3. The chief thing that should influence a Christian's outward walk
is the remembrance of his calling and appointment by God. He should
be mindful of why he is called a Christian, and live consistently. He
must shine before the world; that is, through his life and God's
work, the Word and the name of Christ the Lord must be exalted.
Christ exhorts his disciples: "Even so let your light shine before
men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who
is in heaven." Mt 5, 16.
4. Similarly, Paul would say: "You have received God's grace and his
Word and are a blessed people. In Christ all your needs are blessedly
supplied. Be mindful of this and remember you are called to a far
different and vastly higher life than others know. Show by your
manner of living that you seek a higher good than the world
seeks--indeed, that you have received far greater blessings. Let your
lives honor and glorify the Lord who has given you such blessings.
Give no occasion for dishonoring your treasured faith, or for
scorning his Word. Rather, influence men by your godly walk and good
works to believe in Christ and to glorify him."
5. Let the Christian know his earthly life is not unto himself, nor
for his own sake; his life and work here belong to Christ, his Lord.
Hence must his walk be such as shall contribute to the honor and
glory of his Master, whom he should so serve that he may be able to
say with Paul, not only with respect to the spiritual life--the life
of faith and of righteousness by grace--but also with respect to its
fruits--the outward conduct: "It is no longer I that live, but Christ
liveth in me." Gal 2, 20. The Christian's manner of life may be
styled "walking in Christ"; yes, as Paul elsewhere has it (Rom 13,
14), "putting on" the Lord Jesus Christ, like a garment or an
ornament. The world is to recognize Christ by his shining in us.
6. But the so-called Christian life that does not honor Christ makes
its sin the more heinous for the name it bears. Every sin the people
of God commit is a provocation of Jehovah; not only in the act of
disobedience itself, but also in the transgression of the second
commandment. The enormity of the sin is magnified by the conditions
that make it a blasphemy of God's name and an occasion of offense to
others. Paul says in Romans 2, 24: "For the name of God is blasphemed
among the Gentiles because of you." So a Christian should, in his
life, by all means guard the honor of God--of Christ. He must take
heed that he be not guilty of blaspheming that name and of doing
wickedness. The devil, aided by the world, construes every act, when
possible, to reflect upon God's honor and glory. His purpose is to
manifest his bitter hatred against Christ and the Word; also to
injure the Church by charging offenses, thus deterring unbelievers
from embracing the Gospel and causing the weak to fall away.
7. To guard against such disaster, Christians should be particularly
careful to give, in their conduct, no occasion for offense, and to
value the name and honor of their God too highly to permit blasphemy
of them. They should prefer to lose their own honor, their wealth,
their physical well-being, even their lives, rather than that these,
their most precious possessions and greatest blessings, should suffer
disgrace. Let them remember that upon keeping sacred the name and
honor of God depends their own standing before God and men. God
promises (1 Sam 2, 30), "Them that honor me I will honor." But
pursuing the opposite course, Christians bring upon themselves God's
sternest wrath and effect their own rejection and shame. For he says
further: "They that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." And in the
second commandment God threatens certain and terrible punishment to
abusers of his name; that is, to them who do not employ it to his
honor and praise.
8. Well may every Christian examine his own life to see if he is
careful to guard against offense to the Gospel and to regulate his
words and conduct by God's first commandment, making them contribute
to the honor and praise of the divine name and the holy Gospel.
Weighty indeed and well calculated to cause complaint are the sins to
which every Christian is liable in this respect; well may he avoid
them lest he heap to himself the wrath of God. Especially need we be
careful in these last and evil times when the Gospel is everywhere
suppressed by great offenses. Man was created to be the image of God,
that through this his image God might himself be expressed. God's
image, then, should be reflected in the lives of men as a likeness in
a glass, and a Christian can have no higher concern than to live
without dishonor to the name of God.