harvest; to wake up and to move into the hundredfold class. You can be saved by coming to Christ, but you cannot be a disciple without WORK, and you can not be all out for Christ without paying the price of suffering; it may be even the supreme sacrifice. But, says one, “ All of these are saved, are they not?” Yes, but oh, what a difference it is going to make! If you really want to be your very best for Christ, you will experience suffering, loneliness, criticism; yea, it may mean the cross. It may cost you your very life, if you are willing to go all the way with Him. If this seems to be a big price, then listen for just a moment to the other side of the story. For there is a great deal more to this truth than just the matter of suffering and service. God has a special reward promised to those who dare to go all the way for Him. Praise. Honor, Glory There are also three degrees of re ward in Scripture, very definitely out lined. In First Peter 1:7, we read concerning believers: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto PRAISE and HONOUR and GLORY at the appear ing of Jesus Christ. Notice that Peter is talking about rewards when Jesus returns. These re wards are threefold. T h e y are: PRAISE AND HONOUR AND GLORY. Praise for salvation, honor for service, and glory for suffering. Paul in First Corinthians 4:5 declares: Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall EVERY MAN have praise of God. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, every believer shall have PRAISE of God. Praise is the very minimum for salvation. It is for the thirty per cent ers who have come to the Lord Jesus Christ. But the second reward mentioned in First Peter is honor. This is for service according to the Word of God: He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man SERVE me, him will my Father HONOUR (John 12:25, 26). Here our Lord Jesus Christ is not speaking of salvation, but of service, and the reward is honor for faithful service unto Him. But there is something even better which the Lord has reserved for the hundred per centers. It is GLORY when (Continued on Page 19) Page Seven
Maybe you sang in the choir and they wouldn’t let you sing the solo. Others received more praise than you. Perhaps you were an officer in the church, or even a preacher, and persecution came; you gave up and couldn’t pay the price. How many today are bitter, inactive, critical, out of circulation, just because when trouble and persecution came, they lost their discipleship and were unwill ing to pay the price. Group Number Three But thank God for the third group. Though small and always in the minor ity, they are the ones, like the three hundred of Gideon’s army, through whom the Lord sends the victory. In every live church, you will find a little group that does most of the work, the praying, the soul winning, and the suf fering. They also receive most of the
ful of one hundred per centers—the three hundred who were left after the final test. The same truth is taught in the par able of the pounds and also in the par able of the talents. Jesus, in discussing this same truth of fruit-bearing with His disciples in John 15, mentions three possibilities, and calls them first, fruit; second, more fruit; and finally, the max imum, much fruit. Here again we have thirty, sixty and one hundredfold. John also in his first epistle, teaches the same classification when he addresses the be lievers as, “ little children,” “ young men,” and “fathers.” There are three kinds of food for these three classes of people: milk for babies, bread for young men, and strong meat for fathers. Practical Evidences Now in every assembly and group of believers of all ages, we find these same three classes of people among those who have come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every pastor sadly admits that too many of his members are merely thirty per centers. Usually they are in the majority: those who are out to get as much as they can, with as little sacri fice as possible. They are not the ones who serve, but who receive. They attend church only when it suits them, seldom attend prayer meeting, teach no Sunday school classes, win no souls for Christ, take little or no active part in the rest o f the work of the church. Apart from being on the roll and attending church, they are about as useful as a totem pole. Sad to say, in the average church these constitute the majority of the membership. How many churches with a membership of five hundred, have only thirty in prayer meeting and a hundred in their evening service. Group Number Two But thank God, they are not all of this group. There are also the sixty per centers, the followers of Christ who are called disciples, who have not only believed on Him but have also gone with Him, at least in a measure of service. In this group we find our work ers, our Sunday school teachers, soul winners, and our best supporters. But unless they become a hundred per cent, they too must fail sooner or later. These are the group who are active and enthusiastic and on fire as long as they do not have to pay a price. But when the going gets hard, and the shadow of the cross falls across their pathway, when their work is not recognized and appreciated, when they do not receive a pat on the back for their service, they go back like the disciples and walk no more with Jesus. How many there are in this class! Once you were active in the Sunday school class, teaching the Word, UN TIL you were hurt by some remark of an irresponsible person, or because the superintendent gave you another class and you quit in disgust. J U L Y , 1 9 4 9
criticism from others, and the least of praise, and are often misunderstood and blamed even for their faithfulness. They give most and receive the least. To which group do you belong? Have you been a professor of Christ for many years, but have made no progress? You pray no more effectively than you did years ago; you seldom witness for Christ; you know nothing about tithes and offerings; you are no farther along spiritually now than you were then. You are just coasting along with your only interest in salvation just keeping out of hell. God have mercy upon you! Or have you been in the sixty per cent group and have been classified as a disciple, a follower of Christ? You were active once, but something happened. You became bitter because you were not appreciated, or you did not receive the recognition you felt was your due. Now you are on the sidelines, dragging your feet, and back in the class of the thirty per centers, the minimum of service for Christ. May God have mercy upon you too! It is my purpose to have you bestir yourselves before you are called to account to the Lord of the
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