Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 240, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1912 — A Motive for Christian Service [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Motive for Christian Service

By REV. JAMES M. GRAY. D.D.,

D—s d M~dr Btt.

TEXT: “Wherefore also we make It our aim whether at home 015 absent, to b* well-pleasing unto him."—* Cor. v. <B. V.). —-motive for the\ service of Christ held before us in the context

of these words to the hope of the future life which the believer hae through Christ. The nature of this hope is set before us lh verses 1 to 4, Paul in the previous chapter had* been speaking of his sufferings andj afflictions as a Christian, and; comforting himself and other* Christians in at like case by thet thought of the-

outcome of them all in the “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” This glory is a certainty, fori he goes on to add: “We know that! if the earthly house of our bodllyi frame be dissolved, we have a build-' lng from God, an bonse not made with} hands, eternal, in the heavens.” There, are so many things which a Christian' may know if he will only take God’s word for them, and this thing, so full! of comfort, 1b one of them. We who are in the present body groan in it for many reasons, but our desire is if we are Christians not merely to be. rid of it but to be “clothed upon,” Lt e., to receive our new resurrection andj glorified/ body. In other words, the hope set before the regenerated man is not death but that which soonqr or later follows death, the resurrection and all that it implies. It is then that what is mortal shall be swallowed up of life. Assurance of Resurrection. After speaking of the hope set before the Christian the inspired writer, goes on to show how assured it Is in verses 5 to 8. "He that wrought us for this very thing Is God,” he says.. The very object God bad In view in the salvation of any man and all bis work of grace in him was to this very end. A great theologian has said, “The end of God’s way are corporiety,” a thought which Paul sets before us here as applied to the resurrection from the dead. Moreover, God has not only wrought us to this end, not only is tbi* God’s purpose concerning us Christians, but he ha* given us a pledge of It in the dwell* lng of his holy spirit within us. The* holy spirit in every believer is an, “earnest” or foretaste of this thing* his indwelling certifies to our resum rection, so that “we are always confident” or of good courage concerning JL Wherefore, says the apostle, “we I*-. bor,” or rather "we make it our aim' or ambition, that "whether present or absent we may be accepted of him.”' Paul was always looking for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if he, Paul, were present in the flesh on the earth when be came, he wanted to! be found accepted or well-pleasing inj his sight It was possible, however,, that he might be absent from the. earth and from the body when the Lord came, but in that case also be, wanted to be accepted of him. Wfieth-r er he were present in the body or absent from the body he expected to* stand before him. “We must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ,” he says, “that everyone may. receive the things done in his body: whether it be, good or bad." The reference fibre is to Christians. They; will not have to stand before Christ's.' judgment-seat In order to have it determined whether they are lost or saved, that is determined tbs moment 1 the Christian takes Jeans Christ by 1 faith to be his savior, but they must! render an account to him of their stewardship as Christians in order to determine the matter of tbdir rewards. It was for this reason that Paul wished to be found well-pleasing to him, and this reason sets before ns the power of the Christian's hope to produce a holy life.

Reason for Evangelism. 1 «. ;V. * ; • . But there was one special matter te which Paul desired to be well-plearing to his lord, and that was in the saving of lost souls such as he had been, and such as all men are by nature. "Knowing therefore,” be says, “the fear of the Lord,” —I. e., having our eyes on the judgment-seat of Christ when we must give account of our service with reference to our reward —“we persuade men." This was the motive for such service with him. He was not thinking' just now of the peril and retribution that would fal] upon the lost, tboogh. of course, at other times he emphan sized that motive for saving such;, bat he was thinking of his own accountability when, raised from I|j§| dead at Christ’s second coming, bo must face his record of service. Paul’s motive should be our motive, tor we have ti e same accountability, and must face the same Lord. Bow are we fulfilling It? We fisve many ambitions; can we say that we have this “ MUo ” ? \ V Tv' ’..-‘vih * ■