That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ.
The dignity and obligations of those called early to faith
I. To be brought to faith before others is a prerogative which persons so called have above others.
1. Let us acknowledge their dignity. The young rise up before the ancient in nature; so should it be with us who are babes, when we meet with those who are veterans in Christ (see Rom_16:6; 1Co_16:15).
2. Let those so honoured walk worthy of their dignity, by adorning their age in Christ with graces corresponding, such as experience, wisdom, weanedness, all kinds of mortification. Should one of fifty have no more wisdom and staidness than another at fifteen, it would make their old age despicable.
II. The end of all the benefits we obtain in Christ is, that we may set forth His glorious grace and mercy toward us. Let our words, our works, our whole man be at His command and service. The Church in the Canticles so praises the beauty of her spouse, that she wakens others; so should we from our hearts set forth the praise of our Christ, that others may by our means be brought to inquire after Him. Those who find bounteous masters on earth, how will they tell of their affability and liberality, of every circumstance wherein they do them any grace and favour? How will they protest themselves devoted to their service; how impatient are they of anything which so much as seems to tend to their disparagement? What a shame, then, it is that we should walk, neither feeling our hearts affected, nor yet opening our mouths to praise Him who has redeemed us and brought us to the hope of an immortal and incorruptible inheritance. (Paul Bayne.)
Believers ministering to God’s praise
In order to understand this sentence, we must consider that the term, “trusted in Christ,” implies more than it expresses; even the coming to God, or repentance, through belief, or hope, or trust that Christ, by His death, has made reconciliation with God for all who will come to Him in this hope, belief, and trust. The sentence, then, must be understood as thus: “That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first drew near unto Him, through trust in the reconciliation which Christ has made”; and then we see how this is to the praise and glory of God. For God’s glory is manifested by the exercise of His gracious attributes of mercy and loving kindness and forgiveness; but these He is prevented from exercising towards men when their hearts are impenitent and unbelieving, as we find it recorded of our Lord, that “He could there do no mighty works, because of their unbelief.” But what does the apostle mean when he speaks: “we who first trusted in Christ”? He is speaking apparently of the Jews, the first to whom the gospel was preached; as we find our Lord instructing His apostles, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”; and again, we have St. Paul saying that the offer and promise of salvation was made to the Jew first; and it is well to remember that all the first apostles and heralds of salvation were from among the Jews, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah and others, that “the Word of the Lord” should “go forth from Jerusalem”; and hence we see how that, in more than one sense, the first Jewish believers may be said to have ministered to the praise and glory of God. For not only did they, by their faith and repentance, make room for God’s glory to be manifested by the extension of mercy and forgiveness to themselves; but they, leading the way, were the occasion of others also embracing the faith, and themselves proclaimed it to the rest of the world. (A. P. Perceval, B. C. L.)
God must have all the glory of grace
Acertain king had a minstrel, and he bade him play before him. It was a day of high feasting; the cups were flowing, and many great guests were assembled. The minstrel laid his fingers among the strings of his harp and woke them all to the sweetest melody, but the hymn was to the glory of himself. It was a celebration of the exploits of song which the bard had himself performed. He had excelled high Howell’s harp, and emulated great Llewellyn’s lay. In high-sounding strains he sang himself and all his glories. When the feast was over the harper said to the monarch, “Oh, king, give me my guerdon; let the minstrel’s mede be paid.” And the king said, “Thou hast sung unto thyself; pay thyself; thine own praises were thy theme; be thyself the paymaster.” He cried, “Did I not sing sweetly? O, king, give me the gold!” But the king replied, “So much the worse for thy pride, that thou shouldest lavish such sweetness upon thyself.” Brethren, even if a man should grow grey-headed in the performance of good works, yet when at the last it is known that he has done it all to himself, his Lord will say, “Thou hast done well enough in the eyes of man, but so much the worse, because thou didst it only to thyself, that thine own praises might be sung, and that thine own name might be extolled.” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
We must trust Christ
What had the woman who touched the hem of our Lord’s garment heard? Nothing of His kindness towards herself, but towards others, and upon this she believed. So a rope is but cast down into the sea to a multitude of drowning men, and all are bidden for their life to lay hold on the rope that they may be saved; it were unreasonable and foolish curiosity for any of these poor men, now upon death and life, commanded to hold fast the rope, to dispute whether did the man who east down the rope intend and purpose to save me or not? and while my mind is perplexed on that point, I will not put out one finger to touch the rope. Fool! dispute not, but lay hold on the remedy. (S. Rutherford.)
