Rewards: May 2016
Table of Contents
Rewards
“Behold, I come quickly, and My reward with Me, to render to every one as his work shall be” (Rev. 22:12 JND). Our Lord’s statement to us humbles the soul. Of the work given to Him, He could say, “I have finished the work Thou gavest Me to do.” He shall have the joy of the fruit of the travail of His soul. Will our Lord be able to say to us, when He reviews with us the work He gave us to do, “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord”? A look of pleasure on His face as one’s life is reviewed would be a satisfactory reward for a lifetime of seeking to serve Him. His love should motivate us; the thought of a “well done, good and faithful servant” might well humble us and stir us to seek to bring pleasure to His heart. While He will give rewards, to have given joy to Him will be an everlasting reward of joy for our own hearts.
Fruit and Joy: Rewards of His Labor
It is good sometimes to see the saints, the church and people of God, in their own beauty, as viewed of God. It elevates our thoughts, gives God’s mind of what is lovely and what we ought to be according to His mind, so that His affections and delight are revealed to us. Surely it will humble us as to our practical state. Thus, in the parables of the treasure hid in the field and the pearl of great price, we have what they are to Christ. He sells all He has to have them, gives up His life, everything, to have them, for joy thereof — what a place to have with Him! Indeed, in a higher scene, when in the form of God, He gave up the outward glory and made Himself of no reputation and took on Him the form of a servant; when He was rich, for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich.
But doubtless the parable specially designates what He possessed as Messiah, but not excluding higher glory. So He shall see the fruit of the travail of His soul, in us, and be satisfied. So in the parable of the pearl of great price, He was looking for what was specially lovely and beautiful — understood it, was seeking it, according to His estimate of what was beautiful and what was according to Himself — His own mind. He found one especially lovely and sold all to have it — the saints in whom He could delight and be satisfied — so precious to Him! He gives up all for them. How lovely they must be in His mind, for they are indeed according to it. He loved the church and gave Himself for it, to sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the Word, to present it to Himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish — a pearl of great price. Hence He will be, in the end, glorified in His church and admired in all them that believe. How blessed, and what rest it gives the heart! But even now He says, “And I am glorified in them.”
J. N. Darby (adapted)
He Shall See of the Travail of His Soul
The title of this article will immediately be recognized by most of our readers as being taken from Isaiah 53:11: “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” This is, no doubt, referring to the Lord Jesus, who will in a coming day be completely satisfied, as He sees the full results of His work on the cross. To have His church in glory with Him and like Him and to see His earthly people blessed and once again enjoying their God-given inheritance will indeed cause our Lord and Master to be satisfied. He had created all things and could pronounce them “very good,” yet man, seduced by Satan, had spoiled it all and brought ruin and chaos into that beautiful scene. But the “seed of the woman” was to bruise the serpent’s head, and at the cross, by seeming weakness and defeat, the Lord Jesus nullified Satan’s power. He fulfilled Psalm 69:4: “Then I restored that which I took away.”
More than this, man will be more blessed than if sin had never entered this world, for if sin had never been permitted to enter, we would never have known the depths of the love of God nor His purposes concerning His beloved Son. The hymn puts it well:
“Though our nature’s fall in Adam
Seemed to shut us out from God,
Thus it was His counsel brought us
Nearer still, through Jesus’ blood.
Little Flock Hymnbook, #104
The word used here for “satisfied” is used a number of times in the Old Testament and is variously translated “satisfied,” “full,” “filled,” and “satiated.” It has the thought of there being no more room for anything else that could be given. How precious to think that the heart of our blessed Lord will indeed be satisfied with the result of His work!
Recovery From Ruin
But let us think for a moment what will have taken place before all this blessing is unfolded in that day! Most of us are familiar with our having undertaken some difficult and lengthy work, possibly to make something in which we were very pleased. But then we saw another come in and spoil it all, sometimes by accident and sometimes, sad to say, with intent. All that we had labored to perfect (at least, according to our ideas of perfection) was ruined, and sometimes to the point of being irreparable. So also we can, to a small extent, enter into God’s thoughts when He saw the world, which He had brought back to a state of order and beauty, plunged into ruin by the introduction of man’s sin. More than this, His creature man, created in His own image and likeness and able to hold communion with Him, was now estranged, hiding among the trees of the garden.
And how long was the process of recovery! Thank God, in a past eternity His grace had already found a way, not merely to repair the damage, but to exalt His beloved Son and to bring man into even greater blessing. But there must first be the testing of man for four thousand years, to prove His total ruin. Then there must be the sending into this world of God’s Son. Let us quote Isaiah 53:11 in full:
“He shall see of the fruit of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant instruct many in righteousness; and He shall bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11 JND).
During His lonely pathway through this world, the Lord Jesus did indeed instruct many in righteousness, giving out the principles of His kingdom, comforting and sympathizing. But how dull of hearing were His listeners, even the best of them! How often they misunderstood or failed to grasp His meaning! And the greater number rejected Him outright, although happy to profit by His gracious words, His miracles of healing and His feeding of their bodies.
But then came the bearing of their iniquities — a work that only He could do, and which took place on the cross during the hours of darkness. The suffering was that which only He and the Father could estimate; it was beyond human comprehension. Yet He went through it all, until that victorious cry, “It is finished!”
High Priestly Sufferings
But in all this we must not forget His high priestly sufferings, for many of His sufferings, outside of the suffering for sin, were to show us how much He loved us and in order that He might be a “merciful and faithful high priest” (Heb. 2:17) for the believer. He went through every kind of suffering that a sinless Man could endure, for He was “in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). He learned the cost of obedience: “Yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:8) — obedience that took Him all the way to the cross.
Yet, as we have seen, He will have (we speak reverently) no regrets. All that He went through will be deemed worth it all in that day, as He views the blessed results! Surely all this can only draw out our praise and adoration!
Our Part
But what does it all mean for us? We will surely share in all that He has won for us, and we will enjoy for all eternity the place we have on His throne with Him. But does it have a voice of encouragement for us now? We have been called to serve Him during our time down here, and perhaps the greatest privilege is to minister to His sheep. When Peter was restored in his soul, the Lord’s instruction to him was “feed My lambs” and “feed My sheep” (John 21:15-16). In the same way, He has committed to us the privilege of feeding and encouraging that which is dearest to His heart. But there is a cost involved, for as another has said, “If you wish to be happy, preach the gospel; if you wish to shed many tears, serve the saints of God.” To serve the people of God is not an easy pathway, and it never has been. Moses could break down under the weight of caring for the children of Israel, while Paul, when speaking of his sufferings for Christ, ended by mentioning “the care of all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:28). Perhaps this was a greater burden than all that came from without, for he identified with the weak and the offended (vs. 29), seeking to feel what they felt. No doubt as to his own person, he was neither weak nor offended, yet he sought to feel as others who perhaps were not as spiritual as he.
Participation With Others
Surely our service cannot begin to approximate that of the Master, yet, in whatever measure we follow Him, we will walk in His steps and experience what He experienced. How many times the servant of Christ, while enjoying Him, will seek to impart that joy to others, only to find that they are unable to grasp it or, worse still, are not even interested. We see an example of this in Paul, who mourned over the Corinthians because of their carnality and lack of growth in spiritual things. Likewise He could labor with the Galatian assemblies and could “travail in birth again” (Gal. 4:19) until Christ was formed in them. He had to warn the Colossians about becoming involved in philosophy and man’s ideas, all of which threatened to displace Christ in their hearts. Finally, at the end of his life, he had to tell Timothy that “all they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). Those in the area of perhaps His greatest labors were now turning their backs on “all the counsel of God” that he had so faithfully passed on. This was, no doubt, a most severe trial, and perhaps the hardest to bear.
Another, writing more than 150 years ago, expressed it well:
“I believe that those who have the thoughts of God in this world will be always sad and always happy, apart from their own faults; happy because they enjoy in their thoughts communion with their God; sad, because these thoughts are not a reality round about them; and as they progress, they will work for God with more patience, will be more content with Himself, and will not link their fair ideal so much with man. It will not have lost its value (far from it), but they will see it more in its source, less in its being realized.”
Sorrow and Joy
So it was with our blessed Lord. He was surely the man of sorrows — the One who suffered not only bodily, but also in His soul, because of His love — but He was also the man of joy, for it was “the joy set before Him” that gave Him to endure the cross, “despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2). There was a joy in doing the Father’s will and a joy in looking forward to the results of the work He was doing. So also it is with us. If we seek to follow our blessed Lord, we will find that same joy, even in suffering, for here in Hebrews 12 it is not the atoning sufferings that are in view, but rather the suffering and shame associated with the cross. Christ is here presented as an example for us.
The Blessed Results
In that coming day, we will see, no doubt more than we ever thought, the blessed results of following Him faithfully. It is easy to become discouraged in the way and perhaps to take a less faithful path by seeking an easier way. More than this, we may become offended and disillusioned, feeling that perhaps our labor is in vain. If such thoughts come before us, let us remember our Lord Jesus and faithful servants like Paul, who went on to the end. In that day we too will see, not those who are failures or dull of hearing, but rather every saint of God in all the perfection of Christ Himself. More than this, we will surely see that “our labor was not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58), for we will see blessing up there that was not revealed to us down here. As with our blessed Master, we will be satisfied in that day.
W. J. Prost
The Lord’s Return
There are two important things to be noticed in the second and third chapters of 1 Thessalonians. The first is the bearing of the Lord’s coming upon service. Let me read two verses at the end of the second chapter. “What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy” (vss. 19-20). You will thus see in the Apostle’s activity that he always had the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ before him, and may I not say, therefore, that we never labor in the Lord’s service, as He would have us to labor, without this motive power, if I may so describe it? I remember reading some time ago a statement in a periodical that if you hold the doctrine of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, it enervates you, and that nobody would be concerned about service, missions and things of that kind. What could be more untrue? Here I find the Apostle full of energy; he desires the conversion of those to whom he was sent, and he labors indefatigably in the prospect of the coming of Christ. This was his one desire, that he might present his converts before the Lord, and he says, “Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” Then he adds, “Ye are our glory and joy.” You will see, therefore, the effect on service. How wonderful it is! And I may say again, I don’t think I can undertake any activity properly unless this blessed truth is dominating my soul, and then in the prospect of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ I labor devotedly. And why do I thus labor? Because I want His approval, beloved, and because it is at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ the responsibility of the saints will be dealt with. Earth is the scene of our responsibility, and the coming of Christ is the goal to which we look, as we read in the first epistle of Timothy, “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ “ (1 Tim. 6:14). Earth is the scene of the responsibility, and when the Lord appears in glory, He will display the recompense. That is what I understand by the Apostle’s statement: “Ye are our glory and joy.”
Holiness and Love
Now to enlarge upon that, I want to call attention to two verses in the third chapter. There we see the bearing of the coming of Christ upon the spiritual life. “The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (1 Thess. 3:12-13). There are two things here. There is holiness at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints before God and our Father, and there is love one toward another. That is the wonderful secret! Loving one another is the way of holiness. You may talk to me about holiness from morning to night, but you will never grow in it if there is a lack of love, because love is the nature of God, and God’s love is a holy love; hence it comes to pass, as the Apostle teaches us here, that if we love one another and the more we love one another, the more we shall grow in conformity to the image of Christ, the more holy we shall become. I use those last two terms interchangeably for this reason — because the idea of holiness is conformity to the image of Christ, nothing short of that, and hence if anyone tells you they are holy, you have to say, “As holy as Christ is?” because nothing short of that is accepted by God. Well then, if that be so, you will see from this scripture that the more we love one another (because that is the expression of the nature of God), the more we shall grow in holiness, and that will be brought out into display at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.
Energy of the Spirit
Now I dare say there are some here who have sometimes said, “We have not so much energy in the Spirit as we would like to have,” and others will say, “We are really doing nothing for the Lord.” Ah! beloved, the reason for that is you have not the coming of Christ before your souls, for if you are living in the prospect of the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be devoted. As the Apostle puts it in another place, “The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14-15). All that we are as children of Adam has gone in the death of Christ, and now Christ only fills the eye of God, and Christ only can fill the affections of the souls of God’s people, and then when the divine nature is in activity in the power of the Spirit, there is an immense growth in holiness, and the prospect of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is a great incentive to it. It has an immense bearing upon the spiritual life; indeed, I may say what I said about service, that no one is living properly as a Christian, no one can do so, unless he has the prospect of seeing the Lord face to face. But you will say to me, “That is a very strong statement.” Well, let me give a scripture to sustain it. The Apostle John says, “It is not yet manifested what we shall be [there is now no outward display of what we are as the children of God], but we know that when He is manifested we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is,” and then he adds, “Every one that hath this hope in Him [that is, Christ] purifies himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). Yes, the prospect of seeing Him and of being like Him will be a constant power acting upon the soul, so that you will get rid of everything that is unsuited to Him, and you will also desire to acquire everything that is suited to Him, that you may rejoice in the day of His appearing. Well, you see the immense bearing of this truth upon the spiritual life.
E. Dennett (adapted)
Respect for the Recompense
Three memorable steps mark the manhood of Moses. We read that “when he was come to years he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward” (Heb. 11:24-26).
The three steps were: first, the severance of his relationship with Pharaoh; second, his identification with the people of God; and third, his appreciation of the reproach of Christ above the treasures of Egypt.
These remarkable steps were taken ”by faith.” They were so thoroughly contrary to nature that no man acting on the instincts of nature would ever have dreamed of taking them. Now Moses had, as men would say, the ball at his feet. A splendid vista of earthly greatness was spread out before him. He was dignified by royal relations; he held in his hand a cup that contained the pleasures of sin; and he could command, by virtue of his position, the very treasures of Egypt. His opportunities for self-gratification were most unparalleled, and yet, just at the time when, by nature, he would have stepped unhesitatingly into the enjoyment of it all, he stepped by faith outside of it. What a strange career! And what a complete reversing of all the aspirations of nature did his faith produce!
The Recompense
But notice, “He had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” His faith went beyond the confines of Egyptian treasures and led him to renounce the pleasures of sin, which are but for a season. At that moment he grasped the bright reward at Christ’s judgment seat, and under the influence of that, he counted all else but dross or dung.
Wise and happy choice made by faith at his manhood! Bright example! He bid farewell to his foster mother, by whom he had been kindly reared and at whose expense he had been highly educated. By faith he deliberately abandoned the court of Egypt and surrendered his claim to its pleasure. It was thus far a negative step on his part, but it paved the way for more — more that was charmingly positive. His full object was not merely the relinquishment of Pharaoh’s palace, but it was identification with the people of God.
These were the people of God —indiscernible to all but faith, but with a high origin and having a glorious destiny. Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with such than to drink the cup of delusive pleasure, whose fleeting season glided swiftly into an undone eternity.
Reproach
Paul in a later day exhorted his son Timothy to “be not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God” (2 Tim. 1:8), for each in his day was animated by a similar faith and acted in a similar way. Hence it is we find that Moses “esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,” when as yet Christ had not been named. But though Christ had not been revealed, yet His reproach — the reproach always attaching to faith and to its confessors — was ever true of His people. It is their distinguishing badge as they travel the road from earth to heaven. Now Moses esteemed that reproach to be of more positive value than the treasures of Egypt. To be linked with God’s interests here was his chief ambition. He saw no middle ground between Pharaoh’s family and the people of God, between their afflictions and the pleasures of sin, between the reproach of Christ and the treasures of Egypt.
One or the Other
It must be one or the other, and by faith on his part and grace on God’s, this remarkable man, when in the full intelligence of maturity, calmly but decidedly broke the ties that bound him to the glory and the pleasures of Egypt, and threw himself wholeheartedly into the sympathies of God.
His course afterward was checkered indeed. It had trials beyond measure and honors beyond degree. He respected the recompense of the reward, and he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. We may live in a different day and be surrounded by different circumstances, but faith in its nature is always the same, and we too, who through grace believe on the Lord Jesus, may illustrate our faith by taking the same steps that Moses took. We too may refuse the world, suffer with God’s people, and esteem Christ’s reproach beyond all earthly treasure, having respect of the recompense.
J. W. S. (adapted)
Labor and Reward
“If also anyone contend in the games, he is not crowned unless he contend lawfully. The husbandman must labor before partaking of the fruits” (2 Tim. 2:5-6 JND).
Those who engage in the Lord’s conflicts have to remember that they must “strive lawfully” and be in subjection to His conditions of service, which must be carried on in conformity to His will and His Word. This is of the utmost importance, for many a right thing is done, even by otherwise good soldiers of Jesus Christ, in a wrong manner or at a wrong moment, whereby the end is defeated. The Lord’s servants must wait entirely upon the Lord’s will both for the time and the mode of their warfare, or they will not gain the crown of His approval. Nowhere is this more plainly taught than in the siege of Jericho. To human eyes the manner of conducting it, the method of warfare, was nothing but folly, but it was the Lord’s way (and “the foolishness of God is wiser than men”), and the victory was assured.
In addition, the husbandman must first labor before he can partake of the fruits. Our Lord reminded His disciples of the same principle when He said, “He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together” (John 4:36). It is indeed a universal law that labor must be expended before the harvest can be enjoyed, and it is this which Paul recalled to the mind of Timothy. The tendency of all, and especially of the Lord’s servants, is to forget this salutary truth in the intense desire to gather in and feast upon the fruit. It should therefore be remembered, and thereby we should be saved from many disappointments, that now is the time of labor and that it will be the time of labor until the Lord’s return. Hence, our only concern should be to be found diligent and faithful in our service. The time of partaking of the fruit is future, and the knowledge of this will encourage our hearts to persevere in service, and all the more in that our enjoyment of the fruit will be in communion with the Lord. “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psa. 126:6).
E. Dennett (adapted)
Fill the Waterpots
Notes of an Address to
Sunday School Workers
Everyone who takes up any service for the Lord ought to be able to give some reason why he serves Him. Let me say at once that no service save that which flows from the constraint of love — the love of Christ — can possibly be acceptable to the Lord. But because He has loved us, we do love Him, and love delights to serve. Love, then, must be our motive. Anything short of this is utterly unworthy. And if we are constrained by the love of Christ, we shall serve Him for His sake alone. “Ye serve the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:24). Fellow-workers, we need to have this ever in mind. We are so apt to serve before others, to do our work in order to gain their approval. When this is the case, the quality of the service is very poor indeed. But if, in the Sunday school class or the weeknight service, we serve as under the eye of the One who reads the heart and knows the hidden motive, we shall take care that the ointment of our service is free from the flies that give it an ill odor.
Work of Faith
Now service among the young is preeminently a work of faith and labor of love. Patience of hope, too, is called for. You need these three Christian graces very much developed in your soul. It is a work of faith — you cannot count upon anything in the children; your faith must be in the Lord. It must be a labor of love, because the children are tiresome sometimes, and if love is not at the back of it, you will grow weary in the service. There must be the patience of hope, because you look forward to the result of what you are doing.
Fill Them
I have heard it said that it is useless to teach children the Scriptures. It is all a dead letter to them, say these wise folks. My answer is, Paul said to Timothy, “From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15). Your business is to fill the children with the water of the Word — the blessed truths of the gospel — which the Lord can turn into the wine of salvation. We may be sure that if we do not fill the children, someone else will. The devil is looking out for waterpots, and he will fill them with the poison of infidelity and sensuality, which will kill and destroy. Let it be ours to fill them with the water of the Word.
We shall not be able to fill them with water unless we are first filled with the water of the Word ourselves. If we read trashy literature, we must not be surprised if our children turn to folly. You know better than to do that. Feed your soul upon the precious Word of God. Alas, there are those who take up the service among children who feed their souls upon mere garbage. No wonder if the children grow up for the world and the devil. Read, by all means. Read anything that can help you in your service, but feed upon the sacred Scriptures, and make the Bible your chosen book. And do not forget that you must also be in personal contact with the blessed Lord, of whom the Scriptures speak. “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink” (John 7:37). Let us, then, be like the servants of John 2, who filled the pots to the brim and then brought them to Jesus. We cannot change the water into wine, nor could they. We must do what they did — we must bring them to Jesus, and that necessitates prayer. Oh, beloved fellow-laborers, we shall not be successful unless we are found in dependence and prayer before Him.
Dead in Sins
We have to remember that the children are not only empty, but they are every bit as much dead towards God as grown-up sinners. You will find it very instructive to search out in your Bible all the cases of children raised from the dead. Study them well, and they will yield you much profit. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, put his hand to this work. Elisha said to him, “Take my staff ... and lay my staff upon the face of the child” (2 Kings 4:29). Ah, but Gehazi had not the spirit for this. He was a self-centered and ambitious man. We can well understand his pride as he walked off with Elisha’s staff — the staff that had smitten Jordan and divided the waters — that mighty staff which had done such wonders! It was in his possession now! Doubtless he imagined he was going to do great things with it as he laid it on the face of the dead child! But there was neither voice nor hearing. Is it possible for us to take the Word of God — that which is mighty to give life — and use it without effect, so that there is neither voice nor hearing? It is possible. If the staff is to be of any use, we must be in touch with the One in whom is life and power. God grant that we may not be powerless, like Gehazi!
Elisha was very different, and he acted in quite another way. He laid himself on the child, and he walked about the house and prayed to God. His every movement denoted the intensity of his exercise, the earnestness with which he sought the life of the child and his dependence upon God. It will be well for us to learn the lessons, for these things are recorded in His Word for our learning.
The Results
Lastly, let us think of the result of your service. It was Dr. Arnold, headmaster of Rugby, who once said, when he looked upon the faces of the boys in his school, that he felt there might be among them a future prime minister — a future commander-in-chief — a future leader of the thoughts of men. But you can say something better than this, as you look on the faces of the children. Yours may grow up to serve the Lord. Who can tell what may come out of your class? Here may be a soul-winner; there, one who shall be a constant comfort to the people of God; another who, perhaps in an obscure place, shall shed the light of the life of Jesus and, last of all and best of all, shall shine in the glory of God forever. This is the great and ultimate end of all our service. If we keep this in view, how earnestly we shall seek that all the children may be the Lord’s. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58).
J. T. Mawson (adapted)
Labor in the Gospel
The evangelist’s sphere is the world. He brings Christ to it and seeks to bring souls out of it to Christ. But he always works from the assembly and leads souls into it. You know what a drawing compass is? An evangelist should be like that. One leg is fixed in the assembly; his other leg circles the world. He goes out in burning zeal and wholehearted energy to seek souls, wherever God leads him. The world is his parish.
Let us listen to the Scriptures in this matter: “Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away” (Matt. 13:47-48). When the net was full, they drew it to shore. They work very hard. There is downright hard work connected with the gospel. It is a very easy thing to stay at home and toast my toes and say, “Thank God, I am going to heaven.” But to go out and labor for the Lord and get hold of souls is not very easy. But they had their recompense. They caught the fish and “gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” The vessel is the assembly. You cannot expect to catch fish in the assembly. You must go out into the dark waters around to catch them.
Fishers and Porters
The Lord said to Simon and Andrew, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). The work of the evangelist is to bring souls to Christ first of all, and then to the door of the assembly. My advice to you is, Do not introduce your own converts. Let the porters take them in. We read of the porters in Solomon’s days. Their service is given in 2 Chronicles 35:15. Are you a good porter? A few good porters in the assembly are of great service, because the porters keep out what ought not to be in, and let in those who have a title to go in. It is a great cheer to a young soul when the porters can say, “Come in, thou blessed of the Lord.” I like a good warm-hearted porter.
We have all had our work assigned to us, but let us remember we are all subject to Christ. The evangelist catches the fish; others should determine if they be good or bad. The evangelist gives account to the Lord. He is of the assembly, and, of course, if his walk and ways are not right, he comes under the discipline of the assembly, but he is the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A Willing Heart
What God looks for is a willing heart. You may be as devoted as you like to be. You may yield all to Christ. There is no must when it is a question of devotion to Christ. I never say to a person, You must be devoted. But I sometimes say, You may be devoted. We all have the opportunity to be such, and it is a fatal mistake if we miss that opportunity.
There is a striking illustration of this in the Book of Judges. Some of the people responded splendidly to Barak’s call, and others held back. This is celebrated in the song of the fifth chapter, which I would ask you to study carefully in relation to the question of being devoted to the Lord. “Awake, awake, Deborah; awake, awake; utter a song: arise; Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam” (vs. 12). They were anticipating a song and freedom. But some had no part in the battle and no heart for the song, and so is it today.
The Lord help you and me to yield ourselves unreservedly to Him. I take my orders from the Lord, and I recommend you to do the same. If you do, you are sure to be right. “He gave to every man his work.” Let us each do our own work and seek only to please Him, till we see Him face to face. Oh, how we shall rejoice to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” not only about others, but we being devoted to Him, that He may say it even to us.
W. T. P. Wolston
Look to Yourselves
The title of this article is taken from 2 John 8: “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.” We might expect that John would write rather that “ye” lose not those things which “ye” have wrought, but that “ye” receive a full reward. No doubt the Apostle John was concerned about their reward, and for this reason he warns them faithfully about the spirit of Antichrist and the bad doctrine concerning the person of Christ that was coming in. However, John takes the warning to a higher plane and brings in his reward and the reward of others who had labored with him.
Like the other apostles, John had, no doubt, labored much for the Lord, although we know that he was, for a time, banished to the isle of Patmos. Like Paul and the other apostles, he labored because “the love of Christ constraineth us” (2 Cor. 5:14), for he was one who perhaps enjoyed the Lord’s love more than others. At the last Passover, it is recorded that he was “leaning on Jesus’ breast” (John 13:25), and he could also refer to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20). So it was the enjoyment of the Lord’s love and his love for his Lord that gave him the motive to serve.
The Reward of Service
However, he looked for the reward of his service, for the Lord has promised rewards as an encouragement to us. Surely too he looked for what we might call the tangible rewards about which Scripture speaks, for he speaks in the Book of Revelation of crowns, and also of the “white stone” with “a new name written,” which the Lord will give as His own private appreciation of an individual’s service. However, the entire tone of the second and third epistles of John focuses on individuals and John’s love and care for them. In the second epistle he deals with bad doctrine, while in the third epistle he deals with bad practice, for both have been a real snare to the people of God down through the ages. Here in the second epistle, he writes to a woman and her children, and it is touching to see the tenderness and care with which he beseeches her to walk in love and to walk in the truth.
His Own Reward
More than this, he connects his own reward, and the reward of others with him, with their conduct, pointing out that he and others would receive a full reward only if those to whom they had ministered went on well. Even if they went on badly, we can be sure that John would not lose his entire reward, for we read that “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward His name” (Heb. 6:10). Whatever is done for Christ will receive a reward, even if the result is not what we would hope. But here I would suggest that the reward would be the joy of seeing in glory those for whom he had labored, as his “joy and crown” (Phil. 4:1). If they in turn received a reward for faithfulness, he would share in their joy. If they went on in the truth and stood fast in the face of increasing infidelity and bad doctrine, he would share in that reward, as he saw them presented in coming glory. He rejoiced even on earth, as he saw her children walking in truth, but how much more would he rejoice, if they went on steadfast to the end, in what they had heard from the beginning.
We understand this even in natural things. A teacher or professor may teach well and work with his students to enable them to have a good grasp of the particular subject. If they do well on their examinations and perhaps win a reward for an outstanding achievement, the teacher too shares in the joy and honor, for it is his efforts that are now rewarded, as well as the student’s diligence.
The Glory of Christ
It would not be an easy pathway, for to refuse to invite one into the house and to refuse to “bid him God speed” (vs. 10) are difficult things to do and open one to the charge of not showing common courtesy and hospitality. But when the glory of Christ is before us and when it is a question of bad teaching concerning His Person and His work, all else must give way. His glory and honor are paramount.
Surely all this is important for us today. If infidelity and bad teaching were beginning in John’s day, how much more have they ripened today! The believer today must face an increasing current of unfaithfulness and corruption of the truth, and it requires real spiritual energy to walk in a faithful path. Our blessed Lord and Master must always be before us, first and foremost, but we are also told to “remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God; and considering the issue of their conversation, imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7 JND). The memory of those gone before, who have not only walked faithfully, but who also have instructed us in the Word of God, should motivate us to imitate their faith and to walk in the truth. If we do so, they will receive a full reward.
Eternal Consequences
It is a solemn thought that our conduct down here will not only have eternal consequences for us, but will also have eternal consequences for others. It ought to impact our thinking when we realize that our faithfulness, or lack of it, not only affects our own reward, but also that of others. Again, the thought of rewards is never presented in Scripture as the motive for service, but it ought to be the encouragement for us to walk in what the Word of God teaches and in what other faithful ones have taught us.
W. J. Prost
Reward for Service
Yes, love divine in Thee I know;
The Father’s glories soon
Shall burst upon my ravished view —
Thyself my eternal crown!
Yet I will wait, in labor still
In Thy blest service here:
What Thou hast given me to fulfill —
Thy will — to me is dear!
Lord! let me wait for Thee alone:
My life be only this —
To serve Thee here on earth unknown;
Then share Thy heavenly bliss.
His counsels, all, fulfilled in Thee;
His work of love complete —
And heavenly hosts shall rest, to see
Earth blest beneath Thy feet!
J. N. Darby