10. Our Task Requires Our Total Commitment

10 -- OUR TASK REQUIRES OUR TOTAL COMMITMENT

There is no way that the task of world evangelism can be accomplished without a total commitment on our part to it. A half-hearted concern just will not find place in the work that is so important to the advance of the kingdom of God. The reason why the Gospel reached through to your own heart was because of the total commitment of individuals to its propagation, and if its vital message is to reach beyond you, it is needful that you be totally committed to its progress. As you look back across the years, you must conclude that Christ has not died in vain for countless thousands of individuals have been saved through His shed blood, but is that shed blood in vain as far as future generations are concerned? Can Christ see the lost of future generations without having the use of human eyes to see them with? Can He reach out to them without some human arm to use as an instrument to His purpose? If the Gospel of Christ is to be effective in the lives of those you come in contact with, you are the one who must make it effective. Thank God for the countless numbers who have been redeemed in days past and gone. Certainly we rejoice in the knowledge that Christ’s sacrifice has not been without meaning or merit, yet what about those living in our present day who have never heard the message one single time? Can we ignore their need or turn our backs on their desperate condition? We need the same total, all-out, commitment in our generation that the apostle Paul had in his generation. In 2 Corinthians 5:14, Paul states the burden and concern of his heart when he says, "For the love of Christ constraineth us." Here he is giving expression to the motives behind his own efforts. The great force that motivates the apostle is the love expressed through, and exampled in, Jesus Christ. There are many motives that prod men into action. There is the humanitarian interest or the desire to live in some foreign country, yet these do not produce the complete commitment that the work of the Lord requires. It has been wrong motives that have been responsible for drop-outs when the pathway gets a little rugged or steep. Our work calls for individuals who are willing to drop out of society as they have known it and to go out into a world altogether different than the one they have been accustomed to.

Another translation of this word "constraineth" is "overmastered." Paul is saying that the love of Christ has overmastered me. I am overcome with love and by love. The song writer tried to express this thought when he stated, "He drew me and I followed on, Charmed to confess the voice divine." Another stated, "Since I fixed mine eyes on Jesus, I lost sight of all beside; So enchained my spirit’s vision, looking at the crucified."

I think of the illustration of a slave girl being purchased by a kind master at the slave market. It was the slave master’s intention to buy the girl and then set her at liberty. After making the transaction, he offered her her freedom, but she refused to accept it. According to the story the slave girl said that she would remain his slave girl forever. It was his desire to give her her freedom that caused her to desire to become his slave forever. It was money that purchased her freedom, but it was love that obtained her service.

Certainly it is a love service such as this that Christ is looking for from each of His children. We are His servants, and we will never be able to pay the debt of love that we owe, especially in the light of what it cost Him to purchase us. That slave girl was purchased with silver and gold, but you and I were bought with a price far above it. Peter emphasizes the fact that we were bought with the precious blood of Christ. Surely if a slave girl would be moved to surrender her life in a total commitment to serve a human master, how much more should we surrender ours to serve the Master divine? The word translated "constrain" can also be thought of in the sense of "restrain." The love of Christ restraineth me. It restrains me from self-seeking and selfish interests. One individual put it this way, "Lord, keep me employed; keep me filled with a holy zeal for the souls of men." In other words, "Restrain me from anything less than a total commitment to the advancement of the kingdom." Again I notice that this word can be thought of in the light of the word "compress" -- or putting all talents to one cause. We are to be totally yoked to Christ and willing to render whatever service He might call upon us to render. Surely there is no greater service that we could commit our lives to do. Think of the value of one soul. Think of the value of your own soul! By helping to save others, we also help to save ourselves.

After Paul mentioned the motive of his own heart, he moves on to tell us some of the demands that Christ’s constraining love makes upon each individual. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, we are told that we must begin a new life if we are to render the kind of service that the Gospel requires. There must be a new life, a new creation, and a new purpose. It is not for us to pray, "Lord use me," but "Lord, make me usable." We must be made usable before we can be used of God.

It is this new life and new creation that will give us right motives in propagating the message of redemption. What motive underlies our praying, our giving, our fasting? Is all this done to be seen of men as in the case of the Pharisees? Paul mentions wrong motives as making the difference between a life of service that will not stand the test of fire and the service that will stand such a test. In 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, he tells us we can build upon the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble. Every man’s works will be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s works of what sort it is. The fire will burn up the wood, hay, and stubble, but the gold, silver, and precious stones will endure. Only right motives will determine the outcome of our work. I wonder, will we stand before God empty-handed because our works were perishable or will we witness the fruits of our labors in immortal souls won for the Master? It is not enough that we look at the needy and say be ye warmed and fed; it is not enough that we pity the poor heathen because they are in such unfortunate circumstances. Our pity without appropriate action amounts to wood, hay, and stubble. The only pity they seem to be able to understand is the kind that does something to relieve their wretched condition. James says, "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; not withstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?" God expects that our expressions of sympathy be translated into positive action. We must do something about the situation.

C. T. Stud gave up a fortune to take the Gospel to a lost, perishing world and did it willingly. The love of Christ constrained him to do so. It was this individual who is credited with having said, "Some want to live within the sound of the chapel bell, but I want to live within a yard of Hell." In other words, he was saying he wanted to be as near the gates of Hell as possible snatching precious souls as brands from the eternal burnings. O! That God would get such commitment from an army of individuals today! I believe the world could be reached with this Gospel message if such total, full surrender could be achieved among God’s children.

I wonder if God has gotten through to your heart as you read these lines? Do you not feel that there is a greater part for you to play in the Lord’s work than you are presently realizing? Is there more that you could do if you would? Can God depend upon you to do all that you possibly can for the furtherance of His Gospel? The needs of the work are tremendous at this time. The possibilities of expanding the work are staggering. Can we pass up our opportunities, and can we pass by our responsibilities in this regard? I ask no more of you than that you pray and make a total commitment to the Lord of all that you are and all that you possess. Certainly it would not be my intention to ask that you do as the apostle did for that would be asking more than you would be able to perform. Yet, it is only reasonable that each individual be asked to make a total commitment of himself to the service of the Lord. This is the only way that we are going to get the job accomplished. Anything less than our all is going to prove to be too little, too late.

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