Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 240, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1913 — Vocations for Young Christians [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Vocations for Young Christians

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

Dean of Moody Bible Institute of Chicago

TEXT—But unto every one of us is riven grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. —Ephesians TV:7.

I am to speak to you on the subject of “Christian Vocations for Young People,” which is my reason for using this text. “Us” is the important word to begin with, which does not mean everybody, but only true Christian believers in the sense of redeemed and regenerated men and women. On

such as these the Lord Jesus Christ bestows spiritual gifts according to His grace, as the rest of the verse says. These “girts” are for the use and blessing of the whole church, and are described in general terms in the following verse as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teacher*. Note this, that while we all believe in education and especially in an educated ministry, yet all the colleges, and seminaries and Bible institutes in ihe world can not make such apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher. They have tried to make them and have turned out graduates that looked and acted like them, perhaps, but they were not the real thing, and the church has suffered by the imposition. A true apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher is the gift of the Great Head of the Church in his body. He is a Spirit-taught and Spirit-endowed man, and when the church sees or hears such an one it recognizes his divine commission whether he has the imprimatur of a school or nqt.

What Ministers Are For. Now, specifically, what are these “gifts” bestowed upon the church for? The answer of the text verse is, “For the perfecting of the saints,” which means all true believers, for every believer on the Lord Jesus Christ becomes a saint the moment he so believes. But when the saints are thus "perfected,” enlightened, strengthened in the knowledge of the X,ord, what are they to do? The answer is to engage in the “work of ministering for the edifying (building up) of the body of Christ.” (Verse 12.) Here comes in the question of Christian vocations for young people who may not have the gift of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors dr teachers. There is a work of ministering for them to do nevertheless, when they are “perfected” for it by those who have been truly set apart for that task.

What is the nature of this work? If the student output of the Moody Bible institute may be taken atf* a criterion, there Is a wide variety in it. We have been taking a census of 8,000 to 9,000 young men and women who have passed through our hands, and have found that some are pastors or assistant pastors, and some are wives of pastors, for the last named Is a calling for which Christian young women need a distinct training. Some are evangelists or evangelistic singers, both men and women; some are home missionaries; some are teachers in Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian associations; some are superintendents of missions and hospitals; some are matrons, deaconesses and nurses, while still others have simply gone into commercial or professional pursuits, and, in the case of women, are occupied in home duties. # Every "Joint” of Value. • This brings us to the closing words of Paul on this topic, in verse 16, wherfe, keeping up the figure of the church being the body of Christ, he says, “From whom the whole body fitly joined and compacted by that which evtfry joint supplleth . . . maketh increase of the body.” In other words, every single joint in this spiritual organism Is of value to the whole, which means that not one of us Christians can be spared in the exercises of our vocation whatever or wherever it may be. The smallest visible joint in the human body may be that of the little finger. It seems of comparatively little worth, but let It get “out of joint” for a while, and what happens? The whole body soon becomes aware of It, and in time may be "put out of commission” because of It. So you and I may have a small opinion of ourselves in the organism' of Christ’s spiritual body, and from one point of view'it is becoming that we should, nevertheless It is necessary that we do our part or-else "all the members suffer.” We may not be apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors or teachers, but we are that which is represented by a “joint,” and need to be always In union with the Head, and with the other members of the body It the whole shall be profited and Increased The vital question, however. Is that suggested at. the beginning, are you included in the word "US?” It ie not enough to live in a Christian land not enough to be a church member.