+I. It is a claim based on scriptural and apostolic authority.+
+II. The temporary waiving of the right is a noble example of
self-denial and unselfish devotion.+
+III. No personal waiving of the right releases the Church from its
obligation.+
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 10-12.
_Christianity and Work._
Christianity is the Gospel of work. Its clarion-call thrills along
the nerves of human life and summons the world to labour. It gives to
work meaning, purpose, dignity, and exalts drudgery into a
blessedness. While full of sympathy for the feeble and maimed, it has
no pity for the indolent. Its Founder and first apostles were giants
in labour, and their example animates the world to-day with a spirit
of noblest activity. It is not the drone, but the worker, who blesses
the world. "Be no longer a chaos," writes Carlyle, "but a world, or
even a worldkin. Produce! produce! were it but the pitifullest,
infinitesimal fraction of a product, produce it in God's name! 'Tis
the utmost thou hast in thee; out with it, then. Up, up! whatever thy
hand findeth to do, do it with thy might."
+I. Christianity recognises the duty of every man to work for his own
support.+--"For even when we were with you, this we commanded, that
if any would not work, neither should he eat" (ver. 10). The
necessity of food involves the necessity of work. As every one must
eat, so every one must work. The wife of a certain chieftain, who had
fallen upon idle habits, one day lifted the dish-cover at dinner and
revealed a pair of spurs, a sign that he must ride and hunt for his
next meal. It is said that in the Californian bee-pastures, on the
sun-days of summer, one may readily infer the time of day from the
comparative energy of bee-movements alone; drowsy and moderate in the
cool of the morning, increasing in energy with the ascending sun, and
at high noon thrilling and quivering in wild ecstasy, then gradually
declining again to the stillness of night. Is not this a picture of
our life? Work is necessary for sustenance, for health, for moral
development; and rest is all the sweeter after genuine toil.
+II. Christianity is intolerant of an ignoble indolence.+--"For we
hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not
at all, but are busybodies" (ver. 11). The disorderly are the idle
tattlers, who make a pretence of work by busying themselves with all
kinds of things but their own duty. They are triflers, wasting their
own time and other people's; and they do serious mischief. In certain
foreign parts, where insects abound in such swarms as to be a pest to
the people and destructive enemies to young growing plants, an
electric apparatus has been constructed to destroy the brood
wholesale. The appliance consists of a strong electric light
attracting the moths and insects, a suction-fan drawing them into a
shaft as they approach the light, and a small mill in the shaft where
the victims are ground up and mixed with flour, thus converting them
into poultry-food. Cannot some genius contrive a means of putting an
end--short of grinding them into chicken-food: let us be merciful,
even to our enemies!--to those social pests who go buzzing about our
homes and Churches, worrying with their idle gossip and stinging with
their spiteful venom the innocent and inoffensive? If these
busybodies would devote, in doing their duty, the energy they waste,
they would be able to produce quite a respectable amount of honest
work. But they find it easier to sponge on the generosity and
simplicity of others. They are parasites; and all parasites are the
paupers of nature. Parasitism is a crime--a breach of the law of
evolution.
+III. Christianity enforces the necessity of a steady and independent
industry.+--"We command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with
quietness they work, and eat their own bread" (ver. 12). The apostle,
having the authority of Christ for what he counsels, _commands_; and
as a man addressing his fellow-men, he _exhorts_ and persuades. The
law of Christianity is both stern and gentle: unbending in principle,
and flexible only in manifold persuasions to translate the principle
into actual living practice. It rouses man from yielding to a sinful
listlessness and helps him to develop a robust Christian manhood.
When an Indian candidate for the ministry was asked the question,
"What is original sin?" he frankly replied, "He did not know what
other people's might be, but he rather thought that his was
laziness." Idleness is the prolific source of many evils: work is at
once a remedy and a safeguard. A clergyman once said, "A Christian
should never plead spirituality for being a sloven; if he be but a
shoe-cleaner, he should be the best in the parish." We are honouring
Christianity most when we are doing our best to observe the precepts,
"Working with quietness and eating our own bread." An American
preacher once said, "You sit here and sing yourselves away to
everlasting bliss; but I tell you that you are wanted a great deal
more out in Illinois than you are in heaven."
+Lessons.+--1. _Christianity encourages and honours honest toil._
2. _Fearlessly denounces unprincipled idlers._ 3. _Is an inspiration
to the highest kind of work._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._
Ver. 10. _Industry the True Charity._--When the palace and church
buildings of Caprarola were completed, Borromeo, the great patron of
idle almsgiving, came to see it, and complained that so much money
had not been given to the poor instead. "I have let them have it all
little by little," said Alexandro Farnese; "but I have made them earn
it by the sweat of their brow."
Ver. 11. _Idleness and Death._--Ælian mentions a witticism of
Alcibiades when some one was vaunting to him about the contempt the
Lacedæmonians had for death. "It is no wonder," said he, "since it
relieves them from the heavy burden of an idle and stupid life."
Ver. 12. _The Way to Value Quietness._--"How dull and quiet
everything is. There isn't a leaf stirring," said a young sparrow
perched on the bough of a willow tree. "How delicious a puff of wind
would be!" "We shall have one before long," croaked an old raven;
"more than you want, I fancy." Before many hours a tempest swept over
the country, and in the morning the fields were strewn with its
ravages. "What a comfort the storm is over," said the sparrow, as he
trimmed his wet fathers. "Ah!" croaked the raven, "you've altered
your mind since last night. Take my word for it, there's nothing like
a storm to teach you to value a calm."--_G. Eliot._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSE_ 13.
_A Call to do the Best Work._
The apostle has shown the necessity and duty of work--that honest
industry is a law of Christianity. Now he inculcates unwearied
diligence in accomplishing the best work, designated by the
comprehensive and suggestive phrase "well-doing." Whatever is worth
doing at all is worth doing well. No man has done his best till he
has done all he can. A man's highest work is the outcome of his best
endeavours. Observe:--
+I. Doing the best work is well-doing.+--"Be not weary in
well-doing." We may define to ourselves this duty of well-doing by
seeking answers to two questions:--
1. _How can I get the most good?_--The ancient philosophers discussed
the question of the supreme good with amazing subtlety of logic; but
they started their investigations with the erroneous assumption that
the supreme good must be a human product. The question is not how to
get good, but the most good--the highest, the best. We get the most
good by bringing the soul into complete submission to the highest law
of its being--voluntary and full surrender to the will of God. Call
it getting saved, getting converted; call it what you like, so long
as you get the thing itself--the love of God in the soul through
faith in the Lord Jesus.
2. _How can I do the most good?_--These two questions are closely
linked together, and are mutually interpretative of each other--the
one being the qualification and motive for the other. It may be
asserted we get the most good by doing the most good. The rose cannot
diffuse the fragrance it does not possess, however much like a rose
it may look. The question here, again, is not how I can do good, but
the most, the highest, and best. We do the most good by beginning
with the duty that lies nearest to us and doing it at once. The
earnest worker never lacks opportunity: there is the home, the
Church, the perishing multitude, ever within easy reach. "He that
winneth souls is wise" (Prov. xi. 30). The highest plaudit of heaven
is, "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matt. xxv. 21).
+II. The best work is not done without encountering
difficulties.+--"Be not weary." The exhortation implies there are
difficulties. These arise:--
1. _From vague and imperfect views of duty._--We have no sympathy
with the rhapsody of the mystic who said, "Man is never so holy and
exalted as when he does not know where he is going." We must know
clearly what we would be at, what is within the compass of our power
and opportunity, where our efforts must necessarily end, and room
left for the play of other influences. We must be practical and
methodical. Clearness is power. Confusion of ideas creates
difficulties.
2. _From unrealised ideals._--We have formed lofty conceptions of
what is to be done, and what we must do. We have elaborated extensive
organisations, and worked them with unflagging zeal. But the result
has been disappointing. Because we have not accomplished all we
wished, we are discouraged; our success has not been commensurate
with our ambition, and we are tempted to slacken our endeavours. "Be
not weary." We are not the best judges of what constitutes success.
If it does not come in the form we expected, we must not hastily
conclude our work is vain.
3. _From the loss of spiritual power._--We have neglected prayer and
the cultivation of personal piety. We have been so absorbed in the
external details of our work as to overlook the duty of keeping up
spiritual communion with the Highest. We begin to frame excuses--a
sure sign of moral decadence. "We have no talents." Then we should
seek them. We have more talents than we suspect, and resolute working
will develop them. "Our adversaries are numerous and fierce." If we
keep at our work, they will not trouble us long.
+III. The best work demands incessant diligence.+--"But ye, brethren,
be not weary in well-doing." The best state of preparedness for the
coming of the Lord is to be busily employed in the duty of the hour.
Every moment has its duty. Opportunity has hair in front; behind she
is bald. If you seize her by the forelock, you may hold her; but if
suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself can catch her again. Arnauld,
the Port Royalist, when hunted from place to place, wished his friend
Nicolle to assist him in a new work, when the latter observed, "We
are old; is it not time to rest?" "Rest!" returned Arnauld. "Have we
not all eternity to rest in?" A man's work does not ennoble him, but
he ennobles it.
+Lessons.+--_The text is a spiritual motto to be adopted_--1. _By
ministers and Sabbath-school teachers._ 2. _By parents seeking the
spiritual good of their children._ 3. _By all discouraged Christian
workers._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSE._
_Weary in Well-doing._
+I. The text by implication brings before us a state of mind to which
believers are liable.+--"Weary in well-doing." 1. _From a lamentable
want of fitness for spiritual duties and employments._ 2. _From the
opposition of the world._ 3. _From the hostile agency of spiritual
wickedness._ 4. _From the dimness of our conceptions of the things
which should especially influence us._ 5. _From failing to lay hold
on the Divine strength._
+II. The text an exhortation suited to those in the state referred
to.+--"Be not weary." 1. _Because you are engaged in well-doing._
2. _Because the time is short._ 3. _Because your associates are
glorious._ 4. _Because the issue is certain._ 5. _Because sufficient
strength is provided.--Stewart._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 14, 15.
_Treatment of the Refractory._
After all the warnings of the apostle against erroneous views and his
exhortations to Christian diligence, he foresees there may be some
refractory members of the Church who still persist in their
extravagances, reject all counsel, and defy all rule and order. In
these verses he gives explicit directions how to deal with such. The
inveterately lazy are often something worse than lazy and are not
easily reclaimed. When disobedience settles into a habit, stringent
measures are necessary to arouse the victim to a sense of duty; and
the efforts of restoration must be both resolute and kind.
+I. It should be made evident that his conduct is an obstinate
defiance of authority.+--"And if any man obey not our word by this
epistle, note that man" (ver. 14). Not only note that his disorderly
behaviour is a scandal to Christianity and an example to be avoided,
but let it be brought home to him, by direct and faithful dealing,
that it is a grave breach of the highest law. We can make nothing of
a Fool till he is first convinced of his folly. The first step in the
process of reformation is conviction of the need of reformation. It
is said of Thoreau, the author, that "he was by nature of the
opposition; there was a constitutional 'No' in him that could not be
tortured into 'Yes.'" There are many like him, even in the Christian
Church. It may seem a difficult, almost an impossible task, to
convince the refractory of his error; but it is the first thing to be
done, and persevered in. When the hearers of Austin resented his
reproofs, he used to say, "Change your conduct, and I will change my
conversation."
+II. With the view of bringing him to repentance he is to be excluded
from Christian fellowship.+--"And have no company with him, that he
may be ashamed" (ver. 14). The refractory practically excludes
himself from every circle that loves order, harmony, and peace; for
who can bear the rasping chatter of an irresponsible gossip who is
constantly raking up and turning over everybody's faults but his own?
But the Church must take action unitedly in dealing with the
contumacious. He must be deliberately and pointedly shunned, and,
when compelled to be in his company, the members must show, by the
reserve of their bearing towards him, how deeply he is grieving the
hearts of the brethren and sinning against God. In the days when
there was only one Church, and exclusion from it was regarded as the
greatest calamity and disgrace, the fear of utter excommunication
could not fail to have some effect upon those thus threatened with
it. Few people can bear the test of being left severely alone. It
gives them the opportunity for reflection, remorse, and reform.
+III. Efforts should be made in the spirit of Christian brotherhood
to effect his recovery.+--"Yet count him not as an enemy, but
admonish him as a brother" (ver. 15). Though shunned and threatened
with exclusion from Church fellowship, he is not to be passed by with
contemptuous silence. He is not a heretic or a blasphemer, nor is he
guilty of any monstrous crime. He is sinning against the good order
of society and the peace of the Church. He is still a brother,
troublesome and unreasonable though he be; and while there is the
least hope of his restoration, he should be faithfully admonished. He
is not to be accused and slandered to outsiders; this will only
aggravate his riotousness and make him more defiant. He must be seen
privately and spoken to faithfully, but with the utmost tenderness.
The Christian spirit teaches us to be discreet in all things, and
especially in administering reproof. Virtue ceases to be virtuous
when it lacks discretion, the queen of ethics. "To be plain," writes
Felltham, "argues honesty; but to be pleasing argues discretion.
Sores are not to be anguished with rustic pressure, but gently
stroked with a ladied hand. Physicians fire not their eyes at
patients, but minister to their diseases. Let reproof be so as the
offender may see affection, without arrogancy."
+Lessons.+--1. _It is an important part of Church discipline to
control the unruly._ 2. _It is in the power of one discontented
person to work much mischief._ 3. _Church discipline must be
administered with fidelity and Christian tenderness._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._