The Vessel Employed
The whole stock-in-trade of the self-righteous Pharisee is inventoried here. Himself delights to display the filthy rags, and make a show of them openly. He appropriates the shame to himself, that the glory may rise to his Lord. He recounts how these were cast out at the great change, and counted no longer gain, but loss. When these are cast out, however, he does not remain empty. No man ever yet did cast out his own self-righteousness from mere dislike of it. As the money-changers were driven from the Temple only at and by the entrance of Jesus, so the false confidences maintain their ground in a human heart until they are displaced by the presence of the Lord our Righteousness. All these carefully gathered, tenderly cherished stores, he now counts loss; but it is for Christ. He counted them precious as long as he knew none other. He never proposed to sell off all that he had, or anything that he had, until he fell in with the pearl of great price. The old adage is true in fact although defective in philosophy: Nature abhors a vacuum; and in nature, whether its material or spiritual department, a vacuum is never found. Each man is full either of his own things or of Christ’s.
The name of Christ is the precious thing wherewith the vessel is charged. So full was Paul of this treasure, that he determined in his ministry to know none other. Whether the apostle be considered for the moment a vessel for bearing seed, or one for bearing water, the result is the same. It is of the things of Christ that the ministering Spirit takes and gives to the disciples, that they may drop the seed into broken hearts, or offer cold water to thirsty souls. There is none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved.
5. To bear my name before Gentiles, and kings, and the people of Israel. — The name of Christ is the treasure which the vessel bears; to the Gentiles, and kings, and the people of Israel the vessel bears it. This bread of life, like the manna which fell in the wilderness, is given to be used, not to be hoarded. To be ever getting, ever giving, is the only way of keeping both the vessel and its treasure sweet. The more you give to others, the more you enjoy for your own use. The twelve had a fuller meal in that desert place, after they had distributed the bread among five thousand, than they would have had if they had dined alone. Christ is with his people still, to bless and multiply the portion of every cheerful giver.
Certain classes are enumerated before whom Paul should be a witness for Christ. Before, or, more literally, “in the face of” these, this vessel must bear that precious name. The. form of the expression indicates that in this ministry self-denying courage is required. Perhaps the series, in this respect, constitutes a climax. It is easier to speak of Christ and his salvation to the Gentiles than to kings, and easier to speak of him to kings than to his own chosen people. Israels enmity against the Lord’s Anointed was keener than that of the surrounding nations. He came unto his own, and his own received him not; but to some, even of these, he gave power to become the sons of God. Paul himself was one of the first-fruits of the seed of Abraham, and a harvest has been gathered since. To this day, however, the nation in its main bulk remains more obstinate than the heathen in refusing to have this Man to reign over them.
In our day, too, there are various classes and characters of men who need the testimony of Jesus. Those who possess it should be prepared to bear it about in every place, and hold it forth in any company. This witness in his day was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; would that all our Christianity were as honest and as strong! If we quail
The Vessel employed. where the majority profess to be on our side, what would have become of us if our lot had been cast in the beginning of the gospel, when its disciples were obliged to confront an adverse world? May the Lord increase our faith, and increase, too, that which hangs next beneath it in Peter’s golden chain of graces — the courage to confess our Saviour before friend and foe.
But, perhaps, we should not speak of more courage being required to maintain a good confession in one place, and less in another; for with God it is as easy to keep the ocean within its bed, as to balance a dew-drop on a blade of grass; and the same principle rules in the distribution of grace to disciples of Christ. Without it, the strongest is not sufficient for anything; with it, the feeblest is sufficient for all. Our martyr forefathers, who, by the peace of God ruling in their hearts, were enabled to make a good confession at the stake, would, if left to themselves, have denied their Lord under the blandishments of a godless drawing-room. To the eye of sense, the faithfulness of this generation is not tested by so severe a strain; but the difference lies mainly in the outward appearance. The human heart is still as deceitful, and the god of this world still as powerful, as in the days of old. In our own strength we cannot overcome the least temptation; through Christ that strengthened us we can conquer the greatest.
Not before Gentiles, and kings, and the people of Israel, are we summoned to bear witness for Christ; but we stand daily in a place and presence where the temptation to deny him is equally strong. A Christian young man in a great workshop, a Christian young lady in a gay and fashionable family, is either carried away like chaff before the wind, or stands fast by a modern miracle of grace.
We are so many vessels, labelled on the outside with the name of Christ; what we are really charged with may not be seen at a distance or discovered in a day. Those, however, who stand near these vessels often or long, will by degrees find out what they contain. By its occasional overflowings, especially when it is unexpectedly and violently shaken, the secret will be revealed. Some are looking on who do not believe that the Spirit which fills us is the Spirit of Christ; and they lie in wait for evidence to prove their opinion true. For their own sakes let them find it false. Before them bear the name of Christ, when needful, on your lips, the Spirit of Christ in your heart, the example of Christ in your conduct.
But the word which requires that we should be witnesses unto Christ is peculiarly apt to slip from our grasp, especially when the specimen exhibited is some eminent saint. An indolent, earthly selfishness, under pretence of humility, like Satan in an angel’s dress, cunningly suggests the distinction between a common ungifted man and the great apostle of the Gentiles. He was a worthy witness; but what could we do, although we did our best? If you are a sinner forgiven through the blood of Christ, in the greatest things Paul and you are equal; unequal only in the least. In the things that reach up to heaven and through eternity, there is no perceptible difference; the distinction is confined to the earth and time. You, a lost sinner, get pardon and eternal life in God’s dear Son; and what does he get more? Getting as much from your Lord, you may love your Lord as much. In the economy of grace, a shallower vessel serves nearly every purpose as well as a deeper, if both are full of Christ.
In nature, the shallowest lake, provided it be full, sends up as many clouds to heaven as the deepest, for the same sunlight beams equally on both their bosoms. This law may often be seen at work in the spiritual kingdom.” Glory to
The Lord reigneth.
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God in the highest” rises in a stream as strong and pure from a sinner saved who lays out one talent in a lowly sphere, as from a sinner saved who wields ten talents in the sight of an applauding world. Nay, more; as a lake within the tropics, though shallow, gives more incense to the sky than a polar ocean of unfathomable depth, so a Christian of few gifts, whose heart lies open fair and long to the Sun of righteousness, is a more effectual witness than a man of greater capacity who lies not so near, and looks not so constantly to Jesus.