The Best Donation

The Best Donation

(No. 2234)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, DECEMBER 13, 1891,

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, APRIL
5, 1891.

"And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave themselves to the
Lord, and unto us by the will of God." 2 Corinthians 8:5.

HERE we see the Apostle Paul disappointed, though he was never
discontented. God had taught him how to abound and how to suffer need.
In the School of Grace he had learned contentment, but at this time he
had met with disappointment. Things had not happened as he thought they
should have done and now he tells the Corinthians how the Churches of
Macedonia have disappointed him. "This they did, not as we hoped."

Paul's disappointment, too, was concerning money, although that was a
thing the Apostle never cared about at all. He never lived with any
idea of gain–he held it almost in contempt. Yet here he is
disappointed about money matters and he is writing of his
disappointment. But do not run away with a mistaken idea of what Paul
meant. Though this is one of the many unexpected things which happened
to him, it is different in its character from most of his other
disappointments. His expectations were not realized on this occasion
because they were exceeded! He was disappointed with the Churches of
Macedonia because they did a great deal more than he ever expected them
to do. "This they did," he says, "not as we hoped." He had only hoped
that they would give a little, for they were not rich people–and a
little would show their generosity to the poor saints in Jerusalem. And
he was ready to make much of that little and thank God that they were
willing to remember those who were more in need than themselves. But
they went far beyond anything he expected of them. Paul bore record
that their liberality was up to the utmost limit of their power, "yes,
and beyond their power." A little from them would have been more than a
much larger sum from richer people. Our gifts are not to be measured by
the amount we contribute, but by the surplus kept in our own hands. The
two mites of the widow were, in Christ's eyes, worth more than all the
other money cast into the treasury, for, "she of her want did cast in
all that she had, even all her living."

Not only did those Macedonian Believers give much, but they gave it
willingly. "They were willing of themselves." This added fragrance to
their gift. They needed no pressing or urging–the Apostle did not have
to organize a "Fancy Fair" to wheedle the money out of them, nor even
to preach loud and long to awaken them to their duty. "They were
willing of themselves." I thank God that you, my people, have always
abounded in "the same Grace, also." Still, what we have done is nothing
compared to the need which lies before us. May those who have, up to
now, been ready to bestow their goods, be found even more willing now
to contribute to the cause of God and generously give towards the
spread of the Gospel, the education of ministers and the needs of the
orphans! Let there be no necessity laid upon you except the sweet
compulsion of love, remembering that "God loves a cheerful giver."

But these Macedonians gave more than money–they gave themselves. Paul
writes, "They first gave themselves to the Lord, and unto us by the
will of God." This was the best donation–better, even, than the two
mites of the poor widow. She gave her living, but they gave their
lives, their very being! They also gave the best donation in the best
way. They did not stop with giving themselves to the Lord, they also
gave themselves to the Lord's people. This is the will of God, that
those who yield themselves up to Him should join those who are already
His.

In speaking to you concerning these Churches of Macedonia, I would say,
first, that these people are an example to us in several particulars.
And when I have spoken a little upon that subject, I will say, in the
second place, Let us follow their example.

I. First, then, THESE PEOPLE ARE AN EXAMPLE TO US. The Grace of God
seems to have been so largely bestowed upon them that they, of whom but
little was expected, sprang at once into the chief place of honor.
Sometimes we see this in Churches today–poor and despised communities
suddenly excel all their Brothers and Sisters. "The lame take the
prey." The great works of the world are not done by the great people of
the world, but as the tiny coral insects, patiently working unseen,
produce large results, it often happens that the weakest Brothers and
Sisters bestow a large legacy of blessing upon us! This was the case in
Macedonia–"The abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded
unto the riches of their liberality." As an ounce of example is worth a
pound of precept, let us study the conduct of those early Christians
very carefully.

First, they are an example because they followed the right order. They
did the first thing, first. Paul says, concerning them, "This they did,
not as we hoped, but first gave themselves to the Lord." You know that
it spoils even good things when you reverse the right order in which
they should be done and, as we commonly say, put the cart before the
horse. Did you ever hear of the servant who was told to go and sweep a
room and then dust it, who went and dusted the room and then swept it?
She did not obey her orders because she did not observe the right
order. Her work might as well have been left undone! Great mischief
always comes of departing from God's method in spiritual things. When
the Lord tells you to believe and be baptized, if you are baptized,
first, and believe afterwards, you have upset the Scriptural order and
have practically disobeyed it! You have not kept to God's Word at all.
There is nothing like doing the right thing in the right order. Do what
Christ tells you and do it as Christ tells you. These Macedonian
Believers put the first thing, first. They first gave themselves to the
Lord and afterwards they gave themselves to the Church of God!

This is the first thing, because it is of the first importance. If you
are Christ's, join Christ's people. But the first thing is, see to it
that you are Christ's! Yield yourself unto Him. Trust in Him. This is
the first thing and everything else is a poor second in comparison with
it. Dear Friend, have you given yourself to the Lord? Can you truly
say, "I am my Lord's, and He is mine. I have, by His Grace, made sure
of that"? Especially you young people who are just starting out in
life–let this be your prime care. May God give you Grace to yield
yourself to Christ even now, before you meet the fiercer temptations of
the world! Stand still and consider the matter, and say, "I will now
unreservedly yield myself to Him who died for me–

'Now that my journey's just begun, My course so little trod; I'll stay
before I further run, And give myself to God."

Yielding ourselves to the Lord comes first and thus makes the second
thing valid. If it does not come first, the second is good for nothing!
If a man gives himself to the Church, he must not, therefore, suppose
that he has given himself to God. To give himself to the people of God,
before giving himself, first, to God, will do the man no good. It will,
indeed, do him a positive injury. The man who acts in this way is
either self-deceived, or else a deceiver–he does wrong to God, to the
Church, to himself and is thus a threefold offender! You have no right
to either of the ordinances of Christ if you do not belong to Him–they
are only for Believers–and until you first give yourself to the Lord,
you have no right to be reckoned among the people of God! If you come
to the Lord's Table as an unbeliever, so far from getting any good
there, you will eat and drink condemnation to yourself, for you cannot
discern the Lord's body and, therefore, you cannot rightly use the
bread and cup which are the emblems of His broken body and poured out
blood. Dear Friend, do that first thing, first! First give yourself to
the Lord and then give yourself to us by the will of God!

This is the first thing, again, because it leads to the second. I do
not think that those Macedonians would ever have thought of giving
themselves up to the Church if they had not first given themselves up
to God, for in those days, you know, to join the Christian Church meant
enduring shame, persecution and frequently death! They had to steal
away by night to the private assemblies of the saints–and if they
joined the Church and it was once known–there would probably soon be
the cry, "Christians to the lions!" And they would be taken to the
amphitheatre, first to be exhibited, and then to be devoured by wild
beasts!

Men did not care about joining Christian Churches in those days unless
they first gave themselves to the Lord. The persecution of the early
Christians was a wonderful means of keeping the Churches pure. Church
officers, then, did not need to examine those who sought fellowship
with them as we are obliged to do, for not many were likely to present
themselves unless they loved their Lord and His Gospel better than
life, itself. But even then some hypocrites did profess

to be the Lord's people, though their heart was far from Him. In these
soft and silken days I would be the more earnest in saying to you–Do
not give yourselves to us. Do not think of joining any Christian
Church, until, first of all, you have given yourselves to the Lord.
Make a very searching enquiry into your own spiritual state before you
offer yourself as a candidate for Church fellowship. Many of you do
this. I have been struck, again and again, with the fact that the
results of our special services in this place are not garnered quickly.
Sometimes people come in numbers to join us who trace their first
impulse to some special effort put forth here a year or two before. I
fear that many wait too long, but there should be no undue haste in the
matter. Make sure that, first, you are the Lord's–then come and be
baptized, confessing your faith. Now, do you trust Christ? Have you
become Christ's servant? Have you taken His Cross upon your shoulders
to bear it after Him? Then come and welcome, and join with His people!
But you must not do it until, first, you are the Lord's.

These Macedonians are examples, next, because they were free in what
they did. They "first gave themselves to the Lord, and unto us by the
will of God." They did not come to God by compulsion. There was a
gentle pressure put upon them by the Holy Spirit, which made them
willing in the day of God's power–and they willingly and cheerfully
gave themselves up to God. Are you doing so, dear Friend? Is your
religion a thing which has been impressed upon you by your
surroundings, by your Christian friends, or by the demands of society?
Such a religion is not worth having! To be truly the Lord's, there must
be a voluntary giving up of yourself to Him and to His service. You
must be able to say–

"'Tis done! The great transaction's done;

I am my Lord's, and He is mine;

He drew me, and I followed on,

Charmed to confess the voice Divine." Then you will be able to sing the
chorus at the end of it–

"Happy day! Happy day,"

and you will not feel it to be a misery to have given yourself up to
God, but your soul's greatest delight! And so be like those who gave
themselves to the Lord and did it cheerfully and freely.

They gave themselves, also, wholly and unreservedly. This is proved by
the fact that their money followed the gift of themselves. The
dedication of their persons was followed by the consecration of their
purses. It was no half-hearted offering of a languid devotion, but a
real and practical yielding up of every bit of their being to be
entirely and forever the Lord's. Now, this is the sort of conversion
that delights both God and His people–when the whole man is all aflame
with love to Christ–when there is no attempt to compromise matters, or
to keep back any part of that which is the Lord's. When we are able
truthfully to sing–

"Take my life, and let it be

Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

Take my silver and my gold,

Not a mite would I withhold.

Take myself, and I will be

Always, only, all for Thee."

These Macedonians were so eager to be out-and-out for Christ that they,
without any constraint, gave themselves to His people. I delight to see
young Believers coming forward promptly and cheerfully, feeling, "Yes,
I belong to Christ, and I should like to join those who also belong to
Him." To have it pressed upon you by one and another and to be urged to
do it almost spoils it. I think that it is with our gift of ourselves
to Christ and His people as it is with plucking a peach–if it is
handled much, or pulled off the tree by a rough grasp of the hand–the
beautiful bloom is quickly gone from it. Christ loves to have our
hearts with the bloom on them! He delights to see us willingly yielding
ourselves!

I remember the difficulty that I had, when I was converted and wished
to join the Christian Church in the place where I lived. I called upon
the minister four successive days before I could see him. Each time
there was some obstacle in the way of an interview and, as I could not
see him at all, I wrote and told him that I would go down to the Church
Meeting and propose myself as a member. He looked upon me as a strange
character, but I meant what I said, for I felt that I could not be
happy without fellowship with the people of God. I needed to be
wherever they were and if anybody ridiculed them, I wished to be
ridiculed with them. And if people had an ugly name for them, I wanted
to be called by that ugly name, for I felt that unless I suffered with
Christ in His humiliation, I could not expect to reign with Him in His

Glory. Beloved Friends, give yourselves, first, to God and afterwards
to His Church, as these people did, cheerfully and promptly, without
pressure or excitement. They came forward, not even as the Apostle
hoped, but they went beyond all that!

In the third place, these people are good examples, not only in
following the right order and doing it willingly, but because they had
a sense of obedience in both. What they did, they did because they
found that it was "the will of God." It was the calm decision of hearts
made sensitive by the Holy Spirit. Their faith was a living one and
produced these good fruits. They were not carried away by emotion, but
led by reason and conscience to give all to Him who deserved more than
all they could give.

They felt that it was right to give themselves first to the Lord. They
said, "How can we do otherwise? Christ has bought us with His blood–we
must give ourselves to Him. God has chosen us from before the
foundation of the world–we must choose Him. The Holy Spirit has
renewed us. This new nature of ours must belong to Him. We are God's by
election, by creation, by Providence, by redemption, by new creation,
by adoption–and His we will be forever and ever." They felt that they
could not do otherwise, but must be wholly the Lord's because of what
the Lord had done for them. This is the Apostle's argument when He
says, "For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge that
if One died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
Him which died for them, and rose again." I wish that, under the sweet
constraint of Divine Love, many of you might be led at once to give
yourselves to the Lord!

Well, then, they felt the same thing about giving themselves to the
Apostle and giving themselves to the Church! They said, "We will give
ourselves up to this Apostle who has brought the Word of the Lord to
us. He shall lead us. He has been a messenger from God to us–we will
let him be our captain. What he bids us do, we will do, for we are
persuaded that he is a man of God and he seeks not himself, nor ours,
but us! He seeks to glorify God by leading us to nobler deeds of Grace
and to greater heights of excellence. We will give ourselves to him and
to the Church." Surely, dear Friend, if a man of God has been used to
bring you out of darkness into Christ's marvelous light, you may well
feel that such a man shall still lead you on! As long as he is faithful
to his Master, you may very naturally and gladly be faithful to him.
"They first gave themselves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of
God."

They also had a sense of obedience in helping the poor, especially the
poor saints, and, most of all, the poor saints at Jerusalem. Perhaps,
mindful of that ancient promise, "Blessed is he that considers the
poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble," they recognized
that the care of those in poverty and distress was specially pleasing
to Him to whom they had given themselves. For that reason they would
gladly make their contribution to the utmost limit of their power.
Doubtless, they had heard the word that the Lord Jesus spoke to His
disciples, "You have the poor with you always, and whenever you will,
you may do them good: but Me you have not always," and as they could
not directly bestow their goods on Christ, they willingly bestowed
them, out of love to Him, upon the poor who knew His name! If we cannot
give gold and silver to the Head of the Church in Heaven, we may help
His poor members on earth. The reception of Christ into the heart and
the yielding of the life to His sway has always been fruitful of
beneficence to the poor.

Zacchaeus has not been the only one who, when he received Christ, has
said, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor." Some
men, today, in their zeal for the poor, deliberately shut their eyes to
this fact that before the time of Christ the poor were left to their
hard lot–and that any alleviation which has come to them has come from
disciples of the lowly Jesus who was so poor that He had not where to
lay His head. Christ is the poor man's truest Friend–and those who
give themselves to Christ must always see to it that they also give of
their substance to the poor and thus lay up "treasure in Heaven."

Paul distinctly states that these Macedonian Christians gave themselves
to the Church "by the will of God." Beloved, it is the will of God that
you who love Him should be numbered with His people. It is for your
comfort. It is for your growth. It is for your preservation. If you
belong to Christ, you should belong to Christ's Church. You already owe
something to the Church. By its means, the preaching of the Gospel has
been kept alive in the world. Through its preaching you have been
converted. Through someone of its members you were brought to Jesus'
feet. It is your duty and the Church's due that you should give
yourself to the Church by the will of God! Think it over and see if it
is not so. I say not that you should join this Church. You may be quite
a stranger to us, but there is a place where God has fed your soul.
There is a company of people somewhere, among whom you have often been
taken up to Heaven's gate. There is an as-

sembly where you first of all found the Savior. Go, I pray you, and, by
the will of God, give yourself to that Church, as you have given
yourself to Christ.

You cannot tell the joy I have had today in visiting one who is lying
grievously ill. My dear friend, in talking with me just now, as I sat
by his bedside, said to me, "Pastor, do you remember what you said to
me when you baptized me?" I said, "No, I do not." "Well," he said, it
was 35 years ago, and when I was stepping into the water, you said,
'Let us praise God for this, Brother. I hope He will make you a gift, a
precious gift, to this Church.' And then you stopped before you
baptized me, and said, 'Lord, make him useful, grant him Grace to serve
You for many years to come!' It was 35 years ago," he said, "and yet I
remember it as if it were but yesterday, how you prayed for me, and how
you finished up by saying, 'And, when your feet shall touch the cold
waters of the river of death, may you find it firm beneath you!' Oh,
dear Pastor," he said, "it IS firm beneath my feet! I was never so
happy or so joyful as I am now, in the expectation of soon beholding
the face of Him I love."

Our Brother also added, "How little does modern theology supply to a
man on the brink of eternity! I want no theories about Inspiration, or
about the Atonement. The Word of God is true to me from beginning to
end and the precious blood of Jesus is my only hope." I said to him,
"My brother said to me, the other day, what John Wesley said to
Charles. He said, 'Brother, our people die well.'" "Yes," my friend who
is ill answered, "they do, for as an elder of the Church, I have
visited very many, and they always die with sure and confident faith."
I never see a doubt in any of our friends when they come to die! I have
more doubts than they seem to have. Alas, that it should be so! But I
expect to play the man when I die, as they do, resting in that same
Savior! But, Brothers and Sisters, we would have been great losers if
that Brother had not, 35 years ago, having given himself to the Lord,
also given himself to me and to the Church over which the Lord had made
me overseer. Blessed be God, who has kept him and us even to this day!

Thus you see that these people of Macedonia are an example to us.

II. Secondly–and this I will urge very strongly on you all–LET US
FOLLOW THEIR EXAMPLE. What use can we make of that example if we do not
follow it? Let us make those Philippians, who are now citizens of a
better city, glad when they hear that some, even in this 19th Century,
were fired by their example to yield self and substance to their Lord
and ours–to give all to Him who is the King of the country where they
now have their blessed abode and where every man who now gives himself
to Christ shall also reign with Him! Do you think that, if they came
back to earth, they would behave differently? Do you think that they
would give less, now, that they know their Lord more? No! Had they a
chance of living here, again, they would even more willingly yield
themselves and more ungrudgingly give of their substance to their dear
Lord and Master!

First, imitate their example in this particular–give yourself to the
Lord. You who have done it, do it again! And you who have, up till this
moment, kept back that which He claims, make a full surrender right
now! Do not wait to make yourself better, or to feel better, but, just
as you are, determine to be His and to be His forever! Say, "I do now,
first of all give myself to You. I trust in the death of Christ as my
only hope of eternal life and I give myself up to Him, believing that
He will save me. There are many reasons why I should do this, but the
chief reason is that Jesus gave Himself for me–shall I not, then, give
myself to Him 'who loved me, and gave Himself for me'? What is there
that I should like to keep back? I know of nothing. No, let Him take
all."–

"Savior! Your dying love You gave me–

Nor should I anything withhold, My Lord, from You. In love my soul
would bow, My heart fulfill its vow, Some offering bring You now,
Something for You."

The best offering you can bring to Christ is yourself, for until you
have given yourself to Him, He cannot accept any other offering at your
hands. Unless you are really Christ's, you cannot be truly happy.
Surely, this is a motive that will appeal to you! You wish to live a
happy life, do you not? There is no happiness without holiness–and no
holiness without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ! Give yourself to Him
and He will make you holy and happy, too. True joy will never be yours
until "the joy of the Lord is your strength." To abide in Christ is
Heaven begun below. "Blessed are they that

dwell in Your house: they will be still praising You." Those who know
the Lord best, praise Him the most! Therefore would I urge you to give
yourself to Him at this good hour.

Furthermore, we are only safe as we are given up to Christ's keeping.
Only His power can save us from our adversary the devil, who, "as a
roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour." If you give
yourself to the Lord, you will be "safe in the arms of Jesus." He will
hold you despite all the assaults of your foes and none shall pluck you
out of His hands, so that you may exultingly say with Paul, "I know
whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that
which I have committed unto Him against that day."

Some of us gave ourselves to Christ 40 years ago. Oh, how thankful I am
that I can say, "Forty years ago"! Some of you came 30 years ago; some
20; some ten. Some of you only gave yourselves to Christ quite lately,
when my dear Brothers Fullerton and Smith were at the Tabernacle. Well,
do you wish to run back? If any of you do, I know one who does not, but
who says, "Lord, I come again, as if I never had come before, and my
heart's desire is to be fully Yours, more entirely Yours than I have
ever been! Take heart, and hands, and feet, and eyes, and ears, and
tongue–take life, and will, and all my powers of body, mind, and soul!
Take all I am, and all I have, and all I ever shall have–take it all,
for it is all Yours!" Will you not say so? While I am speaking, say it
in your own souls! These Macedonians, "first gave themselves to the
Lord." May some do this for the first time, even now! Each one of them
shall then be able to sing–

"Oh, I am my Beloved's,

And my Beloved's mine!

He brings a poor vile sinner

Into His 'house of wine.'

I stand upon His merit–

I know no other stand–

Not even where Glory dwells

In Immanuel's land."

In the next place, follow this example and give yourself to the Church.
You that are members of the Church have not found it perfect and I hope
that you feel almost glad that you have not. If I had never joined a
Church till I had found one that was perfect, I would never have joined
one at all! And the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should
have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect Church after I
had become a member of it. Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest
place on earth to us–

"My soul shall pray for Zion still, While life or breath remains; There
my best friends, my kindred dwell, There God my Savior reigns."

All who have first given themselves to the Lord, should, as speedily as
possible, also give themselves to the Lord's people. How else is there
to be a Church on the earth? If it is right for anyone to refrain from
membership in the Church, it is right for everyone, and then the
testimony for God would be lost to the world! As I have already said,
the Church is faulty, but that is no excuse for your not joining it, if
you are the Lord's. Nor need your own faults keep you back, for the
Church is not an institution for perfect people, but a sanctuary for
sinners saved by Grace, who, though they are saved, are still sinners
and need all the help they can derive from the sympathy and guidance of
their fellow Believers. The Church is the nursery for God's weak
children where they are nourished and grow strong. It is the fold for
Christ's sheep–the home for Christ's family.

It is due to the minister that you should join some Christian Church.
If the Lord has blessed you under our ministry, tell us. I think that I
once told you the story, which I know to be accurate, of a Church
clergyman, a sincere, earnest Brother, who had preached for years and,
to the best of his knowledge, had never seen a conversion and,
therefore, concluded that his ministry had been useless. On the day he
was buried, a gentleman was observed to stand and weep much at his
grave, and someone asked him why he did so. He said, "Nobody can tell
what that man was to me. He led me from darkness into the Light of God
and his word has been my comfort for years." Yet that gentleman had
never told the minister! He had never spoken to him of the blessing he
had received under his ministry and he had let the good man die under
the impression that he had been useless! When someone told him how the
clergyman had grieved over his apparent

failure, he said, "Oh, I did not know that he felt like that! I wish
that I had told him what a blessing his sermons were to

me."

Now, if we say anything foolish, or if we are reported to have said
something silly which probably we never did say, we have plenty of
friends to write and correct us, to whom we are greatly obliged, of
course! But there are some who are so afraid that we might be puffed up
that they will not tell us even though they get a blessing from us. At
any rate, be just, be grateful and let the servant of God know that his
Master has blessed his message to your soul.

If it is not due to the minister that you should join the Church and
help in its work, I think it is due to our fellow workers. Some of them
are working for Christ with all their might and in the schools and
elsewhere they are fainting for lack of helpers. Let me tell you what
you are like. It is a hot autumn day and a man is reaping. The sweat
pours from his face as he bonds to his task, and he fears that he will
never get to the end of the field. And all the time you are pleasantly
occupied leaning over a gate and saying to yourself, "That is an
uncommonly good laborer." Or, perhaps, instead of doing that, you are
saying, "Why, he does not handle the sickle properly! I could show him
a better way of reaping." But as you never attempt to show us, we have
only your own word to go by–and you must excuse us for being a little
skeptical on the subject! The work of the Church is generally left to a
few earnest folk. Is that right? Is it right that a few should do all
the work, while many others, who profess to belong to Christ, are doing
nothing at all? Let that not be your case–if you have given yourselves
to the Lord, give yourselves to His Church–according to His will.

Think again, what a lack of fellowship there will be if those who have
given themselves to the Lord do not also give themselves to His people.
Possibly you ask, "What should I gain by joining the Church?" That is a
miserable question to ask! I will answer it by asking another–Do you
know how much you will lose by not joining the Church? You will lose
the satisfaction of having done your Lord's will. You will lose the joy
of fellowship with your Brothers and Sisters in Christ. You will lose
the opportunity of helping, by your example, the weak ones of the
flock. Your question should not be, "What should I gain for myself?"
but, "What can I do for others?" And the answer should be, "I will join
the Church because this is the will of God and there I shall be of
benefit to my fellow Christians."

In the third place, you should follow the example of these Macedonian
Believers and give yourself both to the Lord and to His Church. Put the
two together and thus begin to place yourself wholly in the line of
God's will. Joining the Church without being the Lord's, no matter from
whatever motive it is done, is a course of action fraught with great
danger to the soul, for none are more dead than those who only have a
name to live. On the other hand, much blessing is missed if those who
are the Lord's do not unite themselves with His people.

If you have given yourself to the Lord, give yourself, next, to His
people, that you may, with them, bear witness for Christ. Here is a
certain number of people who, with all their faults, are the true
followers of Christ. Join them and say, "I, too, am a follower of
Christ." That is what membership with the Church means. It is as if you
should say, "If the world is divided into two camps, I am on the side
of King Jesus, and under His banner I will fight as one of those who
bear witness to the Truths of God that He has revealed."

Do it, next, to spread the Gospel. Everybody is needed in this service,
today, for the clear light of the Gospel is sadly obscured in many
places. We cannot all be preachers, for if all were preachers, where
would be the hearers? But we need everybody to be talking about Christ,
by lips and life, by the printed and the spoken word–telling about
salvation by the precious blood for all who believe, forgiveness
through the Grace of God for the guilty, renovation by the Holy Spirit
for the depraved. Come, then, and give yourselves to the Lord, and then
to His Church in order that you may spread the Gospel!

Do this, again, to maintain the Church. Nothing in the world is dearer
to God's heart than His Church. Therefore, being His, let us also
belong to it that by our prayers, our gifts and our labors, we may
support and strengthen it. If those who are Christ's refrained, even
for a generation, from numbering themselves with His people, there
would be no visible Church, no ordinances maintained and, I fear, very
little preaching of the Gospel. Therefore follow the Macedonian example
for the sake of the Church.

And finally, do it that you may grow in love and continue to prove your
love to your Lord and His Church. And also that you may continue to
live unto the Lord and increase your life by mingling with others who
are alive unto God. My dear friend, who is now lying so ill, of whom I
have told you, does not regret that he joined the Church, for, being a
commercial traveler, he had opportunities of preaching Christ in
different places. And that he might render the best possible

service to his Lord, he always lived wherever his pastor told him to
live, seeing that his business interests did not tie him down to any
particular place. If there was no Church in a town, he went and lived
there till he had raised one! Then he moved off to another spot and
founded another Church. And so he continued to spread the knowledge of
his Lord and Master! He is now lying between life and death and if he
is raised up, again, it will be a miracle–yet perhaps the Lord will do
that work of healing if He has yet further service for our Brother on
earth. [The Brother referred to has been raised up, as by a miracle.
His recovery was a great encouragement to many as they prayed for their
Pastor's restoration.] Though he is so ill, he does not regret anything
that he has done, but only wishes that it had been in his power, as it
was in his will, to do still more for his Master! Those who are about
to be welcomed into the Church, as we gather around the Communion
Table, may regret it if they are not good men and true, but if they
have first given themselves to the Lord, they will never regret the
step they are now taking in identifying themselves with His Church.

The sum of all that I have said is this–let all who are not the Lord's
come and, first of all, give themselves to Him and then give themselves
to His people and to His service. And let those of us who are already
Christ's, keep together and fulfill our vows more than ever we have
done–and so prove continually that we have given ourselves to the Lord
and to His people, according to His will. Thus shall God be magnified,
Christ glorified, His Church increased and the world blessed. God grant
it, for Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–2 Corinthians 8.