The Christian’s Debt by I. H. Evans

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 20, 1901

The Christian’s Debt.

By I. H. Evans

Said Paul, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise;” and the Saviour said no less when He charged His disciples, “Freely ye have received, freely give;” and again, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”

The follower of Christ has received large gifts of God’s grace. From the wretchedness of his lost condition he is now made partaker of the divine nature. Adopted into the family of God, he becomes heir of God and joint-heir with Jesus Christ. The inheritance of his riches is so vast that even inspiration declares: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.”

These rewards are all unmerited by those who receive them. They are God’s free gift, while the recipient buys without money and without price. Yet the gifts of God are not brought to men without infinite cost to heaven. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, tho He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye thru His poverty might be rich.” And who can think of poverty more deep than Christ confessed to one of His would-be followers,—“The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head.” His life of suffering and self-denial, the scene in Gethsemane, the traitor’s kiss, and Peter’s oath, His mock trial, and Calvary, all tell the tale of the cost of man’s redemption.

Shall the life of the Son of God be traced by suffering and by penury and by blood all for others, and His followers enter the haven of eternal rest with no self-denial for their fellow-creatures? Shall we be partakers of His riches with no share in His poverty? Shall we enter into His glory with no lot in His suffering?—No, never!

Christ has laid on His adopted children the work of saving others. All that we have received from God, above the most benighted heathen, is our obligation to those heathen; nor can one Christian claim exemption from duty while another must bear a heavy load. If to one, why not to all, the divine charge, “Freely ye have received, freely give”? The multitudes of the lost in heathen lands must be a witness against many of us. With no knowledge of God, no Bible, no Saviour, no intercessor, they live and die without hope, without part in the world to come.

Not infrequently do we hear the Christian saying: “But we have sinners all about us. If we labor for these, we have done our duty. Are not their souls as precious as the heathen?”—Certainly. But still there is a great difference between those outside the church in America and those in the darkness of heathendom. Here are opportunities innumerable. Every town and hamlet has its church spire pointing heavenward. The Word of God is to be had for the asking. Sunday-schools and the ministry of the Word and Christian literature are so free that they only have to be accepted to be received. But the heathen have nothing. There, idolatry and superstition reign supreme. The education and inheritance of ages have only led them farther and farther into the wilderness of utter confusion. The midnight darkness of sin locks them in its dungeon of hopeless despair.

Think for a moment: Had Paul and the early church turned their steps eastward, toward India and China and Japan, instead of westward, where would we have been to-day? Without Christ, we would be like the heathen nations of earth. Only because others have sacrificed to bring us the Word of God and teach us the way to a better life, are we different than they.

What, then, is our individual duty regarding the vast hosts of heathen who are still in darkness?—Plainly, to in some way become a partaker in their deliverance, to become to them a light-bearer, either by a personal presentation of Christ, or by a consecration of our means that others may go and teach these natives the way of life. What the church has received, that she is to impart. Not only collectively, but individually, are we indebted to all men who have less of the saving knowledge of God than ourselves. Let every one inquire, “What am I doing to pay this debt?”

Let the despairing cry of a thousand million of perishing souls stir our natures to action. Suppose in yon burning building one thousand human beings are suffocating with heat and smoke, and soon must die unless deliverance is brought them by some one who has the power to save them, but he who has the power will not stir, nor sense his obligation. The flames grow fiercer, and the dying wails more despairing, but he is all unmoved. What anathemas would be hurled at him from every side! But see, one thousand million of heathen with conditions unspeakable, with danger greater than that of physical death, stand with open doors, appealing to the church militant for deliverance. The way to heaven is blocked by ages of superstition. Their foolish hearts are darkened, and they worship only the creature. Every follower of Christ has the power with which to overcome every obstacle and let the heathen into the way of life.

Brother, sister, have you led one heathen into the secrets of God’s redeeming love? Will eternity show labor bestowed, self-denial endured, means laid on the altar for work among the benighted nations of earth? Have you canceled your debt to these lost souls, so that when they cry to God you will escape His rebuke? Have you seen sprinkled the lintels of their hearts with the blood of Christ that the destroying angel may pass by?

The Gospel of Christ is for all nations. Are not the people of God at fault that so few have His message of mercy? We ask, Have we fully paid our debt to all these nations? Stands there against us in the ledger of heaven no obligation for the salvation of the heathen? Do you consider that our sacrifices already made have met all demands? He who said, “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise,” never considered his debt canceled till he was led, in a foreign field, to the fatal block, and the headman’s ax was his passport into eternity. If our obligation is lifelong, then let the Macedonian cry enlist our sympathy and service in behalf of these benighted souls.

I. H. EVANS.