| The Christian Life | August 1940 |
Our Covenant of Sacrifice
“Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”—Psalms 50:5; 116:15
THESE texts, considered together, bring to our minds two important days in the Christian experience. The first is one that is in the past for each consecrated follower of the Master. It is the day when we saw the Truth, and in it found God’s character and plan revealed so clearly that we were inspired with the desire to do His will. We discerned that His ways for us were infinitely higher than our own, and that to follow them meant a great turning point in our lives; so we came with our little all to the mightiest of all Beings and offered it in sacrifice. It was accepted, we believed, and returned to us to be used as stewards, faithfully, until the sacrifice was wholly consumed upon the altar consecrated for us through the blood of Christ.
The second day is yet to come for those of us who are still this side the veil. The Apostle Paul spoke of his near approach to that day when he said, “For I am already being poured out, and the time of my dissolution has come near, I have maintained the good contest, I have finished the race, I have guarded the faith.” (Diaglott rendering, II Tim. 4:6,7) Having started upon this narrow way of sacrifice and having seen from the Word of God some of its implications, we recognize that in between the beginning and the ending of our sacrificial experience, a great variety of experiences are to be ours.
Some of these experiences will be of the mountain-top variety, causing us to rejoice exceedingly because of the rich blessings they afford us. We know, too, that there are to be other times, in which we will be in the valley of testing, as it were, where our faith and faithfulness to Him will be on trial. Some of our mountain-top experiences for example, may be enjoyed while attending conventions of the saints. In these hallowed resting places we have our minds renewed in respect to the glorious plan and character of our God. His divine promises, so rich in meaning, and having a bearing upon every phase of our Christian experience, are reiterated from the platform, and discussed in our private conversations with the brethren; and oh, what joys result! Under such circumstances our hearts go out to the Lord in prayer, and our meditations upon Him and His wondrous works are precious indeed, and should prepare us for the trying days that, sooner or later the Lord, in His wisdom, will permit to come to us.
Many of the consecrated have noticed that God often deals with them upon this basis. That is to say, first He showers them with blessings of joy and peace and fellowship with Him and with His people, and thereby builds them up in preparation for the testings that come later, and which are calculated to crystallize their advances in Christ-like development. God permits all of these experiences as a part of that which is necessary for us in the carrying out of the terms of our original covenant of sacrifice with Him. Though our hearts may often he weary and heavy Laden, yet we should still maintain our original desire to surrender everything to Him in order that He may be our all in all, and that, eventually, we may enter into the fullness of joy which will be the blessed portion of all that make their calling and election sure to be with Christ in His Kingdom.
ARE WE STILL FULLY CONSECRATED?
From this standpoint, therefore, we should realize that it was not enough that one day in the past we made a covenant with the Lord by sacrifice. The question is, how about that covenant today? After having experienced more and more of what it involves, and having been blessed with those rich bounties of grace and truth which the Heavenly Father bestows upon those who reverence Him, can we say that we are as fully consecrated now as at the beginning? If not, then there is, obviously, something seriously wrong in our hearts and minds.
It is often profitable for the new creature to put himself through a rigid self-examination. Paul suggests this in I Corinthians 11:31,32, which, according to the Diaglott translation, reads, “If, however, we examined ourselves, we should not he judged; but being judged by the Lord, we are corrected, so that we may not be condemned with the world.” It is evident from this that rigid self-examination is not only proper and beneficial, but if practiced by us there may not be the need on the Lord’s part to correct us as often as otherwise would be the case.
If we find ourselves corrected or chastened of the Lord, it may indicate that we have failed to fully examine ourselves in the light of God’s Word, and to take the proper steps to correct the deficiencies which we may have found. If it does become necessary for the Lord to correct us on account of our failure to properly examine ourselves and make self-corrections, He permits such experiences as are calculated to help us put aside our own will and to more resolutely carry out His will in our daily lives. If we find ourselves receiving chastenings from the Lord, it should be a reminder to us that we still have something wherein we have not fully surrendered our wills to Him. We should accept these as reminders and not complain about them.
Indeed, we would have far fewer chastenings from the Lord if, when they do come, we recognized them in the proper light, rather than either feeling sorry for ourselves, or else blaming another for the experiences which the Lord has permitted to come to us for our good. It is easy to say that we want to do the will of the Lord, but, at times, this may mean that we are willing to do His will in our way. But if our hearts are sincere, the Lord will give us the necessary experiences to help us in the full yielding up of our own preferences that His will may have free course in our consecrated lives.
In the examination of ourselves, it is necessary that we check our thoughts and activities not only against a few of the favorite texts which express God’s will for us, but against all the instructions found in the Bible pertaining to the will of God for His consecrated people. We will quote, for example, one passage from the Word of God and let us note the many ways in which it touches upon the outworking of the Divine will in the consecrated life. The passage is that of II Corinthians 5:15-21, and reads:
“And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him [so] no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to 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. 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. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST
One of the outstanding statements in this passage is that, “we are ambassadors for Christ.” Probably we never will be able to fully realize the responsibility of those who take the name of the Lord, and who undertake to be His ambassadors. It is a sacred responsibility which can be fulfilled only with the Lord’s help. Seeking to be ambassadors for the Lord, we should be extremely careful in every thought, word and deed. We reflect either credit or discredit to Him in all that we say and do. This is true not only of those who may speak from the platform, but of all the consecrated.
As ambassadors of the Lord, we are commissioned to speak the truth in His name—the truth of His Word. This should be spoken in a straight-forward manner, in love, out of a pure heart. It should not be spoken with exaggeration nor with sarcasm. Nor should the ultra-dramatic be employed in an effort to make the truth more impressive. The truth itself, spoken in simplicity, sincerity and tolerance, will accomplish all that the Lord desires should be accomplished by it, and all worldly methods that are used contrary to the will of the Lord, are bound to detract from the message rather than to add to it.
We should remember the text in Isaiah which declares, “Come let us reason together,” and with this admonition in mind, see to it that our presentation of the truth is from the standpoint of reason, and in the spirit of the Lord. Some methods of presenting the truth may temporarily attract more hearers, but they do not attract those whom God is calling out of the world to be followers of Christ. Thus we see that in our desire to do the Lord’s will in the matter of our ambassadorship it will be necessary to keep in mind the purpose of God’s calling in this age, and to conduct our share in the ministry of the truth accordingly, even though this may tend to hamper what we might otherwise consider to be the more effective method of individual expression.
THE LORD’S WILL SHOULD BE DONE IN THE LORD’S WAY
There is always a tendency to want to do the Lord’s will in our own way. This has been more or less true of all the Lord’s people, and is one of the weaknesses of the flesh against which it is necessary to continuously struggle. Moses, for example, sometimes wanted to do the Lord’s will in his own way. God commanded him to go to Pharaoh, and Moses raised objections based on his own ideas, even though he wanted to serve God faithfully. While Moses found it necessary to struggle against these tendencies toward willfulness in his service to the Lord, nevertheless because of his loyal heart condition, it is recorded of him that he was “faithful over his house.”
This should be encouraging to us, indicating that, like Moses, it should be possible for us to be faithful, even though we do not always succeed in getting the best of our stubbornness. We should, however, be on the alert always to combat these motions of sin in our flesh, never yielding willingly to any suggestions that may be contrary to the will of God as it is expressed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the New Testament we have another instructive example of one who, at times, seemed to want to do the Lord’s will in his own way; namely, Peter. God gave Peter a wonderful vision emphasizing the fact that the Gentiles coming into the Gospel arrangement through Christ, were to be considered clean; hence, that they would be acceptable to the Lord, even as the Jews. Yet we find that Peter didn’t benefit from this divinely given instruction as he should have done, with the result that it became necessary for Paul to rebuke him for dissembling. This was a rebuke which, while it came to Peter through the Apostle Paul, yet was actually from the Lord—a rebuke which would not have been necessary had Peter been more apt in his learning of the lessons which God had given him.
THEN AND NOW
When first we made a consecration to the Lord, hp w anxious we were to please Him in all things. Is that same zeal in our hearts today, so that all we need is, as it were, a glance from the Lord in order that we may be quick to fall in line with whatever His will may be concerning us? Many things come up in the daily experiences of the Christian to distract him from that which should be the chief thing in his life. For this reason it is necessary ever to look to the Lord and to be encouraged by His promises. Failing in this we are quite liable to become “weary in well doing.” Sometimes when we become discouraged in our Christian efforts, self-will, which we drove out the front door, may come around to the back door and again take possession.
What does my consecration mean to me today? This is a question that each one much settle for himself, because it has to do with our individual relationship with God. In deciding this question, let us remember that our consecration was to do the Lord’s will, and that His will for us is expressed in His Word. Remembering this, we will not cast away or consider unimportant, anything in His Word which has a bearing upon the manner in which we serve Him. There are certain fundamental instructions of God’s Word for the consecrated which apply to the entire church of Christ, while other teachings of the Word have to do with dispensational matters. Along this line the divine will for all the consecrated today obviously would be somewhat different from what it was in the beginning of the age. It would be improper, therefore, for us to conclude that what may have been the Lord’s will for His people a thousand years ago, would necessarily be the full expression of His will for us who are living in the closing days of the Gospel Age.
We might think of the experiences of Noah and Abraham, for example, as Scriptural illustrations of the application of dispensational truth. Noah was faithful in doing the will of the Lord because, being informed of the coming flood, and instructed to build an ark, he faithfully went about the business of performing that which the Lord had given him to do. While some items of the divine will for Noah were, no doubt, later the same for Abraham, yet we can readily see that had Abraham sought only to do some of the things that Noah did, manifestly he would not have been pleasing to the Lord.
Noah lived a righteous life and so did Abraham, but there were services for both these patriarchs to perform, and had they discounted the importance of the divine commission to their, they could not have been considered the friends of God. Noah was commissioned to build the ark and to be a preacher of righteousness; Abraham was bidden to leave his own people and his father’s house and to become a dweller in tents. Later, he was asked to offer up his son Isaac as a sacrifice. These instructions, as applied to each of the patriarchs in question, constituted dispensational truth for them; to which, had they not given heed, would have demonstrated them unworthy of becoming a part of the Ancient Worthy class.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF PRESENT TRUTH
God holds us responsible for whatever measure of truth He has revealed to us, for it is through the truth that He makes known to us His will. It is not sufficient that we be faithful to the general instructions of the Lord which have applied to all the consecrated. In addition to this, we must study His will for His people as it applies to the time in which we are living. It is for this purpose that God gave us the knowledge of present truth, and if we are to be truly faithful to Him it is important that we live up to the knowledge we have received.
If our consecration is as real to us today as when first we made it, the evidence thereof will be that we will consider important that which God considers important. It means that we will not be seeking a way to side-step the responsibilities imposed upon us by the revelation of His will. It means that we will be zealous in facing and meeting the responsibilities of our consecration, realizing that as we look to Him for grace to help in time of need, He will give us strength to carry through faithfully to the end.
We should ever realize that the responsibilities imposed upon us by the divine will are a matter between ourselves and the Lord. Let us not suppose that by taking a course which will please the brethren with whom we are associated, that this will necessarily be pleasing to the Lord. It is true, of course, that to the extent that each one in a group of brethren is determined to obey the Lord’s will, they will find themselves more and more in harmony with each other, and rejoicing in the same glorious truth and the same blessed privilege of serving the truth. But irrespective of the depth of consecration and clarity of vision manifested by others, it is our responsibility as individuals to do that which we have learned to be His will for us. And we are to do this even though everyone else in the world may think we are wrong.
In seeking to be faithful to the Lord ourselves we are not to compare our efforts with those of others, supposing that if, on the whole, we are doing as well as they; that this means we are fulfilling the terms of our consecration. The Lord, who reads the hearts of all His people, knows what each individual is able to render in the way of service and devotion to Him. We cannot read the hearts of others, and therefore are not to compare our own standing before the Lord with what may outwardly appear to be their standing. The Master commended Mary because she had done what she could. He did not commend her because she had done what Martha could do. She had been faithful herself, and because of this, received the Master’s commendation. It was Martha’s responsibility also to be faithful, and it is our responsibility as individuals to do what we can and do it zealously in the carrying out of the Divine will for us.
PAST MISTAKES SHOULD NOT DISCOURAGE
While we should remember some of our past experiences with a view of drawing lessons there-from which will help us to be more faithful in the future, yet we should not permit Satan to discourage us simply upon the grounds that we have made mistakes. Mistakes should humble us, and cause us to be more diligent in searching out and doing the divine will, but they should never be permitted to discourage us. One important lesson we should learn from our failures, is the necessity of leaning more fully upon the Lord, and to depend increasingly upon His strength, rather than to go forward in our own. A mistake which has helped to impress upon us the need of divine help, may be considered a real blessing.
Mistakes also help to prevent us from lapsing into a sort of self-satisfied condition. Such a condition of spiritual lethargy is unhealthy indeed, and is certain, sooner or later, if not corrected, to lead to disaster in the Christian life. The Scriptures declare, “Let him that thinketh he stands take heed lest he fall.” (I Cor. 10:12) If the Lord permits us temporarily to stumble in order that we may be warned against the possibility of a disastrous fall, let us rejoice, learn the lesson, and continue steadfastly forward in the narrow way.
Let us not think of the consecrated life as we would that of a worldly career. Let us not view it as something which may afford an opportunity to satisfy some long-cherished desire of the flesh. A brother once said that when he came into the truth and learned that it wasn’t necessary to go through college in order to be a minister, he realized that at last a long-cherished desire of his earlier life could be realized. This brother, without realizing it, was interpreting the satisfaction of his own fleshly ambition as evidence of the Lord’s blessing. Let us watch the desires of the flesh that they may not be permitted to influence our interpretation of the divine will for us, and thus lead us into paths that will not redound to the glory of the Lord.
FAITHFULNESS MEANS DYING WITH CHRIST
In meditating upon the foregoing thoughts as they apply to the endeavor of the Lord’s consecrated people to carry out the terms of their consecration, it will be apparent that one of the main issues at stake is the extent to which our consecration results in the death of self-will. This death of self-will is genuine if it finally leads to the full sacrifice of all our fleshly interests as co-sufferers with the Master. We are to be planted together in the likeness of His death. This was first of all a death of His own will, and the acceptance instead of the will of the Father—that will which was written of Him in the “volume of the Book.” It was a death furthermore, that finally led to His crucifixion upon the cross.
It is this sacrificial death as it applies to both mind and body that constitutes the ultimate in the fulfilling of our consecration vows. It is this to which the prophet refers when he says in our text, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” Thus seen, our covenant with the Lord by sacrifice will not be complete until, that sacrifice is completed in actual death. How important it is, therefore, that we daily scrutinize our thoughts and our intentions, in order that we may be sure that having started in the way of sacrifice, we are still zealously pressing on in the same narrow way, taking each step as it is indicated to us by the footprints of the Master who has gone before. Yes, dear brethren, having made this consecration to the Lord, we are now under obligation to do the divine will as expressed in the commandments that come to us from the Father through the Son, and recorded in the blessed Word. It is through the keeping of these commandments that our love for the Heavenly Father, for His Son, and for the brethren, is manifested. Concerning this the apostle says,
“He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love Him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me.”—John 14:21-24