JESUS said, “I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:44I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. (John 9:4)); and those who love Him will seek to follow His steps. It was the present time that Jesus so perfectly filled up. It was His Father’s will then, the all-important now, in which He constantly glorified His Father on the earth. We sometimes weaken our hands, and spoil our service for the present, by looking back upon the past, or being too much occupied with the future. But with the Lord there was no unevenness. He bore fruit constantly in the right season; He did always those things which pleased the Father. It was His delight to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to finish His work, so that at the close He could say, “I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”
The Lord’s saints now are His servants. United to Him in the glory by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, our hearts are set free to serve Him. He said, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” We are, therefore, kept here, for the little while of His absence, to serve and honor Him in a world that has hated and rejected Him, in hope of His coming again to receive us unto Himself, and introduce us into those mansions of glory where there is fullness of joy, pleasure for evermore, and endless rest. The Lord, too, has given to each of us His work, and says, “Occupy till I come.” Then He will reward each according as his work shall be.
We are, therefore, to be faithful servants; for the question now is, not so much one of usefulness as of faithfulness. Jesus was “the faithful witness,” and He says to us, “Be thou faithful unto death.” “The same commit thou to faithful men;” and by and by it will be, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” The distinction between usefulness and faithfulness is of immense importance now; for many, apparently sincere souls, are spending their time, money, and energies, in doing not only what has not the sanction of the New Testament, but in helping forward what is entirely opposed to its teaching, and all under the attractive plea of usefulness. This was not like Jesus. He said, “I must work the works of Him that sent me.” Hence every step of His path was marked with obedience, doing the Father’s will, standing for the authority of Scripture, and faithfulness at all costs — “obedience unto death, even the death of the cross.” And faithfulness, too, should mark our ways, if we would be true followers of Christ. “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.” (Matthew 24:45, 4645Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? 46Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. (Matthew 24:45‑46).)
His word to us still is, “Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” It is not that work which has merely the sanction of human authority and approval, but “the work of the Lord” which He enjoins. How important it is, then, to remember that “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams;” for what blessing can there be in doing that which will not have His sanction when He comes again? True service, then, will be not only for the Lord, but “in the Lord,” and done to the Lord, and will not, cannot be in vain.
The great danger of the present day is being actively engaged in service in order to have salvation, or to make salvation more secure. This is a fatal mistake, one of Satan’s commonest snares to catch unwary souls, and thoroughly mislead and deceive them. Salvation is plainly declared to be by grace, and not of works of any kind, not even by the deeds of the law; but simply and only through the redemption-work of the Son of God. The believer, therefore, works because he has eternal life, and is saved. “We love Him because He first loved us.” He owes, therefore, all his salvation to the Son of God, who died for Him, and rose again. Hence he says —
“I dare not work my soul to save,
That work my Lord has done;
But I will work like any slave,
From love to God’s dear Son.”
Those who choose to work for Christ in obedience to His word, with a single eye to His glory, will find themselves with a loving heart in a narrow path. Few will sympathize with them. Many will disapprove. Much, too, there may be in circumstances to cast down and humble them; but they will have the Lord’s presence, and the consciousness of His approval. They will find themselves associated with the Lord, which is always most blessed; but it is the Lord whom the world has cast out, and still refuses to own. We may well, therefore, encourage our hearts in Him, and go forward, and, as another has said―
“Go labor on; spend and be spent,
Thy joy to do the Father’s will;
It is the way the Master went, —
Should not the servant heed it still?
“Go labor on; ‘tis not for naught,
Thy worldly loss is heavenly gain;
Men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not;
The Master praises — what are men?”