The authority with which the servants are invested binds every one of them to hard work for Christ.
To every man his work.'
(1) Gifts involve duties. That is the first great thought. To have received binds us to impart. Freely ye have received, freely give.'
All selfish possession of the gifts which Christ bestows is grave sin.
The price at which they were procured, that miracle and mystery of self-sacrifice, is the great pattern as well as the great motive for our service.
The purpose for which we have received them is plainly set forth: in the existence of the solidarity in which we are all bound; in the definite utterances of Scripture.
The need for their exercise is only too palpable in the condition of things around us.
(2) In this multitude of servants every one has his own task.
The universality of the great gift leads to a corresponding universality of obligation. All Christians have their gifts. Each of us has his special work marked out for him by character, relationships, circumstances, natural tastes, etc.
How solemn a divine call there is in these individual peculiarities which we so often think of as unimportant accidents, or regard mainly in their bearing on our own ease and comfort! How reverently we should regard the diversities which are thus revelations of God's will concerning our tasks! How earnestly we should seek to know what it is that we are fitted for!
The importance of all protests against priestly assumption lies here, that they strengthen the force with which we proclaim that every man has his work.'
Ponder the variety of characters and gifts which Christ gives and desires His servants to use, and the indispensable need for them all. The ideal Church is the body' of Christ, in which each member has its place and function.
Our fault in this matter.
(3) The duties are to be done in the spirit of hard toil.
The servant has his work' allotted him, and the word implies that the work calls for effort. The race is not to be run without dust and sweat. Our Christian service is not to be regarded as a bye-product' or parergon. It is, so to speak, a vocation, not an avocation. It deserves and demands all the energy that we can put forth, continuity, and constancy, plan and system. Nothing is to be done for God, any more than for ourselves, without toil In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread and give it to others.'
