ALL PLEASING
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
Col 1:10 It is not quite easy to determine whether the all pleasing means, to please all persons, or to please God in everything. In this, as in most similar cases, the right way is to take the passage comprehensively, as including both; and that the instruction is that we are to please everybody, that we may please God.
Christ pleased the multitude, and their testimony was, Never man spake like this Man. What we have, then, to ask, is, How did Christ please men? in order that we, by pleasing, like Christ, may walk worthy of Christ.
I. The first secret of all pleasing is humility. We almost always like a person who is really humble.
II. Another characteristic in Christ s life, and it was eminently to all pleasing, was His universal sympathy. It was, humanly speaking, the spring of His power. It is the spring of all power to throw yourself into another s mind, to look with another s eye, to feel as with another s touch; to do it both with joy and sorrow, with ignorance and learning, with dignity and debasement; and to express it by the countenance and the manner, as well as by the word, and by the tone, and by the accent; and, with all, to be always respectful in your sympathy this is the capability to please ; and this Jesus had without measure.
III. And we must add that potent and rare art of seeing the good in everybody that sweetest flower of charity! Christ had it in an unparalleled degree, and He owed to it, in an earthly sense, much of His influence. Is there anything in life so powerful? Is there anything so Christ-like? To see the germ of piety before it develops the seed of good in a wrong action, the yet untold love, the bit of blue on a dark sky, the excuse upon everything, to magnify the right while you hide its bad that was Christ! And he who knows how to do that walks worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration We are meant, says Bishop Moule, to think of the Lord s will as an
affectionate servant thinks of the wishes (not merely of the spoken or written-down orders) of the master, or the mistress, who has made the house of service a genuine home, and has almost hidden authority away in friendship. Even such an illustration scarcely satisfies the case. This anticipatory obedience is rather to be that of a devoted son to a parent, to a loving and beloved parent, to whom perhaps the son has not been always dutiful. How can he now do enough to undo that lamented past? How can he too much try, and delight, to obliterate the scars of past neglect by a present studious and watchful meeting of the wishes ?
CHRIST AND CREATION
For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.
Col 1:16 A very narrow notion of the functions of Christ is afloat, according to which our Lord is virtually regarded as limited in work, and even in nature, to the mission of redemption. 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.
(
b)
Christ is the instrumental agent of creation. All things were made through Him.
(
c)
Christ is the end of creation. All things were made unto 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.
(
b)
All orders of being, 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 (
a)
As regards Christ. (i.)
His pre-existence. It is eternal (
Heb 13:8). (ii.)
His glory. All that is great and beautiful in creation glorifies Him through Whom it came into existence.
(
b)
As regards the creation. (i.) This must be in harmony with Christ, (ii.) We should endeavour to trace indications of the spirit and presence of Christ in nature.
CHRIST THE CENTRE OF ALL
By Him all things consist.
Col 1:17 A remarkable expression which contains a great truth.
I. Christ is the centre of all.
(
a)
Of the visible world. Christ is the central point of everything, and the whole circle of the universe is united and ruled and bound together by Christ.
(
b)
Christ is the essential point of all truth, even of the great Godhead of the Blessed Trinity. Christ came from heaven to reveal and magnify the Father. This done, Christ returned to heaven to send the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost leads us to Christ, Christ presents us to the Father.
(
c)
Christ is the Head of the Church.
II. Every real Christian will confess that every good thing he has, every act of love and service, every ray of light and holiness to his heart or life, all come from Christ. There is no other source. And further his own conscience will tell him that his one great desire is to serve and please Christ. That Christ is the focus of his life to be like Him, to honour Him, to be with Him for ever: so that past, present, future, all gathers up to one point, and that point is Christ.
III. Apply this truth very practically.
(
a)
You feel and you regret your inconsistencies. Your inconsistencies are the result of a little of Christ, or no Christ, in your heart.
(
b)
We lament divisions in the Church. What is the real and only remedy? More simplicity, greater humility, greater singleness of aim, Christ more preached, Christ more lived, Christ more exalted.
(
c)
Or go into a closer circle in your family, in your household, in your school, in your place of business. Is it peace? Labour for the prerogative of Christ. It is His work and His glory to keep all things well together your family, your business, everything. By Him all things consist.
THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH
And He is the Head of the Body, the Church.
Col 1:18 To St. Paul the Church was the Body of Christ. The Father, he says, gave Christ to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. St. Paul loved to contemplate Christ as the Head, and the Church as His Body.
I. The unity of the Church. St. Paul loved the thought of unity. He saw with his mind s eye one Body, but many members, the members different from each other, each having his own function, but joined together into a unity infinitely the grander because of the differences, through allegiance to the Head and harmony amongst themselves. But that, you would say, is an ideal figure; it describes what a Body, of head and members, would be in its perfection. That is so.
II. St. Paul was accustomed to contemplate the Church as it should be. But this ideal was not an imaginary one, in the sense of being a fancy of his own; it had to him a reality transcending that of visible things, because he saw it in the mind and purpose of God, and was sure that God was actually working towards the fulfilment of it. That is the true Catholic or Universal Church; it is one Body, Christ the Head, men the members; real and living, because it is the creation of the living God, and is the heavenly pattern of all that is ecclesiastically right and good on the earth.
III. You may find it easier to know the Church as the ideal Body of Christ, if you compare with this view of the Church what St. John said of the individual Christian: Whosoever is begotten of God … cannot sin, because he is begotten of God. This is from him who had said before: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. What he means is that the true son of God in a man cannot sin. And he reconciles both his statements in the words, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God?… Beloved, now are we children of God.
IV. The Church, then, in its fullest sense, is mankind seen in its true divinely appointed relation to Christ. And that is the conception of it which we shall find to be truest, most in harmony with what has been revealed to us, and also with what life and history present to us.
V. The actual Church was no more ideal and perfect in St. Paul s time than it is now. The Apostle found his Christians very imperfect, distressingly imperfect. He pressed upon them the true character of the Church in order that they might strive to be more tolerably conformed to it. The Christian societies had to grow up, in knowledge and graces, into the perfect Body, the fulness of Christ, and agencies were given to help this growth. Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, and, above all, His inworking Spirit, for the building up of the Body of Christ, till we all attain … unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
Rev. J. Llewelyn Davies.
Illustration Let us be thankful for all that the Church has done for the salvation of mankind, let us rejoice to make the most of it. It has been the office of the Church to bear witness to Christ, the Jesus Christ of the New Testament; to proclaim the Gospel of forgiveness and reconciliation; to beseech non-Christians to believe in the crucified Son of God, and to bid all Christians to be true to their calling, as children of the God of righteousness and love: and this glorious office it has with human imperfection more or less faithfully discharged.
CONTINUANCE
Continue in the faith.
Col 1:23 Will he stand? That is almost the first question asked about young converts. Asked sometimes by friends anxiously, sometimes by foes sneeringly; and no wonder.
I. Continuance is the test of reality. Time will show, says the proverb, and the proverb is right. It is not enough to begin well; there must be a patient continuance in well-doing.
II. Continuance is necessary to success. No good or great work has ever been accomplished without perseverance. The man who is discouraged by the first rebuff will never make much progress.
III. Continuance is necessary even for safety. A man may be wrecked within a ship s length of the lighthouse. The ill-starred
Eurydice was in sight of harbour when she went down. Travellers have been found dead before to-day in the snows of the great St. Bernard within a few yards of the refuge.
IV. Continuance is specially needed in the higher levels of Christian experience. It needs much grace to claim the faith-position in a risen Christ to take a full salvation.
Rev. E. W. Moore.
Illustration Near the summit of Mount Washington, says an American writer, is a rude cairn of stones that marks the spot where a young lady, who was overtaken by the darkness without a guide, died of exposure and nervous fright! The poor girl was within pistol-shot of the cabin of the tip-top, its cheering light was just behind the rocks; yet that short distance cost her her life. Even so it is in the Christian life. The soul that seems to start, but does not continue, may be at last picked up dead just outside the gateway of the Father s house.
THAT WHICH IS BEHIND OF THE AFFLICTIONS OF CHRIST
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body s sake, which is the Church.
Col 1:24 St. Paul was accustomed to urge upon his converts that they should rejoice in the Lord alway. 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. 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 winepress 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, 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.
(
b)
Vital union. There is union, not local, but vital, 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 baptized 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 glorified 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.
III. Our relation to one another. Let us not suppose, as we are sometimes tempted to do, that the pain and trouble to which even the best are subject are plainly so much waste, due to some great mismanagement. Take one of the most difficult cases. In not a few families there is a chronic invalid, whose years have been one long weariness to the casual eye useless a piece of wreckage cast up on the shore of the ocean of life. Surely he does not lie there in chastisement for his sins; surely she is not suffering all this for her sanctification? Perhaps not, but there is such a thing as suffering for the sake of others. Little do you know what a centre of influence is that pale face and weakly frame! What gentleness it has called out in natures that grew hard and selfish, what quiet, loving sermons it has preached by a look, by a word! He or she has suffered for His Body s sake. There was something lacking in the afflictions of Christ which drew these souls to Him, and he or she filled it up, and the weak, faulty mortal becomes as it were a Christ to the brethren.
Archdeacon S. M. Taylor.
Illustration St. Paul endured that tedious imprisonment, but it resulted in his writing to his comrades whom he was prevented from going to see, and what he wrote will inspire and comfort the Church to the end. Bunyan spent weary years in Bedford Gaol, but so
The Pilgrim s Progress came to be written, which for two centuries has helped many a devoted, humble soul to live the highest life; and if Tennyson had not suffered the grief of separation from a friend for whom he had more than a brother s love, those words of hope and tenderness, of faith that struggles in the darkness and conquers, had never been penned, and the world would have been the poorer without the
In Memoriam.
CHRIST AND HIS PEOPLE
Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Col 1:27 The Apostle speaks of a mystery what is it?
In a single sentence, it is Christ in you. Looking carefully at the passage, we see that he makes certain statements respecting this mysterious union betwixt Christ and His people.
I. It is a secret. To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery.
II. It is a secret once hidden but now revealed. The Apostle says this mystery was hidden from ages and generations. The mystery of Christ could not be fully revealed at once. The Lord Christ was hidden in the mystery of the Divine Unity; hidden in the secret counsels of God; hidden in type and prophecy and legal ceremony; until at length in the end of the world He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
III. It is a secret about indwelling. Christ
in you, says the Apostle, not Christ for you. There is only one holy life. There is none holy but the Lord, and if you would be holy, you must let Christ live out His life in you.
Rev. E. W. Moore.
Illustration The indwelling of Christ in
the Christian is presented to us, as Bishop Moule says, as a normal, nay as a necessary, fact of all living Christianity; Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you, unless ye are somehow counterfeits? (
2Co 13:5). If we are in simplicity at His feet, He, thus indwelling by the Spirit, is in our being. And the indwelling in
the heart, what is it but this fact realised by the faith which sees and claims it? It is not an attainment; it is a recognition. Come, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Come, and let the Lord, humbly welcomed without misgiving, dwell in us, and walk in us, every hour of life.
PERFECTION IN CHRIST
That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
Col 1:28 Present! To whom? To the world? To the Church? To Christ, when He comes, in the assembly of the universe? Was this part of the Apostolic office? Will it be an Apostolic office at the last day? Can it ever be mine?
It is a solemn thought for you and for me; and more solemn still when I think
how we are to present you
perfect perfect
in Christ Jesus.
But perfection is progressive.
I. Progression lies very much in motives. What you have to do is to purify your motive and your resolution.
II. Prayer, again, is a great field for growth.
III. And the conflict with some besetting sin.
IV. And if to this you add a growing humility self lower and lower every day, that Christ may be higher; Christ only, Christ ever, Christ all; and in Christ a childlike confidence and a holy, reverent joy; then you are getting nearer to the goal you are close to the goal; perfection is not far off. A few more steps, a little more struggling, and you will be at home.
Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration The largest mind, perhaps, that ever lived felt that he was only picking up a few pebbles on the shore of truth ; and the great painters of antiquity were wont to record their sense of the incompleteness of their work by an inscription which, translated from the Latin, meant, not I did it, but
I was doing it. Not finished! I
was doing it. And in, both lives the intellectual and spiritual the development and increase are things very quick, very evident at the beginning, while, as they approach to the last and exquisite finish, the labour is greater, but it makes very,
very little show.