I know thy works." He who tested the works of the seven churches still lives and watches over us. He is ready in His love to discover what is lacking, to give timely warning and help, and to teach us the path in which our works can be fulfilled before His G.o.d. Let us learn from Ephesus the lesson of fervent love to Christ, from Thyatira that of purity and separation from all evil, from Sardis that of the need of true life to give worth to work, from Philadelphia that of keeping His word, and from Laodicea that of the poverty of spirit which possesses the kingdom of heaven, and gives Christ the throne of all! Workers! Let us live and work in Christ"s presence. He will teach and correct and help us, and one day give the full reward of all our works because they were His own works in us.
[2] In the A. V. we find the words in all the seven epistles; according to R. V. they occur only five times.
x.x.xI.
That G.o.d may be Glorified.
If any man serveth, let him serve as of the strength which G.o.d supplieth: that in all things G.o.d may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."a"1 Pet. 4:11 Work is not done for its own sake. Its value consists in the object it attains. The purpose of him who commands or performs the work gives it its real worth. And the clearer a man"s insight into the purpose, the better fitted will he be to take charge of the higher parts of the work. In the erection of some splendid building, the purpose of the day-labourer may simply be as a hireling to earn his wages. The trained stone-cutter has a higher object: be thinks of the beauty and perfection of the work he does. The master mason has a wider range of thought: his aim is that all the masonry shall be true and good. The contractor for the whole building has a higher aima"that the whole building shall perfectly correspond to the plan he has to carry out.
The architect has had a still higher purposea"that the great principles of art and beauty might find their full expression in material shape.
With the owner we find the final enda"the use to which the grand structure is to be put when he, say, presents the building as a gift for the benefit of his townsmen. All who have worked upon the building honestly have done so with some true purpose. The deeper the insight and the keener the interest in the ultimate design, the more important the share in the work, and the greater the joy in carrying it out.
Peter tells us what our aim ought to be in all Christian servicea"that in all things G.o.d may be glorified through Jesus Christ." In the work of G.o.d, a work not to be done for wages but for love, the humblest labourer is admitted to a share in G.o.d"s plans, and to an insight into the great purpose which G.o.d is working out. That purpose is nothing less than this: that G.o.d may be glorified. This is the one purpose of G.o.d, the great worker in heaven, the source and master of all work, that the glory of His love and power and blessing may be shown. This is the one purpose of Christ, the great worker on earth in human nature, the example and leader of all our work. This is the great purpose of the Holy Spirit, the power that worketh in us, or, as Peter says here, the strength that G.o.d supplieth." As this becomes our deliberate, intelligent purpose, our work will rise to its true level, and lift us into living fellowship with G.o.d.
That in all things G.o.d may be glorified." What does this mean? The glory of G.o.d is this, that He alone is the Living One, who has life in Himself. Yet not for Himself alone, but, because His life is love, for the creatures as much as for Himself. This is the glory of G.o.d, that He is the alone and ever-flowing fountain of all life and goodness and happiness, and that His creatures can have all this only as He gives it and works it in them. His working all in all, this is His glory. And the only glory His creature, His child, can give Him is thisa"receiving all He is willing to give, yielding to Him to let Him work, and then acknowledging that He has done it. Thus G.o.d Himself shows forth His glory in us; in our willing surrender to Him, and our joyful acknowledgment that He does all, we glorify Him. And so our life and work is glorified, as it has one purpose with all G.o.d"s own work, that in all things G.o.d may be glorified, whose is the glory for ever and ever."
See here now the spirit that enn.o.bles and consecrates Christian service according to Peter: He that serveth (in ministering to the saints or the needy), let him serve as of the strength which G.o.d supplieth." Let me cultivate a deep conviction that G.o.d"s work, down into the details of daily life, can only be done in G.o.d"s strength, by the power of the Spirit working in us." Let me believe firmly and unceasingly that the Holy Spirit does dwell in me, as the power from on high, for all work to be done for on high. Let me in my Christian work fear nothing so much, as working in my own human will and strength, and so losing the one thing needful in my work, G.o.d working in me. Let me rejoice in the weakness that renders me so absolutely dependent upon such a G.o.d, and wait in prayer for His power to take full possession.
Let him serve as of the strength which G.o.d supplieth, that in all things G.o.d may be glorified through Jesus Christ." The more you depend on G.o.d alone for your strength, the more will He be glorified. The more you seek to make G.o.d"s purpose your purpose, the more will you be led to give way to His working and His strength and love. Oh! that every, the feeblest, worker might see what a n.o.bility it gives to work, what a new glory to life, what a new urgency and joy in labouring for souls, when the one purpose has mastered us: that in all things G.o.d may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
1. The glory of G.o.d as Creator was seen in His making man in His own image. The glory of G.o.d as Redeemer is seen in the work He carries on for saving men, and bringing them to Himself.
2. This glory is the glory of His holy love, casting sin out of the heart, and dwelling there.
3. The only glory we can bring to G.o.d is to yield ourselves to His redeeming love to take possession of us, to fill us with love to others, and so through us to show forth His glory.
4. Let this be the one end of our livesa"to glorify G.o.d; in living to work for Him, as of the strength which G.o.d supplieth"; and winning souls to know and live for His glory.
5. Lord! teach us to serve in the strength which G.o.d supplieth, that G.o.d in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, whose is the glory for ever and ever. Amen.