The Penn's Grove record., 1907-03-01
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"A SERMON G&A
BY THE REV A#
IAWRENDERSoNVe
Subject: Representing Christ.

- 'AHS 0qudIe FfeSDyLerldn Cnurch
the theme, Representing Christ"
the pastor, the Rev. Ira Wemmell
henderson, took as his text John 10:
34-35, "a new commandment I give
unto you, That ye love one another;
l have loved you, that We also love
one another. By this shall all men
know that ye are My disciples, if We
have love one to another" He said:
Ihls, to my mind, is one of the
Droadest, most far reaching, most
widely inclusive of the moral duties
that our Lord has made obligatory
upon those who wish to enter into
the Christian life.
The time and the scene are famii-
lar to us all. The Supper is over:
Christ has washed the feet of His dis
clples; the betrayer is named and de-
parted upon his errand of shame.
The end is very neal A few hours
and Calvary.
With the knowledge of His ap-
preaching suffering weighing heavily
on His heart, the Saviour with a
more than kingly courage speaks His
words OF comfort and command. Only
eleven men, and they soon sorely to
De tried, hear the melody of His
voice; but to our hearts He speaks
to-day, with those same kindly vet
authoritatfvely tones with which He
swept the faithful, tickle, strangely
una souls of that little band to
whose ministry we owe SO mucl.
This new commandment that
our Master enjoins upon the disciples
demands equal obedience from us. In
it is embodied the essence of the
whole moral law. To be true sons of
the Father We must exemplify in our
own lives those very qualities of love
and of loneliness that are the secret
of the Saviour to draw men, every
Where and at all times, unto Himself.
With our every thought and word
n act must we represent the Christ.
with all u moral and spiritual
forces, given to US of God and dedi-
Gated to His service, must we e-pre-
sent the message of salvation.
Let us look for a moment at the
character of the love which Christ
demands of us who would serve Him
truest. With Him there is no letting
down either in degree or in kind.
Christ asks of us tn, same ideal love
that He spread wide about Him
whithersoever He went. Even as /
have loved you" so shall We love one
another. mot a simple comparison,
but a conformity; the love is to be
of the same nature" the commenta-
tors tell us. Thus we see, that. in
short, we are, in our love, to be
Christlike. No mere sentimentality.
no passing fancy or passion, is this
love of which the Christ is typal.
1t t~ranscends and includes all our
personal passions. All the hearts
emotions are at their best when, the
love of Christ reigning within us,
they are expressions OF that altur-
lst1c, Notwithstanding affection which
the Nazarene calls forth. The infu-
ence of the Christ makes for greater
beauty in all the gardens of the soul.
in life we find it to be so.
The gentle light that glances from
the mothers eye becomes a holy,
steadfast glow when once the power
OF the loving, living Christ is felt
the soul. All love that is
worthy of the name is beautifed, en-
nobled, sanctified by the incomins of
the Spirit of Almighty God, the Com
forter from Christ. The Christ life
without the Christ love cannot be.
The life implies the love. The in
coming Christ compels an outgoing
love; and only in the measure that
we pour out our love upon our fellow
men do we live truest for Christ and
closest to His side. Thus, we see
that, in essence and in sum, our love
as Christian men and women must
measure true to the character of the
love which vas in Jesus Christ Him
self.
A cursory examination of these
words of the Master would lead the
reader, perhaps, to conclude that this
love that the Saviour showered upon
His disciples and to which He babe
the eleven to conform was to be con-
in it's application to themselves
only, or at best to those who would
accept the Gospel and its messenger.
To be sure, there is a mighty element
OF truth contained even in this limit
ed, short-sighted, rather ~self-centred
view. Christ did mean and does
mean that Christians should prac-
t1ce all the arts of love within the
circle of those who have heard the
call and have answered it. Perhaps
it would be better, no not perhaps.
certainly it would be best, for
the Christian household of faith, in
d1vidually and collectively, to make
effective in their lives the highest
principles of ideal love laid down by
But as we read closer and
enter more fully into the mind of the
Master we see a deeper and a grand
er message in these parting COM
mands. Listen once again to His
words: Even as 1 have loved yoT."
you not see the great, worldwide
principle lying just within the shad-
DIV of the sentence? Even as l have
loved you" And how had He loved
them? Moses, you know, brought
children of Israel up from the
lands of bondage, up to the
confines of the land of Jehovah's
promise. And the name of Moses is
held in reverent memory by the host
Of that scattered people of God every
where to-day. But this Christ. this
1espised NaZarene, had found these
men struggling rot only with I'M
wholesome economic and ecclesiasti-
conditions, but with inner and
spiritual distress. True to the pur-
pose and motive of His life Christ
had given them the way unto spirit
lal salvation and, with it, the means
10 the cleansing of the entire civil life
If che world. He had come down
rom the Fathers house beyond the
unreasonable blue and, taking upon
the burdens and the sins of
human kind, had started these men
upon the sur highway that leads
o spiritual perfectness and all tenn
,oral joy. He had found them in
ieep darkness and had shown them
he light. There was no question in
Christ's mind as to the depth of their
philosophy, or as to the bulk of their
or as to the fit of their
clothes. He did not inquire, so far
IS we have record, into their ances-
ry, so to be sure that they we're wor-
by to be in the social set of one who
vas of the line of David. All, mol
thirst took them, one and all, at their
ace value-as men and sinners. He
aw in them only men waiting aud
onging for the touch of a loving
land ana the comfort of a sure sal
Io BALLAD 4lo-1 - - 1-ra