Romans 14:10 But why do you judge your brother? or why do you set at nothing your brother?… In the establishment of this we see — I. THE HONOUR AND DIGNITY WITH WHICH THIS INVESTS INDIVIDUAL HUMAN LIVES. Look at society. A few men are eminent, but the millions lead ordinary lives. We are limited, fettered, and we are ready to say, "What is man?" Yet God is to judge him, and individually. A human court puts honour on man's nature by his very trial. A leopard leaping from his cave to tear asunder his victim is not a subject of arrest and trial. He is shot, and that is the end of it. Man has a knowledge of God and of immortal verities. Therefore he is judged. II. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HUMBLEST LIFE AND OF THE HUMBLEST ACT OF ANY LIFE. Too often we gauge character and success by their conspicuousness. We note the obsequies of the great, but who notes the paupers funeral? But the text — 1. Gives a significance to the poor man's death. 2. We are apt to measure our own lives by our larger efforts, and forget the little acts that, like drops, go to make up the continuous stream of life. It is these smaller actions that at once show and shape character. Christ represents the good as amazed at the final judgment because such little acts as the cup of water were remembered; and so the wicked. Phidias polished the back of his statues, for he said that though men saw not his work, the gods beheld it. Every deed, however small or secret, comes under the cognisance of God. To neglect to adjust our inward life to this truth and cultivate the merely outward exhibitions of character is as irrational as it would be to burnish the ornaments of an engine and build the boiler of defective metal, or decorate the outside of an edifice while its foundations and walls are insecure. III. HOW MAJESTIC AN ATTRIBUTE IS MAN'S CONSCIENCE. True, conscience may be mistaken; but, enlightened by the Holy Spirit it is the echo of God's voice. Its remorse is an echo of His rebuke, and its approval an echo of His benediction. We may anticipate the final tribunal. Judging ourselves now, we shall not at last be condemned. How wicked, then, it is to put out this eye, to suffocate the voice of God within us! It is moral suicide. IV. THE SECRET OF TRUE INDEPENDENCE FROM THE WORLD. If God be for us, who can be against us? Paul, Pascal, Luther, Wilberforce, etc., swung loose from entangling criticisms, undismayed by human censure in the thought of their personal responsibility to their Judge. "It is a small matter that we be judged of man's judgment"; this was their word. So may the maligned wait calmly for the final vindication. V. THE BEAUTY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SAVIOUR'S WORK. Christ does not abolish judgment; He claims it as His own and thus asserts His Divinity. No man, no angel, can assume this function. It belongs to Omniscience alone. We learn how it is accomplished — by the self-conviction of the sinner. Before Christ on earth they who accused another stood self-convicted, and went away one by one. "He told me all I ever knew," said another. It was on the Cross that atonement was completed. It is on that ground we, as believers, are saved. The lustre of the Cross is shed on the judgment throne. The Judge is our Redeemer, friend, and advocate. We can have "boldness in that day," for we are in Him. VI. THE DUTY OF ACCEPTING AND THE PRIVILEGE OF PROCLAIMING THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL OF THE SON OF GOD. Before His face we must stand. We cannot postpone the day. Nearer it comes every hour. Are you ready for it? Only in Christ can you be serene and safe, contemplating its approach. (R. S. Storrs, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. |
    |