Matthew 22:42

Matthew 22:42

I. Some people do not think much about Him any way. Their minds are pre-occupied; they think of something else.

II. Some do think, and now it is of much importance that we inquire what they think. (1) There is a historicideal of Christ. It admits all the facts of His biography. I do not think it helps one's salvation, or cleanses his nature, any more than did the love and longing of the Ancient Britons who believed that Arthur had achieved matchless excellence, and who fondly anticipated his return one time to gather his knights anew at the remembered Round Table. (2) There is also a theologicideal of Christ. Such a conception, when left alone, is only enough to render an individual a mere polemic, or disputant. A cold and cheerless dogmatism is the result. (3) There is a poeticideal of Christ. It is not so much Jesus Christ that these enthusiasts love as the imaginative picture of Christ which they invest with all that their hearts admire. (4) There is an evangelicideal of Christ. The result here is a career.The man sees the one peerless life in the New Testament moving before him; he has no wish more pervading and swaying than simply to become like it, and plant his own feet in the prints of the beloved Master's.

III. Ideals control life. Some say it makes no difference what a man believes if he is only sincere in his faith. Alas! it makes all the difference in the world. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he; character decides destiny too. So the more sincere one is, if he be in error, the worse it is for him. "What think ye of Christ?" Observe that by-and-bye this great question of the ages will be reversed; and then it will be of the highest moment to ask: What does Christ think of me?

C. S. Robinson, Sermons on Neglected Texts,p. 206.

References: Matthew 22:42. G. Calthrop, Pulpit Recollections,p. 101; Preacher's Monthly,vol. vi., p. 105; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 366; Ibid., Sermons,vol. xix., No. 1,093.Matthew 23:5. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iii., p. 158. Matthew 23:8. J. H. Thom, Laws of Life after the Mind of Christ,p. 199; F. W. Aveling, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiii., p. 385.Matthew 23:8. A. Harnack, Expositor,3rd series, vol. v., p. 322.Matthew 23:8. A. Scott, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xviii., p. 116; Contemporary Pulpit,vol. x., p. 184.Matthew 23:12 . Clergyman's Magazine,vol. ii., p. 10; B. F. Westcott, Expositor,3rd series, vol. v., p. 461.Matthew 23:15. Expositor,3rd series, vol. iv., p. 323; G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons to English Congregations in India,p. 114.