Acceptable Service by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 29, 1883

Acceptable Service.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

It will scarcely be questioned by anyone that labor to be accepted by the Lord must be done well. Negligence and carelessness will not receive his sanction. He requires the best that we can do. In ancient times the offerings for sacrifice were to be of the best of the flock. None other would be accepted. We read in Lev. 22:20, "But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer; it shall not be acceptable for you." God does not change; a lame offering will not be received now any more than it would then.

There is the utmost reason in this. God has a right to our best talent—our best efforts. Besides, the quality of work done, and the manner of doing it, show the motive which prompts the deed. If our heart is in any work, we will do our best. If we have a friend whom we love devotedly, we select the choicest gifts to bestow upon him. We would not think of giving him something poor and worthless. So with the service which we offer to God. If it is marked by slackness and negligence, it shows that our heart is not deeply engaged in the work; that we are not actuated by perfect love to God, and to his service. By such work we virtually say that we do not think God's cause is worthy of our best efforts. We dishonor God by so doing.

This is forcibly brought out in Mal. 1:6-10: "A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master; if then I be a father, where is mine honor? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts. . . Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for naught. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand."

By the above scripture we learn that it is not enough that we simply work in the cause of God; our work must be the offering of love, and must be done well. A strong comparison is drawn. We would not think of making a slight offering to the governor; how then can we expect God to be pleased with it? We are too apt to bring the Lord's work down to our own level, instead of being elevated by it to its own level. We cannot regard anything connected with the cause of God too highly. It is all sacred, even beyond our powers of comprehension.

It is a great privilege to be permitted to assist in the Lord's work. We should not engage in it with the idea that we are conferring a favor, or that God stands in need of our service, but that we need the work. If we take hold of it with the right motive, and in the proper manner, it will educate us. It will draw us out of ourselves, and break down our natural selfishness. It is just what we need. It is an absolute necessity for us to work in the missionary cause. Selfishness is the prevailing sin of the age, the root of all sin; and the least taint of it will shut us out of Heaven. The missionary work is the Lord's work, and if we engage in it we must seek strength from him; we must follow closely the divine Pattern. His great love, if shed abroad in our hearts, will beget in us a love for others; and his great sacrifice will make what we are pleased to call our sacrifices seem very small. And so by doing his work and beholding him, we finally become changed into his likeness, and are fitted for his presence. Surely the missionary work is a glorious work. Who is there that does not want a share in it?

E. J. W.