see, too, that the light in which Christ sees things is such
that He notices the bearing of things? He says, in effect, "If you
could see My death as I see it–as a going unto the Father–you would
rejoice." He sees the ultimate result and bearing of things. Oh, if we
could always do the same and perceive what will come of our present
sorrow! And if we just understood what it tends to and what God means
to bring out of it all, then we should not so much see the fire as the
pure ingot that comes forth of it! Then we should not so much see the
plowing and the scattering of the seed to be buried beneath frost and
snow, but we should hear the shouts of harvest and see the yellow
sheaves gathered into the garner. Oh, to see Providences in Christ's
light!

But I do not mean to dwell upon this. I only want to throw out the
thought so that every troubled one may now think of his own case as
Christ would think of it. If you have a sorrow, how would Jesus deal
with this sorrow if it were His own? If you are, just now, in darkness,
what would be Christ's outlook from the window of faith? What would He
see as coming out of this affliction? There is no better rule for
Christian conduct than, "What would Jesus do?" I was much struck when I
saw that question hanging up in our Orphanage girls' school–"What
would Jesus do?" Friend, this is what you should do! What does Jesus
think about trial?–for according to the measure of your capacity, my
Brothers and Sisters, that is what you should think of it. Try this
holy rule and you will find the major part of your sorrows transformed
into joys. A clear understanding of the nature of our trial would lead
us to glory in tribulation! All that has to do with Jesus is joyous
when seen in His light! If you understood His passion, you would see
His Glory. If you understood His tomb, you would see His Resurrection.
If you understood His death, you would see His Throne.

II. Our second observation is this–OUR LOVE OUGHT TO GO TOWARDS OUR
LORD'S PERSON. "If you loved Me, you would rejoice." Come, my dear
Friends, gather up your thoughts a minute while I remind you that the
best love that we have should go to Jesus Christ, Himself–not so much
to His salvation, as to Himself, should our hearts fly. "If you loved
Me, you would rejoice." We do well to love Christ's house, His day, His
Bible, His Church, His service, His blood and His Throne–but we must,
above all these things, love His Person. That is the tender point; "we
love Him" and other things in Him. We love His Church for His sake; His
truth because it is His truth; His Cross because He bore it for us and
His salvation because purchased by His blood. I counsel you to pull up
the sluices of your love and let the full tide flow towards Jesus.

For, first, He is the source of all benefits. Therefore, in loving Him
you value the benefits, but you trace them to their fountainhead.
Should we love the gift better than the giver? Should the wife love her
jewels better than the beloved one who gave them? It must not be so!
Love the very Person of Jesus–the God, the Man, Emmanuel, God With Us.
Realize Him as a distinct Existence. Let Him stand before you now "with
scars of honor in His flesh and triumph in His eyes" as we sang just
now. Love Him as the Source of your hope, your pardon, your life, your
future Glory!

Loving Him, we learn to prize all His gifts the more, for he that loves
the giver values the smallest gift for the giver's sake. Your love to
the Person of Jesus will not make you think less of the benefits which
He bestows, but infinitely more. Shoot at the center of the target.
Love Him and, loving Him, you will value all that He gives.

Loving Jesus, we have Him for our own and that is a great blessing. A
man may love gold and not have it. A man may love fame and not have it.
But he that loves Christ has Christ, for certainly there was never yet
a hand of love stretched out to embrace Him unlawfully! He is the
property of all who lay hold of Him with their hearts.

Love Him, and then you will sympathize with Him. His work will awaken
your greatest interest. When His cause seems to decline, you will
grieve with Him. And when He wins the day, you will shout the victory
with Him. Love Him and you will love the souls of men. Love Jesus and
you will seek to bring sinners to Him. Nothing can do you so much good
and fit you so well for His service as to love Him. Love Him and you
will love His people, for never heart did love Christ and hate His
Church. He that loves the Head loves the members. "Everyone that loves
Him that begat, loves him, also, that is begotten of Him. We know that
we love Jesus when we love the Brethren.

Love Christ and you will have a possession which will last forever, for
other things expire, but love never fails. "Whether there are
prophecies, they shall fail; whether there are tongues, they shall
cease." But he that loves, possesses a coin that is current in the
skies. He shall go on to love forever. When the sun shall be darkened
and the stars shall fall from Heaven like withered leaves, he that
loves Jesus shall still go on to love and find in that love his Heaven!

Remember, if you love the Son, the Father will love you. That is a
precious Word of His which you will find in the 16th Chapter of John,
at the 27th Verse. There is a common Object of love between the
Believer and the Father. When you glorify Christ, the Father says,
"Amen," to what you do. There is no lover of the Christ equal to the
Father. "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His
hands." Therefore love the Son and yield all honor to Him, even as the
Father does.

If you love Him you may well do so. It is necessary–absolutely
necessary–that you should love your own Lord, for I will tell you a
secret thing, only to be whispered in the believing ear–you are
married to Him–and what is the marriage state without love? What,
then, would the Church be to Christ if she loved Him not? What a
wretched farce this union would be if there were no love between the
soul and Christ to whom it is united! You are a member of His body–
shall not the hand love the Head? Shall not the foot love the Head? God
forbid that we should be without love to Jesus Christ–love to His own
altogether lovely Self. May God the Holy Spirit work in us abundantly
to love Jesus who tenderly says, "If you loved Me, you would rejoice!"

III. My third observation is that SOMETIMES OUR SORROWS PUT A QUESTION
ON OUR LOVE. Do you not notice that it was because they were very
sorrowful, not seeing things in the Master's light, that Jesus said,
"If you loved Me, you would rejoice"? Let us try, tonight, to check the
sorrow which may be in our bosoms at this hour, since it may cast an,
"if," upon our love to Christ.

Notice that if sorrow about the loss of an earthly thing eats into your
heart, it puts an, "if," upon your love to Christ. Many are the cries
of woe–"Alas, I have lost my property! I have lost the old house in
which my fathers lived. I have lost my job! I have lost my dearest
friend!" Is it, therefore, true that because of this loss, you have no
joy left? Have you lost your Savior? I thought you called Him your
Best-Beloved and you said that He was your All–is He also gone? Did I
not hear you say, "Whom have I in Heaven but You? And there is none
upon earth that I desire beside You"? Is that true? Oh, over-burdened
heart! Oh, heavy spirit! Do you love Jesus? Then why are you
disconsolate? An, "if," comes up when we think of your despair.

So, too, when we too much repine under personal affliction, a question
is suggested. You may be ill, tonight, or you may be fearing that an
illness is coming. Or you may be in pain or weakness. Because you fear
that consumption is upon you, your heart is very heavy. Truly, it is a
sad thing to be diseased, but who sent you this? Whose will is it that
it should be so? Who is the Lord of the house? Is not the grief your
Lord's will, your Savior's will? You say you love Him and yet you will
not let Him have His way and are in a pet with Him and would dispute
His love in sending this affliction! Is that so, my Brother? Does not
that murmuring of yours put an, "if," of question upon your love to
your blessed Savior?

You say, too, that you have been trusting Him and yet you have fallen
into difficulties and straits. You do not know which way to turn and
you suspect that His Providence is not wise. Do you think so? If you
loved Him as you should, would you think so? Is there not an, "if,"
somewhere? I do not mean an, "if," about your loving Him, but about
your loving Him as you ought! I think if you loved Him as He deserves,
you would say, "The King can do no wrong. My King is kind, wise,
loving. I yield everything into His blessed hands."

And so your sorrow is occasioned by the fear of death! You go burdened
every day about death, do you? That is a poor compliment to the
Well-Beloved. I thought you loved Him! Love Him–and not wish to see
His face? It is a dark passage, is it? Oh, if the way were still
darker, since He is on the other side, let us pass through it with a
song! To be with Him where He is–are you reluctant? Reluctant to
behold His face? Reluctant to be forever in His bosom? Is there not an,
"if," somewhere?

No, your grief is not about your death–it is about those that have
died whom you loved. You cannot forgive God for taking away those you
loved so well. Who has them, Friend? Who has them? I will tell you. It
is One who, when He was here, said, "Father, I will that they, also,
whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am." He prayed for them! He
died for them! And now He has His own and you are displeased? Do you
stand fretting because Christ has His own? What? Are you pettish
because what He lent you, for a while, He has taken back? Were not your
dear ones always more His than yours? Do you love Him, then, and grudge
your child, your baby to Jesus? Do you grudge your mother, your
brother, your wife, your husband to Him that bought them with His
blood? Oh, I say again, it puts an, "if," upon your love–not on the
existence of it, but on the degree of it. If you loved Him, you would
rejoice that He sees the travail of His soul and has His saints with
Him in Glory.

IV. That brings me to the closing remark, which contains the gist of
the text. All the rest is meant to lead up to it, namely, this–that
OUR LOVE TO OUR DIVINE LORD OUGHT TO BE SUCH THAT HIS EXALTATION,

THOUGH IT SHOULD BE OUR LOSS, SHOULD, NEVERTHELESS, GIVE US UNFEIGNED
DELIGHT. I will put

this very simply before you. There is a daughter of yours in Christ and
she is fading away by consumption. She is very happy in the Lord and
full of joyful expectation. She is about to die and you are all round
the bed. You, her dear mother, stand there weeping most of all. Now,
your dear girl shall give you an explanation of my text. She says,
"Mother, do you not know that I shall soon be with the angels and shall
see the face of God, without fault? If you loved me, Mother, you would
rejoice to think that I shall be away from all this weakness and this
pain. If you love me, you will be glad to think that your child shall
be in Glory." Your girl's sweet words shall tell you what Jesus meant.
He meant, "If you loved Me very much. If you loved Me–not merely My
Presence and the comforts that I bring you, and the charm with which I
invest your earthly life–but if you loved Me, you would say, 'Blessed
Lord, we readily deny ourselves Your company and all the joy it brings
because it is better for You to be gone to the Father. It is more
glorious for You to be in Heaven than here and, therefore, we rejoice
in Your exaltation.'"

You see how it was with those disciples. I need not enlarge upon their
case. When Jesus had died and risen again– and had gone away from His
disciples, He took upon Himself the Glory which He had laid aside. The
Glory which He had with God before the world was, He reassumed at the
time when He entered Heaven! Then, too, as the God-Man, He was invested
with a new splendor. The Father said, "Let all the angels of God
worship Him," and they adored Him. New songs went up from every golden
street and all Heaven rang with, "Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!" as Christ
ascended to His Throne, To the Throne He ascends and there He sits,
King and Priest, forever enthroned until His enemies are made His
footstool. No more the bloody sweat–no more the cruel spear–no more
the dark and lonesome tomb! He is exalted above all exaltation, higher
than the kings of the earth, far above all principalities and powers
and every name that is named! We ought to be glad of this–exceedingly
glad. These disciples were bound to be glad if they loved Christ, for
though they could no more enjoy His company, could not sit at the table
with Him, could not walk through the streets with Him any more, yet it
was good for Him to be gone to Glory and, therefore, they were
compelled to rejoice!

I want, in conclusion, to draw one or two parallel cases which may be
practically applicable to yourselves.

Suppose, Beloved, that it should always be for Christ's Glory to leave
you in the dark? Would you not rejoice to have it so? A little while
ago it was so with me. A few years ago I remember preaching to you from
the text, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me," and I think that
if ever soul of mortal man knew the biter meaning of that cry, I did. I
preached hearing the clanking of my own chains while I spoke to you. It
was sad work. That night, before I went home, I knew the reason. There
came into the vestry a man as nearly insane as man could be. Despair
hung like a cloud over his countenance and, as he took my hand, he
said, "I have never met a man before that seemed to know where I am.
Talk with me." I saw him the next day and several days and, by God's
help, saved him from self-destruction. Then did I rejoice because I saw
that Christ was glorified! I would lose my Master's company, dark as
the day would be to me without it–lose it, yes, by the months
together–if it would make Him glorious in the heart of one poor
downcast man, or bring a single sinner to His feet!

Be willing to say the same, Brothers and Sisters. Love Christ and be
willing for Him to give you the cold shoulder instead of the kiss of
His lips if He might be more glorified! God bring us to reach that
state of self-denial to be willing to forego that greatest luxury of
Heaven for which angels themselves pine–the Presence of the Lord–if
thereby Jesus may be the better served.

Well, now, suppose that you are going to be laid aside, afflicted,
troubled and it should be God's intent that by this you should become
more useful and more fitted for His service? If you love Him, you will
rejoice at this. You will accept chastisement with thankfulness and
say, "Lay on the stripes! Multiply the pain! Only fashion me so that I
can glorify You! Make no account of anything else but this–that You
may be exalted in my mortal body whether I live or whether I

die!"

It is possible, dear Friend, that you are going to be eclipsed by one
who has a brighter light than any God has yet given you. None of us
like this. Somebody is coming forward who will preach better than you.
That Sunday school teacher is going to teach better than you. Somebody
near you will display more Grace and more gifts than you. What then? If
you love Jesus you will rejoice that it should be so! Do you remember
what Paul did? There were some who

preached Christ out of contention and ill-will and wanted to get the
better of Paul. They desired that their names would be cried up above
the Apostles. "Ah," said Paul, "so long as Christ is preached I
rejoice, yes, and will rejoice!" Well spoken, Paul!

I like the valor of the soldier who helped to fill the ditch with his
dead body that his captain might march to victory. Throw yourselves
into oblivion that Jesus may triumph! It were a small sacrifice for all
the Church to die a martyr's death if Jesus were but raised one inch
the higher among men! Let us exhibit the self-denying spirit which is
born of love. "If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, I go
unto the Father."

Suppose that it should also happen that some of you are going to be
deprived of all the privileges of hearing the Gospel because you are
going away to a foreign land? You are extremely sorry, but suppose that
Jesus means to make use of you to advance His Glory among the
heathen–by naming His name where it was never known before? Then you
may rejoice in banishment, rejoice to deny yourselves Gospel
privileges, rejoice to be scattered far and wide by mountain, stream
and sea so that you might bring forth a harvest to His Glory!

Brethren, if you should be sinking lower and lower in your own esteem,
be not sorry for it. If Christ is rising higher and higher in your
esteem, count it all gain! Sink, O self, down to death and the abyss!
Sink, sink, till there is nothing left of you! Go down, pride,
self-conceit, self-trust, self-seeking! Go even though your going
should cause despondency, so long as Christ is crowned! Sink, sink,
Soul, if Jesus rises! If you can trust Him better, love Him better and
admire Him more, so let it be!

As you come to His Table, say in your hearts, "Lord, make me glad, or
make me sad, so long as You are exalted! Lord, let me have Your
presence, but let me be without it, so long us You are exalted and
extolled!"
__________________________________________________________________