THE MAN GOD USES – CHAPTER XIV – Oswald J Smith
OUR MOST IMPORTANT WORK
THE more I study God’s Word the more I am convinced that the most important work of the church is the winning of lost men and women to Jesus Christ.
Among many others there are four outstanding passages that clearly set forth this great fact beyond dispute.
First, looking at it from God’s side, we find that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1Tim. 1:15), that “the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10). Hence the supreme purpose of Christ’s coming to this world was to seek and to save the lost. Not a mission of Social Service and Reformation, but of Salvation and Regeneration.
Then from man’s side it is, “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:18). Men are in darkness; they must have their eyes opened and be led into the light. They are under the power of Satan; and hence, they must be delivered and brought to God. Such was Paul’s mission.
Then the whole purpose is summed up plainly and unmistakably in Acts 15:14, where it is stated that God visited the Gentiles “to take out of them a people for His name.” That is what God has been doing for the past 1900 years. This is the work of the Holy Spirit to day. He is gathering out the Body of Christ, His church. From every race and tongue the world over He is calling out this great company.
Now, if such is God’s purpose in visiting the Gentiles, and He declares that it is and if this is the mission of the Holy Spirit in the world, then it is God’s will that we should cooperate with Him—for He works through human instruments—and seek to do our part in gathering out His church.
There are some people who shift the responsibility of soul-winning by saying that “one sows and another reaps.”92 Well, suppose you sow a beautiful garden and in the fall of the year some one comes around and sees it. “Now, my friend,” he says, “you have done your part, you faithfully did the sowing; and now the time has come for the reaping. I will begin to reap, to gather all these vegetables and this fruit that you have sowed. One sows, you know, and another reaps.”
“Oh, no,” you exclaim, “I should say not! I sowed this garden for myself. Do you mean to say that I am going to let you have all the fruit of my labor? I will reap it myself.” And so you do; for the explanation that “one sows and another reaps,” holds good—according to this argument—in the spiritual realm, only. What an absurdity!
But God clearly and emphatically states that it is His will that every servant of His should bear fruit. “I have chosen you and ordained you,” He affirms, “that ye should go and bring forth fruit” (John 15:16). Sometimes I am the one who sows; but at other times I am the one who reaps as well.
If soul-winning is the most important work of the church, it naturally follows that Satan will do all he can to get us side tracked or satisfied with something else. And such is the case.
Thousands are giving themselves to Social Service, including education, philanthropy and reform work, etc. But Social Service is not Salvation; and Reformation is not Regeneration. One has to do with this life, the other with Eternity. Let us begin at the right end. Get a man saved, and he will soon clean up and reform. It is not our business to improve the world. That is the work of the State. We are to gather out the church. It is not the outside of the cup and platter alone, but the inside that the Master insists must be clean. Social Service may do for some, but woe to the servant of God who has been called to higher things who is satisfied with it! And the Gospel has not lost its power. Then why waste time?
Multitudes are giving themselves to what is commonly known as church-work. They labor for concerts and bazaars; they are on numerous committees; they are connected with all kinds of organizations, and thus they wear themselves out and think that they are really doing God’s service; but they will not spend five minutes in an After-Meeting trying to point souls to Christ. To convince them that they would accomplish a far greater work for God by spending an hour going from door to door distributing Gospel tracts and talking of Jesus than by a week of ticket selling for a concert, would be utterly impossible. So active are they in their “church-work” that they haven’t even time to seek and win the lost. May God deliver us from these false ideas regarding His work, and get us concerned with the great realities that confront us as His representatives! For why should we waste our time on non-essentials?
Then when we think of the petty doctrinal controversies that we hear on every side, and see the divisions, the criticisms and jealousies that result there from, our heart grows sick within us; and we would that such trifles might be forgotten in the love and passion for souls, the one power that unites us all. Differences of opinion on such doctrines as the Gift of Tongues, Divine Healing, Baptism, the Sabbath Day, the Eternal Security of the Saints, the Silence of Women in the church, Questions of Government, and Methods of Work, etc.–these are the things that divide Christians, rob them of their power, freeze the love of Christ out of their hearts, and kill all passion for souls.
Are we to be united in Heaven and not here? Is it true that we are brothers in Christ? Why then are we so anxious to force our views and interpretations of God’s Word upon others? The responsibility rests with each individual to follow the Lord according to the light imparted by the Holy Spirit through the reading of the Word and prayer. Let us remember that there are precious souls to be saved, and that Satan will hinder us if he can; therefore let us be united for their salvation. Then when we turn to those who are absorbed in the study of prophecy, who preach and teach almost nothing but so-called prophetic truth, forgetful of the fact that prophecy in itself is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ, what a disappointing work we find! How much there is of mere idle speculation! How many different theories of men. Listen! Some of our greatest Soul-winners and most successful missionaries have held widely divergent views on the subject of prophetic truth, in spite of which they have maintained the most intimate fellowship with each other because the love of God burned in their hearts and caused them to put first things first.
If we would gauge the spiritual life of a church we must do it by ascertaining its attitude toward the perishing. The Annual Report may tell of a great work done and a large amount of money raised for benevolent purposes, but if it has no record to give of souls won, its spiritual life is low indeed. Bible Conferences may be held and scriptural knowledge imparted, but if the work ends there, it has not been a success from God’s standpoint. Men are lost and must be saved and the church that ignores this great fundamental fact is far, far astray. Real spirituality always results in soul winning.
This, then, is our most important work. And what a glorious occupation! How wonderful to be linked up with God in the greatest of all undertakings! Oh, my brethren, let us get back, back to our old-time love for the lost I Where, oh where, is the burden of bygone years! How earnestly we once prayed for perishing souls! How eagerly we watched for results! Have we lost all feeling? Does the awful doom of the unconverted no longer move us! Has Satan so far sidetracked us that we have forgotten our most important work? Oh, then, if that be so may God in His great mercy open our eyes, and get us off the side-tracks so cunningly laid by Satan, back to the most important work of the church, the winning of souls to Jesus Christ.
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92 John 4:37
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