Until we learn that there are others in the world, we are not prepared to even start as Christians. The spirit and life of Christ was to serve, not to be served. Jesus pointedly said: "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." It was this that endeared Jesus to men and makes his name so precious and adorable today. His personal touch and deep sympathy with the downcast and unfortunate, and his willingness to be identified with them by the service he rendered to them, make him illustrious through the ages. His teaching many may forget, and his miracles may no longer appeal to the tired and weary, but his gentle touch and tender service carry on.
It is not always clothes and food that people need. Jesus knew this, and, therefore, endeavored to supply the real need of sorrowing men. It is great to be able to supply food and raiment and other temporal wants of men, but human sympathy is what the people need most.
When Jesus ministered, he left tenderness and warmth that lingered still when years had come and gone. Often in our ministrations of mercy the immediate need is supplied, but that warmth and feeling of human sympathy and care are lacking. Sometimes the gospel is preached in an air that makes it as cold as steel. People frown on it as a cruel and hard taskmaster. The warmth of love and emotion is lost in the super-effort of intellectuality and strained efforts at logic. The churches and preachers feel that they should be served instead of serving. They delight in the chief seats and exalted places. Jesus considered none of these things. These have always had a tendency to separate the pulpit from the pew. The preachers become an exclusive class, and must be ministered to by the people. This is in no sense the spirit of the Master. Not only so, but elders and deacons have come to take the same view of things. They are in the light of the Bible the servants of the church, but they have in many instances developed into a group of autocratic lords to rule with an iron hand over the heritage of the Lord. They have exclusive meetings and decide by majority vote the affairs of the whole church, while the congregation must obey. Such positions tickle the vanity of human beings to the extent that they render themselves unfit to carry on the Lord's work. Jesus said: "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them. But it shall not be so among you."
Offices, with the honor and emoluments thereof, have never made the name of anyone dear to the hearts of the people, but rather his service of tenderness and love. There are no great ones in that sense in the church, but we are all brethren. The great one is the servant of all. The aristocracy in the kingdom of God, therefore is to go down on our knees in the most menial and humble service to the poor and needy. God told Abraham that he would bless him, but he also said: "Be thou a blessing." God blesses us now in order that we might be a blessing to others. Anyone who does not follow this course is headed for the rocks of destruction. Christ gave his life for the church, and it was bought with his precious blood. It was the divine decree that "the gates of hell" should "not prevail against it." It was "exalted above the hills" to be the great and only distributor of heaven's blessings among men. But we often see it with its bony fingers poked out as a street beggar asking alms of all passers-by. The complaint goes out that the church is not appreciated when the world does not respond. Instead of the church being a blessing, therefore, by supplying the needs of others, it is endeavoring to get them to supply its needs. Instead of helping the beggars, it turns out to be one. It should be adorned and attractive by reason of its good works and sweet service to others, instead of its worldly adornments, such as banquets, suppers, and the like.
The multitudes followed Jesus for the loaves and fishes, and they still follow for the same reason. About all you hear now of church work is the supply of temporal wants. Spiritual needs of the people are lost under such rubbish. The church is to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth only in the point of such service. The church gives what the world cannot give when it functions properly. The world and worldly organizations can attend upon the benevolent and charitable needs of the people from a temporal and earthly standpoint, but are sadly lacking in spiritual help. The world can educate for time, but not for eternity. Any church or set of brethren who can only educate and train young men and women in schools or orphan homes for things of this life are wasting their time. The training and education for the life to come is the vital thing. There is a great need for education and training for useful citizenship, but a much greater for spiritual service.
It should be remembered that the fleshly mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. We are selfish naturally. How splendid it would be, therefore, if we could learn to "look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others"! Also, remember the passage that says: "Love seeketh not her own." This followed will make the church the most attractive institution in all the wide world, and people will flow into it from every nation under heaven. Why? Because it has something that the human heart needs and for which it yearns always.-From the book, The Life And Works Of Charles Mitchell Pullias (Gospel Advocate Co., 1948), pp. 153-155. [Photo from Hardeman's Tabernacle Sermons, McQuiddy Printing Co., 1922] Used by permission.