253
T h e K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
June 1932
from it, I am ready to face Rome single-handed, if need be, with this trusty sword of the gospel, God’s power unto salvation to every one that believeth.” '--Whence this overwhelming confidence of Paul’s in the gospeHSlt came out of his own experience. That gospel had found Saul of Tarsus a proud, cruel, Christ-hating, church-persecuting Jew, and had laid hold upon him and turned him into a humble, Spirit-filled, missionary-spir ited servant of Christ. It was because of what the gospel had done for him, and in him, that he was not ashamed, that he had such unshakable confidence in its power to work in others. Does not that bring us to the very heart of this great missionary problem ? The prevailing indifference and inaction of so many Christians to missions is to be traced to their poor, shallow, unsatisfying spiritual experience. If Jesus Christ means very little to me, does not enter vitally into my practical daily life, is only a vague and distant being, then I am not going to be enthusiastic to offer Him to others. But if Jesus Christ is all the world to me, a liv ing, bright reality, filling my heart with joy and peace, bearing my burdens, answering my prayers, my very “ all and in all,” then I am going to be bubbling over with en thusiasm to make Him known to others. There are many arguments for missions, but perhaps the most cogent of all in thir argument to ire found within our owji heart. It woulcTrun something like this: I f I can get along without-Jesus-, then I may concluduitertr others can likewise get along without Him. But if none but Jesus can speak peace to my guilty conscience here in America, can cleanse my heart from sin, can give me the witness that I am born again, can enable me to live a victorious and happy life here on earth, and can lighten my dying hour with the sure hope of life beyond the grave, then who else than Jesus Christ can do it for the man in China, in Africa, or in any othqr heathen land? My Christian brother or sister, in the measure in which you realize Jesus Christ to be necessary to your own soul’s salvation and highest wel fare, may God help you to realize your responsibility to do as much as in you is to carry the salvation which only He can give to those who are lost and perishing for the lack of the gospel! Let me just add, in
about missionary need and work which we may use as fagots to put on the flame of our missionary praying to feed and sustain it. W e shall also GIVE. God has so arranged it that money is necessary for the Carrying out of the Great Com mission, since going depends upon giving. The consecration of that group of young volunteers who have offered themselves to go as missionaries cannot materialize until some of God’s stewards recognize their stewardship and contribute the money that is necessary. Every missionary who goes, every field entered, every station planted, and every convert won can be spoken of in terms of dollars and cents. I know that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, but 1 know also that the con secration of money is tfie~opporttmrty-f-or a.ll kinds of good. Have we conceived thFpfMlege~fhat 'rs' our^,- if weTan- not go ourselves, of going representatively by giving of money which is the fruit of our labor? I rode into a Southern city on the fastest train on the Southern Railway, and went forward on the platform, when I had alighted, to shake the grimy hand of the en gineer who drove that locomotive, and I looked into the manly face of a godly man who was driving that locomo tive for the evangelization of the world just as really as any missionary abroad is working for that object. He was himself supporting a missionary in China and following the course of that missionary’s work with the keenest interest and with earnest prayer. As his wages increased, he was not adding to his expenditure for comforts and luxuries and selfish pleasures, but rejoicing in his privilege of in vesting ever more largely in missionary effort. He was thus turning his money into souls saved for eternity. And the joy and satisfaction that were his in so doing deeply impressed me. I thought, as I talked with him about the progress of the work in China, in which he was so keen and intelligent a partner, how many other men and women at home could be doing the same thing, to the advancement of Christ’s cause and the enrichment spiritually of their own lives. But we shall never learn to give “ as much as in us is” untiL.wS~leara.-tQ lane JJir*ocf so loved that he gave—— ” “ Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it.” What gift does any young man count too costly for the one who is the object of his affection? He gives not stintingly and begrudgingly, but generously, prodigally—because he gives from love. It is true of American people that they gen erally get what they go in for, whether it is good food, fine clothes, sports, automobiles, or anything else. Where there’s a will there’s a way. And when the Christians of America really want the world evangelized, the lack of money will not stand in the way. Oh, that God’s children might see the relation of their money to the kingdom of God, and be constrained by love to give “ as much as in them is” ! “ I A m N ot A shamed ” The appeal is to our Christian experience. What did the apostle mean by saying that he was not ashamed o f the gospel? Was it merely that he did not blush for shame at being called a Christian, or a missionary ? No, indeed. He was leagues farther on than that. I think this expression of his was rather a negative way of saying, “ I have overwhelming confidence in the gospel, for I know i t t o be the power of God unto salvation.” He was facing Rome, the great metropolis o f imperial power and en trenched wickedness. It was the hardest problem he had yet confronted. Would he shrink, or hesitate at the thought? Not he! “ Ashamed?” he cries. “ Afraid? Far
closing, that this mission ary creed of Paul is no vague and general creed^ but a personal one\ am debtor . . . I am ready . . . I am not ashamed.” “ Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?” My orrty hope for any adequate increase of missionary interest and effort is in the individual, not in the church as a whole. “ He
A CHINESE STREET SCENE
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” The churches as a whole give little indication that they will heed the Master’s missionary command and call. It is for us as individuals to have ears to hear, and hearts and wills to respond. Have our consciences been convicted to say, “ I am debtor” ? Have our hearts been constrained to say, “ I am ready” ? Then may God deepen our Christian experience until, out of spirits filled to over flowing with His grace and love, we can say, “ I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, and there fore I must do all within my power to give to every Soul in the world a chance to hear this gospel and be saved” !
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