CHRIST CAME TO CALL SINNERS

“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Mark 2:17

He who came from heaven to be our example spent nearly thirty years of His life in common, mechanical labor; but during this time He was studying the Word and the works of God, and healing, teaching, all whom His influence could reach. When his public ministry began, He went about healing the sick, comforting the sorrowful, and preaching the gospel to the poor. This is the work of all His followers….In the heart touched by His love, there is begotten a desire to work for Him. Let this desire be encouraged and rightly guided. Whether in the home, the neighborhood, or the school, the presence of the poor, the afflicted, the ignorant, or the unfortunate, should be regarded, not as a misfortune, but as affording precious opportunity for service. In this work, as in every other, skill is gained in the work itself. It is by training in the common duties of life and in ministry to the needy and suffering, that efficiency is assured. Without this the best-meant efforts are often useless and even harmful, It is in the water, nor on the land, that men learn to swim.

The work of Christ was largely composed of personal interviews. He had a faithful regard for the one-soul audience, and that one soul has carried to thousands the intelligence received.

God takes men as they are, and educates them for His service, if they will yield themselves to him….Continual devotion establishes so close a relation between Jesus and his disciple that the Christian becomes like him in mind and character. Though a connection with Christ he will have clearer and broader views.

HE SHALL JUSTIFY MANY

“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” Isa. 53:11.

True holiness is wholeness in the service of God. This is the condition of true Christian living. Christ asks for an unreserved consecration, for undivided service. He demands the heart, the mind, the soul, the strength. Self is not to be cherished. He who lives to himself is not a Christian. Love must be the principle of action. Love is the underlying principle of God’s government in heaven and earth, and it must be the foundation of the Christian’s character. This alone can make and keep him steadfast. This alone can enable him to withstand trial and temptation.

And love will be revealed in sacrifice. The plan of redemption was laid in sacrifice, - a sacrifice so broad and deep and high that it is immeasurable. Christ gave all for us, and those who receive Christ will be ready to sacrifice all for the sake of their Redeemer. The thought of his honour and glory will come before anything else. If we love Jesus, we shall love to live for Him, to present our thank-offerings to Him, to labor for Him.

The redeemer will not accept divided service. Daily the worker for God must learn the meaning of self –surrender. He must study the Word of God, learning its meaning and obeying its precepts. Thus he may reach the standard of Christian excellence. Day by day God works with him, perfecting the character that is to stand in the time of final test. And day by day the believer is working out before men and angels a sublime experiment, showing what the gospel can do for fallen human beings.

THE SON OF MAN CAME TO MINISTER

“Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.” Matt. 20:28.

He called men, not to authority, but to service, the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak. Power, position, talent, education, placed their possessor under the greater obligation to serve his fellows. To even the lowliest of Christ’s disciples it is said, “All things are for your sakes.”…Among His disciples Christ was in every sense a caretaker, a burden-bearer. He shared their poverty, He practiced self-denial on their account, He went before them to smooth the more difficult places, and soon He would consummate His work on earth by laying down His life. The principle on which Christ acted is to actuate the members of the church which is His body. The plan and ground of salvation is love. In the kingdom of Christ those are greatest who follow the example He has given, and act as shepherds of His flock.

But Christ reaches us where we are. He took our nature and overcame, that we through taking His nature might overcome. …Jesus had shown in what righteousness consists, and had pointed to God as its source. Now He turned to practical duties. In alms giving , in prayer, in fasting, He said, let nothing be done to attract attention or win praise to self. Give in sincerity, for the benefit of the suffering poor. In prayer, let the soul commune with God. In fasting, go not with the head bowed down, and heart filled with thoughts of self…..it is he who yields himself most unreservedly to God that will render Him the most acceptable service. For through fellowship with God men become workers together with him in presenting his character in humanity.

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 5:16

Throughout the world, messengers of mercy are needed. There is a call for Christian families to go into communities that are in darkness and error, to go to foreign fields, to become acquainted with the needs of their fellow men, and to work for the cause of the Master. If such families would settle in the dark places of the earth, places where the people are enshrouded in spiritual gloom, and let the light of Christ’s life shine out through them, what a noble work might be accomplished.

This work requires self-sacrifice. While many are waiting to have every obstacle removed, the work they might do is left undone, and multitudes are dying without hope and without God. Some for the sake of commercial advantage, or to acquire scientific knowledge, will venture into unsettled regions, and cheerfully endure sacrifice and hardship; but how few for the sake of their fellow men are willing to move their families into regions that are in need of the gospel.

To reach the people, wherever they are, and whatever their position or condition, and to help them in every way possible,- this is true ministry. By such effort you may win hearts, and open a door of access to perishing souls.

In all your work remember that you are bound up with Christ, a part of the great plan of redemption. The love of Christ, in a healing. life-giving current, is to flow through your life. As you seek to draw others within the circle of His love, let the purity of your language, the unselfishness of your service, the joyfulness of your demeanour; bear witness to the power of His grace.

WE ARE CO-WORKERS WITH HIM

“We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” 2 Cor. 6:1

In the life of Christ, everything was made subordinate to His work, the great work of redemption which He came to accomplish. And the same devotion, the same self-denial and sacrifice the same subjection to the claims of the Word of Good, is to be manifest in His disciples.

Everyone who accepts Christ as his personal Saviour will long for the privilege of serving God. Contemplating what heaven has done for him, his heart is moved with boundless love and adoring gratitude. He is eager to signalize his gratitude by devoting his abilities to Good’s serve. He longs to show his love for Christ and for His purchased possession. He covets toil, hardship sacrifice.

The true worker for God will do his best because in so doing he can glorify his Master. He will do right in order to regard the requirements of God. He will endeavor to improve all his faculties. He will perform every duty as unto God. His one desire will be that Christ may receive homage and perfect service.

There is a picture representing a bullock standing between a plow and an altar, with the inscription, “Ready for either” ready to toil in the furrow or to be offered on the altar of sacrifice. This is the position of the true child of Good,-willing to go where duty calls, to deny self, to sacrifice for the Redeemer’s cause.

The talents, however few, are to be put to use. The question that most concerns us is not how much have I received? But, what am I doing with that which I have?

GO AND BRING FORTH FRUIT

October the First                         Service for God and With God

I HAVE ORDAINED YOU

“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” John 15:16.

The life on earth is the beginning of the life in heaven; education on earth is an initiation into the principles of heaven the lie life-work here is a training for the life-work there. What we now are, in character and holy service, is the sure fore-shadowing of what we shall be…Christ’s work below is his work above, and our reward for working with him in this world will be the  greater power and wider privilege of working with Him in the world to come….

In our life here, earthly, sin-restricted, though it is, the greatest joy and the highest education are in service. And in the future state, untrammelled by the limitations of sinful humanity, it is in service that our greatest joy and our highest education will be found; - Witnessing, and ever as we witness learning anew “the riches of the glory of this mystery;” “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Christ gave no stinted service. He did not measure his work by hours. His time, His heart, his soul and strength, were given to labour for the benefit of humanity. Through weary days He toiled, and through long nights He bent in prayer for grace and endurance that he might do a larger work….

“The love of Christ,” said Paul, “constraineth us.” This was the actuating principle of his conduct; it was his motive-power.