Ver. 18.-7he two apoRtle.9hip.,. Tho sense of apostleship must enter into nil true Christion work. 'fhe Lord Jesus tnkes but the rank of an apostle-speakH to his Father ae having made him an opostlo into the world. He grows up to manhood, not as other lad, in NILT.nreth, to choose Bn occupation and walk in life for himself, but to take a path ?-ivinely chosen. Ho both is sent and knows well who sent him. The highest good 1B only to be got out of the Lord Jesus by treating him according to his apostle- ship. Treating Jesus otherwise than as sent, we insult and slander him, He comes not with his own claim, but with the claim of the invisible Father. I. 'l'HE APOSTLESIIIP OF JESUS. "Thou didst send me into the world." That is the feeling of Jesus, and we must not dispute it. .Not a discourse of Jesus, not a deed of Jesus, but has stamped across it, "Sent of the Father." Sent into the world: 1. For the world:a need. None the less so because multitudes live and die, practically denying the need of Jesus. Everything depends on what is aimed at. A man may say reading and writing are not necessary because he has been able to carry bricks and mortar all his life without knowing how to read and write. But it is plain that Jesus Christ has become a necessity to many, for they have died rather than deny him. To say that we need him not only proves our own blindness and self-ignorance. God sends no causeless messengers. If human prophets, entirely of the lineage of humanity • had been enough, Jesus would never have come. 2. For the glory ef the Sender. He expressly says, "I have glorified thee on the earth." We are to judge of the Sender by the Messenger. Jesus was qualified to speak and act freely and largely, out of a heart that was in full harmony with the heart of God. He could adapt himself without the slightest hesitation or failure to the ever-varying wants of men. Many had come before him and walked and talked with men in the name of God, avowing that they were the mouthpieces of Jehovah, and beginning their addresses with, "Thus saith the Lord." But then the consciousness of an evil heart and an imperfect life was upon them all. Isaiah says, "Woe is me ... I am a man of unclean lips ! " But no one ever beard Jesus speak in this fashion. Those who have not yet beheld in Jesus the glory of the eternal God have yet to receive him in spirit and in truth. II. THE CONSEQUENT APOSTLESHIP OF THE SERVANTS OF JESUS. Jesus was going from the world, and had to send others into the world to continue his work. They must be such as the world call take knowledge of. And Jesus sellt them into the world as be himself was sent, for the world's great need and the increase of the glory of God. Then ill due season, their apostleship being over, they were gathered into the invisible. But Jesus went on sending, and has gone on sending ever since. "Mission- ary " is only a more modest word for "apostle." All of us must have some apostle- ship in us, or we can do little for Jesus. And all manifest and special apostles Wtl should ever observe and encourage, holding up their hands, and considering their appeals with understanding minds and sympathizing hearts. He who receives the apostle receives Jesus, and he who receives Jesus receives the Father who sent him.-Y. Ver. 20.-Prayer for persuaders and persuaded. I. PRAYER FOR THE PERSUADER!!. Jesus says, "Neither pray I for these alone;" that means by implication his prayer for these. Jesus prays for those who will believe on him through the word of bis servants; that me1Lns his prayer for those who will speak the word which produces the faith. Jesus had spoken to his servants in language of tenderness, energy, and strength, alto- gether unequalled. rhey had to go out on a great errand ; they had a glorious message to take; they were being made ready to taste the sweetness of a great privilege; an,l nothing was left undone that would stamp on their minds an indelible impres.sion of al! this. And in this verse the prayer of Jesus for these special servants of his comes to a transition stage. The service they had to rendor is indicated. They haJ. to go out to speak to men in such a way as that listeners would be won to give themselves up entirely to the dispo~ition of Jesus. Their word, c?ming f~om th? depths of believing hearts, filled with spiritual energy, would produce bke precious faith m others. Th"y 378 TnE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO 81 JOHN. [ell, lVI.t, 1-28.
believed, _therefore they BpOke. They believed_, therefore they .co~ld not help speaking, They believed, because they had found out theu own need as smnmg, sorrowing hum11n heing5 ; and therefore they felt sure that other sinning, sorrowing human beings would also believe when saving and comforting truth was placed in its beautiful fulnese before their eyes. J011Us is quite sure about what will happen. All through the prayer one unhroken spirit of confidence prevails. Jesus prays for those whom he is quite sure will penme.de men to believe on him. II. PRAYER FOB THE PERSUADED. Jesus sends his desires into the future that he knoWH is coming. The beginning of that future was close nt hand. Believers came by thousands. No doubt there was a something that made them so ready to hear. He who sent down the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, knew well that it would not be a ban-en day so far 88 the eliciting of human faith wa.s concerned, The glory of Pen- t.ecost was not in the mighty rushing wind or the tongues of fire; it wa.s rather in the multitude who believed, accepting the testimony of the apostles as to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And the apostles would then have to expound things more fully to these believers, attentive in the freshness of their new faith, and grateful for such a wondrous outlook into eternity. 'l'hen would they tell them how Jesus had already prayed for them, being sure of what would happen. He knew the believers were coming, and saw their coming from afar. Thus the prayer for Jesus needed its answer soon ; and it has always needed an answer. There have always been believers to pray for, and always believers needing to be prayed for, and brought into all the giving and recei,·ing that belongs to true unity. True unity is the mark of a loving, growing, joy-bringing Christianity. The discordant elements of the world make the curse of worldliness. Rivalries and antipathies fill the world. Over against this Jesus wants to see true unity-that which oomes through the free play of the individual conscience and affections. 'l'be more we live as we ought to live, the more we stretch out, as it were, hooks and eyes by which we get connected with the world at large. The individual Christian feels the sufferings and losses of others as if they were his own. The whole world of men and women is a corporate unity. .As long as there is suffering anywhere, there must be BUffering everywhere.-Y.