May, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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THE MASTERSHIP OF CHRIST [Continued from page 178]
seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:10) ; “But for this cause came I unto this hour” (John 12:27), and “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth” (John 18:37) unmistakably in dicate Jesus Christ’s consciousness as to His mission in the world. Looking over the record of Jesus’ life as found in the Gospels, one could hardly call Him a philanthropist, in the sense in which that term is used today. He Him self received help from His-followers dur ing His ministry. He had no coin to toss to the beggar, nor garment to give with which to clothe the naked. He was not a benefactor in the modern'sense, for He Himself was needy: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Matt. 8:20). Jesus had nothing to give—but Himself, but oh, how richly He gave! And yet He is, and has been, the secret, the inspiration, and the prime mover in every philanthropic enterprise from that day until now. Nor was Jesus Christ a reformer, in our modern sense of that word. The widow, the orphan, the drunkard, the social outcast met Him at every turn, yet He established no reform institution for the cure of the inebriate, or Magdalen Home for the rescue of the fallen woman. He organized no peace, society. And yet wherever Christ is preached—yea, and only in such places— such movements and organizations for so cial reform spring up and find perpetua tion. Jesus Christ was not a statesman as we regard such today. If the Sermon on the Mount is an illustration, what a Constitu tion, what a Magna Charta, what an Eman cipation Proclamation He could have writ ten! Yet He is not recorded as expressing a preference for any particular form of government He said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s ; and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21). Yet there is no form of gpvernment or constitution under which men may dwell in peace and safety that has not been drawn up and inaugurated under the influence of His benign teaching.- Nor could Jesus Christ be called an edu cator in the present-day meaning of that word. What elaborate treatises He could have drawn up had He so desired! But He did not leave one scrap of writing. He is recorded to have written but once, and that was on the sand, and as far as men today can know, the wind may have come and blown it away before any one could make a record of what He had written. Being the incarnation of divine wisdom, He could easily have anticipated Descartes, Socra tes, Plato, and Kant. And yet He was, is,, and ever will be the great moving cause for the foundation of educational in stitutions everywhere. The great colleges and universities of the world had their founding in Christian principles, and were and are supported largely with Christian money. W hat I s the G ospel ? This is not to say that Jesus Christ did not show an interest in all these fields of service, nor that He did not give utterance to any truths that were responsible for the origin of such benevolences and benefac tions, for He did; but these matters were secondary. He looked upon them as re sults of the main work He came into the world to accomplish—as things that others could do—whereas He came into the world to do what others could not possibly do. Nor does this mean that Jesus was averse .to what is called a “social” gospel. The gospel which the Lord Jesus Christ
There is no “one” experience of the Holy Spirit (no matter by what name it is called) that suffices for the life and ser vice of the Christian. No “second [or one hundred and second] blessing” suffices. There is a constant, daily need of the in filling and power of the Spirit. The dis ciples were “filled” again and again. (See Acts 2:4 and 4:31.) So must we be. We are to be being constantly and repeatedly “filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). It is said of the early church that it was “walk ing in the Holy Ghost” (Acts 9:31); it was continuous experience rather than mere belief in a doctrine. “But,” one may ask, “how may I receive this fullness of the Spirit?” The answer is simple. It will cost something, of course, for, as has been well said, “Pente cost” means “Plenty-of-cost.” There is a “law of the Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2), which, if obeyed, will bring its results as certainly as any law of harvest—sowing and reaping. What is that “law of the Spirit” ? T he L aw of the S pirit First, the Spirit is a Holy Spirit. He cannot dwell in His fullness in any heart that is harboring willful, known sin. The story of Ananias and Sapphira, who lied to the Holy Ghost (Acts S:l-5), is a strik ing illustration of this fact. Every known sin must be cast out of the heart. Second, there must be a determination to obey the Spirit’s voice within. The Spirit is “the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him” (Acts 5:32). As soon as the Holy Spirit takes full pos session, He will undoubtedly bring the soul face to face with some old and per haps forgotten—or some new—duty, some advanced step that must be taken, some soul that must be spoken to about the Saviour, some field of service to which the life must be devoted. This voice must not be disobeyed. To disobey would be to lose that experience of His fullness, and per haps the “witness” of the Spirit (Rom. 8:16), and also “power” in service. Third, there is the enthronement of Christ. “The Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:39). The supreme work of the Holy Spirit is to “glorify” Jesus, to exalt Him, and to give Him His rightful plqce in the heart. Therefore, down—and out of the heart—must be cast every idol and every idol throne; Jesus must reign supreme in the heart and life if there is to be power and effectiveness in service. We must take the crown off our own lives and put it on the head of Jesus Christ. F aith and .F eeling Then, in the fourth place, the Holy Spirit is. given by faith (Gal. 3:2). This emphasis upon faith is not to exclude emo tion, but it is to say that in a moment’s time, without hours of struggle, without an all-night wrestling, one may receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Nor need there be any ecstatic experience whatever connected with the receiving of this bless ing. Those who say that the fullness, or “baptism of the Holy Ghost,” has not been received unless there have been certain physical demonstrations, or thrills, or “signs,” are ignorant of the Scripture teaching concerning this subject. There may be or there may not be any ecstatic, physical, emotional experience, but there must be that act of faith which believes in God’s promise and willingness to bestow the fullness of the Holy Spirit on the trust ing soul that receives it, just as there must
be belief in His promise to forgive those who confess their sins, at the moment a man first comes to Christ. It is “an evil and an adulterous generation that seeketh after a sign.” (See Matthew 12:39.) God’s word is sufficient. God has promised the Holy Spirit to them “that ask him” (Lk. 11:13). “He that asketh, receiveth”—let us believe that, and not ask, wait for, and demand feeling, emotion, or “signs”—such as “speaking with tongues,” for example. God’s bare word is sufficient. T he N ature of O ur S ervice Following naturally the matter of equip ment for service, comes that of the nature of service we are to render. In this respect, too, Christ our Master is also our pattern, in precept and example, both of which are equally binding in the Saviour’s case. This might not be true when one is speaking of the precept and example of the apostles, for at times the teaching and practice of the disciples did not agree (as, for instance, in the case of Peter, whose vacillation Paul rebukes: Gal. 2:11-15). And then, we must draw a distinction between the Scriptures and their writers: It is the “Scriptures” that are inspired; their writers were inspired while, and only while, engaged in the actual writing of the Scriptures, but not outside of that. It is the teaching of the Scriptures and not the acts (uncorroborated by Scrip ture) of the apostles and writers that are inspired. It is important to realize in this connec tion that the silences of Jesus were, at times, as eloquent as His speeches, and what is omitted in the record of His life may be as important as the things that are written. T he P rogram of J esus C hrist Jesus Christ came into the world with a very definite program. Reading the rec ord of His life as it appears in the Gospels, one is left in no doubt or uncertainty as to the purpose of His mission. Such ex pressions as “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28) ; “For the Son of man is come to Have you and I today Stood silent as with Christ, apart from joy or fray O f life, to see by faith His face; To look, if but a moment, at its grace, And grow, by brief companionship, more true, More nerved to lead, to dare ; to do For Him at any cost? Have we today Found time, in thought, our hand to lay In His, and thus compare His will with ours, and wear The impress of His wish? Be sure Such contact will endure Throughout the day; will help us walk erect Through storm and flood; detect Within the hidden life, sin’s dross, its stain; Revive a thought o f love for Him again; Steady the steps which waver; help us see The footpath meant for you and me. G eorge K lingl E. The Question
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