1 Corinthians 7:31

THE PASSING WORLD

‘The fashion of this world passeth away.’

1 Corinthians 7:31

We can well imagine that St. Paul in writing these words of his Epistle to the Corinthian Church was thinking of the shifting scenes of a theatre. No doubt he had often been in a theatre. To the ancient Greek or Roman the drama was the great teacher. It was to him what the pulpit, the parliament, and the newspaper are to us. He there heard the noblest deeds of his countrymen described and praised, and the glory of his land upheld, in language which fired his zeal and sent him forth burning to do great deeds. And it was such a theatre which the Apostle took for his text in writing for the beautiful, wealthy, wicked city of Corinth. In one place, if you remember, he compares life to a race; in another to a fight in the arena. Here he changes the metaphor and likens it to the shifting scenes of a play—‘the fashion of this world passeth away.’

I. How true this is of our lives and those of our neighbours!—The scenes are ever being shifted, men never continuing in one state. In one scene we may look upon a parent rejoicing over the birth of a son. Bright hopes kindle around the cradle. The rich man has an heir to his wealth, or the careful trader looks forward to a partner in his business. The scene changes. The grey-haired father stands weeping in a prison cell, and in that cell lies a man stained by sin, branded with crime. Can that be the once innocent child by whose cradle so many bright hopes were conjured up, so many urgent prayers uttered? Can that be the once proud father who now cries in his anguish, ‘Would to God thou hadst never been born’? There is another scene bright with the merry music of wedding bells. The scene changes. The lights are gone out; the air is full of farewells to the dying. The widow’s weeds replace the bridal veil, the death knell tolls from the same church tower where once the wedding bells rang so merrily. ‘All the world’s a stage.’ Some people make their life a farce full of careless song, and others make their life a tragedy. With most of us there is a mixture of both in our lives. Life has times of both smiles and tears, and flowers and thorns for all of us. The day comes when the drama is played out, the last scene shifted, and the curtain falls. ‘The fashion of this world passeth away.’

II. This is true also of the earth on which we tread.—Earth is ever returning to earth, and dust to dust, and new life is ever springing up from death. Vast forests lie buried beneath the soil; men live and die where once the sea rolled. Where once were towns and villages now the sea has undisputed sway. Vast deserts occupy regions which once were cultivated; in regions where some of the most crowded cities of our great towns now stand our fathers picked wild flowers, and the wild beast again finds his lair among the ruins of the populous cities of old time. We hear of stars extinguished and vanished into space when their time has come, and new worlds open to the gaze of the astronomer. There is change everywhere. And some of the scenes are shifted very quickly. The spring no sooner brings its buds than the scene shifts to summer. Then, quickly, the leaves which sheltered us are dying and winter is upon us. So is it with our lives. The children of spring change rapidly to the men and women of summer, and to the fading form of autumn and winter. ‘The fashion of this world passeth away.’

III. It is true, too, of the history of nations.—Egypt, before whom Israel trembled in bondage, was once first of the nations in art, war, commerce, and education. With what changed feelings do men now regard that nation! The corner of a newspaper now suffices for its history. We all remember the boastful words of Nebuchadnezzar over great Babylon which he had built, and we know, too, how quickly the scene changed from one of arrogant might to miserable humiliation, and how perfectly the words of the text apply to that power which once ruled the world, and which even dreamed of a world-wide empire and a world-wide renown. Quickly, indeed, the scenes were shifted in the city of the Cæsars, where emperor succeeded emperor, and where each wore for a brief day the purple of majesty. So has it happened with all that has been great or wise or powerful in the world. Alexander, Cicero, Tudor or Stuart, Michael Angelo, Shakespeare, Milton, each plays his part and the scene changes, and all are gone. ‘The fashion of this world passeth away.’

IV. And if we turn from the history of the world to that of our own lives, we shall find the truth of the text still exemplified.—We who have wandered these forty years or more in the wilderness, what shifting scenes we have witnessed, how many parts we have acted, how many changes since our own home was left, and we went forth to fight the battle of life! If we visit the scene of our childhood after many years, we shall find everywhere around us the truth that the fashion of this world passeth away. There stands the house of a neighbour. We remember him so well, rich, prosperous, popular; we envied his wealth, his position. Now strangers are in possession, and the place knoweth him no more. Where once were happy faces and glad hearts, now we find those weighed down with afflictions and sorrows. Many are the plans made by the father for the future of his loved son; many a mother dotes upon the affection of her child. But how many are doomed to bitter disappointment! We all know the old proverb, ‘Man proposes, but God disposes,’ and so we see by it the truth of the text being exemplified, ‘the fashion of this world passeth away.’

V. And where is the moral?—What is the practical lesson? Is it that we should go through the world finding it all barren, looking on life with a gloomy look, a sullen demeanour, as if it were not worth having or working for? God forbid! Let us try to use this world, as St. Paul teaches us, without abusing it, and to act well the part that God has given us. Yes, let us remember it is God Who makes one man rich and another poor, who gives to one great distinction, to another to occupy a lowly position. Whatever state of life we are in, it is our duty, and at the same time our happiness, to perform that part well, remembering Who it is that gives us the part to play. Whether it be long or short it is God’s doing. Oh, how sad it is to think that there are so many who go about their day’s work, whatever it may be, without thoughts of God, without dependence upon Him. No wonder we meet so many sad countenances, no wonder so many make a failure of their lives, and then complain of their surroundings. We are all too fond of this little play that we call life, and too careless of the great reality beyond the grave. Let us try to make the motive of all we do the love of God; the rule of all we do the will of God; and the end of all we do the glory of God. Whether we be called upon to act a lofty or a little part in life, whether the purple of Dives or the rags of Lazarus fall to our share, let us endeavour to act that part honestly and humbly and with our might, taking as our model the perfect life of Him Who worked for us the pattern of true, noble manliness in the workshop of Nazareth, in the lonely wilderness, and on the Cross of Calvary.

Illustrations

(1)‘All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players,

They have their exits and their entrances,

And each man in his time plays many parts.’

(2) ‘Look at the graves of the greatest and fairest, look at the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral, or that of Mary Stuart for whom men fought and plotted and died, or that of Wellington who won Waterloo; and over all you may read the text, though it be not graven there, “The fashion of this world passeth away.” ’