Working for the Lord by George I. Butler

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 5, 1873

Working for the Lord.

By George I. Butler

OUR Saviour represents the kingdom of Heaven by a man hiring laborers to work in his vineyard. He inquires, “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” He wants to employ all that have a mind to work. He has a plenty for all to do, and plenty to reward them with at the close of their labor. The great trouble is, there are so many ready to excuse themselves, or who prefer to work for others, the world, themselves, or even Satan, rather than the Master.

But there are many who really think they should like to work for the Lord if they only knew how, if they could find some field of usefulness adequate to their ability. They see no openings near them, nothing to do that they can do. Perchance, after they get qualified for it, they can labor, after their education is completed, or their faculties developed, or they find some more convenient sphere of usefulness. But right around them they see nothing to do that they can do. I have no question but many feel thus and really think that such is the case.

I was struck the other day while reading Eph. 6:20, with the thought of how some of Paul’s most important labors were wrought, “For which I am an ambassador in bonds” (or “in a chain,” margin). The great apostle was asking for the prayers of God’s people, that he might have strength to open his mouth boldly and speak as he ought to speak. Most ministers would think if they were prisoners, fastened with a chain, whether literally or figuratively, that they would be thenceforth excused from labor. But not so with Paul. I suppose it would have been morally impossible to keep him from laboring for Christ unless they shut him away from every one or gagged him. We find when he was made fast in the stocks with Silas, after being severely whipped, that they could then sing praises to God. And on that very night the jailer and all his house were converted. Some of the apostle’s most important epistles were written for the use of future ages when an “ambassador in bonds.” And we have no means of knowing how many were converted by his preaching at the same time. He preached Christ wherever he was.

So it has been with some of the greatest workers the Lord has ever had in the world. Their circumstances have not been so peculiarly favorable, but they had the spirit of labor in them. They have labored against seeming impossibilities. Noah only saved his own family. Moses’ mission to Egypt must have seemed to him like taking his life in his hand. Elijah thought there were none of the worshipers of Jehovah left but himself, and his own life was sought. Jeremiah sent his burning words of reproof to a hardened king and court, only to have them cut up and thrown to the flames. But he resolutely wrote another roll, with words of like import, from his prison. John the Baptist raised his warning voice in the solitary wilderness. The prospect of an audience could not have seemed great. But those words were so full of power that all Jerusalem and Judea came to hear them. The great Martin Luther was but a poor boy, so poor that in his school-boy days he begged his bread from door to door. When he began his labors he was but a poor monk. But he went to work, speaking powerfully against the abuses of priests and cardinals. He kept to work till the world was stirred. Other men had better opportunities, and knew as much as he of the wrongs existing. Erasmus had influence, and could have spoken more eloquently or learnedly; others also might, but would not. John Bunyan was a poor man, with very few opportunities in his youth for mental improvement; and these he did not use to any good purpose, but was noted as a hardened sinner. When converted, he labored ardently for others, till at last he was cast into prison, where he remained twelve years, in all. Here he could easily have excused himself from labor, but this was not his desire. He studied his Bible all the more earnestly, and labored faithfully for all who visited him. And so deep was his experience in spiritual things that he wrote that wonderful work, the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” which has done a vast amount of good; so that his imprisonment was, in the hands of God, of greater benefit to the cause of truth than his freedom would have been.

I will mention one other instance, William Carvosso, an orphan boy, trained up in ignorance and vice, apprenticed to a farmer, able to spell out but a few words on the printed page. When he married, he became a fisherman on the coast of England, in an obscure village. Certainly, his opportunities were not great. But the love of God was in his heart; and he labored for his fellow-men until the obscure village was transformed. Chapels were built and hundreds were converted to God, under his efforts, while laboring as a fisherman and a farmer. Seven hundred in one place were brought out under his labors, as he went from house to house. He could not write till sixty-five years of age; but after that he mastered the art, and his autobiography and letters written after this have been the means of converting many more.

The history of God’s people presents many such instances of men small in themselves, their surroundings not encouraging, but who have done great good in the Master’s vineyard. God can do great things through and by us if we have the love of labor in us. This is the great thing. It is not because there are not opportunities around us to do good, that we accomplish no more, but we lack the zeal. We love self too much. We talk of everything but religion. Gossip, idle talk, and variety, are the themes of thousands of professed Christians. Should religion be introduced into many a visiting circle of professors, a silence, deep and profound, would be its only welcome. Work! Why, there is a vast amount of it awaiting us at every turn, if we had the heart to take hold of it. Mothers, in their families, almost anywhere, can find a plenty of it that is sadly neglected. How few mothers there are in this age who carefully instruct their children in the great truths of God’s word, and train them faithfully to live out its principles! And yet one of its plainest commands requires parents to do so.

One ardent, humble sister in a church or neighborhood can cast a mighty influence for good. Lay brethren can be strong in faith and good works. There is no reason why they should not love the cause of God as much as the minister. They can labor to sacrifice for it, if their hearts are in it, instead of the world. They can lay up treasure in Heaven in this way, if they will. They can encourage the hearts of others, by their words of good cheer, of faith, and hope. They can have a living experience themselves, and it will manifest itself if it is there. They can scatter tracts and papers, books and pamphlets, which will open blind eyes. They can live in their neighborhoods above all suspicion of selfishness. Instead of sticking for the last cent in trade, they can be liberal and generous, and many times a few cents thrown off in this way, will go farther toward winning a soul, than to give a tract or talk a week.

But many who have ability to labor in word and doctrine, were they consecrated to God, are holding back. They say they believe the Lord is coming to cut off all the wicked of the earth. How much concern do they feel for their souls? Not so much as they do for temporary ease and comfort. Others, who already have occupied positions of responsibility, go back to their business, their worldly concerns, at the slightest obstacles. We need more of the spirit of labor in our hearts, ministers especially. How much there is to be done, and how little we are doing! For one, I feel that we ought to have more of the fire of zeal in our hearts; we must be terribly in earnest. This is the only consistent position we can take, if our work is genuine. The Lord is coming, we believe. No people ought to compare with us in zeal. We should feel as if we could not hold our peace, instead of its being necessary that we be urged at every step. Let us look around us and take up our burdens. We shall grow strong in bearing them.

GEO. I. BUTLER.

Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, July 2, 1873.