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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Following the Christ (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 35. The Galilean Ministry
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The Galilean Ministry
The fourth experience in this group was the Galilean Ministry. Our Lord Jesus gave Himself up to helping those in need. He devoted Himself to personal service among men. After John's imprisonment He withdrew to Galilee and ministered to the needy.
There were crowds of them. They were in sorest need of body and spirit. And He gave Himself freely out to them in glad helpful service. He met their need. He did whatever their condition called for. He ministered to their bodily needs. He mingled among them freely as an older brother or friend, holding their children on His knees while He talked with them over their concerns and troubles. But He didn't stop there. Having won their hearts, He met their deeper needs. He comforted their hearts, talked to them one by one, drawing out their hearts, and speaking of the Father.
And as the crowds thickened, He taught and preached to the multitudes. He was a preacher, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom. He was a teacher, bit by bit, line upon line, patiently teaching and explaining to them about the Father's love, and about the true life and how to live it. Three words are used several times to characterize that Galilean ministry, teaching and preaching and healing. (Mat_4:23; Mat_9:35.)
He warned against sin, patiently wooing erring men and women away from their sin into lives of purity, and strengthening the young and earnest in their purposes. The need of the crowd swept Him like a strong wind in the young trees. He couldn't resist their plea. The presence of a man in need, of either body or spirit, took hold of His heart. Over and over we are told that He was "moved with compassion." What a life it was! What a heart He had!
Now our Lord Jesus calls us along this bit of the road. That is to say, the Holy Spirit within us will make our hearts tender and compassionate, even as our Lord Jesus was. The crowds always moved Him tremendously. He couldn't stand the great dumb cry that the mere presence of a multitude rang in His ears. The mere presence of some one in need, earnestly seeking, played upon the strings of His heart.
Does the crowd get hold of your heart as you elbow your way through them, or look down into their faces? Is it just a crowd to you? Or is it a great company of hungry hearts, half-starved lives, so needy for what only this Lord Jesus can give? The dumb cry of the crowds, in crowds and one by one, comes up in our ears today. Do you hear it? I say "dumb," for they don't know themselves what it is they need. They feel the need. Restless and chafing, they feel without knowing just what it is they lack and need.
When the Spirit that swayed the Lord Jesus comes in, He mightily affects your heart. You feel with something of our Lord's feeling. And you must help. You know that the one thing, the only thing, that can really radically meet their need is this Saviour Jesus. You must do something to get them really to know Him. And that something comes to be everything. Service isn't a pastime; it's a passion. That "must" sends you out on glad unheralded errands to help in any way you can, and in every way by which the Jesus message can get to them.
The "must" of His tender passion within keeps you steadily pushing ahead, regardless of not being understood by some, nor your efforts appreciated by others. The flame of that "must" takes hold of time and strength and possessions. It becomes the delight of your life to minister to the needs of men, even as He did. You see them through His eyes. You feel their need through His heart. And—this is a great and—if you really follow as simply and fully as He leads, you will find the same power working out through your effort as through His, though there will be immensely more of it than you will know about.
But—there's a "but" that needs to be put in here—the key-note will not be service, but obedience. The need will not be the controlling thing. It will move you tremendously; it will kindle a sweet fever in your heart, a fever to help; it will take hold of your heart strings and play upon them until you almost lose control. But it must not be allowed to control. That belongs to Him alone.
The key-note is not need, nor service to meet the need, but obedience. There is a Lord to the harvest. His plans are worked carefully out. He takes Philip away from the crowded meetings in Samaria to talk with one man. It was doubtless a strategic move to touch lives in Africa, as well as to meet this one man's need. He feels the need more than you ever do or can. His ears are keener, His heart more tender. He is in command. You do as He bids. So you help most in meeting the need.
He Himself when down here left the crowds, when they were so great that the towns were overwhelmed and they had to be taken out to the country places. He would leave these crowds and go off quietly to get alone with His Father. (Luk_5:15-16 :The language underneath here suggests a habitual going aside to pray, as an offset to the work with the crowds.) All that tireless ministry was under the direction of Another. He went off for close touch, and fresh consultation with His Father.