SERMON XIV. WALK WORTHY OF THE LORD, BE FRUITFUL, AND INCREASING.

Col. i. 10.

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the know ledge of God.

One of the great objects of St. Paul, in writing his epistles, appears to be considerably overlooked by the christian world at large: it was, to lead those churches and communities, in which the true foundation of Christianity had been laid, to build upon it a corresponding character and life. Certainly, a great portion of the epistles is occupied in the assertion and explanation of christian doctrine; and this, principally, with a view to remove certain errors and prejudices, which the members of some churches had entertained; and upon which they had requested the apostle’s decision. But well knowing how apt the human mind is to rest satisfied with speculative views and persuasions, he never omits to remind his converts, that much more was necessary than the profession of a true faith; that in vain would their opinions be rectified, unless their heart was also changed; that though they had “all faith and all knowledge,” it would “profit them nothing,” unless the graces and virtues of their holy religion were signally manifest in their lives.

There is scarcely an epistle, in which the apostle does not labour, with the most intense desire, with the most full and repeated and peremptory injunctions, to press upon them this momentous consideration: there is not, in the word of God, a more complete digest and code of christian duty, than in the writings of St. Paul; and yet they are, by many, almost exclusively regarded as an exposition of deep and mysterious doctrines; as if this were the sole end and purpose for which they were composed. Well would it have been for the christian world, if as much attention had been paid to the practical, as to the theoretical subjects in these divine oracles: we should not then have witnessed so many disputations, in which charity has been lost sight of, nor so much of the “form of godliness without the power;” so many religious terms and denominations, of which the ignorant have understood little but the name: we should have had less of sect, of party, of invidious distinctions of any kind; and more of vital religion amongst us. But it is now, as it ever was, with fallen and degenerate man; he is fonder of exhibiting the powers of his understanding, of exciting his feelings, and of displaying the pride of spiritual knowledge, than of reforming his principles and regulating his conduct: he has therefore directed his view to the mystery of the foundation, and overlooked the directions for raising and completing the superstructure.

Not that the various revelations of doctrine, in the writings of St. Paul, are by any means to be lightly regarded; nor that they do not demand the most reverential attention and profound enquiry: it is of high importance for us to attain a “right judgment in all things:” yet doubtless it would tend more to the edification of Christians in general, if they took greater heed to the rules and precepts of the divine law, to the evidence and fruit of their faith; and to all that neglect them, we would say, “these things ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others undone.”

The passage of scripture, from which we are now discoursing, will exemplify these remarks. St. Paul, in the very opening of his epistle, assures the Colossians, that since the day he heard of their conversion, he did “not cease to pray for them and to desire that they might be filled with the knowledge of the will of God, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

1. “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord.” It is scarcely possible for the most cursory observer not to perceive, that the faith of the gospel cannot be truly embraced with indifference; that the christian name is not a mere honorary or professional title, independent of obligations and of consequences. As the Bible is rich in promises, so is it also clear and necessitating, in the conditions upon which those promises are made: as the Redeemer has freely offered unto us the benefits of His cross, so has He as plainly injoined upon us the indispensable duty of “taking up our own cross daily,” and “following the blessed steps of His most holy life;” as He has reconciled us unto the Father, and again adopted us into the blessed family above, so are we required, if we have any part or lot in this matter, to be-have as children, who have recovered the forfeited privileges of their glorious inheritance, and “have their conversation in heaven.” As we have been “bought at so great a price,” we must continue the subjects and the property of the “Lord that bought us.”

No man, whose nature, whose principles, whose affections, whose life, remain unchanged; no man, enthralled by the pleasures and devoted to the pursuits of a thoughtless and corrupt world, can justly consider himself as an actual partaker of the covenanted mercies of God. He may have been admitted by baptism into Christ’s visible church; he may hope to render, at some future day, his baptismal privilege available to salvation; but every page of God’s revealed word would forbid him to regard himself as an accepted “inheritor of the kingdom of heaven,” while his life is palpably at variance with the conditions upon which that inheritance is vouchsafed; while it is contradictory to the laws, and totally inconsistent with the blessings, which the Saviour has proclaimed to mankind. Every man must not only perceive from the gospel, but be assured by his own reason and conscience, that such divine mercies absolutely require and imply some degree of worthiness; some correspondence in his views, his temper, and his conduct.

Worthy indeed, in the fullest sense of the word, of such transcendent love and favour, of life and immortality, of everlasting honour in the presence of the pure and perfect Creator, the degenerate creature can never be; he has sinned; and “the wages of sin is death.” But there is a fitness, which the Christian, by divine help, must attain; a humility and contrition of heart; a sincere belief in God’s mercy through Christ; a grateful sense of God’s undeserved goodness; a desire of recovery from the ruin of his fallen nature; and withal, a true spirit of acquiescence in those means of grace, and that revealed law, ordained to bring the sinner to his Maker; and this conformity, in the character of man, is frequently represented in scripture by the name of worthiness: he becomes worthy in this respect, inasmuch as he fulfils the conditions of the gospel covenant, and is thereby rendered a fit object of God’s free mercy: without this character he would be unworthy, inasmuch as he would shew himself unmoved by the marvellous loving-kindness of his Saviour; would shew, that he had no real value for the blessings, which the gospel places within his reach; no regard for the revelation and ordinances of God. It is an observation as true as it is common, that the holy gospel designs not to save us in our sins, but from them; we must therefore be made willing and desirous and careful, to subdue the prevalence of sin, or we cannot attain unto salvation; and if the dominion of evil be subdued, there will grow up, in our hearts and lives, the manifold fruits of righteousness.

Such was the worthiness, which the apostle prayed and laboured to produce in the early disciples; and if, without this, we are hoping to be accepted of the Lord, “we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” The meetness indeed, of which we are speaking, is not exclusively our own; it must “be wrought in us of God;” still it is to be sought by prayer, and improved with diligence: “We are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;” [260] yet God will not fail to supply us with the means, if we pray for them and use them faithfully.

To this statement I request your especial attention; because there are professing Christians, who take an improper view of this important matter. Conscious of their own unworthiness in point of merit, they are apt to overlook that worthy fitness, of heart and character and life, which is necessary for every sincere follower, of Christ. The proclamations of their own undeservings, and their Saviour’s free love, are sometimes so loud and frequent, as to lower in their minds the sense of moral and spiritual obligation, as to make them relax in their duly to God and man; as if they were privileged to offend, because they extolled the Saviour, and debased themselves. This is a vain and a fanatical spirit: Christ alone is worthy to save; but we must endeavour, by His sanctifying aid, in all things to be made more and more worthy of the exceeding “riches of His grace.”

2. And, in order to encourage us in the goodly work, the Almighty, whose happiness is infinite and incapable of increase, graciously represents Himself as pleased, even with our imperfect services: “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.” “Though the heavens are not pure in His sight,” yet does He condescend to “visit man” with His favour, and “to regard the son of man,” who serveth Him, with an approving eye: He is pleased, because it is the fruit of the sinner’s reconciliation, by the death and sufferings of His beloved Son: for His sake, even the feeble struggles of the Christian, in the way of duty, if they be resolute and determined, are an acceptable service; even the spark of goodness, if it glow with sincerity in the bosom, is honoured and rewarded.

This is an animating consideration: we observe the effect naturally produced in the mind of man, even by the approbation of a fellow-creature, whom he regards as his superior; what holy satisfaction then, and complacency and delight, may we not derive from the persuasion, that our humble services are favourably viewed by the all-wise and almighty God, who recompenses every one according to his work: if God be pleased, whose displeasure shall we fear? If “God be for us, who shall be against us?” And O, that we may never forget, that it is one of the great purposes of the gospel, to render us, infirm and imperfect as we are, pleasing unto Him, through the merits and intercession of our Redeemer; by “walking worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called.” [262]

3. The apostle proceeds, in the text, to open and extend his view of evangelical righteousness. It consists not in that partial cultivation of spiritual affections, in that modified selection of particular duties, with which the christian world is so prone to be content: it obliges the believer to “be fruitful unto every good work.” This is a point, in which vast multitudes, in the christian church, lamentably and notoriously fail; in which many fail, who make a considerable profession of their zeal for religion; and comply, to a certain degree, with most of its obligations. There are some pleasures or pursuits, which, though they do not pretend to reconcile them with the law of God, they still perseveringly retain. Upon the whole, they professedly adopt the ordinances and requisitions of the gospel: but there are some more unpalatable than others; some to which they feel an unconquered repugnance: and these they leave out of their religious system altogether; to these they never so much as resolve to conform. And thus, they fail to manifest, (what is confessedly the most difficult, yet the most important of all christian attainments,) a surrender of the heart to God. Their own inclination, their own judgment, and not the divine will, is the rule and standard of their conduct; and no doubt, if they felt this strong reluctance to the duties which they do perform, these also would be equally neglected: in other words, no part of their obedience rests upon a true foundation: it proceeds not from a sincere belief in the truth and authority of God’s word. All the injunctions, all the precepts of the gospel are obligatory alike; all equally declarative of the divine will, and equally necessary to the spiritual renovation of man. And those injunctions and precepts, with which we are the least disposed to comply, do in fact require our peculiar attention and observance; because they point out to us the natural blemishes, which stand most in need of repair; because they shew where the greatest danger lies, of our being deficient in that complete change, of principle and affection and character, which the infallible word of truth has declared to be indispensable.

St. James assures us, that “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all:” [265] he who reserves to himself any particular indulgence or pursuit, which is clearly at variance with the will and word of God, obeys not, in any thing, from a real christian motive; and shews himself ready, if a sufficient temptation were offered, to disobey in any and every point. It is true, that there is no “good work,” which the Christian performs with uniform unvarying obedience; but neither is there any, in which he does not sincerely desire and endeavour “to be fruitful;” there is no act of righteousness, to which he is a stranger; no “besetting sin,” which he is unwilling or unmindful to cast away: though the good fruit, to his sorrow, does too frequently fail, after all his unqualified labour; yet the unprofitable branch is pruned again, and watered by the tears of repentance, and fructified with the dews of heaven, and bears another day. He believes, and fears, and “loves the Lord his God with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength;” and therefore, though there are many imperfections, there is no reserve in his obedience.

4. The latter clause of the text directs us to a very distinguishing feature in the christian character: “Increasing in the knowledge of God.” Knowledge must evidently here be taken, in a larger sense, to signify a lively comprehension of religious doctrines and duties, a practical understanding of the will and ways of God. In this knowledge it is absolutely essential that the true believer should be continually advancing: the objects of his faith are of such deep and overwhelming interest, that the longer they are studied and pursued, the more they will, of necessity, captivate his thoughts and strike root into his heart: the more he seeks for the treasures in God’s word, the more he will find: the more he knows of God, the more he will desire and delight to know: feeling the comfort and happiness of a reconciliation with his Maker, he is ever anxious to obtain a nearer and holier communion with Him; sensible of his absolute and entire dependence upon the Redeemer’s mercy, he is ever leaning upon Him with new satisfaction, with a growing spirit of confidence and complacency; the more he thinks of heaven, the more “his affections are set on things above;” the more he thinks of the wretchedness of the rejected, the further he flies, in terror, from their dreadful abode. The consequence of all this must be, a progressive “victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil;” a daily improvement “in all virtue and godliness of living.”

And there is yet another consideration; as we value and use the gracious gifts of God, they are increased and multiplied unto us; “whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance;” [267] the lamp shines brighter, that is to guide his feet; and his heart is ever quickened with fresh energy and zeal, by the influence of the Holy Spirit; thus he goeth on from grace to grace, from strength to strength, “from glory to glory.”

The apostle, therefore, in praying that the converts might be increasing in the knowledge of God, is praying that they might have the invariable mark and earnest of a sincere and genuine faith. How little does this point seem to be considered! How many content themselves without any regular advancement, without any advancement at all; they cannot, after all the flattery with which they contrive to deceive themselves, be persuaded in their minds, that they grow decidedly better as they grow older: a year, perhaps many years ago, they were as religious, as fruitful in piety and good works, as they are now: no increase of spiritual knowledge, no new grace, no fresh habit of obedience, no additional exertions to mark the lapse of time; no passion subdued, no unholy pursuit abandoned, no vice mortified and forsaken. Wherever this is the case, the gospel has not been sincerely received into the heart; it has not been felt as the “power of God unto salvation;” it has not been, as it is designed to be, an effectual instrument of righteousness to the soul. To those, who remain in so careless and indifferent and unimproving a condition, we must say, that “our preaching has been vain, and their faith is also vain.”

Possibly there may be some amongst us, who never yet bestowed an adequate attention on this important point; if any such there be, I would urgently exhort them, as they tender the salvation of their souls, to neglect this point no longer; deeply to enquire without delay, whether they “are growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” [269] Let them enter with earnestness upon this necessary consideration; let it be frequently repeated: Is my faith increased and strengthened? Is my character more holy, my conduct more upright? Does my temper improve? Are my passions better regulated; my thoughts more spiritual; my devotions more pure and fervent; my affections more detached from the world, more fixed on God and heaven? My life and conversation, are they more accordant with the precepts and the example of my Saviour?

But the topics of enquiry are too numerous to be mentioned; I will only add, that the sincere believer sets the “prize of his high calling” continually before him; and advances to it, in holiness and righteousness, every day; keeps advancing till his race is run; and thus, when his toil is over, receives the crown of victory, and “enters into the joy of his Lord.”