say, Is not this lovely? By Charles
Simeon. GAMES CHAPTER 1 VERSES 9-10 THE
POOR BROTHER OUGHT TO GLORY IN HIS HIGH POSITION, BUT THE ONE
WHO IS RICH SHOULD GLORY IN HIS LOW POSITION. Great and rich
believers, along with lowly and poor believers, are all one in
Christ and are equal with each other. Galatians 3.28 There is
neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for
you are all one in Christ Jesus. Colossians 3.11 Here there is
no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian,
Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all.
The same confessions of sin, however humiliating they may
be, proceed equally from the hearts of all. The same petitions
for grace, for mercy, for strength, are asked by all. The same devout
gratitude for spiritual blessings is poured forth by all. The word
is pronounced with the same authority to all, and entire submission
to it is required from them all. The same exceedingly great and
precious promises are guaranteed to them all. The same priceless
inheritance is reserved in heaven for all, who by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Christ alone, receive and obey the gospel. View both rich and poor believers,
sitting down together at the table of the Lord, as guests
equally invited and equally accepted by the great master of the feast.
all eating of the same bread, all drinking of the same cup,
all receiving into their souls the same divine blessings. Say,
is not this lovely? Is it not a true picture of heaven
itself, where the poor beggar Lazarus, whose sores the dogs
once licked, because he had not a friend to bind them up, now
sits down with all the prophets and apostles of the Lord at the
marriage supper of the Lamb? Yes, thus it is in the church
below. The rich and the poor meet together.
For the Lord is the Redeemer of them all, the Father of them
all, the Friend of them all, the Portion of them all. In Christ's
church on earth, both poor and rich are all in a measure, poor
in spirit, mournful over their sinfulness, meek and humble,
hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, holy
and Christly. In the body of Christ, there
is no place for despising the poor or envying the rich, as
the same honor and blessedness belong to all. Romans 12, verse
5. So in Christ we who are many
form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.