LivePrayerSermon 1484. Our Motto
(No. 1484)
DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JULY 20, 1879,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"With goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men." Ephesians 6:7.
THIS sentence was expressly addressed, in the first place, to "servants," which term includes and, first of all intends, thosewho unhappily were slaves. There were many slaves in the Roman Empire and the form of bondage which then existed was of thebitterest kind. I can imagine a slave becoming a Christian and so finding peace as to his former guilt and obtaining renewalof heart-and then, although rejoicing in the Lord, I can well conceive that he would often be downcast in view of his sadcondition as a slave. I see him sitting down and moaning to himself, "I am a bondsman under a tyrant master. I have alreadyendured many cruelties and may expect many more. I would be free, but there is no hope of escape, since there is no placeto which I can flee, for Caesar's arm is long and would reach me at the very ends of the earth. I cannot purchase my liberty,nor earn it by long years of faithful servitude.
"Neither can my fellow salves and I effect our deliverance by rebellion, for this has been tried and has ended in terriblebloodshed. I am hopelessly a slave. What shall I do? How shall I sustain my fate? My life is well-near intolerable-would toGod it were at an end." I can imagine the poor slave going to his cramped bed under the stairs- for in any hole or corner,the Roman slave might find such little rest as was allowed him-and there he would almost wish to sleep himself into anotherworld. Being a Christian, as I have supposed, he pours out his heart before God in prayer and, in answer to his cry, the LordJesus sets before him the rich consolation which He has provided for all that mourn-consolation strong enough to enable himto endure to the end and glorify the name of Jesus even under such hard conditions!
While yet troubled in mind, this freeman of the Lord, who is yet in bonds to man, is met by the Savior Himself. He appearsto him-I will not say in such form as could be perceived by the eyes, but in clear enough vision to be exceedingly influentialover his spirit. Jesus stands before him. The five wounds adorning Him like precious rubies are infallible tokens! The facelit up with an unearthly splendor is still marked with the old lines of sorrow and the head bears the crown of thorns stillabout its brow. The poor slave casts himself at his Redeemer's feet with astonishment, with awe and with intense delight!And then I think I hear those dear lips which are as lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh saying to His poor servant, "Fulfillyour service bravely. Do it unto Me. Forget your tyrant master and remember only Me. Bear on, work on, suffer on and do allas unto Me and not unto men."
Then I think I see the broken-hearted captive rising up refreshed with inward strength and I hear him say, "I will even bearthe yoke until my Lord shall call me away! Unless His Providence shall open for me a door of liberty, I will patiently abidewhere I am and suffer all His will, hopefully and joyfully serving because He bids me do it for His sake." A vision whichwould so greatly comfort the poor Roman slave in his extremity may well stand before each one of us. Let us each hear ourSavior say, "Live unto Me and do all for My sake." Our service is so much more pleasant and easy than that of slaves-let usperform it "with good will doing service, as unto the Lord, and not to men." Our princely motto is, "I serve"-be this sentenceemblazoned on our banner and used as the battle cry of life's campaign!
Notice well that the Holy Spirit does not bid us leave our stations in order to serve the Lord. He does not bid us foregothe domestic relations which make us husbands or wives; parents or children; masters or servants! He does not suggest to usto put on a peculiar garb and seek the seclusion of a monastery, or the retirement of monastic or conventual life. Nothingof the kind is hinted at! But rather He bids the servant continue in his or her service-"with goodwill doing service." Ourgreat Captain would not have you hope to win the victory by leaving your post! He would have you abide in your trade, calling,profession and all the while serve the Lord in it, doing the will of God from the heart in common things.
This is the practical beauty of our holy faith-that when it casts the devil out of a man it sends him home to bless his friendsby telling them what great things the Lord has done for him. Grace does not transplant the tree, but bids it overshadow theold house at home, as before, and bring forth good fruit where it is! Grace does not make us unearthly, though it makes usunworldly. True religion distinguishes us from others, even as our Lord Jesus was separate from sinners, but it does not shutus up or hedge us round about as if we were too good or too tender for the rough usage of everyday life! It does not put usin the salt box and shut the lid, but it casts us in among our fellow men for their good!
Grace makes us the servants of God while we are the still servants of men-it enables us to do the business of Heaven whilewe are attending to the business of earth-it sanctifies the common duties of life by showing us how to perform them in thelight of Heaven. The love of Christ makes the lowliest acts sublime. As the sunlight brightens a landscape and sheds beautyover the most common scene, so does the Presence of the Lord Jesus! The spirit of consecration renders the offices of domesticservitude as sublime as the worship which is presented upon the sea of glass before the Eternal Throne by spirits to whomthe courts of Heaven are their familiar name.
I suggest my text to all Believers as the motto of their lives! Whether we are servants or masters, whether we are poor orrich, let us take this as our watchword, "As to the Lord, and not to men." From now on may this be the engraving of our sealand the motto of our coat of arms! May it be the constant rule of our life and the sum of our motives. In advocating thisgracious aim of our being, let me say that if we are enabled to adopt this motto it will, first of all, influence our workitself. And, secondly, it will elevate our spirit concerning that work. Yet let me add, thirdly, that if the Lord shall reallybe the All in All of our lives, it is, after all, only what He has a right to expect and what we are under a thousand obligationsto give to Him!
I. Our subject opens with this reflection, that if from now on whether we live, we live unto the Lord, or whether we die,we die unto the Lord, THIS CONSECRATION WILL GREATLY INFLUENCE OUR ENTIRE WORK. Do you say, my Brothers and Sisters, thatfrom now on your whole life shall be a service of the Lord? Then it will follow, first, that you will have to live with asingle eye to His Glory. See how in verse 5 we are told, "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according tothe flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ"? If we do, indeed, live "as to the Lord,"we must necessarily live wholly to the Lord.
The Lord Jesus is a most engrossing Master. He has said, "No man can serve two masters," and we shall find it so. He willhave everything or nothing! If, indeed, He is our Lord, He must be our only Sovereign, for He will not tolerate a rival. Itcomes to pass then, O Christian, that you are bound to live for Jesus and for Him alone. You must have no coordinate or evensecondary objective or divided aim-if you divide your heart, your life will be a failure. As no dog can follow two hares atone time, or he will lose both, certainly no man can follow two contrary objectives and hope to secure either of them. No,it behooves a servant of Christ to be a concentrated man-his affections should be bound up into one affection-and that affectionshould not be set on things on the earth, but on things above.
His heart must not be divided, or it will be said of him as of those in Hosea, "Their heart is divided; now shall they befound wanting." The chamber of the heart is far too narrow to accommodate the King of kings and the world, or the flesh, orthe devil at the same time. We have no wish, desire, ambition, or exertion to spare for a rival lord-the service of Jesusdemands and deserves all. Such is the eminence of this objective, that all a man has or can have by reason or strength mustbe spent this way if he is to win. Nor is this too much for our great Lord to expect from those for whom He has done so much.
To whom should I give a part of myself, my Master? You have redeemed me wholly and I am altogether Yours-take full possessionof me! Who else can be worthy of my heart? Who else can have a right to set foot within the province where You are King? No,rule alone, blessed and only Potentate! As You, alone, have redeemed me, alone treading the winepress of wrath for me, soshall You be sole Monarch of my soul! You are all my salvation and all my desire and, therefore, You shall have all my homageand service. With such a Lord to be served, the current of our life must run in only one channel-that He may have it all andnone may run to waste.
Next, to do service to the Lord, we must live with holy carefulness, for what says the context? We are to serve, "with fearand trembling." In the service of God we should use great care to accomplish our very best and we should feel a deep anxietyto please Him in all things. There is a trade called paper staining, in which a man flings colors upon paper to make commonwall decorations. And by rapid processes acres of paper can be speedily finished. Suppose that the paper
stainer should laugh at an eminent artist because he had covered such a little space, having been stippling and shading alittle tiny piece of his picture by the hour together? Such ridicule would, itself, be ridiculous! Now the world's way ofreligion is the paper stainer's way, the daubing way-there is plenty of it and it is quickly done.
But God's way, the narrow way, is a careful matter. There is but little of it and it costs thought, effort, watchfulness andcare. Yet see how precious is the work of art when it is done and how long it lasts-and you will not wonder that a man spendshis time upon it. Even so, true godliness is acceptable with God and it endures forever and, therefore, it well repays theearnest effort of the man of God. The miniature painter has to be very careful of every touch and tint, for a very littlemay spoil his work. Let our life be a miniature painting-"with fear and trembling" let it be worked out. We are serving thethrice Holy God who will be held in reverence of them that come near to Him. Let us mind what we do.
Our blessed Master never made a faulty stroke when He was serving His Father. He never lived a careless hour, nor let dropan idle word. Oh, it was a careful life He lived-even the night watches were not without the deep anxieties which poured themselvesforth in prayer unto God! And if you and I think that the first thing which comes to hand will do with which to serve ourGod, we make a great mistake and grossly insult His name! We must have a very low idea of His infinite majesty if we thinkthat we can honor Him by doing His service half-heartedly, or in a slovenly style. No, if you will, indeed, live "as to theLord, and not unto man," you must watch each motion of your heart and life, or you will fail in your design. Living as tothe Lord means living with a concentrated spirit and living with earnest care that our one service may be the best of whichwe are capable when at our best estate. Alas, how poor is that best when we reach it! Truly, when we have done all, we areunprofitable servants, but even then, that all is seldom reached.
Further, if from now on our desire is to live "as to the Lord, and not unto men," then what we do must be done with all ourheart. "In singleness of your heart," says the context. And again, in the sixth verse, "As the servants of Christ, doing thewill of God from the heart." Our work for Jesus must be the outgrowth of the soil of the heart. Our service must not be performedas a matter of routine-there must be vigor, power, freshness, reality, eagerness and warmth about it-or it will be good fornothing. No fish ever came upon God's altar because it could not come there alive-the Lord needs none of your dead, heartlessworship! You know what is meant by putting all our heart into all that we do- explain it by your lives! A work which is tobe accepted of the Lord must be heart-work throughout-not a few thoughts of Christ, occasionally, and a few chill words anda few chance gifts and a little done by way of by-play-but as the heart beats so must we serve God! It must be our very life!
We are not to treat our religion as though it were a sort of weekend farm which we were willing to keep going but not to makemuch of, our chief thoughts being engrossed with the home farm of self and the world with its gains and pleasures. Our Lordwill be aut Caesar aut nullus, either ruler or nothing! My Master is a jealous Husband-He will not tolerate a stray thoughtof love elsewhere and He thinks it scorn that they who call themselves His beloved should love others better than Himself!Such unchastity of heart can never be permitted-let us not dream of it! We may not claim to be His if we give Him only lipservice, brain service or hand service-He must have the heart!
Oh, our beloved Lord, You did not spare Your heart from agony for us! The lance opened it with all its costly double floodfor our unworthy sakes! Therefore You cannot be content to receive, in return, lifeless forms and cold pretences! You didlive, indeed-there was no sham about Your life. In all You did You were intense. The zeal of Your Father's house had eatenYou up. You were clad with zeal as with a cloak which covered You from head to foot. Let us live somewhat after this gloriousfashion, for a servant only truly lives when he lives as his master. "He that is perfect shall be as His Master." If we areto live to the Lord, the fountains of our soul must flow with boiling floods and our life must be like a great Icelandic geysercasting up its columns of water which seethe and boil as they rise.
As great earthquakes shake the very center, so must there be movements of life within us which stir our soul with vehementlongings for Jesus and with intense yearnings for His Glory. All our light and life must turn to love and that love must beall on flame for Jesus. If we truly live unto Christ it must be so! What else says the passage before us? If we say-from nowon I will do the will of God as to the Lord and not unto men, then we must do it under subjection, for note well the words,"doing the will of God." Some people's religion is only another way of doing their own will. They pick and choose what preceptsthey will keep and what they will neglect. They choose what doctrines they shall hold and what they shall refuse-their spiritis not bowed into sacred servitude, but takes license to act according to its own
pleasure. The freedom of a Christian lies in what I will venture to call an absolute slavery to Christ! And we never becometruly free till every thought is brought into subjection to the will of the Most High.
Now, if from now on I live to God, I have no longer any right to say, "I will do this or that," but I must inquire, "My Master,what would You have me do?" As the eyes of the maidens are to their mistress, so are our eyes up to You, O Lord. Believer,your Master is to will for you from now on! It is idle to say, "I shall live as to the Lord and not unto men," when all thewhile we intend to live in our own fashion! Which is to be master, now, self or Christ? On every point this question mustbe settled, for if on any point we assume the personal mastery, the rule of Jesus is wholly refused! To go or to stand still,to suffer or to be in pleasure, to be in honor or to be in disgrace is no more to be our option, or if we have a momentarychoice it is to be cheerfully resigned before the Sovereignty of Him whom we have now taken to be our All in All. There isno being a Christian if Christ does not have the throne in the heart and life. It is but the mockery of Christianity to callJesus Master and Lord while we do not do the things which He commands!
Again, we must do all this under a sense of the Divine oversight. Notice in verse 6 it is said of servants, "Not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers." What a mean and beggarly thing it is for a man only to do his work well when he is watched! Suchoversight is for boys at school and mere hirelings. You never think of watching noble-spirited men. Here is a young apprenticeset to copy a picture-his master stands over him and looks over each line, for the young rascal will grow careless and spoilhis work, or take to his games if he is not well looked after. Did anybody thus dream of supervising Raphael and Michelangeloto keep them to their work? No, the master artist requires no eyes to urge him on.
Popes and emperors came to visit the great painters in their studios, but did they paint better because these grandees gazedupon them? Certainly not! Perhaps they did all the worse in the excitement or the worry of the visit. They had regard to somethingbetter than the eyes of pompous people. So the true Christian needs no eyes of man to watch him. There may be pastors andpreachers who are better off for being looked after by bishops and presbyters, but fancy a bishop overseeing the work of MartinLuther and trying to quicken his zeal! Or imagine a presbyter looking after Calvin to keep him sound in the faith! Oh, no!Gracious minds outgrow the governance and stimulus which comes of the oversight of mortal man. God's own Spirit dwells withinus and we serve the Lord from an inward principle which is not fed from without.
There is about a real Christian a prevailing sense that God sees him and he does not care who else may set his eyes upon him-itis enough for him that God is there. He has little respect for the eyes of man. He neither courts nor dreads them! Let thegood deed remain in the dark, for God sees it and that is enough! Or let it be blazoned in the light of day to be pecked atby the censorious, for it little matters who censures, since God approves! This is to be a true servant of Christ-to escapefrom being an eye-servant to men by becoming, in the most sublime sense, an eye-servant of God- always working beneath theeyes of God. If we did but realize this, how well we should live! If now I remember, as I try to do, that God hears each wordI speak to you from this pulpit-that He reads my soul as I address you in His name-how ought I to preach?
And if you go to your Sunday school class this afternoon and picture Jesus sitting among the boys and girls and hearing howyou teach them-how earnestly you will teach! At home when you are about to scold a servant, or in the shop, when you thinkto do a rather sharp thing, if you think your Master stands there and sees it all, what a power it will have over you! Ourlives should all be spent under the spell of, "You see me, God," and we should each be able to declare, "I have set the Lordalways before me." One more thought, and it is this. If from now on we are to serve the Lord, and not men, then we must lookto the Lord for our reward and not to men. "Knowing," says the eighth verse, "that whatever good thing any man does, the sameshall he receive of the Lord, whether he is bond or free."
Wages! Is that the motive of a Christian? Yes, in the highest sense, for the greatest of the saints, such as Moses, have "hadrespect unto the recompense of the reward." And it were like despising the reward which God promises to His people if we hadno respect whatever unto it. Respect unto the reward which comes of God kills the selfishness which is always expecting areward from men. We can postpone our reward and we can be content, instead of receiving present praise, to be misunderstoodand misrepresented. We can postpone our reward and we can endure, instead of it, to be disappointed in our work and to laboron without success-for when the reward does come how glorious it will be!
An hour with Jesus will make up for a lifetime of persecution! One smile from Him will repay us a thousand times over forall disappointments and discouragements. Thus you see, Brothers and Sisters, that if we do, in very deed, make
this our rule and maxim-"As to the Lord, and not to men"-our work will be shaped and fashioned most wonderfully. May God grantthat the influence of this motive may manifestly sway our whole life from now on until we close it for this world and commenceit anew where we shall not need to shift our course, but shall continue eternally to live to the Lord alone!
II. May the Holy Spirit guide us while we reflect, secondly, that should this text become the inspiration of our life IT WOULDGREATLY ELEVATE OUR SPIRITS. What would it do for us? First, it would lift us above all complaining about the hardness ofour lot, or the difficulty of our service. "Alas," says one, "I am worn out! I cannot keep on at this rate. My position isso terribly trying that I cannot hold on much longer-it strains not only muscle and sinew, but nerve and heart. Nobody couldbear my burden long! My husband is cruel, my friends are unkind, my children are ungrateful." Ah, poor heart, there are manyothers who wear the weeping-willow as well as yourself!
But be of good courage and look at your case in another light. If the burden is to be borne for Jesus' sake, who loved youand gave Himself for you-by whose precious blood you are redeemed from the pains of Hell-can you not bear it? Can you notbear it? "That is quite another thing," you say. "I could not bear it for a sneering master. I could not bear it for a passionate,obstinate mistress. But I could do anything and I could bear anything for Jesus." This makes all the difference-
"For Him I count as gain each loss, Disgrace for Him, renown. Well may I glory in His Cross, While He prepares my crown!"
We are satisfied to bear any cross so long as it is His Cross! What wonders men can do when they are influenced by enthusiasticlove for a leader!
Alexander's troops marched thousands of miles on foot and they would have been utterly wearied had it not been for their zealfor Alexander. He led them forth conquering and to conquer. Alexander's presence was the life of their valor, the glory oftheir strength. If there was a very long day's march over burning sands, one thing they knew-that Alexander marched with them!If they were thirsty, they knew that he thirsted, too, for when one brought a cup of water to the king, he put it aside, thirstyas he was, and said, "Give it to a sick soldier." Once it so happened that they were loaded with the spoil which they hadtaken and each man had become rich with goodly garments and wedges of gold. Then they began to travel very slowly with somuch to carry and the king feared that he should not overtake his foe. Having a large quantity of spoil which fell to hisown share, he burned it all before the eyes of his soldiers and bade them do the same that they might pursue the enemy andwin even more!
"Alexander's portion lies beyond," he cried! And seeing the king's own spoils on fire, his warriors were content to give uptheir gains, also, and share with their king. He did, himself, what he commanded others to do-in self-denial and hardshiphe was a full partaker with his followers. After this fashion our Lord and Master acts towards us. He says, "Renounce pleasurefor the good of others. Deny yourself and take up your cross. Suffer, though you might avoid it. Labor, though you might rest,when God's Glory demands suffering or labor of you. Have not I set you an example?" "Who, though He was rich, yet for oursakes He became poor, that we, through His poverty, might be rich." He stripped Himself of all things that He might clotheus with His Glory! O, Brothers and Sisters, when we heartily serve such a Leader as this, and are fired by His Spirit, thenmurmuring, complaining, weariness and fainting of heart are altogether gone! A Divine passion carries us beyond ourselves-
"I can do all things, or can bear All suffering if my Lord is there."
Next, this lifts the Christian above the spirit of laziness. I believe great numbers of working men-I am not going to judgethem for it-always consider how little they can possibly do to earn their wages. The question with them is not, "How muchcan we give for the wage?" That used to be. But now, it is, "How little can we give? How little work can we do in the daywithout being discharged for idleness?" Many men say, "We must not do all the work today, for we shall need something to dotomorrow-our masters will not give us more than they can help and, therefore, we will not give them more than we are obligedto." This is the general spirit on both sides and as a nation we are going to the dogs because that spirit is among us-andwe shall be more and more beaten by foreign competition if this spirit is cultivated.
Among Christians such a notion cannot be tolerated in the service of our Lord Jesus. It never does for a minister to say,"If I preach three times a week it is quite as much as anybody will expect of me, therefore I shall do no more." It will neverbe right for you to say, "I am a Sunday school teacher. As long as I get to class on time-some of you do not do that-and aslong as I teach until the class time is over, I need not look after the boys and girls through the week. I cannot be botheredwith them-I will do just as much as I am bound to do, but no more." In a certain country town it was reported that the grocer'swife cut a plum in two, for fear there should be a grain more than weight in the parcel. The folks called her Mrs. Split-Plum.Ah, there are many Split-Plums in religion! They do not want to do more for Jesus than may be absolutely necessary. They wouldlike to give good weight, but they would be sorry to be convicted of doing too much.
Ah, when we get to feel we are doing service for our Lord Jesus Christ, we adopt a far more liberal scale! Then we do notcalculate how much ointment will suffice for His feet, but we give Him all that our box contains. Is this your talk, "Bringthe scales, this ointment cost a great deal of money and we must be economical. Watch every drachma, yes, every scruple andgrain, for the nard is costly"? If this is your cool manner of calculation, your offering is not worth a fig! Not so spokethat daughter of love of whom we read in the Gospels, for she broke the box and poured out all the contents upon her Lord."To what purpose is this waste?" cried Judas. It was Judas who thus spoke and you know, therefore, the worth of that observation!Christ's servants delight to give so much as to be thought wasteful, for they feel that when they have, in the judgment ofothers, done extravagantly for Christ, they have but begun to show their hearts' love for His dear name. Thus the elevatingpower of the spirit of consecration lifts us up above the wretched stinginess of mere formality.
Again, this raises us up above all boasting of our work. "Is the work good enough?" asked one of his servant. The man replied,"Sir, it is good enough for the price and it is good enough for the man who is going to have it." Just so, and when we "serve"men we may, perhaps, rightly judge in that fashion. But when we come to serve Christ, is anything good enough for Him? Ifour zeal knew no respite. If our prayers knew no pause. If our efforts knew no relaxation. If we gave all we have of time,wealth, talent and opportunity. If we should die a martyr's death a thousand times, wouldn't He, the Best Beloved of our souls,deserve far more? Ah, that He would! Therefore is self-congratulation banished forever! When you have done all, you will feelthat it is not worthy of the matchless merit of Jesus and you will be humbled at the thought! Thus, while doing all for Jesusstimulates zeal, it fosters humility-a happy blending of useful effects.
The resolve to do all as unto the Lord will elevate you above that craving for recognition which is a disease with many. Itis a sad fault in many Christians that they cannot do anything unless all the world is told of it. The hen in the farmyardhas laid an egg and feels so proud of the achievement that she must cackle about it-everybody must know of that one poor eggtill all the country round resounds with the news! It is so with some professors-their work must be published or they cando no more! "Here have I," said one, "been teaching in the school for years and nobody ever thanked me for it! I believe thatsome of us who do the most are the least noticed and what a shame it is."
But if you have done your service unto the Lord you would not talk so, or we shall suspect you of having other aims! The servantof Jesus will say, "I do not need human notice. I did it for my Master. He noticed me and I am content. I tried to pleaseHim and, by His Grace, I did please Him and, therefore, I ask no more, for I have gained my end. I seek no praise of men,for I fear lest the breath of human praise should tarnish the pure silver of my service." This would lift you above the discouragementwhich sometimes comes of human censure. If you seek the praise of men you will, in all probability, fail in the present andcertainly you will lose it in the future, sooner or later. Many men are more ready to censure than to commend-and to hopefor their praise is to seek for sugar in a root of wormwood.
Man's way of judging is unjust and seems fashioned on purpose to blame all of us, one way or another. Here is a Brother whosings bass and the critics say, "Oh yes, a very fine bass voice, but he could not sing treble." Here is another who excelsin treble and they say, "Yes, yes, but we prefer a tenor." When they find a tenor they blame him because he cannot sing bass.No one can be candidly praised, but all must be savagely censured! What will the great Master say about it? Will He not judgethus-"I have given this man a bass voice and he sings bass and that is what I meant him to do. I gave that man a tenor voiceand he sings tenor and that is what I meant him to do. I gave that man a treble voice and he sings treble and so takes thepart I meant him to take. All the parts blended together make up sweet music for My
ears"?
Wisdom is justified of her children, but Folly blames them all round. How little we ought to care about the opinions and criticismsof our fellow men when we remember that He who made us what we are and helps us, by His Grace, to act our part, will not judgeus after the mode in which men carp or flatter, but will accept us according to the sincerity of our hearts. If we feel, "Iwas not working for you; I was working for God," we shall not be much wounded by our neighbors' remarks. The nightingale charmsthe ear of night. A fool passes by and declares that he hates such distracting noises! The nightingale sings on, for it neverentered the little minstrel's head or heart that it was singing for critics-it sings because He who created it gave it thissweet faculty! So may we reply to those who condemn us-"We live not unto you, O men! We live unto our Lord." Thus do we escapethe discouragements which come of ungenerous misapprehension and jealous censure.
This, too, will elevate you above the disappointments of failures, yes, even of the saddest kind. If those you seek to blessare not saved, yet you have not altogether failed, for you did not teach or preach having the winning of souls as the absoluteultimatum of your work-you did it with the view of pleasing Jesus-and He is pleased with faithfulness even where it is notaccompanied with success. Sincere obedience is His delight even if it leads to no apparent results. If the Lord should setHis servant to plow the sea or sow the sand, He would accept his service. If we should have to witness for Christ's name inthe stocks and by stones-and if our hearers should be even worse than blocks of marble and should turn and tear us apart-wemay still be filled with contentment, for we shall have done our Lord's will and what more do we need? To plod on under apparentfailure is one of the most acceptable of all works of faith and he who can do it, year after year, is assuredly well-pleasingunto God.
This lifts us above disappointment in the prospect of death. We shall have to go away from our work soon, so men tell us,and we are apt to fret about it. The truth is we shall go on with our work forever if our service is pleasing to the Lord!We shall please Him up yonder even better than we do here! And what if our enterprise here should seem to end as far as manis concerned? We have done it unto the Lord and our record is on high and, therefore, it is not lost. Nothing that is donefor Jesus will be destroyed-the flower may fade, but its essence remains! The tree may fall, but its fruit is stored! Thecluster may be crushed, but the wine is preserved! The work and its place may pass away, but the glory which it brought toJesus shines as the stars forever and ever!
Yes, and this lifts us above the deadening influence of age and the infirmities which come with multiplied years. What littlewe can do, we do it all the more thoroughly for Jesus as our experience ripens! If we must contract the sphere, we condenseand intensify the motive. If we are living unto Christ, we love Him even when our heart grows cold to other things. When theeyes grow dim earthwards, they brighten towards Heaven! When the ears can hardly hear the voice of singing men and singingwomen, it still knows the music of Jesus' name! And when the hands can do little in human business, they begin feeling forthe strings of the celestial harp that it may make melody for the Well-Beloved! I know of nothing which can possibly elevateour spirit, as workers for Christ, like the sense of doing all unto the Lord and not unto men! May the Spirit of God helpus to rise into this perfect consecration!
I have not time to say more than just this word. A due sense of serving the Lord would ennoble all our service beyond conception.Think of working for Him-for HIM, the best of masters-before whom angels count it glory to bow! Work done for Him is, in itself,the best work that can be, for all that pleases Him must be pure and lovely, honest and of good report. Work for the eternalFather and work for Jesus are works which are good and only good! To live for Jesus is to be swayed by the noblest of motives.To live for the Incarnate God is to blend the love of God and the love of men in one passion. To live for the ever-livingChrist is elevating to the soul, for its results will be most enduring. When all other work is dissolved this shall abide.
Men spoke of painting for eternity, but we, in very deed, serve for eternity. Soon shall all worlds behold the nobility ofthe service of Christ, for it will bring with it the most blessed of all rewards. When men look back on what they have donefor their fellows, how small is the recompense of a patriotic life! The world soon forgets its benefactors. Many and manya man has been borne aloft in youth amidst the applause of men and then, in his old age, he has been left to starve into hisgrave. He who scattered gold at first, begs for pennies at last -the world called him generous while he had something to give,but when he had bestowed all, it blamed his imprudence! He who lives for Jesus will never have ground of complaint concerninghis Lord, for He forsakes not His saints.
No man has ever regretted what he did for Jesus, except that he may regret that he has not done 10 times more! The Lord willnot leave His old servants. "O God, You have taught me from my youth and up to now have I declared Your wondrous works. Now,also, when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not." Such was the prayer of David and he was confident of being heard.Such may be the confidence of every servant of Christ. He may go down to his grave untroubled! He may rise and enter the dreadsolemnities of the eternal world without a fear, for service for Christ creates heroes to whom fear is unknown!
III. I close by saying that if we enter into the very spirit of this discourse, or even go beyond it-if from now on we liveonly for Jesus, so as never to know pleasure apart from Him, nor to have treasure out of Him, nor honor but in His honor,nor success but in the progress of His Kingdom-WE SHALL EVEN THEN HAVE DONE NO MORE THAN HE DESERVES AT OUR HANDS. For, first,we are God's creatures. For whom should a creature live but for his Creator? Secondly, we are His new creatures, we are thetwice-born of Heaven-should we not live for Him by whom we have been begotten for Glory? As many as have believed in Jesusare the produce of that Divine power which raised the Son of God from the dead-shall they not live in newness of life? Godhas taken this pains with us, that He has made us twice over and He has made a new Heaven and a new earth for us to dwellin-whom should we serve with all our mind but Him by whom we have been made anew?
Then comes in redemption. We are not our own, for we are bought with a price. We dare not be selfish! We may not put selfin opposition to God. But I must go further-we may not allow self to be at all considered apart from God. Even when it seemsthat self and God might both be served at the same time, it must not be-self in any degree will spoil it all. We are neverto be masters, but always servants-and to serve ourselves is to make ourselves masters. Turn your eyes, O my heart, to theCross and see Him bleeding there whom Heaven adored! He is the Light of Glory, the joy and bliss of perfect spirits-and yetHe dies there in pangs unutterable-dies for me! O bleeding heart, my name was engraved upon You! O tortured brain, Your thoughtswere all of me!
O Christ, you loved me and love me still! And that I should serve You seems but natural! That I should pray to serve withintense white-hot enthusiasm is an impulse of my life. Do you not confess it so, my Brothers and Sisters? Besides, rememberyou are one with Christ. Whom should the spouse serve but her Husband? Whom should the hand serve but the Head? It scarcelyis service. Christ is your alter ego, your other self-no, your very self-should you not live for Him? You are bone of Hisbone and flesh of His flesh and, therefore, you must love Him. Let a Divine selfishness impel you to love your Lord.
No hand, I think, counts it hard to be serving his own head. Surely, it can be no hardness to do service to Him with whomwe are joined by bonds and bands of vital union! He is our Head and we are His body and His fullness. Let us fill up His Glory!Let us spread abroad the praises of His name! God help us to never finish this sermon, but to begin it now and go on preachingit in our lives, world without end! For Heaven shall be in this-"Not unto us, not unto us, but to Your name be praise!" Andthe beginnings of Heaven are with us now-the youth, the dawn of Glory, in proportion while we say from our very souls-"Whetherwe live, we live unto the Lord. And whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."
And so shall it be from now on and forever! As to those that know nothing of this, seeing they know not Christ, may the Lordbring them to believe in Jesus Christ this day, that they may, through His Grace, become His servants. Amen and amen.
PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON-Luke 6. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"-145, 660, 661.