2 Corinthians 12:14

A PERSONAL WORK

‘I seek not your’s, but you.’

2 Corinthians 12:14

As if St. Paul would say, I do not want your silver, I do not want your gold, or even your praise, I want you; I want you for Christ.

I. He knew the worth of souls.—See what he says in 2 Corinthians 12:15: ‘And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.’

II. He knew the power of Christ.—In the Revised Version we read in Revelation 1:5: ‘Unto Him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by His blood.’ Christ delivers us from the chains of sin. Christ conquers the human heart as the summer conquers the land. There is not a more blessed sight under heaven than when some young heart, conquered by love, kneels at the Cross and cries—

‘Just as I am, young, strong, and free,

To be the best that I can be

For truth, and righteousness, and Thee,

Lord of my life, I come.’

III. He knew the joys of service.—You have seen a picture of a great rock in a raging sea and a frail form clinging to the Cross for dear life. And there is a companion picture, where the same form is seen; with one hand she grips the Rock, with the other she clasps the hand of a struggling sister and lifts her up to the same place of safety. Who can tell the joy of this most blessed work? It is the joy which Christ had! It is a joy that sends us to our knees in wonder, and in thankfulness, and in tears. Do you say, ‘I should like to have a share in this most blessed work’? You need three things.

(a) Experience. You cannot tell others of a Saviour you have never known yourself. You cannot say to others, ‘O taste and see that the Lord is good,’ if you have never tasted and seen His goodness yourself.

(b) Enthusiasm. ‘Nothing great,’ said Emerson, ‘was ever achieved without enthusiasm.’

(c) Sympathy. Sympathy means more than feeling for another. It means feeling with them. It is only when by grace we have reached out our hand to grasp the hand of Jesus, that we reach out the other hand to help some one else. And is not this worth living for and worth dying for?

—Rev. F. Harper.

Illustrations

(1) ‘There is a striking title to one of Newman’s sermons—“The salvation of the hearer, the motive of the preacher.” Goethe said he admired the man who knew precisely what he aimed at. Then he ought to have admired St. Paul, for St. Paul certainly knew. “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). “I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears” (Acts 20:31). “I lay in tears” Henry Martyn wrote, “interceding for the unfortunate natives of this country.” Samuel Rutherford could say to his people at Anwoth, “My witness is above, your heaven would be two heavens, and the salvation of you all, as two salvations to me.” “Build me a hut to die in,” was the last sentence of David Livingstone, so utterly unselfish was the great missionary and philanthropist. Richard Knill wept before a blasphemer, and those tears did more than any words. These men knew the worth of souls, and their hearts were filled with some of the same compassion that filled the heart of the Son of God.’

(2) ‘Almost the last words that Thomas Carlyle wrote were these: “The longer I live the more I feel the truth of the old words of the Scotch catechism, ‘What is the chief end of man?’ ‘The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.’ ” ’