SUNDAY READING

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 124, 12 October 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING

Ol'll lIESPOXSIMLITY TO GOD AND TO OUR BROTHER.,

Outline of a .Sermon preached by MR. HAROLD I'EAT in the South Road Methodist Church. Text: "Render therefore unto Caesar the tihings which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's." —Luke -\x.-23.

This incident in the life of our Lord •losus illustrates an unnatural alliance between -the Pharisees and Herodians, in order that they might crush a third party which was obnoxious to both — Jesus Christ himself being that third person. The Pharisees were the leaders and representatives of conservative Judasira; they loved their country and its traditions, and loathed the foreign yoke of Caesar, and were therefore the bitter opponents of the Herodians, who were the partisans of Caesar. These two bodies of men lay their heads together and proposed a question to Jesus Christ which they think will either discredit or destroy Him, their deceitfulness is stupendous for they would have answered their question in different ways. Deceitfulness is cowardice robed in a semblance of truth. These individuals—l hesitate to call them menwere too much afraid to come openly to the Christ and challenge His credentials; the meanness of their natures demanded that they must resort to subterfuge, so they "sent forth spies who would fain themselves just men, that they might take hold of His words and so deliver Him unto the power and authority of the Governor. "Master," they said, ■'is it lawful to give tribute to. Caesar or not?" The question, as a question, was quite fair; it was the audacious hypocrisy prompting the question that called for rebuke.

The Nazarene was too skilful a, leader and strategist to be led into this ambush, and so He quickly disarms His opponents with the splendid statement, "Render unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto Ood the things which be God's." Tribute to whom tribute is due, honor to whom honor is due. Here in a Concentrated form we have -a vdvii description of our responsibility to God and: to our brother, for Caesar represents the State as a community.

HAVE WE A DUTY TO PERFORM TO OUR FELLOW MEN?

The best answer that I know of is given implicitly in Romans xiv.-7: "None of us liveth to himself." This statement in Romans, while not being as explicit as one might at first desire, is the expression of a subtle and very powerful psychological law. It is what the late Professor James would call the influence of the "Social Me." We all exert an influence either for good or for bad upon our fellows; therefore we are more or less responsible for their welfare; that responsibility being commensurate with the extent and character of our influence As your life is so will your influence be. Jiach man by his living creates an atmosphere .which mars or beautifies, his surroundings. If you are living clean honorable lives, your influence will be correspondingly helpful, analogous to the electric radiator which sends out warmth and comfort to all around; so your lives if Jived in the spirit of Jesus Christ will bring the strength of nobility and the warmth of love to the lives of your associates. If, however, you are living mean, unworthy, cramped, sinful and seffish lives, you will blacken everything you touch, or, to vary the metaphor, your, influence will be as the iceber* chilling and repellant.

GOD HOLDS YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR INFLUENCE.

Then see to it that your influence is upifting and purifying. A man's influence |b felt at all times and in all places, but it is most easily detected and peculiarly evident m the sick-room, where the patient is .nervously prostrate and subject to the subtle force of which we are speaking, a few days ago in the course of my weekly visitation' to the hospital such a case was brought under my notice A patient was. aroused from a state ot depression and discouragement by the kindly visit of one whose presence vibrated with the warmth of a sunny disposition. This influence may be unconscious, but it is none the less real—perhaps more real because -it is subconscious. Our responsibility to our brother brings us face to face with wrongs that need righting, and evils that need resisting; we may not close our eyes to this duty. Wherever there is an evil your life and mine should be a spiritual force to oppose it. There are not wanting those who tell us that the Christian is to take no part in municipal or political affairs, but assuredly this is an inconsistent position, for someone must attend to these matters for the public weal, and if our Lord meant, as He .certainly did, that Christianity should be a world-wide force, embracing humanity, it must be sufficiently comprehensive, to include all departments of human activity. We must not imagine, brethren, that this life is to be spent in idle longing for the life of heaven. We are here on this earth and that is the best and surest evidence that God has a duty for us here to perform, and the law of that responsibility is unalterable. God has sent us here to make this world a little better; our resolve therefore should be: "Let me to-day do something that shall take A little sadness froh the world's vast store, And may I be so favored as to make Of joy's too scanty sum a little more.

Let me to-night look back across the span 'Twixt dawii and dark, and to my conscience say, Because of some good act to beast or man, 'The world is better that I lived today.' " At the longest this life is spanned by but a few years; from the cradle to that change men call death the period is one with brevity ''writ in letters large" on every part, and should therefore be one of intense activity, for "the night cometh when no man can work."

OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO GOD is that we render to Him that which is peculiarly Hie. We owe it to our Creator to acknowledge Him as ,'t'he source of all power, the beneficient Giver of all things good. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with. Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." The best evidence that a man is discharging his duty to his God is that he remembers his obligations to his brother man. What God requires of us is that we shall help each other, love each other, that we should do unto others as we would have others do unto us." God does not require anything for Himself at our hands. He is of Himself for Himself ail sufficient, but He does .require of us that we be just and merciful to our brother, "for to obey is better than sacrifice." So that it is by loving our brother man, in serving him, in doing good to him that we manifest our love to God. As our Lord said. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples that ye have love one to another." Did not Jesus express in His life the high principles we have just stated? Did He not thus render to Caesar the things that were Caesar's, to God the things that were God's? Was not His life spent that he might .render service to His brother, for He is our great Elder Brother? Did He not give to each fleeting hour the immortal jewel of some work accomplished for the uplifting of

mankind? Yes; from l-lis presence vadiated that pure and holy inlluence that brought strength to .the weak, vest to the weary, joy to the find, comfort to the sorrowful, and hope and life to one and all.

My friends, do you feel that your life is weak and colorless, that you are not living' as God intended you .-hoiild? Then listen to the voice of Jesus Christ who is standing by you at thiis moment, asking you if you will link your life to His, that you may he a spiritual force to make this world a little better. Thus will life he. made bright, 'hopeful and helpful. God wants you for Himself, and if you have wandered away His heart is full of love and compassion awaiting your return; nay, He has gone forth to seek you and has found you now in this quiet hour. Will you not yield your life to Him? "Come unto me, ye wanderers, And I will give you light; 0, loving voice of Jesus, Which comes to cheer the night.

Andi whosoever comet]). I will not cast him out; 0, welcome voice of Jesus, Which drives away our doubt."