Date: September 7, 1947, Lord's Day morningPlace: Foochow, Fukien
The first stanza of hymn #144 in Hymns says,
Lord of glory, we adore Thee!
Christ of God, ascended high!
Heart and soul we bow before Thee,
Glorious now beyond the sky:
Thee we worship, Thee we praise —
Excellent in all Thy ways.
This hymn says "Christ of God." We are familiar with the term "Son of God," but we seldom say "the Christ of God." The Christ of God means the One anointed by God and sent by God to accomplish His work. In the original language, the word for Christ is Christos. The word for Christians is Christianos, which indicates that Christians are those who belong to Christ.
The first stanza of hymn #38 in Hymns says,
Of all the gifts Thy love bestows,
Thou Giver of all good!
E'en heav'n itself no richer knows
Than Jesus and His blood.
This hymn speaks of the vastness of God's riches. We have to wait until that day before we can fully prove the value of God's love. Some people think that it is good enough for God to give us heaven. However, heaven is not the best thing that a person can have. If a man is just satisfied with heaven, he is limiting God's love. He is in reality limiting God's love to heaven. Some people say that they will be satisfied with a small corner in heaven. These people are limiting God's love to a small corner. However, our God is not stingy. His grace is abundant, both in the past and the present and in the future as well. God sends the rain and the wind in free and full measure. God does not mind giving us a little more than we need. If God were to exercise restriction, it would be a terrible thing for us. Miss M. E. Barber once wrote a hymn that says:
There is always something over,
When we taste our gracious Lord;
Every cup He fills o'erfloweth,
Rich supply He doth afford.
Nothing narrow, nothing stinted,
Ever issued from His store;
To His own He gives full measure,
Running over, evermore,
To His own He gives full measure,
Running over, evermore.
(Hymns, #595, stanza one)
The water that Christ gives is living water. Man only has well water. Well water can never be compared to living water. John 4 says that "the well is deep" and that there is "no bucket" (v. 11). Under these circumstances, man continues to be thirsty.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 11:1-19
The passage we just read records how men were stumbled by the Lord. John the Baptist must have been extremely puzzled by Christ. Why would Christ not do something spectacular for him, such as healing the blind and the lame? John the Baptist had given strong testimony for Jesus, declaring that Christ is the Lamb of God and that He comes to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Later, he declared, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" (v. 36). When Christ was baptized, John saw the Holy Spirit descending upon Him (v. 32). However, in Matthew 11:1-19 John was stumbled by the work of Christ. Formerly, he told others that he was not worthy to untie the thong of Christ's sandal (John 1:27). Now he was sending men to Christ and pressing Him to answer honestly if He was the Christ.
At the same time, it would have been possible for Christ to be stumbled by John the Baptist. John was supposed to be Elijah. He was supposed to be very successful. Why had he ended up in prison, and why had he failed? However, the Lord was not stumbled by John.
Today many people are stumbled by the Lord. They are stumbled by the way Christ lived. John's food was locusts and wild honey; his clothing was of camel's hair (Matt. 3:4). You cannot find such clothing even in a fur store. Yet when Christ came, He ate and He drank. He was absolutely the opposite of John the Baptist. For this reason, men were stumbled by Him. It is easy for a person to have a preconceived idea of what a spiritual man should be, and if someone does not fit this pattern, this person could be stumbled.
Around 1921 there were about fifty students in Trinity College in Foochow. They all became Christians through my preaching. At that time I was trying to use Miss Barber's baptistery to baptize them. Miss Barber asked who the baptizer would be. I told her that the Bible indicates that whoever preaches to another is qualified to baptize that one. Miss Barber said that it would better to let Leland Wang baptize them because he was older than I. Later, I tried to recommend Brother Wu Dan-wu, because he was twelve years older than I, and he was, of course, older than Leland Wang. However, Miss Barber insisted that Leland be the baptizer. When I brought up the matter of age, Miss Barber remained unchanged about her choice. I then said, "Since you made up your mind in the first place to have Leland do the baptizing, why did you bring up the matter of age?" In spite of this, I was not stumbled.
Once Miss Barber wrote me a letter and told me definitely not to come to one of her meetings. Nevertheless, when the time of the meeting came, I went, by forcing my way through the door, so to speak. When Miss Barber saw me, she said, "It is so good that you have come. I have many things to talk over with you. I need your help." In this instance, I was not stumbled by Miss Barber either.
We have to realize the spiritual reality behind everything that God has arranged. We should not merely consider superficial, outward appearances. There may be a thousand things along the way that can cause us to stumble, but rather than being affected by apparent errors, we have to lay aside all these things and look straight ahead at the spiritual reality.
In 1926 at White Teeth Lake, I saw an article by Mr. Jeffrey in the magazine Witness and Testimony. After Miss Barber saw the article, she told me that Mr. Jeffrey would soon be separated from us. I did not quite agree with her, and I said to her, "You just like to make big assertions and outlandish remarks. This is your temperament." However, after one or two months, Mr. Jeffrey did indeed separate himself from us. Later, when I was in India, I met him and asked why he left. I told him what Miss Barber had told me. After he heard those words, he resolved to take care of the problem that very day. He immediately bought a ticket and sailed home to England to apologize to Mr. Austin-Sparks, because he had spoken something against him when he had left. Today men are easily stumbled by small things. We need the grace of the Lord so that we will not be stumbled by anything or anyone.
