One who believes in Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour is to be a co-worker with Him, bound up with His heart of infinite love, cooperating with Him in works of self-denial and benevolence. He to whom Christ has revealed His pardoning grace will, in practicing the works of Christ, find himself linked up with Christ. God calls upon those for whom He has made such an infinite sacrifice, to take their position as laborers together with Him in developing the gracious operations of God's divine benevolence.
Christ has withdrawn Himself from the earth, but His followers are still left in the world. His church, consisting of those who love Him, are to give in word and action, in their unselfish love and benevolence, a representation of Christ's love. They are to be the means, by practicing self-denial and bearing the cross, of implanting the principle of love in the hearts of those who are unacquainted with the Saviour by experimental knowledge.
Upon all who believe, God has placed the burden of raising up churches, for the express purpose of educating men and women to use their entrusted capabilities for the benefit of the world, employing the means He has lent for His glory. He has made human beings His stewards. Gladly and generously they are to use the means in their possession for the advancement of righteousness and truth. They are to employ His entrusted talents in building up His work and enlarging His kingdom.
Our churches, large and small, are not to be treated in such a way that they will be helplessly dependent upon ministerial aid. The members are to be so established in the faith that they will have an intelligent knowledge of medical missionary work. They are to follow Christ's example, ministering to those around them. Faithfully they are to fulfill the vows made at their baptism, the vow that they will practice the lessons taught in the life of Christ. Through sanctification of the truth as it is in Jesus they are to plant in hearts the living principles of saving faith. They are to work together to keep alive in the church the principles of self-denial and self-sacrifice, which Christ, His divinity clothed with humanity, followed in His medical missionary work. It is imparting the knowledge of Christ's love and tenderness that gives efficiency to missionary operations.
The Lord Jesus desires the members of His church to be an army of workers, laboring for Him according to their varied capabilities, and carrying out the principles of self-denial and self-sacrifice, preserving that love for God which drew them away from the world and which will draw them together, away from separate confederacies, from distant, detached parties. The work is to be one grand, harmonious whole in Christ Jesus. The faith that works by love and purifies the soul is the holy, uplifting, sanctifying agency which is to soften and subdue jarring human nature. The love of Christ is to constrain the believers, causing them to blend in harmonious action at the cross of Calvary. As they live the principles which separated them from the world, they will be bound to one another by the sacred cords of Christian love.
With grace in their hearts believers are to work the works of Christ, placing themselves, soul, body, and spirit, on His side, as His human hand, to impart His love to those who are out of the fold. Believers are to associate together in Christian fellowship, regarding one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord. They are to love one another as Christ loved them. They are to be lights for God, shining in the church and in the world, receiving grace for grace as they impart to others. Thus they are constantly kept in spiritual nearness to God. They reflect the image of Christ.
Sanctified love is diffusive, refusing to be bound by the home or the church. It seeks to save perishing souls. Every heart that has felt the love of a sin-forgiving Saviour finds itself allied to every other Christian heart. True believers will unite with one another in working for souls ready to perish. Let not our ministers expend time and energy in laboring for those who know the truth. Let them instead seek for those outside the fold, and each should stimulate the other to earnest action in well-defined, sanctified efforts to save the poor souls who are perishing in their sins.
When our churches will fulfill the duty resting upon them, they will be living, working agencies for the Master. The manifestation of Christian love will fill the soul with a deeper, more earnest fervor to work for Him who gave His life to save the world. By being good and doing good Christ's followers expel selfishness from the soul. To them the most costly sacrifice seems too cheap to give. They see a large vineyard to be worked, and they realize that they must be prepared by divine grace to labor patiently, earnestly, in season and out of season, in a sphere which knows no boundaries. They obtain victory after victory, increasing in experience and efficiency, extending on all sides their earnest efforts to win souls for Christ. They use to the best advantage their increasing experience; their hearts are melted by the love of Christ.
All can labor for the salvation of those who are out of the ark of safety. When church members stand pledged to the service of God, pledged to do missionary work, when they take hold of the work unselfishly because they love the souls for whom Christ has died and are desirous of uniting with the great Medical Missionary, the Lord will come very near to them to instruct them. Life is full of opportunities for practical missionaries. Every man, woman, and child can sow each day the seeds of kind words and unselfish deeds.
We shall see the medical missionary work broadening and deepening at every point of its progress, because of the inflowing of hundreds and thousands of streams, until the whole earth is covered as the waters cover the sea. Our ministers are displeasing God by their feeble efforts to let the truths of His word shine forth to the world. Nothing so strengthens the churches as to see the work progressing in other portions of the vineyard. When the ministers understand the great blessing to be derived from laboring for those who know not the truth, they will leave the churches, after impressing upon them the importance of devising plans and methods whereby they can do within their borders the same kind of work that the ministers of the gospel are doing in the regions beyond.
The world is not a croquet ground, on which we are to amuse ourselves; it is a school where we are to study earnestly and thoroughly the lessons given in the word of God. There they may learn how to receive and how to impart. There they may learn how to seek for souls in the highways and byways of life. How earnestly the games of this world are engaged in! If those who engage in them would strive as earnestly for the crown of life which fadeth not away, what victories they would gain! They would become medical missionaries, and they would see how much they could do to relieve suffering humanity. What a blessing they would be! What we need is practical education. Ministers and people, practice the lessons Christ has given in His word, and you will become Christlike in character.--MS. 32, 1901.
The church of Christ is dependent on Him for her very existence. Only through Him can it gain continued life and strength. The members are to live constantly in the most intimate vital relationship with the Saviour. They are to follow in His steps of self-denial and sacrifice. They are to go forth into the highways and byways of life to win souls to Him, using every possible means to make the truth appear in its true character before the world.
The truth is to be presented in various ways. Some in the higher walks of life will grasp it as it is presented in figures and parables. As men labor to unfold the truth with clearness that conviction may come to their hearers, the Lord is present as He promised to be. As they go forth on their mission, teaching all things whatsoever Christ has commanded, the promise will be fulfilled, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Those who are honest in heart will see the importance of the truth for this time, and will take their place in the ranks of those who are keeping and teaching the commandments.-- Letter 223, 1905.
There is a great work to be done. How shall we reveal Christ? I know of no better way . . . than to take hold of the medical missionary work in connection with the ministry. Wherever you go, there begin to work. Take an interest in those around you who need help and light. You may stand and preach to those here who know the truth; you may preach sermon after sermon to them, but they do not appreciate it. Why? Because they are inactive. Everyone who is able to go out and work should bring to the foundation stone, not hay, wood, or stubble, but gold, silver, and precious stones.-- General Conference Bulletin, 1901, Extra No. 18.
A new element needs to be brought into the work. God's people must receive the warning, and work for souls right where they are; for people do not realize their great need and peril. Christ sought the people where they were, and placed before them the great truths in regard to His kingdom. As He went from place to place, He blessed and comforted the suffering and healed the sick. This is our work. God would have us relieve the necessities of the destitute. The reason that the Lord does not manifest His power more decidedly is because there is so little spirituality among those who claim to believe the truth. --Letter 42, 1898.
"And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following."
The words spoken to the disciples are spoken to us also. None need think that the day for working as the apostles worked is past. Men and women can today work as Christ has given them example. To all will come opportunities to minister to sin-sick souls and to those in need of physical healing. Physical healing is a science of heavenly birth, bound up with the gospel commission.--MS. 16, 1904.
Get the young men and women in the churches to work. Combine medical missionary work with the proclamation of the third angel's message. Make regular, organized efforts to lift the church members out of the dead level in which they have been for years. Send out into the churches workers who will live the principles of health reform. Let those be sent who can see the necessity of self-denial in appetite, or they will be a snare to the church. See if the breath of life will not then come into our churches.--6T 267.
In every place the sick may be found, and those who go forth as workers for Christ should be true health reformers, prepared to give those who are sick the simple treatments that will relieve them, and then pray with them. Thus they will open the door for the entrance of the truth. The doing of this work will be followed by good results. Our Sabbath-keeping families should keep their minds filled with helpful principles of health reform and other lines of truth, that they may be a help to their neighbors. Be practical missionaries. Gather up all the knowledge possible that will help to combat disease. This may be done by those who are diligent students.
But few can take a course of training in our medical institutions. But all can study our health literature and become intelligent on this important subject.--MS. 19, 1911.
The Lord has appointed the youth to be His helping hand. If in every church they would consecrate themselves to Him, if they would practice self-denial in the home, relieving their careworn mother, the mother could find time to make neighborly visits, and, when opportunity offered, they could themselves give assistance by doing little errands of mercy and love. Books and papers treating on the subject of health and temperance could be placed in many homes. The circulation of this literature is an important matter; for thus precious knowledge can be imparted in regard to the treatment of disease--knowledge that would be a great blessing to those who cannot afford to pay for a physician's visits.--7T 64, 65.
As religious aggression subverts the liberties of our nation, those who would stand for freedom of conscience will be placed in unfavorable positions. For their own sake they should, while they have opportunity, become intelligent in regard to disease, its causes, prevention, and cure. And those who do this will find a field of labor anywhere. There will be suffering ones, plenty of them, who will need help, not only among those of our own faith, but largely among those who know not the truth. The shortness of time demands an energy that has not been aroused among those who claim to believe the present truth.--C.H. 506.