SUNDAY READING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3099, 6 August 1913, Page 79

SUNDAY READING.

SERVING THE LORD

‘‘God, whose 1 am, and whom 1 serve.” Acts xxvii, 23.

In the question of service one great assumption must be made. We must be able to say in our measure what St. Paul said in his great apostolic me as me. “Whose I am, and whom 1 seiwe. Sonship precedes service. W e shall uca er serve God aright unless Ave knoAv that we are “soils and daughters of the Lord God Almighty.” Let us briefly review some aspects of Christian service as set before us in the Gospel of St. Mark. (1.) The dignity of Christian service. In St. Mark ui: 14 we are told that “He ordained twelve, that they might be Avith Him.” That is the first privilege of service. Wo are not working alone; we are Avorking together, with God. It was Avritten of the potters: “There they dwelt Avith the king for his work.” Think of them — with the king for his Avork. And what are those familiar, touching Avoids in St. MattheAV xi: 29: “Take my yoke upon you” It is as if the Master said : “See, there is a vacant place here; come, be partners Avith mo, take my yoke, and work as the tAvo creatures in the yoke seem to work in Eastern lands to-day, side by side.” You are called to service, but it is service Avith the King, as Avell as for Him. What an honour is here- Service itself is honourable, “icli dien” (I serve) is the motto of the Prince of Wales.

(2) The** urgency of Christ’s service.— Forty-seven times in this Gospel there occurs one adverb in the Greek, translated differently, but in every case with the same note of urgency in it. Nineteen times it is translated “immediately,” 14 times it is translated “straightway,” in other places it is rendered “forthwith/ 1 ” and once it is rendered “anon.” if we could translate the hymns we sing into actual life, what a different service we should render! Give every flying moment (Something to keep in store. If thece hymns had but hands and feet, what a change would come over our service ! Oh, the opportunities which flow past ns as a stream, never to return; oh, th 2 work that'lies ready to our hands,! which never has been done; oh, the things taken for granted, that have never been granted by any man, and still less by the Master whom we serve ! We say the harvest is four months off; but Christ says it is always ready. There is a harvest waiting for your reaping now. In your home, in your social life, wherever your lot is east, there is a work for you to do. What are you doing? Sleeping? “He that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.” Terribly sad is the reflection that our lukewarmness and indifference cause shame, make Christ ashamed that He has such servants in His field. (3) The conditions of service.—Here are two of them. We read in St. Mark iii, 13, that Christ “calleth unto Him whom lie would.” There must he the call, and you can never hope to succeed in any work to which you have not been called. Take heed that you are not deaf to the call when it is sounded in your ear. He called them, and then He sent them. Ves, and messengers still are wanted. But one tiling must be remembered —the messengers must he prepared for their service. How remarkable it in to reflect that Christ Himself took 30 years’ preparation for three and a-half years’ service ; and that for reasons in the Divine wisdom four thousand years at least had elapsed front the first promise of the Redeemer until His actual appearance! Moses was 80 rears at school before his life-work really opened. There is a waiting as well as a sending. 4) The variety of Christian service.— As you glance through the chapters of St. Mark you see the different designations of Christian service. In chapter i, 2, they arc “messengers.” St. John was a messenger: “I send My messenger.” What n beautiful title! ami remember the source of the messages. We only acknowledge one, pure and undefiled. If we are to know the mind and will of God the messages must come from His Hole Word. It, is the message of an open Bible that wc are caled to proclaim. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” And, remember, the earn" message is not suited to overcone. The message of warning to the backslider might he a discouragement to the penitent seeker. We need discernment to know how to speak the word in season to him that is weary, and this the Master promises to bestow. In chapter i, 17, we find the title, “fishers of men.” Could there be a greater contrast between the two descriptions? A fisher who does much of his work in the dark, and needs special skill and aptitude for his craft, is c very different man from a messenger entrusted with a message. Yet under both figures true aspects of Christian service are delineated. What do we know about the fisher’s work.

what do we knew of the honest, selfdenying toil that is undoubtedly involved in it? Are we ready, as the fishermen must be ready, often in trying and difficult circumstances, to pursue the calling and discharge the office to which Ave haA-e been summoned ? Are we in any true sense of the Avoid deserving the title ‘‘fishers of men”? In chapter iv you have the soAver, in the familiar parable, going forth to his labour. But Avhat a different picture is there! Let me observe only one thing about it. In the sower’s Avork there must be system. The soAver who despises order and method in his work Avill find to his dismay that lie has filled up the seed in one place and left barren spots untouched in another. Order is needed in Christian service, if it is to be really effecth'e and successful. In another passage Ave find a title Avhioh may not appeal to you, but it appeals to me. I shall call it reporters. You have the expressions in chapter i, 30. There they tell Him of a suffering inmate in the house. There is no more blessed Avork in Christ’s service than to tell Him. There is still another class, and they are represented by one of the most interesting figures in St. Mark’s Gospel— Simon the Cyrenian. They are the croesbearers. Do you not think that in the heaven that aAvaits ns Simon the Cyrenian will hear again of the cross he carried after Jesus? You may be sure that Avhatever be the trail that awaits you as you follow your Master, if patiently, borne, your attitude towards it avi 11 shine out again Avhen you least expect it, perhaps in this- world, but certainly in the next. No service done for Christ Avill ever lose its' reward.