604. LUK 12:49, LUK 12:50. THE QUESTION OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS STATED AND EXPLAINED

Luk_12:49, Luk_12:50. The Question of Christian Missions Stated and Explained

By Rev. R. Winter Hamilton, D. D.

"I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!"’97Luk_12:49, Luk_12:50.

The impassioned exclamations of the Redeemer, prefixed to this discourse, admirably agree to our design. There is a good in his religion worthy of any hazard and any expense. The exclamations are conceived under this impression of the case. He contemplates nothing but the evolution of that good, by the propagation of that religion.

Missions, we avow, may "bring fire on the earth;" so did the incarnation of Christ; and what would he but that it should kindle? Missions will assuredly task the spirit of exertion and self-devotement to the utmost; but so did the ends of the Saviour’s work. For the acquisition of those ends he was impetuous to yield to the ineffable exertions and sacrifices demanded of him; and, as he approached the awful scene of sore amazement and heaviness, of sorrow unto death (Mar_14:33-34), of the cup and of the cross, he "set his face steadfastly" to it; and was mysteriously constrained for the catastrophe! That cannot be fanatical in the disciple, which is heroic in the Master; nor extravagant in the servant, which is magnanimous in the Lord.

I. The mission of Christ was undertaken for the most important ends.

There must have been some prospective benefit to draw forth such breathings, and to awaken such desires. A prospective benefit which awaited the close of his sojourn on earth, and had been made conditional on his death. It was not impatience of suffering; it was not regret that he had interposed, which imbued his mind with those anxieties, and wrung from it those importunities. He longed "to cease from his works," because upon his death alone could he realize the conception of his mind, and grasp the purpose of his heart. He, therefore, anticipated the agony of the garden, as one looking for a spoil; and waited for the darkness that came over the land, when he was crucified, "more than they who wait for the morning." Let us produce some of these ends.

1. To present an atonement to the Divine government for the sin of man.

What an end was this! To make peace between God and man! To bind heaven and earth in amity! Instead of casting down the glorious high throne of the everlasting King under the feet of man, to capacitate man to draw nigh to its footstool here, and to entitle him to sit down amidst its splendors hereafter’97a throne of grace, accessible now; a throne of glory, inheritable forever!

’97"Jesus’ blood, through earth and skies,

Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries!"

2. To overthrow the rebellious power which had usurped the dominion of this world.

Four thousand years witnessed the preparation and muster for this struggle; and at last he appeared. "Of the people there was none with me," Isa_63:3. It was not a combat to be shared’97his single arm must win it. Nor was it a combat whose grapple was for mortal eye, whose shock was for mortal ear. He returned from it with his trophies. He had stained all his raiment.’97His fury, it upheld him, Isa_63:3-5. He had destroyed the works of the devil: "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil," Heb_2:14. And we may chant as we "walk about" the cross, and "go round about it," He hath "spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it," Col_2:15.

3. The redemption of innumerable multitudes of our race from the consequences of their apostasy.

Redemption may sometimes be used much in the same sense as atonement, but its stricter meaning will not suffer this use. As atonement associates itself with the idea of government, it must have a general aspect; as redemption identifies itself with that of purchase, it must have a particular one. Redemption is of persons, not of blessings; and may be considered that application of the atonement which purchases us as "the church of the Lord." What an end is again proposed in this redemption! What is a soul? What is the multitude of these souls? What is their rescue from sin, death, and hell? "None can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever," Psa_49:7, Psa_49:8.

4. The formal assumption and complete discharge of his mediatorial characters.

One of the most distinguished of these is his priesthood. Some have asserted that he could not be a priest until he died. At least, until then he reminds us more of a victim. If a priest, in any acceptation, he was never seen engaged in his highest rites, or arrayed in his costliest vestments. An inspired writer has decided, "if he were on earth, he should not be a priest," Heb_8:4. But now he ministers in "the holiest of all." His empire, as King, is founded in death. His sword did not flesh itself in his foes, but clave his own heart. His march to dominion was not cut through his enemies, but he waded to it in his own blood.

5. The effusion of his Spirit as essential to the promotion of his cause, and accumulation of his church. All power in heaven and earth was, for the first time, wielded by him, to stamp the missionary law with indelible authority.

With these ends we are zealously determined that our missions shall coincide. We would dislodge the crude and monstrous conceptions of the Divine government which invariably obtain in the absence of Christianity, by the exhibition of the atonement. We would expose the foul usurpation, which has for so long a period arrogantly held and fiercely tyrannized over our nature.

We would proclaim the redemption of souls. The missionary is the herald of universal deliverance. We would exalt the Lord Jesus in all the mediatorial offices, with which he is invested for the salvation of man. We would remember, through all the steps of this work, that the Holy Spirit alone can endue our agents with power, and crown their labors with success.

II. These ends could alone be prosecuted at a most painful expense.

By "sending fire on the earth," the Saviour appears to intend some evils, which would accompany the propagation of his religion; evils not chargeable upon its constitution, but yet contingent upon its progress. He anticipated these, and forewarned his followers of them.

1. We cannot conceal the fact, that Christianity may affect political systems.

He who "rebuked kings" for the sake of his ancient church, will never long endure any state of things unfavorable to his people, or prejudicial to his cause. He "will overturn, overturn, overturn it; until he come whose right it is," Eze_21:27. Kings and kingdoms are very little matters, in comparison with his glory, and nothing in opposition to it.

2. It is further admitted that Christianity must produce a variety of innovations.

Christianity went forth with the torch of extermination. It rendered its "anger with fury" against all that resisted it; and its "rebuke with flames of fire," Isa_66:15. It, by the very process of fire, transformed all things into itself. The interested and bigoted beheld the conversion with alarm. All was yielded to the flame. Nothing was proof against its intensity, nothing sufficient to check its progress. We may easily conceive of the inconvenience of such an innovating principle. What excitement of new ideas! What disturbance of immemorial customs! The mind of some bewildered! the craft of more in danger! "No small stir about that way!" "These that have turned the world upside down!" Act_19:23; Act_17:6.

3. Very unnatural divisions in society have apparently been fomented by Christianity.

When it is really understood and truly felt, it constitutes the very balm of life. By it "shall all the families of the earth be blessed," Gen_28:14. But yet, in its course, many of these ties are severed. The converted child, once folded in the kindest embrace, now finds his parents more cruel than the sea-monster; and becomes a stranger with his brethren, and an alien unto his mother’s children.

4. Christianity must be viewed in connection with those persecutions which it has experienced.

Persecution will always endeavor to disguise itself under forms of piety, or enactments of law, or impositions of necessity. He, therefore, whose name, faith, and church, were to be the very lures and marks to this persecuting rage, openly declared that he "came to send fire on the earth." He knew that the fire thus kindled, would prove the ordeal to his followers,’97"try every man’s work of what sort it is." He announced it from the first that none might think it "strange concerning the fiery trial."

5. Christianity has drawn forth some acts, on the part of its adversaries, which have more effectually exposed the depravity of human nature than any other occasion could have admitted.

The doctrine of the cross can never be understood with indifference. No man can comprehend it, and be neutral. It elicits our inner man, it defines emotions which were vague, and bodies forth conceptions which were immature. It is a "sign which shall be spoken against;’97that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." It has a point to repel, as well as one to attract. It is a stumbling-block and foolishness. The offence of the cross cannot cease.

6. The religion of Jesus Christ has very frequently been perverted to designs most estranged from its character, and abhorrent to its spirit.

The most successful antagonists of this religion are they who plead its authority, and retain its name. The antichristian power grew insensibly out of it. "That wicked," "That man of sin," is revealed from his nativity, 2Th_2:3, 2Th_2:8. And to what more general abuses has Christianity been desecrated! What hypocrisy has it served to favor! What ambition to desolate! What sensuality to riot! What avarice to grab! What superstition to dote! What bigotry to hoodwink! What despotism to oppress! On its stock, what earthly scions have been grafted! what infernal fruits have been plucked! Hence all the tricks of priestly jugglers’97all the plots of wily statesmen’97all the persecutions of blood-thirsty monarchs! The religion of Christ has ever been pretext and screen! In this additional manner the Son of God "sent fire on the earth."

7. The augmentation of moral responsibility has necessarily attended the establishment of Christianity.

Every hearer of the gospel, from the moment "the kingdom of God" comes nigh to him, enters a far more critical probation, and must abide by a far more fearful issue. The "sweet savor of Christ" is to them who perish, "the savor of death unto death," 2Co_2:15, 2Co_2:16. They must, if disobedient, await "a sorer punishment."

III. The importance of these ends justified the vast expense necessary to their acquisition.

That certain evils, or disadvantages, when intrinsically considered, are contingent on the progress of the gospel we have allowed; but never would the Saviour have "sent fire on the earth," and even willed it to kindle, had he not been persuaded that all which was intended by the figure, would be absorbed in a glorious and infinite superabundance of blessings. Whatever be the evils, then, arising out of the constitution of Christianity, or attendant on its progress, we think "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," 2Co_4:17. They are more apparent than real, more contingent than fundamental, and infinitely countervailed. And, as figured by that "fire sent on the earth," so far from reflecting on the character and religion of Christ, they illustrate the majesty of the one, and the stability of the other. In the first place, the Saviour treats those disadvantages as diminutive: "I am come to send fire on the earth." But when he alludes to these sufferings, he cannot regard them so indifferently. He therefore put them into contrast and opposition: "But I have a baptism to be baptized with." As to the fire, he heeds it not: "What will I, if it be already kindled?" But as to the baptism it engrosses him: "How am I straitened till it be accomplished!" The oracle which foretold that his soul should be made "an offering for sin," also announced, "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied," Isa_53:10, Isa_53:11. That satisfaction must pervade the vast capacity of his mind, must answer the long suspense of his ambition, and must ascend the infinite scale of his desert. This was "the joy which was set before him," and in whose prospect "he endured the cross, despising the shame," Heb_12:2. We ask not what vesture can be too splendid for the form, that the purple mockery insulted; what diadem too glorious for the brow, the thorny coronet lacerated;’97but what must be the delight, most exquisite and boundless, which reconciles him to all his endurances and conflicts: which prompts him to bear his crucifixion-wounds, as the scars of his noblest triumph, and centres of his brightest glory!

Application

1. Here, then, we find an apology for our warmest zeal and firmest courage, in extending Christianity. We but imbibe the spirit and follow the steps of our Exampler.

2. And here, too, we learn that this unconquerable temper, this inexpressible ardor, is of the first importance in every department of missions. Nothing half-hearted should be betrayed in our institutions at Lome, or efforts abroad.

3. In this spirit of unshrinking courage, and unabating ardor, let us proceed. We carry the commission of him who "came to send fire on the earth." We may blow the dame, we may spread the conflagration; what will he, if it be already kindled? All must yield to the gospel of Christ, or be consumed by its progress.

Autor: JABEZ BURNS