The Christian’s Ideal

“I press toward the mark.” — /’///A iii. 14.

CT. PAUL gives us here a sketch of his own spiritual history. He tells us what he once was — what he had gloried in, what he had trusted to. He tells us how all this had been changed. He tells us what was now the ground of his confidence, what was now the ruling principle of his life — the one great aim of all his spiritual activities.

Paraphrased a little, the statement in these verses is this: — “I have told you, brethren, that at the great turning point of my life I was led by the gracious Spirit to give up all my old grounds of trust, that I might win Christ and be found in Him. But one act is not the whole of Christianity. Acceptance of Christ by faith is but the starting point of the new life. Do not, therefore, suppose that I regard myself by that one decisive act of self-renunciation for Christ to have laid hold of the goal of my appointed race. I have not already attained the great ideal of my heavenly calling. By conversion to God I have only just entered into the race — passed through the entrance. By the reception of Christ I have become possessed of a complete spiritual equipment. But now growth and progress must follow. And it is in this I am now engaged.” “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those tilings which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

I do not now purpose to expound the words “I press toward the mark.” I would take them simply as a motto. In every true Christian life there are three things we ought clearly to understand and recognise — the ideal, the pozver, and the ?neaiis.

I. The Ideal.

How important that we should have an ideal! The truth of this is seen even in earthly pursuits. From the lack of a clear, definite aim, the noblest talents have remained idle — the finest opportunities have been allowed to slip by, and the whole life has been misspent and wasted. If we would excel, we must have an aim. This applies to all human activities. It is true of the scholar, the artist, the architect, the reformer. It is ako true of the Christian.

By an ideal I mean that which it is possible for you to be. Not something utterly beyond our reach — a mere visionary aim — Utopian; but an aim which men of like passions with ourselves have actually realized.

There is a danger of adopting a false ideal. If ou.r ideal is low, our practical walk will also be low. No man rises above his aim. The first thing necessary in order to raise a man’s practical life is to raise his ideal. We are apt to form ovx ideal from professing Christians. Perhaps we take our standard from the so-called Christian world. We form our idea as to the possibilities of the spiritual life from what we hear of the experience of others. We are in danger of going to the stream, rather than to the Fountain head. There are multitudes of believers who are living as dwarfs and cripples, simply because they have been imitating a bad copy. They have a false ideal. They are not pressing toward the true mark.

But you ask, How am I to form a true ideal?

The student, either of sculpture or of painting, will go to the galleries of Rome and of Florence to drink in the spirit of the old masters. The scholar, the artist, the reformer, all recognise the importance

Ps. cxix. q.

Rom.

viii.

Jude
I Cor

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Phil, iv of having before them continually the very best standard of excellence they can get.

The Christian must follow the same course. Does any one ask, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” David gives us the answer, “By taking heed thereto according to Thy 7Vord” Here is the true standard. Just as the artist goes to Nature to form his conception, to receive his impressions; so the believer must come to revelation — the inspired word of God — to form his ideal.

Speaking generally, we notice how the believer learns touching what it is possible for him to do and to be here on earth from four things which the Holy Scriptures contain.

The purposes of God: There he sees what God has called him to; what He has predestined him to be — to be conformed to the image of His Son.

The promises of God: God’s undertakings of keeping, of triumph, of supply, of guidance, and that sin shall not have dominion over him.

The precepts of God: He sees how in all the Divine commands he has the assurance of power; that His biddings are enablings.

And the inspired prayers of the apostles. These he finds scattered here and there throughout the epistles. Studying these, he not only learns for what he may pray, but what he may expect to realize here on earth.

In this way his ideal as to what is actually possible in his life and experience becomes formed. He gets it direct from God’s word; and he finds how low were his former expectations. His ideal is raised to a true level.

H. The Power.

One of the first things we have to learn in connection with this, is that it is not natural, but supernatural power we need.

It is power that comes to the soul as a principle of life. We say knowledge is

Ps. xxxii.

8.
Rom. vi. 14.

Rom. vii. power. But we may know our duty; we may know what we ought to be and do and yet we may be confessing with a burdened conscience, “How to perform that which is good I find not.”

What the Gospel in its fulness puts before us is a life of freedom. But knowledge without the powr of performing would be bondage.

As the Divine purpose, which shows us what we may be, gives us the true standard from which to form our ideal, so the Divine power provided for us by God makes that ideal possible. His power works in the line of His purpose.

It is thus we distinguish between an ideal that is visionary and an ideal that is practical and possible.

If the ideal is true, it has its warrant in Scripture, and then the believer may count upon power sufficient to realize it.

The point we are now considering is not what I hope to be hereafter in glory, but what I may expect to be here on earth, in the midst of temptation, of trial, of difficulty, with my present moral and physical constitution, in all my present surroundings.

But it may be objected that the man who actually reaches his own ideal must of necessity become self-complacent, and what is this but pride? We have all heard of the artist who at last succeeded in producing a work of art that came up to his ideal. He no sooner saw that he had reached his highest conceptions than he felt that all his hopes of higher achievements were at an end. He threw aside his brushes and palette in despair. Now it may be urged, let a man reach his ideal in the Christian life, and all thought of further progress, all idea of growth, must perish.

But what are the facts? Why, the soul that is really attaining is never self-complacent, because as he advances he finds his ideal also advances. His standard of practical godliness, his views of holiness

—his whole ideal, rises higher and higher. His standard of the present is higher than his ideal of the past.

Divine Power does not make all Christians alike. No two apostles were exactly identical — each had his own idiosyncrasies. But they all had the same power. They were all filled with the same Holy Ghost. The lightning that strikes the tree does not go contrary to, but follows, the grain of the tree. The Holy Ghost does not destroy the individuality of a man; nor does He make all Christians exactly alike, like so many eggs in a basket.

Nor does Divine power destroy our responsibility. Let us never lose sight of the fact that it is God that works in us both to will and to do. Yet we are not mere machines. He does not act upon us mechanically, so to speak. He has so constituted us, that, though we are utterly insufficient, and have no power of ourselves to perform that which is good, yet we are intelligent and voluntary instruments. He is the Agent, the V/orker. Power belongeth unto God, and resides in God.

The Divine power when duly received does accomplish actual results in the tulfilment of God’s purposes concerning us. “This is the will of God, even your sanctification.” It is not enough that we aim at conformity to Christ. The true life is the life of attaining, not merely aiming to attain; growing, advancing, though the final goal cannot yet be reached.

III. The Means.

We must “press” toward the mark. Eut how?

I. Make sure of your footing in the present.

No man who is uncertain as to his acceptance before God is ready to press forward. If he is not sure the ground is firm on which he now stands, he will not know how to be stepping out towards higher ihiiigs.

I Thes. iv. 3- See how the Apostle puts it in the 9th verse — “That I may be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness.” Humbly, but thankfully and definitely, take up that position, and recognise the fact that God sees you in Him who is the Lord your righteousness.

2. Lay hold of every spiritual privilege as it is revealed to you.

To be pressing forward implies two things — there is the ‘■^ forgetting those things which are behind,” and there is the “reaching forth unto those things which are before.”

What are the things behind? They may be the things that fill us with shame, and with” vain regrets and with bitter remorse — with sorrow of heart. We have to leave them.

Or they may be the things which tend to self-gratulation, to vainglory and pride. Let us forget them.

On the other hand, there is the ‘“‘■i-eaching forth unto those things which are before.”

“Every man,” it has been said, “is born with aspiration. It does not develop in every man. Neither do half the buds in trees blossom, but they are there. Aspiration is to the man what the tendril is to the plant. Some plants take hold by winding around, some by delicate roots, some by tendrils, some by little hooks, some by leaves that catch like anchors.” But why? Not to remain where they cling, but that by these things they may rise the higher.

So must it be with us. I took down from my shelves the other day a book entitled “A Year-book of Facts.” This was just a record of the results of scientific discovery during the past twelve months. We are enjoying to-day the benefits and advantages that have been reached through the discoveries made in science during the past hundred years. Take, for instance, such tilings as gas, steam, and electricity. They are the results, not of inventions, strictly speaking, but of discoveries. These great powers were there before they were discovered. What science has done is simply to unveil the powers hidden in nature, and then to apply them to the wants and necessities of man.

Just so is it in the spiritual world. All the power we need is stored up in Christ. It is not something to be manufactured — not something to be created — but to be discovered and appropriated. The Holy Spirit reveals to us the infinite resources we have in Christ. All the power is there for us potentially. How may I have it experimentally and practically? By faith.

Some time ago we were all astonished by reading an account of a wonderful explosion; it was called the “Hell Gate Explosion.” A large rock obstructed the navigation of Long Island Sound, New York. The rock, which formed an island nine acres in extent, blocked the channel known as Hell Gate, between Long Island and Ward’s Island. It had alwavs been an obstruction to ships passing to and from the East River to the Sound. An engineer undertook the entire removal of the island, so that the water should everywhere be twenty-six feet deep at low tides across the whole channel. Commencing operations in 1875, he was between nine and ten years in preparing for the event. From two shafts tunnels were driven in every direction; in all, twenty-four galleries or tunnels were run from north to south through the island. These were intersected by others running nearly east to west. After the galleries were completed, the next work was to drill the roof and the pillars full of holes. Into these holes cartridges of dynamite were placed. The enormous mine was studded With 14,000 cartridges of dynamite, the total weight of which was fourteen tons. The whole was connected by means of electric wires with a battery. The mine was fired by a little girl, the daughter of General Newton, the engineer. She simply Mark vi. 56.

put her finger on a button and pressed it; instantly a great mass of water was thrown upwards, and the thing was done.

So it is with the power we have treasured up in Christ. All we need in order to overcome the evil, in order to triumph over difficulties, is stored up in Him. The contact of faith enables us to receive the supply. We read in the Gospels that as many as touched Him were made perfectly whole. It was when faith came in contact with Him that virtue — power — came out of Him.

From before the foundation of the world God made this provision for us in Christ. The life that is sustained by this power is the life of faith. Not one isolated act — but a continuous course of action, keeping touch with Christ, walking in living fellowship with Him. It is thus that we receive all the power we need to make us useful and triumphant in the path of life.