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PAUL’S INDIFFERENCE TO MEN’S JUDGMENT
THE ministers of Christ are generally either unduly exalted, or undeservedly depreciated, by those around them; but they should discharge their duties with fidelity, without any regard to the opinions of men, and approve themselves to Him who will judge them righteously in the last day—
I. The tribunal to which Paul referred his character—
He was not concerned about man’s judgment—
[By some he was looked up to as the head of a party [Note: 1Co_3:4.]; by others he was deemed unworthy to live [Note: ver. 13.]; but he knew that men’s judgment would continue only for a day [Note: This is intimated in the original.]: he was therefore alike indifferent to their censure or applause.]
He could not wholly depend even upon his own judgment—
[He did not know that he lived in any allowed sin; yet he was aware that, through the deceitfulness of sin and of his own heart, he might be led to form too favourable an estimate of his own state: he knew that God might discern much iniquity where we see none [Note: Luk_9:55.]; he therefore could not venture too confidently to trust even to the testimony of his own conscience.]
He committed himself rather to the unerring judgment of God—
[He did not indeed hope for an acquittal on the ground of innocence, or expect a reward as due to him on the footing of strict justice; but he relied on God’s equity as tempered with mercy, and willingly left himself to the righteous disposal of his Judge.]
II. The tribunal to which we must also refer ours—
God has appointed a day wherein to judge the world—
[He has constituted the Lord Jesus the Judge of quick and dead. And in due season he will summon the whole universe to his tribunal. Then will he bring into judgment, not the actions only, but the inmost thoughts and desires, of the whole world. Men judge of actions only, and of those actions principally which have respect to the welfare of the community in which they live. They care little about the state of men’s souls before God. But God notices the inmost recesses of our hearts. “He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, (of which men can take no cognizance;) and will make manifest the counsels of men’s hearts,” and make the very designs and purposes of men the ground of his dealings with them to all eternity. He will notice what we have been as creatures — — — what as sinners — — — what as redeemed sinners — — — The very habit of our minds under all these characters will be brought before him; and, according as that has been conformed, or contrary, to his revealed word, will be his sentence of condemnation or approval in that day.]
To that period therefore we must all look, and for it we must all prepare—
[As by the written word we must all be judged, we should study it with all diligence, in order that we both know and execute God’s holy will. As for the world’s standard of religion, we must not regard it: nor must we regard the approbation or censure which it assigns to men in accordance with its own erroneous views. But to God’s judgment we must look forward with the deepest solicitude, labouring if by any means we may approve ourselves to him, and “have praise of him.” To what purpose will it be to have monumental inscriptions in our favour, when God has sealed our condemnation, and loaded us with his merited displeasure? Or what effect will the censures of men produce on our minds, when God has passed a sentence of approbation upon us, and seated us with himself on thrones of glory? Methinks that laudatory word, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,” will richly repay all the obloquy that man can cast upon us, and all the pain that he could ever inflict.
Then live, my brethren, in expectation of that day, and in continual preparation for it. Mind not what man approves or disapproves, in comparison of what God commands: and be as attentive to the motions and desires of your hearts as to your outward acts. “if you seek to please man, you cannot be the servants of Jesus Christ.” You must therefore “not please men, but God who trieth our hearts.” And let me entreat you not to defer this surrender of yourselves to God. Think what is now the mind of thousands, who, having “sought the praise of man rather than the honour that cometh of God,” are now reaping the bitter fruits of their folly: and whatever the whole world may either say or do, (for you must “expect to be persecuted by them if you will live godly in Christ Jesus,”) “be steadfast, immoveable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, assured that at last your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.”]