THE
September, 1935
K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
324
G r o u n d the K ing’s Tables By Louis T . T a lb o t
bition to be “well-pleasing unto him” may be realized even though one’s life is spent in the home or in the office or in the shop or in the schoolroom. Paul was ambitious to be well pleasing to Jesus Christ, whether he was preaching to the multitudes or speaking to one soul or making tents. Verily, this is a worthy ambition! In the next place, this ambition greatly simplifies one’s life and service. Just one Person to please! To please people is a difficult thing. To please everybody is impos sible. Then, too, human nature is so changeable that what pleases a person at one time will not please at another. But the case is not so with our blessed Lord, for He is “the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Heb.'13:8). A more or less familiar story is told of the gateman at a railroad station, who was demanding that the passengers show their tickets before boarding the train. Because the night was bitterly cold, this regulation occasioned much grumbling and faultfinding on the part of some of the pas sengers. In the group was a Christian man who, having noticed the attitude of the others, said to the gateman, “You don’t seem to be very popular around here tonight.” The gateman replied, “Well, if I can be popular with the man who put me here, that’s all I want.” How greatly that aim simplified the man’s life and work! One man to please! And whether others were pleased or not was a secondary matter. So will it be with us in our relation to Jesus Christ. To be ambitious to be well pleasing to Him will greatly simplify our life and serv ice. Our relationship toothers will be involved, of course. We must not assume an attitude of indifference or antag onism with regard to other people. But our chief aim should be that of pleasing Him first of all. Consider, in the next place, that the carrying out of this amibtion means blessing, not bondage. Of our Lord it is recorded : “I delight to do thy will, O my God” (Psa. 40 :8). And our Lord Himself said that His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him (John 4:34). To do the will of the Father is to be Well pleasing to Him. And in the fulfillment of the Lord’s will, men and women, young and old, down through the ages have found delight and satisfaction. The realization of selfish ambition has often been at the expense or the ruin of others. But no one can live a life that is well pleasing to Jesus Christ and not be a blessing and help to other people. Paul was motivated also by an ambition to do. That desire, as we have seen from Romans 15:20, was to make Christ known to those who had never heard of Him, This truly is an altogether worthy ambition. You will note that Paul made this statement at the close of his third missionary journey. He had fully preached the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and “having no more place in these parts,” he was planning to go as far west as Spain (Rom. 15:19,23, 24). Those years of service had involved much of trial and suffering, a sum mary of which we find in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27. In spite of these great hardships, Paul was still pressing on to new territory, consumed with the ambition to make Jesus [Continued on page 347]
A Worthy Ambition B y J ohn A. H ubbard
“Wherefore also we are ambitious, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto him” (2 Cor. 5 :9, R. V. margin). “Yea, being ambitious to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build upon another man’s foundation” (Rom. 15:20, R. V. margin). W e give the above renderings of these passages to bring out the fact that Paul had a twofold ambition—an ambition to be and an ambition to do. Ambition being “an aim, eager desire, or steadfast pur pose to achieve something,” and having “primary reference to the award or approval of others,” it is described as “the eager desire for power, fame, or something deemed great or eminent, and viewed as a worthy prize.” It is clear that if one’s ambition is to “be realized, other things must give way; they must be brushed aside. For example, if one’s goal is the obtaining of an education, many things must be sacri ficed. And the case is similar in the spiritual realm. In order to realize his ambition, Paul counted all loss for Christ. Whatever stood in the way of the attainment of this ambition, he counted as refuse (Phil. 3 :7, 8 ). In connection with the twofold ambition which was the consuming passion of the Apostle Paul, let us consider four things. First, it is a worthy ambition. Second, it greatly simplifies one’s life and service. Third, it results in bless ing. And fourth, it is a goal which is possible of attain ment. First of all, this ambition to be well pleasing to the Lord is altogether worthy, because it is Christlike. It has its parallel in the earthly life of our Lord, and it strikes at the very root of selfishness. “Even Christ pleased not him self” (Rom. 15:3). Our Lord’s own testimony was that he did always the things that were pleasing to His Father (John 8:29, R. V.). It is very significant that during the earthly life of our Lord, there came from heaven the voice of the Father, saying : “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well plea ;ed.” That voice was heard at the transfigura tion, which occurred near the close of our Lord’s public ministry, after He had wrought great miracles and had given expression to much of His marvelous teaching. But this was not the only, nor was it the first occasion on which that voice was heard. At the baptism of Christ, before He had wrought any miracles or given any public teaching, the voice came from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The years preceding this testimony had been spent in the humble home at Nazareth, when the Lord Jesus was occupied with the common, ordinary, hum drum things of life. We emphasize this fact for the encour agement of those who may not be called to what we term “ full-time service.” It is wonderful to know that the am- [To the group of students most recently graduated from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles and to others who gathered to hear the baccalaureate address, Dr. John A. Hubbard spoke on “A Worthy Ambition." This message, which appears in abridged form on these pages, is gladly shared with readers of the K ing ’ s B usiness . —L. T. T.]
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