As our custom is we come together each first day of
the week to worship him who is our Creator, to sing praise to his great Name,
and to hear those things that are contained in his Word. We realize, though we
are not as aware of it as we should be at all times, that we are a people who
have been blessed in great measure, a people who have every reason to praise
and glorify the Name of him who has called us out of nature's darkness into the
marvelous light of his gospel of truth.
We say many times when we assemble together that it is good for us to be
there; and so it is. It is good for us
to lay down the things of the flesh to refresh our minds in that which pertains
to the Spirit.
We know of nothing that we can set our minds on that
will be of greater benefit to us than those things that will reimpress upon our
minds the things that are contained in God's Word: the things which properly
used are able to build us up in our most holy faith; the things that will make
the difference in whether our eternal destiny will be the glorious privilege of
an everlasting association with what we might term the "cream of the
crop" of all that have lived upon the earth, that is, Christ and his
Saints, or whether our lot will be everlasting destruction from the face of the
great King.
There are many different phases of the Word of God,
many different thoughts that the different portions of the Word suggest to our
minds. Sometimes our attention is drawn to sober reflection, sometimes to
thanksgiving, to praise, to the basic fundamentals of the gospel, to prophecy,
or to one of the various other phases of the Word. While all bear in one direction, there are many phases, so that
the follower of Christ might attain to that true balance that is godliness. As
we read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: that the
man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works". We
believe that Christ is a perfect example of that balance of character which can
be attained only by a thorough understanding of every phase of that which Paul
terms "that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God". Whatever
phase of this Word we turn our attention to it is always our purpose to gain
from his Word that understanding and strength that God intended his people to
gain therefrom.
It
is a readily recognized fact that one of our prime needs is spiritual food,
that which will renew, strengthen, and
build up the spiritual man which is so diverse from the flesh. We are rightly labeled "leaky
vessels" when it comes to retaining spiritual things. It is therefore
necessary that we constantly be replenishing our storehouse. It is so easy to
become so involved in the business of daily living that the spiritual can
easily slip to the background. This
ought not to be so, some might say; but because we are what we are, it is
so, and we must act accordingly. We ought to give earnest heed to the
things which we have heard, for these are the things which we need as guides
every step of our way. These are the things which, if followed, will make of us
servants of God and brethren of Christ; which, if ignored, will make us to be
servants of the flesh.
The longer we live in the Truth the more plain becomes
the truth spoken by Christ, that a man cannot serve two masters. A divided mind seeking the Lord serves not
at all. "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." A halfhearted desire can produce only a
halfhearted effort, and a halfhearted effort is of no value in the eyes of him
with whom we have to do. To give
ourselves wholly, is the admonition and the only acceptable service. "If
any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever will
lose his life for my sake shall find it."
In many places in the Scriptures we read of the
troubled end of the fearful and the unbelieving. We don't need to be afraid, brothers
and sisters, to give up anything in this life for the sake of Christ. We need
not be afraid to give our whole heart and soul to serving him. The same God who
provided bread, meat, and water for the children of Israel in a position where natural
means could not possibly have sustained them, has not changed one iota. We
today are as dependent upon him for the essentials of life as they were in the
wilderness; the only difference is that it was manifested to them in such a way
that they could not fail to see it, and to us it is a matter of seeing by
faith.
In
the course of the many parables of the 13th chapter of Matthew we find the
kingdom of heaven likened unto "treasure hid in a field; the which when a
man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he
hath, and buyeth that field. And again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a
merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great
price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."
The teaching of these parables is so obvious and so
often expounded that our ears may be dulled to the full implication of the
teaching: that if we are to have God's treasure we must sell all that we have
in order to buy it. Let us try to realize the greatness of the treasure we have
found and not hesitate to sell all that we have to gain this great treasure, to
buy this goodliest of pearls.
We remember the words of Paul that he that soweth
bountifully shall reap bountifully, and he that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly
(2 Cor. 9:6). We would think a man foolish who had a field capable of yielding
richly, should he be very careful to sow his seed sparingly, fearing as to the
increase. The spiritual field is one
that is capable of yielding most bountifully.
Would we not appear foolish if we were careful to sow sparingly? Such a procedure would have all the markings
of doubt as to the increase that will be yielded. These words of advice to the
Corinthians were from one who did not hesitate to give his all to the work to
which he was sent by Christ; and we may be sure that when Christ returns that
the apostle Paul will reap a most bountiful harvest.
We
remember Christ placed as the first and great commandment, that we should love
the Lord our God; and. the terms he used to express the extent of this love go
far beyond the average feeling of duty towards God. There is a tendency in the
flesh to think that we can go to the meetings and do our daily readings—devote
as it were a set time to things spiritual and use the rest of our time as we
see fit.
We
believe that the implication of the words of Christ is that the love of God
ought to permeate the whole of our lives; that everything that we do should be
to His honor, glory and praise. We
would not say for a moment that our every word and thought must be on the
Truth, for we believe such would only encourage hypocrisy. We do, however,
believe that our every word, thought and deed should be in a Spirit in harmony
with his righteous ways, that we should have the counsel of his Word so
engraved upon our minds as to enable us to discern in all things that which is
in harmony with the spirit of Christ.
We do believe that the condition spoken of by the
apostle Paul when he said, "All seek their own, not the things which are
Jesus Christ's", is not the best state we could hope to be found in. Happy
are we when we have a portion of the spirit of him who said that it was his
meat and drink to do the will of his Father. When we can without hypocrisy say
it is our meat and drink to do the will of God, then we may be sure that we
love him in a manner acceptable in his sight.
We look forward to the day when Christ will return to
this earth, to the day when we will be called to give an account of the deeds
done in the flesh. While we are looking
forward is the time when we ought to be exceedingly careful that we do our
utmost to be honest with ourselves, yea, we might say to be honest with
Christ. That day will show no bias to
the deceitful whims of the flesh, for his judgment of right and wrong will be
in accordance with the holiness and righteousness of God.
We
believe that that day will be one in which a good and honest heart will be a
great asset, an inseparable companion of that righteousness which cometh by
faith. The day in which Christ metes out righteous judgment will be no day for
the fearful and the unbelieving, no day for those who were fearful of sowing
bountifully, secretly fearful as to the increase; no day for that servant who
will in effect say, "Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept
laid up in a napkin: for I feared thee". We read of such a day in Isaiah
33:14, "The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the
hypocrites".
Blessed
are we if we are found in that day among that number who in an honest and good
heart, having heard the Word, kept it, and have brought forth fruit with
patience. "The sinners in Zion are afraid; tearfulness hath surprised the
hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall
dwell with everlasting burnings (immortality)?
He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain
of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth
his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he
shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks;
bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eyes shall see the
king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off. Thine
heart shall meditate terror. Where is the
scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers? Thou shalt
not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive;
of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemities:
thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not
be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall
any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us
a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars,
neither shall gallant shin pass thereby. For the Lord is our judge, the
Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us" (Isaiah 33:
14:22).
Let us, brothers and sisters, realize that we have
truly found a great treasure, and let us not hesitate to sell all that we have
that we might gain this great treasure for ourselves.
William
Winfree
The Christadelphian
Advocate, November 1954, pgs 248-251