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A Missionary Movement

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 2, 1912

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 89, No. 18.

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A Missionary Movement

By R. C. Porter

R. C. PORTER
WE are a missionary people. Great light has been entrusted to us. It has not been given us to hide under a bushel, but to enlighten the people of this generation, that they may properly view their privileges and understand their perils. The Lord has commissioned those who love him more than earthly things, that to carry this light to their fellow men. Their commission requires them to forsake all and carry the message “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Persecution is but a favoring gale to speed the message on its way. Half-hearted service is not acceptable to God.
Those who go to their farms or their merchandise merely for worldly gain are excused from service now, and they will be excused when those who operate their farms and conduct their business in the interests of the Lord’s work, enter upon their reward in the kingdom of God.
It is the greatest honor that can be bestowed upon fallen man that God should regard man as his representative to bear his message to others. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.” 1 John 3:1.
The people of the world have altogether another standard of honor. Their viewpoint is wholly worldly. Accordingly, their ambitions and plans for life are worldly.
The contrast that should exist between the plans and ideals of the worldling and those of the Christian is as striking as that between light and darkness; between God and mammon, or Christ and Belial.
From “Testimonies for the Church,” No. 33, pages 15, 16, I quote the following:—
“I feel urged by the Spirit of the Lord to tell you that now is your day of privilege, of trust, of blessing. Will you improve it? Are you working for the glory of God, or for selfish interests? Are you keeping before your mind’s eye brilliant prospects of worldly success, whereby you may obtain self-gratification and financial gain? If so, you will be most bitterly disappointed. But if you seek to live a pure and holy life, to learn daily in the school of Christ the lessons that he has invited you to learn, to be meek and lowly in heart, then you have a peace which no worldly circumstances can change.
“A life in Christ is a life of restfulness. Uneasiness, dissatisfaction, and restlessness reveal the absence of the Saviour. If Jesus is brought into the life, that life will be filled with good and noble works for the Master. You will forget to be self-serving, and will live closer and still closer to the dear Saviour; your character will become Christlike, and all around you will take knowledge that you have been with Jesus and learned of him. Each one possesses in himself the source of his own happiness or wretchedness. If he will, he may rise above the low, sentimental feeling which makes up the experience of many; but so long as he is self-inflated, the Lord can do nothing for him. Satan will present ambitious projects to daze the senses, but we must ever keep before us ‘the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’ Crowd all the good works you possibly can into this life. ‘They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.’”
Individuals who hoard earthly treasure will cast it out in most bitter disappointment when Christ comes, “because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity.” Eze. 7:19.
How different is the life of the one who is wholly devoted to God, and whose whole ambition is swallowed up in the finishing of the work and preparing to meet his returning Lord. One thus consecrated meets all the perils of the last days with unwavering confidence, and with his eyes fixed upward, from whence he expects his help, he seeks not worldly gain for self, but seeks souls for his Master’s kingdom. When his work is finished and Christ comes, he is not disappointed. He looks up with the same confidence in God with which he labored, saying, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us.”
From the Master come the words, sweeter than any earthly melody, thrilling with unspeakable joy the heart of every one faithful to God: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” “Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
Unfaithful stewards of entrusted earthly goods shall perish with their earthly treasures. Those only can share the joy of the Lord who have shared in his spirit of self-sacrificing labor.
When Christ comes, accompanied by all the holy angels, only those who have made a covenant with God by sacrificewill be gathered. Hoarded treasures that should have been used in the proclamation of the message will then burn their flesh, as it were fire.
Those who shine now in worldly adornment and earthly glory will wail in disappointment outside the gates of the holy city when the faithful ones enter into rest. Those who now devote themselves unreservedly to the work of carrying the message will then shine as jewels in the kingdom of God. “And they that be wise [“teachers,” margin] shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.”