EPISTLE FOR EASTER DAY. COLOSSIANS III. 1-7. 1 IF then ye were raised with Christ, seek the things above, 2 where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Mind the 3 things above, not the things on the earth. For ye died, and 4 your life has been hidden with Christ in God. When Christ is manifested, our Life, then shall ye also be manifested with 5 Him in glory. Deaden then the members that are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and that 6 grasping which is idolatry; on account of which things 7 cometh the wrath of God. In which things ye also walked at one time, when ye were living in them. SERMON XIV. THE MYSTERY OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. COLOSSIANS III. 1. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where WE can have no doubt where to turn for our Easter subject. No passage gives in a smaller compass or in a more attractive form the doctrine of this day, and its proper and natural effects upon the life of those who believe, than that selected as the Epistle. A brief examination of the passage itself will not only introduce but contain those lessons which the recurrence of our great Christian festival is designed to impress upon our hearts. St. Paul writes from Rome. He is suffering, he says, and rejoicing in his sufferings. Hard as it was to be condemned to a life of inaction, to feel that opportunities of extended usefulness were denied, and that he was wearing out in imprisonment days which might have been full of labours and triumphs in his SERMON XIV. XIV. Col. i. 24. SERMON Master's cause, he could yet see that all was well both for himself and for the Gospel: he was filling up (as he expresses it) in his own person that which was behind of the afflictions of Christ, for His body's sake, which is the Church; and he doubted not that in some way or other even these sufferings would redound to God's glory. Meanwhile his heart was not inactive. He could still struggle and combat, if it were but in prayer, for congregations known to him Col. ii. 5. personally or unknown. Though absent in the flesh, he could still be with them in the spirit, rejoicing to behold their order and the stedfastness of their faith in Christ: he could still reach them, from time to time, with a word of written admonition, charging them, as they had received Christ, so to walk in Him; to beware lest a false philosophy should rob them of Him in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; to remember the several items, as it were, ibid. 10. of that "completeness" which was theirs in Christ, ibid. 18,23. and to take heed lest either a system of "will-wor ibid. 6. ibid. 9. ship," recommending itself by its show of reverence ibid. 16,20. and humility, or of ceremonial observance, altogether beside the mark of a Christian perfection, should ibid. 19. tempt them to let go the Head, from whom alone all spiritual nourishment can be derived, and in union with whom alone can any progress be made, worthy of being described truly as increase of God. And now he enters with them yet more deeply XIV. into the mysteries of the Christian life. Warnings SERMON against error are flat and unpersuasive, except so far as they spring out of positive truth revealed, apprehended, cherished, and lived by. Hence the considerations introduced in the opening of the third chapter, the Epistle for this day. If then ye were raised with Christ. You will Verse 1. notice here a somewhat important deviation from the Authorized Version. Much, very much, of St. Paul's deepest teaching is involved in it. I will refer you presently to one or two passages of his Epistles in which the interpretation given is warranted and confirmed. For the moment, we will confine our attention to the words before us. If then ye were raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God; invested, that is, with all the honour and all the authority of God Himself; reigning, as it is elsewhere said, until God 1 Cor. xv. hath put all enemies under His feet. 25. Set your affection on the things above: more exactly, Verse 2. mind the things above; have the things above for your thoughts and sentiments: let them be at once your subject and your object, that which occupies your mind and satisfies your heart. Mind the things above, not the things on the earth. For ye died; not are dead, but, with reference to Verse 3. one particular time, ye died; and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. |