The Renewed Life
‘Let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ.’ — Philippians i. 27 (R.V.).
‘Tj-ET your citizenship be worthy of the Gospel of Christ.’ That is the true relationship of Church and State. The Church is to bring into the State an ideal citizenship. The Church is to control the State by the all-pervasive influence of a lofty and distinctive character. Her dominance is to be the dominance of a compact, irresistible, superior life Ye Christians of Philippi, living there at the crowded meeting-place of nations, surrounded by the pomp of a proud empire, experiencing the breathless rush of material ambition, exposed to all the corruptions which fasten upon a severe militarism and a bloated commercialism; let your influence pervade the huge sickly mass like currents of uncontaminated air; bring into it a life mighty
because of its separateness: ’ let your citizenship be as becometh the Gospel of Christ.’
* As becometh the Gospel of Christ.’ There is a central pith in the Gospel of Christ which is also the central pith of an ideal citizenship. The heart of the one is the heart of the other. The proposition is this, that if we take the Gospel of Christ, and dig away to its core, and if we take an ideal citizenship, and dig away to its core, we shall arrive at corresponding treasure, at the same essential and eternal wealth.
Now what is the heart of the Gospel of Christ? If we can grip that, we shall have discovered what ought to be the secret energy of all Christian citizenship. Take the life that stretches between Bethlehem and Olivet: what is its consistent and all-inclusive revelation? Mass together the gloomy desolations of Gethsemane, and the appalling abandonments of Calvary; what is the great pulsing purpose that beats within the gloom? It is this — a Saviour seeking the justification of His brethren by the offering of Himself. That is the heart of the Gospel, — the life and righteousness of all men sought through the unspeakable sacrifice of One. The Saviour * put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, That was the purpose that throbbed in
Gethsemane and on the slopes of Calvary, and that pervaded all the years which stretched from the cradle to the grave. He found life for others by the shedding of His own blood. * He washed their robes white ’ in the cleansing ministry of a personal sacrifice. He sought and found others by the losing of Himself. That is the core of the Gospel.
Let the same core be in your citizenship. ‘Let your citizenship be as becometh the Gospel of Christ.’ Let the same spirit of sacrifice possess it, and impel it to seek the welfare of the race. In all ideal citizenship there is the shedding of blood. The ideal citizen, the apostolic citizen, pursues the ends of sound redemption by the sacrifice of himself. He seeks ’ white robes, pure habits, for his fellows, by washing them in his own blood. He loses himself that they may be found. He gives himself for the race.
Let us bring that home. In the heart of citizenship there must be the spirit of Calvary. What is there of Calvary in the share that we are taking in the life of our fellows? Is there anybody to-day in my city wearing a white robe because I have shed my blood? How often have I been physically tired in the service of others? I know I have often been tired by absorption in the pleasures of
a passing day. How often have I trudged home tired by walking the streets of the city on ’ my Father’s business ‘? How often have my knees ached while I prayed for others? How many times have I ’ sweat, as it were, drops of blood ‘? Has my citizenship been one of continued getting, getting, getting, and has there been in it no altar of sacrifice, no cross, no Calvary? Then, whatever be the name I bear, when the Master looks into the heart of my citizenship, and sees no cross, these will be His words, ‘I never knew you.’ ‘If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me, The spirit of ideal citizenship is personal sacrifice. ‘Let your citizenship be worthy of the Gospel of Christ/