“There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.” Luke 16:19-2119There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. (Luke 16:19‑21).
If you or I were told that we were heir to one of the kingdom’s of this world, would we not feel very rich, and would the thought not come to us at once of all the good we could do to our fellow men? But we are heirs to no such mean inheritance. Are not we the heirs of glory— “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ?” And the question stands before us, “How are we using our riches?”
At our very doors lies the vast Empire of China with its six hundred million perishing souls, starving for the “Bread of Life,” and her sores are such that the very dogs would pity her.
“A million every month in China are dying without God, and we who have received in trust the Word of Life, we are responsible.” During this period of China’s awakening from her age long slumber, now is the time to sow the Precious Seed—Who will go to the work? Who will share in the joy of the great harvest?
Some will say that God is sovereign, and if He wanted the people in China to be saved, He could bring it about. Do we tell our farmers, It is foolish to sow the seed that yields the golden harvest? God is sovereign! He has promised to feed His people; Why not sit at ease? We know this is not God’s way in the natural world; nor is it His way in spiritual things.
We know He did feed three million people in the wilderness for forty years, and He could just as easily feed China’s starving millions, but His world is, “Give ye them to eat.”
The Lord has called some of our number to carry the glad tidings of the Saviour’s dying love to these poor people. Are we helping together with our prayers? And if we really pray, can we stop there? It is pointed out that we are to pray, not as the heathen, who use vain repetitions, nor as the worldly-minded, who ask principally, if not solely, for their own benefit. “After this manner therefore pray ye,” putting the kingdom of God first and His righteousness.
The parting command of the Risen Saviour was, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:1515And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15). Have we been obedient to that command? In China is to be found half the heathen population of the whole world, and after nearly two thousand years, only the fringes have been touched by the gospel.
Many will say, We cannot go to China. What shall we do? The example of our Lord Himself is set before us, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
How did He act in view of the sin of a lost world—in view of His knowledge of the will of God? Was it not these things, the very conditions we too have to meet, that brought Him out of His heaven to limitless depths of self-emptying, even to “the death of the cross?” Grievously have His people failed in following that example. With the large majority of our fellow men, still destitute of the knowledge of salvation, How can we, owing everything to the sacrifice of the Son of God, remain comfortable and unconcerned in a life of self-pleasing? A thousand dying every hour of the day and night in China, and by far the greater part have not yet heard of a Saviour “mighty to save.”
“We have to do with One who is Lord of all power and might, whose arm is not shortened that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear; with One whose unchanging Word directs us to ask and receive that our joy may be full; to open our mouths wide that He may fill them; and we do well to remember that this gracious God, who has condescended to place His almighty power at the command of believing prayer, looks not lightly on the indifference of those who neglect to avail themselves of it for the benefit of the perishing.” And we repeat, “A million a month in China are dying without God; and we who have received in trust the Word of Life, we are responsible.” Responsible to assist in giving them the gospel directly or indirectly.
And it may be because we have been so slow in going to them, God has sent many thousand of them to this country. What report do these carry home of Christian America?
And what of the Chinese; Are they worth saving? Surely, for they have never-dying souls, as well as others. And NOW is our opportunity to tell them of God’s wonderful plan of salvation—of a God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. A God of love—how different from the gods the Chinese know, who fill their minds with terror.
Are the Chinese willing to hear the message? The story was told us lately of a poor Chinese who had found Christ as his own precious Saviour. This man was so poor that the squalor of his surroundings was past anything we could imagine. He sold his one possession—a pig, not that he might add a little to his own comfort, but that he might return to his old home to tell his friends and relatives how great things the Lord had done for him. Are such people worth saving?
Do we forget that the One who said, “Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there am I in the midst of them,” says also, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,.... and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Matthew 28:19, 2019Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:19‑20). And the One who says, “This do in remembrance of Me,” says also, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these.... ye have done it unto Me.”
A few years ago two Chinese young women graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. As they were saying goodbye to their American friends, a lawyer said to them that he was glad they were going back to China as doctors instead of missionaries; that what China needed was doctors. One of them, Dr. Mary Stone, replied that he was greatly mistaken, for since Eternity was longer than life, the soul was of infinitely greater value than the body.
Would that God should raise up many more of such, whose hearts burn with love for Christ, and love for souls, to go to China!