My Dear Brother:-
Your letter has come to hand, in which you ask counsel as to your path in service for the Lord.
I was indeed glad to get it and read its contents. The spirit which it breathes has refreshed me much, and you have been upon my heart not a little. The counsel you ask has exercised me a good deal during the last few years. I will therefore write you the more freely, especially as I believe it concerns not only yourself, but others also in our country.
First, let me say how pleased I am to learn of the time which you are devoting to the systematic study of the precious word of God during your leisure hours. My prayer is that your love for the Holy Scriptures may continue and deepen, and never wane. It opens a vast field to our view, inviting us to enter in.
Next to this is prayer. Do not neglect this; "continue in prayer," were the words of an apostle. Do not trust head knowledge in any service for the Lord Jesus. This is where many have failed and some have made complete shipwreck. Prayer is an essential ; it keeps the soul in happy touch with the Lord, and helps us to use the knowledge we have of truth to the glory of God and to the blessing of men. There is no danger in knowledge if we associate with it always a prayerful spirit, both in the study of God's word and in communicating it to others (Ps. 119).
But I come to your questions. Your exercise has been whether you ought to continue in your present
calling, or go forth in His service wholly-perhaps in a foreign mission field.
The field is large, and the laborers are comparatively few; and of late years I have prayed more than ever that the Lord would raise up more laborers, both for our own country, so immense-from the Atlantic to the Pacific-and for the foreign fields. With all this desire upon my heart, and also with a fair knowledge of the great need everywhere, I am yet going to counsel you to continue still in your business calling. I will give you my reasons for so advising you. You are scarcely out of your teens, and not yet half through the business apprenticeship into which you have entered. I have observed a growingly restless spirit among the young of late years. I fear it has a root in the lack of wisdom which urges them to go into mission work. It has dissatisfied them with the duties of life, and gospel work may thus be turned to with very little sense of the responsibilities incurred. One may be quite exemplary and devoted, yet not be, in the judgment of brethren, fitted for such a service.
How we need sober care! for the Lord's work is sacred work. It is also most serious to give up a secular calling unless there is a distinct gift, and a distinct call. When the gift is there, and the proper time has come to go forth at His call, then the Lord will sustain and care for His servant in that very blessed service; but until then, to abide in the business calling where we are, is the only place of true service. At first, the Levites were called to service at thirty; later on, when many were needed, at twenty-five. Our Lord Himself was thirty years of age when He began His ministry. Much harm may be done to the holy things of God by want of maturity.
Many serious, God-fearing men, now long in the work, regret the feebleness and imperfection of their first service.
My advice therefore is that you finish your apprenticeship. You will then be more mature. Do not neglect your employer's interests, as if the Lord's work made them of little consequence. Asking for many privileges, in view of gospel work, is also detrimental to it. He that does not serve an earthly master faithfully cannot serve well our Lord Jesus Christ. Do all young Christians in the various employs of life regard their service as done to the Lord Jesus ? This is most important; it prevents much restlessness. Let none think that preaching the gospel is the only sphere of service for the Lord. Who can tell the fruit that may be borne for Christ by continuing faithful in any employment? A faithful man is free, and has no fear to bear testimony anywhere. What golden opportunities are his! Though daily at business, he may be as fruitful as any, using his spare time in the interests of Christ.
With joy I remember the way of the young men who began years ago, many of whom the Lord has been pleased to use much. They took hold well in the local gathering where they were associated. No service for Christ was thought beneath them. Of whatever kind, it was a joy and a privilege. To open the doors, to look after the people, to distribute tracts, invitations, etc., all was counted happy service for the Lord. Faithful in little then, they have been faithful in much since; yet all this has not interfered with their secular employment. Indeed, some of these have been more blessed in their service than others who left their employment to give all their time to the gospel.
How very important are the prayer-meeting and the Bible reading for the development of such gifts as the Lord may be forming for future service! the one for the cultivation of piety, the other for furnishing with knowledge. To surrender them is to yield to the enemy of Christ.
Any distinct gift existing in a faithful assembly, will by these means gradually become apparent to all, and in going forth into a more public path there will be the hearty fellowship of those who have the Lord's work at heart, and who are of riper experience. Timothy is an example of this. He had the fullest fellowship of the apostle and of the elders. The laying on of hands means that (i Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. i:6). In the fields, near or far, where the Lord might now guide, there was comfort of heart amid the trials in knowing that he had the full fellowship of the apostle and of the elder brethren at home. Each gathering then should be a kind of little seminary for the nurture and development of gifts for the Lord's service.
Thus you see, dear brother, that you may be following "honest trades " (Tit. 3:14, marg.), yet truly serve the Lord; also, that the local gathering is a good place in which to begin service, to grow, to develop, and to commend yourself for any larger service. Indeed, no service later on can ever be really dissociated from such; for it is the place to direct souls to, on earth. There is only one place of gathering higher than this, and that is to Christ at His coming, in the bright, eternal glory where He has gone. The first is His place for His own now, the next is His place for them forever. May the eyes of all of us, both old and young, be opened more to appreciate such a place of privilege. Value it, dear brother. Labor to maintain it. Seek not to be independent, but to be acceptable to the Lord and to your brethren. In so doing you will be following the word and the example of the apostle (Deut. 33:24; Rom. 15:31).
The course in theology, ordination for the ministry, etc., is the degradation and corruption of God's way of forming the ministry; but let us not fall into the opposite sin of ignoring God's way. If many of God's people have fallen into an empty officialism, let us not neglect the communion of saints, the approval of elders, the commending of ourselves to all that are spiritual. One has been repeatedly pained at seeing such a course ignored. See Acts 13:1-4.
A moral break-down will often follow if God's way and time have not been observed. The public path is full of blessing if God really calls to it; but if not, how full of dangers!
Faith, too-special faith in God-is a requisite for this public path. One deplores to see men launch forth who have not faith in God to supply their need-who are choosing, perhaps, another form of labor for a living. It lowers the true moral and spiritual dignity that God associates with those who serve His beloved Son.
You will easily see that to discourage service is far from my thoughts. What I press is what will keep its integrity, and what is becoming in those who aspire to it-what will make them worthy servants of Christ. He can well do without us. We need therefore to be in no hurry. We can afford to wait till they who know and love Him best can lay their hands upon us in hearty fellowship, having been witnesses of our fruitfulness at home.
Now, a word about the foreign mission field, and I close. I think we have seen lack of wisdom in urging to it. Urging is, I am persuaded, not our business. The Lord Jesus Himself is at the head of His work-not we. He knows His men, and fits them-not we. We cannot have faith for them. We cannot carry them through the trials of the path; He alone can. The mission field has needs. I believe however that it needs, not inexperienced youth, but tried and proved men who have been blest in the home fields. Questions will arise in those fields of beginning which require true knowledge of the word of God, wisdom and tact, to lay good foundations.
In the early Church, those who entered those new fields were strong and experienced men, such as Barnabas and Paul; later on, with them, Silas, Luke, Timothy, and Titus-all men who could turn a strong front to the enemy in every new place which they entered. Fruit followed them everywhere. Gatherings left behind were the definite proof and seal of God's approval.* *If one has a trade, properly learnt, how useful at times it may be ! as Paul and his companions for a time turned to making tents (Acts 18:1-3); for this was their trade.*
We rejoice in the increased interest of late years in foreign mission work. We thank God for it. Only we need wisdom, that those who are encouraged to enter into it be men spiritually and physically
fitted for it. How good to see some already there who are thus fitted, we believe! May the Lord add to their number. May the Lord also guide you, dear brother, in keeping with these precious and sober things, that you may have joy at His appearing.
Yours sincerely in Him,
A. E. B.