SUPPORT OF GOSPEL WORK.
By G.
CHRIST and His immediate successors taught the people the Gospel from the Old Testament Scriptures. There were no other Holy Scriptures; but these were the Word of God, and He whose Spirit had indicted them enjoined the people to search them, for in them was eternal life. The apostle Paul also testifies that these Scriptures are able to make one wise unto salvation. Then we are not to understand that the New Testament, which is a compilation from the teaching of Christ and His apostles, is in any way contradictory of the Old Testament, but that it is supplementary thereto. This explains why many things are not minutely set forth in the New Testament, and why so many people who look only to it for Gospel instruction are left in the sloughs of conjecture. Many times the Old Testament throws clear light on things that are merely touched in the New, and those who neglect or reject the explanations of the older Scriptures fail to get the mind of the Lord on very important matters. A case in point is the support of the ministry and of the Lord’s work in general. There is no detail as to this matter in the New Testament. Why not?—Because it is given in the Old. Therefore those who look only to the New are left to their own imaginations concerning methods. Consequently many inconsistent and hurtful schemes are devised for securing necessary funds. Of course, the New Testament gives us the principle, but it refers us to the God-devised detail that was “written for our learning” in the Old Testament. In giving instruction on this point, the apostle Paul says: “Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?” Now the priests and Levites under the Levitical ministration lived upon the tithe from the people. The temple service, which was the work of the Lord, was also sustained by the tithe. In this way they that waited at the altar were “partakers with the altar.” After reminding us of this well-known fact, the apostle adds: “EVEN SO hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel.” Even so, that is, by the tithe, shall the Gospel work be carried on, the ministry being partakers, as were the priests and Levites. The same apostle tells us that “whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning;” and one of those things,6with precious blessing attached, is this: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Are you afraid to prove the Lord on His own straightforward promise? Are you afraid that He is not as good as His Word? or do you think the “windows of heaven” are not large enough to let out blessings that would be worth as much to you as that little bit of tithe that you withhold? Remember that God says “all the tithe,” not a little now and then. What a profit it would be if we could only appreciate the value of such blessing as would necessitate the opening of the windows of heaven in order to pour it out! How much trouble it would save in devising doubtful, experimental, and often fruitless, plans to sustain the work of the church! G.