The Work and the Life

“like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.”
- Matthew 20:28 Good News Translation

I think we can all agree that God is the source of life and light and joy to the universe. Blessings flow out from Him Like rays of light from the sun, like the streams of water bursting from a living spring. And wherever the life of God is in the hearts of men and women, it will flow out to others in love and blessing.

Jesus experienced joy in uplifting and redeeming fallen humans. This is exactly why Jesus counted not His life dear unto Himself, but endured the cross, despising the shame. (Hebrews 12:2) Likewise, angels are constantly engaged in working for the protection and happiness of others. This is their joy. Imagine, the work that selfish hearts regard as humiliating service, ministering to those who are miserable and in every way inferior in character and rank, this is the work of sinless angels. The spirit of Christ's self-sacrificing love is the spirit that pervades all of heaven and is the very essence of its bliss. This is the spirit that true followers of Christ-followers will possess, the work that they will do. 

When we have the love of Christ in our hearts, it is like a sweet perfume and it cannot remain hidden. Its holy influence will be felt by all with whom we come in contact. “The spirit of Christ in the heart is like a spring in the desert, flowing to refresh all and making those who are ready to perish, eager to drink of the water of life.” (Steps to Christ p77) 

but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
- John 4:14 English Standard Version

Our love for Jesus is manifested in a desire to work as He worked for the blessing and uplifting of humanity. It will lead to love, tenderness, and sympathy toward all the creatures of our heavenly Father's care. 

When Jesus walked the earth he did not live a life of ease and devotion to Himself, but He worked hard with persistent, earnest, untiring effort for the salvation of lost mankind. From the manger to Calvary He followed the path of self-denial and painful travels and exhausting care and labor. He said, “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28. This was the one great object of His life. Everything else was secondary. Self and self-interest had no part in the life and work of Jesus here on earth.

Those of us who are partakers of the grace of Christ must be ready to make any sacrifice to provide others with the opportunity to share in this heavenly gift. We must be willing to do all we can to make the world better for others. This spirit is the outgrowth of a soul that has been truly converted. When we come to Jesus we experience in our heart a desire to make known to others what a precious friend we have found in Him. It is impossible for a true Christian to keep the saving and sanctifying truth shut up in her heart. If we are clothed with the righteousness of Christ and are filled with the joy of His indwelling Spirit, we shall not be able to hold our peace. If we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good we will have something to tell. Like Philip when he found the Savior, we will invite others into the presence of Jesus. We shall seek to present to them the attractions of Christ and the unseen realities of the world to come. There will be an intensity of desire to follow in the path that Jesus trod. There will be an earnest longing that those around us may “behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29

As we make efforts to bless others, these efforts bring blessings upon ourselves. I strongly believe that this was the purpose of God in giving us a part to act in the plan of redemption. He has granted men the privilege of becoming partakers of the divine nature and, in their turn, of diffusing blessings to their fellow men. This is the highest honor, the greatest joy, that it is possible for God to bestow upon men. Those who thus become participants in labors of love are brought nearest to their Creator. 

It probably would have been much easier for God to just have committed the message of the gospel, and all the work of loving ministry, to the heavenly angels. “But in His infinite love He chose to make us co-workers with Himself, with Christ and the angels, that we might share the blessing, the joy, the spiritual uplifting, which results from this unselfish ministry.” (Steps to Christ p79) 

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
- 2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV

We are brought into sympathy with Christ through the fellowship of His sufferings. Every act of self-sacrifice for the good of others strengthens the spirit of beneficence in the giver's heart, allying him more closely to the Redeemer of the world,

The only way to grow in grace is to be disinterestedly doing the very work which Christ has enjoined upon us—to engage, to the extent of our ability, in helping and blessing those who need the help we can give them. Strength comes by exercise; activity is the very condition of life. Those who endeavor to maintain Christian life by passively accepting the blessings that come through the means of grace, and doing nothing for Christ, are simply trying to live by eating without working. And in the spiritual as in the natural world, this always results in degeneration and decay. A man who would refuse to exercise his limbs would soon lose all power to use them. Thus the Christian who will not exercise his God-given powers not only fails to grow up into Christ, but he loses the strength that he already had. 

Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.
- Colossians 3:23 New Living Translation

The greater part of our Saviour's life on earth was spent in patient toil in the carpenter's shop at Nazareth. Ministering angels attended the Lord of life as He walked side by side with peasants and laborers, unrecognized and unhonored. He was as faithfully fulfilling His mission while working at His humble trade as when He healed the sick or walked upon the storm-tossed waves of Galilee. So in the humblest duties and lowliest positions of life, we may walk and work with Jesus. 

You are not to wait for great occasions or to expect extraordinary abilities before you go to work for God. You need not have a thought of what the world will think of you. If your daily life is a testimony to the purity and sincerity of your faith, and others are convinced that you desire to benefit them, your efforts will not be wholly lost. 

The humblest and poorest of the disciples of Jesus can be a blessing to others. They may not realize that they are doing any special good, but by their unconscious influence they may start waves of blessing that will widen and deepen, and the blessed results they may never know until the day of final reward. They do not feel or know that they are doing anything great. They are not required to weary themselves with anxiety about success. They have only to go forward quietly, doing faithfully the work that God's providence assigns, and their life will not be in vain. Their own souls will be growing more and more into the likeness of Christ; they are workers together with God in this life and are thus fitting for the higher work and the unshadowed joy of the life to come.