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Missionary Spirit

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Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 20, 1882

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 8, No. 16.

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Missionary Spirit.

By John Nevins Andrews

[From Les Signes des Temps.]
THE spirit of the Christian religion is a missionary spirit. It leads those who are the disciples of Christ to a life of active effort, and of constant sacrifice in behalf of those who are yet in their sins. The Christian cannot make his own personal interest the principal object of his life. He is not his own, for he has been bought with a price. Christ has given his life for him. The Christian must devote his life to the service of Christ.
The Son of God has undertaken to seek and to save that which was lost. He asks the co-operation of all those who have found the pardon of their sins through his blood. He calls some men to devote all their time and all their strength to this sacred work. He wills that others should spend a part of their time in worldly business; but it is not that they may lay up treasure upon the earth, but that they may be able to render pecuniary assistance in the work of God. He calls these persons to be men of strict integrity; to be just in all their transactions; to be honest; to be truthful; and to recommend the religion of Christ by the excellence of their lives, and by the uprightness of their conduct.
Though they are men of business, they are not to make that business, however honorable and just it may be, the one occupation of their lives. They must be diligent, economical, active, and prudent; but they must take time for the direct service of God. They must have time for secret prayer, and for family prayer, and for the reading of God's word, and for public worship, and for missions of mercy toward those who are in affliction, and toward those who know not God. They can give, perhaps, but a limited amount of their time to this sacred work, but they can find sufficient time to do much if they have a heart to engage in it; and the excellence of their lives, and the integrity of their conduct, will give them an influence that will win many souls to Christ. Their light will so shine that others will see their good works, and glorify their Father who is in Heaven; and there will be for them at the last day an infinite reward.
But some men are called to devote their whole lives to the ministry of the Word of God. Their work is the most sacred and the most honorable of any which God has assigned to mortal man. They are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech men through them. It is for them to set forth the invitations of the gospel, and the threatenings of the law of God. They must make known the riches of the grace of God; the infinite mercy of Christ; the excellence of the Christian religion, and the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.
They must suffer affliction, and gain the victory in those afflictions, so that they may be able to comfort any that are in affliction. They must be an example of the excellence of those truths which they teach to others. Their experience must be in advance of those to whom they preach, in order that they may lead them forward in the things of the Spirit of God. They must not consult their own pleasure nor their own ease. They did not enter the Christian ministry to obtain a livelihood, but to discharge a sacred responsibility.
They must give account to God for their time, for their strength, and for the talents which God has committed to their trust. They must not waste their time, because this is the most sacred commodity that God has committed to men. It is not days alone that are precious, but hours also, and moments; and time must not be treated as though it were of no value. If the minister of Christ wastes his time, he not only sets a bad example, but he almost always wastes the time of those with whom he is associated.
God shows his sense of the value of time by dealing it out to us in minute atoms; and he calls upon us to redeem the time because the days are evil. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." "Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Work while the day lasts; the night cometh in which no man can work.
It is not for the minister of Christ to spend his time in the manner most agreeable to himself, but in that which will be most useful to the cause of God. Nor will it do merely to be busy in trifles. Some time must be given to things of small consequence, but they must be quickly dispatched, and the great matters which pertain to the ministry of the Word of God must have the chief place. It is a great sin for a minister of Christ to waste his own time or that of others. We must give account to God for the time which we spend, and we must be able to show that, with the exception of time for necessary rest, we have been active in the sacred work to which God has called us. Our lives are but a vapor that appear for a little time, and then vanishes away.
The missionary spirit will prompt the minister of Christ to carry the message of truth to those that are in darkness. This work is generally found to be painful, but it is the principal work of the servant of Christ. He must go to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and carry to them the precious truths of the Word of God. He cannot wait till these persons desire to receive him, for, in most cases, this time will never come.
He must press through the obstacles which Satan puts in his way, and must seek access to those who are perishing in their sins. He will be mocked by some, and cruelly treated in many ways, perhaps by the most of those whom he seeks to save. But these things must not move him, and he must not count his life dear unto himself. Some will be reached and saved, and these will be stars in his crown of eternal rejoicing.
Our Lord Jesus Christ left the glory of Heaven to become a missionary to our earth. He endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, and finally suffered a cruel death, that he might save those who were enemies to God. It is possible for us to co-operate with him in the effort to save lost men, if we arm ourselves with the mind that was in him; and when the work is finished, we shall enter into the joy of our Lord. They that turn many to righteousness will shine as the brightness of the firmament, in the kingdom of God.
J. N. A.