THE DISCIPLE AT WORK

THE DISCIPLE AT WORK

Yea, we know that Thou rejoicest

O'er each work of Thine;

Thou didst ears and hands and voices For Thy praise design;

Craftsman's art and Music's measure For Thy pleasure

All combine.

—F. Pott

            There is no more common mistake, or more dangerous, than that work is in some way connected with the curse. Man was created for work. It is one of the very first laws of his being. Unemployed man is a contravention of the divine purpose. Hence, before man fell, we see him in all the strength of his perfect being, at work. "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it" (Gen. 2:15) . Sin brought weariness and disappointment, which made work a burden, but work itself is a divine arrangement for the gladden­ing of life.

            This law abides under the Christian dispensation. No word Christ spoke can be construed into a word revoking it. It is rather taken up and enforced by Christ Himself and the apostles. In the "Sermon on the Mount" the Lord recognizes the power to work as a special gift which raises us above the level of birds and flowers. Of the fowls He said "Are not ye of much more value than they?" (Matt. 6:26); and of the flowers "If God doth so clothe the grass . . . shall he not much more clothe you?" (6:30). In each case, the teaching is not that we should neither "sow" nor "reap," and neither "toil" nor "spin," but that, having these powers and using them, how much more likely it is that our need should be supplied, rather than that of fowls or flowers. The philosophy of the situation is that Christ recognizes all gifts and callings as from God, and looks upon them as the channels through which God will supply our need. Paul is most clear in his exposition of the will of God in these matters. In writing to the Thessalonians (2 Thess. 2:10) he makes working the condition of eating, and in writing to the Ephesians (Eph. 4:28) he places working in antithesis to stealing, and reveals the larger social responsibility when he says, that a man is to work not merely for his own support, but "that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need"; and in his first letter to Timothy (1 Tim. 5:8) he declares that "If any provideth not for his own, and specially his own household, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever."

            Recognizing the great truth of the solidarity of humanity, that each person is part of the whole, that the whole is incomplete in the incompleteness of any, it is evident that all the great and increasing needs of humanity for this life are provided for by God in the gifts He has bestowed, to every man sev­erally as He will, His will ever being the well-being and happiness of the creature. Every ability to do something which will be for the support of the work­er, and at the same time contribute to the legitimate needs of others is a divine gift, a divine calling. Capacity for brain work, dexterity of fingers, is each and in every variety of application, divinely bestowed. To dig — whether with spade, or plough, or shaft and machinery for metals — is a calling of God. To construct with wood, or stone, or iron, for permanence or locomotion, is a divine gift. To see a vision and paint it, to hear music and translate it, to catch glimpses of truth and embody them in form poetic, these and all the thousands of various gifts bestowed upon men are of God. On every individual some gift is bestowed, except perhaps upon those who, in these days of humanity's sin and sorrow, are from their birth limited in their powers. Not only the preacher, but every man, has a calling of God, and the duty of each man to God, to the community, to himself, is to find that calling, and therein to abide. (See 1 Cor. 7:20-24).

            This is the great divine ideal from which humanity has wandered, to its sorrow, shame, and undoing; and as discipleship means a return to divine ideals through the teaching and power of Jesus, we must now apply these principles to the disciple as he or she enters business.

            1. The first serious question, then, for the disciple is, "What is the gift bestowed upon me, the calling of God for me?" The answer to that is to be found within, rather than without. A gift always means fit­ness. To every man God intends to make watches, He has given the necessary fineness of touch and nerve patience. To every woman He designs to teach, He has given the attractive force and lucid gift that fits her to hold and teach the children. Discipleship means facility for discovering the gift of God. The trouble is that so many have thought that when we begin to touch these things our Teacher is uninter­ested, and so we have made the greatest blunders of our lives in choosing our occupation, rather than setting ourselves to discover the divine calling. To the young disciple who reads this article and who has not yet decided on life's work, let me say in all simplicity and confidence, seek to find your right place in life by telling your Lord your sense of need, and asking for His direction. In this matter an enormous responsibility rests upon parents, that they seek to discover the Lord's purpose for their boys and girls, and then train them for that position. This can only be done by patient watching for the manifestation of the God-bestowed powers of each life separately and this cannot be, when in tender years we send our chil­dren out of our homes to live, and so transfer our responsibility to others than those by God appointed.

            2. The gift being discovered now follows the necessity for persistent application for the most per­fect development thereof. The disciple of Jesus, recognizing his calling in life as of God, cannot pos­sibly treat it carelessly or with any measure of indif­ference. Every power of the will must be brought to bear on the application of the mind to the mastery of the subject in hand. A Christian carpenter will master the use of every tool, and lay himself out to embody in his work the very spirit of the Christ. A Christian doctor will leave no department of the great science neglected, or will devote himself with perfect consecration to that department for which God has given him the gift of a specialist. The great advantage of discipleship is to be found in the fact that if I recognize my calling as a divine one, then I am sure that He who bestowed the gift understands it, and all my personal application to its mastery will be in the spirit of dependent prayer. Christian mechanics, tradesmen, professional men, should be the finest in the world, and would be, if they lived in the power of their relationship to Christ.

            3. Fully equipped for qualified service, the dis­ciple now faces the sterner work of the years, and under the present conditions of life this is mostly done as the servant of others. Again, referring to Paul's words (in 1 Cor. 7:22-24), we see how that the disciple is to consider his higher relationship to God. He "is the Lord's free man," and is "to abide with God" in his calling.       Now, how does that affect his work? It lights it up with the glory of the divine goodwill to men, so that each piece of work becomes a part of the divine contribution to the need of the community, and if I measure cloth, or sell groceries, or paint a picture, or play an instrument, or set a limb, or anything that is an exercise of the divine gift, I do it, not as a means of livelihood first, but as part of God's work, and so I become, down to the smallest detail of everyday life, "a worker together with him." Hold but that view of life's work, and there can be no more "stamping" of work — no, not even to be in time for a prayer meeting.

            How does abiding with God in my calling affect my relation to my employer? It makes me treat him as though he were in my place and I in his. Hear the Teacher's own words: — "All things therefore, whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them" (Matt. 7:12). To that nothing can be added.

            4. Finally, the disciple in business on his own account lives and acts within certain very clearly defined principles. He always remembers that he is a steward of his Master. He possesses nothing, but holds on trust all he has, and is responsible to Christ for the way he gets, the way he uses, and the measure of his getting or holding. No disciple of Jesus can amass a fortune simply for the sake of possession. He may be prosperous in his undertakings, but his pros­perity must always mean increased opportunity for divine service. No disciple can oppress the employee in his wages. That wage should be, not merely the measure of keeping his servant's body and soul to­gether, it should include provision for the culture of all that his being demands. A "living wage" in the common acceptation of that term, is not the measure for a Christian employer.

            A Christian cannot consent to enrich himself by taking advantage of the downfall or misfortune of another man. That man who strikes a bargain to his own profit which takes advantage of some pressing need on the part of another, is none of Christ's. No Christian can take part in the monopolies of the day, which have as the very basis of their operations the enrichment of the few to the detriment of the many. There is nothing perhaps more devilish in commercial life today than the great monopolies. America is cursed by them, and England is threat­ened. No disciple of Christ can touch them and abide in the teaching of Jesus. The twofold law of life, enunciated by our Teacher, will purify commerce throughout, and nothing short of that will forever do it. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. . . . Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt. 22:37-40) .

            These are said to be impossible ideals for work life today. We reply that the very essence and genius of discipleship is the realization of the impossible. It is just because the Church of Jesus Christ has stood in the presence of His teaching and said, "Im­possible," that she has become so weak and force­less in all the affairs of this busy age. Let us have a few men and women again who, like the early dis­ciples in Pentecostal days, believe in Jesus and in the eternal wisdom of all His teaching, and who are prepared to suffer the loss of all things rather than disobey, and the potency and possibility of His ideals will begin to dawn on the world again as it did in those days, breaking up dynasties, revolu­tionizing empires, and turning the world upside down.

            Nowhere is such work more needed than in the realm of commerce, and nowhere can we make bet­ter investment for the Master's Kingdom today than by purifying rigidly that corner of the great realm which we touch.

            Let every disciple find his gift from God, cultivate it for God, exercise it abiding in God, and he will not only secure his own highest success, but will con­tribute his quota to the preparatory work of this dispensation for the coming of the King and the es­tablishment of His Kingdom on earth.