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<p><strong>1. First, <em>it would lift us above all complaining </em>about the hardness of our lot, or the difficulty of our service. </strong>"Alas," says one, "I am worn out! I cannot keep on at this rate. My position is so terribly trying that I cannot hold on much longer—it strains not only muscle and sinew, but nerve and heart. Nobody could bear my burden long! My husband is cruel, my friends are unkind, my children are ungrateful." Ah, poor heart, there are many others who wear the weeping-willow as well as yourself! But be of good courage and look at your case in another light. If the burden is to be borne for Jesus’ sake, who loved you and gave Himself for you—by whose precious blood you are redeemed from the pains of Hell—can you not bear it? Can you not bear it? "That is quite another thing," you say. "I could not bear it for a sneering master. I could not bear it for a passionate, obstinate mistress. But I could do anything and I could bear anything for Jesus." This makes all the difference—<br><br>
"For Him I count as gain each loss, <br><br>
  Disgrace for Him, renown. <br><br>
  Well may I glory in His Cross, <br><br>
  While He prepares my crown!"<br><br>
We are satisfied to bear any cross so long as it is <em>His </em>Cross! What wonders men can do when they are influenced by enthusiastic love for a leader! Alexander’s troops marched thousands of miles on foot and they would have been utterly wearied had it not been for their zeal for Alexander. He led them forth conquering and to conquer. Alexander’s presence was the life of their valor, the glory of their strength. If there was a very long day’s march over burning sands, one thing they knew—that Alexander marched with them! If they were thirsty, they knew that he thirsted, too, for when one brought a cup of water to the king, he put it aside, thirsty as he was, and said, "Give it to a sick soldier." Once it so happened that they were loaded with the spoil which they had taken and each man had become rich with goodly garments and wedges of gold. Then they began to travel very slowly with so much to carry and the king feared that he should not overtake his foe. Having a large quantity of spoil which fell to his own share, he burned it all before the eyes of his soldiers and bade them do the same that they might pursue the enemy and win even more! "Alexander’s portion lies beyond," he cried! And seeing the king’s own spoils on fire, his warriors were content to give up their gains, also, and share with their king.<br><br>
He did, himself, what he commanded others to do—in self-denial and hardship he was a full partaker with his followers. After this fashion our Lord and Master acts towards us. He says, "Renounce pleasure for the good of others. Deny yourself and take up your cross. Suffer, though you might avoid it. Labor, though you might rest, when God’s Glory demands suffering or labor of you. Have not I set you an example?" "Who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we, through His poverty, might be rich." He stripped Himself of all things that He might clothe us with His Glory! O, Brothers and Sisters, when we heartily serve such a Leader as this, and are fired by His Spirit, then murmuring, complaining, weariness and fainting of heart are altogether gone! A Divine passion carries us beyond ourselves—<br><br>
"I can do all things, or can bear <br><br>
  All suffering if my Lord is there."<br><br>
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<strong>2. Next, <em>this lifts the Christian above the spirit of laziness</em>. </strong>I believe great numbers of working men—I am not going to judge them for it—always consider how little they can possibly do to earn their wages. The question with them is not, "How much can we give for the wage?" That used to be. But now, it is, "How little can we give? How little work can we do in the day without being discharged for idleness?" Many men say, "We must not do all the work today, for we shall need something to do tomorrow—our masters will not give us more than they can help and, therefore, we will not give them more than we are obliged to." This is the general spirit on both sides and as a nation we are going to the dogs because that spirit is among us—and we shall be more and more beaten by foreign competition if this spirit is cultivated. Among Christians such a notion cannot be tolerated in the service of our Lord Jesus. It never does for a minister to say, "If I preach three times a week it is quite as much as anybody will expect of me, therefore I shall do no more." It will never be right for you to say, "I am a Sunday school teacher. As long as I get to class on time—some of you do not do that—and as long as I teach until the class time is over, I need not look after the boys and girls through the week. I cannot be bothered with them—I will do just as much as I am bound to do, but no more."<br><br>
In a certain country town it was reported that the grocer’s wife cut a plum in two, for fear there should be a grain more than weight in the parcel. The folks called her Mrs. Split-Plum. Ah, there are many Split-Plums in religion! They do not want to do more for Jesus than may be absolutely necessary. They would like to give good weight, but they would be sorry to be convicted of doing too much. Ah, when we get to feel we are doing service for our Lord Jesus Christ, we adopt a far more liberal scale! Then we do not calculate how much ointment will suffice for His feet, but we give Him all that our box contains. Is this your talk, "Bring the scales, this ointment cost a great deal of money and we must be economical. Watch every drachma, yes, every scruple and grain, for the nard is costly"? If this is your cool manner of calculation, your offering is not worth a fig! Not so spoke that daughter of love of whom we read in the Gospels, for she broke the box and poured out <em>all </em>the contents upon her Lord. "To what purpose is this waste?" cried Judas. It was Judas who thus spoke and you know, therefore, the worth of that observation! Christ’s servants delight to give so much as to be thought wasteful, for they feel that when they have, in the judgment of others, done extravagantly for Christ, they have but begun to show their hearts’ love for His dear name. Thus the elevating power of the spirit of consecration lifts us up above the wretched stinginess of mere formality.<br><br>
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<strong>3. Again, <em>this raises us up above all boasting of our work</em>.</strong> "Is the work good enough?" asked one of his servant. The man replied, "Sir, it is good enough for the price and it is good enough for the man who is going to have it." Just so, and when we "serve" <em>men </em>we may, perhaps, rightly judge in that fashion. But when we come to serve <em>Christ</em>, is <em>anything </em>good enough for <em>Him</em>? If our zeal knew no respite. If our prayers knew no pause. If our efforts knew no relaxation. If we gave all we have of time, wealth, talent and opportunity. If we should die a martyr’s death a thousand times, wouldn’t He, the Best Beloved of our souls, deserve far more? Ah, that He would! Therefore is self-congratulation banished forever! When you have done all, you will feel that it is not worthy of the matchless merit of Jesus and you will be humbled at the thought! Thus, while doing all for Jesus stimulates zeal, it fosters humility—a happy blending of useful effects.<br><br>
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<strong>4. The resolve to do all as unto the Lord will elevate you above <em>that craving for recognition which is a disease with many</em>. </strong>It is a sad fault in many Christians that they cannot do anything unless all the world is told of it. The hen in the farmyard has laid an egg and feels so proud of the achievement that she must cackle about it—everybody must know of that one poor egg till all the country round resounds with the news! It is so with some professors—their work must be published or they can do no more! "Here have I," said one, "been teaching in the school for years and nobody ever thanked me for it! I believe that some of us who do the most are the least noticed and what a shame it is." But if you have done your service unto the <em>Lord </em>you would not talk so, or we shall suspect you of having other aims! The servant of Jesus will say, "I do not need human notice. I did it for my Master. <em>He </em>noticed me and I am content. I tried to please Him and, by His Grace, I did please Him and, therefore, I ask no more, for I have gained my end. I seek no praise of men, for I fear lest the breath of human praise should tarnish the pure silver of my service."<br><br>
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<strong>5. This would <em>lift you above the discouragement which sometimes comes of human censure</em>. </strong>If you seek the praise of men you will, in all probability, fail in the present and certainly you will lose it in the future, sooner or later. Many men are more ready to censure than to commend—and to hope for their praise is to seek for sugar in a root of wormwood. Man’s way of judging is unjust and seems fashioned on purpose to blame all of us, one way or another. Here is a Brother who sings bass and the critics say, "Oh yes, a very fine <em>bass </em>voice, but he could not sing treble." Here is another who excels in treble and they say, "Yes, yes, but we prefer a tenor." When they find a tenor they blame him because he cannot sing bass. No one can be candidly praised, but all must be savagely censured! What will the great Master say about it? Will He not judge thus—"I have given this man a bass voice and he sings bass and that is what I meant him to do. I gave that man a tenor voice and he sings tenor and that is what I meant him to do. I gave that man a treble voice and he sings treble and so takes the part I meant him to take. All the parts blended together make up sweet music for My ears"? Wisdom is justified of her children, but Folly blames them all round. How little we ought to care about the opinions and criticisms of our fellow men when we remember that He who made us what we are and helps us, by His Grace, to act our part, will not judge us after the mode in which men carp or flatter, but will accept us according to the sincerity of our <em>hearts</em>. If we feel, "I was not working for you; I was working for God," we shall not be much wounded by our neighbors’ remarks. The nightingale charms the ear of night. A fool passes by and declares that he hates such distracting noises! The nightingale sings on, for it never entered the little minstrel’s head or heart that it was singing for critics—it sings because He who created it gave it this sweet faculty! So may we reply to those who condemn us—"We live not unto you, O men! We live unto our Lord." Thus do we escape the discouragements which come of ungenerous misapprehension and jealous censure.<br><br>
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<strong>6. <em>This, too, will elevate you above the disappointments of failures</em>, yes, even of the saddest kind. </strong>If those you seek to bless are not saved, yet you have not altogether failed, for you did not teach or preach having the winning of souls as the absolute ultimatum of your work—you did it with the view of pleasing Jesus—and He is pleased with faithfulness even where it is not accompanied with success. Sincere <em>obedience </em>is His delight even if it leads to no apparent results. If the Lord should set His servant to plow the sea or sow the sand, He would accept his service. If we should have to witness for Christ’s name in the stocks and by stones—and if our hearers should be even worse than blocks of marble and should turn and tear us apart—we may still be filled with contentment, for we shall have done our Lord’s will and what more do we need? To plod on under apparent failure is one of the most acceptable of all works of faith and he who can do it, year after year, is assuredly well-pleasing unto God.<br><br>
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<strong>7. <em>This lifts us above disappointment in the prospect of death</em>. </strong>We shall have to go away from our work soon, so men tell us, and we are apt to fret about it. The truth is we shall go on with our work <em>forever </em>if our service is pleasing to the Lord! We shall please Him up yonder even better than we do here! And what if our enterprise here should seem to end as far as man is concerned? We have done it unto the Lord and our record is on high and, therefore, it is not lost. Nothing that is done for Jesus will be destroyed—the flower may fade, but its essence remains! The tree may fall, but its fruit is stored! The cluster may be crushed, but the wine is preserved! The work and its place may pass away, but the glory which it brought to Jesus shines as the stars forever and ever!<br><br>
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<strong>8. Yes, and <em>this lifts us above the deadening influence of old age </em>and the infirmities which come with multiplied years. </strong>What little we can do, we do it all the more thoroughly for Jesus as our experience ripens! If we must contract the sphere, we condense and intensify the motive. If we are living unto Christ, we love Him even when our heart grows cold to other things. When the eyes grow dim earthwards, they brighten towards Heaven! When the ears can hardly hear the voice of singing men and singing women, it still knows the music of Jesus’ name! And when the hands can do little in human business, they begin feeling for the strings of the celestial harp that it may make melody for the Well-Beloved! I know of nothing which can possibly elevate our spirit, as workers for Christ, like the sense of doing all unto the Lord and not unto men! May the Spirit of God help us to rise into this perfect consecration! I have not time to say more than just this word. A due sense of serving the Lord would ennoble all our service beyond conception.<br><br>
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<strong>9. Think of working <em>for Him</em>—for HIM, the best of masters—before whom angels count it glory to bow! </strong>Work done for Him is, in itself, the best work that can be, for all that pleases Him must be pure and lovely, honest and of good report. Work for the eternal Father and work for Jesus are works which are good and only good! To live for Jesus is to be swayed by the noblest of motives. To live for the Incarnate God is to blend the love of God and the love of men in one passion. To live for the ever-living Christ is elevating to the soul, for its results will be most enduring. When all other work is dissolved this shall abide. Men spoke of painting for eternity, but we, in very deed, <em>serve </em>for eternity. Soon shall all worlds behold the nobility of the service of Christ, for it will bring with it the most blessed of all rewards. When men look back on what they have done for their fellows, how small is the recompense of a patriotic life! The world soon forgets its benefactors. Many and many a man has been borne aloft in youth amidst the applause of men and then, in his old age, he has been left to starve into his grave. He who scattered gold at first, begs for pennies at last —the world called him generous while he had something to give, but when he had bestowed all, it blamed his imprudence! He who lives for Jesus will never have ground of complaint concerning his Lord, for He forsakes not His saints. No man has ever regretted what he did for Jesus, except that he may regret that he has not done 10 times more! The Lord will not leave His old servants. "O God, You have taught me from my youth and up to now have I declared Your wondrous works. Now, also, when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not." Such was the prayer of David and he was confident of being heard. Such may be the confidence of <em>every </em>servant of Christ. He may go down to his grave untroubled! He may rise and enter the dread solemnities of the eternal world without a fear, for service for Christ creates heroes to whom fear is unknown!<br><br>
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III. I close by saying that if we enter into the very spirit of this discourse, or even go beyond it—if from now on we live only for Jesus, so as never to know pleasure apart from Him, nor to have treasure out of Him, nor honor but in His honor, nor success but in the progress of His Kingdom—WE SHALL EVEN THEN HAVE DONE NO MORE THAN HE DESERVES AT OUR HANDS.<br><br>
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For, first, <strong>we are <em>God’s creatures</em></strong>. For whom should a creature live but for his Creator? Secondly, we are His <em>new creatures</em>, we are the twice-born of Heaven—should we not live for Him by whom we have been begotten for Glory? As many as have believed in Jesus are the produce of that Divine power which raised the Son of God from the dead—shall they not live in newness of life? God has taken this pains with us, that He has made us twice over and He has made a new Heaven and a new earth for us to dwell in—whom should we serve with all our mind but Him by whom we have been made anew?<br><br>
Then comes in <em><strong>redemption</strong></em>. We are not our own, for we are bought with a price. We dare not be selfish! We may not put self in opposition to God. But I must go further—we may not allow self to be at all considered apart from God. Even when it seems that self and God might both be served at the same time, it must not be—self in any degree will spoil it all. We are never to be masters, but always servants—and to serve <em>ourselves </em>is to make ourselves masters. Turn your eyes, O my heart, to the Cross and see <em>Him </em>bleeding there whom Heaven adored! He is the Light of Glory, the joy and bliss of perfect spirits—and yet He dies there in pangs unutterable—dies for me! O bleeding heart, my name was engraved upon You! O tortured brain, Your thoughts were all of me! O Christ, you loved me and love me still! And that I should serve You seems but natural! That I should pray to serve with intense white-hot enthusiasm is an impulse of my life. Do you not confess it so, my Brothers and Sisters?<br><br>
Besides, remember <strong>you are <em>one with Christ</em></strong>. Whom should the spouse serve but her Husband? Whom should the hand serve but the Head? It scarcely is service. Christ is your <em>alter ego</em>, your other self—no, your <em>very </em>self—should you not live for Him? You are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh and, therefore, you must love Him. Let a Divine selfishness impel you to love your Lord. No hand, I think, counts it hard to be serving his own head. Surely, it can be no hardness to do service to Him with whom we are joined by bonds and bands of vital union! He is our Head and we are His body and His fullness. Let us fill up His Glory! Let us spread abroad the praises of His name! God help us to never finish this sermon, but to begin it now and go on preaching it in our lives, world without end! For Heaven shall be in this—"Not unto us, not unto us, but to Your name be praise!" And the beginnings of Heaven are with us now—the youth, the dawn of Glory, in proportion while we say from our very souls—"Whether we live, we live unto the Lord. And whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s." And so shall it be from now on and forever!<br><br>
As to those that know nothing of this, seeing they know not Christ, may the Lord bring them to believe in Jesus Christ this day, that they may, through His Grace, become His servants. Amen and amen!
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