SUNDAY READING.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 July 1921, Page 12

SUNDAY READING.

GROWING IN GRACE AND , KNOWLEDGE. “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our and Saviour Jesug Christ.” —II. Peter HI. 18. (By Rev. A. H. Collins, New Plymouth.) Last week 1 attempted to preach from this text. A rough outline of what I said then win perhaps serve as the best introduction to what 1 wish to say now. My points were these: Growth is a law of life. Life is the condition of growth. Dead things cajinot grow; living things murit. But growth is not the result of effort and strain: it is the fruit of obedience to certain recognised laws. Obey these laws, and you will grow as the lily grows, noiselessly and spontaneously. The laws of growth are light, warmth, moisture, air, and these have their spiritual equivalents. Hence soul growth is conditioned by abiding in right relations with God and the things of God. “Abide in Me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except it abide in Me.” That was as far as I got a week ago. But this left the latter jxirt of the passage untouched, for Saint Peter is not speaking of growth in general, but of growth in a particular direction, and according to a Divine pattern. “Grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” and it is to chat I invite your attention. There is no need to remind you that the word “grace” is one of the great werds of the New Testament. You know how large a place it holds in the -Epistles. Saint Paul is never tired of speaking of grace as the root conception of the Christian Redemption. “By grace are ye saved.” “The Gospel’s changeless note is grace.” We are not saved because we deserved it, or desired it, or earned it. It is not a wage, but a free <*ift. But what is grace? I have a fondness for grubbing at the roots of language and discovering the history of words. find the study of words not only profitable, but fascinating. Let us do that with the word “grace.”- If you will take any reliable dictionary and seek a definition of this word “grace,” you will find that it means “the unmerited merev of God,” and most of us are satisfied with that definition, though it leaves a good part of the truth unexplained. The fact is this word has a striking history, and to learn that history you must go back to the wonderful language in which the New Testament was first written, back to the Greeks, whose thoughts made so deep an impression on the doctrine of the early Church. Amongst the polished and educated Greeks there were shrines erected to the three graces, sister deities to whom beauty was deified. These graces were supposed to use their powers to smooth and sweeten the ways of life. Hence, for the Greeks “grace” meant beauty of spirit, as distinguished from beauty of form or colour. They had other words to describe symmetrical form and harmonious tints of grace meant refinement of manner and beauty of spirit, and he was called graceful, or gracious, who did things in a fine and noble way, whether his face chanced to be comely or plain, whether his dress was silken or homespun. And I submit that in the interpretation of this passage we must have regard to the historic meaning of the word “grace.” I have no quarrel with the dictionary definition. “Grace” means : what the dictionary says it means; but it means more. “Grace” is beauty of character expressing itself in gracious words and shining deeds. The grace of God is the nature of .God in action, and when we say that the grace of God is “unmerited favor to sinful men,” we say what is true, with this added thought, that God’s treatment of sinful folk is the natural and fitting expression of His Divine nature. He acts so because He is so. It is God-like so to act. ■ ace 48 goodness, and something more; it is goodness freed from harshness and repellancy. Grace is love and something more; it is love resplendent, love arrayed in regal charms, and stooping to help and bless the helpless. Human virtues are the graces of a pure and noble life. Divine grace is the eternal beauty of God’s nature in self-ex-pression . When Saint Paul says: “By grace are ye saved,” he means that Divine love which is higher and purer than the sweetest affection that ever dwelt in the heart of man or woman has come to our spiritual rescue, and that in so doing God has expressed His very heart. Hence, when Saint Peter bids us “grow in the grace of Jesus Christ,” he docs not mean that we can ingratiate ourselves into the favor of God. That is impossible. We owe our redemption to the unprompted mercy of God. What he means is that if we have been redeemed, we are to cultivate the spirit and ipethod of Jesus Christ, for He is not only the author of our eternal life. He is the pattern of the Chpstian life, and our business is to copy Him in the plain, practical duties of every day life. Conversion is only the beginning, and to be of any value it must mean the uprising in the soul of a new life that expresses itself in new tastes, new habits, new aims, aye! a new vocabulary, and a new standard of moral values. “Grace” , is the art of growing gracefully, the art of speaking graciously, the art of doing right things in the right way. It is not simply being “alive unto God,” and growing anyhow. A tree may be alive, and growing, and yet it may run to leaves, it may make too much wood, it may be twisted and gnarled and knotty, with limbs unshapely and straggling. It is growin.g but it isn’t growing in gra ee. Simon Peter knew what he was writ- I ing about. His nature ha<J often betrayed him. The rude fisherman hajl got the better of the Christian disciple, and found vent in rough words and boisterous ways. “Old Adam was too strong for young Melanthon.” We all suffer in the same way in some degree. It is not that we play the hypocrite, and yet the plain truth is that we are hard and angular, critical and suspicious, and not easy to live with or work with. We have not learned the secret of being good in pleasant ways, and of doing good handsomely. You remember how Tennyson, speaking of Christ, says:— “And so the word had breath and wrought With human hands the creed of creeds, In loveliness of perfect deeds, More strong than all poetic thought. Which he may read, who binds the sheaf. Or builds the house, or digs the grave; And those wild eyes that watch the waves In roaring round the coral reef.” He was so compassionate, so approachable, so patient with men’s faults, so Iconsiderate of men’s infirmities, so ready Ito see the best in the worst. In a word,

He was so gracious, and His • Apostle can find, no fairer idea) for Christian people than that they shall “Grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Of the' word “knowledge” I can say little now. The knowledge of u person js not the same as the knowledge of a creed or a book. “The knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” is more than an acquaintance with truths concerning. Him. It is knowledge which is the fruit of fellowship, and what the Apostle says is, “increase your intimacy with Christ.” There are a good many people in New Plymouth with whom I have just a nodding, acquaintance. With others I am on “speaking terms,” but for various reasons acquaintance has not ripened into intimacy and real friendship. It is thus with men and women in relation with Jesus Christ. Their knowledge of Him has not grown; their fellowship has not grown. They say their prayers to Him as they did at their mothers’ knees, and occasionally they read a chapter in the story of His earthly life. They have a nodding acquaintance, and they pay a courtesy visit to His house. They have a sort of respect for religion without troubling much about it, unless some crisis arises. They have enough religion to make them a bit uncomfortable, bu tno more, and the secret of a happy, healthy Christian life is a whole-hearted and enthusiastic attachment to Christ. There is a pretty story told of Hartley Coleridge. He was a small boy of five, and had formed a romantic friendship for a young lady of the same mature age. A visitor to his father’s house remarked on this, and said to the boy: “So Annie is an acquaintance of yours, Hartley?” “No,” said the lad, and, pressing his hand on his heart, added, “She is an inquaintance.” Soon after that his father told the story to a friend, who wrote these lines: — Though friendships differ, endless in degree, The sorts methinks may be reduced to three: Acquaintance many, and conquaintance few, But for inquaintance I know only two. Some people whose Jives touch ours occasionally are acquaintancea. Others we know better are our conquaintances, and those who live in our thoughts and loves and our prayers are our inquaintanees. Ohr knowledge of Jesus Christ begins with an acquaintance. We read about Him in a book. We learn of Him in school and in church; what He said and did, how He lived and died. We know Him as we k.tew other great souls who lived in the far-away past. We nod to Him across the centuries. lie is only an acquaintance. Then maybe, we discover He is living now. living and working and saving men and women just as He used to do; that he is with us in all our striving after a better life. He is our “conquaintance.” But something better still is possible That Christ is with us makes life gladsome, that He dwells in us makes life glorious and strong, and-to know Him so means “inquaintance.” “Christ in you the hope of glory.” And this is the secret of the Kingdom. You want to see a revival of religion in the land. You want to see the prosperity of Zion. You pray “Thy Kingdom come,” and you are quite sincere, and yet you may frustrate your own desire. Years ago Australia was in the grip of a drought, and various reasons were given. The most sensible explanation was the wasteful destruction of forest trees. Different remedies suggested. It was said that rain generally falls alter a day of battle, and if the clouds were cannonaded the drought would break. But the greybeards out back shook their heads, and said a better way was to plant trees, and they would attract the rain. When spiritual barrenness comes upon the church one of the commonest devices is to import big guns of an American, pattern! Behold, I show you a more excellent way. Plant trees. Cultivate spiritual growth. Be faithful to your religious obligations. Live the truly Christian life. “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” and the clouds, which are big wi ( th mercy, will break in blessing on the church and the world. “The conversion of the world waits the will of the church.” For when Christian people are incarnations of their radiant Lord, the world, which cannot be driven, will be drawn to Him.