The example of type Lord Jesus.
I. THE IMITATION OF the Lord JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONE RULE OF CHRISTIAN PRACTICE.
1. In the outward life. He pleased not himself; he sought not the high places of the world; he did not choose a life of ease, comfort, pleasure. He lived for others; he went abrupt doing good; He cared for the temporal needs of the sick and poor. He cared for the souls of all.
2. In the inner life of thought and feeling. The Christian must mind the things which the Lord Jesus minded; his thoughts, wishes, motives should be the thoughts, wishes, motives which filled the sacred heart of Jesus Christ our Lord. Holy Scripture bids us purify ourselves even as he is pure. The standard is very high, above us, out of our reach. But it is the end to which the high calling of the Christian points; it should be the object of all the longings of our hearts, to know Christ, to love Christ, to be made like unto Christ—like him in the outward life of obedience, like him in the inner live of holy thought.
II. THE EXAMPLE DRAWN OUT IN ITS DETAILS. Christ looked not upon his own things—his Divine glory, his equality with God the Father. He looked ripen the things of others—our helplessness, our danger, our need of a Savior.
1. What he was. He was God; the Word was God in the beginning, "God only begotten" (the reading of the most ancient manuscripts in John 1:18), begotten of his Father before the world was. When God only was, and there was none but God; before the ages were, the Word was God. "Before Abraham was, I am," the Savior said, in John 8:58, where he vindicates his right to the incommunicable Name, Jehovah. He was God, then, by nature, by inalienable right, one with the Father, being "the Brightness of his glory, and the express Image of his person; "possessed of all the fullness of the Godhead; all the splendor the glory, the omnipotence, all the essential attributes, of Deity. Thus he was in the form of God, on an equality with God. But he did not count this inconceivable glory a thing to be grasped, to be clung to. He looked on the things of others, blessed be his holy Name!
2. What he became. He emptied himself of that effulgence which flesh could not behold and live. He took the form of a servant, the likeness of humanity. In outward fashion he became as one of us, though he ceased not to be God. this whole humiliation, from the Incarnation to the cross, was his own voluntary act: "I lay down my life of myself." That stupendous act of self-sacrifice wholly transcends the reach of human thought. The difference between the greatest king and the meanest slave is absolutely nothing compared with the abyss that separates humanity from Deity. That abyss beyond measure is the measure of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.
3. Still he looked not on he his own things; he chose the lowest place upon earth. He despised not the carpenter's shop at Nazareth; he shed a new dignity on honest labor by his own example; he gave a new glory to humility which had no glory hitherto; he was content to obey: "Not my will, but thine, be done." He humbled himself and became obedient. His obedience extended through every detail of his most holy life; he sought not his own glory; it culminated in his death: it could reach no further; he became obedient unto death. And that death was the death of the cross—the cruel, lingering, shameful death reserved for slaves and the worst of criminals. Life has many strange contrasts—wealth and abject poverty, joy and utter misery. There never was contrast like this—omnipotence and seeming helplessness, the glory-throne on high and the awful cross, He loved us so very dearly. That astonishing love is set before us as our example.
III. HIS EXALTATION CONSEQUENT UPON HIS HUMILIATION.
1. Christ humbled himself, wherefore God highly exalted him. Wherefore; it is a great word, it expresses a law of God's kingdom. Exaltation follows on self-abasement, glory on humility. It was so with Christ our Lord. God exalted him, the incarnate Son, Jesus, perfect God, but also (blessed be his holy Name!) perfect Man, high above all heavens. He became obedient unto death; wherefore God gave unto him the name which is above every name. Unto Jesus, God and Man, all power is given in heaven and in earth, all the unutterable glory, all the majesty of the Godhead.
2. Therefore all prevailing prayer is made in his Name. "If ye shall ask anything in my Name, I will do it." All prayer is offered through his mediation. We plead before the throne of grace his perfect obedience, his precious death, his atoning blood, the blood that cleanseth from all sin. "Through Jesus Christ our Lord" is the prevailing close of every Christian prayer.
3. He himself is the object of Christian worship. All creation in heaven and earth and under the earth bows the knee to him in adoration. All tongues must confess with thanksgiving that he is Lord. Worship of offered to him redounds to the glory of God the Father, for it is God who exalted him.
IV. THE DISCIPLE IS AS HIS MASTER, THE SERVANT AS HIS LORD. The life of Christ, in a sense, repeats itself in each one of his elect. They share his humiliation, his cross; they shall share his glory, his throne (Revelation 2:21).
1. I am crucified with Christ. We must imitate him in his humiliation, emptying ourselves of pride and self-indulgence. We must deny ourselves, mortifying the old man, crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts, dying through the power of the most holy cross to the world and to the flesh.
2. So shall we rise with him—now, unto newness of life; hereafter, to behold him in his glory, to sit with him in his throne. "He that shall humble himself shall be exalted." Self-abasement must come first, then the glory; first the cross, then the crown.
LESSONS.
1. Learn never to let a day pass without meditation on the great Example. Contemplate with wondering thankfulness the great mystery of the Incarnation. Strive with all the energy of your spirit to fix your thoughts in awe, in penitence, in adoring love, upon the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Intense meditation on that tremendous sacrifice is the greatest help towards a holy life.
2. Pray for grace to imitate him in his humility, in his unselfish love.
What should be the result of Christ's example?
I. OBEDIENCE.
1. Christ became obedient even unto death. The Philippians have hitherto been obedient; they were obedient when the apostle called them to faith and repentance; let them be obedient now.
2. That obedience is due to God who sooth the heart. We must not depend too much on human teachers, whether present or absent; we must look to the unseen Savior who is ever present, and work out, each one for himself, our own salvation.
II. EARNEST EFFORT TO SAVE OUR SOULS.
1. Because our salvation was the end of Christ's humiliation. He came into the world to save sinners. The greatness of his self-sacrifice shows the momentous importance of the object for which he humbled himself. The cross of Christ throws a bright light on the tremendous alternative—life or death, salvation or damnation.
2. Because of salvation is lost, all is lost. The word σωτηρία means simply safety—safety from anything that may harm us, from danger, sickness, death. In Holy Scripture it means the safety of the soul,
It is a precious word, for it points to unspeakable blessedness; an awful word, for it suggests a fearful alternative. It reminds us of that condemnation, that horror of eternal despair, which must be the portion of the lost. That great danger threatens us; we need to be saved from it, and therefore from sin.
3. Because our salvation must be wrought out by ourselves: no other man can do it for us. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior; he is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. "By grace ye are saved,… he and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Our salvation is the work of God. But there are two sides to the same great truth. It is his work, and yet it is ours. Both views of the one truth are presented to us in Holy Scripture. Both are true; they meet somewhere above our heads. Now we know in part; our standpoint is not high enough to command a connected view of all God's dealings with men. But we can see far enough to guide us on our way to heaven; we know enough for the needs of the Christian life. We know that Christ is our only Savior; he came into the world to save sinners; he died for all. But Holy Scripture bids us to carry out the work of salvation in our own souls, to complete it, working from the cross, in the faith of Christ. There is need of persevering energy. Others may guide, comfort, exhort; but each man must work out his own salvation for himself in the depths of his spirit,—it cannot be done by deputy. We must work, for God bids us; we must work, for we have an irresistible consciousness of power to choose the good and to avoid the evil. But we must trust wholly in Christ. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. It is he that saves us, not we ourselves.
III. A TREMBLING ANXIETY TO PLEASE GOD.
1. If we are in earliest, there must sometimes be fear and trembling in our religious life. The work is so very momentous; it is no matter for indifference or lukewarmness. We must pass the time of our sojourning here in fear, for we were "redeemed … with the precious blood of Christ." The greatness of the ransom shows the greatness of the danger. We must pray for grace to serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear; for true religion involves a deep, awful reverence for the majesty of God. Reverence is an essential clement in true holiness. "Hallowed be thy Name" is the first petition in the prayer which the Lord himself hath taught us; and with reverence must be mingled holy fear—the fear of undue familiarity intruding itself into our solemn worship; the fear of displeasing God who will judge us, who gave his blessed Son to die for us, by unfaithfulness in our daily lives.
2. The ground both for fear and for encouragement. God worketh in us. It is a ground for fear; for if it is God that worketh in us, then to take part with the flesh is to strive against the Most High, to resist the Holy Ghost—a most awful danger. And it is a ground for encouragement; for if it is God that hath begun the good work within us, we may be confident that he will carry it on. His strength, if only we persevere, will be made perfect in our weakness. Man can do nothing without God, and God will do nothing without man. He bids us work out our own salvation, because he worketh in us both to will and to do. Holy desires and just works alike proceed from him. Yet, though he willeth that all men should be saved, all are not saved; for they will not conic unto him that they might have life. The problem is insoluble in theory; it is solved in the religious life. If we live in the faith of the Son of God, the very sense of entire dependence upon him will urge us to work out to the end the salvation which he hath wrought for us by his precious blood-shedding, which he is working within us by the gift of his Holy Spirit.
LESSONS.
1. You work hard in your outward calling; work hard in your religious life.
2. The alternatives at issue are of stupendous moment; work with fear and trembling.
3. But remember, Christ died for you, God worketh in you. Work the cross; trust in God, not in your own efforts, however earnest.