1 Corinthians 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; I. HUMANITY HAS A GRAND FUTURE. Consider — 1. The possibilities of nature. The scoffer speaks of all things continuing as they were from the beginning of the creation, but the scoffer is wrong. Things have changed, are changing, and will change immensely yet. You cannot look into the prophecy of Isaiah, into the argument of Paul, into the vision of John, without a deep feeling of the coming glorification of nature. "Yes," you say, "but we cannot build much on these." Very well, then, listen to a President of the Royal Society. Sir J. W. Dawson writes: "There have been, and might be again, conditions which would convert the ice-clad arctic regions into blooming paradises, and which, at the same time, would moderate the fervent heat of the tropics. We are accustomed to say that nothing is impossible with God; but how little have we known of the gigantic possibilities which lie hidden under some of the most common of His natural laws!" "How great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up, which Thou hast hidden, for them that fear Thee! "Nature is a great storehouse, whose treasures of darkness will in due time be brought into the light. 2. The possibilities of society. (1) Who shall say where the perfecting of our physical nature shall end? The coming man, according to science, is to be tall, and free, and lofty of carriage, having a godlike intelligence of countenance. And the woman of the future is to grow with and through the ages in strength and beauty. (2) Who shall say what; the intellectual force of the coming man may be? Emerson speaks of "the unexplored riches of the human constitution," and it is delightful to think of the faculties of our nature which are yet so largely undeveloped. (3) Our senses now only take in a bit of the universe, and a larger education of those senses will bring into ken new continents of wonder and wealth. We in the nineteenth century are wonderful people, but in a century or two more we shall appear to our posterity mere barbarians. (4) Who shall say what the social perfection of the future shall be? The Book of the Revelation has proved a stumbling-block to many. But George Lewes reminds us that Comte's system has its Apocalypse as full of wonderful things touching a glorified humanity as John's cities of gold. So all parties are full of expectations of progress — saints, scientists, socialists, are looking for ages of gold. Men are always asking for finality, but there is no finality in anything. We move from evil to good, from good to better, from better to better still. Every new discovery fills us with wonder and delight, and we are prone to stay with it, to rest in it, as if it were the ultimate glory; but God keeps saying to us, "Thou shalt see greater things than these." Some men talk of the world finishing; it is but commencing. This is but the first stage of our existence, and new earths and new heavens open on our sight. II. THE GRAND FUTURE OF HUMANITY WILL BE REALISED IN CHRIST. This is the distinct teaching of the Scriptures. The Old Testament teaches that in Messiah the world, the ages, will become the possession of the faithful. In the Hebrews we are taught that Christ is Heir of all things, and that He brings many sons to share His glory; and so in Romans 8. The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle declares in the Ephesians, hath set Christ at; His own right hand in the heavenly places, and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is His body. 1. It is only in godliness that there is progress. (1) Religion, in setting the living God before us, sets before us a grand inspiring Ideal, which makes the highest perfection possible. We have only to look to China to find an illustration of the non-progressiveness of an atheistic people. It is the ]and of arrested development, of fossils, of petrifactions. If you could take religion out of our civilisation, as some desire, Europe would immediately resemble the fabled city in which every person and thing was changed into stone. (2) Now, if godliness be the life of the race, Christianity is the religion of progress, because it gives us the highest conception of godliness. Blessed is the nation that has God in Christ for its Ideal. How can it stand still? "Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee," will be its motto, its evolving force, its strength and glory. It is only in righteousness that there is progress. Moral advancement is the condition of all other advancement, and it would be utterly ruinous if our material prosperity outran our moral wealth. There is certain knowledge and a certain liberty you keep from a child, who could only abuse them; and you give him a spoon until he is fit to be trusted with knives, razors, and swords. So it is with the nations. It was necessary that there should be a fuller moral discipline in the race before we could be trusted with certain knowledge and instruments and forces. And so God will continue to enrich us as we are morally fit for fuller wealth and dominion; just as Christ sets up amongst us the righteousness of God, so shall all other things be added unto us. 2. It is only in hope that there is progress. "When the heart sinks the ship sinks," and when a people lose heart the mightiest and richest civilisation suffers wreck. Now, the religion of Christ is pre-eminently the religion of hope. Of the confusion and anguish of the world there is no mistake, but everything depends upon the interpretation of the wailing creation. Says the pessimistic philosophy, the world is in its death-throes. And herein that philosophy strikes at; the very root of civilisation and progress. No, says Christianity, it is the birth-pang of a grander world that is now coming into the light. And herein is the faith of Christ a well-spring of life and energy to our race as it struggles onward to its goal of glory. We are saved by hope — that is, by Christ. (W. L. Watkinson.) Parallel Verses KJV: Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; |
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