Il. Onz TEsT OF DISCIPLESHIP IS THE SPIRIT IN WHICH MEN WORK FOR CHRIST. The stranger, to whom reference is made, is said to have done what he did in Christ’s Name, and the Lord declares that the presumption is markedly in the favour of one whose practice may be so denoted. What are we to understand by the expression, “in Christ’s Name”? It is an idiom which involves more than lies upon the surface, The Name of Christ implies his nature, his character, his claims, his mission. What is done truly in his Name, is done from reverence towards him, from faith in him, from love to him, in reliance upon his grace, and with a view to his honour and his approval, Now, our Lord teaches us that they whose life is animated and governed, controlled and guided, by ® constant reference to himself, are to be honoured and encouraged. Such may have an imperfect acquaintance with the Lord Jesus, an insuflicient appre- hension of his nature or his work, an indisposition to consort with his professed followers. In all this it is possible they may be inferior to ourselves, though it is not certain. But this must not rouse us to bigotry, to conceit, and opinionated self- com th Let us recognize and admire the spirit which such “outsiders” may
ispiay, and wish them God-speed, and rejoice in their witness and in their work!
. ANOTHER TEST OF DISCIPLESHIP 18 THE WORK WHICH MEN DO FoR CHRIST, This passage reminds us that: 1. It may be a mighty work or a power. This is not necessarily miraculous; it may be moral. The mark of God’s finger may be upon the work. In our own state of society this “note” of true Christianity may sometimes be recognized among those who are unassociated with our Churches, and even among the “unorthodox.” 2. It may be the casting out of demons. In the Gospel narrative this was literally the case. And in modern life there are many demons of ignorance, impurity, sloth, and selfishness, which need expulsion. And those who devote their time and energies to combating these ills, are doing the work of our Master, and wik, not be able quickly to speak evil of him. Let us rejoice, not only in their work, but in themselves, 3, It may be the giving of a cup of cold water to Christ’s people in Christ’s Name. Not the magnitude, but the moral tendency, the inner motive of the act, is of importance in the sight of our Lord. If the act itself be kind and beneficent, that is sufficient to recommend it to us, and to make it acceptable to the Lord. There is an obvious harmony between a good work and the good spirit in which the work is performed,
. A CANON OF JUDGMENT. It may be determined that the rule of ver. 40, “He that is not against us is for us,” refers to our judgment of others and of their actions. It ig a wise as well as a charitable principle. It is a preservative against bigotry, and
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it is fitted to ensure equitable and considerate treatment of our neighbours. The rule elsewhere recorded, “ He that is not for us is against us,” applies to ourselves, and warns us against lukewarmness in our piety and negligence in our service. Let us be stricter with ourselves, and more charitable with others, and we shall the better please our righteous and gracious Lord.
Vers, 42—50.— Warnings. With these solemn words our Lord closed his arduous and faithful ministry in Galilee. Christ’s language was usually language of grace and encouragement; but there were occasions, like the present, when he spoke words of faithful warning in tones almost of severity. Yet it should be noted that these admonitions were addressed to his own disciples, and were intended to quicken their a degat sensibility, and to induce them to use with diligence the privileges with which t a were favoured, especially through their association with himself.
PoWERS AND MEANS OF USEFULNESS MAY BECOME OCCASIONS OF SPIRITUAL OFFENOR, This is a very serious consideration. Increased privilege brings increased responsibility, and none can possess powers of body or of mind without being exposed by such possession to liability to unfaithfulness and to consequent deprivation. 1. Social entercourse and influence come under this general principle. Our Lord speaks of his disciples, and especially of the inexperienced and immature, as “his little ones who believe on him.” We cannot be associated with such without affecting them for good or for evil. To cause them to stumble, to betray them into errors or into sin, is an offence against our Lord, and it would be better for a man to be flung with a millstone about his neck into the deep water, than so to offend against the Lord of the little ones. 2. Our active powers may become occasions of offence. The hand and the foot ~ may be taken as emblematical of these powers, the proper and intended purpose of which is undoubtedly their employment in works of justice and of charity and helpful- ness. Yet these good faculties may cause their possessors to offend. The hands may work deeds of violence, the feet may lead into the way of sinners; and in such a case the purpose of the Creator is frustrated, and condemnation is incurred. 3. Sense and intelligence may be productive of harm as well as of good. The eye may fairly be taken as representing sense epee and the apprehensive faculty. When the eyes wander where they should not, are closed when they should be open, or are open when they should be closed, they are an offence. When the intellect is directed to the wrong topics, or to the right topics in the wrong temper, its glory is dimmed, for its intention is thwarted, and it becomes a curse instead of a blessing.
Il. THE ABUSE OF POWERS AND MEANS OF USEFULNESS WILL INVOLVE PUNITIVE SUFFERING AND RUIN. Under the rule of a righteous God, it cannot be that faithfulness and unfaithfulness, watchfulness and remissness, obedience and rebellion, will be treated alike. From the lips of the Lamb of God, the “meek and lowly in heart,” language such as that which our Lord here employs is doubly impressive. Nevertheless, it is in mercy that the fruits of sin are shown to be apples of Sodom, that the wages of sin are expressly declared to be death. The figurative representations of the doom of the sinful are indeed terrific, This doom is worse than the vengeful overwhelming in the Lake of Galilee; it is compared to the casting out of corpses into Gehenna, below the walls of Jerusalem, where the fire consumed or the worms gnawed the unburied bodies of the dead. Such teaching leaves us in no doubt as to the view which the omniscient and most gracious Saviour takes of the future and eternal prospects of those who desecrate their powers and misuse their opportunities in the service of sin,