August, 1937
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
292
Around the King's Tab le
By PAUL W. ROOD
This message of the ideal preacher will meet men’s deepest needs. There are three fundamental problems in the world: namely, the problem of sin, the •problem of sorrow, and the problem of death. These problems are universal, and Christ is the answer and the only answer. Paul said: “I know whom I have believed” (2 Tim. 1:12). Paul knew that he had a Saviour who can save from the guilt of sin and from the power of Satan. Christ had met his need; and what Christ.has done for Paul, He can •do for others. This was Paul’s conviction, and this must be our conviction if we are to be a blessing to mankind. Christ has power upon earth to forgive sin. “ He breaks the power of canceled sin; He sets the prisoner free; His blood can make the foulest clean; His blood availed for me.” “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleans- eth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Christ can solve also the problem of sor row. Paul said: "W e know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28). There are no mis takes in God’s dealings with His people. He deals with us in love. Life is not con trolled by fate. God is on the throne, and H',e so overrules the experiences of life that all things work together for good. What a message of comfort to those who are sorrowing! What a satisfying and truly adequate philosophy of life for those who are being tested! Christ is likewise the solution of the problem of death. Paul said: “ For we know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a build ing of God, a house not made' with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1). This life is not all. There is something very real beyond the mists and the clouds. Christ has conquered death and the grave, and because He has conquered, we shall conquer. The Lord Jesus Christ said: “ I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). What a privi lege it is to go to sinning, broken, dying mankind, and to say that Jesus Christ can forgive every sin and can save every soul that will turn to Him! He is able to an swer our questions and solve our prob lems. He has forgiveness for the sinner, comfort for the mourner, and hope for the dying. A God-called preacher has the message that the world so sorely needs, the only message that can meet the funda mental needs of man. Having an adequate message, the ideal Christian worker is also a man with a [Continued on page 325]
The Ideal Christian Worker I DEALS have been compared with stars. The sailor is guided by the stars. He does not reach the stars thereby, but he does reach the harbor. Similarly, Christians find in the Word of God those shining lives that provide guidance for the journey of servants of Christ through this present life. Paul is the ideal Christian worker. He was a Christian statesman, a dynamic leader, and an able organizer. He was a profound theologian, a sacrificial mission ary, a zealous evangelist, a clear teacher, and a remarkable author. He gives us the secret of his life and marvelous ministry, in the statement, “ For me to live is Christ.” It is doubtful whether any one else in the history of the church has so understood, lived, and interpreted Christ as did Paul. It is no wonder that Paul could say: “ Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample” (Phil. 3:17). Examining the divine revelation, we find the char acteristics of an ideal Christian worker as manifest in Paul and his ministry. The ideal Christian worker must have, first of all, a spiritual experience. Of neces sity he must be one who has experienced the miracle of regeneration whereby he has passed from the realm of death into the realm of life and has become a partaker of the divine nature. Paul had this ex perience. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15). This is Paul’s testimony. He had recognized his lost and undone condition apart from Christ, and he had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. He had experienced a radical change and had been given a new outlook upon life and a new attitude toward Christ and toward his fellow men. “Therefore if any man be in'Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). Furthermore, the ideal Christian worker must be Spirit-filled. Paul admonished the Christians in Ephesus to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). Paul had experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit and was living and working in the power of the Third Person of the Trinity. He knew that it was impossible to live a victorious life and to be a blessing in this world without the infilling of the Holy Spirit. We do not agonize ourselves into this experience. We receive it through an attitude of sur render and faith. No one should attempt to teach the Word of God and to work for the Lord in his own power. Work done in the energy of the flesh is doomed to fail ure as far as results for eternity are con
cerned. Only that which is done in the energy of the Holy Spirit will stand, the test of fire at the judgment seat of Christ, and only service of that kind will be re warded. Furthermore, the ideal Christian worker must walk with Qod and must maintain unbroken fellowship with the Lord. He will allow God to speak to him through His Word, and he will speak to God in prayer. Paul, like Enoch of old, walked with God. He did not wish to allow anything to come between him and his Lord. The Christian worker who gives his full time to the ministry of the Word—whether as preacher, missionary, evangelist, or Bible teacher—should be one who has 'received a definite call from God to that work rather than to a secular occupation. Paul had such a call. “ He is a chosen vessel unto me,” spoke the Lord concerning him (Acts. 9:15). When testings come, what a comfort it is for a minister to know that he is a God-called and a God-anointed man! No one should dare to go forth into full-time Christian work without being absolutely sure he has a commission from the Lord. The ideal Christian worker will be a man with a message. He will have a gos pel message. What is the gospel ? It is good news. Paul has given us a clear definition of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4. The gospel is the good' news that Christ died for our sins and that He. rose again the third day. Christ through His sacrificial death upon the cross made it possible for man to be reconciled to God. Apart from Christ, man is lost. He is a sinner by nature and practice. He has missed the mark and is alienated from God. A true preacher must have a Pauline conception of the exceeding sinfulness of sin and of the solemn fact that men are in danger and need salvation. God longs to save man.! “ And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; T o wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18, 19). We are to plead with men to come to Christ. “ Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). The ideal preacher will have a dog matic message. He must be positive and not negative. He must preach the truth of God without fear or favor. He is not a truth seeker but a truth finder. He has found Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
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