+I. What it implies of present experience.+--1. _Generally--Christ
among you._ 2. _Personally--Christ in you._
+II. What is presages.+--"The hope of glory."
1. _Personal glory_--in the perfection of being where the servant is
like his Lord.
2. _Relative glory_--sharing the throne with Jesus, and sharing in
His triumph and glory.--_Preacher's Magazine._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 28, 29.
_The Secret of Effective Preaching._
Much has been written concerning the inefficiency of the modern
pulpit; and it has been argued that the press is now the great and
successful rival of the preacher and must ere long render his office
nugatory. This prediction might possibly be fulfilled if the
preaching of the Gospel was simply a human institution and depended
only on man for its permanency. But when we remember that preaching
is a Divine ordinance, and is adapted to reach and stir the heart as
no other agency can, the preacher's function can never cease while
human nature remains what it is, or while God honours His own
institution with His blessing. Only as the pulpit is faithful to its
grand theme and lofty mission will it be effective. The deepest want
of the age is Christ; and that preaching will be irresistibly potent
that most adequately represents Him. These verses reveal to us _the
secret of effective preaching._
+I. In order to effectiveness in preaching Christ must be the
changeless theme.+--"_Whom_ we preach" (ver. 28).
1. _Preach Christ as to the special characteristic and unrivalled
excellencies of His person._--The greatest men who ever lived,
however brilliant and capacious their genius or stupendous their
labours, never made so profound and widespread an impression upon
humanity as Christ has done and is now doing. Their influence
operated for only a limited period; His pervades all time--past,
present, and future; theirs was confined to a narrow locality, His is
diffused through the universe. The person of Christ is unique in
this--that it combines two natures, the Divine and the human. It was
necessary He should be both God and man in order to fully accomplish
the work He voluntarily undertook. As God, He met and satisfied all
the requirements of Deity; and as man--putting Himself in our
place--He realised and reached the extremities of our need, and thus
fairly laying hold of us, gathering up and grasping the roots of our
corrupt nature, He raised from sin to holiness, from earth to heaven.
He is Emmanuel--God with us.
2. _Preach Christ in His mediatorial character._--As the Prophet who
testified of the truth of God; as the Priest, who, by His one
offering of Himself on the cross, has atoned for sin and made
reconciliation possible; and as the King who has vanquished all our
spiritual enemies and demands our absolute allegiance to His rule.
3. _Preach Christ as the Saviour of every man, and as the only
Saviour._--The threefold repetition of the phrase "every man" has a
special significance, and emphasises the _universality_ of the
Gospel. This great truth, a truth which the apostle sacrificed his
life in establishing, had been endangered by the doctrine of a
ceremonial exclusiveness taught by the Judaizers in several places,
and was now endangered by the doctrine of an intellectual
exclusiveness taught by the Gnosticizers at Colossæ. Christ must be
proclaimed as the Saviour of men of every class, community, and
country. He is the only Saviour, for "there is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved" (Acts iv. 12). The
preaching of Christ is no narrow theme but stands essentially related
to all the noblest truths of the universe.
+II. In order to effectiveness variety of method must be
adopted.+--The declaration of the truth must be:--
1. _Authoritative._--"Whom we preach" (ver. 28). The New Testament
idea of preaching involves three elements--the announcement of joyful
tidings; the proclamation of truth as by a herald, urgently and
authoritatively; and the conviction and persuasion of men to belief
by means of arguments. The preacher is the ambassador of God, and the
message must be delivered as coming from Him, in His name, and by His
authority.
2. _Admonitory._--"Warning every man" (ver. 28). Sin has placed man
in imminent peril, and its tendency is to deaden his sensibilities
and render him oblivious of his danger. Hence, he must be roused to
concern and repentance by faithful remonstrance, by earnest
exhortation, by solemn admonition, by impassioned appeal.
3. _Instructive._--"Teaching every man" (ver. 28). Not only must the
emotions be swayed, but the understanding enlightened. It is not
enough to convince the unbeliever of his error, not enough to bring
home to the lover of sin the vileness and enormity of his
transgressions, but by clear and forcible exposition and persuasion
the fill of the individual offender must be seized, and with firm,
yet loving pressure biassed to seek after the light, truth, and
purity that once were shunned.
4. _With shrewd insight as to its adaptability._--"In all wisdom"
(ver. 28). The ancients spoke of a blind faith in their mysteries
which belonged to the many, and of a higher knowledge that was
confined to the few. The apostle, while declaring that in the Gospel
the fullest wisdom was offered to all alike, without restriction,
exercised discretion as to the method in which he presented it to the
individual. The style of his address at Athens would be different
from that adopted at Jerusalem. This involves a study of character,
and of what goes to make it--habits, customs, opinions, sympathies,
and the general circumstances of life-culture.
+III. In order to effectiveness man must be aided in realising the
highest ideal of the Christian character.+--"That we may present
every man perfect in Christ Jesus" (ver. 28). The Gospel is a mirror
in which is glassed the portrait of the character after which each
believer is to model his own. That character is not simply a
development of one's own natural manhood, so much as it is something
added to and thrown around that manhood, lifting it into dignity and
transfiguring it with a glorious beauty. The Gospel reveals the ideal
of the Christian character after which the soul is continually to
aspire. That ideal, in all its loveliness and witchery, is projected
before the soul's inmost vision in the Spirit and life of the man
Christ Jesus. He who approximates nearest to the Christly character
attains the highest moral perfection. It is the sublime mission of
the preacher not to gratify the intellect, charm the imagination, or
expand the mind by propagating the ideas of a transcendental
philosophy; but to strengthen the soul in the great contest with
evil, to supply it with holiest motives, to promote its spiritual
progress, to present it "perfect in Christ Jesus."
+IV. In order to effectiveness there must be self-denying toil and
the vigorous forth-putting of Divinely inspired energy.+--"Whereunto
I also labour, striving according to His working which worketh in me
mightily" (ver. 29). All great ideas have cost the solitary and
individual thinker unspeakable labour, and not a little suffering in
the endeavour to elaborate and make them known and set them in their
due relation before the world. The world is ruled by ideas; but the
revolution they occasion is a slow and painful process. The apostle
was the custodian of a great idea--that the Gospel was intended for
all and must be fully preached to all. The idea is familiar to us;
but it was new to that age and revolutionised the whole realm of
human thought. If the apostle had been content to preach an exclusive
Gospel, he might have saved himself more than half the troubles of
his life. But he saw the magnitude of the issues at stake; he
espoused the God-given truth with all the strength of his great
nature; he confronted the colossal prejudices of the ages; he trained
himself in the discipline of self-denying toil; he suffered as only
the true martyr-soul can suffer; he strove with an agony of
earnestness to make known the whole truth; and, aided by the mighty
working of the Divine power within him, he triumphed signally.
Preaching is always effective when it is the consentaneous outworking
of the Divinely imparted energy within the man. The preacher alone,
however strenuous his efforts, is powerless; but inspired and
strengthened by the Divine Spirit, and acting in harmony with His
promptness and help, he is mighty to prevail.
+Lessons.+--1. _Every sermon should be full of Christ._ 2. _The
preacher should be master of every method that will ensure success._
3. _That sermon will be most effective that is prepared and preached
under the most direct influence of the Divine Spirit._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._