1 Thessalonians 5:21

1 Thessalonians 5:21

Something Worth Holding.

Our religion is

I. Faith as opposed to infidelity.

II. Holiness as opposed to sin. By holiness I mean all possible human virtues and graces, purity of heart, truthfulness, temperance, uprightness, downrightness, love, generosity, magnanimity all things good, true, and beautiful. To be holy is to be equal to the angels. To be holy is to be in the image of God. Note two things here. (1) The religion of Christ demands holiness. In this demand for holiness I see the wonderful possibilities of the soul of man. (2) Our religion not only demands holiness, but it gives us a sure promise of attaining to it. It is said that the Church of Christ shall be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

III. Our religion is love, practical goodness, self-denial, as opposed to selfishness. Selfishness is hateful everywhere. Self-denial the incarnation of it in our Divine Master, this is our religion, and a man without any self-denial cannot be a Christian. It is faith; it is holiness; it is self-denial.

IV. Our religion is hope and joy as opposed to despair. In the past, ignorance; in the future, knowledge. In the past, sin; in the future, holiness. In the past, sorrow; in the future, joy. In the past, weakness and pain; in the future, eternal youth and health. In the past, the delirium of a fevered life; in the future, the saint's everlasting rest. In the past, the earth; in the future, heaven. This is our religion; is it not worth holding?

T. Jones, Penny Pulpit,new series, Nos. 804, 805.

References: 1 Thessalonians 5:21. J. G. Rogers, Christian World Pulpit,vol. iv., p. 360; S. Martin, Westminster Sermons,vol. xvii.; T. Jones, Ibid.,vol. vii., p. 321; F. Wagstaff, Ibid.,vol. xiii., p. 353; R. S. Candlish, Scripture Characters,p. 377; Church of England Pulpit,vol. iii., p. 313; vol. v., p. 19; vol. xx., p. 209; Homilist,3rd series, vol. iv., p. 337.