The “Must” of Service
Chapter 4
“And He must needs go through Samaria” (John 4:4).
God is prepared to undertake the direction of every human life which is placed at His disposal. The question of guidance is therefore of imperative importance for each living soul, as it passes out into this mortal life. Since God says, “All souls are mine,” He must have, therefore, a distinct purpose for each, and sends each out with resources within reach sufficient to supply all its need, according to His riches in Christ Jesus. It may even be that before the soul joins the body, it stands before its Maker to receive its directory or charge. Our Lord at least said: “To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world” (John 18:37). At the close of our earth-life we shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of the things done in the body, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5: 10).
The Greek word in Ephesians 2:10, translated workmanship, might be transferred bodily into our language as poem. We might therefore read the verse thus – “We are His poem, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before prepared that we should walk in them.” Nothing can give us more confidence as we look out on our life than that God is not only prepared to unfold His program for us but is also prepared “to make all grace abound towards us, that we, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Cor. 9:8). He will not only supply seed to the sower but will also be responsible for his food. Thus, our lives will become enriched to all liberality, which shall elicit from many hearts, thanksgiving to God.
One Saturday afternoon, Dr. Gunsaulus of Chicago was preparing for his sermon on the following day. While thus engaged, his nephew, a flippant, careless fellow, rather lightly asked him the topic on which he was preparing to preach. He learned that it was on those words of our Lord: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world.”
Rather jauntily he said: “What do you think I was born for?”
His uncle replied: “I don’t know,” and his nephew answered, “Neither do I.”
As he went along the street, he came to a theatre which had caught fire, while crowded with people, and many were being crushed and trampled to death by the mad rush for the door. The young fellow at once threw off his coat and began dragging out body after body of these people, some dead and others dying, till he was stricken by a burning timber, knocked almost senseless, and carried to the nearest hospital.
Dr. Gunsaulus reached his bedside just in time to hear him say: “Uncle, for this cause I was born, and for this I was sent into the world, that I might save those ten people.”
There was a tragedy there, that none of us ever wish to meet. But, what a comfort it will be at last, to feel that we have glorified Christ’s name and have finished the work which He gave us to do.
The Samaritan Route
It is said of our Lord that He must needs go through Samaria. Owing to the bad feeling between the Samaritans and the Galilean Jews, it was their habit to take the circuitous route on the eastern bank of the Jordan instead of the direct route through Samaritan territory. In this case, there was a “needs be,” and an imperative reason, for Christ to take the latter route. This dependence on the Father for guidance is constantly referred to in the Gospels. See John 5:19; 10:18; 12:49; 15:10. It was thus consistent with His constant attitude to the Father during His earthly life. He was, of course, One with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the Holy Trinity, but He refused to avail Himself of His divine prerogatives, that He might be the author and finisher of the faith-life, and be able to help us, as He could not have done, unless He had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. It was as if a father, who desired to encourage his son, whose right arm had been amputated, forewent the use of his own right hand, which he carried permanently bound behind his back, and therefore could sympathize with and help the lad, because he was suffering from the same limitations – though in his case they had been voluntarily assumed, and might, at any moment, be laid aside.
In the East, and especially in the olden times, a servant never received the word of command from master or mistress but watched carefully the movement of their hands. So, the eyes of the slave were always, as the Psalmist puts it, unto the hand of master or mistress (Ps. 123:2). It was probably with reference to this, that our Saviour said: “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing” (John 5:19). There are three possible planning’s for human life. We may be guided by our senses – “We like this, or do not like that.” We may be guided by our own will and choice. But, best of all, we may be guided, as our Lord was, by constantly waiting for the indication of God’s purpose, which indication is like a deep-toned bell ringing in our heart-depths, but finally corroborated by circumstances and certainly vindicated by results.
When God Gives the Pattern, He Will Provide the Material
One Sunday morning, I was sitting on the porch of Mr. Moody’s home, looking down on the Connecticut River. We were talking of the ways of God, and he recalled a sermon of Dr. Andrew Bonar on the words, repeated five times in Scripture, “See that thou make all things according to the pattern shown thee on the Mount.” Dr. Bonar described the tabernacle pattern as woven out of sunbeams; and Moses walked with God from one part to another of the ethereal structure, learning the specific reason for each. When, for instance, they viewed the altar of sacrifice, God explained that in process of time Calvary would bear the weight of the dying Saviour; and, as they looked on the laver, God would explain that the soul, redeemed by the blood of Christ, would always need cleansing. So also, the significance of the altar of incense, the veil, the ark and the mercy-seat. When presently Moses returned to the people, he discovered that for everything which had been revealed in the vision, there was exact and adequate provision in the gifts of the people. This is a most helpful lesson. The first thing for any of us, is not to run hither and thither, consulting people or soliciting their help, but to be perfectly assured that we are in the mind of the Lord, and that He will supply all our need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. It must never be forgotten that none of those that live in God’s purposes, need ever be ashamed. His delays are not denials. “From of old, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him” (Isa. 64:4, 5).
The Reason for Our Lord’s Imperative Journey
All had been carefully arranged. When a woman awoke that morning in the little town of Sychar that lay in the lap of the twin mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, she little realized that that day would revolutionize, not only her own life, but the lives of her people and of untold thousands beside. Through the happenings of those hours, her story would become embalmed in the history of the race, and she, as tradition says, would take her first steps on a path that ended in her martyrdom.
Her nature was passionate and intense. She was sick and weary, because she had sought to satisfy its demands with illicit love. Man after man had deceived her. Already five husbands had come and gone, and she was at this time, living with another. She had almost ceased to believe in love of any kind. The spring-tide of her life had already faded into autumn with its sere and yellow leaf. How little she realized the possibilities that only awaited the touch of Christ to elicit their rich and full service to the world. Her sister-women would not brook her presence at the well that was situated at the bottom of the declivity, where the ancient road travelled from South to North. Her life had become so notorious that she had no alternative than to carry her pitcher to the well in the sultry noon, instead of waiting for the cool of the evening as the others did.
She was not destitute of religion. She believed that Jacob lived in sight of those mountains and had drunk water from that well. She believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and did not suppose that there could be any advance on that old-world religion. She had heard many discussions as to the rival claims of the temples at Jerusalem and Gerizim and accepted the arguments in support of the latter. Like many others, she believed that someday the long-looked-for Messiah would come and explain all things. In the meanwhile, she was weary and out of heart. Her lonely mid-day visit to that well seemed to epitomize her inner experience of heart-sickness. Religion appeared to her like letting a pitcher down into a pit or well, but the water was soon exhausted. It had to be replenished again and again.
Such were some of the thoughts that occupied her mind. Here was a woman of great capacity for good or evil. One that could bring a whole city-full to the feet of God. A heart that could vibrate to the touch of pure and holy love, as she had yielded it to evil. Was it not wonderful that Jesus must need pass through Samaria? And His arrival was so timed that the apostles would be absent, seeking their mid-day meal; and thus, the conversation between herself and Christ could not be overheard or scrutinized. Was not that hour timed in eternity? We understand now why Jesus must “needs” pass through Samaria, and we realize that when God impresses us with a certain duty, we dare not evade it. Here is “the must of service.” Peter must go to Cornelius, though as a strict Jew, he had never entered a Gentile house. Philip must leave a great revival in Samaria and go to wait on a lonely road for the coming of a certain chariot. Paul must leave Ephesus on the left and Galatia on the right to make straight for Philippi. And every good man must allow his steps to be ordered by the Lord.
This woman evidently looked on religion as a matter of drawing up her supplies with difficulty from the pit of religious ordinances. Our Lord taught her that true religion was the up-springing of a perennial fountain. A careful reading of the text with the marginal references makes this distinction clear, and we also learn that we must not hide our secret sins when we are dealing with God. “Go, call thy husband and come hither!” This really meant that she must confess her sins and have them put away before she could expect the up rushing of the fountain of life. Once in my experience the whole water supply of our college was cut off because a frog, when a tadpole, had got caught in the joint between the house-pipe and the main, and, living on the water, had swollen into sufficient size to block all our supplies. Is not that a true parable! If anything questionable or wrong is being harbored in your heart, be rid of it, that again the fountain of life may begin to arise.
It is related of Grellet, the Quaker preacher, that he felt led to preach at a certain spot in a Canadian forest to the lumbermen, but on reaching the spot, he could discover no living person. However, he preached the sermon with the earnestness he would have expended on a crowd, and returned home, greatly wondering. Eight years afterwards, a man accosted him on London Bridge, saying that he had been looking out for him all that time to tell him that he had been foreman to the gang, that they had moved deeper into the forest, and he had returned to fetch some tools which had been left behind, and that, whilst looking for them, he had heard that sermon, which was the means of his conversion, and of all his fellows to whom he retailed it. Here was “the must of service” and the result. God help us to be equally obedient to the heavenly vision. So, shall the “must of service” bring a Sychar to God.
The Eagerness of the Emancipated Soul
As we have seen, the woman left her waterpot. We can imagine the speed with which she went her way into the city with her new-found joy. She had been their sport, now she was their evangelist. The spring had overflowed within her heart and was demanding expression. She cherished no grudge against these men, some of whom may have helped to her downfall. Those who are one with Christ through the Spirit find themselves filled with a love that kindles a revival in other hearts as well as in their own. It was because of the love that glowed in this wondrously transformed soul, that the Samaritans came to Christ, and invited Him to tarry with them. The love of God glowed in her heart because she had put away her sin, and the spring of eternal love had begun to rise within.
In a large mining center during the Welsh Revival, the evening meeting was commencing in the crowded chapel an hour before the advertised time. Some were praying, some giving their testimonies, many were singing or reciting texts of Scripture. In the midst of the excitement, Evan Roberts entered, passed to his chair in the pulpit, and knelt for a time in silent prayer. His sensitive nature soon became aware that the meeting was stirred more by emotion than by the love and power of God. So he rose, silenced the hubbub, and for a whole half-hour made the great congregation remain hushed beneath the searching light of the Holy Spirit. At the end of that period, one of the best-known mine-owners of the neighborhood rose from his seat and extended his hand to another mine-owner, and the two men, both professing Christians, but who had been at feud for years, were reconciled. Instantly, the entire atmosphere of the meeting was changed. The keynote was Calvary, and the power was that of Pentecost. Scores were born into the kingdom of God, and all were conscious of the overshadowing presence of the Saviour. Like one vast choir, the people sang a new song, and to those two men the blessed consciousness of God’s love came at full tide. You must get right with God, if you would have springing water.
Open your nature to the Spirit of God. Let the spring rise, first in worship, and then in love, as with this woman. Love which forgives and forgets, which harbors no self-will, cherishes no grudge, and meets the sharp edge of adverse criticism with gentle forbearance. Then mines of diamonds will open under your feet and the river-sands will yield gold.
It was the habit of the late C. H. Spurgeon, when about to speak in a large auditorium, to detect “the chord of the place,” because each place has its special note, and to speak in accord with this would enable him to speak without strain. Now, the one chord, which is sounding through the universe is the love of God. It is the keynote to which every harp touched by angel-hands is attuned. Its notes waft down to earth, and are caught by blessed souls, who, like this woman, have been unlocked by Christ. Therefore, little children, let us love, for love is of God, and they who abide in love abide in God, for God is love.