September 1924
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
555
“ N otTours, But Y ou ” Hugh R. Monro President, Niagara Lithograph Company, and Treasurer of the National Bible Institute, New York City
“I seek not yours, but you” 2 Cor. 12:14 |N this day of multiplied financial appeals the mere suggestion of discouraging gifts of money to a worthy object seems revolutionary; nevertheless this is the manifest purpose of the Apostle Paul in the words quoted. Weymouth’s translation gives added emphasis to the point, for it reads,, “ I desire not your money, but yourselves.” The man who feels that, having given liberally to church support or other benevolence, he has rendered his full measure of service, can find no encouragement here. He may “ give all his goods to feed the poor,” and yet be no more than “sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.” There is a mistaken idea with many people that the writers of the New Testament were men devoid of the ordinary human qualities and passions. The Apostle Paul, for example, is regarded as so superlatively spiritual and all-absorbed in heavenly concerns that there was no room for the play of human emotions. The attentive reading of the chapter will, however, effectually disprove this idea; show ing, as it does, the apostle in a mood of mingled tenderness and indignation. Instead of letting loose the flood-gates of denunciation against certain apathetic and calloused members of this Corinthian Church, he appeals first to the fact that God in marvelous ways has set His seal upon his ministry, then proceeds to vindicate the self-effacing character of his service, and finally to warn against the soul-destroying power of sinful indulgence. Notwithstanding the restrained language employed, the intelligent reader cannot fail to detect the sense of injury, not to say indignation, which leads the apostle to rebuke the suggestion that he or any of his co-laborers were moved by sordid motives. He calls upon God to witness that his passion was for the edification of those to whom he ministered; and far from any taint of selfish interest, he had deliberately denied himself the proper support which was due him as their minister, lest he should give any basis for the charge of having a mer cenary spirit. There is a degree of irony as well as deep pathos in the language of v. 13, when he says: “ For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not.burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong.” It is with this background that the words in the following verse will be best understood, “ I will not be burdensome to you; for I seek not yours, but you.” As a true minister of Christ, and as an inspired apostle, he saw with unerring vision that the great end of evangel ism and all spiritual teaching was to secure the complete surrender to Christ of the life of each believer. He who yields nothing more than earthly possessions may be a liability rather than an asset to the cause of Christ; while a fully yielded life must inevitably include all one’s gifts and powers, as well as possessions, with the cultivation of a spirit of trust and obedience, through which alone all of these can find effective use. There is an interesting connection between this text and a related passage in 2 Cor. 8:5. Here the apostle, refer ring to the Macedonian Christians and their abounding liberality, testifies that they actually gave beyond their ability, so that he and his fellow-laborers were reluctant
to accept the responsibility of administering a fund repre senting so much of sacrifice.; He adds this tender and expressive tribute as the only possible explanation of such unexampled devotion, “ Tliey first gave their own selves to the Lord,” The text in Chapter 8 is a concrete illustration of that of Chapter 12. In the one case he testifies, that he is seek ing, not money, but lives laid down in loving devotion to Christ; while in the other Ije bears witness that because these Macedonian saints “ first give their own selves,” their liberality could scarcely be restrained. Here is set forth the great principle lying at the heart of spiritual progress. It teaches that while in the calculations of men money is omnipotent, with God gifts of money are of value solely as the by-product of a consecrated life. This reasoning is a manifest challenge to the spirit of the present age. In its ultimate terms we are brought face to face with the conviction that no vital interest of the cause of Christ is retarded through lack of sufficient money, but only by the incomplete and halting devotion of those who bear the Christian name. We thus need a new type of campaign in the Church, in which our text will be the guiding star and in which the enlistment of lives for Christ will be the sole objective. Intensely Personal These terms, “not yours, but you,” are intensely personal. They are addressed to heart and conscience and compel an answer to the question whether we have merely given Christ a tithe of our possessions or have yielded Him the sceptre over our lives. Such a searching and all-important inquiry may not be dismissed by a few cant phrases about regular church attendance, or by a certain smug satisfaction growing out of the number of offices and committee appoint ments we ihay hold in connection with organized Christan work. There are certan Scriptural tests to be applied which will infallibly indicate the measure of our consecration. Let us consider one of the most obvious of these for a moment and ask to what extent we are fulfilling the Great Commission by which we are called to become witnesses for Christ. This is a direct and inescapable call to every Chris tian disciple. To devote a fortune to missions or support a substitute on the field does not absolve from this obliga tion in the slightest degree. Christ declares, “ Ye are my witnesses,” and evidence is wanting that the terms of this call admit of any exceptions. Moreover, as one reads the history of the Apostolic Church it becomes increasingly evident that personal wit nessing was the universal sign of discipleship, and that the terms Christian and witness were synonymous. It is equally clear as one reviews Church history down to the present that, with each great spiritual awakening through the cen turies, there has been an instinctive return to this apostolic ideal of service. In the great revivals in Wales and in Korea a few years ago, the outstanding characteristics were per sonal testimony and soul-winning. Without assuming that all are qualified for public preach ing, let it be remembered that the primary qualifications for the winning of souls is a genuine personal experience of Christ’s power, and a vocabulary extended enough to tell what His power has wrought in the life. It is a lamentable
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