Praise and Honor: April 2015
Table of Contents
Praise and Honor
The natural heart always seeks the praise and honor of fellow man. For example, a grade school boy told an older sister that he was very smart and that he had told his classmates at school how smart he was. She told him that this was not a good thing to do. He responded, “If I do not tell them, how will they know?” As we get older, we become more clever in how we let people “know.” Competition in sports, entertainment, business, politics and many other affairs of life is geared to being at the top (or being the most humble) and receiving the praise and honor that comes with it. Our Lord Jesus was just the opposite. He told those who played the honor game that on that very ground they would not receive Him. His statements are well worth pondering and are taken up in an article in this issue. “Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life. I receive not honor from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you, [for divine love seeks the good of others, not honor for self]. I am come in My Father’s name, and ye receive Me not: If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?” (John 5:41-44).
The Song of Praise
Exodus 15
While believers in general readily admit all that the Lord has done for them, many find considerable difficulty in making a personal application of it. They are looking at themselves instead of at Christ in death and Christ in resurrection. They are occupied rather with their appropriation of Christ than with Christ Himself. They are thinking of their capacity rather than their title. Thus they are kept in a state of the most distressing uncertainty, and, as a consequence, they are never able to take the place of happy, intelligent worshippers. They are praying for salvation instead of rejoicing in the conscious possession of it. They are looking at their imperfect fruits instead of Christ’s perfect atonement.
Now, in looking through the various notes of the song in Exodus 15, we do not find a single note about self, its doings, its sayings, its feelings, or its fruits. It is all about Jehovah from beginning to end. It begins with, “I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.” This is a specimen of the entire song. It is a simple record of the attributes and actions of Jehovah. In Exodus 14 the hearts of the people had been pent up by the excessive pressure of their circumstances, but in Exodus 15 the pressure is removed, and their hearts find full vent in a sweet song of praise. Self is forgotten; circumstances are lost sight of. One object fills their vision — the Lord Himself in His character and ways. They were able to say, “Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work: I will triumph in the works of Thy hands” (Psa. 92:4).
True Worship
This is true worship. It is when poor worthless self, with all its belongings, is lost sight of and Christ alone fills the heart that we present proper worship. There is no need for the efforts of a fleshly piety to awaken feelings of devotion in the soul. Nor is there any demand whatever for the adventitious appliances of religion, so called, to kindle in the soul the flame of acceptable worship. Only let the heart be occupied with the person of Christ, and “songs of praise” will be the natural result. It is impossible for the eye to rest on Him and the spirit not be bowed in holy worship. If we contemplate the worship of the hosts which surround the throne of God and the Lamb, we shall find that it is always evoked by the presentation of some special feature of divine excellence or divine acting. Thus should it be with the church on earth; when it is not so, it is because we allow things to intrude upon us which have no place in the regions of unclouded light and unalloyed blessedness. In all true worship, God Himself is at once the object of worship, the subject of worship, and the power of worship.
The Praise of Redemption
Hence Exodus 15 is a fine specimen of a song of praise. It is the language of a redeemed people celebrating the worthy praise of Him who had redeemed them. “The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation: He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war, the Lord is His name. ... Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. ... Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? ... Thou, in Thy mercy, hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation. ... The Lord shall reign forever and ever.” How comprehensive is the range of this song! It begins with redemption and ends with the glory. It begins with the cross and ends with the kingdom. It is like a beautiful rainbow, of which one end dips in “the sufferings” and the other in “the glory which should follow.” It is all about Jehovah. It is an outpouring of soul produced by a view of God and His gracious and glorious actions.
Moreover, it does not stop short of the actual accomplishment of the divine purpose, as we read, “Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation.” The people were able to say this, though they had but just planted their foot on the margin of the desert. There is not a cloud upon the prospect, when the believing soul looks up into the spacious vault of God’s infinite plans and purposes and dwells upon that glory which God has prepared for all those who trust Him.
Hymns of Elevated Character
This will account for the peculiarly brilliant and elevated character of all those bursts of praise which we find throughout Scripture. How different is this from some of the hymns which we hear sung in Christian assemblies — so full of our failings, our feebleness and our shortcomings. The fact is, we can never sing with real intelligence and power when we are looking at ourselves. Indeed, with many, it seems to be accounted a Christian grace to be in a continual state of doubt; as a consequence, their hymns are quite in character with their condition. They have not yet done with themselves. They have not passed through the sea and, as a spiritually baptized people, taken their stand on the shore, in the power of resurrection.
May the Holy Spirit lead all God’s people into fuller, clearer apprehensions of their place and privilege as those who, being washed from their sins in the blood of Christ, are presented before God in all that infinite and unclouded acceptance in which He stands, as the risen and glorified head of His church. Are there any doubts or fears in the holiest? That blessed one could not have left the tomb unless all ground of doubting and fearing had been perfectly removed on behalf of His people. Wherefore, it is the Christian’s sweet privilege to always triumph in a full salvation. The Lord Himself has become his salvation; he has only to enjoy the fruits of that which God has wrought for him and to walk to His praise while waiting for that time when “Jehovah shall reign forever and ever.”
C. H. Mackintosh (adapted)
The Heavenly Sanctuary
In this chapter (Heb. 9:1), the first tabernacle is looked at as in contrast with “the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,” in which the church now worships. Such a sanctuary as this heavenly sanctuary alone befits the “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.” The spiritual house has nothing tangible in it. It is not adapted to the world, nor does it present attractions to the flesh.
The ministry in the heavenly sanctuary corresponds with all this. All believers now are priests unto God, and hence now all is open to faith. All who worship “in Spirit” must therefore worship in the heavenly sanctuary, for there alone does the Spirit lead.
That is why we worship God in the Spirit — not in sentiment, not in refinement of the imagination, not in fleshly wisdom or in fleshly power, but in the Spirit. And we are able to do this because the resurrection of Jesus has set aside the order of the flesh and of the world. We are introduced into the heavenly things and because the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in the church on earth from Jesus, who is our head exalted in heaven. Any return now, therefore, to a worldly sanctuary must be as insulting to the Holy Spirit as it is contradictory of the finished work of Jesus.
Heavenly Worship
And what should be the characteristic of the worship of the heavenly sanctuary? Surely praise — praise for accomplished redemption. And this sacrifice will not be lacking, if our souls realize our heavenly portion. None, indeed, can withhold their tribute of praise who really worship in that sanctuary. Fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore are at God’s right hand, and every heart led of the Spirit looks up and declares, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever” (Psa. 89:1). Eternal redemption is the solid basis on which all such joy rests. It is founded on the perfect work of Jesus — that which He always presents on our behalf in heaven. “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice ye righteous, and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart” (Psa. 32:11).
The Worldly Sanctuary
The worldly sanctuary knew nothing properly of this praise. There was no ministry of song prescribed by Moses. He could sing with the children of Israel the song of redemption after passing the Red Sea (Ex. 15), but it was grace which had brought them over; they sung the triumph of grace. The worldly sanctuary had not then been ordered. In it there was nothing ever accomplished, and therefore no groundwork of praise. There was the constant repetition of the same services; the worshipper’s conscience was unpurged, and hence he could never properly raise the voice of praise and thanksgiving. We speak of the tabernacle in the wilderness. But few even of the strains of the sweet psalmist of Israel were adapted to the temple service, because that temple was a worldly sanctuary, and its blessings earthly. The ministry of song instituted by David went beyond all this, anticipating the full and accomplished blessing. Faith could sing then, only because reaching beyond the then present sanctuary, but faith sings now because in its present sanctuary it finds the themes of everlasting praises. Grace and glory, deliverance and victory, and the wondrous salvation of God himself are there the subjects of unceasing praise.
Bondage
Can the person who is taught that he needs daily absolution be tuned to praise? Can such a soul sing, in the Spirit and with the understanding, psalms and hymns and spiritual songs? Can an unpurged conscience praise? Such things are impossible, for the very act of worship is regarded as a duty required by God, and so rendered under a sense of law, instead of a blessed privilege arising from the enjoyment of mercy from everlasting to everlasting. The Apostle teaches us to give “thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). This shows the true ground of thanksgiving and praise to be what grace has accomplished for us in Christ. But if this is not seen and remembered, worship must become a burden instead of our highest privilege. It is a solemn thought that many Christians regard the teaching and preaching with which God blesses them far more highly than worship. This is a sure consequence of not remembering the sanctuary in which we worship. If our souls realize this, we will instantly perceive our ground of praise and the character of our worship. But if a worldly sanctuary is established or the order of a worldly sanctuary is introduced, our worship must be degraded, and our souls become lean. Such results must ensue if we take for our pattern the worldly sanctuary, instead of by faith and as led of the Spirit entering into that which is heavenly. There, all is done; there, we have subject for praise.
Biblical Subjects for the Household
of Faith (adapted)
The Honor That Cometh From God Only
The object of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus, and He presents Jesus to the soul as the object of admiration and desire as well as of salvation. It is thus that the Holy Spirit enables the believer to weigh every object of human ambition, however high and noble in itself, with “the honor which cometh from God only” (John 5:44) and to see how poor and mean is that human ambition. Rivalry and contention are the great principles of human ambition, and it is hardly possible to attain human distinction without them. In contrast, Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2). This path of Jesus from the lowest humiliation to the highest honor sets forth to us a great principle: “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11). According to this principle, rivalry and contention are disobedience to the truth. And if anyone asserts the human principle of strife and vain-glory in order to obtain the favor of God, he is really committing the highest act of unrighteousness, as setting aside the work of Christ in His humiliation and obedience unto death. The object of rivalry and contention is only the praise of men, and it seeks no higher praise. The objects which man pursues are honor and glory from men — “one of another” — and are very fleeting and uncertain here and of no eternal value. The lofty objects God presents to us can be entertained on one principle alone — the riches of God’s grace as displayed to us in the cross of Christ.
One-of-Another Honor
“How can ye believe who receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?” (John 5:44). The existence of faith is morally incompatible with the way of attaining honor from men. That honor can be accorded only on the ground of personal superiority over others; how then can man recognize that before God “there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22-23)? Rather, he must recognize that any difference before God is that which God makes by His own grace, and not that which man can attain by his own effort. The highest thought of man, if he thinks of salvation at all, is the thought of escape; the thought of association with Christ and witnessing as the joy of his soul the absolute supremacy of Jesus never enters into his heart. This honor comes from God only.
All Saints Have Such Honor
One remarkably distinguishing character of the honor which cometh from God only is that all saints have “this honor” (Psa. 149:9). The very honor excludes all thoughts of rivalry, because the highest honor is the common honor. It is the answer of God to the humiliation of Christ. Boasting then is excluded in glory as well as in justification. Let this place or that place be assigned to one or another of the Father; such a place is still secondary to the common honor which comes to all saints from God only.
If we descend to particulars, there is hardly any honor of which men are more tenacious than nobility of descent. But what is this honor compared to the honor of being born of God? “As many as received Him, to them gave He power [right or privilege] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Viewed in the light of a divine lineage, Paul could well afford to consider his illustrious birth, among other advantages, as “loss for Christ.” Yet it is possible even for a believer to hold Christian blessings so cheap in his estimation that he prefers the smallest temporal advantage to all the high-sounding privileges he has been taught.
Divine Righteousness
There is another aspect of the honor which comes from God only, and that is divine righteousness — the conscious possession of which delivers from anxiety as to personal qualification to commend us to God, or from comparative righteousness between man and man. In the conscious possession of such a righteousness, Paul regarded the highest supposable righteousness attainable by man as loss.
The Holy Spirit
Another honor that comes from God only, and which is given to all believers, is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It can come from God only and is His seal to the divine righteousness in which believers stand before God. It is an honor that came from God to the most insignificant believer as well as the Apostle Paul. The high official honor which Paul had as an apostle was not to be compared with that which he had in common with all believers.
But if the Holy Spirit is the seal set by God Himself on all believers, He is also the earnest given of God in our hearts. The best human society, moral and intellectual, is infinitely below that into which the believer in Christ is introduced. “Through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (Eph. 2:18). How few have the privilege of introduction to earthly royalty, but the Spirit leads through Christ to the Father, thus giving the greatest possible nearness and intimacy with God, in His revealed relation by the Son as the Father. And thus, by the honor of intimacy with God in His thoughts, the believer in Christ knows the mystery of God’s will respecting the heading-up of all things in Christ; he then forms his judgment as to the bearing of all things on the revelation of that mystery.
He Is an Honor
Finally, there is one remarkably comprehensive statement to our point in 1 Peter: “Unto you therefore which believe He is precious” (1 Peter 2:7). This could also be read, “He is an honor.” All the preciousness that Christ is to God, it has pleased Him to set upon all that believe in His name. This is an all-comprehensive honor indeed! Believers are precious to God by reason of the honor He Himself has set on them. Worthless in themselves, believers have all the preciousness of Christ set upon them by God.
If we were only true to our own objects — glory, honor and incorruptibility — how it would rebuke the infidelity around us, which thinks of adapting Christianity to the exigencies of the age, to help on the course of this world! The glory and dignity of our calling have become all the more conspicuous by reason of the very progress the world has made, and they make the present glory of the world fade away before our own excelling glory “that remaineth.”
The Present Testimony (adapted)
Failure in the Place of Honor
Man being in honor abides not. Such is the divine testimony. Failure is inherent in man. In innocence, under law or under grace, no matter what the position or the privilege, he has never remained in his honored place. Failure may begin in secret, in the heart, and sometimes even the act is hidden, but if unjudged it is sure to appear with all its consequences. One would naturally suppose the greater the honor, the greater would be the jealous care to abide therein. This as a rule holds good in worldly honors, but in the things of God the contrary is constantly seen. Through the evil nature of man favor has led to unwatchfulness, and in many instances with ruinous results, always, in the case of a believer, bringing grievous chastening.
The First Blot
To forget God while enjoying His blessings has been the history of man from Adam to this day. The first blot upon the honor given by God was visited by death, both in the church and in Israel. The pristine vigor and glory of the church had not departed before failure came in, and it was even more ruinous as regards public testimony than that of Israel. To them the special testimony was the truth of the one God. To the church it is God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 John 5:11). As Israel failed in testifying to the unity of the Godhead and rushed into idolatry, so Christendom has failed to bear witness that life is only in the Son and has placed it partially, if not wholly, in works. The grace which nevertheless maintained Israel in the land (for a time, and not without judgment) now acts more prominently in and for the church, which in a far higher and different way is the habitation of God, not being a temple made with hands but by the Spirit (Eph. 2:22). In Israel it was in such a way as the natural man could apprehend. God through the Spirit dwelling in the church is not discernible by the natural man, but only by faith which alone realizes His presence.
Members Together
It is because of the Spirit’s indwelling that all in the church of God, that is, all true believers, are members one of another. Therefore necessarily if one member fails or suffers, the whole body is affected, and far more intimately than the congregation of Israel could be. This close intimacy of suffering and equally so of rejoicing is through the unity of the Spirit, which was not possible before Christ had ascended as the risen Man and had taken His place on the throne of God. From there He sent the Comforter to abide with us. Thus there is one Spirit abiding in each, and in all, which constitutes the one body.
The effect of the sin of one member is not confined to himself. There is what may be called its corporate consequence. If the Spirit is grieved, the whole assembly — the local representative of the body — suffers; corporate blessing is hindered, and the presence of the Lord not realized in the meetings. There is no remedy for this but humiliation and united prayer. The Holy Spirit may, through the intercession of the assembly, lead the failing member to judge himself, and the resultant restoration in the soul allows the hindrance of the corporate blessing to be removed. But if not, the Lord will surely make bare the wrong which the assembly is bound to judge; it may be by public rebuke, or it may require excision, but the Lord’s name must be vindicated and the purity of the assembly maintained. When the failing one judges himself before the secret becomes known and is restored in soul, it remains a matter between himself and the Lord. “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1 Cor. 11:31). This scripture embodies the principle that if sin is discerned and judged by the individual himself, he will not be judged. And this judgment is not the judgment of the world, which no believer can come under, but the chastening of the Lord. The chastening of the Lord is that which is administered through the assembly; it is not the same as the Father’s chastening in Hebrews 12.
The Lessons to Be Learned
When Israel entered the land of Canaan with the joy of their first victory, the first failure occurred. Its effects soon appeared. One man sins, and the whole congregation suffers. New circumstances bring the sin to light. Israel left to their own resources find they cannot stand before their enemies. They being confident in their own strength and elated with the ease with which Jericho was taken — as if it had been by their own arm — they decide on their own as to Ai. The defiling power of Achan’s sin was already working. Joshua and priest — they all forgot God and attempted to do without Him. Had they asked counsel of God, the sin of the guilty man would have been at once disclosed and the shameful flight from Ai prevented. Israel failed through vain confidence, which was the result of Achan’s sin. Yet all was overruled that they might know the necessity of holiness and of Jehovah’s power for victory.
The deeper truth of being members one of another is intimately connected with the church of God, and the call for us to be watchful, to be holy, comes with far more solemn importance to us than it did to Israel, for we are knit together with a closer tie; we are called to a higher inward holiness, to contend with more dangerous foes, and to bear the name of the risen Lord in the midst. It is the church which has the special opportunity of learning from this failure of Israel. But the church is the body of Christ; therefore really it is Christ the head whose glory is before the mind of God.
Religious Love of the World
The things that Achan coveted pointed also to the evils that have crept into the nominal church and have tainted the character of real believers. The wedge of gold and the silver, under the Babylonish garment, are the symbols of the love of the world and of that which gives power in the world — gold under the pretense of religion. It is most offensive. Observe the words “and the silver under it,” wrapped in the Babylonish garment. It is covetousness — which is idolatry — covered over and hidden under the semblance of piety which has marked the history of the world-church. And soon every evil will be found in the cup of the scarlet-clothed harlot whose name is “mystery, Babylon the great.” Thus at the very beginning of Israel’s possession of the land are shadowed the evils which have brought ruin upon the nominal church.
The judgment upon Achan and his house declares how abhorrent this world-religiousness is to God, as well as His holy resentment against the one who had interposed this sin. It was a barrier to the continual display of the glory of Jehovah in His mighty power leading Israel into the possession of the inheritance. God resents nothing so much as interference with His ways of grace.
Further Fighting
At Jericho we see the exhibition of the glory and power of Jehovah and how He would subdue and drive out the Canaanite before His chosen people. At Ai is displayed His manner to those who dim the luster of the glory of their leader, the “Captain of the Lord’s host.” At the beginning they could boast of the great power of their “Captain.” Now it is mingled with a sense of failure and dishonor. And for all among them who cared for the glory of Jehovah there was the feeling that they had tarnished His glory before the Canaanites. God would continue to display His grace and faithfulness, though Israel had put an obstacle to the visible manifestation of His Godhead to the Gentile as had been seen at Jericho, for there was overwhelming testimony that the glorious conquest might have brought every nation to submit without daring to fight, but Israel’s discomfiture at their first attempt against Ai gave the nations courage to resist Israel’s further advance. It gave them the thought that perhaps they might overcome the dreaded people and that the God of Israel was not so greatly to be feared. Hence Israel had to contest every step of the way.
The Appreciation of Restoration
But Israel’s failure is used of God to teach us now how imperative holiness is in the church of God. Without such teaching how much we should have lost! Could the holiness which God demands and the revenging of ourselves against all defilement (see 2 Cor. 6:11) be more solemnly impressed upon the conscience of the assembly than in the judgment of Achan? And without this, we should not have known how grace acts in wisdom, restoring in such a way as to make the restored people remember their folly. Marvelous are the ways of grace. The process of discovering sin in the assembly may be most painful and is always humiliating, but it is in order that the presence of the Lord might again be realized. Achan did not judge his sin, for he valued the things he stole. His own conscience unpurged, he defiled the whole congregation, and Jehovah must step in to purge out the leaven that was leavening the whole lump. The end of discipline is to restore, not perhaps exactly to the same position as before, for the failure will ever remain as a fact, but the restoration of any saint always deepens the power of godliness in his soul and is always to the praise of His grace.
Bible Treasury
Honoring Our Partner
Now we come to the issue of giving honor to our partner. In the divine example of marriage, it is a marvelous thing that we read in Ephesians 1:22-23, that the church is “the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” And again, in 2 Thessalonians 1:10, we read that “He will be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe.” What a place of honor the church will occupy in association with Christ, the Bridegroom, in that day. Did we deserve it? No! It is all of grace. Surely, we ought to be rejoicing and giving honor to Him in return for all He has done for us and for all that He means to us day by day. In all eternity we will be giving glory and honor to the Lord Jesus, the heavenly Bridegroom.
Practical Application
for Husbands and Wives
Now this has a practical application in marriage. The Bible says that the wife is to reverence her husband (Eph. 5:33), for God has said that the husband is the head, as Christ is the head of the spiritual body, the church (Eph. 5:23). Of course, it is important that we who are husbands should act in such a way as to win the respect of our wives. There are those thoughtful gestures that mean so much and help our wives to respect us. The wife should respect her husband because the Bible tells her to do so, but our thoughtful consideration of her needs and feelings will make it easier (a pleasure) for her to do so.
On our part as husbands, we are to remember that the Bible says to us, “Giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered” (1 Peter 3:7). This is a very important part of marriage, for we are “one flesh,” and “no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth it and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church” (Eph. 5:29).
The church, as we know, is the bride of Christ. Though in a somewhat different connection, it is instructive to read in Romans 12:10 (JND), “As to honor, each taking the lead in paying it to the other.” While there are, no doubt, ways and means that we can win and keep the respect of our partners, making it easier for them, we must remember that we are not perfect or always right; nevertheless, we should be careful not to speak disrespectfully to, or about, our partner — husband or wife.
G. H. Hayhoe (adapted)
Filial Respect
The Lord exposes in Mark 7:6-13 how the Pharisees and scribes set aside, by their traditions, the commandment to honor father and mother. In doing so, He used the written Word of God as the instrument of conviction, rather than His own personal authority. Filial respect to parents is strongly upheld by the Lord.
Accordingly, the Lord referred the Pharisees and scribes to the law of Moses which they professed to teach.
1. The specific command was, “Honor thy father and thy mother” (Ex. 20:12). This was one of the “ten words” and is called the “first commandment with promise” (Eph. 6:2), for this injunction was specially distinguished by the assurance of Jehovah that prosperity and longevity should be the portion of those obedient to it.
2. Further, the Lord quoted to the Pharisees the severe sentence pronounced by the same law against the one who did despite to his parents: “Whoso curseth [or, revileth] father or mother, let him die the death” (Mark 7:10; see Ex. 21:17).
None could deny that Jehovah had encouraged and warned every son in Israel to keep the commandment of his father and not to depart from the law of his mother (Prov. 6:20). The Word of God declared there should be prolonged and prosperous days in the land for the obedient, but a criminal’s death for the disobedient (Lev. 20:9).
Human Tradition
But the elders contradicted both the letter and the spirit of the law of God. They devised, in the name of piety, a wicked scheme whereby a man might release himself from every obligation towards his parents. Whatever benefits were due from him to his father and mother, let him consecrate those benefits to the service of the temple, and the Jewish council would thereupon absolve him from all filial responsibilities. “Ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me. ... And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother” (Mark 7:11-12).
Having thus contrasted their practice with the original precepts of the law, the Lord summed up the effect of their conduct in one of His pregnant sayings, charging His accusers with making the Word of God of none effect through their tradition. They virtually repealed the law from heaven, and at the same time outraged the instincts of nature. It was not correct that they should take the parents’ bread and devote it to the altar. In the Proverbs it was written, “Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer” (Prov. 28:24).
The Lord’s Witness
We learn, therefore, from this portion of the Gospel that the Lord condemned this innovation so inimical [hostile or unfriendly] to the reciprocal duties of family life, on the ground that it contravened the tenor of the law given by Moses. But in reading the Gospels as a whole, we also know that the tradition of the Jews was contrary to the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ. The Lord did not use the witness that He had borne to the Pharisees regarding His own example in the home of Joseph and Mary. But there is no instance of filial imperfection through the long years in the carpenter’s house at Nazareth. Scripture says little of the youth of Jesus, but that little means much. We read that He went with His “parents” to Jerusalem and that He returned to Nazareth and was “subject unto them,” (Luke 2:39-52), thus rendering honor to whom honor was due. The Evangelist who records that Jesus said to Mary at Cana in Galilee, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” also records His words to her at Golgotha: “Woman, behold thy son” (John 2:4; 19:26-27). “Corban” applied to the service of our Lord in the fullest sense of the term, for He devoted Himself in sacrifice upon the altar, while at the same time the committal of His mother to the care of the beloved disciple, proving that even upon the cross, He did not neglect to make provision for her future. He magnified the law in this respect and made it honorable (Isa. 42:21).
Family Claims — the Lord’s Claims
We should notice that the obligations of Christian children to their parents are just as applicable as they were to the Jews (Eph. 6:2; Col. 3:20; 1 Tim. 5:4,8).
It has sometimes been alleged that there is inconsistency between the Lord’s defense of filial ties on this occasion and His call made elsewhere to His disciples to forsake father and mother for His sake. This is, however, only an apparent inconsistency.
The Lord said, “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37); and again, “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). In these words the Lord declared the condition of discipleship. This condition was based upon the acknowledgment of His authority as paramount and absolute. No human tie should have a superior claim to that of the Lord Jesus. And in the utterances quoted, He contemplated a case where family authority sought to override His word as Master. Even in national government, parental claims or filial responsibilities are not allowed to absolve a subject from allegiance to the civil authority or to screen a criminal from retributive justice. The Lord of all will not ask less than this from the subjects of His kingdom!
If patriotism demands that a man
tall,
Leave all to serve his country,
Who should complain when the
Master calls
His disciples to leave all, to serve
Him!
The Right Order of Duty
There is, therefore, no inconsistency in our Lord’s teaching. In the one case, He set the divine call above the claims of filial duties, while in the other, He condemned the Pharisees who set human tradition above filial duty, for which there was no adequate warrant. The question of mutual obligation in the family is one which can only be finally settled by divine authority. God alone, who established the responsibility of children to their parents, can abrogate that responsibility, and from the beginning He recorded His permission that a man should leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife (Gen. 2:24). The parental home might be left to form a new relationship of a natural order. In the New Testament we have a relationship of a spiritual order entered by a similar renunciation. At the call of Jesus, James and John left their father Zebedee in the ship with their hired servants and went after Him. It was so with others, as Peter said, “Lo, we have left all and followed Thee” (Luke 18:28). But we read that the Lord said to another, “Follow Me,” and he was ready with an excuse. He took refuge in his filial responsibilities and desired that he might be allowed to wait until his father was dead and buried. Clearly this man by his own confession was not prepared to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And accordingly the Lord said to him, “Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:60). He had yet to learn the absolute supremacy of the One who said to him, “Follow Me.”
Bible Treasury (adapted)
Practical Christianity
“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another” (Rom. 12:9-10). The love spoken of in verse 9 is probably love to all men; then in verse 10 brotherly love is particularly specified. The teaching of the Spirit in this verse seems to be that Christians should cherish one other as brethren in Christ. They should love as sincerely and tenderly as if they were the nearest relatives. And this love is to be manifested, not merely in repaying the attentions of others, but in anticipating them in acts of respect and kindness. All Christians are brethren, but as they belong to different families in this life and are called by different names, therefore brotherly love should distinguish them as of the same family. If this fails, what is left? We all have the same Father in heaven. He who loves the Father loves the brethren also. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and every one that loveth Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him” (1 John 5:1).
Love and Brotherly Love
Here, we have a point of much practical importance, though difficult to practice. The question needs to be asked, What is the difference between brotherly love and brotherly kindness? The Apostle says, in writing to the Hebrews, “Let brotherly love continue.” But he nowhere says, “Let brotherly kindness continue.” Love never fails; kindness must in some cases. A brother, through the power of Satan, may be walking disorderly or he may fall into error and become subjected to discipline; towards such a one our conduct must be changed, though our love remains the same, or is even stronger. The mind of the Lord on this point is plainly given. “Mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Rom. 16:7). “If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother” (2 Thess. 3:14). The persons here spoken of are still in communion; thus there is the difficulty in cherishing brotherly love and, at the same time, exercising a wholesome discipline towards them. When it comes to a case of excommunication, the perplexity in following the scriptural order may seem less, but our love should not be diminished.
Honor
“In honor preferring one another.” Instead of waiting, as we often do, for others to notice us before we notice them, we should strive to step forward first in paying others our Christian respect or “honor.” There is in some a false modesty and in others a secret pride which leads them to slip quickly out of a meeting, thereby preventing those from speaking to them who gladly would. And after this has continued for some time, the brethren complain of the lack of warmth and of no love to strangers. But, may I ask, who is at fault? Let the Word of the Lord decide. “In honor preferring one another” simply means to go before, to lead, to set an example. The meaning is not exactly to esteem others better than ourselves, as in Philippians 2:3, important as such lowliness of mind is, but rather that we should seek to take the lead in these comely ways of our Father’s house. And the heart that meditates most deeply on the love of Christ toward us will be the first to feel that our love to the brethren is not to be governed by cold formalities, but by the measure and pattern of His love to us. Acts of kindness, the expression of sympathy, fellowship (whether in joy or in sorrow), forbearance, long-suffering and charity should abound in us for the refreshment and blessing of our brethren in Christ.
Things New and Old (adapted)
Praise, Praise His Name!
Praise JESUS is our Saviour dear;
He to us is always near;
Close to HIM what can we fear?
Praise, praise HIS name!
GOD come down to earth was HE,
Here to dwell with such as we,
So that we our God might see:
Praise, praise HIS name!
All the stars by HIM were made,
Sun and moon which never fade,
Light and life HIS word obeyed:
Praise, praise HIS name!
Every tree and every flower
Owns HIS wisdom and HIS power,
And HIS wonders fill each hour:
Praise, praise HIS name!
But HIS love is greater far
Than HIS making of a star,
Greater than HIS mercies are:
Praise, praise HIS name!
For to death HIS love would go,
That its fullness we might know,
And our hearts with joy o’erflow:
Praise, praise HIS name!
Now we prove for us HIS care,
Every day and everywhere;
Soon HIS honors we shall share:
Praise, praise HIS name!
W. L.