1. The Appropriation of Christ
1. The Appropriation of Christ
Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.—Rom 13:14
At the beginning of the Christian life, for the most part at least, we try to imitate Jesus Christ. There is Scriptural warrant for our doing so. And the time will never come when we may not look up to Him as our model and ideal, with that eager, longing gaze which must exert something of a transforming influence. But if this be all, we shall find our Christian life one of unutterable disappointment and sorrow. The infinite beauty and glory of our ideal must ever distance our noblest efforts, as the inaccessible heights of the Jungfrau, clad in untrodden snows, rise higher and ever higher above the traveler as he approaches them along the valley at their foot.
In a railway carriage recently I was attracted by the earnest look on the face of a young man who was reading “The Imitation of Christ.” Some kinship of spirit drew me to his side, and the conversation naturally opened by a reference to the holy meditations of the almost unknown saint, which has become part of the household literature of the Church. Without depreciating that precious manual of the holy life, I ventured to suggest that “imitation” alone was insufficient for the purpose we had in view; and that there was a more excellent way.
Years ago, when a lad at school, there was failure in my attempts to imitate with clumsy fingers the smooth copper-plate at the head of my copy-book, nor was there better success in the endeavor to imitate the finished drawing placed upon the easel; and the captain of the school could throw cricket-ball and hammer for almost as many yards, as the slender arms of his imitator could throw them feet. Yes, and as year after year I have tried to imitate the matchless glories of Jesus Christ, there has been the same weary sense of failure, beneath which heart and hope have sunk down baffled and disappointed.
There is another word, which carries with it the inspiration of a new hope, and speaks of the possibilities of faith—the word appropriation. Let us not be content with the effort to imitate Christ; let us appropriate Him, as the flowers of spring and the fruits of autumn appropriate the properties of the sap and dew and balmy air, and all the glorious forces that lie hid in sunbeams.
This thought is Scriptural. What is it but another way of expressing the Apostle’s exhortation to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”? (Rom. 13:14) In Him, by the good pleasure of the Father, all fulness dwells, that we might receive of it grace upon grace; and that reception is but another term for appropriation. In giving us His Son, the Father hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness; but that gracious provision avails us nothing until we claim and appropriate it by a living faith. The promises are all ours: but they are vain until we lay upon them the hand of appropriating proprietorship; and, as heirs, enter upon our inheritance. All true faith must have in it this thought of appropriation. We first know by hearing what are our glorious privileges and rights. Then we reckon that the record is true. And, finally, we begin to use that which, has been so freely given. Like the pilgrim-saints of olden days, “we are persuaded of them, and embrace them.” (Hebrews 11:13)
This thought is also confirmed by experience. A little group of earnest men were gathered not long ago around a fire, eagerly discussing the methods of a holy life, and reciting their own experiences of the grace of God. One had recently entered upon the gladness of a life of entire consecration, and spoke fervently of his new-found joys. But when his story was told, a venerable clergyman expressed his disappointment at an experience which was only negative, and told so little of the positive side of the appropriation of Christ.
Years before, when engaged in a gathering of unruly and noisy children, he had been suddenly driven to claim from the Saviour the gift of his own gentle patience, in the words, “Thy patience, Lord!” And instantly so divine a calm filled his spirit that he realized that he had made a great discovery. And from that moment he had retained the extremes of his brief petition, inserting between them the grace, the lack of which was hurrying him to sin. In moments of weakness, “Thy strength, Lord!” or in moments of conscious strength, “Thy humility, Lord!” When assailed by unholy suggestions, “Thy purity, Lord!” or when passing through deep waters of trial, “Thy resignation and restfulness, Lord!” What is this but a living example of the appropriation of Christ?
This thought would light up the darkest, saddest life. We sadly chide ourselves for our failures; and yet we are oppressed by the weary consciousness that we are all too likely to repeat them. We catch glimpses of ideals in the lives of others, and in our own happier moments, that only mock us. We fail to adorn the Gospel of God our Saviour in all things, because we lack the materials for the beautiful garments of our array. And all this because we do not realize that all of Jesus is for us; only waiting for us to appropriate it with exceeding joy.
Jesus Christ is an Armory, in which hang armor for defence, and weapons for attack. Happy is he who has learned to enter the sacred arsenal, to gird on the breast-plate and helmet, and to lay his hand to spear and sword! Christ is a Banqueting house, in which the tables groan beneath the weight of all that is needed for the supply of appetite and the gratification of taste. Happy is he who makes free of the rich provision, and comes to it whenever he needs! Christ is a Surgery, stored with all manner of restoratives and blessed elixirs; nor lacks an ointment for every wound, a cordial for every faintness, a remedy for every disease. Happy is he who is well-skilled in heavenly pharmacy, and knoweth how to avail himself of his healing virtues: Christ is the Jewel-room, in which the graces of the Christian are held in strong and safe keeping. Happy is he who knows which is the key to the massive doors, so that he can go in and out at his will, and array himself in “whatsoever things are lovely, and whatsoever things are of good report!” With burning words like these the saintly heart expatiates on the fulness of Christ. But, after all, how inadequate the words are to express all the rapture, the strength, the grace, which become the spending-money of the man who has learned to appropriate the Lord Jesus! He moves from the attic into comfortable apartments. He becomes a first-class traveller by the most luxurious route. He no longer laments his leanness; but cries with the ring of a new hope, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
It is difficult—nay, impossible—to employ words sufficiently emphatic, or forcible, to enforce this habit of Christ appropriation on Christian hearts. Suffice it to say that it would be as life from the dead for many who read these lines, and whose life has been a series of disappointments. Let us work it out in one or two directions, as suggested by the Apostle when he says: “Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30) Let us
I. Appropriate Christ as our Wisdom.
Many true Christians find it difficult to know the will of God. They long to do it, if only they knew it; but it is hidden from their eyes. “Should I move to another town?” “Should I take such a step in business?” “Should I enter into such a partnership, or ally myself with such an enterprise?” “Should I embark in this new branch of Christian activity?” Such questions are constantly arising and pressing for an answer in all our lives; and, as they do so they excite the instant inquiry, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”
But how may we know God’s will? That is not always easy. Yet the difficulty is not in Him. He does not wish us to grope painfully in the dark. Nay, He is ever giving us signs and hints as to the way we should take, too delicate to be perceived by the coarse eye of sense, but clear enough to those who are divested of self-will and pride, and only anxious to know and do the holy and acceptable and perfect will of God.
It is a mistake to seek a sign from heaven; to run from counsellor to counsellor; to cast a lot; or to trust to some chance coincidence. Not that God may not reveal His will thus; but because it is hardly the behaviour of a child with its Father. There is a more excellent way. Let the heart be quieted and stilled in the presence of God; weaned from all earthly distractions and worldly ambitions. Let the voice of the Son of God hush into perfect rest the storms that sweep the lake of the inner life, and ruffle its calm surface. Let the whole being be centred on God Himself. And then, remembering that all who lack wisdom are to ask it of God, and that Jesus Christ is already made unto us wisdom, let us quietly appropriate Him, in that capacity, by faith: and then go forward, perhaps not conscious of any increase of wisdom, or able to see far in front; but sure that we shall be guided, as each new step must be taken, or word spoken, or decision made. It is an immense help in any difficulty to say, “I take thee, Lord Jesus, as my wisdom,” and to do the next thing, nothing doubting; assured that He will not permit those who trust in Him to be ashamed.
II. Let us appropriate Christ as our Righteousness.
It is not necessary to convince the readers of these lines that they need a righteousness, in whose stainless white they may stand accepted before the Holy Father. That, alas! is but too apparent. Conscious of our nakedness and sin, we once sought to establish our own righteousness, stitching together the fig-leaves, which died as we plucked them, and became sere and shrivelled. But since then we have submitted ourselves to the righteousness of God, which is by faith. There is often, however, an apparent doubt in Christian hearts as to their relation to that righteousness; and they do not realize that, whether they feel it or not, it is, nevertheless, covering them, in all its radiant beauty; for in the thought of God, every believer is arrayed in the beauteous dress of the Saviour’s finished work. “It is upon all them that believe.” (Romans 3:22) There is only one kind of faith, and directly it is exercised, though amid many doubts and fears, the believer is justified, accepted in the Beloved, and accounted not only as forgiven, but as righteous in the sight of God. This is so, whether it be realized or not.
The first moment of faith is the time when we begin to appropriate the righteousness of Christ. At first it is with trembling hands that we gird ourselves in the dress that cost our Lord so much. We fear, as we enter the most holy place, and stand where angels worship; but, as the days pass on, and we learn more of its efficiency, its adaptation to our need, and its preciousness in the sight of God, we become more assured of our position, and notwithstanding repeated failures in the past, the misgivings of nature, and the taunts of hell, we have boldness to enter into that which is within the vail.
Jesus Christ has been made to us righteousness by God; but He needs to be appropriated by faith when we are first convinced of sin, and ever after, when conscious of our worthlessness and guilt. How triumphant the ejaculation, “Jesus, I flee unto Thee to hide me; I appropriate Thee as my righteousness before God!”
“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God: for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.”
III. Let us appropriate Christ as our Sanctification.
Sanctification is separation—separation from sin; separation to God, to the point of devotion. There often arises before us the vision of a devoted life; such a life as Jesus lived, whose only thought was to do the will of God. To recognize God as the sole source of holiness. To lean on Him, and to listen for His voice within the heart as the sole and sufficient guide. To live apart from the restless aims and fretting ambitions of men. To be separate from sin—holy, harmless, and without rebuke. To keep ever in touch with God and His thoughts and aims. To obey him at all hazards and costs. To be the channel through which the river of God may flow down into earth’s desert places, making them rejoice and blossom—ah, what an ideal is here!
Yet at first this ideal mocks us sorely. It is high, we cannot attain unto it. And we shall be beaten by repeated failures until we learn the secret, which is just now our chosen theme. Apart from that, there is nothing for us, but sadly to renounce the bright vision as impossible; though perhaps reserved for saintly hearts which spend their time in cloistered piety.
But it is brought within the range of the humblest and weakest disciple, who renounces all hope of realizing it through nature’s efforts, and who appropriates Christ in his all-sufficiency. Trust the Holy Spirit to work in you a perpetual remembrance of the Lord Jesus; and then avail yourself of Him in all His offices and work. And amongst other aspects, be sure to appropriate Him as your sanctification. When tempted to cross the line of separation, or to relax the energy of your devotion, look upward, and say, “Be thou to me in fact that which the Father has already made Thee, in possibility and by right, my Sanctification.”
IV. Let us appropriate Christ as our Redemption.
We have been redeemed from the curse of the law, because He was made a curse for us. But we long to be redeemed from the power of sin. “The good we would, we do not; the evil we would not, we do.” And this longing shall be met; because it would not be like our God to leave us to the mercy of the strong Pharaoh-like foes, which have made us serve under cruel bondage for so long. He must come down to deliver us. Ah, what joyful news it is that He has done so, and has provided a sufficient deliverance in Jesus.
But this redemption waits our appropriation, as the flowers of spring await the hand of the flower-girl; or as the deliverance wrought for the Jews by Mordecai awaited their personal action, which made it their own. From this moment give up your strivings and endeavors, and take Christ as your deliverance from all the sins which have broken your peace, and cursed your joy. When the oppressor approaches you; when the old habit seeks to assert itself; when easily besetting sin begins to weave its snare about you, or suddenly to assail—then look up to the Saviour, and say, “I appropriate Thee as my redemption in this my hour of need!”
A lady traveling in the Southern States, after President Lincoln had proclaimed the freedom of the slaves, found a black woman, who was acting as a slave, because she did not know that her race was free. She had heard rumors, which her owner and others had denounced as lies. But as soon as she knew that she was free, she appropriated her freedom, and went forth into liberty. Let it he clearly understood that the Son has made us free, who bear His name; let us avail ourselves of our right; and go forth into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
This is the secret, then, of a glad and victorious life, unshadowed by cloud or defeat: Jesus Christ for all who believe; awaiting only the appropriation of the most trembling hand stretched out towards Him in expectation of faith.
It is a goodly land which the Lord our God giveth us in which scarceness and penury are unknown. Let us not linger on the threshold, but go in to possess it with songs of thanksgiving.