Reference The Epistle to the Colossians Reference I. 1, 2. T. F. Crosse, Sermons (2nd Series), p. 219. Temporal and Spiritual Habitations Colossians 1:2 Focussed together, as by the lenses of a double lantern, we see at once the actual and ideal condition of these Asiatic Christians. They were in Colossae, a small town in a Phrygian valley, much decayed from its former greatness, overshadowed by its more important neighbours. Of all the places to which the Apostle directed his letters it was of the least significance to the world, yet of supreme importance to itself. Turn to the other picture. These Christians were in Christ. There is a circle within a circle here; they were in Christ in Colossae. It became a different place as they looked at it from the shelter of Christ. I. Wherever our Colossae is we rarely look out upon it with quite clear and unprejudiced eyes. Our vision is coloured by our moods and fancies; we see it through the medium of our thoughts, passing tempers, and abiding purposes, and our reaction upon it largely depends upon the quality of this inward thought world, the faith that is the spiritual home of the soul. Although the outward facts seem terribly hard and set, it is surprising how small a difference in our hearts it takes to transform them. We write 'home' upon one house in a monotonous red brick row, and it becomes a living poem to us. We do our daily walk to the accompaniment of some thrilling thought, and it sets our feet to music where they have often dragged wearily. II. It is only the inward wealth of life that can transform our world. As it is not what enters into the man, but what comes out from him, that defiles him, so it is what comes out from us that saves and redeems our daily living. Our inward faith does not simply make the world look differently, it actually changes it. The purity of the home cleanses the city. The soul that dwells in the secret place of the Most High reshapes its Colossae, and all things are new because of its inward renewing. W. Charter Piggott, Sunday School Chronicle, XXXVI. p. 300. References. I. 2. Expositor (5th Series), vol. vi. p. 2; ibid. vol. vii. p. 66. I. 3. R. W. Riley, A Year's Sermons, vol. ii. p. 257. I. 5. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv. No. 1438. I. 5, 6. Penny Pulpit, vol. vii. p. 145. I. 9. Bishop Creighton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvi. p. 243. H. P. Wright, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xviii. p. 277. T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. iv. p. 23, 31. Expositor (5th Series), vol. viii. p. 404. I. 9, 10. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxix. No. 1742. I. 9-11. E. A. Stuart, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxi. p. 305. I. 10. J. Weller, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvii. p. 190. F. St. John Corbett, The Preacher's Year, p. 173. Expositor (7th Series), vol. vi. p. 275. I. 11. Ibid. (6th Series), vol. xi. p. 292. I. 12. J. Cumming, Penny Pulpit, No. 1510, p. 217. R. Higinbotham, Sermons, p. 67. W. J. Brock, Sermons, p. 61. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvii. No. 2751. Expositor (5th Series), vol. x. p. 156. I. 12, 13. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi. No. 319. I. 13. E. A. Stuart, His Dear Son and Other Sermons, vol. v. p. 1. F. Bourdillon, Plain Sermons for Family Reading (2nd Series), p. 173. Expositor (5th Series), vol. vi. p. 158; ibid. (6th Series), vol. viii. p. 155. I. 14. W. Redfern, The Gospel of Redemption, p. 83. R. J. Campbell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvii. p. 6. W. R. Evans, Sermons far the Church's Year, p. 271. R. J. Campbell, A Faith for Today, p. 227. Marcus Dods, Christ and Man, p. 140. I. 15. Expositor (4th Series), vol. x. p. 39; ibid. (5th Series), vol. ii. p. 86; ibid. (6th Series), vol. x. p. 198. I. 16, 16. Ibid. vol. i. p. 399. I. 15-17. Ibid. vol. iv. p. 119. I. 15-21. Ibid. p. 136. Christ and the Creation Colossians 1:16 A very narrow notion of the functions of Christ is afloat in the atmosphere of popular religious thought, though not perhaps formulated into dogmatic phrases. According to this, our Lord is virtually regarded as limited in work, and even in nature, to the mission of redemption. Such an idea implies that the existence of Christ is dependent on the existence of sin; that if there had been no evil there would have been no Saviour; that the very being of the Son of God is but an expedient required for the deliverance of man. So stated, the doctrine must be considered by all Christians as monstrous. In the Bible an infinitely larger range is given to the work and nature of Christ. If there had been no sin, Christ would still have visited the world in some way of Divine goodness. He came in the creation before the birth of sin. I. The Relation of Christ to Creation. The relation of Christ to creation is threefold: (a) In Christ is the fundamental basis of creation. All things were made 'in' Him, i.e. His thoughts are the archetypes of the worlds and their contents, and the genesis of them follows the principles of His nature. (b) Christ is the instrumental agent of creation. All things were made 'through' Him. He is the Mediator in creation as well as in redemption. (c) Christ is the end of creation. All things were made 'unto' Him, i.e. they grow into His likeness, they move upwards towards the realisation of His life (Christ in His human earthly nature was the highest development of the upward movement of creation), they are destined to serve and glorify Him. II. The Scope and Range of Christ's Work. The scope and range of the work of Christ was universal in creation. It included (a) all things, visible and invisible, i.e. physical and spiritual existences, or things within our observation and the infinite population of the regions of space beyond; (6) all orders of beings, thrones, etc., none too great for His power, none too small for His care; (c) every variety and every individual. Different classes are specified. Creation is not a work merely of general laws, it implies individual formation under them. All this vast and varied work is ascribed to Christ as its foundation, its efficient instrument, and its end. III. We Learn: 1. As regards Christ (a) His pre-existence. This does not involve the eternity of His human nature, which surely began to be when 'the Word was made flesh'. That which was Divine in Christ was before all things. The Christ-side of God, all that is so touching and so winning in the marvellous revelation of God in Jesus, is no new phase of His character. It was before the sterner revelation of Sinai. It is eternal (Hebrews 13:8 ). (b) His glory. All that is great and beautiful in creation glorifies Him through Whom it came into existence. 2. As regards the Creation. (a) This must be in harmony with Christ. Therefore we must interpret its darker phases by what we know of the spirit and character of Christ: and we must expect that ultimately its laws and forces will make for Christianity, breathing benedictions on the faithful followers of Christ, and bringing natural penalties on those who rebel against His rule. (6) We should endeavour to trace indications of the spirit and presence of Christ in nature. References. I. 16. Expositor (4th Series), vol. iv. p. 428; ibid. vol. vi. p. 262; ibid. (5th Series), vol. vii. pp. 31, 146. I. 16-18. Bishop Stubbs, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvii. p. 86. J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. ii. p. 8. I. 17. Expositor (6th Series), vol. xi. p. 447. The Pre-eminent Lord Colossians 1:18 This is characteristically Paul's doctrine. The supremacy of Christ is to his mind the only possible outcome of His Saviourhood. In his consciousness the cross is the foundation of the throne, and he is jealous that all who share in the saving benefits of Christ's death should give Him that place in heart and life to which He is rightly entitled. For himself this has long been the secret of his life's strength and explanation of the fruitfulness of his service. Christ is to him the 'Lord of all'. He is 'before all things,' and over all things exercises His beneficent control. 'For Jesus' sake,' expresses the governing motive of his whole life. 'The Man Christ Jesus' comprehends his entire message, and to be well-pleasing unto Him is his supreme aim. In the light of His preeminence he interprets all the providences of life, and even when fettered he is but 'the prisoner of Jesus Christ'. His outlook, too, is bounded by the pre-eminent Lord, for 'we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ,' is the triumphant expectancy with which he both encourages himself and his fellows. Past, present, and future hold alike for him nothing which is not directly related to the Lord, Whose he is and Whom he serves. And it is this same preeminence to which Christ is entitled on the part of all who call Him Saviour that is the Apostle's keen desire. He would enthrone Him in the life of the congregation and the individual alike, recognising Him as the Master of assemblies and as the King of the heart. I. It is chiefly in regard to its personal significance that this desire of the Apostle needs to be laid to heart, for after all the Church is but an aggregation of individuals. If the life of the unit be right, the life of the congregation will not long be deficient. Hence the most important consideration is as to the securing of the preeminence of Jesus in the lives of individual believers, and nothing is more heart-searching and wholesome than the personal query as to the relative position which He occupies in our lives. For Christians are mainly divisible into three classes those who give Him place, those who give Him prominence, and those who give Him preeminence. II. The importance of giving to Christ this His rightful place is attested by the fact of common experience that that which is pre-eminent in thought and affection exercises the strongest formative influence in the cultivation of character. This is seen when men make money, pleasure, ambition, or success the pre-eminent thing in life, and devote to it their best strength of thought and energy. Character deteriorates, powers of vision become dim, and holier impulses are killed at the birth, until that to which preeminence has been voluntarily given becomes the absolute master. It is a man's own safety and highest good, as well as the honour of Christ, which is determined by the place he assigns to the Son of God. III. The preeminence of the Saviour affords us too an explanation of many of the mysteries of life which, apart from His supremacy, are hard and indeed almost impossible to understand. But let it not be thought that the actual preeminence of Jesus in any life is a mere inference from truth, a mere philosophic acceptance of doctrine, or a mere prospect of faith and hope. Let it never be forgotten that it is rather a definite consecration in expression of personal indebtedness the response of a love which constrains. Professor Drummond used to tell of an invalid girl whose life, so unruffled in its peace and fragrant with the beauty of holiness, was a constant source of wonderment to those who knew her pain and were acquainted with her circumstances. After her death the secret was discovered. A small locket which had hung about her neck was found to contain the words, 'Whom having not seen I love!' The preeminence of Jesus Christ is the preeminence which love will ever give to the One of its choice, however costly it proves. J. Stuart Holden, The Pre-eminent Lord, p. 3. Colossians 1:18 Many years ago the late Dr. Howson, then Dean of Chester, one of Simeon's latest hearers, gave me a vivid reminiscence of his own. Trinity Church was crowded as usual, aisles as well as pews.... The text was Colossians 1:18 : 'That in all things He might have the preeminence'. One passage was written for ever on the listener's heart by the prophetic fire of the utterance, as the old man seemed to rise and dilate under the impression of the Master's glory: 'That He might have the preeminence! And He will have it! And He must have it! And He shall have it!' Bishop Moule, Life of Simeon, pp. 94, 95. Colossians 1:18 The Christian will never call it religion to keep, like Septimius Severus, a bust of Christ in his private chapel, 'along with Virgil, Orpheus, Abraham, and other persons of the same kind'. He claims to address himself to a Being made human enough to give our love a place to cling, but remaining Divine in His perfection, in His illuminating and responsive power. F. W. H. Myers, Modern Essays, p. 303. References. I. 18. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv. No. 839. F. B. Proctor, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xix. p. 320. R. J. Drummond, Faith's Certainties, p. 81. Expositor (6th Series), vol. x. p. 113. I. 19. C. O. Eldridge, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xvii. p. 222. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii. No. 978. A. Whyte, The Scottish Review, vol. iii. p. 526. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx. No. 1169. 1. 19, 20. Expositor (4th Series), vol. i. p. 140; ibid. vol. vi. pp. 31, 420. I. 20. G. Campbell Morgan, The Bible and the Gross, p. 101. Expositor (4th Series), vol. v. p. 436; ibid. (5th Series), vol. viii. pp. 136, 144; ibid. (6th Series), vol. vi. p. 248. I. 21. W. H. Griffith Thomas, The Record, vol. xxvii. p. 800. A. Berry, The Doctrine of the Gross, p. 83. I. 21, 22. G. Campbell Morgan, The Bible and the Gross, p. 37. I. 22, 28. Expositor (5th Series), vol. vi. p. 69. I. 23. H. Allen, Penny Pulpit, No. 1763, p. 423. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii. No. 1688. J. Keble, Village Sermons on the Baptismal Service, p. 189. Colossians 1:24 It has been said that the one infallible note of all false Christs and of all anti-Christs, of all and indeed the only false Gods, however they may be disguised by trappings of royalty, is the absence of a crown of thorns. And certainly the men who have, above all other men, set God before the eyes of an unwilling world, have shared that crown. W. S. Palmer, The Diary of a Modernist, p. 16. 'That Which Is Behind of the Afflictions of Christ' Colossians 1:24 St. Paul was accustomed to urge upon his converts, men and women, who would all in one way or another experience the fulfilment of the Lord's words, 'In the world ye shall have tribulation,' that they should nevertheless be of good cheer. 'Rejoice in the Lord always,' so he taught, and like Chaucer's poor parson, he followed it himself. When we speak about sufferers that we know, we think it high praise to say, 'How perfectly patient they were'! Here is a higher note, not patience, but joy. There were personal reasons for this, no doubt. He knew well that his sufferings had been the means of his receiving a fuller measure of that life of grace which strengthens the soul. That was a cause for rejoicing, but it was not the chief, not the uppermost in his mind. It is a quite unselfish delight that we have here in these difficult words, difficult because does it not come upon us with a shock to hear that there was anything lacking in the afflictions of Christ? Yet 'I fill up on my part that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ'. The words are quite plain, they clearly state that there is something wanting in the afflictions borne by Christ. How can that be so? And, if so, can any man's be counted with His to fill up the deficiencies? We may nevertheless make a distinction in the Saviour's sufferings. There were those which no man could share when He trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with Him; but the Greek word that is used in the text is not the word in the New Testament in connection with the atoning work of Christ. It tells of afflictions of body and of mind which came upon Him as a holy and self-denying Person, in the midst of a corrupt and selfish world, born as one of the great human family, and to these there was something left to add. Yes, it is for us to say, 'I fill up on my part that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body's sake, which is the Church'. I. Our Relation to Christ. But, then, what I bear for the sake of others, these are my afflictions. How can they fill up His? Can they be mine without being His? Depend upon it, unless being a member of His body is but a phrase, is but a metaphor, your sufferings are His. To understand that we must understand our oneness with Jesus Christ our Lord. There are different kinds of unions. (a) External union. There is a merely external union, as when you add one more stone to the fabric which rises from the ground. It is an integral part, one with the whole, but what is that unity compared with the unity which takes place when you graft upon a stock a living shoot, that becomes part of the tree? (b) Vital union. There is union, not local, but vita], and the sap circulates through the new limb. You injure it now and you injure it not alone, you injure the tree itself. This is a union of that kind, vital, that the baptised believer has with the Saviour. 'I am the Vine, and ye are the branches. Cut off from Me, you wither; abiding in Me, you bear much fruit.' And so, because we are one with Christ in that living way, He truly shares in our sufferings. Can the body be injured and the head suffer nothing? Wound a limb and the brain quivers with pain. In all our afflictions He is afflicted. What a different aspect our troubles would wear if that was realised! II. St. Paul's Sufferings. How and when did St Paul learn to identify himself so confidently with Christ that he could speak of his own sufferings for the Church as actually Christ's sufferings? I think we know in the blinding splendour of that revelation on the road to Damascus, when he lay, proud Pharisee as he was, prostrate on the earth in the midst of his astonished train. There stood before him, seen by him alone, the majestic, reproachful Christ the Lord. 'Saul, why persecutest thou Me'? He never had done so literally; still the sad voice said, 'Saul, why persecutest thou Me'? It was because he gloried in persecuting the Church, gloried in a pitiless harrowing of the poor souls who clung to the Lord, that Christ could never forget that they were members of the Lord and their sufferings were His, for 'Inasmuch as ye did it to the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me'. That was a crushing thought to Saul the persecutor; it was joy to Paul the Apostle. 'Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.' Poor flesh it was, so weary and weatherbeaten, so scarred with the rough handling of the world; but the great, brave heart, so fixed on God, so full of enthusiasm for the Master, cried, 'I rejoice for His body's sake, the Church'. So you see it was an unselfish joy. His afflictions were for the sake of the brethren. Bodily Suffering Colossians 1:24 Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ came by blood as well as by water, not only as a fount of grace and truth the source of spiritual light, joy, and salvation but as a combatant with sin and Satan, who was 'consecrated through suffering'. He was, as prophecy had marked Him out, 'red in His apparel, and His garments like Him that treadeth in the wine-fat'; or, in the words of the Apostle, 'He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood'. It was the untold sufferings of the Eternal Word in our nature. His body dislocated and torn, His blood poured out, His soul violently separated by a painful death, which has put away from us the wrath of Him whose love sent Him for that very purpose. This only was our atonement; no one shared in the work. He 'trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with Him'. When lifted up upon the cursed tree, He fought with all the hosts of evil, and conquered by suffering. Thus, in a most mysterious way, all that is needful for this sinful world, the life of our souls, the regeneration of our nature, all that is most joyful and glorious, hope, light, peace, spiritual freedom, holy influences, religious knowledge and strength, all flow from a fount of blood. A work of blood is our salvation; and we, as we would be saved, must draw near and gaze upon it in faith, and accept it as the way to heaven. We must take Him, who thus suffered, as our guide; we must embrace His sacred feet, and follow Him. No wonder, then, should we receive on ourselves some drops of the sacred agony which bedewed His garments; no wonder, should we be sprinkled with the sorrows which He bore in expiation of our sins! And so it has ever been in very deed; to approach Him has been, from the first, to be partaker, more or less, in His sufferings; I do not say in the case of every individual who believes in Him, but as regards the more conspicuous, the more favoured, His choice instruments, and His most active servants; that is, it has been the lot of the Church, on the whole, and of those, on the whole, who had been most like Him, as Rulers, Intercessors, and Teachers of the Church. He, indeed, alone meritoriously; they, because they have been near Him. Thus, immediately upon His birth, He brought the sword upon the infants of His own age at Bethlehem. His very shadow, cast upon a city, where He did not abide, was stained with blood. His blessed mother had not clasped Him to her breast for many weeks, ere she was warned of the penalty of that fearful privilege: 'Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also'. Virtue went out of Him; but the water and the blood flowed together as afterwards from His pierced side. From among the infants He took up in His arms to bless, is said to have gone forth a chief martyr of the generation after Him. Most of His Apostles passed through lifelong sufferings to a violent death. In particular, when the favoured brothers, James and John, came to Him with a request that they might sit beside Him in His kingdom, He plainly stated this connection between nearness to Him and affliction. 'Are ye able,' He said, 'to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptised with the baptism that I am baptised with?' As if He said, 'Ye cannot have the sacraments of grace without the painful figures of them. The cross, when imprinted on your foreheads, will draw blood. You shall receive, indeed, the baptism of the Spirit, and the cup of My communion, but it shall be with the attendant pledges of My cup of agony, and My baptism of blood.' Elsewhere He speaks the same language to all who would partake the benefits of His death and passion: 'Whosoever doth not bear hip cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple'. J. H. Newman. References. I. 24. Bishop Gore, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liii. p. 372. J. H. Jowett, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxi. p. 324. Expositor (6th Series), vol. iii. p. 377; ibid. vol. iv. p. 13; ibid. vol. viii. p. 265. I. 24-27. Ibid. vol. viii. p. 235. I. 26. Ibid. (4th Series), vol. i. p. 32; ibid. (6th Series), vol. iv. p. 394. The Hope of Glory Colossians 1:27 Christ in you the hope! Now why does St. Paul say that of the secrets of God. And remember the mysteries of God are the revealed secrets that He has stooped down and whispered to our ears. 'God stooping shows sufficient of His light for us in the dark to rise by,' the poet Browning said. But why does St. Paul say that this is a gloriously rich mystery? I. First of all, it is the hope of what all men want and few men get, and that is Power. Do you want the first thing that everyone who understands life really wants, and that is power? Then have Christ in you, Christ in you, not outside you, that is not enough. You may respect Christ, you may think well of religion, you may speak well of the clergy because they do so much good social work in your district; but that is not power. If you have been brought by the Holy Spirit here, it is that Christ without you may be changed into Christ within you, and that you, too, may be strong like those people, you, too, may no longer be a useless person in your district making, very likely, your home miserable by your temper, or your friends miserable by your weakness, and useless in the Church down here by your sloth and want of power to witness. All that may be changed to-night and you may flame away down here for years, one of the brilliant hopes of the Church, but it will not be unless Christ without you becomes Christ within you Christ in you the hope of power. II. But that is not all. Not only is Christ within you and this is the second reason why this secret is worth knowing not only is it that Christ within you is the secret of power, but also the secret of growth. It is like the blazing sun coming down upon a rather unsatisfactory field of corn; and the blazing sun brings out the ripeness and the richness of the corn; it brings on the whole crop in the field the blaze of the sun does the work. III. Again, I am going to use a word now which has a very distasteful sound in some people's ears, and that is the word 'holiness'. I believe if you were offered, some of you, the choice of whether you would prefer to have said of you, He is the holiest man or holiest woman in Willesden, or the most attractive and the most agreeable, nine out of ten would choose the second at the bottom of their souls, because they do not understand this: that holiness, if you can get it pure, is the most winning thing in the world; that goodness, when it is unalloyed, simply draws like a magnet, and that when we are put off a holy man or holy woman it is because of the dross and not the gold; because the gold is mixed up with some dross of manner, of self-centredness, or priggishness which puts us off the holiness. But get the holiness and goodness pure, and it wins the world. How are we 'to get to glory?' to use an old expression which has rather died out now. Christ in you the hope of glory; Christ in you the secret of holiness. And because the secret of power and progress and holiness, therefore the hope of glory. Christ in you the hope of glory! Bishop Winnington Ingram, Christian World Pulpit, vol. LXXVII. p. 120. References. I. 27. H. Bell, Sermons on the Holy Communion, p. 66. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxix. No. 1720. L. D. Bevan, Christ and the Age, p. 3. A. Whyte, The Scottish Review Sunday Supplement, vol. iv. p. 82. Expositor (5th Series), vol. ii. p. 264. Colossians 1:27 It is not for nothing that it is said, 'Christ in you the hope of glory'. I will be content of no pawn of heaven but Christ Himself; for Christ, possessed by faith here, is young heaven and glory in the bud. Samuel Rutherford. The Justification of Christian Preaching Colossians 1:27-28 The aim of Christian preaching is personal, social, universal. And the theme of it is Christ. Is the theme, is the message, adequate to the aim? Judge for yourselves by those three considerations. I. We assert that the message is adequate because Christ, whom we preach, is able by many manifest proofs to make the life of the individual a positive force. II. We assert that the preaching of Christ justifies itself, and is adequate because He reconciles the duality, the contrast, apparent contradiction, which runs through all our life. I mean the duality which you have between the inner life of the soul and the outward demands of duty, between spiritual life and practical conduct, between faith and works. III. We assert that the message of the evangel justifies itself, and is adequate to its end because Christ is co-extensive with human life. A. Connell, Scottish Review, vol. III. p. 439. References. I. 27, 28. E. H. Bickersteth, Thoughts in Past Years, p. 85. W. Scrymgeour, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliv. p. 314. H. S. Seekings, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xviii. p. 660. I. 28. J. Thew, Christian World Pulpit, vol. 1. p. 246. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xliv. No. 2581. J. Keble, Sermons for Advent to Christmas Eve, p. 352. T. Arnold, Christian Life: Its Hopes, p. 200. J. Edwards, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xix. p. 173. Expositor (5th Series), vol. v. p. 34; ibid. (6th Series), vol. xi. p. 147. I. 29. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi. No. 914. The Abounding Assurance Colossians 2:2 The Apostle has just been speaking of an intense spiritual struggle through which he has passed on behalf of the Churches at Colossae and Laodicea, to most of whose members he was personally unknown. The purpose of his supplication was that they might be comforted, bound together into a compact fellowship, and enriched with sure and all-sufficing spiritual knowledge three blessings vitally connected with each other. Failing of such attainments, they could not hope to rise above that fickleness which left them the prey of wandering sophists. The subject-matter of this assurance is the mystery of God's purpose towards us in Christ Jesus. I. It is through our union with Christ that the treasures hidden in His mysterious nature are conveyed to us, and become 'the riches of the full assurance of understanding'. If the mysteries, of which He is the steward, can gladden, purify, and consecrate the heart and awaken songs of praise to a pardoning God, we may boldly claim the revelation of these mysteries. When we are honestly contrite, and with all our hearts trust His Son for salvation, it cannot be God's will that we should be tormented by uncertainty. He has given power to His Son to declare our absolution, the grace and wisdom of the Son are never at fault in the exercise of this ministry, and the presence of the infinite love in the central consciousness is the highest form of assurance. This assurance, inasmuch as it corresponds to the treasures of wisdom in Christ, ought not to be meagre, stinted, precarious. The Apostle is emphatic, almost to the point of redundancy. 'The riches of the full assurance of understanding.' II. The Apostle speaks of this exalted experience as one of the blessed consummations of Christian fellowship. 'Knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding.' It is through mutual sympathy and helpfulness that the blessing is retained, and others are led into participation with it Civilisation itself begins in brotherhood and cooperation, and man's ascent into the heights of religious life follows the same order. This full assurance of knowledge is vital to spiritual prosperity. Assurance makes all the difference between a spiritual and an unspiritual man, a weakling and a champion, an inglorious mute and a great confessor. It is the appointed province of evangelical religion to diminish the area of haze, unsettlement, dubiousness, and to understay the spirit with strong bedrock convictions. Reference. II. 2, 3. Bishop Westcott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvii. p. 292. The Cross and Culture Colossians 2:3 Every one can see that these words contain a great truth, but what the Apostle meant is not so easy to define. In one sense Christ has little to do with wisdom and knowledge. We do not sit at His feet to be made men of culture; we do not go to Him direct for lessons in history, politics, science, literature. And yet, though it is no business of His to supply knowledge, there is profound truth in these words of St. Paul, that the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him. Without Him wisdom and knowledge are hardly worth having. If there be not a spirit of love and human brotherhood, and something of the cross, working amid the intellectual forces, it is doubtful whether the world will be any better off for all its boasted acquirements. I. The mind which simply gathers stores of knowledge may be as full as a dictionary and as unfeeling; as cold as a piece of flint and as hard; as inhuman as a fossil and as useless. There is a pharisaism of culture, and there is no pharisaism so hard and proud and unmerciful as the pharisaism of culture. There is a science which has no emotion, no pity, no tears, no soft places in its heart, if indeed it has a heart, and no thought of hope for humanity at large. What better is the world for wisdom and knowledge of that kind? II. Moreover, it is a matter of common observation, and one of the most certain teachings of history, that wisdom without faith at the heart of it, intellect without profound religious feeling, tends not to righteousness and purity and unselfishness, but to moral lawlessness, self-indulgence, and splendid vice. The cross is the one vein of precious heavenly gold that runs through the mass of intellectual forces. III. It is the light which He sheds that makes much of our knowledge and wisdom bearable. Were it not for the spirit of hopefulness which He breathes into all problems, our knowledge would only add to our pain, and our wisdom would only teach us despair. But with Christ to illumine these dark problems they cease to be hopeless. IV. Finally, and most truly, that one field of knowledge which He opens out is incomparably better than all the rest. Let the world's wise men be silent, that He may speak to us, for in Him only are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. J. G. Greenhough, The Cross in Modern Life, p. 23. Reference. II. 3. J. G. Greenhough, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvii. p. 136. Order and Steadfastness Colossians 2:5 A scene in which the virtues of order and steadfastness are presented to the eye always awakens some throb of pleasure in the observer, whatever the ends to which they may be made to contribute. To produce order in a community of men and women distinctive in their personalities and including the utmost diversity of taste and temperament is a surpassing triumph of Divine skill and power. I. Order implies four things: (1) Order presupposes submission to a common centre of authority. Its worth and quality will be determined by the kind of authority which calls it forth. (2) Order implies the suppression of lawless and capricious personal tastes, and the art of possessing our souls in patience at all times. (3) Order implies an intuition of the part each has to play in a common scheme of life and work. (4) Order implies not only the discovery of the part each has to play in a common scheme bur the fulfilment of that special part by methods which will help and not hinder the work of others. II. Success is measured by the spirit of order which animates men and the communities into which they are grouped. In an age which is unfriendly to human prerogative it may perhaps be our temptation to depreciate order and cry out for guerilla evangelism. Order, it must be admitted, is too often a synonym for frigidity, red tape, servile mechanism, punctiliousness in trifles, death. But in the Apostle's vocabulary it means the tramp of Christ's conquering hosts in perfect time to God's music III. Order helps that steadfastness of faith which is the second great quality commanded by the Apostle. The lack of it brings panic, disorganisation, abasement, defeat. IV. Quiet and undisturbed conditions of life are sometimes attended by a specious show of steadfastness lacking all inherent reality. Unless the foundations be deeply laid, faith may prove itself a fair-weather virtue that can only survive under circumstances of indulgent tenderness. Sooner or later the crisis of trial comes, and proves how superficial was the profession. V. The foundations of our faith must be well and deeply laid if we are to attain this ideal of steadfastness. For us at least religion must be the best demonstrated of all truths, the most central of all realities, the most imperial of all obligations. VI. The steadfastness of faith is not inconsistent with freedom, mental flexibility, an all-round power of self-adjustment when the great emergency comes. References. II. 5. T. G. Selby, Preacher's Magazine, vol. iv. p. 385. Archbishop Temple, Christian World Pulpit, vol. 1. p. 422. Expositor (5th Series), vol. vii. p. 459. An Address for the New Year Colossians 2:6 I. Here is expressed the undoubted privilege and portion of every real child of God. 'Ye have... received Jesus Christ the Lord.' Remember the Apostle is addressing himself to men and women of like passions with ourselves. Called by a faithful God into the fellowship of His Son Christ Jesus the Lord, ye have received Him. II. Our text implies the means whereby this great grace had been bestowed upon them, and realised by them, as well as the evidence and proof by which the Apostle was enabled to conclude concerning the Colossians, that they had 'received Christ Jesus the Lord'. If Christ Jesus the Lord be received by any of us, it must be in the reception of God's Word and testimony concerning Him. If we are to be made partakers of the Holy Ghost, if ever God the Comforter takes possession of our souls, or ministers to our hearts, it must be by the means and agency of God's testimony concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And if ever we are to have faith, either in its beginning or its increase faith whereby we lay hold on Christ, and rest in Christ faith whereby we enter into the comforts of the Holy Ghost, and take possession of His blessed Person faith must come by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. III. The text contains an exhortation and command, founded upon this fact of their having received 'Christ Jesus the Lord': 'Walk ye in Him'. Observe the order. We cannot walk in Christ until we have received Christ. The testimony of God concerning the patriarchs, Enoch and Noah, of old, was this, 'They walked with God'. Here is an exhortation from your Father and your Friend, a command by the Holy Ghost, sent down from heaven. 'Walk ye in Him.' The man that walks in God 'walks in the light!' he 'walks in the truth!' he 'walks at liberty!' he 'walks in strength!' he 'walks in fulness!' he 'walks in love!' IV. Lastly, our text implies that there is a proportion and analogy between the faith that receiveth 'Jesus the Lord,' and the fruitfulness, joyousness, happiness, as well as the reality of our walk in Him. Marcus Rainsford, The Fulness of God, p. 181. References. II. 6. H. Woodcock, Sermon Outlines (1st Series), p. 68. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii. No. 483. The Beginning and Development of the Christian Life Colossians 2:6-7 You may call the subject of the passage before us the beginning and the development of the Christian life; the latter is to be, in the heart of it, all of a piece and consistency with the former, of the same complexion and the same character. 'As ye receive the Lord Jesus so walk in Him.' I. Now, what is the beginning? 'Ye received the Lord Jesus.' That is the conception of the Christian life. I do not know that we have not got away from it a little. You think the Christian life begins in giving. It begins in receiving. You think it goes on in giving. It goes on in receiving. Of course you give yourselves to Christ to begin with, of course you give service to Christ, but first of all you receive, and the ground of all your service and of your acceptance is your receiving. You surrender the citadel of your life to God. Quite right, but in that very act of surrender you welcome the King, with His authority and His rule. What is absolutely necessary today to be proclaimed upon the housetops is this the Christian life begins not in an ordinance which a man observes either for himself or for another; not in works, but in faith, and faith is primarily receiving, believing is receiving. II. Now, go another step; what do you receive? Whom did you receive? That is the way to put it Ye received the Lord Jesus, ye received Christ as Lord. Mark that! Ye received a Person, and with Him forgiveness of sins, and with Him comfort, and with Him rest, and with Him joy, and with Him the strength to do the will of God. In one of his last and most beautiful sermons in the last days of his ministry, Dr. Dale, one of the greatest theologians that ever lived, tells us that in a time of great prostration and suffering and nervous breakdown, in the very extremity of mortal weakness, when he sorely needed consolation and support, he endeavoured to draw strength from the wonderful truth that Christ the Eternal Son of God is our brother, that He clings to man with all a brother's affection. But somehow, says Dr. Dale, that thought failed to bring me the comfort that I wanted. Then, he says, I remembered that Christ was my Lord, and it steadied me at once, gave me rest of heart, and courage and strength. And that truly great theologian and great Christian goes on to say: 'It was not sympathy I needed, so much as the consciousness of being in the strong hands of One who was my Lord, who was responsible for me'. 'And,' says Dr. Dale, 'this is the truth for times of health and strength as well as for times of sickness. Christ is not only my friend it is wonderful condescension if I keep His commandments; but He is my Lord; He owns me, He possesses me, and I am at rest from usurping tyrants if the King is on the Throne.' Charles Brown, God and Man, p. 16. Reference. II. 7. H. Macmillan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lvi. p. 100. Colossians 2:8 Stand up, O heart, and yield not one inch of thy rightful territory to the usurping intellect. Holdfast to God in spite of logic, and yet not quite blindly. Be not torn from thy grasp upon the skirts of His garments by any wrench of atheistic hypothesis that seeks only to lure thee into utter darkness; but refuse not to let thy hands be gently unclasped by that loving and pious philosophy which seeks to draw thee from the feet of God only to place thee in His bosom. Trustfully though tremblingly let go the robe, and thou shalt rest upon the heart and clasp the very living soul of God. James Hinton. References. II. 8. Expositor (6th Series), vol. iv. p. 410; ibid. vol. x. p. 268. II. 9 . Ibid. vol. iv. p. 389. II. 9, 10. A. Whyte, The Scottish Review, vol. iii. p. 525. The Perfect Type in Christ Colossians 2:10 I. This means, to begin with, that the Ideal Man, towards whom the race is blindly striving and stumbling, of whom poets have sung, and seers had visions, and prophets uttered strange things, and towards whom human aspiration has longingly strained its vision, crying out in the agony of its desire, 'Oh, that I might know where I might find Him!' is not, as some would have us believe, a dim cloud of beauty on the far horizon of the future, nor a 'complex' of generalised qualities, as yet unrealised; it means that this eternal Word has become 'flesh,' has 'tabernacled among us,' 'and we have beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth'. It means that once in the course of the ages God has sent a Man into the world, complete and flawless in His perfections of character, pure as the snow on Alpine heights, touched to finest issues in all His activities, free from stain and frailty, so that men gazing at this Son of Man, this 'firstborn of all creatures,' can say, 'Yes, that is what God meant when He said, Let us make man in Our image, and after Our likeness'. That is what Jesus is on His human side. He is the typical Man. 'We are complete in Him.' II. When with a kindling eye, and a humbled heart, we try to analyse the impression made upon us by the typical humanity of Jesus, we are struck with three sublime features in His character. (1) The first is the scope of His nature. Here in the Gospels is no merely local or racial or temporary ideal, but a picture of glorious breadth, and amplitude, and reality. Here is a personality which, while it is splendidly individual, rises above its environment of time and nationality into that region in which every human peculiarity, every limitation of sex and age, passes away, and in that fadeless countenance we see mirrored the grandeur of a full complete manhood. (2) The second supreme quality in the personality of Jesus is its intensity. It stands forth from the written page with sublime boldness and strength. Its very serenity is the outcome of a boundless spiritual vitality. (3) The third quality that stands out in this Divine personality is its perfect poise and balance. He is Man, 'fulled-summed in all His powers'. III. It would be a tempting subject to pursue this general train of thought into the details supplied to us by the Gospels, but a very few hints must suffice. (1) This combined scope, intensity, and poise of nature are very clearly visible if we consider the Christ as the ideal Thinker of the world. (2) The same is true of the heart of Christ. His inner life, as we have glimpses of it in the Gospels, how large, how deep, how intense it shows! (3) And what soul ever gave itself to the service and saving of man, with a scope so vast, with a love so intense, with a vision so serene, of human sorrow and limitation, as did the Christ? E. Griffith Jones, Types of Christian Life, p. 93. References. II. 10. T. Nicholson, Sermons by Welshmen, p. 320. W. Adamson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lii. p. 369. J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons (9th Series), p. 285. II. 11, 12. C. Gutch, Sermons, p. 151. II. 12. J. Keble, Village Sermons on the Baptismal Service, p. 181. II. 13. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxv. No. 2101. Expositor (4th Series), vol. i. p. 205; ibid. vol. v. p. 441. II. 13, 14. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlv. No. 2605. II. 15. Ibid. vol. v. No. 273. Expositor (4th Series), vol. iii. pp. 246, 362; ibid. (5th Series), vol. vi. p. 378; ibid. (6th Series), vol. x. pp. 193, 198, 370, 374. II. 17. F. E. Ridgeway, Plain Sermons on Sunday Observance, p. 19. II. 18. Expositor (4th Series), vol. iv. p. 400; ibid. (5th Series), vol. ii. p. 133; ibid. vol. v. p. 464; ibid. (6th Series), vol. i. p. 203; ibid. vol. viii. p. 429. II. 20. Ibid. (5th Series), vol. vi. p. 28. II. 22. Ibid. vol. i. p. 202; ibid. (7th Series), vol. vi. p. 360. II. 23. Ibid. (6th Series), vol. i. p. 373. On the Heights Colossians 3:1 What are the things that are above? Does the Apostle mean the things that belong to the future life? Well, they do belong to the future life, and it is well for us to think of that life, and to think that we shall live in it, and that these things are the things that are current coin there. But he means the present life, for he exhorts us to seek these things, and to have them now, the things that abide, of which death cannot rob us, the things which belong to the spirit and character of men. They are too many to enumerate. Some of them are mentioned in the latter part of this chapter, but there is one in Whom they are all embodied. Seek the things that are above 'where Christ is'. Seek character, the Christlike character, purity, truth, love to God and men, reached through faith and fellowship. These are the highest things a man can seek. Now, what about them? This: you must seek them they do not come without seeking and seek them with resolute and set purpose. Set your mind or your heart on them, they may be yours, though it be only by almost desperate endeavour, and they are worth more than all the glory and honour and wealth of all the world. The greatest achievement on earth is the achievement of character in yourself and in others. I. Now, nothing is more certain than that it is one of the easiest things in the world to be called off from this quest, and that people often give it up as life goes on and as cares and possessions accumulate. There is a tremendous downward pull which is constantly exerted, and which increases as life goes on. There is an awful glamour cast over physical pleasure and material gain, and there are seasons in the life of the best of us when it seems as if character were nothing in comparison with money or pleasure. Life, the high life in a man, the life that links him to God, is wrought upon and worn away by so many influences, that it requires a vast amount of attention to keep it in repair. II. Where shall we begin? Begin with the Church. It is possible for a Church to lose its tone, to be carrying on things on the lower level. The message of the text comes to us all with great force. 'Seek, set your mind on the things that are above where Christ sitteth.' Lift up your eyes to Him. Take your directions from Him. Ask what He would do and what He would have you do. Be content with nothing short of the highest. There is the region into which St. Paul brings our motto. There may it be steadfastly adopted. It would mean a new beginning for some of us, a return to forsaken ways for others. Our inheritance is in the things that are above. He who seeks them shall have them. They are within our reach, and he who has them shall be fitted for the everlasting fellowship of the saints in light. For that we were made. To bring us to that Christ both lived and died and rose again. Charles Brown, God and Man, p. 106. Risen with Christ Colossians 3:1 This exhortation is based on a fact and a principle. The fact is, that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, and is now at the right hand of God; the principle is, that faith in that fact ought to affect the estimate which we form of the relative value of things on earth and things in heaven. Accepting it as a fact that Jesus Christ died and rose again from the dead, what ought to be the practical outcome of our belief in it on our present earthly life? I. Now, in answer to this inquiry, I remark that an intelligent belief in the Resurrection of Christ ought to give us a new ambition in life. If the Resurrection revealed only the fact of future existence, without showing us that there is any intimate relation between the life that now is and that which is to come, it is conceivable that a belief in it might not operate much in changing or moulding our present character. But when we view it in connection with the ascension of Christ into heaven and with the statements which He and His Apostles have made upon the subject, we become convinced that the position which we are to occupy hereafter will be fixed, not in any arbitrary and capricious manner, but by the character which we have formed and the work which we have done here. The cross was the precursor of the crown; and just in so far as we approach to the likeness of our Lord Jesus here, we shall attain to the measure of His glory hereafter. Here, then, is an ambition worthy of immortal beings. II. An intelligent belief in the fact that Christ has risen from the dead ought to give us a new support through life. One writes of these 'dead but sceptred sovrans whose spirits rule us from their urns'; and it is to be feared that multitudes place Jesus simply at the head of these. But to think of Him thus is not to believe in and realise His Resurrection. He does not rule us from an urn. He rules us from a throne, whereon He sits endowed with 'the power of an endless life'. Ah! if we but dwelt on this aspect of the matter, what a power would come from the risen Lord to vitalise and ennoble all our conduct, and to sustain us under all difficulty and trial! III. An intelligent belief in the fact of the Resurrection of Christ ought to give us comfort when we are bereaved of Christian friends, and to give us calmness in the contemplation of our own departure from the world. That victory over death achieved by Christ has changed the relation of death to all Christ's people. Raised with Christ Colossians 3:1 You see where the 'if' comes in. It is not 'if Christ be risen from the dead'. That is certain fact St. Paul was sure of it. The evidence was so widespread. It is not if Christ be raised, but if ye then were raised with Christ And yet, so far as these Christians at Colossae were concerned, St. Paul did not wish to express any doubt. It is the argumentative 'if'. It might be rendered 'since'. Since ye then were raised together with Christ. Assuming that your conversion is as real, your faith as genuine as that of these Colossians, this tremendous fact is true of you: 'ye were raised with Christ'. What does it mean? The New Testament teaching concerning the Resurrection of Christ passes through three stages. In the first the dominant thought is the bearing of the fact of the Resurrection on the Person of Christ, that it is the seal of all His teaching, the Divine endorsement of His claim to be the Messiah, the Son of God. The second stage is the bearing of the fact of the Resurrection upon our view of a future life, that it is the pledge to us of our resurrection, the assurance of the certainty and reality of the life of the world to come. The third stage is in the bearing of the fact of the Resurrection upon the present spiritual and moral condition of the believer. Mark, then, these points of correspondence between Christ's Resurrection and our spiritual and moral quickening. I. Both are the result of the working of a Divine and supernatural power. Every true conversion, all real conquest of self and sin, is as much the outcome of the power of God as the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. All true holiness is supernatural. II. Again, both imply the passing through real death. So we have it in Romans VI: 'If we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His Resurrection'. Christ died for our sins that we might not have to die for them. If you died with Christ you have passed through a real death; you are dead to things to which formerly you were alive, you are alive to things to which formerly you were dead. III. Once more, both imply the entering into a new life. In a real sense you live unto God. You begin to know the power of Christ's Resurrection. The world-conquering, self-crucifying, sin-subduing power of the risen Christ enters your life. F. S. Webster, Church Family Newspaper, vol. xv. p. 438. Colossians 3:1 I have often applied to idiots in my own mind, that sublime expression of Scripture that * their life is hidden with God. * Wordsworth to Prof. Wilson. References. III. 1. W. Pierce, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. p. 222. C. Brown, God and Man, p. 16. B. J. Snell, Sermons on Immortality, p. 56. H. Bonar, Short Sermons for Family Reading, pp. 185, 194. S. A. Tipple, The Admiring Guest, p. 30. H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, p. 250. J. R. Illingworth, University and Cathedral Sermons, p. 208. Expositor (5th Series), vol. vii. p. 297; ibid. (7th Series), vol. vi. p. 152. The Upward Look Colossians 3:1-2 Inquire into I. The Nature of this Higher Life. 'Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.' Everywhere in nature is found a certain upward gaze and striving. Apart from all revelation, we find in ourselves instincts seeking upward aspirations towards things higher than those of time and sense; we look beyond the physical life, we conceive ideas and hopes touching the unseen and the eternal. Now what has the faith of Christ to say to this inner striving, to these glances, longings, dreams, aspirations after the spiritual and abiding? (1) Most frankly and emphatically does Christianity accept the upward-seeking instinct. (2) Christianity stimulates the upward-seeking instinct. It not only sanctions otherworldliness, it sets itself steadily to develop to the utmost the spiritual instinct. (8) Christianity defines the upward-seeking impulse There is confessedly deep mystery about the nature and design of this instinct; the profoundest philosophers have been perplexed by it, wondering as to its precise signification. But in Christ the mystery is practically solved, the vague splendour after which we blindly grope becomes definite. 'Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.' That is, contemplate all the higher truths in the light of the risen Christ, and in the strength that He gives work up to those truths. II. Why we should Live this Higher Life. (1) It is only thus that we attain personal perfection. A star cannot be imprisoned in a shed, it demands a sky; and to attain perfection and fully display its glory the soul demands a sky. There is no supreme character except through a supernatural creed. (2) We should live this higher life because if we do not we shall not get this world. The astronomer is a ready example of the fact that very frequently the condition of getting a thing is that you look away from it. What perhaps strikes us most when inspecting a telescope is that it shuts out so much. The astronomer shuts the earth from his sight, not because he does not care for it but that he may better understand it and realise its possibilities. The Apostle withdraws our eyes from earth and fixes them on the eternal world, not that he is indifferent to human circumstance and happiness, but because he knows that only thus are we fitted to inherit all things. It is in the power of Christ alone that we can live this higher life. The Death and Resurrection of Christ have not only a moral signification, they have also an inspiring and transforming power. All is impracticable without the grace of God in Christ Jesus; all is possible with it. W. L. Watkinson, The Bane and the Antidote, p. 95. References. III. 1, 2. H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. iii. p. 294. A. Maclaren, After the Resurrection, p. 130. The Risen Life Colossians 3:1-3 I. You must have remarked, in studying the Epistles of St. Paul, how he identifies the Christian with his Lord, in His Crucifixion, His Death, and His Resurrection. He sees in these great events figures of that moral and spiritual revolution which has taken place in the heart and soul of every believer, of every one born of God. (a) He identifies the Christian with the Crucifixion of Christ. Referring to his old self-life, he says, 'I am crucified with Christ'; he also uses the peculiar phrase 'the old man' in reference to his former self, and speaks of it as being crucified. This 'old man,' meaning the old corrupt sinful self, is to be crucified, so that it can no longer dominate the 'new man'. The believer must so identify himself with his Lord's Crucifixion that he is to reckon the old corrupt body of sin, the old evil life, as crucified with Christ. (b) He identifies the true man of God with the Death of Christ. 'Ye died' (Col. III, 3); 'Planted together in the likeness of His Death'; 'Reckon yourselves dead indeed unto sin' (Romans 6:5 ; Romans 6:11 ). In Colossians 3:5 you have the word 'mortify,' showing continuity of teaching on this point. This is the Apostolic doctrine as regards the believer's attitude to sin: he is dead to it. (c) He identifies the Christian with the Resurrection of Christ: he is risen with Christ. Buried with Christ, and raised with Him too this is the teaching of the text. The life which we now live in the power of the Son of God is equivalent to a resurrection from the dead it is a 'risen' life. Alive unto God that is to be our position. Pray that you may indeed 'know Him, and the power of His Resurrection,' as He ought to be known by all His saints. But II. The 'power of His Resurrection' suggests further wholesome doctrine. (a) If we are 'risen with Christ' we have left our graveclothes behind us, as Jesus left His in the tomb. He did not go about during His risen life with the garments of death clinging to Him. Christ calls upon us to show forth to the world that we have done with the grave, that we are walking 'in newness of life,' in the power of His Resurrection. (b) During our Lord's forty days post-resurrection sojourn He appeared ten times only to His followers. The inference is that the 'risen life' of Christ was spent chiefly in communion with God. And the spiritual life of His people will suffer because of the stress of earthly things, unless they get more into contact with heaven and God, unless they, like Him, anticipate the Ascension, and 'in heart and mind thither ascend'. In this busy age, especially, we have need to restore our souls by communion with God. (c) This 'risen life' ought to be practically manifest in its blessed activities. 'Seek those things which are above.' In that one word 'Seek' we have expressed the outward life of Christian effort; we have expressed also the true aim of a consecrated life 'those things which are above'. But this risen life is not only seen in the outward life of earnest service, but also in (d) The inward life of strenuous thought. 'Set your mind on the things that are above.' The mind, the affection, must be centred upon God. You are called to be heavenly-minded. Brethren, 'as a man thinketh in his heart' so will he become. Our thoughts, if they are heavenly thoughts are weaving for us a robe of purity, of charity, of holiness unto the Lord. As a man thinketh now so is he, and so shall he be hereafter. See that your mind is set upon things above, not on things on the earth. But, in speaking of these things pertaining unto the higher life of the soul, some may say: 'This is all very beautiful, but it is not very practical; I do not see how I can live this "resurrection life"'. Yet surely it is a very practical thing for you and for me to seek and pray that the whole bent of our being, until the end of our days, be God ward. The bent of our life decides our eternal destiny. The tree not only lies as it falls, but it falls as it leans. Set your mind i.e. the whole bent of your mind upon things above. If this 'resurrection life' is worth anything it will influence life in the home, in business, in society. The heavenly minded man is not a saint on a pedestal to be gazed at, nor a man altogether separate from earthly affairs. He will interest himself in all that makes for righteousness and peace and joy; he will 'act the citizen,' and do good unto all men. And all this he will do in the power of the 'new life' which has made him alive unto God and unto men. Archdeacon Madden. References. III. 1-3. T. J. Madden, Tombs or Temples? p. 69. J. J. Blunt, Plain Sermons (2nd Series), p. 75. Expositor (7th Series), vol. vi. p. 431. III. 1-4. H. S. Seekings, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xvii. p. 270. III. 1, 10. Expositor (5th Series), vol. vii. p. 254. National Repentance: Materialism Colossians 3:2 The idea of the present, the material, the visible, the tangible, the sensuous, has taken possession of the minds and hearts of a great many men and women of all ranks and classes, to the exclusion of the future, the spiritual, the invisible, the ideal; and the change in the conduct of people who put aside all thoughts of things higher than the things of earth is very great indeed. I. Materialism is the attempt to account for every development of the creation as we see it, even the mind of man, without God. Even thought itself, even the consciousness of thought, is supposed to be merely the movement of material atoms in the brain. It is an old and clumsy theory, and really accounts for nothing. It is briefly that matter existed originally in countless minute particles or atoms all over space; that these touched each other; that then there grew a wider and wider movement among the whole mass; and that consequently all the complexities of the universe began to grow. Such a theory needs only to be stated in order to see that it bristles with difficulties for which it offers no apology. II. Once more: and this difficulty is most serious. Materialism does away with the immortality of the soul, as well as denying the existence of God. But if there is no God, and if your soul utterly perishes at death, where do you get any sanction for morality? The vast majority of mankind believe in the great truths of the Being of God and the immortality of the soul in some sort of way and in varying degrees; and the standard of moral conduct is raised in accordance with such deep and far-reaching truths; once take them away, and there would be no difference between right and wrong, except merely what was held to be useful, nothing to protect the honour of your wives and daughters, no check on universal selfishness. III. The result of this unthinking complaisance, so largely prevalent in the world of today, is this: The great mass of men and women who are not religious treat material prosperity as the great thing to be aimed at. I need hardly remind you that this is a most enervating and degrading pursuit. It is well symbolised in The Pilgrim's Progress as the occupation of the man with the muck rake. It tends to obscure and finally to exclude all the ideas that make life noble and truly enjoyable. W. M. Sinclair, Difficulties of Our Day, p. 83. Colossians 3:2 The things above are not precisely those of another world, but of another sphere than the habitual one of our thoughts. They are not the things above our heads, but those which are above our natural sentiments. To set our affections on things above is to set our affections on God Himself; it is to subordinate our life to Him; it is to seek and find God in everything. Vinet. It is not we that set the lights before us at which we aim; they gleam upon us from beyond us; if but by the immediate gift of God; and our part is complete if we keep our eye intent to see them, and our foot resolute to climb whither they show us the way. The beacon aloft is given, the path to reach it alone is found. Martineau. The Higher Preferences Colossians 3:2 The affections have been defined as the faculty or power which regulates or determines all our likes or dislikes for persons or things, our tastes, our friendships, our loves. This faculty or power ought to be brought under control by every reasonable man and every reasonable woman. People sometimes say that there is no accounting for tastes, and to a certain extent that is quite true. We cannot always account for our own tastes, our own likes or dislikes, much less can we for those of other people. Sometimes they are instinctive, we cannot always give a reason for them; and here there is a danger. For instinct surely may be inspired by the devil just as it may be by God. You may allow your instincts to become debased, you may allow your tastes to became vitiated and mean; you may spoil your judgment so that you prefer what is ignoble and small and petty to what is great and good and noble. Now here comes in the use of a little discipline. You ought to check your preference, you must guard your instinct by choosing only what is really worthy of esteem. You must refuse to grow attached to what is unworthy of your affections, what is unworthy of your consideration. I. Choose the Best Things. First of all, to deal with things and subjects, you can cultivate good taste, whether it be in the matter of literature or art or conversation, or any other such thing. It is a duty to choose always the best that is within our reach. It seems obvious, it seems easy in theory; in practice it is really very difficult Self-culture always means a good deal of effort. It is such a temptation to read always the least serious books, for instance, or the books that appeal to the lighter side of cur nature, even the books that appeal to our lower side. It is so tempting in the matter of conversation to indulge in the flippant, thoughtless, and even harmful talk; it is very easy to grow very fond of it It is so easy in behaviour to allow the passions or the temper to regulate our actions, instead of our calmer and much truer judgment. You must choose the beautiful, choose the pure, choose the refined. II. Choose the Best Friends. Then, in the matter of persons, how is one to choose one's friends? This is somewhat an important point. A bad friend very often means one's ruin. Again you must choose what is noble and what is true. Fix your eyes upon such qualities as honour, courage, duty, unselfishness, purity. Do not allow your preference to rest upon the mean, the cowardly, the selfish, the dishonest, the impure; and then slowly and surely your affections will fix themselves upon the better traits of character. You will become naturally disposed to make good friends instead of bad ones. And still further we must be ourselves pure, ourselves unselfish. We must not choose friends simply with a view to position, or wealth, or personal advantage; choose them unselfishly, bravely, honourably, choose them for their goodness and holiness. Often that means the sacrifice of pride, position, or wealth. Do not let affection run wild, or it may choose the bad, and that bad choice may mean your ruin. III. The Control of the Affections. And, lastly, our affections must be controlled as regards those that we love most Remember that there is a selfish, inconsiderate kind of love. There is a love that proceeds from passion and impurity, there is a love not founded upon sympathy and upon self-sacrifice: there is also an uncurbed, unrestrained love, which regards its object as belonging absolutely to itself rather than as a trust from God. People very often, under the cover of love, will allow those they love all kinds of indulgence, all kinds of laxity. They seem to think that love is an excuse for many things that would be otherwise inadmissible. Whether in regard to things or persons, our affections need strict discipline; you may easily grow fond of what is ignoble, unworthy of respect. Let us in our prayers ask God to send His Holy Spirit into our hearts that we may follow the advice of the great Apostle to the Gentiles: 'Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth'. References. III. 2. J. Stalker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. 1. p. 66. W. L. Alexander, Sermons, p. 309. H. M. Butler, Harrow School Sermons (2nd Series), p. 64. E. A. Bray, Sermons, vol. i. p. 240. ** Life Hid with Christ( Before Communion ) Colossians 3:3 ** Words like these, it is obvious, are not addressed indiscriminately to the world at large. They describe a class of people, and demand an audience, which, if fit, is also few. Not that the text is in any sense obscure, although it belongs to an age far from our own. Not that it raises needless barriers. Only, it takes for granted that we have undergone a great peculiar experience, which has brought us into a new world. In short, as very few sayings even in the New Testament do, it touches the centre and focus of personal Christianity. It tells the open secret of discipleship. Three aspects of truth are here, I think, which may help us as we approach the Table of Christ. I. First, note the old life left behind. 'Ye are dead,' St Paul writes, or even, as in stricter accuracy we may render, 'ye died'. He is indicating a definite occasion in the past. Sometimes the passage of a soul into God's kingdom is a very sudden thing. It may even be as the flight of a bird for swiftness. We lie down one night our old selves, and ere we sleep again the revolution has occurred. In this text, however, suddenness of that kind is not necessarily implied. Men may die swiftly, or they may die slowly; it matters nothing, once they have wakened on the immortal side of death. At the equator no visible line is stretched round the world for all to see; nevertheless, the line is actually crossed; at some definite point the ship leaves one hemisphere and enters on the other. Just so, when God's eye reads our past, many circumstances may take on a bold prominence and fixity of outline that were concealed, or only half-displayed, to our feebler gaze. Where we saw nothing but an unbroken, imperceptible advance, He, it is possible, may discern a cleavage, sharp as though effected by a scimitar-stroke, between the old existence and the new. And the fittest metaphor to illustrate the transition that St. Paul can think of is that passage from one world to another which we call * death. * II. Note, secondly, the hidden life now possessed. 'Your life is hid with Christ.' In other words, there is something about each genuine believer, however simple, which will more than tax the keenest intelligence to explain. Christian character is not to be accounted for by mere surface phenomena. To unveil the secret, you must go down into the buried regions beneath ordinary thoughts and avocations, down into the unseen depths of personality. As you cross a highland moor you may come upon a curious bright streak of green, winding in and out among the heather, its pure and shining verdure clearly marked against the dull brown of its immediate surroundings. What is it, and how came it there? Whence rises the sap to feed this soft elastic ribband of turf? There is a tiny stream below, a runnel of sweet water flowing down there out of sight, only hinting its presence by the green beauty above. So the springs of Christian life are hid, hid with Christ in God. III. Note, lastly, the life yet to be revealed. In the New Testament men's eyes and thoughts are ever bent forward, as they wait for the voice and footfall of a returning Lord, when that which is hid now will be so no longer. It is hidden now, just because we are here and Christ is yonder. But like the bud sleeping within its swelling sheath, the Christian's present lot is big with promise. One day the secret will be out. 'When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.' Our life is hid now, because Christ also is hid, not in darkness unsearchable, but in the light undimmed and excelling where God dwells. H. R. Mackintosh, Life on God's Plan, p. 143. ** The Resurrection ( for Easter Day ) Colossians 3:3 ** The Resurrection of Jesus Christ has always been in the Church of God its chiefest note of glory. If the Church of God were to meet every single one of its doctrines without alluding to the subject, it would be the same, for it is not only written on parchment, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart. The Church of God is older than any one of these books, and from heart to heart, throughout Christendom, from the Day of Resurrection to this Easter Sunday, has passed the truth 'The Lord is risen,' and the answer to the truth, 'He is risen indeed'. We are told by St. Paul that Twelve Apostles were chosen for this purpose: to witness to the Resurrection, and we know for certain that the Twelve Apostles were protected from being destroyed, when Christ suffered His Passion, because they were kept alive by God to witness the Resurrection. The first sermon the first Ministers of Christ preached was the Resurrection. We know from Holy Scripture they went out and preached this sermon, Jesus and the Resurrection. They were stoned, beaten, and imprisoned, and killed for preaching it Today, we are not stoned, or killed, or imprisoned, but we are laughed at. Of the Apostles we read, the more they were maltreated, the more they preached it; and the more we are laughed at, the more we assert it, and preach it. I. 'Christ is risen He is risen indeed.' The Greek Church asserts the fact popularly, not only in the Church but in the street. The Czar of all the Russias comes out of his palace, and, seeing the sentinel, kisses him and says, 'The Lord is risen,' and the soldier says, 'He is risen indeed'. One cabman in the street gets off his stand, and another gets off his sleigh, they embrace, and the one says to the other, 'Christ is risen,' and the other answers, 'He is risen indeed'. There the man in the street has only one thing to say that Easter morning, that Christ is risen. Now we Westerns are not so minded, but I hope this Easter morning you sing up the old song in your hearts. It is not only assertion, it is something more, it is a hymn of joy, and I hope that every one of you will sing up in your heart this morning the old song of the Church, 'Christ is risen He is risen indeed'. II. And this was the motive principle of the early martyrs. And when they were persecuted, the martyrs were simply splendid. They all of them went into the amphitheatre with this light in their souls, immortality in Christ. Perpetua matron, mother, martyr entered into the amphitheatre, and they were astonished at her look. They tell us that there was a light in her eyes, supernal, before which her persecutors quailed, and the beasts that were to tear her to pieces drew back. It was the light of immortality. She knew Christ had said, 'Because I live, ye shall live also'. So too it has been with all the martyrs all down the ages. It has been said that, after the bit of Latin which was put on the Cross, the first bit of Latin which stole into the Church was 'Deo gratias,' 'Thanks to God,' which the martyrs said when they were condemned to death, for they knew that through the grave and gate of death they should pass to a joyful resurrection. III. Revive your poor faith on the altar of Easter. The Christian's hope is, has been, and ever shall be immortality in Christ. Now is that lamp burning in your sanctuary? Ask yourselves, could you die happy in Christ? Have you overcome death in yourselves? See to it then, men, that you die like men, and see to it, women, that you die like Christ, that the light of immortality burns steady within your souls. Relight the light at the altar. References. III. 3. Bishop Boyd-Carpenter, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lv. p. 129. J. W. Houchin, The Vision of God, p. 149. T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. iv. p. 39. H. M. Butler, Harrow School Sermons, p. 344. Bishop Bethell, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 263. Expositor (6th Series), vol. i. p. 379; ibid. vol. vii. p. 265. Christ Our Life Colossians 3:4 'Christ, who is our life;' name all-sacred and all-beautiful, 'Holiest of holies, Jesus Christ our Lord'; tenderly and intimately near to us, transcendently above us, higher than the heavens. To rest awhile before the revelation of His greatness and His fulness, His unsearchable riches, His love passing knowledge, will only the better prepare the believer for the simpler and larger reception of His gift of life. To apprehend the glory of the Fountain will make credible the freedom and the virtues of the stream. The earthen vessel may be as rough and poor as possible. But let it be opened to receive that water, and what may not be the bliss of purity and power within it? He then, this same Lord Jesus Christ, is here affirmed to be our life. The phrase, we remember, is strictly Scriptural. To the recent converts at Colossae (Colossians 3:4 ) St. Paul uses it, as about a fact already confessed and familiar: 'When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory'. This is the precise authority for our phrase. But it is only the central point, as we well know, of a large mass of New Testament language which sets out the same idea. Close at hand, in the same Colossian passage (ver. 3), we have a specimen: 'Your life is hid with Christ in God'. We have it in a form yet more vivid in the Galatian Epistle (II. 20): 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me'. And in that to the Ephesians the thought is carried to the inmost recess of expression, when we read (III. 17) of 'Christ dwelling in the heart,' as a fact of experience intended to be the portion not of a select few but of every true disciple. St. John is as emphatic as St. Paul (I. 11, 12): 'God hath given us eternal life; this life is in His Son; he that hath the Son hath the life'. We need not recall at length how amply the Lord's own words (John 14:6 ; John 14:19 ) seal the language of His Apostles: 'I am the life'; 'Because I live ye shall live also'. I. What does it mean? In vain shall we try to answer the question to its depths, to analyse its whole secret, to explore its perfect issues. We may indeed say with reverent confidence what it does not mean. It implies no absorption of our personality into His, no identity of our self with His, such that it should ever be true to say, as has been said, and by pious teachers, that 'our deepest self is God'. For my own part, I cannot too earnestly deprecate such words, which I take to express conceptions alien to the whole spirit of Biblical theology, words which betray an unbalanced insistence on that great truth of Divine immanence, which needs, like all great truths, its counterpoise if it is not to sink into an error proportionally great. 'Christ is our life' is a statement wholly, remotely, other than 'Christ is our self'. He is the Indweller, but He is not the shrine. It is written, 'Christ liveth in me'. But this is not to displace me but to occupy me; to be near to me with a nearness deeper and tenderer than can be thought, but all the while to be eternally and transcendently distinct and above. He is Maker, Redeemer, sovereign Lord. I am the being enabled, freely, in my personality, to respond in worshipping love to Him. But now, within the humble limits of our perception, what does the phrase mean? It means, let us be perfectly sure, no mere figure of speech, however warm and vivid. It means no mere potency of His influence upon us, by way of precept or even of supreme example, as when the believer, pondering the Passion, feels himself 'inspired,' in the words of the hymn, 'to suffer and to die'. It means an unspeakably spiritual, and therefore unspeakably genuine, union and presence. It means the living Son of God so dwelling and moving in the inner world of the man who is united to Him by the Holy Ghost, in the bond of faith, that nothing less can be said than that the Christ of God is there. In the will He is personally and presently working. In the affections He is breathing the Divine love into the human faculty. In thoughts and purposes His presence and His motions are a living power to prompt and to guide. The man is so charged, may we dare to say, with Him that the familiar prayer, whose wonder so easily escapes us as we sing, receives an ever-developing fulfilment: Guard my first springs of thought and will And with Thyself my spirit fill. 'He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit,' says the Apostle in a passage (1 Corinthians 6:17 ) of surprising depth and power, and as practical as possible all the while. For the context there, what is it? It is the case of a recent Corinthian convert, tempted to return to the foulest sins of the wicked city. And the Divine antidote for him, not for a cloistered and contemplative devotee, but for him, what is it to be? Just when vice smiles in his face and whispers its deadly sweetness to his soul, he is to recollect that he is 'joined to the Lord, one spirit': 'Christ is his life'. II. That allusion brings us already to the question, What will be the issues and results of a believing recollection that Christ to the believer is nothing less than life? Issues practical indeed will come to him who recalls the spiritual fact and, using it, turns it into power. It was his by covenant in his baptism. It became his in fruition when, by living faith in Christ his Head, he responded to his baptism and actualised its blessings. But now, the more he uses his possession, the more he possesses it. And in that possession what can it not do for him, what can he not do in it? Bather let us say, what can he not do, not in it but in Him who is his life, in whom he lives, who lives in him? 'Christ my life' will be the talisman of power on the one hand to detach him from the bondage of the world over his will, and on the other to attach him to the world in sympathetic service. He who is his life, alike and at once overcame the world and gave Himself for it So did the Head. And the limb, surrendered to the Head, will in his measure do the same, because that life is in him, and in power. Sin and sickness are facts lying upon wholly different planes. But I for one cannot doubt that normally the soul's health is at least friendly to that of the body which, glorified at last, is to be its inseparable partner and vehicle for ever. It is most creditable that, in untold instances, the maladies and the fatigues of this tabernacle, however truly we do often 'groan in it, being burdened,' are mysteriously affected for relief by the remembrance that Christ is our life. And what will it not be to recite that password of immortality, true for our whole being, when we commit ourselves to Him in the act of death? It assures to the spirit an unbroken life and a present bliss with Him. It assures equally to the body the radiant wonder of resurrection after a little while. III. Come, then, and let us 'possess our possession'. Let us take our Redeemer at His word, and be quite sure that for us, so doing, He is life. To live out that wonderful fact shall be our ambition, always new and supremely innocent; to 'run with it, and not be weary; to walk with it, and not faint'. That great Christian, Henry Venn the elder, Simeon's early friend and guide, writes thus in a letter to his father-in-law, Charles Elliott, April, 1787: 'I had in past days a family very dear to me, and not enough for their maintenance from year to year; and in case of my death they were to be destitute. I was, however, wonderfully free and cheerful in my heart And my preservative was wholly this, "He that hath the Son hath life".' A long century later lived and died my late dear friend in God, George H. C. Macgregor, son of a parish minister in the north of Scotland. He once told me how came to him his first strong grasp on this same secret, Christ our life. One summer night (he was then a young probationer for the ministry) he had addressed a cottage congregation on Colossians 3:4 . As he walked home in the twilight over the heather his text still sounded in his mind, and suddenly (such things do happen) its doctrine flashed and burned into a Divine reality for himself. 'What, is Christ indeed my life?' And within five steps on the moorland, so he said to me with solemn emphasis, the young man passed into a new life a life that shone unwavering with holy light and fire till, some twelve years later, still in his splendid youth, he passed upwards, only to live more perfectly and for ever by Christ who is our life. H. C. G. Moule (Bishop of Durham), Christian World Pulpit, vol. LXXVIII. p. 231. References. III. 4. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xi. No. 617. J. Bunting, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 484. III. 5. Expositor (5th Series), vol. x. p. 108; ibid. (6th Series), vol. i. p. 276; ibid. vol. xii. p. 191. III. 6. Ibid. (4th Series), vol. i. p. 23; ibid. (6th Series), vol. viii. p. 36. III. 9. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for Saints' Days, p. 161. Expositor (6th Series), vol. xii. p. 69. III. 9, 10. Ibid. (4th Series), vol. iii. pp. 138, 141. III. 10. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 285. The Divine Glory of Christ Colossians 3:2 These sublime words no more fit man than Saul's armour fitted the stripling David. Of Christ alone can we say that 'He is all things in all things'. I. Christ's pre-existence proves His Divinity. It cannot be said of any man that he lived for thirty centuries before his birth; but as for Jesus, He was high before He became so low, He was rich before He became so poor, He was God before He became Man. As Irving well puts it: 'Tell me now, ye wise men, who deprive Him of His Divinity, how was Christ rich before He became poor if He were not God before He became man?' II. His Divine titles teach His Divinity. In the Old Testament He is often styled 'Lord' in the same sense as Jehovah. The Father styles Him His Son not a Son, but the Son, the only begotten His unique Son, because of the same essence as Himself. These sublime titles convince us that the brow of the Son of Mary was radiant with the Godhead's diadem. III. The Divine attributes given to Christ teach His Divinity. All through the Bible He is spoken of as Eternal, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Unchangeable. IV. Homage was rendered unto Him which by right belonged only to the Divine. Gabriel styled Him the 'Son of the Highest'. A centurion said of Him: 'Truly this was the Son of God'. Even the Devil styled Him 'the Holy One of God,' and no truer Gospel was ever preached by an archangel! V. The sublimity of His character, and teachings, and works prove His Divinity. (1) He passed through the world as unpolluted as a sunbeam passes through a foul atmosphere. (2) Never was there anything more pure than His teaching except it was His example. As a teacher He was unrivalled, 'Never man spake like this Man'. He spoke of heaven as if from its very throne, and He spoke of God as if from His very heart. (3) His miracles were marvels of power. When Jesus slept, the Galilean storm awoke; but when Jesus awoke, the storm slept in peace. J. Ossian Davies, The Dayspring from on High, p. 201. Colossians 3:2 Some of the greatest leaders of the Church have been slow to accept St. Paul's teaching as to the equality of bond and free in Christ. St. Leo the Great, as Bishop Gore reminds us, held that the condition of a slave was a bar to orders. 'He bases his refusal to allow the ordination of slaves on the ground that their condition does not leave them the liberty and leisure requisite for a priest; but it is couched in language which breathes the spirit of a Roman patrician much more than the feeling that in "Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free". He talks of the "dignity of birth" being wanting to them, and he speaks scornfully of the "mean estate (vilitas) of a slave polluting the Christian ministry".' Bishop Gore, Leo the Great, p. 142. Colossians 3:2 Dr. Eugene Stock, in his history of the C.M.S., tells us that when Bishop Wilson went out to India, he was at once confronted with the caste question in the native Church. 'He took a strong line at once. Basing his decision on the grand New Testament principle that in Christianity "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all, and in all," he directed that as regards Church usages, "caste must be abandoned, decidedly, immediately, finally".... 'In 1835 Bishop Wilson visited the South and dealt earnestly and lovingly with the disaffected Christians, pleading with them the example of the Good Samaritan, who did not stop to ask who the "certain man" was, nor dreamed of being defiled by touching him. "And what," exclaimed the Bishop, rising from his seat in the crowded church, "did our blessed Master say to this? Go and do thou likewise." A long pause,' says his biographer,' of motionless and breath-less silence followed, broken only when he besought every one present to offer up this prayer, "Lord give me a broken heart to receive the love of Christ and obey His commands". Whilst the whole congregation were repeating this in Tamil, he bowed upon the cushion, doubtless entreating help from God, and then dismissed them with his blessing.' Christ Is All, and in All Colossians 3:2 How little can we see of Christ but a bare and faint outline! Why, it will take all eternity to exhaust that subject; it will take all eternity to learn how good, how wise, how great, how holy, how merciful is Christ. And you observe that the Apostle seems to have got that idea here in the words of our text, for he gives us a description of Christ; but it is a remarkable description. He does not say, 'You see Christ is good, Christ is loving, Christ is patient with us, Christ is tender'. He does not go on to His other attributes and say, 'Christ is wise, and Christ is great,' but he gathers them all up into one cluster, and in six monosyllables he tells us 'Christ is all, and in all'. I. Christ is all, and in all in the Bible. Wherever you open it I care not, you will come to Christ in the Bible. You will find as you read that Book that everywhere, if we look for Him, everywhere we shall find the Christ. We go back, for instance, to the Old Testament, and there in the heart of the Jewish administration we see the Lamb, the offering appointed by God and by Moses through God, smoking upon the altar, the Lamb of sacrifice for sin offered to God, and we say, 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world'. We go on, and turn over any page, and we are sure to encounter Christ. We come on to Isaiah, the Evangelical prophet, and we find him declaring, 'For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace'. I go back to the first book in the Bible, and there I find in Genesis that Jacob with his last breath tells us, 'Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be'. I come to the last chapter of the Old Testament in Malachi, and find it declared, 'Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings'. I come into the New Testament, and there of course I expect to find Him. Christ in the Gospels; every miracle, Christ in the miracle; every parable, Christ in the parable; and afterwards in the Acts of the Apostles, the early story of Christianity Christ in them all. I go on and find Christ in all the Epistles. I am just going to close the Book, and I find Christ in the Apocalypse, and the last word which He speaks to us after, shall I say, His Ascension, through His inspired and loving Apostle John, is 'Behold, I come quickly'. Christ is everything, then, in the Bible, all and in all. But there are some people who read the Bible as historians. Well, read it as a history. It is the most wonderful history in the world. But if a man only looks at it as a historian he may be absorbed in the history, yet he will not read the story or find the history of Christ for his own salvation. The fact is that no one will find Christ in this Book without looking for Him; but the soul that comes to this Book and opens it to find Christ will not be disappointed. Christ will step out from behind the pages of this Book, and He will reveal His love, and mercy, and His friendship to your heart and to your soul, and Christ will reveal Himself more and more to those who seek Him. But I do not believe that any others are likely to find Christ. I believe that if a man stands outside the Truth until something has satisfied him, he will remain there. But it is the man who comes to this Bible and says, 'Sir, I would see Jesus,' it is that man to whom the gate is opened. He finds Christ, and in finding Christ he finds peace, and pardon, and comfort, and life, and salvation, and heaven, for Christ is all and in all in the Bible. II. Secondly, and briefly, Christ is all and in all in redemption. We were under condemnation through sin. It was Christ Who came down from heaven to earth and said, 'Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom'. We are slaves through sin. It was Christ Who came and gave deliverance to the captives and opened the prison doors. We were in darkness: it is Christ Who says, 'I am the Light of the World'. And when we come to Him He gives us of the Bread of Life. But more than this, we want to know as sinners how we can be justified before God. Well, here we have it, through redemption, 'being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus'. But we want to know more than this. We want to know that we shall never be overtaken by the consequences of this sin. How do I know that I shall never come into condemnation? 'There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.' Wherever you look for redemption you will find an answer to your fears, and a clearing of all your sins through Christ, if you just look up to Him Who achieved this great redemption for us. Is there a tear that He did not shed? Is there a burden that He did not bear? Is there a sorrow that He did not share? Is there a battle that He did not fight? Is there a victory that He did not win? The hand of sorrow may push you down, the hand of disappointment may fling you back; but that hand which is so patient, and so gentle, and so tender will at last wipe away all tears from our eyes. For in the story of redemption Christ is all, and in all. References. III. 11. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii. No. 1006. J. Stalker, Christian World Pulpit, vol. li. p. 280. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xliii. No. 2601. Preacher's Magazine, vol. xvii. p. 468. J. Keble, Sermons for Ascension Day to Trinity Sunday, p. 249. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. 1. No. 2888. Dinsdale T. Young, The Gospel of the Left Hand, p. 85. Alfred Rowland, The Exchanged Crowns, p. 151. Expositor (6th Series, vol. vi. p. 266; ibid. vol. vii. pp. 20, 277. Colossians 3:12 Compare Mrs. Carlyle's description of Father Mathew administering the pledge in London to a crowd of unfortunate and dissipated paupers. 'In the face of Father Mathew, when one looked from them to him, the mercy of heaven seemed to be laid bare.' Colossians 3:12 Humility is the altar on which God wishes us to offer our sacrifices to Him. La Rochefoucauld References. III. 12. J. M. Whiton, Summer Sermons, p. 193. III. 12, 13. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. i. p. 136. Expositor (6th Series), vol. xi. p. 283. Forgiveness Colossians 3:13 In the last hour of that last day, when the silent morning light has glimmered through the window for the very last time before our failing eyes, and we feel the burden of our many sins pressing heavily upon us, there will be nothing that can give the trembling mind of the strongest man of us any comfort unless he can say with truth: 'And now, Lord, what is my hope? Truly my hope is even in Thee.' Nothing, unless he can receive back through the familiar voice of the Spirit of God, speaking by a pure conscience, the same message which the Lord gave to the man sick of the palsy, 'Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee'. And surely it will be well, while as yet we are in the full vigour of both mind and body, 'and the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when we shall say, We have no pleasure in them,' that we consider what grounds we can have for this assurance. I. There is a temper from which no improvement could ever come. If at any time we were so inflamed with conceit that we thought God was unjust in not giving us more good things than we had already received; if we supposed that we owed nothing to Him, and He everything to us; if we pretended that He had no law which we ought to obey, but was only an indulgent benefactor, to spoil us with the favours of His omnipotence then should we not say 'farewell to our consciences'? Following the rule of our own ruinous impulses without check, we should feel no restraint upon even the most disastrous of our passions. Owing no duty to God or man, we should be hideous monsters of selfishness; with no inspiring thoughts to purify our affections, and no ideas of right, wrong, and responsibility to guide us, we should be greedily given to everything evil. II. To save us from setting out on our career in a spirit so mistaken and fatal, our Lord has mercifully put into our daily prayer a reminder of how the case really stands. There is no happiness apart from God. God is that essence of goodness and perfection apart from Whom there is no life; Who keeps everything in safety; Whose perfect Will is the law of the universe. To Him we owe everything. To the goodness of His Being belong the ideals of our homes, friendships, and affections. To His pervading lovingkindness we attribute our enjoyments in the present, our hopes for the future, our knowledge of Him, our understanding of His revelation, our salvation in Jesus Christ, our instruction in the way of peace and happiness. III. We owe all this to God; but we owe Him much more. These are the things He has done for us, and given us, or which He can do and give. Is there no duty we owe Him in return? More than that, can we have these things without owing Him any duty at all? Some come to us by nature, and we can spoil them by neglecting our duty to God; some we cannot have at all without recognising this duty and acting upon it. We owe God love, gratitude, reverence, trust, obedience. We find His laws for us in our consciences, in His Word, in the revelation of His Son. We must resign our wills into His hands, our lives, thoughts, principles, affections all to be guided and ruled by Him. When a heart is so willingly given up to Him, He sends His Spirit, His grace, His power, and does so guide and rule it. He makes the sacrifice easy. He alone can govern the unruly wills and affections of sinful men. That is what we owe to God in order to be what we are intended to be; we have to yield up to Him all that we have and are. Therefore it is with the precious promises of God's Word before us, and with all the bitter remembrance of our shortcomings behind us, our Lord bids us bend daily before our gracious Father, and say, in penitence and humility, in love, trust, and hope, 'Forgive us our debts'. W. M. Sinclair. The Virtue of Forbearance Colossians 3:13 If a man is to live with any joy and fulness, and to find what a noble abode this world may prove, there are three virtues which he must steadily pursue. The first is faith in God, for without faith existence will always be a tangled skein: the second is courage, for every life has its hills, and we breast them but poorly if our heart is faint; and the third is forbearance forbearing one another. I. Some of the evils of the unforbearing spirit. (1) One of the first of them to arrest me is that it makes life a constant disappointment. There is only one highway to the world's true comradeship it is the road of forbearing one another. (2) Another evil of the unforbearing spirit is this, that it presses hardest on life's tenderest relationships. There are some worms that are content to gnaw green leaves, and to spend their lives on the branches of the tree. But there are others that are never satisfied with leaves, they must eat their way into the red heart of the rose. That is the curse of the unforbearing spirit it gnaws at the very heart of the rose of life. (3) But there is another evil of the unforbearing temper it reacts with certainty upon the man himself. For with what judgment we judge we shall be judged, and with what measure we mete it shall be measured unto us. II. I wish to indicate the character of true forbearance. (1) True forbearance begins in a man's thought. It is a good thing to be forbearing in our acts, a great thing to be so in our speech, yet I question if we have begun to practise rightly this pre-eminently Christian virtue, till we are habitually forbearing in our thought (2) Again true forbearance is independent of our moods. It is a mock forbearance that comes and goes with every variation in the day. (3) There is one other mark on which I would insist, and it is this, that true forbearance helps to better things. It is like the sunshine which brings the summer nearer; it is part of that gentleness which makes men great. III. Let me suggest some thoughts that may help to make us more forbearing. (1) Think how little we know of one another. We know far too little to be censorious or harsh. (2) Think how greatly we ourselves need forbearance. Even if we do not give it, we all want it. (3) Think how God has forborne us. The forbearance of God is a perpetual wonder. It is a great example: shall we not copy it? Days will be golden, and silenced birds will sing, when we revive the grace of forbearing one another. G. H. Morrison, The Unlighted Lustre, p. 170. Reference. III. 13. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi. No. 1841. The Perfecting Power of Love Colossians 3:14 A word or two will explain to us the figure which the Apostle uses to convey his meaning: 'Above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness'. The picture in the Apostle's mind is that of one who is putting on his raiment. He sees a man throwing around his body the loose and flowing garments of antiquity. And then it occurs to him that these loose garments, no matter how fine or beautiful they be, can never be worn with comfort or with grace unless they are clasped together with a girdle. Without that girdle, drawing all together, they hamper and hinder a man at every turn. It is the perfect bond of robe and tunic, the final touch that makes them serviceable. And so, says Paul, is it with love; it is the girdle of every other grace; it is the final touch that beautifies the whole, and makes every garment of the spirit perfect Under the figure, then, there lies one thought it is the thought of the perfecting of love. I. In the first place, let us consider how love is needed for the perfecting of gifts. (1) How true this is of spiritual gifts we learn from the first Epistle to the Corinthians. That Church at Corinth was very rich in gifts; so rich, that there was trouble over them. What was the counsel which the Apostle gave? First, he said, Covet earnestly the best gifts. Remember, he means, that though all gifts are of God, yet all are not equal in spiritual value. But then immediately he turns from that, as though it were too hard for these Corinthians, and he says 'but yet I show you a more excellent way' and that more excellent way is love. It is thus that Paul introduces that great chapter in which he glorifies the powers of love. (2) Not only is this true of spiritual gifts; it is true of artistic and intellectual gifts. Over them all a man must put on love, for love is the final touch that perfects them. Whatever be your gift, over that gift put on the belt of love. II. Once more, I ask you to observe that love is needed for the perfecting of service. Something is wanting to make service perfect; to make it a thing of beauty and a joy for ever; and what it lacks to crown it with delight is the final touch of love. It is love that makes every service perfect. It is love that turns the task into delight. Love never asks how little can I do. Love always asks how much. And that is why in all the range of service there is no service like that inspired by love, whether the love of a mother for her children, or that of Jesus Christ for all mankind. III. Once more, I want you to observe that love is needed for the perfecting of relationships. Now when you come to think of it, you find there are three great enemies of sweet relationship. The first is selfishness, the second pride, and the third destroyer of life's ties is fear. Love is the sworn enemy of selfishness, for it sets a crown upon the other-self. Love is the sworn enemy of pride, for love is ever warm and ever humble. And as for fear, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, for fear hath torment. It is thus that love is imperatively needed for the perfecting of every human tie. Like a girdle you must clasp it on if you would wear the garment of relationship. It and it only is the bond of perfectness between one life and every other life. Without it we may eat and drink and sleep. But with it, in our common life, we live. IV. Love is needed for the perfecting of religion. G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, p. 130. Peace the Umpire Colossians 3:15 To receive this peace and to keep it is to abide in blessedness. It is the peace behind which the heart of man entrenched can be at rest 'when all without tumultuous seems'; the deep peace of the deep sea, though the surface of life be storm-tossed and tempest-driven. I. It is this peace, this heavenly dove, which murmurs joy, that is to rule, to arbitrate, to he referee, to be umpire in our hearts. Men need such an umpire. The important matter, however, is to see this Divine arbitrator at work. Our judgments oftentimes hesitate in their verdicts, for life is a tangled skein, and the path of duty often winds through a labyrinth of the false and true, of good and evil, and the apparently neutral. God's peace is our greatest treasure, the preservation of it our first duty. Its decision must be final, and whatever other men may do, however right a certain course may be or them, any thing that robs us of God's peace is wrong for us. II. But there are other and very important applications of this great truth. Let peace be the umpire not only of the heart but also of the home. The preservation of home's peace ought to be the first concern of all who belong to it. Let us make peace the ruling goddess of the home life, the umpire from whose verdict there can be no appeal. It is necessary to the growth of all that is beautiful, fragrant, and holy in human relationships. III. Peace, God's peace, must also be made the umpire in the Church. Where strife is Christ is not. How powerfully that truth has been portrayed by the Belgian artist, Wiertz, in his great pictures, in which he always represents Jesus as turning away in pain and horror from scenes of hatred and strife. The only conflict in which the Church can engage is its holy war against the world. In the Church all must lay aside self-will, and live seeking and enjoying the peace of the household of God. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/expositors-dictionary/ The Claim of the Outsider Colossians 4:5 I. Note the distinction here assumed, 'them that are without,' which necessarily implies them that are within. This distinction is assumed throughout the New Testament. (1) The reality of this division. We serve one master: on the best of authority we affirm this. We obey one law; the higher law of the mind, or the lower of the flesh. We develop one character. Our character is the outcome of one dominant idea, one reigning purpose, one master-passion. We are within or without. (2) The determination of this distinction. Who are the within, who the without? In the New Testament this momentous question is decided by our relation to Christ. To be within is to be in Him. (3) The infinite significance of this distinction. The glory of Christianity must be seen from within. We do not know the glory of a garden by a glimpse through the hedge, the glory of a cathedral by walking about it, and looking up at its dark windows, or the glory of a country by sailing round its shores; the garden, shrine, or country must be judged from within, and from within must we judge the Lord Jesus and all that pertains to His faith and service. It is from the standpoint of personal trust, sympathy, and experience that we realise the reality and preciousness of all that is comprehended by the Church of God. II. The duty of the within to the without. Christians must act judiciously toward all men. To this end (1) We must maintain high character. 'Walk in wisdom.' That is, when you possess the essential elements of the Christian character be on your guard against technical defects which hide or diminish the full effect of that character. Oh! let us take care of character. So long as the Church stands out in the beauty of holiness, in acts of love, in ministries of blessing, it attracts, grows, triumphs; but all is over on the day that there are finer characters out of it than there are in it. (2) We must cherish a gracious spirit. (a) The without may be alienated by rigidness. (b) We alienate by roughness. (c) We repel by hardness. (d) We alienate by gloominess. As Robert Louis Stevenson protests to a correspondent: 'I do not call that by the name of religion which fills a man with bile'. Yet how many of us are habitually austere and sad! Let us be filled with Christ's spirit and emulate His example. W. L. Watkinson, Themes for Hours of Media tion, p. 96. References. IV. 5. H. Woodcock, Sermon Outlines (1st Series), p. 261. Expositor (6th Series), vol. viii. p. 421. IV. 7-9. Ibid. vol. iii. p. 235. I. 9. R. W. Riley, A Year's Sermons, vol. iii. p. 305. IV. 10. Expositor (4th Series), vol. iii. p. 229; ibid. (5th Series), vol. vi. p. 81; ibid. vol. x. p. 319. IV. 2. T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. iii. p. 226. IV. 13. Expositor (5th Series), vol. ix. p. 437; ibid. (6th Series), vol. ix. p. 22. St. Luke the Evangelist (for St. Luke's Day) Colossians 4:14 St. Luke is said to have been born at Antioch; the probability, therefore, is that he was, as Jerome says, a Syrian, and thus a Gentile. If so, then he was a proselyte to the Jewish religion. According to his Gospel and the Acts, he was well acquainted with Jewish rites, customs, opinions, and prejudices. The date of his conversion to Christianity is unknown; but of his conversion, as a blessed reality, there is not the shadow of a doubt Epiphanius and others have supposed him to have been one of the Seventy commissioned by our Lord. It has been said that ultimately he suffered martyrdom when eighty-four years of age. I. He is described in the text as 'the beloved physician,' and the tradition that he was a skilful painter is due probably to a confusion of names, for there was an early Greek painter of the same name. As a physician he was of essential service to St. Paul, not only in his own personal needs, but in his missionary enterprises, as the healing art was then, as it is now, of great advantage to the furtherance of the Gospel among the heathen. Through attending to the body the modern medical missionary may reach the soul, and by saving the one may, under the Divine blessing, save the other. II. St. Paul and he were great friends, as the text clearly shows. The appellation of 'the beloved physician' signifies that St. Luke, apart from his professional services, possessed certain amiable and holy characteristics which had won St Paul's admiration and affection. He loved his physician; and his physician reciprocated his love. 'Only Luke is with me,' he says. There is a tone of deep sadness in this avowal, but it magnifies the friendship of both of them. III. St. Luke was evidently a well-educated man. His learning is proved by his Gospel to have been great; for it stands out from the others in its evidences of a higher education, its peculiar beauty and pathos, its didactic style and graphic descriptiveness. Universality is its predominant feature. The author presents Jesus not only as the Messiah of Israel and the Incarnate Son of God, but as the Divine Son of Man; and he principally records those sayings and deeds of our Lord by which the Divine mercy was shown to the Gentile world. The Acts of the Apostles, which St. Luke also wrote, is a supplementary composition. It begins where the Gospel ends, so that united, the two form one history anent the life of Christ on earth, and the establishment of His Church in the world. In no part of the Bible have we such models of preaching, such tender, eloquent, and powerful appeals to the understanding and the heart. Luke, the Beloved Physician (for St. Luke's Day) Colossians 4:14 I. It is as the author of the Gospel that the Church is most interested in St. Luke. That book is one of the four golden columns on which rests the Christian history. It is one of the four golden trumpets which have sent forth the summons of Christ to the sons of men. It has, moreover, its own peculiar character. It was not so Jewish as the others; there is a peculiar human breadth and richness in it It gives the fullest account of our Lord's Nativity, and relates the parable of the 'Prodigal Son'. But it is not only as the writer of the Gospel that we know St. Luke. He was also the author of 'The Acts of the Apostles,' and was the fellow-labourer of St. Paul, who is the central figure of the larger portion of the book. St. Paul, in his Epistles, thrice mentions him, and twice he styles him 'the beloved physician'. That is almost all. By early tradition, and from some incidental indications, we gather that Lucanus was a Gentile and a citizen of Antioch, that he was a physician by profession, that he travelled with St Paul, and that before he died he wrote, at St. Paul's suggestion, the Gospel which bears his name. And yet there is something more. It seems clear that St. Luke's character as a physician remained an influential fact, even after he became a missionary. His style, the events of our Lord's life which he selects for his narration, bear marks of the physician's habits of thought and speech. St. Paul's allusion to him as 'the beloved physician,' and the fact that Luke appears to have joined Paul on several occasions when that Apostle's strength broke down under one of those recurrent attacks of prostration, all seem to imply that he continued to practise the art of healing, and that it was as a physician also that he travelled with St Paul from place to place. In St Luke, then, we see, what since his time has been the natural and normal type of Christian life, the inspiration by a new spiritual power of an earthly vocation, so that it continued to be exercised, and, moreover, fulfilled its true ideal. This suggests certain thoughts with reference to II. The general relation of the Christian life to men's occupations and professions. The disposition to find the simplicity of motive under the variety of action is familiar enough now, and it is right in its aim. The world of human action, like the world of Nature, is a scene of endless superficial variety which, by and by, we learn to gather into unity under some common force, under the power of some central inspiration. To the shallow observer each profession and calling is a life by itself; it will have its own thoughts, standards, principles, and passions; nothing in common with others. But that is only the superficial aspect Very soon he who lives begins to discover some deeper forces working underneath, and giving a real unity to all this seemingly incoherent life. How will it be, then, if you can reach one point which is the genuine centre of the whole mass one supreme force, of which they are all only modifications and manifestations, issuing from the very heart of all and this one central fountain of force, the soul's love for God as its Father; so that everything which a man had a right to do at all upon earth might be ideally done as an expression of this central force the love of man for God? Consider what effects the warm fire of the love of God must have upon the life, in certain arts and professions, of which the world must necessarily be full. It must (1) Purify all the professions. It melts away the dross and leaves the gold. It makes the man purely the thing he means to be, without any admixture of baseness or corruption. (2) It makes the professions to be no longer means of separation but of sympathy and union between men. If you and I feel always beating through our diverse callings and methods of activity the common purpose of the love of God, then the harder we work in different ways the more our lives are one. (3) It will sanctify the secular work of your life. No thoughtful man has failed to feel that the division of labour represented by the many and various occupations of life has its dangers corruption, narrowness, loss of human sympathy, and such like. Where is the safeguard against these things? Not by deserting your profession, but by deepening it; by seeking a new life under it; by praying for, and never resting until you find regeneration, the new life lived by the faith of the Son of God. So only can your life of trade, or art, or profession be redeemed; so only can it become for you and for the world a blessed thing. This is the lesson taught us by the lives and comradeship of St Paul and St Luke. We see the figures of Paul and Luke walking together as ministers of Christ theology and medicine labouring in harmony for the redemption of man, for the saving of body, soul, and spirit and the picture is very sacred and impressive Thus may these two professions, and every other 'calling' in life, in fellowship with religion, working together as if they were one, grow to be more and more a worthy channel through which the helpfulness of God may flow forth to the neediness of man. The late Bishop Phillips Brooks, * The Light of the World. * References. IV. 14. W. G. Horder, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlii. p. 245. F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 270. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for Saints' Days, p. 190. IV. 16. Expositor (6th Series), vol. v. p. 95. IV. 17. I. E. Page, Preacher's Magazine, vol. xviii. p. 308. J. Bunting, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 368. IV. 18. Expositor (5th Series), vol. x. p. 199.