“Barabbas, Part 13:” by Romans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUnDKD1NMH4
Tonight is Part 13 of our Series, Barabbas. We are continuing in our Barabbas Series. As we continue, I am introducing a third “rabbit trail.” This new rabbit trail phrase is, “ye are,” enabling us to examine how different we are different from Barabbas He was a man whose name meant “son of the father.” He was guilty and worthy of punishment, but he was chosen, without merit, to be released without punishment. More than in name only, we are the adopted sons and daughters of God.
We, as believers and members of the Family of God, experience a whole range of experiences and blessings that differentiate us from Barabbas. When Barabbas left that Judgment Platform, all similarities to us ceased. Unlike Barabbas, for us – in the present tense – “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:15). We are, now... right now, by and through Christ, renewed and transformed in ways Barabbas never dreamed of.
Our first “ye are” declarations are found in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:13-: “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew Henry writes, “Matthew 5:13-16: “Christ had lately called his disciples, and told them that they should be fishers of men; here he tells them further what he designed them to be - the salt of the earth, and lights of the world, that they might be indeed what it was expected they should be.
Ye are the salt of the earth. This would encourage and support them under their sufferings, that, though they should be treated with contempt, yet they should really be blessings to the world, and the more so for their suffering thus. The prophets, who went before them, were the salt of the land of Canaan;
but the apostles were the salt of the whole earth, for they must go into all the world to preach the gospel. It was a discouragement to them that they were so few and so weak. What could they do in so large a province as the whole earth? Nothing, if they were to work by force of arms and dint of sword;
but, being to work silent as salt, one handful of that salt would diffuse its savour far and wide; would go a great way, and work insensibly and irresistibly as leaven. The doctrine of the gospel is as salt; it is penetrating, quick, and powerful; it reaches the heart.
It is cleansing, it is relishing, and preserves from putrefaction. We read of the savour of the knowledge of Christ; for all other learning is insipid without that. An everlasting covenant is called a covenant of salt (as we read in Numbers 18:19); and the gospel is an everlasting gospel.
Salt was required in all the sacrifices (see Leviticus 2:13), in Ezekiel's mystical temple, (see Ezekiel 43:24). Now Christ's disciples having themselves learned the doctrine of the gospel, and being employed to teach it to others, were as salt. Note, Christians, and especially ministers, are the salt of the earth.
1. If they be as they should be they are as good salt, white, and small, and broken into many grains, but very useful and necessary. Pliny says, Without salt human life cannot be sustained. See in this,
(1.) What they are to be in themselves - seasoned with the gospel, with the salt of grace; thoughts and affections, words and actions, all seasoned with grace, (see Colossians 4:6). Have salt in yourselves, else you cannot diffuse it among others.
(2.) What they are to be to others; they must not only be good but do good, must insinuate themselves into the minds of the people, not to serve any secular interest of their own, but that they might transform them into the taste and relish of the gospel.
(3.) What great blessings they are to the world. Mankind, lying in ignorance and wickedness, were a vast heap of unsavoury stuff, ready to putrefy; but Christ sent forth his disciples, by their lives and doctrines, to season it with knowledge and grace, and so to render it acceptable to God, to the angels, and to all that relish divine things.
(4.) How they must expect to be disposed of. They must not be laid on a heap, must not continue always together at Jerusalem, but must be scattered as salt upon the meat, here a grain and there a grain; as the Levites were dispersed in Israel, that, wherever they live, they may communicate their savour. Some have observed, that whereas it is foolishly called an ill omen to have the salt fall towards us, it is really an ill omen to have the salt fall from us.
2. If they be not, they are as salt that has lost its savour. If you, who should season others, are yourselves unsavoury, void of spiritual life, relish, and vigour; if a Christian be so, especially if a minister be so, his condition is very sad; for,
(1.) He is irrecoverable: Wherewith shall it be salted? Salt is a remedy for unsavoury meat, but there is no remedy for unsavoury salt. Christianity will give a man a relish; but if a man can take up and continue the profession of it, and yet remain flat and foolish, and graceless and insipid, no other doctrine, no other means, can be applied, to make him savoury. If Christianity does not do it, nothing will.
(2.) He is unprofitable: It is thenceforth good for nothing; what use can it be put to, in which it will not do more hurt than good? As a man without reason, so is a Christian without grace. A wicked man is the worst of creatures; a wicked Christian is the worst of men; and a wicked minister is the worst of Christians.
(3.) He is doomed to ruin and rejection; He shall be cast out - expelled the church and the communion of the faithful, to which he is a blot and a burden; and he shall be trodden under foot of men. Let God be glorified in the shame and rejection of those by whom he has been reproached, and who have made themselves fit for nothing but to be trampled upon.
II. Ye are the light of the world. This also bespeaks them useful. Nothing more useful than the sun and salt), but more glorious. All Christians are light in the Lord (as we read in Ephesians 5:8), and must shine as lights (see Philippians 2:15), but ministers in a special manner. Christ call himself the Light of the world (see John 8:12), and they are workers together with him, and have some of his honour put upon them.
Truly the light is sweet, it is welcome; the light of the first day of the world was so, when it shone out of darkness; so is the morning light of every day; so is the gospel, and those that spread it, to all sensible people. The world sat in darkness, Christ raised up his disciples to shine in it; and, that they may do so, from him they borrow and derive their light.
This similitude is here explained in two things: 1. As the lights of the world, they are illustrious and conspicuous, and have many eyes upon them. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. The disciples of Christ, especially those who are forward and zealous in his service, become remarkable, and are taken notice of as beacons... Some admire them, commend them, rejoice in them, and study to imitate them;
others envy them, hate them, censure them, and study to blast them. They are concerned therefore to walk circumspectly, because of their observers; they are as spectacles to the world, and must take heed of every thing that looks ill, because they are so much looked at.
The disciples of Christ were obscure men before he called them, but the character he put upon them dignified them, and as preachers of the gospel they made a figure; and though they were reproached for it by some, they were respected for it by others, advanced to thrones, and made judges; for Christ will honour those that honour him.
2. As the lights of the world, they are intended to illuminate and give light to others (as we read in Matthew 5:15), and therefore, (1.) They shall be set up as lights. Christ has lighted these candles, they shall not be put under a bushel, not confined always, as they are now, to the cities of Galilee, or the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but they shall be sent into all the world.
The churches are the candlesticks, the golden candlesticks, in which these lights are placed, that their light may be diffused; and the gospel is so strong a light, and carries with it so much of its own evidence, that, like a city on a hill, it cannot be hid, it cannot but appear to be from God, to all those who do not wilfully shut their eyes against it.
It will give light to all that are in the house, to all that will draw near to it, and come where it is. Those to whom it does not give light, must thank themselves; they will not be in the house with it; will not make a diligent and impartial enquiry into it, but are prejudiced against it.
(2.) They must shine as lights, [1.] By their good preaching. The knowledge they have, they must communicate for the good of others; not put it under a bushel, but spread it. The talent must not be buried in a napkin, but traded with. The disciples of Christ must not muffle themselves up in privacy and obscurity, under pretence of contemplation, modesty, or self-preservation, but, as they have received the gift, must minister the same.
[2.] By their good living. They must be burning and shining lights; must evidence, in their whole conversation, that they are indeed followers of Christ. They must be to others for instruction, direction, quickening, and comfort. See here, First, How our light must shine - by doing such good works as men may see, and may approve of;
such works as are of good report among them that are without, and as will therefore give them cause to think well of Christianity. We must do good works that may be seen to the edification of others, but not that they may be seen to our own ostentation;
we are bid to pray in secret, and what lies between God and our souls, must be kept to ourselves; but that which is of itself open and obvious to the sight of men, we must study to make congruous to our profession, and praiseworthy. Those about us must not only hear our good words, but see our good works; that they may be convinced that religion is more than a bare name, and that we do not only make a profession of it, but abide under the power of it.
Secondly, For what end our light must shine - “That those who see your good works may be brought, not to glorify you (which was the things the Pharisees aimed at, and it spoiled all their performances), but to glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Note, The glory of God is the great thing we must aim at in every thing we do in religion, (as in 1 Peter 4:11).
In this centre the lines of all our actions must meet.
We must not only endeavor to glorify God ourselves, but we must do all we can to bring others to glorify him. The sight of our good works will do this, by furnishing them, 1. With matter for praise. “Let them see your good works, that they may see the power of God's grace in you, and may thank him for it, and give him the glory of it, who has given such power unto men.”
2. With motives of piety. “Let them see your good works, that they may be convinced of the truth and excellency of the Christian religion, may be provoked by a holy emulation to imitate your good works, and so may glorify God.”
Note, The holy, regular, and exemplary conversation of the saints, may do much towards the conversion of sinners; those who are unacquainted with religion, may hereby be brought to know what it is. Examples teach. And those who are prejudiced against it, may hereby by brought in love with it, and thus there is a winning virtue in a godly conversation.”
Our second “ye are” declaration is found in Matthew 23:8: “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
The Preacher's Homiletical comments, “Christ {is} Lord: Christians {are} brethren.— I. The Lordship of Christ.—1. Why is Christ our moral Master? His is no arbitrary pre-eminence, but in harmony with Reason, Conscience, Fact. Recall: (1) What He is.—His nature is Divine, His character perfect, His teaching complete.
(2) What He has done.—He has ransomed us. He has renewed us. 2. How is Christ our moral Master? (1) He regulates our conduct. (2) He enlightens our intellect. (3) He controls our affections.
II. The brotherhood of Christians.—1. Why are Christians brethren? Not alone on the ground of mere humanity. Nor merely through acceptance of a common creed. Nor merely through union with a common society. Common relationship to Christ creates, and constant communion with Christ sustains, the brotherhood of Christians.
2. How do Christians show that they are brethren? Among the members of a home there is: (1) A family interest. (2) A family likeness. (3) A family life.—U. R. Thomas, B.A.
II. The church must promote the brotherhood of Christians.—There are three great errors at whose root our Saviour’s words here lay an axe; errors that seem greatly to hinder the brotherhood of Christians. 1. The social error of caste and class feeling. 2. The sectarian error of denominationalism. 3. The ecclesiastical error of hierarchism.
Here is a protest on behalf of Christian brotherhood.
(1) To those who might be tempted to haughtiness. To all such as claim infallibility, or the exclusive right of teaching, or absolute power of discipline, Christ says, “Be not called masters; all ye are brethren.” “None by office or precedence is nearer to God than another, none stands between his brother and God” (Alford).
(2) To those in danger of servility. Lest the spiritual Israel should repeat the error of their great type and cry “Give us a king,” Christ enjoins “Call no man master.” The gospel promotes social freedom, mental independence, spiritual liberty.
III. The church must testify to the supremacy of the living, personal Christ.—To the churches still, in authority, oversight, discipline, this one Master remains; for did He not say, “I am with you alway”? etc.—Ibid. Christ the Master of life.—On the walls of the chapel in Yale College, America, there is the following inscription about Christ: “Leader, Light, Law, King.
Jesus is absolute Master in the sphere of religion, which is a science dealing, not with intellectual conceptions, but with spiritual facts. His ideas are not words, they are laws; they are not thoughts, they are forces. He did not suggest, He asserted what He had seen at first sight. He did not propose, He commanded as one who knew there was no other way.
One of His chief discoveries was a new type of character, His greatest achievement its creation. It is now nineteen centuries since He lived on earth, but to-day in every country of the Western world there are men differing from their neighbours as Jesus did from His contemporaries. Jesus was a type by Himself, and they are of the same type. He presented to the world a solitary ideal, and in innumerable lives has made it real.—John Watson, M.A., in 'Expositor.'”
Our next “ye are” statement is found in John 13:35: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
The Sermon Bible tells us, “John 13:34-35: Look at the command of brotherly love as it was given in old time. It was contained in the last six of the Ten Commandments; or putting on one side the fifth commandment as being of a peculiar kind, referring to one particular duty and not to our duty to our neighbour in general, we may say that the command to love one another is contained in the last five commandments of the decalogue.
All these commandments, you will observe, are employed in telling us what we may not do, saying nothing of the things which we ought to do. The actual form of the law of loving our neighbours, as given in the Old Testament, was a prohibitory law; not an active law of love depending for its force upon a spring of love within, but a law which, if obeyed according to the letter, would sunder only certain offences, and might be kept thus by a man whose heart was as hard as a flint.
II. If you examine the precepts of loving our neighbours, as given by the Lord Jesus Christ, I think you will perceive that the peculiarity and the strength of them consist in this very thing, that they imply active, self-denying exertions for our brother’s good.
That love is emphatically Christian which, setting aside all consideration of self-advantage, and running beyond the mere negative duty of doing our neighbour no wrong, goes forth with activity, life, and zeal to show itself in works of mercy and deeds of loving-kindness to our brethren.
The commandment was new because Christ had only then come to explain it; it was new because it could not have been conceived before His life exhibited its meaning; it was new because the love which He showed was something altogether beyond the power of man to have imagined for himself;
and, as in science we reckon him to be the discoverer of a new law who rises above the guesses and glimpses of his predecessors, and establishes upon new ground, and in a manner which can never afterwards be questioned, some great principle which had been partly conceived before;
so I think we may say that the law of brotherly love, as illustrated by the example of our Lord, the law of self-denying, active efforts for our brother’s good, the law which stamps the great principle of selfishness as a vile and execrable principle, might be truly described as a new commandment which Christ gave to His disciples.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 3rd series, p. 258. References: Joh_13:34-35.—B. Dale, Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 33. Joh_13:35.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xii., p. 18. Joh_13:36.—Ibid., vol. vii., p. 22. Joh_13:36-38.—A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 392.”
To this, Adam Clarke adds, “John 13:35: By this shall all men know, etc. - From this time forward, this mutual and disinterested love shall become the essential and distinctive mark of all my disciples. When they love one another with pure hearts, fervently, even unto death, then shall it fully appear that they are disciples of that person who laid down his life for his sheep, and who became, by dying, a ransom for all.
The disciples of different teachers were known by their habits, or some particular creed or rite, or point of austerity, which they had adopted; but the disciples of Christ were known by this love which they bore to each other... Christians were known by this among the Gentiles. Tertullian, in his Apology, gives us their very words: “See, said they, how they love one another, and are ready to lay down their lives for each other.”
Our next “ye are” declaration is found in John 15:3: “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”
Matthew Henry comments: “The benefits which believers have by the doctrine of Christ, the power of which they should labour to exemplify in a fruitful conversation: Now you are clean. [1.] Their society was clean, now that Judas was expelled by that word of Christ, What thou doest, do quickly; and till they were got clear of him they were not all clean. The word of Christ is a distinguishing word, and separates between the precious and the vile; it will purify the church of the first-born in the great dividing day.
[2.] They were each of them clean, that is, sanctified, by the truth of Christ (Joh_17:17); that faith by which they received the word of Christ purified their hearts, Acts 15:9. The Spirit of grace by the word refined them from the dross of the world and the flesh, and purged out of them the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees, from which, when they saw their inveterate rage and enmity against their Master, they were now pretty well cleansed.
Apply it to all believers. The word of Christ is spoken to them; there is a cleansing virtue in that word, as it works grace, and works out corruption. It cleanses as fire cleanses the gold from its dross, and as physic cleanses the body from its disease. We then evidence that we are cleansed by the word when we bring forth fruit unto holiness.
Perhaps here is an allusion to the law concerning vineyards in Canaan; the fruit of them was as unclean, and uncircumcised, the first three years after it was planted, and the fourth year it was to be holiness of praise unto the Lord; and then it was clean, (Leviticus 19:23-24). The disciples had now been three years under Christ's instruction; and now you are clean”
Next, we examine the “ye are” statement in John 15:5: “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
The Expositor's Bible comments, “God’s intention in creating man was fulfilled. It was secured by the life of Christ and by the attachment of men to Him that the purpose of God in creation would bear fruit. That which amply satisfied God was now in actual existence in the person and attractiveness of Christ.
Seizing upon the figure of the vine as fully expressing this, Christ fixes it for ever in the mind of His disciples as the symbol of His connection with them, and with a few decisive strokes He gives prominence to the chief characteristics of this connection.
I. The first idea, then, which our Lord wished to present by means of this allegory is, that He and His disciples together form one whole, neither being complete without the other. The vine can bear no fruit if it has no branches; the branches cannot live apart from the vine. Without the branches the stem is a fruitless pole; without the stem the branches wither and die.
Stem and branches together constitute one fruit-bearing tree. I, for my part, says Christ, am the Vine; ye are the branches, neither perfect without the other, the two together forming one complete tree, essential to one another as stem and branches.
The significance underlying the figure is obvious, and no more welcome or animating thought could have reached the heart of the disciples as they felt the first tremor of separation from their Lord.
Christ, in His own visible person and by His own hands and words, was no longer to extend His kingdom on earth. He was to continue to fulfil God’s purpose among men, no longer however in His own person, but through His disciples. They were now to be His branches, the medium through which He could express all the life that was in Him, His love for man, His purpose to lift and save the world.
Not with His own lips was He any longer to tell men of holiness and of God, not with His own hand was He to dispense blessing to the needy ones of earth, but His disciples were now to be the sympathetic interpreters of His goodness and the unobstructed channels through which He might still pour out upon men all His loving purpose.
As God the Father is a Spirit and needs human hands to do actual deeds of mercy for Him, as He does not Himself in His own separate personality make the bed of the sick poor, but does it only through the intervention of human charity, so can Christ speak no audible word in the ear of the sinner, nor do the actual work required for the help and advancement of men.
This He leaves to His disciples, His part being to give them love and perseverance for it, to supply them with all they need as His branches. This, then, is the last word of encouragement and of quickening our Lord leaves with these men and with us: I leave you to do all for Me; I entrust you with this gravest task of accomplishing in the world all I have prepared for by My life and death...
II. The second idea is that this unity of the tree is formed by unity of life. It is a unity brought about, not by mechanical juxtaposition, but by organic relationship. "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, but must abide in the vine, so neither can ye except ye abide in Me."
It is thus in the relation of Christ and His followers. He and they together form one whole, because one common life unites them. "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, so neither can ye." Why can the branch bear no fruit except it abide in the vine? Because it is a vital unity that makes the tree one.
And what is a vital unity between persons? It can be nothing else than a spiritual unity--a unity not of a bodily kind, but inward and of the spirit. In other words, it is a unity of purpose and of resources for attaining that purpose. The branch is one with the tree because it draws its life from the tree and bears the fruit proper to the tree.
The branch, if it is to be fruitful, must form a solid part of the tree, must be grafted so as to become of one structure and life with the stem. Such must be our grafting into Christ. It must be a laying bare of our inmost nature to His inmost nature, so that a vital connection may be formed between these two. We wish to be in such a connection with Him that His principles, sentiments, and aims shall become ours.
We must be content, then, to be branches. We must be content not to stand isolated and grow from a private root of our own. We must utterly renounce selfishness. Successful selfishness is absolutely impossible. We are one with Christ when we adopt His purpose in the world as the real governing aim of our life, and when we renew our strength for the fulfilment of that purpose by fellowship with His love for mankind and His eternal purpose to bless men.”
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “Barabbas, Part 13.”
This Discussion was originally presented “live” on July 6th, 2022.
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