Biblical Illustrator Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone Paul had been compelled to leave Thessalonica in consequence of the malignant opposition of the Jews. But Timothy might venture where it would be perilous for the apostle to appear. Fearing that his absence might be misconstrued, and anxious to strengthen the faith of the infant Church in the midst of trial, the apostle determines to send a trusted messenger. It is a significant testimony to the sound judgment and prudence of Timothy, that he is selected for this difficult and important mission.I. THIS MISSON WAS THE SUGGESTION OF AN UNCONTROLLABLE ANXIETY. "Wherefore, when we could no longer forbear." This anxiety sprang from the intensity of the apostle's love. It is a striking feature of genuine Christian love, that while it bears external suffering with uncomplaining patience, it is impatient of delay in doing good. The mother can endure anything but restraint in her desire to promote the best welfare of her child. David was indifferent to exposure and danger, but his soul panted after God. II. THIS MISSION INVOLVED GREAT PERSONAL INCONVENIENCE. "At Athens alone." True love, in its unselfishness, ever prefers another's good to its own. Timothy had travelled so constantly with Paul, and had been so great a comfort, that his absence was a loss keenly felt. Specially was his sympathy and cooperation needed at Athens. What a sublime historical picture is pourtrayed in the words "at Athens alone." Christianity embodied in a single, lonely man, standing in the midst of the populous metropolis of pagan culture and idolatry. Yet the power enshrined in that solitary man broke up and scattered the huge fabric of heathenism. III. THIS MISSION WAS ENTRUSTED TO A THOROUGHLY QUALIFIED MESSENGER. The high character of Timothy and his relations with Paul are brought out in the epithets — 1. Brother. Elsewhere Paul calls him his "own son in the faith," his "dearly beloved son"; but in speaking of him to the Churches, he recognizes him on the equal footing of a brother. 2. Minister of God. Solemnly set apart by the voice of prophecy and by the hands of the presbytery, and of Paul himself. 3. Fellow labourer in the gospel of Christ, not only as all God's ministers are — i.e., working the work of the same Lord — but also on the ground of that special intimacy of personal intercourse and cooperation to which he was from the first admitted by the apostle. Thus Timothy was thoroughly qualified —(1) To carry out the apostle's wish concerning the Thessalonians: and(2) to sympathize with the Church's peculiar difficulties and trials. He was more than a mere courier. He was faithful to Paul's instructions, and valuable to the Church in himself. IV. THIS MISSION WAS CHARGED WITH A WORK OF HIGH IMPORTANCE AND NECESSITY. 1. To establish, to confirm, or set fast their faith, by a fresh authoritative manifestation of the gospel truth and its Divine evidences; and this would be done by private conversation and public ministration. 2. To comfort. The word means also — and especially here — to exhort, though, doubtless, comfort would be mingled with the exhortation. The Thessalonians were exposed to the storm of persecution that was everywhere raging against the gospel and its adherents, and they were exhorted to steadfastness, "that no man should be moved by these afflictions." Paul and Barnabas had a similar mission to the Churches in Lesser Asia (Acts 14:22). There are none so strong in faith but need confirmation; none so courageous but need comfort. Lessons — 1. The establishment of believers is ever a subject of anxiety to the true minister. 2. The desire to promote the highest welfare of the Church should ever be paramount. (G. Barlow.) II. THE DESIGN PAUL HAD IN SENDING TIMOTHY. This was to establish the Thessalonians, and comfort them concerning their faith. Paul had converted them to the Christian faith, and now he was desirous they might be confirmed and comforted — that they might be confirmed in the choice they had made of the Christian religion, and comforted in the profession and practice of it. The more we are comforted, the more we shall be confirmed; because, when we find pleasure in the ways of God, we shall thereby be engaged to continue and persevere therein. The apostle's design, therefore, was a preeminently worthy one concerning his Thessalonian converts — their faith and the object of their faith, the truths of the gospel, and particularly that Jesus Christ was the Saviour of the world, and so wise and good, so powerful and faithful, that they might surely rely upon Him. He would also have them remember the recompense of faith, which was more than sufficient to balance all their losses and reward all their labours. III. THE MOTIVE INDUCING PAUL THUS TO ACT. He cherished a godly fear or jealousy lest the Thessalonians should be moved from the faith of Christ. He was exceedingly desirous that not one among them should waver or apostatize; and yet he apprehended danger, and trembled for the consequence. They could not but perceive what afflictions the apostles met with; and also those who made profession of the gospel were persecuted, as without doubt these Thessalonians themselves were, and these evils might possibly stumble them. But the danger did not end here; there was the tempter's subtlety and malice. He had often prejudiced the minds of men against religion on account of the sufferings its professors are exposed to, and he would do his utmost to damage the faith of these converts. Naturally, therefore, the apostle feared lest his labour should be in vain. To prevent the consequence of the danger, he sent Timothy to them to put them in mind that, as concerning affliction, they were appointed there unto. Troubles and persecutions do not come by chance, nor merely from the wrath and malice of the enemies of religion, but by the appointment or permission of God. (R. Fergusson.) 1. St. Paul puts upon himself the sacrifice of solitude in a strange city simply because it comes in the line of his duty. To his tastes ether appointments would be more agreeable. Some familiar place would suit better his longing for sympathy. He is a scholar, and would prefer retirement. He is the worn hero of many battles, and would like to rest in some peaceful household of faith. That he cannot do and be faithful; and this with any honest soul settles the question. At Athens, busy as he is, he remembers the affectionate little band left behind at Thessalonica. 2. In his person, on landing at the Piraeus, the morning light of the new age rose on a second continent. Yet everything was bleak, every face unfriendly. Any courage less valiant than his must have quailed before the overpowering splendour and despotism of old heathenism in its stronghold. Paul had come to it as fearless of its sophistries and arrogance as he had been of the swords and dungeons of Syria. 3. Without some common interests, cities are wildernesses and society the saddest of solitudes.(1) From the moment that Paul's feet touched the pier, the monuments of the dominant mythology began to lift themselves forbiddingly before him, to make him feel himself "alone." His own heart burning with love to Christ, the first objects that greet him are the statue of Neptune, a sensual temple of the God of Wine, images of Mercury, Minerva, Apollo, and Jupiter. Reaching the market place, his sense of separation deepens at every step. The buildings are memorials of a foreign history. Their walls are covered with paintings of barbarous exploits and alien manners. Processions of disgusting ceremonies meet him.(2) If he turns from the world of sight to the world of thought, he finds the schools of unbelieving speculation strong in great names, but distracted with debate between doubt and delusion, and full of eloquent error. What was all this to the man who could say, "It is no more I that live; Christ liveth in me." Deeper and darker the solitude grew; and yet he could banish himself into a completer exile for the sake of the little band of Christians at Thessalonica. I. IN GOD'S APPOINTMENTS THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF LONELINESS. 1. Outward and physical.(1) The providential conditions are so settled for many that they have much less than the average share of social communication.(a) Sometimes, by a shrinking turn of the constitution, or by natural reserve, or by lack of magnetic quality, or by a fatal propensity to say the wrong thing, or by necessities of occupation or residence, they are cut off from society.(b) There is the solitude of temperament, the earnest heart all the while yearning for companionship, and yet strangely held back.(c) There is a solitude of pride where social advantages are bitterly given up to escape making an appearance inferior to that of one's class.(d) There is the solitude of obligation, created by the necessities of toil or devotion, by poverty or pity, imprisoning body and mind alike.(e) There is the solitude of bodily infirmity.(2) Among the perils of such a situation we must set down —(a) A tendency to a belittling self-consideration. Finding nothing beyond self to fasten upon, affection stagnates or sours. Religion will have hard work to save such a life from contempt. It has been the snare of all monks.(b) In other cases we see censoriousness. Rigid standards are applied to others. Allowances are not made for unavoidable differences, and so the first commandment of love is broken.(c) Along with these bigoted ways of thinking, comes envy and cynicism. You have never had your fair chance. You are distanced by your contemporaries. Outside your sick chamber are the gay children of health and wealth. It needs a steady faith in God's impartiality to keep down your discontent. So Martha felt her solitude — "Carest thou not that my sister hath left me"; and Peter — "What shall this man do?" — contrasting John's brighter lot with his own martyrdom.(d) Add to these a certain unwholesome fastidiousness, which is apt to arise from constant preoccupation with private tastes. The hand is withheld from many a useful office, and the tongue from many a cordial utterance. Opportunities for Christian benefaction are despairingly thrown away, and life miserably bereft of its true glory. 2. Involuntary and moral loneliness. While this, too, has its dangers, it may be made the occasion, as it was with Paul, of great spiritual gains.(1) It is indispensable that at some period souls who follow Christ should stand morally apart, without honour or sympathy. This is one of the crosses which brave men have to take up, a school where strong principles are planted, convictions nourished, and energies trained. Rules of action taken up out of deference to prevailing notions fluctuate; these, wrought into the conscience in solitude, are more apt to come at first hand from God. Here is the test for all real characters. Can you live, work, suffer, stand out, move forward alone? This settles it whether you are a mere piece of movable furniture, moulded by the hands of fashion, or a living independent soul, satisfied to walk with Him who had not where to lay His head while He was showing the world the truth and love of God, satisfied to live with the apostle who thought it good to be left in Athens alone.(2) In all the biographies of human greatness we find this proved by examples. I try in vain to think of one memorable saint who has not had the discipline of the desert or the mountain. It is there that great leaders have gathered gifts from on high, broken the bondage of ambition and vanity, and came so close to Christ that His sacrificial power has entered them. Out of the Bible, no less than in it, master men have been lonely men.(3) Hence the defect you are sure to find in people who have never accepted or made intervals of seclusion. They may be stirring characters, but thin; loud, but shallow, wanting in reverence and steady power, over-anxious about results and appearances, over-deferential to the popular cry; at home only in the multitude, but afraid of the mount. It is the earnest, hearty worker with God who knows how to be refreshed with fellowship at Thessalonica, and to be left at Athens alone.(4) In our fast and outward living generation, and our noisy and showy age the Church needs most religious retirement and private prayer. The greater the tendency to secular arrogance and surface morality the more Christians ought to guard the sacred retreats. This nation would hardly have been what it is or done what it has if our ancestors had brought up their sons and daughters in the glaring parlours of a vast hotel. Strong character is a separate thing, and requires a separate, individual nurture. Promiscuous intermixtures never produce it. It might well be defined as the power of standing alone. How we see the want of it wherever men and woman meet together; wherever majorities brow beat an unpopular faith; whenever you are likely to be a loser in money, or to be laughed at. Righteousness never counts her companions. This is the heroic loneliness of all God's great ones from the beginning; of Jacob left alone through the long night wrestling with the Angel; of Moses receiving commission to emancipate a nation, alone in the mountains; of Elijah when he cried "I only am left"; of Daniel watched by an idolatrous monarch kneeling three times a day; of Peter answering the rulers "Whether it is right in the sight of God," etc., and higher yet, of Him who trod the winepress alone, and yet not alone, for the Father was with Him. II. THE GOD OF OUR LIVES PUTS INTO ALL OF THEM SOME SOLITUDE FOR A PURPOSE OF HIS OWN. 1. He arranges it for us that we cannot be always in anybody's company. Friend after friend departs. Misunderstandings arise. There is a night between every two days. Sickness is sent. Is it not plain that this is because the deepest and holiest exercises of the spirit are where no human presence is by? 2. Look back. If repentance ever took hold of you and bade you look up for mercy; if the great choice between God and self was ever made, was it not when you were alone with your Saviour. 3. Before the Spirit has done His deepest and best work in you, He will have you all to Himself. The question of everlasting love is a private question — "Wilt thou be Mine forever?" Each succeeding struggle, when we make the tremendous sacrifice which carries us clear of some entangling alliance, is solitary work. Great griefs are solitary — the heart breaks alone. 4. Our communion with Christ only obeys the law of all lofty delicate friendships. Intervention is interruption; and even the best society on earth is not good enough to divide your intercourse with your Master. III. LONELINESS SOMETIMES BECOMES LONESOMENESS. The excessively secluded life is imbittered by a craving for sympathy. This would have been Paul's feelings at Athens, and he would not have thought it "good" to be left there, but for the one Divine Friend who stayed with him. It is in His felt presence that those hearts are to find their consolation which are separated from their kind. However thronged the streets or brilliant the season, these uncheered souls are all around us. By far the greater number of us have hours when we long for nothing so much as to hear some fellow soul say "I know how you suffer; one heart at least answers to yours." There are constitutions finely tempered which need continual protection, but have it only under coarse, sordid hands, lacerating wherever they touch. There are self distrustful, timid creatures, tortured with a despairing sense of failure who never get an encouraging look. What is the comfort? Only one. For all these the Man of sorrows is the only companion, and His hidden love the only consolation. What would Athens have been to Paul without his Saviour? IV. CHRIST'S BLESSING RESTS AS GRACIOUSLY ON OUR MORE SECLUDED AND LEAST NOTICED SERVICES FOR HIM AS UPON THE MOST CONSPICUOUS OF HIS WORKMEN. Paul the despised missionary at Athens is as sure of his Saviour's presence and benediction as when the populace of Lystra are hailing him as a god. We are slow to learn that the spirit of the gospel is no more in the assembly of ten thousand than where one tired labourer watches by the sick orphan, or one daughter of fortune and culture cheerfully crucifies every taste to teach a group of unclean vagabonds how to pray. We hurry into publicity as if that were heaven, and are impatient to count converts and see results, as if that were salvation. The most glorious chronicles and monuments of Athens are not in her letters, temples, arms, but in that little record of the friendless traveller who thought it good to be left there alone. (Bp. Huntington.) (cf. Acts 17:16, 17): — I. AFFORDS A PAINFUL OPPORTUNITY TO REFLECT ON ITS MORAL CONDITION: "He saw the city wholly given to idolatry." II. AWAKENS PROFOUND CONCERN IN A GREAT SOUL: "His spirit was stirred in him." III. ROUSES TO IMMEDIATE ACTION IN PROMOTING THE WELFARE OF THE CITIZENS: "Therefore disputed he in the synagogue and in the market daily." (G. Barlow.) Think of God working in the solitary things, for the grass does not merely grow around our populous cities, but up there on the side of the bleak Alps, where no traveller has ever passed. Where only the eye of the wild bird has beheld their lovely verdure, the moss and the grass come to perfection, and display all their beauty, for God's works are fair to other eyes than those of mortals. And you solitary child of God, dwelling far away from any friend, unknown and obscure, in remote hamlet; or you in the midst of London, hiding away in your little garret, unknown to fame and forsaken by friendship, you are not forgotten by the love of heaven. He maketh the grass to grow all alone, and shall He not make you flourish in loneliness? He can bring forth your graces, and educate you for the skies, in solitude and neglect. (C. H. Spurgeon.) A monk who could fast seven days in the monastery tried to do the same thing alone in the desert. The effort was too much for him. He gave out the first day. "How came you to fail?" was the question put to him when he returned. "Ah," said the monk, "when I fast in the monastery I have the prior and the brethren to look on and encourage me." I. THERE ARE TWO CLASSES OF SOLITUDE. The first consisting of insulation in space, the other of isolation of the spirit. 1. The first is simply separation by distance. When we are seen, touched, and heard by none, we are said to be alone. And all hearts respond to the truth of that saying. This is not solitude, for sympathy can people our solitude with a crowd. The fisherman on the ocean alone at night is not alone when he remembers the earnest longings which are arising up to heaven for his safety. The traveller is not alone when the faces which will greet him on his arrival seem to beam upon him as he trudges on. The solitary student is not alone when he feels that human hearts will respond to the truths which he is preparing to address to them. 2. The other is loneliness of soul. There are times when hands touch ours, but only send an icy chill of indifference to the heart; when eyes gaze into ours, but with a glazed look that cannot read into the bottom of our souls; when words pass from our lips but only come back as an echo reverberated without reply through a dreary solitude; when the multitudes throng and press us, and we cannot say as Christ did, "Somebody hath touched Me"; for the contact has been not between soul and soul, but between form and form. II. THERE ARE TWO CLASSES OF MEN WHO FEEL THIS LAST SOLITUDE IN DIFFERENT WAYS. 1. The first are the men of self-reliance — self-dependent; who ask no counsel and crave no sympathy, who act and resolve alone, who can go sternly through duty, and scarcely shrink let what will be crushed in them. Such men command respect: for whoever respects himself constrains the reverence of others. They are invaluable in all those professions of life in which sensitive feeling would be a superfluity: they make iron commanders, surgeons who do not shrink, and statesmen who do not flinch from their purpose for dread of unpopularity. But mere self-dependence is weakness; and the conflict is terrible when a human sense of weakness is felt by such men. Jacob was alone when he slept in his way to Padan Aram, the first night that he was away from his father's roof, with the world before him, and all old associations broke up; and Elijah was alone in the wilderness when the court had deserted him, and he said, "I only am left." But the loneliness of the tender Jacob was very different from that of the stern Elijah. To Jacob the sympathy he yearned for was realized in the form of a simple dream. A ladder raised from earth to heaven figured the possibility of communion between the spirit of man and the Spirit of God. In Elijah's case the storm and the earthquake and the fire did their convulsing work in the soul before a still, small voice told him that he was not alone. In such a spirit the sense of weakness comes with a burst of agony, and the dreadful conviction of being alone manifests itself with a rending of the heart of rock. It is only so that such souls can be touched that the Father is with them and that they are not alone. 2. There is another class of men who live in sympathy. These are affectionate minds which tremble at the thought of being alone; not from want of courage or weakness of intellect comes their dependence upon others, but from the intensity of their affections. It is the trembling spirit of humanity in them. They want not aid, nor even countenance, but only sympathy. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.) The self-diabolizing spirit of man always reveals itself to the lonely contemplatist, either in moments of vacancy, or under the stress of spiritual crises. Eve was tempted when she was alone; the suicide succumbs when he is pushed into the last degree of loneliness; the darkest thoughts of the conspirator becloud the mind when he has most deeply cut the social bond: when man is alone, he loses the check of comparison with others; he miscalculates his force, and deems too little of the antagonisms which that force may excite. All these are among the risks of solitude. The solitary man either degenerates into a misanthrope and the tool of the diabolizing spirit, or he enriches and strengthens his life by reverent and subduing contemplation. (J. Parker, D. D.)
And send Timotheus This is the first of a long series of similar missions. As the context shows, the youthful evangelist gave full proof of his ministry from the first.I. THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE MESSENGER. 1. Brotherhood. The man sent on an errand of mercy must have —(1) Brotherly relations with his fellow messengers. There are extraordinary circumstances in which a man may legitimately break through all the trammels of ecclesiastical order and discipline in order to save souls. The prophets and apostles were examples of this; so were Luther and Wesley. But generally the messenger must sustain close relations of amity and colleagueship, if not of subordination, with those who hold a similar office. This gives —(a) Might to his utterances, when his solitary authority would be questioned or ignored.(b) Comfort in hours of despondency and loneliness, in the thought that he has sympathy and has brethren to fall back upon.(2) A brotherly feeling towards those to whom he goes: "Our brother" — mine and yours. The brotherly feeling in the Christian worker avoids the evils of —(a) Haughty superiority: "Lord over God's heritage." His office may be more dignified, but his spiritual nature is the same: "One is your Master," etc.(b) Feminine weakness — such as would pander to tastes and humours; fear to rebuke; suppress unpalatable truth. Brotherliness is the manly love of another's soul.(c) Selfish motives. The minister is to save men, not make money out of them: "I seek not yours, but you." As brothers our interests are common. 2. Divine ministry. A true minister is —(1) Called of God. No ecclesiastical sanction can compensate for the want of this. A man may be able to trace his "uninterrupted succession," and be instituted to an illustrious office, but unless he is inwardly moved by God he is an intruder and no minister of God.(2) Qualified by God. This does not, of course, dispense with human qualifications. Indeed, gifts of learning and eloquence carefully cultivated and employed are required as signs that qualifications essentially Divine are prized and made the most of. But the Divine qualification is distinct. It is the enduement of power for the conversion of souls. Without this a man may be a profound philosopher, a skilful dialectician; his mind may be stored with masses of erudition, and his tongue nimble with the most bewitching oratory. But without the Holy Ghost he is "a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal," and no minister of God.(3) Supported by God. Hence — (a) (b) 3. Labour. The ministry is a "work" involving — (1) (2) (3) (4) II. THE PURPOSE OF HIS ERRAND. 1. Establishment.(1) To base moral life upon Christ: "Other foundation can no man lay," etc. Then men are basing their lives on no foundation at all. Morality, good intentions, hope in God's elemency, are castles in the air which the labourer for God must destroy, that he may induce men to build on the only foundation. This foundation is stable and everlasting (Matthew 7:24, etc.).(2) To build up moral life in Christ by promoting the growth of the Christian graces. Is Christian life a building? Then "love, joy, peace, gentleness," etc., are stones and rafters. Is it a tree? Then these are the fruits. 2. Comfort.(1) Encouragement concerning the faith. Such is afforded when faith — (a) (b) (c) (J. W. Burn.)
(H. W. Beecher.)
2. Does the apostle refer to faith as objective truth, or the affection which embraces the truth? Both. The faith that comforts must not only be true, but must be accepted and become a heart possession. We are comforted concerning the faith — I. BY THE PERSUASION THAT THE FAITH IS TRUE; that it is a real revelation of grace and salvation spoken by God to man. 1. Any doubt on this fundamental point will affect essentially all forms of comfort. Say that the gospel is false or fallacious, or, although historically true, that it is yet largely mythical, and it is bereft of all its consolation. The old words would remain, such as "God hath given us everlasting consolation," "Comfort one another," etc.; but a dead tree, although still rooted, casts no shadow, yields no fruit; a well may be deep, and have no water in it. With a sorrow deeper than that of Mary might the Church, and even the world, exclaim in that ease, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him." 2. Are any of you in this sore trouble — intellectually at sea about the gospel? I shall make no attempt to meet your doubts intellectually. Doubts are solved by faith, prayer, Providence, time, love. But it may do no harm, but good, to speak out our own faith (Hebrews 1:1; John 1:1; John 3:16; 1 John 2:1, 2, etc.). You may question, but we know whom we have believed; and He will take your souls in trust also, and keep them against that day. II. By the fact that TO THE HUMBLE AND SINCERE, DOUBT RUNS ITS COURSE, AND THEN SUBSIDES AND PASSES AWAY. The experiences of this changeful, troubled life explain the gospel wonderfully to some. The experiences of the heart explain it, reveal the need of it, make it welcome; and then doubting Thomas is found among the rest, exclaiming, as He falls at His Master's feet, "My Lord and my God." III. Inasmuch as IT WILL BEAR THE STRAIN AND PRESSURE OF LIFE, howsoever heavy. The faith will bear it, although it is borne by persons. What we believe and know enables us to bear and pass through what would otherwise overwhelm us. Human nature, in itself, as the work of God, will do and bear a great deal. Heroic deeds are done and sufferings endured even without Divine help. If it were a matter of stern silent endurance, the old Stoics, Roman soldiers, and the Red Indians could set us an example. But such a state of mind is attained by almost uprooting the finer sensibilities of our nature, by shutting out the future, by putting all our strength into mere obstinate resolution. But that is not moral greatness; for this we must have our nature unabridged, nay, developed and enlarged, made responsive, sensitive, to spiritual things. It is not a question of getting through this life, but of getting through it worthily. Christ comes to elevate and transform all. The Man of Sorrows reproduces Himself in His followers; but though "the sufferings of Christ abound in us," our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. IV. Because our faith WILL BEAR ALL THE BURDEN AND STRAIN WHICH COME BY THE ENLARGEMENT AND INTENSE ACTION OF THE POWERS OF OUR BEING. The pain of life which is increased by Christian sensibility will be assuaged by the Christian consolation and borne by the Christian courage. We have tried the plan of "no faith," and that has failed. The new faith brings new pain, because it draws to us the pain of others; but it brings the promise that "all things shall work together for good," etc. We have put that to the proof, and, resting upon it, have found it firm. Pain has been shown to have a Divine mission to bless and sanctify us. By the sorrow of the Saviour's soul all the Church is redeemed; and by the sorrows of individual souls, when they are touched with grace, are those souls purified as they could be in no other way. Only "if we suffer with Him" in some way can we "be glorified together." Believing this, we are to go on the simple way of duty, whatever may be the difficulty of it, trusting all the while to the sustaining power of faith in Christ. "My grace is sufficient for thee," etc. V. In that our faith teaches us THAT A TIME AND STATE ARE COMING WHEN THERE SHALL BE NO MORE PAIN. "In His presence is fulness of joy." Conclusion: We must remember that however strong and firm the objective truth may be, and whatever its power to carry us through the straits of life and its adaptation to lift us towards a life to come, it will be and do none of these things if we have not the subjective principle by which we embrace what is true, trust what is strong, and rise to what is high and pure. The gospel, as a practical power and abiding consolation, is in our hearts, or it is nowhere for us. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
I. THE MOTIVES TO QUICKEN THE CHRISTIAN THIS CONDITION. 1. Affliction will search whether thou art sound or no. Great troubles are great trials; hence afflictions are called temptations (James 1:2). Grace is brought to the proof when it is brought to persecution, as gold when it is brought to the touchstone. The soldier's knowledge or ignorance, courage or cowardice, will appear when the enemy, strong and subtle, meets him in the field. So a saint comes to the test when he comes to tribulation. 2. God intendeth to sanctify thee, and to make thee better by affliction. He sendeth prosperity to quicken thee to praise, and He sendeth adversity to stir thee up to patience and prayer. He forceth thee, like the ark, to sail in deep waters, that thy soul may mount nearer to the skies. The husbandman throweth his seed into deep furrows, and is glad of a sharp winter because it will thrive the better. 3. Many are the worse for affliction. Though the fire heateth the water and makes it more serviceable, yet it wholly consumeth the wood. The same flail that liberates the corn bruiseth the stalk. Afflictions that better a saint harden a sinner. Ahaz in his distress sinned more against the Lord, and every plague in Egypt increased the plague of Pharaoh's heart. 4. If godliness be thy business, under the cross thou mayest expect God's company. The worse the ways and the weather in which thou travellest, the more need of good society. Israel had the rarest manifestations of God when they were in the wilderness. Whoever be neglected, the sick child shall be tended not by the maid, but by the mother herself. God may leave His prospering saints to the guardianship of angels, but His afflicted ones may be sure of His presence and favour both in water and fire (Isaiah 43:8, 4). II. THE POWER OF RELIGION MANIFESTS ITSELF IN AFFLICTION. 1. It leads the Christian to avoid those sins which an afflicted estate is prone to, such as despising God's hand, impatience under suffering and its continuance, and envying the condition of those who prosper. 2. It also helps him to exercise those graces which are required and proper in adversity, such as faith, rejoicing in the Lord, and contentedness with his condition. Whatsoever the rod be with which he is scourged, he kisses it. He blesses God taking from him as well as giving to him; and this turned his blows into blessings, the grievous cross on his back into a glorious crown on his head. III. THE DIVINE END IN THE CHRISTIAN'S AFFLICTION. 1. It is to discover the Christian to himself. Thieves, when endeavouring to break into a house, and are prevented, do this courtesy to the master of the house — they show him the weakest part of his dwelling. Satan, by the troubles he brings on the saints, doth them often this kindness — by his rough waters their leaks are made known to them. To try the truth of grace, God led Israel many years through the wilderness, when He could have carried them a nearer way in a few days to Canaan, but it was to prove them, and to know what was in their heart. 2. It is to purge out some sins from the Christian. A garment is stricken with a staff that the dust may be beaten out. Tribulation comes from tribulus — a flail, because it makes the husk fly off. Joseph spake roughly to his brethren to make them repent of their sin; and so doth God deal severely with His children to make them mournful for their sin; and when once He hath brought them to that, He smileth on them. 3. It is to increase the graces of the Christian. Wisps scour vessels and make them the brighter; the fire purifieth the vessels of gold, and maketh them more meet for the Master's use. True Christians, like the vine, bear the more fruit for bleeding. Speaking of great afflictions, the Seer of the Apocalypse saith, "Here is the faith and patience of the saints." Here they are exercised, and here they are increased; for frequent acts of grace strengthen the habits of grace. (G. Swinnock, M. A.)
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
I. THAT SUFFERING IS THE INEVITABLE LOT OF GOD'S PEOPLE. 1. Suffering is a Divine ordinance. "We are appointed thereunto." A strange way, one would think, of reconciling people to affliction to tell them they have nothing else to expect. Here lies the triumph of the gospel, that it prescribes such conditions and reconciles men to their acceptance. This it does by the grace it imparts, and the hope it affords.(1) The purity of the Church coming in contact with sin and misery produces suffering "Because ye are not of the world," etc.(2) Our trials do not happen without the knowledge, consent, and control of God.(3) The Divine appointment of suffering is for our highest culture; withdrawing our affections from the temporal, and fixing them on the eternal; cleansing our corruptions and strengthening us to the right.(4) The greatest suffering often brings us into the neighbourhood of the greatest blessing. 2. Suffering was the subject of frequent apostolic warning (ver. 4). Paul was an illustrious example of heroic fortitude (Acts 20:23). It is both wise and kind to forewarn God's people of coming afflictions that they be not overtaken unprepared. The predictions of the apostle "came to pass." Their first acquaintance with the gospel was in the midst of persecution and trial. The violent opposition continued, but the warning and exhortations of the apostle were not in vain (2 Thessalonians 1:4). 3. The suffering of God's people is a cause of ministerial anxiety (ver. 5). It has been pithily said, "Calamity is man's true touchstone." The faithful minister, knowing the perils of suffering, and the awful consequences of apostacy, is anxiously concerned about the faith of his converts. "There are three modes of bearing the ills of life: by indifference, which is the most common; by philosophy, which is the most ostentatious; and by religion, which is the most effectual" (Colton). II. THAT SUFFERING EXPOSES GOD'S PEOPLE TO THE DISTURBING FORCES OF SATANIC TEMPTATIONS. "Lest by some means the tempter have tempted you." 1. A suggestive designation of Satan. "The Tempter" — what unspeakable vileness and ruin are suggested by that name! All human woe may be traced directly up to him. The greatest champions of Christendom, such as Paul and Luther, had the most vivid sense of the personality, nearness and unceasing counter working of this great adversary of God and man. There is need of sleepless vigilance and prayer. 2. The versatility of Satanic temptations. "Lest by some means." He may descend suddenly, clothed with terror and burning with wrath, to surprise and terrify into sin. More frequently he appears in the seductive and more dangerous garb of an angel of light, the deceptive phantom of what he once was. Infinite are his methods, but his aim is one — to suggest doubts and impious inferences as to God's providential dealings of severity, and to produce apostacy from the faith. III. THAT THE TEMPTATIONS OF A SUFFERING STATE IMPERIL THE WORK OF GOD'S SERVANTS. "And our labour be in vain." In vain as regards the great end of their salvation; they would lapse into their former heathenish state, and lose their reward; and in vain as regards the joy which the apostle anticipated from their ultimate salvation. It is true, no work done for God is absolutely in vain; the worker shall receive his just reward, but it may be in vain with regard to the object. It is bitterly disappointing to see the work that has cost so much, frustrated by temptation. How different might have been the moral history of thousands if they had not yielded to the first fiery trial. IV. THAT GOD'S PEOPLE MAY TRIUMPH OVER THE GREATEST SUFFERING. "That no man should be moved." Drawn away by flattery, or shaken "by these afflictions." While piety is tried it is also strengthened by suffering. The watchful and faithful soul may use his troubles as aids to a richer experience and firmer consolidation of Christian character. Lessons — 1. To live a godly life involves suffering. 2. A period of suffering is ever attended with powerful temptations. 3. The grace of God is sufficient to sustain and deliver. (G. Barlow.)
I. WHAT IS THE AIM OF MAN? What offers him the highest attraction, and puts him under the strongest restraint? To live a life after the image and mind of God, leaving the happiness question alone. 1. This may bring happiness or pain, but such a man has as his end something which transcends happiness and makes him oblivious of pain (Galatians 2:20). Self-love has forgotten itself in the love of Him whose love is the intensest passion that can possess the spirit, and fills it with joy unspeakable and full of glory. But the joy springs out of the passion, the passion is not cherished as the way to the joy. 2. We shall never arrive at a true Christian philosophy of life until we purge out the leaven of the last century philosophy, and consider the aim of man's life as something more than a search for happiness. To be is greater than to be anything; to live is greater than to possess or enjoy. Being will include both happiness and unhappiness as long as the world and the Spirit are at war, but it will not feel itself nearer its end in the one than in the other. To live God-like will alone satisfy it; and that is sharing the burdens and sufferings of Christ. 3. There is nothing to frighten a man in the vision of struggles and suffering for a worthy end. Nay, there is that which should attract him. All the nobler spirits will be more fired by the end than daunted by the suffering. A high end which God smiles upon and pursues, is what inspires men with indomitable courage, and exalted joy. You feel it in the smallest things. Your days of exultation are when you are toiling earnestly and bearing bravely for the sake of some noble end, on which you can ask God's blessing. Pain which you would feel keenly in lazier moods seems hardly to touch you. The most glorious moment of Jacob's life was that night of agonizing wrestling, though it left him a halting man and spoilt for much of happiness. It is life in its full beat and swing, not the satisfaction of desire which is bliss. II. THE APPOINTMENT OF AFFLICTION AS THE MEANS. 1. The ordinance of affliction, "I am not come to send peace but a sword." The first fruit of the advent of the Saviour to the world, to a soul, is to deepen the sorrow of life, and to increase the pressure of its burden. It was no part of Christ's plan to makes a fool's paradise of the world. He came to deepen its experience in every way: to make it a more solemn thing to live, by unveiling life's issues; a more awful thing to sin, by unveiling God's holiness; a more hopeful and, therefore, more blessed thing to suffer, by declaring "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." Easy had it been for Him to restore the beauty and joy of Eden; but something larger He had set before Him to realize. The world's chief sufferers have been the world's chief blessed ones in time and in eternity. 2. The author of the ordinance, God Himself. There is something terrible in the idea of the Epicurean God, sitting calmly on high with no eye to pity, no hand to save. Even the Jew, with his sublime conception of the God of Sinai, shrank from this. Isaiah 53 tells a nobler tale. Dark as the ordinance of sorrow may seem, He ordained it to Himself, before He ordained it to you. If the law be "through much tribulation ye shall inherit the kingdom," if the symbol of the new life be the Cross, the God from whom the law issues Himself won the kingdom by tribulation, and consecrated the Cross as its emblem by His own death. No soldier murmurs if his captain but leads him through the deadly peril. We are not afraid or ashamed to suffer in the flesh, when the chief sufferer is incarnate God. 3. The reason of the ordinance. There are a thousand subsidiary reasons, but the supreme one is that we may have fellowship with God. Man made happy on easy terms might have held just such fellowship with God as a light-hearted, innocent child can hold with one who has borne the burden of life's battle. He feels a passing interest in the child's prattle but keeps himself for the friend who has fought or suffered at his side. And God wants the fellowship of friends, not the prattle of children in eternity; friends whose powers have been exercised in the sternest of conflicts, and proved that they hate evil as He hates it, and love good as He loves it, by being willing to resist the one and to clasp the other even unto death. The suffering He ordains is precisely the fellowship of His suffering. Perfect through sufferings is the Divine perfectness whereby the perfected may converse with Him forever. 4. The end of the ordinance: Supreme and perfect bliss. The hunters after happiness miss it utterly. Those who lift the Cross as their symbol of life, and bear it till they change it for a crown, find in bearing it a blessedness which is kindred with the blessedness of God. It is a deep truth that none but those who suffer keenly can enjoy keenly. "So you who are troubled rest with us" is Christ's promise to those who dare to look boldly into this mystery of pain. Rest where the warrior can recall the incidents of the battle and reap the fruit of the victory — where the purified spirit shall shine resplendent — where rest shall be untiring service without disappointment or pain. (Baldwin Brown, B. A.)
(Prof. Jowett.)
(Bp. Wordsworth.)
(J. Hutchison, D. D.)
II. WHEN CHRISTIANS HAVE RECEIVED THESE WARNINGS THEY SHOULD FOREARM THEMSELVES. 1. The greatest calamities may be mitigated by forethought and prudence. 2. There are promises of Divine grace of which the Christian should possess himself before they are wanted. 3. Otherwise, in spite of the strongest caution and the most efficient provision, Christians will sink under their trials. III. THE HEAVIER THE TRIAL THE GREATER THE REWARD. For our light affliction we shall have an eternal weight of glory. (W. Burditt, M. A.)
(Abp. Trench.)
(Bp. Jewel.)
(W. Baxendale.)
(H. W. Beecher.)
(T. Guthrie, D. D.)
(H. W. Beecher.)
(T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)
1. As a moral quality and exercise it must be distinguished from personal anxiety. This is everywhere forbidden: "Take no thought," etc., "Be careful for nothing." And it is easy to see why it is prohibited. It is selfish, and is provocative of those vices which are detrimental to the Christian character — irritation, unbelief, fear, and general unfitness for duty. But Christian solicitude is for others, is unselfish, self-forgetful, benevolent, and inspires a good many of those virtues which are inseparable from an exemplary Christian life — sympathy, self-sacrifice, helpfulness. 2. In certain cases it warrantably assumes an intense form. When a relative or a friend is in perilous circumstances through travel, occupation, etc., it is legitimate to feel anxious about him. This we generally do. But how much keener should be our anxiety when his soul is in danger, either through being unawakened, or through being exposed like the Thessalonians to temptation? Yet how insensible most are to the latter duty. A father, terribly solicitous about his son's temporal advancement, never bestows a thought about his eternal interests. When a daughter is away in some sphere of fashion or frivolity the mother's care about her health, prospects of marriage, etc., will be carried to the point of distress; while the nature of the moral atmosphere which the daughter breathes will hardly enter the mother's mind. How different with Paul. As the context shows he had the deepest sympathy with them in their physical dangers, but his supreme concern is about their "faith." II. ITS METHOD: "I sent." This was all he could do. And this is often all we can do. We cannot always be with our friends to give them the benefit of our counsel, sympathy, help and protection; but we can always send — 1. Messages to them. How seldom are letters employed as means of usefulness! What an immense amount of correspondence many of us get through in a year, and yet how little of it is utilized for God. How trivial much of it is even with those who need that it should be serious and practical. Yet no means could be more effective for conveying admonition, encouragement, and advice. The spoken word passes to be often forgotten; the written word may remain to be pondered. And then there are those who are too diffident to speak, who have no difficulty in writing. 2. Prayers to God. We may be sure of the acceptableness of our solicitude when expressed to Him. He only can help in times of spiritual danger. Our anxiety as expressed to them is only helpful as it drives them to God; then equally helpful is that prayerful solicitude which brings God near to them. III. ITS PURPOSE. 1. Deliverance from spiritual peril. 2. Maintenance of spiritual work.The temptations of one hour may undo all the efforts of parents, friends, pastors and teachers for years. How often has a timely word or message arrested a downward career and saved a soul. (J. W. Burn.)
(Abp. Trench.)
(J. Spencer.)
(J. Newton.)
(W. Denton, M. A.)
(F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
(H. W. Beecher.)
( St. Bernard.)
(The Quiver.)
I. THE APOSTLE WAS GLADDENED WITH GOOD TIDINGS OF FAITH MAINTAINED. 1. Their faith in the great truths of the gospel was maintained. The revelation of Divine truth is the basis of all faith. This truth as it affected their salvation had been successfully declared to them. They comprehended its meaning, felt its force, embraced it, were transformed by it. Amid the shock of persecution, and the insidious whisperings of false teachers, they held fast to "the form of sound words." 2. Their faith as a principle of active spiritual life was maintained. True faith is not simply a belief, but a life: not merely an assent of the mind to truth, but the impartation of a spiritual force. It forms a new era in the experience and history of the soul. It unites us to the Living God, and expands to our view, however dimly, the vast outline of the life of God as the pattern of our own. II. THE APOSTLE WAS GLADDENED WITH GOOD TIDINGS OF LOVE MANIFESTED. "Brought us good tidings of your charity." Love is the fruit of faith, both in its inward experience and outward manifestation. Faith and love are indissolubly combined (1 John 3:23). The first exercise of love is towards God; and then towards all whom God loves. Such love is impartial and universal — manifested towards all in whom we discern the image of God, whatever their country or condition. Where faith and love reign there is a living, healthy, and prosperous Church. III. THE APOSTLE WAS GLADDENED WITH GOOD TIDINGS OF CONTINUED PERSONAL REGARD. 1. The apostle was fondly remembered. "Ye have good remembrance of us always." There are some scenes of nature which, beheld but for a moment, never fade from the memory; there are some faces we can never forget; and there are some individuals whose influence remains with us through life. The Thessalonians had good reason to remember Paul. The minister who first led us to the Cross, will ever have the preeminence in our affection, and the choicest spot in our memory. A high appreciation of the Christian minister is one of the evidences of possessing genuine faith and love. 2. They were as solicitous as the apostle for a renewal of Christian fellowship. "Desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you." There is no bond so tender, and strong, as that existing between the preacher and his converts. He must needs love the souls he has been instrumental in saving, and who are his glory and his joy. The intercourse between such is of the purest and highest kind. Never was there a more loving heart than that of the Apostle Paul. The Thessalonians warmly reciprocated that love; and longed to renew the fellowship by which they had so richly profited.Lessons: 1. That church has the best reputation where faith is maintained and love manifested. 2. The Christian minister is cheered by the affection and stability of his converts. (G. Barlow.)
( Ignatius.)
I. THEIR STEADFASTNESS WAS A SOURCE OF COMFORT. 1. The apostle was comforted in the midst of personal suffering (Acts 18:6). So great was his trouble that the Lord thought it needful to encourage him (Acts 18:9, 10). The bitterness of his afflictions at this time was sweetened by hearing of the constancy of his Thessalonian converts, The faithlessness of the people is a grief to the true minister now: but at last the horror will be theirs. 2. The apostle was comforted concerning their faith. The Church is in danger, and cause of deep anxiety, when its faith wavers. II. THEIR STEADFASTNESS INTENSIFIED THE PLEASURE OF LIVING. The good news thrilled his soul with new life. For now, whatever else befall — now, in the face of Jewish fury and Gentile scorn — now, amid infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, distresses and deaths oft — now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. The relation of the minister to his people is so close and vital that they have it in their power to make his life happy or miserable. There is a method of destroying life without its becoming utterly extinct. To lessen the cheerful flow of life, and depress the spirits of the man of God, is a species of murder: to starve him into submission by studied neglect and privation, is diabolical. The ministerial life and energy of even an apostle depended on the sympathy, faith, and steadfastness of the brethren (John 3:4). III. THEIR STEADFASTNESS WAS PRODUCTIVE OF GRATEFUL JOY. 1. This joy was copious and sincere: "For the joy wherewith we joy before our God." The transitions of the emotions are rapid. From the midst of the apostle's grief a fountain of joy breaks forth. This joy filled his soul even in the presence of God. It was a pure, sincere, undissembled, overflowing joy, such as God could approve. 2. This joy arose from a disinterested love: "For your sakes." True love gives us an interest in the safety and happiness of others. He who possesses this never lacks joy: if it flows not on his own behalf, it does on behalf of others. Bernard has said, "Of all the motions and affections of the soul, love is the only one we may reciprocate with God: to re-love Him is our happiness: woe, if we answer Him not in some measure of re-loving affection." 3. This joy was expressed in fervent thanksgiving: "What thanks can we render," etc. His gratitude was so great that he could hardly give it expression. The grateful heart prizes blessings that seem to others of small value. IV. THEIR STEADFASTNESS EXCITED AN EARNEST LONGING TO IMPART ADDITIONAL GOOD. 1. The apostle assiduously prayed for the opportunity of a personal interview: "Night and day," etc. The longer the absence the more eager the desire. The good news of their constancy increased the desire. A love like his could be satisfied only with personal spiritual intercourse. It was not enough simply to write. Voice and manner have a charm of their own. Reading, praying, etc., will be unavailing if we despise prophesying — the oral declaration of the truth. 2. The apostle sought this interview to supply what was lacking in their faith. None are so perfect in faith as not to be susceptible of improvement. Faith is based on knowledge, and as knowledge is capable of indefinite extension, so faith may be continually increased. The less distinctly the great subjects of faith are understood, the more defective is faith. We all have to cry, "Lord, increase our faith."Lessons: 1. The true minister cannot be indifferent to the spiritual state of his people. 2. The fidelity and perseverance of believers is an inspiration and an unspeakable joy to the anxious worker. 3. Faith and practice powerfully react upon each other. (G. Barlow.)
I. THE APOSTLE'S AFFLICTION. 1. The abuse of the world and the devil. This abuse is —(1) A sure sign of a valid ministry: "If I pleased men I should not be a servant of Christ." Christ sent His servants as sheep in the midst of wolves.(2) Natural. Satan claims the world as his king dom. When havoc is wrought in it it is not to be expected that he will bear it quietly. The carnal mind which is enmity against God is opposed to the gospel, because it abates human pride, and calls for much humiliation and sacrifice. 2. Non-success in many Christian efforts. The apostles "essayed to go" hither and thither: but the Spirit forbade them. In other places they were rejected; in others all their labour seemed to be in vain. There is no greater grief to a minister than to be hindered, rejected or fruitless. 3. The aboundings of heresy and wickedness. It is impossible to describe the anguish of Lot, who "vexed his righteous soul" on account of the iniquity of Sodom, and equally impossible to describe the pain of God's servants, to whom the honour of Jesus is dear, to hear His name degraded, His faith frittered away, and the work of His Spirit melted down into a little cold water. 4. Personal suffering, whether of a bodily or spiritual character. II. HIS SOLACE. "Your faith." The minister is comforted by the knowledge — 1. That faith is wrought in his hearers; that his preaching is owned of God to the working of faith in the soul. This faith is not an intellectual assent to his teaching — that would bring him a little glory, no doubt. What he wants is that faith which works not admiration but transformation. 2. That his hearers are living the life of faith; when he witnesses the love which faith works and the purity that faith imparts. A faith that does not make a man love holiness and hate sin will never make the heart fit for Divine inhabitation. 3. That his hearers are growing in faith — in its possession and exercise — in the strength and stature of faith; growing whether in the "child," "young man," or "father"; whether in the "blade, ear, or full corn in the ear." 4. That his hearers have the full assurance of faith. 5. That the stability of their faith is evincing its reality: "not moved with afflictions." 6. That their faith strengthens his own. (J. Irons.)
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
1. Paul's distress while he was at Corinth is represented as a species of death, as he says elsewhere, "I die daily." But from this, as it were, he revived. He felt himself raised again to the full enthusiasm and activity of life by learning of their faithful adherence to Christ. When Jacob had the good news brought to him that Joseph was alive, and governor of Egypt, "his spirit revived." His years of mourning had been a kind of death to him, and the tidings delivered him from it. In the same way was Paul quickened in the midst of all his sorrows. As Newman says, "He felt all his neighbours to be existing in himself." We may further say that he existed in them — his life was bound up in theirs. 2. This identity of interest and aim can only rightly manifest itself in those who are one in Christ. Human character in its nobler elements can be developed alone in sympathy with others, in the willingness to share in each others joys, sorrows, failures, triumphs. Isolation of spirit is spiritual death. It is with hearts as with the embers of the hearth — "Do you not see glimmering half red embers, if laid together, get into the brightest white glow" (Carlyle.) 3. What a striking contrast to the apostle was such an one as Goethe, the apostle of mere worldly culture, the picture of a man living in "the miserable dream of keeping the course of his inward development free from all foreign interference," reluctant to devote himself and his inner life to anything, or any one outside of himself; consumed with the desire, as he expressed it, "to raise the pyramid of my existence, the base of which is already laid, as high as possible in the air; that absorbing every other desire, and scarcely ever quitting me." There is no more revolting picture to the Christian than that. We can never rise to God as long as we try to do so in the way of selfish isolation. We can only find ourselves when we first lose ourselves in others. It is thus that Christianity extends itself. "Till each man finds his own in all men's good, and all men work in noble brotherhood." II. THEIR STEADFASTNESS REVIVED THE APOSTLE. What is implied in it? 1. That individually and collectively the members of the Church are "in the Lord," abiding in Him both in faith and practice. 2. That while in the Lord they are exposed to the danger of wavering. The language seems military (1 Corinthians 16:13). Christ's Church, each section of it, is exposed to assault. The army of the living God is subject to having its ranks broken in upon. This is the aim of the tempter, of whom the apostle had just been speaking. Hence the exhortation to steadfast adherence to God and His truth, for "by faith ye stand"; steadfast adherence, too, to one another, that so they may present the strength of a united phalanx to the enemy, and at last rejoice in a day of triumph. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)
1. Their steadfastness in the faith of the gospel. This faith is not merely the assent of the mind to its truth, but also the dependence of the heart on its salva tion. The latter depends indeed on the former; for if the word of the gospel be not received as true, the salvation of the gospel cannot be depended on as sure. Steadfastness, then, comprises a firm belief in the truth of revelation, and a firm reliance on the Saviour revealed; believing with the heart unto righteousness, having the heart established with grace. 2. Their steadfastness in the profession of the gospel. The gospel not only reveals truths to be believed, and a Saviour to be depended on, but presents claims to be recognized. It not only invites the confidence of the heart, but the confession of the mouth. It requires an avowed separation from the world and sin, and a professed subjection to the authority of Christ. Two separate interests divide the world — the kingdoms of Satan and of Christ. Christ has fully declared His determination to allow of no compromise. Many at different times have gone over to the enemy again. To stand fast is to maintain our profession, and not to deny the Saviour's name and desert His cause. In the early Church there was much persecution and apostasy. Now there is not much persecution, but temptation; and probably more have been induced to desert by the smiles of the world than were ever driven by its frowns. 3. Their steadfastness in the practice of the gospel. The gospel not only requires belief and profession, but action. Christianity is a practical religion. If our faith is genuine and our confession sincere, they will lead to obedience. The practice of the gospel includes —(1) Self-government of the head, heart, hands; thoughts, words, and deeds must be brought into subjection to Christ.(2) Relative duty. The gospel finds man a social being, and is adopted to his circumstances as such. His relative duties are —(a) Natural; and the practice of the gospel consists in the discharge of duties owing to parents, children, etc.(b) Civil. Such as relate to governors, subjects, masters, etc. These are comprehended in the golden rule.(c) Religious — our duty to the Church. 4. Their steadfastness in the hope of the gospel. The religion of Christ is preeminently a religion of hope (Titus 2:12; Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 6:17). II. ITS EFFECT. That of the text is only one out of many. The most important benefit would arise to themselves, but it would not terminate in themselves. It had a happy effect on their connections, especially on their spiritual instructors. 1. It increased their joy — "Now we live," we are happy. Who that seriously reflects on the nature and design of the ministry can avoid the conclusion that the prosperity of the people is the happiness of the minister (1 Thessalonians 2:19, 20). 2. It promoted their diligence: "Now we live," are alive in our work, and can apply ourselves with energy. When his people's faith is firm, their profession uniform, their prayers torrent, their practice consistent, etc., the minister goes forth to his work like "a giant refreshed." 3. It contributed to their usefulness. The early history of the Church proves this (Acts 2:41). The greatest obstacle to religion is the inconsistency of its professors, and their uniform consistency its most powerful auxiliary. Ministers preach to the Church; but the Church preaches to the world. III. THE OBLIGATION OF CHRISTIANS TO MAINTAIN IT. 1. The authority of God enjoins it: "If ye love Me keep My commandments." 2. Their own interest is involved in it: "It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace." 3. The good of others requires it: "Look not every man on his own things." 4. A due regard for ministers demands it: They are to be esteemed very highly in love for their works sake. 5. Experience of Divine mercy and hope of eternal life add strength to all other obligations. (Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
(R. Walker.)
2. There is danger of our not standing fast in regard to the adherence of our hearts to the doctrines of the gospel. That they be clearly apprehended by the mind is important, not in order to their becoming matters of idle talk or curious speculation, but in order to the sanctification of the heart, and the conduct of the life. 3. Endeavour to find out by another test whether you are standing fast in Christ. The test I mean is proposed by St. John, in his first epistle: "He that saith he abideth in Him (that is, in the Lord Jesus Christ), ought himself also so to walk even as He walked." I demand, then, whether you are taking Jesus Christ for an example, and following His steps? I proceed to point out some of the dangers which threaten your religious steadfastness.(1) Beware of false teachers, who may "come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." "By their fruits ye shall know them."(2) Arm yourselves with the powerful hopes of the gospel against the hostility and terrors of the world.(3) If your steadfastness is endangered by the terrors of the world, it is yet in greater danger of yielding to worldly stratagems and fascinations. Many a stout soldier, after successfully contending against the world as an embattled foe, has fallen by its enchantments.(4) There is danger of losing our hold of Christ through disgust at the difficulties of a religious course. We find the road narrower, the enemies which infest it more numerous and troublesome, the seasons of refreshment less certain and frequent, than we had anticipated. And hence we grow faint and weary. 5. Moreover, spiritual pride is the stumbling block of many a soul. Lastly: I charge you to bear constantly in mind, that it is by the help of the Holy Spirit, and by that alone, that any one stands fast in the Lord. (J. N. Pearson.)
I. THE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN STEADFASTNESS. 1. It is distinct from an obstinate perverseness — the pursuit of a given course without reason, and against reasons when they favour a change. The Christian keeps his mind open to conviction even when strongly persuaded, and is ever ready to alter his conduct when truth commands. 2. It is consistent with advancement. Spiritual progress is the aim of every Christian. Having tasted the pleasures of Divine knowledge and grace he desires more. To stand still is not to stand fast (Philippians 3:10). 3. It is identical with constancy; firmness and immovableness in spite of outward circumstances. Opposition we are warned to expect, but we are to be firm to the end. II. IN WHAT RESPECTS CHRISTIANS ARE TO BE STEADFAST. 1. In our attachments. (1) (2) (3) (4) 2. In our zeal. Earnestness is commend able in worldly things, much more in religion. Here coldness is criminal. Stead fastness demands uniformity — not hot today and cold tomorrow. 3. In our Christian profession. Some make no public avowal of Christ; others make it but contradict it in their lives. III. THE MOTIVES WHICH SHOULD LEAD TO STEADFASTNESS. "Now we live if ye stand fast." It — 1. Confirms the truth and power of the gospel we preach. Every steadfast Christian is an evidence of it in circles which ministers cannot reach. 2. Indicates our call to the work. Usefulness is the best proof of Divine ordination. 3. Warrants of hope of meeting you in glory. (Essex Remembrancer.)
I. SOME ARE NOT IN THE LORD AT ALL. 1. A solid mass of infidelity and godlessness hems as in. Our heart is heavy because the city shuts its eyes to the light. 2. Our greater sorrow is that there are many who hear the gospel and are not in the Lord. Some of you contribute to God's work, and are in many points excellent, but you lack the one thing needful, and after having joined with God's people in outward acts of devotion are in danger of being driven from His presence forever. 3. If there be a deadening influence about the thought that some amongst us are not converted, think of what the effect must be upon a minister's mind who has laboured long and seen no fruit. There may be instances in which a man has been faithful but not successful. Then the soil breaks the ploughshare, and the weary ox is ready to faint. Are you working for Jesus? Then you know what it is to feel the shadow of death when you do not win a soul. II. THERE ARE SOME WHO PROFESS TO BE IN CHRIST BUT ARE CERTAINLY NOT STANDING FAST. This is a Marah — a bitter well. 1. There are many over whom we rejoice who, nevertheless, apostatize. They run well, and begin in the Spirit, but by and by attempt to be made perfect in the flesh. Oh, foolish ones, who hath bewitched you? We can never be sufficiently grateful to our Lord for allowing a Judas to be among the twelve, for thus He bore Himself what has been to His servants the most crushing of griefs. 2. Many do not believe in such a way that we could remove their names from the Church roll; but they decline in grace. Too many grow worldly, and it is especially the case when they grow wealthy. 3. Others whom we look upon as likely to become leaders and helpers are diverted from the work of God. We do not now expect to see them at a prayer meeting, etc., for they are careless about the salvation of souls. They were once full of zeal, but are now neither cold nor hot. 4. Some are always shifting their doctrinal positions. 5. Some are not steadfast in their service of Christ. 6. We stand fast in the Lord if the Lord keeps you true in the matter of holy conversation. I call that holiness which minds its work at home, which makes a kind father, an obedient child, an honest tradesman, etc. But when men turn round and fling in our teeth, "These are your Christians," then down goes our spirit, and we wish we could die. 7. Unless men are steadfast the Church is weakened. The strength of any Church must be the aggregate of the strength of all its members; therefore, if you have a set of weak brethren you multiply the weakness of each by the number of the membership. What a hospital is the result! 8. The minister is disappointed of his reasonable expectations when men do not stand fast. He is like a farmer who sees the seed grow, but just when it is about to yield him a crop he spies out black smut, and his wheat is blighted. He may well weep that it went so far and yet failed so utterly. Judge ye mothers what it is to nurse your children till they are. near manhood, and then to see them sink into the grave. III. THERE ARE SOME WHO ARE IN THE LORD AND STAND FAST IN THE LORD, AND THESE ARE OUR LIFE. 1. Because their holy life fills us with living confidence. (1) (2) 2. By stimulating us to greater exertion. We are able to speak many things which could never have been spoken, and to point to such and say, "See what God hath done." (C. H. Spurgeon.)
1. In the faith of the gospel. 2. In the profession of it. 3. In the practice of it. That all may be stirred up to seek this stability, we observe: II. WHY THEIR ATTAINMENT OF IT LIES SO NEAR TO THE HEART OF EVERY FAITHFUL MINISTER. A minister stands related to his people as a pastor to his flock, over which he is to watch, and of which he must give a just account; and his solicitude about them, instead of terminating when they are brought into the fold, may be said then more properly to commence. He will be anxious about their attainment of stability in the Divine life. 1. Because the honour of God is deeply interested in it. 2. Because their salvation altogether depends upon it. 3. Because the great ends of the ministry are answered by it.We conclude with a few words — 1. Of grateful acknowledgment. 2. Of affectionate warning. 3. Of joyful encouragement. (C. Simeon, M. A.)
(Neander.)
1. It was a joy for their sakes. It implies a love towards them. We do not joy for the sake of those to whom we are indifferent. 2. It was a joy before God. Not a carnal joy, but a holy joy, which he could carry to the mercy seat in thanksgiving and praise. 3. An undant, not a scanty joy — "all the joy." II. ITS CHARACTER AND CAUSES. It is to be traced to the fact — 1. That God had owned His preaching among them (1 Thessalonians 1:5, 9; 1 Thessalonians 2:1.13).(1) This joy was not as over a triumph of his own wisdom and strength. The true minister does not say, "I have converted a soul," attributing that vast result to his own logic or rhetoric, but to sovereign grace.(2) He estimates this work by striving to follow it out in its eternal consequences. It is much, indeed, to trace the present effects of grace in reformation, comfort, peace, etc.; but fully to estimate it the minister must look onward to the soul enjoying the eternal inheritance (1 Thessalonians 2:19, 20).(3) This joy, therefore, is not derived from the praise which may greet the minister in the vestry from a mere admirer, the drawing room compliments of mere sermon hearers. These, if he be not watchful, are snares, and must puff up by ministering to vanity. But the artless acknowledgments of stricken hearts, the loving thanks of anxious ones who have been eased, of mourners who have been comforted, etc., do not puff up, but send him to his knees in thank fulness and tears.(4) It is hard to say whether the joy of conversion or the joy of edification is the greater. For the latter has to do with no secondary branch of the ministry. It is not only a ministry of reconciliation, but is also for the perfecting of the saints. 2. That the Thessalonians adorned the gospel by the practical exhibition of its power in their hearts and lives. They had received the word as the Word of God. They had not listened from the mere love of novelty, nor from being caught by the apostle's eloquence. They had not been as the men of Ezekiel's day (Ezekiel 33:30-32). No; in Thessalonica we read of a work of faith, go. They were "ensamples to all that believe," etc., etc. Here was more than a name to live, more than the form of godliness — power, life, growth, fruitfulness. Here, then, is a distinct cause of ministerial joy; not only sinners added, but believers growing. This every faithful pastor covets. He would not have a congregation like any of those mentioned in Revelation. He desires that when the heavenly Bishop inspects the flock He may have nothing — not even "a few things" against them. No tampering with false doctrine, declension from the faith, barrenness in good works, etc.; but a spiritual people, a praying, loving, fruitful, unselfish people. Over such he can "joy." 3. The affection of the Thessalonians towards himself. Not that Paul's great object was to centre the affection of his converts on himself. "We preach not ourselves," etc. A minister preaches himself when he employs enticing words of man's wisdom to attract a congregation and to get a name; when he would attach his congregation as partizans to his own person and preaching; when he uses flattering words as a cloke of covetousness, when, to keep his seats full and his friends round him, he accommodates his preaching to their taste. But Paul preached not to make Paulines but Christians, not to enrich himself, but to enrich them with "the unsearchable riches of Christ." Yet he did not repel the affection of his people when called forth in lawful measure toward himself. Paul loved the pastoral tie. He loved his people, and rejoiced that his people loved him. (Canon Miller.)
II. OBSERVE HOW PRAYERFUL THE APOSTLE WAS (ver. 10). He prayed for the Thessalonians night and day; that is — evening and morning, or very frequently, in the midst of the business of the day, or between the slumbers of the night, lifting up his heart to God in supplication for them. Thus we should pray alway. And Paul's prayer was fervent prayer: he prayed exceedingly — was fervent in his utterances. When we are most thankful we should be most prayerful; for those we give thanks for have need to be prayed for. Those we most rejoice in, and that are our greatest comforts, must be our constant care in this world of temptation and imperfection. There was something still lacking in the faith of the Thessalonians Paul desired might be perfected, and to see their face in order thereunto. And is it not true that the best of men have something wanting in their faith, either in the matter of it, there being some mysteries or doctrines not sufficiently apprehended by them, or yet as to the clearness and certainty of their faith, there being some remaining darknesses or doubtings as to the effects and operations of it, these being not so conspicuous and perfect as they should be? The ministry of the Word and the ordinances of the Sanctuary are exceedingly helpful in such a truly important matter; they are, therefore, to be desired and used for "the perfecting of the saints." (D. Mayo.)
(S. Smiles, LL. D.)
(W. Baxendale.)
1. It was incessant; his aspiration by day, the breathing of his heart in the stillness of the night. 2. Intensely earnest. Above ordinary measure. It was a wrestling with his covenant God that he might see their face again. Satan had hindered this; hence the importunity. 3. Prevalent. It was heard. II. ITS OCCASION. He desired this boon not for the mere gratification of any feeling of friendship in him or them; but because there were what he calls "the lacking measures of your faith." 1. As to doctrine, their knowledge was defective. They were entertaining not only imperfect but erroneous views, e.g. about the coming of the Lord, about the state of those who had fallen asleep, and the shares these would have in the glories of the second advent. In matters of this kind the apostolic churches generally had less defined views than those to whom have come "the long results of time." 2. As to practice, there was much that called for correction. The apostolic churches, like the mission churches of our own day, were in the midst of a social corruption of which we can barely form even a conception. There were especially four classes of evils prevailing:(1) Licentiousness, in its most degrading forms, was the besetting sin of the heathen world. The Christian converts often became contaminated with it. It lingered in the flesh when the spirit had cast it off. Even within the pale of the Church it sometimes assumed the form of a mystic Christianity. There were those who imagined themselves to have found in licentiousness the true freedom of the gospel. Chap. 1 Thessalonians 4 points in this direction.(2) In the Church itself there reigned the spirit of disorder — enhanced in the case of Thessalonica by the idleness engendered by belief in the nearness of the second coming. There are constantly recurring evidences of this in these two Epistles.(3) There were scruples of conscience as to the observance of days, and eating with the unclean and unbelievers. The contact of Jews and Gentiles in the privileges and work of the Church could hardly fail in those days to give rise to such questions.(4) Disputes about doctrines and teachers bred dissentions and marred the beauty of Christian life. In all these different ways "unreasonable and wicked men" (2 Thessalonians 3:2) worked mischief which needed to be guarded against and withstood. III. ITS PURPOSE — to "perfect that which is lacking." The word "perfect" means to readjust, to restore. It is used in surgical language, of the setting of a bone or joint, and of repairing nets, and also of refitting and strengthening of ships. 1. In each of these senses we have fitting illustrations of Paul's purpose. His aim and that of all ministers is that Christians may be —(1) "perfectly joined together" (1 Corinthians 1:10, Ephesians 4:12). Whatever may be their graces they have still lacking measures of faith. They need to be "fitly joined together" (Ephesians 4:16).(2) So perfected in knowledge and practice that there shall be no defects in the gospel net.(3) So ceaselessly to be repaired, built up, as the Ark of Safety, that they shall withstand all the rude billows of this world. 2. Thus filling up that which is lacking in faith on earth, Christ's Church will at last pass into heaven where there will be nothing lacking in glory. John Howe has said, "We read indeed of certain afterings of faith (as it may be significantly rendered) 'things lacking' we render it; but there will be no afterings of glory. What is perfect admits of no increase, it is already full; and why should not a full glory satisfy? It is fulness of joy." (J. Hutchison, D. D.)
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
1. Christ is invoked equally with the Father. The word "Himself stands foremost in the sentence and refers to both persons, as if the writer said, May our God and Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself direct our way unto you." It should be also noted that the verb "direct," belonging to both persons, is in the singular number. This fact was urged as an important point by in the great Arian controversy. As the Son partakes equally with the Father in the honour of invocation, so also in excellency of nature. Divine properties are also ascribed to the Son in overruling by His providence the affairs of men. "What things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." 2. It is the privilege of the believer to realize a personal interest in the Father and in the Son. By an act of appropriating faith we can say, God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Similar phrases occur no less than twenty-six times in these two Epistles. Blessed confidence! What a wealth of tenderness, satisfying assurance, and joyous triumph is involved in my God! my Saviour! II. THIS IS A PRAYER FOR PROVIDENTIAL GUIDANCE IN SECURING A MUCH DESIRED INTERVIEW. "Direct our way unto you." Hitherto the way had been blocked up. The brethren there were as eager to welcome Paul as he was to be present; but Satan had hindered. Nevertheless, let God give the signal and all impediments would vanish. God should be recognized in the simplest affairs of life. "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps;" and only those journeys are prosperous wherein God is pilot. There are crises in life when everything depends on being guided in the right way — e.g., in selecting a school or college, entering on the religious life, commencing business, contemplating marriage, or in change of residence. In these and all other matters acknowledge God, and He shall direct thy paths. Our prayer for guidance must ever be in submission to the Divine will. The apostle's prayer was not answered immediately; five years elapsed before he again visited Macedonia. That path is safest and best in which God's finger points. Let His call be our loadstar: His hand the cloud, to move or pause as He directs. III. THIS IS A PRAYER FOR THE BESTOWAL OF AN INCREASED MEASURE OF THE HIGHEST CHRISTIAN AFFECTION. 1. Christian love is progressive and mutual. "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another." Love is the badge of the genuine Christian. He cannot have too much of it — the more the better. It grows with all other graces, and causes them to grow. There is no limit to its expansion but our finiteness. But love must be mutual "one toward another." "For this is the message," says St. John, "that ye heard from the beginning, that ye should love one another;" and, "Seeing ye have purified your souls see that ye love one another," urges St. Peter. 2. Christian love is unselfish. "And toward all men." The old law declared "Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself." And the New Testament reiterates the truth, that charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned is the fulfilling of the royal law. 3. Here we have Christian love practically exemplified. "Even as we do towards you." Paul and his co-labourers had given unmistakable evidence of their love (1 Thessalonians 2:8, 9, 13; 1 Thessalonians 3:3-5). Love is the soul of self-sacrifice. Ministers should exemplify in their own lives what they prescribe to others. IV. THIS IS A PRAYER FOR CONFIRMATION IN A STATE OF UNBLAMABLE PERSONAL PURITY. 1. There is no stability in Christian graces apart from love. "To the end he may stablish your hearts." If it were possible to possess every other grace but love, it would be like a varied summer landscape, beautiful but transient. Above all other graces we are exhorted to "put on charity which is the bond of perfectness" — a girdle which adorns and binds together all the rest. Love is the fulfilling of the law, the infallible test and evidence of stability. 2. An unblamable holiness is the legitimate and necessary outcome of love. "To the end He may stablish," etc. Paul prays for an increase of love in order to the attainment of a higher personal purity. All defects in obedience issue from a defect in love. Our love of God makes us solicitous to know and obey Him, and fearful to offend Him. Our love of man makes us careful to preserve his honour, life and possessions, and in no way to impair his happiness. The whole law is love. There is no duty to which it does not incline; no sin from which it does not restrain. 3. Holiness screens the soul from Divine censure at the second advent (ver. 10). He who remains steadfast shall be blameless then. That holiness alone is genuine which will bear the scrutiny of Omniscience.Lessons: 1. Recognize God in every event of life. 2. To attain purity pray for love. 3. Act in all things so as to secure the Divine approval. (G. Barlow.)
I. TO WHOM THIS PRAYER IS ADDRESSED. 1. It is quite evident that the apostle regarded Christ as standing in the same relation to prayer as God the Father. The prayer is addressed to both, implying equality of power and unity of will, which imply a still higher unity — even unity of essence. While, then, our Lord is distinguished from the Father in personality, He is one with Him in Godhead, and therefore is He rightly addressed in the language of prayer. 2. "Himself" is emphatic, suggesting a contrast. Human agency had been frustrated. Satan had (1 Thessalonians 2:18) so far prevailed. But now Paul turns to God with the confidence of filial reverence and love, and prays that He may remove obstacles and prosper his desire. His prayer was in the spirit of Jeremiah 10:23, and Romans 1:9, 10. II. WHAT HE PRAYED FOR. 1. That they might increase, and by so increasing abound in love. To have this is to abound in true wealth which no outward reverses can lessen, which increases the more it is expended, which is always useful and can never be exhausted. It has prominence assigned it here, for it is the essence of Christian life, the bond of perfectness, the soul of the graces. As all beauty is cold and lifeless unless there be a soul speaking and breathing through it, so all the elements of moral beauty are worthless without love.(1) This love is a Christian grace, for it turns first of all to Christ. It lives only in fellowship with Him, and He makes His people to increase in it.(2) This love in its inner circle is "one toward another." It is far in advance of friendship, which was so admired by the ancient heathen. The calumny that Christianity is inimical to friendship, and is a selfish care for the individual soul is refuted here. It broadened and transfigured friendship into "love of the brethren."(3) This love was toward all men. Christianity has broken down the barriers of race and creed, and struck "barbarian" out of the dictionary of mankind, substituting "brother." It tells them of a Divine philanthropy (Titus 3:4), and bids them imitate it.(4) This love was exemplified by Paul "as we do toward you." 2. Love may be regarded as the end of Christian striving, for it brings men nearest heaven; but it is represented here as a means (ver. 13).(1) Christian love going out towards others in blessing comes back laden with new blessings to the soul. The "hearts" of Christ's people become in this way established. Where there is mutual and universal love there is of necessity a steady purpose and aim imparted to the whole life. The heart in this way becomes united (Psalm 86:11). All its impulses go forth in the one direction of holiness unblamable before God, and is thus recompensed with the assurance of Divine love.(2) Even amidst the imperfections and limitations of earth and time the believer has something of this. But the more advanced he is in the Divine life the more does he mourn over his unholiness in the sight of God. Hence the apostle carries our thoughts forward to the second coming (1 Corinthians 1:7, 8). This is the pivot on which the whole Epistle turns. Very naturally and tenderly does Paul refer to this in order to draw away the thoughts of his friends from the trials, sorrows, and sins of their present lot. He would have them think of the lot of their future inheritance that they may be faithful unto the end. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)
I. THE HEARERS OF PRAYER. Prayer is made to God, even the Father and our Father, and also to Christ, even our Lord Jesus Christ; therefore Jesus Christ our Lord is God, even as God our Father is God. Prayer is to be offered to God as our Father (Matthew 6:9): so Jesus taught His disciples, and so the Spirit prompts them to pray (Romans 8:15). And prayer is not only to be offered up to Christ as our Lord and Saviour, but in the name of Christ as the Lord our Righteousness. II. THE THINGS PRAYED FOR. He prays that he might have a prosperous journey to them, by the will of God. The taking of a journey to this or that place, one would think, is a matter depending so much upon a man's own will, and lies so much in his own power, that Paul needed not by prayer to go to God about it; but the apostle knew that we depend upon God in all our motions and actions as well as for the continuance of life and being — that Divine Providence orders all our affairs, and that it is owing thereto if we prosper therein — that God our Father doth direct and order His children whither they shall go, and what they shall do — that our Lord Jesus Christ in a particular manner directs the motions of His faithful ministers, "those stars which He holdeth in His right hand." He prayeth, too, for the prosperity of the Thessalonians, whether he should see them or not; and there are two things he desired for them, which we should desire for ourselves and our friends, namely — that they might "increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men;" and that they might be established unblamable in holiness. This last-mentioned spiritual benefit is the effect of increasing and abounding love. Our desire should therefore be — to have our hearts established in holiness; for then we shall be found blameless at the last advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will surely come, and come in His glory; and when He cometh, His saints will come with Him. And then the excellency, as well as the necessity of pure and perfect holiness, will appear, because without such a state no hearts shall be established at that day, nor shall any one be unblamable, or avoid everlasting condemnation. (R. Fergusson.)
(Canon Liddon.)
1. It was evidently more than a natural transcient longing such as would arise in any mind on the remembrance of dear friends who had been left, it was a fixed strong desire. "We are away from you for a time, in presence, not in heart. I endeavoured to see your face with great desire, but Satan hindered. I therefore sent Timothy — my dearest and best fellow labourer, and the tidings he has brought has comforted me. But this is not enough. May God direct my way unto you." The inferences from this are —(1) They must have been a very lovable people. For in this desire we can see more than apostolic function, or simple discharge of duty. Clearly here is that unpurchaseable thing — the whole heart's love on both sides.(2) This is one of the marvels and triumphs of Christianity that it can thus mutually unite, refine, endear people to each other in any circumstances. What were the circumstances? They had scarcely a day's peace in their connection. And yet how they hold on to each other. Is there any other department of life that can be likened to this? Say, that some merchant goes into a distant city, opens a large business, and supplies smaller traders. But unfortunate times comes on. Those who have bought cannot pay, and the merchant sees his capital sunk as in the sea. Would it be wonderful if he closed his stores and departed? Now see the contrast. Paul comes on his great business to Thessalonica — the city is in an uproar, and his friends are glad to get him away with life. And yet the strain "Taken from you in presence, not in heart, I shall be back again soon." The religion of Christ is a plant which storms cannot break, which will grow fresh and green above the very snows, and in the dark, damp air of prisons, and will bear some of its best fruits when all other trees are barren. 2. The religious rule he puts it under; the subordination of it to the will of God. He seems to say, "There is nothing more that I can do: Satan seems to hold the keys of the city, and he will not let me in if he can help it. People would advise me to give it up. But no, I hold a strange key, that has opened many a door for me, and perhaps it may fit the lock of that city gate. It is called the key of prayer, and it never rusts with me, for it never rests. I use it by night as well as day. Even while I thus write, I use it. Now God direct my way." The teaching is, have your human desire, hold it against all hostility and disappointment; but have it in subjection to the higher Will which knows all the circumstances of which we can only know a part. Says an old writer, "Let God be our Pilot if we mean to make a good voyage of it." Let our hand be on the stern, our eye on the star. Let our course as the mariners' be guided by the heavens. II. PAUL'S GREAT DESIRE FOR THE CHURCH. 1. This desire is not dependent on the fulfilment of the other. He was aware that unless he had an express Divine assurance that the former was not to be calculated upon with certainty. If he is permitted to see them he will supply, by God's help, what is lacking in their faith, and out of that will spring a fuller love. But if he is not allowed to see them, the Lord could do without his agency. 2. The love here mentioned is discriminated, but it is one thing. Love to God is one thing, with differentiations suited to the character of the individuals. Love in us —(1) Has its fullest expression when its object is God.(2) Next to that in excellence is love of God's own children — our brethren. Very beautiful is this affection when founded on mutual knowledge and esteem, when each sees in the other the Master's image, and are all kindly affectioned one to another. "Behold how good and peasant, etc.(3) It has been said that this mutual love is apt to deteriorate in the very exercise of it, and to become exclusiveness. This is possible. Churches have so attended to the form of this great privilege and duty that they have allowed the spirit of it to evaporate. They have ceased to feel for the miseries about them. Well, we cannot say that the Scriptures have led us astray. For see how inseparably the two things are here joined. "And toward all men." There is only that word between them, and that unites and never disjoins. It is God's strong bridge over the river; God's marriage service over the two affections, never to be severed more. "And what God hath joined together," etc. Let no one say he loves the brotherhood if he despises one human creature. But on the other hand let no man say that he loves the race while he sees nothing to love in his fellow Christians. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
(T. Manton, D. D.)Just as if a master, who had given his scholar charge to follow wheresoever he might lead, when he sees him forestalling, and desiring to learn all things of himself, should permit him to go utterly astray; and when he had proved him incompetent to acquire the knowledge, should thereupon at length introduce to him what he himself has to teach: so God also commanded man in the beginning to trace Him by the idea which the creation gives; but since they would not, He, after showing by the experiment that they are not sufficient for themselves, conducts them again unto Him by another way. ( Chrysostom.)
(J. Spencer.)
(J. Newton.)
(J. Ruskin.)
(A. Toplady, M. A.)
(G. Kingsley, M. A.)
(J. Parker, D. D.)
I. THE INFLUENCE OF LOVE ON UNIVERSAL HOLINESS. Love is an extremely powerful principle in the heart of every one that is truly born of God: it is the great wheel which sets the whole machine in motion, and gives a vital energy to every part. 1. It rectifies all the powers of the soul. 2. It enters into every action of the life. 3. It prepares the soul for heavenly communications. II. THE ATTENTION DUE TO IT UNDER THIS PARTICULAR CONSIDERATION. Love, for its own sake, should be cultivated to the uttermost; but when we consider its vast influence both on our present and eternal welfare, we should strive for it with all our might. 1. Let us seek to abound in it. 2. Let us intreat God to work it in us. 3. Let us be stirred up to this especially from the consideration before us — the Lord Jesus is shortly coming with all His glorified saints to judge the world.Application: 1. How shall we know whether our love increases? By the difficulties it surmounts, the sacrifices it makes, the victories it gains. 2. What shall we do to get an increase in it? Nothing but love will beget love; nor will anything but a sense of God's love to us prevail to create in us any real love toward our fellow creatures. (C. Simeon, M. A.)
1. Heartfelt. 2. Holy. II. THE SOURCE OF CHRISTIAN LOVE. 1. God gives it susceptibility. 2. God maintains it in the heart. III. THE OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN LOVE. 1. The whole Christian Church. 2. The whole family of man. IV. THE DEGREE OF CHRISTIAN LOVE. 1. Abundant. 2. Increasing. V. THE EFFECTS OF CHRISTIAN LOVE. 1. They are blessed to each other. 2. They are blessed to the Church. 3. They are blessed at the coming of the Lord.Improvement: (1) (2) (3)
I. THE OBJECT TO WHOM IT IS PRESENTED. 1. Our Lord is expressly addressed: not as the Mediator only, by whom petitions are made acceptable, but as Himself, the Hearer and Answerer of prayer. Here the Saviour is asked first for a temporal and lower gift, for the prosperous direction of the apostle's course and therefore the highest blessing that man can receive. 2. Our Lord is invoked in the unity of the Father, for "God Himself our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ," two persons, are yet one in the verb "direct." The very grammar expresses their unsearchable Oneness not only in counsel and act, but in nature and dignity. 3. Here at the outset there is more than a latent reference to the mediatorial Trinity. Who is that Lord who shall stablish the saints before God? It is the Holy Ghost, in the unity of the Father and the Son, but also in His own administrative function as having our holiness in charge. II. THE PRAYER ITSELF. 1. Paul's first invocation is for charity, that gift of God and grace in man which always has the preeminence. It is the ruling emotion of the regenerate which, assured by its very life of the love of God, goes back directly to Him in devotion, and indirectly in deeds of charity to man. In love, as in an element, the apostle prays that they may grow.(1) Here at the very threshold of His theology, Paul establishes the true character of love as it rests especially on the fellow elect and as it embraces all men. This distinction bears close analogy to the particular and catholic love of God. But the distinction, however important, belongs to a lower sphere, and has significance only for a season. The two are one in "the bond of perfectness"; and when the prayer asks for its largest aboundings it leaves all limitation behind: "and toward all men."(2) The specific increase will be seen if we consider the vehement language in which Paul describes it, and the standard he sets up in his own example.(a) "Increase and abound" might be interpreted as a compound expression including all that is possible to the heart's capacity. But more closely examined the former signifies the growth of the soul in the sphere of charity, and the latter its aboundings in outward manifestation. Elsewhere love is regarded as growing in us; here, we grow in love, which, like faith, is not only a grace within but an element around the soul. "Increase in love" means that we may become more and more enlarged in heart as our love is enlarged, growing with its growth. The other term makes the sentiment more intense, and asks that the evidence of our increase may day by day overflow. Not, however, to man only. In the next chapter (ver. 9), when the apostle speaks of love to our fellow Christians as "taught of God," he calls it "philadelphia," a branch of charity never separable from that other love that belongs to God; so here it is regarded as springing from the large effusion of the love of God.(b) Paul presents his own example as at once a standard, guide, and incentive. He felt himself to be expanding in the habit and exercise of that love which "pufieth not up," but "edifieth." This is the first instance of a practice of his with which we soon become familiar — the commendation of his own example. Nowhere is his love more vividly exhibited than here. 'The collective strength of the previous expressions present to us a perfect description of self-forgetting charity. It begins in ver. 5. There is more than human sympathy here. Having had "much forgiven," the apostle "loved much." But while we are pondering the exhibition, we hear his intercession diverting us from himself: "the Lord make you," etc. 2. The connection between this abounding love and unblamable holiness is one of the most important topics in experimental theology.(1) Love, whether regarded in its unity, or divided into devotion and charity, is the energy of all holiness. We are released from sin by love as the instrument of the Spirit in expelling every impure affection. The soul in which the Divine love is shed abroad in its fullness can give no place to evil desires. By it also we are strengthened into complete obedience: for "love is the fulfilling of the law." There is no limit to the increase of this love. St. Paul has chosen two terms that spurn restriction; which teaches us on the one hand that a love perfected in the sense of having reached an impassable limit there cannot be: the love of God can never be spent, nor can man's return of love to God. But it teaches also that there is nothing in the heart that shall resist it. Hence holiness is a state in which man's heart, i.e., man himself, is already established by the power of God.(2) The idea of confirmation in unblamable holiness before God carries the view forward to that day which is the vanishing point of all the lines of the apostle's theology and hope. It is supposed to be brought under the more direct scrutiny of God; it is not created by His coming: neither does death destroy the body of sin, nor the appearing of Christ perfect the love of the saints; but then the eye of Supreme Justice will regard the perfect in love as unblamable in holiness.(3) The construction of the sentence suggests that at and by the coming of Christ we shall be confirmed in our unchangeable condition of holiness before God. This is not the establishment of an uncertain character; the abounding of love has accomplished that. It is not the establishment in brotherly love; that is a grace which may be supposed to end with time. But it is the establishment of the unblamable holiness of perfect love.(a) The holiness of perfect love is the permanent character of the saved. Love abideth; and without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Holiness is the consummation of all that religion has to accomplish, and love is the law of heaven as well as of earth. Faith will cease by finding its object; and hope will never be conscious of an object waited for.(b) This establishment implies the end of probation. Probation vanishes to the individual in death; but to the Church, and man's history generally, only at the coming of Christ. Not till then, but assuredly then, all that belongs to the warfare, suspense and growing victory of religion shall cease. Rest in God shall be the law of heaven; and that rest shall be movement in an orbit around the throne which shall never be purturbed. (W. B. Pope, D. D.)
I. THE NATURE OF THAT LOVE IN WHICH ST. PAUL DESIRED HIS BRETHREN TO ABOUND. 1. Its spirituality of intention. This is inferred from its declared origin, "The Lord." Carnal minds have their charity, which regards men as body and mind, and, therefore, when it has consulted their physical happiness and intellectual cultivation it has reached its limit. Devout but unenlightened minds have their charity, but it seeks only to win men from vice to forms of godliness. But the charity that is born of God will act in correspondence with the mind of God, who has not failed to provide for physical happiness, mental improvement, and moral amelioration, but only as a consequence of the restoration of the soul to union with Himself. His sacrifice of His Son — "the Just for the unjust" — was to this end, "to bring them to God." In harmony with this will be the intention of His people's love. It was so in Paul's day. Its care for man was a care for man's soul. And so now Christian missions, while they compensate the physical miseries, mental debasement, and moral perversion of men by humanizing influences, lifting the savage into civilization, it looks upon all this as subordinate to the conversion of the heart to God. 2. Its unrestrictedness of attachment. It suffers no limitation. It leads God's people to care not only for their brethren, but all mankind. The earliest disciples went everywhere preaching the Word. The Thessalonians were no less active; and besides doing mission work themselves, they succoured other missionaries. Would that this love had never grown cold! But first came dissention, then unhallowed speculation, and afterward superstition. And when superstition had been removed formality supervened. And so at this late era we are but beginning again the evangelization of the world which began in apostolic times. 3. Its progressiveness of operation. Let it live and be in healthy action, and that action will be one of advancing power. This the apostle intimates not only by his prayer, but by instancing his own example. St. Paul was a bright exemplification of the charity that never faileth. His personal intercourse with the Thessalonians had been brief — but how, notwithstanding his labours and trials, he loved them. So it was with his affection for other Churches, it deepened and widened at the same time. And may we not point to many of his followers struggling with discomforts, afflicted with the spectacle of myriads wholly given to idolatry, frequently standing alone as witnesses for the truth, growing only more devoted to the work and attached to their charge. Yea, and when compelled to return to a more congenial climate they labour in the interests of their distant converts, and long to return. And so, according to their ability, is the love of the Churches who support missions. II. THE SANCTIFYING RESULT WHICH ST. PAUL ANTICIPATED FROM THAT INCREASE OF LOVE WHICH HE INVOKED UPON HIS BRETHREN. Consider this as illustrated in the history of missions. 1. In relation to our individual piety.(1) It quickens within us the spirit of prayer. One glance at millions lying in their heathen state hastens every child of God to his Father's feet. "The harvest," Christ said, "is plenteous," etc. What, then, shall His followers do? Rush at once into the field? No. "Pray ye." Nor is this all. From every region we hear the cry, "Pray for us that the Word of God may have free course and be glorified." And our souls are stirred within us to respond; and thus it is that an interest in missions keeps us at the throne of grace. And experience soon proves that the spirit of supplication is the very life of the cause.(2) It brings us into conscious cooperation with God. "We are labourers together with God." If the evangelization of the world were a human adventure then our partnership would be with man only; but faith is sensible of God's presence, and association with God who is holy results in holiness.(3) It familiarizes our minds with the operations of the Divine Spirit on the souls of men, and promotes self-examination and conveys instruction and consolation. 2. In relation to the piety of the Church which is the aggregate of the holiness of its individual members. As they severally thrive the whole body is strengthened, and society around receives a corresponding complexion. A habit of caring for souls is established; attention is drawn to the spiritual condition of those who are near; home missions spring up, and the fountain which is pouring forth its streams to fertilize some distant wilderness, overflows with living water to bless its native soil. How strikingly this is illustrated in the religious history of our own country! Call to remembrance the condition of England when the great missionary societies were first established. From that day God has blessed us with a reformed country and a revived religion.(1) The various expedients devised for the support of missions have been the means of this. Missionary meetings, sermons, literature, have given an impetus to the cause of God. In how many of our children the first buddings of Christian emotion have burst under the impression of some missionary tale.(2) Consciences awakened, and hearts moved to care for the heathen abroad have been impressed with a responsibility towards those at home.In conclusion, consider the subject in relation to — 1. Ourselves. Here is the antidote to the evils of secularity, luxury, priestcraft, and scepticism. 2. Our society. Our successes should stimulate this love; our failures make an imperative demand upon it. 3. Our Church. Here strength at home will be in proportion to her prosperity abroad. 4. Our country. Missionary extension is its best defence. (J. Harding, M. A.)
(H. W. Beecher.)
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