Christ had passed through the awful hour of agony and death. He had come back from the grave a victorious conqueror, and proclaimed to His sorrowing disciples, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth,” but immediately added, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” Thus to work for God is not optional, but imperative. Not a mere matter of choice, but has all the authority of the command of Christ.
To preach is a necessity laid upon some, as Paul said, “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel,” but to work for Christ is the privilege of every saved soul. There is a sphere for all, and a work for each. There is none to whom something has not been entrusted. He gave to every man his work. None can look up to the Master and say, “I have not the privilege of doing anything for Thee.”
You may not have five talents, you may not have two, but what about the one? And for the employment of that one you are responsible. God has beautifully arranged and adapted spheres of labor, so as to meet all the diversity of capacity and talent among His people.
Remember, there is not a single inch of ground in God’s vineyard for an idler; not a niche in the great moral hive for a drone. To each He has given power and opportunity to do something. It may be only the silent, unobtrusive labor connected with the family circle, or in speaking of Christ to a few children gathered in your home or your class, visiting the abodes of poverty, the bedside of the sick and dying, in scattering a few leaflets or tracts, or the unseen labor of an Epaphras pleading for the salvation of some precious soul.
“Son, go work today in My vineyard.” If you are a son of God, by faith in Christ Jesus, then “Go work today,” is Christ’s word to you. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.”
What are you doing then for Christ? What are you doing for the salvation of souls? for the help of the feeble among the lambs and sheep of Christ’s flock? Are your hands, your feet, your brain, busy for the interests of Christ?
Do you know what it is to pray? to walk until weary? to preach until your energies are spent? to give what cost you something? Where do you serve? What is your employment? Are you laborers in God’s vineyard, not merely onlookers? Workers, not simply critical scrutinizers of other men’s work, not fault-finders with other men’s methods, and ways, and doings? We must not be narrow in our notions, nor cramped in our sympathies in relation to other workers and work, but each one doing all the good he can, to every person he can, in every way he can.
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might”; and do not cease to work because you cannot fill the highest posts. If you cannot be a master builder, do not refuse to be a laborer.
Remember the words to the servants at the marriage feast of Galilee, “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do.” This will necessitate the study of His Word for guidance in your service, and prayer and dependence, such as that expressed in Paul’s words, “What wilt Thou have me to do?”
Alas! How many, in the energy of love to Christ, commence with words of devotedness to His Person, and gracious care for those in need, but the freshness of their affection wanes, and a spiritual apathy sets in, and the worker becomes a spiritual invalid.
The danger of this was evident before the Apostle’s mind, when he wrote to Titus, “These things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God, might be careful to maintain good works.” (Titus 3:88This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. (Titus 3:8)). Titus was not only to affirm, but constantly affirm, the deep necessity of being careful to maintain, not merely to commence, or plan, but “maintain” good works.
To any who are forgetting these words of the Apostle, we would give the prescription which an eminent physician gave to a lady patient who detailed to him a long list of imaginary ills. He asked as to her symptoms and manner of life, and discovered she had both wealth and leisure, so after patiently listening to the story of her complaints, he asked for a sheet of paper, wrote down a prescription, and in the gravest manner handed it to the patient and left. Imagine her surprise when she read,
“Do something for somebody.”