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Love In Action
A
PREPARATION FOR CHRIST’S COMING
NOTES OF BIBLE TEACHING
GIVEN BY PASTOR O. STOCKMAYER, AT DOVER, APRIL, 1895.
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III
Seeing God
“Put on therefore as God’s
elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, humility,
meekness, longsuffering: forbearing one another, and forgiving each
other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord
forgave you, so also do ye: and above all these things put on love,
which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of Christ rule
in your hearts, to the which also ye were called in one body: and be
ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all
wisdom: teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God. And
whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col. 3:12-17).
Have you ever noticed in reading these verses that love is
different from, and higher than even compassion, kindness, humility,
meekness, longsuffering, and so forth? Verse 14 is very clear and
definite: “And above all these things put on love, which is the bond
of perfectness.” You may have many things to bear with in the
household, in the family, in business, or in your Christian work;
and you may forbear, and faithfully keep your heart under control;
you may refrain from complaining, and forgive if you have anything
against another (v. 13). But the very fact that you find it
difficult to forbear, that it costs you a battle to keep silent,
shows that the love of God has not yet full room in your heart. It
is sweet and a blessing to forbear; you are not even tempted to
complain, when fully under the power of the love of God shed abroad
in your heart. Therefore, brethren elect and beloved, put on “a
heart of compassion.” Do not consider what it costs you. The
proceedings of your brother or your sister may have been shameful in
your eyes. Without regard or consideration, they may have entered
your sphere of work, taken upon themselves to superintend you,
endangered your work, and put you into a corner ;—look higher up.
John the Baptist, a man who had never known the privileges of the
New Covenant, rejoiced to be put into the shade, and to see the
Master taking his place. His joy was fulfilled when he saw himself
decrease and the Master increase (John 3:29-30).
In John 3: 27, we read: “A man can receive [marg., take unto
himself] nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” Your brother
[your sister, your neighbor, your fellow worker,] can take to
himself nothing of that service and ministry which God has given
you, except it has been given him from on high, from heaven. Today
you receive your portion, and tomorrow God may divide your portion,
giving you half, half to your brother. Can you love this brother?
Can you prove in a critical moment like this that you are a
Christian, and not a heathen? The principle and root of the
difference between a Christian and a heathen is, that the Christian
knows one God as the Source of everything, while the heathen knows
inferior gods, secondary causes; he does not see one God who gives
today, and may take away tomorrow. How many Christians say, “I could
bear this from a worldling, but not from a Christian.” Are you
a Christian if you see second causes? You only cease to be like the
heathen when you see the Father’s hand, and not the instrument, in
all things which happen to you. No man can take unto himself
anything which God has reserved for you, and which is good for you.
Any hand that takes away that which is given you, cleanses the
branch which bears fruit, lest corruption should enter into the sap.
For your own sake the Lord permits this hand so to lack delicacy.
Oh, what peace this brings; what a bulwark and fortress, what mighty
power there is in love!
When we have learnt these principles of Christian life, we shall not
see secondary causes, whatever may happen. God is the Author of
every good thing; often the things which, naturally, most grieve our
hearts are the best things our Father can give us. The Lord cannot
give such tests to beginners in this pathway, just as He could not
at once lead Abraham to Mount Moriah when he first came out of his
father’s land. The sacrifice of Isaac was the last test after a long
schooling in faith-life and obedience. A year ago it may have cost
us much effort to keep in peace and love, forbearing with others,
while today, if we have gone further in following the Lamb
whithersoever He leads, we see the same thing as a high privilege;
an occasion to show forth divine love. We see that it is not we but
the wrongdoer who is to be pitied. A wonderful light will break
upon us. All our life is under divine guidance and protection, and
do we pity ourselves? Are we sorry for ourselves while under the
watchful eye of our Father who will not suffer corruption in the
branch? No, the moment comes we see that the things which grieve our
heart are a theatre for the manifestation of divine love, which is
our life. Love, as well as faith, must be tried in the furnace that
it may overcome without itself being overcome.
The world lives for enjoyment, and the worldly spirit of enjoyment
has entered into the Church of God. To enjoy your peace or
your righteousness, is to have peace, righteousness and joy
according to the flesh. If you would know what is meant by
“righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost,” you must ask
the Apostle Paul, and he will tell you how he understands this: “The
kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that herein serveth Christ is
well-pleasing to God, and approved of men” (Rom. 14:17-18). “Christ
also pleased not Himself” (Rom. 15:3). Christlike men never please
themselves in their joy, peace and righteousness; self-pleasing in
these things is soulish, it does not serve Christ.
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which also ye
were called in one body; and be ye thankful” (Col. 3:15). We are
reminded that “none of us liveth to himself, and none dieth to
himself” (Rom. 14:7), but all is for Christ, otherwise we are not
really “baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13). We are called in one
body to perfect unity by loosing our self-life, and “the life is in
the blood” (Lev. 17:2). Our blood, i.e., our natural
character, gifts, tendencies, etc., separates us one from another;
the blood of Jesus Christ unites what has been separated. He died;
not only for the nation of the Jews, but also to “gather together
into one” the scattered children of God (John 11:52); scattered by
their own ideas and plans, their own hopes and wishes, likes and
dislikes. The blood of Jesus Christ brings all these things to the
cross. Whatever is not of Christ in you brother, or in me, is under
the curse. Even, the most beautiful things in a man’s character are
sin in God’s pure eyes, if they are simply the outcome of our fallen
nature.
Called to be one body: Is there ever a conflict in my body? Never,
so long as I am in my right mind. In the insane, or the epileptic,
one member may hurt another, because the head has lost control. Yet
no member lives directly for another. Jesus Christ could afford to
let Lazarus die, and to leave Martha and Mary in perplexity, without
understanding Him, because He did not belong to them but to His
Father; when God’s hour came, and not till then, He went to them. He
could help for eternity even a Mary and a Martha, only so long as He
followed His Father’s movements; not going in human love to comfort
the afflicted. Many are deteriorated and injured by receiving human
help and sympathy instead of being left in God’s hands. All help to
others must come from Christ and go through Him, not according to
our choice, but for His sake.
The Lord is bringing about in these days, a miracle of miracles.
Amid all the confusion of Churches, systems and ecclesiastical
ideas, He is forming His own Body, composed of those who are washed
in His blood, and under the government of His Holy Spirit, ready to
be used by the Lord when and how He desires. |