40 - Luke 18:29-30
’Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.’ -Luke 18:29-30.
Two of our Lord’s Amens in the remarks that followed the interview with the rich young ruler we have already considered. Luke supplies us with a third.
It is one of the most established verities of the Christian religion, that he who would follow Christ to the mansions of glory has often to part with all that is dear to him, the nearest and dearest, parents, brothers, sisters, wife, children, to say nothing of lands and loved possessions: in a word, to abandon home and all its precious ties, and go forth an exile and a stranger. As a rule it is so in every land in the early days of the Gospel; and even in lands called Christian there is often no alternative but this. And Christ is not willing to recognise those as true disciples who, when the alternative is plainly forced upon them, do not find themselves more powerfully swayed by his attraction than by the nearest and dearest home ties. But are not these ties imposed by God himself? these sacred affinities, is he not their author? Has he not commanded us to honour father and mother? Are not brothers and sisters taught of him when they love one another? Is not marriage his own ordinance? Does he not himself witness the vow of husband and wife to love and cleave to each other? Who shall sunder those whom God has united?
These are indeed sacred obligations. But there is one higher than all these. No man may become a traitor to his country because of those ties; when a father, a brother, a child has entered into a conspiracy to overthrow the sovereign, we may not plead the strength of these domestic bonds as a reason why we should ourselves join in the conspiracy. It has often happened that a man has had to choose between betraying his country and severing the ties of kindred; and when he has chosen the latter, the good hold him in grateful remembrance. We are first and foremost to honour God - our highest love and supreme obedience are due to Him; and it is from regard to Him that we are to honour our parents and love our families. The world is full of disorder because men have parted these obligations from each other, yielding a certain deference to the inferior, but disregarding the higher. The most beautiful and admirable features in the constitution of society have become exquisitely harmful in a thousand ways, because men have lost sight of the obligation to love God supremely.
Christ was God manifest in the flesh. In him was all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He brought with him all the claims of God. And he demanded that all the precious and consecrated ties of family should be subordinated to the obligation to follow him. He did not come to make war upon these ties. His invitations were for all; for father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children: he summoned all to follow him into the region of his Father’s favour; nor had any a right to refuse obedience. But they did; and when one of their number believed and started to go forth to Christ, they stood between him and the Saviour, threatening him with undying hatred if he dared to go forth. The sacred obligations of family they used as weapons wherewith to fight against God, and as chains to bind them all where Divine wrath should one day descend upon them. O how terrible the strife! What a fearful thing to have to encounter the scorn and hatred of those whom you have from infancy been learning to love; how cruel to make war upon their tender and endearing affection for yourself; where in this wide world shall you find love like theirs? Is love such a worthless thing that you can cast it away? What agony in the thought that their very love to you is to be made the occasion of life-long misery to them? This following of Christ which you consider a duty, they regard as a great crime; they consider you lost in the most deplorable sense, - lost to virtue, reason, religion, God.
Such is the strife that many have to encounter in this country. Some there are over whom these ties have no power, because their natures are utterly corrupt; sensuality, covetousness, or some other vice has made them indifferent to all the bonds of kindred; they are ready to snap them asunder, not for the sake of a higher principle, but because they are without any principle; and instances are not unknown of such a one making a profession of Christianity and becoming seven-fold more the child of hell than he was before. But they who have truly heard the voice of Christ can never be reckless of the interests of their kindred, or unaffected by the distress which their confession of Christ may bring upon their misguided friends. Christ does not call them to insensibility. They are summoned by the Commander-in-chief, and must brave all inferior opposition to go to him. The soldier is bound to obey his immediate superior, his captain; but when the Leader and Commander himself appears on the scene, and bids him withdraw from the captain, his duty is plain.
There is not an obligation upon earth that is not dependent upon and connected with the command to have a supreme regard for God and for his will. Even the command, Thou shalt not steal, is only imperfectly fulfilled till men obey it with reference to God’s will. A man may be so governed by the obligation that he would die rather than steal; yet shall he not once in all his life perfectly fulfill the command unless he has a right regard for Him who gave the command. For all the law and the prophets hang upon the command, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, strength. This most important consideration is quite left out of the calculation of myriads who are pluming themselves upon their morality. But the Amen of Christ has reference to the compensation which shall be given, in this world and in the world to come, to him who for the sake of the kingdom of God, goes forth to Christ, parting with all that has hitherto been dearest to him. No one, he says, shall be without it. "Manifold more;" it is in another Gospel, "a hundred-fold more." Sometimes it is the delightful privilege of the believer to welcome, at the feet of Christ, those from whom he had so painfully torn himself away. His example, his prayers, have obtained for them the same grace. Then they who once cursed, heap heartfelt blessings on his head. But in the Church of Christ he is no exile. His brethren and sisters in Christ are commanded by the Master to love him even as they love the Saviour, with a love surpassing the love of those who are merely bound by natural ties. This promise invites us all to consecrate ourselves to Christ without any reservation. How about our various affections and inferior obligations? Are they in their place? Have we subjected them all to the authority of Christ?
Observe here the connection between consecration and faith; thorough consecration and true faith. What God hath joined let no man sunder.