| The Christian Life | September 1942 |
He Expects It of You
“For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not My law.” “My son, give Me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe My ways.”—Proverbs 4:2; 23:26
JEHOVAH, who possesses infinite power to create and control the universe, does not use that power to coerce His intelligent creatures into obeying Him. Instead, He sets before them the opportunity of doing His will and lets them decide what to do about it. It was thus with our first parents in the Garden of Eden. It was the same with typical Israel, to whom it was said, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve,” and it is in keeping with this principle that our Heavenly Father is dealing with the followers of the Master now.—Joshua 24:15
But while our devotion to God is on an entirely voluntary basis—we don’t have to do it—yet, the Scriptures make it plain that in view of the marvelous things the Lord has done for us, He looks for and expects our love and devotion in return. As our texts indicate, He gives us the truth—“good doctrine”—with all that it includes and implies; and then He asks us to give Him our “hearts.” When we give the Lord our hearts we give Him our all—even life itself. This is what the Heavenly Father expects of us, and nothing short of full heart devotion will merit His “well done” at the end of the way.
God does not expect a blind, unintelligent devotion to Him. He seeks a worship and devotion which is based upon the truth—a worship that is “in spirit and in truth.” That is why He first enlightens those whom He invites to give their hearts to Him. This enlightenment, while it continually increases as we study to show ourselves more and more approved unto God, is, nevertheless, adequate even before consecration to constitute a vision of God’s love, and to inspire us with a desire to know Him better and to serve Him faithfully. David declares, “God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.” Here, in the symbolic language of the typical sacrifices, our devotion to God is shown to follow, and to be the result of our being shown the “light.”—Psalms 118:27
ISAIAH SEES THE LORD
The Prophet Isaiah tells of having seen the Lord, and that He was “high and lifted up.” (Isa. 6:5) The prophet was greatly inspired by this vision. In it he heard the Lord enquiring, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” This is the question that our Heavenly Father puts to each one of us, when, through the truth, He permits us to see the beauties of His character—“high and lifted up.” This is the purpose of revealed truth. It is God’s method of inspiring us with the desire and determination to lay down our lives in devotion to Him. He doesn’t coerce us into serving Him, but if we are truly inspired by the “vision,” our reaction will be like that of Isaiah who replied, “Here am I; send me.”
If, through the truth, we see God in His beauty and holiness the effect upon us will be the same as it was upon Isaiah; that is, it will cause us to realize our own sinfulness and unworthiness. Isaiah said, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” God knew that Isaiah was a man of unclean lips, but He wanted Isaiah to realize it also. And He also wanted the prophet to know that it was only because of the provision for cleansing by means of the coal from the altar, that he could render acceptable service to the God whom he saw so “high and lifted up.”
Is it not also thus with us? One of the first effects of the truth should be to make us realize our own sinfulness, that we are members of a fallen and dying race, hence cannot render acceptable service to God no matter how much we may be inspired to do so. Unless we learn this lesson from the truth, God cannot use us in His service. But learning it, we also discover—even as Isaiah did—that God has made provision for our cleansing. With us that cleansing comes through the blood of Christ. The fundamental facts relating to it constitute a part of the “good doctrine” which the Lord has given us.
What a marvelous provision! How humble it should make us, and thankful, too, that the God of the universe has not only inspired us with the desire to serve Him, but has made provision whereby, despite our imperfections, we can serve Him acceptably. No wonder the apostle admonishes, “We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” (II Cor. 6:1) Yes, beloved, the fact that it is only by God’s grace that we are permitted to devote our lives to Him, is one of the most important things revealed to us by the truth. And this, in no small degree, should contribute to the inspiration to faithfulness that comes to us through the knowledge of God which the truth reveals.
DIVINE AUTHORITY
While the truth inspires us with a desire to serve the Lord, there may be a question as to whether we have proper authority to aspire to such an honorable and exalted position. Surely we cannot take this honor unto ourselves. Not even Jesus assumed such honor. (Heb. 5:4) Here also, however, the truth’s vision reveals a further manifestation of divine grace. Not only does the Lord provide us with the robe of Christ’s righteousness enabling us to render acceptable service, but He also gives us of His Spirit to equip us for that service. One of the functions of the Holy Spirit in our lives is that of anointing, or authorizing us for service.
Of Jesus and His body members it is prophetically stated, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.”—Isa. 61:1-3
This anointing of the Spirit came first upon Jesus, and each one of His followers receives it in turn from Him, as he is inducted into His body. The Apostle John says, “The anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.” (I John 2:27) From this we learn not only that we come under the anointing which came upon Jesus, but also that in authorizing us to be coworkers with Christ, God also gives us the necessary knowledge in order that we may be workers “that need not to be ashamed.”—II Tim. 2:15
This twofold thought of the “anointing,” or authorization for service is well illustrated by the present-day custom of issuing diplomas of competency to physicians and others when they have successfully completed a course at college. Such diplomas are certificates of authorization to serve in that particular field to which they apply. Back of these certificates, however, is the fact that certain knowledge has been acquired upon the basis of which the authority has been given. So it is with the anointing of the Spirit. Back of that anointing is the fact that by God’s grace we have acquired certain necessary knowledge in order that we may serve acceptably and efficiently.
Here then, is a further provision of God’s grace. He has given us a diploma by which we are authorized to represent Him, and to be coworkers with His Son. It is difficult to grasp the magnitude of divine grace that is manifested in such a provision as this. Anyone would properly prize very highly a diploma of efficiency he might receive from one or more of the world’s outstanding centers of learning such as Harvard, or Yale, or Oxford. But think of how much more wonderful it is to possess a diploma authorizing us to represent the God of the universe. Such is the provision of the Spirit’s anointing. Thereby we have been made “stewards of the mysteries of God,” and “it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”—I Cor. 4:1,2
SPIRIT BEGETTING
The vision of truth which we have received reveals that the principal part of our work for God will be after we have finished our sacrificial course this side of the veil. From this standpoint, our present service is somewhat in the nature of an apprenticeship by which we are being prepared to share in the future work of the Kingdom. Faithfulness now involves the sacrifice of our flesh and its interests—a complete sacrifice, in fact, even unto death. It means also the giving up of our hope for restitution. In lieu of this God begets us with His Spirit to a new hope of life.
The begetting of the Holy Spirit is the beginning of a new life, and is a further manifestation of divine grace by which we are provided with all things necessary in order to render acceptable service to our Heavenly Father. Like the other functions of the Holy Spirit, the begetting power reaches us largely through the Word of truth. Not only has the Father made provision for this beginning of a new life in us, but in His Word is all the necessary spiritual food by which the New Creature is nourished and enabled to grow in grace and knowledge and strength until it is finally ready for the birth into the glory of the Father’s presence.
Here again God’s grace goes far beyond our comprehension! To begin with, we were members of a dying race—the fallen and condemned children of Adam. But we are cleansed through the blood of Jesus and begotten to a new nature; and, if faithful, will one day be taken into the immediate family of God on the divine plane. All of this, not because we have anything of value to offer to the Lord, but because of His provision for us—a provision ample to enable us to attain such heights of glory. Can anyone who grasps this import of the vision of truth consider it commonplace, or treat his opportunity with indifference?
SEALING OF THE SPIRIT
God’s gift of the Holy Spirit also “seals” us. In Ephesians 1:13 the apostle speaks of being “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” This is a lucid statement of what the sealing of the Spirit implies. It is a further function of God’s power, reaching us through the Word of truth. It was God’s Holy Spirit that inspired all the writers of the Bible, and in these writings are hundreds of divine promises by which we are sealed, or guaranteed success and victory. These promises cover every possible need of the Christian and leave no room whatever for doubt but that, if we do our part, God will see us through to glory. But we must do our part—God expects that of us.
God’s promises assure us that when we sin “we have an advocate with the Father”; when we are weak. His strength will make us strong; when our enemies attack us, He is greater than all our enemies; when we lack wisdom, He will supply us liberally; when we need spiritual food, He will give us bread; when we need correction, He will chastise us for that purpose; if we are tired and discouraged, He will be to us as a refreshing rock in a weary land; when we need protection, He will be to us a fortress; if we are prone to worry, He assures us that the very hairs of our head are numbered; if we are concerned about our material needs, He bids us to take no thought for the morrow, for He knows our needs, and will supply them in harmony with what His wisdom sees best. Yes, beloved, God has sealed us with all these wondrous assurances; yea, He guarantees, that “all things” will work together for our good, if we love Him and are the called according to His purpose.—Romans 8:28
Viewing, therefore, all that God has done for us in giving us the “good doctrines” of the truth we realize that there is something He can properly expect of us, which is that we give Him our hearts. We might hesitate—and properly so—to offer ourselves to Him if He had not made every provision whereby such an offering could be used to His glory. But having made every necessary provision of justification, anointing, begetting, and. sealing of the Spirit, we are placed in a position whereby we have “somewhat to offer,” and He expects us to make the offering. God doesn’t coerce us into offering this sacrifice, but having; made every provision whereby we are able to do it, it is His reasonable expectation of us.
“MY SON, GIVE ME THINE HEART”
The Lord’s invitation to give Him our hearts is, in reality, an invitation to give Him our all. The “heart,” symbolically speaking, is the seat of affection, so if we set our affections upon God and the doing of His will, it means that everything we hold dear will be devoted to Him. It means that we will live and die for Him; that we will sacrifice for Him and serve Him. Our flesh may endeavor to sidestep the issue of sacrifice, but if our affections are wholly set upon things above, if we have truly given our hearts to the Lord, we will gladly and faithfully carry out the terms of our consecration, knowing that such is but our reasonable service.
The reasonings of our flesh are often very subtle, and we need to be constantly on guard lest we be induced to leave the narrow way of sacrifice. It may be suggested that to give our hearts to the Lord means merely to assume a reverential attitude toward Him, and to be appreciative of what He has done for us. We may be led to believe that we can give our hearts to the Lord and keep everything else for ourselves; but that won’t work. The genuineness of our heart-devotion to God is demonstrated by the degree to which our time, strength and means are actually used in His service.
It wouldn’t cost us much merely to entertain a kindly feeling toward the Lord, and occasionally give expression of our love for Him. This, at best, would be a case of drawing near to Him with our lips while our hearts actually would be removed far from Him. We can’t say to the Lord that we will give Him our hearts, but will do as we please with our time: for the giving of our hearts to the Lord means also the giving to Him of our time—all of our time—not merely a part of it.
It is well, therefore, that we daily keep check of how we are using our time; especially with the thought of noting how much of it we are devoting to our own interests, to satisfy the desires of the flesh. If we have truly given our hearts to the Lord, it means that all of our time belongs to Him. We are not supposed to use a single minute for ourselves. True, it might not be possible to use all of our time in the direct service of the Lord in the sense of being engaged in tract distribution or preaching the Gospel, or serving the brethren, for the Lord accepts the consecration of our time subject to prior mortgages that may be upon it.
We are to make proper provision for those justly dependent upon us. We are to provide things decent in the sight of all men. The Lord expects us to meet these obligations, and looks upon the necessary time, strength and means devoted to such purposes as being devoted to Him. This makes it possible for each follower of the Master to be a full-time servant. What a wonderful provision this is, yet we should be careful that we don’t misconstrue its meaning to give us liberty not to devote any of our time directly to the Lord. Here, again, is where we will need to be on guard against the cunning and misleading sophistries of the flesh.
God’s work in the earth today is not that of making temporal provisions for either the consecrated or the unconsecrated. He wants us to make provision for those properly dependent upon us because He wants us to be true to our obligations. The Lord knows that if we are not true to our earthly obligations, we will not be true to Him. However, He wants us to keep in mind also, that every possible moment of our time is to be devoted directly to His service, and not merely indirectly in the making of provision for our own according to the flesh. We will all need to watch this point, for nothing would be more pleasing to our own flesh than to go along in life much the same as the world in general, without properly discharging the responsibility of sacrifice that is laid upon us by the Lord through the vision of truth. He expects more than this of us.
OUR STRENGTH
After six thousand years of downhill travel the human family, generally speaking, is in a pretty decrepit condition. Being members of the fallen race, we do not have a great deal of strength with which to do anything. The Lord knows this, but at the same time, in asking us for our hearts, He expects that what strength we have will also be freely devoted to His service. Surely, this is but a reasonable expectation on His part. After we have used a considerable portion of the little strength we have in making provision for those dependent upon us, there is even less that can be devoted directly to the Lord—so little, in fact, that there is often a temptation not to use it at all.
One of the greatest temptations of the flesh is to take life easy. The New Creature needs to continually combat the reasonings of the flesh along this line. “I’m too tired to go to meeting tonight,” or “I’ll not bother to make that back call today,” or “I’ll take a rest this evening instead of making proper preparation to serve the class next Sunday,” etc. These are but examples of how the human mind will reason against the New Creature using strength directly in the Lord’s service.
And the flesh can quote Scriptures, too. One of the favorite texts used by the flesh is the one in which the apostle speaks of the spirit of a sound mind. The apostle tells us that God has given us such a spirit. He tells us also that God has given us “the spirit of … power, and of love,” as well as “of a sound mind.” (II Tim. 1:7) All these are but elements, or manifestations, of the Spirit of God.
The spirit of love is the spirit of unselfishness—a spirit that finds expression in serving others. The spirit of power is the strength that God gives us to carry out our sacrifice. The spirit of a sound mind is the reasonable viewpoint of our privileges which God gives us through the truth. And what is that reasonable viewpoint of what a Christian should do and be? Paul answers, saying, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”—Rom. 12:1
If we exercise the spirit of a sound mind, therefore, we will see to it that all of our strength is devoted to the Lord, a “living sacrifice” to Him. Let us not permit the flesh to use this statement as an excuse to take life easy by removing our sacrifice from the altar of full devotion of our all to God. Sometimes the brethren express themselves as being concerned over the fact that they do not have opportunities of suffering for Christ. Perhaps the Lord is waiting for us to demonstrate our desire to suffer by rendering service to Him when it would be more pleasing to the flesh to remain at home and rest. Surely, if we are not willing to serve when the flesh is tired, we are not worthy of enduring greater suffering for Him and with Him.
TALENTS
Through the Lord’s wondrous provision of grace, we have certain talents we can use for Him—some have one, some have more. But whatever our talents may be, the Lord expects them to be used in His service. We are not to reason that because we cannot serve in the same manner that others serve, we have no way of serving the Lord. “What is that in thine hand?” is a question that the Lord is asking of all those who have given their hearts to Him.
We have already mentioned the talent of time and the talent of strength, but there are many others. Nearly all of us have at least a small talent of influence. It may be quite circumscribed, limited, perhaps, to a small circle of relatives or friends; but it is a talent we can use to the Lord’s glory, if we will. True, it often happens when one sees the vision of truth, that his own people turn against him, and his name is cast out as evil. Yet among friends and relatives there is often one, perhaps more, who will listen to the truth especially from one who is near and dear. God expects us to use this talent for Him if we can.
In the faithful use of our talent of influence we are quite liable to lose whatever reputation we may have among our friends; but this is the privilege we have of walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Of Him we read that He made Himself of no reputation. If our hearts are truly given to the Lord we will gladly make ourselves of no reputation among men, but if our hearts are partly set upon earthly things, the loss of reputation will seem like a calamity. Our viewpoint will depend upon whether we ask, “Must I serve?” or “May I sacrifice?”
The money talent also comes under the jurisdiction of the heart. We can’t say to the Lord, “I’ll gladly give you my heart, my time, my strength, my influence, but let me keep my money.” Some find it easier to use their money talent than almost any other. It is true, nevertheless, that often the most crucial test of the sincerity of our consecration is to actually transfer our affection from the mammon of unrighteousness to that of the true God. We are admonished to exhort one another to love and to good works, and we should be glad to be reminded of all the various ways in which we can prove our heart devotion to God.
Furthermore, we remind the brethren of the subtlety of human reasonings. This is sometimes manifested in the disposition to use mistakes of others, as a cloak for not doing the right thing ourselves. For example, most of the brethren know how the thought of “service” has been misused by certain groups, and through its misuse, the Lord’s people exploited to their injury spiritually. Because of this we may decide that it is now wrong to use the word service, and wrong to exhort one another to be faithful servants of the Lord. This is an erroneous viewpoint. The reason we should be faithful in the service is because the Lord expects it of us. The misuse that some have made of service does not change this divine expectation.
The same may be true of our money talent. Nominal churchianity has brought much disrepute upon the use of the money talent through the continual begging for funds to support this, that, and the other branch of their world-converting efforts. But this is no reason why we should not now properly consider our money talents, with the view of seeing how best we can use them to spread the Gospel and serve the brethren and the Lord: If we are glad to be exhorted in the proper use of our time, we should be glad also to be exhorted in the proper use of our money. If this is not so, perhaps it’s because our affections are set a little too securely upon our money, and not sufficiently upon the Lord.
THE LITTLE THINGS
The Scriptures lay great stress upon the little things we are able to do for the Lord. Perhaps that’s because none of us is in a position to do anything but what is little. Surely we don’t want to be in the class who claim God’s favor because of the “great and wonderful works” they perform for Him. Special attention is called to the “widow’s mite,” and may we not apply the principle here involved to any of the little services we can render?
The widow’s mite is not mentioned because it was a mite, but because it represented the utmost that the widow could do. If our utmost along any line is equal to two mites instead of one, the Lord will expect the two mites. Whether our offering is of time, or strength, or influence, or whatsoever it may be, it will be acceptable to God, only if it represents our all. The man of the parable who learned of a valuable pearl buried in a field, sold all that he had in order to purchase that field. The purchase price was all that he had, whether it was much or little. So with us. We have learned of a pearl of great price, the “prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:14) We can obtain that pearl if we are willing to give up all that we have for it, no matter how little our all may be. And no matter how many talents we have, we can’t hold any of them back for ourselves, and still have enough left to buy the field.
All that we have, is the price of joint-heirship with the Master. Inasmuch as the Heavenly Father has made every provision whereby we are able. to give our all in an acceptable manner, He expects this of us. Shall we not, then strain every nerve to meet this divine expectation! “My son, give Me thine heart.”