All Things Are Yours
1 Corinthians iii. 21.
Cfor LL things serve the man that serves Jesus Christ, the great Servant of God. That seems to be something like the meaning of the words with which St. Paul closes his argument here. We may not follow now the successive steps of that argument, which has been forged in his glowing heart; but we may appropriate this sublime conclusion: “All are yours; and ye
are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.” The primary thought is not possession or proprietorship; for though that is true of the relation between us and Christ, it is not true of the relation between Christ and the Father.
And evidently these clause-links are constructed upon the same model, because those whom they connect stand in the same relation to one another. What then, is that common relation which binds all things to us, in the same way as we are bound to Christ, and Christ to God the Father?
There is but one common ground on which these clauses stand; and that is Ministry, or service — the golden thread that runs through all creation, making it one. The ancient fable told that all things were bound by golden chains about the feet of God: and surely the real, deep connection of which the fable spoke is to be found in the service which each lower order of creation renders to the one above — the service becoming rarer and more refined as the pyramid of existence tapers to a point.
As the Son of Man, our Lord was also the Servant of God. “Behold My “Bs one that Seroetb.” 139
Servant whom I uphold.’* “The God of our fathers hath glorified His Servant Jesus.” (Acts iii. 13, r. v.) And His august service is surely sketched in words which foretell that He will put down all rule and authority, and power, and deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father. He was amongst men “as one that serveth.” But His service is continued still. He girds Himself with a towel to wash our feet; He breaks again the bread of His own life, and puts to our lips the chalice of His own blood, He busies Himself in our cares, and wants, and work. And in ministering to us, He is surely fulfilling also the will of the Father, with whom He is one — God as well as man, in the ever-blessed Trinity. In such senses the life of our blessed Lord is even now one of incessant ministry.
In this same sense, we are His servants- “Ye are Christ’s.” We are, of mo “2UI {Things are UJoujs.”
course, His, in the sense of being owned by Him: He made us; He
bought us; He claims us. But how many of us resemble Onesimus, the runaway slave of Philemon! — who probably bore the brand of his master, and had certainly been purchased by his gold; but who withheld from him his service, following the bent of his own wayward will, and herding with the most abandoned of the populace, that rotted in the criminal quarters of ancient Rome. We too have been bought by the Lord, at priceless cost; but we are far from serving Him with the same sort of loyal and whole-hearted ministry with which He, in His unwearied solicitude for us, serves God.
We know little of those high themes which now engross Him; but we can understand a little better the aims and character of His early life. Let us take these as our model, day by “IRabbonf!” day. He had no plan or pattern of His own, but was content to work out the will of His Father: let us work out His will, hourly suggested to us. He, as it were, suppressed His own glorious Self, that the Father who dwelt in Him might work through Him: let us no longer live, but let
Christ live His life in us. He sacrificed all, that He might finish the work of Him who sent Him: let us count nothing too great a sacrifice if only we may hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” In these and in many ways we may make His service a model of our own. Nay, better still, we may let Him repeat His life of ministry through us, and fulfil in us His perfect ideal.
But whenever we get into this right attitude towards our Lord Jesus we shall find that all things begin to minister to us in a constant round of holy service. Each event or circum-M2 “HU UMngs aje l!>ours,”
stance in life becomes an angel, laden with blessed helpfulness, bringing to us the gifts of our beloved Master.
That title, “Rabboni, Master,” the sweetest name by which the prostrate soul can address its Saviour, does not degrade or demean it; but enables it, like the babe Christ, to be the recipient of costly presents sent from afar — gold and spices, fjrankincense, and myrrh. If you have been chafing at your lot, thinking that time and things are robbing you, you may be sure that you are not as you should be towards Christ; and the true cure will be to get as a slave to His feet. Then all things will be “yours” in this deep sense.
“Whether PauU or Apollos, or Cephas” Each of these names stands foi a distinct species of teaching — the argumentative, the eloquent, the hortative. Do not pass any of them by; from those with whom you have least “or Xife, or ©eatb*” sympathy, you may glean something. Each disciple brings some bits of bread and fish. Each stone flashes some colour needed by the prism to effect the beam of perfect light. Each flower may furnish some ingredient for the common store of honey.
“Or the world-” This is our school, hung with maps, and diagrams, and simple lessons. There is not a single flower, nor a distant star, nor a murmuring brooklet, nor a sound sweet or shrill; there is not a living creature, or a natural process, that may not serve us; not only by meeting some appetite of sense, but of teaching us such deep lessons as those which Jesus drew from the scenes around Him, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like.
“Or life, or death-’ When life is lit up in some new young being, it may seem to involve you in a perpetual service, for which you obtain no 144 “HU THrings are JlJours*”
adequate return. But this is in the outward seeming only: there is a yet deeper sense in which that tiny babe ministers to you; in suggesting deeper thoughts of life, and its meaning and destiny; in revealing to you something of the tie between God and your own soul, which calls Him Father. And death, though it appear to rob you, really enriches you — by making permanent feelings of resignation, arid trust, and anticipation, which are not natural to man.
“Or things present, or things to come” How quickly the incidents of daily life are gliding over us! and as they pass, to our weak gaze they steal from us so much that we hold dear — the elastic step, the clear vision, the strong nerve, the beloved friend, the hard-earned gold.
Sometimes they’ manifestly enrich us. For the young there is a constant sense of acquisition. One good and perfect
Bboue Circumstances* ms
gift follows swiftly on the heels of another. But when we have crossed the summit of life’s hill there is an incessant consciousness of loss.
Yet, in God’s sight, and in the spiritual realm, these distinctions vanish and pass away as mists under the touch of the sun: and we find that all incidents come to bless us; all winds waft us to our haven; all tribes bring their tribute into the throne-room of our inner being.
We are not the creatures of circumstances; but their masters, their kings, their lords. All these things are the servants and tutors appointed by our Father, to wait on and minister to us, His heirs.
“All THINGS ARE YOURS.”