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T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
By CLARENCE E. M A SO N , Jr.* Co lony of Heaven Atlantic City, N. J.
redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himsélf a peculiar people [that is, a people for His own pos session], zealous of good works.” This passage declares a threefold purpose in our Lord’s death. He died: (1) That He might set us free (“redeem us” ). (2) That He might set us apart (“purify” us). (3) That He might set us on fire (“zealous of good works” ). Farther down the page, in Titus 3:8, we have this challenging exhortation: “This is. a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm con stantly, that they which have believed in God might be. careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto•men.” Wes, this “faithful saying” needs to be constantly affirmed. As one trans lation has it, our Lord said in John 14:23: “If a man love me, he will obey my words: and my Father will ^love him, and we will come unto him, *and make our home with him.” Have you ever noted the space given in the Epistles to the Doctrine of a Holy Walk? The teaching concerning our walk is just as important as the teaching concerning our position and vice versa. All is doctrinal,- and all is intensely practical. A Doctrine Expounded Let us take as our theme the New Testament doctrine concerning the heavenly walk of the believer on earth. This is a vast subject covering large portions of the New Testament
Epistles, and we could not possibly cover here any more than one aspect of that theme. We are choosing as that ’emphasis the words of Paul in Philippians 3:20: “But our common wealth is in heaven; from whence we look for the Saviour” (R. V. Marg.). The verses which immediately pre cede that verse intrigue us with their contrast. We have just heard of those whose end is destruction, who live and walk as the enemies of the cross of Christ; and their belly is their god. They “glory” in what should be “their shame,” and they “mind earthly, things.” “But we,” says the Apostle, in con trast to these—we are different; we are heaven’s citizens. We are not to live minding earthly things. Our man ner of walk is to be entirely different, because we are of heaven. According to the New Translation, which gives a most illuminating transliteration of this thought rather than an exact translation, we read: “But we are a colony of heaven.” That phrase catches our imagination and makes us see what Paul was really saying. P a u l constantly used familiar illustrations which aptly explained the spiritual truths he was seeking to convey. Archaeology has revealed that as a policy of governing, conquering Rome found it to her advantage to place, in strategic cities over conquered ter ritory, cross sections of what Rome was like. A whole community would be transplanted from Rome to an im portant city, such as Philippi, which w a s a “ chief city” of Macedonia. There that transplanted community
O NE fundamental is forgotten. There is a tendency to consider the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, Virgin Birth, the Sacrificial Death and Resurrection of Christ, the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, the Second Coming of Christ, and such doctrines as being the only important and es sential themes which .we must hold to, to be Bible-believing Christians. It is important that we should dis tinguish the essential from the non- essential; the matters about which we can afford to differ from those about which there can be no differing with- our destroying the whole fabric of the Christian faith. But there is a line of teaching in the New Testament which I believe has been sadly underemphasized and often omitted from lists of essential doctrines—and Jthat is the doctrine that the believer is saved unto a life of good works. This is just as much an essential to Christian faith and practice as the Virgin Birth or the Second Coming of Christ. In Titus 2:14 we read: “ [Jesus Christ] gave' himself for us, that he might
the Inspiration of the Scriptures, the
* Pastor , Ch/’lsea Baptist Church .
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