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AGAINST A DISPOSITION TO RELINQUISH THE LORD’S SERVICE
SO infinitely important is the service of God, that nothing can ever justify the withdrawing of ourselves from it, or the relaxing of our diligence in the discharge of our proper office. However innocent any earthly employment may be, yea, however decorous, or even necessary, in its place, it must give way to the more urgent calls of our duty to God. Of this our Lord constantly warned his hearers, in order that they might fully count the cost before they became his followers. His answers to three different persons upon this subject are worthy of our particular attention: to the first, who voluntarily tendered to him his services, he replied, that he must expect no worldly advantages in following him, but rather lay his account to meet with poverty and disgrace. In his address to the second, whom he had enjoined to follow him, and who wished to defer his obedience till he should have performed the last offices for his deceased father, our Lord required him to leave those offices to others, who were not occupied in higher pursuits, and instantly to comply with the direction given him; because nothing, however proper in itself, should interfere with the execution of a positive command. To the last, he gave this caution; that since his earthly relatives would most probably prove a snare to him under his present circumstances, he must make up his mind to forsake all for him; for that a wavering mind would unfit him both for the service of God on earth, and the enjoyment of God in heaven. The request of this last person seems to have brought to our Lord’s mind the circumstances of Elisha, when he was called to serve Elijah: and it is to Elisha’s occupation that our Lord alludes in the answer he gave him [Note: 1Ki_19:19-20.]. From his words we may deduce two important observations:
I. When we engage in God’s service, we should determine, through grace, to continue in it—
When we “put our hand to the plough” we engage in God’s service—
[It is obvious that, as God’s creatures, and more particularly as redeemed by the blood of his dear Son, we are bound to serve and obey him. Now the obedience which he requires, is, that we renounce the world, and mortify sin, and yield up ourselves to him unfeignedly, and without reserve. And when we begin to make a profession of religion, we do, in fact, declare, that henceforth we will walk conformably to the example of Christ, and the precepts of his Gospel. Our very putting of our hand to the plough is, as it were, a public declaration of our intention to prosecute and finish the work assigned us by our divine Master.]
But it is of no use to begin the Lord’s work, if we do not resolutely adhere to it—
[When first we turn to the Lord, we propose to ourselves two ends, namely, to glorify God, and to save our own souls: and while we continue faithful to our engagements, we find no reason to complain of disappointment. But the very instant we recede from our work, we proclaim, as it were, to all around us, ‘I have tried religion, and found it but an empty name: I have served the Lord, and experienced him to be a hard Master: I have weighed the world and its services in a balance with God and his service; and I bear my testimony, that the world deserves our preference.’ By such conduct as this a person pulls down all that he has built: he brings incomparably more dishonour to God than ever he brought glory, and sinks his soul into a far deeper condemnation, than if he had never known the way of righteousness [Note: Eze_18:24. 2Pe_2:21.]. As a man who should begin to plough, would render himself of no use, if he should relinquish his work as soon as he had proceeded to the end of a single furrow; so an apostate from religion renders his divine Master no service by a temporary obedience, but rather defeats, yea, most completely reverses, the ends proposed.]
Nor is it an open apostasy only from our holy profession that is so fatal to us: for,
II. A disposition to recede from it manifests us to be unfit for the kingdom of God—
Not he only who indignantly throws away the plough, but he who, while he still professes to do the Lord’s work, is “looking back” with a wishful eye upon the world, is in the state here mentioned. He is unfit for,
1. The kingdom of God on earth—
[This is the primary import of the words of the text: nor can any thing be more clear than the truth contained in them. The service of Christ, whether in ministering the word to others, or in obeying it ourselves, requires steadfastness. We cannot adhere to Christ without opposing in many instances our carnal appetites, and worldly interests; as therefore a man, who, instead of attending to his plough, looks frequently behind him, would soon prove himself unfit for the service in which he was engaged, so he who should undertake to serve the Lord Christ, while his heart was yet set upon the world, would walk very unworthily of his profession, and soon shew himself unfit to execute the office assigned him. Like a bowl sent forth with violence, he might go steadily for a season; but he would ere long feel the influence of the corrupt bias that was within him, and, like “Demas, forsake the way of truth from love to this present evil world.” He must “be sincere, if he would be without offence until the day of Christ.”]
2. The kingdom of God in heaven—
[If any person be disposed to look back, after having put his hand to the plough, he shews, that he has not a supreme love to God, nor any real delight in holy ordinances, nor any resemblance to the characters of the saints of old. Look at Abraham, at Moses, at Paul, or any others recorded in the Scripture; they left all for Christ, “counting every thing to be dung and dross for him,” and “esteeming even the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than all the treasures of the world;” nor could even death, in its most formidable shapes, divert them from their purpose to serve and honour him [Note: Heb_11:8; Heb_11:24-26; Heb_11:37. Act_20:24; Act_21:13.]. But how unlike to them are the irresolute and unstable! and how incapable of enjoying heaven even if they were there! Could they be happy in God when they do not supremely love him? Would they not rather dread his presence from a consciousness that their hearts were known to him? Could they bear to spend an eternity in those employments for which they have no relish? would not their exercises be an irksome task, and an intolerable burthen? Could they have sweet communion with the glorified saints when they differ so widely from them? Would they not rather be so condemned in their consciences as even to wish themselves out of their society? Surely a wavering professor of religion is alike unfit for the church militant, and the church triumphant.]
Address—
1. Those who never put their hands to the plough—
[How many are there who never set themselves in earnest to do the will of God, or even take pains to inquire what the will of God is! But such will comfort themselves with the reflection, that they are neither hypocrites nor apostates. Alas! how poor a consolation is this! Be it so; you have never made any profession of religion at all: but is that a ground of satisfaction and boasting? What must you say, but this? “Here is one, who has cast off all allegiance to his Maker, and lives without God in the world.” Ah! glory not in such a distinction as this: for, whoever ye be, God has assigned you a work to do, and will call you to give an account of your talent: and if you have hid it in a napkin, he will “cast you, as an unprofitable servant, into outer darkness.” May God open your eyes, and interest you in his service ere it be too late!]
2. To those who, having put their hands to the plough, are disposed to look back—
[We are apt to think lightly of secret declensions, if we do not openly apostatize from the truth. But what was it that rendered Lot’s wife such an object of God’s displeasure? Did she go back to Sodom, or refuse to proceed with the angel to the destined place of safety? No; she looked back, and thereby shewed, that her heart was not thoroughly weaned from the things which she had left behind: and on this account it was, that she was instantly transformed into a pillar of salt, and made a monument of God’s wrath and indignation to all succeeding ages [Note: Gen_19:26]. To impress this instructive lesson on our minds, our Lord bids us “remember Lot’s wife [Note: Luk_17:32.]:” and it will be well to bear her ever in our minds, since, if we turn back, it will be unto perdition [Note: Heb_10:38-39.]; and our last end will be worse than the beginning [Note: 2Pe_2:20.]. We must endure to the end if ever we would be saved [Note: Mat_24:13.].]
3. To those who are determined, through grace, to persevere in their work—
[Doubtless the work will often prove heavy and fatiguing. But God has promised “grace sufficient for us.” And the more we labour, the greater our reward [Note: 1Co_3:8.]. Yea, the very work itself is a source of much peace and joy [Note: Isa_32:17.], and wonderfully conduces to fit us both for this world and the next. Who will make so distinguished a preacher of Christ, or will so adorn his Christian profession, as he who is altogether dead to the world? And who is so fit to join the saints above, as he who already emulates them in their love to God, and their delight in holy exercises? Go on then, “forgetting what is behind, and reaching forth to that which is before [Note: Php_3:13-14.];” and soon you shall both “rest from your labours,” and “enter into the joy of your Lord.”]