Acts 18:17 Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat… 1. To be named in the Bible is to be immortal. It is the misfortune of some names that they have found their way into the sacred book. All other records spoke well of them, living and dead, save this. What is this but to say that it is the misfortune of some lives to face an ordeal? Such was the case with Gallio. He refused, indeed, to condemn; but in escaping Scylla he incurs Charybdis, and becomes for all time the type of Indifference. The sweetness for which his friends love him in God's sight is feebleness. 2. In this particular instance he was not to blame. The Jews are trading upon toleration to invoke intolerance. Orthodoxy? Yes. Nonconformity? No. It is a question, not of crime, but of words and names. He will have nothing to do with it; and when the Gentile mob retaliate, he will have nothing to do with that. 3. The decision was right, but not the motive, which was not justice, but indifference to right and wrong. Thus Gallio passes from the stage in which for a moment he has stood with the gospel to enjoy his highly-gained favour with the Corinthians, to his pleasures, to Rome, and to suicide. I. EXCUSES FOR INDIFFERENCE. 1. Is not indifference a synonym for impartiality? 2. Look at the evil brought upon the world by that earnestness which is the opposite of indifference! When we see the harshness with which earnestness runs down opponents, it is almost refreshing to be in the presence of one who says, "We are all imperfect; live and let live." 3. To all this we may reply that indifference in some matters may be harmless, and even advantageous. We are not called upon to be earnest about everything. Nevertheless, there is a vice called indifference, which is only too common in our age. II. TO WHAT INDIFFERENCE IS DUE. 1. Affectation. The man does feel. The indifference is a pretence. 2. Early forcing. The modern tendency is to precipitate manhood, and the result of juvenile precocity is adult apathy. 3. Reaction. Earnestness meets with a check, or wears itself out. 4. Suspense. There is an impression abroad that in this transitional period intelligent minds can find no rest, and the "honest doubter" is the hero of the hour. 5. Sorrow. Some affliction has been taken amiss, there has been a nursing of the loss, and so life has lost its zest; or, without this, there may be an unhappiness, vague and all pervading, which strangles every energy of being. 6. Sin. How listless towards duty, etc., the man who carries everywhere with him a guilty conscience. III. THE DUTY OF INTERESTING OURSELVES IN SOMETHING. 1. God has constituted us differently, and set us in a world fertile in choices. He is not indifferent who cultivates this taste, study, occupation, or that. But in something which is first pure, then vigorous, wholesome, and of good report. God expects each one to interest himself, and with his might. 2. And while He leaves us a wide choice, He sets before us two objects concerning which He offers no choice. He who says, "I love God," and hateth his brother, is a Gallio; and so is he who says, "I cannot love God, but I will promote the welfare of society." (Dean Vaughan.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things. |
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