The House and Its Vessels

Bor in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. A.V.

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver but vessels also of wood and of earthenware, and some for honour and some fordishonour. So if a man cleanseth himself from these connexions, he will be a vessel for honour, hallowed, serviceable to the Master, made ready for every good work.

Here we have an elaborate and pregnant simile or parable. In the words just previous the Apostle has led us to the thought of the Church, and he leads us now that way again. But the two verses shew us the Church under widely different conceptions. The first view presented to us the believing Company as the Lord sees it in its spiritual reality, the true Israel of grace, the Christendom within Christendom. ‘The Lord knows’ its members as ‘ His own,’ and they do indeed ‘depart from iniquity. Here the Church is presented to us in an aspect which allows the thought of mixture, a scene in which unreality and unfaithfulness lie side by side with holiness and truth. It is the Church from the external point of view, seen as man can tabulate and survey its body. And the

. solemn recollection is set before us that it is possible,

within the Chureh so considered, to find a Hymeneeus

The House and its Vessels

as well as a Timothy, and that therefore the truest 2 Tim. ii. saint, for all his fulness of Church membership in 20, 21. respect of order and holy ordinance, must with persistent earnestness watch, and pray, and ‘examine himself whether he is in the faith’ (2 Cor. xiii. 5). For a man may be amply within the Church in regard of visible privileges, and yet only as the ‘vessel for dishonour ’ is within the house.

Observe the exact lines of the simile. Before us The Vessels. is the familiar conception of a large habitation, with its various articles of furniture and service, and with its owner, who has of course the use of them. They are widely miscellaneous in material and in destination. There is the cup of gold or of silver, for use upon the master’s table at high festival. There is the wooden tub or earthen pail, for the dirty work of the household. The master uses the one ‘for honour,’ for purposes connected with beauty, with dignity, with refinement. He uses the latter, or his servants use them for him, ‘for dishonour,’ for work best done out of sight, and which tends to make the vessel itself repellent. The contrast of this with that is a contrast not of superiority on the one hand and a humble position on the other, but rather of the far different and essential distinction between the reputable and the degraded.

The tremendous reflection suggested by the simile For is that in the ‘great house’ of the Church, the Dishonour. Church visible and external, there may be, there are, members, legitimate members as far as human tests can go, who yet are ‘vessels for dishonour.’ They are used, even by the Owner, but it is for purposes

20, 21.

For Honour. degrading to themselves. For example, they are taken to be object-lessons of the power of evil, of the deceitfulness of sin, of the awful treachery of man’s heart. Such a ‘vessel’ was a Judas, an Ananias, perhaps a Demas. ‘Therefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall’ (1 Cor. x. 12).

On the other hand there are the ‘vessels for honour,’ precious in material, used for ends pure and fair by the personal touch of the heavenly Owner. Their size and their particular end may indefinitely vary. One may be the golden pedestal of the lamp of the upper chamber. Another may be the little cup of silver, unadorned by fine device, only true in metal and clean in condition, used to carry a draught of cold water to the passing pilgrim. But they are all alike ‘for honour’; all alike are fit for the Owner’s eyes and hands, and all are employed for purposes in which He takes delight.

Such vessels, kept by their Lord and Maker’s grace true to themselves and to Him, are ‘hallowed, serviceable to the Master, made ready for every good work.’ Touched by Him at the springs of will and love, the man takes humble care to ‘cleanse himself from’ part and lot with all thoughts and tendencies which condone sin and minimize the Lord. He ‘awakes to righteousness,’ and he keeps awake. He renews day by day the surrender and the reliance which are the soul’s two arms, clasping the gift of purity and perseverance in Jesus Christ. And lo, the Master finds the ‘vessel’ — large or small, homely or elaborately beautiful — ‘hallowed,’ ‘serviceable,’ ‘ready’ to His sovereign hand.

The House and its Vessels

Lord and Master, make us thus fit ourselves for 2 Tim. ii. that infinitely precious privilege, a state of con- 20, 21. secrated readiness for Thy holy use. We are altogether Thine. Enable us as such so to ‘cleanse ourselves from’ complicity with evil within and without that we, when Thou requirest us for Thy purposes, may be found by Thee handy to Thy touch, in the place and in the condition in which Thou canst take us up and employ us in whatever way, on the moment, for Thyself.

2 Tim. ii.
22.
Timothy’s
Age of Life
and its
Temptations,