The trumpet-call of the gospel.
Since it is light that manifests, there must be a rousing voice to awake the sleeper, that the light of life may be poured fully upon him.
I. THE PERSON ADDRESSED. "Thou that sleepest." Sleep is an apt figure to describe the sinner.
1. He lives in an unreal world, full of dreams and fancies, quite unconscious of the real world around him. The sinner dreams of safety and peace. He is carnally secure (Romans 13:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:6). He may even walk in his sleep.
2. He is wholly unprotected against danger. If he knew of his danger, he would not be asleep. He needs, therefore, to be roused.
3. His work is wholly suspended. So long as the sinner sleeps in spiritual death he does no good, he gets no good, he cares for nothing. The figure of the text is, therefore, very expressive.
II. THE COMMAND ADDRESSED TO THE SLEEPER. "Awake .. and arise from the dead." The first thing is to open the eyes; but we are not to suppose that the sinner has any power of himself to open them, any more than the man with the withered hand had power to stretch it forth before Christ said, "Stretch forth thine hand." It is the light which Christ is to shed upon the sleeper that will awake him. Just as the sun in the natural heavens, shining upon the eye of a sleeper, awakes him, so the beams of the Sun of righteousness end the sleep of death.
1. The cry, "Awake!" is the voice of love. A mother's love will lull her child to sleep, but if the house is on fire, it will take another turn, and startle the child from its slumbers.
2. The cry, "Awake!" is the voice of wisdom. The sinner loses much by sleeping. The thief pilfers by night. The tare-sower goes forth in darkness to sow his seed. If you sleep on till death, you lose everything.
3. The cry is a voice of command. Who commands? It is he who redeemed you with his precious blood.
4. It is a voice you have often heard—in sermons, in sickness, in sorrows, in calamities.
III. THE PROMISE TO THE SLEEPER. "And Christ shall give thee light." The light that comes from Christ can reach even the dead: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). The dead are not quickened before they hear his voice, but his voice causes them to hear and live. Christ will give you light to carry you out of the society of the dead into the companionship of the children of light, because it has already introduced you into the fellowship of the Father and the Son. "Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the amour of light."—T.C.
The circumspect walk.
I. ITS NECESSITY. The duty of reproof involved the necessity of circumspection in those who were bound to administer it. It may be a small thing to Christians "to be judged of man's judgment" (1 Corinthians 4:3), yet they cannot afford to disregard the force of public opinion. They ought to "have a good report of them which are without" (1 Timothy 3:7). It is evidently with reference to onlookers that the counsel of the apostle is given. "Walk m wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time" (Colossians 4:5). When we consider the number of our enemies, the inconstancy of our minds, the strictness of the Divine requirements, and the jealousy our Divine Master cherishes over his people, it is impossible to walk acceptably unless we walk circumspectly.
II. THE NATURE OF THIS WALK. We are to "walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise."
1. We are to have knowledge of the true way (Jeremiah 6:16; Matthew 7:14), not as the fool, who misses the path.
2. We are to follow the light that falls upon our path, not like the fool, who turns aside to darkness, only to stumble in it (Proverbs 4:27).
3. We are to foresee the dangers of the way and provide against them, not like "the simple, who pass on and are punished" (Proverbs 22:3).
4. We are to have the Lord for our Companion by the way, like "Enoch, who walked with God" (Genesis 5:22). The fool seeks the company of the foolish.
5. We are to keep in view the end of our walk. "Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:9).
III. THE APPLICATION OF THIS PRINCIPLE TO THE PROFITABLE USE OF OPPORTUNITY. "Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." There can be no wise or careful walking without a due consideration both of the value of time and of the importance of using our opportunities for doing good.
1. The nature of this redemption of time. It is not the mere effort to rescue the fleeting hours of our life from idleness, vanity, distraction, or excessive devotion to business, but an effort to lay hold of opportunities for doing good, to make the most of them, to allow no distractions of pleasure or life to stand in the way of their right employment. Jesus, in his extreme youth, was eager to be "about his Father's business" (Luke 2:49). We are to do good unto all men "as we have opportunity" (Galatians 6:10). We are to do good to our very enemies, after the example of that Father who "maketh his sun to rise upon the evil and the good" (Matthew 5:45). We are to use our opportunities also for receiving good, giving all diligence to make our calling and our election sure (2 Peter 1:10).
2. Reasons for redeeming the time. "Because the days are evil." It is not because our days are few, though that is also a very good reason.
The reason assigned by the apostle is the evil of the days. Time must not be lost if the evil is to be quickly and effectively counteracted. The apostle does not hint the nature of the evil. Yet it is allowable to suppose that the days were evil, not in themselves, but by reason of man's wickedness and folly.
There is, therefore, all the more reason for Christians bestirring themselves in all seasons and spheres of action to counteract the evil of the days.—T.C.