p. 3 | A Good Fight by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 28, 1902

A Good Fight

By Editor

Editorial

A Good Fight

There is one fight in which a Christian can consistently engage. “Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal.” So wrote the apostle to the Gentiles after a long and varied experience in this kind of warfare. And a little later he wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.” And this same successful fighter has left a record of his experience: “In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in death oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” This is the battle ground of a Christian hero. What a transformation has grace wrought in the heart of that Saul at whose feet the witnesses laid down their clothes when Stephen was stoned! Is this the same Saul who, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,” went to Damascus to persecute believers? Surely the fight of the faith is far different from the fight of the flesh. It is much easier for the flesh to fight a fleshly fight for religion than to suffer for it, but the Lord instructed Ananias to show Saul “how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” It requires no real heroism to resist an injury either real or supposed, but it is a most convincing testimony to the triumph of the grace of God when one does well, suffers for it, and takes it patiently. “This is acceptable with God.” This is the way of victory. “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds.” “Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.”

The Lord’s Work

It sometimes seems necessary to stop long enough in the rush of outward effort to inquire seriously. What is the Lord’s work? With many plans to carry out, with many enterprises to foster, with many difficulties to encounter, with too many evidences of the contest for position in the denominational machine, it may clear our vision a little if we consider the simplicity of the Lord’s work. The Master himself has made it plain. “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” We have no work to do other than to believe on Christ ourselves for personal salvation, and to persuade as many others as possible to do the same. Any machinery of organization which contributes toward this result is desirable, but more than is actually required for this purpose is a hindrance. Any institutions which are an active agency in carrying to men the gospel of the kingdom, and leading them to exercise a personal faith in Christ, should be established just as fast as the Lord opens the way, and should be maintained, even at a sacrifice; but institutions which are multiplied simply that we may point to them with pride as giving character to the Lord’s work become a hindrance to the advancement of the real work of the Lord. Any plans or enterprises which are simply the easiest channels for the flow of the current of life from heart to heart, and which bring together in the most natural manner the need of the sinner and the supply in the hands of the servant of the Lord, may be readily accepted, and used without waste of strength in overcoming friction, but all others should be discarded as unnecessary burdens. Without increasing needless machinery of administration, without burdening ourselves with more institutions than are actually necessary for the one purpose, and without being entangled in worldly wise plans and enterprises, we must go quickly to the people with the simple message of warning and salvation from the wrath to come. It must be wholly a work of faith. The heart of every worker must be inspired by a personal faith in the message which he bears, and all his effort must be directed to the one end of implanting the same faith in the hearts of others. “If you would draw sinners out of the swift running current, your own feet must not stand on slippery places.” Is there not danger that we shall be “cumbered about much serving”? More apostolic power is the one thing needful in order that the real work of the Lord may be done, and done quickly.

Upside Down

The unbelieving Jews who raised the uproar at Thessalonica because of their envy at the marked results of Paul’s preaching, “drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” The great apostle was sent to the Gentiles with a commission “to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” This was the work which he was doing at Thessalonica. Some men who stood in a wrong attitude toward God were being turned about and brought into right relationship with God, and this was called turning the world upside down. The fact is that Satan is the one who has turned the world upside down. The greatest confusion has been introduced into this part of the universe of God. Darkness is put for light, and light for darkness. The minds of men have been darkened, and their hearts have been hardened, until they choose the way of death, and sin has become a science, and vice has been consecrated as a part of religion. Confusion has become worse confounded. To men whose natures have thus been twisted and distorted, and to a world where everything has been perverted and overturned, comes the message of the gospel to heal and to restore. And it is only in the light of the revelation of the truth which God has made that we can see things in their right relation, and rightly interpret the perplexing jumble of affairs in the world. The prophecies throw more light upon history than history has ever thrown upon the Bible. Inspiration has drawn a clear picture of this last generation, in which sin will show itself at its worst in the working of Satan “with all power and signs and lying wonders.” And the very message which will meet the situation and turn men to God again is made known to us in the Lord’s own words. When this message is presented in the demonstration of the Spirit, it will so

completely break up all the harmony between those who receive it and this perverted order of things that some unconverted formalists will doubtless repeat the charge that the world is being turned upside down. But let us only be sure that we are giving the message for the time, and then we can safely leave the results with God. He is still working all things “after the counsel of his own will.”

Well Rooted

It is essential to the growth of a plant that it should be well rooted. The same principle holds in Christian growth. There is hope that those who are “rooted and grounded in love” may be able to “know the love of Christ,” and to be “filled with all the fullness of God.” The foundation of our confidence that we shall be able to walk in him rests in the fact that we are “rooted and built up in him.” The results of not being well rooted are set forth in our Lord’s explanation of the parable of the sower: “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.” We have already entered upon times which will test the experience of each individual believer. These trials will strengthen the character of every one who is rooted in him, just as the stormy blast will render more stable the tree which has already sent its roots well into the soil. Our only safety is to know day by day that we are hidden in Christ, and to maintain a constant fellowship with the Father and with the Son. This is the only thing which will prevent us from being “moved away from the hope of the gospel.”