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THE THUE VALUE OF SERVICE
“Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be
your servant.” — Matthew 20:27.
“I E have here a picture of an ambitious
mother seeking the preferment of her
two boys, and Jesus using the occasion
to declare the significance of His death
and the law of substantial greatness.
It was the third time He had told them
of His approaching death. Once was
just before the transfiguration. “From
. that time forth began Jesus to show un-
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to his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusa
lem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief
priests and and be killed, and be raised
again the third day. Then Peter took Him, and be
gan to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee,
Lord: this shall not be unto Thee.”
Here we find Jesus intent upon unfolding the long
hidden mystery, and Peter equally intent upon
breaking it up. How stupid this was in Peter! He
had never caught the force of the Master’s “Must.”
He “must” go unto Jerusalem; He “must” suffer
many thing's; He “must” be killed; He “must” be
raised again on the third day. There was no escap
ing any one of these “musts.”
If a whole world should interpose a “shall not”
it would make no difference. God had ordained it
from the foundation of the world. First, Christ’s
death was not a consequence upon anything human.
It was not that of a martyr. It was a part of the
plans and specifications of the pre-existing God for
man’s redemption. He was the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Away with that cant
which leaves God the Father out of the plan of
redemption. With every star that glitters in the
crown of the Son there will also be one in the crown
of the Father. “My Father and I are one” —one
in creation, one in redemption, one in glory.
AFTER THE TRANSFIGURATION.
The next reference to this matter is just after the
transfiguration. Jesus had returned to Galilee after
the healing of the demoniac, and here He said,
“The Son of man shall be deliverd into the hands
of men. But they understood not this saying, and
they feared to ask Him.” Here we see Jesus hold
ing on to the idea of God’s sovereignty. “The Son
of man shall be delivered.” He is not to be over
powered. God is not to be defeated. Sin is not
going to triumph for one single second. “The Son
of man shall be delivered.” God for man’s redemp
tion Himself broke the chain and delivered up His
Son. This was the only way His death could ever
have occurred. All the powers of earth and hell
could never have touched a hair of His head if God
had not delivered him up. Jesus was in Gethsemane
when in His delivered state He cried, “My God,
my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” Why hast
thou delivered me up? Not only do we see Christ
holding to God’s sovereignty here, we also see the
gradual growth of the disciples. Awhile ago they
say “it shall not be unto thee.” But now they are
afraid to say a thing. Perhaps this is one of the
influences of the three who were with Him in the
transfiguration glory. Oh, how the Shekinah glory
of God drives away human doubt! When Peter
heard the voice of Jesus as He came walking on
the sea, he talked no more of ghosts, but leaped
into the sea to walk to Jesus. When Martin Luther,
while climbing Pilate’s Stairway in Rome, heard
the voice, “The just shall live by faith,” he thought
no more of peace by penance, but stepped at once
into the life of trust.
•So with us today. The only cure for our doubt
and skepticism is a deeper realization of Jesus. I
can’t help believing that in many of our
Christian colleges and seminaries there are many
questions asked and answered which it would be
better to let alone. They come out of a cold mate
rialistic atmosphere, which, under the guise of
scholarship, has taken the place of the atmosphere
of the Almighty. They are working upon the
wrong hypothesis.
The Golden Age for April 4, 1907.
Tabemacle Sermon by Reb. Len G. Broughton
MYOPIA AND HYPEROPIA.
Doctors tell us that there are two conditions of
the eyeball that call for glasses, one they call
myopia and the other hyperopia. One is where the
ball is too shallow 7 , and the other is where it is too
deep. The shallow ball produces near-sightedness,
and is remedied by a concave lens. The deep ball
produces far-sightedness, and is remed : ed by a con
vex lens. Now the trouble with our Biblical critics
of today is, they have a shallow ball with a convex
lens, which, instead of deepening the field of vision,
tends to make it more shallow. They are working
too near the eyeball. They need a change of lens.
They need the spiritual ball deepened. They need
to get away from musty books and scientific labo
ratories and span the horizon of Him “who was in
the beginning, is now and ever shall be.” They
need to get out into the country once in a while and
pass through an old-time revival of religion. They
need to come into the city and see men steeped in
sin, and filth, suddenly touched by the power of the
blood of the everlasting covenant, clothed and in
their right mind. This would change our age from
Biblical criticism to Biblical exposition.
THE DISCIPLES APART.
The next time this matter of His death is referred
to is in connection with the incident of our text.
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. On the way He
stops and takes his disciples apart to again speak
to them of this matter. His taking them apart has
seemed significant to me. There are times when
Jesus desires his people apart that He may reveal
to them his secret thought. What an argument for
the separate meetings of Christians, for Bible expo
sition and the deepening of the spiritual! Doubtless
all of us can testify of the great spiritual uplift
that comes to us from such meetings. Too frequent
ly our great metings are too much like those of a
joint stock company, where everything is side
tracked for business. Do not imagine me to ignore
the business side of the kingdom of our Lord. Far
from it. A church can no more run without busi
ness than an electric car can run without wheels,
but with all our business wheels, unless a conse
crated connection with the great electric dynamo
of heaven is maintained, we will have only so much
progress as human energy can give. God’s people
need this coming together for communion and pray
ers.
THE AMBITIOUS MOTHER.
But the most significant part of this last incident
was the request of this ambitious mother. She,
with the disciples, had the idea that the new king
dom was about to be established. And like all true
mothers she had her mind on the good of her boys.
“Grant these, my two sons, may sit one on the
right hand and the other on the left in thy king
dom.” To this request Jesus demurred; not, how
ever, because He objected to her ambition. He
knows too well the longings of a faithful mother’s
heart for that. The demurrer was because of her
ignorance of the law of spiritual preferment. Hear
his words: “Whosoever will be chief among you,
let him be your servant.” Here we have a silent
compliment to ambition and spiritual promotion.
A prominent place in the kingdom of our Lord
is not to be despised. Jesus knew this when He
failed to quarrel with these two young men and the
mother, who was simply their mouthpiece, because
of their desire. It is never wrong to desire prom
inence in any sphere in life. The lack of such am
bition has cursed the world more than the posses
sion of it. Paul said, “Covet the best gifts.” By
this he did not mean to include so-called spiritual
gifts only but all honorable and exalted attain
ments. I have little opinion of the mother who does
not want her boy to be the most potent factor in
her community for everything that is honorable and
right. I have little opinion of the preacher who
does not desire to be in the front rank of all that
opposes wrong and champions right. Had I the
power I would inspire every young preacher with
the desire to stand on the top round of the ladder
of true greatness.
AN AMBITIOUS CHURCH.
And the same thing is true of the church. We
are too prone to cry selfishness, independentism
and lack of harmony to the church of today that
desires to impress its individuality upon the world
in which it is called to battle. The right kind of
federation is power; but where federation serves
in any sense to weaken the responsibility of any
part of the federation it becomes a curse rather
than a help.
Every pastor of every church in the world is duty
bound to his church to push it just as far to the
front in every good work as he possibly can. No
method of organization has the right to interfere
with such obligation. Federate where we can, and
separate when we must. This is a law we must
respect. The divine obligation of both church and
pastor must be kept in mind, and no man among
us must be accused of selfishness and a desire for
personal glory who endeavors to be faithful to his
trust. Encourage our churches to have more am
bition to grapple themselves with the mighty re
sponsibilities that environ them; then we will have
less dependence and more results.
LAW OF PROMOTION.
It is the motive and method of ambitious achieve
ments that the Master so pungently criticises.
“Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be
your servant.” Here we see service to be the key
thought to all rightful promotion, and where this
is kept in mind every ambition is praiseworthy.
Jesus criticised His disciples because they failed
to see this truth. They wanted promotion upon the
ground of their position of blood relationship.
They doubtless felt that they were entitled because
of their faithfulness. They had been with Him on
the mount of transfiguration. But nothing of this
was to count in spiritual preferment. The law of
promotion is service. Jesus exemplified it. He did
more to make Himself chief in the affection of the
world by his life of service than in his atonement.
Had He come straight from God to the cross the
mind of man would only have seen the flashes of
God’s wrath against sin; but coming as He did to
live a life of unselfish service He won the hearts of
men and prepared them to breathe also the sweet
incense of compassionate love and tenderness.
This is true in our experience. On a prominent,
crowded square in New York stands the statue of
Jerry McAuley—a monument to a thief. Why is
that monument there? Was it because Jerry Mc-
Auley was a man of genius? No; Jerry was a com
mon river thief, and while in prison got salvation,
and on coming out began in his humble way to save
such as he had been. At first all classes scorned
him. But Jerry continued until when he died it
was publicly said, no man had ever lived in New
York who had been such a blessing to the outcast.
CATHERINE BOOTH.
Come with us to the Salvation Army Headquar
ters in London. It is a mighty sad day when
Mother Catherine —the wife of the founder of the
Salvation Army of the world —is dead and her
body lies in state. See the throngs! London pa
pers say there never was anything like it. They
packed the streets and crowded the building, wait
ing their turn to look into her dead face. It is a
mixed multitude, members of Parliament, lords,
dukes and duchesses, are all mixed up with the
bums and thugs. Look at those ten men, standing
around the coffin, crying like babies. “Go on,
men!” the policeman cries, but they can’t go.'
“She loved us! She saved us!” they cry. Finally,
an officer has to pull them away. What means all
this? She was only a poor preacher’s wife. Yes,
she was more than that; she was a “servant of
all.”
MARGARET OF NEW ORLEANS.
In a large, open square in New Orleans, stands a
beautiful marble statue erected by the city, and on
