+I. The nature of holiness.+--Conformity to the nature and will of
God. Not to be confounded with virtue.
+II. The origin of holiness.+--It is immediately connected with
regeneration. No holiness in man previous to this.
+III. The progress of holiness.+--The seed, the tree. The dawn, the
day. The child, the man.
+IV. The objects of holiness.+--In reference to God, to the moral
law, to duty, to sin.
+V. The influence of holiness.+--"There is an energy of moral suasion
in a good man's life passing the highest efforts of the orator's
genius. The seen but silent beauty of holiness speaks more eloquently
of God and duty than the tongues of men and angels."--_G. Brooks._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 8.
_A Word to the Despiser._
+I. The Christian minister is spiritually commissioned to exhort men
to holiness.+--"Who hath also given unto us His Holy Spirit." The
apostles were endowed for their special ministry by the extraordinary
gifts of the Holy Ghost; they were infallibly guided into all truth;
they wrought miracles; and their word was with power. Though
miraculous gifts are no longer bestowed, Christian ministers are
nevertheless called and qualified by the Divine Spirit; they are
empowered to proclaim the will of God and to urge men to
reconciliation and purity (2 Cor. v. 20). The Rev. F. W. Robertson
was once hesitating in the pulpit of a brother-clergyman which of two
sermons he should preach. Something whispered to him, "Robertson, you
are a craven; you dare not speak here what you believe." He selected
a sermon that seemed almost personal in its faithfulness and power.
But it was _the_ message given to him for that hour.
+II. That the most faithful exhortations of the Christian minister
may be despised.+--This is done when men reject the Word spoken,
refuse to listen to it, neglect to meditate upon it, and decline to
enter upon the course of holy living which it counsels. This conduct
shows:--
1. _The voluntary power of man._--He can resist the truth or accept
it. He is responsible for the exercise of all his moral powers, and
therefore incurs guilt by any abuse of those powers.
2. _The blinding folly of sin._--It darkens the understanding,
perverts the will, petrifies the affections, and banishes the good
that elevates and saves. Sin is also a force--a stealthy,
remorseless, destructive force; wherever it breathes, it blasts and
withers; wherever it plants its sharpened talons, it lacerates and
destroys; and the disorder, the moral anarchy, the writhing agony of
a groaning world bear witness to the terrible ravages of man's great
enemy. To wilfully reject the overtures of righteousness is to
relinquish the inheritance of eternal life, and to doom the soul to
the endless miseries of spiritual death.
+III. That to despise the faithful exhortations of the Christian
minister is to despise God.+--"He therefore that despiseth, despiseth
not man, but God." The contempt of the true minister does not
terminate in his person alone but reaches the majesty of that Being
by whom he is commissioned. To disregard the message of an ambassador
is to despise the monarch he represents. The Saviour declared, "He
that despiseth you, despiseth Me" (Luke x. 16). As the edicts
proclaimed by the public herald are not his own, but the edicts of
the prince who gives them authority and force, so the commands
published by the Divinely commissioned minister are not his own but
belong to Him whose will is the law of the universe. It belongs to
God to reveal the law, freighted with His sanction and authority; it
belongs to man to declare it. The exhortation, whether uttered by a
Moses, who was commended for the beauty of his personal appearance,
or by a Simeon Niger, who was remarkable for his physical deformity,
is equally the Word of God, to which the most reverential obedience
is due. To despise the meanest of God's ministers is an insult to the
majesty of Heaven and will incur His terrible displeasure. In
Retzsch's illustrations of Goethe's _Faust_ there is one plate where
angels are represented as dropping roses upon the demons who are
contending for the soul of Faust. Every rose falls like molten metal,
burning and blistering where it touches. So is it that truth acts
upon the soul that has wilfully abandoned its teachings. It bewilders
when it ought to guide.
+Lessons.+--1. _The Divine commands concern man's highest good._
2. _Take heed how ye hear._ 3. _To despise the Divine message is to
be self-consigned to endless woe._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 9, 10.
_Brotherly Love the Proof of a True Sanctification._
Love is the bond of perfectness, the golden cincture that binds
together and beautifies all the other graces of the Christian
character. Christianity has rescued man from barbarism and slavery.
It was the first to advocate and insist upon the common brotherhood
of humanity, and, by inspiring in the heart the love of Christ, has
made it possible for men to love each other as brethren. This was the
most striking feature of the Christian spirit in the early times, and
to which even the enemies of the Church bore testimony. In the second
century the scoffing Lucian declared: "It is incredible to see the
ardour with which the people of that religion help each other in
their wants. They spare nothing. Their first legislator has put it
into their heads that they are all brethren." The mutual exercise of
love towards the brethren is an indisputable evidence of spiritual
regeneration (1 John iii. 14); and in this chapter the apostle
evidently alludes to it as the proof of a true sanctification.
Observe:--
+I. That brotherly love is Divinely taught.+--"For ye yourselves are
taught of God to love one another" (ver. 9).
1. _It is commanded by Christ._--"These things I command you, that ye
love one another" (John xv. 17). This is a lesson the world never
taught and cannot teach. The natural heart is essentially selfish and
cruel, and delights in fierce aggression on the rights of others, and
in angry retaliation for fancied wrongs. Brotherly love is a fruit of
Christianity and is a powerful influence in harmonising the warring
interests of humanity. If love prevail, other graces will not be
absent.
2. _It has the example of Christ._--He frequently reminds His
disciples of what should be the scope and character of their love
towards each other--"_As I have loved you,_ that ye also love one
another." The same glorious example was also the constant burden of
the apostle's teaching, "Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us"
(John xiii. 34, xv. 12; Eph. v. 2). Brotherly love should be pure,
humble, self-denying, fervent, unchangeable.
3. _It is its own commendation._--"But as touching brotherly love, ye
need not that I write unto you." Love is modest and ingenuous in its
exercise, making itself felt without obtrusiveness, and almost hiding
itself underneath the multitude of benefits it creates. We should not
hesitate to commend whatever good we see in others. The great
Searcher of hearts does not pass over any good thing in a Church,
though otherwise clouded with infirmities, without a laudatory notice
(Rev. ii. 2, 3). A word of prudent commendation will often stimulate
the soul in its endeavours after holiness.
4. _It is a grace Divinely wrought._--"Ye yourselves are taught of
God." The heart is powerfully inclined to the exercise of this grace
by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit, not independent of but in
conjunction with the outward ministry of the Word. The invariable
method of Divine teaching is explained in Jer. xxxi. 33; Acts
xvi. 14. Those are easily taught whom God doth teach.
+II. That brotherly love must be practically manifested.+--"And
indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia"
(ver. 10). Love is not limited by locality or distance; it is
displayed, not only towards those we know and with whom we have
Christian communion, but towards those whose faces we have not seen.
The foreign missionary enterprise is a magnificent monument of modern
Christian charity. Love should be practically manifested in
supplying, as far as means and opportunity will allow, each other's
need, in bearing one another's burdens, in forgiving one another,
and, if necessary, in kindly reproving one another. During the
retreat of Alfred the Great, at Athelney, in Somersetshire, after the
defeat of his forces by the Danes, a beggar came to his little castle
there and requested alms. When his queen informed him they had only
one small loaf remaining, which was insufficient for themselves and
the friends who had gone abroad in quest of food with little hope of
success, the king replied: "Give the poor Christian one half of the
loaf. He who could feed five thousand men with five loaves and two
small fishes, can certainly make that half of the loaf suffice for
more than our necessities." Accordingly, the poor man was relieved,
and this noble act of charity was soon recompensed by a providential
store of fresh provisions with which the foraging party returned.
+III. That brotherly love is susceptible of continuous
enlargement.+--"But we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more
and more" (ver. 10) Notwithstanding the commendation of the apostle,
he exhorts the Thessalonians to seek greater perfection in this
grace. What is the sun without light? What is fire without heat? So
what is life without love? The rich seek to increase their store, the
wicked add to their iniquities; the saint should not be less diligent
in increasing unto every good word and work. "A child that stayeth at
one stature and never groweth bigger is a monster. The ground that
prospereth not and is not fruitful is cursed. The tree that is barren
and improveth not is cut down. So must all increase in the way of
godliness and go forward therein. Unless we go forward, we slip back"
(_Jewell_). The growth of charity is _extensive,_ as it adds to the
number of the objects loved, and _intensive_ as to its inward fervour
and tenacity. The more we apprehend the love of God to ourselves, the
more our hearts will enlarge in love to Him and all saints. True
brotherly love crushes all self-love and is more anxious to hide than
pry into the infirmities of others. Seldom is a charitable man
curious, or a curious man charitable.
+Lessons.+--1. _That brotherly love is the practical manifestation of
the love of God in man._ 2. _That brotherly love should be constantly
cultivated._ 3. _That brotherly love is a crowning feature of the
higher Christian life._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._