TRUE SERVICE FOR CHRIST
May, 1881

     The power of God so marked the ministry of Jesus that His disciples, though often standing in fear and amazement, were inspired with love and confidence in Him, not only as a Friend, a Teacher and a comforter, but also as a Man “approved of God.”
There was power in all the He did.

     When the “Promise of the Father,” the power of the Holy Ghost, had come to the disciples, they expected the words of Jesus to be so fulfilled that they should have great confidence in bearing witness for Him, and preaching of His life, and death, and resurrection. Nor was their confidence misplaced, their expectations unfulfilled. God worked by them wonders and signs, and added unto their number daily “such as should be saved.” – (Acts 2:47.)

     Was the record then closed? Was God’s work finished when that generation saw the infant Church established and strengthened, and its members quick to speak, to do, to bear, till death – in many cases a martyr’s death – crowned all? Was that which had been spoken by the prophet Joel, and opened then by Peter, of the power of the Holy Ghost, fulfilled for all time in that day, or had it that continuity of life which makes it available to us in these latter days? Are we to expect the gift of the Spirit as did the disciples, and are we to know that power which was manifested in their lives?

     We go over the history of the Church as recorded in the Book of Acts, and see the weak made mighty, the feeble made strong, and those sent to speak words of truth, eloquent. For the Apostles having tarried at Jerusalem were filled with the abounding presence and power of God’s Spirit. We may press the finger upon the pulse of the Church, and as the Holy Ghost is known, honored and acknowledged, its life-flow is sure, steady and strong.

     True service belongs only to the soul that walks hand-in-hand with God. Seeking not its own, it has no choice but God’s choice, no will but God’s will. We learn to walk in His ways, and keep His commandments, and find, ere we know it, that we are going out towards others and doing His will in their behalf. This service is the outgrowth of the inner life and must keep pace with it, growing with its growth and strengthening with its strength. As God moves in us He moves us out towards others, and this moving out, in His time and way, is the service that has life in it. It may be the sowing or the watering of the seed, but God will see to it that it has the true increase.

    Power attends true service, that service that is in oneness with God. When it is the desire of God that makes your desire to do, when the moving out is in His way and in His time, and is towards the end He seeks, when you go simply because He moves you to go, to do whatever He moves you to do, then power will be with you, and His work will be done whether men see it or not. His message will be delivered by word or act whether men “will hear, or whether they will hold back.” – (Ezekiel 2:7.) For power is in the work when the indwelling of God makes possible a working together with Him.

     Power, as one of the gifts of God, is received at His hand after the coming of the Holy Ghost. It is a gift received, but if sought for itself may, as any gift, tend only to the nurture of self. The disciple has always this comfort in God’s service, the presence of the Lord working with him, and in this presence he has assurance of all needed power.
The apostles were pre-eminently men of service, and men who had power in their service, and their history is ever held before us as the history of a successful working and witnessing Church. Let us go to some of our Lord’s teachings, and see how they open in the lives of these Apostles, after the Spirit of Truth had come to them and they were prepared to be witnesses for Christ.

     In His lesson, drawn from the Vine and the branches, hear Him say: “I am the true Vine.” “Abide in Me.” “The branch cannot bear fruit, except it abide in the Vine. Ye cannot bear fruit except ye abide in Me.” Then follows five distinct things said of the branch that abides even through the purging:

     “He bringeth forth much fruit.”
     “Ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.”
     “Ye shall abide in My love.”
     “Your joy shall be full.”
     “Ye shall love one another.”

     This is made very personal, for, listen, again: “I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should bring forth fruit; that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye may ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you; that ye love one another; that with the Spirit of Truth ye have that joy that no man taketh from you; and that with this Spirit ye shall bear witness.” There is an element of life belonging to the Vine and the branches, for, “If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My sayings, they will keep yours also.” This abiding and its abundant blessing was all proved true in the experience of the disciples, and we know that the life which flowed so freely between the Vine and the branches was of the Holy Ghost.

     What was true for the disciples may be made true for us. Do any ask to hear God’s word, to know His voice, to have His power? “When the Comforter is come He will guide you into all truth.” He that is of God heareth God’s word.” “Then shall ye receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”

     The Life from the Vine nourishes the branch, and fruit is produced, the fruit of the Spirit; with the measure of the fruit-bearing limited by the soul-abiding. As living branches, we put into form and expression the life within, the life of the Vine, and ask and receive, for we ask what He wills. His words are spoken, for the words are the expression of His life, and His life is there. His words are to us the outward signs of an inward truth; we keep them, not because His will is our law, but because His will expressed in these words is our will also. The branch bears no fruit for its own using; the service is for another, and in the laying down of our life for others, more life comes; in the giving of all, all is received.

     What is your need then? Hear Christ’s words: “Abide in Me, and whatsoever ye shall ask the Father, in My name, He will do it. Abide in Me and bring forth fruit, yea, much fruit; yea, fruit that shall remain. Abide and have the love of God shed abroad in your hearts. Abide and have that joy that no man taketh from you. Abide and keep My commandments as I have kept My Father’s commandments.” So shall your life be of God, and your service, true service.