The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Sheet 53

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

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is infinitely nobler. And this is what we are asked
to do: we are to bring to sin-sick souls a cure for
their mortal malady; to those sitting in the dark-
ness of superstition a light to enlighten their souls;
to those passing their days in the dread and fear of
false idols the tidings of the loving heavenly Father ;
to the lost and condemned, peace and joy and glad-
ness which shall never end. Ah, when we stop to
think of what our temporal means, when linked
with Christ’s means of grace, are to do for our
fellow-men, how willing we should be to accept the
obligations of our stewardship and carry out its
blessed duties!

“All These Things Shall be Added.”

But besides doing all this for our pagan fore-
fathers, the Gospel of salvation brought by the first
foreign missionaries lifted them out of a horrible
pit of degradation and from a material poverty
vastly worse than that of the present-day Hindus
and Chinese and set them upon the way to our pres-
ent prosperity. And so, wherever the Gospel with,
its spiritual blessings and the salvation of souls is
brought, it always brings as welcome by-products
the uplift of the body and mind. To bring fathers
in the slums of New York or San Francisco to
Christ, to convert men in Shanghai or Calcutta, will
insure them better food and clothing and material
blessings for their families and their descendants.
Bring people to “seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness,” and you will insure the fulfil-
ment of the Lord’s promise: “All these things shall
be added unto you.” We believe we are keeping
wholly within the bounds of propriety and truth
when we say that it was supreme economic insight
and foresight as well as the highest spiritual wis-
dom that induced Jesus to give His command to
> evangelize the world. For the preaching of the
Gospel this was necessarily included that His dis-
ciples should tell the nations-of the salvation pre-
pared for them by Christ.

Stewardship Is a Partnership.

Perhaps our best conception of the stewardship
idea is that of a partnership, a partnership between
God and us. God has undertaken a stupendous
task — nothing less than that of winning the
rebellious world back to Himself, and He has called
on us to help Him. Now, all we have in our pos-
session comes from Him; He has put it into our
care and wants us to use it wisely and faithfully as
His stewards, with the full understanding that we

shall be asked to give an account to Him of our_

stewardship. God expects us to do the best we can
with what He has put in our care and at our dis-
posal. On the other hand, in view of His gracious
assurances we have a perfect right to expect God to
do all that we cannot do despite our best and most
earnest endeavors.

As faithful stewards we must do our very best
with the means, the advantages, and talents at our
disposal. We must not merely give little; we must
give and labor till it hurts. It was the Lord Jesus
who said: “If any man will come after Me, let him
deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow
Me.” It was this challenge that induced the rich
young ruler to turn away from Jesus. The question
we should ask ourselves is: Have we denied our-
selves anything, food, clothes, gasoline, and the like,
in order to share with Jesus? He laid down His
life; now He asks us to walk the way to Calvary
with Him. Te challenges every follower of His to
a life of heroism with Him. We shall give up what
may be dear to us to help extend His kingdom; He
wants us to give of our time and money to build
THis Church and make His salvation known to lost
men. The rich young ruler failed in the test and
made a great refusal. How about us? Will we also
fail Jesus? We have better knowledge, stronger
motives, higher ideals before us than this young
man, — all calling us into real efficient and effective
service for the Master and our fellow-men.

A Challenge.

Jesus praised the widow because she gave all she
had, —a sacrificial offering, compared with which .
the rich did but little, since they cast in of their
abundance. The apostle’s challenge is: “I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that
ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac-
ceptable unto God, which is your reasonable ser-
vice.” Let us not call ourselves Christians if we
are not willing to offer this to the Lord. Let us not
offer only our surplus. Let us determine to deny
ourselves, recognizing Jesus’ rights in our incomes
and His need of vast funds to send the Gospel to
the world. And so let us subscribe to every part and
every phase of the Lord’s program to extend His
kingdom by putting ourselves, with all we have and
all we are, at His full disposal.

All that I am and have —
Thy gifts so free —
In joy, in grief, through life,

Dear Lord, for Thee! FJ.L.