Our Motto

"With goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men."

Ephesians 6:7

This sentence was expressly addressed, in the first place, to "servants," which term includes and, first of all intends, those who unhappily were slaves. There were many slaves in the Roman Empire and the form of bondage which then existed was of the bitterest kind. I can imagine a slave becoming a Christian and so finding peace as to his former guilt and obtaining renewal of heart—and then, although rejoicing in the Lord, I can well conceive that he would often be downcast in view of his sad condition as a slave. I see him sitting down and moaning to himself, "I am a bondsman under a tyrant master. I have already endured many cruelties and may expect many more. I would be free, but there is no hope of escape, since there is no place to which I can flee, for Caesar’s arm is long and would reach me at the very ends of the earth. I cannot purchase my liberty, nor earn it by long years of faithful servitude. "Neither can my fellow salves and I effect our deliverance by rebellion, for this has been tried and has ended in terrible bloodshed. I am hopelessly a slave. What shall I do? How shall I sustain my fate? My life is well-near intolerable—would to God it were at an end." I can imagine the poor slave going to his cramped bed under the stairs—for in any hole or corner, the Roman slave might find such little rest as was allowed him—and there he would almost wish to sleep himself into another world. Being a Christian, as I have supposed, he pours out his heart before God in prayer and, in answer to his cry, the Lord Jesus sets before him the rich consolation which He has provided for all that mourn—consolation strong enough to enable him to endure to the end and glorify the name of Jesus even under such hard conditions!

While yet troubled in mind, this freeman of the Lord, who is yet in bonds to man, is met by the Savior Himself. He appears to him—I will not say in such form as could be perceived by the eyes, but in clear enough vision to be exceedingly influential over his spirit. Jesus stands before him. The five wounds adorning Him like precious rubies are infallible tokens! The face lit up with an unearthly splendor is still marked with the old lines of sorrow and the head bears the crown of thorns still about its brow. The poor slave casts himself at his Redeemer’s feet with astonishment, with awe and with intense delight! And then I think I hear those dear lips which are as lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh saying to His poor servant, "Fulfill your service bravely. Do it unto Me. Forget your tyrant master and remember only Me. Bear on, work on, suffer on and do all as unto Me and not unto men."

Then I think I see the broken-hearted captive rising up refreshed with inward strength and I hear him say, "I will even bear the yoke until my Lord shall call me away! Unless His Providence shall open for me a door of liberty, I will patiently abide where I am and suffer all His will, hopefully and joyfully serving because He bids me do it for His sake." A vision which would so greatly comfort the poor Roman slave in his extremity may well stand before each one of us. Let us each hear our Savior say, "Live unto Me and do all for My sake." Our service is so much more pleasant and easy than that of slaves—let us perform it "with good will doing service, as unto the Lord, and not to men." Our princely motto is, "I serve"—be this sentence emblazoned on our banner and used as the battle cry of life’s campaign!

Notice well that the Holy Spirit does not bid us leave our stations in order to serve the Lord. He does not bid us forego the domestic relations which make us husbands or wives; parents or children; masters or servants! He does not suggest to us to put on a peculiar garb and seek the seclusion of a monastery, or the retirement of monastic or conventual life. Nothing of the kind is hinted at! But rather He bids the servant continue in his or her service—"with goodwill doing service." Our great Captain would not have you hope to win the victory by leaving your post! He would have you abide in your trade, calling, profession and all the while serve the Lord in it, doing the will of God from the heart in common things. This is the practical beauty of our holy faith—that when it casts the devil out of a man it sends him home to bless his friends by telling them what great things the Lord has done for him. Grace does not transplant the tree, but bids it overshadow the old house at home, as before, and bring forth good fruit where it is! Grace does not make us unearthly, though it makes us unworldly.

True religion distinguishes us from others, even as our Lord Jesus was separate from sinners, but it does not shut us up or hedge us round about as if we were too good or too tender for the rough usage of everyday life! It does not put us in the salt box and shut the lid, but it casts us in among our fellow men for their good! Grace makes us the servants of God while we are the still servants of men—it enables us to do the business of Heaven while we are attending to the business of earth—it sanctifies the common duties of life by showing us how to perform them in the light of Heaven. The love of Christ makes the lowliest acts sublime. As the sunlight brightens a landscape and sheds beauty over the most common scene, so does the Presence of the Lord Jesus! The spirit of consecration renders the offices of domestic servitude as sublime as the worship which is presented upon the sea of glass before the Eternal Throne by spirits to whom the courts of Heaven are their familiar name.

I suggest my text to all Believers as the motto of their lives! Whether we are servants or masters, whether we are poor or rich, let us take this as our watchword, "As to the Lord, and not to men." From now on may this be the engraving of our seal and the motto of our coat of arms! May it be the constant rule of our life and the sum of our motives. In advocating this gracious aim of our being, let me say that if we are enabled to adopt this motto it will, first of all, influence our work itself. And, secondly, it will elevate our spirit concerning that work. Yet let me add, thirdly, that if the Lord shall really be the All in All of our lives, it is, after all, only what He has a right to expect and what we are under a thousand obligations to give to Him!

I. Our subject opens with this reflection, that if from now on whether we live, we live unto the Lord, or whether we die, we die unto the Lord, THIS CONSECRATION WILL GREATLY INFLUENCE OUR ENTIRE WORK.

1. Do you say, my Brothers and Sisters, that from now on your whole life shall be a service of the Lord? Then it will follow, first, that you will have tolive with a single eye to His Glory. See how in verse 5 we are told, "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ"? If we do, indeed, live "as to the Lord," we must necessarily live wholly to the Lord. The Lord Jesus is a most engrossing Master. He has said, "No man can serve two masters," and we shall find it so. He will have everything or nothing! If, indeed, He is our Lord, He must be our only Sovereign, for He will not tolerate a rival. It comes to pass then, O Christian, that you are bound to live for Jesus and for Him alone.

You must have no coordinate or even secondary objective or divided aim—if you divide your heart, your life will be a failure. As no dog can follow two hares at one time, or he will lose both, certainly no man can follow two contrary objectives and hope to secure either of them. No, it behooves a servant of Christ to be a concentrated man—his affections should be bound up into one affection—and that affection should not be set on things on the earth, but on things above. His heart must not be divided, or it will be said of him as of those in Hosea, "Their heart is divided; now shall they be found wanting." The chamber of the heart is far too narrow to accommodate the King of kings and the world, or the flesh, or the devil at the same time. We have no wish, desire, ambition, or exertion to spare for a rival lord—the service of Jesus demands and deserves all.

Such is the eminence of this objective, that all a man has or can have by reason or strength must be spent this way if he is to win. Nor is this too much for our great Lord to expect from those for whom He has done so much. To whom should I give a part of myself, my Master? You have redeemed me wholly and I am altogether Yours—take full possession of me! Who else can be worthy of my heart? Who else can have a right to set foot within the province where You are King? No, rule alone, blessed and only Potentate! As You, alone, have redeemed me, alone treading the winepress of wrath for me, so shall You be sole Monarch of my soul! You are all my salvation and all my desire and, therefore, You shall have all my homage and service. With such a Lord to be served, the current of our life must run in only one channel—that He may have it all and none may run to waste.

2. Next, to do service to the Lord, we must live with holy carefulness, for what says the context? We are to serve, "with fear and trembling." In the service of God we should use great care to accomplish our very best and we should feel a deep anxiety to please Him in all things. There is a trade called paper staining, in which a man flings colors upon paper to make common wall decorations. And by rapid processes acres of paper can be speedily finished. Suppose that the paper stainer should laugh at an eminent artist because he had covered such a little space, having been stippling and shading a little tiny piece of his picture by the hour together? Such ridicule would, itself, be ridiculous! Now the world’s way of religion is the paper stainer’s way, the daubing way—there is plenty of it and it is quickly done. But God’s way, the narrow way, is a careful matter. There is but little of it and it costs thought, effort, watchfulness and care.

Yet see how precious is the work of art when it is done and how long it lasts—and you will not wonder that a man spends his time upon it. Even so, true godliness is acceptable with God and it endures forever and, therefore, it well repays the earnest effort of the man of God. The miniature painter has to be very careful of every touch and tint, for a very little may spoil his work. Let our life be a miniature painting—"with fear and trembling" let it be worked out. We are serving the thrice Holy God who will be held in reverence of them that come near to Him. Let us mind what we do. Our blessed Master never made a faulty stroke when He was serving His Father. He never lived a careless hour, nor let drop an idle word. Oh, it was a careful lifeHe lived—even the night watches were not without the deep anxieties which poured themselves forth in prayer unto God! And if you and I think that the first thing which comes to hand will do with which to serve our God, we make a great mistake and grossly insult His name! We must have a very low idea of His infinite majesty if we think that we can honor Him by doing His service half-heartedly, or in a slovenly style. No, if you will, indeed, live "as to the Lord, and not unto man," you must watch each motion of your heart and life, or you will fail in your design.

3. Living as to the Lord means living with a concentrated spirit and living with earnest care that our one service may be the best of which we are capable when at our best estate. Alas, how poor is that best when we reach it! Truly, when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants, but even then, that all is seldom reached.

4. Further, if from now on our desire is to live "as to the Lord, and not unto men," then what we do must be done with all our heart. "In singleness of your heart," says the context. And again, in the sixth verse, "As the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart." Our work for Jesus must be the outgrowth of the soil of the heart. Our service must not be performed as a matter of routine—there must be vigor, power, freshness, reality, eagerness and warmth about it—or it will be good for nothing. No fish ever came upon God’s altar because it could not come there alive—the Lord needs none of your dead, heartless worship! You know what is meant by putting all our heart into all that we do— explain it by your lives! A work which is to be accepted of the Lord must be heart-work throughout—not a few thoughts of Christ, occasionally, and a few chill words and a few chance gifts and a little done by way of by-play—but as the heart beats so must we serve God! It must be our very life!

We are not to treat our religion as though it were a sort of weekend farm which we were willing to keep going but not to make much of, our chief thoughts being engrossed with the home farm of self and the world with its gains and pleasures. Our Lord will be either ruler or nothing! My Master is a jealous Husband—He will not tolerate a stray thought of love elsewhere and He thinks it scorn that they who call themselves His beloved should love others better than Himself! Such unchastity of heart can never be permitted—let us not dream of it! We may not claim to be His if we give Him only lip service, brain service or hand service—He must have the heart! Oh, our beloved Lord, You did not spare Your heart from agony for us! The lance opened it with all its costly double flood for our unworthy sakes! Therefore You cannot be content to receive, in return, lifeless forms and cold pretences! You did live, indeed—there was no sham about Your life. In all You did You were intense. The zeal of Your Father’s house had eaten You up. You were clad with zeal as with a cloak which covered You from head to foot. Let us live somewhat after this glorious fashion, for a servant only truly lives when he lives as his master. "He that is perfect shall be as His Master." If we are to live to the Lord, the fountains of our soul must flow with boiling floods and our life must be like a great Icelandic geyser casting up its columns of water which seethe and boil as they rise. As great earthquakes shake the very center, so must there be movements of life within us which stir our soul with vehement longings for Jesus and with intense yearnings for His Glory. All our light and life must turn to love and that love must be all on flame for Jesus. If we truly live unto Christ it must be so!

5. What else says the passage before us? If we say—from now on I will do the will of God as to the Lord and not unto men, then we must do itunder subjection, for note well the words, "doing the will of God." Some people’s religion is only another way of doing their own will. They pick and choose what precepts they will keep and what they will neglect. They choose what doctrines they shall hold and what they shall refuse—their spirit is not bowed into sacred servitude, but takes license to act according to its own pleasure. The freedom of a Christian lies in what I will venture to call an absolute slavery to Christ! And we never become truly free till every thought is brought into subjection to the will of the Most High. Now, if from now on I live to God, I have no longer any right to say, "I will do this or that," but I must inquire, "My Master, what would You have me do?" As the eyes of the maidens are to their mistress, so are our eyes up to You, O Lord. Believer, your Master is to will for you from now on! It is idle to say, "I shall live as to the Lord and not unto men," when all the while we intend to live in our own fashion! Which is to be master, now, self or Christ? On every point this question must be settled, for if on any point we assume the personal mastery, the rule of Jesus is wholly refused! To go or to stand still, to suffer or to be in pleasure, to be in honor or to be in disgrace is no more to be our option, or if we have a momentary choice it is to be cheerfully resigned before the Sovereignty of Him whom we have now taken to be our All in All. There is no being a Christian if Christ does not have the throne in the heart and life. It is but the mockery of Christianity to call Jesus Master and Lord while we do not do the things which He commands!

6. Again, we must do all this under a sense of the Divine oversight. Notice in verse 6 it is said of servants, "Not with eye service, as men-pleasers." What a mean and beggarly thing it is for a man only to do his work well when he is watched! Such oversight is for boys at school and mere hirelings. You never think of watching noble-spirited men. Here is a young apprentice set to copy a picture—his master stands over him and looks over each line, for the young rascal will grow careless and spoil his work, or take to his games if he is not well looked after. Did anybody thus dream of supervising Raphael and Michelangelo to keep them to their work? No, the master artist requires no eyes to urge him on. Popes and emperors came to visit the great painters in their studios, but did they paint better because these grandees gazed upon them? Certainly not! Perhaps they did all the worse in the excitement or the worry of the visit. They had regard to something better than the eyes of pompous people.

So the true Christian needs no eyes of man to watch him. There may be pastors and preachers who are better off for being looked after by bishops and presbyters, but fancy a bishop overseeing the work of Martin Luther and trying to quicken his zeal! Or imagine a presbyter looking after Calvin to keep him sound in the faith! Oh, no! Gracious minds outgrow the governance and stimulus which comes of the oversight of mortal man. God’s own Spirit dwells within us and we serve the Lord from an inward principle which is not fed from without. There is about a real Christian a prevailing sense that God sees him and he does not care who else may set his eyes upon him—it is enough for him that God is there. He has little respect for the eyes of man. He neither courts nor dreads them! Let the good deed remain in the dark, for God sees it and that is enough! Or let it be blazoned in the light of day to be pecked at by the censorious, for it little matters who censures, since God approves! This is to be a true servant of Christ—to escape from being an eye-servant to men by becoming, in the most sublime sense, an eye-servant of God— always working beneath the eyes of God. If we did but realize this, how well we should live!

If now I remember, as I try to do, that God hears each word I speak to you from this pulpit—that He reads my soul as I address you in His name—how ought I to preach? And if you go to your Sunday school class this afternoon and picture Jesus sitting among the boys and girls and hearing how you teach them—how earnestly you will teach! At home when you are about to scold a servant, or in the shop, when you think to do a rather sharp thing, if you think your Master stands there and sees it all, what a power it will have over you! Our lives should all be spent under the spell of, "You see me, God," and we should each be able to declare, "I have set the Lord always before me."

7. One more thought, and it is this. If from now on we are to serve the Lord, and not men, then we must look to the Lord for our reward and not to men. "Knowing," says the eighth verse, "that whatever good thing any man does, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he is bond or free." Wages! Is that the motive of a Christian? Yes, in the highest sense, for the greatest of the saints, such as Moses, have "had respect unto the recompense of the reward." And it were like despising the reward which God promises to His people if we had no respect whatever unto it. Respect unto the reward which comes of God kills the selfishness which is always expecting a reward from men. We can postpone our reward and we can be content, instead of receiving present praise, to be misunderstood and misrepresented. We can postpone our reward and we can endure, instead of it, to be disappointed in our work and to labor on without success—for when the reward does come how glorious it will be! An hour with Jesus will make up for a lifetime of persecution! One smile from Him will repay us a thousand times over for all disappointments and discouragements. Thus you see, Brothers and Sisters, that if we do, in very deed, make this our rule and maxim—"As to the Lord, and not to men"—our work will be shaped and fashioned most wonderfully. May God grant that the influence of this motive may manifestly sway our whole life from now on until we close it for this world and commence it anew where we shall not need to shift our course, but shall continue eternally to live to the Lord alone!

II. May the Holy Spirit guide us while we reflect, secondly, that should this text become the inspiration of our life IT WOULD GREATLY ELEVATE OUR SPIRITS. What would it do for us?

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