Dr. Ralph S. Cushman has given all ministers a beautiful gem of poetry which sets forth the supreme objective of preaching. These lines I have long cherished, and for some years they have been taped in the flyleaf of my Bible.
I do not ask
That men may sound my praises,
Or headlines spread my name abroad;
I only ask that as I voice the message
Hearts may find God.
This is the most worthy of all human objectives in every truly Christian service and in every ministerial utterance—that hearts may find God. Only that preaching and personal ministry that brings human hearts into fellowship with the Eternal, shares with the Master Preacher in the divine redemptive power that transforms and ennobles human lives.
Some years ago during my College View church pastorate at Lincoln, Nebraska, the mailman handed me a letter penned by a college student, which in substance read: "All my life I have been trying in religious worship to find God, but I never seemed to be able to reach Him. But last evening in the quietness and the beauty of the close-of-the-Sabbath vesper hour I found God." In such experiences one reverently and humbly senses a touch of the Divine, and in deepest gratitude partakes of the holiest thrill known to any gospel worker, when by the grace of the Eternal, men and women find God as a result of our feeble ministry. One might even say, "in spite of" our ministry, for there is, alas, all too much truth in the observation that "one of the proofs of the divinity of the gospel is the kind of preaching it survives."
In this busy life of multiplied cares and increasing tensions the majority of men seldom maintain an attitude of quiet meditation and prayer long enough to allow the Spirit of the Divine to fill and revitalize their lives. It was in his own quiet meditation in a vesper hour that the college student found God. Could it be that we as ministers and gospel workers need more of that personal quiet vesper hour experience in our own lives, to let God find us anew, that we in turn might help Him get through to other hearts?
How deeply distressed and keenly disappointed we have felt at times, when at the close of our very best efforts at preaching, there did not seem to be any evidence that hearts had truly found their Lord, or had been really warmed anew by His gracious love and power. True, only God knows what His Spirit is accomplishing in the lives of our hearers, but every truly spiritually motivated worker for God has known a humbling, disturbing sense of his own inefficiency. With penetrating persistence the question burns into the soul: "Why are not more hearts finding God as a result of my ministry?"
Well might we despair as we contrast our unworthiness with the perfection of Christ, the Master Preacher and Teacher, were it not for the assurance that as we constantly obey the divine will we may, in the potency of God's enabling presence, become "daily better fitted to speak words that will guide wandering souls to the fold of Christ.'—Gospel Workers, p. 23. We are not "sufficient of ourselves," but as St. Paul says: "Our sufficiency is of God; who hath made us able ministers" (2 Cor. 3:5, 6).
Exalting and Emulating Christ
Since Jesus is the living center of everything pertaining to life and godliness, the dedicated servant of Christ seeks to put Christ into every sermon and into every act of life and human relationship. "The world will not be converted by the gift of tongues, or by the working of miracles, but by preaching Christ crucified."—Testimonies to Ministers, p. 424. It is as we keep self in the background and exalt the Christ before a needy world that our words become a "savour of life unto life."
The glory of love is brightest
Where the glory of self is dim,
And they have the most compelled me
Who most have pointed to Him.
—Anonymous
The greatest achievement of a worker of God is by God's grace to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. All who have a true passion for souls are motivated by an overwhelming desire to exalt and emulate the Christ.
One can only be filled with awe and humility and a sense of great personal need when he contemplates the master qualities of the Master Preacher. Most of the readers of THE MINISTRY doubtless have read and reread the chapters of Gospel Workers setting forth the example of Christ's character and ministry, but I wish to relist fifteen of the outstanding dynamic sentences of inspiration setting forth His great saving qualities. (See Gospel Workers, pp. 41-43, 47, 115, 121.) I dare not comment on these statements lest I detract from their precious beauty. Pregnant with meaning and calling for the deepest thought, they challenge every Adventist follower of the Christ to a holier consecration, to a higher life of love and service for the glory of His name.
Master Qualities of the Master Preacher
Of the master qualities of the Master Preacher, it is written:
"His compassion knew no limit."
"It was heaven to be in His presence."
"He was like a vital current, diffusing life and joy."
"Men longed to become worthy of His confidence."
"His life was one of constant self-sacrifice."
"From Him flowed a stream of healing power."
"In all things He brought His wishes into strict abeyance to His mission."
"He drew . . . hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy."
"He glorified His life by making everything in it subordinate to the will of His Father."
He was "the unwearied servant of man's necessity."
"Wherever He went, the tidings of His mercy preceded Him."
"The youth caught His Spirit of ministry, and sought to pattern after His gracious ways by assisting those who needed help."
"His life is an illustration of true courtesy."
"His life was as leaven working amid the elements of society."
"He is our example, not only in His spotless purity, but in His patience, gentleness, and winsomeness of disposition."
In reverence and adoration we bow in the presence of Him who brought to us the perfect revelation of God's heart of love, and through whom and in whom we have found God. No greater test of our ministry can be made than to individually check on how our lives measure up when compared with the master qualities of the Master of men. Today as never before "God calls for men . . . who bring . . . the attributes of Christ's character into their labors."—Gospel Workers, p. 95.
How wonderful it is to know that "God can make humble men mighty in His service."—Ibid., p. 79. By His eternal grace, "what Christ was on earth, the Christian worker [minister and member alike] should strive to be."—Ibid., p. 121. May God make of us all true representatives of the gentleness, patience, goodness, and love of Christ, and in His great mercy enable us to bring into our ministry the attributes of Christ's character.
And may this always be our prayer:
I do not ask
That men may sound my praises,
Or headlines spread my name abroad;
I only ask that as I voice the message Hearts may find God.
J. A. B.
