II. Consider the objects to which Christian zeal should be directed.—This “good thing” may be taken as including all true religion, and embracing: 1. The promotion of God’s glory. 2. The extension of Christ’s kingdom. 3. The salvation of men. 4. The conversion of the world.
III. The good that results from the exercise of Christian zeal to the persons that possess it.—1. It renders them more Christ-like. 2. It furthers the Divine designs in the most effective way. 3. We become worthy followers of the great heroes of faith in the past ages.—The Preacher’s Magazine.
True Christian Zeal.
I. The Christian convert is zealously affected in a good thing.—1. All the teachings of Christianity are good. They enlighten, guide, and sanctify. They are peculiar, harmonious, infallible, Divine. Their morality is sublime, their spirit heavenly, their effect glorious.
2. The influence of Christianity is good.—It has created the sweet charities of national and domestic life, sanctified advancing civilisation, softened the fierceness of war, stimulated science, promoted justice and liberty. Sceptics have admitted this.
3. All that Christianity accomplishes for man is good.—It saves him from sin, from the stings of guilt, from the eternal consequences of wrong-doing.
II. The zeal of the Christian convert is to be steady and continuous.—There should be no diminution nor fluctuation in our zeal. 1. Because no reason can be assigned why we should not be as zealous at any after-hour as at the hour of our conversion. 2. Because it is only by steady and continuous zeal that a proper measure of Christian influence can be exerted. 3. Because only by steady and continuous zeal can Christian character be matured. 4. Because only thus can success in Christian enterprises be attained. 5. Because steady and continuous zeal will alone bring Divine approval.
III. The zeal of the Christian convert is not to be unduly influenced by the presence of others.—While Paul was with the Churches in Galatia they were zealous, but after his departure their zeal ceased. To lose our zeal because we have lost the influence of another is to show: 1. That we never possessed true Christian motives. 2. That our supposed attachment to Christ and His cause was delusive. 3. That our zeal had merely been an effort to please men, not God.—The Lay Preacher.
Ver. 19. The Christmas of the Soul.—The apostle refers to the spiritual birth. The soul then rises into a consciousness of its infinite importance; its thoughts, sympathies, and purposes become Christ-like, and Christ is manifested in the life. The soul-birth were impossible if Christ had not been born in Bethlehem. That was an era in the world’s history, this in the individual life; that was brought about by the Holy Spirit, this is effected by the same Divine Agent; that was followed by the antagonism of the world, this is succeeded by the opposition of evil, both within and without; that was the manifestation of God in the flesh, this is the renewing of man’s nature in the image of God; that came to pass without man’s choice, this requires man’s seeking. Has this spiritual birth taken place in you? If so, you have a right to the enjoyment of a happy Christmas. Keep the feast as a new man in Christ Jesus.—Homiletic Monthly.
Ver. 20. A Preacher’s Perplexity—