1 Corinthians 4:8-13 Now you are full, now you are rich, you have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God you did reign… 1. A man may imagine it to be an easy matter to appear before an audience; but to stand before the footlights, when every turn of one's features are plainly to be seen, is a strain on the nerves which is hard to bear. 2. The Christian life is, however, more trying than any performance on the stage. The actor appears before a few hundred spectators who are willing to be pleased, and he is under the glare of the footlights for only two or three hours at a time; but the Christian is a spectacle to his many neighbours and also to the angelic hosts, and his part continues for life. 3. The apostle refers to the spectacles in the Colosseum at Rome. On some days, when about eighty thousand persons were assembled in its galleries, the first show in the arena would be men fighting with hungry lions and tigers, but in this performance the men were allowed to wear armour. In the pause after the first show, the vast crowd would refresh themselves with grapes, wine, and food, and then the second performance began, consisting of naked men fighting with each other, and without anything to defend themselves except their swords, the result being that the slightest touch of their weapons inflicted a gash. The most horrid regulation, however, was that he who preserved his own life should not be released. but kept for slaughter another day. These men, therefore, that were actors in the last performance might well be called men appointed to death. 4. Of course everybody in his senses when he appears before the footlights of life, that is, when other people can see him, does his best. It is only the drunkard, the insane, or the woman that has lost all sense of shame, who label their sins before the eyes of others like a sign-board stating what they are. If an ordinary man have something that is bad within him, he tries to hide it from his fellow-men. Let the spectacle of your life be — I. AN EMBODIMENT OF MERCY. II. EXHIBIT THE ESSENCE OF TRUTH. Learn to love the truth because it is the truth, and do it because it is right. Some people are not afraid to do wrong; all they are afraid of is being "found out." III. EMBODY CHARITY IN YOUR DEEDS TO YOUR FELLOW — MEN. Follow the charity of God, who keeps open the gates of heaven day and night. (W. Birch.) Parallel Verses KJV: Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. |
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