Christ About His Father's Business
A Sermon
(No. 122)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 15, 1857, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"–Luke 2:49.
Behold then, how great an interest God the Father takes in the work of
salvation. It is called "his business;" and though Jesus Christ came to
accomplish our redemption, came to set us a perfect example, and to
establish a way of salvation, yet he came not upon his own business,
but upon his Father's business–his Father taking as much interest in
the salvation of men as even he himself did–the great heart of the
Father being as full of love as the bleeding heart of the Son, and the
mind of the first person of the Trinity being as tenderly affected
towards his chosen as even the mind of Christ Jesus, our substitute,
our surety, and our all. It is his "Father's business" Behold, also,
the condescension of the Son, that he should become the servant of the
Father, to do not his own business, but the Father's business. See how
he stoops to become a child, subject to his mother; and mark how he
stoops to become a man, subject to God his Father. He took upon himself
the nature of man, and though he was the Son, equal in power with God,
who "counted it not robbery to be equal with God," yet he "took upon
himself the form of a servant and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross." Learn, then, O believer, to love all the persons
of the Divine Trinity alike. Remember that salvation is no more the
work of one than of the other. They all three agree in one, and as in
the creation they all said, "Let us make man;" so in salvation they all
say, "Let us save man;" and each of them does so much of it that it is
truly the work of each and undividedly the work of all. Remember that
notable passage of Isaiah the prophet–"I will divide him a portion
with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong." God
divides, and Christ divides. The triumph is God's; the Father "divides
for him a portion with the great;" it is equally Christ's, he "divides
the spoil with the strong." Set not one person before the other;
reverently adore them alike, for they are one–one in design, one in
character, and one in essence; and whilst they be truly three, we may
in adoration exclaim, "Unto the one God of heaven and earth the glory,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without
end. Amen."
But now I shall invite your attention, first, to the spirit of the
Saviour, as breathed in these words, "Wist ye not that I must be about
my Father's business?" and then, secondly, I shall exhort the children
of God, with all the earnestness which I can command, with all the
intensity of power which I can summon to the point, to labour after the
same spirit, that they too may unfeignedly say, "Wist ye not that I
must be about my Father's business? "
I. First, then note THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. It was a spirit of undivided
consecration to the will of God his Father. It was a spirit urged
onward by an absolute necessity to serve God. Note the word "must."
"Wist ye not that I must?" There is a something in me which prevents me
from doing other work. I feel an all-controlling, overwhelming
influence which constrains me at all times and in every place to be
about my Father's business; the spirit of high, holy, entire, sincere,
determined consecration in heart to God. "Wist ye not that I must be
about my Father's business?"
First, what was the impelling power which (as it were) forced Christ to
be about his Father's business? and then, secondly, how did he do his
Father's business, and what was it?
1. What was the impelling power which made Christ say, "I must be about
my Father's business? " In the first place, it was the spirit of
obedience which thoroughly possessed itself of his bosum. When he took
upon him the form of a servant he received the spirit of an obedient
servant too, and became as perfect in the capacity of a servant as he
had ever been in that of a ruler, though in that he had perfectly
executed all his of life. Beloved believer! Do you not remember when
you were first converted to God, when the young life of your new-born
spirit was strong and active how impetuously you desired to obey God,
and how intense was your eagerness to serve him in some way or other? I
can remember well how I could scarcely abide myself five minutes
without doing something for Christ. If I walked the street I must have
a tract with me; if I went into a railway carriage I must drop a tract
out of the window; if I had a moment's leisure I must be upon my knees
or at my Bible if I were in company I must turn the subject of
conversation to Christ, that I might serve my Master. Alas, I must
confess, much of that strength of purpose has departed from me, as I
doubt not it has from many of you who, with a greater prominence, have
also received diminished zeal. It may be that in the young dawn of life
we did imprudent things in order to serve the cause of Christ; but I
say, give me back the time again, with all its imprudence and with all
its hastiness, if I might but have the same love to my Master, the same
overwhelming influence in my spirit making me obey because it was a
pleasure to me to obey God. Now, Christ felt just in the same way. He
must do it. He must serve God; he must be obedient; he could not help
it. The spirit was in him, and would work, just as the spirit of
disobedience in the wicked impels them to sin. Lust, sometimes, drags
the sinner on to sin with a power so strong and mighty that poor man
can no more resist it than the sere leaf can resist the tempest. We had
lusts so omnipotent, that they had but to suggest, and we were their
willing slaves; we had habits so tyrannical that we could not break
their chains; we were impelled to evil, like the straw in the
whirlwind, or the chip in the whirlpool. We were hurried whithersoever
our lusts would bear us–"drawn away and enticed." Now, in the new
heart it is just the same, only in another direction. The spirit of
obedience worketh in us, impelling us to serve our God, so that when
that spirit is unclogged and free we may truly say, "We must be about
our Father's business." We cannot help it.
2. But Christ had what some men only have. He had another motive for
this, another impelling cause. He had a sacred call to the work which
he had undertaken, and that secret call forced him on. You think,
perhaps it is fanatical to talk of sacred calls; but call it fanatical
or no, this one thing I will own–the belief in a special call to do a
special work is like the arm of omnipotence to a man. Let a man believe
that God has set him to do a particular work, and you may sneer at him:
what cares he? He would give as much for your sneer as he would for
your smile, and that is nothing at all. He believes God intends him to
do the work. You say nay: but he never asked you for your vote upon the
question; he has received God's message, as he thinks, and he goes on,
and you cannot resist him. If he sits still for a little while, a
spirit haunts him–he knows not what it is, but he is unhappy unless he
engages in a business which he feels is the commission of his life. If
he hold his tongue when God has commanded him to speak, the word is
like fire in his bones–it burns its way out, until at last he says,
with Elihu, "I am bled with matter; I am like a vessel that wanteth
vent;" I must speak, or burst; I cannot help it. Depend upon it, the
men that have done the greatest work for our holy religion have been
the men who had the special call to it. I no more doubt the call of
Luther than I doubt the call of the apostles, and he did not doubt it
either. One of the reasons why Luther did a thing was because other
people did not like it. When he was about to smite a blow at the Papacy
by marrying a nun all his friends said it was a fearful thing. Luther
consulted them, and did the deed, perhaps, all the sooner because they
disapproved of it. A strange reason it may seem, that a man should do a
thing because he was dissuaded from it; but he felt that it was his
work to strike the Papacy right and left, and for that he would give up
everything, even the friendship of friends. His business, by night and
by day, was to pray down the pope, to preach down the pope, to write
down the pope, and do it he must, though often in the roughest,
coarsest manner, with iron gauntlets on his hands. It was his work; do
it he must. You might have done what you pleased with Luther, even to
the rending out his tongue: he would have taken his pen, dipped it in
fire, and written in burning words the doom of Papacy. He could not
help it, heaven had forced him to the work, he had a special commission
given him from on high, and no man could stay him any more than he
could stay the wind in its careering, or the tide in its motions.
Christ had a special work. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, the Lord
hath anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor." And he felt the
effects of this anointing–the power of this impelling. And stay he
must not, he could not, he dare not. "I must," said he, "be about my
Father's business."
3. But once more, Christ had something which few of us can fully know.
He had a vow upon him–the vow to do the work from all eternity. He had
become the surety of the covenant, he had sworn that he would execute
his Father's business. He had taken a solemn oath that he would become
man; that he would pay the ransom price of all his beloved ones; that
he would come and do his Father's business, whatever that might be.
"Lo, I come," said he. "In the volume of the book, it is written of me,
I delight to do thy will, O God." Therefore, being faithful and true,
the covenant, the engagement, the suretyship, the sworn promise and the
oath made him say, "I must be about my Father's business." Whenever you
make a vow, my dear friends–and do that very seldom–take care that
you keep it. Few should be the vows that men make, but they should
always be sincerely kept. God asketh no vow of us, but when his Spirit
moveth us to make a vow–and we may do so honestly if we make a vow in
his strength–we are bound to keep it. And he that feels that he has
made a vow, must then feel himself impelled to do the work which he
hath vowed to do. Let the difficulty be never so great, if you have
vowed to overcome it, do it. Let tire mountain be never so high, if you
have made a vow to God that you will attempt it scale its summit, and
never give it up. If the vow be a right one, God will help you to
accomplish it. O ye upon whom are the vows of the Lord! (and some of
you have taken solemn vows upon you, by making a profession of
religion) I beseech you, by the sacrament in which you dedicated
yourself to your Lord, and by that other sacrament in which you found
communion with Jesus, now to fulfill your vows, and pay them daily,
nightly, hourly, constantly, perpetually; and lot these compel you to
say, "I must be about my Father's business." These, I think, were the
impelling motives which forced Christ on in his heavenly labor.
Secondly. But now, what was his Father's business? I think it lay in
three things–example, establishment, expiation.
1. One part of his Father's business was, to send into the world a
perfect example for our imitation. God had written divers books of
example in the lives of the saints. One man was noted for one virtue,
and another for another. At last, God determined that he would gather
all his works into one volume, and give a condensation of all virtues
in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now he determined to unite all
the parts into one, to string all the pearls on one necklace, and to
make them all apparent around the neck of one single person. The
sculptor finds here a leg from some eminent master, and there a hand
from another mighty sculptor. Here he finds an eye, and there a head
full of majesty. He saith, within himself, "I will compound those
glories, I will put them all together; then it shall be the model man.
I will make the statue par excellence, which shall stand first in
beauty, and shall be noted ever afterwards as the model of manhood." So
said God, "There is Job–he hath patience; there is Moses–he hath
meekness, there are those mighty ones who all have eminent virtues. I
will take these, I will put them into one; and the man Christ Jesus
shall be the perfect model of future imitation." Now, I say, that all
Christ's life he was endeavoring to do his Father's business in this
matter. You never find Christ doing a thing which you may not imitate.
You would scarcely think it necessary that he should be baptized; but
lo, he goes to Jordan's stream and dives beneath the wave, that he may
be buried in baptism unto death, and may rise again–though he needed
not to rise–into newness of life. You see him healing the sick, to
teach us benevolence; rebuking hypocrisy to teach us boldness; enduring
temptation to teach us hardness, wherewith, as good soldiers of Christ,
we ought to war a good warfare. You see him forgiving his enemies to
teach us the grace of meekness and of forbearance; you behold him
giving up his very life to teach us how we should surrender ourselves
to God, and give up ourselves for the good of others. Put Christ at the
wedding; you may imitate him. Ay, sirs, and you might imitate him, if
you could, in turning water into wine, without a sin. Put Christ at a
funeral; you may imitate him–"Jesus wept." Put him on the
mountain-top; he shall be there in prayer alone, and you may imitate
him. Put him in the crowd; he shall speak so, that if you could speak
like him you should speak well. Put him with enemies; he shall so
confound them, that he shall be a model for you to copy. Put him with
friends, and he shall be a "friend that sticketh closer than a
brother," worthy of your imitation. Exalt him, cry hosanna, and you
shall see him riding upon a "colt, the foal of an ass," meek and lowly.
Despise and spit upon him, you shall see him bearing contumely and
contempt with the same evenness of spirit which characterised him when
he was exalted in the eye of the world Everywhere you may imitate
Christ. Ay, sirs, and you may even imitate him in that "the Son of Man
came eating and drinking" and therein fulfllled what he determined to
do–to pull down the vain pharisaism of man, which saith that religion
standeth in meats and drinks, whereas, "Not that which goeth into a man
defileth a man but that which goeth out of a man, that defileth the
man." And that is wherein we should take heed to ourselves, lest the
inner man be defiled. Never once did he swerve from that bright, true
mirror of perfection. He was in everything as an exemplar, always doing
his Father's business.
2. And so in the matter that I have called establishment, that is the
establishment of a new dispensation; that was his Father's business,
and therein, Christ was always doing it. He went into the wilderness to
be tempted of the devil. Was he doing it then? Ah, sirs, he was; for it
was necessary that he should be "a faithful high-priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted." When he speaks, you can see him
establishing his Word, and when he puts the finger of silence to his
lips, he is doing it as much; for then was fulfilled the prophecy, "he
was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
shearers is dumb." Does he work a miracle? Do the obedient winds hush
their tumult at his voice? It is to establish the gospel, by teaching
us that he is divine. Does he weep? It is to establish the gospel, by
teaching us that he is human. Does he gather the apostles? It is that
they may go abroad in every land, preaching the Word of God. Does he
sit upon a well? It is that he may teach a woman, and that she may
teach the whole city of Samaria the way of salvation. He was always
engaged in this work of example, and this work of establishment.
3. And ah, beloved, when he came to the climax of his labor, when he
came to the greatest toil of all, that which a thousand men could never
have done; when he came to do the great work of expiation, how
thoroughly he did it
"View him prostrate in the garden;
On the ground your Maker lies.
On the bloody tree behold him:
Hear him cry before he dies–
'IT IS FINISHED!'"
And there you have a proof that he was about his Father's business. It
was his Father's business made him sweat great drops of blood; his
Father's business ploughed his back with many gory furrows; his
Father's business pricked his temple with the thorn crown; his Father's
business made him mocked and spit upon; his Father's business made him
go about bearing his cross; his Father's business made him despise the
shame when, naked, he hung upon the tree; his Father's business made
him yield himself to death, though he needed not to die if so he had
not pleased; his Father's business made him tread the gloomy shades of
Gehenna, and descend into the abodes of death; his Father's business
made him preach to the spirits in prison; and his Father's business
took him up to heaven, where he sitteth on the right hand of God, doing
his Father's business still! His Father's business makes him plead day
and night for Sion; the same business shall make him come as the Judge
of quick and dead, to divide the sheep from the goats; the same
business shall make him gather together in one, all people who dwell on
the face of the earth! Oh, glory to thee, Jesus; thou hast done it!
Thou hast done thy Father's business well.
II. Thus, I have given you the example. Now, let me exhort you to
IMITATE IT.
Tell me, if you can why the religion of Christ is so very slow in
spreading. Mohomet, an imposter stood up in the streets to preach. He
was hooted, stones were thrown at him. Within a month after, he had
disciples. A few more years, and he had a host behind him. Not a
century had rolled away before a thousand scimitars flashed from their
scabbards at the bidding of the caliphs. His religion overran nations
like wildfire, and devoured kingdoms. But why? The followers of the
prophet were entirely devoted to his cause. When that Moslem of old
spurred his horse into the sea, to ride across the straits of
Gibraltar, and then reined him up, and said, "I would cross if God
willed it! "there was something in it that told us why his religion was
so strong. Ah! those warriors of that time were ready to die for their
religion, and therefore it spread. Can you tell me why Christianity
spread so much in primitive times? It was because holy men "counted not
their lives dear unto them," but were willing to "suffer the loss of
all things" for Christ's sake. Paul traverses many countries, Peter
ranges through many nations, Philip and the other evangelists go
through various countries, testifying the word of God. Sirs, I will
tell you why our faith in these days spreads so little. Pardon me–it
is because the professors of it do not believe it! Believe it! Yes;
they believe it in the head, not in the heart. We have not enough of
true devotedness to the cause, or else God would bless Sion with a far
greater increase, I am fully persuaded. How few there are that have
given themselves fully up to their religion! They take their religion,
like my friend over there has taken that little farm of his. He has a
farm of a thousand acres, but he thinks he could increase his means,
perhaps, by taking a little farm of a hundred acres or so a little way
off; and he gives that to a bailiff and does not take much trouble
about it himself. It is not very likely he will have very fine farming
there, because he leaves it to somebody else. Just so with religion.
Your great farm is your shop, your great aim is your worldly business.
You like to keep religion as a snug investment at very small interest
indeed, which you intend to draw out when you get near death; but you
do not want to live on it just now. You have enough profit from your
own daily business, and you do not want religion for every day life.
Sirs, the reason why your religion does not spread is because it has
not got root enough in your hearts. How few there are of us who are
ready to devote ourselves wholly, bodily, and spiritually to the cause
of the gospel of Christ! And if you should attempt to do so, how many
opponents you would meet with! Go into the church meeting, and be a
little earnest; what will they say? Why, they will serve you just as
David's brother did, when David spoke about fighting Goliath. "Oh," he
said, "because of the pride and the naughtiness of thine heart, to see
the battle thou art come." "Now, stand aside, do not think you can do
anything; away with you!" And if you are in earnest, especially in the
ministry, it is just the same. Your brethren pray every Sabbath–"Lord,
send more laborers into the vineyard!" And if God should send them,
they wish them safe out of their corner of it, at any rate. They may go
anywhere else, but they must not come anywhere near them, for it might
affect their congregation, it might stir them up a little; and people
might think they did not labor quite earnestly enough. "Stand aside!
"they say. But brethren, do not mind about that. If you cannot bear to
be huffed and snuffed, there is little good in you. If you cannot bear
snuffing, depend upon it you cannot be well lit yet. Dare to go on
against all the prudence of men, and you will find them pat you on the
shoulder by-and-by and call you "dear brother." Every man is helped to
get up, when he is as high as he can be. If you are down, "keep him
down," is the cry; but if you are getting up, you will never get help
till you have done it yourself; and then men will give you their help
when you do not require it. However, your war-cry must be, "Wist ye not
that I must be about my Father's business?"
Again, even the best of your friends, if you are truly zealous of God,
will come to you and say–and very kindly too–"Now, you must take a
little more care of your constitution. Now, don't be doing so much;
don't, I beseech you! "Or if you are giving money away–"Now you must
be a little more prudent; take more care of your family. Really, you
must not do so." Or if you are earnest in prayer, they will say–"There
is no need of such enthusiasm as this: you know you can be religious,
and not too religious; you can be moderately so." And so you find both
friends and enemies striving to hinder your consecration to Christ.
Now, I like what old Rowland Hill said, when some one told him that he
was "moderately religious." "Well then, you are irreligious, for a man
that is moderately honest is a rogue for certain; and so the man that
is moderately religious is irreligious." If religion be worth anything
it is worth everything; if it be anything it is everything. Religion
cannot go halves with anything else, it must be all. We must, if we be
thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Christ, imitate Christ in
this–the giving up of all to God; so that we can sincerely say,
"And if I might make some reserve,
And duty did not call,
I love my God with zeal so great,
That I could give him all."
I shall never forget the circumstance, when after I thought I had made
a full consecration to Christ, a slanderous report against my character
came to my ears, and my heart was broken in agony because I should have
to lose that, in preaching Christ's gospel I fell on my knees, and
said, "Master, I will not keep back even my character for thee. If I
must lose that too, then let it go, it is the dearest thing I have, but
it shall go, if, like my Master, they shall say I have a devil and am
mad; or, like him I am a drunken man and a wine-bibber. It is gone, if
I may but say–"I have suffered the loss of all things; and I do count
them but dross that I may win Christ!" And you, Christian, will never
get on well in serving God, till you have given all to him. That which
you keep back will canker, If you reserve the least portion of your
time, your property, or your talents, and do not give all to Christ,
you will find there will be a sore, a gangrene in it; for Christ will
bless you in all when you give all to him; but what you keep from him,
he will curse, and blight, and ruin. He will have all of us, the whole
of us, all we possess, or else he never will be satisfied.
And now let me answer one or two objections, and I shall still stir you
up, who make a profession of religion, to give up all you have to
Christ. You say, "Sir, I cannot do it; I am not in the right
profession." Well, sir, you spoke truly when you said that; for if
there be a profession that will not allow us to give all to Christ, it
is not a right profession, and we ought not to follow it at all."
"But," you say "how can I do it?" Well what are you? I do not care what
you are; I assert it is possible for you to do all things in the name
of God, and so to give glory to Christ. Do not think you need be a
minister to dedicate yourself to Christ. Many a man has disgraced the
pulpit, and many a man has sanctified an anvil; many a man has
dishonored the cushion upon which he preached, and many a man has
conscerated the plough with which he has turned the soil. We ought in
all our business, as well as in our sacred acts, to do all for Christ.
Let me illustrate this. A merchant in America had devoted a large part
of his money for the maintenance of the cause of Christ; and one said
to him, "What a sacrifice you make every year." Said he "Not so. I have
a clerk: suppose I give that clerk fifty pounds to pay a schoolmaster,
and when he goes to the schoolmaster, he should say, "Here is your
salary; what a sacrifice it is to me to give you that! Why,' the
schoolmaster would say, Sir, it is not yours, it is no sacrifice at all
to you.'" So said this good man, "I gave up all when I came to God, I
became his steward, and no longer head of the firm. I made God the head
of the firm, and I became the steward. And now when I distribute of my
wealth, I only distribute it as his allmoner; and it is no sacrifice at
all." If we talk of sacrifices we make a mistake. Ought not that to be
the spirit of our religion? It should be made a sacrifice at first, ant
then afterwards there should be a voluntary offering of all. "I keep my
shop open," said one, "and earn money for God. I and my family live out
of it–God allows us to do it; for as a minister lives by the gospel,
he allows me to live by my business, and he permits me to provide a
competence for old age, but that is not my object." "I sell these
goods," said another one, but the profit I get, God has; that which I
require for my own food and raiment, and for my household, that God
giveth back to me, for he has said, bread shall be given me, and water
shall be sure; but the rest is God's not mine; I do it all for God."
Now you do not understand that theory, do you? It is not business. No,
sirs, but if your hearts were right you would understand it, for it is
God's gospel–the giving up all to Christ; the giving up of everything
to his cause. When we do that, then shall we understand this
passage–"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" For
your business, though it is carried on in your name, will, unknown to
men, be carried on in God's name too. Let me beg of you, however, not
to tell everybody, if you do it I have known some that hang the gospel
in the window, more attractively, sometimes, than ribbons. I do hate
the cant of a man, who, when you go to buy ribbons or pay a bill, asks
you to have a tract, or invites you into the beck parlour to pray; you
will see at once what he is after. He wants to sanctify his counter, so
that as people catch flies with honey, he may catch you with religion.
Put your religion where it will come out, but do not cant about it. If
a stranger should call upon you, and in a moment exclaim "Let us pray;"
your best policy is to let him have the street to do it in, and you
should say, "Thank you, I do my praying alone mostly. I see what it is.
If I thought you had the spirit of prayer, and it had been the proper
season, I would have joined with you with all my heart." But the
religion of a man who will just step into your house, to let you see
what an extraordinary pious man he is, is either very sick, or else it
is a galvanized thing that has got no life in it at all. I regard
prayer as a very sacred thing. "When thou prayest, enter into thy
closet; and when thou givest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy
right hand doeth." For verily if you do it to be seen of men you have
your reward: and a poor one it is, a little praise for a minute, and it
is all gone. But, nevertheless, do not run into one extreme by running
from another. Conscerate your business by your religion. Do not paint
your religion on your side-board; but keep it ready whenever you want
it, and I am sure you will want it always.
Says one, "How can I do God's business? I have no talent, I have no
money; all I earn in the week I have to spend, and I have scarce money
enough to pay my rent. I have no talent; I could not teach in a
Sunday-school." Brother, have you a child? Well, there is one door of
usefulness for you. Sister, you are very poor; no one knows you, you
have a husband, and however drunken he may be, there is a door of
usefulness for you. Bear up under all his insults, be patient under all
his taunts and jeers, and you can serve God, and do God's business so."
"But, sir I am sick, it is only to-day I am able to get out at all; I
am always on my bed." You can do your Master's business, by Iying on a
bed of suffering, for him, if you do it patiently. The soldier who is
ordered to lie in the trenches, is just as obedient as the man who is
ordered to storm the breach. In everything you do you can serve your
God. Oh, when the heart is rightly tuned in this matter we shall never
make excuses, and say, "I cannot be about my Father's business." We
shall always find some business of his to do. In the heroic wars of the
Swiss, we read that the mothers would bring cannon-balls for the
fathers to fire upon the enemy, and the children would run about and
gather up the shot that sometimes fell, when ammunition ran short. So
that all did something. We hate war, but we will use the figure in the
war of Christ. There is something for you all to do. Oh I let us who
love our Master, let us who are bound to serve him by the ties of
gratitude let us say, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's
business?"
And now I close up by addressing all the Lord's people here, and urging
them to serve God with all their hearts, by giving them two or three
very brief and very earnest reasons.
Be about your Father's business with all earnestness, because that is
the way of usefulness. You cannot do your own business and God's too.
You cannot serve God and self any more than you can serve God and
mammon. If you make your own business God's business, you will do your
business well; and you will be useful in your day and generation. Never
shall we see any great revival in the church, or any great triumphs of
religion until the Christian world is more touched with the spirit of
entire consecration to Christ. When the world shall see as in earnest
then God will bring men in; not before. We go to our pulpits in half
heartedness: we go to our place of worship mere shells without the
kernel. We give the outward ceremony and take away the heart. We shall
never see Christ's cause triumphant so. Would you be useful? Would you
extend your Master's empire? Then be about your Father's business.
Again, would you be happy? Be about your Father's business. Oh! it is
sweet employment to serve your Father. You need not turn aside from the
way of business to do that. If your heart be right, you can serve God
in weighing a pound of tea as much as in preaching a sermon. You can
serve God as much in driving a horse and cart as in singing a
hymn–serve God in standing behind your counter. At the right time and
the right season, as much as sitting in your pews. And oh, how sweet to
think, "I am doing this for God. My shop is opened on God's behalf; I
am seeking to win profit for God; I am seeking to get business for God
s cause, that I may be able to devote more to it, and prosper it more
by what I am able voluntarily to consecrate to him." You will have a
happiness when you rise, such as you never knew before, if you can
think, "I am going to serve God to-day;" and when you end at night,
instead of saying, "I have lost so much," you will be able to say, "Not
I, my God has lost it. But the silver and the gold are his and if he
does not care to have either of them–very well; let them go; he shall
have it one way or another. I do not want it; if he chooses to take it
from me in bad debts, well and good. Let me give to him in another way,
it will be the same; I will revere him continually, even in my daily
avocations."
And this dear friends, will be the way–and I trust you can be moved by
this–this will be the way to have eternal glory at the last, not for
the sake of what you do, but as the gracious reward of God for what you
have done. "They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the
stars for ever and ever." Would you like to go to heaven alone? I do
not think you would. My happiest thought is this, that when I die, if
it shall be my privilege to enter into rest in the bosom of Christ I
know I shall not enter heaven alone. Thousands have been there, whose
hearts have been pricked and have been drawn to Christ under the labors
of my ministry. Oh! what a pleasant thing to flap one's wings to heaven
and have a multitude behind, and when you enter heaven to say, "Here am
I and the children thou hast given me! "You cannot preach, perhaps, but
you can travail in birth with children for God, in a spiritual sense,
in another way; for if you help the cause you shall share the honour
too. You do that, perhaps, which is not known among men yet you are the
instrument, and God shall crown your head with glory amongst those that
"shine as the stars for ever and ever." I think, dear Christian
friends, I need say no more, except to bid you remember that you owe so
much to Christ for having saved you from hell; you owe so much to that
blood which redeemed you–that you are in duty bound to say–
"Here, Lord, I give myself away;
'Tis all that I can do."
Go out now, and if you are tempted by the world, may the Spirit enable
you to reply, "I must be about my Father's business." Go out, and if
they call you fanatical, let them laugh at you as much as you like,
tell them you must be about your Father's business. Go on, and conquer.
God be with you. And now farewell, with this last word, "He that
believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; he that believeth not, shall
be damned." Faith in Christ is the only way of salvation. Ye who know
your guilt cast yourselves on Christ, and then dedicate yourselves to
him. So shall you have joy here, and glory everlasting in the kind of
the blessed, where bliss is without alloy, and joy without end.