THE PRIZE OF OUR CALLING
By D. M. PANTON, M.A.
God is calling sinners to the
Cross: He is calling believers to the Crown.
Paul
presents this dual truth with crystal clearness. He opens this little
masterpiece of revelation with A SUPREME HOPELESSNESS. What is it? The one man who came
nearest to reaching God through his own goodness proved to be the chief of
sinners. Ponder Paul’s
incomparable assets: no soul, before or since, ever held up to the face of God
a hand filled with such exquisite pearls. Circumcised - stamped as God’s from infancy;
of the stock of Israel - with a blood-right to salvation; of the tribe of
Benjamin - a tribe which never broke away; a Hebrew of Hebrews - a full-blooded
Jew to the furthest generation back; a Pharisee - intensely orthodox;
persecuting the church - obedient in jot and tittle.
No man ever came so near to winning life through what he was and what he
did. "If any other man"
- of any age, or race, or clime - "thinketh to
have confidence in the flesh, I yet more:" (Phil. 3: 4). Paul towers over all leagalists
for ever. But a sudden and awful discovery blasted his prospects.
"I was alive [in my own eyes] apart from law once: but when the commandment ["thou shalt not lust"] came
[home to my conscience], sin revived [sprang
again into life], and I died [saw myself a dead
man]; and the commandment, which was [in God’s
design] unto life, this I found to be [in fact] unto death"
(Rom. 7: 9, 10). "If any man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I
yet more:" but what had that inward vision revealed? - a corpse before God. With
Paul’s failure, the whole world lapses into hopeless despair.
Next, A SUPREME RIGHTEOUSNESS. Whose? Not Paul’s;
for he had discovered, with Isaiah, that "we are all
as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags" (Isa. 64: 6).
He now discovers that what he could not
do, Christ did; that what he could not be, Christ was; and that Christ had done
it, and been it, in order to take his place. 2 Cor. 5: 21. He
instantly drops his own righteousness, and seizes Christ’s: he exchanges his
own pearls for one priceless, flawless gem. "I do count them but dung, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not
having a righteousness of mine own, but that [righteousness] which is through
faith in Christ." Paul never afterwards doubts his [eternal] salvation (Rom. 8: 38): for Christ has kept the Law, not with
head, hands, and feet only, but with heart also (Psa. 40: 8):
and this righteousness is now Paul’s. Rom.
5: 19. The supreme hoplessness is
replaced by a supreme salvation.
Yet
there remains A SUPREME UNCERTAINTY. Here are startling
words. "Brethren, I count not myself yet to
have apprehended: but I press on." Not apprehended what?
"If by any means I may attain unto the [select] resurrection from
[among] the dead." ("The Apostle states not a positive assurance, but a modest
hope," - Lightfoot:"
‘If by any means’ is
used when an end is proposed, but failure is presumed to be possible,"
- Alford). Press on to
what? "Toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling."
[Eternal] Salvation
can never be insecure: the Prize can never be assumed until it is won.
Why? (1) Because it is a prize. If
the prize be given on faith without works, it is no more a prize. "Know ye not that they which run in a race all run, but one
receiveth the prize? Even so run, that ye may attain" (1 Cor. 9: 24). 2 Tim. 2: 5. (2) No splendour of past service can guarantee immunity from backsliding [or apostasy].
None so renounced, so suffered, so served as Paul: yet he assumes no
prize. For backsliding [and
apostasy] forfeits the crown. Rev. 3: 11; 2 John 8. (3) False doctrines which rob God of His glory
will rob us of ours: therefore "let no man rob
you of your prize" (Col.
2: 18). 1 Cor. 3:
15. (4) Fleshly sins also
disqualify. Eph. 5: 5. Therefore "I
buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have
preached to others, I myself should be rejected [for the crown]" (1 Cor. 9: 24-27). The
insecurity of the chief of apostles binds insecurity of reward for ever on the
Church of God. "Not that I have
already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may
apprehend."
All
therefore culminates in A SUPREME EFFORT. "This one thing I do." Is this for Paul
only? "Let us therefore"
- for he is our inspired example - "as many as be
perfect, be thus minded."
How? (1) "Forgetting the things which are behind."
The immeasurable value of the prize may be computed by the immense sacrifices
necessary to obtain it. Its cost is a crucified world.
"Blessed is the man to whom the world, with all
her rags of honour, is crucified, and who holds her to be worth no more than a
thief on the gallows." Nothing makes the other world more real, or
more blessed, than the renunciation of this. Luke
14: 33. (2) "Stretching forward to
the things that are before." It is a racer, as Professor Eadie
says, in his agony of struggle and hope: every muscle is strained, every vain
starting; the chest heaves, and the big drops gather on the brow; the body is
bent forward, as if the racer all but touched the goal. Luke 9: 23-26. (3) "This one
thing I do." All his missionary ardour, all his thirst for
souls, all his toil for the churches, are bent before this overmastering
passion of his soul; because the running-tracks for the prize God has
laid through these channels of holy service; and to-day’s toil is the
measure of tomorrow’s glory. 1 Cor.
3: 8; Matt. 5: 11, 12. (4) It is a calling "upward," therefore it is God who is
calling. "Walk worthily of God, who is
calling you into His own kingdom and glory" (1 Thess. 2: 12).
God is calling us from all earthly glories up to the Throne: brother, will you
come? The Cross is ours for ever: "when
he hath been approved, he shall receive
the Crown" (Jas. 1: 12).
We honour God in proportion as we covet His immeasurable rewards. The apostle not only renounces, he forgets; he
not only advances, he presses; he not only gazes, he stretches; he not only
does it, but he does it only. "Let us, as many as be perfect, be thus minded."
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