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THE CHRISTIAN’S PRIVILEGES
IT is scarcely to be expected, considering the weakness and depravity of our fallen nature, that the Church in any place should be free from dissensions and disputes. If every man who embraced the Gospel were from thenceforth altogether under its influence, nothing but love and harmony would prevail. But, not to mention the insincerity of some, who, like Simon Magus, profess the truth without experiencing any of its sanctifying influence, the hearts of men are not changed all at once, but by a gradual and progressive advancement in the divine life. Hence corruption will be at work, as well as grace; and, whilst the Spirit lusts against the flesh, the flesh will lust against the Spirit, and in some cases prevail against it, to the disturbing and defiling of the Church. So it was even in the apostolic age; and even where Paul himself preached. A party-spirit early prevailed in the Church of Corinth; different parties arraying themselves under different heads; some saying, that they were of Paul, others of Apollos, others of Cephas, and others of Christ [Note: 1Co_1:12.]. To repress these contentions, the Apostle remonstrated with the people on the impropriety of their conduct: and, having exposed the evil of such a spirit, he now, in conclusion, shews, that to “glory in men” is highly criminal; because of,
I. Our interest in God—
All that God has, belongs to us, if we believe in Christ:
1. His servants are ours—
[They are ours, with all their talents, and with all their labours: the most eminent among them is but “a steward of the mysteries of God,” appointed by God to dispense them to his people; “an earthen vessel, in which treasures” are deposited by him for their use. They are Christ’s servants; and they are ours for his sake [Note: 2Co_4:5.]. Paul, and Apollos, and Cephas were not endowed with their respective powers for their own sake, but for the sake of the Church and of the world; as we are expressly told: When “Christ ascended up on high, he gave some, Apostles; and some, Prophets; and some, Evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ [Note: Eph_4:11-12.]:” so that all to whom they are sent, may consider them as among their treasures, the gifts of God to them for the benefit of their souls.]
2. His creatures are ours—
[The whole “world,” and all that it contains, is ours, if we believe in Christ. The sun is ours to light us by day, and the moon and stars by night. The rain is ours, and the produce of universal nature, as far as is for our good. As to the actual possession of it, we may have but little; but as to the sanctified enjoyment, we have all. St. Paul speaks of himself as often oppressed with want and nakedness: yet, not-withstanding in appearance he had nothing, in reality he “possessed all things [Note: 2Co_6:10.].” Little as a worldly mind can enter into the idea, it is a fact, that the poor godly man has a richer enjoyment of his pittance, than the most opulent of ungodly men have of all their sumptuous feasts and large estates. To live by faith is a sublimer happiness than to live by sense; because in the cup of one who so lives, there is an ingredient which the other never tasted, and never can taste: “God himself is the portion of his inheritance, and of his cup [Note: Psa_16:5.]:” whether he have little or much, he enjoys God in it; and therefore he has the best possible use of all sublunary good.]
3. His dispensations are ours—
[“Life,” with all its comforts, belongs to the believer; nor can it ever be taken from him till his appointed time be come. “Death” also is among the number of his possessions. Terrible as it is to the unbeliever, it ceases to be so when once we give ourselves up unfeignedly to Christ as his peculiar people: from that moment its sting is drawn: and every man who can say with truth, “To me to live is Christ,” may with the fullest assurance add, “To me to die is gain [Note: Php_1:21.].” The pains and sorrows which usually precede death are only so many means of purifying the soul, and of preparing it for its appearance before God: and the final stroke is no other than the opening of the gates of Paradise for the soul’s admission to the full possession of its inheritance. If the stroke be more sudden and violent, it may be regarded as the fiery chariot which bore Elijah to the realms of bliss: or, if it be more mild and gradual, it may be viewed as the waggons which Joseph sent to bring his aged father to a participation of all his glory in the land of Egypt. However it may come, it is to the true Christian a termination of all his sorrows, and a consummation of all his joys. “Things present” too, of whatever kind they be, are precisely such as the believer, if he did but see as God seeth, would choose for himself: and “things to come,” however involved in impenetrable darkness at the present, are all ordered for his eternal good. To him they are uncertain: but Infinite Wisdom has ordained them all: and though there may be insulated occurrences which in themselves may be evil, they shall all, when taken together, “work for good,” to those who love God [Note: Rom_8:28.]. Yea, for the believer is prepared the future judgment; and for him are reserved all the glories of the eternal world. And, that we may not doubt the truth of these assertions, the affirmation is renewed at the close of this catalogue, “All are yours.”]
Before we point out the particular bearing of this part of our text, we will notice the latter part, wherein is stated,
II. God’s interest in us—
Here it will be necessary to mark distinctly the drift of the Aposle’s argument. He is shewing, that we ought “not to glory in men,” that is, not to indulge such partiality for some as would lead us to undervalue others. To evince this, he observes, that “all things are ours;” and that it is absurd to be so over-valuing a minute and comparatively insignificant part of our possessions, when we ought rather to be rejoicing in the whole: and that it is moreover highly criminal to be arranging ourselves under the standard of some favourite preacher, when we should be wholly and entirely given up to God as his exclusive property.
The former of these points we have already considered: the latter now calls for our attention.
We are not to give up ourselves to any man whatever, as though we had an exclusive property in him, or he in us: for,
1. We are Christ’s—
[In speaking upon this, we shall not enter into it at large, but shall confine ourselves to the precise view in which we conceive it to have been spoken by the Apostle.
We are Christ’s, and not man’s. The minister, who may be the honoured instrument of bringing us to Christ, has no property in us: he is only the servant whom Christ has sent to bring his bride to him. Christ is the Bridegroom; the preacher is only the person who “presents the Bride as a chaste virgin to Him [Note: 2Co_11:2.]:” and this is the precise view in which every convert ought to regard the person to whom the honour of bringing him to Christ is delegated. The bride may feel obligations to the friend who conveys her to the bridegroom; but she does not once think of shewing to him any such partiality as would interfere with the sacred and inalienable rights of her husband. Thus it should be with all who are converted through the instrumentality of men: they should regard those men as mere instruments, or, as St. Paul expresses it, “as ministers by whom they have believed,” and by whom they have received the gifts which the Lord himself, their heavenly Bridegroom, sent to them [Note: ver. 5.].
Let this then be borne in mind: “Ye are Christ’s,” wholly, and altogether Christ’s. He formed you originally: he redeemed you with his own most precious blood: he called you by his grace: all that you are, and all that you have, is his. You must therefore consider yourselves as his: his exclusive property, in all the powers of your body, and in all the faculties of your soul. Yea, so entirely must your affections be set on him, as to make all creatures dwindle into insignificance before him, eclipsed as stars before the meridian sun.]
2. “Christ is God’s”—
[Our affections are not to be so set even on Christ himself, as to forget that he, as our Mediator, is only God’s servant, sent to bring us to God the Father, and to deliver us up to him when the whole work entrusted to him shall be complete. The Lord Jesus Christ is to be considered in a three-fold view; as God, as man, and as the Mediator between God and man. As God, he is equal with the Father: as man, and as Mediator, he is inferior to the Father; as St. Paul has said; “I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man: and the head of Christ is God [Note: 1Co_11:3.].” He is the Father’s servant, to redeem both Jews and Gentiles by his own obedience unto death [Note: Isa_42:1; Isa_42:6; Isa_49:1-3; Isa_49:6.] — — — In all that he spoke, and in all that he did, he acted agreeably to the commission which he had received from the Father: and all that he suffered was “according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God the Father.” Whilst this glorious work is going forward, we must look to Christ, in whom all fulness is treasured up for the use of his Church, and “in whom all fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily:” but in the last day, when all the elect shall have been gathered in, and every enemy shall have been put under the feet of our victorious Lord, the whole body, with Christ himself at their head, shall be subject unto God the Father, being delivered up to him as the supreme Head of this glorious kingdom, that “God may be all in all [Note: 1Co_15:24; 1Co_15:28.].” As a mediatorial kingdom, it has been received from God the Father; and when, as a mediatorial kingdom, there shall be no longer any need of the Mediator’s office, it shall be given up into the hands of Him from whose counsels it proceeded, and by whose power it was completed.
Seeing then that we, and all the whole Church, are God’s exclusive property, we must, from fidelity to him, guard against the smallest disposition to alienate from him any portion of that honour and authority which are due to him alone.]
We will improve the subject,
1. In its negative and more appropriate view—
[We must “not glory in men.” It matters little whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, be the object of our preference; the attachment which leads us to set up one above another is altogether carnal. Four times in as many verses is this conduct characterized as carnal [Note: ver. 1–4.]. Happy would it be for the Church of God, if this disposition were viewed in its proper light! for there is scarcely a place where more than one minister officiates, but this hateful temper springs up to disturb the union and harmony of the Church. Moreover, as this temper is carnal in itself, so is it injurious to the welfare, as well of those who indulge it, as of all who are affected by it. Wherever it exists, it deprives the person of all the benefit which he might receive from those whom he so ungratefully undervalues: he contributes to excite divisions in the Church of God; and, as far as in him lies, weakens the hands of those ministers, on whom, in comparison of his favourite, he pours contempt. Brethren, let the arguments of the Apostle have their proper weight. The object of your idolatrous regard is given, not to you only, but to the whole Church of God, for whose benefit he is sent forth: and whilst he is sent for others, others also are sent for you: and you are ungrateful to God in so limiting your regards, as not to give a due proportion of them to all who seek your welfare. Besides, you are not to view them, so much as God in them: for of themselves they are nothing: whoever plants or waters, it is God alone that gives the increase [Note: ver. 6, 7.]. To God then supremely, and to God exclusively, are your affections due: and, if you will set them on any creature, you will “provoke him to jealousy,” and cause him to take away from you, as “Nehushtan,” (a piece of brass,) the instrument which he had raised up for the salvation of your souls [Note: 2Ki_18:4.].]
2. In its positive and more general view—
[You should glory in God with your whole hearts. Think what reason you have to glory in him: what unspeakable benefits you have received at his hands, and what obligations you have to surrender up yourselves wholly unto him! Who, besides the believer, can take to himself the declarations of our text? Of whom, besides him, can it be said, “All things are yours?” Survey the catalogue, believer, and think whether there be any thing in the whole universe that you can add to it? Should not you then be contented? Should not you be thankful? or rather, should there be any bounds to your joy and gratitude? I ask not whether you be in health or sickness, in wealth or poverty, in joy or sorrow: the state you are in is that which Infinite Wisdom has ordained for your greatest good; and there awaits you, at your departure hence, the immediate and everlasting fruition of God himself. O be joyful in the Lord, all ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard day and night! And, as God is wholly yours, so be ye wholly his, in body and in soul, in time and in eternity.
We cannot however conclude without entreating all to see that these blessings do indeed belong to them. It is to the believer, and to him alone, that they do belong: and we earnestly invite all, first, to believe in Christ as their only Saviour, and, then, to make it evident by their works that they have indeed believed; for, if our character be not clear, we can have but little comfort in the promises to which the saints alone are entitled, and of which they alone will ever receive the final accomplishment — — —]