March, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
92
__ S erving T wo M asters \TNo man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other ; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mam mon” (Matt. 6 :24 ). God or mammon a man may serve, but not God and mammon. Both cannot occupy the human heart at the same time. He who is for the world must be against Christ. There is no such thing as a worldly Chris tian—that is a contradiction in terms. The service of mammon converts the service of God into a lie. Service to God excludes service to mammon. The heart o f man can never be so independent as to serve neither God nor mammon ; nor can it serve both together. It must make its choice! The two masters differ essentially : One must be loved and the other hated ; there is no middle relation"; nor can man’s unity o f nature be divided be tween thenrTJ / H / A man may devote his time but not himself —not his heart—to the service o f two masters. God, who demands the heart, will not share with the world. What Satan wanted Jesus Christ to do on the mount o f temptation was to allow him to share with Him (Jesus) in accomplishing the work o f redemption. No, said Jesus: “ Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” ; that is to say : You cannot divide with God. A man cannot have two strings to one bow. While two masters go together, a man might please them, but not when they are contrary one to the other. Christ does not say we should not, or must not, but we cannot serve God and mammon. T he W orld W,hat is the world? There is no better definition than that which the Word o f God gives : “ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world...........For all that is in the world, the lust o f the flesh, the lust o f the eyes, and the pride o f life, is not o f the Father, but is o f the world. And the world passetti away, and the lust thereof ; but he that doeth the will o f God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17). The word “ world” here means “ age.” There is in this world a spirit, a tendency, an organized force and fashion o f evil that is contrary to God, antagonistic to the Spirit o f Christ, and counter to the things o f His kingdom. This “ age” is under the dominion o f Satan, who is the “ god of this age” and controls “ the children o f disobedience.” Whatever in this “ age” there is in which you are tempted to indulge, which takes the keen edge from your relish for God, for the service o f Christ, for prayer, for the read ing and studying o f the Word o f God, and that makes you less spiritually minded— that is thé world. And that is the thing that sets up a rival claim to the mastership o f Jesus Christ in the heart. T he H eart a S anctuary “ Sanctify the Christ as Lord in your heart.” In this verse; “ the heart is likened to a sanctuary in which desires, affections, wishes, loves, and plans are portrayed as wor shipers. “ What a strange congregation ! What a motley gather ing o f worshipers ! And whom do they worship ? Before whom do they bow? Who is their lord? Whom do they hallow, reverence, and worship? T o whom do they offer these desires, ambitions, willings, loves, as sovereign lord to dispose o f them as he will? Before some shrine, sov ereign, god, our dispositions bow ; to some sovereign they render obedience. “ Is mammon the god before whom thè congregation in this sanctuary of the heart bows ? I f so, then there is greed, selfishness, inordinate affection, chaos, disorder, distrac tion, misrule, hatred, envy, jealousy. Oh, what a congrega tion o f worshipers in such a sanctuary ! “ Is it before the god o f indifference this congregation
bows ? Then all is cold, heartless, callous, unsusceptible to the highest and best; then thoughts are drugged; there is sleepiness and lethargy. Oh, the sleep o f death over this congregation! .“ Is it the god of uncleanness before whom the worship ers in this sanctuary bow? Then behold lust, unholy am bition and inordinate desire, adultery, and licentiousness." Surely on the forehead of every worshiper here may be seen ‘the mark o f the beast.’ “ Is worldliness the god before whom they bow ? Then behold the worshiper asking, ‘What shall we eat, and what shall we drink ? Wherewithal shall we be clothed, and with what shall we be amused ?’ ‘Let us eat and drink, for to morrow we die.’ ‘Take thine ease: eat, drink and be merry.’ “ In some temples, blessed be God, it is the Christ before whom every worshiper in the sanctuary o f the heart bows. Every latent thought, every purposed plan, every maturing desire, each natural affection, each and every thought, plan, and purpose— all prostrate themselves before Him, and say, ‘Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?’ Every wish and thought is brought ‘into captivity unto the obedience of Christ.’ .Thus, worshiping the Christ, the worshiper rises, finding every thought purified, every wish elevated, every plan ennobled, each sorrow sanctified, and each joy hal lowed. “ Every hour o f the day there is a worshiper in this tem ple o f the heart ! Some thought, purpose, plan, love, pas sion bowed in the presence o f some g o d ! Who is King in the temple o f your heart ? Let the Lord be King. ‘Little chil dren, keep yourselves from idols.’ ‘ Sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord.’ ” H eart -O wnership B rings J oy It has been well said that “ the'heart is never glorified until it finds an owner. Before that time, body and soul are restless. But when the owner comes, then body and soul leap up together; the eye sparkles, the cheek mantles, the feet bound, the laugh rings, the pulse beats quicker, the yoke becomes easier and the burden lighter. The proof o f any mastery over you is the glitter and the gleam o f the golden chain that binds you.” “ And I lift up my hand to the Christ, and I swear by Thee, O Christ, that since Thou hast become Master o f me, I have gloried in the glitter and gleam o f the golden chain that bound me to Thyself and Thy service; that I have found Thy service perfect freedom, Thy yoke easy and Thy burden light. Come, make me Thy captive evermore. Put Thy fetters on me— the golden fetters that make free. Put Thy mark upon me— that mark o f ownership which en nobles. Put Thy yoke upon me— that yoke that makes the burden light. Put Thy fear in me—that fear o f meanness which makes the coward brave. I shall own no Master when I am possessed by Thee.” Here is a dedication vow. Will you make it today ? “ Whatever dulls the sensitiveness o f my spirit toward Thee, O Christ, or takes off the fine, tender edge from my thoughts o f Thee, I will rule out o f my life, for now Thou art the Lord of my heart. “ Whatever injures or impairs or weakens my body or affects my mastery over it, I will now rule out, for now, O Christ, my body is Thy temple. “ Whatever affects hurtfully the earnestness and clean ness o f my witness o f Thee before others, I do now rule out o f my life, for it was Thy parting wish that I should be a witness to all men, and Thy wish is now my will. “ Whatever may cause my brother to stumble in his Christian life, I do now rule out o f my heart, for that would grieve Thee, O Christ, who didst die for that weak brother.
“ Take Thou my heart; I would be Thine alone; Take Thou my heart; and make it all Thine own; Purge me from sin, O Lord I now implore, Take me and seal me Thine for evermore.”
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