The Ministerial Institute
Daily Studies upon Important Subjects
The High Calling and Importance of the Gospel Ministry
S. N. HASKELL: The subject before us is vast indeed. When a man is called by God into the gospel ministry, there are three parties that enter into the covenant; namely, God, the minister, and the people. God thereby becomes responsible to the minister; the minister becomes responsible to God; and the people become responsible to him as a minister. It is the duty of the minister to care for the flock and for the cause of God, self being the last thing to be cared for. In 2 Cor. 5:17 and onward we learn that we are ambassadors for God. An ambassador for God is one who represents the plan of God in reconciling men to God, and his duty is to take up the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in reconciling the world to God the Father. There is this difference between an ambassador and one who is called to do a special work in that the ambassador is an all-round man. His word is law for the government, and the government stands back of him to sustain what he does and says. If an ambassador is out of the way, he is called home. A man who is called to do a special work does only that special work. We as ministers represent the government of heaven, a kingdom that was established before the world was, and hence in accepting the call of heaven, and in going forth to do our appointed work, all heaven stands back of us. An ambassador in the third angel's message is a different ambassador than has been in ages past; for the gospel has been unfolding, and in order to truly represent the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, we must represent the light that has been unfolded up to the present time. Consequently in connection with this work there will be a power manifested that has never been manifested before in the history of the world. The scripture in 1 Peter 2:19 and onward tells us of the work of Christ, and we are to follow his steps in things that pertain to the work of an ambassador for God. God's messengers will have a message, and there is to be a power connected with it. You may not see a great manifestation of power at the time being any more than there was connected with the work of Christ in gathering people around him. His life was an unselfish one continually, but what he had accomplished outwardly could hardly be seen when he left this world; it was nothing compared to what was seen before he had been in heaven only forty days. But the seed for this work was sown when Christ was here; then he poured out his Spirit. There is nothing done by a devoted, consecrated minister, but that all heaven sees, and the Lord will prosper it. In Isa. 49:8 we are told that the Lord uses ambassadors to establish his covenant in the desolate places of the earth, and from the sixth verse we find that the Lord's servants are to be a light to the Gentiles, “that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” God's messenger is to take up his work, and carry it to the ends of the earth. When God calls a man to go to a place, he can go there, notwithstanding difficulties, disease, and death itself. If they fall in the field of duty, God will raise up others by their side. The Lord wants true men to-day, who will give the message of God as he would have it given, and the promise is that they are sustained by an omnipotent power. Paul was a prominent apostle of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; he wrote over half the New Testament. And if we study the matter carefully, we find that his strength lay in making an application of these words: “I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” He believed and acted as if that meant him; for in Colossians he tells us that every creature under heaven had heard the gospel. After that he could say “my life is in my hands.” In Acts 22:12-15 we read regarding Paul's work, and how Ananias spoke unto him the words which we find recorded in the forty-ninth of Isaiah, to which we have referred. Paul believed those words, that he was to be a light to the Gentiles, and he immediately began to act his belief; and he believed so strongly and so determinedly that, although it was twelve years before the brethren at Jerusalem would accept him as a minister, they would not have done so then if Barnabas had not brought him to Antioch and he preached there a year, and raised up a church. What he believed was that he must go to the Gentiles, and that they would hear his words even unto the ends of the earth. In 2 Cor. 11:20-27 we find recorded the evidences of the call of Paul to the ministry. Our call is from heaven. Circumstances will arise, peculiar conditions will come up, so that a minister must know that God is his, and he must have a connection with heaven. He must love his message so much that he can die for it. It is because of this attitude that Paul and Moses stand out so prominently as ambassadors for God. As an instance, take the prayer of Moses when Israel had sinned, and he felt that there must be a blotting out from the book of life, he said, Spare this people, but let me be blotted out of the book of life. Paul had the same spirit. May God help us to show to the world that we are ambassadors for God. Then the greatest desire in our hearts will be accomplished by us and through us, if we cling to God. I prefer to be in the front of the battle, and in the hardest part of the conflict, if I do drop in the battle. A. G. Daniells: “Who is sufficient for these things?” We are not of ourselves sufficient for this great and holy calling to which we are committed. We never can reach the place where we can say we are graduated in this work, or in the preparation for it, or feel that we are capable of ourselves to carry it forward26as it should be. Notwithstanding our ignorance, our inefficiency, and our unpreparedness from every standpoint, I feel encouraged, because of two things; namely, God is able to make us efficient ministers of his word, and the fact that there is a strong desire for a more efficient and successful ministry. Our officers and people are longing for a stronger ministry in this denomination. That is a hopeful sign, for there is a deep longing to see the ministry more whole-hearted in this work, more spiritually minded, more zealous, and more fruitful in their labors. There is a strong desire to see our ministers become good producers, and not consumers only,—to bring fruit into the garner of God every year. There is an earnest longing to see a body of ministers who believe every word of this message to the very depths of their hearts, as our pioneers believed it. There is a desire to see men who are content with this message, who are satisfied with the length and breadth and the scope of this great truth revealed to us, and who will give it to the world with all their hearts, and not spend their time conjuring up something new. To me, this is a hopeful sign that we are on the way to a strong and more efficient ministry in this cause, and I desire that this institute shall mark a new era in this, and help us to get our feet on that platform, and start out from here for a stronger, larger, greater work. Christ and him crucified is the message to be given; and as the messenger associates with the people, he must deport himself with fear and trembling, and he is to deliver his message not with persuasive words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration and power of the Holy Spirit of God. And the great motive, the purpose, the one all-consuming thought of the true messenger is that the people may not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of the truth of God. The man who does that work in that way, will do the grandest work in this world, the results of which will be seen, if not in this world, in the world to come. Let us go forth to give this message to the world in that manner, cheer the hearts of our people, and save the perishing that are going, like a great Niagara, over the falls of death. As I see such a great river of humanity going down into the dark abyss, I pray God to reveal to us the essentials of this cause, and help us to see the non-essentials, and to put them away, eliminate them from our lives, and address ourselves to the one great thing, the essential to which God has called us at this hour—the giving of this saving message.