It is a matter of importance as to how far we value our work. If a small matter is neglected we often say, “It is of no consequence: it was only so-and-so;” but if we judge anything to be of great importance we naturally and instinctively take care that it shall have due attention.
Now the question with us is, Is the work of the Sunday school a great work? which naturally leads to the question as to what constitutes a great work. Well, surely we may say, Anything that God gives us to do is a great work, no matter how small it may be in our own eyes. But ought it to be small in our own eyes? We judge not.
There was a man to whom his master had given one talent, who did not use it, and who made a lame excuse for not doing so. But his Lord treated it as a very serious matter, and ordered him away to punishment. The servant owned his master as Lord, and yet had not obeyed him. We know the application. The Lord Jesus is Lord and Master, He gives gifts unto His servants, and surely each servant ought to remember for whom he works, and judge anything he can do for such a one as a great work that must in no case be neglected.
We have another instance of one neglecting to do the bidding of God in the case of Jonah. He was told to go and preach to Nineveh; but he ran away from his work, and found himself in the whale’s belly. His great failing was, as we know, a consideration of his own reputation. He reasoned that if he went and did as God had bidden him, it would not redound to any honor to himself. He forgot that he would have God’s approval, and thought only of honor from the world. Now the Lord calls for obedience from us, but besides this we ought to consider that what He gives us to do is a great work because done for such a one.
If this were duly weighed by us, it would not signify what the work might be. Giving a cup of cold water to a disciple, if properly done, and with a right motive, is a great work, and shall in no wise lose its reward. Our Lord declared that work done for the saints, He reckons as done to Himself, which stamps everything done for His disciples as a great work.
Therefore whatever the Lord gives us to do—no matter how insignificant it may be in the eyes of man or even of Christians—we ought to consider as a great work, because done for our divine Lord and Master.
We get an illustration of this in Nehemiah when the enemy sought to hinder his building the wall of Jerusalem, which God had bidden him to do. His answer was,
“I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” (Neh. 6:3).
Some would think the building of a wall a very little work; but Nehemiah rightly estimated. It was God’s work, and it was great in the eyes of His servant.
There is another feature in our work which stamps it with a greatness that did not belong to the work of Nehemiah. The wall that he built was not to last: an enemy would come and level it with the ground, though the building was of God, and the pulling down was from Him too. But our work concerns the soul; a work which, when blessed of God, will stand and last for eternity. In heaven and in glory will appear the fruit of work done in many a Sunday school.
The work of a Christian has been compared to working at a part of a beautiful mosaic. The artist makes an elaborate design, as perfect as he can in its whole, and as exact as possible in its detail. Then the work is given out to various workmen. One has to form so many stones of such a color and of such a shape; another has different-colored stone to be worked into a different shape; and many others likewise have similar work, some doing what in itself might be called insignificant—very small pieces to fill in nooks and corners; others polish and beautify the pieces as they leave the hands of the first workers. The workmen do not know the general design; each knows his own part only, and at this he must labor to his best ability. One thing is certain, that there can be no perfection in the whole unless each does his part correctly. The small pieces, equally with the large, demand great accuracy, that when combined, all may fit in their places, and bring out the design of the artist perfectly.
So God has purposed to erect a building,
“Jesus Christ Himself being the corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph. 2:21).
For this purpose there were given apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Some have to cut out the stones from the quarry of nature, and others have to shape and fashion them. Each has his work to do, but all must work in harmony with God’s plan, that all may be “fitly framed together.” Every child converted in our Sunday schools is a stone dug out of nature’s quarry for this temple of God. We do not know what God has designed to make of such, where He will place them, or what their work will be. It is for us to bring them in, and to watch over and guide them as long as they are under our care: God has a place for, and a purpose concerning each.
Shall we call such a work little? Shall we engage in it thoughtlessly, and work at it carelessly? Shall we allow trifles to divert us from work which God Himself has given us to do, and which will, when He pleases, bear fruit to all eternity—stones in the “holy temple of God?”
Nay! let us call it rather a great work, which on no account must be hindered, neither by any considerations for our own ease and comfort, nor from the temptations of the enemy of souls.
Why should Paul say, “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel,” more than you and I say, “Woe is me if I do not that work which my Lord and Master has given me to do?” Paul thought his work too great to be neglected on any account: we are not apostles, but our work is to the same end. Surely it is a great work our Lord has given us to do.